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Research and Technology Organizations (RTOs) in the primary sector: Providing innovation to Russia's mines and corn fields	[ "Russia", "Research and development", "Primary sector", "Research and development organization" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Scientific discoveries often stand at the beginning of production increases and the introduction of new and better products or services. A well-established stream of empirical work has provided evidence for the importance of scientific knowledge and industry-science relations for innovation activities (e.g. Rothwell, 1992; Rosenberg and Nelson, 1994; Dodgson, 1994; Mansfield and Lee, 1996; Mansfield, 1991; Branscomb et al., 1999; OECD, 2000). Good innovative performance, however, relies on the effective diffusion and assimilation of the knowledge by relevant actors (e.g. Malerba, 2002; Lazaric et al., 2004). For firms, the utilization of external knowledge allows them to benefit from increasingly difficult technologies in an ever faster changing technological environment. As empirical studies show, since the 1980s the number of firms seeking external knowledge sources has increased strongly (Arora et al., 2001; Hagedoorn et al., 2000; Amara and Landry, 2005).\nLiterature review: In most international studies, RTOs are defined as public sector organizations which provide technology transfer and perform own scientific activities. Hales (2001) defines RTOs as organizations with significant core government funding (25 percent or a greater share) which supply services to firms in support of scientific and technological innovation. The RISE project sees the core functions of contemporary RTOs in the provision of S&T and of expertise and innovation for public agencies. Also, RTOs often are seen as an obsolete form of research institution in some post-transitional countries (Hales, 2001).\nResearch question, design and methodology: The primary aim of our paper is to study the specificities of RTOs that transferred knowledge between 2007 and 2009 into Russia's primary sector. RTOs have been the cornerstone of technological development in the USSR and consequently Russia has a very strong sector of RTOs. Yet, very little is known about these RTOs. We want to close this gap with this exploratory study about their institutional set-up and their behavior.\nAgriculture and mining in Russia - a historical sketch: Agricultural land in Russia is in relative abundance, despite poor soils and adverse weather conditions. Exports of grain accounted for half of imperial Russia's total exports at the end of the nineteenth century. The funds generated thereby were used to finance Russia's imports. In the same time, the rural population went hungry. The reliance on exports of natural resources did not change after the revolutionary years but led to daring experiments to ease the most pressing food shortage. The forced collectivization in the 1920s is still vivid in the country's collective memory. Grain production continued to be seen as a barometer for the effectiveness of the agricultural policies and the political leadership of the Soviet Union as a whole. Krushchev received strong support for the improvements in the lives of ordinary Russians by his policies, with meat consumption rising by 55 percent between 1958 and 1965 (Nove, 1982). With the demise of the Soviet Union came the privatization of farms. After gradual recovery of the production drop during large parts of the 1990s, Russia's agricultural ventures turned into a hotspot for agricultural entrepreneurship (especially on SMEs level). During the decade of 1999-2008, agricultural production grew by 55 percent. In 2008 agriculture output amounted for 87 percent of the level of 1990. The crop sector output reached 130 percent, livestock increased by 60 percent. Today (2009), agriculture contributes 4.7 percent to Russia's GDP and employs 10 percent of its workforce.\nResults: To address our research questions, we first study the activities of Russian RTOs servicing the primary sector. We test which of our independent variables explain the share of competitive funding of RTOs' total R&D budget, novel goods or services RTOs introduce based on their own R&D results, the number of patent applications they file for and generated revenues out of technology transfer activities per researcher. Due to the absence of normal distributions in most of our variables, we applied Kendall correlation coefficients. We also apply a Harman single factor test, but found no proof for common method bias.\nShare of competitive funding in the R&D expenditure total in 2009: The funding mechanisms for research in Russia changed considerably over recent decades. In the Soviet era until 1991, the funding system was based on revolving budgets. Subsequently, a funding distribution system aimed at selecting excellent research proposals became more dominant. The research projects are suggested by firms or RTOs and submitted for funding to the relevant agency. Despite the changes, government remained the main resource of R&D funding. In 1995 this share fell to 72 percent. The rest of the funding was distributed on a results-oriented competitive basis (Gokhberg, 1994). Meanwhile, the share of public sources in their total R&D expenditure averages 67 percent (Science Indicators, 2011). This trend is similar to observations in OECD countries (OECD, 2011).\nNumber of patent applications in 2009: Patenting activities is an interesting indicator for RTO technology transfer activities due to various aspects. A large number of patents signals technological leadership to potential customers and are seen as indicative for high-quality research. The benefits of such signals for science-industry collaborations have been demonstrated by previous contributions like Bruno and Orsenigo (2003).\nRevenue from TT activities per researcher in 2007-2009: For the primary sector, revenues created from technology transfer activities show positive correlation only with the competitive funding per head and common national standards or international quality standards in the quality control of the technology transfer projects. The latter takes a prominent role for revenue generation from technology transfer activities in the agriculture subgroup. The quality control of the final result of those projects which generate a lot of revenues from technology transfer activities per researcher are passed on to third-party organizations in the mining subgroup.\nNovel goods and services based on S&T results of the RTO in 2007-2009: The introduction of novel goods or services an RTO introduces, which is based on its own research activities, is probably the original activity for which RTOs were founded. Interestingly, we see only the network memberships RTOs belong to as a variable with significant correlation. While in agriculture, formally associated institutions introduce the most novel goods and services based on own R&D results, in mining it is the formally independent institutions that are most actively introducing them (Table VII).\nConclusion: This is, to our knowledge, the first detailed study on Russian RTOs servicing the primary sector. We described in great detail Russian RTOs actively transferring knowledge into the primary sector. This is a vital prerequisite for further comparative studies both on sectoral and on national levels.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Given the immense gains in productivity in agriculture and mining over the last decades, the purpose of this paper is to study knowledge transfer from Research and Technology Organizations (RTOs) into primary sector producers. The authors inquire which of these RTOs are successfully competing for public funding, and how these funds are used. Also, the authors study what makes an RTO more (financially) successful in technology transfer than their peers and which RTOs transferred technology that was new to the Russian market.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This research is based on 62 RTOs which reported technology transfer to enterprises with main economic activities classified by NACE rev 1 as \"A - agriculture, hunting and forestry\" and \"B - fishing\" and \"C - mining and quarrying,\" including oil and gas extraction.\nFindings: The authors found remarkable differences between the Russian RTOs and their OECD peers, but also differences between agriculture and mining. Interestingly, competitive funding plays a different role in both industries. In agriculture, a more conservative funding paradigm prevails, and competitive funding is less important and more reliance on classical annually revolving funds is given. Competitive funding here is more used to strengthen basic R&D and to generate patentable knowledge, while in mining, these funds support technology transfer.\nOriginality/value: This is, to the knowledge, the first detailed study on Russian RTOs servicing her primary sector. The authors believe that studying these RTOs is of great value as RTOs are broadly under-researched and various scholars have called for more fine-grained analyses to better understand their role in the innovation system.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Communication capability and attitudes toward external communication of purchasing managers in Germany	[ "Communication management", "Behaviour", "Managers", "Suppliers", "Germany" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Purpose and research objectives: The total purchase sales ratio of German industry is still increasing. For example, in car manufacturing more than 70 percent of the turnover is spent on materials, power supply, services and capital equipment (Federal Statistical Office, 2003). Even in traditional industries as in the manufacturing of machine tools the total purchase sales ratio exceeds 50 percent. Therefore, supplier management is a very important issue in Germany. In addition, there is an ongoing tendency for the international diversion of production. During the last decade - since the Iron Curtain has fallen - numerous German companies have included central and eastern European suppliers in their manufacturing networks and in their established businesses. To coordinate manufacturing in such complex networks, cooperation among firms in the supply chain is essential for the German economy.Management approaches addressing cooperation among firms emphasize communication with people from different companies. Mentzer et al. (2001) argued that the mutual sharing of information is required to implement a supply chain management philosophy successfully. Bechtel and Jayaram (1997) emphasized frequent information sharing as the backbone of effective supply chain management. Based on results from a survey of 124 Council of Logistics Management members, Gammelgaard and Larson (2001) identified oral communication and written communication as highly important supply chain management skill areas. Giunipero and Pearcy (2000) identified interpersonal communication as the most important skill required by purchasers to perform efficiently. Cross-cultural research has shown that purchasers spend about 30 percent of their working hour in external communication with suppliers (Davis et al., 2003). Several authors attached the greatest importance to the role of communication in creating and sustaining supplier-customer relationships. Mohr and Nevin (1990, p. 36) even described communication as \"the glue that holds together a channel of distribution\".Morris et al.'s (1998) survey resulted in a list of perceived key factors associated with successful relationships over time. The leading factor of performance was frequent communication between parties. Mohr and Spekman (1994) showed that as communication quality in supplier-customer relationships has increased, satisfaction has increased as well. Tuten and Urban's (2001) research builds upon the Mohr and Spekman approach. They confirmed the role of communication as an important factor of partnership success.In contrast there are several studies which show a negative influence of communication on performance. Rodwell et al. (1998) identified a negative relationship between perceptions of communication and performance. Based on case studies Huhtinen et al. (2002) argued that regardless of infrequent information exchanges between two companies, the respondents felt they obtained sufficient information to do their work successfully. In another study the frequency of personal contacts was found to be negatively related to the perceived quality of interdepartmental relations (Ellinger et al., 2000).Scientific knowledge on external communication of purchasers is limited in Germany. As shown above, previous research on communication behavior in general presents contradictory results and delivers no clear understanding of purchasers' communication behavior. The general objective of this research was to get a better understanding of the influence of individual and contextual impact factors on the external communication behavior of purchasing managers. We would especially like to answer the following research questions:RQ1. Is there an influence of individual and contextual factors on the communication behavior of purchasing managers?\n2 Literature and model development: The research presented in this article is part of a broader study examining the relationships among individual and contextual impact factors, communication behavior, communication quality and success in managing suppliers and purchaser's satisfaction (Large, 2003a, b, c). The model was built up using structural equation modeling. In this article the focus is on the direct and indirect effects of potential impact factors of purchasers' communication behavior.According to Watzlawick et al.'s (1967) fundamental work on human communication behavior, information quality (I-QUALITY) and relationship quality (R-QUALITY) were identified as the two dimensions of communication quality. Information quality is based on the content of communication. Information quality includes issues such as relevance, accuracy, reliability, timeliness, adequacy and credibility of information exchanged (Mohr and Spekman, 1994; Larson and Kulchitsky, 2000; Kivimaki et al., 2000; Low and Mohr, 2001). On the other hand, it is obvious that purchasers' communication behavior influences the quality of interpersonal relationships (R-QUALITY). Therefore, relationship quality includes the strength of the relationship, the level of trust, the duration, the willingness to collaborate in the future (Jap, 2001) and the number of individuals involved (Olsen and Ellram, 1997; Maloni and Benton, 2000; Leuthesser, 1997).Previous research on communication behavior was mainly based on communication intensity (Mohr and Nevin, 1990; Rice, 1992; Mohr and Sohi, 1995; Mohr et al., 1996; Leuthesser, 1997; Katrichis, 1998; Kahn and Mentzer, 1998; Carlson and Zmud, 1999; Boyle and Alwitt, 1999; Cannon and Homburg, 2001). Intensity is based on the frequency of communication (Mohr and Nevin, 1990). For example, Mohr and Sohi (1995) have shown evidence of the impact of communication frequency on information quality and satisfaction. Besides intensity, the number and variety of contact persons are important to describe the quantity of communication (Carter and Miller, 1989). This issue could be called the extensity of communication. Potential communication partners are the members of suppliers' selling center (Puri and Korgaonkar, 1991). Both aspects - intensity and extensity - represent the volume of communication and could, therefore, be integrated into the dimension of communication quantity (QUANTITY). Based on former research discussed above we can expect an influence of communication quantity on information quality.In the same way we can expect an impact of quantity on relationship quality. Frequent and extended communication seems to be a precondition of developing trust and a willingness to collaborate (Smeltzer, 1997). Each face-to-face meeting, each phone call and each letter or e-mail can influence an interpersonal relationship. Therefore, we can assume that the relationship quality is positively influenced by communication quantity.Openness (OPEN) indicates the degree of critical and often proprietary information communicated by the purchaser (Mohr and Spekman, 1994). Integration in buyers' strategic planning is an example of open information exchange (Carr and Smeltzer, 1999). Another example of open communication is the signaling and disclosing behavior explained by Leuthesser (1997). In the case of open communication, strategic and confidential information is included in the bundle of information exchanged; therefore, information quality will increase. Sharing proprietary information is a sign of trust (Doney and Cannon, 1997; Smeltzer, 1997). If this holds true in relationships between two individuals then we would expect relationship quality to be associated with openness.Friendliness (FRIEND) can be regarded as the third important dimension of communication behavior (Norton, 1978, 1983; Bednar, 1982; Rice et al., 1992). Friendliness includes tactfulness and politeness (Bednar, 1982). We can assume that a minimum level of friendliness is necessary to perceive the value of information exchanged and to accept communication processes and communication partners. Therefore, a positive impact of friendliness on information quality can be expected. The positive influence of friendliness on relationship quality seems to be apparent. Jap et al. (1999) identified a positive relationship between the quality of supplier-customer relationships and the level of friendliness.To deduce managerial implications from the model, constructs describing performance in purchasing management are essential. In this research the results of purchasers' work are used as indicators of performance in purchasing. Purchasing performance could be conceptualized as the success of purchasers' supplier relationship management. In this way a purchaser is successful if the supplier is responsible for performing on a high level in terms of price, quality, reliability and innovation. Indicators for supplier performance are well-known criteria used in supplier evaluation (Mattson and Salehi-Sangari, 1993; Monczka et al., 1992; Swift Owens, 1995; Cannon and Perreault, 1999). In this study we used perceptions of supplier performance (SUCCESS) as a construct to incorporate purchasing success into the model. Furthermore, the satisfaction of a purchaser (SATISFACTION) was included as a second performance construct.Mohr and Spekman (1994) showed that when communication quality in supplier-customer relationships measured in terms of accuracy, timeliness, adequacy, and credibility is higher, satisfaction with supplier-customer relationships is higher as well. On the interpersonal level Penley et al. (1991) identified that accuracy of communication was significantly associated with performance. The positive impact of relationship quality on purchasing success is also a widely accepted concept (Maloni and Benton, 2000). Jap et al. (1999, p. 305) emphasized that \"relationships lower in quality are likely to exhibit a higher level of conflict, lower trust, greater use of disengagement attempts, and a shorter-term orientation relative to higher-quality relationships\". Therefore, we can assume there will be positive influences of information quality and relationship quality on success and purchasers' satisfaction.To identify individual and contextual impact factors and to form hypotheses, extensive literature research was conducted. There is a large number of potential impact factors shown in the communication literature. Rice (1992) found a wide range of influences on communication behavior such as directionality of communication, norms for information use, social influences, status of a communication medium in an organization, and the communicator's level in the organizational hierarchy. Furthermore, he identified individual characteristics of the communicator, such as experiences, attitudes and preferences.Empirical research has mainly investigated individual characteristics. Tushman and Scanlan (1981) showed the influence of working experience and individual level of hierarchy on individual communication behavior. In contrast, Rodwell et al. (1998) found no evidence of an influence of demographic factors on communication behavior. Penley et al. (1991) identified differences between male and female persons concerning their communication capabilities. Task related, and organizational factors were identified by Hakansson (1975). Zenger and Lawrence (1989) found that employee's similarity to other persons' age or tenure influences the frequency of communication.Owing to the complexity of the model, it was not possible to integrate all these potential impact factors. The internal communication climate (CLIMATE), the oral communication capability (CAPA_O), the written communication capability (CAPA_W) of an individual purchaser, and his attitudes towards communication with suppliers (ATTITUDE) were identified as the most important potential impact factors of individual communication behavior.Giunipero and Pearcy (2000) stated that interpersonal communication strength is the most important ability of purchasing managers. Penley et al. (1991) showed the influence of oral and written communication apprehension on communication behavior. Sypher and Sypher (1983) and Sypher and Zorn (1986) discussed persuasive ability, perspective-taking ability and communication effectiveness as three dimensions of the communication ability. It seems reasonable to suppose that a higher communication capability relates to a higher frequency of communication episodes. Furthermore, we can assume that communication ability directly influences the quality of information exchanged (I-QUALITY). Viewing communication ability in terms of oral communication competencies and written communication competencies, the following research hypotheses were formed:H1. The communication quantity is positively influenced by the oral communication capability.\n3 Methodology: 3.1 Sample and data collection\n4 Results: 4.1 Parameter estimation\n5 Conclusions and further research: Oral communication capability and purchasers' attitudes toward individual communication with suppliers play important roles in explaining external communication behavior of purchasers. Regarding indirect effects there are strong total effects of the oral communication capability and the attitudes on the supplier management success and as well on satisfaction. These findings have several implications for supplier management. The results suggest that interpersonal communication plays an important role in the management of supplier-customer relationships. The results clearly indicate that a buying organization should give serious thought to building and maintaining relationship quality. Therefore, supplier relationship management (SRM) based on interpersonal communication will gain importance. It is in the nature of communication to build and maintain inter-personal relationships. The application of this point is that companies should regard these effects in communication channel design and media selection.Furthermore, the findings suggest important implications for human resource management. Purchasing executives should support intensive, open and friendly communication behavior of their subordinates. As preconditions of such behavior purchasers should have the necessary level of oral communication capability and positive attitudes toward the interpersonal communication with suppliers. Concerning oral communication capability, there are two important managerial implications. Firstly, purchasing executives should support the communication capability of the purchasing staff by mentoring, coaching and training. Secondly, human resource managers should take the oral communication capability of purchasers into consideration during employee selection. In the same way, a company should look for new purchasing staff with appropriate attitudes toward the communication with suppliers.As we have seen in the previous section, the oral communication capability is one of the most important impact factors on communication behavior and success. In the final model (Figure 1) there are only three items measuring oral communication capability. If we want to take oral communication capability into consideration in staff selection and human resource development, we need a detailed instrument to measure the degree of communication competencies. Furthermore, each purchasing manager should be able to measure his own oral communication capability to identify his possible communication capability gap.Rubin developed a 19-item communication competence self report to measure students' oral communication capabilities (Rubin, 1985). Twenty years ago, Rubin used only Cronbach a to evaluate the reliability of the instrument. Driven by the large number of items, the Cronbach a was high (0.87). Today, new insights in the measurement of the oral communication capability can be expected using methods of measure assessment and model evaluation like confirmatory factor analysis. Particularly, there are doubts about the unidimensionality of the oral communication capability construct.For these practical applications, follow up research has been initiated (Large and Gimenez, 2004). The specific aim of this future research is to develop an oral communication capability test based on empirical data of supply managers from two countries. Germany was selected because the study mentioned above was carried out in Germany. The Spanish sample should help to identify possible differences between the communication competencies of purchasers living in German and Latin based cultures.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - Management approaches, such as supply chain management addressing cooperation among firms emphasize communication among people from different companies. The objective of this research was to investigate the impact of individual and contextual factors on the external communication behavior of purchasing managers in Germany.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Based on the literature, oral and written communication capabilities, purchasers' attitudes and the internal communication climate were identified as potential impact factors. A structural equation model containing 11 constructs was designed. Six hundred and seventeen responses were available for statistical analysis.\nFindings: - Summing up the results, oral communication capability and purchasers' attitudes toward individual communication with the suppliers play important roles in explaining external communication behavior of purchasers. Regarding indirect effects, there are strong total effects of the oral communication capability and the attitudes on the supplier management success as well as satisfaction.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Several measures were operationalized using two-item or three-item scales. Future research should focus on the development of more comprehensive scales.\nPractical implications: - Various conclusions from the results were drawn. Particularly, there are important managerial impacts on supply management and human resource management.\nOriginality/value: - The paper provides the first scientific insight into the relationships between oral communication capability, attitudes toward communication, communication behavior and managerial performance in the field of supply management.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Building R&D collaboration between university-research institutes and small medium-sized enterprises	[ "Institutional collective action framework", "R&D collaboration", "Small medium-sized enterprises", "University-research institutes" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: There has been a growing interest in the field of management science in examining R&D collaboration between industry and the public sector represented by universities and public research institutes (Kelly et al., 2002; Laursen and Salter, 2004; Perkmann and Walsh, 2007; Fontana et al., 2006; D'Este and Patel, 2007; Bruneel et al., 2010). Such collaboration can be broadly defined as formal and informal arrangements established between university-research institutes (URI) and industry for the purpose of solving specific problems derived from previous scientific development and industry feedback. Depending on the specific human and capital resources being exchanged, the R&D collaboration can take various forms ranging from scientific publication, information sharing, contract research and consulting, to one-on-one research ventures, commercialization of property rights, and joint research (Mueller, 2006; Perkmann and Walsh, 2007; D'Este and Patel, 2007).\nR&D collaboration in South Korea: Recognizing the importance of R&D activities to generate economic growth, the Korean national government has introduced several major industrial reforms. For instance, in the past two decades, the national government enacted key legislation to transform its science and technology policy priorities. The government has also designed industrial policies that would shift sources of technology acquisition from the absorption of new technologies toward the creation and innovation of advanced technologies. According to Sohn and Kinney (2007), the country's sources of technology in the 1980s were mostly based on companies purchasing licenses from Japan and the USA; and then, producing these products in mass production rather than developing their own technologies. Since then, there has been a marked increase in the number of R&D activities among SMEs. For example, in the mid-1990s, more than two-third of R&D centers were operated by SMEs (Kim et al., 2008). By the late 1990s, there was an increase in the number of patents filed by Korean firms in the US Patent and Trademark Office (Sohn and Kinney, 2007). According to Lilischkis and Gmbh (2011), in INNO-Grips Policy Brief, the average R&D intensity of SMEs increased from 1.37 to 2.85 percent between 2000 and 2007.\nTheoretical considerations: Theories of ICA argue that collaboration can generate social and economic benefits that otherwise would not be possible had the individual organization acted alone (Feiock and Scholz, 2010; Feiock, 2013). The ICA framework has been applied to studying metropolitan governance, focussing on the externalities of alternative institutional arrangements and the strategic choices that are made by actors to mitigate collective action dilemmas (Andrew, 2009). When studying collaboration among various types of organizations, the ICA framework requires specifying the nature of collective action problems, identifying the key actors directly or indirectly involved, the potential risks, and the incentives explaining the motivation of actors to form collaborative activities. The framework also considers formal and informal barriers preventing organizations from reaching joint decisions. Feiock (2013) posits that collective action dilemmas arise when actors with a limited range of strategic actions are constrained by the costs of information. While the cost of negotiation impedes the ability of organizations to reach an agreement, the potential loss of autonomy and enforcement costs also limit the willingness of organizations to make credible commitments.\nResearch design and data: Research site\nResults and discussion: Table I presents the descriptive statistics of SMEs in our sample. Table II presents the frequency distribution of SMEs collaboration. While some SMEs in the sample engaged in R&D with domestic industries, others developed collaboration with foreign companies. Out of 336 total respondents, 28 percent reported having some forms of R&D arrangement with domestic firms. Only 3 percent of respondents have collaboration with foreign firms. About 20 percent of respondents do not have R&D collaboration. Further analysis suggests that 66 firms that have no R&D collaboration also lack the capacity to enter into agreement and collaborate in R&D activities. We note the respondents that have no R&D collaboration do not mean that they do not have R&D activities; but that this may be expressed through informal arrangements such as consulting or short-term ad hoc contracts. About 72.7 percent of those that do not have R&D collaboration reported having their R&D facility certified by the national government.\nConclusion: While R&D collaboration in South Korea has been influenced much by the national government industrial policies to spur local economy and improve national competitiveness, based the ICA framework, a URI-industry collaboration is also a strategic action of individual firms. From the perspective of a firm, for example, university scientists can play an important role in contributing toward capabilities and innovation (Sohn and Kenney, 2007). The R&D collaboration can reduce costs, improve profitability, and generate spillover benefits. As suggested by Adams et al. (2001), the direct transference of technology from URIs to firms is facilitated by their collaboration in R&D activities. By turning URI's source technology into products, firms can sustain their symbiotic relationship with URIs. The strategic action highlights the scope of management choices; it also focusses our attention on strategies that can be adopted and implemented by the national government to attract and retain innovative firms through subsidies, tax exemption, and human resources training.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of governments in resolving collective action dilemmas arising in R&D collaboration between university-research institutes (URI) and small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs). The paper focusses on R&D collaboration in South Korea in light of its major industrial reforms since the 1980s in strengthening the national science and technology innovation system.\nDesign/methodology/approach: To examine factors explaining the likelihood of SMEs to collaborate with URIs in R&D activities, the authors used data that were collected in the Seoul Metropolitan Area by the Seoul Institute in 2010. A logistic regression analysis was performed with data from the Open Innovation System survey, which consists of 336 SMEs; and supplemented by firm-level data retrieved from the government official statistics on structural characteristics of SMEs. The Mann-Whitney Test of Difference was employed to test the perceived importance of R&D activities in various stages of product development.\nFindings: This research found that SMEs having government certified R&D facilities and higher investments in R&D activities explain their likelihood in engaging in R&D collaboration with URIs. SMEs in the chemical sector also are more likely to establish R&D collaboration with URIs compared to those in the information technology (IT) sector. In terms of the importance of R&D activities, there are marked differences between SMEs collaborating with URIs and those that do not. The differences are found in R&D's needs related to acquisition of information, basic research, pilot testing of products, and product manufacturing. Most SMEs in the sample reported several barriers to R&D activities, particularly in securing human resources and the operation of R&D; and that, they believe the government can assist them in research and development activities and human resource training.\nResearch limitations/implications: This study provides new insights into the way in which R&D facilities of SMEs may facilitate R&D collaboration with URIs. The results broaden the understanding on the scope of R&D collaboration adopted by SMEs and strategies that can be adopted and implemented by government agencies to attract and retain firms that are innovative. While the findings also provide insights on the scope of management decisions adopted by SMEs, the sample was limited to 336 SMEs in the Seoul Metropolitan area, making generalization to other regions of the country limited.\nOriginality/value: From the institutional collective action framework, this research provides a critical lens to build R&D collaboration between the URI and SMEs, highlighting the role of government with considerable efforts to facilitate SMEs to enter into arrangements with URIs by focussing on the importance of R&D facility and stages of product development.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Impact of information technology in academia	[ "Communication technologies", "Educational institutions", "Information management" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: There has been indeed a paradigm shift in academia due to advances in information technology (IT). The new breed of professionals need to be efficient to tackle problems from cross-functional, cultural and ethical perspectives and equipped with skills to benchmark for global leadership positions. There has been a crying need to usher in a quality movement and to benchmark the same with world standards.Generally, it is observed that IT is used as an umbrella term to represent communication and computing tools, while educational technology is used to denote the application of IT tools in teaching and learning. Accordingly, educational technology could further be differentiated into instructional technology (tools based in the delivery of educational material), and learning technology, which is student centric. Collectively considered, IT has the ability to provide access to worldwide resources; facilitate the accumulation and presentation of data; and enable communication, interaction, and collaboration among students and instructors to improve the practice of teaching and the experience of learning.Colleges and universities must recognize that, increasingly, the influence and demands of their respective IT ventures extend beyond physical locations that include remote or distance learners, part-time students, collaborations with industry and consortia of other institutions.The construction of a unified information technology infrastructure should be responsive to the needs of all its users in academia. IT development and implementation must demonstrate definable benefits to academia.Academia is planning for a world in which IT will be so pervasive that (Agre, 1999) the very institution of education will change. As everyone is aware that IT is exceedingly flexible, and we will face numerous choices about how best to apply it and some of those choices are straightforward matters of efficiency, best left to technical experts.With the continued advances in IT, associated communication comes the interconnectivity of all businesses and all industries. Due to this, either by default or association, the traditional education system will definitely enhance. The possibilities for improving educational practices using the Internet seem to be boundless (Joo, 1999). Academia is seeking innovative ways to provide flexible courses through new media (Barnard, 1997). The possible era of a truly inter-connected global schoolhouse (Knight, 1996) is no longer considered extreme in the age of technology-mediated learning and the transmission of information at the touch of a button.The paper examines the academic domains in which IT plays crucial role in sharing information. In other words, it examines the role of IT in sharing information in academic institutions.This paper explores the IT effectiveness in academic context that is used to improve efficiency and effectiveness of creation and sharing of information among people.The remainder of this paper has been organized into four sections. In the next section, background on academic institutions is discussed. The subsequent sections focus on IT approaches in academia. Implications of IT in academia are discussed with conclusive remarks.Scope and relevance\nBackground and related work: Academic institutions are always challenged to stay relevant in terms of both education and research. Academic institutions generate information about students, courses, faculty and staff that includes managerial systems, organizational personnel, lectures details, quality research and so on. This useful information, which serves as a strategic input is very useful to any academic institution for improving the quality of education process. Research shows that many IT implementations in educational institutions fail not because of technology but because of insufficient attention is paid to issues related to institution's culture (Friedman and Hoffman, 2001). Often we come in evaluations, courses, students' counseling, and admissions across several useful experience and studies. This will enhance data sharing, analyze diversified student relationship management, increase the success of student performances etc. High quality research work is done on value of information in education (Bernbom, 1999; Kallick and Wilson, 2000)The institutes have been making substantial investments into information technologies to meet their goals to increase the effectiveness of operations and information systems. All institutes are using the information about their students to gain insights into bigger issues like students' performance, placements, students' admissions and students' successes. The regulatory bodies, accreditation bodies are seeking more information to measure and evaluate the effectiveness of the institutes (this process is often termed as rating).Unfortunately the academic institutions are giving less importance to institutional structure, process and development. How ever the rapid growth of emerging and cutting edge technologies have led to the increased adoption of new applications that includes ranking the academic institutes, assessing the quality of lecture delivery, assessing the programs and courses, measuring the performance of students and faculty, tracking research and developments and enhancing faculty development. The integration of above mentioned applications enable the sharing of information that is necessary for any academic institution. IT in academia ensures effective allocation of resources and staff, increases productivity without increasing the cost.\nInformation technology (IT) for development in academia: Any IT-based tool should enable students to simulate, visualize, model, and experiment with complex, real-world scientific problems, thus promoting exploratory and inquiry-based modes of learning. IT within its broader designation enables collaboration and interactive learning. The rapid pace of change in IT is increasingly influencing the creation, publication, dissemination of educational materials and sharing of information. IT facilitates connections across disciplinary, institutional, geographical, and cultural boundaries.Taken together, the computational and communication capabilities in IT offer great promise for supporting continual improvements in academia. They also underscore the need for credible research into the practical benefits and limitations of teaching and learning in settings enhanced by IT.The existence of powerful IT tools and their associated infrastructure has also led to questions that challenge the spatial and temporal boundaries.Against this backdrop it is also recognized that the backgrounds of faculty vary more widely than in the past, particularly in terms of exposure to and competency with IT. The ways in which faculty conduct their classes and prepare material for classrooms and laboratories are changing. Students are increasingly expected and encouraged to bring new experiences and skills to the classrooms, especially as a result of changes in IT advancements. Academia must play an integral part in extending and enhancing the opportunities offered by the use of IT in this complex and dynamic educational landscape.From an organizational context, it has become fashionable to downplay the significance of an organization's information processing and communications capabilities for the success of technology (Cross and Baird, 2000). Frameworks on organizational learning have been suggested (Akgun et al., 2003). (Eisenhardt and Martin, 2000; Zollo and Winter, 2002) stress on improved levels of organizational performance. Though advances in computer and telecommunication technologies have linked people together, geography does matter in the new knowledge economy as per the evidence from research (Hansen et al., 1999; Hildreth et al., 2000).In the recent years a wide range of business techniques, including performance management, quality assurance and total quality management, have had a direct or indirect impact on education. \"Perform or perish\" concept will enter in educational institutions.Most academic institutions realize that they will improve performance if their staff works together. However, building collaboration amongst people is not an easy task. IT practitioners apply many different approaches to develop the type of interface that builds the desire for teamwork and a collaborative working as described by (Senge, 1990). Techniques such as meetings, forums and discussions are used extensively through the processes of social interaction and collaboration. Tools such as e-mail, video conferencing, use of interactive white boards, blogs and wikis, discussion forums, chat services and intranets are used to encourage active collaboration among people in academic institutions.Today's academic world is very demanding and very competitive. One has to sustain in the continuous knowledge flow. Issues and challenges in academics not only affect people within the institutions, but also other segments like environment, industry standards and demands, educational norms and growing academic institutional competition. One has to tighten their strategies to sustain competition in education market. IT is used to examine the overlapping and ongoing relationships among faculty, students, course, and programs in any academic environment.While it is generally understood that a robust technological infrastructure plays a crucial role in helping educational institutions gather and analyze data to improve outcomes, the barriers to successful technology and information systems implementation in educational institutions can be attributed to a narrow understanding of just how these systems and technologies manifest themselves within organizations.Figure 1 presents the dimensions of IT in academic institutions. It is necessary to capture, store and analyze academic data.Impact of IT in academia\nIT for development in academia: discussion: In the introduction of this paper, some optimistic claims and views concerning the academic institutions for the application of IT were given. Let us see these aspects.The claim, that academic institutes possess a state of the art modern information infrastructure may be true locally. The recording of computer usages by students at labs, security control systems at main entrance for incoming/out going of vehicles, registration forms for various courses, salary slips generation for faculty and staff and intra and inter department circulars and notices are based on paper document with very little IT support. The paper strongly believes that a good IT infrastructure is an inevitable precondition for any successful institutions.A workflow system for electronic preparation, sharing, storing and intelligent retrieval of relevant business school documents should be implemented and available in electronic form. This will address user groups with a stronger focus on management, faculty and staff as a permanent workforce.Further, the view about information dissemination by faculty presented as a positive feature of academic environment can be considered optimistically. It may be true with regard to information that is transferred in lectures, seminars etc. in any academic institutions.However valuable information can also be found in the experiences related to research grants/projects proposals, research and publication, writing of well structured research papers, reviewing and discussing new courses, new research areas, organizing international events and recording the same etc. Generally it is assumed that dissemination of information would eliminate \"competitive advantage\" of faculty member. Compare this situation with other types of business organizations where experts are encouraged and motivated to contribute their valuable thoughts to the organizational memory with the goal (mission) to make information accessible for others. Staff and faculty in academic institutions should not be dogmatic. As a matter of fact, sharing information in academic institutions is easier than business organizations. A strong mentoring (counseling) system will enhance further. The essence of teaching lies in creating an insatiable love for students, a love that will not die when they leave educational institutions, but will continue to influence them till the end of their lives.The successful IT initiatives in education are the sharing of all forms of information, both explicit and tacit. Explicit information comes in a wide range of media such as computer files, e-mails, videotapes, compact disks, digital libraries and textbooks. It can be the result of the work of individuals or project groups, recorded and stored within any type of media so that it can be accessed and used when needed. This type of information is very common but is still important in learning. (Scheepers and Rose, 2001) discuss the role of intranets and the role of people sharing information through the intranets. However, tacit information is equally valuable. Tacit information is personal and deeply rooted in an individual's experiences, values and cultures, thus making it difficult to capture, codify, store, and share to other people. Although this type of information is intangible, it must not be overlooked as it is regarded as central to innovation in learning.Encouraging faculty to participate in professional training organizations, conferences, and workshops enhances quality of IT enabled institutions. The Internet is an effective mechanism for such enhancing such as sharing information (images, text material). Collaboration that fosters partnerships and links together similar or complementary initiatives should be encouraged.This is unlikely to have a profound affect on the standards of education in the short term; however, there is an element of danger that hints at the possibility of education institutions becoming organizations focusing on profit-based output rather than an output concerning levels of education and achievement. (Hardin and Ziebarth, 1995) claim that academia cannot ignore IT, faculty and the vast and rich information available. Because IT is removing all barriers, it should be incorporated into the running of the academic institutions. Universities were earlier treated as communities (Hutchison, 1998) but now the world is a much smaller place.\nLimitations: When IT is implemented, there is some amount of loss of contextual cues between teachers and students. These problems may result in a lack of trust, making people unwilling and hesitating to share information and collaborate with others in contrast to the earlier generation of sharing information between faculty and student communities before internet era.Academic institutions are not of uniform quality or size and there are huge gaps among the different levels of schools that we find. Some are primary government owned and private trust owned. Government ownership translates into direct ministry led institutions and private ownership includes those affiliated to university and those that are deemed universities themselves or autonomous institutions. Then there are institutions that are outside the system that are owned and operated as professional institutions. Disclosure of financial figures by the academic institutions is not transparent nor is it complete which may lead to difficulties in computation of revenue and expenditure flows severely.The balance between the use of technology and \"the human element\" of pedagogy must continually be considered, and determined relative to the true effectiveness of teaching and learning. IT ultimately enhances integration between disciplines, departments, institutions, and reduce the amount of inequity in the access to higher or professional education. This requires models and huge research and development investments. The use and perceived need for IT is soaring, the requisite budgets for support and maintenance are not keeping pace and the problem is becoming a crisis.Accentuating the teaching and learning attributes unique to IT and its use is quite challenging. Desirable attributes for this include the ability to construct and process information, consideration of disparate user background knowledge, self-guided, goal identified, encouragement of communication and collaboration, and peer instruction. The people should consider and should be willing to adapt or revise paradigms in teaching and learning. Different approaches to education are possible.The manpower in academics are not able to utilize positive effects of IT and often lack awareness towards accessing valid and reliable information, ironically the information the manpower seeks exists in the organization. However, only a fraction of information is captured, shared, processed and stored.\nConclusion: Interest in IT in academia is currently experiencing an upsurge of institutional support and interest; however, this will be short-lived unless the technology can deliver demonstrable results in a cost-effective and productive manner to all educational institutions. The next generations of faculty and students have an important role in the technology exploration. They should be treated as developers, educators, testers and disseminators.For developing strategic internal alliances, the academic institutions have to more effectively use their resources and infrastructure to reap more benefit from their investments in both people and technology. The IT-based approach will enable academic institutions to quickly respond to its goals and objectives and in some cases preempt staff and faculty demands and needs. To build and develop a robust and thriving IT environment in academic institutions, the institutions need to look beyond technology and develop the overall culture of accessing, sharing and managing information.In this paper, we have examined the role of IT enabled data resources that are used in academia. Finally, we would like to conclude that the real success of IT in academic institutions lies in helping the students grow into worthy human beings with courage to face the problems with an inner strength. Every institutional initiative requires time, money, energy and resources so that it may mature and suit to the academic institutions.It is interesting to note that the mindset remains as in traditional education, in that it is still the institutions' responsibility, whether virtual or traditional, to provide appropriate learning environments. However, for staff that have no loyalties to the institution, there appears a danger of little continuity in teaching practices, that would surely influence the mission of providing a suitable learning environment.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to study the provisions of information technology (IT) for development of academic resources and examines the effect of IT in academic institutions for sharing information.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper examines the role of IT in sharing information in academic institutions and explores the IT effectiveness in an academic context that is used to improve efficiency and effectiveness of creation and sharing of information among people.\nFindings: - The paper finds that the rapid pace of change in IT is increasingly influencing the creation, publication and dissemination of educational materials and sharing information. IT facilitates connections across disciplinary, institutional, geographical, and cultural boundaries. Taken together, the computational and communication capabilities in IT offer great promise for supporting continual improvements in academia. They also underscore the need for credible research into the practical benefits and limitations of teaching and learning in settings enchanced by IT.\nOriginality/value: - The paper provides useful suggestions for colleges and universities, which must recognize that, increasingly, the influence and demands of their respective IT ventures extend beyond physical locations that include remote or distance learners, part-time students, collaborations with industry and consortia of other institutions. The construction of a unified IT infrastructure should be responsive to the needs of all its users in academia. IT development and implementation must demonstrate definable benefits to academia.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A qualitative examination of urban vs rural sustainable consumption behaviours of energy and water consumers in the emerging Egyptian market	[ "Sustainable marketing", "Sustainable consumption behaviour", "Green consumption behaviour", "Resource conservation", "Sustainable purchase behaviour" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The essentiality of research into sustainable consumption as a stream of applied social science cannot be overestimated, this is due to the urgency to integrate environmental sustainability with economic growth and welfare for sustained development, whereas energy and water scarcity in Egypt have emerged to become one of its main challenges, where in the recent years, the residential sector has been a focus of worldwide studies on energy conservation and public policies, due to the fact that the irrational use of energy has led to massive pollution, climate change and unsustainable development (Bilgen and Sarikaya, 2018; Guo et al., 2018; Jia et al., 2018; Nahiduzzaman et al., 2018). On the other hand, the issue of water scarcity has become an international one where minimizing the negative effect of resident's behaviour on the water metabolism of homes has been the subject of many recent researches (Eon et al., 2018). No natural resource may prove to be more critical to human health and well-being than water (Knuth et al., 2018). According to The World Bank Group (2016), around two-thirds of countries around the world will be water-stressed by 2025, and 2.4 billion people will face absolute water scarcity, it also mentioned that feeding the world will require 30 to 45 per cent more water in 2030.\nBackground: Sustainable consumption behaviour\nEnergy consumption in Egypt: According to the International Energy Agency (2015) report, Egypt has been suffering from a decline in Energy production due to shortages in natural gas supply and oil production being unable to keep up with the energy demand. In 2013, the Egyptian government spent 120bn Egyptian pounds on fuel subsidies, which equals 7 per cent of the GDP, which led to some subsidy reforms causing a 10-50 per cent price increase on residential electricity prices (Clarke, 2014).\nWater consumption in Egypt: EcoMENA (2016) announced in an article that Egypt faces an annual deficit for water of around 7 billion cubic metres, they also mentioned that the United Nations is warning that the country could run out of water by 2025. According to the World Bank Group statistics, the domestic (residential) sector's water consumption in Egypt has increased from 6.33 per cent in 1997 to 7.76 per cent in 2014, while the industrial sector's consumption of water has decreased from 7.52 per cent in 1997 to 5.86 per cent in 2014.\nLiterature review and research questions: Urban versus rural sustainable consumption behaviour\nMethodology: In light of the reasons mentioned in the introduction and the level of importance that such scarce resources occupy in Egypt, the research setting was chosen to be both urban and rural Egypt. The research context is new of its kind to some of the marketing concepts being studied as the researcher has found no previous research studying conservation behaviour in the Egyptian context. The researcher believes that studying the Egyptian consumers can provide new insights and results, given the different cultural nature of the Egyptian consumer, and the lack of awareness that the Egyptian consumer may exhibit with regard to the energy and water problems of today's economy.\nResults and discussion: Results\nConclusion and implications for theory and practice: This article represents the first phase of a multiple-phase project. The objectives of the first phase were to qualitatively investigate whether urban consumers differ in their levels of sustainable consumption than rural consumers, identify the factors associated with Egyptian urban and rural consumers' energy and water sustainable consumption behaviours in terms of conservation and purchase behaviours to see if there any other factors that were not identified by the previous literature (especially because most previous studies are conducted in developed countries), and to identify the differences amongst them, thus empirically blueprinting conceptual frameworks highlighting the factors influencing their sustainable consumption. The next phase will focus on quantitatively testing the conceptual framework to identify whether descriptive research will confirm such assumptions or not. By further following this study with a quantitative one, this research will be able to give generalizable and conclusive results, hence - to conduct the following phase of this study - the researcher presents the results of this research in terms of research propositions (P) which are presented in the conceptual framework (Figure 1).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The study aims to investigate the differences among urban and rural consumers in terms of their energy and water sustainable consumption behaviour levels and drivers and also empirically blueprint conceptual frameworks highlighting urban and rural consumer drivers to consume sustainably.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This research follows an exploratory design using a qualitative approach; 14 in-depth interviews followed by one focus group were conducted with urban consumers; on the other hand, 18 in-depth interviews followed by one focus group were conducted with rural consumers.\nFindings: The findings show that no differences exist among urban and rural consumers in terms of both their sustainable consumption levels and their drivers to consume sustainably; such findings were encapsulated in the form of one conceptual framework pertinent to both urban and rural consumers; it has the following relevant factors: consumers' attitudes toward conservation, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control, self-preference, public media influence, perceived economic value and perceived moral obligation to be relevant antecedents of conservation behaviour, which - in turn - drives sustainable purchase behaviours with the moderating effect of socio-demographic variables.\nOriginality/value: This paper contributes to extant literature as it provides evidence for the drivers of sustainable consumption behaviours of urban versus rural consumers in emerging countries; it also tentatively answers the question of whether the socio-demographic variables infer a difference in consumers' sustainable consumption; finally, it studies sustainable consumption from a novel perspective with a focus on the relationship between its two pillars.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Balanced scorecard: application in the General Panarcadian Hospital of Tripolis, Greece	[ "Balanced scorecard", "Strategic management", "Performance management", "Qualitative and quantitative management", "Information technology", "Health care", "Public sector", "Greece" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In 1941 the PanArcadian Charity Fund was established to help fund the building of a hospital in Tripolis to aid the victims of second world war. Since 1950, the General Panarcadian Hospital of Tripolis has provided important medical care for thousands of Arcadians throughout the region. As far as the plant and the structures of GPHT are concerned they were left for almost 55 years to their destiny.\nPerformance measurement frameworks, managerial models and theories: Both public and private healthcare organizations face a turbulent and threatening environment. An impetus for significant environmental change comes from many sources which include state or/and local healthcare reform efforts, international and domestic economic and market forces; demographic shifts, lifestyle changes together with technological advances within the healthcare industry. Organizations will have therefore to effectively manage change in this dynamic environment. One of the greatest challenges for healthcare organizations is identifying and planning for the changes that are most likely to occur. As a result in health and social care there has been increasing attention to performance measurement and service improvement.\nMaterials and methods: The Vision of the General Panarcadian Hospital of Tripolis is to advance to market leader within the next five years by focusing on growth, quality and customer services. Its mission is to provide the best possible quality of services to patients. The strategy followed to achieve all the above pointed to the extension of the provided services to Peloponnisos region and become a reference point of excellence. It has to be mentioned here that there are seven more general public hospitals in the Peloponnisos region and one psychiatric hospital. The Corporate concept of GPHT is to implement BSC for efficient strategic and operational controlling. Thus, based on the original BSC, a model adapted to the Greek public health system characteristics and peculiarities was developed.\nResults: The results from the application of the aforementioned BSC model are encouraging, even after just one year of implementation. In particular, the hospital finalized projects in both architectural and electromechanical studies that were in progress for almost ten years. The outcomes of the strategic management of GPHT during this initial period, based on the BSC model presented, can be outlined as follows:\nDiscussion: Based on the results from the previous sections, we can conclude that measurement is an effective management tool because it provides the information decision makers require to accurately monitor key issues related to organizational goals, progress and quality at both the executive and project levels, and performance against a plan. Measurement also provides data that managers need to ask the right questions and make the right decisions based on objective information. As managers, measurement helped us in seven critical sectors:\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to discuss the application of the balanced scorecard (BSC) in the Greek public health sector.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The basic balanced scorecard theory has been adopted in the characteristics and individualities of the Greek public health system. The theoretical model developed was applied in the General Panarcadian Hospital of Tripolis (GPHT) in Greece. GPHT is a representative paradigm of a big regional Greek public hospital. It has about 300 beds and many clinics and specialties (internal medicine, cardiology, general surgery, intensive care unit, artificial kidney unit, etc.). Strategic management was performed for almost three years. The BSC model was formulated in an appropriate software program. The problems (both technical and managerial) faced during a three-year period along with the results of this management approach are presented in the current paper. The paper highlights some important gaps in the Greek public health system, while proposing actions to be taken.\nFindings: The BSC theory can be very successful under certain conditions.\nOriginality/value: Special attention is given to the peculiarities of the Greek public health situation. The paper presents for the first time a real life example of applying BSC in the Greek public health sector.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
E-mail infatuation	[ "Electronic mail", "Communication technologies" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nE-mail infatuation: I adore e-mails.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to present a satirical critique on the dominant role of e-mail communications in business and professional life.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Poetic exposition.\nFindings: - Takes the reader through a declining list of positive e-mail attributes which metamorphose into increasingly dysfunctional attributes and personally stressful experiences. Highlights the addictive appeal and tensions in e-mail usage.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Raising awareness and pointing to issues regarding the commonly experienced advantages and disadvantages of the electronic business age.\nOriginality/value: - Opens up the dysfunctional personal and working consequences of e-mail communications in the world of work.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Identifying the competitive sword: learning to be cutting-edge for organizational development	[ "Organizational development", "Leadership", "Learning organizations", "Team working", "Singapore" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other (John F. Kennedy, November 22, 1963).\nOrganizational learning - the triple-edged sword: Based on extensive research with a successful learning organization in Singapore over a five-year period, three key aspects of organizational learning have been identified as contributing to the competitive sword (see Figure 1). The case organization is a large-sized manufacturing firm with over 3,000 employees. The CEO, being the key driver, had a vision to make the firm a cutting-edge company in the manufacturing industry in the Asia Pacific region. He realized that the competitive sword was to encourage every individual to learn and innovate. He was literally fixated with the idea of \"newness\" in both product and process, i.e. novel ways of doing things. He didn't believe in mediocrity, but excellence in every aspect of daily operations. Together with a team of external consultants, he spearheaded an \"organizational learning battlefield plan\" with their triple-edged sword on which Peter Senge's (1992) \"fifth discipline\" was based.1st edge: shared vision\nThe state of knowing, doing and being: Being cutting-edge in product and process requires strong leadership to follow through a strategic purpose by facilitating complex learning experiences. Figure 2 combines several aspects of organizational development with strong implications for long-term competitive advantage: the state of knowing, doing and being.The state of \"knowing\" - is the most fundamental aspect of organizational learning as it is concerned with content, i.e. information acquired through an intuitive awareness and spontaneous perception. Such content is enhanced through an understanding of the internal and external environments where individual mental models and personal mastery are challenged.The state of \"doing\" - takes content a step further by examining the procedure in which knowledge is constructed and shared. It also involves the development of a variety of lifelong skills with the aim of congruency, alignment and integration demonstrated through ethical behavior and social contribution. Here, the structure and process in support of team learning need to be delicately designed and strategically developed.The final state is that of \"being\" - where enlightened values and greater understanding of knowledge and action are achieved through \"systems thinking\" and \"shared vision\". These two disciplines, according to Senge (1992), provide the integration and purpose for organizational learning, and are largely achieved by dialogue (collaborative) and reflection (individual). These practices enlarge the individuals' propensity to acquire, evaluate and operate content (knowledge).Dialogue\nLearning as a competitive sword: The strategies recommended in Table I seek to provide a systematic approach to the facilitation of organizational learning. For instance, the emphasis at each level of learning is different from one other, requiring specific organizational infrastructure support. Although it may seem challenging to instill a helicopter or satellite view in every employee, it might be more feasible to focus on the requirements of efficiency, effectiveness and perhaps transformation as a reflection of an organization's learning capacity. Insofar as the strategies for leaders are concerned, it must be noted that the role of dialogue permeates the three learning levels. As learning becomes less individual, the focus on decision-making, empowerment and participation illuminates in ways that promote double-loop learning. Most importantly, learning obstructions must be alleviated to make way for greater learning opportunities.Implications for leaders\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to discuss several organizational learning frameworks based on Peter Senge's \"fifth discipline\". It further explains the antecedent conditions of learning and their relationship with performance outcomes.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Lessons were primarily drawn from a case study of a Singapore manufacturing firm that had gone through a five-year organizational learning strategic plan.\nFindings: - Shared vision, flexible systems and team dynamics are key characteristics of organizational learning in which leadership is a crucial enabling agent. Contrary to general perception, systems development would be considered the most significant change brought about by organizational learning.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Organizational learning is not entirely driven by people, process and/or structure. In fact, the direction and degree of organizational learning are dependent on the strategic purpose of the organization. In addition, dialogue and reflection have been found to be the embedded unifiers that link the various facets of learning.\nPractical implications: - Strategies on organizational learning implementation are based on organizational infrastructures and capacities with a focus on efficiency, effectiveness and transformation. Several immediate concerns are the eradication of learning impediments, improvement on work processes and institutionalization of learning as integral to work practices.\nOriginality/value: - Organizational learning is not simply a buzzword that resides in the minds of leaders. It can be successfully implemented with strong leadership and a shared vision. Most importantly, employees must be prepared for continuous changes and renewal.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Risk and teenage parenthood: an early sexual health intervention	[ "Risk", "Young people", "Resources", "Sex and relationships education", "Teenage pregnancies" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Literature review\nMethod: Aims and objectives\nResults: Screening tool\nDiscussion: Screening tool\nConclusions: The project was designed in response to a significant reduction in sexual health specialists and their services for young people. It demonstrates that it is possible to develop an acceptable and evidence-based resource for many practitioners who already work with young people, but who are not sexual health specialists. With half a day's training, most thought that they could confidently and competently identify and support young people who were at risk of teenage pregnancy or parenthood. These practitioners, unlike sexual health specialists, are more likely to have worked with young people over a period of time. Their work to build a trusting relationship with the young person can be a bedrock on which to base a conversation about the young person's risk-taking attitudes or behaviour, to make an assessment of risk and if possible provide appropriate support. A half-day training and the provision of a resource led to four-fifth of the respondents making more or fewer referrals to sexual health specialists on the basis of having more knowledge and skills about what they could offer and what the specialists could offer. This represents better use of resources within a climate of needing to be highly cost effective. It reflects a model that better uses the capabilities of the public health workforce rather than a medical model that relies on health specialists, and it emphasises early primary prevention rather than crisis intervention.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to outline the development of a resource designed to support practitioners, who are not sexual health specialists, but who work with young people who may be at risk of teenage pregnancy or parenthood. Its aim was to enable practitioners to carry out an assessment using a screening tool, and to use educational interventions designed to reduce risk-taking behaviour or refer to a sexual health specialist. A research project to examine the perceptions of practitioners who had used the resource is reported.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The resource was based on a local needs assessment and developed by a multi-agency working group. The research utilised an online questionnaire and telephone interviews with practitioners.\nFindings: Practitioners reported using the screening tool with young people with an average age of 13.1 years. They thought the educational interventions provided knowledge and helped with communication, self-awareness, reflection, confidence, attitudes and values clarification.\nResearch limitations/implications: The project was based in one county in England. A sample of 17 per cent of the practitioners responded to the questionnaire, and they might be biased towards those who had engaged most, or most positively, with the resource. Three practitioners undertook interviews. The views and behaviours of young people are yet to be evaluated.\nOriginality/value: Within a climate of limited resources, the findings suggest that the project is providing an acceptable proportionate universalist, early sexual health intervention for young people.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Impact of psychological capital on occupational burnout and performance of faculty members	[ "Psychological capital", "Faculty members", "Occupational burnout", "Technical education" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Technical education is considered to be a highly challenging and demanding job that not just requires divergent knowledge, multifaceted capabilities and experience in professional fields but also a continuous attention, liaison and association with technological advances. An instructor during occupational activities has to connect to students not only physically but emotionally as well which puts him/her into greater physiological and psychological confrontation. Such pressures and challenges can cause many mental conditions like anxiety, depression, stress, fatigue, boredom and even mental health problems that can result in higher occupational burnout.\n2. Literature review: Researchers have been trying to relate the factors that impact the performance of trainers by affecting their psychological health and cause occupational burnout. The following are some of the major reasons of burnout among trainers:\n3. Method: Two questionnaires were used for data collection from technical institutions:\n4. Measures: 4.1 Maslach burnout scale\n5. Results: 5.1 Demographics\n6. Discussion: This study investigated the role of psychological capital of faculty members of technical and professional institutions on the relationship between job burnout and performance. The results provide evidence that the psychological capital (self-efficacy, optimism, hope and resilience) can certainly minimize the impact of the sickness of burnout (psychological exhaustion, depersonalization and low personal accomplishment) that may result from a new occupation with different job requirements. There is also a new interpretation of these findings that suggest that the important attribute of personality of an individual-like psychological capital can also help minimize performance impact from changing to a new job. It is obvious from the results that the features of psychological capital play a critical role in shaping an individual's behaviors and attitudes toward any change in his/her physical conditions.\n7. Recommendations: 7.1 Practical implications\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact and interrelation between positive psychological capital and occupational burnout among faculty associates of technical and professional training institutions.\nDesign/methodology/approach: In total, 282 faculty members from 17 technical institutions were selected from the province of Punjab, Pakistan. Results were drawn using bivariate correlation and linear regression on the data that were collected through adopted questionnaire.\nFindings: Results of the study revealed that occupational burnout is significantly related to the performance of the faculty of technical institutes and that psychological capital moderates this relationship.\nPractical implications: Conclusions from this research suggested that the personality trait of a psychological capital is an essential determinant of job burnout and performance among faculty members; therefore, it must be considered as an essential part of the selection criteria and job-assessment process. This is important, since psychological capital reduces the detrimental impact of occupational burnout on performance outcomes. Further the faculty members with higher psychological capital should be retained to create positive work environment which can be an inspiration for others.\nOriginality/value: The research provides important information about the impact of personality traits upon the performance of a faculty member who joins an educational institution coming from an industrial environment. Although having similar technological skills required for the position, still the effects of a new environment can cause performance issues, the research insisted that positive personality traits like psychological capital can help in gaining required confidence to perform in a changed environment.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Internal and external networking behavior : An investigation of relationships with affective, continuance, and normative commitment	[ "Organizational commitment", "Networking", "Networking behaviours" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Networking has been shown to be highly beneficial for careers (King, 2004; Sturges et al., 2010). Networking behaviors help individuals find new jobs (Van Hoye et al., 2009; Wolff and Moser, 2010), predict job performance (Blickle et al., 2012), and are related to compensation, promotions, and career satisfaction (Forret and Dougherty, 2004; Michael and Yukl, 1993; Wolff and Moser, 2009, 2010). Given the above, it appears likely that networking is also related to important attitudes such as organizational commitment. Employee commitment is influenced by supportive organizational actions (Rhoades and Eisenberger, 2002) but may also be shaped by professional relationships that provide collegiality, advice, support, and influence (Gersick et al., 2000). Obtaining such assistance through relationships developed with colleagues, both from individuals within as well as those external to one's employing organization, is likely to help mold feelings of organizational commitment. Organizational commitment is an important factor for managers to consider, particularly in high-demand industries such as healthcare where retention is a major issue (NSI Nursing Solutions, 2013; PricewaterhouseCoopers, 2013).\nNetworking behavior: Described as a proactive behavior, networking behaviors are attempts to develop and maintain relationships with others for the purpose of mutual benefit in their work or career (Forret and Dougherty, 2001). Research has shown that work and career support can come from multiple individuals within a constellation of relationships, encompassing relationships both inside and outside one's employing organization (Higgins and Kram, 2001; Kram, 1985). Behaviors such as exchanging information and ideas, participating in professional associations, or alumni groups, volunteering for organizational task forces, and engaging in community initiatives are representative of various types of networking behaviors (Forret and Dougherty, 2001; Forret and Sullivan, 2002).\nRelationship of networking behavior to organizational commitment: Employee commitment is recognized by managers as critical for the successful functioning of their organizations. Organizational commitment is defined as employees' perceived psychological bond to their organization which can influence actions taken relevant to their organization (Allen and Meyer, 1990; Klein et al., 2009; Meyer et al., 2006). Organizational commitment has been found to be significantly related to job performance (Cooper-Hakim and Viswesvaran, 2005; Mathieu and Zajac, 1990; Meyer et al., 2002; Riketta, 2002), attendance and organizational citizenship behaviors (Cooper-Hakim and Viswesvaran, 2005; Meyer et al., 2002), turnover intentions and withdrawal cognitions (Cooper-Hakim and Viswesvaran, 2005; Mathieu and Zajac, 1990; Meyer and Allen, 1991; Pare and Tremblay, 2007; Tett and Meyer, 1993), and employee turnover (Allen and Meyer, 1990; Cooper-Hakim and Viswesvaran, 2005; Griffeth et al., 2000). Viewed as multidimensional, three components of organizational commitment (i.e. affective, continuance, and normative) serve as bonding agents linking the employee with the organization (Allen and Meyer, 1990; Meyer and Allen, 1991).\nMethod: Survey methods and sample\nResults: Table I presents the correlations, means, and standard deviations for the variables used in this study. The respondents engaged in more internal networking behaviors (M=3.42) than external networking behaviors (M=2.66). Perhaps not surprisingly in light of their nature as proactive behaviors, albeit with a different focus or target of their efforts (i.e. organizational members or outsiders), internal and external networking behaviors were correlated at r=0.63. The respondents rated affective commitment (M=5.20) higher than normative commitment (M=4.37) and continuance commitment (M=4.29). Internal networking behavior was significantly correlated with affective commitment (r=0.29) and continuance commitment (r=-0.13) in the expected direction; although no relationship with normative commitment was found. As anticipated, external networking behavior was negatively correlated with continuance commitment (r=-0.18); but there was no relationship with normative commitment. Contrary to expectations, external networking behavior was positively correlated with affective commitment (r=0.15).\nDiscussion: The increased focus on adaptability (Hall, 2002) and the pursuit of boundaryless careers (Arthur and Rousseau, 1996; Sullivan and Arthur, 2006) has elevated the importance of developing mutually beneficial relationships with others, both inside and outside one's organization (Sullivan and Baruch, 2009). This study makes a unique contribution to the field by considering the relationship of internal and external networking behaviors to the affective, continuance, and normative commitment of managers and professionals. While some previous research has shown differential relationships between internal and external networking behaviors with career success measures (Michael and Yukl, 1993; Wolff and Moser, 2009, 2010), we add to the literature by providing evidence for differential relationships between networking behaviors and organizational commitment. Results varied based on whether networking was focussed on contacts within or outside the individual's organization. Given that networking contacts are an important part of an individual's social environment, we provide further evidence that the social environment is related to an individual's attitudes.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationships of internal and external networking behaviors of managers and professionals with their affective, continuance, and normative commitment.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Data were obtained from 335 managers and professionals of a health system who completed a survey on networking behavior and organizational commitment. Correlation analyses and multiple regressions were performed to test our hypotheses.\nFindings: The results showed that networking behavior focussed within an individual's organization was positively related with affective commitment and normative commitment. Networking with individuals outside of an individual's organization showed a significant negative relationship with normative commitment. Contrary to expectations, networking externally was not related to affective commitment, and neither internal nor external networking behaviors were related to continuance commitment.\nResearch limitations/implications: Because data were collected at a single point in time, no statements can be made about causality. Future research is needed assessing both internal and external networking behavior and the three types of organizational commitment across time to help determine direction of causality or whether reciprocal relationships exist.\nPractical implications: Organizations that encourage internal networking behaviors may see individuals who are more connected with their colleagues and affectively committed to their organizations. However, encouraging external networking behavior may result in a drop in normative commitment as individuals might identify more with their profession than their employer.\nOriginality/value: Although previous research has shown that networking behavior is related to job performance and career success measures, the research extends the literature by investigating whether networking is related to attitudinal variables such as organizational commitment. The paper explores whether differential relationships exist between internal and external networking behavior with three types of organizational commitment.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Impact of lean practices on performance measures in context to Indian machine tool industry	[ "Lean production", "Lean" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Indian manufacturing industry has in recent years, flourished and displayed \"extra-ordinary\" growth capabilities. This has become possible mainly because of improvement in living standards of the Indian middle class and increase in their disposable income. Certain liberalization steps taken by the Government of India, such as reduction of tariffs on imports, and refining the banking policies, have played an equally important role in bringing the Indian manufacturing industry to greater heights. But the manufacturing sector growth has largely been eclipsed by the growth in automobile sector. This can be attributed to large number of foreign collaborations and the quality revolution in automobile industry. According to Automotive Components Manufacturers Association (ACMA, n.d.), India is fastest growing passenger car market in Asia, second largest two-wheeler market and the largest three-wheeler market in the world. Some automobile component manufacturers such as Lucas-TVS Ltd and Rane (Madras) Ltd have received the prestigious Deming Grand Prize for quality excellence. On other hand, India ranks 16th in production and 11th in the consumption of machine tools in the world (IMTMA, n.d.). The country is yet to emerge as a key player in the global machine tools industry though it is likely to see substantial high-end machine tool manufacturing in coming years. The Indian Machine tool Industry has around 1,000 units all over the country, engaged in the production of machine tools, accessories/attachments, subsystems and parts (IMTMA, n.d.). Of these, around 20 are in the large scale sector which account for 70 percent of the turnover. The rest, fall in the SME sector of the industry. Approximately, 75 percent of the Indian machine tool producers are ISO certified.\n2. Literature review: Production competence leads to improved business performance. Production competence is the preparedness, skill or capability that enables manufacturers to prosecute a product-market specific business strategy (Schmenner et al., 2009; Schmenner and Vastag, 2006). With competition getting ever more intense, the organizations realized that the quality consciousness alone would not guarantee sustained business growth and started exploring the lean concepts (Corbett, 2011).\n3. Research methodology: The main objective of the research was the identification of useful criteria which greatly influence the performance measures in the machine tool industry. For this, a survey questionnaire was adapted from similar research carried out in the automobile industry (Sharma et al., 2008; Sahay et al., 2011). The questionnaire was developed in English, as it is the most commonly used official language for written communication in private sector companies. The reliability and validity of survey instrument was established. The respondents were asked to rate on a five-point scale to measure the lean supply chain criteria in the questionnaire. The basic framework of research is shown in Figure 1.\n4. Factor analysis: In this research, factor analysis was employed to access the validity of proposed model constructs. Hair et al. (2006) defines factor analysis as generic name given to a class of multivariate statistical methods whose primary purpose is to define the underlying structure in a data matrix. According to Cooper and Schindler (2003), factor analysis is a computational technique employed for reducing to a manageable number, many variables that belong together and have overlapping measurement characteristics. Factor analysis constructs a new set of variables based on relationship in the correlation matrix. While this can be done in a number of ways, the most frequently used approach is principal components analysis. This method transforms a set of variables into a new set of variables or principal components that are not correlated with each other. These linear combination of variables, called factors, account for variance in the data as a whole. The best linear combination makes up the first principal component and is the first factor. The second principal component is defined as the best linear combination of variables for explaining the variance not accounted for by the first factor. Thus, there may be a third, fourth and kth component, each being the best linear combination of variables not accounted for by the previous factors. The process is continued until all the variance is accounted for or may be stopped after a small number of factors have been extracted.\n5. Hypotheses: The key performance indicators for machine tool supply chains were developed in consultation with industry practitioners. Researchers suggest that financial indicators such as cost saving and profits should not be the only criteria for performance measurement rather a balanced approach considering customer expectations, business process perspective and learning perspective too should be used to develop the key performance indicators for any industry type. Thus, a balanced score card was developed and listed in Table VIII.\n6. Discussion: All the six hypotheses tested to study the impact of lean practices on various key performance indicators were not rejected. This analysis supports the assertion that lean production practices influence performance measures of quality and competitive potential of Indian machine tool supply chains.\n7. Conclusion: The aim of this research was to investigate key lean production practices of Indian machine tool value chains and to determine the practices that can have significant impact on key performance measures. For this, a survey questionnaire was adapted from similar research carried out in automobile industry and reliability was checked using Cronbach's a method. Responses were collected from machine tool firms of India. Using exploratory factor analysis the number of lean production practices was reduced to 17 factors from 72. Stepwise multiple regression models brought out several lean value chain criteria that can have significant positive impact on key performance measures in machine tool supply chains. Thus, the research makes use of scientific methodology to put forth results of survey carried out to comprehend the lean implementation practices in the Indian machine tool industry. The methodology can be adopted by researcher for further research. Such outcomes highlight the significance of lean implementation throughout the machine tool value chain as a strategy to improve quality performance and competitive potential. Though, there exists some studies on lean implementation by the Indian machine tool firms (Eswaramoorthi et al., 2011), there discussion is limited to examining the extent or level to which lean practices have been adopted and the ranking the hurdles faced in lean implementation. Our research goes a step further to highlight the relationship between lean practices and key performance measures of the machine tool industry thus bringing out those critical lean practices that can significantly affect the key performance measures of this industry. The study can be used to encourage the non-adopter to implement those critical lean practices that can positively affect key performance indicators.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of lean production practices on performance measures in machine tool industry and determines the lean criteria that can have significant positive impact on performance.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The research paper presents a blend of theoretical framework and practical applications. Extant literature was reviewed and to achieve the research objectives, an exploratory survey was carried out in machine tool supply chains located in the national capital region of India. Reliability test, factor analysis and stepwise multiple regression analysis bring out several lean criteria that can affect key performance measures.\nFindings: It was found that two lean criteria, namely, strategic partnership with suppliers and cross-functional cross-organizational design and development teams significantly influenced most of the key performance measures. Some lean criteria were found to negatively affect the overall competitive potential of machine tool firms.\nOriginality/value: The findings can encourage the management of non-adopter firms to adopt lean thinking and to select the lean production criteria that can be implemented to have significant positive impact on key performance indicators in machine tool value chains. This study is perhaps among the first few that focus on machine tool industry in India. The paper provides useful insights to the lean production implementers, consultants and researchers.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Executive options with inflated equity prices	[ "Fraud", "Behavioural finance", "CEO pay", "Executive compensation", "Options" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: [...] in the context of overvalued equity such equity-based incentives are like throwing gasoline on a fire - they make the problem worse, not better (Jensen, 2005, p. 14).\n2. Naive shareholder model: 2.1 Assumptions and definitions[1]\n3. Rational shareholders: This section modifies the model to assume that shareholders are rational instead of naive. Shareholders correctly anticipate managerial manipulation and adjust their expectation of the intermediate share price downward. Figure 2 summarizes the sequence of the game with shareholders forming rational expectations.\n4. Summary of results: 4.1 Comparative statics\n5. Conclusion: This simple model of optimal options compensation when the CEO can manipulate the share price has generated a rich set of empirical predictions. Most of these predictions summarized in Section 4 and Table I have not been formally tested to the authors' knowledge. Unlike any other study to our knowledge, we derive closed-form solutions to the optimal options packages for manipulative CEOs when the CEO can hype the stock price. As far as we know, most of the results about the optimal options compensation under these conditions have never been addressed by any other study. We have solved for the optimal options packages when intermediate investors are naively optimistic about the share price (as during a bubble or when they have rational expectations about the extent of share price hype).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to solve the optimal managerial compensation problem when shareholders are either naively optimistic or rational.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper uses applied game theory to derive the optimal CEO compensation package with over optimistic shareholders.\nFindings: The results suggest that boards of directors should decrease option grants to CEOs when equity is likely to be irrationally overvalued at the date when the CEO's options vest.\nResearch limitations/implications: The implications of the model are consistent with the available empirical evidence. In addition, the model generates new testable predictions about managerial stock price manipulation, the number of options granted, and the magnitude of the options' strike prices that have not yet been formally tested.\nOriginality/value: This is the only paper to derive closed-form solutions to optimal CEO compensation when shareholders are naively optimistic.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Cautiousness on convergence of accounting standards across countries	[ "Accounting regulation", "Convergence", "Harmonization", "IFRS", "Standard setters", "US GAAP" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The convergence of accounting standards across countries is a topic that has received increasing worldwide attention from standard setters, regulators, public officials, investors, analysts, corporate preparers, accountants, auditors, academics and, finally, financial statement users.\nCorporate communication and financial reporting: Corporate communication is \"an indispensable process used by successful corporation to manage a number of crucial relationships\" (Goodman and Hirsch, 2010, p. 15). Goodman (2000, p. 69) defines \"corporate communication\" as \"the total of a corporation's efforts to communicate effectively and profitably.\"\nMain accounting standards and convergence efforts: The recent past has witnessed an \"accounting revolution\" or \"paradigm shift,\" characterized by two important aspects: the first relates to the governance of accounting regulation, in terms of the shifting of sovereignty from national regulatory institutions to a largely unaccountable transnational private body; the second relates to the substance of accounting regulation, in terms of principles and objectives that inform accounting standardization (Muller, 2014).\nBenefits of a single set of accounting standards: The comparability of financial statements regarding firms from different countries and the accounting transparency facilitate cross-border investment and the integration of capital markets (Aggarwal et al., 2005). According to Sunder (2009), a single set of high-quality standards of financial statements should theoretically improve financial information and comparability, thus helping investors and other users of financial reporting make better decisions. In theory, if investors need to learn only one set of accounting standards, they are better able to understand financial reports from firms in different countries, as financial reports are easier to understand and compare (Barth and Shipper, 2008; Bradshaw and Miller, 2008). However, globally comparable financial statements are hampered by varying economic, political and cultural backgrounds of firms adopting a single set of accounting standards.\nCompetition vs monopoly in accounting standards: The aforementioned solution, requiring firms to use a set of uniform accounting standards, does not necessarily lead to improved comparability. Indeed, a single set of accounting standards not always guarantees an effective comparability of financial reporting, because differences in underlying institutional environments can considerably influence reported results (Ball et al., 2003; Hail et al., 2010a; Lang et al., 2006).