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Life insurance demand: Middle East and North Africa
|
[
"MENA",
"Panel model",
"HDI index",
"Inflation rate",
"Life insurance demand",
"Socioeconomic determinants"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The purchase of health insurance is motivated by the assumption that the individual is risk averse (Zweifel et al., 2009). Risk aversion is one of the main factors driving people to buy insurance. If the degree of risk aversion is high, the willingness to purchase life insurance is also high.\nReview of the literature: Various studies have investigated the effect of important factors on the demand for insurance. These factors can be identified through a review of the relevant literature.\nMaterials and methods: The MENA countries (Middle East and Northern Africa) including Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Cyprus, Malta, and Israel were considered as the statistical sample. Iraq and Syria were excluded because of the lack of sufficient data. Over the period 2004-2012, data on population, GDP (proxy variable for income), interest rate, inflation rate (based on consumer price index), and the human development index for these countries were collected from the World Bank website (Data.Worldbank.org/indicators), and data on life insurance premium were collected from the annual reports of the Sigma International Journal (www.swissre.com/sigma).\nResults: According to the Leamer test, the null hypothesis (being pooled) was rejected for the MENA countries (Table II). Therefore, the data were included in panel form.\nDiscussion: The estimation results confirm a significant negative correlation between inflation rate and the demand for life insurance. With an increase in inflation, as the real assets available to people and their purchasing power decrease, and as life insurance is regarded as a kind of investment, the available resources to individuals for buying capital and consumption goods decrease. Therefore, they buy less life insurance. In addition, one of the important requirements for investment is to assure the investor that the value of money invested remains constant during the investment period. An increasing inflation rate reduces the present value of benefits from purchasing life insurance; therefore, the negative impact of inflation on the value of benefits will be stronger in the long run (Li et al., 2007). The results are the same as those of Browne and Kim (1993) and Beck and Webb (2003).\nConclusion: As previously stated, life insurance is an instrument for mitigating the offspring's financial risk. The demand for life insurance is often low in countries with well-organized social security systems. In addition, the institutional credibility of insurance contracts increases the life insurance demand. A sound financial and legal system may induce people to purchase private insurance contracts. The private insurance market enlarges with increasing reliance on the legal and financial system and reduces with increasing share of social security. HDI is included in the model to find differences among countries due to differences in risk preference. Naturally, high-HDI countries have a well-developed private insurance market, are democratic, and have improved social care. However, the MENA region gives no clear picture in this context.\n",
"role": "user"
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"content": "Purpose: Life insurance is a kind of long-term investment; hence, the purpose of buying life insurance is to cover both current and future damages for the insured. Although insurance plays a crucial rule in fiscal and economic development, in MENA countries, insurance, especially life insurance, remains undeveloped, with a low penetration rate. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to determine the factors that affect life insurance demand.\nDesign/methodology/approach: To analyze the determinants of life insurance demand during 2004-2012, a panel data model was estimated with Eviews software. Data on population, gross domestic product (GDP), interest rate, inflation rate, and human development index are extracted from the World Bank, and data on life insurance premium are gathered from Sigma International reports.\nFindings: Results show that the price elasticity of life insurance demand is -0.77, the elasticity of life insurance subject to HDI is 1.68, the elasticity of life insurance subject to GDP is 0.92, and the elasticity of life insurance subject to interest rate is -0.33. The demand for life insurance has a positive significant relationship with population size.\nResearch limitations/implications: The low elasticity of life insurance demand subject to GDP, interest rate, and inflation rate shows that the life insurance penetration rate in MENA countries is due to the dominance of compulsory insurance, and not due to voluntary purchasing of life insurance. The higher effect of HDI on the life insurance demand illustrates that, for developing the life insurance market, it is first necessary to improve the standard of life, education status, and the economic base.\nOriginality/value: As in the MENA region life insurance has remained undeveloped and there are no related studies in this area, it can be hypothesized that the life insurance penetration rate in MENA is due to the dominance of compulsory insurance and not due to voluntary purchasing of life insurance. The higher effect of HDI on life insurance demand illustrates that, for developing the life insurance market, it is first necessary to improve the standard of life, education status, and economic base.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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The interactive effect of attention control and the perceptions of others' entitlement behavior on job and health outcomes
|
[
"Stress",
"Job satisfaction",
"Employee attitudes",
"Employee behaviour"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In the eyes of many, incivility in the workplace is on the rise. In terms of documentation, practitioner-oriented literature has confirmed that uncivil behavior at work has been increasing (e.g. Buhler, 2003; Johnson and Indvik, 2001; Twenge, 2006), while academicians have given increased research attention as well (e.g. Johns, 1999; Johnson and Indvik, 1996; Robins and Paulhus, 2001; Van Fleet and Van Fleet, 2006). Workplace incivility has been conceptualized as deviant behavior that violates norms, disrespects others, and contains an ambiguous intent to harm coworkers (Blau and Andersson, 2005). It is assumed that incivility promotes unfavorable outcomes. However, much of this research has failed to assess the moderating influence of theoretically-relevant individual difference factors. Does workplace incivility affect all employees equally, or are there factors inherent to the individual that helps neutralizes its influence? Our objective in this exploratory research is to answer these questions. Specifically, we examine the interactive relationship between others' entitlement behavior and attention control on important outcomes, which include tension, citizenship, depressed mood, and satisfaction.\nConceptual framework and hypotheses: Greater diversity of employees' cultures and backgrounds, the use of temporary workers, a scarcity of resources, the globalization of competition (van Dijk and De Cremer, 2006; Muir, 2000), and an overemphasis on individual goal achievement (Johnson and Indvik, 2001) have been noted as underlying causes of the increased levels of workplace incivility that companies and its employees are currently experiencing. For some employees, these changes to the work environment likely provide sufficient justification to utilize self-serving behavior, such as entitlement, as a strategy of self-protection. On the other hand, it can be argued that entitlement extends beyond simple self-protection, and is, in fact, a form of incivility. Definitions of the construct illustrate this point. For example, entitlement has been described as a stable personality characteristic reflecting an inflated perception of worth, as well as a sense that one deserves more than others (Campbell et al., 2004). In terms of its self-serving components, entitlement reflects \"The expectation of special favors without assuming reciprocal responsibilities\" (American Psychiatric Association, 1980, p. 316). For entitled individuals, the objective is not only to protect what is deserved, it is to acquire more than what is deserved, even if doing so causes harm to others (Exline et al., 2004).Prior research has documented the considerable construct overlap between entitlement and narcissism (i.e. narcissist entitlement, heretofore referred to as entitlement; Raskin and Terry, 1988; Del Rosario and White, 2005). An individual with this orientation possesses a grandiose self-view, is prone to self-enhancement behavior, and has little concern for the feelings of others (Zeigler-Hill, 2006). These attributes are paradoxically coupled with a dependence on others, who serve to provide feedback needed to verify their often exaggerated self-views (Morf and Rhodewalt, 2001; Raskin and Terry, 1988). These traits predict interpersonal difficulties when working with others due to the frequent use of exploitive and manipulative behavior (Bogart et al., 2004; Millon, 1981). Moreover, entitlement has been shown to inhibit forgiveness, even when controlling for other predictors of forgiveness such as apologies, relationship closeness, and severity of offense (Exline et al., 2004).Entitlement has often been associated with high and unstable self-esteem (Rhodewalt et al., 1998), aggressive responses to threats, and externalization of emotional response (Twenge and Campbell, 2003). Similarly, entitled individuals reported greater positive affect and self-esteem from the use of downward comparisons (comparisons to worse-off others) than those lower in entitlement (Bogart et al., 2004). This behavioral strategy fulfills the self-enhancement needs of these individuals by ensuring that they look better (Paulhus, 1998).The beliefs of persons high on entitlement influence their behaviors in a number of ways, many of which adversely affect social relationships. For example, individuals with a sense of entitlement are pejoratively calculating, lack empathy, are uncaring, and take more credit than is due (Brown, 1997; Buss and Chiodo, 1991; Campbell et al., 2000). Further, self-entitlement has been also associated with an inability to trust (Bishop and Lane, 2002) and a lack of agreeableness (Campbell et al., 2004). Moreover, McCullough et al. (2003) reported that individuals considering themselves as entitled took offense to perceived injustices more quickly than others. Entitled individuals have been shown to belittle or threaten those who provide negative feedback or cues signaling socially rejection (Bushman and Baumeister, 1998; Kernis and Sun, 1994). For example, Dreu and Knippenberg (2005) found that when persons anticipated or experienced conflict in the form of an argument, their ego was threatened due to an attachment to their position. The perceived ego-threat led to increased hostility and purposeful self-enhancement behavior undertaken to increase feedback signifying superiority and deservedness. Research has consistently documented the direct relationship between self-entitlement perceptions and interpersonal relations across domains (Strelan, 2007).Perceptions of entitlement behavior as a stressor\nMethodology - Study 1: Participants and procedures\nResults - Study 1: The perceived entitlement scale demonstrated an adequate level of uniqueness. For example, the eigenvalue for the factor was 3.94, while scale items loaded on one factor (loadings ranging from 0.61 to 0.74). No items cross-loaded on other factors.Descriptive statistics and regression analyses are shown in Tables I and II. Correlations among study variables were consistent with those reported in prior justice and stress research. Perceived entitlement and attention control were inversely related (r=-0.33, p<0.05). Regression results indicate that the entitlement behaviorxattention control interaction term predicted job tension (b=-0.16, p<0.01; DR2 =0.04), job satisfaction (b=0.09, p<0.05; DR2 =0.02), citizenship (b=0.12, p<0.01; DR2 =0.03), and depressed mood at work (b=-0.07, p<0.05; DR2 =0.02). The level of explained variance falls within the expected range for moderator effects in field studies (Champoux and Peters, 1987). Finally, no VIF score was greater than 2.00, suggesting that collinearity had little effect on predictive relationships.Post hoc analyses\nMethod - Study 2: Participants and procedures\nDiscussion: Entitlement behavior represents an often-acknowledged aspect of many firm's contextual fabric (Wellner, 2004). Despite this reality, empirical research examining the phenomenon is lacking. The purpose of the current research was to examine the influence of attention control and perceived entitlement of others on employee attitudinal (i.e. job satisfaction), behavioral (i.e. citizenship), and health outcomes (i.e. job tension and depressed mood at work). Results from this series of studies demonstrated that perceived entitlement behavior predicted tension, satisfaction, citizenship, and depressed mood at work for employees prone to threat-generated distractions (i.e. low attention control). Specifically, as perceived entitlement behavior of others increased from low to high levels, each outcome was adverse effected for those with low attention control abilities. Conversely, increases in perceptions of others' entitlement behavior had a minimal effect for those able to cognitively distance themselves from the perceived self-serving behavior of others. Implications of these results for science and practice are many.Contributions to theory and practice\nConclusion: Attention control and perceived entitlement represent important individual difference and contextual factors present in all work settings. The aim of the current research was to clarify their joint effects. This series of studies provided preliminary evidence that indeed attention control and perceived entitlement are important in terms of both scholarship and practice. We hope that the research presented here will help build a foundation for additional work.\n",
"role": "user"
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"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this research is to examine how attention control moderates the relationship between perceptions of others' entitlement behavior and employee attitudinal, behavioral, and health outcomes.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - In study 1, data were collected from 309 employees of a municipality. In the second study, the independent and dependent variables were collected two months apart (and matched) from 584 individuals working in a range of occupations and organizations.\nFindings: - Perceived entitlement behavior was associated with increased tension and depressed mood at work and decreased satisfaction and citizenship for employees low in attention control.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The exclusive use of data collected via a survey methodology is a limitation. However, tests of multicollinearity offered no evidence of method inflation. Future research should expand the scope of conceptualization to consider both individual difference (i.e. mood, affect) and contextual (i.e. justice, equity) factors when considering the effects of the perceptions of others' entitlement behavior and attention control on work outcomes.\nPractical implications: - By having the ability to better regulate attention, the negative effects of the entitled behavior of others are minimized. Attention control can be learned or improved, and employers should attempt to develop this ability. Managers may also find it useful to find out why some employees act entitled while others do not.\nOriginality/value: - This is the first study to examine the interrelationship between the perceptions of others' entitlement behavior and attention control in actual work settings. Hence, gaps in multiple bodies of literature (i.e. stress and wellbeing, organizational behavior, psychology, cognitive science) are addressed.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Moon phase effect on investor psychology and stock trading performance
|
[
"Environmental economics",
"Social economy"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: The effect of the moon's gravitation on human behaviour has been an issue of fascination for many years. Often called the \"Transylvanian effect\" (a psychology term to describe the role of moon on human activities), intense debate has surrounded research of its link to human behaviour. In the late 1970s, researchers Campbell and Beets (1978) concluded the Transylvanian effect was a Type 1 error, but this was later refuted by Garzino (1982) who countered that the finding of Campbell and Beet was a Type 2 error. In the end, Campbell (1982) surmised that the study of the moon effect should be stopped because regression of secondary data would not identify an effect of the moon on human behaviour.\n2 Methodology: This research utilises two methods, namely, time series quasi experimental and an econometric model. The time series quasi experimental investigates the real behaviour and its psychological role in decision-making during full moon and new moon periods, whereas, the econometric model serves as the robustness assessment to support our hypothesis testing.\n3 Time series quasi experimental result: Before final analysis of the experimental study results, reliability and validity tests were carried out to assess the goodness of the measures. The reliability test, in this study Cronbach's a, shows the consistency with which a measuring instrument measure the concept under analysis. Meanwhile, the validity tests, composite reliability (CR) and an average variance extracted (AVE), tell how well an instrument measures the particular concept (Sekaran and Bougie, 2010).\n4 Econometrics model results: The results of the quantitative model show the R2-values, at 7.7 percent, imply that the independent variables (tax dummy, moon dummy, Monday dummy, and lagged returns) explain the dependent value. The F-value was significant at a 1 per cent level signifying the model was robust enough. These data are shown in Table VII.\n5 Robustness: t-difference test: The time series quasi experimental results show that investor behaviour tends to exhibit more irrational cognitive and emotion responses during the full moon phase. The econometric model confirms the full moon, on a close orbital path to earth, has an impact on stock market performance. To further check robustness the paired t-test was conducted to investigate whether cognition and emotion disarray, aggressiveness, mood disorders, and the stock trading performance of investors during the full moon period were significantly different to investor psychology during a new moon.\n6 Discussion: The results presented in this paper correspond with existing theories. First, cognition disarray influences the aggressiveness of investors and their stock market trading performance during the full moon; they are more aggressively verbal, hostile, and angry. But the cognition did not have an impact on physical aggressiveness. Such a result is in line with the \"gravoreceptors\" hypothesis of Campbell (1982), who suggested the role of the moon phase on humans is different from its role on the ocean. An object with momentum and accelerating experiences a stronger force of gravity from the earth than from the moon. For example, when playing tennis the earth's gravity gives a 5,012 times stronger pull than the moon's gravity (see the classical work of Lieber (1978)). This argument explains why there is no effect of physical aggressiveness in this study.\n7 Conclusion: In summary, this study has investigated the postulation of Campbell (1982) who suggested the study of the moon phases be stopped. Contradicting Campbell's assertion, our results reveal that the effect of the full moon on human behaviour should be further investigated, especially in the area of behavioural finance. By combining time-series quasi experimental research with the traditional quantitative approach under falsification epistemology, this research has determined that the full moon affects investor behaviour. Moreover, the use of secondary data in previous studies failed to catch the moon effect because many scholars neglected the fact that the moon effect lasts for several days (a day before and after).\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This article aims to examine how investor moods and aggressiveness differ in their state and influence investor stock market performance associated with the moon phase. The mechanisms and impact of full moon gravity on investor stock trading performance are explored through an experimental approach and econometrics model.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A time-series quasi-experimental study, using the full moon and new moon time periods, was coupled with a psychometric test of investors' behaviours, administered through an online survey, similar to a pre-post experiment. Confirmation of the results was achieved by using an econometric model, adopted from Dichev and Janes.\nFindings: This research found that investor psychology is influenced by the full moon, but no effect was recorded during the new moon phase. Confirmed by the paired t-difference test, the small correlation, in addition to the quantitative model, the results show the full moon impacts market behaviour during its orbital phase. Consequently, the authors surmise that the full moon does influence investor cognition and emotion disarray, mood disorders, and aggressiveness, resulting in poor stock trading performance.\nPractical implications: The need for an active investment strategy is the major implication of this study. During the full moon phase, investors tend to be more aggressive and moody and seek hedonic utility instead of the traditional economics utility, meaning that they tend to follow the sentiment of the market.\nOriginality/value: This paper fulfils an identified need to study how the full moon affects investor stock trading performance.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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Ownership, independent directors, agency costs and financial distress: evidence from Chinese listed companies
|
[
"Corporate governance",
"Corporate ownership",
"Directors"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In today's business environment, corporate governance has been increasingly the focus of regulators, investors, lenders and other stakeholders throughout financial markets worldwide. In fact, the Asian financial crisis was the result of not only a loss in investor confidence but, more importantly, also a lack of effective corporate governance (Ho and Wong, 2001).However, most research on corporate governance has been conducted in mature market economies of the West. The past decade has seen a surge of interest in formerly planned economies such as Russia, Eastern European countries and more importantly China. Many of the firms in these countries have adopted corporate structures that resemble western business corporations, though with specific features inherited from a socialist background (Nolan, 1996; Dyck, 1997; Huang and Song, 2005). Since these firms are operating in a context that is different from a mature market economy, certain current findings about the effectiveness of governance mechanisms may not apply (Hoskisson et al., 2000; Tian and Lau, 2001; Wright et al., 2005).In this paper, we focus on the impact of corporate governance on financial distress in the context of China's transitional economy, based on a context-sensitive approach (Whetten, 2002). Specifically, we develop a set of hypotheses generated in the Chinese context to evaluate the influence of corporate governance characteristics on financial distress. This issue is critical because most of the financial failure is caused by poor governance in China.The primary contribution of this paper is to provide a valuable out-of-sample test of the current literature which has mainly focused on the USA stock market. Second, the unique legislation in China regarding the suspension and termination of listed loss making firms, adds a new dimension to the current corporate governance literature. Another contribution is that the definition of financial distress adopted by this study is different from the one used in previous studies (e.g. Elloumi and Gueyie, 2001) where this study adopts the definition of financial distress as used by the Chinese Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC).\nCorporate governance characteristics of listed companies in China: There are some distinguished characteristics of Chinese listed companies' corporate governance. A prominent characteristic is the separated and extremely uneven ownership structure. Shares in Chinese listed companies are classified into two categories, namely, tradable shares and non-tradable shares. The non-tradable shares take up a large proportion of outstanding shares. In the end of 2005, the average non-tradable shares account for nearly 60 percent of total shares[1]. On average, the top one and top five shareholders own 40.31 percent and 57.49 percent of their company's total shares respectively, while top ten shareholders just own 60.49 percent of the company's total outstanding shares[1]. In nearly 33 percent of all the companies, the top one shareholder controls above 50 percent of the total outstanding shares; in around 73 percent of all the companies, the top five shareholders owns at least 50 percent of the companies' total shares[1]. The separated and uneven ownership structure may cause some problems, such as large shareholders' expropriation and lower independence of the board.The second characteristic is that state shareholding incurs some principal-agency problems. In the end of 2005, 77.91 percent of all the listed companies still retain residual state ownership. The average percentage of state shareholding for all the companies is 34.51 percent[1]. For the state shares, the ultimate shareholder is the public of People's Republic of China. Although the government agencies hold the control rights of the state shares, the dividends or gains distributed to these shares should be submitted to finance departments. The government agencies cannot benefit from the improvement on corporate governance and the companies' performance. Additionally, the risk residual of the state shares is ultimately born by the public or the state. Under these conditions, it is not surprising that the state-owned companies would encounter inefficiency of monitoring mechanism and moral hazard problem (Lin, 2001). Moreover, top managers are often selected beforehand by the party organization and the government's personnel department. The board then rubber-stamps the appointment. Under these bureaucratic selection measures, the managers of the state shareholding companies naturally pursuit political relationship with government official rather than performance improvement.The third character of corporate governance is insider controlling problem. There are some factors causing this phenomenon. First, large proportion and excessive concentration of non-tradable shareholdings impede the emergence of market for corporate control. The lack of both hostile takeover and proxy contests facilitates management entrenchment. Second, due to the widely dispersed tradable sharers, outside tradable shareholders have incentives to take free ride. The insufficiency of monitoring from the outside shareholders tends to engender the insiders' discretion. Third, the appointment and evaluation of management are often determined by the controlling shareholders, which may result in rent-seeking behaviors and collusion between the controlling shareholders and management. Fourth, in Chinese companies, managerial ownership is at extraordinarily low level. The average proportion of ownership owned by management, directors and supervisors is 0.0225 percent in 2005[1]. Neither long-term equity-based nor performance-based compensation programs are widely put into practice. The incentive alignment between the shareholders and management is inadequate, which consequently invite some immoral and opportunist behaviors.Last but not least, the emerging market is lack of exit mechanism. The legislation on Bankruptcy Law is lagging behind. Creditors' rights and interests are not properly safeguarded. There is even not a law applicable for the bankruptcy of listed companies. Up to now, none of the listed companies has gone bankruptcy in China, though some of the listed companies' financial status is totally hopeless.According to the above characteristics in Chinese companies' corporate governance, so in this paper, we attempt to answer the following questions:1. Does the special ownership structure in Chinese listed companies have great influence on the probability of financial distress?2. Does independent director in Chinese listed companies operate well in reducing the probability of financial distress?3. Does agency cost problem exist and do harm to Chinese listed companies' financial status?4. China's auditing profession is relatively new and it has faced a steep learning curve, so are certain audit firms more likely to deter financial distress?In order to answer the above questions, in this paper, we just focus on the relationship between ownership, independent directors, agency costs and financial distress with the sample of Chinese listed companies, hoping to find useful results.\nMethodology and sample selection: Sample selection\nMethodology: We use binary logistic analysis to test the impact of corporate governance characteristics on the risk of financial distress. The dependent variable equals one for distressed companies and zero for healthy companies. The data are collected one and two years prior to the occurrence of financial distress, respectively.\nProxies and hypothesis development: Ownership structure\nResults and discussions: Summary statistics and univariate test\nDiscussions: Ownership structure\nConclusions: Few studies so far have explored the relation between corporate governance characteristics and China's corporate financial distress. This paper is one of the efforts trying to investigate whether some governance characteristics contribute to explain the occurrence of financial distress, in the context of Chinese transitional economy.Our results suggest that the large shareholders' ownership and the state ownership have negative effects on the probability of distress. Managerial ownership appears to be unrelated with the distress status. A higher proportion of the independent directors may lead to lower probability of financial distress.Specially, we investigate the impact of managerial agency costs and auditors' opinion on the risk of financial distress. The administrative expense ratio, as the measure of managerial agency costs, turns out to be positively associated with the probability of financial distress, implying that the managerial agency problems do harm to corporate financial condition. While auditors' opinion is proved to be negatively related to the likelihood of financial distress, indicating that audit committee might be a valuable external governance mechanism.As the corporate governance reformations are vigorously advocated in China, our study provides insights into the roles of corporate governance in financial healthiness. However, although we have got some interesting findings, they are all based on Chinese stock markets, so there are maybe limitations in extending to other countries. What is more, we do not check the influence about year in corporate governance and financial distress, which might be a useful indicator in distinguishing failure. What is more, the large shareholders in Chinese listed companies impropriate the companies' funds by diverse tunneling techniques. In many cases, they conduct related party transactions at an unfair price to the listed companies. They also frequently hold companies' assets in pledge for loans. Further research can be devoted in the effect of their expropriation behaviors on corporate financial distress.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this research is to examine the influence of ownership structure, independent directors, managerial agency costs and audit's opinion on the firm's financially distressed status using a sample of distressed companies and a matched-pair sample of non-distressed companies listed on Chinese stock markets.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The study utilizes publicly-available data from annual reports of a sample of 404 non-finance distressed firms listed on Chinese stock markets and a sample of matched 404 non-distressed firms for a period covering the 1998-2005 financial years with binary logistic analysis.\nFindings: - Ownership concentration, state ownership, ultimate owner, independent directors and auditors' opinion turn out to be negatively associated with the probability of financial distress, while administrative expense ratio is positively related with the likelihood of financial distress. Managerial ownership does not appear to be a significant determinant.\nOriginality/value: - The paper offers evidence on the extent to which distress is associated with corporate governance from the emerging stock markets. It would be educational to Chinese small investors who excessively favour pursuing short-term returns and be helpful for regulatory authorities in making policies on corporate governance reformation.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
The concept of managerial discretion in corporate governance - better off without it?
|
[
"Measurement",
"Corporate governance",
"Organisational performance",
"Definitions",
"Usefulness",
"Managerial discretion"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The concept of managerial discretion pertains to several research disciplines. It has been argued that managerial discretion advances corporate governance scholarship. Corporate governance addresses the relationship between the owners (and their representatives, i.e. the board of directors) and the chief executive officers (CEOs). Corporate governance is understood as the system by which companies are directed and controlled (Cadbury, 2000). Additionally, corporate governance can be conceptualised as a set of processes, customs, policies, laws and institutions affecting the way a corporation is directed, administered or controlled (Mostovicz et al., 2011). To Shleifer and Vishny (1997), corporate governance deals with the ways in which suppliers of finance to corporations assure themselves of getting a return on their investment.\nThe theoretical roots of managerial discretion: Hambrick and Finkelstein (1987) have argued that chief executives' discretion would be of interest to organisation and strategy theorists. Finkelstein and Hambrick (1996) have highlighted the debate on executive action between deterministic theories of environmental constraint versus strategic choice theories. An organisation is most likely subject to both of these effects. For this reason, the concept of managerial discretion was offered as a bridge between these opposing perspectives. The shift of the locus of strategic leadership from top executives to the board of directors makes it possible to integrate boards and executive perspectives on corporate governance and to highlight how boards in some ways are \"supra-top-management teams\" (Finkelstein and Hambrick, 1996). According to Key (1997), managerial discretion has emerged in two areas of policy research: strategic policy and public policy. Strategic policy research has focused on the effect of managerial discretion on CEOs and decision-making.\nThe concept: The concept of managerial discretion requires a definition to facilitate empirical studies. A \"chief executive latitude of action\", Hambrick and Finkelstein (1987, p. 379) wrote, \"is a function of (1) the degree to which the environment allows variety and change, (2) the degree to which the organisation is amenable to an array of possible actions and empowers the executive to formulate and execute these actions, and (3) the degree to which the executive personally is able to envision or create multiple courses of action\". Managerial discretion relates both to the external environment and the internal conditions and situations.\nThe measurement of managerial discretion: Sayer (1992, p. 91) has asked: \"What does the existence of this object (in its present form) presupposes? Can it exist on its own as such? A key question could be: What cannot be removed without making the [study] object cease to exist in its present form?\" If the object of study is managerial discretion, we may ask what properties must exist for managerial discretion to exist and to be what it is. The definition of managerial discretion that Finkelstein and Hambrick (1990, p. 489) gave contains three components. Consequently, studies which do not contain all three components do not pertain to managerial discretion. The properties are on three different levels: environmental, organisational and individual. Moreover, when a concept consists of more than one property, the indexing problem emerges. Are the three forces of managerial discretion equally important? Wangrow et al. (2014) encouraged scholars to develop composite measures that could appropriately weigh the various factors within the internal organisation and the forces of managerial characteristics. It is important to recognise that Finkelstein and Peteraf (2007) stressed the linkages between the levels (factors) with reference to Hambrick and Finkelstein (1987). However, they claim that each may be analysed independently, ceteris paribus. Yet, this analysis leads to the collapse of the concept of managerial discretion.\nAntecedents to managerial discretion: Finkelstein and Hambrick (1996) have proposed executives' locus of control as an individual basis for action. Carpenter and Golden (1997) have examined managers' locus of control as an antecedent to the perception of their discretion. Key's (1997) questionnaire on discretion revealed that discretion correlated significantly with two other measures: locus of control and organisational ethical culture. Later, Key (2002) found that locus of control (a personality trait) and ethical culture (an organisational characteristic) were two independent variables and determinants of perceived discretion. The factors of cognition, motivation, skills and opportunities explain managers' behaviours. The cognitive factor of attitude explains behaviours such as leadership style (Blake and Mouton, 1985), as do motivational factors (McClelland, 1985).\nThe consequences of managerial discretion: Finkelstein and Hambrick (1990) have examined the relationship between managerial tenure and organisational outcomes with managerial discretion as a moderating variable. Consistent with the upper-echelon perspective, they found that the results differed depending on the level of managerial discretion. The strongest results occurred in contexts that allowed managers high discretion.\nCorporate governance and managerial discretion: The board of directors is a central mechanism of governance that provides CEO a \"mandate\" to act (Van den Berghe and Baelden, 2003). The concept of managerial discretion has been introduced to advance the understanding of the balance between controlling and managerial decision-making (Hambrick and Finkelstein, 1987; Wangrow et al., 2014).\nConclusion: Corporate governance addresses the relationship between the owners and the CEOs. It is understood as the system by which companies are directed, administered or controlled. Thus, two questions are important in corporate governance research regarding managerial discretion. Does managers' discretion affect opportunistic and unethical behaviour in managers? In other words, is it so that the more latitude of action managers is given, the more they will misuse it? Does managerial discretion influence firms' profitability and operational risk? A high degree of discretion may enable a CEO to act and implement plans which may yield a higher financial return. However, a high degree of discretion may also enable a CEO to act and implement plans which may yield lower returns. Additionally, a low degree of discretion may imply that opportunities for higher profitability are missed. It is generally assumed that high returns of investments are linked to high risk. It may thus be expected that owners' perception of risk has an impact on owners' attitude to managerial discretion. In addition, 30 years of research on managerial discretion has not provided the corporate governance researcher with any answers to these basic questions.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This paper aims to assess the concept of managerial discretion with respect to its theoretical and empirical usefulness for corporate governance research.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper scrutinises applied theoretical claims, definitions and methods, as well as a number of empirical studies on managerial discretion.\nFindings: To date, no empirical definition of the concept has been presented and no measurement has been developed and tested for reliability and validity that contains all three factors of the managerial discretion concept, as proposed by Hambrick and Finkelstein (1987).\nPractical implications: Research on managerial discretion does not provide owners and directors of boards with any advice on granting top managers a high or low degree of discretion.\nOriginality/value: This paper concludes that corporate governance scholarship will improve if it abandons the concept of managerial discretion.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Teacher training in China and a practical model: e-Training Community (eTC)
|
[
"Distance learning",
"Education colleges",
"Training",
"Teachers",
"Communities",
"China"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nBackground: teacher training in China: Teacher training plays an important role for the improvement of education in China. In 1999, the Rules for K12 Teachers' Continuing Education were published through the Decree (Issue No. 7) of the MOE, in which lifelong learning was counted as a right as well as an obligation for teachers. In order to meet the requirement of Education Reform, the MOE issued a five-year training plan to guide the training of all in-service teachers in the last two decades (Ministry of Education, 1999). Take the 10th Five-Year (2003-2007) Training Plan (Ministry of Education, 2002) as an example: the MOE organized and implemented 1,000 rural backbone teachers' training; organized and implemented one million K12 school teachers' training; supported 2,000 K12 school teachers to meet the standard requirement of teachers' educational levels; and implemented 1,000 backbone teachers' training (except rural teachers).Based on the training plan, the Provincial Education Committees are in charge of local training programs (Zhang, 2005). The five-year teacher training plan has been implemented in four rounds (totaling 20 years), and the 11th five-year training plan (from 2008 to 2013) is now in progress.Although teacher training has laid a solid foundation for the development of Chinese education, it has some problems. First, the time conflict between working and training becomes more critical. The teacher training model trends to be more experience-oriented and process-oriented rather than originally knowledge-oriented and result-oriented. Following such a trend, the training time becomes comparatively longer than before (Yan and Bei, 2007). More training time and less working time make the time conflict between working and training more severe for K12 teachers. Almost all training programs are conducted in teachers' leisure time, such as weekends and holidays. Many K12 teachers complain about this. According to the questionnaire results of NanHui (a district of Shanghai) participants (totaling 369 K12 teachers) before training, 44 percent participants aimed to increase their credit hours and 11 percent of participants just took the training as their schools' assignment; only 26 percent of participants aimed to improve their ability in instruction.Second, the expectation for training quality becomes higher. The training content needs to be updated and trainers' competence needs to be gradually improved too. During the period of the eighth to the tenth five-year plans, K12 teachers experienced many different training methods so that their expectations of training methods and content became heightened.Third, traditional training ideas gave insufficient guidance to teachers. The global education reform calls for student-centered and process-oriented instruction. However, many teacher training programs still stay on the traditional stage which takes delivering lectures as the main method. K12 teachers nowadays need specific guidance on improving their practical wisdom rather than academic knowledge (Ding, 2008).\nE-training: the current situation: The 17th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party was held in 2007. The congress report points out that the nation should develop online education and continuing education, to build a learning society in which all people learn and pursue life-long education.State level e-training projects\nThinking: how to meet the challenges of TTAs: The projects mentioned above present the pinnacle of e-training in China. However, large scale e-training practice in China still encounters obstacles. This section analyses the challenges of TTAs, and argues that eTC can be a practical solution to those challenges.The teacher training system in China\nImplementing: how to operate in the eTC model: In the eTC model, the TTA has to get qualification authentication from the DEC at the preparing period. Some preconditions have to be satisfied.The eTC candidate has to prepare a persuasive long-term scheme to implement e-training for K12 teachers in its area. It should recommend at least three managers and 100 tutors to take part in related training organized by the DEC. Those managers and tutors earn certificates after they have successfully completed the training. If an eTC candidate has a qualified manager and ten qualified tutors, it will become a member of the eTC, called a cooperative TTA (\"CTTA\" for short).The DEC and the CTTA will design the first three to five e-training projects together. The DEC designs all administrative documents and supervises the whole process of the first training session. Gradually, the CTTA will become more capable and its manager and tutors should localize the documents. At the same time, the supervision will decrease gradually.In the implementation stage, the CTTA is the main body of the e-training. It selects online courses, engages tutors and managers, organizes participants, and supports the learning process. The DEC forwards supporting documents and professional guidance to the CTTA and organizes annual enrichment workshops for managers and tutors for the CTTAs.\nAchievement: what's the result of the eTC: The DEC has built the eTC with three CTTAs (i.e. ShenYang, Jiaxing, and Zhoushan), and six additional TTAs are in the process of member qualification authentication.As a member of the eTC, a CTTA can benefit from the eTC model. It can:* increase the teacher training level, and avoid repeated low-level training;* save an enormous sum of money on developing a platform and online courses;* have a good start on e-training to relieve K12 teachers' time conflict between working and training; and* develop an e-training system and human resources quickly with the support of professional guidance.CTTA becomes a mature e-training agency in a short time\nConclusion: E-training is a current trend in K12 teacher education. The eTC is a practical model to combine the strength of universities and local TTAs together. The achievement is obvious. Nevertheless, further work needs to be carried out.First, it is critical to provide professional development for tutors. Although some tutors are qualified for facilitation, they still need to improve their professional knowledge. Since there are comparatively fewer tutors in a CTTA, one tutor may be required to facilitate three to five courses in one semester, which means the tutor has to prepare different courses in a limited time frame. The DEC will help the CTTAs to cultivate more tutors in the future.Second, the DEC will help to set up a higher quality expectation for CTTAs. The expectation of some CTTAs for e-training is not high. Some of them are satisfied with the online discussion and participants' positive feedback. They are not concerned much with the effectiveness of the training. In order to solve the problem, the DEC plans to cultivate one or two good training samples for CTTAs to learn from.Third, the DEC is going to build an online course sharing system. So far, no CTTA has the ability to develop online courses alone. The course resources are solely provided by the DEC. In the future, the DEC plans to develop more training courses for CTTAs to improve their abilities in course design and development. The DEC hopes some CTTAs can develop online resources to enrich the online course database in the future as well.Compared to the state-level e-training projects, the eTC model has interrelated advantages. It pushes TTAs to increase their abilities in e-training. Also, TTAs and professional institutions complement each other and build a real community. This model makes use of the best advantage of each part. Currently the DEC is piloting the eTC model in China. We hope that this model can also be adopted and improved by other professional institutions and TTAs in the future.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to introduce the overall situation of online teacher training in China, and then to analyze some typical state level e-training projects; second, to describe the problems that most teacher training agencies (TTAs) have. Also, this article presents the background, process and achievement of a practical model - e-Training Community (eTC) - which integrates the advantages of professional organizations and TTAs.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This article reviews literature related to Ministry of Education (MOE) policies and general reviews or reports about China's teacher e-training. The case study approach is applied in this study. The e-Training Community is a particular cooperative model developed by the Distance Education College of East China Normal University. A survey and interview are applied to gain deep understanding of this model.\nFindings: - E-learning is an effective way for teacher education in China to meet the challenge of massive and routine training. The recent projects initiated by MOE show that the trend of e-training is on the right track. However, China's teacher e-training still has a long way to go because most TTAs still do not have the ability to implement e-training by themselves. The eTC model presented in this article shows its strength in solving this problem.\nPractical implications: - The development of distance education needs professional guidance. How to integrate professional strength of universities and practical strength of local agencies is key to improving the overall quality of teacher e-training.\nOriginality/value: - This article introduces and analyzes the eTC model, which is a creative model in the field of distance education in China. This model is a good example for professional organizations to push the e-learning practice.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