\nAccounting quality and differences between IFRS and US GAAP: The major differences between IFRS and US GAAP are summarized in Tables I, II, III and IV, which exhibit only some examples of differences with regard to balance sheet, income statement, statement of cash flows and revenue recognition, respectively. A more detailed analysis can be found in useful publications (e.g. Deloitte, 2015; Grant Thornton, 2015; Ernst and Young, 2013; PricewaterhouseCoopers, 2015) and also in the staff paper (titled \"A comparison of US GAAP and IFRS\") issued by the Staff of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (2011a).\nConclusion: This study discusses the standard-setting process, investigating whether having a single set of accounting standards around the world is a desirable outcome and could benefit firms, investors and other stakeholders.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide an updated picture of the convergence process between International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and United States Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (US GAAP), with IFRS clearly emerging as a global financial reporting benchmark. This study is aimed at evaluating the main benefits but also some significant issues arising from the adoption of a single set of accounting standards.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The main examples of theoretical and empirical literature for and against IFRS implementation are reviewed.\nFindings: Since markets became increasingly global, the comparability of financial statements is required to enable better corporate communication and transparency to the advantage of all stakeholders. The main difficulties of IFRS adoption by the USA are explored.\nPractical implications: The study's implications are to emphasize the practical obstacles to resolving the issues of financial communication through a uniform set of standards, by highlighting the importance of taking into account other dynamics in improving the corporate disclosure domestically and globally.\nOriginality/value: The key contribution of this study is to reflect on the best ways to reach global communication without sacrificing the effectiveness and affordability of financial reporting.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Lean Six Sigma implementation and organizational culture	[ "Six Sigma", "Lean thinking", "Improvement models", "Organizational culture", "Quality improvement", "Change management" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Faced with increasing costs, reduced reimbursements and a need to reduce medical errors, hospital managers are searching for methods that reduce costs while improving patient care. Managers in several hospitals have implemented Lean Six Sigma with the anticipation that the approach will reduce medical errors and subsequently control costs (Chassin, 2013). Several studies identify the significant influence culture has on successful quality initiatives (Rad, 2006). Carnell (2004) showed that without considering culture and without creating an organization-wide empowerment atmosphere combined with accountability, Lean Six Sigma will be merely a rote by-the-numbers activity performed by disinterested employees. This study's purpose was to examine how Lean Six Sigma implementation in hospitals, including key components such as management involvement, statistical methods and an effective organizational infrastructure, relates to four organizational cultural types in the Competing Values Framework: group; developmental; rationale; and hierarchical. This research helps us to understand what hospital staff are using to improve service quality and overall organizational performance, and provides an opportunity to examine the role that organizational culture has on successful Six Sigma implementation. This information will assist hospital managers who are considering implementing quality initiatives by providing an understanding of what cultural values correspond with successful Lean Six Sigma implementation. If managers understand the quality initiative cultural underpinnings and are attentive to the influence of culture-shared values and norms then the initiative is more likely to succeed.\nResearch method: The study's independent variables were organizational cultural types, measured by the Competing Values Framework through participant responses to 24 questions included in the survey's organizational culture section. The dependent variables were Lean Six Sigma implementation key elements: senior management support; Lean Six Sigma infrastructure; and using Lean Six Sigma methods. The scores for these variables were calculated from responses to a questions about how respondents perceive their organization regarding implementing each component. The scores ranged from 1 (very low utilization) to 5 (very high utilization).\nResults: In total, 104 healthcare professionals completed the questionnaire; 55 responders were quality managers and 49 were human resource managers. In total, 22 responses were from Maine; 21 from New Hampshire, 11 from Vermont, 42 from Massachusetts and eight from Rhode Island. In total, 42 percent of responders were from hospitals with one to 99 beds; 29 percent from hospitals with 100 to 249 beds, 17 percent, 250 to 400 beds and 12 percent from hospitals more than 400 beds. Responses-based hospital size and employee count were 6 percent from hospitals with one to 200 employees; 26 percent, 201 to 500 employees; 30 percent, 501 to 1,200 employees; and 38 percent were 1,200 employees or more. Most hospitals (92 percent) had quality management initiatives in place; 35 percent using a Lean Six Sigma variation. Among Lean Six Sigma organizations, 73 percent had used Lean Six Sigma for less than two years; 22 percent, three to five years; and 5 percent more than five years.\nDiscussion: The findings demonstrated a significant interaction with Lean Six Sigma management support, group and developmental cultural types. The findings did not support the research question regarding a significant interaction between the rational culture and Six Sigma methods. The findings did not support the research question regarding a significant interaction with the hierarchical culture and Lean Six Sigma infrastructure. Findings showed that organization managers who emphasized group culture were more likely to initiate a successful quality initiative. These findings were consistent with Mrowoski (2001) in a study conducted among healthcare providers. Dellana and Hauser (1999) also found that group culture had a positive relationship with leadership. The group culture emphasizes flexibility and cohesion. There is a sense of togetherness, teamwork and participation is encouraged in this cultural type. Employee involvement is emphasized and decision making is moved to the individual performing the work. These cultural characteristics are consistent with the assumptions built into Lean Six Sigma.\nImplications: Our study and previous studies indicate that characteristics associated with group culture, such as collaboration, involvement and learning are key factors for an effective Six Sigma implementation. Particularly significant is the reaction that occurred with group culture and management support. The group culture leadership style involves collaboration and employee involvement. Leaders are mentors who focus on developing strong relationships with organization members. Organizational leaders considering implementing Six Sigma might be well focus on thorough employee-training and involving them as much as logistically possible in the initiative. Frequent and bi-directional communication about the initiative will help employees to understand and commit to using Lean Six Sigma practices.\nLimitations: Our study has several limitations. One involved measuring organizational culture. Schein (2010) described organizational culture as complex and maintained that measuring through an inventory is not easy to accomplish and that responses only reflect personal attitudes. Another limitation was that only two individuals were surveyed in each hospital; i.e., one human resource and quality manager from sample organizations. Using only two participants from each organization may not be sufficient to reflect organization culture. The inventory's personal attitude aspects could be a potential study limitation. The individuals responding to the survey may have believed that quality is an important standard to achieve and might have been actively involved in implementing quality initiatives in their organization. Participant responses could have been skewed as they might have wanted to reflect a positive image.\nRecommendations: While culture is deep-seated and difficult to change, there are strategies that leaders can use to help influence culture. One key way to influence culture is determining what to pay attention to and what to measure. Another important means is deliberate role modeling, teaching and coaching that is conducted by organization leaders. The personal example modeled by the senior leader accompanied with teaching and coaching helps employees to internalize the desired values. As our findings indicate, the leadership style, promoting a shared vision, providing support and breaking down barriers in departments by promoting cross-functional collaboration will be particularly effective throughout the process.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between four organizational cultural types defined by the Competing Values Framework and three Lean Six Sigma implementation components - management involvement, use of Lean Six Sigma methods and Lean Six Sigma infrastructure.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study involved surveying 446 human resource and quality managers from 223 hospitals located in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts and Rhode Island using the Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument.\nFindings: In total, 104 completed responses were received and analyzed using multivariate analysis of variance. Follow-up analysis of variances showed management support was significant, F(3, 100)=4.89, p\nPractical implications: The relationship between organizational culture and Lean Six Sigma in hospitals provides information on how specific cultural characteristics impact the Lean Six Sigma initiative key components. This information assists hospital staff who are considering implementing quality initiatives by providing an understanding of what cultural values correspond to effective Lean Six Sigma implementation.\nOriginality/value: Managers understanding the quality initiative cultural underpinnings, are attentive to the culture-shared values and norm's influence can utilize strategies to better implement Lean Six Sigma.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Competitive advantage through innovation: the case of Nespresso	[ "New technology", "Innovation", "Diffusion", "Business strategy", "Competitive advantage", "Intellectual property" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nStructure of the case: This case is organized as follows. First, the food and beverage market is introduced. Second, an overview of customer behavior in this particular market is given. Next, Nespresso's unique strategic approach and business development are presented and analyzed. Finally, the authors discuss whether the Nespresso concept can be considered (as) an innovation, and whether it can serve as a foundation for long-term competitive advantage.\nRedefining customer value: The food and beverage industry has a modest growth rate of 3 percent and is highly competitive, with powerful retailers, low consumer loyalty, low-profit margins, and frequently, mass market sales (Hungenberg, 2012; Reuters, 2012). Successful firms in this industry often must apply cost and price leadership strategies to live up to the expectations of price sensitive customers. Consequently, companies operating in this market are therefore constantly under pressure to reduce costs and prices.\nA new way of drinking espresso - the Nespresso strategy: Nespresso developed a clear concept that successfully positioned its brand in the market. The company managed to upgrade espresso to a lifestyle product and turned the common process of drinking coffee into an experience. For sure, espresso has long been a lifestyle product in many countries such as Italy; but in a cafe or restaurant, not at home. The company's vision has been to convince customers that with a Nespresso machine and its capsules, they can enjoy the type of premium coffee at home that they would otherwise only get in cafeterias or coffee bars in Italy (Nestle, 2014).\nFrom a difficult start to tremendous growth - the history of Nespresso: Nespresso's market approach has not always been successful. It took Nespresso more than ten years to develop its fruitful product (Markides and Oyon, 2000). The first patents for the innovative coffee preparation system were developed in the 1970s. Back then, Nespresso was still under the umbrella of the Nestle group. In 1986, Nestle actually founded the Nespresso SA. The company first tried to enter the market for restaurants and office coffeemakers. This attempt, however, was ineffective and almost put the company out of business. The firm believed that once people tried Nespresso at their office, they would buy a machine for their home. However, this strategy did not work. In 1988, Jean-Paul Gaillard joined Nestle highly motivated to join the Nespresso unit and save the project from crisis. As Commercial Director and later CEO of Nespresso, he introduced the strategy that eventually brought enormous success to the company (Markides and Oyon, 2000).\nIs Nespresso really an innovation case?: An invention becomes an innovation when it is successfully commercialized. According to Hauschildt and Salomo (2011) and Vahs and Brem (2013), innovations can be classified based on the following dimensions: trigger, area, change, and novelty.\nInnovation as a source of competitive advantage: The main challenge for companies is to \"achieve competitive advantage through acts of innovation\" (Porter, 1990, p. 75). Porter further states that using new technologies and doing things differently is necessary to achieve competitive advantage. The resource-based view of the firm emphasizes the importance of a firm's core competencies (Wernerfelt, 1984). Such competencies have the potential to create a competitive advantage and therefore companies must identify core competencies, how they can make use of them, and the value creation that can be achieved through this process. Additionally, the value, rarity, imitability, organization (VRIO) framework, introduced by Barney (1991), is used by firms to analyze their resources and capabilities to determine if the firm has a competitive advantage. Regarding the VRIO framework, a valuable resource/capability enables the firm to implement strategies that improve efficiency and effectiveness, and allows the company to exploit opportunities or neutralize external threats. A resource/capability is considered rare if the number of firms that possess it is less than the number of firms needed to generate perfect competition dynamics. Resources/capabilities that cannot be imitated are created from unique historical conditions, social complexity in a company, and/or casual ambiguity. Finally, regarding the VRIO framework, the organization aspect refers to whether the company is organized, ready, and able to exploit the resource/capability. Strategic success also depends on strategic leadership with clear communication of the company's vision, successful alignment of the strategy, and the ability to change the approach. Therefore, managers with high leadership competence can be a powerful core competency as well (Figure 3).\nHow sustainable is the innovation and the competitive advantage?: Until now, Nespresso's business model has shown a high level of value creation (Matzler et al., 2013). However, the future is less certain with the expiry of strategically important patents. Nespresso's intellectual property for many parts of its system is no longer protected; the patents have either already expired or will soon do so. This has led to its market share decreasing from 32 percent in 2010 to 27 percent today (Revill, 2012). Especially, the expiration of its capsule patents has led to a high number of imitators that have been penetrating the market and offering a massive range of capsules compatible to Nespresso machines (Revill, 2012). Unlike the original Nespresso capsules, imitator capsules can be purchased in a variety of retail stores and at a lower price. Customers who do not attach value to buying high-quality espresso capsules in Nespresso's stylish retail boutiques may see value in the convenience of buying lower priced espresso capsules in common grocery stores. These factors make imitator capsules real substitutes for Nespresso products. Imitator capsules are being made by regional brands in many countries, such as Denner in Switzerland Rewe in Germany, and Walmart in the USA.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe how Nespresso achieved competitive advantage through innovation by changing the rules of the game in its industry.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Nespresso was analyzed based on public available secondary data, in combination with related academic concepts on innovation and competitive advantage.\nFindings: The company succeeded by the thorough application of a strategy that, through perfect alignment, allowed the company to reach a unique market position. However, as described in the case, it took a relatively long time and the company came close to failure several times. Before the current situation of the company, it remains challenging in the future as well. Hence, the Nespresso story provides interesting space for discussion and learning about what innovation is, how innovation emerges, and under which circumstances innovation can serve as a source for competitive advantage.\nResearch limitations/implications: Especially given the current market situation, the case offers different starting points for discussion about innovation and long-term company success.\nPractical implications: Especially before the current market situation, the case offers different starting points for discussion about innovation and the success of a company on the long term. The case is designed to give practitioners a better understanding on what an innovation as, and how competitive advantages can be linked to innovation.\nOriginality/value: This case of Nespresso is a unique combination of the concepts of innovation and competitive advantage. It serves as an example of an innovation, which was not successful from the scratch, but evolved over time and is still developing. As many innovations went through such a non-linear process, this case offers interesting lessons learned for academics as well as for practitioners.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The mediating role of knowledge integration in effect of leadership styles on enterprise systems success: The post-implementation stage	[ "Leadership styles", "Knowledge integration", "Enterprise Systems’ success", "ES post-implementation stage" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: This paper attempts to fill the gap in knowledge and practice by offering a theoretical model of KI as a mediator between different leadership styles and Enterprise Systems (ES) success, particularly in the ES post-implementation stage. As far as we are aware, the proposed model is the first effort to empirically investigate leadership styles, namely, the transformational and transactional leadership styles, and the need to adopt KI in the ES post-implementation stage.\n2. Theoretical foundation: This section briefly reviews the theories used in this research in relation to ES success, leadership styles, and KI mechanisms.\n3. Hypotheses development: Drawing from the extant literature, we derived five research hypotheses as described in this section.\n4. Research design and method: We employed structural equation modeling (SEM) by using the path modeling SEM (PLS-SEM) approach and the SPSS statistical tool to investigate the underlying relationships between the variables in order to validate our hypotheses. Our unit of analysis was the individual level. Figure 2 illustrates our research design diagram. Steps 1, 2, and 3 in the research design have been discussed above. In this section, we discuss Step 4 in more detail.\n5. Discussion: The importance of nurturing KI in organizations has been postulated by many researchers (Grant, 1996a; Newell et al., 2004; Vie, 2012) and we have empirically proved the reputation of KI as a powerful tool for leaders when managing the ES post-implementation stage. The evidence from the analysis also showed that both leadership styles need full support from KI mechanisms in order to achieve a positive impact from the ES. The findings also indicate that 64.4 percent of the variance was explained by KI mechanisms. Meanwhile, 49.4 percent of the variance was explained by ES success. This phenomenon shows that the active role of KI mechanisms in the ES post-implementation stage should not be ignored by the management, especially the leaders who are directly involved with the ES. Sedera and Gable (2010), Haddad (2008), and Newell et al. (2004) postulated the importance of implementing KI while handling complex tasks in IS, and we empirically proved that it was important to implement KI mechanisms such as rules and directives and organization routines in the ES post-implementation stage in the investigated companies. The organization should focus on conducting routine discussions or meetings to discuss any ES problems and ES future directions with the key ES personnel. In addition, leaders should monitor the rules for job rotations and information audits in order to make sure all subordinates are well equipped with sufficient knowledge to operate the ES and that the ES information is up-to-date.\n6. Conclusion: Building on leadership theory, the knowledge-based theory of the firm and ES success dimension theory, this positivist study offers a useful theoretical model for examining the impact of KI as a mediator of two leadership styles toward ES success in the post-implementation stage. The study also makes a contribution to theory and practice. This study can serve as a foundation for future research which could gainfully investigate each of the sub-items of the formative leadership styles separately as reflective constructs. This approach can be used to investigate which sub-items of the leadership styles are more likely to promote the use of KI mechanisms. Future research can also investigate the role of KI mechanisms as moderators between both leadership styles. The findings of the study can also be expanded by looking in-depth at other leadership styles.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to show empirically how knowledge management, particularly knowledge integration (KI), acts as a mediator between different leadership styles and Enterprise Systems (ES) success. It proposes a model of KI as a mediator between two leadership styles (the transformational and transactional leadership styles). The study also aims to expose the most relevant leadership styles to be practiced by leaders when managing the ES post-implementation stage.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Valid data were collected from 263 survey respondents in Malaysian companies. The authors employed structural equation modelling and used the path modelling approach to investigate the underlying relationships between the variables. The authors then tested the mediating effects of KI by using the bootstrapping procedures proposed by Preacher and Hayes, which suits the path analysis method.\nFindings: The results provide empirical evidence on the relationships between the variables and on the role of KI mechanisms as a mediator between leadership styles and ES success, especially in the ES post-implementation phase. Both leadership styles have to be practiced by leaders while managing an ES.\nResearch limitations/implications: Future research can investigate the role of KI mechanisms as moderators between both leadership styles. The study can also be expanded by looking in-depth at other leadership styles.\nPractical implications: This paper is useful for management researchers and as a guide to management practice for business managers.\nOriginality/value: This paper proposes a model that examines the vitality of KI effect in ES post-implementation stage by different leadership styles. The results expose the importance of leaders' adoption of KI mechanisms and call for manager attention to the importance of using the right leadership styles when managing ES.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The correlation and volatility between bitcoin and the blockchain index	[ "Bitcoin", "Blockchain index", "Granger causality test", "GARCH-class model", "Volatility" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The electronic and virtualization of currency has accelerated the development of digital currency and bitcoin has attracted the attention of various industries. On June 18, 2019, the launch of the Libra White Paper, which is Facebook's encrypted currency, triggered another boom in bitcoin investments. In addition, what worth noting is that blockchain technology is the underlying technology that ensures that bitcoins operate normally (Yuan and Wang, 2016). Blockchain technology combines peer-to-peer with block technology, enabling people to trust the cooperation between two sides without the supervision of a central authority (He et al., 2017). Blockchain technology has become the goal of enterprise informatization construction, resulting in investors gradually paying close attention to the blockchain concept stocks.\n2. Literature review: 2.1 Literature reviews on influencing factors of bitcoin price\n3. Research hypothesis: When the price of bitcoin increases or decreases, along with the propaganda effect of the network media, investors in the market for the short term may be highly concerned about some blockchain concept stocks and may affect their yield. For the blockchain sector, the blockchain application industry has been expanding, injecting new ideas into the traditional industry. Therefore, driven by the news of the bitcoin price increase, many investors have gradually begun to pay attention to the blockchain concept and generate speculative demand. However, given the uncertainty of blockchain technology, the news of bitcoin price declines has a negative impact on investors. In contrast, because the blockchain is the underlying technical support for bitcoin, we expect that the rise and fall of the blockchain index will also affect bitcoin price fluctuations. Therefore, the following assumptions are proposed.\n4. Data source and preprocess: 4.1 Data source\n5. Data analysis and results: 5.1 Basic description\n6. Conclusions and discussions: 6.1 Conclusions\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The encrypted money market has attracted the attention of investors all over the world. Among the encrypted currency, bitcoin is undoubtedly the most popular. Because blockchain technology is the crucial support of bitcoin, exploring the relationship between bitcoin and the blockchain index is necessary.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper uses the Granger causality test to explore the correlation between bitcoin and the blockchain index. Furthermore, their volatility is analyzed by a GARCH-class model.\nFindings: The results show that no significant correlation exists between bitcoin and the blockchain index; external shocks aggravate the volatility of bitcoin and the blockchain index, and the volatility has a certain degree of sustainability; and blockchain index has obvious leverage, namely, its decline has a stronger impact.\nOriginality/value: The volatility of bitcoin and the blockchain index is crucial for investors.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Self-sacrifice and transformational leadership: mediating role of altruism	[ "Transformational leadership", "Altruism", "Group dynamics" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Organizations are increasingly focusing on developing transformational leadership in their managers because it leads to better organizational performance (Waldman et al., 2001). One variable that enhances transformational leadership is the display of self-sacrificial behaviors by the leader (Choi and Mai-Dalton, 1999; De Cremer and van Knippenberg, 2002, 2004; Halverson et al., 2004; van Knippenberg and van Knippenberg, 2005; Yorges et al., 1999). Studies suggest that leaders' self-sacrificial behaviors influence followers by inciting norms of reciprocity (Choi and Mai-Dalton, 1999), by projecting leaders as role models (Shamir et al., 1993) and, by demonstrating the personal importance that leaders themselves attach to the vision (Avolio and Locke, 2003).\nTheory and hypotheses: Transformational leadership\nStudy 1: Method\nStudy 2: The first study used survey method and measured all the variables at the same time. Hence, it could not establish causality, though the generalizability of findings is strength of the study. The second study aimed at demonstrating causality and used a scenario method. Since generalizability of findings was not a concern, a sample of students was used for Study 2.Method\nDiscussion: The results provide evidence regarding the mediating role of altruism in the relationship between self-sacrifice and transformational leadership. The scenario experiment made an important contribution by showing that self-sacrifice and altruism can be operationalized as two independent constructs as argued by Choi and Mai-Dalton (1998; 1999). Earlier studies generated evidence of the effectiveness of leader self-sacrifice in comparison with the leader self-benefiting behavior (De Cremer and van Knippenberg, 2002; Yorges et al., 1999). As pointed out by van Knippenberg and van Knippenberg (2005), these findings do not provide ground for concluding that self-sacrifice per se impacts transformational leadership. The present study has shown that self-sacrifice (\"merely giving up\") fulfils itself through altruism (\"concern for others\"), which leads to enhanced perception of transformational leadership. Perhaps, the motives behind self-sacrifice of the leader raise attributions of charisma among followers.The findings of this study add to the body of knowledge by showing that though self-sacrifice has a relationship with transformational leadership, the relationship is mediated by altruism. This study indicates that followers consider their supervisors as transformational because of \"the motive\" (as measured through altruism). The reason for this could be that altruism is about the whole personality of the leader, as opposed to self-sacrifice, which focuses on just \"personal giving-up\" of the leader. \"Motives\" behind action taken by leaders are perceived as important by followers (Ames et al., 2004). If followers perceive that the leader's action was because of role obligation or some cost-benefit analysis - and not motivated out of concern for them - their intention of continuing the interaction as well as reciprocity would be less than what it would have been had the action arisen out of affect (concern for the followers).This study also provides support for the claim by Kanungo and Mendonca (1996) that a transformational leader is essentially a person with moral convictions and values. If organizations wish to see their managers become transformational, they would be better off by addressing the whole personality of the manager. If managers have altruistic personality, their chances of being seen as transformational are enhanced.With respect to collective identity, this study provides support to the earlier theories (Shamir et al., 1993), which claim that transformational leadership enhances collective identity among followers. When leaders are modeling the importance of cooperative behaviors over personal interests, through helping behaviors and personal sacrifices, they are likely to be seen as more transformational, thereby promoting similar behaviors among the followers and enhancing the salience of collective self-concept. Under transformational leadership, followers' perception of successful unit performance is also demonstrated.Limitations\nConclusion: Organizations are continuously looking for newer ways to develop their managers' transformational leadership abilities and to help employees feel that they belong to the organization. This paper provides one model of how this can be achieved through interventions initiated from the leader angle. The study addresses the relationship between leader motives, behaviors, transformational leadership, and unit-level outcomes. Specifically, it shows that it is likely that followers will attribute high transformational qualities to altruistic supervisors. By offering support and guidance to subordinates, altruistic leaders could elicit similar behaviors from the subordinates, thus creating a culture that promotes caring and helping behavior. The results of the study make it possible to conclude that other-orientedness (altruism) of a manager enhances transformational leadership, which in turn leads to higher collective identity and unit performance. Self-sacrifice could be a good starting point in this chain of events.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - To explore the mediating role of altruism in the relationship between self-sacrifice and transformational leadership, and to look at the effect of all three on followers' collective identity and perceptions of unit performance.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - For Study 1, survey responses were collected from 127 managers in India. They answered questions on their leader's self-sacrifice, altruism, and transformational leadership, and on their own collective identity and perceptions of unit performance. Study 2 used a scenario experiment and 161 students to manipulate self-sacrifice and altruism and measure their effects on transformational leadership, collective identity and perceived unit performance.\nFindings: - It is possible to distinguish between self-sacrifice and altruism empirically. Altruism mediates the relationship between self-sacrifice and transformational leadership. Transformational leadership is positively related to followers' collective identity and perceived unit performance.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Common source bias may have affected the findings. Use of student sample in Study 2 limits the generalizability of findings.\nPractical implications: - Other-orientedness (altruism) of a manager enhances transformational leadership, which in turn leads to higher collective identity and perceived unit performance. Self-sacrifice could be a good starting point in this chain of events.\nOriginality/value: - Studies have shown that self-sacrifice enhances transformational leadership. This paper highlights the mediating process through altruism. This is the first empirical study to look at the relationship between altruism and transformational leadership. This is also the first study to look at self-sacrifice and altruism simultaneously.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Influence of interpersonal and institutional trusts on welfare state support revisited: Evidence from 27 post-communist nations	[ "Central Asia", "Caucasus", "Comparative social welfare", "Eastern and Central Europe", "International social welfare", "Interpersonal and institutional trust" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: There is growing debate about the role of interpersonal and institutional trust in explaining support for the welfare state (Dallinger, 2010; Habibov, 2014; Jaeger, 2008; Habibov et al., 2017a). Ervasti and Hjerm (2012) found that higher levels of trust are associated with strengthened support for the welfare state, while Soroka et al. (2007) reported that higher levels of trust are associated with increased support for the public provision of a wide range of welfare services. The positive effects of trust on welfare state support were found in both the high-trust Scandinavian countries (Kumlin et al., 2017) and in the relatively lower-trust USA (Roemer and Van der Straeten, 2006).\n2. Trust and welfare state support: Interpersonal trust\n3. Methodology: Data\n4. Results: Main results\n5. Discussion and conclusion: In this paper, we focus on the influence of interpersonal and institutional trust on support for the welfare state. We hypothesized that interpersonal and institutional trust will have positive influences on strengthening support for the welfare state. We tested these hypotheses on a diverse sample of 27 post-communist transitional countries by focusing on support for the needy, public healthcare and the public education domains of the welfare state. Using this sample, we confirmed that interpersonal and institutional trust do indeed have positive influences on strengthening support for the welfare state against a number of alternative explanations for public support for the welfare state. Remarkably, this positive effect remains the same for all three domains under investigation. Furthermore, the positive effect was observed both in the relatively less developed countries of the FSU and in the more advanced Eastern European countries. Moreover, the positive effects of interpersonal and institutional trust on support for the needy, public healthcare and public education grew over time.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to focus on the effects of interpersonal and institutional trust on welfare state support in the countries of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union (FSU).\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors use micro-data from two rounds of a multinational survey conducted in these countries in 2010 and 2016. The outcome variable of interest is the willingness to pay more taxes to support the welfare state. The authors define the welfare state broadly, and focus on support for three main domains of the welfare state, namely, support for the needy, public healthcare and public education. Binomial regression is used to establish influence of interpersonal and institutional trust on welfare state support.\nFindings: The authors find that both interpersonal and institutional trust have positive influences on strengthening support for the welfare state against a number of alternative explanations for public support for the welfare state. These positive effects remain the same for all three domains under investigation, namely, helping the needy, public healthcare and public education. Furthermore, these positive effects were observed both in the relatively less developed countries of the FSU and in the more developed Eastern European countries. Moreover, the positive effects of interpersonal and institutional trust on support for the needy, public healthcare and public education were found to grow over time.\nResearch limitations/implications: The findings indicate that the benefits of nurturing social capital will likely be substantial. Decision-makers, politicians, welfare state administrators and multinational founders (e.g. the UN and World Bank) should acknowledge the role played by trust in influencing the citizenry's support for the allocation of financial resources toward the development and maintenance of the welfare state. The findings imply that welfare state reforms could prove be more effective within a social context where levels of trust are high. Thus, special attention should be paid to initiatives aimed at developing strategies to build trust.\nPractical implications: Social welfare reforms in post-communist transitional countries may fail without active strategies aimed at nurturing institutional trust. One way to nurture institutional trust is through making additional efforts at enhancing the levels of accountability and transparency within a society as well as through increasing citizen engagement. Another way to build increased levels of trust is to take part in a variety of initiatives in good governance put forth by multinational initiatives.\nOriginality/value: As far as the authors know, this is the first paper which studies effect of interpersonal and institutional trust on support of the welfare state using a large and diverse sample of 27 countries over the period of five years. This is the first study which focuses on post-communist countries where trust is inherently low.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Measuring the impacts of NGO partnerships: the corporate and societal benefits of community involvement	[ "Performance measurement systems", "Corporate community involvement", "Non‐governmental organizations", "Corporate social responsibility", "Pharmaceuticals industry", "Balanced scorecard" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have become an ever more important stakeholder for corporations (e.g. Dahan et al., 2010; Hansen and Spitzeck, 2010; Spitzeck, 2009; Spitzeck and Hansen, 2010). Besides other purposes such as policy development and innovation, companies often engage in partnerships with NGOs for addressing social or environmental community needs (Ahlstrom and Sjostrom, 2005; Hansen et al., 2010). The aim of such corporate community involvement (CCI) is to improve the community's social or environmental conditions by contributing all kinds of resources (LaFrance and Lehman, 2005). Whilst the company usually contributes financial resources to the partnership, NGOs provide the necessary know-how and reputation. Researchers have stressed that it is important to guarantee both company and community benefits when involving in CCI and to measure the engagement accordingly (Hess and Warren, 2008). Not a lot of empirical studies have investigated how these benefits are measured beyond pure inputs (e.g. money spent), and how the NGO partner is involved in this process. Against this background, we want to address the following research question: how to measure the performance of NGO partnerships regarding both business and community benefits?Our paper is structured as follows: we introduce the concept of performance indicators first. Then we present an overview of the major findings of the case study at Merck Ltd, Thailand, a subsidiary of a large chemical and pharmaceutical company in Germany. Finally, we briefly discuss our results.\n2. Performance management and measurement for CCI: 2.1 The link of performance management systems and performance indicators\n3. Method: We followed a case study research strategy. The single case study was conducted at Merck Ltd, Thailand. Merck Ltd, Thailand is a local subsidiary of the German company Merck KGaA[1], a chemical and pharmaceutical company with about 40,000 employees operating in over 67 countries worldwide. Merck Ltd, Thailand (in the following simply \"Merck\"; when speaking of the headquarter we will refer to \"Merck Group\") is the local subsidiary selling to the Thai market. We have chosen Merck Ltd because it has been recognized by the local government, business initiatives, and academia for its leadership in NGO collaboration dedicated to CCI (e.g. Hansen et al., 2009, 2010; Kaufmann et al., 2008) and can thus be considered an \"extreme\" case (Yin, 2003).For data collection, we used triangulation of various data sources (Yin, 2003). First, data collection covered semi-structured interviews, corporate disclosures, and other publications from the public domain. Second, in the sense of action research (Greenwood and Levin, 2007), one of the researchers collected a huge amount of informal data through the participation in workshops, meetings, discussions etc. (Huxham and Vangen, 2003). The research was executed from May to August 2008.\n4. Findings: We present the case study findings in the following structure: first, we present Merck's approach to CSR and corporate strategy. Second, we give details on the CCI programs. Third, we show how CCI has been incorporated into formal corporate strategy. Last but not least, we present the measurement approach taken by the company.4.1 CSR strategy\n5. Discussion and conclusion: Prior research focused solely on key performance indicators (KPIs) measuring business impacts of CCI and, if community benefits were evaluated, this had been done at best on input level (e.g. Weber, 2008). In contrast, our case shows that KPIs for measuring community benefits can also be developed on the output and impact level. As business organizations usually do not have the expertise to judge social and environmental progress in communities, partnering with NGOs becomes a critically capability, an observation also suggested by previous research (PLF, 1999, p. 45). Thus, these findings give a first answer to the question of how companies can measure outputs and impacts of NGO partnerships benefiting local communities (Ahlstrom and Sjostrom, 2005). At the same time, it should not be underestimated that performance evaluation from the development aid perspective taken by the NGO is much more complex than it can be reflected in a company's actual performance measurement framework. The interface between the business performance logic, on the one hand, and the performance logic used by NGOs for evaluating socio-economic development of communities, on the other, is hence an interesting alley for further research.One issue about measuring community benefits is that they are rather program-specific and, thus, it is often difficult to find a general set of indicators. Further, according to Ditz and Ranganathan (1997), a major challenge with impact indicators exists to what extent observed impacts indeed stem from the company's activities and not from other external influences (e.g. contributions of other firms to the same community). Further research might explore how companies contribute to clusters of local development (Porter and Kramer, 2011).Another insight is closely related: corporate performance measurement tools usually apply a short-term logic (quarterly, semi-annually, or yearly). However, to address community progress, longer-term metrics are necessary. At Merck, impact-level indicators for some of the CCI programs (in responsibility of the NGO partner) are scheduled with a biennial frequency. This shows that short and long-term views can be integrated in business metrics.We have shown that the measurement of NGO partnerships requires considering both business and community benefits on input, output, and impact levels. The case study, despite its limitations, shows the general practicability of such an approach. We thus recommend companies to measure their CCI activities in order to build a stronger link between the aims of their community engagement and the company's overall strategy.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper aims to address partnerships between corporations and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) dedicated to corporate community involvement (CCI). It seeks to focus on how to measure both business and community benefits derived from CCI, especially stressing the need for developing indicators beyond the input level considering outputs and impacts.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This paper follows a case study research strategy in a subsidiary of a multinational chemical and pharmaceutical company. Data collection is based on triangulation of data using interviews, action research, and documents.\nFindings: - Based on the case study presented, it was found that, when CCI is an integral part of corporate strategy, it is also possible to develop advanced performance measurement systems for CCI. Such measurement systems include input, output, and impact level metrics for both community and business benefits. Community benefits are best developed and monitored in collaboration with the NGO partner. Further, it was found that the measuring frequency partly transcends conventional reporting periods.\nPractical implications: - The research should motivate companies that engage in corporate community involvement to go beyond input-level metrics in measuring the success of such initiatives. However, in order to successfully operate a performance monitoring on output and impact levels, partnering with an NGO that has greater capability in socio-economic assessments is key.\nOriginality/value: - This paper shows how NGOs can contribute to performance measurement as part of the strategic performance management system of a corporation and how this allows for metrics beyond common input-level to address output or even impact-level metrics.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Exploring the facilities management effective rate as a useful metric	[ "Performance measures", "Benchmarking" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In the ongoing search for best in class process improvements metrics are needed upon which to measure not only oneself, but to do benchmarking (Frei and Harker, 1999; Maiga and Jacobs, 2004; Tsang et al., 1999). With an interest in process improvement, Wauters (2005) suggests that benchmarking activities should concentrate on identifying these best practices. Peschiera (2004) suggests that the act of measuring can help in seeking ways of improvement. The importance and use of metrics is best summarized by Robson (2004, p. 518) stating:In order to be useful, measurement systems have to be an integral part of a set of effective control systems that have been carefully and specifically designed to improve the overall performance.The effective rate or effective billing rate metric is offered as a useful measure for either service or manufacturing organizations, and can be used for performance comparisons when adjusting for the appropriate context. Although the effective rate is predominately a measure used in the private sector by for profit organizations, it is proposed that any organization that can set up re-charge tracking can utilize this metric whether they are public or private, non-profit or for profit.Toward this end, this paper provides a definition of the effective rate, discusses some of the influences on this metric, the importance of measuring, followed by the research methodology. The remainder of the paper focuses on the findings based on a qualitative single case study (public non-profit service organization) that not only clarifies the use of the metric, but also confirms the usefulness for a service oriented organization to measure and track longitudinal performance.\nEffective rate: Definition\nResearch methodology: To explore the usefulness of an effective rate, a case study research methodology is used. This involved the use of some qualitative methods as well as some quantitative analysis. The interplay of both techniques can help to maximize the research effort (Strauss and Corbin, 1998). In addition, the case study methodology can be used as an iterative process that provides a plausible research framework to investigate the research interest (Eisenhardt, 1989; Yin, 1981). The empirical data was obtained from an in-depth examination of practices for a single subject (public non-profit facilities management organization) case study, which allows for a more narrowly focused investigation rather than a broad overview of multiple subjects (Isaac and Michael, 1997; Merriam and Associates, 2002).The organization under study is predominately a service provider located in the Midwest region of the United States. The organization has a minimum of eight billable operating units that can be further sub-divided into work groups involving over 300 employees. Information and data for the organization goes back multiple years, and for the purpose of this study, the weighted organizational average was calculated for the past six years. This involved rolling up the effective rate numbers per work unit into an organizational average taking into account the number of employees per work group. By examining multiple years, the researcher was able to watch for any anomalies peculiar to a particular fiscal year. The findings from this examination were analyzed and compared with two notable external organizations to be discussed later.By focusing on a single organization, the unique attributes of the organization's culture can be explored. The qualitative single entity case study allows the researcher to probe into the depths of the primary focus (McCutcheon and Meredith 1993; McMillan and Schumacher, 2001). In this study, accepted practices and tolerances for allowing un-billable hours were identified along with what was controllable by the organization and what was not. The process of identifying these practices was enhanced by what Glesne (1999) suggests as increased time spent by the researcher in the research arena. This aids in overcoming the outsider effect and allows the researcher to identify as well as observe actual practices used by the organization, thus enhancing the trustworthiness of the analysis done.\nApproach and findings: The effective rate can have an influence on the facilities management organization's process for setting its recharge recovery rates (labor rates) (Guckert and King, 2004). These rates are what the organization charges for individual professional services to the customer(s) which would include the appropriate wages, benefits, overhead, and extraneous costs of the operation. These labor rates are set up to recoup sufficient funds to cover all the included costs based on the actual (projection) hours that the staff can be expected to charge back during the prescribed time period. Given the realistic staffing expectations, this is never 100 percent.In evaluating effective rates, ranges are recommended in order to take into consideration variances specific for individuals, within work units, and departments. The effective rate provides a metric for the facilities management organization to examine performance through its practices of cost recovery. The ideal theoretical range takes into account the best possible conditions for the organization, which may not be realistic. Thus, a more reasonable range with upper and lower rates is calculated allowing for more tolerance in both the sanctioned and the non-productive available billing time (Table I). The longitudinal effective rates can be calculated through an organizational weighted average and plotted (Figure 1). Although the calculation of the simple average provides some insight (central tendency), it is important to take into account the dispersion of the individual components that make up the average and consider the variance so that outliers do not over-influence the calculation (Frei and Harker, 1999; Laise, 2004). Taking into account the available data, this may not always be possible; therefore, caution may be warranted when multiple groups' individual calculations are included in the published simple average. For this reason, a weighted average calculation is recommended along with presenting the metric in an inclusive range format noting any significant variability.Since the ideal theoretical rate calculations may not be practical, looking at possible benchmarks was considered more favorable than trying to calculate the organizational stretch goal. Benchmarking is a systematic method by which an organization can compare its services and practices against peers in order to enhance performance (Goetsch and Davis, 2003; Qayoumi, 2000; Rao, 1996; Salhieh and Singh, 2003). Two challenges presented themselves in this regard. First, the organization under study is predominately a service provider rather than a manufacturer and second, how to narrow the field and identify quality organizations who do effective rate calculations for comparison purposes. Since the \"study organization\" chose the Malcolm Baldrige CPE as its means of assessment, the choice of benchmarking organizations was narrowed to Malcolm Baldrige award winners as a means to identify best in class. To expand the field of opportunity, both National Baldrige and State Baldrige award winners were included in the pool for consideration. Recognizing that there was not an exact match for the study organization, consideration was given to any award winner who does effective rate calculations and was willing to share their information. From the field, two manufacturing organizations, a National and a State winner provided sufficient information upon which to calculate adjusted effective rates for benchmarking against the study group. After adjusting their rates to take into account a common set of allowed and tolerated un-billable hours, their effective rates provide the study organization with a range for best in class stretch goal (Figure 2).Of noted interest was the disparity for allowing varying amounts of time for vacation, sick leave, training, meetings, and staff break times. Of these five groupings for un-billable hours, the training and meeting times present the paradox of lost billable hours in favor of beneficial activity for the staff and the organization. Thus, an action plan to improve upon the effective rate needs to not only consider reasonable measures for containing the use of vacation, sick leave and break times, but also find the appropriate tolerance for time spent training and attending meetings.The effective rate provides leadership with the capability to evaluate the organization's performance by examining the ability to recover expenses based on established labor rates. It allows management a means to track organizational changes internally as well as benchmark against others. If the effective rate is adjusted to take into account all appropriate influences for the specific organization, the metric can be utilized for comparison outside its primary services sector. This means that facilities management operations can compare performance with a crosscut of entities from any public or private, profit or non-profit organization group.It is imperative to recognize that the presumption that one measure fits all fails to take into consideration the unique environment in which any facilities management organization operates (Bender, 2002; Chotipanich, 2004). It is for this reason an effective rate range is recommended rather than a specific numerical value.\nLimitations: The researcher recognizes that there are possibilities of biases when the researcher is part of the organization. These biases can affect the potential to generalize findings (Merriam and Associates, 2002). There is potential for the researcher to direct the interpretation of the data as well as biasing the focus (Isaac and Michael, 1997). This is mitigated by soliciting feedback from two notable external entities who are also using effective rates.Since the selection of the external entities was not random, diverse representations for the study results are recognized as being limited. There certainly is room for additional exploration in this area given the possibilities to involve other organizations, which could add to the overall diversity. It is also recognized that the geographic demographics could be a limitation in generalizing the findings not only outside the Midwest region of the continental US, but worldwide. However, it is recognized that the research was conducted in the field with the expectation to reduce threats to external validity.Although research concentrated on a single service dominant entity, the intent was to refine the effective rate into a useful measurement tool. To help mitigate this limiting factor, contact with other organizations other than pure services operations helped to address this limitation. Even though the limited number could suggest limitations in analyzing the data, the focus was very in-depth and based on the same factors. This limitation as well as the overall findings can serve as a suggestion for further research action (Isaac and Michael, 1997).Merriam and Associates (2002) and Isaac and Michael (1997) point out that the single case study raises the issue of generalizability, but also state that much can be gained from the findings of a particular case. As a final note, because of the research methodologies (single case study), the reader is cautioned against freely generalizing these findings. In the spirit of true qualitative research, the intent is to offer the findings for possible transferability where logic and reality is justifiable.\nSummary and conclusions: The effective rate calculation (ratio of possible billable hours to actual hours billed) is offered as a means to measure the \"now performance,\" given the specific environment of the facilities management organization, thus allowing for internal longitudinal measurement and external comparisons that have been adjusted for appropriate benchmarking. This metric adds to the facilities management organization's toolbox of measurement capabilities.Many factors can influence the facilities management organization's effective rate. Most influential for a service-oriented entity is the performance of its personnel. Staff can be influenced by both internal and external factors, but one's effectiveness in contributing to the organization's overall performance can be traced to the employee's fit in the organization's culture. It behooves the facilities management organization to monitor not only the effective rate, but additional related measures such as absenteeism, training, etc. that can influence the organization's performance in its marketplace. The effective rate gives the facilities management organization insight into its performance through cost recovery practices. Although the effective rate is not a measure of productivity nor efficiency, as a performance measure it can influence the productivity, and vice versa.Caution is advised in using this metric outside of the context in which it is developed. The effective rate metric needs to be tempered with the desired philosophy of the individual facilities management organization taking into account what are tolerated un-billable activities versus desired billable hours. The value of this metric is dependent upon the use of appropriate calculations attributed to billable activity and novice users are cautioned to be careful in extrapolating meaning beyond the appropriate context.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to investigate the use of the effective rate as a useful metric. Facilities management operations who function as re-charge organizations (public or private, non-profit or profit) are able to track performance and do comparisons for expense recovery while taking into account the organization's unique environment.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - After providing a definition of the effective rate, some of the influences and the importance of measuring performance for facilities management operations are discussed. The remainder of the paper focuses on the findings based on a qualitative single case study that not only clarifies the use of the metric, but also confirms the usefulness for a service-oriented organization to measure and track performance.\nFindings: - Taking into account the unique environment of each organization along with the differences for time not billed back to the customer (un-billable), the effective rate is offered as a quantitative means to measure performance as it influences the organization's billing labor rates.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The single case study raises the issue of generalizability, but points out that much can be gained from the research. In the spirit of true qualitative research, the intent is to provide the findings allowing the reader to determine possible transferability where logic and reality is justifiable.\nPractical implications: - The effective rate, once normalized for the particular environment, can be used as a benchmark for both internal and external evaluations of performance for facilities management organizations.\nOriginality/value: - The effective rate, whether actually calculated or not, influences the organization's finances through the billing labor rate in its attempt to recover costs and can serve as a performance tracking metric.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Relational bonding strategies in the franchise industry: the moderating role of duration of the relationship	[ "Satisfaction", "Long-term orientation", "Relational bonds", "Duration of the relationship", "Franchise industry" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Franchise businesses in the USA account for 10.5 per cent of the businesses, representing 4.3 million franchise establishments, $7,658 billion in revenue and 18 million jobs (Washington Post, 2012). Significant representation of franchise operations can also be observed in many other parts of the world, including South Korea and Australia, where the franchising sector accounts for 10 and 14 per cent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP), respectively (KB Daily Knowledge Vitamin, 2012; Wright and Grace, 2011). Surprisingly, in parallel to industry growth, the failure rate of franchise operations has gone up over the years (Holmberg and Morgan, 2003) at a rate of 15 to 30 per cent (White, 2010). One of the key determinants for success in a franchise operation is how efficiently a franchisor and the franchisees can work together toward shared goals and maintain a mutually beneficial relationship. In their study that examined the franchisor-franchisee relationship and business performance, Brown and Dev (1997) report that the closer the relationship between a franchisor and the franchisees, the better the individual franchisees perform and the stronger the franchise chain becomes. It is important for franchisors to develop and manage a profitable long-term relationship with their franchisees because a continuous relationship means not only a steady stream of revenues from franchisees but also a building of economies of scale through multiple-store ownership. A franchisor-franchisee relationship is unique and somewhat different from traditional business-to-business relationships. In the franchise system, a franchisor and a franchisee are two separate legal entities, having both competing and shared goals. While the relationship bound by a legal contract requires franchisees to comply with the franchisor's rules and standards, franchisees may pursue their own interests or deviate from the rules, creating and causing conflicts. This is why many scholars have focused their research on goal-sharing and identity in the franchise system (Lawrence and Kaufmann, 2011), conflict and organizational structure (Cochet and Ehrmann, 2007; Lawrence and Kaufmann, 2010) and also the psychological traits of franchisees (Hing, 1995; Morrison, 1997). An efficient franchise system requires a collaborative franchisor-franchisee relationship and effective relationship bonding strategies. Some scholars (Zaefarian et al., 2011) argue that firms enter into business relationships to access resources held by other firms because they have limited opportunities to act independently. Based on this resource-based approach, a franchisor and its franchisees become capable of accessing and acquiring resources by entering into a relationship, and the quality of interactions becomes a critical factor for successful operation. Although there are some studies on relationship marketing in business markets, most of them focused on the manufacturing industry (Claro et al., 2003; Donaldson, and O'Toole, 2000; Fink et al., 2008; Kohtamaki and Bourlakis, 2012; Sweeney and Webb, 2007; Tao et al., 2008). Therefore, one of the unique contributions of this study is that it examines relationship marketing strategies in the service franchise industry and shows the impact of the strategies on the franchisor-franchisee relationships.\n2. Conceptual framework: 2.1 Three types of relational bonds\n3. Hypotheses: 3.1 The impact of relational bonding strategies on perceptions of utilitarian benefits\n4. Research methods: 4.1 Sample and data collection\n5. Analysis and result: 5.1 Model estimation\n6. Discussion and managerial implications: This research examined relational bonding strategies in the franchisor-franchisee relationships and the moderating role of the duration of the relationship. Unlike prior research, this study used a relationship marketing approach to examine the franchisor-franchisee relationships and showed how different types of relational bonds influence franchisees' perceptions of benefits.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to examine the effect of different relational bonding strategies on franchisees' perceptions of benefits. The duration of the relationship is framed as a moderator between three types of relational bonds and the perceived benefits.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The data are collected via a survey from foodservice franchisees in South Korea. To test the study's hypotheses, the research model was estimated with two-stage least squares.\nFindings: The result shows that social and structural bonds have a significant impact on franchisees' perceptions of benefits. There are some significant interactions between different types of relational bonds and the duration of the relationship. Perceptions of benefits are found to influence satisfaction, intentions to recommend, intentions to renew the contract and long-term orientation.\nPractical implications: The study suggests that franchisors may want to focus on developing and strengthening social bonds, and also customize their relational approaches based on the duration of the relationship with the franchisees.\nOriginality/value: This research illustrates the impact of three types of relational bonding strategies on franchisees' perceptions of the benefits and also examines the significant moderating role of the duration of the relationship.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Identifying macro-environmental critical success factors and key areas for improvement to promote public-private partnerships in infrastructure: Indonesia's perspective	[ "Critical success factors", "Indonesia", "Infrastructure", "Public-private partnership", "Importance-performance analysis", "Commitments" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The availability of reliable infrastructure facilities plays a pivotal role in boosting and sustaining economic growth in both developed and developing countries. However, acute fiscal problems faced by many governments have also been widely reported to be the major constraint on both new development and on the upgrading of deteriorating infrastructure. Thus, alternative financing sources other than public money are being sought to bridge the gap between the need and available capital resources.\nLong and winding road to future PPP: Indonesia provides excellent examples of how private infrastructure can undergo tidal fluctuations due to general factors. After the fall of Soekarno's Old Order regime (1945-1966), Indonesia saw a rapid and sustained annual economic growth rate of 6-7 percent under Soeharto's autocratic New Order regime (1966-1998). Due to this impressive economic performance, the country was predicted to be well on its way to joining the ranks of the \"Asian tigers\" - Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and South Korea (Stern, 2003).\nResearch methodology: It is worth noting that the UNESCAP tool evaluates issues pertaining to both general investment climate and PPP-specific environment. The main reason why we underscore the former in our paper is that general and specific environments address questions at two different levels. Our emphasis not only allows for a more concise and focussed treatment of data, but, from a practical point of view, it also ensures that the paper is of a reasonable length.\nData collection and analysis: The survey group was limited to only PPP-knowledgeable respondents who were affiliated with either national organizations or the Indonesian resident offices of multilateral institutions, representing non-probability purposive sampling. The list of potential respondents was compiled after collecting names of high-ranking officials and professionals from various sources, including institutions' web sites, workshops, conferences, and our networks. In the covering letters of our questionnaires, we informed the respondents about the survey background, objectives of research, guidelines, and the due date. Before the deadline approached, we reminded the respondents to fill in and send back the questionnaires.\nDiscussion: The following section will discuss the CSFs from the concentrate here quadrant in detail. The areas needing immediate improvements are all, notably, about commitments that determine the extent of which the GoI is bound to honor its promises.\nConclusion: To make PPPs work in the infrastructure sector, the host country's environment must be favorable. In this paper, we exclusively focussed our discussion on the macro environment, with Indonesia as our case study. However, the simple methodology that we offer is replicable and adaptable to any country context. Based on the UNESCAP self-assessment tool related to general investment climate, we defined 16 CSFs out of 40 originally provided in the tool, and assessed Indonesia's overall performance for these factors. On average, performance was neither poor nor ideal. This finding is, to some extent, in accordance with an earlier report. Our GA further suggests that improvements are imperative to promote more PPPs in this country. To identify the areas in which immediate remedial actions should be concentrated, we used quadrant analysis to identify three factors, all of which were related to various types of commitments: to policy continuity, financial transparency, and corruption eradication. This finding comes as no surprise, as these issues are quite relevant in both the PPP and the larger Indonesian contexts. To sum up, we believe that, despite some problems in certain areas, Indonesia has recently been on the right track, especially with regard to certain recent efforts taken by the GoI to encourage PPPs. However, time will tell whether Indonesia can sustain its long-term commitments.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify macro-environmental critical success factors (CSFs) and key areas for improvement for public-private partnerships (PPP) in infrastructure development, using Indonesia as a case study.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The methodology includes the definition of CSFs based on the United Nations for Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific's self-assessment diagnostic tool and a survey on importance and performance attributes, the application of gap analysis (GA) and importance-performance analysis to prioritize areas needing urgent improvements, and the use of inter-rater agreement analysis to examine to what extent the ratings tend to converge on the same conclusions regarding importance and performance.\nFindings: Out of 40 possible success factors, a total of 16 are identified as CSFs in the context of Indonesia. GA suggests that no performance ratings exceed importance ratings for the identified CSFs, indicating the need for remedial actions. The factors requiring immediate improvements are all associated with commitments: to policy continuity, financial transparency, and corruption eradication.\nPractical implications: Although the paper discussing a specific country, the proposed approach is replicable and adaptable in different country contexts. Indonesia's experience can also be of value to governments facing similar problems in encouraging private investment in infrastructure.\nOriginality/value: The paper contributes to the body of knowledge on PPP in infrastructure development by focussing exclusively on macro-environmental CSFs and Indonesia's PPPs, which are both rarely discussed in the existing literature.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Gender bias in customer evaluations of service quality: an empirical investigation	[ "Sex and gender issues", "Customer services quality", "Employees", "Customer satisfaction" ]	[ { "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: Significant attention has been focused on how aspects of the service environment affect the perception of service quality. For example, the physical environment where the service is performed has been found to affect how individuals view the service received and their satisfaction with the service (Bitner, 1992). Prior research has also examined connections between the expectations of people in a service setting and the perceived service outcome (Fischer et al., 1997). However, little attention has been given to the possibility that sex-based biases may exist in the ratings that customers give for the performance of service sector employees. The service quality literature generally has overlooked the potentially important moderating factor of employee gender. Since typical service jobs are occupied by both men and women, service organizations should have an interest in research that investigates how male and female customers and employees respond to service encounters. However, organizational studies more often are conducted in male-dominant occupations with little consideration of potential gender-based differences (Thomas and Ganster, 1995).Forty years after the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act gender bias continues to permeate all aspects of the business environment (Tavakolian, 1994). Past studies have shown significant gender biases in the recruitment of entry-level technical employees and in the evaluation of workers by a rater assigned the role of evaluator, as well as by actual managers, based on both the sex of the rater, and sex of the rate (Huber, 1989; Huber et al., 1987; Mobley, 1982). A few studies have even examined gender differences in the ratings made by casual observers regarding professional competence or the quality of an author's written work (Abramson et al., 1978; Noel and Allen, 1976).In this study, we extend the previous research on gender biases to examine performance ratings by customers of service providers. Specifically, we consider the service quality (as perceived by students) provided by instructors from six post-secondary academic institutions located across three south-eastern states. Many service industries were considered, but the industry chosen for this study was higher education for several reasons, including:* education is a service industry and students, therefore, are consumers of this services;* this setting was one of the few service industries that would allow researchers to be able to accurately match individual employee responses to their customers so as to obtain an employee-level of variable linkages;* consumers in this industry (i.e. students) may be able to give more accurate assessments of employee service quality because of the amount and extent of their experiences with customer-contact employees (i.e. faculty); and* the non-response bias typically found in customer satisfaction research could be reduced by using this setting.A secondary research objective of this study is to investigate gender differences in perceptions of service fairness. Perceived fairness is related to service quality in that it affects consumer satisfaction and behavioral intentions. In the organizational behavior literature, prior research has found that perceived fairness accounts for a significant amount of the variance in employee job satisfaction (Sweeney and McFarlin, 1997). Other studies have found differences in attributions and fairness perceptions among men and women (Ambrose and Cropanzano, 2003). Extending this research to consumer behavior, we investigate the interactions between gender, perceived service quality, and perceived fairness. Managerial implications are then discussed.\nTheoretical framework: Service quality perceptions\nMethod: Sample\nData analysis and results: The survey data were analyzed using two hierarchical regression analyses: one with perceived service quality as the dependent variable, and one with perceived service fairness as the dependent variable. Means, standard deviations, and a correlation matrix (after partialing for control variable effects) are shown in Table IV. The correlation matrix indicates a statistically significant correlation between student gender and perceived grading fairness (r=0.123, p<0.025), and between faculty gender and perceived instructional quality (r=0.096, p<0.08). This is not surprising because a number of previous studies have posited connections between gender and faculty performance ratings (Marsh, 1987; Snipes et al., 1998). The correlation analysis also indicates a statistically significant correlation between perceived grading fairness and perceived instructional quality. This is also consistent with previous research in the marketing and organizational justice literature (Sweeney and McFarlin, 1997; Witt and Nye, 1992).The results of the hierarchical regression analysis are presented in Table V. For both perceived service quality and perceived fairness, the four control variables were entered as the first set of variables, and then faculty gender, student gender, and the interaction term (faculty gender x student gender) were added as the second set. Within each of these two sets, individual variables were entered according to a stepwise selection criteria. Entering the control variables into the model first ensured that the results were not affected by these variables. In other words, it allowed the researchers to \"partial out\" external variable effects in an attempt to better isolate the true effects of the study variables alone (without other variable contamination).An analysis of the model shows that H1 and H3 were confirmed by the data. For perceived service quality, faculty (employee) gender is significant at p<0.05, and for perceived grading fairness, student (customer) gender is significant at p<0.05. This provides further proof of a gender bias in the evaluation of service employees, such that the performance of male service employees will be rated more highly than that of their female counterparts. Additionally, the data provide further proof that male and female customers differ significantly in their ratings of service fairness. Specifically, the data show that male students were more likely to rate the instructor as fair in grading than females. H2 and H4 were not supported by the data.Perceived service quality\nManagerial implications and recommendations: The data analysis provided some interesting insight into customer perceptions of service quality and fairness. Specifically, the data in this study provided support for the following:* A gender bias exists in customer evaluations of service employees. All else being equal, male service providers will receive higher service quality ratings than female service providers.* The gender bias seems to diminish when service fairness is considered. This implies that fair treatment in the service process is considerably more important to customers than the gender of the service employee.* Perceptions of service fairness explain a significant portion of the variance in service quality ratings. This means that managers need to ensure that the service process is perceived as fair by customers if they expect to maintain high service quality ratings.* A significant difference exists in perceptions of service fairness between male and female customers. This study suggests that it is males (not females) that tend to rate the fairness of service encounters higher (a male \"leniency\" bias).One of the most compelling findings of this study was, consistent with H1, male service employees were rated higher than female service employees. The hierarchical regression analysis showed a significant gender effect on customer perceptions of service quality. However, it should be noted that when the effects of perceived fairness were added to the model the effect of faculty gender was not significant. Therefore, the second hierarchical regression reveals a possible solution for this bias. Consistent with previous research in the management literature, it appears that perceived fairness contributes more to service quality perceptions than the gender of the service employee (Witt and Nye, 1992). In terms of service quality perceptions, it appears that the customer's evaluations of other aspects of the service experience (such as the fairness of the service transaction) are significantly more important than employee gender.While this research provides an interesting contribution to the theoretical development of the field, one of its biggest strengths is the practical application to managers in service-related industries. In terms of service quality perceptions, it appears that perceptions of fair treatment are far more powerful and important determinants of overall satisfaction with service quality than the gender of the service provider. This finding implies that any apparent gender-based differences in service quality satisfaction can be overcome by focusing on fairness of the transaction rather than employee attributes.In the faculty/student grading situation, fairness can be affected by clarity of the grading process used. Students seem to view clearly defined grading systems, in which the value of each assignment and the methods used to grade these assignments are clearly stated in advance, as fairer systems. Dissatisfaction is often expressed toward grading systems that are not clearly articulated. Generalizing to service industries in general, one could surmise that service quality is likely to be affected by how clearly the service, associated fees, and other outcomes are explained in advance. As explained by Hunt and Chandran (1991, p. 1):Service discrepancies can be viewed as due to external factors or due to elements under the organization's control. The worst situation from the organization's viewpoint is when a customer attributes a service discrepancy to elements under the organization's control. The net effect would undoubtedly be a dismal outlook for reorders and any continued relationship between the organization and customer... Since attributions that customers make regarding service performance vary across markets, a written service policy statement is crucial to the organization's endeavors.It may be useful to look at a specific example in the services industry to illustrate this principle. Consider the field of auto repair. The auto repair industry is often the recipient of customer complaints related to the service employee's inability to articulate \"fixed\" prices up front for repairs. Recently, some repair facilities have begun switching to fixed price systems, rather than price estimates. Since auto repair is traditionally a male-stereotyped job, it would seem likely that a female mechanic who exceeds the \"estimated\" price would be more likely to be perceived as less competent, and therefore, rated lower than a male mechanic in the same situation. Our findings would suggest that if these new fixed pricing models increase customers' fairness perceptions, the company should also expect a decrease in sex-based biases and an improvement in customers' overall service quality perceptions. In fact, research in the marketing literature suggests that clearly articulated service policies should increase fairness perceptions and greatly reduce the likelihood of bias (McCarthy and Fram, 2000).Findings from studies in the marketing literature reveal that customers believe that fairness from service-related industries is not commonplace but rather a distinction (Chan, 2002). One possible theory base for further study is justice theory. Justice theory has been previously applied in the marketing arena in the areas of service failure and customer complaint behavior (Bitner et al., 1990; Goodwin and Ross, 1989; Tax et al., 1998). Theories of justice suggest that customers pay attention to fairness when evaluating service encounters. In fact, recent research in the marketing literature has shown that fairness and justice significantly influence customer satisfaction (Mattila and Mount, 2003; McCarthy and Fram, 2000). Customers expect justice in regards to fair service delivery. Future research should investigate the implications of different justice dimensions to customer satisfaction and loyalty.H4 stated that males and females would differ in their ratings of instructor fairness. The results of this study support this hypothesis. However, contrary to some studies that have found a female leniency bias, the results of the present study suggest that males, rather than females, tend to rate service employees higher in fairness. According to the hierarchical regression analysis, student gender had a significant effect on perceptions of grading fairness (p<0.05) after the control variables were entered into the model. This is an important finding since perceptions of fairness were found to significantly affect instructional service quality. In fact, perceptions of fairness accounted for over 40 percent of the variance in service quality ratings. One other recent study of 714 service consumers found that, similar to the present study, more men than women tend to view service processes as fair (McCarthy and Fram, 2000).The finding of a gender-based difference in student ratings of faculty grading fairness, in which females rated the faculty as less fair, was not expected. A possible explanation for this phenomenon may be found in research linking employee personalities (using the Myers-Briggs type indicator) to employee attitudes and behavior. Studies using the Myers-Briggs type indicator (\"MBTI\") have found a large gender difference on the \"Thinking-feeling\" dimension, which relates to one's preference in making decisions. This dimension is believed to relate directly to perceptions of fairness, since thinking types tend to make decisions in a more objective fashion, and feeling types focus primarily on emotional considerations (Brooks and Johnson, 1979; Hirsch and Kummerow, 1989). One previous study reported that approximately two-thirds of all males are \"thinking\" types, whereas two-thirds of all females are \"feeling\" types (MacDaid et al., 1987). For the present study, if one assumes that the grading systems of most of the faculty are objective, and not based on compassion or emotions, then it may be that \"thinking\" types would find the system fairer than \"feeling\" types. However, since the MBTI was not used in this study, this is only one possible explanation, and certainly an avenue for future research.The present study represents an extension of previous work in the area of gender bias by looking at customer biases in a service industry. However, it is important to note certain limitations of the study. The results and implications have been based on faculty and student subjective responses. Additionally, this study utilized cross-sectional data. A replication of this study utilizing longitudinal data may provide a different view.Lastly, this research looked at only one service industry, that of higher education. Although the academic industry is similar to other service industries in many ways, it is unclear whether or not the results of this study can be generalized across all service industries. Certainly every service industry has different characteristics, and the impact of stereotypes may vary to some degree. We chose an industry in which the service provider/customer relationship is somewhat long term. Since a long-term interaction would be expected to increase the customer's actual knowledge of specific performance characteristics of the service provider, any stereotypical assumptions would most likely be tempered. If applied to a different industry in which the interactions were more short-term, such as retail, we believe that gender biases would be much larger. Therefore, we feel this sample provides a relatively conservative test of our hypotheses. This increases our confidence that our findings will be generalizable to other service professions. However, as with any other study utilizing one industry, this study should be replicated to provide validation across all industries.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The presence of gender biases in performance evaluations has been previously demonstrated in a number of studies. This study aims to extend current research by examining gender differences in customer ratings of service performance. A secondary research objective of this study is to investigate gender differences in perceptions of service fairness.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Using the SERVQUAL scale to measure service quality perceptions, responses from a sample of 8,667 customers are examined in a hierarchical regression analysis to determine if gender biases are present.\nFindings: - The results of this study show that biases exist in service quality evaluations. Specifically, the data show that male service providers will receive higher service quality ratings than female service providers. However, the gender bias seems to diminish when service fairness is considered. It appears that customer perceptions of fair treatment are far more powerful and important determinants of overall satisfaction than the gender of the service provider. Customers expect justice in regards to fair service delivery. Interestingly, a significant difference appears to exist between males and females in their perceptions of service fairness. Males tend to rate the fairness of service encounters higher than females.\nResearch limitations/implications: - This research looked at only one service industry, that of higher education. As with any other study utilizing one industry, this study should be replicated to provide validation across all industries.\nOriginality/value: - The paper offers new insights into gender bias in customer evaluations of service quality.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