How salespeople see organizational citizenship behaviors: an exploratory study using the laddering technique
|
[
"B2B",
"Laddering",
"Exploratory research",
"Organizational citizenship behaviors",
"Salespeople"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In highly competitive markets, performance is affected not only by task behaviors (those that are essential for an organization's activities to run smoothly), but also contextual behaviors (Organ, 1997). These comprise all the activities that are instrumental for organizational effectiveness in ways that shape the organizational, social and psychological context that serves as the catalyst for task activities and processes (Borman and Motowidlo, 1997). Key contextual behaviors include organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs), i.e. \"individual behavior that is discretionary, not directly or explicitly recognized by the formal reward system, and that in the aggregate promotes the effective functioning of the organization\" (Organ, 1988, p. 4). Typical examples of OCBs are conscientiousness (commitment and dedication that goes beyond role requirements; an example is willingness to work overtime), civic virtue (e.g. active participation in all aspects of the life of an organization, taking the initiative to speak up and make suggestions for improving business processes), sportsmanship (e.g. willingness to accept less-than-ideal working situations) and altruism (helping coworkers).\nRelevance of sales settings for investigating knowledge gaps on OCBs: In the most extensive review of the literature and meta-analysis on OCBs, Podsakoff et al. (2000, 2009) pointed out that the impact of OCBs on performance may be affected by the specific tasks characterizing different employees in the organizations. Podsakoff et al. (2000, pp. 531-532) noted that \"task characteristics are important determinants of citizenship behavior and deserve more attention in future research\". A key limitation of extant knowledge is that the role played by task characteristics in affecting the OCB-performance relationship has not been adequately addressed.\nResearch design: Usefulness of using the laddering interviewing technique\nResults: The first step of the analysis was data reduction, which involves developing a set of summary codes which reflect the \"chunks of meaning\" (Krippendorff, 1980) highlighted in the ladders. All the interviews were audio-taped and content-analyzed following the recommendations suggested by Reynolds and Gutman (1988). We then sorted the codes into three basic A/C/V (attribute - consequences - values) levels (Table II).\nDiscussion: Summary of key findings\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to more thoroughly investigate the role of organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) in sales force settings and the reason why salespeople should practice OCBs. In fact, in spite of the huge body of literature on OCBs and their impact on performance, some important knowledge gaps still remain to be filled. Inconsistent and unexpected findings are particularly apparent in the relatively few studies investigating OCBs in sales forces. The authors argue that some specific characteristics of the selling job and related tasks make the analysis of the practice of these behaviors in the sales context particularly interesting.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors explore which OCBs salespeople engage in, and analyze the perceived consequences of such behaviors using means-end theory and the laddering technique. They apply means-end theory and the laddering technique to interview a sample of salespersons from three companies operating in different business-to-business settings.\nFindings: The end result of the empirical analysis is the hierarchical value map showing a set of linkages among OCBs and their perceived consequences. In the perceptions of salespeople, OCBs play a strong utilitarian role in that they facilitate personal goal attainment. In salespeople's minds, there are no relevant trade-offs between OCBs and task-performance as long as the former can be used to improve the latter. For salespeople, the path from OCBs to performance may vary, depending on whether the performance in question is organizational, individual or customer-focused. Finally, some OCBs apparently contribute to creating customer trust in the salesperson.\nResearch limitations/implications: The findings add some interesting insights to the discussion regarding some controversies in OCBs literature, especially the interplay of contextual performance and task performance.\nPractical implications: Various types of OCBs can be encouraged through different managerial interventions. As an example, altruism can be fostered by appropriate recruiting criteria (e.g. using \"attitude toward teamwork\" as a key personnel selection factor), and by training initiatives and leadership style. Altruism can also be stimulated by an adequately designed organizational structure (e.g. team-based) as well as by adopting appropriate integration mechanisms that facilitate interpersonal and interfunctional cooperation. Sales managers can foster some OCBs by promoting knowledge sharing and reciprocal learning among members of the sales team, and by emphasizing the positive consequences of OCBs in all communication with salespeople.\nOriginality/value: Findings from this study challenge some widespread assumptions about OCBs in general. In fact, most of the literature holds that OCBs are an example of prosocial behaviors. Actually, the findings suggest that in the specific case of salespeople, OCBs are ultimately self-directed, for the most part.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Military spending, armed conflict and economic growth in developing countries in the post-Cold War era
|
[
"Economic growth",
"Internal and external armed conflict",
"Military expenditure",
"O11",
"H56"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Military expenditure accounts for approximately 2.7 percent of global GDP and has been growing over time (SIPRI Yearbook, 2010). It continuously fell after the end of the Cold War era (e.g. until 1998) before starting to increase again (see Figure A1). Although less pronounced, it has also increased in developing countries where governments underspend on social outcomes and the majority of the population live below one dollar a day. However, there is no consensus concerning the impact of military expenditure on economic growth, particularly for the post-Cold War period. Existing studies vary in terms of the theoretical approach, empirical methods, sample countries, and the period over which military spending is studied.\n2. Literature review: There is no consensus concerning the effect of military expenditure on economic growth in the existing literature. According to one set of studies, military expenditure creates positive externalities, such as developed infrastructure, peace and a secure climate for investment. Ram (1995) argues that the absolute negative effect of military expenditure should not be claimed because the defense studies have not properly modelled the potential positive externality effect of milex. The empirical evidence in support of this view comes from Benoit (1978), Kennedy (1974), Whynes (1979) and Barro and Sala-i-Martin (2004). Among others, Shieh et al. (2002) point out that there is a certain optimal level of defense expenditure, which maximizes economic growth. In a more recent study, Yildirim and Ocal (2016) analyze the influence of military expenditure on economic growth for the time period 2000-2010 for a sample of 128 countries. Employing an augmented Solow model specification, the authors find that military expenditure has a positive effect on economic growth. However, in a study on 55 developing countries, Chowdhury (1991) cautions that the relationship between milex and economic growth should not be generalized because the actual relations vary across countries. Moreover, the earlier studies have mainly used cross-sectional data and OLS estimators, and, therefore, fail to capture the dynamic nature of the effect of military expenditure on economic growth.\n3. Model specification and estimation: Our theoretical framework is based on the basic setup of the Cobb-Douglas (C-D) production function in which growth depends on the supply components (such as labor, capital) and the security components (such as armed conflict and military expenditure) of production (see, Dunn et al., 2005). In the simple C-D production function, the government has no role. However, the role of government cannot be ignored in respect of economic growth. Therefore, we have included the role of government in the theoretical framework of our study. Hence, including the political variables, the basic C-D can be extended as:(1)\n4. Data and variables: The post-Cold War data from 1990 to 2013 for seventy low- and middle-income countries are used (the list of countries is in Table AI). Both conflicting and non-conflicting countries are included to avoid possible country selection bias. This is a balanced panel since we excluded all the developing countries for which data on some variables were unavailable. In all, 42 countries in our sample have suffered from conflict.\n5. Main results: As explained in Section 3, our empirical analysis comprises two parts. First, we estimate the determinants of growth using four different naive estimators - cross-section, pooled, fixed effects and random effects models. For each, three alternative model specifications are used. The first model is a parsimonious one that examines the growth effects of military expenditure where we additionally control for labor and capital. Model 2 tests for the presence of a non-linear growth effect of military expenditure conditional upon exposure to armed conflict. Model 3 expands Model 2 by differentiating between external and internal conflicts. A number of findings follow from Table I. First, consistent with the scatter plots of data on milex and growth (Figures 1, A2 and A3), there is a statistically insignificant relationship between milex and growth in the cross-section regression estimate (see Model 1). However, with control for the effect of conflict, the coefficient on milex becomes negative and significant. Second, milex exerts a systematically negative and significant influence on growth when we rely on dynamic models estimated using fixed effects or random effects models. This is true irrespective of whether we use a parsimonious specification (i.e. Model 1) or a detailed one (i.e. Models 2 and 3) that accounts for the non-linear effect of milex. The negative coefficient on milex is significant across Models 1-3 when we apply the GMM estimator[15]. However the coefficient is the smallest in size in this case.\n6. Conclusion: One of the reasons for the lack of consensus in the literature on the effect of military expenditure on growth is that studies have differed in terms of sample composition and the empirical models employed to examine the impact. Moreover, research focusing exclusively on developing country growth performance in post-Cold War period is lacking. Our study fills this gap by studying the growth effect of the post-Cold War armed conflict and military expenditure in the developing country context. The empirical specification distinguishes between external and internal conflict and relies on cross-sectional as well as a variety of dynamic panel models to capture the causal effect of military expenditure and its interaction with conflict. Since the sample countries are different in terms of income level, we also separately estimate the growth regression models for low- and middle-income countries.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: While the relationship between military expenditure and economic growth during the Cold War period is well-researched, relatively less is known on the issue for the post-Cold War era. Equally how the relationship varies with respect to exposure to conflict is also not fully examined. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the causal impact of military expenditure on growth in the presence of internal and external threats for the period 1990-2013 using data from 70 developing countries.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The main estimates are based on the generalized method of moments (GMM) regression model. But for comparison purposes, the authors also report estimates using fixed and random effects as well as pooled cross-section regressions. The regression specification accounts for non-linear effect of military expenditure allowing for interaction with conflict variable (where distinction is made between external and internal conflict).\nFindings: The analysis indicates that methods as well as model specification matter in studying the effect of military spending on growth. Full sample estimates based on GMM, fixed, and random effects models suggest a negative and statistically significant effect of military expenditure. However, fixed effects estimate becomes insignificant for low-income countries. The effect of military spending is also insignificant in the cross-sectional OLS model if conflict is not considered. When the regression model additionally controls for conflict, the effect of military spending conditional upon (internal) conflict exposure is significant and positive. No such effect is present conditional upon external threat.\nResearch limitations/implications: One important limitation of the analysis is the small sample size - the authors had to restrict analysis to 70 low and middle-income countries for which the authors could construct post-Cold War panel data on military expenditure along with information on armed conflict exposure (the later from the Uppsala Conflict Data Program, 2015).\nOriginality/value: To the best of the author's knowledge, this is the first paper to examine the joint impact of military expenditure and conflict on economic growth in post-Cold War period in a sample of developing countries. Moreover, an attempt is made to review and revisit the large Cold War literature where studies vary considerably in terms findings. A key reason for this is the somewhat ad hoc choice of econometric methods - most rely on cross-section data and rarely conduct sensitivity analysis. The authors instead rely on panel data estimates but also report results based on naive models for comparison purposes.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
GREEN consumption values and Indian consumers' response to marketing communications
|
[
"Environmentalism",
"GREEN",
"Green consumption values",
"Green marketing communications"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Across the globe, a growing number of companies and consumers have been focusing on environmental issues and sustainable consumption, in light of various reports regarding the negative impact that consumer behavior is having on the planet. Consequently, there has been an increasing awareness of green marketing, and consumers have been responding to brands that promote environmental responsibility, especially as companies' environmental efforts are now being widely regarded as part of their corporate social responsibility (CSR; Olsen et al., 2014). This increasing awareness of environmental issues and green marketing is not confined to developed economies, as there also have been moves to generate increased awareness in emerging economies (Jain and Kaur, 2006; Carrete et al., 2012; Roy, 2013; Gonzalez et al., 2015). The focus on green marketing among consumers and businesses has been matched by renewed academic research. There is increased academic investigation in this domain, as researchers seek answers to a number of green marketing-related issues, including identifying factors that influence consumers to behave in environmentally responsible ways (Haws et al., 2014; Armstrong Soule and Reich, 2015).\n2. GREEN consumption values: The stream of research on green marketing has seen the exploration of a number of different issues. For example, there have been investigations related to the use of different kinds of green appeals, green cues and product information and the subsequent influence on consumer response (Borin et al., 2011; Hartmann and Apaolaza-Ibanez, 2012; Atkinson and Rosenthal, 2014; Matthes et al., 2014; Whitson et al., 2014; Yang et al., 2015). Some researchers have focused on the cultural contexts in which green consumption takes place (Abeliotis et al., 2010; Nittala, 2014). Others have studied the link between green consumption behavior and personality variables (Cleveland et al., 2005; Lu et al., 2015); shopping behaviors of green consumers (Atkinson, 2013; Fuentes, 2014); antecedents of green consumption behaviors (Pagiaslis and Krontalis, 2014); the gap between green attitudes and green consumption behaviors (Gupta and Ogden, 2009; Davari and Strutton, 2014; Gleim and Lawson, 2014); factors motivating and inhibiting green behavior in emerging economies (Carrete et al., 2012; Roy, 2013); and classification of green consumers (Verain et al., 2012; Gonzalez et al., 2015). Added to these issues has been the development of scales to be used to better understand green behavior, with one such scale being the GREEN consumption values scale.\n3. Conceptual models and hypotheses: In essence, the current study assesses whether GREEN influences how consumers respond to different green marketing communications activities such as advertising and public relations. Although there are a number of different elements of marketing communications, advertising and public relations were selected, given previous exploration of green advertising and the fact that companies focus on green marketing as part of their CSR efforts (Olsen et al., 2014). The study looks at GREEN as part of a conceptual framework in which it is an antecedent to green trust, green attitudes and green intentions (in a press release [PR] context), as well as part of a conceptual framework in which it impacts consumers' green ad attitudes and green brand attitudes (ad context). Although the PR model focused on a more expansive framework, the advertising model sought to replicate work on previous advertising models, with the difference being that GREEN was a part of this framework. The study was conducted in India, an emerging economy that is different from the USA, where development and validation of the GREEN construct took place (Khare et al., 2013).\n4. Study: 4.1 Questionnaire\n5. Results: The data to assess consumer response to the public relations stimulus were analyzed using the two-step approach recommended by Anderson and Gerbing (1988). First, using Mplus 7.3, we carried out CFA involving the 19-item five-factor model depicted in Figure 1. This stage verified the construct validity, reliability and discriminant validity of the constructs in the model. The model fit was good, as evidenced by: confirmatory fit index (CFI) = 0.96; Tucker-Lewis Index (TLI) = 0.95; standardized root mean square residual (SRMR) = 0.04; and root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) = 0.06; kh2(137) = 258.72, p < 0.001 (Hu and Bentler, 1999). Factor loadings for all the constructs in the model were positive and above 0.50 in all cases, with the exception of two items in the GREEN scale. The average variance extracted (AVE) for the variables exceeded the recommended 0.50 (Fornell and Larcker, 1981), except for that of the GREEN scale, which was 0.42. However, in light of the model statistics, which show good fit of the data, and the CR and the coefficient alpha of the GREEN scale, these results indicate the reliability of the constructs in the model (Fornell and Larcker, 1981). Further, the convergent validity of the GREEN construct was corroborated, as it correlated positively with the ECCB scale (coefficient alpha = 0.79) and the REGRAD scale (coefficient alpha = 0.90), as well as a single item measure of environmental concern: ECCB: Pearson r2 = 0.61, p < 0.001; REGRAD scale: Pearson r2 = 0.56, p < 0.001; and single item measure of environmental concern: Pearson r2 = 0.58, p < 0.001.\n6. General discussion: This paper reports on a study that was conducted as part of an assessment of the impact of GREEN consumption values (Haws et al., 2014) on consumer response to brands' marketing communication activities. The construct of GREEN consumption values was developed to measure consumers' tendency to express their environmental concern through their consumption behaviors, and this study applied it to understanding response to green marketing communications. Both a green PR stimulus and a green advertising stimulus were used to evoke consumer response. The study is the first, to the authors' knowledge, to apply the GREEN construct in assessing consumer response to brand's green marketing communications, including public relations and advertising. In addition, the study also explores this issue in an emerging economy, India, in light of the importance of understanding green consumption behaviors in this context.\n7. Limitations and future research directions: The current study has certain limitations, some of which can form the basis for future research. Although the study relied on a sample of respondents that were expected to be more aware of green marketing issues than the typical consumer in India, this was still a convenience sample and was not representative of the wider Indian population. Future studies should use a more representative sample so that there can be generalizations based on the study results. The study reported here also did not address any issue related to the possible reasons that consumers in emerging economies might differ in the value they place on environmental protection through their behaviors in consumption settings; that is, there was no exploration of possible drivers and inhibitors of GREEN. This paves the way for research that should seek to establish different motivators and inhibitors of green consumption values among consumers in emerging economies.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This paper aims to report on a study that assessed Indian consumers' response to green marketing communications, based on their GREEN consumption values. GREEN (Haws et al., 2014) refers to consumers' tendency to express their environmental concern through their consumption behaviors. This study applies this construct in a marketing communications context.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Two conceptual models involving GREEN were developed, and data to test the models were collected in a survey conducted among a convenience sample of 284 Indian consumers.\nFindings: The results show that GREEN can enhance understanding of consumers' green attitudes and intentions. GREEN consumption values have an impact on how Indian consumers respond to advertising and public relations stimuli, as GREEN influences perceptions of green brand trust, attitudes toward green marketing communications and green brand support and purchase intentions.\nResearch limitations/implications: The research adds to the growing literature on green marketing in emerging economies and extends the application of the GREEN construct from the domain of consumer behavior to that of green marketing communications.\nPractical implications: The results suggest that marketers should focus on developing green marketing communications strategy, rather than just green advertising strategies, and they can position their green products to appeal to consumers based on GREEN consumption values.\nOriginality/value: The study is the first to apply the GREEN construct in assessing consumer response to a brand's green marketing communications; it also explores this issue in an emerging economy.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Do-it-yourself: An online positive psychology intervention to promote positive emotions, self-efficacy, and engagement at work
|
[
"Positive psychology intervention",
"Positive emotions",
"Self‐efficacy",
"Work engagement",
"Self‐enhancement"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Organizations are struggling to survive, and more than ever before, they are dependent on the productiveness of their employees. Research has shown that mentally healthy employees are more productive than those who are not (Harter et al., 2002). The emergence of positive organizational behavior (Bakker and Schaufeli, 2008; Luthans, 2002) has paved the way for individual interventions that are aimed at enhancing well-being at work. The question is, however, how exactly can this be accomplished? Simple as this question might seem at first glance, the answer is far from self-evident. Traditionally speaking, individual interventions are based on the medical disease model. This means that interventions are carried out when something is wrong or malfunctioning, and with the sole objective of fixing it. However, soon the importance of prevention was discovered in order to reduce the risk of developing occupational disease: after all, preventing disease from occurring is more efficient than curing it (Seligman et al., 1999). Currently, it seems that after the shift in focus from curation to prevention, we are entering into a second paradigm shift. Namely, from prevention to \"amplition\", after the Latin \"amplio\" meaning to enlarge, increase, or magnify (Ouweneel et al., 2009). In contrast to curing and prevention, amplition is not based on the medical disease model - fix what is broken or what is about to break - but on the principle of improvement. Amplition is about promoting and improving employee well-being. In a way, this is a logical next step to widen the scope of interventions because curing or treatment is - by definition - restricted to employees who suffer from an identified disease, whereas prevention is restricted to those who potentially may suffer from it. Amplition goes one step beyond to include the entire workforce, because it is based on the belief that improving employee health and well-being is relevant for all. Indeed, positive psychology interventions have been shown to have a positive effect on well-being in non-clinical samples (for a meta-analysis, Sin and Lyubomirsky, 2009). In the current article, we describe and evaluate the effect of a positive psychology intervention that is focused on amplition, i.e. that is focused on enhancing individual well-being at work.Individual well-being at work\nMethod: Procedure self-enhancement group\nResults: Preliminary analyses\nDiscussion: Conclusions\nConclusion: In conclusion, positive psychology interventions have major potential in enhancing well-being at work, but it will only work when employees want it to. That is, especially employees who already are engaged and experiencing positive emotions and self-efficacy at work are likely to be motivated in enhancing their own well-being even further. It is up to supervisors, HR managers, trainers, and coaches to make sure that also those who experience lower levels of well-being get motivated to attend positive interventions. In other words, they have to convince these employees that they can benefit from positive interventions. Researchers should support this by providing more research on what types of activities have the potential to work.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of an individual oriented positive psychology intervention on positive emotions, self-efficacy, and work engagement.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The online self-enhancement intervention program consists of three types of online assignments: happiness assignments, goal setting assignments, and resource building assignments. The authors expected the self-enhancement intervention group to show a significantly stronger increase in the outcome variables compared to a self-monitoring control group.\nFindings: - The results revealed that the self-enhancement group showed a stronger increase in positive emotions and self-efficacy compared to the control group, but not on engagement. Additional analyses showed that the positive effects of the self-enhancement intervention are present for employees who are initially low in engagement, but not for those medium or high in engagement.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The study was conducted via a semi-public web site. The participants were all working in different organizations throughout the country and did not have the advantage of having the support of their supervisors and colleagues who were participating in a similar intervention.\nPractical implications: - Positive psychology interventions should target employees who are low in engagement, because they have the most unused potential and therefore have more to gain.\nOriginality/value: - Traditionally speaking, individual interventions are carried out when something is wrong or malfunctioning, and with the sole objective of fixing it. The intervention presented in this paper includes the entire workforce, because it is based on the belief that improving employee well-being is relevant for all.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Document supply of grey literature and open access: ten years later
|
[
"Document supply",
"British library",
"Grey literature",
"CISTI",
"INIST"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The past decade was a period of major changes and challenges for academic libraries and scientific and technical information (STI) centres. The handling of grey literature may be a good indicator for these transformations insofar as it is not driven by the financial interests of commercial publishing. What STI centres do with grey literature reveals strategic choices as well as public policies regarding scientific documentation.\nMethodology: This second follow-up study largely reproduces the methodology of the former surveys, with the same sample as in the initial study:\nFindings: The following section presents the main results for each institution based on the responses to our survey, as well as freely available information on the institutional websites, articles and reports. KISTI did not respond in due time so that for them our analysis is limited to open sources.\nDiscussion: Document supply\nConclusion: Transition is over, and choices have been made. Ten years ago, document supply was (still) a central part of STI, dominated by public intermediation and the \"big five\" public institutions, with national roots but global ambitions. This time is gone. Ten years later, the survey reveals a shattered landscape, with two national libraries, two service providers in the national digital research infrastructures and an integrated research, computer and STI centre, each institution pursuing a strategy that responds to its special environment. This environment may vary from one country to another, but there seems to be some common features, such as budget cuts, legal barriers (copyright), focus on domestic needs and open access policies to foster dissemination and impact of research results. Document supply for corporate customers tends to become a business-to-business service, while the delivery for the public sector relies more than before on resource sharing and networking with academic and public libraries.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The paper aims to investigate the impact of the open access movement on the document supply of grey literature.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper is based on a comparative survey of five major scientific and technical information centres: The British Library (UK), KM (Canada), INIST-CNRS (France), KISTI (South Korea) and TIB Hannover (Germany).\nFindings: The five institutions supplied less than 1.8 million supplied items in 2014, i.e. half of the activity in 2004 (-55 per cent). There were 85,000 grey documents, mainly conference proceedings and reports, i.e. 5 per cent of the overall activity, a historically low level compared to 2004 (-72 per cent). At the same time, they continue to expand their open access strategies. Just as in 2004 and 2008, these strategies are specific, and they reflect institutional and national choices rather than global approaches, with two or three common or comparable projects (PubMed Central, national repositories, attribution of DOIs to datasets, dissertations and other objects). In spite of all differences, their development reveals some common features, like budget cuts, legal barriers (copyright), focus on domestic needs and open access policies to foster dissemination and impact of research results. Document supply for corporate customers tends to become a business-to-business service, while the delivery for the public sector relies more, than before, on resource sharing and networking with academic and public libraries. Except perhaps for the TIB Hannover, the declining importance of grey literature points towards their changing role - less intermediation, less acquisition and collection development and more high-value services, more dissemination and preservation capacities designed for the scientific community needs (research excellence, open access, data management, etc.).\nOriginality/value: The paper is a follow-up study of two surveys published in 2006 and 2009.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Food logging: an information literacy perspective
|
[
"Information literacy",
"Health literacy",
"Mobile health",
"Practice theory",
"Diet",
"Food logging"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Internationally governments and health agencies recognise that obesity is a major health challenge for this century. In England in 2013, 67.1 per cent of men and 57.2 per cent of women were classed as obese or overweight (Lifestyles Statistics Team: Health and Social Care Information Centre, 2015). Being overweight is a critical issue for health and well-being. It increases the risk of a number of serious health conditions such as type 2 diabetes, stroke, heart disease and cancer (World Cancer Research Fund and American Institute for Cancer Research, 2007). Currently the annual cost to the UK economy of obesity is estimated to be PS27bn a year (Public Health England, 2016) and the cost to the National Health Service (NHS) PS5bn a year (Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs, 2015). It is recognised by governments and public health organisations that tackling the \"obesity epidemic\" is not easy and will require change and input at multiple levels in society: individual, familial, community and national (Government Office for Science, 2007).\nMethodology: Given the focus on discovering how participants themselves viewed IL and our practice-based approach, this exploratory study adopted an interpretivist, qualitative methodology. Data were collected from one focus group (seven participants) and five individual interviews with food logging app users. These were recruited through an e-mail that was distributed to current staff and students at the University of Sheffield who had agreed to consider being participants in research projects. Participants were invited to take part on a self-selecting basis if they identified as current users of food logging apps. Participants were given the choice of focus group or individual interview. Table I gives details of the participants.\nResults: In total, 11 of 12 participants used the popular MyFitnessPal app, which allows the user to track both food consumption and exercise, and can be synchronised with several other apps and devices, particularly wearables and tracking devices, including the popular Fitbit. Some of the participants also used separate exercise logging apps, often in conjunction with the use of a smart device, and synchronising data with MyFitnessPal.\nThe three modalities of information: In trying to capture the role of information in this social site of food logging practices, and then to think about what constitutes IL in this context, Lloyd's (2010a, c) concept of the three modalities of information is a useful starting point.\nIL and competency in food logging: In this section, we consider how participants thought about competency in the information aspects of food logging, and how important such skills were seen. This can be understood through three different aspects of food logging: choice of the app, use of the app and wider awareness of data privacy.\nDiscussion: Food logging is a complex, messy and changing practice, often closely connected to activity tracking. There is considerable variation in how it is performed and the meaning attached to it. Lloyd's concept of three modalities is a useful framework for analysing information within this landscape. Food logging revolves around the epistemic modality of information, though it is unusual in that the user has a central role in producing information, and that this information is often output to them in numbers or visualisations. Food logging seems to be directly associated with a discourse of de-sensualising the experience of food; it actively seeks to focus attention away from corporeal information onto epistemic information. The sheer act of gathering data was an act of control, regardless of how the data were used. As regards the social modality of information, other people were important in the choice of an app, but app choice was not seen as a very important process. Participants shared that they were food logging, but sharing data with others were rare. Food loggers were disconnected from formal health advice through the NHS.\nConclusion: The paper explains what food logging looks like through the lens of practice theory. The answer to the first research question shows its nature as a messy, complex set of activities, carried through in different ways by different social actors. Through answering RQ2 the paper also reinforces the value of exploring information in social practice through Lloyd's three modalities. Food logging is about epistemic information, but unusually it is information that people themselves actively create about the self, and data and visualisations of data rather than text. We found that epistemic information was used to decentre direct embodied information. Social information was important to the choice of app; but there were strong inhibitions to sharing food data with others. The answer that was constructed to the third research question shows a patchy character to IL in food logging. Participants were preoccupied with data quality in some areas but would also self-consciously avoid information; they were relatively apathetic about data privacy.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the meaning of information literacy (IL) in food logging, the activity of recording food intake and monitoring weight and other health conditions that may be affected by diet, using applications (apps) accessed through mobile devices and personal computers.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Data were gathered from a small group of food logging app users through a focus group and interviews. Analysis was informed by practice theory and the growing interest in IL outside educational settings.\nFindings: Food logging revolves around the epistemic modality of information, but it is the user who creates information and it is not textual. Food logging is associated with a discourse of focussing on data and downplaying the corporeal information associated with eating and its effect on the body. Social information was an important source for choosing an app, but data were rarely shared with others. Food loggers are very concerned with data quality at the point of data entry. They have a strong sense of learning about healthy eating. They were not well informed about the data privacy and access issues.\nPractical implications: Food loggers need to be better informed about data risks around food logging.\nOriginality/value: This is the first study of food logging from an IL perspective.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
The efficacy of campus wayfinding signage: a comparative study from Hong Kong and Pakistan
|
[
"Design",
"Culture",
"Facility management",
"User behaviour",
"Individual behaviour",
"Wayfinding design",
"Complex environment",
"Cross-culture",
"Environmental legibility",
"Human behaviour"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Wayfinding in an environmental setting can be observed as the task of general navigation towards a particular destination (Ruddle and Lessels, 2006). It is considered as a thorough behaviour embodied by the tasks of searching, exploring, cognitive decisions, spatial learning and path planning from one place to the other by using environmental information. With the advent of technology, there have been elevated complexities in the building configurations, environmental setups and size of structures. As a ramification, wayfinding has been proved as a great matter of concern within an assemblage of buildings (Xie et al., 2009). The task of wayfinding can be aided with cues of environmental information that need to be processed concurrently (Wiener et al., 2009). The accumulated information is influential in building up a knowledge reservoir essential for requisite wayfinding tasks. A study (Norman, 1998) classified the knowledge into two further categories, i.e. knowledge in the world and knowledge in the head. Knowledge in the world can be transformed into knowledge in the head by acquiring information from environmental cues and wayfinding aids. This knowledge can also only be obtained constructively by having direct real-time environment interaction (Krafft, 2001). During the wayfinding tasks, environmental knowledge has an important role in building the route plans; therefore, it is often referred to survey knowledge (Thorndyke and Hayes-Roth, 1982).\n2. Method: This study has been conducted through the online survey by the participants of Hong Kong and Pakistan (individualists and collectivists). This study aimed to investigate the cultural and individual differences influencing wayfinding behaviour. A five-point bipolar scale (strongly disagree as 1 to strongly agree as 5) have been used to record the participants' responses. The participants were mostly students or visitors of university campuses in Pakistan and Hong Kong. The university in Pakistan has a dedicated area of 60 hectares for its campus with more than 100 buildings consisting of academic departments, student hostels, libraries and other facilities. The spatial settings of the campus can be considered as a mixture of grid- and radio-centric layout planning. This university campus serves around 15,000 students, more than 1,000 faculty members and around 3,000 employees. 8% of the total students are international students from various regions around the globe. The international students mostly belong to the Middle East regions, Africa and central Asia. While the university in Hong Kong has a dedicated campus area equivalent to 10 hectares with more than 25 high-rise buildings, the campus has irregular spatial planning because of the number of planned extensions. This campus serves around 25,000 local and 1,000 international students. Many of the international students are from Europe, Africa, South America and Southeast Asia. The campus settings also accommodate approximately 5,500 staff members. Both universities have complex spatial layouts involving fused facilities for students/staff, indistinguishable pathways and multi-level building access with compromised visual access to the wayfinding information. The participants were invited to access the survey and record their responses through Google Forms. Ethical approval was obtained from the requisite authorities. The protocol was followed and consent was obtained by the participants for recording personal and demographic information.\n3. Results: For the questionnaire analysis, an inclusion criterion was established based on the participant's demographic information and completion of the survey form. A total of 170 questionnaires out of 203 (83.74%) were found appropriate for incorporating in further analysis.\n4. Discussion: In the individualistic cultures, several behavioural properties have been dominant including independence and autonomy. On the contrary, the collectivist cultures emphasise more on social interaction, interdependence and communal obedience (Yaman et al., 2010). Hong Kong has an influence from Western culture owing to which bilingual Hong Kong participants can be considered close to an individualistic society (Ralston et al., 1995). On the other hand, Pakistan being influenced by collective culture can be observed as a collectivist society owing to strong social relationships and interdependence (Asghar et al., 2018, 2019). For the present study, significant cultural influences have been observed in wayfinding behaviours for both cultural groups.\n5. Conclusions: While considering the university campus as a complex environment for wayfinding, the aim was to identify the potential cultural and individual impacts on wayfinding behaviour. Moreover, the finding can be influential in enhancing the efficiency of campus wayfinding for freshmen and general visitors to mitigate an individual's time losses, disorientation along with the consequent stress and frustration. Being the exploratory study in nature, certain parameters for the wayfinding issues have been identified in the review of the literature and presented before conducting the study. The identified influential factors were complex spatial planning, cultural differences, environmental familiarity, gender, age and the level of education. Cultural difference has been identified as a key factor in varied wayfinding behaviour amongst the groups.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Complex environments have a paucity of visual wayfinding information creating a strenuous situation for the new visitors. University campuses situated in the central urban areas with multi-storey structures and complex spatial layouts have poor environmental legibility. International students and visitors with diverse cultural backgrounds feel disoriented during wayfinding in these environments. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the cultural and individual differences affecting wayfinding behaviour.\nDesign/methodology/approach: An online wayfinding survey has been conducted through a questionnaire from 170 university students and visitors from Hong Kong and Pakistan. A five-point bipolar Likert scale has been used to evaluate wayfinding problems and ascribed behaviour.\nFindings: The results enunciated a substantial influence of culture on the decision-making process and wayfinding behaviour. Critical differences have been documented based on the country of origin and native language. Individual-related differences (age, gender, spatial familiarity, education, etc.) were computed, where age and spatial familiarity being noted as key factors impacting the respondents' opinion. Future exploration has been discussed for the pivotal elements regarding wayfinding information signage using computer simulations.\nResearch limitations/implications: The investigation can be further moved towards the other complex environments with fused facilities for a better understanding of wayfinding behaviour.\nPractical implications: The findings can be instrumental for improved access to user facilities and can reinforce the user's trust and dependence on the institutional facility management.\nOriginality/value: In the wayfinding study, no cross-cultural (individualists vs collectivists) study has been conducted in a university campus to investigate the wayfinding difficulty and ascribed behaviour, especially when the environment is unfamiliar.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Identification of growth factors for small firms: evidence from hotel companies on an island
|
[
"Hotels",
"Growth",
"Entrepreneurship",
"Island"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: \"Growth\" has a vital meaning for any company striving to survive in a fiercely competitive environment, including competitors, suppliers, customers, and governments (Pe'er et al., 2014; Pierce and Aguinis, 2013). Especially in the service sectors, growth refers to an increase of the numbers of sales and outcomes and/or improvement in quality (Christensen and Raynor, 2013; Dabholkar, 2015; Machek and Machek, 2014). Hence, managers need to identify key factors that influence the growth of companies to create and maintain sustainable competitive advantages based on cost leadership/differentiation (Porter, 1980) or the resource-based view (Barney, 1991) by outlining the domain of growth, driving companies to adapt themselves into environments and/or to manage organizational change (Benn et al., 2014; Vakola et al., 2013). In this respect, previous studies have aimed to define what growth is, why it is needed, what factors influence it, and how companies grow (Abay, 2014; Audretsch et al., 2014; Barbero et al., 2011; Coad and Tamvada, 2012; Cowling et al., 2014; Kessler et al., 2015; Omri and Ayadi-Frikha, 2014; Wright et al., 2015; Zaridis and Mousiolis, 2014).\nLiterature review: Defining growth for companies\nMethodology: Research method and data collection\nFindings: Profiles of hotels and respondents\nDiscussion and conclusions: This study sought to investigate what factors influence the growth of successful, independent successful hotels and how these factors influenced the growth of the hotels in an island context. In this respect, data were collected from five independent hotels via in-depth interviews, observations, and focus groups from the case-study hotels by using exploratory research design using survey, focus group, observation, and interview. Given that there is limited empirical evidence on the growth of independent hotels on islands, this study made an important attempt to contribute to the entrepreneurship literature in the hospitality management and family business fields via micro-level approaches concerning the factors influencing hotels' growth on an island. The research findings and discussions provided above offer important theoretical and practical implications. These are further elaborated on and discussed below.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to mainly investigate what factors drive growth for independent hotel firms on an island.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Two steps were followed. First, to identify hotels demonstrated significant growth; 92 independent hotels in North Cyprus were analyzed via a self-report questionnaire. Second, key growth factors were examined in five hotels showing the growth over years among the independent hotels via in-depth, semi-structured interviews, focus group interviews, and observations.\nFindings: The study findings revealed 16 important growth factors for hotels, including active risk taking, education, family history, networks of contacts, other business interests, family investing friends, key employee partners, customer concentration, autonomy, innovativeness, proactiveness, competitive aggressiveness, location, desire to succeed, age of founders, and state support where are strong, weak, and interrelated relationships among these factors. These findings allow factors to be categorized into new groups, namely, strategic and tactical factors. The research findings unveil new factors referred to as \"political conflict - pursuing different strategy and opportunities,\" importance of second generations affect and entrepreneur's metacognitive strategies, \"informal networking.\"\nResearch limitations/implications: More research should also be undertaken for entrepreneurs or managers who formulate and implement strategies to enter new markets or to tackle turbulent and/or unstable environments.\nPractical implications: This study reveals that one factor on its own cannot influence the growth of hotels. Rather, successful growth depends on the entrepreneur's ability to combine all factors in harmony.\nOriginality/value: Given that there is limited empirical evidence on the growth of independent hotels on islands, this study made an important attempt to contribute to the entrepreneurship literature in the hospitality management and family business fields via micro-level approaches concerning the factors influencing hotels' growth on an island. This is one of the first studies presenting and discussing empirical findings on growth factors for small hotels on an island, and brings a new perspective by grouping factors as strategic and tactical factors.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Shift work - change from semi-continuous to continuous system
|
[
"Organizational change",
"Occupational health",
"Interface work/non-work",
"Shift work",
"Work schedules"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Modern society is rapidly changing economical and productive strategies through the introduction of new technologies, market globalization and information processing, which also have impact on individual behavior and social organization and, in turn, have relevant implications for the working time. Although the majority of the active workforce from industrialized countries works during standard working hours (e.g. Monday through Friday during the day and resting on the weekends), it is increasingly common for organizations to carry out working schedules that are different from the conventional working hours. For example, in 2015, 30 percent of the working population from the European Union worked at least one Sunday per month, 52 percent worked at least one Saturday per month, 19 percent performed night work and 21 percent did shift work (Eurofound, 2016). This increase of atypical working schedules can be attributed to various factors including the increase of workers in the service sector, the market globalization and the growth of women's participation in the labor market. Shift workers are spread over different sectors ranging from telecommunications to media and beyond traditional sectors, such as health and transportation (Matheson et al., 2014).\nObjectives and contextualization: This study took place in a steel plant, where until two years ago, there were three types of shift systems: fixed morning shift (5:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m.); discontinuous system with rotation between morning and afternoon shift (1:00-9:00 p.m.), each week, and SCW, with rotation between morning, afternoon and night shift (9:00 p.m.-5:00 a.m.), one per week. In each shift system, the days off occurred on weekend.\nMethod: Participants\nResults: Results of FG and interviews\nDiscussion: The results obtained in the FG and interviews with managers indicate that the lack of days off on weekends, especially on Sunday, makes workers feel dissatisfied with the work schedule, thus turning this into the largest disadvantage felt by workers toward the work system change, mainly by compromising their family and social life.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to understand workers' resistance toward change from a semi-continuous (SCW) to a continuous shift work system (CW), especially focusing the perspective of change and its impact on workers' personal lives.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A case study was conducted at a Portuguese steel plant. A questionnaire was administered to 98 shift workers of the two systems, three focus groups (FG) each with ten CW workers, and three interviews with their managers.\nFindings: The results of the FG and the interviews indicate the loss of days off during weekends as the main drawback of this change, leading to work schedule dissatisfaction. The consequences of the change focused on social and family life. For the CW workers, the conciliation between working hours and life outside the company were the only predictors of satisfaction with work schedule.\nResearch limitations/implications: The cross-sectional design is one of the main limitations, as well the use of only one organization in the study suggests future replication. Organizations need to consider the aspects of family and social life in the management of working hours.\nOriginality/value: Globally, this case study highlights the importance of family and social aspects in the adjustment process to working hours, especially when these involve performing work on the weekends, such as shift work.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Modeling schedule overrun and cost escalation percentages of highway projects using fuzzy approach
|
[
"Regression analysis",
"SPSS",
"Mathematical modeling",
"Schedule overrun",
"Cost escalation and Highway projects",
"Statistical fuzzy model"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Meeting project objectives like timely completion within allocated cost reflects good project management in any field (Nasir et al., 2011; Choudhry et al., 2012). If project costs or schedules exceed their planned targets, the funding profile would no longer match the budget requirement and further slippage in schedule could result. The resulting effects would be detrimental especially in the case of developing countries whose wealth measure is greatly dependent on their performance in infrastructure provision through the construction industry, especially on road construction projects which constitute a major component of the industry (Kaliba et al., 2009).\n2. Background studies: 2.1 Background studies on causes of schedule overrun and cost escalation\n3. Methodology of the study: 3.1 Research steps\n4. Survey results and analysis: In order to evaluate the effectiveness degree of the identified factors, a triangle fuzzy membership function has been suggested as shown in Figure 2. The steps followed to determine the effectiveness degree of the identified factors based on the triangle fuzzy membership function are as following:\n5. Modeling percentages of schedule overrun and cost escalation: For the purpose of modeling the percentages of schedule overrun and cost escalation of highway project in Egypt through the application of linear regression method and statistical fuzzy theory, three steps have been designed to clearly illustrate the modeling methodology which has been followed to achieve the proposed models beginning from the determination of the independent and dependent variables, passing through the modeling process and ending with checking the validity of the developed models. The following sections will explain briefly the designed steps for the modeling process.\n6. Summary and conclusions: The issues of schedule overrun and cost escalation in highway construction projects in Egypt are discussed in a field survey. The current study adopted a fuzzy triangular function to identify the effectiveness degree of the factors influencing delay and cost overrun from the contractors', consultants' and owners' view. Through a detailed literature review, 38 causes of delay and 26 causes of cost overrun were identified. The field survey included 56 contractors, 15 consultants and 40 owners. The results are in line with many previous studies in that the problem of time and cost overrun is a phenomenon in construction of highway projects such as (Kaliba et al., 2009; Mansfield et al., 1994; Akoa 2011; Vidalis and Najafi, 2002).\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Modeling represents the art of translating problems from an application area into tractable mathematical formulations whose theoretical and numerical analysis provides insight, answers and guidance useful for the originating application. The purpose of this paper is to determine the causal causes of schedule overrun and cost escalation of highway projects in Egypt in order to be used as independents variables in mathematical models for predicting the percentages of schedule overrun and cost escalation of such projects in Egypt.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A survey of a randomly selected samples yielded responses from 40 owners, 15 consultants and 56 contractors. The survey includes 38 schedule overrun factors and 26 cost escalation factors. The effectiveness degree of the identified factors has been identified by the triangle fuzzy approach.\nFindings: The results of the survey show that \"contractor's technical staff is insufficient and ineligible to accomplish the project\" is the most important cause of schedule overrun, while the major cause of cost escalation is inadequate preparation of the project concerning planning and execution.\nOriginality/value: The main contribution of this study is predicting the percentages of schedule overrun and cost escalation of highway projects in Egypt. Through the application of the linear regression analysis method and statistical fuzzy theory, four predictive models have been developed and it has been noted that the linear regression-based model shows prediction accuracy better than statistical fuzzy-based model in predicting percentages of schedule overrun and cost escalation.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Oil, gold, US dollar and stock market interdependencies: a global analytical insight
|
[
"Stock market",
"Oil price",
"Gold price",
"Trade-weighted exchange rate",
"Simultaneous equations",
"F31",
"G15",
"Q02"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The sustained rise in interdependence of global markets along with the international financial integration have accelerated the financialization process of commodity markets (Tang and Xiong, 2012) and led stock and foreign exchange (hereafter forex) markets to be more sensitive to commodity prices.\n2. A glance at the existing literature: The relationships between financial and commodity markets are documented in a sizeable literature. We present and discuss here bilateral relationships with an interest in multilateral interactions.\n3. Data and theoretical analysis: 3.1 Presentation of the data and declaration of hypothesis\n4. Empirical methodology and econometric issues: The empirical methodology makes use of the simultaneous equation approach which allows to adequately investigating the multipart interactions among oil price, gold rate, US dollar exchange rate and stock market prices. We then estimate the following system of equation simultaneously:(1)\n5. Empirical results and discussion: Table I reports estimation results of the simultaneous equation system. We rely here on the relative contribution of direct and indirect effects and then put emphasize on the total effect.\n6. Conclusion: The interdependencies among oil price, gold price, US dollar and stock markets put forward fundamental importance for either investment or managerial decisions.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine, in a global perspective, the oil, gold, US dollar and stock prices interdependencies and to identify instantaneously direct and indirect linkages among them.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A methodology based on simultaneous equations system was used to identify direct and indirect linkages for the period 1995-2015. The authors try initially to find theoretical answers to main question of the study by discussing causal bilateral relationships while focusing on multilateral interactions.\nFindings: The results show significant interactions between all markets. The authors found a negative relation between oil and stock prices but oil price is significantly and positively affected by gold and USD. Oil price is also affected by oil futures prices and by Chinese oil gross imports. Gold rate is concerned by changes in oil, USD and stock markets. The US dollar is negatively affected by stock market and significantly by oil and gold price. Indirect effects always exist which confirm the presence of global interdependencies and involve the financialization process of commodity markets.\nOriginality/value: Motivation of this research paper is the substantial implications of price movements on real economy and financial markets. Understanding that co-movement has great value for investors, policy makers and portfolio managers. This paper differs from previous studies in several aspects. First, most of the research papers focus on bilateral linkages solely, while the authors' investigation was implemented on all the four markets simultaneously. Second, the study was developed in a global framework using international data. The global analysis allows avoiding country specific effects.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Patient safety analyses using Lombardy administrative archives
|
[
"Safety",
"Benchmarking",
"Patient care",
"Italy"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In recent years, increasing attention has been directed toward problems inherent to healthcare service quality control. Total quality management (TQM) and continuous quality improvement (CQI) are the most widespread and recent approaches to implementing and improving healthcare quality control (Ovretveit and Gustafson, 2003). Accreditation and certification procedures can be seen as stimulating mechanisms, which discover skills and technology to improve performance. Among several factors bringing about this increased interest in healthcare quality, diagnostic related group (DRG), as a reimbursement system, plays an important role (Rogers et al., 1990). The Italian DRG system classifies hospital cases (discharges) into one of approximately 500 groups, expected to use similar resources. Diagnostic related groups are assigned by a \"grouper\" program based on international classification of diseases (ICD) diagnoses, procedures, age, sex and complications or co-morbidities. Implementing a prospective payment system made it necessary for healthcare organisations to devise ways to control costs without endangering safe and effective patient care. This classification system, however, encourages hospital staff to place a higher priority on economic aspects instead of effective care. Many studies point to possible negative effects if such reimbursement systems are carelessly implemented, namely patient selection and lower quality (Newhouse, 1996). Thus, within the quality evaluation framework, a more recently investigated dimension is monitoring adverse events - defined as unintentional injuries or complications caused by healthcare, which results in disability, death or prolonged hospital stays.Our aim is to discuss possible strategies to develop patient safety benchmarking systems using Italy's Lombardy region archives. Benchmarking used in this article is directly linked to relative effectiveness, defined as hospital care's specific effect on health outcomes, adjusted for case-mix.\nPatient safety: Monitoring adverse events is motivated by a need to reduce medical errors and related costs. Today, medical errors cause approximately 40,000 deaths per year in the UK (Vincent, 1997, 2001), 40,000 to 100,000 in the USA (Kohn et al., 2000). In December 1999, the Institute of Medicine's (IOM) Committee on Quality of Health Care in America released \"To err is human: building a safer health system\" (Kohn et al., 2000). The IOM's report dramatically expanded the debate about clinical errors both in the USA and abroad, becoming a fundamental focus for health stakeholders and public opinion. Pioneering studies contributing to analyses and strategies contained in the IOM report began approximately 20 years ago. In 1990, the Harvard School of Public Health Center for Quality of Care Research and Education became the benchmark for hospital medical errors. Brennan et al. (1991), reviewing 30,121 inpatient medical charts in 51 New York State hospitals in 1984, reported that adverse events occurred in 3.7 per cent of admissions and that 69 per cent of injuries were caused by errors. Leape et al. (1991) and Leape et al. (1993) analysing the same data reported that one half to two-thirds of inpatient adverse events were attributable to surgical care and that more than half may be preventable. Clinical errors were responsible for 58 per cent of all adverse events, among which nearly half were attributed to negligence.In an Australian study, modelled on the Harvard approach, Wilson et al. (1999), reviewing 14,179 hospital medical admissions to 28 New South Wales hospitals in 1995 reported that adverse events occurred in 16.6 per cent admissions and 4.9 per cent caused patient deaths. These data, rearranged following the same parameters and definitions (prevention criteria and event thresholds) as the Harvard study (Leape et al., 1991) showed that adverse events occurred in 10.6 per cent admissions (Thomas et al., 2000). Vincent (1997) reports a British study to detect adverse events that replicated the US and Australian methods. Analysing British hospital medical records (two hospitals in the Greater London area and more than 1,000 hospitalisations) generated adverse event preliminary estimates and costs. Results indicated that 10.8 per cent of hospitalised patients experienced adverse events, with an overall adverse event rate equalling 11.7 per cent when multiple adverse events were included.In Italy, reliably estimating these phenomena is not yet available. In 2001, CENSIS, an independent research centre studying Italian society, estimated that more than 35,000 deaths were caused by medical errors (CENSIS, 2001). Further, the University Consortium for Engineering of Insurance of Politecnico of Milan (CINEAS) and Zurich Consulting, analysing more than eight million Italian inpatients in 2000, reported that approximately 320,000 patients each year incur damages imputable to medical errors. Deaths varied annually from 14,000 to 50,000 hospitalised patients (CINEAS, 2002). A recent Smith Kline Foundation study (Crupi et al., 2005), which analysed Italian Institute of Statistics data from 2003-2007, quantified 32,000 deaths per year caused by medical errors in Italian hospitals, representing 2.5 per cent total annual deaths in Italy.Outcomes and administrative data\nA new methodological perspective: Our principal objective deals with choosing proper statistical models, which aim to evaluate, in a benchmarking framework, health service effectiveness. To this end, logistic regression, used by AHRQ, presents some drawbacks. In equation (1) j-th the health structure's effect on the probability of a warning event occurring for i-th patient is absent: only individual covariates (whose parameters do not depend on the health structures) play an explicative role. Logistic regressions ignore de facto correlation owing to clustering (nesting structure) patients within the same health structures. From this perspective, several authors suggest using hierarchical or multilevel models to make equitable comparisons taking into account case-mix (risk adjustment) and different nesting levels for statistical units (Goldstein and Spiegelhalter, 1996; Rice and Leyland, 1996; Snijders and Bosker, 1999). In its general version, the logistic multilevel model (Snijders and Bosker, 1999) specifies patient i in health structure j, that the logit of pij depends on P (p=1,...P) patient covariates (xpij) and Q (q=1, ... ,Q) health structure covariates (zqj), as shown in equation (2): Equation 2 In model (2), patients are level-1 units, whereas health structures are level-2. The linear predictor modelling logit(pij) in equation (2) involves level-1 (xpij) and level-2 covariates (zqj), considered as fixed variables plus random errors u0j called level-2 residuals, specific for the j-th health structure, assumed independent and normally distributed with zero mean and variance s2u*. The double sum in equation (2) specifies possible cross-level interactions between covariates at different levels, allowing the impact of some individual covariates (i.e. urgency, or length of stay) in modelling the event to vary by health structures characteristics (personnel, typology, specialisation, etc.). Antilog of parameter u0j is typically called relative effectiveness of j-th health structure, because it reflects the specific managerial contribution of the j-th health structure on the risk of warning event, depurated by individual case-mix and by care structure characteristics. To obtain health structure classifications that preserve both discrimination and uncertainty, many authors suggest considering 95 per cent confidence intervals (CI) of level-2 residuals. These identify best and worst health structures if the associated CI is under or over the mean adjusted warning event risk, calculated by averaging the adjusted risks for health structures involved in the analysis.Thus model (2) furnishes a realistic way to compare health performance in a benchmarking framework. Typically, a logistic model with a multilevel structure is justified when in a model, named ANOVA random, containing only the health structures effect (u0j) a significant quota of total variability (between and within health structures) is due to variability among health structures (s2u). Since the total variability is composed by s2u plus the within variance of the logistic distribution (p2/3), the intra-class correlation coefficient [ICC=s2u/(s2u+p2/3)], exhibits the amount of total heterogeneity existing in the outcome of interest due to the between component, quantifying the effect of belonging to a particular health structure on the risk of warning event occurrence.Thus, one multilevel methodology aspect is the correct level of aggregation to define level-2 units. Since a great part of patient safety indicators and inpatient quality indicators proposed by AHRQ refer to procedures or events that occur to patients only in particular specialties, the benchmarking analysis coincides de facto with specialty comparisons (involved in different hospitals) where the events occurred. Instead, PSI 2 and PSI 4, referring to events occurring to patients with different diagnoses and pathologies, are not associated to specific specialties. Thus, a consistent benchmark procedure must consider this factor. In subsequent analyses we adopt stratification to benchmark health structures (considered level 2 units) by specialty. Although this modus operandi may proliferate hospital assessments (since it produces for each hospital, different comparisons, one for every specialty existing in that hospital), various methods such as multi-criteria analysis (Roy, 1971) or data envelopment analysis (Charnes et al., 1994) thereby furnishing synthetic effectiveness measures.Application to Lombardy region\nConclusion: Administrative data can, using automatic procedures, furnish useful information for researchers, health personnel and institutional stakeholders. Nevertheless, missing Italian patient safety data reduces the potential to replicate the study on a large scale. Routine sources holding adverse events or safety indicators are not available in regional databases. We conducted our analysis on AHRQ patient safety indicators using software, procedures and materials in the AHRQ web site not from regional administrative archives. This reflects the ASSR project's experimental characteristics, which aims to replicate AHRQ safety indicators in an Italian context.In Milan's Niguarda Hospital (over 50,000 discharges each year) staff tentatively capture \"failure to rescue\" indicators from administrative data. Niguarda Hospital risk managers and clinicians, having identified patients who die following complications (period 2002-2004), fully analysed medical charts to detect healthcare problems and diagnostic coding process accuracy. Analysing Lombardy patient safety indicators allowed us to compare health structures within disaggregate specialties and produce consistent benchmarks, especially outcome measures applicable to a broad variety of situations (diagnoses and procedures) and different health structures typologies. Our empirical analysis demonstrates that hierarchical approaches, based on comparing health structures in the same specialty, disaggregate moderate failure to rescue levels existing between hospitals. High variability occurs in oncology, ICUs and general medicine. Furthermore, persistent variability among health structures within the same specialty after risk adjustment suggests administrative information about health structures variables or specialties are needed. To fully account for clinical error variation, it is imperative to collect datasets that contain not only adverse events data, but also patient case-mix and hospital characteristics. However, although stratification or other approaches may be proposed for appropriate benchmarking, strategies to keep comparing non-comparable structures to a minimum are needed. Post-stratification of health structures (in specific slices) or investigating time trends for hospital outcomes (Lilford et al., 2004), emphasising factors affecting self-improvement in a longitudinal framework, appears promising.The study's main managerial insight is that stakeholder effort to promote hospital improvement policies should essentially concentrate on information analysis and more specifically on improving administrative information sources. In fact, administrative data, present several limitations. They rely on diagnostic coding accuracy especially recording complications arising during hospitalisation. It can be difficult to distinguish if complications are imputable to treatment or were present on admission. Furthermore, hospital discharge records do not collect information about patient's illness severity at admission (Iezzoni, 1997a). Instead, automatic algorithms such as disease staging or APR DRG, transform the original coded DRGs into urgency and disease severity indicators (Iezzoni, 1997b). However, electronic procedures to infer co-morbidities or to aggregate DRGs into similar groups by admission type are not implemented in regional informative systems. These limitations have to be taken into account when gathering risk factors associated with incidents or clinical errors related to claims and legal controversies. Preventive strategies for improving and enhancing risk management programs and for avoiding adverse events can then be formed.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to discuss strategies for benchmarking patient safety using Lombardy region administrative archives. Patient safety indicators and statistical methods are presented that allow risk adjustment. The analysis benchmarks regional health structures, focusing on two patient safety indicators: failure to rescue; and death in low mortality diagnostic related group.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Data were drawn from a research project promoted by the Italian Agency of Regional Health Services in 2002 to furnish statistical evidence regarding adverse events based on Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality indicators and methods. Hierarchical models for an equitable benchmark analyses are proposed.\nFindings: - Empirical analysis shows that hierarchical approaches, based on comparing health structures within homogenous specialties, disaggregates and moderates failure to rescue variabilities existing between hospitals, especially in oncology, intensive care and general medicine.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The paper proposes using hierarchical models for properly benchmarking health structures, resolving logistic regression drawbacks and limitations.\nPractical implications: - The paper strengthens the theory that accurate coding supported by software and administrative databases could provide a valuable and economical source for patient safety research.\nOriginality/value: - The paper analyses and suggests strategies for consistent benchmark analyses based on patient safety outcomes, applicable to several situations and different health structure typologies.\n",
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Exploring interdisciplinary teamwork to support effective ward rounds
|
[
"Ward rounds",
"Teamwork",
"Interdisciplinary",
"Clinician experience"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Ward rounds are a process where health professionals work together to plan patient care and facilitate teaching opportunities to clinicians (Walton et al., 2016). A 2018 literature review (Petit dit Dariel; Cristofalo, 2018) found rounds were an avenue for interdisciplinary teamwork, but due to hierarchical culture, examples of medical teamwork were often at the forefront, with other health professionals extraneous to the physician team. Specialties demonstrated interdisciplinary teamwork differently. For example, a rehabilitation ward displayed a vision statement outlining shared values and decision making across the interdisciplinary team, while a general medicine ward demonstrated interdisciplinary teamwork during episodes of emergencies (Petit dit Dariel; Cristofalo, 2018).When done well, ward rounds can be a daily example of effective, collaborative teamwork (Acharya, 2016; Moroney and Knowles, 2006). The importance of positive teamwork in ward rounds cannot be underestimated. Higher functioning teams deliver high-quality care (Korner et al., 2016), and patients perceive that health professionals who work together in teams are the most effective (World Health Organization, 2012). The introduction of structured interdisciplinary bedside rounds has been shown to improve teamwork (Clay-Williams et al., 2018, O'Leary et al., 2011). However, structured interdisciplinary rounds are just one rounding process out of many undertaken on medical wards (Walton et al., 2016). Therefore, it is important teams have foundational teamwork to support the various rounding processes they may carry out.Structured communication tools such as ISBAR (introduction, situation, background, assessment, and recommendation) (NSW Health, 2016) have been developed to improve team communication during ward rounds. Structured communication tools are considered current best practice (Muller et al., 2018). Earlier studies have found structured communication improves satisfaction with interdisciplinary teamwork and communication (Muller et al., 2018).Studies have shown that teamwork is achieved by five interrelated elements - leadership, mutual performance monitoring, backup behaviour, adaptability, and team orientation, which are underpinned by attributes of mutual trust, communication and a shared mental model (Salas et al., 2005; Weller et al., 2014). Although they were not originally developed for healthcare, the elements and attributes may be transferrable to ward round teamwork. Similar attributes are also key to effective ward rounds (Ten have et al., 2013, Schmelter et al., 2018; Kirthi et al., 2012; Walton et al., 2019b). An earlier study used similar dimensions to evaluate interdisciplinary healthcare teamwork (Petit dit Dariel; Cristofalo, 2018). Hence, in a circular positive reinforcing process: effective teamwork supports interdisciplinary ward rounds, which, in turn, provides a structure to engage professionals to work collaboratively (Tang et al., 2018).One challenge to effective teamwork is a lack of understanding of individual team member's roles (Byrne and Pettigrew, 2010). A shift from professional to patient-centric care challenges traditional roles and boundaries of health professionals (Nancarrow and Borthwick, 2005). Activities previously undertaken within an intradisciplinary team may now be the responsibility of interdisciplinary colleagues (Nancarrow and Borthwick, 2005). A lack of understanding about interdisciplinary team member's roles can be a source of conflict (Tang et al., 2018). Allied health professionals working in rehabilitation found interprofessional teamwork can be positively impacted when there is an interdisciplinary understanding of roles (Byrne and Pettigrew, 2010).Another challenge to teamwork during rounds has been identified as a hierarchical culture. Different professional cultural expectations can lead to a mismatch in levels of effective communication with medical officers rating communication more satisfactory than nurses (Ratelle et al., 2016; Walton et al., 2019b). Clear communication and teamwork during rounds have been shown to improve patient safety and reduce the risk of adverse events (Kirthi et al., 2012; NSW Health, 2016).The engaged medical, nursing and allied health professionals are more likely to contribute to highly effective ward rounds (Stein et al., 2015). Yet clinicians have unclear expectations and low perceptions of teamwork and communication, which have been found to be barriers to effective rounding (Wickersham et al., 2018; Ratelle et al., 2016). In spite of moves to more collaborative interdisciplinary care (Petit dit Dariel and Cristofalo, 2018), studies across a nearly 10-year period found nurses and allied health clinicians still perceive that their opinions are not valued (Nugus et al., 2010; Walton et al., 2019b).The status quo in nursing and allied health clinicians' perceptions of inequality with medical officers, coupled with a focus on interdisciplinary ward rounds determined the focus of the study. To better understand ward round teamwork collaboration, we investigated medical, nursing and allied health clinicians' perceptions of the enablers and challenges to interdisciplinary teamwork. We asked clinicians three questions: what are the enablers for teamwork; what are the challenges to teamwork; and what are their experiences of positive teamwork?\nMethods: Setting\nFindings: Eighty-three clinicians were approached, and 77 participated, yielding a 93% response rate. Twenty-six (34%) of respondents were from acute medicine, and 51 (66%) were from rehabilitation. The majority were employed full-time, and there was representation from all seniority levels from each discipline (Table 3). All participants answered the multiple-choice questions related to the enablers and challenges to teamwork.Enablers to interdisciplinary teamwork\nDiscussion: Ward rounds are a daily example of healthcare teamwork. This study investigated clinicians' perspectives on the enablers and challenges of teamwork and lived experiences of positive teamwork. Effective teamwork impacts patient safety and outcomes (Clay-Williams et al., 2018). The study builds on previous investigations into interdisciplinary teams' perceptions of ward rounds and the benefits and challenges of participating (Walton et al., 2019b). This study found health professionals desired interdisciplinary rounds, but inharmonious teamwork was perceived to be an inhibitor to the effectiveness of the rounds (Walton et al., 2019b). Processes such as rounds need careful planning to ensure the foundation of effective teamwork is present prior to implementation (Stein et al., 2015).Globally, ward rounds are an everyday activity in hospitals, yet teamwork during the rounds remains an ongoing research area due to the complexity of interdisciplinary team processes (O'Leary et al., 2019; Kefford et al., 2015). Healthcare professionals are required to move between intradisciplinary and interdisciplinary teams and processes multiple times during a single day. Each health professional and each discipline has their own culture and approaches patient care differently. Although the end goal of providing high-quality care is the same, there may be different perspectives on how this is achieved. Therefore, it is important there is a shared understanding of teamwork during rounds to ensure high-quality care for patients. A model of teamwork presented key elements of teamwork used previously in studies of healthcare teams and rounding processes (Weller et al., 2014, O'Leary et al., 2012). The alignment of teamwork dimensions into rounding processes may improve the quality and safety of care delivery.Previous studies into teamwork during structured interdisciplinary team ward rounds begin with the notion that undertaking the round improves teamwork and collaboration (O'Leary et al., 2011; Clay-Williams et al., 2018). Based on this assumption, communication tools (NSW Health, 2016) were introduced to the structure and help health professionals convey patient information. Our study findings challenge this notion, with the implication that the opposite is the case. We need to reverse this idea and realise that effective teamwork is the bedrock required in positive rounding processes. That is, productive teamwork achieves effective ward rounds. First, improve teamwork and improved ward rounds, and then by extension, improved patient care will follow.The study findings revealed an agreement with the dimensions of teamwork. There were also similarities to an earlier study investigating the principles of effective interdisciplinary teamwork (Nancarrow et al., 2013). There was an agreement between health professionals of the attributes that facilitate and challenge teamwork. There was little difference in the findings between clinicians working in acute medicine or rehabilitation specialties. This contrasts with an earlier study that identified interdisciplinary differences in teamwork (Liberati et al., 2016). Clinicians' experiences of enablers and challenges to teamwork align with earlier studies into teams (Salas et al., 2005; Weller et al., 2014).Communication, team structure, patient-focussed care, and a sense of feeling valued were the key influencers on effective teamwork. These are similar to an earlier study investigating clinicians' perspectives on the benefits and challenges of interdisciplinary bedside rounds (Walton et al., 2019b). For rounding processes to be effective and efficient, a strong foundation in teamwork is necessary.Our study found \"shared decision making\" (SDM) was inconsistently identified as a contributing factor to effective teamwork. A possible explanation for this is that SDM may be considered an outcome of effective teams rather than a facilitator. Training programs to improve health professional understanding of SDM are changing from a medical to an interdisciplinary focus (Diouf et al., 2016). Adopting an Appreciative Inquiry to investigate teams shared positive experiences of teamwork can support the development of a shared mental model of teamwork (Hung et al., 2018).The importance of effective communication between health professionals is widely acknowledged and enables the team to be adaptable. The findings showed that besides an objective delivery of communication, the intent behind the delivery is also important. Clinicians want patient care to be discussed and planned in a respectful manner that is inclusive. The development of structured communication tools such as ISBAR provides a framework for presenting information; however, clinicians presented a desire to move beyond presenting to more inclusive communication. Including \"discussion\" into structured communication tools may act as a prompt for this to occur.Our study found clinicians want team members to have clearly defined roles and responsibilities, including that of an identified leader. This \"backup behaviour\" (Salas et al., 2005) allows appropriate allocation of tasks and role-specific communication and team collaboration (Sims et al., 2015). Role ambiguity can lead to conflict and poor management of disagreements (Almost et al., 2016). Expanding on the characteristics of understanding roles is the respecting colleagues' roles (Nancarrow et al., 2013). Participants in our study did not specifically identify valuing the roles, but they expanded this to being valued as a person. Conversely, transformational leaders who empower teams and allowed for collaborative communication can positively influence conflict management (Almost et al., 2016).Understanding and respecting each other's roles and responsibilities and having a shared understanding of patient goals contributed to a positive experience as clinical input was valued and considered in the patient's treatment plan and goal setting. A contradiction to this had multiple opinions about patient care during a ward round leading to an increase in discussion time (Walton et al., 2019b). There was a relationship between time and pre-determined challenges. This included increasing demands on clinicians due to the increasing acuity of patients. Being unable to locate team members for assistance or understand documented care plans place stress on clinicians. As these challenges have been identified, there are opportunities for organisations to address them. Strengthening teamwork in processes such as ward rounds may help to reduce some of these challenges. Nancarrow et al. (2013) study identified that teams might benefit from spending time developing teamwork. Despite the benefits of this, the challenge is the practical application of how this is achieved when interdisciplinary teams work in different locations and wards (Walton et al., 2019a).Clinicians' experience of enablers to positive teamwork provided further insight into what clinicians perceive as important. This includes dimensions of effective teamwork relevant for any setting (Salas et al., 2005). Patient focussed care or shared decision identified in our study could be aligned to the \"adaptability\" dimension. This finding has been recognised in theoretical studies (Petit dit Dariel; Cristofalo, 2018), and our study provides empirical evidence to support this. Using the positive aspects of teamwork in one situation may increase health professional's desire to experience them again (Hung et al., 2018). Harnessing this may encourage transferability to different teamwork processes, including ward rounds.A practical solution for services to enable teamwork led us to adapt the work of Salas et al. (2005) into a new framework that shows the relationship between teamwork dimensions while providing practical examples of how those dimensions align to ward rounds (see Table 6).Limitations\nConclusion: The study findings indicate the foundations for effective teamwork are consistent amongst different health disciplines and specialties. External factors, such as understanding rounding processes and workforce structures, are influential on teamwork during processes such as ward rounds. Hospital environments are fast-paced and require the ability to respond to the patient's changing needs. Teams with a consistent and shared approach to collaboration enable adaptability to different clinical situations. This supports that the foundation of teamwork processes can be interchangeable between medical, nursing and allied health disciplines and specialties.Implications of research\n",