An exploratory investigation of the dramatic play of preschool children within a grocery store shopping context	[ "Children (age groups)", "Dramatization", "Shopping" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Increasingly, children are serving as a target market in and of themselves (Linn, 2004; Schor, 2004; Salinsky, 2006). With the growth in the number of two-working-parent households, children are given more time alone, have growing decision-making power, possess increasing spending power, and are significant influencers in family purchasing and consumption (Grimm, 2004). McNeal (1999) estimates that children spend $23 billion annually and influence another $118 billion of adult purchasing. Furthermore, the consumer behavior of children is relevant to many firms in the marketplace because behaviors that are learned at a young age are likely to persist into adulthood (Deriemaeker et al., 2007; Dholakia, 1984).Research has shown that children exert influence on the household's entire consumption (Lee and Marshall, 1998), but the degree of influence often depends on the type of product, whether the child is an end-consumer, and his/her age (Lee and Beatty, 2002; Palan and Wilkes, 1997). In addition to influencing the purchase of automobiles and electronics, children more frequently influence the family's food purchasing and consumption (Erduran, 1999; Grimm, 2004; Piacentini and Tinson, 2003; Pettersson et al., 2004). According to a Food Marketing Institute (2003) study, approximately two-thirds of parents include children in their food shopping visits, and nine out of ten parents make purchase decisions specifically because a child likes the item. Hunter (2002) estimates 80 percent of the family's food purchasing is influenced by children.Despite the increasing documentation of children serving as a target market and their significant influence on adult purchasing, there is a curious dearth of research examining young children's influence on one another's consumer behavior. The majority of the marketing literature on children that has been published prior to 2000 focuses on individual (i.e. cognitive) factors as they impact children and their behavior (Roedder John, 1999). Only recently have researchers have begun to propose that a wider set of factors can directly impact the development and socialization of children as consumers. Story et al. (2002), for example, propose that individual (e.g. cognitive), social (e.g. family and friends), environmental (e.g. school), and cultural (e.g. social norms and mass media) factors shape a child's consumer socialization. Similarly, Cowell (2001) argues that parents, schools, peers, and television are the primary factors that impact a child's consumer socialization.The purpose of this study is to unpack one piece of the childhood consumer socialization puzzle. More specifically, this study examines consumer socialization in a peer-to-peer context among preschool age children as they participate in dramatic play in a grocery store setting. The research questions are as follows: when playing in a grocery store context, independent of adult influence, what shopping scripts do preschool age children follow? When playing in a grocery store context, what influence do preschool children exert on one another? Finally, what are the consumer socialization implications of children and their play in the grocery store context? Next, this paper will review the conceptual foundations of consumer socialization, shopping scripts, and dramatic play. Following the literature review, the paper presents an overview of the qualitative methods use for this study. When compared with previous research on childhood socialization in the field of marketing that is more cognitive and experimental in nature, this study's unobtrusive observational techniques are unique to the literature. Finally, the paper presents key findings along with a discussion of the conclusions and implications of the study.\nConceptual foundations: Consumer socialization\nMethod: Ethical considerations\nFindings: On a holistic level this study's findings are consistent with previous research suggesting that children in the perceptual stage (i.e. preschool age and three through seven) understand the basic shopping script (Roedder John, 1999). However, this study differs from previous research in that the data reveal that preschool age children do in fact exhibit peer-to-peer influence while enacting shopping scripts. Thus, the findings support the proposition that social (i.e. peers) and environmental (i.e. school) factors do in fact influence a child's consumer socialization, even at a very young age.Shopping scripts\nDiscussion: This study makes an important contribution to the marketing literature. Specifically, the majority of the literature to date examines individual (i.e. cognitive) factors as they impact children and their behavior (Roedder John, 1999). However, recent publications have proposed that a wider set of factors can directly impact the development and socialization of children as consumers (Cowell, 2001; Story et al., 2002). This paper supports this wider view and addresses the social aspect of peer influence and its impact on the consumer behavior of young children. Thus, this study sheds light on the relatively unexplored relationship between peer influence and the consumer socialization of children.The data show that peers do in fact shape young children's shopping scripts. This is one of the first studies to have observed children and their behaviors in a context that is relatively free of direct adult interaction and influence. A strong pattern in the data emerged, illustrating that even young children can be socialized by their peers with respect to consumer behavior and shopping scripts. The young children that participated in this study did in fact teach, influence, and socialize one another with respect to grocery store shopping behaviors. These findings extend previous marketing research (Roedder John, 1999) that argues that it is not until the later stages of child development (age 7-11; the analytical stage) that children exhibit significant peer-to-peer influence in the consumer socialization process.Previous research has found that young children can enact adult shopping scripts (Roedder John, 1999). This particular study corroborates such research. Findings indicate that even very young children (i.e. age three) were able to successfully adopt and utilize adult shopping scripts while playing within the grocery store shopping context. The behaviors of these young children were quite sophisticated as the researchers found that they exhibited adult-like shopping styles, understood appropriate usage of the shopping cart, demonstrated check-out line etiquette, and knew that groceries were to be delivered to the home after purchase.This study also sheds light on the childhood obesity epidemic. The children in this study showed a clear preference for certain types of foods (i.e. those that were less healthy such as ice cream or those that had higher sugar content as in the case of fruits versus vegetables). In addition, the data showed that the children exhibited a tendency toward over-abundance in that they often filled their carts to the point of overflowing before proceeding to the check-out line. These findings suggest that these young children have already ingrained taste and food preferences and behaviors that are either innate or that they have learned prior to the age of three.Despite showing personal food preferences, the majority of interactions among the children were not focused on food products. Most interactions involved the cashier directing others on how to perform the script, such as how to complete a task related his/her job (i.e. how to bag the groceries) or how to complete the monetary transaction (i.e. the amount to pay or how to get change). When some children tried to influence the product selections of others, it was not well received. In fact, help with product selection was outright rejected. Thus, future research needs to examine the difference between direct interaction (i.e. a child telling another what to choose) versus more subtle cues (i.e. a child watching an opinion leader select his/her products and then following the pattern) as they relate to peer influence, food choice, and consumer socialization.In addition to being the most social role, the cashier was the most embraced job in the grocery store. The cashier appeared to be in charge of the role enactment within the store, often directing the bagger and shoppers on how to behave and perform the script. The finding that the majority of the interactions revolved around monetary transactions and job performance has interesting implications. These findings suggest that even at early ages in life (ages three to six), money and credit appear important to daily life. Even when the younger students (classes 1 and 2) were not given play money, they talked about it and simulated monetary exchange. The older students (classroom 3, ages four to six) were especially focused on the physical money, counting it, putting it in wallets and purses, and talking about the credit cards, in addition to using the bills, coins, and cards to complete the exchange. The findings also suggest that certain types of jobs (i.e. those that are more social or more directive, as in the cashier) are preferred to others that are more solitary and physical (i.e. the stocker having to put away the foods by him/herself). Clearly, this study's findings suggest the need for future research on more than the shopping behaviors of young children. Future research should examine the production related scripts and behaviors of children as well as their understanding and usage of money, credit, and banking.Marketers are increasingly targeting children with their strategies (Linn, 2004; Schor, 2004; Salinsky, 2006). In fact if a marketer can capture a child when he/she is young, the individual is more likely to be a life-long customer (Deriemaeker et al., 2007; Dholakia, 1984). Children are being socialized for consumption at very early ages, from a variety of sources including schools, peers, parents, and television (Cowell, 2001). The young children in this study exhibited sophisticated, adult-like shopping behaviors (e.g. a five-year old girl asking for a certain brand of credit card). The findings of this study stand in contrast to previous research in that they suggest that even at early ages (i.e. age three) peers can influence the socialization of consumer behavior. Given that children are spending increasing amounts of time alone and have growing decision-making power, marketers are likely to continue to target children (Grimm, 2004). In addition, this study shows that role enactment and dramatic play are effective forms of teaching small children about shopping and consumer behavior. Advertisers certainly show roll enactment via advertisements directed at children, but marketers are also using more sophisticated techniques that may be capitalizing on this type of learning. For example, marketers are targeting children through school programs (Salinsky, 2006; Kunkel et al., 2004; Linn, 2004; McNeal, 1992) and retail outlets are simulating adult role playing for young children (e.g. manicures, pedicures, and spa treatments purchased by young girls at Club Libby Lu; Lee and Stead, 2007).This study fuels the debate over the role of marketers in the consumer socialization of young children. Young children are vulnerable and impressionable. They have few cognitive defenses and have yet to learn skepticism with respect to marketing practices. In fact, this study's findings suggest that in environments outside of the home, such as school or playing at another child's house, even very young children are being socialized about consumer behavior by their peers. Even within the home, the parent is not always present to regulate and filter the information being communicated to his/her child from their peers or the television. Thus, this study's findings support the call for marketers to proceed with the highest ethical standards, as parents may be uncomfortable with marketing strategies that emphasize peer influence because it takes away the socialization away from the primary caretaker of the child and places it in the hands of other young children.This study also reveals some unanswered questions about young children and their socialization, suggesting directions for future research. For example, there is a need for studies that examine the role of gender in this context. Because gender differences were not the focus of this study, the authors could not determine any clear difference in gender roles in the data. But during data analysis, the authors found themselves questioning whether gender differences existed in the various roles of cashier, shopper, and bagger. For example, do young boys and girls differ in their tendencies to be more aggressive or more reserved when performing these roles? Is there a gender difference in the amount and types of peer influence that occurs among young children? In addition, future research should examine the shopping styles of girls versus boys for differences in peer-to-peer socialization and behavior.Future research should also investigate children's food choices in greater depth. While the present study reveals that children tend to select familiar foods and less nutritious foods, future research should examine children's food choices, independent of parental influence, relative to their typical eating habits. For example, do children select less nutritious foods because they are accustomed to eating them at home or because they are deprived of them at home? Also, indirect peer influence on food choice was observed in the present study; however, direct peer influence on food choice, especially among children in the perceptual stage (ages three through seven), warrants further investigation.Finally, the peer-to-peer interaction and influence that took place in this study primarily revolved around the role of the cashier. However, baggers often exhibited an interesting tendency toward \"friendly\" customer service. These findings suggest a need for future research that examines the customer service expectations of young children in the shopping context and how it relates to consumer socialization. This is an area of research that could benefit from both observations and experiments.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this study is to examine the consumer socialization of preschool age children in a peer-to-peer context as they participate in dramatic play in a grocery store setting.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This research employs a case study approach as outlined by Yin. A preschool located within a major metropolitan area in the Southeastern USA was selected for investigation. Located within each of the three classrooms was a grocery store learning center. This learning center provided children the opportunity to engage in dramatic play while enacting grocery shopping scripts. A total of 55 children between the ages of three- and six-years old were observed over a six-week period. Observations were recorded via field notes and transcribed into an electronic data file. Emergent themes were compared with theoretical propositions, fleshing out an overall interpretation and description of the case context.\nFindings: - Findings indicate that even very young children (ages three to six years) are able to successfully adopt and utilize adult shopping scripts within the grocery store shopping context. The children followed a common sequence of behaviors that mimicked adult shopping patterns. Furthermore, the children demonstrated peer-to-peer consumer socialization strategies, directing each other on how to perform appropriate shopping scripts.\nOriginality/value: - This study differs from previous research in that the data reveal that preschool age children do in fact exhibit peer-to-peer influence while enacting shopping scripts. Although research has examined children as consumers, no researchers have used dramatic play to study young children in a grocery store setting. The rich content obtained from observing children in dramatic play in a grocery store learning center is unique to the marketing literature and provides a better understanding of the consumer socialization of young children.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Public infrastructure investment and fiscal sustainability in Latin America: incompatible goals?	[ "Peru", "Latin America", "Infrastructure", "Fiscal policy", "Fiscal rules" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nI. Introduction: Low and volatile public infrastructure investment is one of the most frequently-cited causes of slow long-term output growth in many Latin American countries. Certainly, fiscal adjustments have been quite sharp following economic crises in the region; have these periodic fiscal contractions harmed long-term infrastructure investment? We find that the evidence for this hypothesis is not that strong. Nevertheless, there are evident links between fiscal sustainability and public investment in infrastructure. Namely, high financing costs due to weak fiscal sustainability seem to have contributed significantly to low levels of infrastructure investment in Latin America. This finding raises the possibility that fiscal consolidation and public infrastructure investment could be complements, rather than substitutes, given the right policy setting. Accordingly, the paper reviews and discussed how fiscal frameworks in the region can be reformed to create fiscal space for more public infrastructure investment.\nII. Infrastructure trends in Latin America: Comparable statistics on public or private infrastructure investment in Latin America are not available for a large group of countries. Infrastructure series cannot be taken directly from national account and fiscal accounts, since they represents only a fraction of total investment (either public or private), and these series are not usually disaggregated. The latter includes also housing investment, and non-housing assets not considered in the empirical literature as infrastructure (such as office buildings and commercial plants, for instance). This is hardly a new issue even in developed economies (see Gramlich (1994) in the case of the USA), and quite pre-occupying since \"what gets attention gets measured and what gets measured gets attention\" (Commission on Growth and Development, 2008).\nIII. Public infrastructure investment, fiscal perspectives and frameworks: There is no doubt that Latin America shares the need to pursue fiscal consolidation, despite the aforementioned improvements. According to standard debt sustainability analysis, fiscal positions in most countries in the region during the 2000s were in line with those needed to stabilise the current debt-to-GDP ratios, and much closer that those exhibited among most OECD countries. However, with the exception of Brazil, Latin America has not completely decoupled in this sense, such that in some cases a considerable fiscal consolidation is needed in the years ahead. Daude et al. (2011) show that cyclically-adjusted primary balance should increase between 2 and 4 per cent points of GDP to stabilise debt at pre-crisis levels[6]. In a similar exercise, OECD (2010) estimates that the required fiscal adjustment in industrialised economies is higher than 5 p.p. of GDP (Figure 8).\nIV. Conclusions and policy recommendations: In this paper we documented the size of fiscal consolidation needed in six of the main economies in Latin America, and the infrastructure gaps in the region, based on original research. We took stock of the debate on second-generation reforms of the fiscal rules and frameworks existing in Latin America, with a particular focus on their treatment of public infrastructure investment in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and especially in Peru.\nAcknowledgements: This paper was prepared for the 13th Public Finance Workshop of the Banca d'Italia, held in Perugia (30 March-2 April 2011). The authors would like to thank the discussant at that workshop, Sergio Clavijo, and acknowledge comments from George Kopits and Teresa Ter Minassian and other participants. Comments from Rolando Avendano, Juan Carlos Berganza, Jeff Dayton-Johnson, Andrew Mold, Sebastian Nieto and Laura Recuero are also appreciated. Nallely Carro Acoltzi and Angela Ruiz-Ucelli provided helpful research assistance. Financial support from the Fundacion Internacional y para Iberoamerica de Administracion y Politicas Publicas (FIIAPP) and the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) are gratefully acknowledged. The views expressed herein are the sole responsibility of the authors and do not reflect the opinions of their institutions or the governments of their member countries.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to understand the relationship in developing countries between fiscal consolidation and public investment - a flexible part of the budget that is easier to cut during consolidation effort, but with potentially negative growth effects. Analyzing in detail the case of Peru, the paper explores alternative fiscal rules and frameworks that might help create fiscal space for infrastructure investment.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper analyses trends in public and total infrastructure investment in six large Latin American economies, in the light of fiscal developments since the early 1980s. In particular, the paper explores the association between fiscal consolidations (improvements in the structural fiscal balance) and public infrastructure investment rates. In the second part, the paper analyzes recent changes in the fiscal framework of Peru and shows how they were conductive in creating additional fiscal space.\nFindings: The authors argue that post-crisis fiscal frameworks, notably fiscal rules that are increasingly popular in the region, should not only consolidate the recent progress towards debt sustainability, but also create the fiscal space to close these infrastructure gaps. These points are illustrated in a detailed account of recent developments in the fiscal framework and public investment in the Peruvian case.\nOriginality/value: The paper contributes new evidence to the literature on fiscal consolidation and the composition of government expenditures. While the literature based on evidence from the 1990s has argued that fiscal consolidation plans in Latin America have almost always led to a significant reduction in public infrastructure investment, the paper finds less clear cut evidence when extending the analysis backwards (1980s) and forwards (2000s). The example of the case of Peru is used to explore fiscal institutions and rules that might be useful for other developing countries that face important infrastructure gaps.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Exploring health work: a critical-action perspective	[ "Ethnography", "Critical theory", "Action research", "Critical thinking", "Critical healthcare management", "Multidisciplinary research", "Critical-action" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Healthcare organisations and their managers face on-going challenges arising from fiscal crises and an increase in demand for services because of ageing populations and a concurrent rise in chronic conditions. Many governments have responded by adopting \"new public management\" (NPM) strategies including privatisation, marketization and performance management. These strategies shift the balance of power between clinicians, managers and patients (Kitchener and Thomas, 2016; Hujala et al., 2014).\nTheoretical and methodological options: The first phase of the research process was consideration of the research options available to us, their appropriateness to the project aims and how these married with our own professional skills. In our initial meetings, one of the first tasks set was to define and locate an appropriate research paradigm for our theoretical and methodological enquiries. Although the members of the research team had skill sets relevant to one generic research field - MOS - individually, we came from various social science backgrounds; psychology, social psychology and sociology. The first objective, therefore, was to develop a common theoretical and methodological outlook.\nDeveloping a hybrid research position: Following our methodological review, the next stage in the research process involved an attempt to determine an analytical orientation appropriate to the political context of analysis. This would see our various theoretical and methodological interests considered in the specification of a formal research position.\nThe critical-action theory perspective: Our discussions on research positioning, therefore, suggested the adoption of what Clifford Geertz (1983) once referred to as a \"blurred genre\" - one in which social researchers access concepts from across disciplines and utilise various frames of reference in their work. In our research, the suggestion was that we blurred the domains of action theory and critical theory, with the goal of providing what we might call a \"critical-action theory\" perspective for MOS, and specifically in relation to understanding everyday events in healthcare management.\nCritical-action research with healthcare managers: We have offered a general outline of the forms of research perspective we considered in seeking to frame our research inquiries. The aim has been to introduce the theoretical and methodological assumptions that came to underpin our examination of managerial work in four healthcare settings: an acute trust, an ambulance trust, a mental health trust, and a primary care trust. This approach allowed us to explain these investigations into the realities, roles and behaviour of healthcare managers in greater detail, notably in terms of how NHS managers deal with the demands of a neo-liberal economic agenda, and specifically with the policies and practises associated with the NPM.\n\"Liberating the NHS\" through managers and managerialism: In the UK, the NHS has been subject to significant reform and modernisation programmes dating back to the economic turmoil of the 1970s. Governments began to embrace the notion that public services needed the discipline of commercial general management not least to control and restrict the discretion of professionals. Following on from the introduction of general management, each decade has seen a series of reforms which shape NHS services into organisational units susceptible to commercial involvement - through the quasi-market reforms of 1989-1996, the business units encapsulated in foundation trusts to an open door to \"any qualified provider\" encapsulated in the white paper \"Liberating the NHS\" (Department of Health, 2010). Paradoxically, the \"liberation\" rhetoric casts healthcare managers and both the hero and the villain. They must enact the commercial imperatives of Health and Social Care Act (2012) whilst removing layers of management bureaucracy (themselves).\nConclusions: This paper has introduced the research perspective developed and adopted in the course of investigations into managerial work in UK healthcare. In particular, it describes various theoretical and methodological options that presented themselves vis-a-vis consideration of the formal aims and objectives of the research project. This saw a largely chronological description of activities - from early discussions of the epistemological options available, through developing a formal position on theory and method, to operationalising this perspective in fieldwork investigations.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe a hybrid approach to the research developed during a multi-researcher, ethnographic study of NHS management in the UK.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This methodological paper elaborates a hybrid approach to the sociological analysis - the critical-action theory - and indicates how it can contribute to the critical health management studies.\nFindings: After exploring the various theoretical, methodological and philosophical options available, the paper discusses the main research issues that influenced the development of this perspective and the process by which the critical-action perspective was applied to the studies of managerial work in four health service sectors - acute hospitals, ambulance services, community services and mental healthcare.\nResearch limitations/implications: This methodological perspective enabled a critical analysis of health service organisation that considered macro, meso and micro effects, in particular and in this case, how new public management drained power from clinicians through managerialist discourses and practices.\nPractical implications: Healthcare organisations are often responding to the decisions that lie outside of their control and may have to enact changes that make little sense locally. In order to make sense of these effects, micro-, meso- and macro-level analyses are necessary.\nOriginality/value: The critical-action perspective is presented as an adjunct to traditional approaches that have been taken to the study of health service organisation and delivery.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Selfie appropriation by young British South Asian adults: Reifying, endorsing and reinforcing dual cultural identity in social media	[ "Virtual community", "Community", "Social media", "Selfie", "E-marketing", "Appropriation", "Acculturation", "Interpretivist research", "Appropriation management", "British South Asian" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: As defined by the Oxford English Dictionary, a selfie is a self-portrait photograph of one's own self (which may or may not be taken with others) captured using a camera or a camera phone. Although the selfie phenomenon was evident in an era where Polaroid cameras and, more recently, digital cameras were in vogue, in more recent times selfies have become ubiquitous as a consequence of the phenomenal uptake of the smartphone and, more generally, the widespread adoption and use of social media (Kedzior et al., 2015; Mascheroni et al., 2015). Self-presentation or a \"selfie\" is part of a social ritual of \"impression management\" which involves learning to deal with others' responses and maintaining emotional control by putting on a face (Mascheroni et al., 2015). As such, the supposition that the \"selfie\" is not just a social media-based fad, but rather has multifarious expressions due to situational and contextual interpretations, is evidenced in prominent news stories. For example, a British Labour Party leader was suspended for posing for a \"selfie\" photograph at the scene of the Tunisian beach slaughter (Awford, 2015). Another example is the Lebanese Miss Universe's \"selfie\" pose with her Israeli counterpart, which created controversy and criticism (https://storify.com/cmgnationalnews/miss-universe-selfie-sparks-uproar).\nLiterature review: This study aspires to advance our understanding of the selfie as a technological application vis-a-vis how its appropriation exhibits the cultural identity of young British South Asian adults. The research is distinctive by virtue of its utilisation of two major streams of scholarship: cultural identity and acculturation and technology appropriation. Accordingly, the review of the literature takes cognisance of the aforementioned canons.\nMethodology: The research strategy was designed with a view to gain a thorough understanding of young British South Asian adults' appropriation of the selfie on social media and how that reflects their cultural identity. Recourse was made to an interpretivist methodology, which affords the opportunity to identify and analyse \"why\" and \"how\" young British South Asian adults define themselves via their use and appropriation of the selfie phenomenon. Hence, the study relies on qualitative data. For this investigation, the primary modes of qualitative data collection included in-depth interviews and netnographic observations. The research was conducted from April 2014 to May 2016. In-depth interviews were done first (for ten months), followed by netnography. The precepts of triangulation were applied as a means to ensure robustness with regard to opinions and perceptions of selfie usage among the target group and, more generally, their engagement with social media in the context of their socio-cultural backgrounds.\nFindings and analysis: As previously enumerated, we consider the selfie phenomenon as a technological application and seek to identify and analyse the process and outcome of its appropriation by British South Asian young adults. Appropriation involves adoption, adaptation and how people give meanings to the use of a technology while integrating it in their day-to-day lives. As such, we start with assessing users' perceptions of a technological application that encourages or discourages their initial adoption. Then, we look at the actual use, user-end alterations and disappropriation (as discussed in the literature review). Finally, we analyse how the appropriation of the selfie phenomenon is linked with the acculturation and appropriation of culture.\nDiscussion: Figure 1 provides a theoretical framework for selfie appropriation in relation to cultural dualism. The appropriation of culture exhibiting dual cultural identity is an outcome of individuals' constant and dialectic interaction with their ancestral and host cultures. Hence, we have three components of this theoretical framework: formation of cultural identity, appropriation of selfies and the inter-linkage between cultural appropriation and technology appropriation.\nConclusion: Our research has analysed how selfies reify, endorse and reinforce cultural identity in virtual world. However, scholarly debate and discussion on the inter-relationship between offline and online world is far from over. Future research can examine how and to what extent selfies or other forms of social media-based self-expression reflect acculturation towards global consumer culture and/or promote or inhibit cross-cultural interaction. The selfie phenomenon being a global social media-based phenomenon can explain how technology use and appropriation transcend geographic and cultural borders. Future research can also delve into acculturation in social media marketplace.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine how young British South Asian adults' dual cultural identity is exhibited and reaffirmed through the appropriation of selfies.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The research adopts a qualitative perspective and utilises a combination of in-depth interviews and netnographic data.\nFindings: The appropriation of the selfie phenomenon by young British South Asian adults reifies, endorses and reinforces their dual cultural identity. As such, their dual cultural identity is influenced by four factors: consonance between host and ancestral cultures, situational constraints, contextual requirements and convenience.\nResearch limitations/implications: In terms of the selfie phenomenon, the study makes two major contributions: first, it analyses young British South Asian adults' cultural dualism. Second, it explicates how their acculturation and their dual cultural identity are expressed through the appropriation of the selfie phenomenon.\nPractical implications: Since young British South Asians represent a significant, and distinct, market, organisations serving this market can marshal insights from this research. As such, managers who apprise themselves of the selfie phenomenon of this group are better placed to meet their consumer needs. Account, therefore, should be taken of their twofold cultural identity and dual British/Asian identification. In particular, consideration should be given to their distinct and demonstrable traits apropos religiosity and social, communal, and familial bonding. The characteristics were clearly evident via their interactions within social media. Consequently, senior marketing managers can utilise the aforementioned in positioning their organisations, their brands and their products and services.\nOriginality/value: The study details a new quadripartite framework for analysing young British South Asian adults' acculturation that leads to the formation of their dual cultural identity and presents a dynamic model that explicates how cultural identity is expressed through the use and appropriation of technology.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Design and implementation of a service guarantee	[ "Service industries", "Customer service management", "Warranties" ]	[ { "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.For more than a decade, service companies have been using service guarantees to attract customers and build customer loyalty. A service guarantee is an explicit commitment to the customer concerning all or part of the service process, generally including compensation for the customer if the commitment is not honoured (Kashyap, 2001). An unconditional service guarantee applies to the customer's overall satisfaction, while a specific service guarantee applies to one or more elements of the service process. An analysis of recent service guarantee practices, based on a sample of 56 firms and 173 separate commitments (Fabien et al., 2003), revealed that firms make very few commitments regarding the final outcome of their services. Generally speaking, their commitments are vague and often extremely subjective, and the compensation offered is relatively insignificant, not to mention difficult to obtain in most cases. There is, therefore, a huge gap between the \"ideal\" service guarantee model proposed by proponents of guarantees as a communication strategy (Hart, 1993; Wirtz, 1998) and current practices in the field. Even so, we are convinced that service guarantees offer a number of advantages. The somewhat ineffectual practices we observed are, in our opinion, due to a lack of understanding of what a service guarantee actually is.\nThe decision support model: Figure 1 sets out our service guarantee development model. It proposes five steps, namely analysis, service quality signalling, guarantee design, implementation and communication, and performance analysis. We will begin by reviewing the internal and external factors that may have an impact on the decision to commit, and then proceed through the various stages of our model.\nPreliminary analysis: External factors\nThe decision to commit: Making a formal commitment in the shape of a guarantee certainly has its advantages. It forces the firm to examine customer expectations on a regular basis, thus adopting a customer-oriented approach when designing its service supply. A guarantee also forces a firm to define specific service standards and to review the efficiency and effectiveness of its service process on a regular basis, to make sure its promises are honoured every time. The motivation a guarantee provides for contact employees and support employees to achieve shared performance levels will also help improve the consistency of internal operations. Employees are better able to understand their respective roles in the \"service chain\". Thus, a service guarantee can become a very persuasive focus of communication to attract new customers.Once served, new customers may invoke the service guarantee to express dissatisfaction. This gives the firm an opportunity to \"recover\" a dissatisfied customer and avoid the negative word-of-mouth denigration that is so harmful to service companies.However, service guarantees have their disadvantages too. The pressure generated by specific promises when employees have not been adequately prepared or when service provision systems have not been adequately reviewed can cause major problems. \"Only when you increase the water pressure in a defective hosepipe do the holes become obvious\" (Wirtz, 1998). Employees can quickly become disillusioned when confronted with promises that are difficult to keep, and this leads to difficult relations with customers (conflicts, insults, etc.). The result is often a high rate of customer loss and a high turnover among contact employees. The service guarantee, instead of becoming a catalyst, simply emphasises the firm's deficiencies, creating a climate that is by no means conducive to good customer service. The guarantee should therefore be tested with employees before being implemented.A good service guarantee should be:* offered unconditionally, without excuses in the case of service failure;* transparent;* credible, with a high perceived value;* focused on key features of the service;* supported by significant compensation to the customer;* easy to understand and communicate;* easy for customers to invoke; and* easy to implement.An \"unconditional\" service guarantee, where a firm undertakes to provide full customer satisfaction, has long been identified as the most effective type (Mayaux, 1999). However, recent research findings have cast doubt on this assertion, on the basis that customers make arbitrary judgments about service quality (McDougall et al., 1998; Wirtz and Kum, 2001). They seem to regard an unconditional guarantee as a kind of \"blank cheque\" offered by the firm to its customers, without the need to give reasons for their dissatisfaction. Instead, Wirtz and Kum suggest a service guarantee that includes an unconditional promise of satisfaction and a promise concerning the performance of certain elements of the service. This \"combined\" form of service guarantee allows customers to assess their satisfaction levels more objectively, based on specific performance indicators. The firm, for its part, is better able to measure the relationship between the key features of its service covered by the guarantee and the level of customer satisfaction.Honouring this type of guarantee is a significant challenge for the entire staff of the firm, which has only one goal in mind, namely customer satisfaction. At no time can internal policy, human error or employee conduct be offered as an excuse for service failure. Small print or conditions added after the fact will simply cause customers to be mistrustful (Fojt, 1995; Ostrom and Hart, 2000).A guarantee should also be credible, in that the promises made to customers must be realistic. A properly targeted guarantee should address one or more very specific customer expectations. For example, a public transit company, after consulting its users extensively, decided to apply its guarantee to the punctuality of its bus service.The type of compensation offered will depend on the consequences of service failure for customers (Ostrom and Hart, 2000). Fojt (1995) suggests that compensation should be significant, so that there is a major financial impact from the firm's performance. Thus, employees will be more motivated to uphold the terms of the guarantee. For a customer, if the consequences of poor service delivery are serious, no amount of compensation will make up for the harm caused. In such cases, the firm's willingness to provide fair and equitable compensation is much more important for the customer than the actual compensation itself. Properly implemented, this \"recovery\" policy will help build customer loyalty and thus maintain a high customer retention rate.If a guarantee is to be understood easily by customers, it must be drafted in simple, concrete language that leaves no room for confusion. Customers then know precisely what they can expect, and employees know what is expected of them (Mayaux, 1999). To avoid misunderstandings, guarantees should be tested on a small sample of customers, for example using the focus group technique.It is important to state clearly how the guarantee can be invoked in the case of service failure. Customers should be informed of the name, contact information and working hours of the person or department responsible for dealing with complaints. Several different contact methods should be offered (mail, telephone, fax and e-mail) to take different customer preferences into account.The system should make it easy for customers who decide to invoke the service guarantee. The staff should be prepared to deal with customers, and should be available without delay. They should demonstrate empathy with dissatisfied customers, and should never try to \"defend\" the firm.Implementation and communication\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - To propose a decision support model that can be used to design, implement and communicate effective and efficient service guarantees.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Based on in-depth interviews by the author and on a recent literature review, the author has looked at different issues regarding service guarantees developed by services companies over the last five years.\nFindings: - The decision support model looks first at 12 key issues to examine before designing a service guarantee. If the preliminary analysis is conclusive, discussion about design and implementation is presented.\nOriginality/value: - The main and original contribution of this model is to present to services marketing managers a step-by-step process, including preliminary analysis, marketing communication and performance analysis.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Significant components of service brand equity in healthcare sector	[ "Service brand equity", "Perceived service quality", "Brand loyalty", "Brand image", "Health services", "Competitive advantage", "India" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Branding plays a special role in service firms as it increases customers trust (Berry, 2000), enables customers to better visualize the service products (Kim et al., 2008), acts as a means of differentiation among competitive products (Motameni and Shahrokhi, 1998) and delivers value to the customers. All these factors help in generating value to the company (Bamert and Wehrli, 2005) and this value created or added by the brand is called brand equity (Erden et al., 1999). Brand equity once considered essential for products, is vital for services as well. The extant literature suggests application of brand equity measures used in merchandise sector, to evaluate brand equity in service sector (Mackay, 2001). However Wang et al. (2009) and Riel van et al. (2001) remark that since number of differences exist between services and goods, consumers evaluate extension of service brands differently from non-service brands and therefore, separate conceptualization for service brand equity is required. Moreover, a brand is associated with a \"company\" in a service sector, unlike manufacturing sector (where it is linked with a product), and this necessitates to relook into the service brand concept (Wang et al., 2009; Netemeyer et al., 2004). Besides, role of consumers participation and involvement in the service process, and heightened competition among service providers further adds to the need to explore service brand equity in a different way (Mackay, 2001; Turley and Moore, 1995). However despite its importance in the service sector, the concept is not explored much in the service marketing literature (Krishnan and Hartline, 2001; Riel van et al., 2001; Mackay, 2001; Kim et al., 2003; Bamert and Wehrli, 2005). Although studies such as Lassar et al. (1995), Bailey and Ball (2006), and Berry (2000) developed conceptual framework of service brand equity, however, further insight is required to better understand and develop brand equity in services sector (Aaker, 1991). Since most of the studies focus on individual service brand equity components such as product loyalty (Herrmann et al., 2007), service quality (Bamert and Wehrli, 2005), customer loyalty (Taylor et al., 2004), service loyalty (Rauyruen and Miller, 2009), a comprehensive approach is required to develop service brand equity. Further, in comparison to other services, the concept of branding in healthcare organizations has drawn limited attention in the literature. Among a few studies conducted on healthcare brand equity, Kim et al. (2008) suggest that hospitals should focus on the development of customer relationship management to enhance brand equity, whereas Hausman (2004) finds patients' benefits and doctors' independence to be significant factors contributing to brand loyalty. The dearth of research on brand equity in healthcare organizations may be because healthcare service products are high credence quality products with complex and unique characteristics (Hariharan et al., 2004). Further their performance is dependent on mix of qualitative factors such as quality of services of highly skilled personnel including technical and behavioral interaction quality, nature of treatment, types of patients and their awareness, availability of general as well as specialized services at a competitive price, availability of latest technical equipment, etc. (Thantry et al., 2006), which make evaluation of healthcare services difficult. This study makes efforts to explore brand equity components in healthcare sector that can contribute in the development of service brand equity. It primarily evaluates perceived service quality, brand loyalty, and brand image, the three significant components of service brand equity and establishes their relationships with service brand equity in the healthcare sector of India.Healthcare organizations in India are limited in their ability to increase brand loyalty primarily because they are not legally permitted to run any commercial advertising. Branding healthcare services can provide a platform for consumers/patients to reduce the influence of credence properties (i.e. the property in which one cannot evaluate healthcare service even after consumption or purchase, for example, surgery performed on a patient) (Corbin et al., 2000). The brand equity concept can bring an advantage to the Indian healthcare market as India is enjoying the benefit of being one of the most preferred healthcare tourism destinations for patients from developing as well as developed countries (Thantry et al., 2006). This consequently will increase the value of medical tourism industry in the near future.The paper is organized in the following manner. Brand equity concept and its significance are discussed in the first section. The next section discusses significant components of service brand equity and hypotheses to identify the relationship between service brand equity and its components. The subsequent section describes research design with emphasis on sample design, measurement, and scale purification analysis. The data analyses, tests, and hypotheses findings are presented along with validity, reliability, and sample profile in the next following section on data analysis. The study then concludes with major findings followed by limitations and future research.\nLiterature review and development of hypotheses: Brand equity is considered as the power of the brand that is built in the minds of the consumers on the basis of what they have learnt, seen, felt, and heard about the brand (Keller, 1998). Although in marketing, consumer aspect of brand equity, which focuses on the cognitive aspect of consumer, is frequently followed; but is conceptualized differently by different authors. Aaker (1991) defines brand equity in terms of a set of assets associated with the brand and these assets include brand loyalty, brand awareness, brand association, and perceived quality. These assets are further tested and verified by scholars such as Atilgan et al. (2005); and Pappu et al. (2005). However Keller (1993) considers brand equity in terms of brand knowledge that is, brand awareness and brand image. Lassar et al. (1995), on the other hand, associate brand equity with five dimensions such as performance, social image, value, attachment, and trustworthiness. Kim et al. (2003) linked service brand equity (hotels) using brand loyalty, brand awareness, perceived quality, and brand image. A further study by Kim et al. (2008) considered trust, customer satisfaction, relationship commitment, brand loyalty, and brand awareness as major factors affecting healthcare branding. The literature reveals that quality, loyalty, image, association and awareness are the important service brand equity components.However, in the present study only three that is, brand loyalty/patient loyalty, perceived quality, and brand image are considered as significant components of service brand equity in healthcare. Brand association and brand awareness are implicitly considered.. Keller (2007) defines brand association in terms of associations attached to the brand. Being the outcome of patient loyalty, brand association is gauged in terms of patients' association with good quality healthcare services of the hospital. Further, brand awareness is also not specifically considered as a separate component since mature and experienced healthcare consumers are assumed in general to be well aware of core and specialized hospitals, Besides brand awareness being closely related with loyalty, quality and image, is indirectly considered in the measurement of the service brand equity components. Hence, only three components - perceived service quality, brand loyalty and brand image, are used to assess service brand equity in the healthcare sector. The impact of service brand equity in term of two outcomes that is, competitive excellent performance and continuous improved performance is also considered. The three service brand equity components are briefly discussed as under:Perceived service quality\nResearch design: Measurements\nResults: Sample characteristics\nData analysis: Relationships between service brand equity and components of brand equity\nDiscussion: The study focuses on perceived quality, brand loyalty, brand image and their relationships with service brand equity in healthcare sector (Table II). The study findings reveal that brand loyalty and perceived quality are important components that have dominating effect on service brand equity. The brand image on the other hand has indirect effect on service brand equity through brand loyalty in the three-component model. Further, between service brand loyalty and perceived service quality, service brand loyalty is the stronger factor that influences brand equity. The findings support the hypotheses that healthcare brand equity is directly influenced by perceived quality (H1) and brand loyalty (H2) and indirectly influenced by image through brand loyalty (H4). The third hypothesis that brand equity is directly influenced by brand image is rejected. However, at the same time brand loyalty partially mediates the relationship between brand image and brand equity. The interdependence between brand image <-> perceived quality, and brand loyalty <-> perceived quality indicate that hospitals delivering good quality services have good image in the minds of patients' and similarly, hospitals with good image is expected to deliver good quality of services. Likewise, hospitals delivering quality services contribute positively to brand loyalty of the hospital and which ultimately affects service brand equity.\nConclusion: The study focuses on framework of service brand equity and its relationship with perceived service quality, brand loyalty, and brand image and the impact of perceived service quality, brand loyalty, and brand image on brand equity in the healthcare sector. Specifically, the results of the study indicate that perceived quality and brand loyalty have positive influence on brand equity in healthcare sector. The service provider when implements items those positively contribute to perceived quality and brand loyalty, builds service brand equity. The study findings reveal certain significant outcomes relating to brand loyalty and perceived quality. First, brand loyalty is linked with indicators associated with attitudinal loyalty and behavioral loyalty (i.e. consequences of consumer satisfaction). High and positive consumers' perception towards brand loyalty points out the preference of patients to avail the same or different medical treatments from the same hospital in future as well. Such patients share positive experiences about the hospital services with their friends and relatives and recommend the hospital to them. Later this subsequently helps in building positive hospital image in the minds of the users and potential users. Second, to strengthen perceived service quality, patients indicate that hospital management should focus on staff behavior, assurance, and tangibility. Specifically, communication quality, prescription quality, promptness in response to queries, and caring attitude of the staff are considered by patients as important characteristics of staff behavior that contribute to perceived service quality. Whereas assurance quality with focus on feeling of safety in the minds of the patients, responsive quality, and supportive attitude of the staff contributes to perceived service quality. Lastly, tangible factor items such as adequate stock of medicine, availability of state of art technology equipments and availability of parking facility also adds to perceived service quality. Overall results underscore that perceived service quality helps in accelerating the recovery process and curing patients' health problems, through effective healthcare service delivery process, that ultimately affects brand loyalty. Moreover delivering qualitative customized services can build trust and positive feeling in patients for the hospital and make them loyal, and which subsequently enhance brand equity of the institution. This consequently results in superior performance and sustainable competitive advantage of an organization (service brand equity outcomes). Regarding the third component of service brand equity, the study concludes that predictive power of brand image is insignificant in influencing service brand equity. However, brand loyalty is found to be a mediating variable that influences the relationship between brand image and brand equity. That is, service provider through enhancing brand loyalty can build organizational image and work for the development of service brand equity. Overall, the study concludes that brand loyalty and perceived quality are the two major components that contribute to the development of service brand equity in healthcare sector. More importantly, organizations with high degree of service brand equity will be efficient in sustaining competitive performance.\nLimitations and future research: As with many studies, the research was conducted amidst certain limitations. First, the study could be criticized on the ground that only three service brand equity components were examined and analyzed. Second, perceived service quality, brand loyalty, and brand image need to be considered and framed as formative constructs rather than as reflective constructs to develop the concept more concretely. Third, future research should analyze more explicitly the other antecedents such as customer value, satisfaction, customer experiences, social responsibility, medical quality etc. along with perceived quality, brand loyalty and brand image for more comprehensive research in the future. Besides brand association and awareness can also be considered as explicit components in the future work. Fourth, the cross-sectional design of the study is another limitation as all brand equity measures were collected at a single point of time. Hence, longitudinal study is required to validate the causal relationships among brand equity constructs established in the study in future. Besides, replications in other health service environments such as dental, physiotherapy and ayurvedic and in other non-health environments such as insurance, financial, education etc. can also support study findings in conceptualizing brand equity.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of the study is to examine three significant components of service brand equity - i.e. perceived service quality, brand loyalty, and brand image - and analyze relationships among the components of brand equity and also their relationship with brand equity, which is still to be theorized and developed in the healthcare literature.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Effective responses were received from 206 respondents, selected conveniently from the localities of Jammu city. After scale item analysis, the data were analyzed using factor analysis, correlations, t-tests, multiple regression analysis and path modeling using SEM.\nFindings: - The findings of the study support that service brand equity in the healthcare sector is greatly influenced by brand loyalty and perceived quality. However, brand image has an indirect effect on service brand equity through brand loyalty (mediating variable).\nResearch limitations/implications: - The research can be criticized on the ground that data were selected conveniently from respondents residing in the city of Jammu, India. But at the same time the respondents were appropriate for the study as they have adequate knowledge about the hospitals, and were associated with the selected hospital for more than four years. Furthermore, the validity and reliability of the data are strong enough to take care of the limitations of the convenience sampling selection method.\nOriginality/value: - The study has unique value addition to the service marketing vis-a-vis healthcare literature, from both theoretical and managerial perspectives. The study establishes a direct and significant relationship between service brand equity and its two components, i.e. perceived service quality and brand loyalty in the healthcare sector. It also provides directions to healthcare service providers in creating, enhancing, and maintaining service brand equity through service quality and brand loyalty, to sustain competitive advantage.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Managing the manufacturing - R&D interface: an extended editorial viewpoint	[ "Innovation", "Supply chain", "Manufacturing", "Interface", "Manufacturing technology management", "R&D" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: A special issue is a publication that focuses on a particular topical area of a research domain or, as in this case, also attempts to merge two research domains of a topical area that ought to be better interrelated. For this reason, all contributions to this special issue are more connected than would normally be the case in an academic publication. As a consequence, we believe there is a stronger need not only to introduce each article but also to discuss how they are related in a preliminary analysis. Therefore, if you will and bear with us, we hope that the introductions in this fairly long editorial viewpoint will arouse your curiosity and stimulate your interest in reading the full articles.\n2 A background to this call: Although firms' value and supply chains have never been static, the present rethinking of the boundaries in supply/value chains has become so fast-paced that, in many instances, one could characterise them as disruptive. Forward integration or backward integration are possible routes to follow, in addition to the optional shortening of the firm's part of the total supply chain or even staying put. Since traditional industrial borders are obliterated, traditional organisations and work processes for product innovation and innovation of manufacturing technology must be reviewed and possibly reconsidered. However, even firms that do not move in any direction at all must to a greater extent consider where in the supply/value chain product and process innovation can be implemented most efficiently.\n3 Contents of the special issue: Out of many preliminary contacts and proposed contributions, 15 authors were invited to submit full articles for the special issue; of these, ten were selected for the double-blind review process and eight were finally accepted for publication in this special issue. In the following sections, we will introduce each article, with the aim of capturing the main messages for both academic scholars and industry professionals.\n4 A preliminary synthesis: This special issue includes contributions from five different countries on three continents (Figure 1). Some of the articles give particular insights into a specific problem; taken together, however, they contribute to advancing the general understanding of this topical area. In the review of all final contributions, four different perspectives on this topical area of research emerged. The general corporate strategic perspective is discussed in four articles, while the cross-functional work-process perspective stands out and is studied in six of the eight contributions.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This extended editorial viewpoint aims to introduce the individual contributions for this special issue.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The articles included in this special issue are reviewed.\nFindings: The preliminary synthesis of all articles identifies four different perspectives on this topical area: a corporate strategy perspective, a cross-functional work-process perspective, an outsourcing perspective and a specific Chinese perspective.\nResearch limitations/implications: Some of the articles in this special issue are of a theoretical character; thus, further empirical research is recommended.\nPractical implications: The individual papers present important information, guidelines and frameworks that firms can use in their efforts to bridge the manufacturing - R&D interface.\nOriginality/value: This special issue focuses on a less-researched topical area and attempts to bridge the disciplines of operations and innovation management.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Adding value to value stocks in Indian stock market: an empirical analysis	[ "Value investing", "Indian stock market", "Piotroski’s F-score" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The value investing consists of buying securities which are trading at prices lesser than their intrinsic value. The intrinsic value of the securities is determined through their fundamentals. The company giving good record of earnings, dividends, book value of assets, profitability, etc., is said to be an intrinsically strong company. Within the varied value investing strategies, the investors look for the strategy that consistently identifies winners and the losers in the market with minimum risk and earn returns superior to those averaged by the market index. In actual effect, the existence of such a strategy would challenge the efficient market hypothesis, one of the main pillars of financial market theory (Dahl et al., 2009). Out of different financial variables aimed at assessing the intrinsic value of securities, the book-to-market ratio has been considered as the most important and the keystone of value investing studies. However, when examining the potential of book-to-market ratio in generating excess returns to investors, Piotroski (2000) studied that no doubt the stocks selected on the basis of high book-to-market ratio yield value premium to investors, but about 44 per cent of the high book-to-market firms did not show any increment in their value. To ensure the financial soundness and profitability of financially distressed high book-to-market firms, Joseph Piotroski developed a comprehensive financial signal known as F-score that measures three constructs relevant to a firm's financial condition: profitability, financial leverage/liquidity and operating efficiency.\n2. Piotroski's F-Score model: Piotroski's F-score model is based on set of financial variables aimed at identifying companies that would actually increase in value out of total group of value stocks. The model is called as F-score, where the nine financial signals corresponding to the three constructs, that is profitability; leverage/liquidity and the operating efficiency, are used to measure the financial performance of high book-to-market firms. The model uses a set of nine binary signals, where an indicator variable for the signal is equal to 1 if the signal's realization is good and 0 if the signal's realization is bad (Piotroski, 2000). The score on each of the nine items are summed to give the F-score for the stock, ranging between 0 and 9. Given below are the constructs of F-score model.\n3. Relevant literature review: Different researchers have examined the edge of F-score strategy in classifying the value maxi misers and value mini misers around the globe, for example, Piotroski (2000) examined the performance of F-score strategy applied on the portfolio of high book-to-market firms in the US stock market for the period 1976-1996. He found that the mean return earned by a high book-to-market investor could be increased by at least 7.5 per cent annually through the selection of financially strong high book-to-market firms. Further, Kang and Ding (2003) examined whether the future returns of high book-to-market portfolios could be enhanced by retaining only high F-score stocks in context of Asian stock markets (Hong Kong, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand) for the period from 1991-2002. The results revealed that the financial performance using such strategy could be improved in all markets except Malaysia, and the financial signal effects in Asian markets were relatively small due to poor quality in accounting and financial information. Also, Michou (2007) examined the profitability of a financial statement analysis investment strategy, that is F-score in UK stock market for the period 1975-2006. The results showed that the mean raw returns for 0 F-score portfolio were -24.65 per cent, while for F-score of 9 were 25.55 per cent, showing that a portfolio strategy going long in high F-score firms and going short in low F-score firms is ideal for an investor. Further, pooled cross-sectional analysis showed that the F-score has positive relation with future returns, both before and after controlling for size, book-to-market effect and momentum effect.\n4. Database and sample selection: Universe of the study comprises of the stocks listed at the Bombay Stock Exchange and the study is conducted over the period of 15 years, that is 1996-2010. This period is adequate to cover both the period of high economic activity as well as the period of downturn in the Indian capital market. To select the final sample of stocks, following filters are applied:\n5. Methodological framework: 5.1 Return calculation\n6. Empirical results and discussion: The number of stocks falling into high book-to-market quintile each year along with their market-adjusted returns is detailed in Table I.\n7. Conclusion: The study examines the relevance of an accounting-based fundamental strategy \"F-score\" in enhancing the overall returns of value stocks in the Indian stock markets. The F-score model is the sum of nine financial signals which corresponds to three constructs relevant to firm's financial condition, that is profitability, financial leverage/liquidity and operating efficiency. The results revealed that the mean return of stocks, meeting all constructs of F-score, is significantly larger than the all high book-to-marker stocks by 18.402 per cent annually across the period of 15 years. Also, the significant annual difference of 29.856 per cent is observed between the future winner stocks and the future losers. Thus, an F-score strategy can help in shifting of the returns earned by an investor. Moreover, the benefits of high F-score strategy are channelized to stocks with large size, huge trading volume and medium price in the Indian stock market. It could be because the shares of large companies are actively traded in stock exchange due to which they provide more liquidity and marketability of investors. Also, the large cap stocks are better positioned to benefit from established sales channel in emerging market like India.\n8. Practical implications: Several important implications can be drawn from the findings of the above study. The value style school of investing is the most popular style of investment among the investor community. However, the fundamentals-based strategy \"F-score\" applied on value stocks can help the investors to extract true value maximizing securities among the entire group of value stocks. Also, the performance of the strategy is channelized to stocks with huge trading volume and market capitalization. Thus, the risk involved in investing in illiquid and small firms is not implicated in this investment strategy. Further, the significant mean return difference found between the high-F-score firms and the low-score firms suggests that an investor could constitute a hedge portfolio that generate positive return by selling expected losers stocks and buying expected winners. Overall, an investor can apply this strategy for enhancing the return on value portfolio in the Indian stock market.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the relevance of an accounting-based fundamental strategy in adding value to value stocks in Indian stock market. The fundamentals-based investment strategy \"F-score\", given by Joseph Piotroski, has been used on stocks having high book-to-market ratio to eliminate the firms with poor future prospects from the entire portfolio of value stocks.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The market adjusted performance of all the firms in the sample is examined using one sample t-test. Further, F-score of all the firms in the sample is calculated and the independent sample t-test has been used to examine the significance of mean difference between high-score and low-score firms. Finally, the predictive ability of F-score in explaining the overall stock returns is examined using panel data regression analysis.\nFindings: Results reveal that the mean market-adjusted return of stocks, meeting all constructs of F-score is significantly larger than the entire portfolio of value stocks by 18.402 per cent annually across the period of study. The results of panel data regression made it evident that one-point improvement in aggregate F-score is associated with an about 4.93 per cent increase in one-year market-adjusted return.\nPractical implications: The significant mean return difference found between the high-F-score firms and the low-score firms suggests that an investor could constitute a hedge portfolio that generates positive return by selling expected losers stocks and buying expected winners.\nOriginality/value: The present study is the first attempt made in emerging economy like India to enrich the literature on value investing strategies by examining the performance of F-score strategy to separate winners from losers in Indian stock market.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Supporting a 1:1 program with a student technology team	[ "Information technology", "Educational innovation", "Schools", "Education", "Laptops", "Personal computers" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Over half of the K-12 students and teachers in the USA have access to a school-provided device (Molnar, 2015). Increased access to dependable wireless internet and cheaper devices (laptops, tablets) have encouraged this surge of 1:1 computing (Harper and Milman, 2016; Penuel, 2006). The movement toward 1:1 computing within K-12 education has impacted pedagogy, communication with families, engagement, and in some cases, achievement (Harper and Milman, 2016; Zheng et al., 2016).\nLiterature review: STTs\nTheoretical framework: Grounded in the many examples of how STTs currently operate within K-12 schools, we understand STTs to be situated learning environments (Donohue et al., 2015; Marcink, 2015; Scheffer, 2015). Lave and Wenger (1991) proposed situated learning theory in order to \"rescue the idea of apprenticeship\" (p. 29) and to redefine what traditional apprenticeship could look like in contemporary times. Situated learning encourages learners to understand concepts through observing professionals in the field, hearing and using the discourse of that profession with peers, and working in authentic environments within which practices occur. Lave and Wenger (1991) expressed that it is often difficult for situated learning to happen within formal school settings. STTs are one compelling example of how situated learning can actually occur within schooling settings. STTs are unique programs which provide authentic opportunities for students to participate in and learn within the culture and day-to-day activities of IT departments within K-12 schools and districts.\nMethodology: This qualitative case study (Merriam, 1998, 2009) describes one STT program offered at a high school within 1:1 district. The case documents how this STT program functioned during the 2015-2016 academic year.\nCase description: History of the STT\nDiscussion, limitations and implications: The purpose of this case study is to describe how a student technology functions within a 1:1 district. In this case, the STT served as front-line IT support for the middle and high-school student-issued Chromebooks. This STT is the epitome of the ISTE standards for Students in action. Students directed their own learning, professionally supported the technical needs of their peers and faculty through meaningful experiences, and solved authentic problems using computational thinking skills with their STT peers and communicating their process to each other and their community.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe the practice of using student technology teams (STTs) offered at a high school within a 1:1 district.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This qualitative case study (Merriam, 1998, 2009) documents how an STT program functioned in 2015-2016 academic year.\nFindings: Findings show the STT provided a rich and authentic learning opportunity for students interested in information technology. The district benefits greatly through both cost savings and personnel support related to its 1:1 initiative.\nOriginality/value: As there is no current research on K-12 STTs, this study serves as a foundation for a practice that is growing within schools.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Examining the link between service modularity and firm performance: A capability perspective	[ "Service modularity", "New service advantage", "Radical innovation capability", "Service modularity capabilities" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Service innovation has been described as one of the most important issues in the service industry (Andreassen et al., 2015). Although service scholars agree that new service development (NSD) is one of the crucial processes for achieving a superior service innovation, the risks and failure rates of NSD are particular high (Tuunanen and Cassab, 2011). This dilemma has driven managers to search for various NSD strategies which include servitization (Baines et al., 2009), business process modeling notation (Milton and Johnson, 2012), service business model innovation (Visnjic Kastalli and Van Looy, 2013), or service blueprinting (Bitner et al., 2008). Service modularity has recently emerged as a potential solution to NSD (Voss and Hsuan, 2009; Ulkuniemi and Pekkarinen, 2011).\n2. Theoretical background: 2.1 A capability-based perspective\n3. Hypotheses development: 3.1 Mediating role of service modularity\n4. Research design: In this section, this study first describes the qualitative method that explores and identifies components and measures of service modularity capabilities. Next, this study presents the details of the questionnaire development, including other measures and two pilot studies. Finally, this study demonstrates the procedures of the quantitative method and the results of nonresponse and common method biases.\n5. Analysis and results: 5.1 Validation of measures\n6. Discussion: A critical challenge for firms that adopt service modular strategies is: how does service modularity actually and continuously contribute to firm performance? This study addresses this issue by empirically examining the mediating role of new service advantage to link between service modularity and firm performance, the antecedent role of service modularity capabilities to configure service modularity, and the moderating role of radical innovation capability to sustain the effectiveness of service modularity.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: While service scholars have generally supported the idea that service modularity enhances firm performance, the literature offers very little evidence of the actual process through which service modularity continuously contributes to firm performance. The purpose of this paper is to examine the link from a capability perspective: service modularity capabilities-service modularity-new service advantage-firm performance, as well as the moderating role of radical innovation capability in the effect of service modularity on new service advantage.\nDesign/methodology/approach: To examine this link, data were collected from a cross-industry survey of 231 leading service firms. Structural equation modeling and hierarchical moderated regression analyses were employed to test the model.\nFindings: Analyses reveal that new service advantage mediates the service modularity-firm performance relationship. Moreover, service modularity capabilities act in an important antecedent role to configure service modularity. Among the findings, it is worth emphasizing that radical innovation capability not only strengthens the positive effect of, but also alleviates the negative effect of, service modularity on new service advantage.\nOriginality/value: This study provides a more complete understanding of how service modularity enhances firm performance by discovering the hidden role of new service advantage that bridges service modularity and firm performance, clarifying the role of service modularity capabilities in configuring service modularity, and confirming the important role of radical innovation capability in sustaining the effectiveness of service modularity.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Meteorological information service support system in wind park application	[ "Operations management", "Decision support systems", "Information management", "Service operations", "Strategic planning", "Condition-based maintenance" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: According to Global Wind Energy Council (2012), the number of wind turbines spinning around the world by the end of 2011 is 199,064. Among that, the amount of wind turbines up and running in China is 45,894 which count 23 per cent of the total amount. That is to say, China's leadership in wind energy deployment is both an opportunity and a challenge for European and American companies to compete in this market and internationally. Europe remains a technology leader and is carving out the next frontier of wind energy with onshore and offshore deployments (Global Wind Energy Council, 2012). The wind energy potential of the Earth is huge and enough, in principle, to meet all the world's electricity needs. Virtually every country has sites with average wind speeds of more than 5 m/s measured at a height of 10 m, which are sufficient for using wind power to generate electricity (Sesto and Ancona, 1995).\n2. Review of related studies: 2.1. Wind power as an energy source\n3. Research methodology: 3.1. Overview\n4. System description: This section develops a conceptual framework for service support in wind park application. The proposed system involves three major modules: meteorological information module, wind power prediction module and operations management decision-making module. The complete system structure and process are illustrated in Figure 1.\n5. Discussion and future study: Based on collecting official documents, analytical results, lab experiments and hypothesis test result, this investigation discusses the possible causes of wind power system failure from these four perspectives, and presents practical suggestions for wind tower risk management and future action plans for the areas of structural design evaluation, construction and quality management, and engineering document review. By addressing study recommendations, project stakeholders can improve their risk management strategies. Construction firms can also utilize these findings to learn lessons for future reference. In terms of risk management, identifying the major causes of failure, one must understand the risk associated with these causes, and generate action plans that allow project managers to mitigate risk or employ control measures (Chou and Tu, 2011).\n6. Conclusions: This paper develops a conceptual system which utilizes the meteorological information for decision making based on CBM in operations and service management for wind parks, which is a form of proactive equipment maintenance that forecasts incipient failures based on a real-time assessment of various external and internal conditions obtained from, e.g. meteorological data and equipment monitoring system etc. The objective is to design an optimal service decision-making system based on CBM in wind park application to significantly cut down operation and maintenance costs and also implement a successful CBM strategy to achieve higher level of cost effectiveness, thus improve the operation and business performance. This paper bridges the gaps in current research of this area and opens up new research paths in the development of forecasting practices for service related decision making, operations and risk management of EWEs in wind parks. It has shown that through the analysis of the meteorological information, it is possible to predict harsh weather conditions which are harmful to cause faults in wind turbines. Modern NWP can provide reliable forecasts for wind parks as accurate as per quarter hour basis in the next couple of hours and also useful trend forecast up to days. By analysing the approximate time period of the 50-year maximum wind speed and extreme wind speed through EWEs forecasting, WPEs can effectively reduce and even avoid a huge number of losses in maintenance, and schedule service operations in more optimal periods. The basic idea has been already tested in a wind park in central China as depicted, but still lacks of systematic theory construction to be used as a decision support system. The implementation of this conceptual model will be dealt with in future research.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to introduce a holistic decision support system based on condition-based maintenance which utilizes meteorological forecasting information to support decision-making process in services of wind power enterprises.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A pilot conceptual system combining with meteorological information and operations management has been formulated in this study. The proposed system provides benchmarking to support decision making directly and indirectly basing on processing meteorological information and evaluating its impact on service operations. It collects meteorological data to predict failure probabilities in different areas which need corresponding maintenance service and schedule the optimal maintenance periods. In addition, it provides meteorological forecasting and decision support in case of extreme weather events (EWEs).\nFindings: The conceptual study shows that there is a connection between the meteorological conditions and failures, and it is feasible to make service decisions based on the predictions of weather conditions and their impacts to failures.\nResearch limitations/implications: The research presented at the present phase is not much beyond a conceptual framework. The actual implementation and all possible related practical issues will be dealt with in future research.\nPractical implications: It helps decision makers to predict and identify possible categories of faults in wind turbine, make optimal service decisions to enhance the output performance of wind power generation, and take in advance emergency counteractions in case of EWEs.\nOriginality/value: It presents a novel concept and provides a roadmap to achieve optimal operations in wind park application through combining meteorological information system with service decision making.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Strategic CSR: a panacea for profit and altruism? An empirical study among executives in the Bangladeshi RMG supply chain	[ "Bangladesh", "Executives", "Supply chains", "Strategic CSR", "Cognitive CSR", "RMG industry" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The meta-theoretical approach of corporate social responsibility (CSR), underpinned by moral and ethical scholars (Stark, 1993) and recognized for its saliency in satisfying societal stakeholders' needs (Freeman, 1984), namely, people and planet (Elkington, 1997), shifted in the past two decades from its mere philanthropic and altruistic virtuosity to become also a competitive tool for economic value.\nThe ready-made garment supply chain in the Bangladeshi context: Bangladesh is one of the world's most plagued landscapes apropos poverty and inequality, the latter especially visible along its RMG supply chain (Akhter et al., 2010; Huq et al., 2014). Its RMG industry represents the second leading sourcing market in the world, second only to China and with a US$24.5bn worth of production. Its supply chain is particularly important for European apparel companies: interestingly enough, in 2014, US$14.9bn worth of produce or 60 per cent of its total exports saw Europe as final destination, with Germany representing the largest buying country (US$4.3bn export) (BGMEA, 2015).\nThe theoretical background: an understanding of corporate social responsibility in strategic terms: First drafted through Carroll's (1979) pyramidal model, CSR comprises the voluntary yet pivotal responsibilities a firm maintains toward its global societal stakeholders (Carroll, 2004; Freeman, 1984). While elaborating on Carroll's argument, Elkington (1997) emphasized how companies should not only be measured in economic terms but also be subjected to environmental and social evaluation, namely, for people and the planet.\nResearch methodology: Amidst being poorly accessible, primary data such as the one herewith gleaned allow for novelty and originality (Cowton, 1998). Qualitative research focuses on a small and previously defined sample and is germane in highly exploratory scholarly theorizing as this paper (Patton, 2002). Liedtka (1992) underscored that individual interviewing is significant when ethics are involved, with interviewer's observations playing a paramount role due to unconscious and inexplicit reactions. With sensitive arguments, social desirability as the attitude to \"present oneself favourably\" might rise (Zerbe and Paulhus, 1987). Amidst the impossibility to fully eradicate its pervasiveness (Randall and Fernandes, 1991), it was attempted to minimize it in this paper by taking an emic stance during the interview process, ergo, deepening the time with the interviewee during and after the interview itself. This proved to yield a positive outcome, as the majority of interviewees demonstrated to be very open to elaborate and engage in discussions on very delicate topics concerning CSR.\nResearch findings: Whereas a plenary discussion will be embraced in the following section, Table II summarizes the sub-questions linked to the 5D framework on a singular basis. Each dimension and derived findings are discussed below with scores and score-related percentages visible in Table III.\nDiscussion: The central tenet of this paper hinges on the comprehension of cognitive antecedents and behavioral consequences driving strategic CSR, in tandem with corporate performance outcomes. The investigation was conducted on ten executive-based case studies in a developing country's supply chains.\nConclusion: CSR in RMG supply chains remained long unexplored, being particular devoid of suppliers' perspective (Huq et al., 2014) and lacking scholarship at the individual cognitive level of analysis (Aguinis and Glavas, 2012).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This e-book sheds light on the concept of strategic corporate social responsibility (CSR) in supply chains within a developing country context. This paper aims to investigate cognitive antecedents as well as behavioral consequences of corporate executives toward investing in strategic CSR. Moreover, it displays if and how strategic CSR contributes to creating performance benefits for the supplier.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This study is qualitative and exploratory in its nature. After drafting a five-dimensional framework from extant literature, it empirically elaborates on a case-study analysis based on primary data gathered through semi-structured interviews on ten executives (i.e. top executives, directors, owners) in large-size supplier companies within the Bangladeshi ready-made garment (RMG) supply chain.\nFindings: First, it highlights altruism and performance as being cognitively and theoretically espoused in strategic CSR; yet, one appears to oust the other. Second, it demonstrates that if CSR-driven investments allow for a competitive positional betterment, as for suppliers in the Bangladeshi RMG industry, profit-driven CSR diffuses at the expense of altruism. Third, it confirms CSR's strategic role as necessary but not sufficient for competitive advantage, delivering insights on suppliers' future posture vis-a-vis CSR in the Bangladeshi RMG supply chains.\nResearch limitations/implications: The e-book investigates strategic CSR's struggle to maintain a balance between moral and profit-maximization motives at the cognitive level but being paradoxically required in supply chains. A limitation, inter alia, entails the focus on the horizontal perspective of the sample and the RMG supply chain.\nOriginality/value: The e-book provides valuable theoretical and practical insights by capitalizing on unique data retrieved from the Bangladeshi supply chain.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A study of housing reconstruction and social cohesion among conflict and tsunami affected communities in Sri Lanka	[ "Sri Lanka", "Conflict disaster nexus", "Conflict prevention", "Housing reconstruction" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: A conflict that has been destabilising the social, political and cultural structures of a country over a protracted period of time does not end after formal hostilities have ceased. On the contrary, the hidden conflicts that lie beneath the political economic projection of the country often remain, and can come back to the surface if the root causes are not addressed through reconciliation. The post conflict reconstruction (PCR) process is a significant opportunity to seek reconciliation through promoting community participation, empowerment of people and addressing grievances.\n2. Methodology: The data underpinning this study on housing reconstruction are part of a larger research study into the reconstruction of housing and infrastructure, and their effects on conflict prevention after the cessation of the armed conflict. The purpose of this wider project was to enhance the capacity of local stakeholders to deliver conflict sensitive infrastructure and housing reconstruction programmes within the North and East of Sri Lanka, and thereby help to prevent future conflict in the region. During the formative stages of the study, it was identified that a single reconstruction project goes through several stages: preparation, design, pre-construction, construction and use. These stages are based on the RIBA (2007) outline plan of work , which is widely used in industry, and helped guide data collection to ensure all aspects of the development process were considered by the research. The infrastructure projects were categorised into nine sectors, with housing identified separately, while recognising that some housing projects incorporate elements of infrastructure, such as roads, community facilities, and recreational areas. The nine infrastructure sectors were hard infrastructure (transportation, energy, water, communication, solid waste) and soft infrastructure (governance, economic, social, cultural). Within the post conflict environment, it was identified that these projects can act as either \"dividers\" or \"connectors\", as identified within the Do Know Harm Framework (Goddard, 2009).\n3. Literature review: 3.1 Disasters\n4. Results: Four housing projects were selected for study. The first in the outskirts of Batticaloa city and close to the coast. The second, approximately 20 km from Batticaloa, inland. The third project was in Kilinochchi District and the fourth in Jaffna District, both in the North of Sri Lanka. All four studies were undertaken 6-12 months after residents had started to occupy the housing.\n5. Discussion: Even though the Sri Lankan security forces and the LTTE have been the main parties to the conflict, the tension between community groups at a local level has also been a major feature of the conflict. It is not reasonable to expect such tensions to subside following the end of the war as many of the conditions that led to such inter community tensions are likely to persist even after the war. Conversely, the processes of resettlement and reconstruction has the potential to either minimise or increase tension and conflict among communities, depending on how reconstruction projects are conceived and implemented. The ongoing construction work provides an opportunity to explore how the construction of infrastructure impacts on inter community relations at a regional and community level. Such an exploration will help determine the nature and extent of impact of reconstruction projects on the local population in terms of social inclusion and exclusion, reinforcement of old tensions and the creation of new conflicts, social aspects of infrastructure development, and conflict mitigation.\n6. Conclusions and recommendations: Using four housing reconstruction projects in Batticaloa, Kilinochchi and Jaffna Districts, Sri Lanka, as case studies, and a novel methodological framework, this study has explored the causal relations among the independent variables associated with housing reconstruction and dependent variables related to conflict prevention. The data, gathered from interviews and project reports, were analysed using propositions from a literature review, adopting a thematic analytical approach. This study examined post disaster housing reconstruction in Sri Lanka in a post tsunami and post conflict environment, a subject not adequately addressed by previous studies, which have tended to focus on the reconstruction in the immediate aftermath of the tsunami.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to critically analyse the role of housing reconstruction projects in post conflict and post tsunami Sri Lanka, and to discuss their implications on conflict prevention.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Using four housing reconstruction projects in Batticaloa, Kilinochchi and Jaffna Districts, Sri Lanka, as case studies, and a novel methodological framework, the study explores the causal relations among the independent variables associated with housing reconstruction and dependent variables related to conflict prevention. The data, gathered from interviews and project reports, were analysed using propositions from a literature review, adopting a thematic analytical approach.\nFindings: This study finds that reconstruction has created new forms of conflicts and tensions for the people who came to live in the newly constructed houses. The hostile relations that existed among different ethnic groups during the conflict were continued, and to some extent, exacerbated by the reconstruction undertaken after the war.\nPractical implications: The study identifies causal relations among the independent variables associated with housing reconstruction and dependent variables related to conflict prevention, which can be used to inform physical reconstruction programmes after conflict.\nOriginality/value: The research presents a novel methodological framework. The results reveal concerns in housing and infrastructure development that have implications for future research and practice in post conflict environments.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
What is an apprentice?	[ "Education", "Apprenticeships" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Has industry failed to provide enough apprenticeships? One gains this impression from reading the Carr Report and, nearer the bone, from listening to remarks of youth employment officers, headmasters and parents.\nWhat apprentices are not: In some trades juvenile workers are called apprentices. In the sense that the training provided for the trade is \"Just carry on - you'll find it simple\", or \"Have ten minutes with Nellie - she'll show yer\", the term \"apprentice\" is but a masquerade used mainly to impress parents, headmasters and headmistresses. In every industry the use of the word \"apprentice\" should be limited to a trade or occupation where formal training over a specified period is given and is allied to the provision of facilities for study leading to a City and Guilds, or National Certificate, or a course leading to a professional qualification. Until the term \"apprentice\" has acquired in practice the weight and dignity afforded it in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries - and some kind of direction by Government or authoritative bodies like Chambers of Commerce may be necessary before this comes about - those responsible for guiding young people about occupations should be on their guard when the word \"apprentice\" is used. What matters is the period devoted to training the young recruit, the quality of the training provided and the support training receives from the management of the company concerned. Using such a touchstone the quality of training provided for young operatives in the steel industry, for example, is far superior to the training provided by many so-called trades which boast of their apprenticeships.In general, young people in industry fall into three occupational groups. The first group consists of those who take jobs of a temporary and transient nature and for which little or no training is required; these include messenger boys and girls, lorry-drivers' mates, mashers of tea and general factotums. Provided these jobs are of a temporary nature and are held only for short periods, they do little harm and may do some good. Then there are the juvenile workers who do productive jobs on assembly lines and, if they are allowed to work on a piece-work basis, earn high wages. With notable exceptions, such as some of the nationalised industries, big engineering and steel companies, woollen and other textile firms, little or no training is provided for these occupations; in many ways this group, which is numerically the biggest, offers the greatest problem and challenge to those who wish to improve training facilities in industry.\nTypes of apprentice: The third group consists of what may be called the genuine apprentice; even here a wide variety of terms is used, which often causes confusion. Craft or trade apprentices, fitters, turners, setters-up, student apprentices, commercial apprentices, instrument mechanic apprentices, student engineers, graduate apprentices, management trainees - there is a plethora of terms which are considerably multiplied by names used locally in certain industries.In the main, however, all apprenticeships fall into one of three categories. First there are the Craft or Trade Apprenticeships designed to train apprentices for such skilled trades as fitters, turners, joiners, pattern-makers, moulders, instrument mechanics, electricians, garage mechanics and many others. The majority of these are to be found in the engineering industry and doubts are being raised as to whether the traditional specialised training being provided for certain trades will be adequate to meet the all-round demands which will be required in an automatic age. Will turners as such be required in ten years' time? Or drillers? Or grinders? The majority of recruits to these trades are drawn from the top streams of secondary modern schools; others, usually less satisfactory, come from grammar or technical school boys with poor performances in General Certificate or School Leaving Examinations.Student or Technical Apprentices are composite terms to include all those apprentices who are recruited from grammar schools or technical high schools with good General Certificates of Education, English and mathematics frequently being required as compulsory subjects. Where the apprentices are being trained for a particular career they arc designated accordingly, for example \"Student Apprentice (Engineering)\", \"Student Apprentice (Metallurgy)\", or \"Student Apprentice (Commercial)\". These designations are usually corrupted to Engineering, Metallurgical or Commercial Apprentices. Engineering Apprentices are usually required to show physics on their General Certificate of Education; metallurgical apprentices, chemistry. Some companies recruit grammar or technical high school boys with three subjects in science at \"A\" level; these are usually called Student Engineers.The third category of apprentice is the Graduate Apprentice; he possesses a degree or Dip. Tech. Sometimes, and most regrettably, the recruit is called a Management Trainee. (No doubt the majority of these apprentices will reach management grade. They should prove themselves first and be made to compete for management jobs with other apprentices).Industry is frequently criticised for making different grades of apprentices and for initially assigning boys to different levels according to scholastic achievement. Why is this so? The answer is simple enough. The national educational system is based on a selective system and assigns boys and girls to schools and colleges where they may profit according to their aptitudes, abilities and application. Industry makes use of such a system and perpetuates it. But, as we shall see later, not as rigidly as the national educational system itself. There are more opportunities for the late developer in industry than are available in schools where late transfer from secondary modern to grammar is still honoured more in the breach than the observance.\nDistinguishing features: The varying treatments given to the different categories of apprentices are, in the main, four-fold. The first is the length of training. A craft apprentice takes five years to complete his apprenticeship (not really necessary, but at present the practice) and a graduate apprentice, two. Second is the content of training. In the case of a craft apprentice, training is mainly designed to improve skill of hand and mind. A graduate apprentice is given opportunities to learn more of processes and procedure and how to lead people. The content of training is allied to the third difference, i.e. where the apprentices are likely to fit in at the end of their training. A craft apprentice usually becomes a skilled fitter, turner, tool-setter, etc.; a student apprentice becomes a technician. This is far from immutable, however, and in many firms there are considerable up and down movements. Promising craft apprentices are transferred to student apprenticeships, while indolent student apprentices may leave or become craft apprentices. Craft apprentices who blossom out in their late teens may become technicians and more when their apprenticeships are complete. The growth of Dip. Tech. courses means that there is now no \"matriculation\" or GCE \"A\" level obstacle to prevent an intelligent hard-working craft apprentice from gaining a qualification which will be looked upon with great favour in industry and the professions.Although industry makes use of the national education system to provide a convenient means of selection, there is considerable flexibility in the arrangements, and those who have the interests of secondary modern boys at heart can rest content that the opportunities for their bright boys are still there; how many are \"bright\" they are best able to judge.The fourth difference in the \"treatment\" of different apprentice categories is in the kind of education provided. In general (Scotland, regrettably, excepted), craft apprentices take City and Guilds craftsmen's courses or those leading to Final Certificate.Student apprentices take National Certificate courses with a view to professional qualifications; others take sandwich or full-time courses, leading to Dip. Techs. or degrees. The educational provision for graduate apprentices is scanty. It leaves much to be desired, and is deserving of more attention by senior technical colleges than has so far been given.From all this it may be seen that, far more important than an \"apprenticeship\" to a school-leaver is the industry or firm which he joins, the kind of training provided, the opportunities available and whether or not an outstanding boy can make his way to the Board of Directors. Parents and teachers and youth employment officers should never be deceived by elaborate displays of obsolete indentures; many good companies have long abandoned them. They should carefully examine the attitudes towards training and the concern for human beings inside the firm in which they are interested.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to outline the different types and features of apprenticeships available in the 1950s.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The term \"apprenticeship\" has lost the weight it had when it was originally conceived in the sixteenth century, and has now (at the time of writing) become a blanket term. It covers: temporary and transient positions - messengers, lorry-drivers' mates, etc.; juvenile workers - assembly line work (little or no training) and \"genuine apprentices\" - including craft/trade apprenticeships, student or technical apprenticeships, and graduate apprenticeships. People are assigned to a grade of apprenticeship based on how a person achieves in the national educational system.\nFindings: - Apprenticeships vary in terms of: length of training, content, future career progression possibilities and education provided. It is suggested that the industry joined and training provided, alongside the opportunities available may be more valuable to a school leaver than an \"apprenticeship\".\nOriginality/value: - This paper provides a useful look on the role of an apprentice in the 1950s.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A wellbeing index based on an enabling environment	[ "Human development index", "Gross domestic product", "Wealth", "National economy", "Standard of living" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: Real GDP per capita is often used by economists, journalists, and policymakers as a proxy for living standards, either to compare wellbeing in one country at various points in time or to compare wellbeing across many countries at a particular point in time. In general, economists emphasize its use as a proxy for wellbeing, as it is a measure of the value of goods and services per person produced in a country in a given year. Higher production implies higher consumption and thus greater material well being (where consumption includes things such as medical care and educational services), but it does not absolutely follow that greater production translates into greater private consumption (consider, e.g. the former Soviet Union or Eastern European countries under central planning).When taken literally as a measure of well being, GDP per capita has several obvious and well-known problems. Criticisms generally fall into one of four categories:1. it excludes any consideration of non-material dimensions of wellbeing, i.e. the fact that wellbeing is multidimensional and goes beyond economics to include social, political and other aspects of a country's characteristics;2. it excludes non-market activities;3. some consumption items which many may view as beneficial are actually harmful (e.g. negative environmental externalities associated with increased production); and4. using an average measure of income ignores the distribution of income within a country.GDP per capita is not representative of the wellbeing of a significant proportion of a country's population if its income distribution is highly uneven (For, example if Bill Gates moves to Niger, GDP per capita would go up significantly but not the wellbeing of its people).Given the limitations of GDP, alternative measures of wellbeing typically begin with GDP and then adjust for things like income sent abroad and depreciation to get a more accurate description of domestic consumption. To this point, adjustments are relatively straightforward. To account for other criticisms noted above, e.g. to value or account for such things as leisure or the quality of the environment, imputations for prices, as well as value judgments, are brought into the calculation (Morse (2004) for a more detailed discussion on these points).The United Nations, via its Development Program (UNDP) and its annual Human Development Report, takes a different tack. It uses a slightly modified measure of GDP, along with measures of life expectancy at birth, the adult literacy rate, and the extent of school enrollment, to construct its human development index (HDI). This measure is supposed to capture a \"bigger picture\" which is closer to human wellbeing than ever more refined measures of \"consumption.\" Mahbub ul Haq, a Pakistani Economist and co-creator of the HDI (with Amartya Sen) puts it this way:The basic purpose of development is to enlarge people's choices. In principle, these choices can be infinite and can change over time. People often value achievements that do not show up at all, or not immediately, in income or growth figures: greater access to knowledge, better nutrition and health services, more secure livelihoods, security against crime and physical violence, satisfying leisure hours, political and cultural freedoms and sense of participation in community activities. The objective of development is to create an enabling environment for people to enjoy long, healthy and creative lives (http://hdr.undp.org.pitt.idm.oclc.org/hd/).The UNDP also calculates a human poverty index (the HPI-1 for developing countries and the HPI-2 for developed economies) which is indirectly a measure of the absence of choices and opportunities and more directly a measure of \"bad outcomes.\" The HPI-2 is derived from measures for the probability at birth of not surviving to age 60, the percentage of the population lacking functional literacy skills, the percentage of the labor force that is long-term unemployed, and the percentage of the population that is below the poverty line. The HPI-2 is designed to capture differences among the developed economies obscured by their very similar HDI scores.Both the HDI and HPI are influenced heavily by Sen's (1999) extensive work on the importance of the ability to make choices for oneself regarding consumption baskets and more generally on how to live one's life. He advocates \"in favor of judging individual advantage in terms of the respective capabilities, which the person has, to live the way he or she has reason to value\" (1999). Certainly greater educational attainment and higher probability of a long lifespan speak on a general level to the capabilities individuals have in order to live, with these measures being particularly important for lower income countries. However, these measures can also be viewed explicitly as outcomes of an underlying \"enabling environment\" which is not captured directly by either the HDI or HPI-2, and consideration of which is likely to be most important for higher income countries where measures such as educational attainment and life expectancy are likely to be very similar and in and of themselves less constraining to individuals than in lower income countries. Additionally, neither the HDI nor the HPI-2 captures a gamut of other variables (e.g. political, social) that contribute to the set of \"enlarged choices\" and the \"enabling environment\" emphasized by Sen and discussed by the HDI co-creator in the above quote.This paper constructs a new index which tries to capture the underlying enabling environment of a country, for a group of the most developed economies. Specifically, Section 2 of the paper discusses past attempts to modify GDP to make it a more inclusive measure of well being. Section 3 proposes a new measure of well being that focuses more directly on freedom and choices, the Human Enabling Index (HENX), and discusses the underlying components of the HENX. Section 4 compares country rankings by HENX to rankings using the UN's HDI and HPI-2. Section 5 concludes.\n2 Alternatives to GDP as measures of wellbeing: Criticisms of using real GDP per capita as a measure of wellbeing generally fall into one of three categories: the exclusion of any consideration of a non-material dimension of well being, the exclusion of non-market activities, and the belief that some consumption items which many may view as beneficial are actually harmful.A classic, \"textbook\" example of a criticism based on GDP's inability to capture intangibles is reflected in Robert Kennedy's 1968 (as quoted in Mankiw (2007)) quote:[Gross Domestic Product] does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education, or the joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages, the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials. It measures neither our courage, nor our wisdom, nor our devotion to our country. It measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile, and it can tell us everything about America except why we are proud that we are Americans.Since, most would agree that it would never be possible to measure, even inaccurately, things like courage, wisdom, and devotion, addressing this shortcoming of GDP is typically not attempted.Table I (from Morse (2004)) summarizes the major alternatives to GDP (Tilak, 1992), beginning with the measure of economic welfare (MEW) formulated by Nordhaus and Tobin (1973). Their's was the first of many attempts to measure well-being via a quantification of consumption arrived at by beginning with GNP, adding to it things deemed of value - such as leisure time - and subtracting from it \"regrettables\" (e.g. by making corrections for \"urban disamenities\"). Among other issues, Nordhaus and Tobin's (1973) classification of health care expenditures as an intermediate good versus a consumption good is somewhat odd given that access to medical services and subsequent good health clearly contribute to greater wellbeing. Perhaps, the biggest criticism of this work is the somewhat arbitrary calculations of how non-market activities are measured. In particular, a systematic attempt to quantify leisure -which is ordinarily assumed to contribute to wellbeing - ignores that a lack of leisure may be purely voluntary, owing to a greater preference for material or financial resources at a particular point in an individual's life-cycle. Additionally, greater leisure may not be purely voluntary but may be a rational response to the incentives inherent in the labor market, tax, or other social institutions of a country.Accounting for negative externalities, particularly environmental, is another focus of alternatives to GDP. Quantifying environmental harm and estimating its cost is notoriously subject to underlying assumptions. Others have gone beyond the fact that GDP data does not account for negative externalities and propose that some consumption that many ordinarily think of as \"good\" is actually \"bad.\" When comparing the USA to Europe, e.g. Gordon (2004) states that:A significant fraction of GDP in the U.S. does not improve welfare but rather involves fighting the environment ... The American climate is more extreme than in Europe ... some of GDP is spent on larger air-conditioning and heating bills than in Europe ... Who knows how much GDP is spent on extra highways and extra energy to support the dispersion of the American population into huge metropolitan areas ... European GDP is held down by the correctly measured high price of petrol, but sufficient credit is not given for convenience benefits from frequent bus, subway, and train (including TGV) public transit.Whether or not a disperse population is a \"good\" or \"bad\" is clearly open to interpretation. The measure of wellbeing constructed below will ignore considerations of this type. What is important for this new measure is that people can choose regarding their spatial allocation; the resulting allocation is not judged. Additionally, dispersion and the \"taming\" of the environment can be seen as a type of insurance against extreme weather events (e.g. heat waves). In short, where and how one chooses to live will not be assessed; whether the choice exists to live where and how one desires will be.The OECD's (2006) \"Going for Growth,\" in addition to focusing on adjusting GDP for leisure and the environment, places an emphasis on aversion to income inequality as a factor which should be included in a measure of wellbeing. They admit, however, that \"... this issue is strongly influenced by value judgments.\" It is not clear a priori how a variable such as \"aversion to income inequality\" (or a range of values given to such a variable) or even income inequality itself should be interpreted. For example, it might be the case that Poland in 1975 had a more equal income distribution than West Germany did at that time. Would that really mean that well-being was greater in Poland? While it is important to capture the effects of income inequality on social polarization and civic norms[1], ideally the imposition of external normative judgments on the degree of income inequality that is acceptable should be avoided. Also, we would expect income inequality to be related to life expectancy and illiteracy rates, which are captured by some measures, such as the HDI.Perhaps, the most well-known measure of wellbeing is the UN's HDI. The HDI is based upon three criteria which are averaged to produce a simple index number for each country. The three criteria are length and health of life, knowledge, and standard of living, which are intended to embody a larger, more robust definition of wellbeing than simply more accurately measured consumption; they are supposed to capture \"development.\" Length and health of life are measured by life expectancy of birth; knowledge is comprised of two unequally weighted measures, adult literacy with two-thirds weight, and the combined primary, secondary and tertiary gross school enrollment ratio, with one-third weight; and the standard of living is captured by an index based on real GDP per capita measured at purchasing power parity. The standard of living component is constructed according to a judgment made by its creators that additional income contributes less to wellbeing at higher levels of income than at lower ones, and that the amount of wellbeing derived from income reaches a maximum point[2]. That is, according to the UN (2005) Human Development Report, \"... achieving a respectable level of human development does not require unlimited income.\"Country rankings based on the HDI are generally informative regarding the relative placement of high income (top rankings) versus low-income countries. For the highest ranked countries, differences in HDI scores tend to be very small. For this reason, the UN constructs an additional index specifically geared towards high-income countries, the human poverty index (HPI-2).The HPI-2 includes the percentage of the population living below the poverty line and a measure of social exclusion (the rate of long-term unemployment as a percentage of the labor force), in addition to variables similar to those included in the HDI: the probability at birth of not surviving to age 60 and the percentage of the population lacking functional literacy skills.While useful, both the HDI and HPI-2 do not truly capture the extent of the \"enabling environment\" in which individuals live as they ignore important factors that make freedom and choice possible.\n3 A New measure: the human enabling index (HENX): Instead of attempting to quantify a measure of wellbeing as a more precisely defined measure of consumption by adding to or subtracting from GDP, we will construct a measure of wellbeing more closely aligned to the idea of enabling individuals to have the options and capabilities to live as they see fit. As with the HDI and HPI-2, the HENX is constructed by aggregating sub-indices. It is thus open to the same criticism on methodological grounds that it is problematic to aggregate essentially unrelated variables. On the other hand, as with the HDI and HPI-2, such a procedure has important features: it is easy to construct and easy to understand[3].The HENX is intended to capture wellbeing in terms of freedom and the opportunity for choice in broadly defined categories: freedom from oppressive government and corruption; uninhibited access to information; the level of material living standards and opportunity to participate in economic life; freedom of association, and freedom from the harmful actions of others.3.1 Components\n4 Conclusion: The UN's popular measures of wellbeing, while influenced by Sen's (1999) emphasis on the ultimate importance of choices and opportunities for individuals, can be viewed as measures of outcomes (good outcomes for the HDI and the absence of bad outcomes for the HPI-2) rather than as measures or assessments of the underlying enabling environments (economic, social, political) of countries which ultimately provide the opportunities for individuals to choose to live as each sees fit. By including social and political elements the HENX proposed in this paper more closely captures the possibilities for choice.Country rankings are sensitive to which measure is used for the ranking. The USA and the UK fare poorly when ranked by the HPI-2 but their rankings improve dramatically when the HENX is used. These results are due to the inclusion of measures of social capital, or social cohesion, in the HENX.If a measure of the enabling environment of a country is deemed to be important as a measure of the wellbeing of citizens, and if political and social dimensions are deemed to be important to this environment, rankings of the most developed economies by the UN fail to adequately capture the countries' relative positions. A better measure for human wellbeing would be the HENX, which explicitly accounts for social and political elements, as well as economic, thereby providing a more complete picture of the enabling environment needed for people to live as they choose.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to devise a new index of wellbeing that includes social and political in addition to economic factors. The new index seeks to assess a country's underlying \"enabling environment\" - the extent to which individuals are able to live as each chooses. Country rankings using this new measure (the HENX) are compared with the ranking of countries using the UN's popular indicators of development, the human development index and the HPI-2.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper describes the necessity of a new index, the subcomponents used in its construction, and the method of construction.\nFindings: - Country rankings are sensitive to which measure is used for the ranking. In particular, the USA and UK fare poorly when ranked by the HPI-2 but their rankings improve dramatically when the HENX is used.\nOriginality/value: - If a measure of the enabling environment of a country is deemed to be important as a measure of the wellbeing of citizens, and if political and social dimensions are deemed to be important to this environment, rankings of the most developed economies by the UN fail to adequately capture the countries' relative positions.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Understanding the effect of discrimination in the workplace: A case study amongst Nepalese immigrants in the UK	[ "Discrimination", "Employment", "Equal opportunities", "Ethnic minorities", "Nepal", "Workplace" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: There has been growing scientific interest in examining the perception of racial or ethnic discrimination and its contribution to work. Discrimination has been defined as the exclusion of some groups from the sharing of power, income and satisfaction (Hall et al., 1998; Lawler and Bae, 1998), or the unequal treatment of some groups (Ataov, 2002). Discrimination has often interpreted in a very broad manner and clearly described as an outcome driven by a wide range of different, sometimes overlapping, processes (Basu and Eser, 2003). In many instances within the workplace, these processes operate coterminously to undermine the value and productivity of specific groups of employees (Olsen, 2004; Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 2003; Butt and O'Neil, 2004). Most studies found that discrimination in all its forms prevents individuals from accessing, or progressing within, the labour market (ACAS, 2004; Age Concern Policy Unit, 2004). SEEDA (2006) reported that racial or ethnic discrimination in the workplace has a huge impact both at individual and organization levels. It has been estimated that at any one time around 500,000 people are suffering from work related stress at a level that makes them ill. Around 10 per cent of the workforce in the UK has been estimated to experience emotional and physical ill health related to occupation stress (HSE, 2005)Surprisingly, despite current Government emphasis on the implementation of numerous Employment Acts, i.e. Employment Equality (Age) Regulations (2006), Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations (2003), Employment Equality (Religion and belief) (2003), Race Relation Amendment Act (2000), Sex Discrimination Act (1975) (Regulations 2008), Equal Pay Act (1970), limited studies investigating the knowledge and perceptions of discrimination amongst BME people those discriminated most in the workplace appeared to have been conducted in the UK. Though, some organizations have developed equal opportunities polices and abide by, or go beyond, legislation requirements, for instance, by offering working parents \"family friendly\" policies such as flexible working hours (Kasimoglu and Halici, 2002; McGwire, 1992), but the organizations, which employ BME people, have never been forced to implement any serious equal opportunities policies and do little more than pay the legislation lip service (Nazoo, 2001). Hofstede's (1998) study demonstrated that socio-cultural differences within organizations are an important source of discrimination. In their studies, Morgan (1998) and Ragins et al. (1998) reported \"glass-ceiling effect\" in many organizations. The glass-ceiling theory proposes that factors such as gender, age, race, ethnicity, colour, culture or ideology may present barriers to the promotion of some groups within the hierarchy of an organization. Hughes and Thomas (1998) noted that racial origin is reflected in the income levels of individuals and its effect on the quality of life. Studies found that discrimination leads to a decrease in workers' motivation (Thomas and Hughes (1986), physical abilities (Cunningham and James, 1998) and overall organizational performance (CIPD, 2004).This study therefore aimed to examine the effect of discrimination in the workplace by focusing on the types and extent of labour market discrimination experienced by Nepalese immigrants in the UK. Based on these findings, we go on to draw some general lessons that might help the development of appropriate policies to reduce discrimination within the workplace.\nMethods: Although, in general, quantitative and qualitative research approaches are used separately, there is a growing recognition of the value of combining both methodologies within research studies (Creswell, 2009, 2007). Miles and Huberman (1994, p. 40) highlight \"we have to face the fact that numbers and words are both needed if we are to understand the world\" and whilst numerical data can provide a description of events and processes, qualitative data is necessary to understand why and how such events and processes occur. This study adopted a mixed-methods approach, combining quantitative methodology, in the form of a cross-sectional, self-administrated questionnaire, with a qualitative phase, in the form of in-depth interviews and focus group consultations. The study followed a \"sequential explanatory strategy\", in which the findings from the qualitative work helped to explain, interpret and contextualize the findings from the earlier quantitative questionnaire in order to obtain a better understanding of the effects of discrimination in the workplace (Adamson, 2005; Ivankova et al., 2006; Robson, 2002).Setting and sample\nResults: Survey response\nEmployees' issues: Discrimination\nDiscussion: Principal findings\nConclusions: This study suggests that among the study population, discrimination is associated with increased stress, poor commitment and motivation at work. It also reinforces evidence from previous studies regarding the likely impact of discrimination both at individual and organization levels. Caution needs to be taken when interpretation the findings and generalising to a wider population because of the limited sample size and relatively under-representation of Nepalese immigrants in the study. However, we believe that this study is a valuable contribution to equality and diversity debate by focusing of an under researched ethnic minority group in the UK labour market. Evidence from this study suggests that engagement with different networks (BME) and forums would bring necessary changes to immigrants' education and awareness of their rights. As discrimination is a complex phenomenon, one sectoral activity, for example education, is not sufficient to address the extent of staff and organizations' problems in terms of recruitment and retention of a diverse workforce. This study, therefore, concludes that all employers need to demonstrate that they have a HR strategy that supports inclusion targets and the building of a diverse workforce that reflects the needs of local communities.One challenge addressing the discrimination experienced among the study groups is acknowledgement of the diversity in a workforce; therefore, \"ethnic make-up\" forums for education, employment and development are needed in each local community so that experiences and good practices can be shared. However, given the complexity of this group's socio-economic and political backgrounds, further study is needed to consider both political and contextual changes in empowering the group.Opens in a new window.Figure 1\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of discrimination in the workplace; and to draw general lessons, which might help to develop appropriate policies to reduce discrimination in the workplace setting.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A mixed-methods approach was used in the research, which consisted of self-administrated questionnaires (n = 115), in-depth interviews (n = 10) and group consultations (n = 20).\nFindings: - The paper provides empirical evidence that workers continue to face subtle forms of discrimination despite the implementation of numerous Employment Acts, designed to protect employees from unequal treatment due to their gender or ethnic origin. Workers' perceptions of discrimination were found to be positively associated with increased stress, intentions to seek new employment positions, and decreased satisfaction, commitment and citizenship behaviours. More education and awareness, coupled with changing managers' and employees' attitudes, perceptions and behaviours in today's organizations, are important strategies in tackling discrimination and promoting a more diverse workforce.\nOriginality/value: - This paper brings together a number of important themes, highlighting and synthesising the complex relationship between discrimination and its manifestations, and its impact on discriminated-against individuals and groups in terms of access to, and progression within, the labour market. Research assistants from the target group were employed. This innovative research method not only enabled authors to get closer to the knowledge and experience of the target groups in relation to the barriers affecting these groups but also empowered them and enhanced the research.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Black vs white owned new venture performance: a study of mediating effects	[ "Diversity", "Entrepreneurship", "New ventures" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: New ventures have been touted as engines of growth for the economy. It is argued that new ventures contribute significantly to job growth. Decker et al. (2014) report that startups account for 20 percent of gross US jobs created annually. Research on new venture performance has spanned a few decades, one avenue of research in the \"performance analysis\" literature has been the study of outcomes such as survival, revenues and profits of minority-owned businesses and minority self-employment activities. Edelman et al. (2010) and Sullivan (2007) report that blacks have a higher propensity to start a new venture compared to whites and that black-owned ventures have a higher probability of failure or perform worse compared to white-owned ventures. Lately, the availability of census and other comprehensive data sets - such as the characteristics of business owners (CBO), the survey of minority and women owned businesses, the panel study of income dynamics has led to a number of studies analyzing the reasons for differences in outcomes between white- and black-owned ventures (Fairlie and Robb, 2007; Robb, 2002). These studies are necessary since entrepreneurship is a crucial alternative to wage based employment for making a living and alleviating the socio-economic conditions of the black community (Fairlie and Robb, 2007). Studies have shown that one of the reasons for upward economic mobility of immigrant minorities has been through their ownership of small businesses (Bonacich and Modell, 1980; Light, 1972). Recent studies find that entrepreneurship aids in reducing the wealth disparity between black and white households (Bradford, 2014) and black entrepreneurs suffer lesser downward wealth mobility compared to black workers (Bradford, 2003). Business creation is being used as a tool by many state and federal governments to bridge the socio-economic gap between different races and also to get families out of welfare and unemployment insurance rolls (Fairlie and Robb, 2007). Hence, it is important to understand what mechanisms are inducing the performance gap between black- and white-owned ventures.\nTheory and literature review: New venture performance has been a topic of study both theoretically and empirically over the past few decades. Availability of longitudinal data was a major constraint in studying outcomes but new panel data sets have alleviated the issue to a certain extent. Sexton and Robinson (1989) were one of the first to study demographic variables such as age, education, race of owners and their correlation with survival and performance. Cooper et al. (1994) utilized a panel data set which also represented a broader set of industries and, thus, was more representative of an economy, to analyze the impact of race on performance. They found that the minority-owned businesses perform worse than non-minority-owned ventures. Most previous studies account for race effects through two approaches. The older approach was to introduce a dummy variable for the race of the primary owner of the venture and interpret its coefficient. Newer studies (Fairlie, 2005a; Fairlie and Robb, 2007) conduct decomposition analyses wherein they calculate the contribution of endowments, such as education, work experience, etc., which explain the gap in performance metrics such as survival between white- vs black-owned ventures.\nData, measures and methods: Data source and sample\nResults: I begin the analyses with simple cross tabulations and t-tests, which are aimed at an intuitive understanding of the differences in performance between white- and black-owned ventures.\nDiscussion and conclusion: Past research suggests that performance of new ventures is related to the race of the primary owner(s). It is important to understand how these differences in performance occur above and beyond the characteristics of a primary owner and at the level of a venture, so that policy intervention can be addressed correctly. Given that the black community faces numerous obstacles to social and economic mobility, starting and successfully running one's own venture could be a ticket out of low socio-economic status for many a black household. White-owned ventures have been shown to possess better performance prospects than black-owned ventures (Edelman et al., 2010; Robb, 2002; Sullivan, 2007). Decomposition analyses use individual characteristic endowments of primary owners to explain the performance gap between the white and black ventures. However, more venture level studies are required which focus on the mechanisms of how the survival gap between black and white ventures is induced due to the external environment and internal venture level characteristics. In this research, I investigated mediators at multiple levels to understand their role on majority race ownership and performance relationship. I assessed how the demographics of the area where a venture is located, how the financial size of a new venture and the credit riskiness mediate the above relationship.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to move beyond individual level characteristics of founders to explain the performance gap between white and black majority owned new ventures. It specifically investigates three potential mediators: demographic characteristics of venture's location, financial size of the venture and its credit riskiness.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The Kauffman Firm Survey, a longitudinal data set of 4,928 new ventures started in the USA in 2004, has been utilized in this paper. Pooled OLS and Logit regression models were employed for direct effects. Mediation effects were tested using two different approaches: the Baron and Kenny approach and decomposition analysis.\nFindings: The paper finds that the financial size and credit riskiness mediate the relationship between majority race ownership and the performance of a venture.\nResearch limitations/implications: The data were collected for a single cohort (2004) of nascent firms; furthermore, the sample draws from firms based in the USA. Future studies could replicate this research utilizing samples of different cohorts and from other parts of the world.\nPractical implications: The paper provides important guidance to policy makers. In general, to reduce the performance gap between black and white owned ventures, providing access to subsidized assets, capital and credit could be very helpful.\nOriginality/value: Past research suggests that the majority race ownership of a new venture impacts its performance and attributes these differences to heterogeneous endowments, usually of the primary owner. In this paper, analyses are conducted at multiple levels and new mechanisms through which the internal resources and capabilities of a new venture mediate the relation are discovered.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Key drivers of automobile brand choice in sub-Saharan Africa: the case of Ghana	[ "Automobiles", "Brand choice", "Ghana", "Brand management", "Consumer psychology", "Brand awareness", "Buying behaviour" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: An executive summary for managers and executive readers can be found at the end of this article.\nIntroduction: In sub-Saharan Africa and specifically Ghana, market liberalization has ushered in a new economic system where companies compete for the attention of customers to their brands. As such, consumers are daily presented with an array of brands to meet their ever-growing needs. Scholars like (Walker, 2008; Lim and O'Cass, 2001) assert that consumers adopt products as conscious expressions of their identities and the brands they select are often a symbolic representation of their personality and lifestyles. As a result, a lot of caution often predates the decision-making process especially for high involving products like automobiles. However, consumer brand choice has been made more difficult, especially within an environment that is cluttered with different products, promotions, price information in addition to other economic indices (Huang et al., 2010; Hennessy and Tol, 2011).Interest in consumer brand choices has grown among marketing practitioners and scholars in the process of understanding consumer brand selection (Hansen and Christensen, 2007). In a Pakistani study for instance, Athar (2006) noted that for the automotive industry, there are a lot of brand choices of cars to compare and evaluate before making a purchase decision. Hence, it is very critical for companies to understand the customers' requirements and provide the products that satisfy their needs. Further studies on consumer brand selection, spanning different products could be found in the works of (Ross and Harradine, 2004; Radder and Huang, 2008; Shabbir et al., 2009; Tang et al., 2011).The results from these studies indicate that multiple factors have underpinned consumer brand choices. However, the results on the relative importance of these factors have not been consistent. For instance, some scholars have found awareness as a major determinant of brand choice (Keller, 2001; Srinivasan et al., 2010; Huang and Sarigollu, 2012) while others found brand image (Erdem and Swait, 2004; Freling and Forbes, 2005; Baek et al., 2010), or accessibility (Lin and Chang, 2003; Van Auken, 2003; Kim, 2008), price (Erdem et al., 2006; Chattopadhyay et al., 2009; Ching et al., 2009) as the major determinants of brand choice. Subsequently other external factors such as country-of-origin (COO or CO) and impact of family and friends were also found to influence consumer choice of brands (Evanschitzky et al., 2008; Wang and Yang, 2008).Moreover, studies on automobile choice have mostly focused on developed country consumers (De Haan et al., 2006; Diamantopoulos et al., 2011; Lieven et al., 2011, Tang et al., 2011) with very little focus on automobile brand choice in developing countries especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Recent research indicates that the market for the automobile industry is generally saturated in developed countries but believed to be growing in developing countries (Simon and Reed, 2007; Peters et al., 2011). Thus developing countries could provide a major market for automobiles, hence understanding their branch choice decisions is a strategic necessity for automobile manufacturers and dealers. The purpose of this study is to integrate the various factors determining consumer brand choice of automobiles and to empirically investigate them within a developing country context. The study will thus, provide automobile manufacturers and dealers with the critical factors influencing consumer choice of automobiles in developing countries and help to develop appropriate marketing strategies for satisfying them.\nLiterature review and conceptual framework: The concept of brands\nResearch design and methodology: Survey instrument\nData analysis, interpretation and results: Demographic characteristics of respondents\nDiscussion of results: Finding from the study establishes the fact that the attributes of a car make a strong and significant contribution to automobile brand choice in Ghana. The findings confirm results from previous studies (Uggla, 2004; Kuksov, 2004; Russell and Taylor, 2006) who found that a product's attributes are of great concern to consumers when making purchases. For automobile users, the core features of the car are important considerations in the choice of the car brand. The design, color and glaze, performance, and size all come into play in influencing consumer choice. Similarly, emotional connection was also found to be a major determinant of consumer brand choice of cars, thereby confirming previous works of (Morris et al., 2002; Gobe, 2001) that assert that consumers sometimes do not make purely rational decisions when deciding which products and services to purchase. Thus, there is an indication that personal emotional attachments towards some car brands influence consumers in the purchase of cars in Ghana.Furthermore, external influences were also seen as a key determinant of automobile brand choice and is also consistent with previous studies (Evanschitzky et al., 2008; Wang and Yang, 2008; Schiffman and Kanuk, 2009) who emphasized on the role played by external influences in brand choices. According to Keller (1993), cultural differences such as social values could explain consumer choice of brands. In addition to external influences, accessibility was also a major factor which is considered by automobile consumers when making car purchases. For most Ghanaian car buyers, not only must the car be available at the various dealer showrooms, but must also have locations where access to spare parts and maintenance services are achieved. Some earlier studies (Lin and Chang, 2003; Kim, 2008) have found the significant role played by accessibility as an antecedent to consumer convenience in brand choices. In congruence with previous studies on brand awareness (Lin and Chang, 2003), it is fair to further posit that awareness of a car brand significantly influence purchase in Ghana.Findings from the study also suggest that a car's brand image does not to a significant extent influence consumers in their purchase of car brands in a developing country such as Ghana. This is to assert that consumers in Ghana may not merely buy a car brand just because it is positioned to have a certain image. This is, however, incongruent with previous studies (Pappu et al., 2005; Baek et al., 2010; Bian and Moutinho, 2011) which have postulated the indispensable role played by a brand's image on consumers when making purchase decisions. Again, unlike past studies (Erdem et al., 2006; Chattopadhyay et al., 2009; Ching et al., 2009) which emphasized on the effects of prices on brand choice of products, this study found a contrary result. This may be deduced from the fact that whilE some consumers are inclined to buy highly priced products as a sign of quality, others may stick to low-priced ones due to other individual economic circumstances. The findings suggest that the features of the cars are more important to the consumers than the price imposed on it by the dealers.\nConclusions and implications: The study was initiated to investigate the drivers of consumer brand choice in Ghana. Using the survey method, data were collected from 1020 automobile owners in Ghana. The current study makes a contribution to the literature on automobile marketing and will be of significance to automobile manufacturers and dealers who are entering developing countries such as Ghana as a market expansion strategy. The study found that the selection of car brands in Ghana is based on multiplicity of factors, with some directly attributed to the brands while others are external cues associated with the brands. This means that manufacturers of automobiles must endow their cars with relevant consumer features such as style, design, comfort and safety. Efforts must be made to promote these differences to consumers through advertisements, exhibitions and trade shows in order to create strong preference for the brands. In addition, car manufacturers must further provide external cues such as opening more showrooms, availability of increase spare parts, accessories and service centers to provide after sales services to customers. The study found out for instance that Mercedes has only one showroom and one service center in Ghana. Private garages could be licensed to provide the needed after sales services to customers. It may also be very important for brand managers to leverage on the power of their brand promise to get consumers emotionally connected to their brands. Experiential marketing platforms, where consumers meet others on regular basis to share their consumption experiences of the brands, should be incorporated into the marketing strategies of the manufacturing companies.The current study was limited to the automobile industry in Ghana. Therefore, the result cannot be generalized to other countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Future research should replicate the study in other countries in order to confirm the results of our findings. Also our study seems to suggest that price was not a significant determinant of automobile brand choice. Considering the fact that most of the respondents were well educated and received high incomes, their economic circumstances might be different from the majority of the people who have lower education, job opportunities and incomes. Further studies are needed to investigate the relative impact of demographic and economic variables such as gender, educational level and incomes on consumer brand choice of automobiles in other developing countries.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The paper aims to investigate the determinants of automobile brand choice in Ghana. Specifically, the paper seeks to hypothesize that consumers of automobiles make their purchases based on a multiplicity of factors.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A quantitative approach using questionnaires was adopted to survey 1,020 respondents drawn from various workplaces, churches and homes. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, exploratory factor analysis and multiple regression analysis.\nFindings: - The study established that the attributes of a car, emotional connection, external influences, awareness and accessibility make a strong and significant contribution to automobile brand choice in Ghana.\nOriginality/value: - The study is one of the few of its nature in sub-Saharan Africa. The new theoretical and empirical insights into factors influencing consumers' purchase decision of automobiles from the study will be significant to automobile manufacturers and dealers operating in developing countries such as Ghana.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Breathing space - graduate entrepreneurs' perspectives of entrepreneurship education in higher education	[ "Higher education", "Graduate employment", "Entrepreneurship education", "Graduate entrepreneurs", "Undergraduate entrepreneurs" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Entrepreneurship education (EE) is arguably the most effective means of embedding an entrepreneurial culture in HEIs by fostering students' entrepreneurial mindset and developing the supply of future graduate entrepreneurs. However, there is a lacuna of empirically rigorous research to support the assumption that it can generate better outcomes of entrepreneurial activity or, indeed, that graduate entrepreneurs benefit from EE (Brockhaus, 1993; Matlay, 2007; Carey and Matlay, 2007; Potter, 2008; Nabi and Holden, 2008). Heretofore, research has focused upon curriculum development, programme delivery, and quality of provision from the perspective of HEIs and/or lecturers. A fundamental flaw in the extant literature is the absence of graduate entrepreneurs' perspectives of EE at third level and its impact on their formation as entrepreneurs (Matlay, 2007, 2012; Potter, 2008). By placing graduate entrepreneurs at the heart of this study, this research aims to add value to the considerable body of knowledge of EE by conceptualising their perspectives of EE in higher education and in their formation as entrepreneurs.\nContextual background to the research: From 1997 to 2007, there was a dramatic transformation of the Irish economy which manifested itself in an average annual growth of 7.2 per cent in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and 6.3 per cent in Gross National Product (GNP) (Power, 2009). Ireland was being heralded internationally as an economic cause celebre and the economist Kevin Gardiner (1994 in Lewis, 2011) referred to this unprecedented economic growth as the \"Celtic Tiger\". There is some mystery about the Celtic Tiger which the historian R.F. Foster suggested \"appeared like a miraculous beast in a forest clearing and economists are still not entirely sure why\" (Lewis, 2011). The reality is more prosaic: Ireland's economic transformation was driven by an increase in the level of foreign direct investment (FDI), an exponential growth in the construction industry, inflation of the property market and the availability of affordable finance which fuelled consumer spending. At the height of the Celtic Tiger, some 20 per cent of the Irish workforce was employed in the construction industry which accounted for nearly a quarter of GDP, compared to <10 per cent in normal (sic) economies (Lewis, 2011). Returns to the Exchequer from property transactions, income, corporate and VAT grew exponentially and it appeared as though the country was awash with money. However, much of what was passed for economic prosperity during the Celtic Tiger years was built on a foundation of debt that was never sustainable (Power, 2009).\nThe role of higher education in graduate enterprise development: HEIs' role has evolved from one that was primarily concerned with teaching and research to one where each HEI has an increased mission to encompass economic and social development (Neck et al., 2004). HEIs can foster greater entrepreneurship through EE; knowledge transfer; academic spin-offs; spin-ins; the commercialisation of R&D; campus incubators; and/or indirectly through networking and training. They are regarded as seedbeds of innovation fostering new knowledge and ideas which could be translated into commercial entities and exploiting the intellectual assets and enhancing economic growth. Florida (1999) believed that HEIs' primary role as a nation's \"primary knowledge source\" is to produce graduates or \"knowledge workers\". Increasingly, employers and governments are calling for graduates with a range of enterprising skills or an entrepreneurial mindset with foci upon creativity, capacity for innovation, networking relationship management and risk-taking.\nResearch approach: The researchers adopted a qualitative research approach, where they conducted semi-structured interviews with 30 graduate entrepreneurs, i.e., 15 participants of a bespoke graduate enterprise programme, i.e., the South East Enterprise Platform Programme (SEEPP) and 15 graduate entrepreneurs who did not participate in SEEPP. A guiding criterion for the selection of the graduate entrepreneurs was that they must have established their businesses between 2001 and 2010. SEEPP proved to be an interesting case study as it is a year-long rapid business incubation programme aiming to develop the entrepreneurial skills of graduate entrepreneurs in the region. SEEPP offers participants: training tailored to the needs of start-ups; funding; mentoring; networking; and incubation facilities. It aims to: nurture and support innovative start-ups in the region; support the creation of sustainable, regional employment; support companies in developing new export markets; develop high potential start-ups (HPSUs); develop participants' business skills; support innovation networks and knowledge sharing; and assist the participants to evaluate current and future business opportunities. SEEPP is delivered over an academic year and provides participants with an applied learning environment in which to hone their business development skills relevant for planning and starting their business.\nFindings: The findings highlighted that EE is a relatively recent phenomenon in Irish higher education and the majority of the graduate entrepreneurs interviewed had not studied the subject at undergraduate level. They believed that higher education does not prepare students for self-employment as HEIs' primary mission remains to prepare graduates for employment, particularly in multi-national corporations. Given the obsolescence of a job for life, the graduate entrepreneurs believed that EE had a role to play in increasing students' awareness of self-employment as a plausible career option. However, they cautioned that not everyone is or can be an entrepreneur. Notwithstanding the worthy initiatives to promote graduate entrepreneurship, the researchers conclude that the whole is less than the sum of the parts, i.e., entrepreneurship lacked legitimacy within the HE sector and the presence of entrepreneurial activity within a HEI does not necessarily make it entrepreneurial.\nRecommendations: The following recommendations are aligned to the conceptual framework for EE at third level.\nCreating an enterprise-centric HEI: The best guarantee for the sustainability of entrepreneurship within a HEI is to change it into an entrepreneurial organisation. This research raises fundamental questions about whether HEIs are truly entrepreneurial and concludes that it may be a step too far to expect HEIs to be truly entrepreneurial, i.e., creating an inter-disciplinary, interactive environment to facilitate academic/graduate entrepreneurship. There is a need for HEIs to be ambitious for their graduates and to create the right conditions for entrepreneurship to flourish by embedding entrepreneurship across the spectrum of their curricula. Undoubtedly, HEIs should commit unequivocally to becoming enterprise-centric by inter alia: giving greater visibility and legitimacy to entrepreneurship within the curriculum; providing \"breathing space\" for students to pursue entrepreneurship at undergraduate level; and actively engaging with the broader enterprise community to promote entrepreneurship amongst both the undergraduate and graduate constituencies. This would involve management and lecturers: agreeing on a focus for EE; and using innovative teaching and learning approaches and methodologies to develop students' self-confidence, self-efficacy and openness to pursuing entrepreneurial careers.\nGraduated approach to EE: The lack of accepted theoretical paradigms and definition of entrepreneurship has led to ambiguity in the conceptual, pedagogical and assessment approaches to EE at third level in Ireland. The researchers recommend that each HEI clarifies the concept(s) of entrepreneurship that it wishes to promote and this/these should be informed by: international best practice; academics, entrepreneurs and EDAS; and the unique and idiosyncratic factors at play in the regional HEI hinterland. This should result in the provision of EE with robust philosophical underpinnings, clear learning outcomes, appropriate delivery modes and rigorous but innovative assessment methods.\nPracademics: HEIs should recruit \"pracademics\", i.e., lecturers who are also enterprise practitioners or vice versa. To this end, they need to incentivise lecturers to gain some form of SME experience and/or exposure. In defining the criteria for academic promotion, engagement with enterprise could readily be included into the existing category of external contribution to discipline/profession/community. Whilst this may not necessarily involve lecturers working in SMEs, they could forge greater links with entrepreneurs who have gone through various business development routes and develop case studies of SMEs and entrepreneurs. In the event of lecturers not having the rare combination of enterprise and academic experience, there is a need for a partner approach to EE, i.e., working with SMEs, graduate entrepreneurs and EDA personnel to deliver relevant EE.\nChallenging learning environment: The challenge for HEIs is to fully embed entrepreneurship within all its courses so that entrepreneurship modules will be informed by international best practice and be of a quality, weighting and quantity that would result in a noticeable impact upon a student's entrepreneurial mindset. Ideally, curricula and assessment mechanisms should promote the development of critical thinking, self-directed learning, communications and teamwork, all of which are implicit in EE.\nAuthentic experience: This research showed that graduate entrepreneurs developed their business skills and self-confidence through work and they believed that there is no substitute for work experience to hone graduates' business skills, develop their professional network, their \"street smarts\" and indeed their inter-personal skills. They identified obstacles that militate against immediate graduate entrepreneurship, namely: a lack of experience; a lack of finance; a lack of business ideas; lack of contact with clients and customers and a lack of self-confidence. Potter's (2008) concept of a \"lag time\" between when students complete their studies and start their business is justified. Experience-based learning as the best method to acquire tacit knowledge associated with setting up and running a business and as a useful way of improving a technical person's business skills. Entrepreneurship learning is dependent on an individual's exposure to experience, and includes observation of an entrepreneurial role model. The effectiveness of authentic experience in developing entrepreneurial skills, attitudes and intentions make it an important issue for policy and curriculum designers to address. This requires EE to move away from a teaching centred pedagogy to a learning-centred pedagogy. Links between HEIs and entrepreneurs, particularly if entrepreneurs are willing to engage with students, to mentor business plans and or to help in the creation and analysis of case studies would encourage deep learning and aid experiential learning. The researchers recommend embedding elements of authentic experience into EE programmes if they are to have enduring effects on entrepreneurial intent and self-efficacy. Authentic engagement is missing in many undergraduate programmes because it has significant resource implications. Student placements in micro-enterprises and SMEs would provide opportunities to students to build upon their formal learning and identify opportunities for commercial exploitation. Such experience would prepare interested graduates to \"hit the ground running\" in their entrepreneurial career.\nLinks with wider enterprise community: There needs to be greater engagement with real entrepreneurs, alumni and EDAs. Networking with real-world entrepreneurs is regarded as a vital component of successful EE and the lecturer is instrumental in facilitating and developing both formal and informal networks between students, SMEs and EDAs. The lecturer's role is to initiate links between students, local and national entrepreneurs and EDA personnel who could assist students in developing their business. There is significant value in the organic, informal networks amongst students, initiated by them where they support each other. The graduate entrepreneurs believed that initially lecturers ought to maintain strong links with graduate entrepreneurs to develop opportunities for symbiotic relationships with existing undergraduates and graduates.\nCreation of National Centre for Entrepreneurship: In Ireland, there is no systematic approach for the development of good practice criteria and/or cases. The lack of overarching policy frameworks that would incorporate the interests and activities of the Departments of Enterprise and Innovation and Education and Skills, respectively affect EE across the spectrum of education. The lack of integrated structures at tertiary level means that both positive stories are not communicated or celebrated in both HEIs themselves and in the media. HEIs need to each appoint an enterprise champion to: first, co-ordinate the development and implementation of EE; second, work with EDAs in development a coherent enterprise policy focused the effective provision of EE nationally; third, liaise with the Industrial Liaison function, the academic community and potential industry partners in developing the entrepreneurial talents emerging from undergraduate and graduate programmes in HEIs; and fourth, communicate with primary and secondary schools on the potential to integrate EE in the form of initiatives to cultivate the creativity and possibilities for innovation in younger generations before they go to third level.\nEnterprise champion: The research showed that networking with real-world entrepreneurs is regarded as a vital component of successful EE and the lecturer is instrumental in facilitating and developing both formal and informal networks between students, entrepreneurs and EDAs. There is a need for each HEI to appoint an enterprise champion to initiate links between students, local and national entrepreneurs, EDA personnel and to assist graduates in developing their businesses. A pracademic with a proven track record in enterprise development and a passion for entrepreneurship could be seconded to this important, strategic role.\nConclusion: Entrepreneurship holds much promise for navigating the current uncertainty of the Irish and global economies but it has yet to attain real legitimacy within Irish HEIs. There is a need for a holistic approach to develop the leadership and values required for entrepreneurship to flourishing higher education because graduate entrepreneurship will become a key success metric for HEIs. Unquestionably, HEIs' rhetoric must be matched by a genuine commitment to fostering and supporting graduate entrepreneurship. It is a fallacy to assume that more EE provision will lead to immediate graduate entrepreneurship because a graduate's route to self-employment is often influenced by personal circumstances, namely: opportunity, necessity, self-confidence and/or availability of capital. In short, EE is not a linear process of inputs and outputs and graduate entrepreneurship is a crude metric for evaluating the success of EE. Therefore, government expectations of HEIs as seedbeds of entrepreneurial talent must be tempered with realism and an understanding of human behaviour. This paper provides a nuanced understanding of how graduate entrepreneurs learn and how HEIs and lecturers can refine EE to meet their diverse needs. The researchers acknowledge that the research recommendations do not address all of the challenges inherent in EE provision in higher education. However, they do reflect a synthesis of graduate entrepreneurs' recommendations for enhancing EE at third level, therefore, they have implications for: theory; practice; and policy development and contribute to a deeper understanding EE in higher education.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine graduate entrepreneurs' perspectives of entrepreneurship education (EE) in higher education institutions (HEIs) in their formation as entrepreneurs.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This qualitative research study was conducted amongst 30 graduate entrepreneurs in the South East of Ireland, who established their businesses between 2001 and 2010 (inclusive).\nFindings: The findings challenge the notion that more EE provision at undergraduate level will lead to greater numbers of graduate entrepreneurs. This is because: HEIs are more focused on preparing students for employment; the academic nature of undergraduate EE; and a \"one size fits all\" approach to EE fails to recognise the heterogeneity of learners' needs. However, the findings show that graduate entrepreneurs believed that EE at graduate level provided a welcome \"breathing space\" to develop their business.\nResearch limitations/implications: This research was undertaken within a unique, regional environment, therefore, it is influenced by regional policies, priorities and factors and its main HEI. It does not include either other regional, national or international case studies.\nPractical implications: This research paper provides a conceptual framework or guiding principles for good practice in EE in higher education to include: an enterprise-centric, HEI; a graduated approach to EE; pracademics; a challenging learning environment; authentic experience; and links with the wider enterprise community.\nOriginality/value: This research paper offers a nuanced understanding of EE in higher education. Moreover, it contributes to the advancement of knowledge, practice and policy by proposing a conceptual framework for EE in higher education to meet the diverse needs of future graduate entrepreneurs.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The contribution of client embeddedness to an employee's employment experience	[ "Commitment", "Engagement", "Job satisfaction", "Embeddedness", "Turnover", "Retention", "Clients", "Personal care" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The impact of the employee's relationship with their employer on the experience of customers and clients is well understood (Bowen et al., 1999; Harter et al., 2002; Chuang and Liao, 2010). In that literature, a positive relationship between the employee and their supervisor or the employing organisation has a positive impact on the quality of service received by the customer and client (Koys, 2001). Little is known, however, about the reverse relationship: does the employee-client relationship impact on the relationship between the employee and employer? The limited research suggests the strength of the employee-client relationship is associated with increased employee attachment to their employer (Treuren and Frankish, 2014). Further, this relationship has been found to reduce the employee intention to leave, buffer the negative affect of pay dissatisfaction and contribute to employee on-the-job embeddedness. Treuren and Frankish (2014) have called this attachment client embeddedness.\n2. Client embeddedness and job embeddedness: Client embeddedness is a recently proposed aspect of employee embeddedness (Treuren and Frankish, 2014). The central insight of job embeddedness theory (JET; Mitchell et al. 2001; Zhang et al., 2012) is that employees are attached to their employers by an idiosyncratic set of psychological and material connections. Mitchell et al. (2001, p. 1104) described the employee as caught in \"a net or a web in which an individual can become stuck\". These connections can vary substantially in number, composition and strength (Jiang et al., 2012) between individuals in an organisation. In general, the more embedded an employee, the lower the intention to leave (Zhang et al., 2012).\n3. The relationship between client embeddedness and employee employment experience: The current paper examines whether employees with high levels of client embeddedness also report high levels of employee outcomes such as job satisfaction, affective commitment, as well as employee engagement, and the limits to that relationship. This section draws on social exchange theory to explain why client embeddedness can be expected to lead to higher levels of employee job satisfaction, affective commitment and engagement.\n4. The limits to the impact of client embeddedness: The previous section has provided arguments for why client embeddedness is likely to lead to improved employee outcomes. But what limits the effect of client embeddedness? In this paper, two models of client embeddedness are tested. In the first, the effect of client embeddedness is assumed to vary by gender; and with time, according to employee age and length of service. Further, the effect of client embeddedness is affected by psychological contract breach (PCB). In the second model, client embeddedness is established at or soon after appointment and remains relatively invariant throughout an employee's subsequent career. To establish whether the second model is possible, it is proposed that client embeddedness remains constant over time:\n5. Method: 5.1 Sample\n6. Results: Table I reports on the descriptive statistics.\n7. Discussion: In addition to improving the quality of employee working life, the theory of client embeddedness offers a new perspective on employee attachment, as well as suggesting a people management approach for employers in industries with high client-employee interaction. The purpose of this paper is to extend the literature by clarifying whether client embeddedness is an antecedent to improved employee quality of working life, and if so, the circumstances in which this occurs. The analysis reported in this paper suggests that client embeddedness directly contributes to employee job satisfaction, affective commitment and employee engagement. Employees who report higher levels of client embeddedness at Time 1 are likely to report higher levels of the outcome variables at Time 2, compared to employees with lower levels of client embeddedness at Time 1.\n8. Conclusion: This paper extends the client embeddedness literature by demonstrating that employees reporting a strong relationship with their clients also report a higher level of job satisfaction, affective commitment and employee engagement. The impact of client embeddedness, however, is unaffected by employee gender, age, tenure and in the typical case, PCB. These findings suggests that employers who encourage employee relationships with their clients may benefit by increasingly employee and client quality of life, and improve employee engagement with their work responsibilities.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Does client embeddedness lead to improved employee quality of life, such as job satisfaction, affective commitment and employee engagement? If so, is this relationship affected by gender, age, tenure and psychological contract breach (PCB)? The paper aims to discuss these issues.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Regression and ANOVA analysis of a two-wave sample (n=121) of employees working for an aged care provider.\nFindings: Client embeddedness at Time 1 predicts employee quality of life at Time 2. However, in this sample, this relationship is unaffected by gender, age and length of service. High levels of PCB weakens the relationship between client embeddedness and job satisfaction.\nResearch limitations/implications: The employee-client relationship directly improves quality of working life. However, it is unclear whether this finding is unique to this organisation, or whether client embeddedness can be cultivated over time or is a characteristic of an employee.\nPractical implications: Organisations can substantially benefit from encouraging appropriate client-employee relationships. By adopting HR practices aimed at acquiring and cultivating client embeddedness through recruitment, performance management and training practices, organisations may increase employee quality of working life, and reduce employee turnover.\nOriginality/value: This paper substantially increases the understanding of client embeddedness by clarifying the direct effects of the client-employee relationship, and by identifying boundary conditions on the effect of client embeddedness. It also points to a distinct approach to recruiting and developing employees in client-facing industries.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Stewardship: a new vision for the purpose of business	[ "Stewardship model", "Purpose of business", "Human flourishing", "Emerging markets", "Responsible business", "Ethics" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: There has been a groundswell of dissatisfaction with the many ethical lapses of business in both developed and in emerging markets that continues despite the growth of the corporate responsibility and ethical business movement. Public trust in business, a cornerstone of exchange relationships and the global market as a whole, is at a precarious low in many markets (Bolton et al., 2009; Edelman Trust Barometer, 2009; Fombrun and Foss, 2004; Hamilton, 2009). This points to the moral failures of individual business people and of corporations, and, at the systemic level, to concerns about the role and purpose of business in society, particularly as articulated under the shareholder wealth maximization (SWM) paradigm (Donaldson and Preston, 1995; Freeman et al., 2004; Martin, 2010). Better addressing social needs and achieving meaningful integration of corporate responsibility and ethics in both developed and emerging markets requires, among many things, commitment to more virtuous behavior among business people and re-thinking the purpose of business, its role in society (i.e. revisiting the social contract under which business serves a society) and its role in development (Benedictus, 2009; Bisoux, 2010; Davis, 2005; Fombrun and Foss, 2004; Lu, 2009; Mackey, 2009).Emerging markets have rapidly grown in importance to the global economy, even during the global downturn, representing an estimated 30 percent or more of global GDP (Evans, 2010; Prasad and Prasad, 2006). Business is exerting tremendous influence in these markets. Balancing this rapid economic growth with social and environmental protections and establishing a climate of ethical business practices are major challenges (Barkemeyer, 2009; Mehra, 2006). Moreover, a new wave of multinational firms will arise from these emerging markets and will bring the values and corporate governance and business ethics perspectives present in their home markets, or lack thereof, with them (Michaelson, 2010).As such, now is the time to envision a new social contract on the purpose and role of business which will set the course for the future well-being of people in these emerging markets and the world over as well. A proactive approach is likely to be much more helpful than trying, later on, to repair the effects on people and planet that will emerge without such an effort. Moreover, as these markets develop their socio-economic and political infrastructures will become less malleable. If a new vision for the purpose of business can be instilled into the systemic context and into the thinking of business people, the imposition of excessive governmental regulation may be avoided and more of the desirable outcomes that accompany ethical and responsible business practices may be obtained. All of this makes moving business people, especially those in emerging markets, toward a new way of thinking about the purpose and practice of business a very important and timely project (Doh et al., 2010).In response, this paper explores the stewardship model (STW) being promoted by the School of Business and Economics at Seattle Pacific University. This alternate approach proposes that the purpose of business is to contribute to human flourishing, or well-being, by serving customers, employees, and the community (Van Duzer, 2010; Van Duzer et al., 2007). The paper begins with an identification of concerns about the SWM paradigm and the need for a renewed understanding of the purpose of business, especially in the context of emerging markets. It presents human flourishing (i.e. well-being) as a more desirable goal than mere consumerism in emerging markets and then explores the STW model as a new vision for business in pursuit of well-being. This is accomplished by considering STW's tenets against a relief of other alternatives to SWM. Illustrative examples of emerging market enterprises with STW orientations are included in the discussion.\n2. Re-thinking the purpose of business: 2.1 Need for a revised understanding of the purpose of business\n3. The goal of human flourishing: 3.1 Human flourishing and emerging markets\n4. Alternative visions for business: Some variants of SWM have been suggested in response to the issues noted above. Creative capitalism seeks to provision the poor through appropriately designed, low-cost products. It believes that mainstream market buyers value the social-benefits created by socially responsible firms; and, places business in partnership with governments and charitable organizations to address social needs (Gates, 2008). But, there are serious concerns about the consumerist-orientation, environmental sustainability, and worker justice implications of this approach. Consumer capitalism alternatively suggests that putting customer satisfaction first will improve the treatment of people as consumers and pay off for shareholders (Martin, 2010). While improving customers' plight, this approach does offer enough assurances that the broader range of problems associated with SWM will be righted.The stakeholder (SKH) paradigm is a widely known alternate vision for the purpose and practice of business in which firms pursue the economic and social interests of an array of stakeholders; profits result from creating value; firms do well by doing good (i.e. ethical and socially responsible behavior based on ethical idealism); firms are a nexus of relationships among stakeholders; people have intrinsic value; and, management acts as the agent of all stakeholders not just shareholders (Charron, 2007; Donaldson and Preston, 1995; Freeman et al., 2004; Gibson, 2000; Halal, 2000; Jones and Wicks, 1999; Kaler, 2003; Key, 1999; Mason et al., 2007; Shankman, 1999). Barkemeyer (2009) argues that SKH is inadequate to address the issues particular to the context of developing markets where many would-be stakeholders have no power and no voice.Conscious capitalism (http://consciouscapitalism.com) is a recent movement within SKH that is advocating for a more complete and more genuine adoption of the tenets and the spirit of SKH in contrast to the mere public-relations oriented approaches to stakeholder relations and corporate social responsibility that have appeared. Conscious capitalism espouses that business has purposes deeper than profit maximization, including service to others; the pursuit of truth through discovery oriented R&D; the pursuit of creative, inspirational beauty; and making the world a better place in which to live. It sees long-term profits as the by-product of fulfilling these deeper purposes and the resultant customer, employee, supplier, community, and ecological satisfaction that ensue from those purposes (Mackey, 2006). This would be a helpful approach, if adopted, but still needs a social system in which stakeholders have voice and still relies on an agency-based understanding of management.4.1 Stewardship theory of management\n5. Stewardship model and emerging economies: Addressing issues of well-being in emerging and developing markets where multinational corporations often have as much power as governments requires commitment to a new, more humanistic paradigm for business that includes a positive duty to pursue the common good in a responsible manner (Doh et al., 2010; Wettsein, 2010). STW offers such a new framing of the social contract for business that squarely aligns with the goal of fostering human flourishing, caring for people and planet and partnering with other social institutions. This stewardship approach to business-as-sustainable-service built on meaningful purpose and values-based leadership should be appealing to the breadth of people in developing and emerging markets and there is evidence that firms following such an approach in emerging markets will have much higher credibility which, in turn, will likely yield increased market and financial performance (Cheung et al., 2010; McCarthy and Puffer, 2008; Zhang and Rezaee, 2009).The School of Business and Economics at Seattle Pacific University, an early signatory to PRME, is championing the STW model in its curriculum and programs, in its faculty publication efforts, and in its on-going dialog with the business community. The school is becoming known as a thought leader in developing a humane vision for business and in ethical and responsible business practices. Members of its faculty have published articles and books, have taught about this approach in developing and emerging markets, and have consulted with NGO's, governments, and businesses in them as well. Central African Republic, Vietnam, Serbia, and Guatemala are some of the countries that have been reached.The school is launching a master's degree program in social and sustainable enterprise which centers on responsible business and intentionally includes study abroad in emerging markets. This adds to the existing social enterprise track in its undergraduate program and similar track in its MBA program. The school has hosted a social venture business plan competition for several years that is stimulating its students to consider becoming social entrepreneurs with a passion for fostering human flourishing through the tool of business. Many of these projects have focused on creating jobs, trade, development, and aid in service to people in developing and emerging markets. The school has developed relationships with major NGO's and corporations headquartered in the Seattle area that are global leaders in social enterprise and in development and aid projects in emerging and development markets. Its Center for Integrity in Business has hosted significant international conferences on microfinance and on the role of business in overcoming global poverty. The center's online journal, Ethix, reaches academics, students and business leaders with stories about STW-oriented firms as well as with discussions about CSR and other ethical issues in business and technology.One such story is about a values-based leader in India whose business activities include financing and advising microenterprises and supporting entrepreneurial development programs in partnership with a significant NGO, the Bridge Foundation; and providing loans to SME's and larger organizations through Guardian Bank; and a venture company, GSK Enterprises. This socially responsible entrepreneur demonstrates commitment to providing the legitimate goods and services that help people flourish, to creating good jobs, to fair treatment and respect for the dignity of others, especially women, and to sustainable growth. His business activities and partnerships with other social institutions have helped millions of the poor in India. His service over self-approach is also demonstrated in his personal investment policy to never take more than a 49 percent stake in a venture, even if he has provided 100 percent of the financial capital in order to respect and unleash the passion of microenterprise and SME leaders.In a story from Africa, Earthwise Ventures is developing a ferryboat transportation system in the Lake Victoria region. The firm has designed and built energy efficient ferryboats that are fueled by earth friendly vegetable oil. The venture directly provides jobs on the boats and is partnering with local farmers to raise and process the crops that will provide all the needed fuel. Indirectly, the venture is enabling economic development and jobs by tremendously reducing logistics costs for all who are engaged in commerce in the area. Indeed, providing a reliable, self-sustaining logistics infrastructure is making commerce feasible where it has not been. The management of the venture reflects an STW orientation in its values-based concern for providing a meaningful service, for providing long-term income earning jobs, especially for poor farmers, for partnering with local institutions, and for minimizing its effects on the environment.The school hosts distinguished speakers who serve as exemplars to its graduates. In addition to the story of the Indian business leader noted above, another recently featured business leader with a long history of success in the Seattle-based wireless telecommunication industry explained to students how his perspective on life had changed as a result of a visit to Haiti as part of his relationship with an aid organization As a result, he organized a group of industry colleagues and formed a wireless services venture in the Haitian market, a market which the wireless industry had ignored for its lack of profit potential and political instability. The venture has provided jobs and a major infrastructure component that is contributing tremendously to Haiti's development. In fact, after the devastating earthquake, this wireless system was crucial in directing aid to those in need and speeding recovery from the disaster.While there is certainly much more to do, the school has been making good strides in turning business education into part of the solution rather than part of the problem by developing and promoting STW's more humane vision of business-as-sustainable-service and its value-based perspective on the practice of management. Through its graduates and through its service to business and the community, the school is making a valuable contribution to the cause of human flourishing in emerging markets.\n6. Conclusion: As the dominant paradigm, SWM has become woven into the fabric of people's understanding of economics and business and into public policy, even in emerging markets, leading to an impersonal business world and, perhaps, an unsustainable approach to economic development. The calls for reformation of business, and business education, to be more ethical and responsible have been loud and clear. Certainly every effort to improve the ethical and responsible conduct of business currently underway must continue.Among these reformation efforts, moving to a new vision for the purpose of business is urgently needed. Changing the understanding of the role of business in society is necessary to support gains in ethical behavior at the level of individual business people and of firms and will be more likely to encourage even more virtuous business behavior (Malloch, 2008) (www.doingvirtuousbusiness.com). This re-thinking is vitally relevant in emerging markets where perhaps the window of opportunity for change is more wide open during this time of societal transition and where the social and ecological problems associated with economic growth and a consumerist approach can still be averted.SKH and its variants offer beneficial perspectives, but balancing varied stakeholder interests and holding profits co-equal with social outcomes creates hard to manage tensions. Comparatively, STW offers clear directionality for the purpose of business and for management behavior. Adopting this vision of business can provide the changed infrastructure that humanizes business (Benedictus, 2009; Giovanola, 2009), fosters well-being, and enables a strong footing for corporate responsibility and business ethics in emerging and in developed markets.Finally, if reforming a dominant paradigm of thought is a very challenging task, dislodging one is even more difficult. SKH has made some progress in its long paradigm war with SWM, but isn't sufficiently gaining meaningful ground. STW offers a fresh and unique articulation of the potency of meaningful purpose in the form of business-as-sustainable-service that contributes to human flourishing coupled with values-based, ethical, stewardship-oriented leadership.STW is a relatively new formulation whose detailed implications are still being articulated. Efforts to educate business students, to publish articles and stories of purpose-driven, virtuous business leaders and their companies, and to engage with the business community and the public in dialog on these issues are still very much works in progress. Much more needs to be done in this regard to move STW forward. Certainly more ground will be gained by STW, and the other expressions of humane and virtuous business, as the global business community realizes the importance and depth of its credibility and trust crisis and as social and environmental conscience grows among consumers, workers, and investors.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - A new vision for the purpose of business is vitally and urgently needed for emerging and developed markets to replace the shareholder wealth maximization paradigm that has contributed to contemporary ethics scandals, creating a credibility and trust crisis for business. In response, this paper seeks to present the stewardship model, a new, humane, and sustainable vision for the role of business as a contributor to human flourishing.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This conceptual paper builds on the thinking of those who have championed various reformulated paradigms in pursuit of responsible business behavior.\nFindings: - The center of economic gravity is shifting towards emerging markets. During this time of transition there is both a window of opportunity and an urgent need to change the social contract with business to achieve human flourishing, a more desirable goal than mere economic growth. Efforts to promote virtuous personal and corporate behavior need the mutually reinforcing element of a new business paradigm. The stewardship model casts business in the role of being a responsible steward contributing to the wellbeing of customers, employees and the community; acting with positive ethics; and partnering with other social institutions for the common good.\nPractical implications: - Business people and business educators should give the Stewardship Model serious consideration.\nOriginality/value: - The paper offers a new paradigm for business that aligns with human flourishing and fits the emerging market context. Adopting this new vision will help to re-write the social contract under which business operates and to rebuild business credibility and trust in emerging and in developed markets.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
On security preparations against possible IS threats across industries	[ "Data security", "Information systems" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: Information assets pose significant risks when they are vulnerable to threats (Rainer et al., 1991). For instance, a survey by the Computer Security Institute reported that of 530 US enterprises surveyed, 90 per cent identified a security breach while 75 per cent found business difficulties due to the breaches, causing a total loss of $202 million in 2002 (CSI/FBI, 2003). Modernized information systems (IS) have brought enterprises not only enormous benefits, but also linked information threats. Many tools and anti-virus systems, covering almost every facet of IS security, have been developed in response to these threats. However, the effectiveness of current security solutions has been seriously questioned, since the volume of security related incidents, and consequent financial losses, continues to rise in magnitude and severity. Security tools and mechanisms have little effect because security is a \"people issue\" as well as an \"organization issue\" (Hinde, 2003).Security traditionally focuses on the risks to business information involving IT infra-structure. However, information security should not be treated only as a technical consideration (Posthumus and von Solms, 2004). Ernst & Young (1996) observed that inadvertent mistakes by employees or external parties were the most significant source of financial loss, affecting 34 per cent of UK respondents. Although malicious virus attacks have been widespread, they have not typically caused significant financial or operational loss. The brokerage arm of Taiwan's Fubon Financial Holding Co. recently mistakenly bought NT$7.9 billion (US$250 million) of shares while handling an order from Merrill Lynch & Co. The exchange error, which resulted in an estimated $13 million paper loss, arose because a trader was unfamiliar with new computer systems (Reuters, 27 June 2005). As mentioned above, security awareness and security regulation/procedure should be addressed to ensure a proper and secure environment for a firm's information assets.Information threats could be caused by software or system defects, or non-technical malfunctions such as administrative failures or human error. Effective information security should address both IT- and non-IT related issues instead of simply considering IT systems (Madnick, 1978). A survey (Ernst and Young, 2004) has indicated that businesses consistently cited major viruses as well as unsolicited commercial bulk e-mail among their top three concerns. However, these are also the areas where most businesses have protection in place - 100 per cent have anti-virus systems, and 71 per cent have specific anti-spam protection for their networks. Conversely, most businesses undermine these protections by failing to educate their employee not to open dubious e-mail attachments. Many organizations misallocate resources to some ineffective controls, and underemphasize other higher-value initiatives. Therefore, Von Solms and von Solms (2004) presented several \"deadly sins\" of information security management. Von Solms found that most organizations do not realize that information security is a business issue and not simply a technical issue. Information security governance is a complicated issue with no silver bullet or single \"off the shelf\" solution (Von Solms and von Solms, 2004).A lack of robust security protection further raises information threats to business. MIS managers have to modify their stereotypical view of information threats from a perspective of the pre-connectivity age in today's highly interconnected era (Loch et al., 1992). Physical security and stacks of backups are no longer sufficiently secured (Von Solms, 1996). Awareness of the required security principles according to specific IS/IT circumstances is fundamental to security. This study empirically investigates the differences in perspective among firms in different sectors in relation to information threats to their business, and the security countermeasures that they have prepared in response to these threats. This investigation examines whether the securities prepared match the threat perceived, by identifying the gaps between the seriousness of threats perceived and the scopes of preparation, particularly \"people\" and \"administration\" issues. Based on the gaps, the second aim is to propose threat mitigation strategies grounded on implementing industry-specific information security tactics.\n2 Effective information security: 2.1 Business IS assets and threats\n3 Methodology: 3.1 Measuring instrument\n4 Results: 4.1 Threats perceived across the industries\n5 Discussions: 5.1 Summary of the research results\n6 Conclusion: In conclusion, the three categories of IS assets and threats, which include network, personnel, and regulation/legality, are clearly inadequate as approaches of providing protection for Taiwan's enterprises regardless of sector. Moreover, most enterprises in developing countries still solve their IS security-related problems using technical means alone, and focus on technical rather than managerial controls, which may imply potential crises. The results are similar to previous studies in small businesses (Gupta and Hammond, 2005; Keller et al., 2005). Additionally, concerning regulation/legality issues, organizations with lower information threats, such as traditional manufacturing, distribution/service, or low computerized businesses, should emphasize developing a security policy and allocating of security accountability. By contrast, organizations facing high information threats should consider risk transference approaches to lower financial losses and enhance regulation/legality security.Previous studies have emphasized that firms had neglected non-technical threats to businesses. However, few scholars have provided suitable strategies for organizations among different industries to enhance their IS security. This study devises different \"threat mitigation strategies\" for four sectors with different information risks to assist management in making effective decisions concerning IS security. Specifically, firms should construct their security strategies based on their industrial properties to improve their IS security.Although we are not able to conclude through a cross sectional study like this that enhancement of a certain countermeasure can truly mitigate an IS threat to business, the findings do reveal an inconsistency between the perceived threats and the prepared countermeasures. Future research may consider replacing the self-perceived scale with the incidences of security breach and related losses occurring during a certain time span. Owing to limited human and technical resources, Taiwan's enterprises often follow their counterparts in the Western countries to improve and manage their IS/IT architecture. Whether the results reported here are due to the idiosyncrasy of this particular sample or are a generalized phenomenon in less developed industries remains to be discovered.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - Modernized information systems (IS) have brought enterprises not only enormous benefits, but also linked information threats. Most enterprises solve their IS security-related problems using technical means alone, and focus on technical rather than managerial controls, which may imply potential crises. This study examines whether the security preparation of firms matches the severity of IS threats they perceive in developing countries, especially in issues concerning \"people\" and \"administration\". Additionally, this study discusses appropriate threat mitigation strategies for the four sectors as well.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Using an empirical study, this study explores the past and current concerns of IS threats of firms in different industries, and the countermeasures prepared by them to protect themselves from such threats. The empirical data was provided by 109 Taiwanese enterprises from four sectors.\nFindings: - The analytical results revealed the differences in both the IS threats concerned and the security scopes prepared among the four sectors. Moreover, the preparation scopes were not commensurate with the perceived severity of threats. All four industries rated the network as posing the strongest threat, following regulation and personnel issues, while among the countermeasures in use, these three issues have larger application deficiencies.\nOriginality/value: - This study concludes that the firms do not well prepare themselves against IS threats entailed to non-technical administration issues and discusses appropriate threat mitigation strategies for the four sectors. Specifically, firms should be aware of IS threats to their business and prepare suitable security protections.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Design aesthetics as drivers of value in mobile banking: does customer happiness matter?	[ "Value", "Mobile banking", "Happiness", "Design aesthetics" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The banking sector has recently started to disseminate high-tech delivery channels. Mobile banking represents one such channel, enabling customers to conduct transactions conveniently and offering opportunities for banks to strengthen their relationships with their customers (Berraies et al., 2017). However, this shift towards digital banking implies a change in banks' marketing models, making it important to understand its impact on customer experience (Mbama and Ezepue, 2018) and research on mobile banking adoption (Chemingui and Ben Lallouna, 2013; Shaikh and Karjaluoto, 2015). Recent research on the adoption of mobile banking has provided evidence for the role of important determinants such as ease-of-use (e.g. Lin, 2011; Mortimer et al., 2015; Shareef et al., 2018), convenience (Gupta and Arora, 2017) or trust (Oliveira et al., 2014), but by focusing on such variables, it has left unidentified the specific characteristic of mobile banking applications that explains these variables and ultimately adoption.\n2. Theoretical background: 2.1 Values and intention to adopt mobile banking\n3. Positive psychology: the moderating role of happiness: The current research assumes that the effects of design aesthetics on customers' values may differ across people. Thus, it is useful to consider how these differences may impact the effects of design aesthetics (Koo and Ju, 2010). In fact, previous studies support this view showing that individual differences such as the tendency to innovate (Celhay and Trinquecoste, 2015), visualising/verbalising tendency (Holbrook, 1986) or involvement (Eroglu et al., 2003) do modify customers' responsiveness to design aesthetics. In this vein, happiness may influence customers' responses - and thus perceptions of values - to mobile banking design aesthetics. Indeed, happiness, which is \"as an individual's propensity to experience frequent positive emotions and infrequent negative emotions\" (Hellen and Saaksjarvi, 2011, p. 936) comes into play in the process of service evaluation (Hellen and Saaksjarvi, 2011) and is particularly relevant when making financial and banking decisions (Guven, 2012).\n4. Method: 4.1 Procedure\n5. Results: The theoretical model was tested using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM, SmartPLS 3), as this technique has minimum demands regarding normality assumptions and sample size (Hair et al., 2012, 2014). First, we assess the measurement model and then the structural model.\n6. Discussion: This research started by asking the question if design aesthetics could represent a particular characteristic of mobile banking applications able to influence customer adoption of such a device. As such, and more specifically, this research aimed to examine if design aesthetics could determine intention to adopt mobile banking through the mediating role of perceived value. An additional question pertained to the potential moderating role played by happiness. To answer the first question and thus to examine the effect of design aesthetics questions on perceived value, this research built upon the S-O-R model from environmental psychology and the theory of consumption values. Then, this research relied on positive psychology to examine the predicted moderating role of happiness. From a quantitative empirical study, this research offers important theoretical and managerial implications, which are presented below.\n7. Limitations and future avenues: This research has limitations that call for future research on the topic of design aesthetics in mobile banking. First, the results here derive from a convenience sample, which may limit the generalisability of the findings. In addition, this study is undertaken in Tunisia, a country with a specific banking context. Specifically, offering attractive mobile banking applications can be seen as original compared to other countries where customers are already familiar with attractive mobile banking applications. Considering that differences as to how users perceive websites vary across cultures (Cyr, Head, Larios and Pan, 2009), further research may gain examining the effects of design aesthetics in other countries. Specifically, examining how the effects of design aesthetics differ across countries that contrast in terms of customer familiarity with such applications appear appealing to provide banks with more tailored guidelines as to how design effective mobile applications for specific countries or cultures.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine how customers derive value (functional, emotional, social and epistemic value) from the design aesthetics of mobile banking applications and then form intention to adopt mobile banking. Furthermore, this research investigates the moderating effect of happiness, which is predicted - and showed - to strengthen the effects of design aesthetics on value.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A survey using screenshots of mobile banking applications was administered to a sample of 281 bank customers. Data were analysed using SmartPLS.\nFindings: The results show that design aesthetics have a positive effect on functional, emotional, social and epistemic value. In turn, these value dimensions positively affect intention to adopt mobile banking. The findings also demonstrate that happiness moderates the effects of design aesthetics on these value dimensions.\nPractical implications: This work can be useful to designers of banking applications and other practitioners to improve their policies and strategies related to mobile applications.\nOriginality/value: This research represents an initial attempt to examine how customers derive functional, emotional, social and epistemic value from design aesthetics in mobile banking. In addition, this research demonstrates that happiness moderates - and more specifically strengthens - the effects of design aesthetics on customer value. The results provide a theoretical contribution to the importance of value in customer decision making, and in the current case, in the seldom-researched area of mobile banking.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Mind your metaphors: early warning signals when rolling out strategy	[ "Strategy implementation", "Metaphor analysis", "Tacit knowledge", "Change management", "Narrative", "Knowledge management" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: How people use metaphors often reveals a lot about their way of thinking, about how they see the world, including which behaviors they find the most appropriate for the workplace. This study presents an approach on how to benefit from metaphor analysis for a smother strategy implementation.\nCase company and context: Telcotech is an international player in the information and communication network business employing about 7,000 persons worldwide. It provides corporate and carrier network clients with solutions for data and telecommunication applications. To be sensitive to customer demands in distinct market segments, the sales division granted its regional sales units a high degree of autonomy. Due to a shift in competitive pressures, the expectations of customers were becoming more and more sophisticated while product cycles were decreasing. Value creation in sales was increasingly associated with developing and deploying knowledge-intensive solutions that were highly tailored to customer needs. This industry transformation from being a \"box mover\" that sold pre-specified telecommunication systems toward being a \"solution provider\" that focused on individualized knowledge-intensive solutions required Telcotech to rethink its strategy and develop the service capabilities to compete in the new environment.\nMethods: To elicit the experiences and perceptions from various Telcotech employees involved in the project, narrative interviews were conducted over the lifecycle of the KM implementation phase, spanning a two-year time period.\nFindings: conflicting approaches to strategy implementation: Two different approaches to the implementation of the initiative surfaced in the interview analysis. Each approach was described by a distinct set of metaphors. The first approach, describing a standardized implementation approach, was broadly described by religious metaphors. The second approach, with a focus on specific small target groups, featured war and illness metaphors.\nConclusion: The two sets of metaphors used in the KM initiative describe two distinctive approaches. The virus infection and the guerrilla warfare metaphors both depict a stepwise, concentrated, bottom-up approach focused on specific groups, while the religious metaphors imply a broad, top-down approach that aims to simultaneously convert different groups of the organization with an identical message.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: While metaphors are widely used in strategy teaching and development, this study aims to present an approach how to benefit from metaphor analysis in strategy implementation. The authors find that metaphors used by organizational actors in strategy implementation processes carry a great range of implicit meanings and tacit knowledge that - when made explicit and critically examined - may serve as early warning signals to anticipate difficult or problematic developments in the strategy rollout phase.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors conducted narrative interviews with the main protagonists involved in the implementation of a strategic knowledge management project for the sales force of a multinational telecommunication solution provider. The data collected resulted in the surfacing of distinct groups of metaphors used by different organizational groups at different phases of the project implementation.\nFindings: The metaphor analysis showed that metaphors not only reflect but also foreshadow project developments, and thereby reveal organizational conflicts that may erupt at later stages of the strategy implementation. Learning through metaphors can be realized through a sensitization to the detrimental effects of particular metaphors, as well as through the revelation of inconsistencies between the metaphors used and the exposed behaviors.\nResearch limitations/implications: The study is an in-depth case study of a strategy implementation project in one organization. While the findings are related to the particular case context, the methodological approach to use metaphor analysis as an early warning signal in strategy implementation can be replicated for strategy implementation processes in general.\nPractical implications: Organizations may use metaphor analysis as a tool to calibrate to what extent their strategy implementation is aligned with initial strategic objectives. Metaphor analysis will be particularly helpful to check if there is an alignment in the implementation approach between different organizational groups. Such analysis can serve as an early warning signal for the strategy implementation phase.\nOriginality/value: The approach provides an inexpensive but very effective way of anticipating problematic project developments and unforeseen difficult collaborations during strategy implementation processes. With its focus on metaphors, it captures implicit meanings and connotations that business languages tend to filter out, yet that play a powerful role for enabling or obstructing strategy implementation.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