"role": "user"
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"content": "Purpose: This paper aims to explore if health professionals share understanding of teamwork that supports collaborative ward rounds.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A purpose-designed survey was conducted in two acute medical and two rehabilitation wards from a metropolitan teaching hospital. Medical officers, nurses and allied health professionals participated. To understand characteristics that support collaborative ward rounds, questions developed from literature and industry experience asked: what are the enablers and challenges to teamwork; and what are clinicians' experiences of positive teamwork? Descriptive and thematic analyses were applied to the dimensions of effective teamwork as a framework for deductive coding.\nFindings: Seventy-seven clinicians participated (93% response rate). Findings aligned with dimensions of teamwork framework. There was no meaningful difference between clinicians or specialty. Enablers to teamwork were: effective communication, shared understanding of patient goals, and colleague's roles. Challenges were ineffective communication, individual personalities, lack of understanding about roles and responsibilities, and organisational structure. Additional challenges included: time; uncoordinated treatment planning; and leadership. Positive teamwork was influenced by leadership and team dynamics.\nPractical implications: Ward rounds benefit from a foundation of collaborative teamwork. Different dimensions of teamwork present during ward rounds support clinicians' shared understanding of roles, expectations and communication.\nOriginality/value: Rounds such as structured rounding, aim to improve teamwork. Inverting this concept to first develop effective collaboration will support team adaptability and resilience. This enables teams to transition between the multiple rounding processes undertaken in a single ward. The emphasis becomes high-quality teamwork rather than a single rounding process.\n",
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Sustainability and energy efficiency: Research implications from an academic roundtable and two case examples
|
[
"Supply chain management",
"Sourcing",
"Sustainable development",
"Localization",
"Energy conservation"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Logistics and supply chain management (L&SCM) affects the environmental, social and economic performance of organizations (Carter and Rogers, 2008). Pagell and Wu (2009) state that as a consequence:[...] a sustainable supply chain is then one that performs well on both traditional measures of profit and loss, as well as on an expanded conceptualization of performance that includes social and natural dimensions.These three components form what is referred to as the \"triple bottom line\" (Elkington, 2004). L&SCM can improve the environmental performance of organizations through reductions in the packaging used in the supply chain (Mollenkopf et al., 2005), and the facilitation of reuse, recycling and remanufacture (Fleischmann et al., 2001). Conversely, L&SCM can adversely impact an organizations environmental performance as supply chains tend to be getting longer - due to sourcing from low-cost economies - resulting in increased consumption of fossil fuel and emissions from transport (Stock, 1978). A further negative environmental impact can be caused by less-stringent regulations on manufacturing in low-cost economies (Carter and Jennings, 2002). L&SCM can possibly impact the social performance of organizations through reduced health and safety costs (Brown, 1996) and the use of sustainable sources of supply (Ciliberti et al., 2008). The economic performance of organizations is, of course, impacted by the supply chain function sourcing from low-cost economies where the labor costs are significantly lower than the sourcing country (Krugman, 1995).In 2007, Srivastava published an authoritative review of 227 papers on green supply chain management which reveal that this area has become widely covered from the engineering, manufacturing, and logistics angles. The paper also reveals is that there is little convergence between these areas of research:Research in green supply chain management to date may be considered compartmentalized [...] more integrative contributions are needed in the longer term, including intra- and inter-firm diffusion of best practices, green technology transfer and environmental performance measurement.The editors of this special issue posed some thought-provoking research questions in their call for papers. These questions are integrative and not limited to any function within the supply chain. This paper reports on a roundtable discussion of these questions with leading academics in our discipline who serve on the Council for Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) Education Strategy Committee. The remit of the committee is to advance integrated thinking within supply chain management and supply chain education.In this research note, we report on the outcomes of that roundtable discussion and the implications for further research in this field. Additionally, we offer case examples presented at the 2008 CSCMP annual conference from two well-known global companies, Walmart and Cisco Systems. These companies have devoted significant resources and efforts towards greening their supply chains. These cases are used to complement the academic perspectives, in addition to addressing the call for best practices from Srivastava (2007). Additionally, we hope to address Carter and Rogers (2008) call for further research which posits that:A [...] valuable research design [...] would be to sample companies that have been identified as engaging in sustainable corporate and supply chain management practices, such as organizations that are members of the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices.Both cases included in this paper are prominent companies highly engaged (on record) in sustainability and Cisco Systems not only won a 2008 CSCMP Supply Chain Excellence Award for its efforts in this area, the company is also part of the Dow Jones Sustainability Index. The outcomes of the roundtable with academics can hopefully address Carter and Rogers (2008) second call for research: \"Our hope is that our research will stimulate additional theory-building and conceptual development within the supply chain management discipline.\"The remainder of this paper is structured as follows. We review, in turn, the three questions posed by the special issue, starting with the outcome of the roundtable with academics and followed by the case examples of companies that have developed real-world solutions. The three questions posed by the editors were:1. Are current theory and solutions suitable to address current challenges of sustainability and energy efficiency?2. Are time-based distribution with small-size shipments and deliveries at flexible dates still environmentally and economically sustainable?3. Global sourcing - is the next step local sourcing?Based upon those implications for further research are generated.\nQuestion 1: Are current theory and solutions in L&SCM suitable to address current challenges of sustainability and energy efficiency?: Despite the prolific nature of existing theory and theory development in this area, discussion in the roundtable of academics went immediately to a number of commonly used economic trade-offs between transport and inventory that were found to still be valid. It was stated that the economic equilibrium in those trade-offs might that change due to changes in energy and fuel prices. With higher fuel prices frequency of delivery might be decreased, networks might be decentralized more and a greater focus might be placed on increased capacity utilization. The risk of this response is that they may be short-term responses to changing economic trade-offs and have little to due with \"true\" sustainability. Furthermore, economic trade-offs are constantly changing due to fluctuating fuel prices, this however does not lead us to challenge the theory underneath the trade-off.In the recent past, the costs of holding inventory and cost-of-goods-sold (COGS) have been relatively more expensive than the costs of transport in many supply chains. Hence, a lot of production has been globalized and inventory centralized, at the expense of length of transportation lanes and frequency of shipments. In summary, Figure 1 shows the well-known trade-off between inventory and transportation costs. Two changes within this trade-off are in play. First, inventory costs increase due to the credit crunch, focusing companies on reducing working capital and increasing liquidity as financing raw material and work-in-progress inventory through debt becomes more costly. Second, transportation costs increase due to the increased fuel prices. Owing to the slope of the transportation cost curve, shorter lead times will face disproportionate increases - favoring longer lead times. The overall equilibrium point is at a higher cost level with longer lead times.So, when considering these changes, costs are used as a proxy for sustainability with greater costs leading companies to implement cost-cutting initiatives - for example transport network optimization - that could be viewed as sustainable. Furthermore, the roundtable participants felt that sustainability might only be at the planning stage for most companies, making it very easy to de-prioritize them in an economic recession.With oil prices going down, many fuel efficiency efforts might lose steam and the balance may swing back to reducing inventory as access to credit remains tight and the economy is heading into decline. The participants suggested that this will lead firms away from a focus on profit to a focus on survival and liquidity. However, it was also felt that social costs (e.g. emissions, noise pollution, and infrastructural costs) could be more effectively incorporated in the total cost definition (in addition to transportation and inventory costs).A case example from Cisco Systems on their value recovery program illustrates an inclusive approach to dealing with all of the costs associated with a products design, manufacture, delivery, and disposal. Cisco Systems won CSCMP's Supply Chain Innovation Award in 2008 for its work in this area. The reason why it is relevant to offer in the context of this question is that it proves that efficient resource utilization and re-utilization can be good business practice not just from a social, but from an economic point of view. As a result, it might be concluded that well-known trade-offs still apply but that innovative practice in industry might improve returns economically, socially, and environmentally.Cisco Systems value recovery program\nQuestion 2: are time-based distribution strategies with small-size shipments and deliveries at flexible dates still environmentally and economically sustainable?: The roundtable concluded that given the fact that economic trade-offs between transport and inventory have not disappeared but have only changed with prices. According to the roundtable participations, the answer to this question has to be that these shipments are less feasible but still possible provided adequate fees are paid to compensate for the increased costs. Obviously, the trick might be in getting smarter about transport and logistics as a whole and this is where Walmart offers an example of a company that is making changes that are beneficial no matter what the fuel prices. Overall, however it was concluded by the roundtable discussants that companies are taking a predominantly economic point of view, as opposed to an integrated economic, social and environmental triple bottom line point of view. Examples were given of companies that were considering alternative sourcing patterns when fuel prices where high that stopped considering those overnight when fuel prices collapsed. Marketing reasons where mentioned as a driver behind sustainability initiatives by the roundtable participations. This begs the question how sustainable sustainability marketing is. For example, if Walmart is partially driven by marketing and public relations (PR) considerations, will the company change direction away from sustainability when a different marketing opportunity arises. Will sustainability by a marketing fad or a long-term trend? Long term enough to earn back investments needed to green the supply chain?Research implication\nQuestion 3: global sourcing - is the next step local sourcing?: The roundtable participants indicated that there are certainly companies that are considering moving some production back into markets and reversing global sourcing efforts. The limited is one such organization that has indicated it is assessing such scenarios and Ikea is looking at stepping up in-market production in the North American market. However, this is a logical consequence of transportation trade-offs changing and the transportation downside of global sourcing weighing more heavily than before in comparison to labor costs and the scale economics of global sourcing. It seemed logical therefore that that with dropping fuel prices, considerations have shifted back to global sourcing almost instantaneously. Again, it appears that companies are more driven by economic considerations rather than the triple bottom line and are even a bit short-term and opportunistic in nature. However, according to the roundtable participants, the long-term trend does appear to point towards rising fuel prices and the marketing considerations of sustainability becoming more important. That coupled with the risks of supply uncertainty and labor costs that will eventually rise even in China, a return to local sourcing might become a more feasible consideration in the longer-term.Research implications\nSummary and review of research implications: What the roundtable discussion and the case examples reveal, in answering the questions posed by the special issue editors, is that existing trade-offs and solutions do still apply in today's practice of supply chain management - that has not changed. Changing fuel and energy prices are impacting network design considerations, within the existing trade-off framework. So, local sourcing becomes a stronger option when fuel costs are high. But, when fuel costs drop again, local sourcing becomes a less-relevant consideration and this is precisely what has happened over the past year or so. The same applies to inventory reduction. With the credit crunch inventory reduction is favored but when credit becomes more easily available again the trade-off will change, while the framework remains. Customers might value sustainable products and services but that does not mean they do not value fast delivery service anymore. So, in reconsidering the Carter and Rogers (2008) comprehensive framework for sustainable supply chain management, it appears that economic performance considerations, and not environmental and social performance, still largely drive decision making. As a result and in response to Carter and Rogers' (2008) call for more theory development, we would suggest based upon our findings that existing trade-offs can be expanded with:* new factors (such as social costs);* nuances (is marketing skewing the trade-off away from sustainability?); and* time-frames of criticality (what is the time window for sustainability?).We hope that these research implications might inspire further progress in thinking and research, just like the call for papers for this special issue had inspired us. Table I summarizes the questions from the editors, case example, and research implications and questions.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to attempt to answer the questions posed by the special issue editors using insights from leading academics in the field and case examples drawn from two renowned global companies. It also aims to define potential avenues for further research in the thematic areas covered.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper uses a roundtable discussion with the Council for Supply Chain Management Professionals's Education Strategy Committee and case materials and presentations from Cisco Systems and Walmart to generate the insights.\nFindings: - The existing cost/lead-time trade-off model still applies yet changes in fuel prices and the importance of sustainability initiatives (also from a marketing point of view) lead to different equilibrium points.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Based on insight from leading academics and case examples, the paper suggests that the trade-offs are made more intricate and require the more accurate addition of new factors such as social costs as today most of the decision making tends to be traditional economic and not yet include social and environmental as much. Nuances need to be added to avoid marketing skewing the trade-off away from sustainability over time if it turns out that sustainability is a marketing/public relations fad that might go away. And the length of time for sustainable initiatives to have an impact needs to be considered, if it turns out the marketing advantage does not have staying power as long as investment write off periods. These suggest potentially fruitful avenues for further research. The cases also offer practical guidance as to how leading companies green their supply chains.\nOriginality/value: - This paper specifically addresses the call for papers questions of the special issue editors through the synthesis of insights from leading academics and companies.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
An examination of consumers
'
resistance to computer-based technologies
|
[
"Adoption",
"Diffusion",
"Technological innovations",
"Resistance behaviour",
"Innovation",
"Customers",
"Individual 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: Recent technological developments have impacted on some crucial aspects of marketing. In particular, the application of technology to self-service (e.g. internet-based interfaces) and technology convergence (Achrol and Kotler, 1999) is fundamentally changing the distribution and communication channels utilized by many service providers. In view of the central role that the technological interface with the customer plays in this it is important to understand the factors influencing consumer adoption and diffusion of these technological interfaces. The marketing literature has examined consumer adoption behavior towards technological innovation and has identified a number of factors that positively and negatively influence adoption. However, the literature does not adequately explain consumers\nTheory: Adoption and diffusion of technological innovations\nMethod: Measure development\nResults: Following the modeling suggestions of Hosmer and Lemeshow (2000), the logistic regression models were developed. The values of b coefficients (based on the Wald statistic) of the binomial model reveal the following (Table III). The constructs of \"interactivity\", \"benefits\", \"knowledge\", \"emotions\", and \"perceived negative elements\" are more associated with adoption/usage behavior, whereas those of \"human interaction\", \"risks\", and \"lack of trial\" are more associated with non-adoption behavior. Users value the positive emotions arising from the experience and they are concerned with the negative elements associated with usage, although this aspect is not such an important contributor to usage as the aspects of \"interactivity\" and \"benefits and knowledge\".\nDiscussion: RQ1 related to the interrelationships between the drivers and inhibitors to the adoption of internet banking and RQ2 to the extent to which these factors explain non-adoption. The multivariate analyses employed identified five dimensions as the most appropriate dimensionality of the constructs involved. These dimensions reveal new links between the perceptions of these factors and varying influences on the different phases of adoption and non-adoption.\nConclusions and implications: This study focused on the factors influencing the acceptance of new computer-based technological interfaces by consumers. Existing research has mainly concentrated on the influences on adoption; consequently it has not recognized the different types of non-adoption behavior. This study examined diffusion of innovation from a different angle, looking at non-adoption behavior which may sometimes be the result of some kind of resistance.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This paper aims to provide a better understanding of non-adoption of technological interfaces. The majority of diffusion research on technological innovations does not distinguish clearly between non-adoption and resistance behavior and assumes a symmetrical or linear relationship between the positive and negative influencing factors. As a result, it has not recognized the different types of non-adoption.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The determinants of customers\nFindings: The resulting five dimensions revealed new links that help to explain customer intention in relation to usage behavior. The results reveal that some of the factors explaining non-adoption are not the opposite of those explaining adoption behavior and that others influence positively both behaviors. It is also found that pre-adoption behavior may be different from usage behavior and that delay behavior may be characterized by different phases.\nResearch limitations/implications: The findings of this exploratory study suggest new evidence on non-adoption behavior that may stimulate further research inquiry.\nPractical implications: Recognizing these different aspects of customer behavior in relation to adoption/non-adoption has implications for managers involved in utilizing the internet as a channel for customer service.\nOriginality/value: This study examined diffusion of innovation from a different angle, looking at non-adoption behavior which may sometimes be the result of some kind of resistance.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
REIT mergers and acquisitions: a meta-analysis
|
[
"Real estate investment trusts",
"Acquisitions and mergers",
"Real estate",
"Trusts",
"Abnormal returns",
"Cumulative abnormal returns",
"Meta‐analysis"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Jensen and Ruback (1983) identify the merger and acquisition market, or market for corporate control, \"as a market in which alternative managerial teams compete for the rights to manage corporate resources\" (p. 6) and it is this competition that may limit managerial departures from the maximisation of the owners (shareholders) wealth objective. Manne's (1965) seminal paper on the market for corporate control identifies that M&As provide some guarantee of effective competition between managers and thus provides strong protection to the interests of non-controlling shareholders.Studies into the wealth creation of M&As within the REIT sector have attracted attention in the academic research area. Studies of the US market have found that shareholders of target firms earn significant positive excess returns around the announcement day, ranging from 10.86 percent (Eichholtz and Kok, 2008) to 1.48 percent (McIntosh et al., 1989). However, research on the excess returns to bidding shareholders has demonstrated a contraction in cumulative abnormal returns (CARs). Early studies by Allen and Sirmans (1987) reported significant positive excess returns of 5.78 percent around the announcement day, while more recent studies have reported significant negative CARs of 1.21 percent (Sahin, 2005).The purpose of this study is to employ a meta-analysis approach to investigate the empirical literature and identify the impact of various factors on the excess returns in M&As for both targets and acquirers. Stanley (2001) describes meta-analysis as a body of statistical methods for evaluating and reviewing empirical research results. When independent studies have been performed on a specific subject that utilises different methods and data sets, then employing meta-analysis to combine:[...] their results can furnish more insight and greater explanatory power than the mere listing of the individual results [...] Such studies can also suggest potentially fruitful lines for future inquiry and offer a prediction of the results that such new research will find (Stanley, 2001, pp. 131-2).Glass (2000) notes that 25 percent of articles published in the Psychological Bulletin have \"meta-analysis\" in the title. Meta-analysis has been extensively employed in the social sciences areas such as organisational theory, marketing, strategic management, economics, finance (Datta et al., 1992) accounting and auditing (Hay, 2010). Hunt (1997) describes meta-analysis as how science takes stock, by its very nature quantitative methodology is systematic and explicit, hence \"its results can be independently evaluated and replicated in a manner not possible with traditional literature reviews\" (Stanley and Jarrell, 1989, p. 167).Results from the multivariate meta-analysis regression model suggest target REITs enjoy higher wealth creation when cash is used to finance the acquisition, but total gains are shared between both parties in a REIT-REIT transaction. Acquiring REITs experience improved wealth effects when the target is privately listed and the use of scrip and/or combination of cash and scrip as mode of payment produces bidding shareholder wealth.The other reason this study could prove interesting is as follows, Andrade et al. (2001) identify two main catalysts for M&A activity featured in the literature; first, mergers occur in waves and second, within each wave, there is a strong clustering by industry. This suggests that unexpected shocks to an industry's structure may result in an increase in merger activity. These shocks lead to a restructuring by industries as a reaction, often via merger or takeover. The impact of the global financial crisis (GFC) on the market values of the global listed real estate sector, namely the Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) sector, could well be considered an industrial shock. According to the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts (NAREIT) the market capitalisation of the US REIT sector fell from a high of US$445 billion in February 2007 to a low of US$129 billion in March 2009, a fall of over 70 percent. This industry shock may pave way for a wave of M&As in the future as the global property sector recovers (Klijn, 2009). A number of authors have highlighted the possibility of increased merger activity in the near future. Psaltis and Chubb (2008) note that if underlying property market fundamentals can be sustained, vulnerable REITs offer good value for money, however, many acquires \"are being held back by lack of finance and nervousness around market volatility, covenants and 'poison pills'\" (p. 7). Carroll and Torto (2009) posit that \"well capitalised REITs likely to acquire weaker REITs, single assets, and portfolios at very attractive pricing levels post-credit crisis\" (p. 19). Finally, Combs (2009) notes that the:[...] merger and acquisition activity, which was synonymous with the industry's boom, may play a key role in its recovery. This time around, the deals aren't based on high property valuations and easily available capital, but rather depressed prices (p. 104).The remainder of this paper is structured as follows. The next section provides a theoretical overview of wealth creation in M&As, we then discuss the seven key factors which we hypothesise to influence excess returns. The following section discusses the sample employed in our study and the method employed to investigate the various factors. Third, we present the results of the meta-analysis regression model, and finally we provide concluding discussions on the results and their implications for practitioners.\nTheoretical overview: The first paper published in this area was in 1987 by Allen and Sirmans. Since then we have identified 13 other major journal papers. Table I, panel A shows the journals in which the studies were published and panel B reports some data relating to the number of years in the study periods and the number of observations in the samples. The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics has published five of the 15 papers, with the Journal of Real Estate Research and Real Estate Economics both publishing two. The remaining papers have been spread across other real estate journals. It can be seen that the mean number of years in a study period is 9.133 years, with a minimum period of two years and a maximum period of 24 years. The number of observations utilised varies from a maximum of 228 to a minimum of 18, with a mean observation number of 77.6.Measuring wealth creation\nFactors influencing wealth creation: This section discusses the variables that have been used in previous REIT M&A studies. The meta-analysis approach will also use these variables.1986 Tax Reform Act\nMethod: Sample\nResults: Table III provides the mean and median CARs for both targets and bidders involved in M&A announcements with cross-sectional t-statistics and Wilcoxon tests. Panel A contains all observations from the sample. Targets show significant mean CARs of 6.558 percent while the median is 5.290 percent and is also significantly different from zero at the 1 percent level. Bidders return a mean CAR of 0.719 percent and a median of 0.370 percent, both values are statistically significant. This result shows that, on average, acquirers also earn significantly positive excess returns in M&A announcements. To further investigate this outcome, we excluded the pre-1986 studies[11] and found the results remained significant. Target mean CARs increased to 7.240 percent and the standard deviation fell from 3.057 percent in panel A to 2.739 percent in panel B. Bidding firms mean CARs fell slightly to 0.586 percent, but remained significant, while the standard deviation also fell from 1.319 to 1.025 percent in panel B. This result further strengthens the finding that acquiring firms earn positive and significant excess returns.The results from the multivariate regression model are displayed in Table IV, panel A show the results for acquirers. Model 1 shows that when acquiring firms utilise scrip and or a combination as the method of payment it has a positive and significant impact on excess returns. Second we find that the 1986 Tax Reform Act had a positive and significant impact on bidding firms excess returns, this result confirms Campbell (2002) claim that the higher excess returns observed in pre-1986 studies are a result of the 1986 Tax Reform Act, since then REITs have become more dynamic, self-managed entities and similar to the rest of the corporate world. We conclude that studies pre-1986 are a separate result in themselves and thus should be considered independently to more recent studies.Furthermore, to control for this influence, we removed pre-1986 studies (and the dependant variable) from the sample, the results are shown in Model 2. Results show that the Scrip/Combo factor continues to have a positive and significant influence on bidders CARs, this result confirms claims by Campbell et al. (2001) that the limitation of internally generated funds due to the organisational structure of REITs decreases the negative implications of using stock as the method of payment and therefore highlights that REITs are distinctly different in M&A outcomes when compared to more general corporate finance studies.Model 2 shows that the Public-Public factor has a negative and significant impact on bidders excess returns. This result is consistent with general corporate finance studies that show bidding firms earn lower excess returns in public-public acquisitions. When we look at the Public-Public and the Public-Private factors combined (positive coefficient, although not significant) our results display even more consistency with non-REIT studies[12]. Furthermore, this result provides strong support for the Chang (1998) conclusion, that the results are due to the monitoring activities of target shareholders in public-private M&As and reduce information asymmetries. We conclude from these results that REITs react similarly to non-REITs when the M&A is either public-public or public-private.Finally, we find both the REIT-REIT and Non-REIT variables to be negative and significant. This result confirms that targets enjoy the majority of the gains in a M&A announcement. However, when we conducted a Pearson correlation matrix to identify any correlations between our explanatory variables the matrix showed that the REIT-REIT and Non-REIT factors displayed a high level of correlation[13]. To accommodate for this we ran another two models deleting one of the variables at a time. The results from models 3 and 4 showed that once the high correlation was accounted for the significance of the REIT-REIT and Non-REIT variable disappears. Models 3 and 4 also provide further support our findings that scrip and/or combination financed M&As have a positive and significant influence on bidders excess returns and public-public M&As have a negative influence.Panel B of Table IV shows the results for targets in the regression model[14]. Model 5 shows that pre-1986 M&As have a negative impact on target returns, this result further supports our conclusion that pre-1986 studies are a separate result in themselves, however, the significance is only at the 10 percent level. We also find that cash has a positive and slightly significant impact of target excess returns. When we removed early studies from the sample (model 6) we find the Non-REIT factor is positive and significant which suggests that targets enjoy higher wealth creation when one entity is not a REIT. When we adjust the model for the high correlation of the REIT-REIT and Non-REIT factors, we find that REIT-REIT mergers have a negative and significant impact on targets wealth creation (model 7); however, the cash factor is no longer significant. In model 8 the cash factor is again significant and positive, this provides support for the signalling theory, that cash financed M&As create higher wealth for targets than scrip and/or combination financed acquisitions. Finally, the Non-REIT factor in model 8 is positive and significant at the 1 percent level. This result further supports the findings in model 6.We conclude that the positive coefficient the Non-REIT factor is a result of the high level of transparency of REITs compared to non-REITs; this reduces the asymmetric information between REITs and shareholders resulting in the market being able to price REITs more accurately than non-REITs. Furthermore, the negative coefficient for the REIT-REIT factor suggests that the total excess returns resulting from a M&A announcement are shared between both targets and bidders.\nConclusion: We employ a multivariate meta-analysis framework to analyse the empirical literature concerning the influence of various factors on shareholder wealth in M&As within the REIT sector. The GFC has had a profound impact on real estate worldwide, especially the REIT sector. A number of industry analysts have pointed towards a possible merger wave as the sector recovers. The aim of this paper is to provide insights into the market for corporate control in the REIT sector. Evidence shows, consistent with prior non-REIT research, targets enjoy the majority of the gains in a merger. However, CARs are lower that those presented in general corporate finance studies, possibly due to the homogeneity of the assets (Eichholtz and Kok, 2008; Campbell, 2002) and/or the lack of hostile takeovers witnessed in the sector. We also provide evidence that bidders also earn significant mean excess returns when all the previous studies are examined together.Meta-analysis results reveal that REITs have undergone a structural change post the 1986 Tax Reform Act. The signalling impacts of using scrip and/or combination as method of payment is negated for acquiring REITs. This result suggests that REITs are distinctly different to the corporate world due to their restrictive structure. We also find that the market reacts similarly to bidding REIT announcements when the target is either public or private when compared to more general corporate finance studies. For targets, when one party in the transaction is a non-REIT, targets experience higher excess returns, compared to a negative influence when both entities are REITs. We suggest that the high level of transparency in REITs is the driving force for this result.What do our results imply for practitioners? First, target REIT managers have experienced increased wealth gains by accepting deals financed by cash, but also that the total excess gains in a M&A are been shared between both parties in a REIT-REIT transaction. Bidding managers need to be aware that public targets have a negative wealth effect for their shareholders, while private targets have generally provided positive returns. Finally, the use of scrip and/or combination as mode of payment produced shareholder wealth for bidding REITs.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - Mergers and acquisitions in the real estate investment trust (REIT) sector have been studied in distinct periods and locations, often leading to findings which are relevant only for the period and/or location investigated. The purpose of this paper is to examine the merger and acquisition studies in aggregate using meta-analysis so that broader findings of factors influencing the returns by targets and bidders are divulged.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Using a methodology similar to Veld and Veld-Merkoulova a sample of 15 REIT studies with 35 observations for bidders and 25 observations for targets is analysed. A variety of potential factors influencing the returns for bidders and targets are explored.\nFindings: - Consistent with prior non-REIT research, the evidence shows targets enjoy positive and significant gains in a merger. There is also evidence that acquirers earn significant wealth when all previous studies are examined in aggregate. Meta-analysis results show targets experience higher wealth gains by accepting cash financed deals, but share total gains when both parties are REITs. Additionally, acquirers enjoy improved abnormal returns when the target is privately listed and the use of scrip and/or a combination of scrip and cash produces higher wealth gains for bidding REITs.\nOriginality/value: - This paper aggregates the merger and acquisition literature of REITs to understand better factors influencing returns made by bidders and targets.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Being social for social: a co-creation perspective
|
[
"Awareness",
"Engagement",
"Values",
"Co-creation",
"Ethical consumption"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Ethics arose in the marketing literature in the 1950s (Bowen, 1953), but it bloomed as a relevant issue in the 1980s, when ethical concerns were considered factors in consumer behaviour (Murphy and Laczniak, 1981). Firms began to contemplate their actions from an ethical perspective (Abela and Murphy, 2008), and this approach illustrated marketing and ethics as two concurrent but separate ways of thinking. Over time, some organisations demonstrated a tendency towards truly ethical approaches to business as their contexts gradually persuaded them to change their methods (Carroll, 2004). A number of issues, including environmental problems, human rights, and social welfare, shaped this action, as highlighted in some conceptualisations presented in the literature (Tallontire, 2000; Bezencon and Blili, 2009).\n2. Customers and co-creation: The value co-creation framework is part of the shift towards the new idea of customers moving from being passive audiences to being powerful and actively engaged players (Prahalad and Ramaswamy, 2004).\n3. Aim and methodology: Conceptualisations of engagement and awareness within the value co-creation perspective of service scholars show a high potential to delve deeper into the analysis of ethical consumption. The ethical marketing literature provides evidence of consumption as a phenomenon that is driven by collective values and shared experiences (Murphy et al., 2007), and consumer experiences that involve more relationship-focused interactions have been discussed as leading to better results in terms of satisfaction and value creation (Abela and Murphy, 2008).\n4. Findings: 4.1. The emergent themes\n5. Discussion: This paper aims to explain the core mechanism of the process of value co-creation in an ethical context, putting into focus the individual customer perspective and how customers experience and perceive their interactions in the ethical consumption context.\n6. Implications and further research: Our study contributes to the conceptualisation of co-creation in ethics. It highlights engagement and awareness as critical to a customer's co-creation in an ethical context. Brand meaning and sharing emerged as well through the consideration of engagement and awareness. We can state that all of the elements - engagement, awareness, brand meaning, and sharing - showed high potential applicability in the value co-creation context. The inherent complexity and multidimensionality of the participants' interactions in an ethical context support the recent scholarly perspective on the systemic and holistic nature of value co-creation (Edvardsson et al., 2011; Edvardsson et al., 2013).\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyse value co-creation in the context of ethical consumption by extending the focus to customers and their relational contexts. The paper unravels the core mechanism of the entire process of value co-creation in ethical consumption by drawing from engagement and awareness as emerging topics in value co-creation perspectives. By expanding the understanding of engagement and awareness as integrating mechanisms, the paper addresses the potential for these elements to shape the holistic consumer experience in an ethical context.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors chose to investigate consumer experience in the ethical context of Altromercato, the top seller of Fair Trade products in Italy. Following a phenomenological approach, the authors had the opportunity to gain knowledge on the lived experiences of customers as part of the Altromercato phenomenon. To depict the most important aspects of this experience, the authors chose a thematisation based on transcripts of in-depth interviews.\nFindings: Drawing from the conceptualisation of the customer as a value co-creator, the work identified two main features in understanding co-creation in an ethical context - engagement and awareness - and two secondary ones as emerging from the empirical analysis - sharing and brand meaning. The two main topics acted as drivers to favour the depiction of our results through the following categories: first, trend following; second, believing; and third, supporting. Each category provides insight into the ways customers co-create.\nResearch limitations/implications: The study proves the inherent complexity and multidimensionality of customer interactions in an ethical context and supports the recent perspective of service scholars on the systemic and holistic nature of the value co-creation process.\nPractical implications: Co-creation depends on roles and activities performed by customers at different touch points. This approach leads firms to strive for better understanding of the contexts shaped by the cultural, social, and relational dimensions.\nOriginality/value: This work also proves helpful to service research by clarifying how some critics have come to view value co-creation and resource integration as highly general and abstract concepts. Engagement, awareness, brand meaning, and sharing are identified in this work as the core mechanisms on which co-creation practices are based. The study supports even co-creation in ethical businesses as a values-laden concept that depends on the values and value experienced in context.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Incorporating voice of the consumer: does it really work?