How to communicate healthy products inside grocery stores	[ "Emotions", "Communication", "Healthy choices", "In-store stimuli" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Nutrition is one of the most critical topics of our time. Individuals are now aware that a proper nutrition is the most appropriate tool to prevent and manage physical dysfunctions such as high cholesterol, hypertension, diabetes and obesity. For this reason, they are changing their approach to food, based on a greater focus on healthy diet.\n2. Theoretical background and hypothesis: Some authors have started to highlight that whether food decisions will be healthy or unhealthy depends on environmental cues available in a situation (Hofmann et al., 2008; Salmon et al., 2012). This means that, if managed properly, in-store marketing levers could encourage and facilitate healthier food purchasing (Foster et al., 2014). In particular, shelf labels and/or signage need to be not only available at the point of purchase but also easily \"processable\" (Inman et al., 2013; Russo et al., 1986; Bettman, 1975) in order to be taken into account in the decision-making process. This because the information provided via NIPs is complex, cryptic and placed in non-visible areas. This makes comparisons between different products difficult. A simplified visual cue, that clearly communicates which product is healthier based on an overall nutritional profile should make the choice of healthy products easier (Feunekes et al., 2008).\n3. Methodology: In order to support the hypotheses previously explained, we developed and tested a new display based on nutritional profile of products instead of products' attributes and characteristics (pastry, filled biscuit and cookies) and we created two alternatives of communication: stars and silhouettes. To assess the role of the stimuli proposed in terms of emotions evoked and their impact on behaviours, we followed different stages. First, a pre-test was conducted in order to assess the different emotions aroused by the two communication stimuli used. Then, a main between-subjects lab experiment was conducted to test the specific hypotheses explained.\n4. General conclusion and managerial implications: Considering that the majority of the decisions are made mindlessly demonstrating that also healthy choices can be made in store without a high level of cognition can be a valuable contribution to the extant literature. For several years, retailers have invested resources in promoting unhealthy food by managing in-store marketing levers, in the strong believe that only unhealthy decision could be made without exerting cognitive resources. In fact, low levels of cognitive resources were found to be related to unhealthy habits, while high levels of cognitive resources resulted in health-related outcomes. We demonstrated that by changing the environment in which customers take decisions it is possible to modify their preferences, behaviours and judgements regarding health-related issues. In particular, by giving them healthy cues, it is possible to change customers' behaviour in a healthy direction. Considering the kind of communication stimulus used, we found that there were not statistical difference between the healthiness of the choice, in terms of percentage of healthy products selected, made by participants in front of the two stimuli. However, silhouettes stimulus, by making participant experiencing negative emotions, has a negative impact on the perceived healthiness of the overall choice made. Thus, the kind of stimulus used in order to communicate the nutritional display (organised by benefits and not by attributes) can have an impact on both behaviours, preferences and judgements (Kim and Gupta, 2012; Schoefer, 2008). Since no differences were found between stars and silhouettes in terms of choices, we suggest to use a neutral communication, which it can positively affect the overall evaluation of the behaviours.\n5. Limitations and future research: Our work is a first attempt to support retailers in promoting healthier choices by managing in-store marketing levers - space management and display communication - in an innovative manner. Our research, however, has some limitations. The main limitation is connected with the way through which stimuli were tested and the setting chosen for the experiment. In fact, is has been argued that using a laboratory setting can bias participants' choices, since it is perceived far from reality (van Herpen et al., 2016). Furthermore, several reviews have assessed that the results obtained in an artificial environment can be much stronger that the real behaviours.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to assess the importance of nutritional information in the selection of healthy food products and test the effects of different communication stimuli on people with different levels of self-control (NFC used as a proxy). Specifically, the authors posit that easy-to-process and intuitive nutritional information can lead to a substantial change in the shopping behaviour. Furthermore, this work wants to test the effect on behaviours, emotions and judgements of two different communication signs (stars and silhouettes) in the promotion of healthy food products inside grocery stores.\nDesign/methodology/approach: After the development of a new nutritional display, the authors identified two different communication stimuli (stars and silhouettes) in order to test their impact on emotions evoked, judgements and behaviours. First, a pre-test was conducted using neuro-marketing tools (Face Reader) to detect the emotions aroused by the communications and then a main online between-subjects experiment involving 222 participants was carried out to understand the impact on choices and attitudes. Data were analysed using SPSS.\nFindings: Results showed that communication plays a key role in helping customers choosing healthier products. Concerning the different communication stimuli, the authors found a significant difference in the emotion evoked by the different signs used. This difference translates into a judgemental change but not necessarily into a behavioural one.\nOriginality/value: To the authors' knowledge, previous researchers have focused their attention only on the nutritional values communicated at a product level through different product labels, while nobody has tried to implement and test a category/segment level communication strategy.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Cause-related marketing and the effect of 99-ending pricing	[ "Pricing", "Framing", "Cause-related marketing", "99 ending", "Right digit effect" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Cause-related marketing (CRM) campaigns have become common features of the marketplace. CRM is a marketing activity that involves a for-profit business agreeing to contribute a specified amount to a cause/charity when the business's customers engage in revenue-generating exchanges (Adkins, 1999; Varadarajan and Menon, 1988). In general, CRM leads to favorable consumer attitudes toward the firm, the products and the non-profit organization (Berger et al., 1999; Ross et al., 1992). Consumers are likely to switch brands and retailers to those who demonstrate social responsibility (Smith and Alcorn, 1991; Landreth, 2002).\nLiterature review: Right digit effects\nConceptual framework: CRM research also suggests that an individual's judgments and decisions may be influenced greatly by how donation information is presented or framed (Grau and Folse, 2007; Grau et al., 2007). Olsen et al. (2003) proposed that CRM should be stated in a transparent and straightforward way, in order not to confuse consumers. Consumers dislike ambiguous statements regarding the proposed donation and prefer to know exactly how much of their purchase is being contributed to the cause (Grau et al., 2007; Olsen et al., 2003). The donation amount represents the \"good deed\" and is more comprehensible than those in the form of percentages (Chang, 2008); consequently, when the dollar amount being donated is specified, it can enhance the fulfillment of an important social need (Berger et al., 1999). This may lead to a stronger intention to purchase a product affiliated with a charity. Chang (2008) adds that when a person desires to reduce the negative affect of guilt by engaging in the pro-social behavior of supporting a cause, an absolute amount of a donation presents a heuristic about the amount going to charity. Such a cue may mitigate negative affect and boost positive affect.\nMethodology: Study 1\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Cause-related marketing (CRM) campaigns have become common features of the marketplace. CRM often involves a for-profit business agreeing to contribute a specified amount to a cause when the business's customers engage in revenue-generating exchanges. Despite the central role that price is likely to play in a consumer's decision to purchase or not to purchase an offer associated with a CRM campaign, to the best of the authors' knowledge, very few have examined price framing effects in a CRM context. This paper aims to explore the effect of rightmost digits manipulation in prices on participation intentions for CRM campaigns.\nDesign/methodology/approach: In Study 1, 241 college students participated in an online experiment for class credit. The experiment used a 3 (price level: low, medium and high) x 2 (price ending: 99 ending and no ending) between-subjects design. The dependent variable was participation intention, and several moderators and mediators were considered. PROCESS was used to test the moderated mediation. In Study 2, 351 subjects participated in an online experiment with a design similar to the earlier study. In Study 2, however, new mediators were added and the moderated mediation was tested using SPSS PROCESS macro.\nFindings: This research shows that price ending impacts the effectiveness of CRM as a tactic on consumers' purchase intentions. Consistent with the authors' prediction, this study shows that consumers exposed to a 99-ending CRM offer are more likely to participate in the offer compared to consumers exposed to a no-ending priced offer. Offer attractiveness, elaboration and corporate social responsibility were also shown to have a strong effect on participation intentions.\nPractical implications: This research indicates that for moderately priced products, 99-ending prices led to an increased influence on consumer purchase intentions; on the other hand, no-ending/even-ending prices were more effective for high-priced products. Thus, the use of the right digit effect by managers in a CRM context as way of increasing consumers' participation likelihood is likely to be more successful for moderately priced offers.\nOriginality/value: This research extends previous work on CRM and right digit effect in pricing. This study's findings, in both Studies 1 and 2, demonstrate that the effectiveness of CRM campaigns on consumer choice is dependent on the offer price ending. Consumers exposed to the no-ending priced CRM offers tend to be affected less by CRM campaigns compared to consumers exposed to 99-ending offers, who perceive the offer as more attractive.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
An exploratory study into the drivers of channel change	[ "Financial services", "Distribution", "United Kingdom", "Change management", "Modelling" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Distribution tends to be one of the most immutable of the marketing mix decisions, but a number of external factors have led to an increase in its importance, namely, pressures on competitive advantage, the increased power of distributors, pressure to reduce distribution costs, a new stress on growth, and new technological developments (Alba et al., 1997; Benjamin and Wigand, 1995). In this context, it has been asserted that \"channel design should be used as an integral part of the firm's attempts to gain a differential advantage in the market\" (Rosenbloom, 1999, p. 199), and in trying to achieve this, many companies have radically reorganized their distribution channels and are making experimental investments in electronic commerce (Alba et al., 1997).\nResearch background: The causes of structural inertia in distribution systems can be placed in two categories, channel relationship issues and firm issues.Channel relationship issues\nThe model: In their review of research into channel structure, Frazier et al. (1990, p. 263) observed that channel integration, channel functions and channel intensity were each influenced by a myriad of consumer, market, firm, and environmental factors, concluding that \"the structure of a channel of distribution is extremely complex and multifaceted\". We thereby consider in this study a set of market, environmental, and firm factors, consistent with the marketing and general strategy literatures, which point to the importance of the fit between the firm and its market and broad environment for success. These factors also cover the firm and relationship motives underlying channel inertia. The model of the hypothesized relationships is shown in Figure 1.\nMain effects: Market drivers\nResearch method: Data collection and sample\nResearch findings and discussion: The hypotheses were tested using multiple regression (Table III). Interaction terms tend to be highly correlated with the variables that they comprise. Thus, prior to the estimation of the predicted model, the independent variables were mean-centered to reduce non-essential ill-conditioning multicolinearity (Aiken and West, 1991, p. 36) resulting from the formation of the multiplicative terms. Centering involves rescaling a variable by subtracting the mean from each value of the original variable. This procedures does not change the coefficient of the interaction, affecting only the coefficients of the individual variables involved in the interaction, which otherwise would be strongly affected by multicolinearity (see Aiken and West, 1991).The largest variance inflation factor, 1.8, and the largest condition index, 2.9, are well below the recommended threshold of 10 and 30, respectively, indicating that there are no multicolinearity problems. White's test for heteroscedasticity was not significant (p>0.10) and the assumption of normality of the residuals was verified. Finally, the estimated model has an adjusted R2 of 45.8%, which is quite acceptable and the F statistic is highly significant (p=0.000).Volatility in customer target needs, as predicted in H1, is positively associated with the magnitude of change in distribution channels (b=0.44, p < 0.05). Thus, this work supports Guiltinan's (1974) contention that changing customers' needs are an important driver of change in distribution channels.H2 is also supported, target customer sophistication having a positive impact on channel change (b=0.66, p < 0.01), in line with research of innovative consumers, the adoption of new products, and new distribution channels (Gatignon and Robertson, 1991; Rogers, 1995; Filotto et al., 1997).Unexpectedly, however, increases in product sophistication augment the magnitude of change in distribution channels, contradicting H3 (b=0.49, p < 0.05). It is possible that sophisticated products are more likely to be the subject of significant product evolution requiring changes in distribution. New technologies have also enabled the development of new channels, to which sophisticated products might be more responsive, thus explaining the positive relationship. Additionally, asset specificity might not be as relevant for services as it is in other contexts (Murray and Kotabe, 1999). For instance, one executive commented:[Intermediaries] need a brain. That is all they need. With a PC they can accomplish everything they need to do.Therefore, these forces may have combined to produce a positive effect.Competitive pressure has a positive impact on the magnitude of change in distribution channels (H4, b=0.91, p < 0.01). Miller and Droge (1986) noted that in highly competitive environments firms must closely follow competitors' moves to survive, or, as one manager put it:If someone finds a formula that works you can bet that within a year there are loads more, and suddenly it doesn't work as well, because everybody is doing it. So you must constantly move on.Against predictions, this study reveals that competitor volatility restrains the magnitude of channel change (H5, b=-0.66, p < 0.05). There are three possible explanations. One is that companies frequently respond by focussing even harder on their specific core values, targets and channels, entrenching existing behaviour. As one manager stated:I think we have our own language of practice and so, as long as we are on track, we are not necessarily going to jump to where competitors are.A second explanation is that in changing competitive environments companies should focus on customers because of the difficulty of monitoring competition and the risk of generating \"misperceptions of competitive structure\" (Slater and Narver, 1994:50). A third explanation is that companies respond to competitor volatility at the corporate level through changes in the portfolio of brands or business units, by for instance developing specialised brands or acquiring companies or brands selling through specific channels. A manager at an intermediary based company, when questioned about responding to the introduction of direct marketing channels, stated:No change for [the focal company], but yes for [the corporate company]. We recently acquired [a competitor], which sells direct and which we will be seeking to grow quite aggressively.This study also shows that the issue of channel change is a matter of resources, namely of scope economies (H6, b=0.44, p < 0.01), in line with findings that resources are an important issue in channel structuring decisions (e.g., Bello and Gilliland, 1997; Dutta et al., 1995; Majumdar and Ramaswamy, 1995).Conforming to predictions, the main effect indicates that larger companies introduce less change in distribution channels than smaller companies (H7, b=-0.34, p < 0.01). Thus, the present study provides significant support for the belief that increased company size can lead to organizational rigidities (see, for example, Hannan and Freeman, 1984; Singh and Lumsden, 1990) and that these are likely to inhibit channel change (Guiltinan, 1974; Stern et al., 1993).Finally, the moderating effects. Product sophistication was found to attenuate the positive influence of volatility in customers needs on channel change (H8a, b=-0.40, p < 0.05). Thus, this supports the contention that as product sophistication increases, the closer interaction with channels these products require mitigates the effects of changes in customer needs on distribution channels. Product sophistication was predicted to attenuate the effects of customer target sophistication on channel change, but no significant effect emerged (H8b, b=-0.11, p > 0.05). It is possible that sophisticated consumers are willing to sacrifice some of the benefits provided by a stable channel structure in order to fulfil their innovative behaviour. An alternative explanation is that sophisticated consumers, due to their education and consumer expertise, rely less on distribution channels for addressing the complexities associated with sophisticated products. Finally, product sophistication reinforces the negative effect of company size on channel change (H8c, b=-0.48, p < 0.01). Sophisticated products require a more carefully crafted distribution knit, and this seems to exacerbate the rigidities associated with firm size.In summary, this work makes two contributions. Firstly, it appears to be one of the first attempts to empirically research the factors affecting the magnitude of change in distribution channels at the micro level. In fact, evidence regarding channel evolution at the firm level is sparse and usually anecdotal. Secondly, the results show that the topic is amenable to empirical investigation, and this hopefully will encourage more research.\nImplications for managers: This study has not linked channel change to any success indicators. However, some observations can still be made. It does seem that when the needs of customers are changing rapidly, it is likely that the service outputs expected from the channels will also change, requiring an adjustment to the channel mix. Sophisticated customers seem to expect to find an evolving distribution system, and sophisticated products are likely to undergo significant changes, therefore requiring or perhaps enabling rearrangements in distribution.In competitive environments firms make more changes to their distribution system, trying to protect the firm's position. However, when the strategies of competitors are changing rapidly, firms seem either to concentrate on current activities or to entertain strategic change such as acquisition.Managers should also pay attention to the issue of resources. Scope economies seem to enable companies to introduce more change because the costs implied by such moves can be shared across several product lines. Finally, managers must also consider the potential resistance to changes in distribution, arising from the anxiety associated with the loss of predictability as well as to the changes that may occur in the budgets of internal departments, in the compensation of channel members, in career opportunities, and in the allocation of power. In addition, there are social ties between existing channel members, and cultural values may also impede change. This resistance to change will be heightened in larger organizations, where channel coalitions are more powerful.\nLimitations and directions for future research: The work has one or two limitations. First of all, the sample size is relatively modest, although this has not precluded the emergence of significant results. The sample also concentrated on four financial services, which may not be representative of other non-financial services nor, particularly, of goods. Consequently, the relevance of the findings in other contexts remains to be tested.The results may also depend on the channel typology employed. A three-channel typology was used, reflecting the reality in financial services. As a check, a two-channel typology that simply differentiated between direct and indirect channels was also employed, but the goodness of fit fell dramatically and fewer parameters were found to be significant. It seems that the more comprehensive channel typology better reflects the relatively new competitive developments in the UK financial services industry (the development of direct marketing channels).Still considering measurement issues, this study looked only at change in the proportion of sales coming from different channels. However, change in channels is a multi-faceted phenomenon, and this should be addressed in future research. Guiltinan (1974), for example, pointed out that change can be measured in terms of channel length, channel integration, distribution intensity, allocation of distribution tasks in the channel system, and changes in collaboration and relationships with intermediaries. Change can also be measured in terms of the degree to which human and financial resources are being reallocated among channels. With regard to environmental measures, these also need further development. The literature reveals inconsistencies in the way environmental variables are conceptualized and measured (see, for example, Klein et al., 1990; Milliken, 1987).Given the state of the art on the factors encouraging or inhibiting the process of channel change, the scope for future studies in the area is quite extensive, and goes beyond coping with the limitations of this work. It will be interesting, for example, to investigate the determinants of channel change in services versus goods, as well as in consumer versus industrial products. An additional line of research should concentrate on other variables with potential impact on channel change. Transaction cost theory has been useful to explain other distribution issues, such as channel integration, distribution intensity and channel collaboration and, therefore, is also likely to provide a useful perspective on channel change.Looked at from the company perspective, there are factors such as changes in goals and strategy that are likely to induce change in distribution channels. Changes in the product mix, market coverage goals, segments served, desired degree of control over distribution and also on the collaboration pursued in order to leverage the resources and capabilities of the channel system are specific examples of such internal changes. Doing qualitative research at the micro level is likely to produce a significant pay-off, as it is more likely to identify causal mechanisms at work and also to identify a myriad of other factors bearing on the channel change process.Future research can also explore the relationship between degree and type of change introduced in distribution channels and channel performance. This will provide further knowledge on the intricacies of channel change, on the attractiveness of certain changes, and will certainly help to calibrate a firm's changes in distribution channels. Finally, considering that it is generally observed that few companies successfully manage the channel change process, both qualitative and quantitative research, shedding light on how organizations conduct the process of change and the results they obtain, is likely to have high payoffs.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to aim to understand the factors influencing the magnitude of change in distribution channels. Distribution channels are slow to change due to a number of factors. Yet, the distribution mix is a vital part of a company's competitive position and companies must, therefore, constantly examine their mix of channels to most closely approximate the changing needs of its customers. It therefore is important to look at the factors influencing change in distribution.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A model of channel change is developed and tested with data from financial services organizations in the UK. In addition to quantitative data, the researchers also collected qualitative feedback.\nFindings: - The degree of channel change is related to: volatility in customers' needs; the sophistication of the target customer; product sophistication; environmental conflict; volatility in competitors' strategies; scope economies; and company size.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The sample size is relatively modest, although this has not prevented the emergence of significant results.\nPractical implications: - The results of the study are important for both academics and practitioners. It helps alert practitioners to the factors that affect channel change. For academics, it demonstrates that this complex subject can be researched. It also raises some research issues that might be taken on board in future studies.\nOriginality/value: - This article is one of the first to test a set of hypotheses regarding the drivers and inhibitors of change in distribution systems at the micro level.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Dispositional and situational sources of control: Relative impact on work-family conflict and positive spillover	[ "Jobs", "Job satisfaction", "Family life", "Individual behaviour" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: An important influence on an employee's ability to integrate work and family is the nature of the job they perform. In particular, work-family scholars have argued that job autonomy - the ability to decide when, where, and how the job is to be done (Bailyn, 1993; Clark, 2001) - influences an employee's well-being and his or her family life. In fact, research to date suggests that employees who have a say over how they do their jobs are more satisfied with their jobs (Clark, 2001; Parasuraman and Alutto, 1984), are more likely to describe their families as cohesive (Clark, 2001), experience less stress (Parasuraman and Alutto, 1984) and have lower levels of family-to-work conflict (Parasuraman et al., 1996). More recently, Thompson and Prottas (2006) found that job autonomy was related to employee perceptions of control, which in turn were negatively related to work-family conflict and positively related to attitudes about one's job, family, and life.\nRelated literature: Personality: locus of control\nMethod: Sample\nResults: Table I presents the means, standard deviations and correlations for each of the variables in the study. Hierarchical multiple regression was used to test the study hypotheses. Three regressions were run separately with each of the dependent variables: work-to-family conflict (WFC), family-to-work conflict (FWC) and work-family positive spillover (PS). For each regression, family demands, hours worked, age, gender and managerial status were entered as controls. In the second step, job autonomy and locus of control were entered to determine whether they would explain additional variance in work-family conflict and positive spillover, above and beyond the control variables.H1 predicted that an internal locus of control would be negatively related to conflict (both WFC and FWC). As shown in Table II, H1 was fully supported. Having an internal locus of control was negatively related to WFC (b=-0.074, p<0.01) and FWC (b=-0.042, p<0.05).H2 predicted that an internal locus of control would be positively related to positive spillover As shown in Table II, H2 was fully supported. An internal locus of control was positively related to positive spillover (b=0.07, p<0.01).H3a predicted that job autonomy would be negatively related to work-family conflict (both WFC and FWC), with job autonomy being more strongly related to WFC than FWC. H3b predicted that job autonomy would be positively related to work-family positive spillover. H3a was not supported. And in fact, contrary to expectations, job autonomy was positively related to FWC (b=0.06, p<0.01). Not only was this relationship in the opposite direction than what was expected, job autonomy was more strongly related to family-to-work than work-to-family conflict. Because the relationship between job autonomy and work-to-family conflict was not significant, a Fisher's Z test was not needed to test whether job autonomy was significantly more strongly related to WFC than FWC (Preacher, 2002). H3b was not supported. After entering the control variables, job autonomy was not significantly related to positive spillover.H4 predicted that the relationship between locus of control and WFC, FWC, and PS will be mediated by perceptions of job autonomy. This hypothesis was partially supported. The relationship between an internal locus of control and lower levels of WFC was partially mediated by higher levels of perceived autonomy (CI: -0.06., -0.03; p<0.05). The relationship between an internal locus of control and higher levels of positive spillover was partially mediated by higher levels of perceived autonomy (CI: 0.03, 0.06; p<0.05). Perceived autonomy did not mediate the relationship between internal locus of control and lower levels of FWC (CI: -0.01, 0.01) as evidenced by a confidence interval that includes zero. See Table III for a summary of results.Research question\nDiscussion: The objective of this study was to examine the relationships between job autonomy (both perceived and objective), locus of control, and work-family outcomes, as well as assess the relative influence of each. We found that job autonomy, as rated by objective external raters, was significantly related to FWC, but not WFC. Therefore, within-domain relationships were not stronger (i.e. job autonomy was not more strongly related to work-to-family conflict than to family-to-work conflict), contradicting previous research (e.g. Frone et al., 1992; Vinokur et al., 1999). Further, objective job autonomy was positively related to family-to-work conflict, an unexpected finding that likely reflects the complex nature of work-family relationships. While job autonomy allows workers to more easily manage work in relation to family, it appears that in some cases, it also makes it easier for family to intrude on work. For instance, employees who have discretion over their workday are better able to accommodate family activities during the traditional workday, thus increasing their availability to tend to family matters that subsequently interfere with work activities. In fact, research by Hill et al. (1996) found that even though people who used teleworking indicated they had more work flexibility, they reported more difficulty balancing their work and personal lives than their co-workers who did not use this option.As expected, we found that employees who had an internal locus of control were more likely to have lower levels of work-family conflict (both work-to-family and family-to-work) and higher levels of positive work-family spillover. These findings support the importance of personality factors in understanding the experience of work-family conflict. Further, these findings with respect to locus of control, operationalized as a dispositional trait, have not previously been demonstrated in the work-family literature.A second goal of the study was to examine the relative impact of situational versus dispositional control on work-family conflict (both directions) and positive spillover. We found that situational control (i.e. objective job autonomy) versus dispositional (i.e. internal locus of control) was more strongly related to FWC. Internal locus of control, on the other hand, was more strongly related to WFC and PS. That is, having an internal locus of control plays a stronger role in predicting work-to-family conflict and positive spillover, and job autonomy plays an important role in predicting family-to-work conflict. Although we did not measure coping style, it seems likely that people who have an internal locus of control cope more actively (McCrae and Costa, 1986), thus enabling them to have more energy to accommodate balancing work and family roles. As for the unexpected positive relationship between situational control and family-to-work conflict, job autonomy may be enabling employees to bring work matters into the family sphere, thus creating greater potential for family intrusions on work.Finally, we hypothesized that perceptions of autonomy would mediate the relationship between locus of control and work-family conflict (WFC and FWC) and positive spillover. We found that this relationship was significant for PS and WFC, although it should be noted that the effect sizes were small. Future research should try to determine other mechanisms that may enhance our understanding of the relationship between locus of control and work-family outcomes. Choice of coping strategy may be such a mechanism. For example, we know from the stress literature that locus of control is related to how individuals perceive and appraise stressors (Cooper et al., 2001). This differential appraisal of stressors in the environment and the influence of this appraisal on choice of coping strategy may help explain the relationship between locus of control and work-family outcomes. Research suggests that because internals perceive greater control over situations, they are more likely to choose an active coping strategy. Active coping has been shown to be an effective, adaptive strategy for handling stressors (McCrae and Costa, 1986). On the other hand, externals, because they are less likely to perceive that they can control stressful situations, are more likely to use passive coping strategies (e.g. emotion-focused coping), and thus are more likely to experience negative consequences such as higher levels of work-family conflict.Several limitations to the study must be noted. First, while autonomy at work was a central focus of this study, future research should also measure the degree to which the individual experiences autonomy or control in the home domain so that a more complete picture of the interactions between control at work and at home can be obtained. Also, we cannot be rule out the possibility that a third variable is responsible for the relationship between job autonomy, locus of control, and the work-family outcomes. For instance, a personality variable such as positive affectivity may have influenced the relationship between perceived job autonomy and positive spillover. Additionally, because locus of control was measured with a single item, future research should use a more comprehensive scale. Although research has demonstrated the ability of one-item measures to validly predict outcomes (e.g. Nagy, 2002; Wanous and Hudy, 2001), replicating our findings with an expanded measure of locus of control would be prudent. Finally, although our model proposes that job autonomy and locus of control influence the degree of work-family conflict and positive spillover experienced by employees, causality cannot be established with the current design. A longitudinal study which follows an individual across jobs with different degrees of job autonomy would be useful for determining causality. And because it is possible that dispositional factors are more influential in the long run than situational factors, a longitudinal design would also allow us to assess the importance of dispositional versus situational factors over time.The findings of this study have important practical implications for organizations. Our research demonstrated that locus of control is an important individual resource that is related to employees' experiences of work-family conflict and positive spillover. Organizations can apply this knowledge to interventions through employee assistance programs or through stress management training programs. For example, training programs can be designed to teach employees to take more control in work situations as well as learn coping techniques that are more active and problem-focused.The fact that job autonomy, as rated objectively by external job evaluators, was positively related to an individual's experience of family-to-work conflict challenges us as researchers to question previous assumptions about autonomy at work. Previous research has used perceptual measures of autonomy (e.g. Parasuraman et al., 1996; Thompson and Prottas, 2006), and the results of these studies may simply be reflecting an employee's dispositional tendency to perceive control over a situation rather than the actual control available in the job. If it is not the actual control, but perceived control that is important, then companies need to determine how to influence perceptions of control when addressing employees' needs to balance work and family. Additionally, the finding of a positive relationship between locus of control and positive spillover adds to the list of antecedents of this relatively new, but important construct. Future research should assess multiple dimensions of positive spillover so that we can get a clearer picture of the relative importance of the instrumental component versus the affective component.In conclusion, the results of this study suggest that dispositional tendencies play an important role in terms of influencing perceptions of work-family outcomes. Although job autonomy is certainly important, the results of this study suggest that organizations should also pay attention to individual factors when re-designing jobs to increase flexibility and autonomy.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to assess the relative influence of personality (locus of control) and situational control (job autonomy) on the experience of work-to-family conflict (WFC), family-to-work conflict (FWC), and positive work-family spillover (PS).\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Using data from the 2002 National Study of the Changing Workforce (n=3,504) and from O*Net, an independent database of occupational characteristic ratings, regression analysis was used to test direct effects, relative weights analysis was used to determine the relative influence of locus of control and job autonomy on work-family outcomes, and mediation analysis was used to examine the mediating influence of perceived job autonomy.\nFindings: - Dispositional control (i.e. internal locus of control) was more strongly associated with the outcome variables than was situational control (i.e. objective job autonomy). As expected, internal locus of control was negatively related to WFC and FWC, and positively related to PS. Job autonomy, however, was unexpectedly related to higher levels of FWC and was unrelated to WFC and PS. Relative weights analysis revealed that situational vs dispositional control were differentially related to the outcome variables. Perceived job autonomy mediated the relationship between locus of control and WFC and PS.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The correlational design prevents conclusions about causality.\nPractical implications: - Knowing that both personality and job autonomy are important in understanding work-family outcomes enables managers to intervene appropriately.\nOriginality/value: - This study increases our understanding of the role of personality in relation to work-family outcomes. In addition, it used a novel technique to partial the effects of situational and dispositional control, and used an objective measure of job autonomy.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Trait-level and week-level regulatory focus as a motivation to craft a job	[ "Self-development", "Employee behaviour", "Psychology", "Motivation", "Employee development", "Job crafting", "State regulatory focus", "Trait regulatory focus" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Organizations today need proactive employees who monitor and improve their working conditions (Grant and Parker, 2009), thereby, contributing to organizational adaptation to dynamic external environments (Ghitulescu, 2013). Wrzesniewski and Dutton (2001) referred to such employee proactive actions as \"job crafting,\" namely, altering the task, relational and cognitive job aspects. Knowing the factors that trigger job crafting is vital since it can help organizations empower their employees to take control of their jobs and, thus, reach maximum performance. The need to create an \"ideal\" job is central within the motivation to craft a job (Brickson, 2011). Does this, however, mean that employees who are prone to fulfill their security rather than their growth needs are not motivated to craft their jobs? In fact, security-oriented individuals can display novel behaviors (Baas et al., 2011) despite their preference for stability. In the present paper, we use regulatory focus theory (Higgins, 1997, 1998) to address whether distinct motivations (i.e. growth vs security) trigger different job crafting behaviors.\nStudy 1: Conceptualizing job crafting\nStudy 2: State regulatory focus refers to strategic means individuals adopt to attain their goals (Wallace et al., 2009), meaning that an individual may choose a state focus that is not consistent to his or her trait. Both trait and state regulatory focus are expected to influence human behavior similarly (Friedman and Forster, 2001), which has two implications for our study: first, employees with high-trait promotion focus tend to seek resources and challenges, while employees with high-trait prevention focus tend to reduce demands. Second, during periods (e.g. specific weeks) when employees adopt a promotion focus they seek more resources and challenges, whereas when employees adopt a prevention focus, they reduce demands.\nOverall discussion: All in all, the present paper contributes to the literature in two specific ways. First, it empirically sheds light to two distinct motivations behind job crafting, which are in line with regulatory focus theory applied to work (Brockner and Higgins, 2001). While promotion focus relates to expansive job crafting (i.e. seeking resources and seeking challenges), prevention focus has the potential to trigger job crafting in the form of self-protection (i.e. reducing demands). Second, regulatory focus as a trigger that produces job crafting is addressed not only as a stable trait but also as a state adopted by individuals at specific times for specific reasons. This means that employees may voluntarily adopt a \"situational\" regulatory focus or organizations may intentionally induce to employees a state regulatory focus that is other than their trait regulatory focus. Our expectation, partially supported by our findings, was that the link between state regulatory focus and job crafting is stronger when trait regulatory focus is consistent. We found that this was the case only for prevention focus and reducing demands. State-like promotion focus was positively related to seeking resources and seeking challenges independent from one's trait promotion focus. The implication is that when individuals are prompted to adopt a promotion focus even when this is not consistent to their trait (e.g. their trait-level promotion focus is low), this can enhance seeking resources and seeking challenges.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to address regulatory focus (promotion vs prevention) as a trait-level variable and a week-level variable linked to employee job crafting behaviors (i.e. seeking resources, seeking challenges and reducing demands). The authors hypothesized that while promotion focus relates positively to seeking resources and seeking challenges, prevention focus relates positively to reducing demands. Furthermore, the authors expected that the links between week-level regulatory focus and crafting would be stronger when the respective trait-level regulatory focus is high.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Two studies were conducted to address the aims, namely, a cross-sectional survey among 580 civil servants and a weekly survey among 81 employees of several occupations.\nFindings: The hypothesized links between regulatory focus and job crafting were supported at the trait- and the week-level. Only the link between week-level prevention focus and reducing demands was stronger when trait-level prevention focus was high. Unexpectedly, seeking resources positively related to prevention focus at the week-level.\nPractical implications: While prevention states may enhance reducing demands behaviors especially for prevention focussed employees, organizations and managers may use promotion states to enhance seeking resources and seeking challenges behaviors among all types of employees and, thereby, shape a strategy emphasizing the promotion values of growth and development.\nOriginality/value: The findings shed light to a diverse range of employee motivational orientations (i.e. approach vs avoidance and trait-like vs state-like) behind job crafting and, thus, shed light to individual correlates of job crafting.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Perceptions and practices of innovation in retailing: Challenges of definition and measurement	[ "Innovation", "Retailing", "Organizational change", "Meanings and definitions of innovation", "Measures of innovation", "Retail innovation" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: This paper aims to develop a more complete understanding of innovation within retail firms as well as of the ways in which retailers conceptualise it and measure its effectiveness. Whilst there is a broad consensus that innovation involves an application of new ideas that stimulate economic performance, the term attracts a wide range of other interpretations that are largely contingent upon the context within which the innovation occurs (Nelson and Winter, 1977; Damanpour and Schneider, 2006; Baregheh et al., 2009; Townsend, 2010).\nLiterature: Our goal in reviewing the broader literature on innovation is to achieve a more comprehensive assessment of the term, rather than to draw an a priori distinction between the generalised and sector-specific views of innovation.\nMethodology: This research adopts a qualitative methodological design and an inductive way of theorising (Burrell and Morgan, 1979; Gill and Johnson, 1991). Its units of analysis are the perceptions of senior managers both of innovation itself as well as of the measures of its effectiveness (Hodgkinson and Johnson, 1994; Coopey et al., 1997; Kaplan and Norton, 2001; Porac et al., 2002; Corbett et al., 2007; Eggers and Kaplan, 2009; Lalit, 2011; Xu, 2011). The degree of external validity in such studies is always a consideration because of the tendency to employ smaller samples. Such limitations were minimised through the use of a larger mixed purposive sample, with respondents drawn from a variety of management and geographical milieux (Bryman, 1996). The sampling process was continuous rather than upfront, initially starting with a pilot group of practitioners and academics with whom we had undertaken preliminary discussions.\nResults: Meanings of innovation in retailing\nDiscussion: typologies of innovation in retailing: Further interpretative synthesis allowed us to combine patterns across the two cases into conceptual frameworks depicting the shared perceptions of innovation among REs and NREs (Dopson and Fitzgerald, 2006). Whilst \"behavioural- and outcome-related\" retail innovation highlighted definitional distinctions described in the extant literature (Damanpour and Gopalakrishnan, 2001), in practical terms, managers were more comfortable thinking in terms of innovation as revolving around two axes; \"organisational impact\" and/or \"areas of application\". Figure 4 illustrates how these two interact.\nManagerial implications and conclusions: Through this research, we have sought to undertake an exploration of the managerial perceptions surrounding innovation in retailing. Our aims have been to achieve a greater depth of understanding, rather than simply breadth or statistical significance. Eisenhardt and Graebner (2007) remind us that the object of the kind of sampling we have employed is to select cases purposefully in order to illuminate an idea or construct, with the goal of developing novel theories about little known phenomena, rather than necessarily to test these empirically.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purposes of this paper are to develop a more complete understanding both of the characteristics of innovation within retail firms and of the ways in which retailers perceive innovation and measure its effectiveness. Whilst there is a broad consensus that innovation is an application of new ideas that stimulate economic performance, the term attracts a wide range of interpretations that are largely contingent upon the context within which innovation occurs.\nDesign/methodology/approach: These aims are achieved through analysis at the level of the firm by means of qualitative research in the form of a series of in-depth interviews with more than 50 senior retail executives and other industry experts internationally.\nFindings: The research results show that whilst retailers clearly recognise the important role of innovation for successful business performance, innovation in retailing nevertheless possesses a range of sector-specific meanings and measurement approaches that are distinct from more generic understandings of the phenomenon.\nOriginality/value: Whilst the paper summarises relevant literatures and presents the results of the primary research it also sets out a number of novel conceptual frameworks, which seek better to categorise the perceived meanings of retail innovation and the measurement tools most frequently employed to determine innovation effectiveness in retail firms. The proposed frameworks facilitate future scholarly exploration but are also of use to practitioners as a means of better understanding the nature of innovation within their businesses.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Inter-occupational cooperation and boundary work in the hospital setting	[ "Collaboration", "Cooperation", "Boundary work", "Jurisdiction", "Occupation", "Personnel health" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nBackground and overall aim: Inter-occupational cooperation is considered a key mechanism for improving practice in human resource (HR) work in public healthcare organizations and for optimizing participation in the implementation of decisions and policies (Baker et al., 2011; Hyde et al., 2009; Khatri, 2006; Lukas et al., 2007; West et al., 2006). Apesoa-Varano (2013) stated that a current important research focus is the relationship among occupational groups in healthcare. An interesting, though under-explored, area connected to inter-occupational cooperation is the unequal power relationships between the different occupational groups that are expected to join forces in this work. Examples are the relationships between HR professionals, healthcare workers, administrative managers (Nugus et al., 2010) and occupational health and safety (OHS) practitioners (Olsen, 2012). Research on inter-occupational relationships could have practical implications if it increases our understanding of how cooperation is (or is not) achieved in daily work (Harris et al., 2007; Boselie, 2010; Chreim et al., 2012).\nTheoretical background: In early development of the concept of boundary work, Gieryn described how the construction of boundaries in pursuit of various professional goals demarcates scientific activities from other intellectual activities. These goals often include the pursuit of greater autonomy, more resources and larger jurisdictions. Subsequent research studies have used the concept of boundary work in numerous areas (Ingerslev, 2016). Hernes (2004, p. 10) argued that boundaries, which are central to organizations, are composite and \"constantly subject to construction and reconstruction\" (see also Huby et al., 2014). Chreim et al. (2013) added that boundaries in workplaces appear in many relationships where there are different professional roles, different hierarchical levels and/or different fields of knowledge. In healthcare, boundaries between professions are important for the productivity and quality of the healthcare sector (Powell and Davies, 2012) because they influence vital functions such as communication (West, 2000), cooperation and leadership (Fitzgerald and Dopson, 2005).\nThe setting: Recent statistics on the work population's health in Sweden reflect an increasingly negative trend - a phenomenon found in other publicly financed services in Sweden (Swedish Work Environment Authority 2015a; Vinberg et al., 2015). The main reason for the increase is stress-related illness, which primarily affects those with low incomes in care- and human-intensive services (i.e. mostly women working in low status occupations) (Swedish Work Environment Authority, 2015b). This is an expensive problem for individuals, for organizations and for society at large (OECD, 2010). Hence, the Swedish Government has adopted more and more regulations related to occupational health aimed at improving the health of organizations' personnel. At the same time, many public sector organizations are investing in health projects that have the healthy organization in focus. This is not a unique development - many countries struggle with these problems and actions (Ito et al., 2014; OECD, 2010).\nMethodology: In order to explain how boundary work is conducted in this setting, the everyday work of the actors is in focus. The design of the study is a case study inspired by ethnography in the sense that it seeks to study how and why the respondents act the way they do in their special context (Ellen, 1984). The study uses a qualitative methodology, with empirical data collected in individual in-depth interviews and participative observations of focus group discussions. The research was conducted in a regional municipal organization in the western part of Sweden that has four hospitals and the OHS that serves these hospitals. Table II summarizes the interviews and respondents. Three of the hospitals are small to medium size; the fourth hospital is a large university hospital with many departments.\nFindings: The study's findings are presented in two ways. First, the respondents' shared narratives on how they cooperate in personnel health work are described - the focus is on what is agreed upon when \"telling the story\" about personnel health work. Second, the ways in which the actors present themselves as they cooperate are described. Three areas of personnel health work are identified as relevant: individual rehabilitation, illness prevention and health promotion. However, most respondents make no distinction between illness prevention and health promotion.\nAnalysis: This paper seeks answers to two questions. In this section, the analysis responds to these questions.\nConclusions, research limitations and further research: The aim of the paper is to add a little piece to the research puzzle on boundary work and inter-occupational cooperation in a hospital setting. Previous research describes the importance of inter-occupational cooperation in healthcare as a way to improve performance in HR work (e.g. Baker et al., 2011; Lukas et al., 2007; Hyde et al., 2009). In the healthcare sector, the more powerful occupational professions (Nugus et al., 2010) influence the organizational professional structure as far as how the cooperation is conducted.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to add a little piece to the research on boundary work and inter-occupational cooperation by addressing two questions: how do actors perform boundary work in an inter-occupational cooperation project that seeks to improve the personnel health work in a hospital setting? What impact does the boundary work have on such cooperation in the personnel health project?\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study is based on individual, in-depth interviews and participative observations of focus group discussions conducted at a regional municipal organization in Sweden. Respondents are hospital line managers, experts and strategists in the HR departments, and experts from the internal occupational health service.\nFindings: The concepts on boundary work, which include closing/opening boundary strategies, provide the framework for the empirical illustrations. The cooperation runs smoothly in the rehabilitation work because of an agreed upon process in which the professionals' jurisdictions are preserved through closing strategies. Illness prevention and health promotion are not areas of inter-occupational cooperation because the stronger actors use closing strategies. While the weaker actors, who try to cooperate, use opening boundary strategies in these areas, they are excluded or marginalized.\nResearch limitations/implications: The empirical investigation concerns one cooperation project and was completed at one data collection point.\nOriginality/value: No similar study of boundary work and inter-occupational cooperation in a hospital setting is available despite the frequency of this professional group configuration in practice. A more inclusive concept of professionalism may facilitate the study of boundary work and inter-occupational cooperation among actors with different professional authority.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The contribution of emotional intelligence and spirituality in understanding creativity and entrepreneurial intention of higher education students	[ "Spirituality", "Emotional intelligence", "Creativity", "Personal attitudes towards entrepreneurship", "Perceived behavioural control", "Entrepreneurial intention", "Students" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Entrepreneurship is a critical factor in fostering innovation and job creation and it is believed to be an effective strategy in handling the issue of employability. Research in the area of entrepreneurial intention continues to represent a fruitful area of study. Intentions are direct predictors of behaviour (Ajzen, 1991); hence, entrepreneurial intention is closely related to entrepreneurship behaviour. Since entrepreneurial behaviour is intentional and a planned behaviour (Krueger et al., 2000), intentions have been highlighted as reliable predictors of entrepreneurial action (Krueger et al., 2000; Zampetakis et al., 2009).\n2. Literature review and proposed hypothesis: 2.1 Entrepreneurial intention\n3. Research methodology: 3.1 Research method and sample\n4. Results: 4.1 Respondents' profile\n5. Discussion: Despite the development of the literature dealing with determinants of entrepreneurial intention, the contribution of spiritual values, emotions and creative dispositions in forming entrepreneurial intention has received relatively little attention so far. The current paper is an attempt to fill this gap.\n6. Conclusions and implications: Seeking to understand the determinants of entrepreneurial intention does not guarantee the creation of new ventures; however, as mentioned by Krueger et al. (2000), to analyse the consequences of the intentions we need to understand its antecedents. This study was motivated by the need for research that can lead to a deeper understanding of the role of variables that, on a personal level, are able to trigger and enact the entrepreneurial intention of an individual (Fayolle and Linan, 2014). Since fostering entrepreneurship has become a topic of the highest priority in higher education institutions, the study was applied to students of a Portuguese higher education institution.\n7. Limitations and future research suggestions: This study had some limitations that should be addressed by future studies.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyse the role of spirituality and emotional intelligence in understanding creativity, attitudes towards entrepreneurship, perceived behavioural control (PBC) and entrepreneurial intention of students of a Portuguese higher education institution. A conceptual model is proposed representing direct and indirect relationships among these constructs.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A quantitative approach was adopted in the form of a survey questionnaire applied to a sample of 345 university students. To test the hypothesised relationships between the constructs, the authors used the path analysis technique.\nFindings: Results show that personal attitudes towards entrepreneurship and PBC have a positive effect on entrepreneurial intention, and mediate the effect of emotional intelligence on entrepreneurial intention. Emotional intelligence has a direct positive effect on creativity. The results reveal no or a tenuous influence of spirituality in the various concepts studied.\nPractical implications: It is expected that the model can serve as a support for facilitating and promoting entrepreneurship in higher education environments. It could be of valuable use to furthering our understanding of the role of individual/psychological characteristics, motivational and attitudinal factors in fostering entrepreneurial intention of university students.\nOriginality/value: Some studies suggest that psychological factors play an essential role in developing alternative models to the entrepreneurial process. However, the studies that directly explore how individual differences in emotional intelligence, spirituality and creativity relate to entrepreneurial intention are relatively few.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Wine tourism: Predictors of revisit intention to micro, small and medium wineries on the Valle de Guadalupe wine route, Mexico	[ "Mexico", "Consumer behaviour", "Regression", "Wine tourism", "Survey research", "Revisit intention", "Spatial-temporal model" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Wine routes are a designated signed route publicized with special marketing campaigns emphasizing natural, cultural and environmental values, and vineyards and wineries open to the public. These constitute the instrument by which the viticulture territories and its products can be commercialized as a tourism product. The creation of a wine route is also an opportunity to create synergies between different tourism activities, such as accommodation, the local gastronomy and the sale of typical artisan products of the area (Elias Pastor, 2006). In general, a wine route consists of one or more designated itineraries through the wine region that is thematically signposted, in addition to being interpreted through brochures and maps that point out the different vineyards and wine producers (Hall et al., 2000).\nWine tourism routes: From an academic perspective, the conceptualization of wine tourism reflects the evolution of the approaches used by researchers. Getz et al. (1999) defined it as a form of consumer behavior based on the attractiveness of wine and wine regions where wineries and experiences related to wine are the dominant attractions. Later, it was defined as the visit to the vineyards where wineries, wine festivals and wine tastings are the main reasons why visitors come (Hall et al., 2000). That is, the attributes of the region are incorporated as pull factors. In this sense, wine tourism is more than visiting wineries and buying wine, it also includes having experiences in the environment and the ambiance, with the regional culture and tasting local wine and food (Bruwer and Lesschaeve, 2012).\nPre-visit: According to Byrd et al. (2017), previous product or destination knowledge prior to the travel experience have a significant influence on the consumer behavior. The choice of destinations and visits to attractions will be affected by previous experiences and the degree of enjoyment within these experiences. In the wine tourism context, previous experience within a wine region is a trigger to revisit the wine route (Mitchell and Hall, 2004).\nTravel to/from destination: The problem of accessibility to wine routes and surrounding locations is one of the major factors inhibiting RI to wine regions (Bonn et al., 2016). In this sense, Bruwer et al. (2016) stated that, for visitors outside the state, the functionality of the wine route is perceived as an important factor that directly affects the visitor perception of the wine tourism route because it is related to accessibility, connectivity and adequate signs to find their way around.\nIn situ experience: Most tourism products are not tangible, but experiential. Where tourists experience a destination by consuming products and receiving services. Therefore, the perceived values can explain what tourists assess to be the particular attributes they experience in a wine route.\nResearch methodology: Based on the literature review, there are variables that have been scarcely included in the research of wine tourism. Therefore, it was decided to use the spatial-temporal model (Mitchell and Hall, 2004) in carrying out a study with a wider temporal context encompassing pre- and post-visit. The indicators were grouped to create dimensions through exploratory factor analysis (EFA). The dimensions proposed in the study were pre-visit, in situ and travel to/from (Table I).\nThe validity of the dimensions: To test the consistency of the instrument, Cronbach's alpha analysis was performed; the results of the analysis confirmed that the instrument and items used were reliable with a coefficient Alpha value of 0.717, above the generally accepted score by Nunnally (1978) of 0.7; this result shows the internal consistency of the questionnaire. Then, the Kaiser-Mayer-Olkin (KMO) analysis was calculated as 0.729, which is greater than 0.50, indicating that the data set of 422 is adequate for EFA (Hair et al., 2006).\nResults: Regarding the characteristics of the group, it was found that 41.5 per cent of the respondents were accompanied by their family and 30.1 per cent by friends. Among the main sources to get information about a wine route, the most important is word of mouth, with 73.7 per cent affirming that the information came from a recommendation of a friend or family. All the tourists in the sample were repeat visitors, 66.2 per cent having from one to three prior visits to the Valle de Guadalupe in the previous year (Table V).\nRegression analysis: Taking into account the R2(0.407) result (Table VII), it is affirmed that 40 per cent of the RI is explained by the dimensions used in this study. The significance of each indicator of the multiple linear regression indicates that pre-visit and in situ dimensions have a statistically significant relationship with RI to Guadalupe Valley.\nDiscussion: The study's findings contribute to the existing body of knowledge about wine tourism by providing empirical support for the spatial-temporal model (Mitchell and Hall, 2004). With the results presented above, it was observed that only two out of three dimensions have a positive statistical relationship with revisit: pre-visit and in situ. Therefore, H1 and H3 were approved because the pre-visit dimension and in situ dimension are related to RI. The pre-visit is the most important dimension for the RI because it has the greatest effect on this variable, while the in situ dimension occupied second place. On the other hand, H3 was rejected because the travel to/from dimension was not statistically related to the RI to Valle de Guadalupe.\nConclusions, implications, limitations and future research: This research has three key contributions. First, the study states the relevance of the analysis of the spatial-temporal model pre-visit; travel to destination; in situ experience; travel to place of residence and post-visit (Mitchell et al., 2000; Mitchell and Hall, 2004). This framework may be used in other wine regions or routes contexts. Second, analysis focuses on the repeat wine tourist, a segment that has been scarcely studied (Back et al., 2018), and contributes to the small body of knowledge about this segment. Third, the empirical results enrich the conceptual framework and provide a more extensive description of each of the pre-visit, in situ and travel to/from dimensions.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: In Mexico, wine tourism has become a relevant issue in the past 20 years. Research in this region is in a nascent stage and largely focused on the supply side. Nevertheless, consumer behavior research on wine tourists of the region is needed to improve the wine region positioning. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to find out the predictors for revisit intention (RI) to the Valle de Guadalupe wine route.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The information was obtained by applying an exit poll survey to a sample of 422 wine tourists at the micro, small and medium wineries in Ensenada, Mexico. The spatial-temporal model was used to predict the wine tourist RI. Three dimensions were used: pre-visit, in situ experience and travel to/from. Multiple linear regressions were carried out to assess the relation between the three dimensions and RI.\nFindings: The results obtained show that the pre-visit and in situ dimensions have an effect on RI to the wine route.\nResearch limitations/implications: The generalization of the results may be limited due to fact that only the repeated visitors of the autumn season are included; therefore, it is not applicable to summer (high season of wine tourism) and first-time visitors.\nPractical implications: The results provide implications for the owners of the micro, small and medium wineries seeking to improve the experience and increasing the tourist RI to the wine route.\nOriginality/value: The theoretical added value of this paper is its contribution to the body of knowledge about the wine tourism spatial-temporal model, evaluating the complete wine tourism experience to predict RI.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Competencies of hotel general managers: a conceptual framework	[ "Leadership development", "Talent management", "Competencies", "Hospitality management", "General manager" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: As economic growth gathers momentum globally, companies are increasing their spending on business travel. Simultaneously, leisure travel is also experiencing a boost due to increasing levels of importance being attributed to leisure time pursuits and greater amounts of discretionary income at the disposable of the consumer. This two-pronged growth in travel has influenced demand levels in the tourism sector, as well as the hospitality sector, which shares a fairly symbiotic relationship with the travel and tourism industry. As a result, hospitality and tourism have emerged as two of the most rapidly growing industries in the world, accounting for more than a third of the total global services trade (ILO, 2010). Hospitality and tourism together contributed approximately 9.8 per cent to the worldwide gross domestic product in 2014 and employed nearly 277 million people, creating 9.4 per cent of the overall number of jobs worldwide, both direct and indirect (WTTC, 2015).\nRationale of the study: Being in the service industry, a hotel has unique characteristics which can place stringent demands on its employees and, of course, the managerial cadre. As entities that function around-the-clock, hotels are highly labour intensive and contain a diverse complement of employees (Blayney, 2009). Senior managers and particularly general managers play a pivotal role in hospitality operations. As a leader of the hospitality unit in charge of operations, the general manager of a hotel is ultimately responsible for the entire property including supervision of all its employees. He or she is \"held directly accountable by the corporation or owners for the operation's level of profitability, too\" (Walker, 2004, p. 747). Further, hospitality leaders are central to creating a culture of service excellence within the organisation and play a crucial role in shaping service delivery systems and driving the overall service quality to enhance customer experience (Walsh and Koenigsfeld, 2015).\nLeadership competencies: Researchers have, over the years, endeavoured to understand what enables a business manager to deliver superior performance and be successful. These researchers and management thinkers have postulated as to what contributes to the effectiveness of chief executives, general managers and senior managers (Mintzberg, 1975; Kotter, 1999; Gosling and Mintzberg, 2003; Drucker, 2004).\nThe competency-based approach: The roots of the competence movement can be traced back to the work of Katz in the 1950s. Though he did not use the terms competence or competency, Katz (1955, 1974) proposed a framework for distinguishing the performance of effective managers on the basis of skills. Katz (1974, p. 91) defined a skill as \"an ability which can be developed, not necessarily inborn, and which is manifested in performance, not merely in potential\". Skills were divided into three categories, i.e. technical skills, human skills and conceptual skills. As one moved up the managerial hierarchy, conceptual and human skills played a dominant role in the effectiveness of the manager as compared to technical skills. Katz (1974) contended that for the purpose of executive recruitment, training and promoting, instead of merely evaluating the individual traits of a manager to determine his latent potential, it was important to focus on skills that could be developed through training and resulted in effective performance. Thus, the work of Katz (1955, 1974) was an important contribution in the foundation of the competency approach that sought to establish a causal link between the skills, knowledge and underlying characteristics of an individual and effective performance.\nConceptual framework: Boyatzis (1982) has been credited with developing the first comprehensive management competency framework grounded in the work of classical management theorists. Using the Job Competence Assessment Method, 2,000 managers were studied to determine generic competencies that were relevant to performance at various hierarchical levels of management. A total of 21 competencies related to managerial effectiveness were put forward and organised around six clusters - goal and action management, leadership, human resource management, directing subordinates, focus on others and specialised knowledge. Boyatzis (1982) defined competency in a generic form as any underlying characteristic an individual possesses and uses which leads to successful performance in a job-related context.\nStudies on general managers in the hospitality industry: Perusal of literature shows that several studies have been carried out on hotel general managers ranging from those focussing on their demographics and career paths, (Guerrier, 1987; Nebel et al., 1995; Woods et al., 1998; Ladkin and Juwaheer, 2000; Ladkin, 2002; Li et al., 2007; Akrivos et al., 2007), their educational qualifications (Harper et al., 2005; Moncarz and Kay, 2005; Kay and Moncarz, 2007; Kralj et al., 2009), their job demands (Nebel and Ghei, 1993), models for benchmarking and evaluating their performance (Morey and Dittman, 2003) to examining their leadership profiles and leadership styles (Cichy et al., 1992; Greger and Peterson, 2000).\nCompetency-focused research in the hospitality industry: The literature discussed hitherto focused on general managers in the hospitality industry but not particularly in direct relation to the competencies required by them. An in-depth review of competency-focused literature, specifically in the domain of the hospitality industry, was carried out. The search was restricted to papers published between 1988 and 2015. The year 1988 was chosen as the baseline, as this was when the first paper related to competencies required by hospitality employees and managers was published by Tas (1988).\nDiscussion: Traditionally, technical savvy in the field of hospitality operations and adequate people management skills constituted the primary the gamut of a general manager's skill repertoire. But the vicissitudes in the global economic scenario in general, and its impact on the business environment in which the hospitality sector operates in particular, have highlighted the gap between management rhetoric and reality. Globalisation of travel, intensifying competition due to international expansion and consolidation of hospitality businesses, the impact of the disruptive \"sharing economy\", innovative technological developments and the emergence of experience-seeking, tech-savvy millennial travellers, have all thrown up a new set of job demands and professional challenges for the general manager. The role of a general manager has transitioned from operational to strategic leadership. The general manager is now also responsible for achieving longer-term strategic business results, maximising employee commitment and competence, ensuring enhanced customer service experience and driving organisational transformation and culture change. This role transition necessarily warrants an updating of the repertoire of competencies of the incumbent, too.\nTheoretical implications: The review of extant literature in this study revealed that while several studies have been carried out separately on general managers and hospitality industry-specific competencies, only a limited number of them focus on competencies required by a successful hospitality general manager. By aggregating competencies from earlier studies and categorising them in accordance with a contemporary, hospitality industry-relevant typology, this study makes a valuable theoretical contribution by proposing a holistic competency framework for hospitality leaders. The framework has been populated with 43 competencies under four broad dimensions: cognitive competencies, functional competencies, social competencies and meta competencies.\nPractical implications: From the practical perspective, the proposed competencies framework could prove to be a keystone for integrated talent management practices in hospitality organisations. The framework can provide a common language to ensure consistency, transparency and fairness in talent identification, performance management and developmental opportunities. Using this framework as a blueprint, organisations can customise their own strategically driven competency model to identify the mix of competencies (KSAs) which reflect the level of proficiency required by their hotel general managers for effective performance to meet the organisational goals.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: It is crucial for hospitality organisations to develop sustainable leadership by regularly re-evaluating the competencies and skills required by their senior managers and leaders. In the context of this strategic talent management imperative, this paper aims to identify and map competencies required for the pivotal position of a hotel general manager to develop a holistic and relevant leadership competency framework.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Through secondary research, this study undertakes a detailed literature review of competency and leadership studies in the context of the hospitality industry to distil the essential competencies and skills required by a general manager.\nFindings: This study proposes a leadership competency model for hospitality organisations in the form of a 43-item competency framework for hotel general managers categorised into four broad dimensions - cognitive competencies (knowledge), functional competencies (skills), social competencies (attitudes and behaviours) and meta competencies (motives and traits).\nPractical implications: The proposed competency model, once empirically tested for robustness, could serve as a blueprint for hospitality organisations to develop their own organisation-specific competency framework for senior leadership that could prove to be a keystone for integrated talent management practices. Further, educationists and trainers could use the findings of this study as inputs in designing curricula and pedagogical interventions to meet the industry's future needs and expectations with regards to competencies of senior managers.\nOriginality/value: By aggregating competencies from earlier studies and synthesising and categorising them in accordance with a contemporary, hospitality industry-relevant typology, a comprehensive competency model specific for hotel general managers has been proposed.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Generic decision support system to leverage supply chain performance (GLE) for SMEs in Thailand	[ "Supply chain management", "Small- and medium-sized enterprises", "Optimization" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Supply chain management has gained much attention from academics and practitioners (Wong and Wong, 2007). It emerged as a method to attempt to plan and control all activities across a supply chain. They include: customer service support; demand forecasting and planning; purchasing and procurement; inventory management; order processing and logistics communications; material handling and packaging; transportation; facility site selection, warehousing and storage; and reverse logistics (Grant et al., 2006). In addition, the emergence of supply chain management is a means to coordinate and collaborate among supply chain members, as well as to integrate supply and demand management within and between companies. They all contribute to achieve supply chain management, namely to meet the needs of the end customers (Mentzer, 2004). The supply chain achievement is broadly measured with cost, time and reliability (Arvis et al., 2014; Banomyong and Supatn, 2011). The so-called supply chain performance measurement provides feedback information for identifying the existing supply chain capabilities as well as diagnosing potential problems. They are facilitated for mutual understanding and integration of supply chain members in the pursuit of supply chain excellence (Najmi and Makui, 2012).\n2. Literature review: Supply chain performance measurements contains a set of parameters that influence the supply chains' cost (Bolstorff, 2003; Gunasekaran et al., 2004), time (Bolstorff, 2003; Shepherd and Gunter, 2006) and reliability (Angerhofer and Angelides, 2006; Beamon, 2003; Shepherd and Gunter, 2006) as individual measures (Ramdas and Spekman, 2000). In addition, they have been classified into qualitative and quantitative, financial and non-financial, strategical, tactical, operational and process-based attributes (Gunasekaran et al., 2004; Shepherd and Gunter, 2006). But most previous measurement systems have lacked strategy alignment (Beamon, 1999; Chan and Qi, 2003). This issue was addressed using approaches including balanced scorecard (BSC), activity-based costing (Liberatore and Miller, 1998), performance measurement matrix, results-determinants framework and performance pyramid (Neely, 2005). Subsequently, a supply chain operations reference (SCOR) model has been developed as a systematic and balanced approach across five core processes (plan, source, make, deliver and return) (Bolstorff, 2003; Huang et al., 2004; Lockamy and McCormack, 2004). The BSC and SCOR are capable of thoroughly describing and communicating business operations and generating many individual measures.\n3. Methodology: The GLE aims to optimize the nine measures of supply chain performance identified by Banomyong and Supatn (2011) and its prototype is framed in four stages as shown in Figure 1. The first stage aims to conceptualize supply chain elements (i.e. the nine measures and their parameters) into a causal loop diagram and is formulated into mathematical equations in the second stage. They are configured into exact algorithm software (i.e. MATLAB) in the third stage and followed by its successful validation in the industry at the fourth stage.\n4. Validation: The GLE prototype was successfully validated at two different medium-sized companies in Thailand. The first company, certified by ISO9001:2008, manufactures 220-voltage plugs, and the second company, certified by good manufacturing practice and hazard analysis and critical control points, manufactures durian toffees. Their related actual data in Table II are used as input parameters and enable the GLE to compute the six output values and be validated by comparing their actual data. It is found that the output comparisons are insignificantly different, not more than 10 percent, as shown in Table III. The existing output values may, however, not be optimal, and, as a result, both companies need to redesign their supply chains, i.e. PL, with the aim of minimizing supply chain cost per sales (Z1) and average order cycle time (Z2). The supply chain redesign is achieved by implementing the GLE prototype whose result is discussed in the next section.\n5. Conclusion: This paper develops a GLE for SMEs in Thailand as an extension of the SCPAT proposed by Banomyong and Supatn (2011). It contains nine measures covering key supply chain activities within cost, time and reliability dimensions. Their interrelations, conflicts and relative weights are considered in the GLE so that it prevails over the SCAPT. The GLE is therefore a practical and unique decision-making support tool that aims to identify existing supply chain capabilities and to support decisions for acquiring the Pareto-optimal solution. However, the GLE needs: to be extended to achieve validation in several industries; the inclusion of multiple decision variables, multiple types of product and multiple periods of time; and the consideration of other dimensional measures (e.g. environmental impact) along the supply chain activities. Instead of just the cost dimension, other dimensions (e.g. resource utilization) will also be considered as being more sustainable.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper explains the development stages of a generic decision support system to leverage supply chain performance (GLE). The purpose of this paper is to identify and trade off the critical supply chain measures which are interrelated and in contradiction with each other.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The GLE was developed as an extension of the supply chain performance assessment tool proposed by Banomyong and Supatn (2011). It contained nine measures covering key activities along the supply chain under dimensions of cost, time and reliability. Their interrelations were figured out by causal linkages, whereas their contradictions were traded off as multi-objective optimization. It is solved using fuzzy goal programming along with a weighted max-min operator in order to acquire the Pareto-optimal solution.\nFindings: The results from the GLE showed there were two critical supply chain measures including supply chain cost per sales and average order cycle time. They contradictorily influenced by a root-cause, namely product lot size. Its Pareto-optimal value was provided to achieve the minimized values of supply chain cost per sales and average order cycle time which were consistent with their relative weights.\nResearch limitations/implications: As generic features, the GLE needs further validation in several industries under various supply chain strategies. The further validation may contribute the GLE to include multiple decision variables, multiple types of product and multiple periods of time. In addition, the GLE may consider a dimensional measure of environmental impact along the supply chain activities.\nOriginality/value: The GLE is a unique decision support system to identify and trade off the critical, interrelated and contradicting supply chain measures. More uniqueness is obtained when the GLE offers an option of inputting a set of relative weights for the interrelated supply chain measures.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Dairy production diagnosis in Santa Catarina, Brazil, from the perspective of business ecosystem	[ "Milk", "Dairy industry", "Business ecosystem", "Dairy chain", "Dairy farms", "Milk production" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The Brazilian dairy production system, has growth potential. Production is expected to grow at an annual rate of 1.9 percent. This corresponds to a yield of 38.2 billion liters of raw milk at the end of the period 2020/2021 (MAPA, 2011). And Santa Catarina is the fifth largest milk producer in the country, where this activity is presented as an important source of income. Santa Catarina represents 8 percent of milk production in Brazil, and in 2014 had a production of 2,983,250 liters, which totaled R$ 2,687,978.00 in value to the state's economy (Winck and Neto, 2009; IBGE, 2014).\n2. Methodology: The methodology used for the study comprises two stages. The first was conducted a systematic literature review, to recognize the state of the art on the subject. Then, the content analysis composed by pre-analysis; exploration material or coding and; treatment of results, inference and interpretation, as recommended by Bardin (2011) was performed as detailed in the following.\n3. Results and discussion: From the analysis of the articles, four unit's records were generated, and classified the context units, totaling 15 context units as can be seen on Table III.\n4. Final thoughts: The aim of this study was to diagnose the barriers of dairy production in Santa Catarina, from the perspective of the business ecosystem. We chose to use as an analytical lens the business ecosystem, because it presents a systemic vision of the whole, which includes not only the chain of dairy production value, but also those with indirect roles in the ecosystem, such as other industries producing companies or complementary equipment, outsourcing companies, regulatory agencies, financial institutions, research institutes, universities, media and even competitors. The creation and maintenance of a business platform, can help to reduce the lack of cooperation between the business ecosystem actors, so that the actors in the business environment, interconnected, can co-evolve and achieve economic gains and sustain the over time.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to diagnose the barriers of dairy production system of Santa Catarina from the perspective of the business ecosystem concept.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study consists of a bibliographic systematic review of the dairy production from the perspective of the business ecosystem. To analyze the resulting portfolio, the authors used the content analysis proposed by Bardin (2011), which served as the basis for analysis and discussion of the barriers of dairy production.\nFindings: The authors identified a total of 19 barriers related with dairy production activity in Santa Catarina, they are properly presented and discussed. In addition, some ways to mitigate these barriers.\nResearch limitations/implications: This study may not have enabled a complete coverage of all existing peer-reviewed articles in the field of dairy production. Yet, it seems reasonable to assume that the review process covered a large proportion of studies available.\nOriginality/value: It is the first study that identifies barriers to the development of dairy production in Santa Catarina using as an analytical lens the business ecosystem. And once identified these barriers, it is possible to devise strategies to eliminate or mitigate these barriers.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Assessing the entrepreneurial orientation of the librarians: A case study of Iranian public libraries	[ "Entrepreneurship", "Entrepreneurial orientation", "Demographic analysis", "Public libraries", "Librarians" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Entrepreneurship has attracted the attention of a bulk of researchers and policymakers in recent decades. One of the main reasons for focusing on entrepreneurship is the growing need for societies to exploit creative individuals to accelerate economic development through new ideas and transform them into profitable activities (Turker and Selcuk, 2009) and accepting the risk and its benefits (Hisrich-Robert et al., 2005). In the present age, successful organizations are those with creative and entrepreneurial managers and employees (Hult et al., 2003).\nLiterature review: A historical review of entrepreneurial orientation studies suggests that early entrepreneurship studies at organizational level by Miller and Friesen (1982) and Miller (1983) led to the development of the concept of entrepreneurial orientation. Miller (1983) believed that an entrepreneurial organization is an organization that engages in product and service innovativeness, performs risky actions and overtakes competitors. It is noteworthy that Covin and Slevin (1991) used the term \"entrepreneurial posture\" and Naman and Slevin (1993) used \"entrepreneurial style\" to describe innovativeness, risk-taking and proactiveness. Regardless of the terms used to describe entrepreneurial orientation, this multi-dimensional conceptual construct is one of the most comprehensive dimensions of entrepreneurial orientation in the five dimensions (Lumpkin and Dess, 1996), presented in the introduction. Organizations and communities have been the focus of attention over the past decades, and numerous studies have been conducted on various aspects of entrepreneurial orientation. Some studies (Zahra and Covin, 1995; Kolvereid, 1996; Mazzarol et al., 1999; Hornsby et al., 2002; Caruana et al., 2002; Hill, 2003; Heinonen and Korvela, 2003; Furst, 2005; Jogaratnam and Ching-Yick Tse, 2006; Chan, 2006; Lerner et al., 2007; Robinson, 2007; Kearney et al., 2008; Yao et al., 2009; Ismail et al., 2009; Bojica and Fuentes, 2012; Leonard and Clementson, 2012; Lucky and Ibrahim, 2015; Ibrahim and Mas'ud, 2016) have identified factors affecting entrepreneurial orientation. In these studies, the effects of various factors such as organizational factors, environmental factors and so on have been investigated on entrepreneurial orientation. Others have studied the effect of personality traits on entrepreneurial orientation. (Boyd and Vozikis, 1994; Gartner, 1988; Henry et al., 2003; Ismail et al., 2009; Mirza and Ali, 2011; Ghorbani et al., 2012). In a study entitled \"The impact of prior entrepreneurial exposure on perceptions of new venture desirability and feasibility,\" understanding of the feasibility of entrepreneurial orientation was investigated by Krueger's (1993). In their study entitled \"Understanding and measuring autonomy: an entrepreneurial orientation perspective,\" Lumpkin et al. (2009) assessed autonomy as one of the most important dimensions of entrepreneurial orientation. The results of their study showed that in most organizations, there is an autonomy dimension. This dimension is lower in employees and more in managers. Among the five dimensions of entrepreneurial orientation, the autonomy dimension seems to be the most effective one. In addition, autonomy has a positive and significant relationship with organizational structure and organizational performance improvement (Nabi and Holden, 2008).\nMethodology: This study is an applied research in terms of the objectives and is a survey with respect to the data collection method. The main research instrument was a structured questionnaire consisting of two parts: demographic characteristics of respondents (gender, age, marital status, field of study, work experience and education level) and entrepreneurial orientation (innovativeness, risk-taking, predictability, autonomy and aggressiveness). The structure of the questionnaire was that 6 items were related to demographic characteristics and 15 items were related to entrepreneurial orientation. In other words, there were three items for each dimension of entrepreneurial orientation. The validity of the questionnaire was assessed using the opinions of experts in the fields of library and information sciences and entrepreneurship because the purpose of the study was to evaluate the use of an important topic of entrepreneurship in libraries. Cronbach's alpha coefficient was calculated to evaluate the reliability of the questionnaire. The coefficient for the questionnaire was greater than 0.70, indicating appropriate reliability of the research instrument. Respondents' rating scale was based on Likert's five-point scale (completely disagree = 1, disagree = 2, somewhat agree = 3, agree = 4, completely agree = 5).\nResearch findings: Demographic characteristics\nDiscussion and conclusion: The problems of libraries today are not solved using previous solutions. Predicting the future does not solve future problems; rather, one should build on the future. Nowadays, environmental conditions are so complicated that libraries alone cannot guarantee their long-term survival with slight changes in methods, structures, technologies and factors alike. Therefore, today's libraries need to revolutionize the minds of their managers and staff to fundamentally change the concept of libraries and services in their minds. Under such circumstances, libraries need entrepreneurs who can bring new blood to the body of libraries through creativity and innovativeness, perseverance, confidence and ambiguity tolerance. Entrepreneurship is one of the new concepts that play a much more important role than physical capital in libraries.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this study is to carry out the demographic evaluation and analysis of the entrepreneurial orientation of librarians in Iranian public libraries using the Lumpkin and Dess model.\nDesign/methodology/approach: In this study, a structured questionnaire of entrepreneurial orientation was used. The research population consisted of 5,000 librarians of Iranian public libraries who were selected using Krejcie and Morgan table (95% confidence level and p-value of 5%) and stratified the random sampling method. A total of 365 individuals were selected as the study sample. Data were analyzed by SPSS software using descriptive statistics (frequency, percent, mean, standard deviation and standard error mean) as well as inferential statistics (Pearson correlation, one-sample t-test, independent samples t-test and ANOVA.\nFindings: The results showed that the mean level of entrepreneurial orientation of librarians was 2.92 with an average level (u = 3). Librarians were at an average level (u = 3) in terms of components of innovativeness (2.98), risk-taking (2.93) and proactiveness (3.02). The status of the autonomy component (2.53) was at an undesirable level (3 < u), and only the competitive aggressiveness status (3.12) was at the desirable level (3 < u). The analysis of the librarian's entrepreneurial orientation based on demographic characteristics indicated that the male librarian's entrepreneurial orientation was higher than the female librarian's (p-value = 0.039). Meantime, librarians with library and information science degrees have less entrepreneurial orientation than the librarians with other (non-librarian and information science) degrees (p-value = 0.01). Also, the higher the librarian's degree, the lower their entrepreneurial orientation will be (p-value = 0.000). In addition, there was no significant relationship between librarians' age (p-value = 0.14), marital status (p-value = 0.15) or work experience (p-value = 0.388) and their entrepreneurial orientation.\nPractical implications: Entrepreneurial orientation is one of the significant concepts in entrepreneurship of organizations. Accordingly, studying the concept of entrepreneurial orientation and formulating an appropriate strategy is of great importance in improving the performance of libraries because libraries can be more useful and appealing to library members by enhancing the entrepreneurial orientation of librarians, delivering new, unique and tailor-made services to users' needs.\nOriginality/value: Not much research has been carried out on entrepreneurship in library and information sciences. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study to examine the entrepreneurial orientation of librarians based on their demographic characteristics.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Six Sigma critical success factors in Brazilian industry	[ "Six Sigma", "Survey", "Quality", "Critical success factors", "Industries in Brazil" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Brazil ranks seventh in the world in terms of Gross Domestic Product - GDP (http://data.worldbank.org.pitt.idm.oclc.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.CD/). Brazil's GDP is higher than that of Italy and at times, ranks sixth, overtaking the UK, depending on the relative value between the currencies of these two countries. However, when measured in terms of productivity levels, it ranks 56th (www.weforum.org/issues/global-competitiveness/) and dropped eight places in 2013-2014.\n2. Research background: 2.1. Six Sigma\n3. Methodology: This study was prepared to answer the following research questions for each paper reviewed:\n4. Results and discussion: Totally, 104 questionnaires were completed by 29 different industrial companies. In total, 65 percent of these companies were Brazilian, and 35 percent were multinational. The distribution of the industries represented by the companies are shown in Figure 1.\n5. Conclusions: The objectives of this research were achieved. Numerous questionnaires were received, compared with similar researches, for only two studies obtained more answers than did our study. To our knowledge, no study has compared responses based on the different hierarchical levels.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify critical success factors (CSFs) that are regarded as the most important in Six Sigma programs in Brazil and to compare these rankings with those in international literature.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A sample of industrial companies was selected to complete a survey. In total, 104 questionnaires were obtained. The results were compared with a literature review consisting of 26 papers from 13 countries. In total, 70 CSFs were found in the papers, but 19 CSFs were analyzed and reduced to ten. A multivariate factor analysis further reduced this number to two underlying constructs.\nFindings: The authors identified a CSFs common denominator/ranking based on the sample of international articles. The authors found that there are four CSFs that are more prevalent in Brazil and in the international papers studied and that there are no differences between the importance of CSFs in terms of hierarchical levels. Three gaps, five levers and two CSFs constructs were identified.\nSocial implications: This study may initiate cooperation between the studied companies and academia, thus possibly increasing these organization' knowledge regarding Six Sigma.\nOriginality/value: The originality of this study is that the survey was conducted with companies in Brazil, a country where little information exists on Six Sigma programs. The authors also contributed a literature review on CSFs, a comparison based on most of the consulted papers and the use of a robust methodological strategy that was made possible by the sample size.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Vocational education and training in Europe: An alternative to the European qualifications framework?	[ "European Union", "Qualifications", "Vocational training", "Organizational structures" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. The common roots of European VET: re-establishing vocational education and training between divergence and convergence: Depending on the temporal perspective under which the development of vocational education and raining in Europe is viewed, the assessment of the extent and difficulty of the task of setting up a European space for vocational education leads to quite different conclusions. If the period prior to the emergence of the European nation-states is included into the historical retrospect, the education of master craftsmen within the framework of apprenticeship training arises as one common European tradition in vocational education and training. It was only upon the enforcement of the economic system of mercantilism that the travelling of craftsmen, which was an integral part of this European tradition that contributed to the widening of one's horizon in any regard, was impeded by the increasingly impermeable borders between nation-states. The development of the European nation-states and of national economies were the most important factors that contributed to the establishment of highly diversified systems of vocational education and training for a period of about 300 years (Hanf and Greinert, 2004).Academic education after the establishment of universities and the academic system of science and learning was oriented towards internationality from the very beginning. The relatively easy exchange of high school students, undergraduates, graduate students and scientists as well as the relatively unproblematic standardisation of academic programmes within the so-called Bologna process give evidence of this fact in the most convincing way.In vocational education and training, on the contrary, the situation is completely different. The tradition of apprenticeship training and further education of master craftsmen and technicians, as it has remained in practice in certain central European states, finds itself in competition with school-based systems of VET and marketoriented schemes of qualifications based on modularised systems of certification.The processes of internationalisation in virtually all social spheres, especially in the domains of technological and economic development, as well as the creation of a single European economic area and labour market require the establishment of VET structures for the middle-level employment sector. The time when vocational education was targeting predominantly regional labour markets has passed once and for all. The interdependency of industries all over Europe and beyond requires comparable schemes of organisation and qualification. The so-called ban on harmonisation stipulated in the European treaties with regard to the educational systems of the Member States cannot come into effect, given the close interrelationship between educational and employment systems as well as the crucial importance of VET for the competitiveness of the European economy. Thus, the initiative of European education ministers towards the development of a European Qualifications Framework EQF) gives expression to an ongoing process of European integration driven by economic and technological development and promoted by the political project of the European Union: \"VET is seen as a means of up-skilling the workforce, changing work practice and as a motor of innovation. Governments see VET as a means of increasing competitiveness, employment and growth by securing the supply of skills to the economy\"[1].\n2. A European Qualifications Framework: As the national traditions of vocational education and training have diverged from each other quite far, the establishment of an EQF is of particular importance. An instrument of this kind would help to compare the different forms of vocational education in the EU Member States against the background of a common measurement scale.2.1 Qualification levels in the employment systems\n3. A framework for qualifications: 3.1 Description\n4. The ECVET concept and the recognition of qualifications: 4.1 The recognition of qualifications and the transition between qualification levels\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to address the development of a European architecture of vocational education and promotes and alternative proposal.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This paper is the result of discussions of researchers in the Institut Technik und Bildung on a European Qualification Framework.\nFindings: - The paper provides an alternative approach to the European Qualifications Framework that accepts learning in professional and occupational practice as a form of learning in its own right.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Even though the European Council has made a decision on the adoption of the EQF, this paper is a worthwhile contribution to the further dialogue that emphasises the notion of learning in settings of professional and occupational practice.\nPractical implications: - The practical question arises if the accreditation and assessment methods for learning through experience on the one hand and learning in formalised settings on the other can be the same.\nOriginality/value: - The paper provides an alternative approach to the European Qualifications Framework and will be of interest to those in that field.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Supply chain management practices and intellectual property protection in China: Perceptions of Mittelstand managers	[ "Operations strategy", "Global operations management", "Empirical", "Globalization", "Supply chain management" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The Chinese market is viewed as a great business opportunity because of its rapid expansion (Lum and Nanto, 2004). From 1982 through 2012, China's growth rate has averaged over 11.3 percent of gross domestic product (International Monetary Fund, 2014). China only joined the World Trade Organization in 2002, but by 2006 it was the third largest trading country in the world (Whalley, 2006) and by 2007 it had the world's second biggest trade surplus surpassed only by Germany. Companies have entered China to satisfy both Chinese domestic demand and to use it as a base for exports. In 2003, the bulk of China's exports were manufactured under foreign names and more than half of its exports were produced by foreign companies (Lum and Nanto, 2004).\nLiterature review: Supply chain management practices\nModel: The model in Figure 1 was developed using both prior literature and interviews with German managers of the Mittelstand. The interviews first explored the firms' motivations for entering the Chinese market since these motives could have influenced both their supply chain manufacturing practices (Kwok Hung and Jianmei, 2006) and their organizational learning practices. For example, a firm whose motivation for investing in China was to obtain a low cost manufacturing base for eventual export back to their home market would not perceive a need to develop strong relationships with their Chinese customers since the Chinese market would not be seen as the primary market of the firm. However, those firms whose motivation to manufacture and produce in the Chinese market was to create and serve a new long-term market for their products would seek to understand their Chinese customers so that they could determine what product innovations would provide profitable, dependable product niches. Alternately, some companies were motivated to produce in China in order to retain the business of existing customers who moved their own manufacturing base to China. These companies could profit from the experience and the network of their customers' own existing customers and possibly their customers' suppliers. These cost-based and market-driven motivations could be expected to influence the firms' linkages with suppliers or customers, respectively. For example, a customer-based approach would allow a firm to be more integrated in an existing supply chain. Therefore we propose:\nMethodology: Instrument creation and scale development phase\nDiscussion and conclusions: The paper sought to understand how German Mittelstand firms operating in China manage their businesses to maintain a profit. One important finding is that the companies in this study benefit from hiring Chinese nationals in China to obtain their knowledge of the market. Hiring Chinese nationals increases return on investment. A second important finding is that increased effort to understand Chinese cultural norms increased concerns about IS. This suggests that while the surveyed firms are currently profitable in China, they are insecure about the long-term and the consequences of losing proprietary knowledge and the risk of inadvertently strengthening their emerging Chinese competitors. This may suggest that companies are still evaluating their initial trade-off decisions about collaboration and intellectual property protection. As they learn more about cultural norms, they become more concerned about the effects of IS on their ability to keep competitive secrets. This concern possibly pushes them to accept higher transaction costs within the supply chain, which then reduces their return on investment.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the strategy used by German Mittelstand companies to achieve a profitable business in China. It explores how those firms seek to reduce their risk of entry into this market.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Survey data were gathered over the phone from individuals in the companies who were identified as knowledgeable contacts. Their responses were then analyzed using descriptive statistics and structural equation modeling.\nFindings: German Mittelstand firms that hire Chinese nationals in China obtain market knowledge and a higher return on investment than others. German managers' efforts to understand the Chinese cultural norms increased the firm's unwillingness to share information with others. This was probably because their concern about protecting their competitive secrets increased, so they shared less information with suppliers, which decreased their return on investment.\nResearch limitations/implications: First, the small sample size limited the analysis. Second, there was low inter-rater reliability on multiple items, so these responses could not be analyzed. There is a need to further validate the survey, and obtain a larger sample to analyze alternative models.\nPractical implications: This suggests to the practitioner that while it may be relatively easy to start a manufacturing business in China, it requires great effort to manage their risk of losing corporate secrets to their competitors in China.\nOriginality/value: This paper provides a unique set of data from practicing managers about the risks and gains from doing business in China. This data can be of use to both researchers and to practitioners and it provides a foundation to examine how the risk of losing proprietary knowledge to Chinese competitors affects business.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Gender and organizational climate: A study of two structurally different large organizations in India	[ "Gender", "Identification", "Welfare", "Organizational justice", "Goal clarity", "Deviant performance" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In India, the participation of women in the labor force is 25.51 per cent as per the 2011 census. This gap is even greater when considering only the urban sector, where the female participation is 15.44 per cent (Registrar General, 2011). It is well established that gender equality plays an important role in economic development. Various studies have highlighted how lower female labor force participation or their weak entrepreneurial activity drags down economic growth (Duflo, 2012; World Bank, 2012).\nTheory and hypotheses: Relationship of gender with union identification\nMethod: Sample and procedures\nDiscussion: Both samples examined gender difference on employee perception regarding welfare mechanisms, identification of employees with unions/organization, justice perception of employees, clarity of goals and perceived outward focus of the organization. In addition, the first sample also examined gender difference in the perception of supervisors with respect to employees' deviant behavior. Although we did not consider an exhaustive set of organizational climate variables, we attempted to capture diverse aspects of organizational climate in our surveys of two structurally different organizations. Our study included human relation aspect of perceived welfare and identification with union/organization; rational work-related aspect of goal clarity and deviant performance; an aspect of internal processes through perception of distributive justice; and open systems perspective through perceived outward focus of the organization.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to study gender differences on six organizational climate variables. Employees' views on their identification level, clarity of goals, perceived equity, welfare measures and outward focus of the organization were solicited in two different studies, while supervisors' views on subordinates' deviant behavior was explored in one of the studies.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The research design incorporated getting data using a questionnaire from two large organizations in India: a government utility and a private sector company. In all, 545 responses from government utility and 8,853 responses from the private company were analyzed, which formed the basis for this study.\nFindings: The paper demonstrates that gender differences in employee perceptions are not only socially determined for some variables but in fact may also depend on the organizational structural contexts in presence of explicit supporting policies. Gender differences in identification level and goal clarity were determined by larger social context in the absence of any structural arrangement in both organizations. However, gender differences regarding perceived climate of welfare measures, outward focus of the organization and fairness were contingent on the structural context of the two organizations on account of differing arrangements in both the organizations. Also, women participants were perceived by their supervisors to indulge less in deviant behavior as compared to male participants in one of the study.\nResearch limitations/implications: Although this research includes only two organizations and the findings may, thus, not be generalizable, a key finding that emerges is that to balance the needs of both genders, managers may need to be cognizant of both organizational and social contexts.\nOriginality/value: To the best of the authors' knowledge, this study is first to consider a detailed analysis of organizational climate with respect to gender perception particularly in the Indian context. The context of the study in two structurally different large organizations further adds to the value of this research.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
New perspectives on labour market intervention	[ "Labour market", "Government policy", "Public policy" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Throughout the past three decades, active labour market intervention has retained its status as a major public policy issue. The term has traditionally been used in contradistinction to 'passive' policies, that is, those providing income support for those out of work. However, as many welfare benefits have become conditional rather than absolute entitlements, particularly by reference to policy makers' emphasis on the importance of actively seeking employment, this has arguably become a difficult line to draw.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - To introduce the papers which make up a special issue of IJM on labour market intervention.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Briefly describes each of the five papers which comprise this issue of IJM.\nFindings: - Notes that the study contexts of the papers are New Zealand, the UK, Sweden, West Germany, and 14 member countries of the EU.\nOriginality/value: - The papers provide an international overview of contemporary, empirical findings on the effectiveness of various types of labour market intervention.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Virtual value soars for sales-related skills	[ "Skills", "E-learning", "Sales", "Online learning", "Negotiation", "Follow-up" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: An unusual and online approach to developing sales, sales planning and negotiation skills - and ensuring that these stay with the learners long after the formal learning process has ended - is finding a wider audience than ever before, thanks to today's online learning technologies.\nMaking a difference to sales strategy: Tom Fuller, Virtual Coach's managing director, explained: \"Over the past 25 years, we've developed techniques and methodology that we believe can make a difference - in a positive way - to sales strategy. Having delivered this coaching all over the world to some of the biggest companies in existence and helping sales executives to make millions, we wanted a way to provide the same coaching to companies of all sizes and budgets\".\nNot delivering lasting change: \"No matter how good any training workshop is, alone, it would not deliver long-lasting change\", Tom Fuller pointed out. \"Most training organisations agree - and a study in 2006 by the American Society for Training & Development (ASTD) appears to confirm - that unless learning is reinforced within 30 days, less than 30 per cent of the training will be remembered. Basically, the trainees do not get a chance to apply what they learned soon enough - and, often, there's no effective culture of follow-up or coaching that they can have\".\nAccess to a master-performer: Moreover, one of the key advantages of online learning technologies is that they can give a wide - indeed, global - audience access to the knowledge and skills of a \"master-performer\". In Virtual Coach's case, that master-performer is Alan McCarthy.\nLearn, implement and support: RDC and Virtual Coach's method of training, reinforcing that learning and developing each trainee's skills can be summed up as: learn, implement and support.\nCase studies: That unique style, combined with Virtual Coach's and RDC's sales training and coaching ability, is illustrated in a number of recent projects. These include:\nAbout Alan McCarthy: In a career spanning more than 30 years, Alan McCarthy has sold for Rank Xerox, Exxon, Dun and Bradstreet, US Lines and ICL - selling into, and managing, sales teams selling to the financial services, logistics, automotive, IT and consultancy sectors. He began training, developing and consulting in sales-related subjects in 1987. For the past 15 years, Alan has focused on training, developing and coaching experienced sales teams and their executives. He has conducted over 400 assignments in 40 countries, including 26 of the American states.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to outline an unusual - and online-based - approach to sales and negotiation training and coaching.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Interviews with organisations involved, augmented with case studies.\nFindings: The \"Learn, Implement, Support\" method of developing sales and negotiating skills is effective. It combats, cost effectively, the criticism that 30 per cent of all learning is forgotten within 30 days of receiving training unless it is reinforced in a practical way.\nPractical implications: Organisations of all sizes - not just global multinationals - can now increase productivity and profitability from the online delivery of relevant learning materials, followed immediately by virtual coaching and support for a period of at least 12 months.\nSocial implications: People can learn how to sell products and services more effectively and efficiently, via online-delivered learning and coaching, which contains a high degree of video.\nOriginality/value: Organisations of all sizes - not just global multinationals - can now experience and benefit from the knowledge, skills and experience of a master-performer in the fields of sales and negotiation, thanks to the advent of a system of online learning delivery followed by virtual coaching.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Gamification and the online retail experience	[ "Online shopping", "Gamification", "Online retail experience" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: As online shopping has grown to become a critical channel for retailers there has been increasing focus on this area by researchers. However, whilst there is now a significant body of research into online shopping the question of how customer experiences are created and managed online has received less attention. Customer experience has become an important factor for success in contemporary retailing, requiring firms to look beyond pricing strategies and product innovation (Rose et al., 2011). Unlike price and product factors transferring customer experience from an offline to an online context creates challenges, especially when many of the factors that create a successful physical shopping experience do not translate into the online world. One way in which retailers have begun to enhance the online customer experience is through the application of game mechanics to online shopping, a process known as \"gamification\" (Zichermann and Linder, 2010). For example, popular web services such as Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare and Ebay all incorporate game elements to increase customer engagement with their sites. Increasingly, retailers are exploring the application of game techniques to create reward mechanisms and position online shopping it as an entertainment activity. However, whilst there is a growing literature on the application of game mechanisms to non-game environments there is a paucity of research focusing on consumers' attitudes towards, and experiences of, these mechanisms in an online retail environment. Given the increasing importance of customer experience to online retail success it is important to develop a better understanding of the ways in which such techniques can be applied.\nUnderstanding gamification: Gamification has emerged as a manufactured label for the intersection of game elements and non-game activities. A general definition of gamification identifies it as \"the process of adding game mechanics to processes, programs and platforms that wouldn't traditionally use such concepts\" (Swan, 2012, p. 13). Yet whilst this describes the process it is an unsatisfactory definition as it doesn't indicate why one would want to gamify a process. A more customer specific approach is to consider gamification as \"a form of loyalty that gets users to make incremental choices in your favor when all things are mostly equal\" (Zichermann and Cunningham, 2011).\nGamification and the retail customer experience: The emergence of gamification has come in the context of increasing interest amongst researchers in consumer motivations when shopping online. The key question here has been the extent to which offline models of consumer behaviour can be seen as analogous to online models. Whilst some studies have found that online consumers could be segmented in similar ways to offline consumers based on key behavioural traits (Ganesh et al., 2010; Brown et al., 2003) others make the case for additional behavioural categories in online shopping. Rohm and Swaminathan (2004), for example, identify the \"variety-seeking shopper\" who is stimulated by the extensive choice available on the internet. However, the overall thrust of research into online shopping to date has been around online shopping related to utilitarian and functional motives (Brown et al., 2003; Dennis et al., 2009, p. 1121). For example, found that the need for social interaction was not significant compared to the offline store environment; they suggest that \"online shopping appeals to more functional as opposed to recreational shoppers\" (p. 755). This is consistent with Liu and Forsythe's (2010) findings that enjoyment is not a direct influence on online usage and instead \"online shoppers primarily perceive utilitarian, but not hedonic, benefits as sure gains from using the channel\" (p. 98). These findings create significant challenges for retailers who, in order to succeed in a multi-channel market, must find ways to move consumers beyond such utilitarian motivations (Rose et al., 2011).\nResearch questions: The research questions for this exploratory study are based on two core themes that have emerged from the literature. The first is the extent to which consumers derive game like experiences from online shopping. Grewal et al. (2009) refer to this aspect of customer experience as excitement seeking, whilst in the context of gamification Zichermann and Cunningham (2011) talk about the role of fun. Here we use the more neutral term of entertainment. The second question explores the mechanisms through the specific impact of game mechanics within these experiences. Reflecting this experiential focus following research questions were used for the empirical study:\nMethod: Since the research context is an emergent area of research and seeks to discover \"latent, underlying, or non-obvious issues\", qualitative research methods are used to gain a deeper understanding into online shopper behaviour (Miles and Huberman, 1994, p. 10). First, qualitative research is appropriate for this study because it is used to study social phenomena in context and importantly continues to seek detailed and elaborative explanations into \"why\" a phenomenon occurs (Bryman and Bell, 2011). Second, it seeks to access an \"inside\" experience of humans, focusing on recording naturally occurring and ordinary events (Mason, 2002; Rubin and Rubin, 2005). The data collection method combined semi-structured in-depth interviews with of data collection with in-person observation of consumers partaking in online shopping activity.\nResults: Findings are presented in relation to each research question with core thematic areas identified for each and supporting evidence from interviews provided.\nDiscussion: This study suggests that game elements can serve to enhance consumer engagement with online shopping but that the relationship between consumers and \"games\" is somewhat more complex than has been suggested by those promoting gamification. Before addressing this we first discuss two criticisms that have been directed at the commercial use of gamification. The first is the consideration that the process of gamification is a form of advanced psychological manipulation designed to generate purchases, and provide a means of gaining greater data on customers in environments where competitor sites are just a click away. Such criticism may appear similar to other generic ethical concerns over the collection of data by advertisers. However, a concern specific to gamification that has emerged amongst some commentators is the potential intersection between gamification and gambling, the awkwardly named \"gamblification\" (Gopaladesikan, 2013). The second is that gamification is simply another form of digital \"snake oil\" that makes little meaningful difference to the effectiveness of online shopping experience (Robertson, 2010). On the second point it is true that even proponents of gamification acknowledge its limitations as a strategic driver, \"if you expect gamification to fix your businesses' core problems - bad products or poor product-market fit - it will not\" (Zichermann and Cunningham, 2011, p. xxi).\nConclusions: Given the importance of customer experience to online retail, understanding ways to enhance consumer engagement with online shopping is an important part of a successful digital strategy. This study suggests that gamification of online retail can help to generate a deeper level of consumer engagement, and cognitively reposition the shopping experience as a form of entertainment. However, consumers also seek to co-creatively recombine elements to form their own entertainment experience by manipulating pricing or other policies. Overall, the research suggests that when considering gamification retailers should look beyond games as a promotional tool and consider the wider context, particularly where the retailer may be part of the game. Whilst this study was limited in its generalisability by its exploratory and qualitative nature, it suggests avenues for future quantitative research in assessing the specific benefits that game elements can bring to online retail.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: As online retailing grows in importance there is increasing interest in the online customer experience. The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of gamification, the use of game mechanics, in enabling consumer engagement with online retailers.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The research adopts a qualitative methodology carrying out 19 in-depth interviews with individuals who are frequent online shoppers.\nFindings: Findings support the importance of including game elements to enhance the retail experience. However, data also suggests that without appropriate management customers can subvert gamification strategies to create their own \"games\" which increases competitive pressure between retailers.\nPractical implications: The paper suggests ways in which retailers might more successfully \"gamify\" their online retail stores and reduce incidences of undesirable customer behaviour.\nOriginality/value: This paper provides empirical support to the current paucity of research into the role of gamification in the context of the online retail experience.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Digital advertising as service: introducing contextually embedded selling	[ "Service logic", "Engagement", "Advertising", "Digital media", "Embeddedness", "Value-in-use" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In this paper, we reframe digital advertising using a service logic (SL) lens. Traditionally, marketers have regarded advertising as \"a process of translating a brand, expressed as a benefit, a promise to the consumer, a value proposition or a positioning in the consumer's mind into a message that is delivered to the consumer through some medium\" (Calder and Malthouse, 2008, p. 1). However, recent decades have seen large shifts in advertising practices; this is especially due to digitalization enabling new contexts and platforms for advertising messages. Thus, current changes in the consumers' use of digital media indicate that there is a need to critically consider the role of advertising in a digital media context, and consequently, its relation to consumers' digital media journeys.\nExploring the service perspective on digital media and advertising: Researchers have long argued that the nature of digital media changes the role of the prospective customer (Slywotzky and Morrison, 2001). Thus, current research increasingly views users or customers as active participants and contributors in the marketing and service processes (Hanna et al., 2011; Mickelsson, 2013). The customers' use of digital media, therefore, is more in line with the tenets of SL, which places the customer in a central role and as the proprietor of value-creating processes.\nMedia engagement in the consumer's digital media journey: To understand how value-in-use emerges in the context of digital media and advertising, the following section elaborates on how engagement (Kunz et al., 2017) can serve as a key element in consumer journeys (Barwitz and Maas, 2018; Edelman and Singer, 2015; Lemon and Verhoef, 2016) and the consumers' paths to purchase (Becker et al., 2017; Fulgoni, 2014; Jones and Runyan, 2016; Srinivasan et al., 2016). In this context, digital advertisements serve as a type of media content, with the additional role of steering the consumer onto (or further along) a path to purchase. Therefore, we make use of the literature on consumer journeys and paths to purchase to illustrate how the consumer moves along a path in the digital landscape.\nIntroducing contextually embedded selling: Based on the previous discussion, we define contextually embedded selling as \"a process where the firm's advertising and sales functions are unobtrusively and congruously integrated into a single digital media journey.\" The journey is given direction by the consumer's underlying value-creating process. Contextually embedded selling requires an integration of the efforts involved in building awareness of a brand (product or service) and the presentation of an actual purchasing opportunity. Marketing and sales have traditionally been separate functions (Homburg et al., 2008). Contextually embedded selling does not, however, distinguish between these two functions. Rather, effort (awareness) and effect (engagement or purchase) are integrated in the same media content. Moreover, contextually embedded selling is coherent with regard to theme, place and time. We next discuss how coherence and congruence in digital media content serve as a foundation for contextually embedded selling.\nConclusions and outline for further research: In this paper, we reframed advertising and selling in digital media by viewing it using an SL lens. A service perspective emphasizes advertising as an element in the service process (Heinonen and Strandvik, 2005). Thus, the interaction between a consumer and a set of digital media content can be understood as part of a service process. We contribute to service research by reconsidering digital media use from a service perspective as a process that aims at value-in-use. This reframes digital media and digital advertisements as resources that consumers use in their own value-creating process. Thus, we address recent calls for revising the definition of advertising (Dahlen and Rosengren, 2016) and contribute to advertising research with a novel perspective.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Previous research on advertising in digital contexts has emphasized its persuasive and information processing roles for the customer. This paper aims to problematize this point of view and argues that the converged and interactive nature of digital media makes all advertising content into potential points of engagement in a digital media journey.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper is conceptual in nature and applies service logic (SL) and customer engagement to reconceptualize digital advertising and selling.\nFindings: The authors present digital advertisements and digital media content as elements that contribute to a digital media journey, which ideally leads to a purchase. Advertising content is regarded as a resource used by consumers in their underlying value-creating processes. Thus, the digital advertising process is conceptualized as a customer-driven process of engaging with digital media content, where a purchase is incorporated in (and naturally follows from) the theme of engagement.\nResearch limitations/implications: The paper introduces the concept of contextually embedded selling, which refers to a process where digital advertising content is thematically congruent with the surrounding editorial content, so that both contribute to the same consumer journey. Otherwise, consumers experience a contextual jump - a disconnect in theme, place or time during the consumer's process of engagement with the digital content.\nOriginality/value: The paper contributes to advertising theory on advertising, engagement and the emerging research on consumer journey design by presenting an approach based on SL, namely, contextually embedded digital selling.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Barriers to climate change adaption in the Australian property industry	[ "Climate change", "Adaptation", "Property stakeholders", "Barriers", "Real estate", "Regulation" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Climate change poses significant challenges to humans and the natural environment, and these impacts are anticipated to escalate in future. Many human activities since the industrial revolution have resulted in a significant and continuing rise in greenhouse gas emissions. Built environments are a focus for human settlements and activities, and thus have contributed to the rise of greenhouse gas emissions. As detailed in reports produced by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), greenhouse gas emissions have contributed to approximately 1.0oC of warming to date (IPCC, 2018), and our current trajectory will lead to 3.2-5.4oC of warming by 2,100 (Fuss et al., 2014). This will have significant, catastrophic impacts for human societies both directly and indirectly. Impacts will vary from location to location, but include increased intensity and frequency of extreme weather events, longer periods of drought, increased bushfire risk, sea level rise, and increasing extreme heat days, which will impact human health, wellbeing and economies. The international community, through the Paris Agreement (United Nations, 2015) has recognised the need to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions in order to limit warming to 1.5oC above preindustrial levels, and thus limit the damage caused by climate change. Achieving this will require significant, transformative change to societies and economies. At present, the actions and commitments of many governments towards the Paris Agreement, are inadequate to address the magnitude of the problem (IPCC, 2018).The property industry is an important sector for climate change action. It represents a large body of private actors in the built environment, which directly influence capital investment decisions. There is limited academic literature available about climate change action in the property industry. An increasing number of industry reports have been published about the impact of climate change for the industry (Burgess and Rapoport, 2019; Insurance Council of Australia, 2008; Bienert, 2014). Some reports also directly address the property industry's role as a key stakeholder in the finance industry (United Nations Environment Program and World Bank, 2014, Global Investor Coalition on Climate Change [GICCC] 2015). Research into actions that should be undertaken to address climate change in the property industry include consideration of future risk in present day decision-making, undertaking due diligence (Burgess and Rapoport, 2019), and implementing both adaptation and mitigation actions (GICCC, 2015)[1].Most of the action that has been undertaken to date in the property industry has been in the field of mitigation, focusing on improvements to energy efficiency. Much of this work has been driven by corporate social responsibility imperatives particularly for Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) (Hin Ho, 2013; Newell and Lin Lee, 2012; Zahid, 2015). Many of these actions have been undertaken by those in the industry who will benefit from the financial savings from these increased efficiencies, including during the global financial crisis (Dimovski and O'neill, 2015).Of the academic research that has been undertaken in this field, most has focused on the effect of climate change impacts (both short and long term) on real estate values. The majority of that research has researched extreme weather events (Changnon et al., 2000; Bienert, 2014, 2016), and sea level rise (Bin et al., 2011; Neumann et al., 2015; Putra et al., 2015; Zhang et al., 2011; Ortega and Taspinar, 2018; Warren-Myers et al., 2018; Walsh et al., 2019) in terms of both the amount of land impacted, the associated financial costs, or the implications for insurance and other costs (Insurance Council of Australia, 2008; Latham et al., 2010; Botzen et al., 2009).To support the industry's investment decision-making, a range of guides (Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors [RICS] 2019, Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change [IIGCC] 2012a, 2012b, 2013, Burgess and Rapoport, 2019), models and tools (Roberts et al., 2015; Hirsch et al., 2015) have been developed. Tools focus on a range of risks including property exposure to extreme weather events (Hirsch et al., 2015), sea level rise (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration [NOAA], 2019a, NGIS, 2019), climate risk and valuation (Climate Risk Engines, 2019; California Energy Commission, 2019) and identifying stranded assets relating to decarbonisation targets (Bienert, 2019). Yet there is limited evidence that these guides and tools are being used by industry members, or of how effective they are in guiding decision-making.Our review of literature indicates a number of gaps including:limited consideration of climate change impacts and actions that should be taken by property industry stakeholders beyond the REITs,the perspectives of key actors in the industry have not been explored in-depth in terms of their knowledge about climate change, and how this influences their investment decisions; andlimited research about the barriers that key stakeholders face to taking climate change action. Understanding the barriers to action in the property industry may identify opportunities for development, engagement and sharing of processes, needs and information to generate industry-wide change and action.The aim of this paper is to: identify and examine the barriers to climate change adaptation in the Australian property industry. The research will have wide relevance for non-Australian property markets due to global links in property and real estate, with cross-border investments considered the norm (Lim et al., 2008). The paper begins with a discussion of the implications of climate change for property and the property industry. We then detail the research method before reporting and discussing the results, and drawing conclusions, including the identification for opportunities for change.\n2. Background: 2.1 The property industry in Australia\n3. Research method: The aim of this paper is to identify and understand the barriers to climate change adaptation in the property industry. From identifying these barriers to action, this research seeks to ascertain opportunities to facilitate action within the property industry. The research focuses on how high-level staff within a range of companies in the Australian property industry understand and respond to climate change adaptation needs and priorities. The research method is described below. 3.1 Participants\n4. Results and discussion: The thematic analysis identified 22 barriers that respondents discussed limit action. These barriers were thematically coded into the following categories: climate change information; competing economic demands and financial motivation; short versus long term considerations; and the role of governments. These themes are identified in Figure 1 and discussed below. 4.1 Uncertainty or ignorance of reliable climate change information\n5. Conclusion: Whilst the barriers to action on climate change are numerous, the time-frame of climate change implications affecting business operations is perceived far off, yet current impacts are affecting operations. The floods, storms, heat waves are all being felt presently, albeit, the considerations around climate change are that these will increase and worsen. Which suggests that proactive responses can be integrated. However, the financial implications and burdens of the current challenges, are not enough to drive significant investment, with the industry indicating by doing so may make them less competitive and may hurt their economic returns. This research has reinforced the importance of public policy settings to drive and normalise action. Regulations for climate change action that set requirements for minimum thresholds to be achieved, and for climate change considerations to be taken into account and applied in the course of business, are necessary for driving action across the sector. While there are some property sector organisations already taking leadership positions on climate action (these will be discussed in a subsequent paper), there are many other industry participants shifting blame for their inaction to lack of government regulation or to other participants.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: To identify barriers to climate change adaptation in the Australian property industry.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Semi-structured interviews with twenty-four stakeholders from a diverse cross-section of the Australian property industry were undertaken in 2018 and 2019.\nFindings: A range of barriers to action on climate change were identified. These barriers centre around (1) information: lack of clear, reliable, and trusted sources of climate change information; (2) cost: competing economic demands, and the perceived threat that investing in climate change action poses to competitiveness; and (3) regulation: the inaction of governments thus failing to provide a regulatory environment to address climate change.\nResearch limitations/implications: The qualitative research provides perspectives from actors in different sectors of the Australian property industry. While it provides an in-depth understanding of the barriers to addressing climate change adaptation, it is not necessarily a nationally representative sample.\nPractical implications: The study identifies barriers to climate change adaptation, and establishes practical ways in which the Australian property industry can address these barriers and the role that government regulation could have in generating industry-wide change.\nSocial implications: Climate change poses significant challenges to society. Built environments are significant contributors to climate change, and thus the property industry is well-placed to make positive contributions to this global challenge.\nOriginality/value: Limited research has examined barriers to climate change action in the property industry. This research provides novel insights from the perspective of key actors across a diverse range of property industry sectors. This new knowledge fills an important gap in understanding how to address climate change in Australia and broader contexts.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The asymmetry of the price impact of block trades and the bid-ask spread: Evidence from the London Stock Exchange	[ "Stock exchanges", "Stocks", "Bid offer spreads" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: In 2005, over 50 per cent of total FTSE 100 trading volume was executed in blocks of 10,000 shares or greater; in 1984 block trades represented just 5 per cent of total FTSE 100 trading volume. Given the significant increase in trading volume, block trading has received immense attention in the financial markets literature. The interest stems from the practical implications of such research, including investigations of the markets available to execute block trades and the roles they serve (see, among others, Keim and Madhavan, 1996; Madhavan and Cheng, 1997), the association between block holder ownership and market liquidity (Heflin and Shaw, 2000), and the determinants of the trading costs of block trades (see, among others, Keim and Madhavan, 1997; Conrad et al., 2001).The behaviour and measurement of the price impacts connected with block trades is of fundamental importance to policy makers promoting market liquidity, and portfolio managers' investment strategies. The components of investment strategy include the selection of blocks to buy or sell. Trading costs can substantially reduce the return on an investment. Consequently, there is considerable interest in assessing the magnitude of trading costs. There are two major components to trading costs:1. explicit costs, consisting mainly of commission costs; and2. implicit costs, consisting primarily of the price impact of a trade[1].Explicit costs are very difficult to minimise because they are typically charged at predetermined rates. Implicit costs, on the other hand, can be minimised. Schwartz and Shapiro (1992) argue that institutional investors, who normally trade in large quantities, are concerned with the opportunity costs involved in undertaking these large trades.Gemmill (1996) discovers an asymmetry in the price effects of buyer- and seller-initiated trades on the London Stock Exchange (LSE). The asymmetry indicates that block sellers pay a liquidity premium while buyers do not, as price reversals accompany block sales while price continuations follow block purchases.The block trading literature measures price impact using transaction prices. This implicitly assumes an equal probability of a trade at the bid or ask. If this is not the case, block trade price effects will be systematically biased. There is significant evidence that prices at the open and close of trade on the New York Stock Exchange have a tendency to occur at the ask (Harris, 1989; Porter, 1992). This implies that returns measured using prices near the close will be upwardly biased.Frino et al. (2003) analysed price effects of block trades on the Dow Jones Industrial Average over the time period 1993-2001. They discovered that excluding block trade price effects of bid-ask bias eliminates the systematic differences between block purchases and sales.Motivated by the discussions above, this paper re-examines the price impact of block trades for FTSE 100 firms over the time period 1998-2005 in order to determine the cause of the asymmetry between block purchases and sales. Our study contributes in several respects to the work of Gemmill (1996). First, we examine the asymmetry between block purchases and block sales with respect to bid-ask bias. Second, our sample of block trades covers a time period of eight years (1998-2005). This dataset is very large when compared with the dataset used by Gemmill (1996). This is reflected by the fact that Gemmill (1996) examined 3,010 block purchases and 2,977 block sales, whereas our dataset consists of 1.6 million block purchases and 1.2 million block sales.The rest of the paper is organised as follows. Section 2 describes the data and methodology used to implement the econometric analysis. Section 3 documents and replicates the asymmetry between block purchases and block sales found in Gemmill (1996). A bid-ask spread explanation for the asymmetry between block purchases and sales can be found in Section 4. The empirical results and robustness tests are provided in Sections 5 and 6. Finally, Section 7 concludes.\n2. Data and methodology: This study focuses on block trades in the FTSE 100 over the time period 1 January 1998 to 1 January 2005. These block trades are of particular interest as they account for a substantial fraction (around 70 per cent) of total LSE volume and market capitalisation. Block trades are defined by the LSE as trades of 10,000 shares or greater. The data used in this study were obtained from the LSE database. Several filters are applied to the trades and quotes[2]. Each trade is identified as a purchase or a sale on the LSE so there is no requirement to use a procedure such as the tick-rule to identify the direction of trade.Table I provides the descriptive statistics for the block trades analysed in this study. The overall sample consists of 1,613,766 block purchases and 1,226,599 block sales. At first inspection, Table I reveals some common features of both seller- and buyer-initiated block trades. As mentioned previously, sample transactions are very large compared to Gemmill (1996); for the whole sample the typical block trade involves an average in excess of one million shares. Our sample of block trades is slightly dominated by buyer-initiated blocks, and that seems to be the case for stocks with larger market capitalisation, (Gemmill, 1996).Following previous literature (see, among others, Gemmill, 1996; Keim and Madhavan, 1996; Madhavan and Cheng, 1997) block trade price effects are measured as follows: Equation 1 Equation 2 Equation 3 where Pp is the equilibrium market price prior to the block transaction, while Pc is the equilibrium price after a block trade has been executed[3]. Pb represents the block price. Price effects measured using transaction prices, substitute the open and closing price for Pp and Pc, respectively. This methodology attempts to capture the price effects of block trades and any information leakage as shown by Keim and Madhavan (1996) and Madhavan and Cheng (1997).\n3. Price impact asymmetry: Table II summarises the price impact of block purchases and sales. Consistent with Gemmill (1996), there appears to be a significant asymmetry in the price impact of buyer- and seller-initiated trades. Reversals predicted by short-run liquidity costs follow sales, and consistent with the information hypothesis, total price effects suggest block sales move the price of a stock on average by -23.16 basis points. Block purchases on the other hand have a total price effect of 32.66 basis points. Tests of equality for all three measured price impacts show that block purchases have a significantly greater impact than block sales. This demonstrates that like Gemmill (1996), we observe a clear asymmetry in the price behaviour of block trades on the LSE.\n4. A bid-ask spread explanation: A possible explanation for the asymmetric price behaviour between block purchases and sales could be trading cost biases in transaction data. Gemmill (1996) measured the price impact of block trades with the use of transaction prices. This implicitly assumes an equal probability of a trade occurring at the ask or at the bid price. If this is not the case, block trade price effects will be systematically biased. There is significant evidence that prices at the opening and at the close of trade have a tendency to occur at the ask (Harris, 1989; Porter, 1992).In order to explore whether the asymmetry between block buys and block sells is due to the tendency to trade at the ask price, we test for the impact of bid-ask bias by computing returns which are purged of bid-ask effects.The propensity to trade at the quotes is examined by documenting the frequency of trades at the bid and the ask price. The frequency of trades occurring at the ask and at the bid price are computed with the use of the order flow ratio. The order flow ratio is calculated for the open and closing price on block trading days, as follows: Equation 4 As the order flow ratio approaches 1, the more likely the trade price is at the bid price; the closer the ratio is to 0, the greater the likelihood the trade is at the ask (Lease et al., 1991).The implementation of quote returns as suggested by Lease et al. (1991) will diminish the effects of systematic order flow imbalances biasing transaction prices. To eliminate transaction returns of bid-ask bounce quote return measures are devised. Engle and Patton (2000) discover an asymmetry in the impact of buyer- or seller-initiated transactions on market quotes. They argue that purchases exhibit a greater impact on the ask side of the market, while the bid price leads the ask price following sales. In order to incorporate this, seller-initiated block trade price effects are calculated using bid prices, while block purchase price effects are examined with the use of ask quotes.Quote effects, identified as bid-trade-bid/ask-trade-ask replace Pp in equations (2) and (3) with the opening bid/ask quote and Pc in equations (1) and (2) with the closing bid/ask price, while maintaining Pb as the block trade price, in order to ascertain how much of the asymmetry is due to bid-ask bias in open and closing prices.\n5. Empirical results: 5.1 Propensity to trade at the ask quotes\n6. Robustness tests: Several robustness tests are carried out to examine the persistence of the results from the previous sections. First, in order to examine the robustness of our results across event intervals, we also compute the analysis with the use of alternative event windows. Second, results are analysed across block trade sizes. Finally, results are computed on a year-by-year basis.Undertaking the empirical results in this study over one-minute and ten-minute event windows show that the results of the five-minute event window (reported in the paper) remain intact. Separating block trades into categories of 10,000 to 20,000, 20,000 to 50,000 and greater than 50,000, following Madhavan and Cheng (1997), the asymmetry documented in Table II for trade price effects is observed consistently. Once quote returns are substituted for transaction prices, the asymmetric price response between purchases and sales is eliminated. Across the eight years examined, the asymmetry is observed for six years, and is insignificant in 2000 and 2001. This reinforces our contention that it is the propensity to trade at the ask during the opening and close of trade on the LSE that results in an anomaly in the empirical block trading literature[6].\n7. Conclusion: Gemmill (1996) established that an asymmetry exists in the price behaviour surrounding buyer- and seller-initiated trades on the LSE. However, the biases introduced through the existence of the bid-ask spread were ignored in his study.In this paper we account for the biases in the bid-ask spread using a sample of 1.6 million block purchases and 1.2 million block sales in the LSE over the time period 1998-2005. We observe that estimating block price effects using quote returns to eliminate bid-ask bounce in transaction price returns, produces symmetrical behaviour in price effects surrounding block trades. A significant positive price reaction followed by a continuation is reported for purchases, and a significant negative price reaction followed by a permanent price fall for sales. The results are robust across alternative event windows, trade sizes and trading years. Our empirical results suggest market liquidity is one of the factors that is driving the asymmetry between block purchases and sales in the LSE.A possible avenue for future research may be to look at the impact of inflation on the asymmetry between block purchases and sales. This may be an interesting extension to the current study given that inflation appears to be an important determinant of the equity premium in international stock markets (Kyriacou et al., 2006).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper aims to examine the price impact of block trades for FTSE 100 firms.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Using event studies a sample of 1.6 million block purchases and 1.2 million block sales over the time period 1998-2005 is analysed.\nFindings: - Once block price effects are estimated using quote returns to eliminate bid-ask bias, the asymmetry in buyer and seller initiated trades is eliminated.\nResearch limitations/implications: - A possible avenue for future research may be to look at the impact of inflation on the asymmetry between block purchases and sales. This may be an interesting extension to the current study given that inflation appears to be an important determinant of the equity premium in international stock markets.\nPractical implications: - The empirical results suggest that market liquidity is one of the factors that is driving the asymmetry between block purchases and sales on the London Stock Exchange. The paper is of interest to academics and practitioners who study and invest in block trades.\nOriginality/value: - This is the first study of the UK stock market to encapsulate bid-ask biases in block trades.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Space Invaders: Race, Gender and Bodies Out of Place	[ "UK Parliament", "Privilege", "Whiteness", "Blackness" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: In Space Invaders, Nirmal Puwar's main question \"what happens when women and racialized minorities come to occupy 'privileged' positions which have not 'reserved' for them?\" is addressed by research in the UK's Parliament, an institution which despite granting access to women and non-white bodies, still maintains itself as an institution structured with the white, male, upper-class body as the somatic norm from which all difference is measured.Puwar sets up a binary relationship between space and bodies, which negates women and non-white bodies as negative and locates these different bodies in specific spaces. From here we can see how masculinity and whiteness are constructed as the norm and come to occupy privileged positions. This sets the stage for complexities encountered by the introduction of women and non-white bodies in privileged positions not specifically reserved for them.This book addresses several issues from the debates around the proposal of a statute dedicated to Nelson Mandela in Trafalgar Square, which highlighted how space plays a role in constructing an environment and how particular bodies are linked to specific kinds of spaces so that those that are not the \"somatic norm\" induce anxiety, and leads to a questioning of which kinds of bodies have the \"undisputed right to pass as the universal figure of leadership\" (p. 5) and which bodies do not. This builds on this idea of the relationship between bodies and space, provoking the reader to think about how certain types of bodies over time become the \"naturalised\" body within a space and, obversely, how other types of bodies come to be seen as \"out of place\" in privileged spaces - they are as the title suggests \"space invaders\".There are no major disappointments with this text. My only criticism - and this is a minor one - is that while Puwar speaks of gendered bodies and \"racialized\" bodies, she does not speak so much of bodies that are both gendered and racialized. This could, however, be a question of a dearth of representation or could point to something greater - the pigeon-holing of bodies of difference, in that one might imagine to see a woman member of parliament (MP) or a non-white MP, but the sighting of a non-white woman as MP is still a rarity to the eyes - an indication that there are still many issues of equality, and further questions to be raised of whose bodies fit in which spaces.Puwar importantly notes that life in parliament is not universally equal for women and racialised minorities. There is a recognition that strides have been made in thinning the \"glass ceiling\" (gender), while in many ways the \"concrete ceiling\" (\"race\") is still very firmly cemented in place. This is a very important distinction when reading any text on bodies of difference - that the circumstances surrounding disadvantage are not equal. The reader is taken on a journey through the historical and theoretical construction of the political subject, seeing its roots that are deeply entrenched in the colonial project, the formation of public/private masculinities and femininities and their close relationship to \"race\" and colonialism as well as the making of national boundaries. The theme of boundaries is built upon when thinking of gendered and racialised bodies as the \"unknown\" who defy conventions - representing the monstrous, whose arrival \"invades\" and disrupts both the social and psychic.A strength of this book is that it is not just a theoretical text. It not only discusses the anxieties caused by spatial disruption but also informs readers about some of the effects on the space invader when they are aware that their presence contradicts the \"ideal\" occupants of that space. Feelings of doubt, super-surveillance and infantilisation are all part of embodying the position of the outsider-within. One very important point that Puwar makes that should be of great interest to practitioners of equalities is the aspect of mimicking and understanding that different bodies can often exist in senior positions as long as they mimic the norm. As a result, the norm itself avoids being problematised.We hear the voices of women and non-white bodies. The reader is not just taken on a theoretical tour but through both theory and praxis we see how these practices are lived out in daily encounters and exchanges. This enables the reader to engage with how equalities legislation is lived out in the real world - beyond the text of the legislation itself. Here are very real accounts of what happens when women and racialised minorities enter elite positions. Her participants are not merely products of \"equalities of opportunities\" legislation for we are beyond that here - they are leaders in their own right, negotiating their senior positions in one of the oldest boys' networks in the UK.There is just the right mix of organisational understanding and theories of difference. Notably, Puwar establishes a history in the construction of space as a contract - both \"racialised\" and gendered (the \"Racial\" contract and the \"Social\" contract, respectively) - that precluded certain bodies, which were deemed \"unsuitable\", from participation in the politic. As a practitioner in equalities, I found this quite useful in thinking through how spaces are imagined - and in this context, how the UK Parliament has been constructed as a space where an elite, white masculinity is the norm that is wary of outsiders - and the complexities enmeshed in any attempts to institute change. Puwar is also keen to point out that these issues and debates translate to other sectors.Ultimately, this book is a valuable tool in understanding what happens to non-privileged bodies once they not only enter organisations but also start to move up the ladder to more senior positions. It should be read by practitioners of equalities, particularly those interested in understanding on a very concrete level the impacts of equalities legislation within organisations. I also highly recommend it for organisational theorists as it challenges traditional means of looking at organisational structures and discourses.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - To explore the experience of a key member of the UK equalities policy-making elite, interrogating her shift from activist to top-ranking equalities professional. To focus attention on the under-explored area of lesbian, gay bisexual and transgender equalities work.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The interview is prefaced with a critical commentary on current UK equalities policy, contextualising the interview discussion, which links personal and collective histories and provides a comparison of equalities work over time.\nFindings: - Angela Mason, while top-ranking civil servant, continues to claim the label activist. Like a variety of other equalities workers she uses multiple tactics to appeal to different constituents at different times and in different contexts.\nOriginality/value: - This is an interview with one of the key protagonists in the development of UK equalities policies over the last 30 years. It is unique in its focus on the current overhaul of UK equalities policy from an \"insider\" and in its timing at the interim point of this reorganisation (October 2006).\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Cross cultural consensus: development of the universal leadership model	[ "Leadership", "Retailing", "Cross-cultural", "Expatriate", "Internationalising", "Universal" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: International business has established a robust frame of research since its inception as a unique academic discipline 50 years ago (Seno-Alday, 2010). Comprised of four perspectives, the frame represents a meta-category of international business research; factors unique to international business, processes involved in internationalising, stakeholders affected by internationalization, business impact of internationalization (Seno-Alday, 2010). An examination of this body of international business scholarship reveals gaps requiring additional research, particularly the impact of culture within the international business context. For example, are there cultural aspects which cross geographic or ethnic boundaries (Roslin and Melewar, 2004) or does culture affect international retailers in focused ways? Lack of insight into the effects of culture is particularly acute when it comes to leadership studies.\nStatement of the problem: Rapid economic growth in international markets has drawn the attention of retailers interested in developing diverse international markets (Bennett et al., 2000). This is particularly true for retailers in Western economies. The top targets for retailer expansion are; China, Kuwait, India, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Chile, United Arab Emirates, Uruguay, Peru and Russia (Kearney, 2010). However, expansion into international growth markets has not come easily for most retailers. Retailers entering foreign markets must focus on how managers interact with local workers and consumers to achieve business success. The fact that many retailers' international expansions have ended in failure (Burt et al., 2003) provides a strong impetus for studying how the leadership skills of expatriate managers may impact the success or failure of such ventures.\nLiterature review: Internationalisation performance\nMethodology: The lack of depth and consensus in the expatriate training and utilization literature suggest that a qualitative research methodology would be appropriate for research into expatriate manager leadership (Taras et al., 2009). Examining cultural context using qualitative methodologies has been suggested for the development of international business tools and education (Seno-Alday, 2010). Qualitative methods have also been cited as uniquely qualified in building theory (Glaser and Strauss, 1967). The current theory-building research examines leadership in the international business environment. In particular, the attributes and behaviors, which may increase expatriate effectiveness across cultures. The lack of consensus in the literature indicates that the emergent process of grounded theory would be most appropriate (Strauss and Corbin, 1998). Further, we will leverage Hofstede's cultural dimensions that pertain to countries and regions associated with this research.\nUniversal leadership: Questions regarding expatriate leadership began at the general level, inquiring about \"skills needed to be successful\". Participants consistently linked leadership to themes (e.g. relationship, capability, language, conduct, ethics, and principles), as opposed to skills (e.g. complex problem solving, goal setting, social judgment, and creative thinking) which are the hallmark of leadership literature (Mumford et al., 2000). What emerged was attribute connectivity; that is, these were not individual leadership attributes but an interrelated and mutually supportive attribute set. Many of the contextual themes represented in the data could be grouped under common functional themes (e.g. culture, diversity, flexibility, communication, open minded, and change management) describing the expatriates' fit and function during the foreign assignment. Further analysis with the remaining descriptors resulted in more refined groupings under common contextual themes. Four themes representing sub-constructs emerged reflective of the multi-dimensionality of Universal Leadership: Ability, Adaptability, Ambassadorship and Awareness (self).\nResults and propositions: Through this research, universal leadership is conceptualized as a multi-dimensional construct comprised of the Four A's. A schema is provided to more clearly represent the interrelation of the four dimensions. Each attribute is depicted in a relationship which can be represented as particularly relevant to the attribute: ability to performance; adaptability to communication skills; ambassadorship to strategy and direction; and awareness (self) to understanding of self. The conceptual model of Universal Leadership can be found in Figure 1.\nDiscussion and implications: Despite the growth in knowledge in the domain of international business, one area which has lagged in development is our understanding of expatriate leadership. This may have been hampered by assumptions that each assignment requires unique leadership skills and training (Dorfman et al., 1997). Recently however, scholars have found evidence of certain factors which might transcend cultures, including personal values (Roslin and Melewar, 2004). These researchers find that \"Asian\" values share similarities to constructs \"... commonly associated with relationship marketing ... \" (p. 42). Other constructs include satisfaction, trust, and commitment, which have been shown to exhibit cross-cultural equivalence in empirical studies (e.g. Runyan et al., 2010). Due to these new studies, scholars have begun to challenge this assumption of singularity, calling for investigations into factors which moderate or mediate leadership behaviors (Han et al., 2002). However, stable leadership relationships are required to examine moderation or mediation. Culture and personality are addressed in this study. The literature portrays culture and personality as responsive to environmental variation (Gerstner and Day, 1994). This requires national (macro) and within-culture (micro) level examination. We propose a model of expatriate leadership containing four fixed elements, with flexibility to respond to cultural and personality variation. We identify a new factor in the expatriate leadership domain, awareness (self). Universal leadership is new to the international business literature, and allows scholars the opportunity to operationalize the dimensions which comprise the construct.\nLimitations and future research: The study is limited by singularity of the business context within its participant mix. The sample does represent a broad variety of retail formats and management levels. This limited focus was by design to reduce unexplained covariance and spurious correlations during the grounded theory process. The industry itself was selected because of the broad array of business experiences found in the retailing, as well as its rapid pace.\nContributions: This research contributes to the literature through careful application of qualitative research methods to generate an effective leadership platform for international study; universal leadership. This multi-dimensional construct describes the necessary factors which must all be applied for a successful international expatriate assignment. This platform allows for the testing of cultural impacts in the micro; work and interpersonal environments, as well as the more macro; national/social environment. The model highlights competencies to be stressed during an expatriate training program, and the importance of integrating all four A's to achieve success while on assignment. This study adds to the literature and industry in the important attributes required of a candidate for success which must be either existing or the subject of training in preparation for the international assignment. Finally, the study adds insight into both literature and industry on attributes that are important in the selection of successful expatriates. As has been discussed throughout this research, sending the right person on the assignment is nearly as important as providing them with the appropriate training.\nAcknowledgements: The authors wish to thank the United States Department of Education, for the Business in International Education (BIE) grant program, which in part funded this research.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Retailers have demonstrated mixed results during international expansions. However, home market saturation and the economic climate are forcing more and more retailers to look beyond their borders for revenue. A critical participant in the internationalizing effort is the expatriate manager. Unfortunately the literature is unclear and at times conflicted over how to select and prepare expatriate management for their leadership role. Therefore, this study was designed with the purpose of uncovering various factors which may lead to expatriate retail management success.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Based on the lack of unanimity in the literature this study adopted a qualitative research methodology in order to develop some consensus regarding successful expatriate leadership attributes. Grounded theory was employed utilizing extensive in-depth interviews as the primary data gathering and analysis tools.\nFindings: A multi-dimensional construct emerged from the data requiring all dimensions to be utilized for a successful retail expatriate assignment. The construct of \"Universal Leadership\", is proposed as formative, comprised of reflective sub-dimensions; Ability, Adaptability, Ambassadorship, and Awareness (Self), which we refer to as the Four A's, for successful expatriate management assignments. Several propositions are put forward as suggestions for future research in the use of the universal leadership model for both selection and training of retail expatriate managers.\nOriginality/value: The study develops a theoretical platform for expatriate leadership success allowing for cultural and business variation. Awareness is introduced as a critical attribute in achieving success as an expatriate success. The universal leadership model proposes attributes beneficial for training and also selection which is critically under examined in the literature.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Performance management practices, employee attitudes and managed performance	[ "Performance management systems", "Employee attitudes", "Universities", "Developing countries", "Uganda" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: With organisations attaching greater emphasis to knowledge workers (Armstrong and Baron, 1998), it is necessary to understand how performance management practices facilitate achievement of managed performance (e.g. service delivery, service quality/products and cost reduction).According to Armstrong (2000), performance management is a means of getting better results from the whole organisation or teams or individuals within it, by understanding and managing performance within an agreed framework of planned goals, standards and competence requirements. Public universities in Uganda are facing challenges such as reduced funding from the government, restructuring, downsizing and reengineering. These universities also have to operate as for profit-organisations for sustainability, making them operate as both public and private institutions at the same time (Mamdani, 2007). This means commercialisation of academic programs with mass education as opposed to elite education. Consequently, the shift to mass education has eroded the universities' main goal of increasing the institutional flexibility, building productive and adaptive capacity in terms of service delivery, particularly with regard to teaching and research (Kitamirike, 2008). Despite the recruitment of some senior faculty into administrative roles, public universities of Uganda increasingly are run by managers who often have strongly Tayloristic visions of work organisation and operate at a great distance from the site of value production (Denzin and Lincoln, 2005).This compounds performance management that is Tayloristic by nature. As a result, delivery of cost-effective quality services in a dynamic environment becomes unattainable. This study is set to establish how performance management practices that are framed (Figure 1) as agency (Jensen and Meckling, 1976), resource-based view (RBV) (Amit and Schoemaker, 1993; Barney and Zajac, 1994; Lei et al., 1996; Penrose, 1959; Schoemaker, 1992), dynamic capability (Teece et al., 1997; Shore et al., 2004) and goal-setting (Locke, 1968; Locke and Latham, 1990) are mediated by employee attitudes to facilitate achievement of managed performance.\nPerformance management practices, employee attitudes and managed performance: According to Walters (1995), performance management is about directing and supporting employees to work as effectively and efficiently as possible in line with the needs of the organisation. This requires paying attention to employee attitudes that improve the relationship between the employers and employees. These include job satisfaction, commitment and perceived psychological contract and so on. However, agency theory (Jensen and Meckling, 1976) suggests that if both parties to the relationship are utility maximisers there is good reason to believe that the agent (employee) will not always act in the best interests of the principal (employer). An example was provided by Mamdani (2007), who showed that the forces of self-interest amplified by commercialisation of academic programs eroded the institutional integrity of Makerere University. For instance, the private student enrolment in the Faculty of Arts increased from 33 in 1993/1999 to 2046 in 2002/2003 (Makerere University Office of the Academic Registrar minutes cited in Mamdani (2007)). In addition, Mamdani (2007) cited the Turyagyenda committee report in which top-up allowance pay disparities were a source of turf wars at the university with some people getting nothing and while others earned as much as five million Uganda shillings a month. This situation of inequitable pay of allowances among employees has not only become problematic at Makerere University but has become wide spread in all public universities. So, there is need for implementation of performance management practices in order to achieve managed performance framed as service quality, service delivery and cost reduction in those public universities (Figure 1).Fox and Staw (1979) argued that when administrators are trapped in such a situation that might precipitate into job insecurity and resistance to their decision making by board of directors, often they increase their commitment to a losing course of action (escalating commitment theory, Staw, 1976). This is not because they want to rationalise or justify a decision to themselves, but because their credibility is being threatened by other organisational factors such as top management homogeneity, top management succession, top management tenure and past performance. To support this theory, Bateman (1986) found out that past failures resulted in increased future investments compared to past successes.Roberts et al. (2005) argued that over-emphasis on control may be counter-productive. For instance, Munene et al. (2003) found out that in extreme counter-productive climate, employees develop coping strategies by doing what is minimal or default whenever they have an opportunity while others either quit the job or stay but sacrifice quality for quantity. However, March and Simon's (1958) work and Steers's (1977) study established that people with high attitudinal commitment generally exhibit specific behaviours including higher attendance, lower job change rates, high job involvement and increased job-related effort. This was better achieved when employees received adequate facilitation from the organisation. Patterson et al. (1997) found out that there was a significant positive relationship between employee attitudes (job satisfaction and commitment) and performance with a recommendation that organisations should focus more on human resources than on competitor strategy, quality and research.Also, Tornow and Wiley (1991) found out that employee's attitude and their level of satisfaction with their job influenced how customers perceived their treatment and the quality of the service they received from the organisation. Research has shown that employee's perception of support at work such as that from coworker, supervisor and organisation has an influence on employee attitudes and work behaviour particularly through reciprocity process (Thompson et al., 2004) including effort put forth (Chelte and Tausky, 1986). In addition, Adsit et al. (1996) found out that there is a significant positive relationship between employee attitudes and performance. A number of studies have also suggested and indicated that employee attitudes (job satisfaction and commitment) make significant and positive contributions to firm performance (Fletcher and Williams, 1996). This study sought to explore and explain the need for performance management practices in public universities of Uganda. In view of the literature analysed, it is hypothesised that:H1. Employee attitudes have a positive relationship with managed performance.Smith and Rupp (2002) established that the human capital is an essential element for sustainable competitive advantage, and how it is managed within the organisation is extremely important. This is because the intellect and management of systems capabilities that facilitate achievement of managed performance are vested in the human capital (Smith and Rupp, 2002). Human capital is an intangible resource as provided for in the RBV of the employment relationship (Woodruffe, 2000). However, Augier and Teece (2006) and Mosakowski (1993) argued that the RBV theory while accurate is incomplete for understanding environments that are experiencing substantial change, which the dynamic capability theory seeks to address.According to the dynamic capability perspective, a firm's dynamic capabilities that are embedded in the organisation (Bowman and Ambrossini, 2003) are crucial determinants of its ability to achieve firm performance (Shore et al., 2004; Figure 1) particularly in a confused, turbulent and unpredictable environment. Shapiro et al. (2004) argued that these capabilities are grounded in the firm's knowledge base that is formed over time depending on experiences and the composition of the labour force. Grant (2002) added that capabilities (organisational routines) are the foundation of competitive advantage, and organisational capability requires the expertise of various individuals to be integrated with tangible and intangible resources. For instance, Jugdev and Mathur (2006) established that intangible resources are important because unlike codified practices they are not readily transferable or copied, and therefore, can be a source of a competitive advantage. In addition, intangible project management assets are under valued unlike tangible project management assets such as project management tools and techniques, which those companies are increasingly funding (Mathur and Jugdev, 2007).Furthermore, dynamic capabilities represent the ability of managers and others to make ongoing adjustments in resource allocation and build new thinking (Eisenhardt and Martin, 2000). For instance, Mamdani (2007) studied the way Makerere University attempted to reform its education system from public to private, in view of how higher education was being driven towards commercial competition imposed by economic forces resulting from the development of global education markets and the reduction of government funds. Mamdani (2007) showed that Makerere University generated over US $1 million year compensating for the per capita decline in its government subvention amounting to nearly 40 per cent of total revenue.Other studies have also demonstrated a shift in governments' policies pushing universities towards an increasingly mass and vocationally oriented model of education (Lewis et al., 2005). Managers of universities in Uganda have to continuously scan the environment, become innovative, set and implement their goals appropriately to remain competitive. From the reviewed literature, it was hypothesised that:H2. There is a positive relationship between performance management practices and employee attitudes.According to Locke and Latham (2002), goals are both outcomes to attain standards for judging one's accomplishments. For instance, Locke and Latham (2005) cited in Smith and Hitt (2005, pp. 128-47) found out that people are more satisfied when they attain their goals or make meaningful progress towards them than when they fail, make little or no progress. Frese (2005) cited in Smith and Hitt (2005, p. 102) found out that proactive goal setting better focuses on maximizing the positive effect of goals by developing specific, time-bound and challenging goals to which participants feel committed (Locke and Latham cited in Smith and Hitt (2005, pp. 128-47)). This is supported by Munene et al. (2005) having established that goal attainment and peoples' reasons for joining a developmental project were crucial for its success. Also, goal clarity and participation have been shown to contribute to higher levels of motivation to achieve managed performance provided managers accept those targets (Hofstede, 1968). In addition, Adsit et al. (1996) found out that those managers who encouraged participation had higher levels of performance in their departments. Recent empirical studies have also established that participative setting of goals, leads to better accomplishment of complex tasks and development of effective task strategies (Latham, 2001).According to Locke and Latham (2005) cited in Smith and Hitt (2005), when tasks are new and difficult for people, the best idea is to set learning rather than performance goals. A possible explanation was provided by Frese and Zapf (1994) who found out that high performance is not always the result of greater effort, but rather, of greater understanding. Locke and Latham (2002) established that goal setting will lead to performance when it is moderated by feedback and commitment (Seijts and Latham, 2000). Den Hartog et al. (2004) provided information that achieving individual performance without considering organisational-level variables undermines performance management practices and further suggested the moderating effect of employee attitudes between practices and performance.Furthermore, Manz (1992) found out that setting goals too high or too low can have adverse effects on employee satisfaction. In addition, Seijts and Latham (2000) found out that goal-performance relationship is strongest when people have confidence in being able to reach their goals and believe that their goals are important or appropriate. However, Latham and Saari (1979) argued that goal commitment could be generated by assignment and supportiveness of the leader, affirming the goal in public to make it a test such as of integrity, clarifying outcome expectancies and incentives; if people know what they are aiming for, they are motivated to exert more effort, which increases performance (Latham, 2001; Locke and Latham, 1990, 2002).For instance, Adsit et al. (1996) found out that employee perceptions of managerial communication in the form of goals and organisational strategies are important to customer satisfaction and departmental performance. Verbeeten (2008) also found out that the definition of clear and measurable goals is positively associated with quantity and quality performance but the use of incentives is positively associated with quantity performance only. An empirical finding (Pollit, 2006; De Lancer Julnes and Holzer, 2001; Kloot and Martin, 2000) showed that quantitative performance measures tend to ignore the quality aspect of service delivery since qualitative performance is much more difficult to measure.The effects of performance management practices in public sector organisations are affected by institutional factors with the results suggesting that the behavioural effects of performance management practices are as important as the economic effects in public sector organisations. In the same study, Verbeeten (2008) found out that large organisations appear to have more difficulty in defining clear and measurable goals, are less likely to use incentives and have lower quality performance (Dewatripont et al., 1999). According to Latham (2001), there is a need to investigate goal-setting procedures and generalisation in the achievement of managed performance. This is more crucial in the public sector where empirical evidence on performance management is inconclusive (Verbeeten, 2008). This study sought to explore and explain the situation in public universities of Uganda. From the literature, it was hypothesised that:H3. Performance management practices have a positive relationship with managed performance.\nResearch methodology: Procedure\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to establish the relationship between performance management practices, employee attitudes and managed performance.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Using a disproportionate stratified purposive approach, a sample of 900 employees was drawn from four public universities in Uganda.\nFindings: - The paper reveals that performance management practices and employee attitudes are crucial for achievement of managed performance in public universities.\nResearch limitations/implications: - This was a cross-sectional study that inherently has common method biases. Such biases could be minimised with replication of the study using a longitudinal study approach that would also unearth all salient issues that could have remained untouched.\nPractical implications: - The paper emphasises the need for public universities to institutionalise result-oriented relationships and adapt in the external hyper changing environment.\nOriginality/value: - The paper calls for a new approach to managing employees in public universities with increasing demand for university education and stakeholder interests in delivery of cost-effective quality services.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Public servants coping with competing demands on their agency in client relationships	[ "Agency", "Client relationships", "Discourse", "Coping strategy", "Public servant", "Young people" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Public servants face many competing demands on their agency in contemporary client relationships (Koppell, 2005; Schott et al., 2016). When serving youth, public servants should simultaneously support the client and exercise authoritative control (Siurala, 2014), for example. These demands derive partially from the work itself, but they are emphasized in an increasingly \"hybrid\" discursive context with alternative perspectives on client relationships (Bryer, 2007; Denhardt and Denhardt, 2015; Hirvonen, 2014; RostilaandVinnurva, 2013). Previous studies showed how public servants view and categorize their clients in such situations (Backlund et al., 2014; Bryer, 2009; Rosenthal and Peccei, 2006, 2007) and acknowledged that defining one's agency is likely to be difficult (Hirvonen, 2014; Schott et al., 2016). However, there is little empirical evidence of how public servants cope with these challenges.This study analyzes public servants' discursive practices to reveal how they represent their agency in client relationships, as well as the tensions public servants face and the solutions they construct when building and using these representations. The study builds on interviews with public servants in a cross-organizational service system that helps young people transition to secondary school or work life and avoid unemployment, mental health problems and crime. In welfare states such as Finland, these types of public servants who ensure citizens' survival in a complex information society are increasingly important (Castells andHimanen, 2002; Miettinen, 2013). Simultaneously, public servants face challenges in prioritizing different demands (Siurala, 2014). The discourse analytic method details how they navigate different demands when describing their agency in relation to their clients (Dobson, 2015; Potter and Wetherell, 1987).The study provides new knowledge about public servants' work situation, the role of multiple discourses in their work, and their discursive coping strategies. The findings suggest that public servants can and need to use discourses strategically to adapt to challenges in welfare states and to express the multifaceted nature of their agency in a legitimate way. Therefore, it is argued that the hybrid discursive context can provide resources for coping with the inherent tensions in client relationships, instead of only creating stress and anxiety (cf. Teelken, 2015). However, to reach an organizational solution, multidimensionality of agency should be considered when defining administrative role expectations (e.g. Stout, 2009).The paper begins by defining the concept of agency in client relationships. Then a review of how public administration discourses characterize client relationships and how public servants react to the hybridity of demands and discourses follows. The empirical research design and findings regarding how the interviewees described their agency in client relationships are discussed. A discussion of the key implications and limitations of the study concludes the paper.\nTheoretical background: Public servants' agency in relation to youth clients\nResearch methods and data: The study focuses on public servants who help young people lacking jobs or school placements. Interviews with these actors were analyzed using a method based on Potter and Wetherell's (1987) study of interpretive repertoires, which they defined as \"recurrently used systems of terms used for characterizing and evaluating actions, events and other phenomena\" (p. 149). This method helps make visible the tensions the interviewees face in defining their agency, and their discursive ways of coping with these tensions. However, this paper applies the concept of representation of agency instead of interpretive repertoire, as the former concept is more common and accessible for readers across disciplines. Both concepts refer to linguistic resources that draw from broader discourses (Fairclough, 2003; Potter, 2012), different from beliefs and other mental entities (Potter and Wetherell, 1987). Although discourses, beliefs and non-discursive practices might influence one another (Archer, 2003; Fairclough, 2003), the focus is entirely on language. It is assumed that the interviewees might use language strategically, even if it contradicts their personal beliefs (Potter andWetherell, 1987).This study assumes that representations of agency can borrow ideas from several discourses and be identified across different discourses (Fairclough, 2003). Therefore, attention is also paid to links between the representations of agency and public administration discourses, and what these connections might reveal about coping with contemporary work situations.The empirical context: service system that prevents youth exclusion from education and work\nFindings: The findings vividly demonstrate the contradictions in the interviewees' language: All interviewees discussed their agency in client relationships using three mutually contradictory representations. Each representation is presented using illustrative quotations. Their connections with administrative traditions and discourses are also assessed. Finally, the functions of the representations are analyzed to suggest why the interviewees used three instead of one.Representation 1: Responsible public servant engaged in an authoritative relationship with incapable young people\nDiscussion: This study aimed to provide micro-level knowledge of competing demands on public servants' agency in client relationships and how the interviewees linguistically cope with these demands. The analysis revealed that the interviewees combined terms and ideas usually connected to contradictory, coexisting public administration discourses to construct different versions of their agency and justify their actions as responses to different goals in their client relationships. That the interviewees had to use different representations demonstrates inherent tensions in their work. Furthermore, although the use of multiple representations might produce ambiguous accounts of their work, it seemed to comprise an ability that is interpreted as the interviewees' reflexive discursive coping strategy. It comprises their ability to navigate competing discourses and use them to construct a positive image of their agency, despite tensions in their work. This discursive ability helped the public servants describe themselves and their organization simultaneously as responsible, empathetic, and responsive agents who serve society and young people.The study provides two key insights. First, it shows the limitations of a single public administration discourse in describing public servants' agency in a complex welfare state (Stout, 2009). In the study context, traditional public administration discourses highlighted the accountability and authority of public servants and the service system as a source for agency but undermined the voluntary nature of the service and the need to encourage clients' self-sufficiency. Collaborative discourses highlighted equality and respect for clients' will, while the NPM discourse emphasized clients' autonomous agency and public servants' responsiveness and expertise, but neither discourse addressed the challenges of knowledge asymmetry. The empirical representations identified in the study followed neither the ideal type traditions discussed by Stout (2013) nor public administration discourses in their pure forms. Although such ideal types and macro-discourses transcend empirical, local approaches (Stout, 2013), the representations of agency identified in the study include a complex mixture of these resources, mediated by local contextual circumstances. This indicates that although political or even organizational-level talk might be ideological, it is likely that public servants facing actual work practices must use several discourses in diverse combinations to grasp the complex expectations of their agency.Second, whereas previous studies often treated hybridity as a challenge for public servants and suggested that they choose among existing logics (Pacheand Santos, 2013; Teelken, 2015), this study identified micro-discursive ways to benefit from multiple contradictory discourses. Whereas talk does not solve the tensions at work, the availability of multiple discourses may facilitate coping. The way interviewees shifted between the representations illustrates their knowledge and ability to construct a balance between the different demands while simultaneously revealing how these demands cause tensions in client relationships. This reflexive discursive coping strategy may be necessary for public servants to maintain a positive and constructive image of their agency. Furthermore, it also likely helps them discuss their work with different actors--colleagues, supervisors, politicians or the media. In client work, this strategy may help public servants address clients' situations adeptly, tolerantly and openly, permitting various options (see also Stout, 2013). Such multifaceted agency can be pivotal in a welfare state that values the development of human capabilities (Miettinen, 2013), particularly when interacting with children, elderly people, and other groups whose agency in society is underdeveloped or weakened (Fotaki, 2011).For practitioners, the study highlights the importance of analyzing the compatibilities between discourses when introducing new approaches and discourses in an organization. Service reforms typically introduce and champion a single approach, such as NPM (Olakiviand Niska, 2017; Rosenthal and Peccei, 2006; Teelken, 2015), but those implementing the reforms might need to combine several approaches to support client relationships holistically. As argued above, diverse perspectives may increase public servants' capacity to solve contradictory client situations. However, organizations and professional education institutions could support public servants by allowing such diversity and by acknowledging and supporting the multifaceted nature of agency at work (see also Kruyen et al., 2019; Stout, 2009).The study highlights several possibilities for further research. The discourse analytic method showed in a nuanced manner the tensions that public servants face and helps reveal the relational and multifaceted character of their agency. However, the small sample does not permit generalization to other individuals or organizations. As discussed above, similar tensions and discursive coping strategies may appear in other settings involving contradictory client relationships, but representations are likely context-specific. Thus, more research on the strategies for representing one's agency in different settings is needed. Furthermore, the study provides limited knowledge of the reality behind language, such as interviewees' beliefs, capabilities and non-linguistic practices, which condition their agency in client interactions. Future researchers are invited to explore longitudinally how public servants exercise their agency in public encounters and how their agency is transformed when client relationships and discourses change. Such research could combine studies of discursive and non-discursive layers of reality to provide a better understanding of interactions between discourses, organizational practices and the development of public servants' and clients' agency over time.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper analyzes how public servants who work with young people discursively cope with competing demands on their agency, defined as their orientation toward and capabilities to influence their clients. Previous studies revealed how public servants treat their clients when facing competing demands but paid less attention to how public servants define their agency.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Micro-level discourse analysis is applied to analyze how public servants represent their agency in client relationships, drawing on interviews with nine individuals in a Finnish city who work with young people lacking jobs or school placements.\nFindings: Instead of describing their agency coherently, the interviewees applied several discourses to represent their agency differently in relation to different demands. This ability to navigate contradictory discourses is discussed as reflexive discursive coping strategy, which enables public servants to maintain a positive image of their agency despite tensions at work.\nResearch limitations/implications: Although the method does not allow direct generalizations, it reveals discursive strategies likely to be found in many contemporary public organizations.\nPractical implications: The study indicates a need to better acknowledge and nurture the multifaceted nature of agency to improve service quality.\nOriginality/value: The findings deepen the view on tensions in public servants' work and show that diverse discourses not only create anxiety but also help individuals dealing with contradictory work.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The implementation of sustainability practices in Portuguese higher education institutions	[ "Sustainable development", "Portugal", "Higher education for sustainable development", "Leadership for sustainability", "Sustainability higher education institutions", "Whole institution approach" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: In the past decades, the number of initiatives, charters and declarations to promote sustainable development (SD) has significantly increased (beginning in 1972 with the Stockholm Conference (UNEP, 1972). The role played by Higher education institutions (HEIs) in the promotion of SD has been recognized as vital ( Lozano, 2006, Lozano, 2010, Lozano, 2011, Lozano et al., 2013a). More specifically, the environmental, social and cultural, economic and institutional, educational and political dimensions of SD have been more actively integrated in their teaching, research, campus operations, community outreach and assessment and reporting activities (Cortese, 2003; Lozano, 2006; Aleixo et al., 2016; Lozano et al., 2015). HEIs have also demonstrated growing commitment to SD in their declarations and support of charters and agreements, as well as through effectively implementing SD initiatives and practices. Lozano (2006, 2010, 2011) and Lozano et al. (2013b) have long taken an interest in the subject of SD and its implementation in HEIs. HEIs are developing sustainability practices as part of their intervention, and Hopwood et al. (2005) state that it is essential to map them. However, SD measures can only be fully implemented if SD has been accepted by everyone in the institution (Lozano et al., 2013a).