|
[
"Management activities",
"Process analysis",
"Product development",
"Taiwan"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Within the new product development (NPD) literature, utilization of user feedback has been identified as a critical factor influencing new product success (Cooper and Kleinschmidt, 1990). The information on customer needs and user experiences can be viewed as resources that companies depend on for new product development (Gruner and Homburg, 2000), so user interaction in NPD appears to be a logical answer to a firm's quest for better understanding customers' needs (Campbell and Cooper, 1999). It makes an access to developmental capabilities and other resources that the firm lacks in-house (Athaide et al., 1996), as Cooper (1999) asserted that \"build in the voice of the customer\" has become a critical success factor in NPD.Nevertheless, user interaction involved in NPD has some disadvantages. For instance, it may raise the NPD cost because user partnering requires a huge investment in managerial time and resources (Schrader and Gopfert, 1998). Some empirical studies also reported the disappointing performance impacts resulted from involving customers in NPD processes (e.g. Clegg et al., 1996; Campbell and Cooper, 1999). Therefore, this inconsistency of empirical results from customer NPD interaction requires more detailed studies into user interaction in NPD process.Though some scholars (Salomo et al., 2003) also advocate incorporating users throughout entire NPD process, differential benefits accrue due to incorporating user involvement in different stages of the process (Song et al., 1998). Therefore, an adequate arrangement regarding the intensity of user interaction in each NPD stage may be more beneficial to the cost efficiency of NPD performance. In this study, we adopted a five-stage model of NPD process to manifest different intensity of users' involvement in each stage.From the viewpoint of knowledge-based theory of firms, a full scope of knowledge management encompasses knowledge acquisition, knowledge integration, and knowledge application (Aranda and Molina-Fernandez, 2002). Hence, in order to realize the full advantages from user knowledge, firms need to have in place effective knowledge management systems (Soliman and Youssef, 2003). In the organizational behavior literature, the effectiveness of these knowledge management systems is described broadly as \"capabilities\" (Gold et al., 2001). In this study, we adopted Gold et al.'s (2001) model of knowledge management capabilities and analyzed the effectiveness of a firm's user knowledge management systems by evaluating these knowledge management capabilities.This study attempts to fill the current theoretic gap by addressing the following questions:* whether and how NPD performance can be enhanced by interacting with users at specific stages in the new product development process; and* whether and how NPD performance can be affected by user knowledge management.The next section deals with the conceptual framework that leads to the development of the hypotheses tested in this research. The third section illustrates the research methodology in which structural equation modeling is used as the analytical tool for testing the statistical assumptions and estimating the measurement and structural equation models. The fourth section discusses empirical results obtained from a survey on 167 software firms in Taiwan. Finally, a brief conclusion and future research suggestions are made relating to the managerial and theoretical aspects of this study.\n2. Literature review and hypotheses: 2.1 User interaction and new product performance\n3. Method: 3.1 Conceptual framework\n4. Analysis and results: 4.1 Reliability and assessment of measurement models\n5. Discussion: 5.1 The impact of user NPD interaction\n6. Conclusion: Overall, the results of this study provide evidence in support of the theory that user interaction in NPD process is critical in creating superior NPD performance, and fostering a knowledge management environment conducive to effectively integrating user knowledge into NPD process will facilitate the implementation of new product development. As the firm has a better understanding of the users' expectations and needs, it will be able to make necessary changes early in the NPD process and thus improve NPD performance. Further, many firms highlighted the user interaction but failed to pay attention to how the information or user knowledge was managed in the internal organization during the NPD process. This study also reveals the important role of the firm's user knowledge management competence in managing user interaction.In today's turbulent environment, adapting and exploring the continuous exchange of internal and external knowledge throughout the firm is a necessity for the firm's survival and success (Parikh, 2001). From a strategic viewpoint, with their tacit nature, a firm's user interaction management and user knowledge management competence are potential parts of its core competence.\n7. Limitation and future research direction: The respondents in the survey come exclusively from software industry. Although this arrangement helped to rule out the performance comparison problems stemming from different industries, but the characteristics of software, such as the immaterial form of final product, may constrain the generalization of the study's findings. In addition, in order to construct a parsimonious research framework, the study did not consider some moderating factors prevailing in NPD literature, such as product newness and technology uncertainty. A more fine-grained framework of user knowledge management in NPD might be desirable.Second, the user involvement in this study is focused on \"gathering\" marketing information and specific customer knowledge. Nonetheless, some scholars (Nambisan, 2002) promoted \"a shift from a perspective of exploiting customer knowledge by the firm to a perspective of knowledge co-creation with the customers\". Therefore, a study focusing on user knowledge management infrastructure and process capabilities required in the \"co-creation\" situation might be very intriguing. Similarly, as Berthon et al. (1999) argued that the flow of learning between innovation and customers goes in both directions, a promising area of user knowledge management might fall in dynamics of knowledge flow between NPD team members and users in both directions.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - This study attempts to address the question of whether and how new product development (NPD) performance can be enhanced by interacting with users at specific stages in the process and whether performance can be affected by user knowledge management.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - In this study, data were collected from firms in the software industry in Taiwan and a model of knowledge management capabilities was adopted to analyze the effectiveness of a firm's user knowledge.\nFindings: - The findings demonstrate that user interaction during NPD stages significantly promotes new product performance in the early stages and that user knowledge management competence has a positive effect on NPD performance - especially through the process capability dimension.\nOriginality/value: - Drawing from the findings of this paper, further research directions and theoretical and managerial implications are projected.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Voluntary simplification as an alternative to collapse
|
[
"Post-industrial societies",
"Sustainable development",
"Complexity theory",
"Environmental politics",
"Scenario planning"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: A society or other institution can be destroyed by the cost of sustaining itself\n1. Introduction: The global, industrialised economy is in gross ecological overshoot (Global Footprint Network, 2012), and yet, population is expanding and great multitudes living in poverty justly seek some material advancement. Despite this ecological overshoot, nations, both rich and poor, pursue continued growth of their economies without apparent limit (Hamilton, 2003), vastly increasing energy and resource demands on an already overburdened planet. This process of industrialisation, barely 300 years old, has produced what some theorists are now calling \"the Anthropocene\" - an era in which human impact on Earth has been so severe that it constitutes a new geological epoch. This is an era where biodiversity is in sharp decline and resource scarcity looms, and where carbon emissions are threatening to destabilise our climatic systems with potentially catastrophic consequences (Friedrichs, 2013; Turner, 2012).\n2. Theoretical overview: In 1988, Joseph Tainter published his seminal work, The Collapse of Complex Societies, in which he presented an original theory of social complexity that he offered as the best explanation for the collapse of civilisations throughout history. Social complexity, in Tainter's sense, refers to the way civilisations develop their methods of organisation, production and behaviour in response to societal \"problems\" that arise. For example, increasing social complexity to solve problems might involve developing technical abilities; establishing new institutions; diversifying social, economic and political roles; and increasing production and information flows, all of which require energy and resources. Tainter's central thesis is that while increasing social complexity initially provides a net benefit to a society, eventually the benefits derived from complexity diminish and the relative costs begin to increase. The diminishing returns on complexity arise from the fact that, when trying to solve societal problems, \"inexpensive solutions are adopted before more complex and expensive ones\" (Tainter, 2011a, p. 26), meaning that over time, the energy and resource costs of problem-solving tend to increase and the relative benefits decrease. As the benefits of complexity continue to diminish, there comes a point when all the energy and resources available to a society are required just to maintain the society, at which point further problems that arise cannot be solved and the society then enters a phase of deterioration or even rapid collapse. That is, civilisations can be destroyed when the costs of sustaining their complexity become unaffordable. This is the essential dynamic that Tainter argues \"can explain collapse as no other theory has been able to do\" (Tainter, 1995, p. 400). Not only is Tainter's theory of historical interest, many believe it has implications for how we understand the world today.\n3. Implications of Tainter's theory on sustainability discourse: As noted, Tainter's theory of social complexity and collapse has profound implications for sustainability discourse. There are of course many strains of sustainability discourse, but Tainter (2011b) argues that all the dominant varieties look inadequate once the implications of his theory are grasped. His main target is \"voluntary simplification,\" which refers to the strategy of voluntarily consuming less energy and resources as a response to societal problems (including environmental problems). But he also levels his critique against sustainability arguments based on pricing commodities correctly and market exchange, rationing resources, reducing population or producing commodities more efficiently through technological advance (Tainter, 2011b). For present purposes, the focus will be on voluntary simplification, as it is the most important and by far the most original of Tainter's critiques. Tainter (2011b, pp. 93-94) frames and dismisses voluntary simplification in the following terms:\n4. Can civilisational collapse be avoided?: Tainter's conception of sustainability faces further problems in that it is not really about sustainability, as such, if sustainability is meant to refer (as it normally is) to something being sustained over the long term. The phrase \"over the long term\" is vague, deliberately so, but it is intended to emphasise Tainter's view that civilisations could never be sustainable into the deep future (say, over tens of thousands of years). According to Tainter, the tendency of all societies to become more complex over time, coupled with the diminishing marginal returns on complexity, means that eventually all societies get locked into a process of mandatory growth in complexity that eventually becomes unsupportable. This theory of social complexity implies that all societies have an inbuilt tendency to collapse, and this is why Tainter's conception of sustainability is necessarily compromised. After all, if one were to accept his assumptions, the idea of sustainability as meaning a civilisation being sustained over the long term is actually a contradiction in terms. Civilisation is inherently unsustainable according to Tainter's (2006, p. 100) logic, and this is why he is required to weaken his conception of sustainability to mean merely \"staying in the game\" as long as possible. But he also insists that all solutions to complexity are only temporary, and that is why I refer to Tainter's view as \"tragic.\" Not only is it tragic, it is disconcertingly plausible (Tainter, 1988; Turner, 2012).\n5. Escaping Tainter's tragedy \"from below\": While still marginal, there are several overlapping social movements that suggest that the seeds of voluntary simplification have already been sown at the grassroots level. The most long-standing of these social movements or subcultures is based on the idea of \"voluntary simplicity,\" which can be understood as a way of life in which people choose to reduce or restrain their material standard of living while seeking a higher quality of life (Alexander and Ussher, 2012)[3]. This counter-cultural attitude towards material wealth seems to be as old as civilisation itself (Vanenbroeck, 1991), with philosophers, prophets and poets throughout history highlighting that \"the good life\" lies not in the accumulation of material possessions but in various non-materialistic sources of well-being, such as social relations; connection with nature; and peaceful, creative activity. In the 1960s and 1970s, as modern environmentalism took hold, the eco-village movement emerged (Walker, 2005), which involved creating intentional communities, often on the fringe or beyond urban centres, in the hope of showing that sustainable, post-industrial forms of life were possible. Towards the end of the 1970s, the term \"permaculture\" was coined (Holmgren and Mollison, 1978), which is a complex notion that essentially refers to the ideal of designing social and economic systems that work with nature, rather than against it. In more recent years, the \"transition towns\" movement has burst onto the global scene as a positive, community based-response to the dual crises of peak oil and climate change, through which people come together in an attempt to build resilient communities and local economies in the face of government inaction (Hopkins, 2008).\n6. Conclusion: Industrial civilisation is at a point in history when it is faced with the pressing issue of whether it can afford the problem of its own existence. Like a growing number of others, I do not believe that it can afford this, at least, not for much longer. The ongoing financial crisis is a barely disguised metaphor for this question of affordability, and it presents all of us living in industrial civilisation with the question of how best to respond to this problem - the problem of whether civilisation can afford the costs of its own complexity.\n",
"role": "user"
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"content": "Purpose: This paper aims to re-examine Tainter's dismissal of the voluntary simplification strategy. Joseph Tainter argues that \"sustainability\" is about problem-solving and that problem-solving increases social complexity. But he also argues that social complexity requires energy and resources, and this implies that solving problems, including environmental problems, usually demands increases in energy and resource consumption, not reductions. For this reason Tainter argues that voluntary simplification - the strategy of choosing to reduce consumption - is not an available means of solving the problems of civilisation.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper briefly outlines Tainter's theory of diminishing returns on complexity and lays out his arguments against voluntary simplification. The critical sections of the paper examine those arguments and find certain ambiguities in them that open up space of voluntary simplification.\nFindings: Part of my disagreement with Tainter turns on differing notions of \"sustainability.\" Whereas Tainter seems to use sustainability to mean sustaining the existing civilisation, the author uses sustainability to mean changing the form of civilisation through voluntary simplification, insofar as that is required for humanity to operate within the carrying capacity of the planet. By exposing the indeterminate, value-laden nature of what constitutes a \"problem\" and what constitutes an appropriate \"solution,\" it becomes clear that some societal problems can be dissolved rather than solved, that problems have various solutions and that a society's available energy supply can be redistributed to achieve voluntary simplification while still solving existing and ongoing problems.\nOriginality/value: Given that Tainter seems to accept that his own conception of sustainability will eventually lead to collapse, the author feels he is wrong to be so dismissive of voluntary simplification as a strategy for potentially avoiding collapse. It is, the author argues, our only alternative to collapse, and if that is so, voluntary simplification ought to be given our most rigorous attention and commitment, even if the chances of success do not seem high at all. This paper provides a new analysis of the voluntary simplification strategy and shows that it holds more promise than Tainter appreciates.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Students' perceptions of education for sustainable development
|
[
"Curriculum",
"Pedagogy",
"Reflective journals",
"Student perceptions",
"Triple bottom line"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: This study is significant because of its relevance to the tertiary sector's sustainability agenda and its potential to assist in building the capacity of staff who want to engage students in sustainable practices. The study builds on earlier Australian work such as UNESCO's \"Teaching and learning for a sustainable future\" CD-ROM, produced by Griffith University which is targeted at teacher education and is designed to enhance teachers' understanding of and practical skills in integrating sustainable development (Malone et al., 2004), and Macquarie University's Action Research for Sustainable Development (ACTS) project that focuses on:\nThe study: The aim of the study was to determine students' perceptions about sustainability. The study was devised in response to literature that suggests there is a paucity of research related to what students know about sustainability (Carew and Mitchell, 2002; Kagawa, 2007). A study of Oxford University students found that 87 per cent of students cited the centrality of the environment, 69 per cent cited economic examples, and only 49 per cent mentioned social sustainability (Summers et al., 2004).\nResearch questions: The key research questions focused on students' views about sustainability prior to and after completing the course. The questions were:\nData collection and analysis: To identify the students' pre- and post-perceptions about sustainability, four data collection methods were used which enabled a triangulation of the data. These methods included:\nThe course: The course seminar in sustainability is a core first semester course for students who are undertaking a Masters of environmental management and sustainability at the University of South Australia. The 34 students who enrolled in this course came from a diverse range of backgrounds and cultures, including teaching, engineering, and computing science as well as from undergraduate programs in science and environmental science. Some students were working, mostly in local and state government agencies, some came directly from undergraduate programs and some were changing vocations or upgrading their qualifications to gain positions in environmental related professions. Of the 35 students who completed the course 13 were international students from countries including, India, Malaysia, Bhutan, China, France and Brazil. The researchers were the instructor who has had more the 30 years teaching experience in this field, and a teacher educator with an interest in sustainability.\nResults: Part of the pedagogy used to frame the course involved developing the metacognitive practices of the students. Such practice was encouraged through the use of a reflective journal. This paper focuses on the students' final journal entries in which the students were asked to consider what was for them the MSC in their thinking about sustainability, and how that change eventuated. The final journal entry was chosen because it signified the culmination of the course, it encouraged the students to consider their learning as a whole, and it would enable an evaluation of whether the aim had been achieved. That was, to determine if the students had developed a more balanced perspective of sustainability.\nDiscussion: This study has found that dealing with sustainable development issues is complex and confirms the importance of acknowledging competing value positions and interests (Tytler, 2012). It has shown that the students in this course did come with an environmentally focused view of sustainability. However, the reflective journal entries have clearly demonstrated that when students are actively involved in their own learning, they can develop a more balanced perspective on sustainability. Even so, the real proof of any embedded change will be if, and how, that balanced view is enacted - something which requires a longitudinal study.\nConclusion: To provide graduates with the knowledge and skills to make a significant contribution to the achievement of a sustainable future will require the development of an understanding of what sustainability means. We cannot afford to alienate or ignore the three pillars of sustainability. The way in which social and economic factors interweave with scientific activity is widely recognised whether coming from epistemological, sociological or anthropological spheres (Simonneaux and Simonneaux, 2012).\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This study investigated whether a course which focused on raising students' awareness of sustainability, from a balanced perspective, that is, one which gives equal consideration to the social and economic aspects as well as the environmental would produce graduates with the knowledge and commitment required to drive the sustainability agenda forward. The paper aims to discuss these issues.\nDesign/methodology/approach: An analysis of students' final entries in their reflective journal was used to explore whether their views on sustainability reflected a balanced view.\nFindings: The findings of this research confirmed previous studies showed that initially students do have an enviro-centric bias. It also showed that despite experiencing a pedagogical approach which challenged views by encouraging discussion, debate, and reflection and which provided what was considered to be a balanced view of sustainability, many of the students still leaned towards an environmentally focused perspective of sustainability.\nResearch limitations/implications: The conclusions are based on one data set but are supported by other data described in the paper.\nPractical implications: The finding led the authors to conclude that a concerted holistic effort within and across courses is needed within tertiary institutions if students' views about sustainability are to be challenged.\nOriginality/value: The outcomes demonstrate that students' reflective journals can be used to gather information about the change in students' perceptions about sustainability.\n",
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Managing Singapore's residential diversity through Ethnic Integration Policy
|
[
"Ethnic minorities",
"Enclaves",
"Public housing",
"Neighbourhoods",
"Residential segregation",
"Ethnic Integration Policy"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: In a world where communities are increasingly divided among ethnic and socio-economic lines, Singapore seems to be somewhat of a utopian state. Indeed, in a 2015 interview, Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam suggested that Singapore's biggest success was not her economy, but rather, her social harmony (Zakaria, 2015).\nA history of Singapore's social fabric: Singapore's path to becoming the multiracial and multicultural society of today was fraught with many challenges. Singapore was a British colony from 1819 till 1963. The city-state has been a magnet for immigrants in the region due to her strategic geographic location as a trading port for the British (Leong et al., 2014). In order to maintain some form of social order in the urban development of the growing colony, the British segregated the island state into four separate residential areas for the European, Chinese, Malay and Indian communities (Rahmat, 2008).\nIntroduction to the Ethnic Integration Policy (EIP): In view of Singapore's historical social fractures, urban planners in the city-state pay great attention to the racial dynamics when charting the development of Singapore. The housing market is tightly regulated by the state - there is a strong political resolute to inject racial diversity into neighbourhoods in order to encourage social mixing. Over 80 per cent of housing in Singapore were built by the government for the masses (Housing and Development Board, 2019c), and a variety of flat types (from one-room flats to five-room flats) cater to the different income groups. Coupled with the government's generous housing grants (Housing and Development Board, 2019a), this means that close to 90 per cent of Singaporeans are homeowners.\nTaking stock on the Ethnic Integration Policy: Singapore, like other advanced economies, is not immune to challenges on identity politics. For starters, race is increasingly being conflated with one's SES. According to data collected from the Singapore Census, the average monthly income from work in 2010 was S$7,326, S$4,575 and S$7,664 for the Chinese, Malay and Indian communities, respectively, which was an increase from the 1990 figures of S$3,213, S$2,246 and S$2,859, respectively (Department of Statistics Singapore, 2000, 2010). While the average monthly income from work has increased across the three communities, the income gap has widened. For every dollar a Singaporean Malay earned in 1990, his Chinese counterpart earned S$1.44 while his Indian counterpart earned S$1.27. By 2010, this figure had increased to S$1.60 and S$1.68, respectively. Despite the best efforts of the Singapore Government, the Malay community appears to be severely lagging behind the other two ethnic groups. Such a growing class divide could potentially undermine Singapore's harmonious multicultural society.\nMethod: In order to understand how Singaporeans feel about residential diversity, focus group sessions with HDB real estate agents were conducted. The real estate agents deal with Singaporeans from all walks of life spanning multiple residential locations, and are thus an excellent repository for understanding how Singaporeans feel about residential diversity. In addition, their third-party point of view will help advance our understanding of the racial and socio-economic dynamics on the ground, and the role and impact of the EIP, and less compunction to provide socially desirable answers. The HDB real estate agents were asked questions including:\nResults: The analysis uses a grounded theory approach to collate, classify and analyse data inductively. The responses to the open-ended questions are coded, categorised according to themes, and eventually form the basis of a new concept, or to advance existing theoretical understanding on ethnic residential segregation (Martin and Turner, 1986; Strauss and Juliet, 1994). In this study, descriptive coding was used to identify the key themes. Coding of the responses was conducted by the first and third author, and disagreements were settled through discussion. Saturation point was reached when subsequent focus group participants produced responses that were no different from those already coded.\nDiscussion: While our focus groups have helped to enlighten the factors that Singaporeans consider when choosing a house, they also highlight why ethnic clustering in neighbourhoods will always occur. Recent research has found that 30.0 per cent of all HDB blocks have reached at least one ethnic quota limit in 2018 - an increase from 24.4 per cent in 1989 (Leong et al., 2020; Wee, 1989). More importantly, the residential concentration reveals a systemic preference for selected locations among each of the three racial groups, and our focus group discussions have reinforced what the quota limits show: the Chinese prefer central areas like Bishan; the Malays opt for peripheral areas like Pasir Ris and Marsiling; and the Indians gravitate towards areas like Jurong West and Kampong Java. This shows that the decision-making process is still influenced by our primordial instincts regarding race and class distinctions.\nSocial impact and policy implications: Constrained choice and voluntary segregation can be seen as push and pull factors when individuals decide to move. By limiting the impact of the pull factors, the EIP has been credited for bridging the racial divide. Moreover, not having the EIP could have a far more serious impact on racial segregation as some neighbourhoods could have entire blocks composed of single-race tenants. Beyond racial dynamics, there are signs that a class divide is simmering at the geographic level.\nConclusion: Singapore's harmonious multiracial and multicultural society did not come about by chance. As Lim et al. (2014) noted, \"tolerance and respect for racial and cultural diversity are critical if Singapore is to avoid the pitfalls of the past\". The Singapore Government has taken many different approaches to preserve and promote acceptance of racial and cultural diversity, and the EIP is a cornerstone of this principle. As a result of the ethnic residential quota in public housing, people of all races work, study, play and live side by side, encouraging the formation of a racially inclusive society.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore Singaporeans' view to a multicultural neighbourhood, specifically, their views on the Ethnic Integration Policy (EIP), a housing policy that promotes residential desegregation, and whether this policy has engendered a positive perspective to residential diversity.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A grounded theory approach is used to answer the following research questions: how do Singaporeans feel about residential diversity? Does the EIP influence attitudes to residential segregation in Singapore? What do these attitudes mean for governments and policymakers around the world? The research involved focus group discussions with 27 Housing and Development Board real estate agents, in order to tap onto their vast network of clients and better understand the prevailing sentiments on the ground.\nFindings: The two major considerations when Singaporeans choose a flat are its price and location. Within the confines of these two factors, however, other considerations like race, nationality and the socio-economic makeup of a neighbourhood will influence their decisions.\nSocial implications: These considerations can be condensed into the factors of constrained choice and voluntary segregation. By limiting the impact of voluntary segregation, the EIP can be credited with bridging the racial divide. However, with constrained choice being unaddressed by the policy, the emerging formation of a class divide is an unintended consequence.\nOriginality/value: Because almost all developed economies are culturally plural, understanding Singapore's approach to residential desegregation offers insights as to how other countries may learn from the Singapore experience in managing and encouraging multiculturalism, especially since ethnic residential concentration can reduce the formation of strong social relationships.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Brazil-focused publications in leading business journals
|
[
"Brazil",
"Research",
"Emerging markets",
"Publications",
"Authorship"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Brazil as an emerging economy continues to garner significant attention in the popular press. The fifth-most populous country, Brazil is Latin America's largest market and the world's tenth largest economy in GDP terms (The Economist, 2009). Together with India, China and Russia, Brazil is a member of BRICs that is predicted to become a significantly large economic powerhouse with potential to surpass the developed nations by 2050. In particular, it is estimated that Brazil's economy could overtake those of Italy, France and UK by year 2025, 2031 and 2036, respectively (Wilson and Purushothaman, 2006). Whether it is liberalization of various economic activities or growth in sectors like metal mining and natural-resource-based manufacturing or increase in cross-border mergers and acquisitions - there appears to be enough interest and excitement in the global economic, political, and business circles that is Brazil centric (Geier, 1996; Kedia et al., 2006).In keeping pace with the burgeoning importance of Brazil in global business, scholars have attempted to analyze, in academic as well as practitioner-oriented journals, different antecedents, processes and outcomes of the nation's emergence. While interested readers including business students, academicians, practitioners and policy makers could search for and get access to scattered knowledge sources, there is hardly any published material that reviews or takes stock of major Brazil-focused articles published in leading business journals. Thus, any effort to bring together scholarly publications from premier journals should result in a useful collection for:* academicians and business students desirous of gaining focused information;* practitioners interested in getting insights about how to effectively conduct business; and* policy makers keen on enhancing trade-related ties or establishing new business relations - relating to Brazil.Although reviews of publications with regard to two other fast-emerging economies, China and India, have been recently conducted (Quer et al., 2007; Rienda et al., 2008), no similar research based on Brazil has been done so far.To partly bridge this gap in the current literature, my purpose in this article is to conduct an overview of Brazil-focused publications that have appeared in leading business journals since 1990. A 19-year window (1990-2008, inclusive) appears to be a sufficient time frame to enable selecting a sizeable number of published articles. I base this study on leading:* management and business journals; and* international business (IB hereafter) journals to allow inclusion of both categories of articles - general as well as those with international focus.Apart from listing and numbering publications journal-wise, my purpose is to highlight the authors' names and their institutional affiliations and rank them on the basis of contributions. In addition, my intention is to highlight various research methodologies used by the authors and show, count-wise, how their publications are cited in other scholarly works. Further, my aim is to highlight the topics and theoretical perspectives that different authors focused upon in their articles. In sum, this study contributes to the literature by answering the following questions:1. Which authors are top contributors of Brazil-focused research published between 1990 and 2008 in leading business journals?2. Which institutions are top contributors of Brazil-focused research published between 1990 and 2008 in leading business journals?3. How do the published articles vary in order of appearance (year published), number wise distribution (in different journals), authorship (single/multiple), research type (conceptual/qualitative/quantitative), research methodology (data-collection technique), theoretical perspectives and subject matter?4. Among the published articles, which ones are most cited by other scholars?5. What are some of the research areas that scholars need to consider in future?Figure 1 shows the sequential steps that I follow in this study.\nResearch methodology: Indentifying leading business journals\nDiscussion: Although Brazil's presence in the arena of global business has grown over the years resulting in increasing appearance of Brazil-based studies in leading business and IB journals, there has been little effort in taking stock of this research by conducting systematic review of the published articles. In this research, I overviewed 33 publications that appeared between 1990 and 2008 (a 19-year window) in five leading management and business - and six leading IB journals. Using methodology drawn from past research, I identified and ranked contributions of various authors and their affiliating institutions. I showed how the selected articles vary in terms of year of appearance, journal-wise distribution, authorship, research type, data-collection method, level of analysis, subject matter, theoretical perspectives and citation counts. Overall, this overview contributes by developing a standard reference and guide to 19 years' Brazil-focused business and management research. This overview also contributes by extending the line of research that is based on ranking of scholarly contributions in the broad domain of management and business, in particular, IB (Kumar and Kundu, 2004; Mudambi et al., 2008; Quer et al., 2007; Xu et al., 2008).Some of the major conclusions that emanated from this study are as follows:* Both conceptual and empirical articles featured in the sample of 33 Brazil-focused articles. 17 articles (51.51 percent) were quantitative and 25 articles (75.75 percent) were multiple authored.* 15 publications appearing between 2004 and 2008 (inclusive) represents the most fertile period of Brazil-focused publication.* Of the 11 leading journals, JWB published the maximum of Brazil-focused articles followed by JMS.* US-based institutions made the maximum contribution (50.00 percent) followed by Europe (including UK)-based institutions (32.43 percent). University of Birmingham and Federal University of Rio de Janeiro ranked first in the two categories of journals considered.* Out of total 80, 11 authors (13.75 percent) were contributors of conceptual work, 19 (23.75 percent) were contributors of qualitative work and 50 (62.50 percent) were contributors of quantitative work.* John Child and Suzana Rodrigues as contributing authors made the maximum number of appearances (two each) among management and business journals, followed by 14 authors - each with one appearance. Among the leading IB journals, Tomasz Lenartowicz had the maximum number of total and adjusted appearances (two and one, respectively) followed by six authors each having same number of total and adjusted appearances (one and one, respectively).* 11 of 33 articles (33.33 percent) involved national/industry level analysis, 19 (57.57 percent) involved firm level analysis and 3 (9.1 percent) involved individual level analysis.* SMJ and JMS among leading management and business journals, and JWB, JIBS, IMR among leading IB journals were the major contributors of mostly cited Brazil-focused articles.Discussion and the accompanying tables presented in this study can provide useful information to various stakeholders of business and allied knowledge - business students, academicians, practitioners and policy makers. For example, while students can gain understanding of how scholarly works differ based on different levels of analysis (Table VIII) academicians may be benefitted in knowing who are the top scholars, where they are located (Tables IV-VII) and what topics and theoretical perspectives appear to be interesting for current and future research (Tables VIII and IX). The needs of practitioners may be fulfilled (by perusing the cited articles, especially in Table VIII) in knowing how Brazil differs culturally, economically, technologically and socio-politically from other countries, and how such differences may impact career and performance of overseas managers working in Brazil or Brazilian managers working abroad. Both policy makers and practitioners can gain knowledge by learning about some of the major strategies pursued by firms competing in different industries or how corporate governance is practiced by some of the leading firms in Brazil. Contents of Tables II, III, and IX may be appealing to students and academicians in general.Despite making several contributions, this overview has few limitations. First, only articles from 11 leading journals were used in this review. It is possible that articles examining important topics about Brazil could be found in other business or management journals. However, for the sake of maintaining focus and relative straightforwardness of findings, I concentrated only on the leading journals. Second, only two electronic databases - EBSCO host and ABI/Inform - were utilized for searching relevant articles. However, remote the possibility may be, utilizing other electronic databases may yield newer articles. Third, although I chose a 19-year window on which to base this overview selecting a different time-period, i.e. including years before 1990 may give rise to different findings.\nFuture research agenda: Although the preceding sections suggest that the contributing scholars focused on a wide variety of interesting topics and utilized different theoretical lenses and research methodologies to conceptualize or empirically examine interesting phenomena relating to business in Brazil, it is possible to highlight few directions of future research that may allow supplementing and validating the current findings. First, scholars desirous of focusing at the national/industry level of analysis need to analyze the dynamics (i.e. processes and outcomes) of economy, industry, and institution-related changes that is currently taking place in Brazil to aid policy makers and executives of indigenous business entities in framing better infrastructure, regulatory environment and business strategies (Jacobsson and Bergek, 2006). Knowledge emanating from such research would also help foreign firms to conduct business profitably in Brazil and take advantage of its vast and growing market (Gouvea, 2004).Second, future researchers wishing to concentrate at the firm-level may consider such topics as organizational learning, knowledge management, development of dynamic capabilities, and entry mode strategies as Brazilian firms increasing engage in outward foreign direct investment (FDI) or form alliances with foreign firms (Haar and Ortiz-Buonafina, 1995). A very useful area of future research will be to examine the notion of IB competence (Knight and Kim, 2009) with regard to Brazilin firms. Future scholars dwelling on business strategies may find the work of Wright et al. (2005) helpful in conducting research relating to:* entry of firms from developed economies to Brazil;* competition between domestic firms in Brazil or between Brazilian firms and other firms in Latin America;* entry of firms from Brazil to other emerging economies; and* entry of Brazilian firms to developed economies.IB scholars may refer to Griffith et al. (2008) to learn about different emerging themes that may apply to Brazil-focused research.Third, future research focusing on the individual level may examine:* how Brazilian managers (in both manufacturing and service industries) view and cope with the enhancing global business opportunities, changing institutions and business practices; and* how changes in managers' cognitions and mindsets impact business performance as Brazil continues to increasingly partake in globalization.Future research also needs to include different theoretical perspectives (e.g. resource-based view of the firm, transaction cost theory, social exchange theory, institutional theory) (Wright et al., 2005; Trevino et al., 2008) and theories particularly related to IB, e.g. Dunning's (2000) eclectic paradigm. Fourth, to increase robustness of future empirical research, scholars should engage in more rigorous data-collection and analytical techniques, validation/cross-validation of findings with other Latin American countries/emerging economies, and designing studies that span various levels of analysis (micro, meso, and macro) and/or integrate across disciplines. Fifth, longitudinal research, as opposed to cross-sectional or snapshot studies, will help future scholars to conceptualize and examine relevant business topics or phenomena with greater clarity, validity and reliability. Finally, future research designed to rank journals and scholarly contributions will need to employ multiple metrics as suggested by Woodside (2009).In conclusion, I hope this review, by bringing together a sizeable population of Brazil-focused publications, will cater to the interests of various groups of readers. I also hope this review will serve as a source of encouragement to the scholarly community to examine hitherto unexplored business phenomena relating to Brazil.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this study is to conduct an overview of Brazil-focused publications that appeared in leading business journals between 1990 and 2008 by highlighting and ranking contributions of individual authors and their affiliating institutions, summarizing types of research, research topics and theoretical perspectives, analyzing citations received by different articles and developing agenda for future research.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A total of 11 leading journals are selected on the basis of past research. A usable sample of 33 publications is obtained by conducting electronic database search for articles that focus on Brazil. Analysis of contributions, research designs, research topics, theoretical perspectives, and citations received by each article is conducted and various findings are discussed.\nFindings: - A total of 80 authors affiliated to 67 academic and seven non-academic institutions from six geographic locations contributed to the research by examining a wide variety of business and related topics using different theoretical perspectives and research methodologies. Authors from US-based institutions contributed more than others. Majority of top-cited articles appeared in 2000 or thereafter.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Inclusion of articles appearing in journals other than those considered can validate and supplement the current findings. Academicians and business students can benefit from the adopted methodology and findings regarding current and future research avenues relating to Brazil.\nPractical implications: - Practitioners and policy makers can benefit by learning what aspects of business at different levels of analysis are crucial for establishing or continuing business in Brazil or with Brazilian firms.\nOriginality/value: - This study contributes by bringing together 19 years of research relating to business and management in Brazil and informing a large population comprising of business students, academicians, practitioners and policy makers.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Close encounters and the illusion of accountability in the sharing economy
|
[
"Goffman",
"Crowdbased accountability",
"Airbnb",
"Online reviews",
"Face-works",
"Social cooling"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: In recent years, a wide range of industries and activities, including transportation, shopping and holiday making, have been transformed by a new wave of technology. Online platforms such as Uber, Amazon and Airbnb now enable the exchange of products and services at lower cost and with increased speed and greater reach than ever before. Taken together, direct and peer-to-peer exchanges constitute what has become widely referred to as the \"sharing economy\", a mode of e-commerce characterised by \"platform organisations\" (Kornberger et al., 2017) that enable \"digital matching\" (Telles, 2016) in an \"on-demand marketplace\" (Oskam and Boswijk, 2016). This new marketplace has significantly impacted global consumption patterns, leading to a dramatic surge in market capitalisation of sharing economy companies[1]. One of the defining features of the sharing business model is disintermediation, where control over economic transactions is transferred from retailers to consumers and producers (Denning, 2014). In this environment, the free exchange of information in online ratings and reviews gives rise to perceptions of enhanced accountability (Scott and Orlikowski, 2012). This paper aims to explore the nature and outcomes of the accountability created through these user-generated ratings and reviews in the sharing economy.\n2. The rise and rise of Airbnb: Joe Gebbia, Brian Chesky and Nathan Blecharcyzk founded Airbnb in 2008. Their stated motivation was to introduce a community marketplace for people to list, discover and book unique accommodations around the world, via the internet. Since 2008, it has grown to service 60m users, who can avail themselves of more than 2m lodgings globally, substantially more than that provided by Hilton Worldwide or InterContinental Hotels (Airbnb, n.d.; Helm, 2014). Airbnb is currently available in 192 countries, and its 2017 revenue is estimated to reach $2.8bn.\n3. Accountability online: Although the concept of accountability has spawned a vast body of research, considerable confusion remains regarding its meaning and role. While the \"original\" or \"core\" sense of accountability, \"the process of being called to account to some authority for one's actions\" or \"the process of giving an account\" (Mulgan, 2000, p. 55), has been widely cited, it has also been criticised (see Dubnick, 2005; Bovens, 2005; Erkkila, 2007). Several scholars have noted the way that this \"essentially contested and contestable concept\" (Bovens, 2005, p. 13), chameleon-like and elusive (Sinclair, 1995) notion can take on different meanings in different contexts. The majority of research in accounting on accountability is situated within an organisational context, where a person is accountable for his/her contribution to the organisation's performance. In this context, accountability systems have demanded the individual to account for his/her actions to the other (accountor) in the presence of more generalised others (the organisation) (Messner, 2009). However, the rise of the internet and digital communications has also seen accountability become entangled in a new audit culture (Strathern, 2000; Power, 1994), where it can be used \"as an instrument for new forms of governance and power\" (Shore and Wright, 2000, p. 58; see also Free et al., 2009; Pollock and D'Adderio, 2012; Mehrpouya and Samiolo, 2016). At Airbnb, for example, guests and hosts, who are themselves \"inside\" the accountability system, report on the performance of their counterpart by purportedly evaluating them in accordance with formal performance criteria. This inserts an accountability relationship into the interactions between ordinary citizens and laypeople. Consequently, numerous calls have been made to study the nature of accountability as it has arisen in online interactions and relations (Scott and Orlikowski, 2012; Gallhofer and Haslam, 2006; Lowe et al., 2012; MacKenzie et al., 2013).\n4. Research method: A qualitative approach is well suited to the exploratory nature of this research, combined with our focus on meanings in use and the \"linguistic reality of human existence\" (Polkinghorne, 1988, p. 176). Consistent with Goffman's (1989) observations about research methods, our approach is based on an extended period of fieldwork with a range of participants, extensive notes and netnographical analyses of online archival data (Kozinets, 2002, 2010). The Airbnb field includes face-to-face interactions between guests and hosts during their respective Airbnb experience, as well as interactions that happen in the online field through messaging and reviews. To capture the meaning brought forth by both styles of interaction (offline and online), and the ways by which these interactions mediate the reviews created, traditional interview techniques and netnographic techniques are employed by the researcher.\n5. User engagement with Airbnb ratings and reviews: Despite having designated online review sites[3] that allow the public to effectively publish opinions online, there appears to be variation in rating and review trends across online providers. Research, for example, shows that the proportion of five-star reviews is 31 per cent on TripAdvisor and 44 per cent on Expedia (Mayzlin et al., 2014). Our documentary analysis of an Airdna report indicates that Airbnb ratings in Sydney are much more positively distributed: 97 per cent of listings are rated from 4 to 5 stars, 79 per cent are rated from 4.5 to 5 stars and 61 per cent are rated at 5 stars[4] (Figure 2). This heavily skewed positive distribution is consistent with prior studies conducted across the globe (see Liang et al., 2017; Teubner et al., 2017; Wang and Nicolau, 2017). According to Zervas et al. (2015), the average rating for properties on the TripAdvisor website is 3.8 stars, whereas the average rating for Airbnb properties is 4.7 stars (based on an analysis of 600,000 properties listed on Airbnb worldwide). The five-point Likert scale used in Airbnb's rating system is technically identical to the five-point Likert scale used by websites such as TripAdvisor and Expedia. Although the skewed distribution of Airbnb ratings may imply that Airbnb provides a higher level of quality, exceptionally high ratings have been observed in similar peer-to-peer platforms such as eBay, where mostly second-hand goods are resold amongst members, and Uber, where hosts offer taxi services to users[5]. This extraordinarily positive skew of Airbnb's ratings has received attention from business journalists and researchers alike (Bridges and Vasquez, 2016).\n6. Discussion: Reviews and evaluations are now employed by virtually all digital marketplaces (e.g. eBay, Amazon, Airbnb and Etsy) and are widely considered to be critical for their success (Pallais, 2014; Luca, 2013). According to Mazereeuw (2015), over 70 per cent of consumers purport to trust online reviews and value the transparency they provide about a product or service. These systems are argued to reduce the problems stemming from information asymmetry by soliciting information about transaction quality and by displaying that information to other market participants (Fradkin et al., 2015). They do so by drawing on the collective wisdom of the crowd. The rapid diffusion of the internet has fuelled a diverse range of successful crowdbased initiatives and developments in recent years, including the open-source software movement, Wikipedia, search engine advertising and algorithms that detect patterns and hidden meanings in everyday user activity and, in so doing, has fundamentally and irrevocably changed the information environments surrounding consumer behaviour online.\n7. Conclusion: We live in a society where citizen participation and the democratisation of expertise are now taken for granted. The massive force of the internet has elevated such participation to the point where it is becoming harder to define who is not a \"netizen\" (Sullivan, 2013) and where \"internet democracy\" (Mellett et al., 2015) is widely believed to lead to more effective accountability and outcomes. Whereas previous research has shown how audit culture can work in online settings (Jeacle, 2017), we have explored the specific type of accountability generated by ratings and reviews and their implications in the sharing economy setting. Airbnb has become a household name. The slogan \"belong anywhere\" acts as an invitation to its members to become part of a global community that actively shares accommodation for greater economic benefit. It is a prominent example of a platform organisation whose success hinges largely on the enforcement of user reviews and the associated assurance of accountability. We can only assume that platform organisations, and the importance of user-generated content, will continue to grow - especially given the success of organisations like Uber, Airbnb and eBay.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Online ratings and reviews have recently emerged as mechanisms to facilitate accountability and transparency in the provision of goods and services. The purpose of this paper is to examine the nature and outcome of the accountability that online ratings and reviews create in the sharing economy.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study draws on 30 face-to-face and Skype interviews with Airbnb guests and hosts as well as on secondary materials, including content from Airbnb data analytic reports.\nFindings: The authors demonstrate that face-saving practices widely condition user ratings and comments. Face saving occurs when individuals attempt to preserve their own identity and the identity of others during a social interaction. At Airbnb, the authors find that reviewers adopt three distinct face-saving strategies: the use of private reviewing channels, the creation of tactful reviews and refraining from reviewing entirely. The authors also find that users are sceptical of rating metrics and public comments and draw upon a wide range of alternative sources, such as private messaging and other publicly available resources, in their decision making.\nOriginality/value: This paper highlights the overwhelmingly positive character of Airbnb ratings and reviews. It proposes the concept of crowdbased accountability as a limited, partial form of assurance for sharing economy users. Guests and hosts alike prioritise face-saving practices over reviewer responsibilities to provide authentic, reliable accounts to the public. Consequently, reviewers effectively remove the risk of sanctions for those in the network who underperform.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Communicating CSR: practices among Switzerland's top 300 companies
|
[
"Corporate social responsibility",
"Stakeholder analysis",
"Communication management",
"Channel relationships",
"Switzerland"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Nowadays, it is becoming increasingly important for companies to communicate their corporate social responsibility (CSR) as such activities may influence opinion leaders' behaviors regarding a target organization (APCO, 2004). Furthermore, CSR activities need to be communicated properly in order to counteract the growing skepticism of corporate communication, particularly companies that overstate their social behaviors (Holme and Watts, 2000). In fact, this trend is fueled by global communication that fosters a context in which organizations are more open to external expectations (Elkington, 1998), making public opinion an important gatekeeper of organizational CSR (Esrock and Leichty, 1998).The potential for exploring CSR communication has led this team of researchers to develop a study focusing on CSR communication practice in Switzerland. The aim of this analysis is to understand how common CSR communication is among the top 300 companies in Switzerland as well as how they communicate CSR. Switzerland's citizens deem the values of universalism and benevolence important (Schwartz, 2003); therefore, it will be interesting to determine how the top 300 companies consider the Swiss context with regard to CSR communication.The current survey relies on previous studies concerning key elements in CSR communication, such as CSR communication objectives and channels. The discussion of CSR communication objectives will incorporate a large multidisciplinary mix of literature, particularly relying on contributions regarding CSR and customer care (McWilliams and Siegel, 2001; Dawkins and Lewis, 2003), CSR and employer reputation (Joyner and Payne, 2002; Bauer and Aiman-Smith, 1996; Turban and Greening, 1996; Mowday et al., 1979) and socially responsible investing (SRI) (Hockerts and Moir, 2004; Keeler, 2003; Mainelli, 2004). This literature acknowledges the importance of defining CSR communication strategies in terms of stakeholders and, consequently, issues. The discussion of the use of CSR communication channels will refer to research contributions from CSR Europe (2000a, b), Holme and Watts (2000), Ku et al. (2003), Drumwright (1996) and Esrock and Leichty (1998). Finally, the discussion will examine the cultural context for CSR communication. As some studies have shown (Tixier, 2003), organizations in Anglo-Saxon countries are more likely to communicate social responsible topics than those operating in Latin countries. The present research will define a set of criteria to help understand if the top 300 companies in Switzerland consider the Swiss context as more Anglo-Saxon- or Latin-oriented by analyzing companies' attitudes toward CSR communication.The paper is organized into four sections; the first two cover the conceptual framework, while the remaining two the empirical part. The first section will provide a definition of CSR communication, and the second section will address the key elements of effective CSR communication management. The discussion will argue that, in addition to carefully defining objectives and channels, effective CSR communication must also consider the communication's cultural context; the discussion will provide the dimensions used in the empirical investigation. The third section will detail the survey methodology, and the fourth part will present and discuss the main findings.\nCSR communication: The fundamental idea embedded in CSR is that corporations have an obligation to work for social betterment (Frederick, 1978). The same view is shared by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, which considers CSR management to mean acting responsibly with other stakeholders and ethically toward society (Holme and Watts, 2000). Similarly, Sethi (1975), Carroll (1979) and Andrews (1987) identify four categories of social responsibility: economic, legal, ethical, and discretionary.Deegan and Gordon (1996), Deegan and Rankin (1999), Brown and Deegan (1998) and Hooghiemstra (2000) apply this conceptual framework to CSR communication, emphasizing that CSR communication aims to provide information that legitimizes an organization's behavior by trying to influence stakeholders' and society's image of the company. Following this definition, it is possible to conclude that CSR communication contributes to a corporation's corporate social disclosure (Zeghal and Ahmed, 1990), which is the dissemination of information to advocate and enhance a corporate image in order to promote customer and community relations and indirectly promote products to customers.To reach this goal, transparency is crucial (Carroll, 1999). However, as pointed out by Schoenberger (2000), transparency in the field of CSR is a difficult matter. In fact, data in this area cannot easily be verified. Furthermore, communicating CSR means communicating not only about a company's behavior through standards or codes of conduct, but also about very long-term projects whose potential outcomes are difficult to represent.\nKey elements for effective CSR communication: The intrinsic problems encountered in achieving transparent CSR communication can be overcome by developing an appropriate definition of the communication objectives and channels as well as by understanding the communication context. Much evidence supporting this view has been discussed in recent literature; the following paragraphs will cover the main aspects that will subsequently be investigated in the empirical part of this paper.CSR communication objectives\nMethodology: In our research, unlike previous studies (Zeghal and Ahmed, 1990; Williams and Pei, 1999; Snider et al., 2003), the methodology did not involve content analysis, but a survey. This approach is justified not only by the necessity to investigate issues, channels, and stakeholders addressed by the CSR communication, but also by the need to explore the communication objectives that corporations plan for CSR communication and the communication context for the CSR communication.Participants\nResults and discussion: Survey data are mostly reported in frequency terms and refer only to companies that actually communicate CSR. Only data related to the cultural context will be discussed, referring, respectively, to the companies that communicate CSR and those that do not. When appropriate and statistically relevant, data are also discussed in terms of specific groups of companies or communication practice.The results emerging from the analysis can be grouped into two main conclusions. First, CSR communication is a common practice among top companies in Switzerland; however, the practice still has considerable room for improvement. Second, Switzerland emerges as a favorable context for CSR communication, which is good news for a practice that can be further developed.CSR communication in Switzerland\nConclusions: CSR communication is a well-established practice among top companies in Switzerland. Its future rests on a solid basis. In fact, top companies are characterized by a predominantly Anglo-Saxon approach that is active and positive.This study has shown how these companies can further improve their efforts in communicating CSR. Three main areas of improvement have been identified. First, companies can gain from a more focused selection of the social issues to be communicated. Second, a major margin of improvement can occur by handling key publics, such as customers, shareholders, and the financial community - particularly by investing in the specific channels to reach them. Finally, top companies in Switzerland may benefit from adopting international reporting standards.This investigation has also shown the importance of understanding the cultural determinants of CSR. In this regard, more research is certainly required, especially to better understand differences in behaviors concerning CSR communication that may arise in multicultural contexts, a relevant aspect in the European context, and for multinational companies operating in different cultural environments.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to provide a picture of the practice of corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication among the top 300 companies in Switzerland and to investigate how favorable the cultural context is for this kind of communication.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The investigation of the top 300 companies in Switzerland was conducted using a written survey that built on previous studies.\nFindings: - CSR communication in Switzerland appears to be well developed, but still has broad margins for development. Examples are provided on how to improve CSR communication. Such improvements should be relatively easy to implement since Switzerland, it is argued, appears to be open to CSR communication.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The investigation considered only the communication objectives toward a limited range of stakeholders, such as clients, shareholders, and employees. The survey was conducted among the top 300 companies in Switzerland; these companies are not necessarily representative of the whole Swiss business community.\nPractical implications: - The paper describes the elements that should be considered in order to develop an effective CSR communication. These elements are synergies between issues, objectives, and channels; criteria for a credible social report; the exploitation of the potentialities of CSR advertising and the web; and the understanding of the national context where the organization is operating.\nOriginality/value: - This paper focuses on CSR communication, an area that has received limited attention in CSR research. Organizations may find interesting hints on how to develop effective CSR communication.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Are traineeships stepping-stones for youth working careers in Italy?