\n2. Theoretical background and literature review: 2.1 Implementation of sustainability development in higher education institutions\n3. Methods: 3.1 Survey design and procedures\n4. Results: This chapter is organized in five descriptive sections. Section 1 presents the results from the implementation of SD practices, initiatives or projects in HEIs according to the four dimensions of SD (environmental, economic, social and cultural and institutional, educational and political). Section 2 describes the differences in the implementation of SD between polytechnics and universities. This is followed by the differences between the implementation of SD practices according to rectors/presidents (central administration) and directors of departments, faculties and schools (decentralized services and organizational units) in Section 3. Section 4 describes the adherence of Portuguese HEIs to international rankings, certifications and the signature of declarations on SD and/or education for sustainable development (ESD). Finally, the last section presents the stages of SD implementation practices in the Portuguese HEIs.\n5. Discussion: According to Lukman et al. (2010), \"the implication of environmental issues has received little or no attention at all, although many universities are monitoring their environmental footprint\". In fact, there is still much to be done in the environmental dimension of SD practices. Results indicate that most institutions are starting planning, but only issues relating to waste separation, recycling and waste reduction plans are being fully implemented. Contrary to other studies (Vagnoni and Cavicchi, 2015; Lozano, 2011) which identified more practices in the environmental dimension, this study suggests that the environmental dimension has a small number of practices in the Portuguese context. There are several barriers that could explain this result. For Vagnoni and Cavicchi (2015), the difficulty of implementing environmental management systems and sustainability on campus is because of the lack of management and staff support. Gonzalez-Gaudiano et al. (2016) claim that the lack of commitment from senior management is also a barrier to the implementation of sustainability in HEIs. Reference has also been made to lack of commitment, initiatives and participation as barriers or obstacles to sustainability in the Portuguese context (Aleixo et al., 2017b).\n6. Conclusion, limitations and directions for future research: This work examines how HEIs can promote sustainability through different dimensions of sustainability. Portuguese HEIs are beginning to give relevance to all dimensions of SD and to include it in their strategic plans, communication strategies and policies. However, most practices associated with these dimensions are still in the planning phase. These findings are in line with the state of the art that shows that this concept is still associated with the economic sustainability of institutions (economic dimension). The environmental dimension is essentially related to recycling, waste management and planning. The HEI leaders frequently refer to the inclusion of SD in the curriculum, research and communication of the institutions as being very relevant, although not implemented and/or projected. HEIs play a critical role in promoting SD and the efforts of their leaders are vital for the accomplishment of such goals. HEIs worldwide are responding to this call for leadership by integrating sustainability issues in education, research, operations and outreach and collaboration with the community. HEIs need to recognize their responsibilities in empowering their students with skills to address the problems of society for future wellbeing. HEI leaders must ensure that their staff, faculty and students are able to balance costs and benefits in the four dimensions of SD and foster sustainability of the HEI itself and worldwide with the aim of leading the next generation to global sustainability. As shown in some studies, notably in the Spanish context (Larran Jorge et al., 2015, 2016), it is important to develop policy statements to increase the sustainability practices in Portuguese HEIs.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this work is to analyze the current state of implementation of sustainability development (SD) in Portuguese higher education institutions (HEIs).\nDesign/methodology/approach: A questionnaire was developed to measure the level of implementation of SD practices in HEIs as well as the number of rankings, certifications and declarations of these institutions. The questionnaire was sent by e-mail to all rectors, presidents, directors of faculties, departments and schools of Portuguese universities and polytechnics. A sample of 53 leaders was obtained.\nFindings: Portuguese HEIs are mainly engaged in the social dimension of sustainability. The economic dimension emerges in second place and the institutional in third; the environmental dimension is the least developed. Except for a few specific topics (e.g. related to research on SD, and the offer of degree courses in SD), there are no significant differences between universities and polytechnics in the implementation of SD practices. Only 11 per cent of HEIs are innovators in the implementation of SD practices, and a majority of HEIs have implemented less than 34 per cent of the SD practices studied.\nResearch limitations/implications: This research has a national scope, and the results should be interpreted only in the Portuguese context. Future studies should include a larger range of institutional actors within the faculty.\nPractical implications: This study provides valuable insights and theoretical and methodological guidance for future implementation processes supporting the transition to sustainability in HEIs.\nOriginality/value: This is the first study conducted in Portuguese HEIs with the aim of determining their efforts to implement and promote sustainability.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Analysing complex policy change in Hong Kong: what role for critical discourse analysis?	[ "Hong Kong", "Primary education", "Education", "Educational policy", "Public policy", "Data analysis" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In the 2006-2007 Policy Address, the Hong Kong government announced that its intention to increase resources to support families. In particular it aimed to ease financial pressures on parents by providing fee assistance for children aged three to six in the form of an \"education voucher\" for pre-primary education. Following this announcement there was a significant oppositional response from the public across Hong Kong, and particularly from teachers and parents. Consequently a subsequent paper, \"New initiatives in pre-primary education\" (LegCo, 2006), was issued for discussion in the Legislative Council (LegCo). This policy document assumed great significance in the policy agenda and in this article I seek to analyze how the text framed the debate about policy and shaped its subsequent development. I do this by using Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and in particular a model developed by Fairclough (2003). Fairclough's (2003) approach to CDA is based on the assumption that language is an essential part of social life and that it is dialectically interconnected with other elements of social life. Fairclough's approach focuses on analyzing the language of texts and connecting these with theoretical questions about discourse. He evaluates discourse from three dimensions:1. Text. Defined as both spoken and written language.2. Discourse. Concerns the processes of text production, distribution and consumption.3. Social practice. Represents discourse as ideology and power.This framework provides a relational view of text analysis, in which the \"internal\" (including semantic, grammatical, lexical) relations of texts are connected with \"external\" relations (social practices and social structure) through incorporating the \"interdiscursive\" analysis of the genres, discourses and styles which they link together (Fairclough, 2003). The aim of this study is to develop a better understanding of the policy change process in the Hong Kong context and to evaluate to what extent Critical Discourse Analysis can help understand and explain the processes of policy change.Developing discourses in pre-primary education policy: marketization and social justiceRecent public policy development in Hong Kong can be regarded as being dominated by the notions of managerialism, neo-liberalism and economic rationalism in education and across other aspects of the public sector (Mok and Lau, 2002). This is consistent with a global trend in which neo-liberalism has emerged as the dominant ideology driving the policies of individual nation states in a globalised environment (Apple, 2006). The Hong Kong government's plans for a voucher system can be located firmly within this tradition as it based on the assertion that \"education consumers\" should have more power to choose between publicly-funded services and that \"choice\" and \"competition\" will lead to increased efficiency and enhanced quality of service delivery (Chan, 2007).Within the policy text themes associated with neo-liberalism emerge strongly and in particular those that reflect a discourse of \"marketization\". Throughout the text there is a strong emphasis on words such as \"affordability\" and \"choice\" with the users of education services being considered as consumers in a competitive market. This emphasis on the language of the market is further reflected in the expectation that the voucher scheme is to \"operate in a wholly private market\", and there is an apparent privileging of the private over the public domains. The policy proposal further declares that only those kindergartens that have been \"accredited\" and \"quality assured\" can enjoy public funding. In this context \"quality assurance\" now functions as a market standard. What this language denotes is a radical change in the ethos and principles governing social policy and education away from public provision towards a market-based enterprise society which privileges the rights and freedoms of its parents, now represented as consumers (Olssen, 2000).The market proposed by the voucher scheme, or more accurately, the quasi-market, emphasizes the need to promote competition between alternatives and to offer parents the prospect of \"choice\". Quality is \"improved\" as the success or failure of the schools in the system will rest on the decisions made by consumers as they exercise choice through their use of the vouchers. Schools will be compelled to respond to the demands and expectations of consumers. The consequence is that market education leads to a diversification in the types of schools available to parents and an opening up of the service to competition for enrolments through various marketing techniques and performance league tables - consumer information is identified as one of the critical factors in affecting choice and outcomes in education (Hill, 2005). The corollary of these developments is that according to Mulderrig (2003) this marketization of education effectively turns students into economically measurable commodities.Alongside the discourse of marketization which is a dominant theme in the policy text it is also possible to identify another strong discourse within the language of the text - that of social justice. At the outset the policy paper makes clear that it aims to support families, and in particular to provide support to those most in need. Funds will be allocated to where they are \"most needed\" (LegCo, 2006, p. 4) and in such a way that will \"allow the vast majority of parents to access a large number of kindergartens\" (LegCo, 2006, p. 4). It is argued that by alleviating the financial burden of those parents \"eligible\" for assistance, the goal of maintaining \"social harmony\" is achieved by breaking the cycle of inter-generational poverty and providing support to the disadvantaged (Chief Executive's Policy Address, 2005). The language of social justice emerges strongly throughout the policy document. However, the paper does not clearly define who are the \"most needed\" and this lack of precision and clarity aroused considerable skepticism from across the Hong Kong community. The language of social justice is invoked but more serious analysis reveals there is no real attempt to specify what type of social justice. Bland references to the \"most needed\" are not supported by detail and therefore it is not clear what the underlying principles of any commitment to social justice are. This lead to the policy being criticized publicly as meaningless (Apple Daily, 2007; Ming Pao Daily News, 2007) as it was feared that the failure to highlight any detail would actually do little to help the most deprived families. Parents who already received fee allowance from the Student Financial Assistance Agency would only get the difference between existing support and the value of the voucher. The Students' Financial Assistance Agency showed that about 46,000 students benefited from 50 percent to 75 percent fee remission and 10,000 students got full remission in year 2005/2006 (SFAA, 2009) For existing assisted families, it was likely they would benefited by a very insignificant amount per month (Ming Pao Daily News, 2007). This suggested that although the policy text invoked a rhetoric of supporting the \"most needed\" the reality is that these families would receive little additional help. Rather, those likely to benefit the most would be middle-class families able to use the voucher and then top it up from their own resources.The interweaving of the two discourses of \"marketization\" and \"social justice\" suggests a strategy in public policy that seeks to satisfy both the parent consumers and educators together. However, the danger is that contrary to the political rhetoric about raising standards and opportunities for all, marketization could further entrench the existing social inequality (Mulderrig, 2003). This scheme is expected to \"operate in a wholly private market\" and the role of the non-for-profit sector is not at all clear. Furthermore, when the policy declared that it will \"allocate public funds to where they are most needed\"; it did not specify who is the \"most needed\", the parents, the kindergartens or both? Since there is no limit on the income of the \"eligible parents\", it might be questioned as to how parents are defined as \"most needed\" or having \"financial burden\"? The difficulty lies in tension between what are the competing and conflicting demands of the market and aspirations to secure social justice. Within the language of the policy paper there is a clash of the values that underpin the market and commitments to greater equity, with the concomitant risk that market pressures that tend to inequality will always prove more powerful than social justice claims for equity (Stevenson, 2007).The introduction of the voucher system will certainly lead to a market-oriented development of early childhood education. Competition and screening are likely to become much more common place. The resulting hierarchies will generate new inequalities between teachers from not-for-profit Kindergartens and private Kindergartens. There is an additional danger that in a competitive market private Kindergartens (which do not have to follow government recommended salary scales), may seek to force down teacher salaries in order to compete more effectively on cost. A series of problems may follow such as sub-standard teaching and high turnover rate (Sing Pao Daily News, 2006). Consequently, can \"quality\" really be assured as espoused in this policy?\nHow can Fairclough's approach contribute to understanding the policy change process?: Fairclough's approach to CDA is widely used to provide clear and rigorous linguistic categories for analyzing the relationships between discourses and social meanings (Blommaert, 1997). It offers a way of viewing text to reveal the excluded social actors, such as some marginalized parents' groups and members of the teaching profession. It can also show how the texts work to illustrate the power relations between the government and other stakeholders. Although it was clearly stated that the policy paper was \"For Discussion\", the ambivalence of its actual aim is shown as based on the high-commitment of the modality and the demand type of evaluation statements. This approach provides multiple points of analytic entry that includes all kinds of analysis to be mutually explanatory (Janks, 1997). It provides a way to investigate the critical relationship between the two key discourses, marketization and social justice.Despite the merits in Fairclough's approach, it is also important to recognize where there are limitations and critiques. Some scholars question whether large-scale transformations in societies can be demonstrated on the basis of empirical data that are restricted in scope, size, and time range (Blommaert and Bulcaen, 2000). They argue that a text can be read in many ways, dependent upon the social circumstances in which it is produced and consumed. For example, there is no way of knowing from the text what deliberations took place before they issued this text, or how much information the general public could access before justifying this policy. Power depends not only on access to resources but also on access to contexts in which resources can be used (Blommaert and Bulcaen, 2000). These issues are only partly addressed by applying Fairclough's approach.On the other hand, queries about representation of selectivity, partiality, and prejudice are raised by the predominance of interpretation (Stubbs, 1997; Blommaert and Bulcaen, 2000). Since the policy has involved a variety of stakeholders, the question is \"Can the analyst represent all the views of different stakeholders, including, for example, both parents and the PTU (Professional Teacher Union)?\" Although the PTU published their concerns and the government held briefing sessions for parents, no documents or records from these meetings are analyzed in this model. There are also criticisms that analysts might have a tendency to assume a priori relevance of context aspects in critical discourse analysis that can project their own political biases and prejudices onto their data and analyze them into discourse accordingly (Schegloff, 1997).Fairclough's approach is often challenged as blurring the important distinctions between concepts, disciplines, and methodologies (Widdowson, 1995, 1996, 1998). For example, Blommaert and Bulcaen (2000) argue against vague concepts and models being helped by the rhetorical use of concepts from social theory. This is illustrated by the lack of clarity in defining the discourses of \"marketization\" and \"social justice\". Texts can be found to have a certain ideological meaning almost forced upon the readers. Meanwhile, there may be other unmentioned but significant ideologies that need to be further investigated. Pennycook (1994) criticizes the rather deterministic view of human agency that is implicit in this approach. To overcome these limitations, Goodwin (1994) argues it is important to work on a \"professional vision\" that provides a deeper critical perspective on professional authority and expert status in contemporary society. In this case, the causal effects and the ideologies effects of marketization could be further analyzed.\nConclusion: The pre-primary voucher scheme in Hong Kong illustrates many of the complexities associated with analysing policy. Policy texts speak a language which is deliberately intended to sound attractive and to have broad appeal. In this case the policy text highlighted issues of choice, efficiency and equity - concepts which at a superficial level have a very wide appeal. There are few of us who would set ourselves against these objectives. However, it is important to understand the direction and trajectory of policy at a much more sophisticated level as key concepts within a policy text can assume very different meanings once subjected to more detailed scrutiny. At this point, more complex questions about policy begin to emerge. For example, notions of choice and efficiency have an obvious attraction, but the language presented masks a much more complex situation in which choice and efficiency are to be secured through the application of market principles and given this development it is by no means certain that these objectives will be secured. For example, different producers and consumers become privileged in this market context, and it is by no means certain that all will have choice. More likely, is that choice will be restricted to the more affluent, whilst efficiency may be effected by a failure to create any level playing field between not for profit and private providers. The potential then arises for the mechanisms designed to deliver choice and efficiency to then conflict with the other stated objectives of equity and social justice. At this point the power of the market adds to inequalities, rather than reducing them.Policy change is complex and contested, although those in the policy process cannot contribute from equal positions of power. In order to better understand these processes it is important for academic researchers to have the analytical tools that can assist in this endeavour. It is my view that critical discourse analysis, and in particular the approach offered by Fairclough (2003) offers this possibility. In so doing, it allows us to better understand the complexities of policy development and avoid the tendency to look for something that is logical and rational.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The Hong Kong government recently reformed pre-primary education with the introduction of a voucher scheme. At the time this policy caused considerable opposition from across Hong Kong Society. This paper seeks to use Fairclough's model of critical discourse analysis to explore a key policy text and seeks to assess to what extent such an analytical framework can help develop a better understanding of the processes of policy development.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper uses critical discourse analysis methods and applies these to a specific policy text relating to the reform of pre-primary education.\nFindings: - The paper suggests that critical discourse analysis can provide a useful analytical tool for analysing the complexities of the policy development process. In particular it surfaces key tensions within policy, such as those between commitments to equity and efficiency, that may have a significant impact on the outcomes of subsequent policy implementation.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The paper is based on a small scale study. Its findings are tentative. There is some merit in the approach adopted, but the use of this approach in relation to policy development requires further work to develop it.\nOriginality/value: - The paper adds to the understanding of how a range of methods of data analysis can help develop a more sophisticated understanding of the nuances of policy development.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
"Transfer of change" and large group intervention methods (LGIMs): a call for research on a neglected topic in organizational change literature	[ "Organizational change", "Transfer of training", "Large group intervention methods", "Transfer of change" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: In the field of training, one topic above all others holds the central position in research, namely, \"transfer of training\". Transfer of training refers to the use of knowledge or skills learned during training once the learner has returned to the workplace (Burke and Hutchins, 2007). Estimates of the struggle to achieve a successful transfer of training vary, but most indicate that investments in training produce underwhelming results. For example, Saks (2002) found that a mere 50 per cent of funds invested in training leads to any individual or organizational performance gains. The same study reported that around 40 per cent of the learners struggle in terms of transfer of training immediately upon returning to their jobs after training and that any transfer has failed for 70 per cent of learners one year after the training intervention.\nTraining interventions vs LGIMs: a comparison: A popular approach to initiate organizational change is the use of large group intervention methods (LGIMs) such as real-time strategic change, strategic options development and analysis (SODA), future searches, search conferences, strategic choice, team syntegrity, technology of participation, and open space technology. LGIMs are structured events that last an average of three days and are aimed at involving stakeholders (from 8 to more than 2,000) in addressing a particular issue by bringing together relevant information, building commitment, and formulating action plans (Bryson and Anderson, 2000). The rationale behind their use is to ensure the participation of as many stakeholders or employees as possible in the planning and implementation of change (Bryson and Anderson, 2000).\nBack at work, back to the status quo?: The preceding observations make the absence of a concept parallel to the transfer of training in the field of organizational change perplexing. The proposed construct \"transfer of change\" will help answer the question: What happens to the change effort once the excitement of an LGIM is over and employees are back at work? Consequently, the transfer of change is defined as the continued acceptance of and participation in implementing organizational change initiatives once the employee has returned to the workplace after attending an LGIM.\nTransfer of change and LGIMs: a research agenda: The most obvious research questions that arise from the above discussion of transfer of change and LGIMs include:\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to highlight the gap in organizational change literature in general and the large group interactive method (LGIM) literature in particular.\nDesign/methodology/approach: By comparing LGIM and training literature studies, the absence of a concept in the former literature parallel to the well-known concept of \"transfer of training\" is highlighted. The concept of the transfer of change is introduced to address this gap.\nFindings: This paper suggests that the transfer of change is as important to the success of organizational change initiatives as transfer of training is to the success of training programs.\nOriginality/value: This paper is the first to introduce the concept of transfer of change to the organizational change and LGIM literature studies. Furthermore, a tentative research agenda regarding transfer of change and LGIMs is presented. Therefore, the paper is a valuable resource for researchers who study organizational change initiatives in general and LGIMs in particular.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Heeding the CALL (Comprehensive Assessment of Leadership for Learning): An inquiry into instructional collaboration among school professionals	[ "Distributed leadership", "Educational administration", "School leadership", "Instructional collaboration" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: School leadership plays an important role in enhancing the quality of instruction in schools. Scholars have found that teachers improve their instruction by collaborating with other professionals in their school and that a collaborative and supportive school culture can be facilitated by effective school leadership (e.g. Hallinger, 2003; Bryk and Schneider, 2003). Increasingly, scholars are examining the impact of instructional collaboration in schools. Several studies on teacher collaboration have shown that increased teacher collaboration is beneficial to teachers individually and the school environment in which they teach (Kelchtermans, 2006; Hausman and Goldring, 2001; Pounder, 1999; Shachar and Shmuelevitz, 1997; Hargreaves, 1994; Little, 1982). Also, recent studies on teacher collaboration have found a significant relationship with student achievement (Goddard et al., 2007; Louis and Marks, 1998; Miller et al., 2010). Although more research is needed in this area, these studies suggest a positive link between schools with strong practices of teacher collaboration and improved student learning, as teacher collaboration may lead to improved instruction (Goddard et al., 2007; Miller et al., 2010). Given the positive effects of teacher collaboration, it is important to examine and understand the leadership practices and organizational features in schools that support high levels of teacher collaboration.\nHistorical background of teacher collaboration: Scholarship on the culture of teaching describes the individualistic and autonomous nature of teachers' work (Goddard et al., 2007; Hargreaves, 1994; Rosenholtz, 1989a; Little, 1990; Lortie and Clement, 1975). The private nature of teaching and learning occurring behind closed doors was a highly prized aspect of teaching, leading scholars to characterize teachers as \"artisans\" (Huberman, 1993; Talbert and McLaughlin, 2002). Indeed, teachers took pains to ensure that in their relationships with each other, they respected their colleague's professional autonomy.\nDiverse forms of teacher collaboration: Teacher collaboration takes several instructional forms; these include, peer coaching, mentoring, peer observation, reviewing and analyzing student work, reviewing grading practices, strategizing around instruction, formative assessments of student work and teacher practice, and instructional rounds. Further, scholarship tells us that these actions alone are not enough, the professional community and school environment in which these actions take place are important (Hargreaves, 1994). Scholars emphasize that schools need open, trusting, environments in which teachers with strong instructional backgrounds feel comfortable taking professional risks together and school leaders are a necessary part of this work (Bryk and Schneider, 2002; Louis and Marks, 1998). Effective instructional collaboration - that is, teachers and other academic faculty and staff meeting and working together at scheduled times throughout the school day, week, and year to plan lessons, develop curricula, review student work, revise assessments, learn from coaches, participate in peer assessments and engage in activities to augment instruction and student learning - cannot happen without the school leader(s) taking steps to structure time and the organizational environment of the school so that this work is possible (Miller et al., 2010; Camburn et al., 2008; Raywid, 1993).\nSchool leadership and instructional collaboration: School leadership has been recognized as an important contextual factor that dictates how individuals in schools interact with one another (Flores, 2004). To be specific, scholars have stated that successful school leadership creates a culture of opportunities to share instructional strategies and expertise among school professionals can flourish. Such opportunities increase teacher retention and promote students' academic and social outcomes (e.g. Supovitz et al., 2010; Goddard et al., 2007). When school leaders can establish a collaborative culture teachers are more likely to develop connections with other school professionals and actively exchange their professional knowledge and experience (Blase and Blase, 2000). In order to examine teacher collaboration in schools working to implement state- and district-mandated academic reforms and school improvement, scholars have often used distributed leadership frameworks, which helps uncover the practices associated with teacher collaboration in that school (Scribner et al., 2007; Gates and Robinson, 2009). While there are several approaches that scholars have developed to understand how leadership is distributed in schools, (Gronn, 2002; Mayrowetz, 2008; Spillane et al., 2001, 2004), the practice and task-oriented framework developed by James Spillane and colleagues particularly provides a distributed leadership conceptual framework that allows scholars to trace phenomena like teacher collaboration across various types of leadership and organizational schema (i.e. instructional, transformation, and distributed). Distributed leadership is both a framework and practice. Whereas instructional leadership tells us that principals must make time for teacher collaboration, a distributed leadership framework allow us to trace the leaders, followers, and situation in both the macro function of teacher collaboration in a given school and the micro practices that occur within that particular team of teachers and teacher leaders (Spillane et al., 2001, 2004).\nMethods: Data and sample\nResults: The average response rate for the CALL survey is 83.1 percent with a range of 10-100 percent. Table I provides descriptive statistics for all variables including school leadership variables and school demographic variables. Table I shows that instruction-related leadership practices, such as leadership for focussing on learning, and leadership for monitoring teaching and learning, are more varied compared to the variation for leadership practices that are not directly related to instruction, such as leadership for maintaining a safe and effective learning environment.\nFactors related to quantity of instructional collaboration in a school: Model 1: The results of Model 1 presented in Table II demonstrate that school leadership for monitoring teaching and learning is a significant predictor of a school's higher frequency of instructional collaboration among school professionals (b=0.69). Moreover the model indicates that within the same school environment, individuals who score higher on school leadership of four foci - focussing on learning (b=0.18), monitoring teaching and learning (b=0.32), building nested learning communities (b=0.23), and acquiring and allocating resources (b=0.20) - are more likely to perceive a higher frequency of instructional collaboration in their school. In addition, Model 1 shows that individuals working at a school whose administrators positively perceive the school's frequency of instructional collaboration among professionals are more likely to think that their school frequently provides opportunities for instructional collaboration (b=0.63). Also, the results indicate that individuals working at a non-elementary school are likely to think that their school works collaboratively for instruction more frequently than those who work at an elementary school (b=-0.25).\nFactors related to quality of instructional collaboration in a school: Model 2: The results of Model 2 show how a school's leadership practices and characteristics are related to the quality of instructional collaboration in the school. The results indicate that a school with a higher level of leadership practices of two foci - monitoring teaching and learning (b=0.48), and building nested learning communities (b=0.36) - is more likely to show a higher quality of instructional collaboration among school professionals. On the other hand, Model 2 demonstrates that schools where their leadership focusses more on maintaining a safe and effective learning environment tend to have a lower quality of instructional collaboration (b=-0.23). Within the same school, however, the different perceptions of individuals in the same school environment to school leadership practice of focussing on maintaining a safe and effective learning environment is not a statistically significant predictor of the quality of the instructional collaboration. Also within the same school, individuals who score high on leadership practices on three foci - monitoring teaching and learning (b=0.52), building nested learning communities (b=0.24), and acquiring and allocating resources (b=0.15) - are more likely to perceive that their school has a high quality of instructional collaboration.\nDiscussion: There have been numerous efforts to enhance instructional collaboration among professionals within a school (e.g. Miller et al., 2010). Despite a number of previous studies investigating the aspects of instructional collaboration in a school, many of them focussed only on how often a school collaborates for instruction and the quality of the activities related to the instructional collaboration has been relatively neglected. Also, the prior research on instructional collaboration in a school provided limited information to comprehensively understand how people in a school collectively work for enhanced instruction since the amount of time spent in instructional collaboration is not necessarily indicative of its quality. This study fills the gap in the literature by providing empirical evidence of factors associated with both the quantity and the quality of instructional collaboration within a school.\nLimitations of the study and conclusion: This study has multiple limitations stemming from the sample, reliance of self-reported data, and construct measurement. First, the data used in this study are not from a nationally representative sample. The data for this study were collected from 129 schools across five states. Although the sample schools are distributed regionally throughout the country, this sampling design limits our ability to generalize our findings to the nationally representative population. To strengthen our findings, further research with a larger sample throughout the country will be necessary. Second, our study includes reliance on self-reported data. This method may not capture full aspects of school leadership practices because we indirectly measure school leadership by individuals' perception of leadership practices in their school using self-reported data, not by observing actual practices in schools. Considering that self-reported data can contain subjective and biased information, we believe that future research examining the actual practices of school professionals may be necessary to supplement our research. Finally, this study uses a single method to measure constructs. Although using survey data from school professionals can be an effective way to estimate leadership practices of multiple schools, using this single method may not be robust enough to capture various aspects of school leadership. In further research, it will be helpful to conduct sensitively analyses with various measures of school leadership practices and see whether our findings are still valid with other measures.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine what school leadership practices are associated with a school's level of instructional collaboration among school professionals and also investigates what school characteristics are linked to the level of instructional collaboration in a school.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This study drew data from the Comprehensive Assessment of Leadership for Learning (CALL) survey. CALL is a multi-source measure of distributed leadership, comprised of five domains of school leadership practices. Responses from 3,767 teachers and 167 administrators working at 129 schools were analyzed using ordinary least squares regression analysis.\nFindings: The findings show that there are significant relationships between school leadership practices and the extent of instructional collaboration taking place within schools, both in terms of quantity and quality. In particular, school leadership practices that are closely related to facilitating instruction and allocating resources are associated with a school's instructional collaboration, whereas a leadership practice related to environmental factors tends not to be significantly correlated with a school's collaborative culture. This study also found that leadership perspectives on instructional collaboration are an important predictor of both quantity and quality of collaboration among school professionals.\nOriginality/value: This study clarifies the importance of school leadership in a collaborative culture and also provides empirical evidence of what specific practices of school leadership predict the frequencies of professional collaborative activities in school as well as their quality. In addition, this study demonstrates how schools' contextual factors are related to the level of instructional collaboration among professionals.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
International benchmarking for performance improvement in construction safety and health	[ "Project management", "Supply chain management", "Process management", "Benchmarking", "Occupational safety and health", "Prevention through design", "Design for safety" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Benchmarking is the identification of a best performer in a class of processes, then adapting or adopting best practices to improve one's own performance (Kleiner, 1994b). In industry, benchmarking is a technique used to measure a firm's process performance against \"best-in-class\" in order to determine how to achieve higher performance levels, and the information is used to establish company goals and strategies as well as improve business processes (Shetty, 1993). This type of competitive benchmarking is performed by identifying best practices that demonstrate how performance goals can be reached (Pickering and Chambers, 1991) through the improvement of processes. Although often misapplied, the focus is on process and practices, irrespective of industrial context. That is, a manufacturing firm looking to improve its training programs could find best practices in other industries such as retail or the military as the key focus should be on the process and adaptation to the target sector (Kleiner, 1994b).\n2. The benchmarking process: As mentioned previously, traditional benchmarking often focusses on comparison at the firm level with a focus on processes. These methods can be adapted to understand safety at the national level as well. Figure 2 illustrates a generic benchmarking process that was adapted from Camp (1989) and presented by Kleiner (1994b). This adaptation was for environmental restoration, which is largely comprised of construction (i.e. heavy earth moving) processes. The specific steps in Figure 2 align with a benchmarking process developed specifically for the construction industry (Garnett and Pickrell, 2000).\n3. Analysis: 3.1. Differences in control methods\n4. Discussion: Quantitative analyses support more frequency in use of technological controls implemented earlier in the project lifecycle in AU vs the USA. While this itself is not enough to prove causality for the performance gap, previous literature does support that higher level controls do lead to a safer work environment. Further, interviews also suggested differences in OSH cultures, such as legal/regulatory and labor factors between the two countries that qualitatively support a prevention through design approach and might provide an important root cause of the gap. A brief discussion follows to elaborate on differences discovered in quantitative analysis of OSH practices across countries. The qualitative discussion is meant to provide a deeper understanding and context of specific practices that are occurring in AU that support safety as a consideration earlier in the process.\n5. Conclusion: Data show that the USA lags behind countries such as AU, Canada, and Germany in terms of OSH performance, commonly gauged in fatalities per 100,000 workers. The researchers applied a benchmarking process that has been used in manufacturing and logistics sectors since inception in the 1980s (Kleiner, 1994b) and adapted by Kleiner (1994a) for federal facilities' environmental restoration safety concerns at the country and organizational levels to identify possible explanations for the performance gap and paths forward. The work identified a significant performance gap between the USA and AU and explored contextual factors. Then, using a multiple, comparative case study method, the researchers analyzed process-level differences. Results suggest that in AU safety decisions were generally made further upstream than in the USA. Technological controls were implemented more frequently and earlier in the project lifecycle in AU vs the USA. These types of interventions are regarded in the literature as more effective, and are a potential source of the gap in OSH performance between the two countries. Implementation of these types of practices is a complex undertaking at the national level, but is a potential avenue for closing the gap in both fatal and non-fatal construction injuries in the USA.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to advance knowledge on the advantages of integrating safety earlier in the construction project lifecycle.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A case study approach is used to collect data from construction sites in the USA, which performs poorly in construction safety and health, and Australia (AU), which performs well in construction safety and health. Qualitative data are collected to determine how and when safety is considered in the project lifecycle in both countries, and then the results are benchmarked to determine the benefits of addressing safety earlier in the process.\nFindings: Data show that addressing a potential hazard earlier in the project lifecycle has performance benefits in terms of the level of hazard control.\nResearch limitations/implications: The processes that are identified as possibly explaining the performance difference are just based on qualitative data from interviews. Targeted research addressing the relationship between these processes and safety outcomes is an opportunity for further research.\nPractical implications: The case study data are used to identify specific processes that are used in AU that might be adopted in the USA to improve performance by integrating safety earlier into the decision-making process.\nSocial implications: This paper highlights the advantages of integrating safety as a decision factor early in the process. Worker safety is not just an issue in the construction industry, and thus the findings are applicable to all industries in which worker safety is an issue.\nOriginality/value: This paper advances the safety in design literature by quantitatively supporting the link between when a hazard is addressed and performance. It also links the results to specific processes across countries, which advances the literature because most research in this area to data is within a single country.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Reflections on "Locks and keys to the boardroom"	[ "Women", "Boards", "Critical success factors" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: My interest in women's careers, women's leadership styles and the lack of women in the boardroom have been key research issues for me over the past 25 years. In the late 1990s, whilst I was at the American Academy of Management I participated in an interesting debate on women and leadership across the world. What became strikingly evident was that whilst women have increasingly become better educated (they now constitute 60 per cent of graduates across the developed world), have entered organisations in greater numbers and have been promoted to junior and middle management levels, they have made glacial progress to the executive and board levels. This is true across all areas of the private sector. The lack of women in leadership was clearly, and still is, a major issue. I decided to focus my research from then onwards on this topic. I set up the International Centre for Women Leaders in 1999 at Cranfield School of Management with Dr Val Singh and together we initiated what was originally the annual index of Women on Top UK Boards, later renamed \"The Female FTSE Report\". At the beginning we constrained ourselves to the top FTSE 100 companies due to the challenges of collecting the data. Recently with much more established databases we carry out a census of women on both corporate boards and executive committees of all FTSE listed companies. Since 2006, we have added to our census by carrying out a qualitative study each year focussing on different perspectives of women on corporate boards. Our 12 years of monitoring the figures show that the percentage of women on FTSE 100 companies has increased from 6.7 to 12.5 per cent - hardly grounds for celebrations!\nThe 2003 paper: The reason why Val and I carried out the study underpinning the 2003 paper was that we had learned in 2002 that 20 per cent of directors in this major international telecommunications company in the UK were women. These women were on the executive committee and thus in the pipeline to the corporate board. We were very excited to discover so many women at executive level and believed that this could be a turning point in getting more women onto boards. We, therefore, set about a series of interviews to discover from the women directors and a matched sample of male directors what had got them to director level. We were keen to uncover the helps (the keys) and the hindrances (the locks) to being promoted to director level.The key hindrances were lack of qualifications, certain personality traits, being female, not being part of the political arena and the impact of family roles. Interestingly, both male and female directors mentioned their lack of qualifications in this study, although since 2003 many other researchers have highlighted how this is a particular issue for women. The consequence is that women often report being under qualified and lack confidence. What distinguished the women in our book Women with Attitude in 2003 was that all the women came across as supremely confident about their own abilities and this confidence had been fostered in them by their parents. In terms of personality traits, several women acknowledged how perfectionism held them back. In my many years of developing women managers a key observation, I have made is how mindful women are about the standards of performance required of them. Women need to be encouraged to go for promotion. I am reminded of the finding in the McKinsey Report (2007) where 70 per cent of the female managers rate their performance as equivalent to their co-workers, whilst 70 per cent of the male managers rate their performance as better than their co-workers! It is sad that several of the women directors felt that their aggressive behaviour would hold them back in their careers in our 2003 study. This finding relates well to all the subsequent research that has been carried out that demonstrates the challenges facing women in top jobs where most of them are occupied by males. Eagly and Carli's (2007) book \"Through the Labyrinth: The Truth About How Women Become Leaders in Particular\", covers this topic well. In our research centre, Dr Ruth Sealy's PhD on senior women in banking also explores the issues facing executive women in a male dominated work environment, where there are no female role models (Sealy and Singh, 2010).In our 2003 study, Val and I were fascinated to discover that whilst half of our female sample of directors felt that being a woman had helped them get to the top, through their visibility in the company, all the male directors agreed that the females had faced much greater challenges than they had in getting promotion. This is still a major problem for women striving to achieve executive positions and connects to two current studies members of our centre are engaged with at present. One is a global law firm where women at managing associate level (one level down from partner) are consistently under rated in their performance appraisals and thereby overlooked for promotion. In a global investment bank whilst the women directors are equally rated compared to the male directors, they are rarely nominated for promotion to managing director compared to their male colleagues and when nominated are rarely supported for promotion compared to male colleagues. The women in our 2003 study were quite naive in thinking that they were at an advantage being female; so much research has challenged such a view.The last key challenge facing the women directors was reconciling career with family. Again, many studies have been carried out on this topic. I think the relatively recent work addressing the stages in women's careers has been particularly helpful; here I would reference Mainero and Sullivan's (2006) work on the Kaleidoscope career and O'Neil and Bilimoria's (2005) paper on women's career development phases. Both sets of researchers agree that it is the middle stage of life (typically mid-30s to mid-40s) where women are struggling with both professional responsibilities and family demands. O'Neil and Bilimoria refer to this stage as one of \"pragmatic endurance\", which accurately portrays the feelings of women at that point in their lives. One male director also cited family as restricting his career progress. As the profile of career parents changes (increasingly we see the mother as sole or main salary earner) it will be interesting to chart how family responsibilities continue to impact fathers (see in particular Burke's (2010) recent article in the same journal \"Managers, balance and fulfilling lives\").There were three key factors explaining both the male and female directors' successes: getting a mentor, taking on challenges, and becoming visible in the company. Since 2003 mentoring has perhaps become the most established tool to help women advance their careers. I initiated the cross-company chairmen mentoring scheme across the FTSE 100 companies, whereby chairmen-mentored potential female directors from non-competing companies (now run by Peninah Thomson at Praesta). This is just one example of such schemes. Mentoring has almost become the ubiquitous solution for any professional woman experiencing problems with promotion. Ibarra wrote an interesting piece on women and mentoring recently (Ibarra et al., 2010) in which she stated that women are being widely mentored. The mentors offered to women, however, are significantly less senior that those offered to men. My own view is that mentoring must be used carefully. Many senior women do not need mentoring; they need someone high profile to sponsor them. Women often lack the high-level relationships which their male colleagues find easier to foster in the male dominated executive suite.Visibility is a two-edged sword for women. Yes, they get noticed, but they can get over-scrutinised by the press. Research has demonstrated that when high-profile businesswomen are profiled in the press frequently details of their private lives are included. This rarely happens with their male colleagues. Fortunately, a number of top chairmen are sensitive to this issue and have taken effective steps to protect their female executives from the press. Women directors are getting more savvy about this and it is worth noting that all the women interviewed for \"Women with Attitude\" insisted on reading the write up of their interview before it went to press. Only a few of the women made small amendments. Marjorie Scardino cut out the references to her children. My impression is that American women seem to manage their press profiles better than British women executives and this may contribute to the relatively high percentage of American women on UK boards.\nWomen on boards - the current position: The case study featured in our 2003 paper did not constitute the much needed tipping point for advancing women into the boardrooms! Eight years later we are still campaigning for change by continuing our research on women on boards and sharing it with governments in different countries. (Vinnicombe et al., 2008). We have prompted change in Australia, New Zealand, Finland, Norway, Spain and France [...] and now maybe also the UK. Lord Davies will submit his report to the Prime Minister in February 2011 with his recommendations on how to increase the number of women on FTSE 350 corporate boards. I have been privileged to be a member of that steering committee and add my own voice to shaping those recommendations. I am optimistic that they will provide the much needed catalyst for change. Additionally, it has been encouraging to see how our research at Cranfield and research from other colleagues in the field has been studied carefully in the course of reaching those recommendations.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to provide a reflection on the author's earlier paper published in Gender in Management: An International Journal (formerly Women in Management Review) in 2003 titled \"Locks and keys to the boardroom\".\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper is examined in the context of current research and writing on women on boards.\nFindings: - The 2003 paper built on the authors' previous research and writing and informed their current research activities. In addition, the 2003 paper reflected an emerging interest in women on boards and the factors leading to their success.\nPractical implications: - The paper finds that the organisation featured in the original article did not turn out to be a tipping point in terms of women appointed to directors. Very little progress has taken place in the past eight years in terms of numbers of women on top boards, but the Davies report (2011) should prompt change.\nOriginality/value: - The paper indicates that a great deal of research has developed since 2003 studying women on boards.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The sustainability and political agency of social cooperatives in Italy during the great recession	[ "Italy", "Social enterprise", "Political agency", "Social cooperatives" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In recent decades cooperative enterprises have flourished all across Europe and overseas, in good and bad times (Battilani and Schroeter, 2012; Kerlin, 2009; Sanchez Bajo and Roelants, 2011). According to the internationally accepted definition, cooperatives are a particular business model, jointly owned and democratically controlled, and driven by ethical values and normative assumptions about the role of the enterprise in the economy and society (Zamagni and Zamagni, 2010). They pursue social and economic objectives in a sustainable manner (Borzaga and Defourny, 2001). Cooperatives contribute to the wealth and social cohesion of local communities by providing affordable and quality goods and services, creating fair employment opportunities, and delivering the principles of democracy, equality and solidarity (Altman, 2005; European Commission - Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, 2013). Throughout the current recession, just as in previous economic and employment downturns, cooperatives have proved to be comparatively more resilient than market-oriented enterprises (Fontanari and Borzaga, 2013). Coherently with their core values and principles, they have been highly committed to addressing market and government failures (Thomas, 2004) and empowering people and their capacity to withstand the effects of the great recession. More specifically, they have been preserving household incomes, helping people out of poverty and unemployment, and offering a wide range of services for unmet social and care needs (Birchall and Ketilson, 2009; for Italy see: Euricse, 2015; Riva, 2013).\nLiterature review and research propositions: In recent years, the cooperative enterprise population has grown rapidly in many countries (European Commission - Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, 2013; World Cooperative Monitor, 2014) as have the number of social cooperatives (Borzaga and Fazzi, 2011; Borzaga et al., 2014; Kerlin, 2009; Lepoutre et al., 2013). Such a sharp and unprecedented increase is grounded in a broad set of interrelated social, cultural and economic changes which have been challenging the institutional foundations of modern society (Beck, 1992), such as demographic shift, erosion of traditional family models, changing employment patterns, the increase in female employment, the advancement of new social risks and the multidimensional crisis of the welfare state (Ascoli and Ranci, 2002; Borzaga and Defourny, 2001; Zamagni and Zamagni, 2010). Furthermore, after the outbreak of the current recession and in times of budget cuts and welfare state retrenchment, the evolution of the cooperative enterprise, and thus social cooperatives, resulted, as in earlier difficult periods, from rising unemployment, growing inequality and an escalating number of people at risk of poverty or social exclusion. Indeed, the cooperative enterprise is, by its rationale and mission, a response to market and government failures (Altman, 2010; Borzaga and Defourny, 2001; Pestoff, 1998; Thomas, 2004; Zamagni and Zamagni, 2010).\nData and methods: This paper adopts a mixed-method social research approach (Brannen, 2005; Hesse-Biber, 2010). It integrates quantitative analysis of administrative data on business life cycle drawn from the Italian business registers with empirical evidence collected via in-depth interviews and focus groups on a sample of managers of social cooperatives and representatives of cooperative associations and consortia.\nFindings: Business demography and survival prospects\nConclusion: The number of social cooperatives in Italy and their share of the business enterprise population have increased over time (Andreaus et al., 2012; Picciotti et al., 2014; Thomas, 2004). Even during the current recession, there is evidence that their dynamism and performance are comparatively higher (Becchetti and Pisani, 2015; Carini and Borzaga, 2015). However, despite data confirming the relative strength of that type of social enterprise, our analyses of the national business registers suggest that there is a tendency towards a reduction in start-ups among social cooperatives. Such a pattern of decrease may signal that, because of the enduring stagnation, social cooperatives may be somehow suffering. Moreover, even though death rates are still lower than those of other forms of enterprise, the higher resilience of social cooperatives, which literature found to be very much attributable to their specific features (Borzaga and Defourny, 2001; Borzaga and Spear, 2004), may come at a cost. The literature has largely missed investigating this cost, which can be measured in terms of consistency with their core values and mission. Indeed, the sustainability of social cooperatives relates to economic indicators, such as employment and economic performance (Becchetti and Pisani, 2015; Becchetti et al., 2013), but also to the social, cultural and political dimension of such a peculiar form of enterprise (Thomas, 2004). Based on these premises, this paper has investigated the extent to which, during the post-2008 crisis, social cooperative enterprises in Italy managed to maintain, consistent with the cooperative principles, the overall quality of work and employment. In addition, we have also studied whether and to what extent the political agency of social cooperatives in the area of social welfare policy has changed as a result of austerity.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the extent to which social cooperatives in Italy followed and managed to preserve their core values and principles while withstanding multiple pressures during the great recession. Attention is paid to two key issues. First, the concept of political agency is used to understand whether social cooperatives have been sensitive and committed to their role as key political players in the sustainable development of the community in which they operate. A further issue addressed is the impact of the post-2008 crisis on the quality of work and employment in social cooperatives.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper adopts a mixed-method social research approach. It integrates quantitative analysis of administrative data on business life cycle drawn from the Italian business registers with empirical evidence collected via in-depth interviews and focus groups on a sample of managers of social cooperatives and representatives of social cooperative associations and consortia.\nFindings: Findings suggest that the great recession and welfare state retrenchment have worsened the quality of work and employment. Nonetheless, evidence produced through qualitative research also shows that social cooperatives have proved to be well suited to displaying political agency and acting as a key political player at local level.\nResearch limitations/implications: Results of field research are not generalizable.\nOriginality/value: Comparatively higher resilience of cooperatives, which is very much attributable to their specific rationale and mission, may come at a cost. The literature has largely missed investigating this cost, which can also be measured in terms of consistency with core values. Indeed, the sustainability of cooperatives relates to economic indicators, such as employment and economic performance, but also to the social, cultural and political dimension of the enterprise. In this regard, this paper investigates the extent to which, during the post-2008 crisis, cooperative enterprises managed to preserve the quality of work and employment and play a political role in the welfare system.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Specialized entrepreneurship education: does it really matter? Fresh evidence from Pakistan	[ "Entrepreneurship education", "Theory of planned behaviour", "Entrepreneurial intentions" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Scholars as well as policy makers, including university administrators, have long debated over the effectiveness of entrepreneurship education in promoting entrepreneurship among university graduates. In developing countries, influenced by ideas of the West, specialized entrepreneurship education programs (EEPs), as distinct from the inclusion of entrepreneurship classes in business or engineering degree programmes are offered in the belief that such programmes will assist the nations in promoting entrepreneurship. Nonetheless, uncertainty remains on the link between specialized entrepreneurship education and promoting entrepreneurship. Several empirical studies suggest that entrepreneurship education (Dainow, 1986; Gorman et al., 1997) and particularly specialized entrepreneurship programmes (McMullan et al., 2002) encourage individuals to start a business. In particular, entrepreneurship education appears to have a positive impact on the perceived attractiveness and feasibility of new venture initiations (Fayolle et al., 2006; Tkachev and Kolvereid, 1999). These findings are however tempered by the methodological shortcomings that conclusions have been drawn from cross-sectional studies without basic controls such as comparison with control groups who do not study entrepreneurial programmes or pre- and post-programme testing. In addition, there is a potential bias in favour of educational interventions because students who enrolled in entrepreneurship programmes were likely to have an existing predisposition towards entrepreneurship (Gorman et al., 1997). For two decades, calls have been made to remedy these shortcomings through quasi-experimental studies that compared participants in entrepreneurial education (treatment group) and control groups in order to improve scholarly knowledge and to add new value in assessing the effectiveness of the entrepreneurship education especially for practitioners[1] (Block and Stumpf, 1992; Oosterbeek et al., 2010).\nEntrepreneurial intention (EI) and entrepreneurship education: This section begins by drawing some insights into the formation of entrepreneurs from the literature of EI and the theory of planned behaviour (TPB), which is adopted as the conceptual framework of the study. The role of entrepreneurship education is further discussed here. Hypotheses are proposed at the end of the section after discussing the link between entrepreneurship education and EIs.\nMethods: A quasi-experimental field study was used to compare the outcomes of entrepreneurship education for students who had participated in an EEP (the treatment group) with those of students who had completed a comparable number of years of MBA studies and had undertaken entrepreneurship as one of the courses in their final year study (the control group). Our study aims to assess the differences in the attitude, subjective norms, PBC and intentions between the treatment and control groups. We further assess the impact of attitude, subjective norms and PBC on intentions for both the groups' controlling demographical characteristics. The study design follows the quasi experiment design (meaning non-random assignment) which is the non-equivalent control group design with post-test only. Since the students are already in their final year, we were unable to do the pre and post-test and thus some limitations exist in this study. Indeed, we control the demographical differences in the analysis so that we can at least control the external validity. We used analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) and regression analysis to test the differences and the influence, respectively.\nResults: Table III shows the correlation metrics of the variables under study. The mean values of intentions, PCB, attitude and subjective norms, for the whole sample, are 3.21, 3.61, 4.24 and 3.25, respectively. We used ANCOVA to test the differences in mean scores using the treatment and control group (Souitaris et al., 2007). It is important to note that past studies indicated that demographic variables may influence the attitude, PCB, subjective norms and intention. Therefore, to control the demographical variables, we used gender, work experience, business experience and family professions as the covariates.\nDiscussion and implications: This study poses two important questions: does entrepreneurship education matter in influencing attitudes and intentions among those undertaking specialized entrepreneurship education and those who enrol in general business programmes? And, what if the driving factors of intention differ among the two groups? The results show that there is no significant difference except for intentions, thus supporting the H4 of the study. In any educational activities, those activities should render starting a business desirable and feasible by changing the attitudes and intentions. Nevertheless, various exposures to the challenges of being an entrepreneur via the education programme among EEP students may have also lower their intention to be entrepreneurs[3]. This is particularly true in the case of Pakistan since various contextual and environmental factors deter the ease of starting a business. This could be the likely explanation for the low intentions. Past researches also show that education programmes which promote inspiration influences intentions the most (Souitaris et al., 2007). And, programmes that just merely provide knowledge, learning and resources utilization are not adequate. As such, the implication is that programme designers should design the programmes purposefully so that trainers or instructors can go beyond just teaching and could inspire students. Our review of the objectives of EEP of the university understudy indicates that the programmes are mainly aimed to increase entrepreneurial knowledge, learning and skills. We further believe that the effectiveness depends on how the programme is implemented. Past evidences suggest that practical activities which include field visits, seminars, business ideas competition, mentoring by industrial experts and lectures delivered by local entrepreneurs can provide more exposure on how to deal with difficulties in venturing into business. Incorporating these types of activities in a specialized programme develops an understanding of the entrepreneurship environmental context of the country and helps participants to develop realistic perceptions of their ability to start a new venture (Chen et al., 1998). In the case of Pakistan, educators and policy makers may have to review the design, effectiveness and implementation of the entrepreneurship programmes, at least in the participating universities.\nConclusion: Policy makers and practitioners seeking to promote entrepreneurs increasingly promote specialized entrepreneurship education. With this view in mind, several major universities in Pakistan offer specialized EEPs. However, empirical evidences on the effectiveness of such programmes are lacking. In this study, we examined the role of EEPs by comparing the EIs of two groups, EEP students and MBA students graduating from general management courses and using the TPB as the study framework. By employing a control group, we have been able to provide a move viable comparison as to whether EEP are better than the other programmes. The control groups provide us with an external validity whereby we can be more confident in knowing whether the relationship holds over variations in groups. Indeed, since we have control over the demographic variables, we can be ensured of internal validity and be more confident that the treatment (education) does not bring any additional benefits.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: There is a long-standing debate on whether the entrepreneurship education program (EEP) of university graduates can promote entrepreneurship intention and behaviour. The purpose of this paper is to use the theory of planned behaviour as a conceptual framework and compare the differences in entrepreneurial attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control and intentions among students who participated in entrepreneurship education with a control group of Master of Business Administration (MBA) students in Pakistan. The study further examines what drives intentions between the two groups.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Data were collected using a questionnaire survey from 348 entrepreneurship students and 329 MBAs in their final year (both groups did a total of four years' tertiary study). One-way analysis of variance test and regression analysis were used to examine the differences and the antecedents of entrepreneurship intention between the two groups.\nFindings: MBAs have higher entrepreneurial intentions (EIs) than EEP students and the EIs are statistically significant. Nevertheless, the authors did not find any differences in attitude, perceived control behaviour and subjective norms towards entrepreneurship in both the groups. The entrepreneurship intentions of the MBA students are more influenced by social pressure as opposed to EEP students who are influenced by perceived control behaviours.\nResearch limitations/implications: First, although the study introduced a control group, comparisons were based only on EIs and their antecedents in participants' final year of study. This cross-sectional design provides no information about how much intentions and antecedents changed over time. A longitudinal study would provide information about such changes. Second, the groups in the study were matched in terms of gender, age distribution, family background, years of study and presumed disposition towards running their business. It would be useful if future comparative and longitudinal research measured these individual factors and their effects.\nPractical implications: Educational activities render the starting of a business desirable and feasible by changing the attitudes and intentions. Nevertheless, various exposures to the challenges of being an entrepreneur via the education programmes may lower their intention to be entrepreneurs. As such, entrepreneurial programmes should be designed with care.\nSocial implications: The study provides some insights on improving EIs especially in understanding the antecedents that are important for nations, such as Pakistan which has high unemployment and widespread poverty.\nOriginality/value: This study provides fresh evidence on the role of entrepreneurship education by comparing EIs and the cognitive antecedents of intentions of the two groups - entrepreneurship as well as MBA students.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Factors affecting purchase intention on mobile shopping web sites	[ "Mobile communication systems", "Internet shopping", "Consumer behaviour" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: In recent years, the phenomenal growth in the use of the internet and in the number of mobile phone users has resulted in an unprecedented growth of mobile commerce (MC) for meeting people's needs in all areas of their lives. A forecast from the Market Intelligence Center (MIC) (2006) suggests that the number of mobile phone subscribers worldwide will increase from 2 billion in 2005 to 3.3 billion in 2010 - almost a 10.1 percent compound average annual growth rate.This phenomenal growth is even more dramatic in Asia, including Taiwan. For instance, a report by Taiwan's National Communications Commission (NCC) stated that in 2007 Taiwan's mobile penetration rate (i.e. the number of mobile phone subscribers divided by the population) was 104.7 percent, and that the number of subscribers in Taiwan to third-generation (3G) mobile phones, which enable broadband wireless data services, surpassed 5.9 million, a growth rate of 119.4 percent from 2006. A report from eMarketer states that the percentage of internet users who have wireless Internet grew from 16 percent in 2001 to 56.8 percent in 2007. In other words, the global wireless/mobile internet population is now larger than the population that uses fixed lines, such as desktop personal computers (PCs), to access the internet. The growth of this mobile population has great financial potential, especially for business-to-consumers (B2C) retailing markets. A survey of global MC by Jupiter Research projected 2009 revenues at US $88 billion.As the popularity of this technology has grown, so have fancy varieties of MC services, which have made possible the use of advanced mobile phones for mobile shopping, mobile banking, booking, ticketing, making payments, and conducting other kinds of online banking transactions. Mobile shopping (m-shopping) allows customers to shop online at any time and in any location. However, very few consumers use their mobile phones for online shopping. In fact, potential customers seem to avoid using the existing systems.Research into m-shopping services (MSS) on web site is still in its infancy, but what is needed is a much better understanding of the factors that influence the adoption of m-shopping. Although many MSS have been provided in different ways by online productions retailers, what appears to be missing \"is a clear understanding of the motivations and circumstances from the perception of consumers themselves\" (Sarker and Wells, 2003, p. 35). Researchers need to find out how customers' beliefs and attitudes affect their use of MSS. Through a proper understanding of customers' considerations and emotional feelings, managers can develop proper strategies for promoting and building specific MSS that consumers will want to use.Recent statistics indicate that the failure rate of new shopping web sites is very high (Lin, 2007). Customers can easily switch from one mobile web site to another with just a few presses of their thumbs. And because MSS are still in their beginning stages, system providers have to invest a great deal of money to integrate different mobile Internet infrastructures as well as web-dedicated software and hardware. The new fashions and robust functions of computers are developing rapidly, with the result that greater capabilities and efficiencies are constantly being introduced into advanced mobile phones for MSS transactions. For example, a mobile web site can now supply customers with comparisons of thousands of products to help them find products at competitive prices. It can also support the whole flow of the shopping experience, including logging in, delivering e-catalogues, searching for products, comparing prices, ordering, paying, conducting after-services, and advertising. Thus, many shoppers face many new and complex features when they use mobile shops.Meanwhile, the m-shopping environment faces three major challenges. First, the bandwidth of the mobile internet is narrower than that of fixed lines, and the new networks occasionally disconnect without any warning. Second, compared to the desktop PCs, mobile phones have limited input buttons, displays, computing abilities, battery power, and memory. In particular, mobile phones usually are set up to move automatically into a power-off or power-save status because of the limits of their batteries, which shorten the time allowed to look for data. With smaller screens for online transactions, MSS require more processing pages and steps than PCs do. Finally, the environments in which MSS are often used are not stable enough. Unlike transactions on desktops or laptops at home or in the workplace, a mobile-phone transaction might occur in circumstances that have severe time constraints, such as while waiting for someone or while waiting for a traffic jam to clear.Unfortunately, even skilled users may panic while operating these MSS functions because so many complicated application systems have been placed into such a tiny device, and these \"new capabilities often negatively affect users' experience on other dimensions\" (Jarvenpaa and Lang, 2005, p. 7). Several information technology (IT) researchers have explored technophobia, or even anxiety, as a significant negative inhibitor of IT acceptance (Compeau et al., 1999; McFarland and Hamilton, 2006). Bandura's (1986) social cognitive theory (SCT) defines anxiety as the tendency of individual to be technophobic or apprehensive about innovative technology (Huang and Liaw, 2005). A user's anxiety functions as a kind of affective barrier and has a direct negative relationship with system usage. People fear the potential consequences of m-shopping, such as the loss of data or other problems. Understanding and eliminating the mobile innovations' affective barriers and their antecedents are major challenges for mobile phone companies.\n2. Theoretical background and development: 2.1 Factors that could lower affective barriers to innovation\n3. Research model and hypotheses: 3.1 Anxiety\n4. Methodology: 4.1 Measures\n5. Results and discussion: 5.1 Measurement model\n6. Conclusion and implication: The purpose of our study was to evaluate mobile online services from the perspective of affective states. Studies using the technology acceptance model (TAM) have generally ignored negative emotions, beliefs in level of ability, and intrinsic motivations, but our study has successfully integrated such factors as mobile skillfulness, anxiety about mobile innovations, enjoyment, and revised TAM factors (usefulness and ease of access) and applied them to the context of online m-shopping. The results not only solidify and verify the role of psychological as well as functional beliefs in human behavior, but they also provide insights into the opportunities and risks that are part of the dramatically changing environment of online mobile services.Our study provides six valuable insights into consumer behavior, and our results have important implications for designers, managers, marketers, and system providers of MSS.First, our study shows that enjoyment strongly affects the intention to engage in m-shopping. The study's result is interesting that in customer's interaction with the MSS, individual involved in the activity for intrinsic motivation (i.e. enjoyment, b=0.53) rather than extrinsic motivation (i.e. usefulness, b=0.23) to adapt the m-shopping. Moon and Kim (2001) argued that individuals are in the playfulness state, they will find the interaction intrinsically interesting: they are involved in the activity for pleasure and enjoyment rather than for extrinsic rewards. The finding of this study confirmed this opinion. Because mobile phones often accompany their owners day and night, they are more readily available for use than traditional personal computers are. Users often enjoy a deep connection with their mobile phones. M-shopping web site can be seen as an interactive medium that may become one of the customer's favorite sites. This finding suggests that practitioners should strive to stimulate customers' intrinsic motivations, especially their enjoyment experiences. In addition, entertainment elements should be integrated into the m-shopping flow.Second, consistent with prior research, anxiety was proven to be a significant negative antecedent of behavioral intention to shop. Individuals who feel less anxiety about the system also feel more comfortable using it, so they are more likely to expect to accept the system. Managers should seek to control the complexity of MSS in order to reduce the affective barrier created by customers' worries about operation errors. Designers should pay attention to the system features that could cause anxiety and seek to minimize them.Third, mobile skillfulness plays an important role. It is a key predictor of three constructs: anxiety, enjoyment, and usefulness, which have a direct and significant influence on behavioral intentions to use mobile services. The important effect of mobile skillfulness on MSS adoption shows up in a variety of ways. Mobile skillfulness indirectly promotes m-shopping, and it also influences the intention to use through the individuals' perceptions of usefulness and enjoyment. Furthermore, mobile skillfulness plays a crucial role in reducing anxiety about mobile technology and enhances the motivation to use MSS. One implication of this finding is that retailers should offer potential users training or tutorial programs in using mobile handsets. This approach would also improve their performance skills by demonstrating how to purchase products or services. These educational and training programs, designed to help individuals perform advanced mobile phone skills effectively, will both enhance their mobile skillfulness and reduce affective barriers to using MSS.Fourth, this study successfully expands the ability to generalize all of its constructs to the mobile commerce context. This area of research is different from that of prior studies that analyzed traditional information systems. Overall, the predictive power of this revised TAM is robust. Moreover, in keeping with prior research, this study confirmed that usefulness exerted a significant positive influence on behavioral intention to m-shopping.Fifth, our finding is consistent with the results of recent studies in IT-related systems. We found that ease of access was an important and direct determinant of an individual's assessment of enjoyment and usefulness. This finding suggests that system providers should pay attention to reducing the effort involved in connecting with the mobile internet. For example, providers should not only develop large network technologies, but they should also eliminate the effort involved in switching between systems and coping with variations in communication quality while traveling between metropolises and suburbs. Even though the direct effect of ease of access on the intention to engage in online m-shopping was not significant, the new construct of ease of access may be valuable in further investigations into adoptions of wireless services. In keeping with some prior research, usefulness exerted a significant positive influence on the behavioral intention to use.Finally, compatibility exerted a significant influence on adoption intention. This result shows that a customer's intention can be obtained by enhancing compatibility with the customer's values, lifestyle, and needs. A lifestyle that embraces the use of mobile phones, receiving or processing information anytime and anywhere, will influence a person's intention to engage in m-shopping. Managers can attract potential customers who may have previous experience with e-commerce services. It is not surprising that the early adopters of advanced mobile phones are likely to be well educated and have a higher socioeconomic status. Innovative commercial media and applications attract their attention. Managers should introduce m-shopping in the context of familiar e-commerce services that customers have already experienced.This study provides customers' use of the mobile phone as a shopping medium with several managerial implications. Managers and service providers should recognize that Internet accessibility (ease of access), purpose-oriented functionality (usefulness) and procedure-oriented functionality (enjoyment) are three the most infrastructural elements of the perception level that influence customers' intentions to use MSS. If managers try their best to eliminate the burden of access to the mobile internet and make it as easy as access to computer internet, it could enhance customers' perception of helpfulness to accomplish a transaction on the mobile network. Managers should focus not only the useful outcomes of using MSS, but they would also note that there is full of fun in the whole shopping process and in this way customers can form the habit of using MSS step by step. For example, instead of using text-based web site instructions and guidance, using massive multimedia or animation user interface would stimulate customers' purchasing intention.Compare this research conducted in Taiwan with several prior mobile technology studies examined in other countries. Some results are similar. For example, Mao et al. (2005) examined individual intention to use advanced mobile phone services by TAM (usefulness and ease of use) with TPB (price and accessibility) model and found the different implications between US and Turkish samples. Both their research (US and Turkish samples) and our study (Taiwan's samples) showed that usefulness significantly affects intention to use but lack support that accessibility (ease of access) has significant effect on intention (accessibility is a little similar to ease of access in our study in Taiwan). Besides, Cheong and Park (2005) tested Korea's samples through use of extended TAM, including playfulness, system quality, internet experience and price as variables. The results of the Korea study are consistent with our research in Taiwan; namely, both usefulness and playfulness (enjoyment in our study) strongly affect behavioral intention. Although some evidences prove that different countries' samples might cause the same research results in a hypotheses. Further investigations and more evidences acquired by cross-country and cross-culture in mobile technology adoption are necessary.Two limitations of this study are that respondents were self-selected and came from only one geographical area. Besides undergraduates, the samples we gathered expand to a wide range of professional or managerial persons, including engineering, research and development, marketing, sales, accounting, finance, and services. This sample may be more or less representative for the whole population. Further research is recommended to get beyond the limit of the sample based on random sampling procedures. It is not appropriate to infer the same conclusions which resulted from the samples of the study to other IT fields or geographic area.We suggest four possible directions for further research. First, additional social factors can be added to this model for explaining the adoption of human communication tools. Second, because the results and findings of this study of the acceptance of online m-shopping, a relatively new research field, are derived from just a single study of a specific technology and only from among respondents in Taiwan, generalizing and confirming this model's applicability in different research fields and among other groups would further validate both the findings and research model. Third, these results were obtained in only one time period, so longitudinal research would help develop a better grasp of the interrelationships among variables over time. Finally, consider the payment system over the mobile web would be a great challenge to customers no matter in security concern or technical support. A great deal of mobile phone subscribers might be transformed into mobile shopping customers that should be come true under the sound and safe mobile transaction environment. So payment issue needs further investigating to improve customers' usability and satisfaction of the mobile shopping. Future work in these four areas would not only help develop a more sophisticated understanding of mobile commerce theories for researchers, but it would also offer useful knowledge to those involved in promoting the making of purchases online to potential mobile customers.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to explore a conceptual model for analyzing customers' perceptions of using mobile commerce services for online shopping. This paper provides insights into consumer behavior, and the results have important implications for designers, managers, marketers, and system providers of mobile shopping (m-shopping) web sites.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - An empirical investigation was carried out to test the hypotheses. The samples include 369 professional participants. For testing the relationships of the model, structural equation modeling (SEM) is used.\nFindings: - The results demonstrate that anxiety, which is an affective barrier against using innovative systems, is a key negative predictor of a customer's intentions to use mobile phones. Also, the consumer's self-perception of mobile skillfulness significantly affects anxiety, enjoyment, and usefulness. Furthermore, enjoyment, usefulness, and compatibility have an impact on a customer's behavioral intentions.\nPractical implications: - The findings of this study help to understand what hinders or encourages the m-shopping intention of online customers.\nOriginality/value: - The results not only help develop a sophisticated understanding of mobile commerce theories for researchers, but they also offer useful knowledge to those involved in promoting m-shopping to potential purchasers. The value of the paper is that the results could be applied to other portable information technology service adoptions, such as personal digital assistants (PDA), smart phones, advanced mobile phones, and portable global positioning systems (GPS).\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
On the relationship between computer simulation training and the development of practical knowing in police education	[ "Reflection", "Tacit knowledge", "Adult learning", "Vocational education", "Professional knowledge" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: This paper concerns the development of professional knowing in police education and computer simulation training. More specifically, the focus of this paper is on the practical knowing that is central in police education and essential in many professions (cf. Wallin et al., 2019). This knowing consists of \"quiet,\" experience-based knowledge and skills - an embodied practical knowing (cf. Polanyi, 1966). In this sense, knowing is about more than just isolated technical skills and procedures; rather, it involves both specific practical techniques and the thinking and decision-making required to use these techniques effectively (cf. Soderstrom, Astrom, Anderson, and Bowles, 2014). For example, Klein et al. (Klein et al., 1986; Klein, 1989) developed the recognition-primed decision model to describe how decision making by professionals in stressful situations (e.g. such as commanders in the field leading firefighting efforts) involves both intuitive information gathered from patterns highlighting the most relevant cues and the analysis of mental simulations. Both the intuitive and the analytical processes of this rapid decision-making is dependent upon decision maker having extensive experienced-based knowledge and skills. Extensive resources are spent during police education on a variety of practical exercises, such as drill exercises and scenario training, to teach students how to deal with complex and risky situations where collaboration, decision making and assessment are crucial for safe and professional practice (e.g. Gonczi, 2013; Reader et al., 2006). Examples of exercises include basic skills associated with the handling of weapons (firearm, baton, pepper spray, etc.) and shooting, but also more complex skills where the performance may vary depending on the environment and the set of circumstances. Like many other vocational educations, police education has limited opportunities and resources for students to practice sufficiently for developing professional knowing. Thus, computer simulation training is often used to support the development of professional knowing (e.g. Dorn and Baker, 2005; Mooney et al., 2012). However, the primary focus of computer training appears to be largely on specific skill acquisition (e.g. shooting, driving) and not on critical reflection which Christopher (2015) claims is central for police recruit training.\nResearch on professional knowing and computer simulation training: Professional knowing has been investigated in a wide variety of contexts, such as medical education (Dieckmann, 2009; Hopwood et al., 2016), crisis management (Berlin and Carlstrom, 2013; Moats et al., 2008), firefighting education (Blondin, 2014; Holmgren, 2015) and in police education (Alison and Crego 2008; Sjoberg, 2016; Stokoe 2013). There is a general agreement among researchers in the field that developing professional knowing requires extensive training within a particular domain (Ericsson et al., 1993) and acquiring the professional skills necessary for effective performance normally takes many years of training. Moreover, research suggests that teaching that stimulates the development of professional knowing relates to learning from experience through, for example, critical reflection and self-regulation and that training that encourages problem solving, experimentation and inquiry processes should be central in an education (Wallin et al., 2019). Although extensive research on scenario training and other physical training situations has been conducted, there is still limited knowledge on how professional knowing is developed and learned (e.g. Wallin et al., 2019). Additionally, knowledge on how to handle different situations with varying degrees of complexity is limited (see Sjoberg, 2016). From a theoretical point of view, the development of professional knowing is to learn to acquire the embodied knowledge (know how) to handle the different practical situations an individual can face in real life (knowing-in-action) (Argyris and Schon, 1974; Schon, 1983). Argyris and Schon (1974) use the concept theories in use which reflects the knowledge that informs action and governs actual behavior. This knowing, to know what to do and in a given situation is related to an individuals' appropriate theory in use for a given situation, incorporates tacit, experiential knowledge and skills that are gradually acquired by practice (cf. Kinsella, 2009; Polanyi, 1966). How the body feels and perceives the environment is central to the understanding of practical knowledge (Merleau-Ponty, 1945/1997; Polanyi, 1966). In Schons (1983, 1987, cf. Argyris and Schon, 1974) view, developing appropriate theories in use is related to reflection on and in action to infer theories in use, alter theories in use, and test new theories of action. Although scenario training does involve embodiment, an observation one can make from previous research is that this theoretical stance, embodiment and body techniques acquired through training and teaching and how it is learned (see Crossley, 2006), has largely not been specifically addressed.\nEmbodied professional knowing and the design of computer simulation training: Evident from the review of research concerning scenario training, one complication that might hinder the designing of effective computer training modules for professional knowing is the fact that little is known about the process of learning professional knowing (cf. Wallin et al., 2019 review) Thus, the design process cannot account for the empirical data since no such data appears to exist. Instead, the design process has to rely on theoretical research that can provide a basis for understanding which factors interact and in particular for which factors contribute most to the development of professional knowing. Theories on how practical knowing is acquired have put forth that knowing is a consequence of bodily experiences and sensations (Merleau-Ponty, 1945/1997). Thus, desktop simulations have had to focus on cognitive aspects because, as defined by in Merleau-Ponty and Polanyi terms, they cannot accommodate embodied action. Desktop simulations, irrespective of how interactive they are or how much advanced technology is used, involve primarily the training of the cognitive strategy the user employs and even then constrained by the design limitations of the simulation. In practical scenario training, in Polanyi's (1966) terms, the awareness of the body's contacts with external things is relied upon and thus the trainee learns to pay attention to these things. For example, in many situations in the field a police officer's actions will be dependent on their situational awareness, which smells, tastes, touch and hearing can influence (cf. Damasio, 1994) and which includes embodiment in terms of selective attention, movement and action in relation to the situation to be solved. Such complexity is very difficult to pack into a simulation.\nLessons learned from working with simulation training projects in police education: Normally, in the 2.5-year police education, the practical training is preceded by a lesson where the teacher walks through equipment, routines, roles, etc., and thus prepares the students for the upcoming practical training. Both simulation projects referred to here aimed at exploring the simulation training's role in preparing for facing unique and complex situations where \"the case is not in the book\" (Schon, 1987, p. 5), by encouraging reflection that could be helpful for negotiating the complexities and challenges they are faced with in the upcoming scenario training (e.g. Christopher, 2015). In both projects students worked in groups in front of the computer. The reasons for this are both practical and pedagogical. In real life police work, police officers work in pairs where they need to negotiate what actions to make in a situation. Further, studies on screen-based computer training in other fields acknowledge that collaborative learning is beneficial for problem-based decision-making skills (e.g. Rogers, 2011) and learning professional skills (e.g. Hall, 2013).\nConcluding thoughts: Learning practical skills is about acquiring skills that can be used both in simple and in complex situations within an ever-changing environment. Computer simulations can be a useful aid in offering many and varying experiences about typical cases and in discovering the prevailing situation in the practical training which is similar (cf. Johnson's, 2010 view on transfer and Klein et al. (1986) view on pattern recognition). However, computer simulation training cannot replace exercises in scenario training or drill exercises. To fully learn practical knowing in Merleau-Ponty's (1945/1997) terms is dependent on the body's sensations and perceptions in the development of knowing. By acknowledging this, it becomes clearer what and how computer-based training could contribute to the development of practical skills in training with extensive elements of practical-oriented training such as police education. However, since research on physical scenario training in the design of computer simulation is not reliable, a user-centered design based on students' experiences of practical training may be a more feasible way to carve out aspects that can inform the design process. Scenario training is resource intensive and it is essential that students be well prepared for the training. Sjoberg's (2016) study demonstrated, for example, that preparation is important for how training is performed and what lessons are learned. He showed that it is both about managing equipment and weapons (wanting to avoid focusing on a radio that does not work or a baton that is stuck) and to quickly read the situation and act expediently (wanting to avoid focusing on peripheral things in the situation).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to focus on the practical knowing that is central in police education. Drawing on perspectives about tacit knowledge and embodied learning (e.g. Merleau-Ponty, 1945/1997; Polanyi, 1966; Argyris and Schon, 1974) as well as empirical examples, this paper discusses the design of and what can be expected from computer simulation training for the development of police students' professional knowing.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The discussion is based on lessons learned from working with two different computer simulation training situations designed to prepare the students for an upcoming practical training by facilitating the understanding of complex situations as they should be handled in the physical training situation.\nFindings: The experiences from the training sessions showed that the different characteristics of the simulations mediate how the training session was performed, e.g., unplanned trial and error vs focused and attentive, but also group discussions about how to act and appropriate actions in relation to the situation to be solved in the simulation.\nOriginality/value: Based on the lessons learned from working with the two different computer simulations, it is posited that the use of computer simulations for practical scenario training is a complex endeavor that needs, in various degrees, to be supported by pedagogical steering. The design of computer simulation training (both the simulation and how the training is designed and performed) need to consider the specific aspects that surround tacit knowledge and embodied learning in the \"real sense\" (anchored to the practical training) to be of relevance for police students development of professional knowing.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Barriers to e-government integration	[ "Government", "Communication", "Critical success factors" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: Ambitious e-government initiatives have been launched in many countries. In December 2002, President George W. Bush signed the e-government Act into law, signalling a major step towards modernizing public sector IT in the US (CIO, 2004). In the UK, the target set by Prime Minister Tony Blair is to have 100 per cent of all government services online by 2005 (SUN, 2003). More generally in Europe, a major goal of the European Union's eEurope 2005 plan is to have modern online public services in e-government. Similar broad-sweeping e-government initiatives exist elsewhere across the globe (Chatrie and Wraight, 2000; Worldbank, 2000; Robb, 2003). The drivers for e-government are numerous, and include greater efficiency, broader access to government services, improved levels of service, government reform, greater transparency, reduction in corruption and citizen empowerment (Schware and Deane, 2003). Ultimately, e-government seeks to centralize and make a cohesive and seamless set of government services available to users. E-Government integration (EGI) is, therefore, seen as a critical success factor to attaining a mature level of e-government (Golden et al., 2003; Watson and Mundy, 2001).This paper investigates barriers to EGI based on interviews conducted with e-government practitioners. The paper is organized as follows. Section 2 first discusses the role of EGI in e-government maturity where previous research is used to highlight the relationship between greater integration and increasing levels of e-government sophistication. Section 3 presents a review of the existing literature in the area of integration. In Section 4, details of the research study are given, including a description of the participants, interview questions and the research procedure used. Section 5 presents the main findings of the study which is the set of 17 barriers to EGI that emerged from the research survey. The barriers are organized into one of four categories, namely strategy, technology, policy and organisation. Section 5 compares the findings with related work, and proposed a model for EGI based on the nature of government relationships in EGI. In Section 6, the paper concludes with an outline of future work.\n2 Role of EGI in e-government maturity: Discussions in the literature have often characterized the maturity of e-government in terms of the breadth, but more so the depth of functionality that is found of government web sites, and several authors have proposed maturity models for e-government (Golden et al., 2003; Koh and Prybutok, 2003; Baum and Maio, 2000; Elmagarmid and McIver, 2001; Layne and Lee, 2001). At a formative stage of e-government maturity, web sites can be characterised as simply \"informational\", offering static web content and downloadable forms. At the next stage of maturity, web sites are transactional, allowing users to conduct discrete transactions such as submitting their tax returns, checking pension contributions or paying vehicle fines. At an advanced stage of maturity, e-government is oriented around user services where the web site is a \"one-stop\" portal offering a comprehensive menu of services specifically tailored to the profile of the individual user (Wimmer, 2002). Based on this view of maturity, one can therefore associate higher levels of e-government maturity with an increasing level of EGI.However, numerous studies in the literature have provided evidence to suggest that governments are far from an advanced stage of e-government maturity.* The global e-government survey conducted by the World Markets Research Centre (WMRC, 2001) indicated that while 71 per cent of national e-government web sites provide access to publications, only 6 per cent feature a one-stop \"portal\" coming close to service-oriented e-government.* A study by the United Nations Division for Public Economics and Public Administration (UNDPEPA, 2001) and the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA) revealed that only 17 out of 190 nations had e-government web sites that offer services of a transactional nature.* A recent survey by Cap Gemini Ernst and Young conducted on behalf of the European Commission, which categorises e-government according to four levels of maturity - information, one-way interaction, two-way interaction and full electronic case handling - found that most e-government services in the EU were somewhere between one-way interaction and two-way interaction (EU, 2003).* In a study of 23 developed nations, the consultancy firm Accenture (2002) found that even though the breadth of e-government services was high, such services had minimal depth.* A study by Teicher et al. (2002) revealed that nearly half of all the Australian e-government web sites in the study were simple at a \"presence\" stage, equivalent to an informational stage.So while progress in e-government has been made in many countries, the evidences suggests a stark reality that much of e-government remains at an informational or \"early\" transactional stage (Strejcek and Theil, 2002; WMRC, 2001).Several authors have indicated that efforts to progress towards a more advanced stage of e-government maturity is hampered by the considerable challenges in EGI (Watson and Mundy, 2001; Golden et al., 2003; Li, 2003). Hence, the objective of the research here is to identify barriers to EGI. The research provides three main benefits. First, the findings will give some insight into why e-government projects suffer from a high rate of failure (Heeks and Bhatnagar, 1999; Symonds, 2000). Second, the research can assist government agencies in the overall planning of e-government projects. And third, the research provides a much needed basis for identifying guidelines and practices for EGI.\n3 Literature review on enterprise integration: The challenge of large-scale integration, or enterprise integration (EI), is not unique to e-government. A study by research firm IDC (2002) based on 1,350 interviews indicated that more than 80 per cent of CIOs and CTOs believed integration was either mandatory for addressing mission-critical activities or a key enabler for meeting business-critical needs. Integration is therefore a challenge that is as common to commercial organisations attempting large-scale integration projects as it is to governments undertaking EGI initiatives.It should be noted that EAI differs significantly from enterprise resource planning (ERP). EAI is concerned with the integration of existing applications in an enterprise, whereas ERP is concerned with the replacement of existing applications with an integrated suite of application from a single vendor (Lee et al., 2003). However, even with an ERP approach, there is still often a need to integrate ERP applications with bespoke applications whose functionality can not be easily replaced by an ERP module (Themistocleous et al., 2001). Researchers have approached EI from several different albeit arguably overlapping perspectives, as classified in Table I.3.1 Enterprise architecture (EA)\n4 The research study: 4.1 Research objective\n5 Results: a taxonomy of barriers to EGI: 5.1 Overview of findings\n6 Discussion: 6.1 Comparison to existing literature on integration barriers\n7 Conclusions and further work: EGI is critical for moving beyond static, information-oriented web sites to more sophisticated online government services. The research here has sought to identify barriers in EGI. Semi-structured interviews were carried out 14 consultants experienced in e-government projects. The study has revealed a broad set of barriers to EGI. These barriers cut across strategy, technology, policy and organization domains, highlighting the fact that EGI is not simply a technical matter of getting IT systems to talk to each other, but something that requires strategic planning and considerable change management. Many of the EGI barriers identified would be common to integration projects in the commercial sector. These common integration barriers include the lack of architecture interoperability, incompatible data standards, lack of relevant integration expertise and the existence of legacy processes. However, certain barriers specifically in the area of policy such as citizen privacy, data ownership across government agencies and e-government policy evolution are particular to the public sector.An important underlying thread throughout the research is that the nature of e-government services necessitates closer working relationships between government stakeholders. The paper has advocated that the development of meaningful and effective relationships between central government, individual government agencies and users of e-government services are critical to successful EGI. A relationship model of EGI has been proposed in this paper in support of this view.One practical application for the research results is the use of the barriers as a checklist for project planning or evaluation. Indeed, a parallel research project currently being pursued by the researcher is the development of a risk register for e-government projects, for which the barriers in EGI identified in the research here forms part of. The risk register is being developed as a practical analysis tool to assist project managers involved in e-government projects.One of the limitations of the research is that it has involved in-depth interviews with a relatively small number of individuals. Although these individuals were geographically dispersed, had different project experiences and varied in seniority, they were all employed by the same Big Five consultancy firm. Further work is planned to validate the list of EGI barriers identified in the study here on a larger number of individuals from a different consultancy organisation. In addition, improvements in research procedure, such as the use of multiple interviewers, will go some way towards increasing the reliability of the research findings.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - Integration is a critical success factor for achieving a mature level of e-government. This research seeks to identify barriers to e-government integration (EGI).\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 consultants with significant experience of e-government projects. The interview transcripts were analysed by the researcher to identify barriers in EGI.\nFindings: - The findings resulted in a set of 17 barriers which were organised into one of four categories: strategy, technology, policy and organization. Strategy barriers include common e-government goals and objectives, delivery timeframes, and ownership and governance. Technology barriers include architecture interoperability, data standards and legacy systems. Policy barriers include citizen privacy, data ownership and policy implications. Organization barriers include pace of government reform, legacy government processes and management and technical skills.\nResearch limitations/implications: - One of the limitations of the research is that it involved in-depth interviews with a relatively small number of individuals. In addition, improvements in research procedure, such as the use of multiple interviewers, will go some way towards increasing the reliability of the research findings.\nPractical implications: - EGI is not simply a technical matter of getting IT systems to talk to each other. Stakeholders should engage in strategic planning and change management.\nOriginality/value: - The paper has identified a set of barriers in e-government. Certain barriers, specifically in the area of policy, are particular to e-government projects. A model of EGI, based on a synthesis of government relationships, is also proposed.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The role of provenance in luxury textile brands	[ "Heritage", "Legitimacy", "Country-of-origin", "Cultural ties", "Provenance", "Spiritual birthplace" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: the role of provenance in the luxury market: This paper discusses and analyses the role that provenance holds within the luxury textiles market. It focuses on identifying the similarities and differences in the perception and acceptance of provenance in the USA and the UK.\nLiterature review: In reviewing the literature on the connection between luxury textile brands and provenance, several important contexts were revealed. These include: the concept of provenance/country-of-origin, the association of provenance and luxury, the impact that provenance has on luxury brand image and the perception of provenance today. When taken as a whole, these four areas illustrate a range of studies that have been conducted within country-of-origin constructs. This paper will begin with a review of these four areas to provide context for this study.\nResearch questions: With the current attributes of the role of provenance identified and discussed, several new areas of enquiry became apparent. The following research questions were formulated and specifically aimed at the luxury textiles market in the UK and the USA, in order to address the gaps in previous studies and to extend existing knowledge in both academic and industrial fields:\nMethodology: ethnographic approach: In order to investigate these issues, a form of \"co-operative inquiry\" research (Heron and Reason, 2001) was practiced to determine the role of provenance in luxury textile brands. The authors identified appropriate research methods to employ; determining a relevant sample selection and designing the questionnaire. The questionnaire was designed to generate in-depth interviews to elucidate qualitative rather than quantitative responses.\nInterview questionnaire: The following questionnaire in Table I was designed to address the research questions by extracting opinions on the importance of provenance, heritage, authenticity and craftsmanship from key strategists in order to determine their perceived importance in the UK and the USA. Identical questions were posed to both target strategist groups so that similarities and differences could be found, analysed and disseminated.\nSample selection: Scottish brands\nSummary conclusions drawn from interview responses: Scottish heritage brands\nCommonalities in the perception of provenance between the US and UK markets: There are noticeable similarities in several of the questionnaire responses from the US and UK interviewees. Most notably, the role of provenance in terms of authenticity, artisanal craftsmanship and heritage are deemed to be key purchasing drivers in both cultures.\nDifferences in the perception of provenance between the US and UK markets: There are noticeable differences in several of the questionnaire responses from the US and UK interviewees. Of greatest difference are: the considered location of a firm's spiritual birthplace, the overall perception of provenance in the USA and the possibility of de-localizing manufacturing. In the US luxury textile industry, \"heritage\" derives from Europe. It is often the association with the brand's founder which influences the overall perception of provenance (Nueno and Quelch, 1998).\nConcluding remarks: A framework of recommendations to the global luxury brand sector\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyse the role that provenance holds within the luxury textiles market. It defines similarities and differences in the perception and acceptance of provenance as a key strategy for luxury textile brands in the USA and the UK. Its purpose is to establish a framework of identifiable communication strategies for future growth of the luxury brand sector.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study consisted of adopting an ethnographic approach to define the role of provenance within luxury brands in the USA and the UK. Attention was focused on textile heritage labels in the USA and in Scotland, to gain insight into how historic artisanship impacts the perception of luxury and authenticity by the consumer. Interviews with key strategists were conducted, and a comparison of the discussions disseminated.\nFindings: The narrative behind a product, its authenticity and provenance, are key drivers in luxury textile brands, with the perception of quality of utmost importance. Long-standing companies have interwoven provenances with their spiritual birthplaces, people and environment which can be leveraged in product introductions and branding.\nPractical implications: The paper provides a framework of key features of provenance to inform practitioners on dilemmas such as de-localization, re-localization and transcendence within the luxury brand sector.\nOriginality/value: The paper furthers academic research by investigating contemporary issues in luxury consumer behaviour; specifically in relation to the perception of provenance. While research focuses on Western luxury textile brands and consumers, it provides reference criteria and recommendations to luxury brand strategists that can be adopted and adapted for different fields and geographic locations.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Supporting women's persistence in computing and technology: A case for compulsory critical coding?	[ "Equity", "STEM", "Computing", "Mixed-methods", "Women", "CS-for-All" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In 2016, then President Obama announced his vision for the \"Computer Science (CS) for All Initiative\" in which all students would have \"hands-on computer science and math classes that make them job-ready on day one\" (State of the Union Address). The CS-for-All initiative was part of a broader campaign to support and expand science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and employment opportunities for American youth. We are purposefully calling attention to this connection between CS and broader STEM activities as our research has been investigating what role early computing interest and opportunities for young women play in supporting their persistence in both computing and other technology fields. In this article, we compare the results of a quantitative survey measuring predictive factors for young women's persistence in CS and non-CS college majors, with the findings from qualitative interviews and focus groups of the same population of young women. Specifically, we present research findings from surveys, interviews and focus groups that followed-up with young women in college and early careers who had shown an interest in computing during high school as demonstrated by applying for the National Center for Women and Information Technology (NCWIT) Aspirations in Computing (AiC) award.\nBackground: The underrepresentation of women in computing continues to be an unsolved yet highly investigated problem. According to the National Center for Educational Statistics, the percentage of women pursuing CS-related majors has declined over the past three decades from 37 per cent of bachelor's degrees earned in 1985 to 18.7 per cent in 2016 [National Center for Women and Information Technology (NCWIT), 2018]. Although women enroll at lower rates than men, there is little difference in attrition rates by gender in college degree programs (Cohen and Deterding, 2009; Dee and Gershenson, 2017). Research has focused on what spurs interest in computing such as early exposure, access to rigorous computing opportunities and peer support (Google, 2014; Teague, 2002) and what hinders women's participation in computing, including gender-bias, micro-aggressions and lack of community support (Camacho and Lord, 2011; Rosson et al., 2011; Smyth and Nosek, 2015). The problem of underrepresentation has persisted for so long that numerous efforts have been made to synthesize all the research to date and possible solutions (Corbett and Hill, 2015; Kanny et al., 2014;). Despite the enduring problem of the lack of women's participation in computing, there have been multiple calls to increase their participation [National Research Council (NRC), 2011; National Center for Women and Information Technology (NCWIT), 2015; The White House, 2009]. Our research attempts to support this call.\nEquity and computer science education: As Social and Learning Scientists, we are mindful of the ways in which our research can disrupt or contribute to injustice and inequity in our society. For example, the way in which the underrepresentation of women in computing is often framed - and we invoked this framing by including Obama's call for a STEM ready workforce - is that equity would be achieved if women were represented in 50 per cent of computing jobs. Although this is a goal that as researchers for NCWIT we hope is attained, we also recognize that it oversimplifies both what \"equitable\" participation entails and the ways in which computing as a discipline is tied to systems of power and embedded within complex sociopolitical contexts that are inherently fraught with competing economic and political interests (Vakil, 2018). Furthermore, we have shown that \"successful\" participation in STEM activities does not necessarily mean that young women do not still suffer gendered consequences despite their success (Weidler-Lewis et al., 2016), and pushing women through the \"STEM pipeline\" only to earn significantly less money than their white male counterparts is hardly equitable (Sengupta-Irving, 2015). Therefore, we must question how we define our goals for success and equity in STEM disciplines (Carlone et al., 2011).\nMethods and data: The research question is as follows:\nFindings: In this section, we present condensed findings from our two strands of research. A summary of our findings allows us to make comparisons between the qualitative and quantitative data that might otherwise be obscured by a comprehensive discussion of each study alone. For a more detailed description of the survey findings, see Weston et al. (2019) and a more detailed description of the qualitative research see DuBow et al. (2017). By presenting the findings from the two strands separately, we address the question, \"How do our qualitative and quantitative findings on women's persistence in computing complement and/or contradict each other?\" Taken together, our two strands of research weave an argument for how best to understand the data used to answer the question, \"What factors influence women's meaningful participation and persistence in computing?\"\nDiscussion and conclusion: At one level, our findings are neither novel nor unexpected in that they mirror many of the findings from the previous research discussed above including access, support, and bias. On the other hand, our findings are unique given both the sample size and longevity of the research. Longitudinal research on women's interest and persistence in computing is sparse. This is due in part to the fact that the CS-for-all-initiative is relatively new, so before, many women's early computing experiences were in informal settings that present challenges to following-up with students. Given the national presence of NCWIT, we were in a privileged position of having access to hundreds of women allowing us to make claims from a larger, more diverse population than smaller studies.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to investigate what factors influence women's meaningful and equitable persistence in computing and technology fields. It draws on theories of learning and equity from the learning sciences to inform the understanding of women's underrepresentation in computing as it investigates young women who showed an interest in computing in high school and followed-up with them in their college and careers.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The mixed-methods approach compares data from quantitative surveys and qualitative focus groups and interviews. The sample comes from database of 1,500 young women who expressed interest in computing by applying for an award for high schoolers. These women were surveyed in 2013 and then again in 2016, with 511 women identifying themselves as high schoolers in 2013 and then having graduated and pursued college or careers in the second survey. The authors also conducted qualitative interviews and focus groups with 90 women from the same sample.\nFindings: The findings show that multiple factors influence women's persistence in computing, but the best predictor of women's persistence is access to early computing and programming opportunities. However, access and opportunities must be evaluated within broader social and contextual factors.\nResearch limitations/implications: The main limitation is that the authors measure women's persistence in computing according to their chosen major or profession. This study does not measure the impact of computational thinking in women's everyday lives.\nPractical implications: Educators and policymakers should consider efforts to make Computer Science-for-All a reality.\nOriginality/value: Few longitudinal studies of a large sample of women exist that follow women interested in computing from high school into college and careers particularly from a critical educational equity perspective.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Authoritarian leadership: Curvilinear relationships with organizational citizenship and organizational deviance	[ "Pakistan", "Curvilinear relationship", "Authoritarian leadership", "Organizational deviance", "Benevolent climate", "Supervisor-directed organizational Citizenship" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Authoritarian leadership occurs when a leader maintains complete control over employees and expects absolute obedience in return. This type of leadership is common in collectivist cultures and high power distance societies. Research into the effect of authoritarian leadership is mixed showing evidence for a negative influence on employee behavior and task performance and on the other hand a positive effect on job attitudes and growth of revenue. In addition, research which examines the factors that lead to these positive and negative outcomes is limited. While there is evidence that leaders promote organizational citizen behavior (OCB) but discourage organizational deviance this depends on the employees' perception of leadership behavior and it is not clear how authoritarian leadership influences these aspects of employee behavior.\nTheoretical Background: Paternalistic leadership is considered to have three components which will influence an employee's behavior - benevolent, moral and authoritarian. Research findings into these components as a single continuum have been mixed therefore they have been considered separately, particularly authoritarian leadership as while benevolent and moral leadership show positive outcomes authoritarian leadership shows both positive and negative outcomes.\nThe relationships between authoritarian leadership and OCBS and between authoritarian leadership and organizational deviance: This study examines the relationship between authoritarian leadership and OCBS and between authoritarian leadership and organizational deviance and the moderating effect of a benevolent climate.\nPractical Implications: The study's findings suggest that moderate use of authoritarian leadership should be utilized to maximize OCBS and minimize organizational deviance. The right balance needs to be struck as too high a degree of commanding and controlling behavior by a leader can result in deviance and too low can have a detrimental effect on performance. Attention needs to be paid to the cultural context and leaders should consider task interdependence, organizational context, time pressure and employee personalities to achieve the optimum level of authoritarian leadership.\nCommentary: The review is based on, \"Authoritarian leadership, organizational citizenship behavior, and organizational deviance\", by Ahmad Bodla et al. (2019), published in Leadership & Organization Development Journal. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationships between authoritarian leadership and OCBS and authoritarian leadership and organizational deviance. The results suggest that authoritarian leadership and OCBS do have a curvilinear relationship and moderate levels of authoritarian leadership minimize organizational deviance. A benevolent climate has a positive moderating effect on the curvilinear relationship between authoritarian leadership and OCBS but does not have a moderating effect on the curvilinear relationship between authoritarian leadership and organizational deviance. Therefore moderate use of authoritarian leadership should be utilized to maximize OCBS and minimize organizational deviance and a climate of benevolence in the workplace should be developed to strengthen bonds and optimize performance. This paper has an original approach in examining a curvilinear relationship between authoritarian leadership, OCBS and organizational deviance.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the relationships between authoritarian leadership and OCBS and authoritarian leadership and organizational deviance.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Data was gathered from the responses to a questionnaire survey of 240 employee- supervisor pairs in four manufacturing and three service organizations in Pakistan.\nFindings: The results suggest that authoritarian leadership and OCBS do have a curvilinear relationship and moderate levels of authoritarian leadership minimize organizational deviance. A benevolent climate has a positive moderating effect on the curvilinear relationship between authoritarian leadership and OCBS but does not have a moderating effect on the curvilinear relationship between authoritarian leadership and organizational deviance.\nPractical implications: Moderate use of authoritarian leadership should be utilized to maximize OCBS and minimize organizational deviance and a climate of benevolence in the workplace should be developed to strengthen bonds and optimize performance.\nOriginality/value: This paper has an original approach in examining a curvilinear relationship between authoritarian leadership, OCBS and organizational deviance.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The effect of organizational culture on implementing and sustaining lean processes	[ "Culture", "Organizational performance", "Lean", "Lean manufacturing", "Organizational change", "Lean production" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Although the term lean has been used to indicate lean production or lean manufacturing, it has come to refer to lean processes that encompass all organizational functions. Lean is similar to the ideas in total quality management (TQM), just-in-time (JIT), and Six Sigma, because they share the same fundamental approaches (Naslund, 2008) and similar results of high quality, high service, and support of strategic goals (Blanchard, 2007). There are particular dimensions conceptualizing lean processes throughout the organization: Employee involvement; Creativity, problem-solving processes, and decentralization; Control and standardization; and Efficiency, productivity, and continuous quality improvement. The cultural infrastructure within the organization affects the success of implementing and sustaining lean processes.\nLean processes: Womack and Jones (1994) and Wilson (2010) suggested that the main thrust of lean concepts is the total elimination of all waste by all organizational members from all processes. Although often presented as a cost-reduction mechanism (Achanga, 2006; Bicheno, 2004), it is much more. Bozdogan (2010) clearly identified lean management as a top to bottom process, including shareholders and all other stakeholders, creating a network of organizational capabilities resulting in competitive advantage.\nOrganizational culture: Organizational culture impacts performance because it affects individual behaviors (Calori and Samin, 1991; Yin-Cheong, 1989). It is a key factor in successful lean processes because culture determines whether an idea or process is accepted or rejected (Crandall and Crandall, 2011). Organizational culture is the belief system that members of an organization share, including ways of working, traditions, stories, and acceptable methods to achieve goals (Calori and Samin, 1991; Hofstede, 2001; Schein, 2004). Culture is cumulative, evolving over time as people share experiences, adapt to similar conditions, and deal with their physical and social environments (Hofstede, 2001). Much of the research on organizational culture has been focussed on understanding and defining it, but to appropriately support management objectives, the impact of organizational culture must be examined (Quinn and Spreitzer, 1991).\nOrganizational culture and lean processes: Lean is a broad concept with multiple implications (Mehta and Shah, 2005). There are definite aspects of organizational culture that affect lean processes. Crandall and Crandall (2011) suggested that organizational culture can block the implementation of improvement programs - these implementations cannot be completed in the same way that a new machine is introduced (Dahlgaard and Dahlgaard-Park, 1999). Support for the implementation of lean processes throughout a firm is a precondition (Dahlgaard and Dahlgaard-Park, 1999), just as it is for any successful collective effort on the part of a firm (Cameron and Quinn, 1999). At the beginning of lean implementation, objectives of strategy and competitive advantage must be measured against the ability of the organizational culture to sustain them (Zu et al., 2010). If the culture does not support the necessary lean processes, then the culture must be altered, if implementation is to be successful and continuation assured (Shook, 2010). The key is to understand which processes are supported by the different cultures that are possible within an organization.\nConclusion: We have considered the parallels between organizational culture and lean processes, finding that the literature strongly suggests that culture affects processes in multiple ways. This paper is the first attempt to examine lean efforts with the lens of organizational culture. The Competing Values Framework (Quinn and Spreitzer, 1991) is a logical step to take in examining these possible effects on implementing and sustaining lean process. The challenge to implement and sustain lean processes lies in the need to identify the organizational culture infrastructure that will allow this system first used by Japanese firms to operate well in other organizational contexts (Liker et al., 1999). The values and norms that underlie lean processes may create conflict with the culture that already exists within the organization; such divergence retards adoption and performance (Naor et al., 2010).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Lean systems thinking was widely studied using relevant variables, but there is a dearth of published theoretical or empirical evidence about the cultural aspects of lean processes. The lack of conceptual development is one of the motivations for this study. Do organizational cultural variations correlate with the success and effectiveness of lean processes? What organizational infrastructures are required for effective lean implementation and continuation? The paper aims to discuss these issues.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Examining literature in the area of lean production and lean management, the authors sought current literature at the intersection of organizational culture and lean processes, particularly implementation and sustainability, but found little relating to the topic. Therefore, using the Competing Values Framework taxonomy, the authors examine this intersection, relying on related research in the areas.\nFindings: In this paper, a brief discussion of lean processes in relation to organizational culture leads to propositions that identify the various cultural dimensions and their purported effect on lean implementation and sustainability. A model of this interaction is developed. Those quadrants of the Competing Values Framework that might be useful in developing research directions for the future are identified.\nResearch limitations/implications: Future research directions include the measurement of organizational culture in firms that have implemented lean processes. This would be a step toward looking at the effect that the different quadrants in the Competing Values Framework have on various elements of lean efforts. This would take a significant amount of work, because the manufacturing industry, the leader in implementing and sustaining lean processes, may have institutionalized particular organizational cultures. It would be an interesting step forward in the understanding of how lean processes are operationalized across different firms and industries. However, there are multiple ways to examine culture; the authors believe this method allows the capture of the entire spectrum.\nPractical implications: Knowing which dimensions influence lean effectiveness and the way that they wield that influence allows managers to develop the firm's organizational culture to one that will support implementing and sustaining lean efforts. The challenge to implement and sustain lean processes lies in the need to identify the organizational culture infrastructure that will allow this system that was first used by Japanese firms to operate well in other organizational contexts. The values and norms that underlie lean processes may create conflict with the culture that already exists within the organization; such divergence retards adoption and performance.\nOriginality/value: There is a lack of research at the critical intersection of organizational culture and lean implementation/sustainability. Culture is key to making the changes required of lean implementation and in sustaining the drive toward lean production and management. The paper begins to fill that gap.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Organizational culture and performance: a macro-level longitudinal study	[ "Competing values framework", "Organizational culture", "Balanced scorecard", "Organizational performance" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Culture is \"the characteristic way of behaving and believing that a group of people have developed over time and share in common\" (Tarique et al., 2016, p. 124). Organizational culture, in particular, is the concrete manifestation of shared values and beliefs that affect employee behavior (De Chernatony and Cottam, 2008; Hoque et al., 2013) and shape the way an organization operates and performs (Kiriakidou and Millward, 2000). The nature of organizational culture implies how significant the collective assumptions of members must be in articulating the culture of an organization, determining and interpreting its course of action, and reasonably predicting how the organization will move forward.\nTheoretical background: Organizations strive to encapsulate their culture with distinguishing terms for communication, organization development (OD) and employer branding, to name a few, but find it difficult to make a clear-cut depiction because there are many important competing values. In figuring out a culture fit for optimum performance, they also realize that organizational performance is a collective concept constructed with multiple critical dimensions. Given these, culture types and their associations with multiple performance criteria have been in the research interest of the OD and human resources (HR) fields.\nMethodologies: Discussed below are data sets used, research variables and analytical strategies of the current research.\nFindings: Reported below are the findings on organizational culture and its relationship with organizational performance.\nDiscussion: Below are further discussions on the findings, followed by implications for research and practice.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to take a series of snapshots of perceived organizational culture over time, analyze the longitudinal pattern of its change, examine the relationship between organizational culture and organizational performance and verify if the relationship remains consistent, regardless of the flow of time.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Competing values framework and balanced scorecard are employed to look at organizational culture and its link with organizational performance; the panel data with more than 400 Korean firms from three biennial waves (2011, 2013 and 2015) are analyzed for a macro-level longitudinal examination.\nFindings: Findings include that clan and market cultures were more prevalent than adhocracy and hierarchy cultures, and clan culture significantly decreased over time (H1); adhocracy, clan and market cultures had a consistently positive relationship with all the performance variables over the years and demonstrated a stronger impact in that order (H2).\nResearch limitations/implications: The results call for continued research on organizational culture in a longitudinal and cross-sectional nature, and a more comprehensive culture framework for today's organizations.\nPractical implications: Suggestions include that leaders should engage in bilateral communications and network building for successful organization development and change, and take a comprehensive, long-range approach in conducting cultural assessments.\nOriginality/value: The current study addresses a lack of empirical support and a single organization, point-of-time perspective in organizational culture research by examining organizational culture and performance with a macro-level longitudinal approach.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Log on and blog: An exploratory study assessing the impact of holiday blogging on student literacy achievement	[ "Literacy", "Writing" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The present study seeks to contribute to the \"Summer Learning Effect\" (SLE) literature by exploring the impact of participation in a digital blogging intervention on writing achievement for students in a group of schools that serve a low socioeconomic status (SES) community. The study responds to an educational improvement challenge facing groups of schools serving low SES communities in New Zealand. The negative educational impact of taking a break from school over summer (the so-called SLE) is variable between and within communities (Meyer et al., 2015). Nevertheless, of particular concern is the pattern of differential SLE where the average progress of students from lower SES communities consistently fails to keep pace with the average progress of their higher SES peers when school is not in session (Heyns, 1978). The cumulative effect of successive summers is thought to result in an accumulating achievement gap over time (Alexander et al., 2007). For schools, this compounding effect provides a substantial barrier to ongoing improvement efforts, in terms of long-term achievement outcomes for their students.\nBlogging within the digital learning context: The present study is set in the context of a local digital learning initiative in a group of schools, where researchers contribute to the design through evaluation, feedback and recommendations. This initiative seeks to address inequities in educational provision and outcomes, through the implementation of digital learning with the support of a charitable trust. The programme uses digital tools and promotes \"digital citizenship\" inside and outside of the classroom, through student device ownership and wireless provision to school and home. The pedagogy is supported through a learning cycle which frames the digital teaching approach, using Google applications and individual student blogs. Researchers have entered a partnership with the schools to document and support the educational effects (see Jesson et al., 2015).\nMethods: Evaluation design\nMeasures: School administered writing achievement information for each time point was collected from the participating schools. Writing achievement was assessed using e-asTTle (http://e-asttle.tki.org.nz/Teacher-resources/e-asTTle-writing-Background), an online standardised assessment tool commonly used by schools in New Zealand. The tool allows schools to develop a customised, but standardised, writing test bank of prompts aligned to the curriculum achievement outcomes for New Zealand Curriculum. Tests are scored by teachers, for each of the rubric elements, moderated and then entered into the tool as a \"Rubric score\" of 1-6 or 1-7 depending on the writing element. Based on the teacher-assigned rubric score, elements are weighted using single-parameter item response theory (IRT) scoring which adjusts for prompt difficulty and transforms rubric scores to an overall scale score. Results are presented relative to New Zealand curriculum outcomes and national norms of performance for students in Years 1-10.\nResults: Within-subjects comparison\nDiscussion: This study contributes to the existing body of research into programmes designed to address the SLE, by investigating whether there is potential for digital innovations to allow students to continue to learn when school is not in session. To do so, we investigated whether a summer blogging programme, with particular design features, might serve as a platform to ameliorate SLE, particularly in writing. We drew on previous research in low SES communities, to design a programme that was led by student interest, simulated leisure-based literacy activities and could be accessed at \"home\" (or, more precisely, anywhere with internet access). The combined results indicate that based on this initial study, summer blogging seems to have potential as a fruitful approach to sustaining writing achievement.\nImplications of findings: The combined results indicate the potential of blogging as an avenue for ongoing learning over summer, through a programme that built on previous explanations for the SLE by incorporating into the design issues of access to texts, motivation for and ongoing participation in, student-led, school-like literacy activity over times when school is not in session. This finding concurs with previous studies that suggest that the SLE is amenable to intervention (Kim and Quinn, 2013), and offers blogging as a potential approach for that intervention. Our findings also add some support for studies which suggest that blogging can be used by educators wanting to build students' writing expertise. However, because we wanted to foster interest and leisure-led participation, our design incorporated a lot of student choices. We did not control how much students wrote, which activities they chose or in what order and we do not know if elements of the programme design independently led to that expertise. Studies of the SLE indicate that the continued participation in school like literacy activities can ameliorate the effects of time away from school (Allington et al., 2010). However, studies of blogging during school time suggest that the audience can directly and indirectly support students' writing development, providing a strong motivational factor for students (Lapp et al., 2011; Read and Fisher, 2006) and thereby opportunity to practice their writing or compositional skills (Lacina and Griffith, 2012; Witte, 2007). In our study, the wider audience included students in overseas schools who were recruited to blog during their school year, the students' own blog followers, including family and friends and the lead researcher, who commented on every blogpost and might be considered a \"teacher\" audience, although she was not previously known to the students. Future research might ascertain whether it was continued practice in school-like activity, engagement in specific types of activities (such as the more higher-order choices or commenting on the blogs of others) or features particular to blogging that worked to promote writing development.\nChallenges/limitations: It must be noted that the present study has limitations because of its size, scope, time span and participant characteristics. Students' enthusiasm to opt into the programme is likely to be a confounding factor when interpreting the results. Thus, we cannot claim with complete certainty that participation in the SLJ caused the observed amelioration of the SLE. Nor can we claim that the same programme will work again for a different group of students. The study focused on a relatively small sample (n = 21) from three SES schools in the same large, metropolitan city in New Zealand. We were also reliant on tracking back previous years' data for students in a context where many students move between schools, and were able to find data for only 14 of the participants from the end of 2014. Thus, the findings should be interpreted cautiously, as there is limited scope for generalisability. Additionally, this study only investigated the impact of participation in the SLJ programme over one summer; it is possible that this summer could be unique, that participants were involved in other literacy learning opportunities or that the participants' experiences with the programme were unique to their own characteristics. It must also be noted that the participating schools were purposively selected based on their digital context and that students volunteered to opt into the programme. Voluntary self-selection limits the variability and representativeness of our sample; however, efforts were made to minimize the impact of selection bias in this study by using a single subject logic to address change for the same students compared to previous years, and ensure that comparative analyses were undertaken with a control group matched on demographic variables of interest, and as closely as possible on achievement. Replicating the results with a larger, more widely representative sample over multiple years would yield opportunities for greater analytic assessment and enhanced generalisability.\nSignificance: While this is a small study to gauge the effectiveness of blogging as a suitable vehicle for summer programmes, the results are promising. Of particular note are the sizes of the differences between the writing scores of participants and both estimates of the control condition: students' own scores in previous summers and the scores of matched control group. This provides initial evidence that participating in a digital blogging programme over the summer holiday period might attenuate the drop in literacy scores realized by students attending digitally enabled schools in low SES communities. Given the high rates of SLE previously reported by these schools, and the negative effect that low literacy ability has on students, these results offer an important building block for tackling the educational challenge facing these schools, who seek educational solutions to ongoing challenges using digital learning initiatives.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to investigate the viability of blogging over the summer holidays as an intervention to ameliorate the Summer Learning Effect (SLE) in writing. The SLE is the impact on achievement of taking a break from school over summer, and has been documented to affect differentially those students who come from low socioeconomic status (SES) communities compared with their more affluent peers. However, previous studies within similar communities suggest that the effect is not inevitable, and is amenable to intervention.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The present study is set in a group of low SES schools where students already have individual learning blogs. The Summer Learning Journey was designed by the research team in consultation with students and teachers from the schools and trialled in January 2015. The design of the programme drew on previous research that suggested that students would be motivated by interest, rather than achievement, and that literacy activity over summer should be leisure-based.\nFindings: Initial evidence suggests that students who participated made measurable improvements compared with their own progress over the previous summer and also compared with a matched control group of students, and that the observed difference continued over the 2016 school year.\nResearch limitations/implications: The study provides initial evidence of quite substantial differences in achievement for those students who were active bloggers.\nOriginality/value: The study provides an alternative direction from current summer learning programmes and indicates the potential for designing digital opportunities for learning at times when the school is not in session.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The influence of labelling on consumers' evaluations of fresh and thawed cod fillets in England	[ "Consumers", "Fish (food)", "Fresh foods", "Frozen foods", "Cod", "Perception", "Consumer behaviour", "Food products" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Regular consumption of fish is recommended (Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition, 2004) due to its high nutritional value that benefits human health (Mozaffarian and Rimm, 2006). Despite the known benefits and recommendations, consumption of fish in Europe is known to be around one portion/serving per week, which is about half of the recommended amount (FAO, 2009, Einarsdottir et al., 2007).There are many parameters that influence consumers in the choice of fish as their main meal and one of the most important is product quality, which, portrayed on a label, is found to determine the products that various types of consumers choose in the market place (Verbeke et al., 2007). Additionally, traditions with specific types of products such as frozen fish may lead to regular consumption of the same types of products, while at the same time keep consumers away from unfamiliar products (Sveinsdottir et al., 2009). Furthermore, consumers in Europe report that information on the product packaging and the source of information can influence their feelings of trust about the content of the information. A decreased trust in the information then becomes a source of hesitation and lack of confidence in buying the specific product that carries the information (Pieniak et al., 2007). In England, fish products do carry information that is placed by the producers, retailers or an unknown source.The development of new products with attention to the needs and perceptions of the consumers will lead to improved products and relevant labelling. Based on consumer testing, regulated product labelling (UK Legislation Act No. 1499, 1996) will include information adapted to the right amount, placement and language that can reach relevant consumers (e.g. Altintzoglou et al., 2010). Tailor made labelling will portray that processing methods such as freezing are used in order to maintain the perishable freshness of seafood products that need to be transferred from various locations to the retail stores. Following a consumer oriented product development strategy will eventually increase consumer's appreciation for fish and will lead to an increase in fish consumption. Increased fish consumption will benefit both consumers and of course, the relevant fish industry sector.Aside from the existing literature on the aforementioned topics, there is little information regarding what English consumers associate with fresh and thawed fish, especially cod. Additionally, there is little known about how English consumers evaluate fresh and thawed cod products that either carry no information or are labelled as fresh or thawed. Therefore, the first aim of the studies presented in this paper was to explore how consumers in England perceive fresh and thawed fish. An additional aim of these studies was to explore English consumers' impressions regarding fish products labelled as fresh or thawed. Using these exploratory stages, the eventual aim to measure the effect of information on the consumers' evaluation of fresh and thawed cod could be examined.The first hypothesis regarding the quantitative part of the study was that consumers do discriminate fresh from thawed cod. This discrimination was expected to lead to a reported preference for the fish of the highest quality. Furthermore, it was expected that information will have an influence on English consumers' evaluations of the two products. The evaluation of the labelled products was expected to lead to an increase in the evaluations of the fresh product and a decrease in the evaluations of the thawed product.\n2. Materials and methods: The study described in this paper comprised of two parts. The first part was explorative and therefore based on focus groups discussions (FGD) that would expand the existing knowledge in the field of focus of this study (Endacott, 2008). The second part was aimed at the examination of specific differences between product and information types and hence based on a central location test (CLT) were consumers evaluated the various product types.2.1 Focus group discussions\n3. Results: 3.1 Socio-demographic characteristics\n4. Discussion: The main aim of the qualitative part of this paper was to explore how consumers in England perceive fresh and thawed fish. An additional aim of the qualitative part was to explore English consumers' impressions regarding fish products labelled as fresh or thawed. The main aim of the quantitative part of this paper was to present the effect of information on the consumers' evaluation of fresh and thawed cod.When consumers were asked to evaluate cod fish fillets without information, they showed a preference for the thawed cod fillets. Relevant results of evaluations of thawed cod products in the literature (Bennett and Hamilton, 2007) indicate that this result is not surprising. Additionally, the thawed cod product in our study was treated under optimal conditions, which led to a very high quality product. The quality of the thawed product in our study challenged the fresh cod product which was treated identically to the way in which it would appear in a real-life market situation. Therefore, the differences between fresh and thawed products in our study were considered optimal in order to examine the main aim of the study, i.e. the effect of information on the evaluation of fresh and thawed cod fillets. The main finding described in this paper was that consumers have positive associations and expectations regarding fresh fish products. However, when fish is and is labelled \"thawed\" consumers became unsure and less positive about the freshness and quality of the fish products.The effect of information on the evaluation of cod products has been previously presented with respect to wild and farmed cod (Kole et al., 2009). In the case of farmed and wild cod, the effect of information was found to be stronger than the effect of the differences between the products without information. In the present study, unlabelled thawed and fresh cod products were evaluated for their intrinsic quality. However, when information was presented to the consumers, expectations for a higher quality of fresh cod products led to higher evaluations (Deliza and MacFie, 1996) of the fresh product, even though it was identical to the unlabelled one. The influence of expectations on the perception of the two products could have been more dramatic if the stimulated contrast was not within realistic and acceptable product quality, however, the produced contrast led to evaluations within acceptable levels (Schifferstein et al., 1999).Part of the insecurity related to thawed fish originated from the fact that consumers were unsure of who is responsible for the labelling of products. Additionally, consumers showed lower trust in information that did not originate from a formal authority, in agreement with what has been reported in the literature (Pieniak et al., 2007). This insecurity was related to the differences in practices and interests between actors in the food production and distribution chain. As different methods of freezing and thawing can influence the quality of the final fish product (e.g. Martinsdottir and Magnusson, 2001), consumers usually report preference for more information about the freezing process (Nevin, 2003). However, this preference may have been influenced by the amount of tradition English consumers have with consuming fresh and thawed products (Sveinsdottir et al., 2009) and existing knowledge about fish (Verbeke and Ward, 2006; Verbeke, 2008).Consumers were unsure about differences in quality between different types of processed fish, even though they were sure about the higher quality of fresh fish. This could be considered as an indication of lack of knowledge, which was coupled with the consumers liking of short labels that included information about the location where freezing took place (e.g. \"frozen at sea\" in Table V). A practical implication that could be derived from this indication is the need for consumer driven labelling and the application of traceability systems (Donnelly and Karlsen, 2010). The application of a tractability system would provide a valid source of any information consumers might be interested in at present or in a future market situation.The present research was based on the combination of a focus groups study which was followed by a CLT. Additionally, the labels used to provide information to the consumers were words (i.e. fresh, thawed). Real-life in-home consumer testing with extensive labels could have been performed in order to gather more realistic information about consumers' evaluations of the products (e.g. Kole et al., 2009). However, due to the purpose of the present study, short labels and a controlled environment were used to ensure that the consumers will pay careful attention to the information. Taking this limitation into account, further testing of more realistic labelling could benefit from a real-life in-home experiment.In conclusion, this study demonstrated that consumers are concerned about the topic of thawed fish. When consumers evaluated fresh and thawed cod fillets without information, they could discriminate between the two, preferring the high quality thawed product. However, when products where labelled, consumers preferred the cod fillets labelled as fresh. Since the image of thawed fish is less positive than the image of fresh fish, labelling thawed fish with additional, yet short, information about when freezing and thawing took place will benefit the relevant fish industry and consumers. Informed consumers will be able to familiarise with information about product processing and decide based on realistic quality expectations and consume fish more frequently.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of information on English consumers' evaluation of fresh and thawed cod fillets which in English retail stores is referred to as \"chilled\" seafood.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - After the exploration of consumers' impressions of thawed fish, this study followed a pair-wise comparison approach in a central location consumer test. Fish fillets were evaluated on liking, smell and texture by means of a questionnaire with additional behavioural and attitudinal questions.\nFindings: - This study showed that consumers in England may prefer thawed over fresh cod fillets without information. However, consumers' evaluations increased for labelled fresh cod fillets and decreased for thawed. Finally, consumers reported positive expectations about fillets labelled \"fresh\" or \"frozen at sea\".\nResearch limitation/implications: - This study involved testing cod fillets in a central location test. Consumers do not usually evaluate cod fillets in this way in their daily life. The quality of the two types of fillets made especially for this test may vary compared to the ones usually sold and consumed.\nPractical implications: - This study can inform producers and retailers about what to expect by means of sales of fresh and thawed cod products with or without information.\nSocial implications: - It was shown that consumers are positively influenced by information and are willing to consume more fish if they know that the fish is fresh or thawed properly.\nOriginality/value: - This is the first paper to present English consumers' evaluations of thawed cod.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Compensation for disturbance in New South Wales: value vs cost	[ "Cost", "Loss", "Compulsory acquisition", "Disturbance compensation", "Land Acquisition Act 1991", "Value to owner" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Australia is in the midst of an infrastructure boom with the development and provision of infrastructure being a key Government policy for not only the Commonwealth Government but also for most of the State Governments. At the Commonwealth Government level, the 2017 Federal Budget provided an additional A$20bn in capital spending for infrastructure on top of the A$50bn announced in the previous year (Norington, 2017).\n2. Pre-1991 common law position on compensation for disturbance: The common law of compulsory acquisition in Australia was grounded in almost 200 years of case law on valuation and compensation across the Commonwealth, developing from a series of judicial decisions arising from the great railway acquisitions in England in the 1840s, the construction of the Thames Embankment in the 1860s and other major Victorian era infrastructure projects both in Great Britain and across the Empire (Hemmings, 1997).\n3. Judicial decisions on disturbance under the Act: Having general regard to the body of pre-statutory common law existing, compensation for compulsory acquisition was codified in New South Wales with the introduction of the Land Acquisition (Just Terms Compensation) Act 1991 (the Act).\n4. Disturbance compensation for businesses: value vs cost: As noted above, conceptually and very significantly, there is no notion of value to the owner in the allowable heads of compensation for disturbance under the Act with a sole focus on costs and fees incurred, being reimbursing provisions rather than atoning provisions. This creates an immediate tension concerning compensation for the compulsory acquisition of businesses where notions of value to the owner may be considered to include elements of equity and fairness but \"financial costs reasonably incurred in connection with the relocation\" may be considered to be far narrower.\n5. Summary and conclusions: Prior to the introduction of the Act, disturbance was compensable under the common law as part of \"value to the owner,\" which embodied elements of personal loss not related to the land. It may be contended that the concept of \"value to the owner\" was of significance as it imputed a level of generosity to compensate a dispossessed owner for that which he perceived to be the impact on his worth, as distinct from a concept of value to the market or as distinct from concepts of cost that arose with the introduction of the Act.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore compensation for compulsorily acquired businesses in the pre-statutory value to the owner regime compared to the post-statutory cost and loss to the owner regime.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study involved researching decisions of the NSW Land and Environment Court and appellate courts in the pre- and post-statutory regimes. It also involved the identification of value to owner compensation in pre-statutory decisions and comparison with costs and loss to owner compensation in post-statutory decisions.\nFindings: The study found that the few post-statutory decisions on disturbance compensation for compulsorily acquired businesses appear inconsistent with the provisions of the statute; however, the value vs cost debate has not yet been fully tested in the courts.\nResearch limitations/implications: The research is limited by the number and types of cases brought before the primary court and the number and types of cases then brought before the appellate courts.\nPractical implications: With recent decisions in the post-statutory regime adopting a more clinical interpretation of the Act concerning other heads of claim for disturbance, future cases before the courts may be expected to have a greater focus on the value vs cost issue for compensation claims for compulsorily acquired businesses.\nSocial implications: Compensation based on a clinical interpretation of cost or loss arising from the compulsory acquisition of a business in the post-statutory regime may result in inequitable compensation to the acquired party, failing the primary provision of the Act to justly compensate for the acquisition.\nOriginality/value: While conceptual differences between cost and value were considered and distinguished long ago in the valuation discipline in Australia and overseas, this is the first time they have emerged in the legal discipline in Australia through specific statutory wording.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Siemens Automation & Drives makes training "stick": Workshops bring measurable improvements in customer satisfaction	[ "Training evaluation", "Customer service", "Manufacturing systems", "Quality", "Organizational change" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: It is a familiar scenario. You go off on a training course or coaching session that provides you with plenty of new ideas about how to do your job better. Brimming with enthusiasm about the changes, and eager to get back to the workplace to implement them, you tick all the \"excellent\" or \"very good\" boxes in the post-training questionnaire. You genuinely were very satisfied with both the content of the training you received and the way in which it was delivered. And because of this, your instructor or coach is happy, too. It all seems like a job well done.\nFocus of the training: The focus of the training during the Kepner-Tregoe workshop, named Resolve, was:* a system for analyzing technical failures that enables support personnel to process each customer complaint in a structured manner; and* analysis tools that support staff can use to isolate the cause of a problem and then proceed to resolve it.The training also established a common problem-solving \"language\", which helps to standardize documentation relating to problems and so simplify the hand-over of work.\nMaking the training \"stick\": According to Steve White, training concepts introduced during a workshop should be immediately applicable to the workplace. This helps to bridge the gap between theory and practice. The training itself should be constructed using adult-learning principles to maximize \"stickiness\".When individuals return from their training, they need to know what to do and when to do it. They must also have the tools available to succeed and the time to integrate the new behavior patterns into their roles. The organization therefore needs to have people actively guiding and coaching students while they integrate their learning into the job. Learning experts suggest that it takes at least three weeks to change people's minds, and only when they are supported in their new behaviors for at least the first three weeks will new behaviors replace old.To maximize success at Siemens Automation & Drive, technical-support employees were trained as troubleshooting-process coaches to provide on-site training and to oversee implementation. \"It is the role of the coach, in particular, which helps to ensure sustainability for the scheme on site,\" says Steve White.Triggers were defined to concentrate people's efforts on the areas that would bring the greatest benefit and return on investment. Most of the triggers are time- or event-related. For example, after a certain period of time, or after a problem has reached a certain level in the customer-support organization, an employee should implement a particular process in which he or she had received training.In addition to defining triggers, the troubleshooting method was integrated into the workflow and into the database used to process customer inquiries. Adapted templates enable problems to be documented in accordance with the method.Compliance with the triggers and the quality and quantity of applications were measured. Newsletters and periodic team meetings were used to ensure regular feedback to management and employees regarding the project status.Regular management and team-leader meetings were held to discuss achievements and problems, to set goals and to co-ordinate measures. These meetings demonstrated the commitment of management to achieving change.The organization also had in place a system for immediately recognizing good work and rewarding good behavior. \"If your people do a good job, you had better make sure that their life is in some way improved - and quickly,\" says Steve White. \"Telling someone they did well a number of months ago just will not do.\"\nThe results in practice: Customer-satisfaction values regarding the quality of the service they received increased during the second half of the roll-out, reaching an all-time high. Customer perceptions regarding the time required for problem solving also improved. The backlog of long-running cases - in which the time from customer-service request to final solution is greater than four weeks - declined substantially. This resulted in fewer problems becoming really critical and requiring \"emergency rescue\".\"We can generally conclude that the analytical approach provided by Kepner-Tregoe is embedded in the minds of the Siemens employees,\" said Steve White. \"The results achieved are a consequence of focused hard work, with the role of the trained coaches deserving particular mention. They provided a good deal of committed implementation support and assumed a critical role as champions of change.\"\"This role is not restricted only to training and active coaching at the workplace, but also extends to monitoring results and project communication. With commitment to a common goal by everyone involved, Siemens employees improved their ability to provide the customer with an exceptional experience of support.\"\nComment: This review is based on \"Siemens A&D customer support increases customer satisfaction through effective training and coaching\", by Steve White, application manager at Kepner-Tregoe, Windsor, UK. The article highlights, in a practical and direct style, the key methods used to ensure that coaching and training for customer-service employees at Siemens Automation & Drive brought about actual changes in behavior back at the workplace. It demonstrates powerfully that an important training challenge is not how happy the students are at the end of the course, but how the business gains as a result of the training. Steve White can be contacted at: swhite@kepner-tregoe.com\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper aims to describe how training and coaching by Kepner-Tregoe helped to change behaviors among customer-support employees at Siemens Automation & Drives.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Describes, briefly, the focus of the \"Resolve\" workshop, but concentrates on the methods used to ensure that lessons from the training and coaching were actually implemented at the workplace and resulted in improved performance.\nFindings: - Reveals that training, when implemented in a well-designed performance system, can yield an impressive return on investment.\nPractical implications: - Argues that training on its own can have a limited effect on behavioral change. By managing and adapting the context into which training is being provided, behavioral change can be rapidly initiated and the effect of the training can be sustained over time.\nOriginality/value: - Contends that an important training challenge is not how happy the students are at the end of the workshop, but how the business gains as a result of the training.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Top-down approach to change readiness: How university librarians liked to lose the status quo	[ "Change management", "Reference services", "Academic libraries", "Employee development", "Australia" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nEmployees need to be actively involved in the process: Imposed changes in working conditions can, and often do, lead to problems for both the personnel who have to give up their old and familiar ways of going about their business, and also for those with responsibility for making sure the changed systems work effectively to produce the planned outcomes.For people who are comfortable in their job, to be told they have to work in a different way, possibly alongside different people and probably utilizing skills they have yet to learn, can be the prelude to a disaster.Can be, but not necessarily will be. For many organizations have learned the lesson that change can be welcomed by employees if they are given compelling reasons why change is needed, convincing evidence why the status quo is no longer an option, effective involvement in managing the change process, sufficient time to get used to and involved in the new systems, and relevant training and development to equip them to take on new challenges.When technological innovation, growing client expectations, shifts in government policies, and financial pressures combined to force change at an Australian university, its academic reference librarians saw their joint information technology/library helpdesk disbanded, followed by a reduction in staffing levels, redeployment of staff to new positions, a renamed new department, a new departmental head and a mix of old and new personnel.\nStaff confidence recognized as a valuable asset: Seven years on and staff remain positive about change, technology, and their own competence - that confidence itself regarded as a valuable asset. The library has added innovative services and new technology in recent years and will continue to do so. Federated searching and a URL resolver have resulted in animated discussions as to the best way to utilize this technology in training and on web pages. An institutional repository was to be launched with reference staff involved in marketing and client liaison. These and other high-impact changes are challenging tests for staff attitudes, yet the constructive and calm responses of staff has been exemplary.Julia Leong, a departmental head at the university, says: \"Staff at UNE (University of New England) have been well equipped to respond positively to change by being involved in determining issues and planning organizational directions. Regular and targeted staff development, utilizing a variety of approaches, has built confidence and competence. Staff have responded positively to the challenges, showing enthusiasm for new areas of work and taking innovative approaches to improving service. Participative management empowers staff to take innovative approaches and provide high-quality services. People need time to adjust to change. The fact that this process has been spread out over several years was almost certainly one reason for the success of the change management process.\"\nPriority to refocus and re-energize: Initially demoralized by the perceived failure of their joint help desk, a priority was to refocus and re-energize departmental personnel. To cope with a changing environment it is necessary to rebuild staff competence and confidence through the introduction of a participatory management style, and investment in staff development.In an effort to maximize staff inclusion, reference staff were involved in setting directions for the new department right from the start. In addition to ongoing meetings and conversations, staff worked together to determine operational plans. These plans flowed through to each individual's personal goals and performance assessments. This participative management process promoted commitment and encouraged staff to take responsibility for outcomes and innovation. Continued improvement occurred at the same time as the department built stability and cohesiveness.With the assumption that traditional reference staff work would decrease as tools such as federated searching could make the information search process less complex, the staff identified likely directions in the university information environment and how the department might equip itself to be integral to that environment.\nFinancial constraints on attending training courses: A comprehensive assessment of necessary skills - including a literature review of competences needed, and liaison with other libraries - was carried out, following which an assessment of current staff skill levels was made. A need to focus on more than skill sets, but also on changing behavior and attitudes, was considered highly relevant when seeking to equip staff for a changing environment. What is effective in one library may not be the best solution for another. Staff development in the case study was of a predominantly mature experienced group of librarians who had already availed themselves of many of the standard organizational development courses. The situation at the university confirmed the point that, while workshops offering \"standard chunks of information\" may be valuable, they do not offer adequate diversity to meet all needs.A number of identified development needs for the university's reference librarians were not available in local training courses, and financial considerations (expensive air travel or six-hours by road to the closest state capitals) were a significant factor. Where courses were particularly relevant to current needs, staff attended, but training needs were addressed by a mix of additional strategies.Some staff completed extensive leadership or supervisor training programs offered by the university itself. To increase staff awareness of the importance of marketing, a lecturer at the university specializing in services marketing provided an introduction to this area for staff. In-house and vendor sessions in practical topics such as new equipment, individual databases, and federated searching were held.\"Personal discovery\" was also part of the process, with many of the staff agreeing to take on individual study projects, as was \"playing\" with technology - learning about PowerPoint, blogs and such in a non-threatening environment without time pressures.Julia Leong says approaches taken at UNE to prepare reference staff for a constantly changing environment illustrate a low-cost mix of learning approaches. With no single approach to managing change sufficing in all circumstances, the UNE strategies were effective for local circumstances.\nComment: This review is based on \"Academic reference librarians prepare for change: an Australian case study\" by Julia Leong, a departmental head at the University of New England in New South Wales, Australia, which underwent huge organizational change during a seven-year period. Noting that change readiness was built from the top down by communicating the need for change openly and repetitively, she outlines the process which took place, emphasizing the importance of staff development and appraisal.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The aim of this paper is to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.\nFindings: - The paper finds.that organizations have to learn the lesson that change can be welcomed by employees if they are given compelling reasons why change is needed, convincing evidence why the status quo is no longer an option, effective involvement in managing the change process, sufficient time to get used to and involved in the new systems, and relevant training and development to equip them to take on new challenges.\nPractical implications: - The paper provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world's leading organizations.\nOriginality/value: - The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Representations of New Public Management in Australian Public Service gender equality policies	[ "Gender", "Management culture", "Women", "Equal opportunities", "Government policy", "Public sector organizations" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Public management in developed countries has undergone seismic reforms over recent decades. By the end of the 1970s, constrained economic conditions drove the governments of Britain, the USA and Australia to reform their approach to public administration and public employment (O'Donnell et al., 2011; Podger, 2017). As Bach and Kessler (2007) explain, an ageing population and increased demand for welfare services in western economies placed pressure on budgets, leading to calls for increased fiscal restraint and reduced state intervention. Governments embraced tenets of New Public Management (NPM), which held that government services should be designed, organised and managed in a quasi-business manner, bringing private sector principles of efficiency, productivity and accountability into the public sector (Diefenbach, 2009). In Australia, competitive pressures from increased globalization, increased demands for better services and an emphasis on \"value for money\" (O'Donnell et al., 1999, p. 90) drove NPM reforms.\nNew Public Management: NPM is a broad term encompassing a range of neoliberal reforms adopted by governments across the developed world from the 1970s onward. According to Hood (1991), NPM can be understood as the loose intersection of competitive, private sector principles applied to public sector management. At the macro level, NPM saw the decentralisation and dismantling of monolithic bureaucracies into smaller, corporatized units, which were believed to produce greater efficiencies. NPM also brought greater emphasis on competition and cost reduction, such as the increased use of contractors and resistance to labour union demands. At the micro level, NPM created a new focus on managers as administrators, rather than as policy experts (O'Donnell et al., 1999). Emulating their private sector counterparts, public sector managers were assigned new and ever-increasing responsibility for the recruitment, selection and performance management of employees, with the aim of increasing accountability, and hence, performance.\nA brief history of gender equality policy in the Australian public service: EEO laws were introduced in the 1980s in Australia, making sex-based discrimination unlawful. Early policies were usually comprehensive and supported an influx of female employees, situating the public service as a leader in working conditions for women (Colley, 2013). As Strachan et al. (2007) note, Australia followed other western countries in moving from a social group-based approach to redressing discrimination, such as promoting affirmative action, to managing diversity, which focuses on the workplace and individual characteristics, with little recognition of systemic disadvantage. Simultaneously, the language of EEO and family friendly policies was replaced with notions of individual choice, flexibility and work-life balance, reinforcing gendered assumptions, cultures and ways of working (Smithson and Stokoe, 2005).\nMethod: A content analysis was conducted on the GEAPs of all 18 APS departments (see Table AI for further detail), which covered nearly 100,000 employees, or more than two-thirds of the APS in 2016 (APSC, 2017). The sample represented the entirety of federal government departmental strategies regarding gender equality, and thus provided sufficient data to enable a rigorous analysis. The purpose of content analysis is to organise and elicit meaning from the content (Bengtsson, 2016). The method of content analysis helps to reduce the volume of text collected, identifies and groups categories to provide a better understanding and offer new insights (Stemler, 2001; Krippendorff, 2004). This method enables the rigorous systematic interpretation and synthesis of qualitative findings from text and reports (Finfgeld-Connett, 2014).\nFindings: The following section details our findings using Diefenbach's typology to examine how the five elements are portrayed in the GEAPs. The GEAPS ranged from brief mission statements and high-level actions of only one or two pages to comprehensive strategies with actions, timelines and accountabilities. All contained elements of NPM to varying degrees, as we now show.\nDiscussion: In this paper, we endeavoured to answer the following questions:\nConclusion: While some early NPM reforms benefited women and assisted women's passage into the senior echelons of the APS, systemic reforms are less prevalent. An NPM market-orientation contributed to the marginalisation of gender equality, which has only recently re-emerged as a priority. This prioritisation, however, is constrained by limited resourcing and evaluation of gender equality initiatives as outlined in the policies. The devolution associated with NPM has resulted in the fragmentation of policies across the APS, and despite a single overarching APS gender equality strategy, each department has varying approaches. Exemplars of good practice plans do exist and have the potential to redo gender whilst acting as a blueprint for other organisations. However, few mechanisms exist to increase managerial capability to implement gender equality initiatives at the local level. Further, meaningful monitoring and evaluation is required to gauge the extent of progress but is currently lacking. These areas may be strengthened in the next iteration of plans. Many expire at the end of 2019, and we may then see a new generation which has transformative potential, making the APS an employer of choice for women.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Governments have demonstrated a renewed interest in progressing gender equality for their workforces, including in Australia. This refocusing has resulted in a tranche of new gender equality policies being introduced into the Australian Public Service (APS). The purpose of this paper is to examine how New Public Management (NPM) is reflected in these gender equality policies and consider whether NPM may assist or hinder gender being \"undone\" or \"redone\" in APS organisations.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A content analysis was conducted to assess the strategies contained within the gender equality policies of all 18 Australian government departments.\nFindings: The content analysis reveals that the policies strongly reflect an NPM framing, except in one important area - that of monitoring and evaluation. The lack of attention to this crucial element of NPM may hinder effective implementation of many of the policies. The authors also conclude that while good intent is evident in the policies, they may \"redo\" rather than \"undo\" gender in organisations.\nPractical implications: The paper will assist organisations which are developing and implementing gender equality policies. Even though NPM is specific to the public sector, the research highlights the potential and pitfalls when developing such policies in an environment focused on increasing efficiencies and reducing costs.\nOriginality/value: While gender equality and public sector reforms occurred simultaneously in Australia, few researchers have examined the interactions between the two.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Impact of workplace bullying on employee outcomes: a study of Indian managerial employees	[ "Defensive silence", "Neglect", "Workplace bullying", "Indian managers", "Workplace friendship", "Innovative workplace behaviour" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: While the focus on positive leadership dominates leadership research, a recent stream of research under the label of \"supervisory behavior\" has shown a growing interest in the \"dark side\" of leadership (Schyns and Schilling, 2013, p. 138). One form of destructive leadership behavior that is found to be widely prevalent in workplaces and has far-reaching impacts on employees and organizations is workplace bullying (Einarsen et al., 2007; Schyns and Schilling, 2013). Workplace bullying - a form of interpersonal mistreatment - is defined as a situation in which an employee feels constantly and persistently subjected to negative behaviors by others at work (Einarsen et al., 2011), mostly by someone at supervisory position (D'Cruz and Rayner, 2013; Lutgen-Sandvik et al., 2005). Workplace bullying is reported to occur on a regular basis in workplaces, with a prevalence estimated at 11-18 percent (Nielsen et al., 2010) and where as much as 80 percent of the cases involve a superior in the role as the alleged bully (Einarsen et al., 2003; Lutgen-Sandvik et al., 2007). A burgeoning amount of literature is available on outcomes of workplace bullying; bullying is related to a wide range of employee outcomes like high intention to quit, absenteeism, low organizational citizenship behavior, low task performance, job dissatisfaction, work disengagement, low organizational commitment, depression, post-traumatic stress and psychosomatic complaints) (Laschinger and Fida, 2014; Nielsen and Einarsen, 2012; Samnani and Singh, 2012). However, the literature examining the bullying-outcomes relationship has some gaps that require further research.\nTheoretical background and hypotheses development: The COR theory has been widely used to explain the outcomes of destructive leadership (Carlson et al., 2012; Harris et al., 2007; Lee and Brotheridge, 2006; Tuckey and Neall, 2014; Wheeler et al., 2010; Whitman et al., 2014; Xu et al., 2015). According to the COR theory, people have both an innate and a learned drive to obtain, retain and protect resources which come in the form of objects, personal characteristics, conditions and energies (Hobfoll, 1989; Hobfoll and Freedy, 1993). Central to the COR theory are two key tenets, which consist of resource conservation and resource acquisition (Ng and Feldman, 2012) and are based on the idea that resource losses are more salient than gains, and once resource loss occurs, individuals may struggle to conserve and protect their resource reservoirs (Hobfoll, 2001). According to the COR theory, workplace bullying triggers a resource loss process (Tuckey and Neall, 2014) and as an attempt to protect their resources, employees may take up defensive positions, i.e. they may withdraw themselves from any efforts that are resource consuming (Hobfoll, 1989, 2001; Kiazad et al., 2014; Wheeler et al., 2010) or may even use neglect strategies to protect resources (Byrne et al., 2014; Hobfoll, 1989, 2001; Penney et al., 2011). In the following sections, building on the COR theory, we explain the workplace bullying-outcomes (innovative work behavior and neglect) relationship. We then introduce defensive silence as a mediator and workplace friendship as a moderator.\nMethodology: Sample\nResults: Descriptive statistics\nDiscussion: The purpose of the present study was to examine the workplace bullying and outcomes (innovative work behavior and neglect) relationship with defensive silence as a mediator and workplace friendship as a moderator. As predicted, a negative relationship was found between workplace bullying and innovative work behavior, and a positive relationship was found between workplace bullying and neglect. Though this is the first study linking workplace bullying and innovative work behavior, previous studies suggest that workplace bullying is negatively related to employee discretionary workplace behaviors (work engagement, organizational citizenship behavior; Einarsen et al., 2016; Park and Ono, 2016; Rodriguez-Munoz et al., 2009). Extant literature on interpersonal mistreatment constructs like abusive supervision, incivility has also shown that supervisory mistreatment at work is a potential deterrent of employees' discretionary workplace behaviors (Aryee et al., 2008; Liu et al., 2012; Liu and Wang, 2013; Zellars et al., 2002). However, compared to other discretionary behaviors, innovative work behavior is regarded as risky and costly (Janssen 2000; Agarwal, 2017) and is much directly related to overall organizational innovativeness and retention of sustained competitive advantage (Agarwal et al., 2012). Hence, both academicians and practitioners need to expend more efforts to understand how workplace bullying or any other form of mistreatment impacts employees' innovative work behaviors.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of workplace bullying on innovative work behavior and neglect with defensive silence as a mediator. The study further examines if the presence of friendship networks in the workplace can weaken the negative impact of workplace bullying.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Data were collected through self-report questionnaires from 835 full-time Indian managerial employees working in different Indian organizations.\nFindings: Results revealed that workplace bullying negatively related to innovative work behavior and positively related to neglect. Defensive silence mediated bullying-outcomes relationships and effects of workplace bullying on proposed outcomes were weaker in the presence of high workplace friendship.\nResearch limitations/implications: A cross-sectional design and use of self-reported questionnaire data are few limitations of this study.\nOriginality/value: The study extended the current research stream of workplace bullying to one of the underrepresented developing Asian countries, India. The study also contributes in terms of its sample characteristics as it covers managerial employees working across different organizations.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Interactions fostering trust and contract combinations in local public services provision	[ "Trust", "Contract", "Interactions", "Water service provision", "Estonia" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Public governance literature discusses the complexities and tensions that emerge when local governments externalize public service delivery (Christensen and Laegreid, 2011; Osborne, 2006; Wettenhall and Thynne, 2005), establishing complex inter-organizational relationships (IORs) that entail various aspects of control (Osborne, 2010; Klijn, 2002). Local governments are relieved from operative tasks, but they still need to control external public service providers because they remain accountable to their citizens (Almqvist et al., 2013; Thynne, 1994).\nTheoretical framework: When a local government externalizes the provision of a public service to a separate entity (i.e. an external public service provider), a complex IOR is created because - even if the service is provided by a separate entity - local government is still responsible for the achievement of good outcomes for its citizens (Almqvist et al., 2013). That is, local governments have to find appropriate mechanisms to control external public service providers (Peda et al., 2013).\nResearch method and data collection: In order to achieve our research purpose, three cases of externalized water services provision in different Estonian towns between 2000 and 2009 are presented with different trust/contract combinations. This longitudinal multi-case study can be classified as descriptive and exploratory and was conducted in two stages.\nAnalysis: This section analyses the three cases separately and is followed by a discussion of the findings.\nDiscussion: From the analysis of the three case studies, and having in mind the theoretical framework developed in the second section, the following reflections can be proposed. First, case A shows that when an IOR already exists and is characterized by trust between key governance actors, enabled by public ownership and related corporate governance settings, then the set up and tight use of a detailed service contract could be superfluous. Moreover, trust that already exists between two organizations can be reinforced over time inside and outside the official public service provision domain through closely interacting individuals. In line with the arguments of Almqvist (2001) and Collier (2005), this case indicates that informal controls (e.g. trust relying on shared norms and values) can effectively replace formal controls (e.g. ex ante tight service contracts). That is, such replacement can take place in the case of public ownership, when control is ensured through trust reinforced via manager's and (supervisory) board members' activeness and visibility in the political domain (e.g. in the city council). Another related finding is that loose contracts would not necessarily lead to fundamental conflicts between the water company and the local government because the aim pursued using tight contracts was reached through trust. In other words, trust can substitute contracts when the local government identifies itself with the board indicating that the IOR is \"stable enough\" (Dekker, 2004) and \"socially embedded\" (Van der Meer-Kooistra and Vosselman, 2000). Case A also seems to confirm Tillmar's (2009) view that local governments are more prone to trust (managers of the) external public service providers they already know, but the risks highlighted in the literature (Edelenbos and Klijn, 2007; Tillmar, 2009) related to the potentially \"friendly\" atmosphere established between the dominant actors (i.e. CEO and chairman of supervisory board) may become a problem. Indeed, if one or both left, the IOR might become fragile and the advantages of the accumulated trust could be lost meaning that a tighter contract could be needed. This implies that there is the potential for a non-linear relationship between trust and contract (i.e. from substitutive to complementary), which is different from the one suggested by Dekker (2004).\nConclusions: In the light of the changes taking place in the public sector and their impact on local governance, the research presented in this paper is relevant as it unveils control aspects connected to the interactions among individuals representing local government and external public service providers, which are useful for a better understanding of the complexity of IORs shaping public service delivery.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between trust and contract in the context of externalized local public services provision.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A multi-theoretical framework is used to analyse different combinations of control mechanisms (i.e. trust and contract) with reference to three cases of externalized water service provision in Estonia consisting of inter-organizational relationships between local governments and water companies with different ownership structures (public, private and mixed public-private).\nFindings: The relationship between trust and contract, which can either be substitutes or complements, or eventually erode each other, is contingent upon the capacity of interacting individuals (and related organizations) to keep interests aligned in water services provision.\nOriginality/value: The relationship between trust and contract is analysed by considering the interactions between key actors within the underlying governance setting.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]

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