|
[
"Italy",
"Internship",
"School-to-work transition",
"Youth employment"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The transition from school to work is a significant milestone for young people, especially in Italy, where the sequence of study first, then work prevails over the Anglo-Saxon formula of study while working. Italian young people today lack work experience, generic and job specific, and the route to employment is often complicated by institutional rigidity (see Ryan, 2001; Pastore, 2015 for the Italian case classification in the EU school-to-work models and Pastore, 2018 for a for a detailed picture of the reasons why the school-to-work transition is so slow in Italy).\n2. The Quality Traineeships Programme: The aim of the regional Quality Traineeships programme is to support young people entering the labour market by co-financing work experiences in firms willing to invest in quality youth employment. The programme is financed through the European Social Fund (ESF) and implemented as part of the Regional Operational Programme of Tuscany. Signed in 2011, the Quality Traineeships Charter establishes the legal framework for the initiative and sets stringent quality constraints that employers must comply with in order to receive publicly funded incentives[2]. This initiative was carried out by means of several public calls that provided a EUR300 contribution for every trainee hired and paid at least EUR500 every month. If the charter is not adopted, traineeships are submitted to national guidelines, which were approved in 2013 (and are generally consistent, but less stringent than regional admission criteria).\n3. Literature review: International literature on the effectiveness of active policies for youth remains ambiguous as shown by recent meta-analyses. Little more than one in three evaluations finds that youth interventions have a positive effect (Kluve et al., 2019), whereas the impact tends to be greater on other target groups, especially women and the long-term unemployed (Card et al., 2018). Moreover, the literature agreed the positive effects of training in the midterm (at least one year after the experience is terminated, Card et al., 2010). A recent meta-analysis by Vooren et al. (2018) focusses on the differential effect of alternative active policy programmes by comparing 55 studies conducted from 1990 to 2015. The results indicate that private-sector hiring subsidies are the most effective measure (followed by training as the second most effective programme type).\n4. Methodology: This study relies on a counterfactual approach to identify the effect of traineeships on young people's careers (Imbens and Rubin, 2015). Like much of the literature, the analysis follows the statistical matching methodology to compare a target group (treated, i.e. trainees) with a control group of similar people whose relevant characteristics are identified previously to the treatment (controls). The matching procedure allows the creation of a \"pseudo-experimental\" environment estimating the average treatment effect on the treated (ATT).\n5. Data and variables description: The reference databases for the analysis were selected from the Employment IT System, which is an instrument created by the Tuscany region to collect information from the CO and PES archives as well as other administrative data (the ESF archive in this case).\n6. The average effect of traineeships: This section reports the estimates of the causal effects of the traineeships based on a counterfactual analysis between trainees and similar unemployed people registered with PES. We used the PSM procedure to select the controls and the nearest neighbour principle guided the matching procedure. The estimates were repeated using a distance measurement alternative to the propensity score, the Mahalanobis distance.\n7. Conclusion: This paper provides an evaluation of traineeships as an active labour policy for young people in Italy, as foreseen by the country's current regulation. The specific evaluation of the Quality Traineeships Programme, operating in Tuscany since 2011, allowed for a more in-depth analysis of the role quality criteria plays in traineeship implementation.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide an evaluation of traineeships as an active labour policy for young people in Italy. The role of traineeships as a formative experience for improving youth employment is stated by law and the specific evaluation of the regional Quality Traineeships Programme allowed for a more in-depth analysis of the role quality criteria plays in traineeship implementation.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Such evaluation relies on administrative data, while a counterfactual approach was used to compare trainees to unemployed young people registered with Public Employment Services. The impact of traineeships on youth careers was measured in terms of employment probability, but innovatively, the actual placement was measured in terms of both hiring and along a \"quality\" metric with respect to entry in the labour market. It is reasonable to assume that young people are interested in traineeships as an investment towards a more satisfying career (not just as a gateway to recruitment). At last, the authors introduce a persistency analysis of the effects on youth employment rates.\nFindings: The results show that traineeships hinder rapid transition to work, but they are effective stepping-stones for young people seeking a quality career. A benefit of 7 percentage points was estimated on the probability of finding a quality job after completing the traineeship and a long-lasting effect on trainees' employment rate is demonstrated by the persistency analysis. These benefits are strengthened for participants in the Quality Traineeships Programme, confirming the relevance of desirable learning and contractual conditions in supporting the effectiveness of internships in Italy.\nOriginality/value: As far as the authors know, this paper is the first study that specifically refers to traineeships as an active policy in Italy and the questions resulting from the research suggest new trends in the debate over the role of policies for supporting youth employment. The administrative archives used in the analysis and the persistence effects on youth employment rates are further innovations to the empirical literature on the effectiveness of Italy's training programmes.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Information technology center service quality: Assessment and application of SERVQUAL
|
[
"Communication technologies",
"SERVQUAL",
"Factor analysis",
"United Arab Emirates"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Measurement of service quality (SERVQUAL)\nResearch methodology: The basic research methods were to apply the modified SERVQUAL instrument to the measurement of service quality of IT centers and units at the UAE University, Zayed University, and the Higher Colleges of Technology. Extensive reliability and validity tests were performed to assess the measurement model. In addition to other statistical methods, confirmatory factor analysis was used to examine the dimensionality of the five-component structure of SERVQUAL. Thorough checks were done on reliability and validity for SERVQUAL scale. The sample for the study covered three main categories of respondents: users or customers (faculty members, students, and others seeking assistance from the IT centers), decision makers, and service providers (consultants and technicians affiliated with the IT centers). Two instruments were distributed to the population samples: the expectation questionnaire and the perception questionnaire (shown in the appendix). In addition, there was a section to measure the relative importance of the five service-quality dimensions.Sampling, data collection, and instrumentation\nResults: Reliability of dimensions\nConclusions: The paper has two primary research objectives: reassessing the structure and validity of the SERVQUAL model given its wide use and criticism; and applying the model to an important set of related, yet distinct service organizations such as information technology centers. In addition, and regardless, the paper provides some gap measures for IT centers in the three institutions of higher education in the United Arab Emirates.Based on our findings of applying SERVQUAL on the service quality of information technology centers, the five-component structure suggested by Parasuraman et al. (1991) was not confirmed. In addition, the four perceptions extracted factors accounted for a slightly higher percentage of variance relative to the percentage of variance resulting from the four gaps extracted factors. This result might suggest that perceptions of the service quality are comparative rather than absolute, so no other measure of gap is required (Saurina and Coenders, 2002). It seems that when we apply the SERVQUAL scale (perception, expectation, or gap scores), results suggest each service industry may reveal different and unique dimensions. If a factor is particularly important to customers, it may break down into sub-dimensions, and these sub-dimensions should, and must, be assessed separately. This finding might also suggest that future research of measuring service quality of information technology centers should attempt to modify the questionnaire items to be able to capture the true quality of the service offered, and to better reflect the situation of the particular service. We also suggest that it might be more valid to use only perception items rather than gap items.We applied the SERVQUAL instrument to quality of service of IT centers. Even though we did not attempt to modify the SERVQUAL instrument in this study; given our results, along with the vast body of literature criticizing the five-dimension conceptualization (Babakus and Boller, 1992; Babakus and Mangold, 1992; Brown et al., 1993; Oliver, 1993; Peter et al., 1992), we might suggest that measures that are designed for specific industries may be a more viable research strategy for future research. Our EFA revealed that some factors might not be one-dimensional. Future research should identify more appropriate factor constructs for the IT/IS services.The evaluation of model-fit provided some mixed results, but, in general, they favored the perception scores rather than the gap scores. However, and if we want to be strict in our translation of these fits, some statistical fit-tests suggested that both models lacked the features necessary for a good fit. Nevertheless, according to other researchers using the CFA method, some of those statistics could be said to be borderline with regard to adequate fit.We obtained data through the modified SERVQUAL instrument to compute the service-quality gap scores at the three institutions of higher education at different levels of detail: for each statement pair, for each dimension, and combined across all dimensions. By examining these various gap scores, we assessed the overall quality of service as perceived by users, decision makers, and service providers. We identified the key dimensions, and facets within those dimensions, on which each institution should focus its quality improvement efforts.Two separate types of gap analysis were undertaken in this study. The first gap analysis was to examine the 22 items on the questionnaire on an individual basis to determine specific items where the IT center was successful and others where a change was required. Perhaps the most important finding of this gap analysis is that, in general terms and in the three institutions studied, respondent perceptions of service delivery did not meet their expectations. Only on a few items did perceptions significantly exceed expectations. Overall, the results illustrate a need for improvement.Individual gap scores have important implications for IT center competency. In general, a user/customer service gap represents gaps that gauge users' overall evaluation of the service quality level. In this respect, the users' gap measure can be used to analyze the performance of service quality management of the IT centers. IT center decision makers design and build its service production and delivery system. In this respect, the difference of expectation between decision makers and user groups is reflected in the gap measures that decision-maker groups have shown. Thus, the design quality of services can be clearly evaluated through these gap scores. Service providers take the role of delivering services to the customers. As such, service providers' gaps imply the difference between service specifications and the delivered service. In other words, this gap represents the level of service failures that service providers commit through the service delivery process.The second gap analysis was to examine the five dimensions of service quality on an aggregate basis (the SERVQUAL constructs). Results show that respondents, whether users, service providers, or decision makers, believe that significant amount of work needs to be done in order to improve the IT centers' service delivery.We should mention that many of the decision makers and service providers in the three institutions did not care about the statistical fit issue; but preferred to see the results for each item, dimension, and overall according to each of the three respondent groups. To solicit participation, it was necessary to explain to respondents how these results could be interpreted and used. It is worthwhile here that we address these uses to know the potential benefits. We addressed many potential applications of SERVQUAL regardless of the type of service offered. The following applications were addressed:* Examining SERVQUAL scores representing the gap between customers' expectations and perceptions.* Tracking the levels of expectations and perceptions through repeated administration of SERVQUAL (e.g. once every year or six months). Such a comparison of expectations and perceptions over time reveals not only the gap between the two is changing, but also whether the changes are stemming from changing expectations, changing perceptions, or both.* As we did in the current study, it is convenient to use SERVQUAL to measure and track the service quality of an institution against that of its leading competing institutions.* Categorizing an institution's customers into several perceived quality segments on the basis of their individual SERVQUAL scores. With such segmentation, management would better understand what needs to be done to improve its image in the eyes of each customer group within the institution's prime target market.* Departments and divisions within an institution can use SERVQUAL, with appropriate adaptation, to ascertain the quality of service they provide to their internal customers in other departments or divisions.Future studies should try to investigate the causes for the gaps in order to derive more meaningful implications. Future studies should investigate the what and why of the gap differences that exist across the three institutions of higher education (i.e. IT competence, organizational learning capability, cultural climate, or other determinants). In addition, future research should address and examine the association between service quality gaps and service quality performance in terms of the number of failures, customer satisfaction, and so on.We acknowledge that the groundbreaking work of Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry has made significant contribution to service quality research. Through research as the one here, we also second their call for continued study of research models in many different settings and environments for better understanding and insight. In future, research should attempt to modify the instrument to obtain better fit.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The main objective of the study was to utilize SERVQUAL for identifying gaps in the chain of services provided by the information technology (IT) resources. SERVQUAL was applied to IT services in higher education institutions in the United Arab Emirates.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Because of the many concerns and reservations raised with regard to using perception scores or gap scores, the appropriateness of the SERVQUAL measure to verify the anticipated structure of the instrument was also examined. Using confirmatory factor analysis, the structure of the perception scores (performance-based model) and the gap scores (performance minus expectation-based model) were examined.\nFindings: - The evaluation of model-fit provided mixed results, but, in general, the results favored the perception scores. However, some statistical fit-tests suggested that both models lacked the features necessary for a good fit. On the other hand, based on their feedback, respondents felt that SERVQUAL is a useful indicator for IT center service quality in institutions of higher education. SERVQUAL identified gaps in service quality for the three institutions. Empirical results of SERVQUAL scores for the IT centers in the three institutions are also presented.\nOriginality/value: - The paper reassesses the structure and validity of the SERVQUAL model given its wide use and criticism, and applies the model to an important set of related, yet distinct service organizations such as information technology centers.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
The link between perceptions of leader emotion regulation and followers' organizational commitment
|
[
"Surface acting",
"Affective organizational commitment",
"Continuance organizational commitment",
"Deep acting",
"Leader emotional labour",
"Normative organizational commitment"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: A brief review of recent advancement in leadership associated literature along with contemporary leadership approaches for instance Transformational approach (e.g. Jin et al., 2016), Charismatic approach (e.g. Bono and Ilies, 2006), and Leader-Member Exchange (e.g. Little et al., 2016) are witnessing the potential and critical role of emotions in leadership-related processes and outcomes. However, researchers studying the link between leadership and emotions have been more inclined toward investigating emotional intelligence (e.g. Walter et al., 2011), or discrete emotions and their blend (e.g. Bono and Ilies, 2006; Joseph et al., 2015). A small number of studies have empirically investigated the link between leader emotional behavior and work-related outcomes for instance performance (e.g. Liang and Chi, 2013; Sadri et al., 2011). Yet, the mechanism through which emotion regulation as part of leadership role influences followers' attitudes and behavior remains less understood.\n2. Literature review: 2.1 Emotion regulation strategies\n3. Method: 3.1 Participants and procedure\n4. Empirical results: 4.1 Validity test\n5. Discussion: The current study has offered an empirical verification of the link between leader surface and deep acting and followers' organizational commitment. Parallel to anticipated hypotheses, this study validates that leader deep acting has a significant favorable link with all the three components of organizational commitment, i.e. followers' affective, normative and continuance commitment. On the other hand, leader surface acting has a significant negative link with followers' affective, normative and continuance commitment. These findings are consistent with the previous research which suggests that emotional labor has the ability to predict organizational commitment (Cho et al., 2013; Shin et al., 2015). The findings also support earlier research on strategic HRM which recommends that fair HRM practices can be helpful in encouraging followers and making them a pillar of competitive gain, which further have added benefits for high-performance work systems (Datta et al., 2005).\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the association between perceptions of leader emotion regulation strategies and followers' organizational commitment. In particular, this study using social exchange theory as a framework examines the association between leader surface and deep acting and followers' affective, normative and continuance organizational commitment.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Survey data were collected from 323 employees of five service sector organizations in Anhui province, China. Further, PLS-SEM technique was used to perform quantitative analysis.\nFindings: The findings suggest that leader surface acting has a negative influence on followers' affective commitment, normative commitment and continuance commitment. In contrast, leader deep acting has a positive influence on followers' affective commitment, normative commitment and continuance commitment.\nPractical implications: The findings suggest that leaders should be careful in managing their affective display. They may like to improve their followers' affective commitment, normative commitment and continuance commitment by using deep acting. In contrast, leader surface acting may weaken their followers' affective commitment, normative commitment and continuance commitment.\nOriginality/value: This study extends the social exchange theory in the context of emotional labor by examining the link between perceptions of leader surface and deep emotional strategies and followers' affective, normative and continuance organizational commitment.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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Improving UK retail academic-practitioner research: insights from relationship marketing
|
[
"Retail",
"Impact",
"Relationship marketing",
"Academic-practitioner gap"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The \"gap\" between research and practice is not a new phenomenon but the case for improving UK academic-practitioner research relationships in retailing is particularly compelling. With annual sales totalling PS311 bn (equivalent to 20 per cent of UK GDP), employing one in nine working people, and the sixth largest retail sector in the world by sales, UK retailing is considered to be central to the economic and social well-being of the nation and one of the world's most competitive and innovative industries (BIS, 2012, 2013). In recent years, there has been the demise of some well-known retail brands due to a slow response to the dramatic social and technological changes taking place within the retail environment. Most notable has been a failure to respond to the multi-channel challenge presented by the growth of the internet as well as significant demographic changes impacting the competitive shape of the global retail marketplace. UK retailing has been described as a sector \"in crisis\" (Guardian, 2011) in need of a strong research capability to generate strategic insights and innovative business models to enable managers to confront the challenges head on.\nAim and objectives: The aim of this study is to develop our understanding of the continuing \"gap\" between retail academic research and practice. The objectives are to:\nThe retail context and the \"research\" problem: The retail sector is the largest private sector employer in the UK and includes a wide range of different professions such as marketing, logistics, finance, law and human resource management. The sector employs around three million people, over 10 per cent of the UK workforce and is therefore seen by the UK government as an important social force (Burt et al., 2010). The sector plays a \"vital role in our communities as a provider of employment, of the goods and services people want and need and a force for social cohesion\" (BIS, 2013, p. 2). Retailers are currently facing significant environmental, economic and social challenges brought about by change in consumer behaviours stimulated by technological innovation. There is intense competition amongst retailers for a profitable share of consumers' disposable and \"low inflation means downwards pressure on margins\" (Raconteur, 2015, p. 1). The BRC-Nielsen Shop Price Index, a monthly measure of UK shop price inflation, reported 28 consecutive months of falling shop prices to August 2015 (www.brc.org.uk). This is a significant challenge at a time when UK retail is faced with additional costs, for example, from the introduction of a national living wage, increase in business rates and apprenticeship levy which will add PS14 bn of costs onto the retail industry in the next four years - amounting to approximately 20 per cent of industry profitability (Raconteur, 2015, p. 1). The British Retail Consortium report that between 2004 and 2014, costs in the UK retail industry rose 33.8 per cent but consumer spending only increased by 2 per cent (Raconteur, 2016, p. 1).\nThe academic \"gap\": A number of barriers have been identified to explain the lack of strategic research collaboration. First, there appears to be a lack of awareness of the existence of large clusters of retail related research amongst the retail practitioner community. As Wood et al. (2008, p. 66) note, it \"is misguided to believe that retailers or the wider interested community ever pick up an academic journal. In the main, the industry does not have time to search around for such potentially relevant information\". Much research within the sector tends to focus on commercialisation with less awareness of the potential impact and value of other services, i.e. data capture and development and network facilitation and development. Faced with a research problem, retailers turn to commercial data providers for information rather than academics. Retailers also appear to be uncertain about how to access academic research, i.e. to identify which universities have expertise in which areas. For their part, academics readily admit to this \"access\" problem. The pressure to publish in high-ranking academic journals, reinforced through the REF, which focus primarily on theoretical contributions (Nkomo, 2009), often means that findings are inaccessible to practicing retailers and does not reflect current issues or priorities. As well as the fact that academics appear to be using inappropriate channels to communicate research to practitioners, there is a concern about how the messages are formulated and presented. In most cases the format and presentation of research material conforms to the style protocols of academic journals stressing rigour over relevance, which renders it incomprehensible to practitioners (Baron et al., 2011).\nThe effectiveness of relationships: the marketing perspective: RM has been defined as \"establishing, developing and maintaining successful relational exchanges\" (Morgan and Hunt, 1994, p. 22). In a recent review of empirical and academic perspectives on RM, Sheth (2015, p. 4) identified five areas which have been the focus of academic attention since its appearance in the marketing lexicon; loyalty programmes, customer satisfaction, bundling and share of wallet, key account management and industrial marketing. These represent very specific marketing activities. Hunt (1997), however, presents RM (or relational strength) on a more strategic level as a potential resource advantage for a firm. Vincent and Webster (2013) note that RM constructs have been applied to a variety of relationships including service relationships; buyer and seller relationships; not-for-profit relationships; organisational relationships; channel relationships; business-to-business relationships; and employee relationships. Academics have also explored the value of RM in a variety of contexts, from membership associations (Vincent and Webster, 2013) to marriage (Tynan, 1997).\nMethodology: The aim of the study was to develop our understanding of the \"gap\" between retail academic research and practice and to evaluate the issues and identify potential solutions to close this gap using a RM lens. To achieve this we adopted a qualitative, exploratory approach as this places emphasis on examining participant interpretations and takes account of the research context (O'Donnell and Cummins, 1999; Fisher, 2007). Qualitative research also enables the researcher to gain a detailed understanding of the complex phenomena to be investigated in order to build theory (Bryman, 2008). The study used two data sources. First, information obtained from relevant retail policy and practice publications, including company reports and websites. Of particular note here was the information from two ESRC studies commissioned since 2008, which have explicitly explored the retail academic-practitioner divide, the Retail Navigator project (2012-2014) and the study by Wood et al. (2008). Second, and more significantly, the findings study involving in-depth interviews with nine senior retail academics and eight practitioners, selected using purposive sampling. The academic sample represented nine different UK universities, all of whom are prominent in the field of UK retail academic research. The eight retail practitioners, who were identified through professional and personal contacts, were all in senior management positions and represented large retail organisations operating in different markets ranging from health and beauty, furniture, confectionary, fashion and games as detailed in Table II. Academics are only identified as one to nine in the study as to reveal any detailed information around their position and university could breach confidentiality.\nFindings and discussion: In the original RMMF, although there is widespread disagreement about which combination of relational antecedents, mediators and moderators affect which performance outcomes, there is some consensus around the antecedents required for effective relationship development. These antecedents provide the focus for the discussion of the findings. The discussion draws on the full data set and the table included in the Table AI provides quotes from interview respondents which relate to the key antecedents.\nRelationship benefits and dependencies: According to the Dowling Review of Business-University Research Collaborations (2015) business-university research collaborations provide \"a myriad of benefits to their participants\". For business, these could include improved business performance through the application of new technologies, better decision making and enhanced internal research capability and expertise. For academics, the benefits cited include access to new skills, and the opportunity to address challenging research questions with real-world applications and see research have a tangible impact (p. 2). The findings here, however, suggest that many of these benefits are neither recognised nor appreciated by academics and businesses in the retail sector. This lack of mutual understanding is succinctly articulated in the following:I don't think there's an awareness of what one could do for the other, and that's a two way street. The gap exists because I don't think there's an awareness of what the benefits might be(Retailer 4).\nIncentives and expertise: As noted above the incentives for academics to invest time in research collaborations with retailers are limited. As well as the lack of rewards for publishing research in practitioner journals there appears to be little support or encouragement for \"secondments\" or placements with retailers to access new skills and knowledge. This appears to be a situation which had deteriorated rather than improved. \"When I came into academia we would take people from business backgrounds and turn them into academics. Most universities don't do this now because they are geared to purely academic writing for academics\" (Academic 2). It is certainly not the case currently that \"for academics in relevant disciplines, spending time in industry should be seen as a mark of esteem that enriches their career, analogous to gaining international experience\" (Dowling, p. 35).\nCommunication and speed of response: For retailers, a clear benefit from any research relationship is that findings can be delivered at speed and serve as a stimulus for action. Once again, the evidence suggests that academic research seems to be failing to deliver here: \"You have got a very fast moving (retail) environment. You can't afford to wait for 6 months of academic research: you need to get into a market at the time that it is needed\" (Retailer 2).\nConclusion: The overall aim of this study was to develop the understanding of the continuing \"gap\" between retail academic research and practice. The analysis of the data with a RM lens has drawn attention to the persistence of many of the well-documented barriers to effective collaboration as well as generated new insights. These new insights appear in all three areas of the discussion; relationship benefits and dependencies, incentives and expertise and communication and speed of response. In terms of benefits, it is unlikely that retailers will ever assess the quality of research in the same way that academics do. Their interest in rigorous methodology and theoretical development will always be overtaken by concerns for immediate impact and obvious \"take outs\". However, the changing data landscape suggests that there is an opportunity for academics to refocus the benefit of a relationship around capacity development, providing a constant stream of highly skilled research graduates to enable retailers to better analyse their own big data sets. In RM terms, to become a valued supplier academia needs to reaffirm the distinctiveness of its research proposition. Either in terms of focussing on the potential impact of high-quality research on decision making or on its position as a source of supply of researchers skilled in advanced data analytics. In terms of incentives, the evidence suggests that despite the focus on impact within the REF framework, many academics remain sceptical about the benefits of research collaboration. There is a widely held perception that internal reward structures are heavily skewed towards outputs in academic journals rather than retail publications. Although this in itself is not new, what is surprising is the lack of motivation or apathy towards any change to the situation. The fact that this perception is so prevalent and enduring suggests that drastic action is required by HEI's make any significant change. This is a point reinforced by the Dowling which called for universities \"to ensure that recruitment and promotion criteria for relevant disciplines reward rather than penalise academics who have achieved excellence in translational and collaborative activities\" (p. 30). On a more positive note the research highlights the critical role played by \"boundary spanners\" within the retail research context and the fact that certain pockets of expertise are highly valued by the retail community. In particular universities are perceived to play a valuable role as a local source of supply for many retailers. All of these issues offer potential avenues for further research as well as platforms to promote academic excellence to retailers. In terms of communication perhaps the most interesting finding relates to the fact that retailers view this as the sole responsibility of the academic community. Academics are expected to be able to present their research in the lexicon of retail. Again this suggests that institutional resources need to be invested to support and reward effective translation and dissemination activities of academics.\nImplications for practice: Based on our research we suggest several urgent actions are needed. The most important of which is that universities actively adopt a RM strategy to foster engagement between academics and retailers focussing on the key relationship antecedents identified in this research. Communication from academics should emphasise the benefits which are valued by retailers. These might include, for example, specialist expertise in data analysis, access to the wider resources available in universities, including cross-disciplinary and international research links. In addition, key \"boundary spanners\" who are currently active and respected within the academic and practitioner communities need to be identified and rewarded. As yet there does not appear to have been any systemic attempt to profile these individuals to identify relevant skill sets and experience to guide future recruitment. Consideration also needs to be given to reshaping the reward structure associated with the impact agenda to balance the reward awarded for output published in academic and practitioner journals. Academics should also consider proactively developing relevant research projects to promote to practitioners, based around the known key challenges facing UK retail. Recruitment of retail academics should also favour those with industry experience who can communicate with practitioners in relevant terms and language. Finally, the appointment of relationship (account) managers within UK universities or business schools would help ensure long term, more frequent interactions with all areas of business (including retail) and the higher education community.\nLimitations: The primary data were limited to a small sample of academics and practitioners and as such the findings are not necessarily generalisable.\n",
"role": "user"
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{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the reasons for the continuing \"gap\" between UK retail academic research and practice. A relationship marketing (RM) lens, focussing on relationship antecedents, is used to develop a deeper understanding of the barriers to collaboration and propose new solutions to close the gap.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper adopts a qualitative methodology to compile the evidence, using multiple data sources to identify the dynamics of the retail academic-practitioner divide.\nFindings: The research illustrates a marked absence of the majority of the customer focussed, seller focussed and dyadic antecedents, essential for effective relational exchanges, and highlights that at the heart of the problem lies a lack of shared understanding of mutual relationship benefits with academics currently neither motivated nor incentivised to develop such relationships.\nResearch limitations/implications: Further research is needed to explore what characterises a successful sustainable research relationship. There is also a pressing need to understand the experience, skills and knowledge of \"boundary spanners\" who operate successfully in both academic and business cultures.\nPractical implications: Universities should adopt a strategic approach towards building relationships with retailers based upon relationship antecedents. Reward structures should be developed to encourage academics to develop research relationships. Resources should be allocated to better defining and communicating the benefits of a university research relationship with retailers.\nOriginality/value: There has been limited empirical research on the academic-practitioner gap within the context of the UK retail sector. The RM lens draws attention to new insights about barriers to successful relationships and generates concrete ideas for closing the gap moving forward.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Leadership for knowledge organizations
|
[
"Organizations",
"Leadership",
"Knowledge-based systems"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: leading knowledge organizations: Knowledge workers\nSearching literature on power, control, and leadership: Because the bureaucracy theories that guided management in the last century were not proving to be very effective for leading workers (Gronn, 2002; Osborn et al., 2002; Pearce, 2004; Pearce and Manz, 2005; Piccolo and Colquitt, 2006; Uhl-Bien et al., 2007; Wang et al., 2011), the main focus of leadership research for the last twenty years or so has been on finding alternative means to provide leadership. Through an extant search of the literature, we find that leadership is moving toward approaches that are more innovative, emerging, and collaborative (Martin and Ernst, 2005; Osborn and Hunt, 2007). It transcends the role of a lone individual filling the position, and becomes a product of the interaction, tension, exchange rules governing the changes in perceptions, and understanding of the task in such organizations. The absence of the leader's control, due to the sharing, distribution, collectivism, networking, and self-organizing, is its main theme (Bass and Riggio, 2006; Burns, 1978; Fletcher, 2004; Gronn, 2002; Hazy, 2006; Heifetz and Linsky, 2002; Hooker and Csikszentmihalyi, 2003; Knowles, 2002; Montes et al., 2005; Osborn et al., 2002; Pearce, 2004; Pearce and Manz, 2005; Piccolo and Colquitt, 2006; Sivasubramaniam et al., 2002; Spillane et al., 2004; Surrie and Hazy, 2006; Uhl-Bien et al., 2004, 2007).\nPower and its role in knowledge organizations: In organizational and social interactions, power denotes the influence one has in controlling the behavior of others (Dahl, 1957; French and Raven, 1959). According to Pfeffer (1981), power is not normally compatible with the values pertinent to the management of people who predominantly use their minds in their work. Furthermore, leadership literature mostly fails to recognize the distribution and diffusion of power, possibly because of the legitimization of leader as the source of power and influence (Clegg, 1990; Molm, 1999). Traditionally, the definition of leader draws from the existence of this power over one's followers. According to John Gardner (1993, p. 55), power is the capacity to bring in certain intended consequences in the behavior of others. This capacity is formal if it comes and goes with the position the leader holds, and informal if it is garnered from sources other than the position.\nA theoretical framework for leading knowledge workers: The lack of use of power in leading\nIntegrating the findings for leading knowledge organization: On synthesizing the seven propositions, quantified in Table I, we develop a process model of leadership for knowledge organizations where the power to lead is either not used or not made available. The findings convey that the leadership function in a knowledge organization is quite different from the same function in a traditional firm. We also learn that the first step in drafting a model of leadership for innovation requires eschewing authority, creating an environment that makes power ubiquitously available among all members (Hollander and Offermann, 1990; Monostori and Ueda, 2006; Osborn and Hunt, 2007; Pascale et al., 2000; Pearce and Manz, 2005; Pepper, 2003; Plowman et al., 2007a, b; Uhl-Bien et al., 2007). It results in shared and revolving leadership (Heifetz and Linsky, 2002; Plowman and Duchon, 2008; Uhl-Bien et al., 2007).\nConclusion, discussion, and directions for future research: Based on our survey of leadership literature, we have arrived at seven important facts collected as propositions. Each one of them is loaded with facts from the literature and has implications for the leadership. Each has takeaways for the managers of knowledge workers. The main theme of the findings is to lead the knowledge workers so that they feel free to do whatever they prefer to do as long as their acts fall within the broader goals of the organization. Managers should assume that they could not lead their knowledge workers better than they would lead themselves. We have posed challenges to the traditional leadership practices and addressed them in the context of knowledge work groups and knowledge organizations. A real-world example of traditional leadership that did not follow these precepts and the one that did is given in Table II, depicting two CEOs at Hewlett-Packard.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to give some theoretical foundation to leadership function and style for managing knowledge workers whose work, by definition, is non-routine, thrives on innovation, and places a special demand on autonomy for its execution.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Extant search of literature to look for evidence supporting successful leadership theories and practices that are shown to improve performance of knowledge workers. Synthesis of findings to structure a framework in the form of major propositions for their testing by future research.\nFindings: The authors begin with establishing the first finding that states that leadership of knowledge organizations is different from the leadership of traditional organizations. Then the authors build six additional findings for shaping a successful leadership process for knowledge organizations.\nResearch limitations/implications: Since it is a theoretical paper built on a search of literature in the field of leadership, there is a need to empirically test the findings to give them their final shape. Each of the seven propositions in this paper would result into many hypotheses that should initiate several empirical studies.\nPractical implications: The authors consider individual and organizational/group contexts of the leadership proposed here, and also provide recommendations for carrying out this research further. While the paper is written more specifically with regard to the leadership of knowledge organizations where its findings should be fully implantable, however, to some extent, they would apply to all organizations.\nSocial implications: Leadership is a ubiquitous social phenomenon. It affects not only organizations, but also every aspect of human activity. This paper is an attempt to alter the fundamental thinking of leaders, suggesting to not to use authority, and instead, to allow everyone connected with the task the opportunity to lead. This shift in leadership paradigm will have an impact on the behavior of all involved, and steadily, will bring a change in the norms of social behavior.\nOriginality/value: This paper is a move toward giving the knowledge organization leadership some theoretical framework, as it is still in a state of flux in spite of attracting a lot of research.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
The impact of trust and commitment on value creation in asymmetric buyer-seller relationships: the mediation effect of specific asset investments
|
[
"Relationship value",
"Trust",
"Commitment",
"Specific asset investment"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Few studies have discussed the establishment of relationships between organizations with power asymmetry and the creation and maintenance of value within this type of relationship for the perspective of the weaker parties (e.g. contract manufacturers, CMs), which have limited resources and poor bargaining power (Kahkonen, 2014). Previous studies on relationship establishment and maintenance have mostly argued that good relationship quality, which comprises trust and commitment, can foster a cooperative relationship (Dyer and Chu, 2011; Keh and Xie, 2009; Liu et al., 2008; Ryssel et al., 2004; Walter and Ritter, 2003). Moreover, favorable relationship quality can stabilize a relationship on a long-term basis, enabling both parties to respond collaboratively to changes in the business environment. From a transaction cost perspective, developing buyer (original equipment manufacturers, OEMs)-seller (CMs) relationships on the basis of relationship quality to create long-term mutual benefits can reduce both transaction costs and uncertainties associated with future transactions, thereby improving transaction efficiency (Alejandro et al., 2011; Ribeiro et al., 2009; Sinkovics et al., 2011). However, in an asymmetric power relationship, the stronger party (e.g. OEMs, international brands) typically has a large selection of prospective partners and seeks short-term benefits because it is motivated by self-interest (Belaya et al., 2009). Therefore, this study investigated whether both the stronger and weaker parties in an asymmetric power relationship can maintain their willingness to engage in value cocreation through trust and commitment or whether they can maintain their relationship and create relationship value only through an additional mechanism.\nTheory and hypotheses: Specific asset investment\nMethod: Sample and procedure\nResults: In this study, a total of 1,330 questionnaires were dispatched by mail between October and December 2010. After the elimination of incomplete questionnaires, a total of 127 responses were received with a 10.8 per cent response rate. The nonresponse bias was tested through an analysis of resource item mean scores for early versus late respondents (Armstrong and Overton, 1977). No significant differences were determined by using t tests at the 0.05 level, providing confidence that the nonresponse bias was not a concern in this study.\nConclusions: Discussion\nLimitations and suggestions: This study showed empirically that, in an asymmetric cooperative relationship, investing in relationship-specific assets indicates a strong willingness to cooperate. It should also be noted that different specific assets have different levels of collateral value and cost. Thus, weaker firms should careful select their specific assets for investment. For example, they can choose tangible assets (e.g. mechanical equipment and production lines) rather than intangible assets (e.g. software devices) to express their intention to improve production efficiency, thereby maximizing their message of loyalty toward the stronger firm. This study did not compare the effects of affective commitment and calculative commitment on relationship value. Calculative commitment enables partners to maintain a relationship with anticipated termination or switching costs associated with leaving the relationship (Heide and John, 1992). Affective commitment reflects the emotional attachment of a firm to its trading partner and their partnership, which commits it to sustaining this relationship (Keh and Xie, 2009; Morgan and Hunt, 1994). Both types of commitment differ in the motive for relationship continuance. Whereas calculative commitment focuses on the economic motive, affective commitment focuses on the emotional motive. Despite their motivational differences, both seek to create relationship value (Wetzels et al., 1998). Future studies should investigate how both types of commitment affect the maintenance and value creation of the business relationship.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Previous studies have argued that trust and commitment can create value in cooperative relationships. However, this study observed that, in practice, trust and commitment alone may not ensure value creation in asymmetric relationships. Accordingly, this study aims to investigate the mediating role of specific assets in the effects of trust and commitment on value creation in asymmetric buyer-seller relationships.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Contract manufacturers (CMs) in Asia were sampled to validate the argument proposed by this study. Most Taiwanese CMs are partnered with international brands (original equipment manufacturers [OEMs]) that have stronger bargaining power. This cooperative relationship is characteristically asymmetric. A questionnaire method was applied, and structural equation modeling was performed to verify the proposed hypotheses.\nFindings: Specific asset investment (SAI) was a crucial mediator that explained the effects of trust and commitment on the relationship value of an asymmetric cooperative relationship. Past studies have claimed that power asymmetry results in an unequal distribution of benefits. Nevertheless, regarding the relationship between CMs and OEMs, the study revealed that relationship value could still be increased once the congruent goals have been achieved by both parties. This finding contradicts past theoretical predictions.\nPractical implications: Characteristically asymmetric CMs-OEMs (seller-buyer) relationships cannot be maintained merely through trust and commitment, particularly in the context of power and resource imbalances in which the stronger party often possesses a wider selection of prospective partners. The results of this study suggested that the CM should unilaterally invest in specific assets conducive to a cooperative relationship as an expression of faith in the relationship with the stronger firm, thereby creating opportunities for value cocreation.\nOriginality/value: The analysis of the relevance of relationship quality in the context of asymmetric cooperative relationships confirmed the mediating influences of SAI on ensuring value creation and the maintenance of the relationships. Relationship value could still be created despite the highly asymmetry power relationship. The CMs' SAI is the key mechanism for this achievement.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Structure and function in retrieval languages
|
[
"Retrieval languages",
"Information systems"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: When the varieties within a group of entities are first distinguished - whether the entities be animals, rocks, chemical substances, political institutions, or whatever - it is always the most obvious and superficial characteristics that are to begin with chosen as a basis of division. Subtler and more vital characteristics are not recognized until later. This course of events has been true of the analysis of languages for subject retrieval.\nStructural characteristics: Let me first recapitulate some structural features of retrieval languages. It is helpful to distinguish between an indexing and a search language. In any particular information system, a common retrieval language underlies both, but each may also include elements special to itself. Second, the notion of a dictionary converting from one language to another needs to be given more emphasis. Third, the notion of a thesaurus linking semantically related words within a particular language needs to be refined.The building blocks of a retrieval language are terms. These may be words, codes, or other symbols. It is convenient to distinguish between terms occurring in the texts to be indexed and terms assigned to the texts. Some retrieval languages consist wholly of the first (e.g. natural language titles), some wholly of the second (e.g. class numbers), and some are a mixture (e.g. terms drawn from a thesaurus).The multiplicity of terms occurring in text are characterized by being uncontrolled as to word forms, synonyms, and specificity. The only self-evident relations between words drawn from texts are those revealed by spelling. Terms assigned to text can, on the contrary, be controlled as to word forms, synonyms, and specificity. Relations between them can be displayed by coding them and in other ways.Indexing languages - irrespective of the nature of their terms - may also differ with respect to the organization of terms in the index record. The terms may be:* Unrelated - only the joint presence of terms is recorded.* Interlocked - terms are linked into subsets, each concerned with a particular topic in or section of the item indexed.* Structurally related -the semantic relations between terms in a subset are recorded. This may be achieved by adding to each term a role or facet indicator; or by combining the terms in an ordered sequence, linked by relational operators or natural language syntax, free or ruly[1].* Weighted - according to their relative importance in the item indexed.An example of these variations is shown in Figure 1.Search languages - again irrespective of the nature of their terms - can be recorded in the search record with the same variations. In addition, the form of the record can be modified by search logic: terms (or subsets of terms) can be related by the connectives and, or, not; sums of terms may also be formed by truncation. A search may require that terms be juxtaposed in an index record, or that they occur within a certain subset of an index record. For an example, see Figure 2.A dictionary is a list of terms in one language, giving equivalents in another. Some types of dictionary relevant to retrieval are:* a list of natural language text terms with equivalents in controlled assigned terms (Figure 3);* the reverse (Figure 4);* a list of natural language terms (text or assigned) with code equivalents (Figure 5);* the reverse (Figure 6); and* a list of terms in one retrieval language, with equivalents in another (Figure 7) - this may be called a concordance.A thesaurus may be defined as a display of the terms in a retrieval language showing semantic relations between them. In this sense, both classified schedules and diagrammatic displays (of the Euratom type) are thesauri. The lists commonly known as thesauri combine the thesauric function (BT, NT, and RT relations) with that of a dictionary (the USE and UF links), and may be called relational thesauri (Figure 8). Another type will be discussed later.\nFunctional purposes: When the functions of specific reference and generic survey were first stressed, advocates of each tended to denigrate the other. Many were the battles fought between abecedarians and classifiers. Each approach was acclaimed as the best, suitable in all circumstances. Even the symbiotic approach of Ranganathan suggested that a certain combination of alphabetic index and classification was the best. This search for a do-all language, to serve all purposes, is by no means over, though nowadays the battle is often between the advocates of natural and of controlled languages. It is as though carpenters were arguing as to which tool could be used for all jobs - the saw, the chisel, the hammer, the plane, or whatever.What we need is a more detailed spelling out of the varied functions of retrieval language, and studies relating structure to function. Some aspects of this problem will now be considered. All the following functions can be found in one retrieval system or another, and there may well be others. A retrieval language may:* Provide for the selection of bibliographic records with unique characteristics - for example, any record containing a specified string of juxtaposed words, such as \"enzyme activity in mammalian cells\".* Provide for the selection of a set of records likely to be relevant to a particular topic - the function of specific reference.* Provide for the selection of a group of records lying within a certain subject field - for example, in an agricultural and biological index, all items concerned with parasitism. This is the function of generic survey.* Provide for the sequencing of a set of selected records according to probable relevance to a particular topic - by means of some ranking device.* Provide for the ordering of a group of records in a field into a meaningful sequence - for example, to arrange by subject the selected items concerned with parasitism.* Provide for the automatic conversion of index entries from one form to another - an example is the ruly syntax developed by Lynch, whereby rotated articulated index entries can be derived; an earlier example is the chain procedure of Ranganathan, which imposes restrictions on both the class numbers and the verbal terms used.* Provide for conversion from one language to another - as far as terms are concerned, dictionaries do this; the interconvertibility of structural features in general is discussed in Vickery (1960).* Give aid to the searcher in his choice of search terms - this is the function of thesauri.No retrieval system provides all facilities, because none attempts to serve all these purposes. There is no single type of retrieval language that can \"do all\", that is \"the best\". User needs determine what functions should be provided, and different functions require different structures.\nStructure and function: Function 1 makes the least demands on structure. The searcher is simply asking \"is there a record containing the following term or string of terms?\" The usual example is in whole-text searching, when the exact wording of the original text is the target of interest. Any control of the text words will then worsen performance. Natural language words and syntax is the required structure, for both indexing and search.Function 2 is today a battleground for the claims of rival retrieval languages. Both text terms and assigned terms can be and are used in specific reference retrieval systems. Even if we leave to one side evidence presented by the Cranfield project (Cleverdon, 1967), the modes of use encountered in operational systems make one thing clear: if word forms and synonyms are not controlled in the indexing language, then for adequate performance, they must be summed in the search language. The examples of Figure 2 illustrate this. Since summation implies multiple search, it is inconvenient for visually scanned systems. Uncontrolled text words and summation are suitable only for machine search.The devices just discussed serve to increase recall. There is less evidence of the value of devices to increase precision. Interlocking of various kinds (splitting an item into sections or topics; the use of links; search \"within barriers\", e.g. within the limits of a sentence in a natural language abstract) is widely practised in both visual and machine systems, and must reduce irrelevant search output. Weighting index terms (which divides them among major and minor topics in the item) can have the same effect.To structure entries in a visually searched, pre-coordinated index (whether alphabetical or classified) produces a more easily used tool, in which the human searcher is less likely to lose his way. But, given exhaustive search (such as a machine performs), there is little evidence that structural relations affect performance favourably: improvement in precision is countered by loss in recall.Function 3 is the provision of generic survey facilities. By definition, this requires the selection of records of various levels of specificity, concerning many varied topics that lie within the field surveyed. These can be selected by two techniques: either by the ad hoc summation of terms or topics that collectively cover the field; or by the use of an indexing language that relates specific to generic terms.The first technique is simply an extension of the summation already illustrated (Figure 2). Ad hoc summation may be aided by any thesaurus of the kinds already discussed. The second technique is that for which hierarchical classification is especially devised. Figure 9 illustrates some of the many specific topics that will be brought together in a search for class 8, biophysics. We are left with the conclusion: for generic survey, if generic relations have not been built into the indexing language, they must be provided by summation in the search language. It is particularly necessary to build in generic relations for visually searched systems.There is a weakness in hierarchical classification. Often each specific term occurs in only one hierarchy. If the classification is of the enumerative, pre-coordinated type, each specific topic may occur in only one hierarchy. This is overcome by faceted classification, where a compound class number is hierarchically subordinate to each facet or sub-facet in it, but there may still be a restriction on the number of generic terms linked to each specific term. One can readily visualize a retrieval language of the form shown in Figure 10, in which each listed term is tagged by every (coded) generic term that is related to it. These can be not only facet and subfacet codes, but also codes for fields. Such a list may be called a generic thesaurus.Function 4 requires a ranking of records. Ranking methods in use depend either on the number of terms in index and search records, or on weights assigned to them. Any retrieval language serving this function must therefore provide a record that can be separated into individual units (terms or other units) that can be counted and/or weighted. With this proviso search output using any retrieval language can be ranked. If the output is consistently large, there is obvious value in the technique.Function 5 is concerned with meaningfully ordering a group selection. If the main file, from which selection is made, is already in orderly sequence (as in alphabetic or classified pre-coordinate index) then a selected group can be similarly ordered. But if the main file is in a sequence not determined by subject, then the search must specify relevant codes, terms, or topics on which a meaningful arrangement can be made. To take a simple example from notched cards: select the group notched in hole A; from it, select those notched in hole B, and list these; then from the group select those notched in hole C, and list these; and so on. The procedure is independent of the retrieval language used. It provides an output that is more adapted to human scanning.Function 6 can appear only if the terms in index records are structurally related - essentially it is concerned with various methods of rotating an ordered sequence of terms. One of the examples already quoted (Lynch) is wholly a matter of ruly rotation, as are comparable techniques developed by Coates, Austin, and indeed KWIC indexing. Chain procedure can involve a dictionary conversion, as well as rotation. The purpose of these rotations is to provide multiple access for visual scanning, in order to improve the chance of high recall.Function 7, conversion of terms from one retrieval language to another, appears in several contexts. It is essentially a device to reduce the intellectual labour of using two index languages, by providing a clerical conversion between them. As already illustrated, a dictionary can be used to confound word forms and synonyms (Figure 3), to assign code numbers (Figure 5) or the codes of generic terms (Figure 10), and to switch between languagesFinally we come to function 8. Relational thesauri continue to proliferate. Undoubtedly they provide first aid in searching a field not intimately familiar to the searcher. But that the benefit received is always commensurate with the construction effort involved has yet to be demonstrated. Thesauri are used to provide alternative search paths, and to choose terms for summation. There is evidence that a previously constructed thesaurus rarely sets out all the alternatives that might helpfully be chosen, so it must be supplemented by other aids; and that purely mechanical summation of the related terms displayed is likely to produce irrelevant output.This discussion of structure and function in retrieval languages is tentatively summed up in Tables I and II.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to summarize the varied structural characteristics which may be present in retrieval languages.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The languages serve varied purposes in information systems, and a number of these are identified. The relations between structure and function are discussed and suggestions made as to the most suitable structures needed for various purposes.\nFindings: - A quantitative approach has been developed: a simple measure is the number of separate terms in a retrieval language, but this has to be related to the scope of its subject field. Some ratio of terms to items in the field seems a more suitable measure of the average specificity of the terms. Other aspects can be quantified - for example, the average number of links in hierarchical chains, or the average number of cross-references in a thesaurus.\nOriginality/value: - All the approaches to the analysis of retrieval language reported in this paper are of continuing value. Some practical studies of computer information systems undertaken by Aslib Research Department have suggested a further approach.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Gender differences in the climate change communication on Twitter
|
[
"Twitter",
"Climate change",
"Social media",
"Communication",
"Gender differences"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Social media in general and Twitter in particularly provide new venues and research opportunities for computational social sciences as researchers can mine tweets for public opinions and attitudes, social activities and networks and trends in conversations and information sharing patterns. Social media may even have an important role in creating public opinions about different issues as it has been discovered to be a very efficient medium to spread ideas and news (Jansen et al., 2009; Cha et al., 2012) and to engage people in environmental activism (Cheong and Lee, 2010). Online campaigns have been found to have offline impacts, as was the case with for instance the Twitter campaign connected to Earth Hour in 2009 during which a connection between activity related to the campaign on Twitter and reduced energy consumption was detected (Cheong and Lee, 2010). On the other hand, data mined from social media may provide insights into public perceptions and opinions about various topics, such as climate change (Auer et al., 2014; Kirilenko and Stepchenkova, 2014). Environmental issues, climate change and global warming are hotly debated topics on many forums, social media none the least. In this paper, we focus on Tweets about climate change and in particular gender differences (and similarities) in the climate change debate between male and female tweeters. Our results have implications for organizations interested in targeting male and female stakeholders and customers via Twitter, as well as for other researchers using tweets and retweets as their data source.\nLiterature review: Climate change is something that many of us are in some way concerned about, but in general, women have been found to be more concerned about climate change than men and possessing greater scientific knowledge about the issue, in the context of American public (McCright, 2010). This is related to a more general tendency of women being more concerned about local environmental issues than men are. In addition, women tend to be more willing to take voluntary actions to mitigate climate change, such as trying to reduce greenhouse emissions, while men \"are more willing to support government policies to impose public sacrifices in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions\" (O'Connor et al., 1999). These results indicate that women are more concerned about local issues and campaigns related to climate change and more willing to take private action, while men feel more comfortable in the political world. However, more recently Whitmarsh (2011) discovered that although demographic factors, such as age and gender, played a role in the discovered gender differences in perceptions of climate sceptisism, the strongest correlations were discovered in political orientation and environmental values. Whitmarsh (2011) concludes that \"those with right-of-centre political views and low pro-environmental values tend to be most skeptical about the reality and severity of climate change. In other words, beliefs about climate change are fundamentally linked to existing values and worldviews\". These findings are also supported by Davidson and Haan (2012) who discovered that the gender differences were predominately associated with socioeconomic factors and political views, at least in the province of Alberta, Canada. They conclude their findings by writing that \"gender distinctions appear to be related to the lower tendency for women to ascribe to a conservative political ideology relative to men\". These studies do not reject the earlier findings that women tend to be more aware and concerned about anthropogenic impact on climate change, but they give us one explanation for this difference between men and women. But do these gender differences about the anthropogenic impact on climate change appear online and in social media use as well? Can we mine social media to study gender differences in the attitudes about the reasons for climate change?\nData and methods: A total of 556,517 tweets containing the words \"climate change\" were collected between 26 October 2013, and 10 January 2014, via Twitter's API with Webometric Analyst (Thelwall, 2009). We used Mozdeh (http://mozdeh.wlv.ac.uk/) to identify the gender of the authors of these tweets. The identification of the gender of the tweeters was done by comparing their first names (as written in their Twitter profiles) to common US first names by gender. A total of 94,579 (17.0 per cent) tweets were sent by female tweeters and a total of 145,275 (26.1 per cent) tweets were sent by male tweeters. The gender of the remaining tweets (56.9 per cent) could not be determined because the names were either not identified among the common US first names or the names were not provided in the profile information. As we are limited to the information that the Twitter users have entered in their profiles on Twitter, we cannot rule out any non-gender-related differences between the groups, such as education level, age, political opinions or geographical location. Only the tweets for which the tweeters gender could be identified were used for analysis.\nResults: Content of tweets\nDiscussion: We set out to study differences in the climate change debate between female and male tweeters. In order to investigate both the comprehensive tweeting behaviour and the original tweeting content, we decided to analyse the data both including retweets and excluding them. A closer analysis of the tweets where the frequent noun phrases, hashtags and usernames appeared revealed that the retweets had a clear impact on the results, as some of the detected differences appeared to be the result of frequent retweeting of some very popular tweets or the actions of a few very active tweeters. However, when removing the retweets the trends detected remained, in fact in some cases they emerged even stronger.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present a study about gender differences in the climate change communication on Twitter and in the use of affordances on Twitter.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The data set consists of about 250,000 tweets and retweets for which the authors' gender was identified. While content of tweets and hashtags used were analysed for common topics and specific contexts, the usernames that were proportionately more frequently mentioned by either male or female tweeters were coded according to the usernames' stance in the climate change debate into convinced (that climate change is caused by humans), sceptics, neutrals and unclear groups, and according to the type or role of the user account (e.g. campaign, organization, private person).\nFindings: The results indicate that overall male and female tweeters use very similar language in their tweets, but clear differences were observed in the use of hashtags and usernames, with female tweeters mentioning significantly more campaigns and organizations with a convinced attitude towards anthropogenic impact on climate change, while male tweeters mention significantly more private persons and usernames with a sceptical stance. The differences were even greater when retweets and duplicate tweets by the same author were removed from the data, indicating how retweeting can significantly influence the results.\nPractical implications: On a theoretical level the results increase the understanding for how women and men view and engage with climate change. This has practical implications for organizations interested in developing communication strategies for reaching and engaging female and male audiences on Twitter. While female tweeters can be targeted via local campaigns and news media, male tweeters seem to follow more political and scientific information. The results from the present research also showed that more research about the meaning of retweeting is needed, as the authors have shown how retweets can have a significant impact on the results.\nOriginality/value: The findings contribute towards increased understanding of both gender differences in the climate change debate and in social media use in general. Beyond that this research showed how retweeting may have a significant impact on research where tweets are used as a data source.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Perspectives on global fermented foods
|
[
"Health benefits",
"Fermented foods",
"Raw materials",
"Starter cultures"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Traditional fermentation is one of the oldest and most economical methods of producing and preserving food (Chavan and Kadam, 1989). Additionally in the past few years, research data have provided evidence that fermented foods may have various health benefits. For instance, dietary consumption of yogurt can reduce the onset of allergies via a mechanism of immune regulation. Similarly, consumption of fermented milk containing lactic acid bacteria (LAB) can enhance the production and expression of Type I and Type II interferons at the systemic level (Cross et al., 2001). Some fermented foods can contain biogenic properties that result from the microbial production of bioactive metabolites like vitamins, bioactive peptides, organic acids or fatty acids produced during fermentation (Stanton et al., 2005). Many food derived fibrinolytic enzymes have been purified from various traditional Asian fermented foods, such as Japanese Natto, Tofu, Korean Chungkook-Jang soy sauce, and edible honey mushroom, and are now being used for thrombolytic therapy in the management of heart disease. A report by Mine et al. (2005) stated that fermented shrimp paste, a popular Asian seasoning, has strong fibrinolytic activity. A recent review by Kwon et al. (2010) indicated that the incidence of type 2 diabetes is lower in Asian populations as compared to those in western countries which may be attributed to the consumption of a traditional Asian diet that includes fermented soybean products among other components. The soy protein with isoflavones and small bioactive peptides, produced during fermentation, improve glucose control and reduce insulin resistance. Thus, fermented soy products are better at preventing or delaying the progression of type 2 diabetes. Another popular fermented food in the western world is sourdough which is a mixture of flour and water fermented with a starter culture of yeast and bacteria in ratio of 1:100. Among the 20 isolated species of LAB, Lactobacillus plantarum was the predominant one and among the yeast Saccharomyces and Candida species, were predominating (Vuyst and Neysens, 2005). Sourdough fermentation has been explored for value-addition such as production of fiber-rich or gluten-free products with stabilized or increased levels of bioactive compounds, decreased starch bioavailability (low glyceamic index products) and improved mineral bioavailability (Katina et al., 2005). Recently, lactose intolerance has increased the demand for non-dairy probiotic products like mayonnaise, soymilk, meats, baby foods, ice creams, fruit drinks, vegetable drinks, etc. (Champagne et al., 2005; Homayouni et al., 2008; Espinoza and Navarro, 2010) which positively influence the composition of gut microbiota and overall health (Granato et al., 2010). Several non-starter LAB (NSLAB) that dominate cheese microbiota during ripening have been selected on the basis of their health benefits (enhancement of intestinal probiosis, production of bioactive peptides, generation of g-aminobutyric acid, and inactivation of antigenotoxins) and employed in cheese making to promote health benefits (Settanni and Moschetti, 2010). Among plant foods, fermented bamboo shoots contain phytosterols and a high amount of fiber and have been reported to have anticancer, antibacterial, and antiviral activity and antioxidant capacities (Chongtham et al., 2011).\n2. Global perspective: This section aims at giving a global perspective to indigenous or less explored fermented food products from the regions of Africa, North America and South America, Asia and Oceania and Middle East and Europe.\n3. Conclusion: There is undoubtedly a re-emergence of traditional and regional fermented foods with newer perspectives. Currently, the interest in developing fermented functional foods is thriving, driven largely by the market potential for foods that can improve the health and well being of consumers. One may conclude that the future of fermented foods appears very promising. The coming years would be witnessing the merging of traditional knowledge with new technologies of food processing in order to develop novel fermented or functional foods.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to outline the present status of various fermented foods and beverages across the globe and reviews on the microbiology and therapeutic effects of fermented foods.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Fermented foods play an important socio-economic role in developing countries as well as making a major contribution to the nutrition requirements of natural populations. These foods have attracted attention all over the world as foods that might promote longevity. The approach is based on observations of online research with respect to fermented foods and their origins, analysis of research papers in journals and systematic research on the microbiology and health benefits of fermented products.\nFindings: In general, traditional fermented foods produced with indigenous practices throughout the world are made under primitive conditions, which result in low yield and poor quality. But since, these foods are not only traditional but also functional foods. They are experiencing a burst of popularity as health foods worldwide. The raw materials traditionally used for fermentation are as diverse as: fruits, cereals, vegetables, milk, meat, and fish. It is possible to obtain a large variety of different food products by selecting different raw materials, starter cultures, and fermentation conditions.\nOriginality/value: The paper offers a holistic view that would guide a reader to identify various fermented products and enlighten them about their therapeutic properties.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Does corporate governance matter for stock returns volatility in the Brazilian context?
|
[
"Corporate Governance",
"Volatility",
"GARCH models",
"Idiosyncratic risk"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The behavior of equity prices is a critical issue in studies of risk management. Scientific inquiry seeks to understand in a systematic way how forces surrounding the firms - exogenous and endogenous - affect the stock prices. The volatility of equity prices has been mostly related with macroeconomic factors, which are, generally, out of control of managers, as economic recessions, political affairs, spillovers effects, market interdependence, among others. However, factors from firm-levels are also linked with oscillations of stock prices, and recent researches have pointed out that the corporate governance practices can affect firms' volatility term structure (Rogers and Securato, 2009; Giroud and Mueller, 2011; An and Zhang, 2013; Chang et al., 2014; Kim et al., 2014; Asker et al., 2015).\n2. Theoretical framework and hypotheses development: 2.1 Financial market volatility\n3. Methodology: 3.1 Sample and data\n4. Results and discussions: This section discusses the descriptive data and the results from GARCH models in order to analyze the behavior and term structure of the volatility between companies' indices with worse and better corporate governance practices at the Brazilian stock market. Regarding to descriptive analysis, Table I shows relevant results of statistical measurements and tests used to analyze the data. The descriptive data shows that the average of the returns of the two groups are positive and the companies that have worse corporate governance practices have slightly average returns greater than the companies with better corporate governance practices. Regarding with the standard deviation it is reported that the companies with worse corporate governance practices are more dispersed than the companies with good corporate governance practices.\n5. Conclusions: This paper aimed to investigate the Brazilian stock market behavior and volatility term structure of two portfolios that, theoretically, the companies that comprise them have different degrees of idiosyncratic risk: one portfolio consists of firms' shares with good corporate governance practices and the other is comprised of firms' shares with poor corporate governance. The sample is comprised of Brazilian firms listed in the B3 and the period of study was defined from January 2008 to December 2017. The firms were divided in two groups to cluster the companies regarding the quality of their corporate governance practices according to the Index of Corporate Governance from B3, and GARCH models were applied.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This paper aims to examine the Brazilian stock market behavior and volatility term structure of two portfolios that, theoretically, the companies that comprise them have different degrees of idiosyncratic risk: one portfolio consists of firms with good corporate governance and the other comprises firms with poor corporate governance.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The sample comprises corporate firms listed in the Brazilian stock market during the period from January 2008 to December 2017. Generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity models were applied.\nFindings: The results show that the portfolio of firms with good corporate governance practices presents fluctuations that are more often temporary and reactive, with trends' persistence of shorter durations, when considering the punctual volatility of the parameters estimated. This opposed expectation that the portfolio comprised of companies with good governance practices are better protected from short-term movements. However, over time and with standard error measures in consideration, both portfolios' volatilities behave in similar ways. These findings may be related to Brazilian market characteristics, such as ownership concentration, ineffective corporate boards and the ever-developing nature of the stock market in Brazil. Any one of these characteristics present challenges to effective enforcement of the corporate governance practices in the Brazilian context.\nOriginality/value: The findings are potentially to the interest of researchers and practitioners for several reasons. First, this paper contributes to the growing literature on the relationship between corporate governance and market volatility. Second, it informs that volatility in the Brazilian context is likely only partially, if at all, influenced by corporate governance practices. Third, longitudinally, both indices follow the same pattern and converge to the same place.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Does product design stimulate customer satisfaction? Mediating role of affect
|
[
"Satisfaction",
"Aesthetics",
"Affect",
"Symbolism",
"Functionality"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: To acclimate and progress in an increasingly dynamic and competitive business environment, companies are indulged in making products with designs that are not just innovative but also provide great experiential value (Mishra, 2016). In fact, the bottom-line strategy for all the customer experience innovations is to enhance overall customer satisfaction (Tivasuradej and Pham, 2019). Underpinning this strategy is the recognition of the importance of meeting and exceeding customers' expectations to escalate their satisfaction, which eventually increases the company's profitability. By taking into consideration the customers' experience of product usage, companies gather valuable information which facilitates them in designing their marketing strategies and improving their products further (Zhang et al., 2018).\n2. Literature review: 2.1 Product design dimensions\n3. Theoretical background and hypotheses: Brakus et al. (2009) presented a theory of brand experience, capturing emotions and feelings as significant factors related to customer-brand relation. However, the theory lacks the evaluation of entire product usage experience, different from a brand (Mishra, 2016). This study is an effort to bridge this gap while building the research on value proposition developed by Boztepe (2007). This proposition is an attempt to collapse the eight values typology of Holbrook (1999) into four distinct values that customer infers from product's design: spiritual values, emotional aspect, social significance and utility.\n4. Methodology: 4.1 Data collection and analysis\n5. Discussion: Insights into creating appealing products for consumers to provide them memorable experience are crucial for companies while designing their positioning and differentiating strategies in the competitive business environment (Ihtiyar et al., 2019). Product designers and marketing managers should always plan their strategies according to consumers' perceptions and their behavioral intentions. The results of this study highlight that the symbolic dimension of product design does not influence customer satisfaction directly until unless the symbolic features are capable to trigger affect in customers by inducing the feelings of arousal and pleasure while operating the product. It is evident from the results that affect was fully mediating between symbolic dimension and customer satisfaction. This result is in line with previous research of Jiang and Lu Wang (2006), which also concluded that the impact of pleasure or arousal is mostly observed in interactive devices as the hedonic element in such products is significant and affective response can overcome the cognitive response. Recent progress in the area of emotional consumption has made it really tough to neglect the relationship between happiness and consumption (Ni and Ishii, 2019).\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Product design is a dynamic factor that triggers customers' experiential value which eventually escalates their satisfaction. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of product design dimensions on customer satisfaction with the mediating role of affect.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A survey on 225 smartphone users has been conducted to test the conceptualization empirically. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling were performed using SPSS Amos-22.0 to confirm the hypotheses.\nFindings: The results indicate that affect fully mediates the relationship between symbolic dimension and satisfaction. Whereas, partial mediation of affect is observed in the relation between functional dimension and satisfaction.\nPractical implications: The framework of this research contributes towards the practice by facilitating managers in evaluating the impact of experiential value which product design dimensions create to influence customer satisfaction.\nOriginality/value: This study is first of its kind to analyze how design dimensions create experiential value to influence customer satisfaction. It contributes to the literature by giving empirical evidence that affective responses like pleasure and arousal play an important role in assessing product design dimensions that influence customer satisfaction.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
The critical success factors of GDPR implementation: a systematic literature review
|
[
"Critical success factors",
"Barriers",
"Organizations",
"Implementation",
"Enablers",
"GDPR"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Since the foundation of the internet and the World Wide Web, the evolution of technology has enabled the increasing collection, process and storage of large amounts of personal data (Huth, 2017).\n2. Research methodology: A systematic literature review (SLR) is a form of study used to identify, analyze and interpret all available evidence regarding a specific topic or question, using a trustworthy, rigorous and auditable methodology, to synthesize the existing work in a systematic, comprehensive and unbiased manner (Kitchenham, 2004).\n3. Theoretical background: In this section, we will introduce the two major concepts that support this paper: the GDPR and CSF.\n4. Planning the review: This section corresponds to the first step of the SLR methodology. We begin by providing the motivation of this paper, followed by the research questions we aim to address and answer with our research. Finally, we propose our review protocol.\n5. Conducting the review: This section corresponds to the second step of the SLR methodology. We start by applying the review protocol previously defined and perform an analysis to the extracted data.\n6. Reporting the review: This section corresponds to the third and last step of the SLR methodology, where we will summarize the extracted data from the selected studies. We have identified two main topics, which are the following sub-sections:\n7. Conclusion, limitations and future work: In this work, we conducted a systematic literature review to identify the critical success factors that contribute for GDPR implementation. With the summarized information and analysis performed above, we can answer the proposed research questions, by mapping the topics discussed above with the research questions proposed before.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The digital paradigm people live in today, which drastically increased the consumption of data, is a threat to their privacy. To create a high level of privacy protection for its citizens, the European Union proposed the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which introduces obligations for organizations regarding the storing, processing, collecting and disclosing of data. This paper aims to identify the critical success factors of GDPR implementation.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A systematic literature review was conducted by following a strict review protocol, where 32 documents were found relevant to perform the review and to answer to the proposed research questions.\nFindings: The critical success factors of GDPR implementation were identified, including barriers and enablers. Furthermore, benefits of complying with GDPR were identified.\nResearch limitations/implications: As GDPR is a relatively recent subject, there are still few scientific papers about it. Therefore, the authors were unable to neither identify nor present a robust conclusion regarding specific topics, such as practical outcomes.\nOriginality/value: On the basis of the literature, the identified critical success factors may be useful for organizations as these can be better prepared to achieve compliance by prioritizing the enablers and avoiding the barriers.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
The role of audit quality in firm valuation: Evidence from an emerging capital market with a joint audit requirement
|
[
"Emerging markets",
"Audit quality",
"Firm valuation",
"Joint audit",
"M41",
"M42"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: During the past four decades, capital market research in accounting has witnessed explosive growth in the number of studies examining the value relevance of financial reporting. Value relevance research empirically investigates the usefulness of financial statements in equity valuation. According to the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), financial information is relevant when it is capable of making a difference in the decisions made by users. Financial information is capable of making a difference in decisions if it has predictive value, confirmatory value or both (IASB, 2014). Francis et al. (2004) identify seven different market and accounting-based attributes of accounting quality: accrual quality, persistence, value relevance, timeliness, predictability, smoothness and conservatism. Francis et al. (2004) find that value relevance, even if not the only attribute, is one of the most important market-based attributes of accounting quality that dominates the timeliness and conservatism attributes. The findings of Francis et al. (2004) support the standpoint of Barth et al. (2008), who claim that higher quality accounting information results in less earnings management, more timely loss recognition and more value relevant earnings and equity book values. Barth et al. (2001) claim that value relevance research is not only important for investors but also provides useful insights into accounting matters for standard setters and other users. The seminal work of Ball and Brown (1968), an extensive body of empirical research, has comprehensively documented the value relevance of accounting information to investors in mature and emerging financial markets (Barth and Clinch, 1996; Collins et al., 1997; Bao and Chow, 1999; Francis and Schipper, 1999; Barth et al., 2001; Bartov et al., 2005; Alfraih, 2009; Filip and Raffournier, 2010; and Veith and Werner, 2014).\n2. Regulatory framework of accounting and auditing in Kuwait: 2.1 Regulatory framework of accounting\n3. Theoretical framework and hypothesis development: 3.1 Value relevance of financial reporting\n4. Data and research design: 4.1 Period, sample and data description\n5. Results: 5.1 Descriptive statistics\n6. Conclusion: Since 1995, firms listed on the KSE have been obligated to be audited by two different external audit firms. This requirement distinguishes the Kuwaiti accounting environment from that of countries with more developed economies where only one external auditor is required. Motivated by the unique institutional setting that exists in Kuwait, the purpose of this study is to examine the effect of audit quality on the value relevance of earnings and book value. Consistent with prior research, value relevance of earnings and book value is measured by the adjusted R2 derived from Ohlson's 1995 regression model. The number of Big 4 audit firms represented on a firm's audit team is used as a proxy for audit quality. Three tiers of audit quality exist, namely two Non-Big 4 audit firms, one Big 4 and one Non-Big 4 audit firms or two Big 4 audit firms. To address this paper's objective, the association between audit quality and the value relevance of earnings and book value was examined using four approaches. The final sample consists of 1,836 firm-year observations and covers fiscal years 2002-2013.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of audit quality on the value relevance of earnings and book value. Because joint audit is mandated for all Kuwait Stock Exchange-listed firms, it is hypothesized that the higher the quality of the audit team (as measured by the number of Big 4 audit firms in the joint audit team), the higher the value relevance of earnings and book values for equity valuation.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Consistent with prior research, the value relevance of earnings and book value is measured by the adjusted R2 derived from the Ohlson's 1995 regression model. The number of Big 4 audit firms represented on the firm's audit team is used as a proxy for audit quality. Three tiers of audit quality exist, namely, two non-Big 4 audit firms, one Big 4 and one non-Big 4 audit firms or two Big 4 audit firms. To address this paper's objective, the association between audit quality and the value relevance of earnings and book value were examined using four approaches. The final sample consists of 1,836 firm-year observations and covers fiscal years from a 12-year period (2002-2013).\nFindings: Taken together, the four approaches used collectively provide empirical evidence that audit quality positively and significantly affects the value relevance of accounting measures to market participants. Importantly, the results reveal significant variations in the value relevance of earnings and book value jointly across the three possible auditor combinations.\nResearch limitations/implications: Although using auditor size as a proxy for audit quality is well established in the auditing literature, a limitation of that proxy is that it measures audit quality dichotomously, which implicitly assumes a homogeneous level of audit quality within each group.\nPractical implications: The findings show the importance of high-quality and rigorous external audits in improving the value relevance of accounting information.\nOriginality/value: This study contributes to the extent literature on audit quality by exploring the role of audit quality in a unique institutional setting that imposes mandatory joint audits. Although prior studies have investigated the effect of joint audit pair choice on earnings management and audit fee premium, this study is the first to investigate the effect of joint audit pair choice on the value relevance of accounting information.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Post-project review in urban disaster risk reduction
|
[
"Disaster",
"Disaster risk reduction",
"Urban risk",
"Informal settlement",
"Sistematización",
"Post-project review"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Among the greatest challenges facing disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate change adaptation are the lack of an improved interface between science and policy and an evidence-based approach (Carabine, 2015), allowing an assessment of the benefits that these policies and interventions provide in social, environmental, and economic terms. The greatest advances - even if limited - are observed through assessments of the economic impact, cost-benefit, and return on investment, with less intensity in environmental aspects, but very few systematic approaches are aimed at determining the social dimension of improved DRR's benefits (Chadburn et al., 2013).\n2. Evaluation following project implementation: a literature review: Based on the available literature, we selected two robust approaches to evaluate the following project completion: the PPR and the post-implementation review (PIR).\n3. PPR and USAID's urban disaster risk reduction-neighborhood approach (DRR-NA) projects: The USAID, OFDA, Latin America/Caribbean Regional Office (LAC) issued an Annual Program Statement (APS) in Fiscal Year 2012, calling for proposals to apply the NA to address urban disaster risk. The NA is designed to find practical and workable solutions for DRR in densely populated informal urban settlements occupied by vulnerable and marginal communities. USAID/OFDA/LAC-funded projects in four urban settings in three countries in the region: Guatemala, Haiti, and Peru. The fact that the NA projects were a new addition to the DRR portfolio led USAID/OFDA/LAC to undertake robust monitoring of their implementation. The standardized tools and systematization process represented an effort to maximize opportunities for learning both at the level of individual projects as well as across the urban DRR portfolio (Sarmiento and Herard, 2015).\n4. Conclusions: The PPR process builds on the systematization experience carried out during the implementation of the NA projects. The PPR constitutes a valuable and powerful tool with which to verify the essential processes in urban DRR projects and the sustainability of the projects' gains after more than a year had elapsed since the closeout of the projects.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide an analysis of a post-project review (PPR) method designed to verify the accomplishments of urban disaster risk reduction-neighborhood approach (DRR-NA) projects after at least one year of project closeout. The PPR revisited the essential processes identified during project implementation and analyzed the sustainability of project gains.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The first section focuses on a literature review of the evaluation methods after project implementation, and the second describes the urban risk PPR design, its implementation, and findings.\nFindings: The proposed framework for the PPR was clear and uniform and at the same time offered the necessary flexibility to adapt to the different DRR-NA projects and contexts. The PPR methodology sought to determine the conditions of the physical works, social and environmental gains, and progress in institutional arrangements associated with the NA projects. Factors that contribute and impede success in DRR-NA projects were identified.\nPractical implications: Allowing at least one year between the completion of the NA projects and the PPR is both convenient and challenging. On the positive side, this approach allows for the verification of project outcomes after an extended period of time. However, there are also challenges, such as the need to seek additional financial resources to carry out the review; generate new contractual mechanisms; and assign human resources to review a project already closed.\nOriginality/value: The changes introduced into the PPR methodology to obtain a participative and self-conducted process resulted in a truly collective learning experience, becoming an act of accountability and social commitment.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Putting people first: Employee retention and organizational performance
|
[
"Employees",
"Organizational performance",
"Human resource management"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Business organizations come in all shapes and sizes and often exhibit more differences than similarities. But one factor common to all is that success is highly dependent on the skills, knowledge and experience of the employees within them. The late Ray Kroc obviously recognized this when pointing out that any company is only as good as the people it hires. Given his considerable involvement in creating the McDonald's fast food empire, it is pretty certain this American knew a thing or two about what makes folk tick.\nWhy retention is important: There is no doubt that attracting and retaining key employees should be a top priority for any company worth its salt. For many though, this issue lies well down the pecking order behind countless other things mistakenly deemed more important. Some organizations remain rooted in the Dark Ages by their belief that coercive tactics provide the best means of keeping the workforce on board. By adopting an iron-fisted approach, such companies invariably succeed only in driving people towards the door marked \"exit.\"Whether it is down to naivety or obstinacy, or any other reason for that matter, the consequences of failing to implement effective employee retention strategies can seriously damage even the most proficient of companies. Finding the right people is seldom easy and requires considerable investment in both time and money. When someone quits the firm, it means that the lengthy merry-go-round of identifying, hiring and training a suitable replacement has to begin all over again. Losing a talented employee can also negatively impact on performance. And if the individual concerned subsequently falls into the lap of a competitor, the firm is then handed a double whammy for its troubles. Amazingly, though, many senior managers simply bury their head in the sand and fail to appreciate the link between staff turnover and how their firm performs.\nMeasures to enhance worker loyalty: The more astute operators will be fully aware that a high turnover of labor is likely to have negative consequences. Leaders within such organizations appreciate that workers are most productive when they are content with their lot. Keeping employees sweet will therefore go a long way to helping any company to provide a quality service to customers and achieve its business goals.In order to improve the prospect of stability within the employee ranks and help keep talented individuals on board, firms must develop strategies that address:*Rewards - People like to know that their contributions are properly acknowledged and offering a generous pay and benefits package is an accepted way for companies to fulfill this desire. Rewards must, however, be attractive in order to satisfy and motivate the employee. Ensuring that pay levels are appropriate to rank is likewise important and can further blunt any notions that the grass may be greener elsewhere. This is important given the level of influence co-workers can wield in relation to whether to stay or leave.*Autonomy - Granting workers some freedom to utilize their own initiative in relation to routine tasks is another effective motivational tool. Since individuals like to believe they have some degree of control over work-related decisions, it is also useful to involve them in the decision-making process. Such an overt expression of trust has the added bonus of making people feel more valued.*Image - Any organization must strive to ensure that it is viewed favorably by key stakeholders like employees. A positive reputation is a priceless asset that is difficult to acquire yet easy to destroy. One way of protecting this valuable resource is to deliver on promises made to the workforce about their welfare and working conditions.Companies must also be frank and honest when an employee has to be fired. Communicating the reasons behind the decision reduces the likelihood that others will become disillusioned as a result.\nHow caring pays for Zenith: Zenith Bank is one organization that clearly recognizes that business success is heavily reliant on the human factor. It is therefore hardly surprising to discover that this Nigerian company boasts a whole range of initiatives geared up to improving employee retention. These initiatives include:*A strong focus on training and career development.*Generous contributions to employee retirement funds that are far in excess of levels stipulated by the federal government's Contributory Pension Act of 2004. This simultaneously means that workers are asked to allocate a much lower percentage of their salary to the fund than is legally required.*Provision of welfare services. Zenith offers transportation to and from work for its employees, who also enjoy access to the company's network of hospitals and medical centers.*Communication. Employees are consulted about issues that concern them and the bank also keeps them informed about important issues through formal and informal communication channels.Furthermore, the organization has devised and implemented various policies and practices which indicate leadership faith in the workforce's ability, while other initiatives serve to portray employees as friends and partners. Actions always speak louder than words and Zenith remains firmly committed to guaranteeing that any promise made to its people doesn't end up becoming an empty gesture.As signals of intent go, perhaps the most telling of all is how the company distributes its capital resources. While a sizeable percentage of gross income is used to pay shareholder dividends, this is dwarfed by the amount allocated to employee remuneration.Prioritizing employee interests and making rational decisions about retention strategies has paid off handsomely. Since its foundation in 1990 as a private limited liability company, Zenith has grown to become one of Nigeria's leading financial institutions. It was floated on the country's stock market four years later and quickly became one of the most widely held stocks. The proof of any pudding is always in its eating and the organization has posted some impressive results. For instance, the five-year period to 2005 brought significant year-on-year increases in gross earnings and profit before tax, which helped Zenith to achieve its goal of delivering higher returns on shareholder investment.\nComment: The review is based upon: \"Organizational retention strategies and employee performance of Zenith Bank in Nigeria,\" by Daniel Eseme Gberevbie. In this interesting piece, the author explores how employee retention impacts on how a company performs. He points out the significant costs associated with high staff turnover and suggests various measures an organization can take to create a more satisfied and loyal workforce. An extensive case study of Zenith Bank serves as a valuable illustration of the many significant points made.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - Reviews the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoints practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.\nFindings: - Business organizations come in all shapes and sizes and often exhibit more differences than similarities. But one factor common to all is that success is highly dependent on the skills, knowledge and experience of the employees within them. The late Ray Kroc obviously recognized this when pointing out that any company is only as good as the people it hires. Given his considerable involvement in creating the McDonald's fast food empire, it's pretty certain this American knew a thing or two about what makes folk tick. There's no doubt that attracting and retaining key employees should be a top priority for any company worth its salt. For many though, this issue lies well down the pecking order behind countless other things mistakenly deemed more important.\nPractical implications: - Organizations can devise policies and practices to improve relations with employees and subsequently increase their motivation, commitment and loyalty.\nSocial implications: - Effective employee retention measures can help boost corporate image among current and prospective employees, various other stakeholders and within the community where it is based.\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"
}
] |
How customer participation influences service failure attribution: The moderating effect of self-efficacy
|
[
"Self-efficacy",
"Customer participation",
"Service failure attribution"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: A unique feature of service-based transactions compared to goods-based transactions is that customers are part of the production or delivery process (Kelley et al., 1990; Zeithaml et al., 1985). Customers must contribute mentally or physically to creating satisfying outcomes for many services (e.g. education, haircuts, personal training)(Bitner et al., 1997). The development of self-service technology further enabled customers to play more active roles in service encounters (Dabholkar, 1996; Meuter et al., 2000). Through co-producing with customers, firms can better understand consumers' preferences, offer more customized services, and consequently gain higher customer satisfaction (Bitner et al., 1997; Kelley et al., 1990). Therefore, the importance of customer participation in enhancing firms' value creation and competitive advantage has received significant attention recently (Chan et al., 2010; Dong and Sivakumar, 2015; Galvagno and Dalli, 2014; Vargo and Lusch, 2004). Although many studies explored the impacts of customer participation on service performance, little is known about the effect customer participation may have on an individual's psychological response (Bendapudi and Leone, 2003). One critical, unresolved debate in the literature is how customer participation influences the causal attribution of a service failure.\nLiterature review: Customer participation\nStudy 1: Study 1 examines an educational service as an experimental scenario for several reasons. First, education is one of the most common services that require high-customer participation for service delivery (Bitner et al., 1997). Second, education services (e.g. \"cram schools\") are widespread in Taiwan. University students in Taiwan generally have a lot of experience with education services and are therefore highly familiar with this service category. Finally, because university students conceivably are legitimate customers for education services, using this design scenario could prevent possible bias due to the student sample. Besides, adult participants (part-time students) were recruited to examine potential differences in reactions between adult and youth participants.\nStudy 2: To enhance the generalizability and applicability of the research findings, another experiment was conducted with a different service category. Study 2 investigates haircutting service as an experimental scenario because it is a typical service that requires customer input to create the service (Bitner et al., 1997), and all demographic groups have a lot of experience with it. Study 2 used self-reporting from the participants regarding their self-efficacy in participating in a haircut service rather than using manipulations.\nConclusions: Discussion\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Previous studies offer two contradictory propositions for the influence of customer participation on service failure attribution. The purpose of this paper is to solve this theoretical inconsistency by incorporating the concept of self-efficacy into its theoretical framework.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Two 2 (customer participation: high vs low) by 2 (self-efficacy: high vs low) experimental designs were employed under scenarios relating to education and haircut services.\nFindings: The results show that customers with high self-efficacy attribute more responsibility to the firms for a service failure as their participation in service increases. In contrast, customers with low self-efficacy are less likely to blame firms for service failures in the high-participation condition than in the low-participation condition.\nPractical implications: This study suggests that understanding customers' self-efficacy could help firms improve recovery performance according to customers' individual differences if service failure occurs.\nOriginality/value: The findings help resolve conflicting results reported in the literature and show that the impact of customer participation on service failure attribution differs according to customers' self-efficacy. Therefore, this study provides a theoretical contribution by enhancing the knowledge of how customer participation influences causal attribution and satisfaction after a service failure.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Collaborative consumption: the role of familiarity and trust among Millennials
|
[
"Trust",
"Familiarity",
"Collaborative consumption",
"Disposition to trust",
"Intermediary framework"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Collaborative consumption has recently become increasingly popular as a promising alternative to decrease unsustainable resource consumption and to improve resource allocation (Belk, 2014; Hamari et al., 2016; Mittendorf, 2017a). Moreover, the proliferation of internet-based platforms fosters the diffusion of the collaborative business model in various industries. Collaborative consumption refers to peer-to-peer-based transactions on dedicated online platforms, which enable users to both obtain and provide valuable resources or services in temporary C2C relationships (Ertz et al., 2016a). As a result, contemporary collaborative consumption platforms enable people to disintermediate traditional marketing channels and share excess resources between each other effectively (Hamari et al., 2016; Mittendorf, 2016).\n2. Related literature: 2.1 Collaborative consumption\n3. Hypothesis development and research model: With the intention to close the formulated research gap, we build a research model that lets us examine the impact of disposition to trust and familiarity on the respective trust construct and trust transfer between the intermediary and the providers, as well as the influence on the obtainers' intentions. In particular, we focus on Airbnb.com, a popular hospitality platform and a pioneer of collaborative consumption. We further exclude all forms of uncompensated or swap-based collaborative practices, such as free peer-to-peer accommodation services, like Couchsurfing.com or HomeExchange.com (Tussyadiah, 2015). Therefore, we take the perspective of an obtainer, respectively, a potential renter on the online platform. In this regard, we investigate the counterpart perspective of Airbnb contrary to the work of Mittendorf (2016), who investigated the provider perspective.\n4. Research method: 4.1 Instrument development and data collection\n5. Data analysis and results: 5.1 Measurement model\n6. Discussion and implications: 6.1 Research implications\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This paper aims to focus on online hospitality platforms in the collaborative consumption environment. In particular, this paper investigates the impact of trust on the obtainers' intentions to \"inquire about accommodations\" and to \"request a booking\" on Airbnb.com.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper takes the perspective of a potential renter, respectively, obtainer and adopts Gefen's (2000) research model, which incorporates familiarity and trust in the e-commerce industry. In this regard, the paper extends the work on two-sided markets of Mittendorf (2016-2017). To verify the modified research model, a survey was conducted, gathering results from over 426 participants of which 255 valid responses from the Millennials generation were obtained. This paper uses covariance-based structural equation modeling to analyze both measurement and structural relationships regarding the interaction framework.\nFindings: The results show empirical evidence that both \"trust in the intermediary\" and \"trust in providers\" are decisive for the obtainers' intentions on the online platform. In this regard, this paper advances the understanding of the collaborative consumption mechanisms by adapting trust literature to validate the obtainers' intentions on contemporary collaborative consumption platforms.\nResearch limitations/implications: While the unit of analysis of prior research comprises the general intention to share, this paper empirically validates a more deliberate decision of user intentions by focusing on the intention to inquire about accommodations (no registration necessary) and the intention to request a booking (registration necessary). However, this study is dependent on one setting and it is still unclear whether the results are generalizable to other collaborative consumption setups.\nOriginality/value: This paper is in line with the work of Mittendorf (2016-2017), thus, it uses a sophisticated statistical approach to analyze trust in the collaborative consumption environment, such as confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Libraries as repositories of popular culture: is popular culture still forgotten?
|
[
"Popular culture",
"Magazines",
"Print media",
"Collections management",
"United States of America"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The following study replicates research done by Holley in 1992 on the availability of popular culture materials in libraries. As one of its major sections, the study examined the availability in libraries of printed materials found at a Kroger supermarket in Royal Oak, Michigan. The availability of these materials in libraries was determined from the holdings information found in the Online Computer Library Center's (OCLC) WorldCat database. Holley presented his findings at the 1992 International Federation of Library Association and Institution's (IFLA) Conference in New Delhi, India. This article titled \"National bibliography as national memory: is popular culture forgotten?\" appeared in International Cataloguing and Bibliographic Control (Holley, 1993) and was subsequently anthologized in Alternative Library Literature, 1992/1993 (Holley, 1994) and Global Trends in Library and Information Science (Holley, 1995).In the original study, Holley discovered that ten of the 55 periodicals (18.2 percent) had no record in the OCLC database and another nine titles (16.4 percent) had a bibliographic record without any library holdings. (Publishers submit their titles to the National Serial Data Program (NSDP) at the Library of Congress to have an International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) assigned such that a record appears in the OCLC WorldCat database even though no library holds the item.) Holley examined circulation figures for all periodicals with fewer than 50 holding libraries and discovered that:The average circulation for the five periodicals with no bibliographic record was 625,185. For the additional four periodicals with only one reporting library, usually the NSDP, the average circulation per issue was 1,250,586 including Star at 3,102,026. Since the NSDP does not collect the actual materials but only provides a brief bibliographic record, this means that no member of the largest library network in the United States is collecting a publication seen by over 3,000,000 readers each issue (Holley, p. 15).Holley did note that \"[t]his conclusion does not consider one important variable that could account for the lack of bibliographic records - time. It is possible that these mass market publications do not appear in the national network of bibliographic control because they have been published too recently.\" (p. 22) The current study tests the time variable by replicating the research in 2005 using the OCLC WorldCat database, 13 years after the original investigation in 1992.\nResearch methodology: Holley searched the original list of 55 periodicals found at the Kroger grocery store in the OCLC WorldCat database during September and October 2005. Holley consolidated two titles, Women's Day Super Special: Home Decorating Ideas and Women's Day Super Special: Family Celebrations, into the more generic title, Women's Day Super Special though Holley was still unable to find any library holdings for this complex bibliographic entity. This provided the 54 periodicals used in this analysis (see Table I).Holley also recorded any available official circulation statistics for the titles in the list. For the 1992 sample, Holley used the figures found in the 30th edition of the Ulrich's International Periodicals Directory, 1991-92 (Ulrich, 1991). For the 2005 sample, Holley used Ulrich's Online (Ulrich, 2005), the database that replicates and expands the earlier print resource.Since an increase in OCLC membership could have had an impact on the comparison of library holdings between 1992 and 2005, Holley used official OCLC documents to determine that OCLC had 4,867 governing members in 1992 (OCLC Annual Report, 1991-1992: Accessing New Worlds of Information) (OCLC, 1992, p. 3) and 8,931 governing members in 2005 (OCLC Annual Report, 2004/2005: 1,000,000,000 Symbols of Library Cooperation) (OCLC, 2005, p. 9). This represents a membership increase of 83.5 percent.\nResults: In 1992, OCLC member libraries subscribed to 35 of the 54 magazine titles or approximately 64.8 percent of the titles. The 1992 library holdings and circulation data were scatter plotted looking for outliers. One outlier, Newsweek, was detected by scatter-plotting the data points and examining which data points were outside of the 95 percent scatter plot confidence interval. The data point was removed from further analysis.In 2005, circulation statistics from 32 of the original 54 magazine titles were still able to be found. Of these 32 magazine titles, OCLC member libraries had holdings to 25 of the magazine titles or approximately 78.1 percent of the titles. One outlier, Good Housekeeping, was detected by scatter-plotting the 2005 data points. The data point was removed from further analysis.A variety of statistical analyses are performed to understand the relationship between the magazine circulation statistics and the OCLC library holdings and the relationship between the change in library holdings and the change in circulation between the identified years of 1992 and 2005.Descriptive statistics, correlation, and regression\nDiscussion and conclusions: While the data are correlated and the regression equations are significant for the two years of the research study, the time series regression equation between the two years was not significant. It appears that once the library has made the hold/no hold decision, that decision is not re-evaluated for changes in the circulation, popularity of the magazine, or ceased publication of the magazine.The mean circulation numbers for both years in the study were over 3,200,000 magazines. Reader's Digest, with circulation in excess of 15,000,000 issues, was the most widely held popular culture magazine being reported held by 69 percent of the libraries in 1992 and 52 percent of the libraries in 2005. Reader's Digest is a popular culture, general-interest family magazine. It contains stories on a variety of topics including sports, travel, education, humor, and health. The second most widely-held magazine in 1992 was Better Homes and Gardens (62 percent) followed by Good Housekeeping (50 percent) in 2005. The least held popular culture magazine in 1992 and 2005 was The National Examiner (4 percent and 1 percent respectively) with a 2005 estimated circulation of 420,000. The National Examiner is a weekly publication with stories that range from information about entertainment stars to general human-interest.This study includes both good and bad news for proponents of the view that libraries should collect popular culture. For the 34 periodicals with library holdings during both review periods (1992 and 2005), 28 periodicals (82.4 percent) had an increase in libraries holdings with a median percentage increase of 58.4 percent. The picture is less positive when the increase in OCLC membership, defined in this paper as the number of governing members, is taken into account in comparing the two survey years. With an adjustment for this 83.5 percent increase in membership, only 15 periodicals (44.1 percent) had an increase in the number of library holdings with the median change turning into a 13.7 percent decrease. The authors note that the membership comparisons might have been different if they had used all members instead of governing members. Furthermore, since OCLC is a mature organization in the USA, the additional governing members may have included a higher percentage of foreign libraries that would have much less interest in American popular culture.The more heartening result is the fact that almost half the periodicals (8/19 or 42.1 percent) with no library holdings in 1992 (either no holdings or a NSDP bibliographic record only) had holdings in 2005. In 2005, a significant number of libraries reported holdings for Star (31 libraries) and for Soap Opera Weekly (25 libraries). This is especially important because both items have a relatively high reported circulation statistic - Star at 1,752,557 and Soap Opera Weekly at 450,000.The authors wish, however, to caution researchers in the area of popular culture that even these modest improvements may be illusory. First, the inclusion of a holdings symbol in OCLC's WorldCat database does not necessarily mean that the library keeps back issues of the magazine. The library may retain only current issues for a limited amount of time before discarding them. Conversely, the library may have limited back files with no current subscription. Second, while OCLC expects libraries to delete items that are no longer held by the library, this often does not occur so that some OCLC WorldCat database records may include phantom holdings. Researchers are advised to verify physical holdings before planning any visit to consult these periodicals.Overall, the authors conclude that these popular culture magazines remain underrepresented in American libraries. While Star, The National Enquirer, Soap Opera Weekly, and the Weekly World News may lack intellectual respectability, these publications are important parts of popular culture and can help document American reading habits. Their continued existence and high circulation statistics are testaments of their importance within the American cultural landscape. While the authors are not suggesting that every library should have subscriptions to these items, several libraries of record should collect current issues and take the necessary preservation measures to preserve them for future generations of scholars.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - This paper seeks to replicate a study done in 1992 on the bibliographic availability of 55 popular culture periodicals sold by a Kroger supermarket in Royal Oak, Michigan. The earlier study asked the question whether time might be a relevant variable for the number of holding libraries.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The authors searched WorldCat for the number of reported library holdings for the same 55 popular culture periodicals and analyzed the results.\nFindings: - During both periods, 34 periodicals with holdings had a median increase of 58.4 percent; but, when the 83.5 percent increase in OCLC governing members during the same period was taken into account, holdings had a median decrease of 13.7 percent. For the 19 cases with no library holdings in 1992, eight (42.1 percent) now had library holdings, including several high circulation periodicals such as Star and Soap Opera Weekly.\nPractical implications: - Popular culture materials read by many Americans are still not widely available in libraries or are not entered into WorldCat, the prime source for bibliographic holdings.\nOriginality/value: - This paper provides additional statistical evidence on the availability of popular culture materials in libraries.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Organisational culture of construction project managers in the GCC countries
|
[
"Organisational culture",
"OCAI",
"Project management",
"Gulf Cooperation Council",
"Persian Gulf States"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Most, if not all of the construction project managers in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, have extensive business interactions with professionals from different national cultures, and details about their perceived organisational culture, which have to cope with the challenges of extreme cultural diversity in most industries of the GCC countries, exhibit potential to learn from. However, compared with China and India, little is known so far about organisational cultures in the GCC countries and it is unclear if a distinct organisational culture among construction project managers exists, how it can be determined and what the dominant culture type may be.\nPurpose of study: Specific questions to be answered here are:\nResearch method: Sampling, data collection, and measures\nResults: Looking at the four different culture types (Table II), it is apparent that the mean of both Group and Hierarchy cultures are highest among the four culture types and that they are very close to each other. The mean of Group culture is 28.68 and the mean of Hierarchy is 27.98 on a 100-point scale.\nDiscussion: The similar high mean scores for both Group and Hierarchy culture (Table II) may be interpreted as the existence of two dominant culture types. Looking at the workforces and leadership teams of the respondents' organisations, which were similar to the overall situation in the GCC countries, that is, highly diverse (the expatriate population in some GCC countries is above 70 per cent), this is an interesting result, as the commonality of national culture, business type, and business nature seems to produce the perception of two common dominant culture types.\nConclusions: The purpose of this study was, first, to find out whether a distinct organisational culture among construction project managers can be identified and, second, which dominant culture type they perceive. The results contribute to the body of knowledge as follows.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: One of the consequences of globalisation is the proliferation of interactions between professionals of organisations from different cultural backgrounds. This is certainly true for construction project managers working in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, and the aim here is to provide foundation evidence regarding first, the existence of a distinct organisational culture and, second, the perceived culture type.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Data collected through questionnaire-based interviews with 96 construction project managers in the GCC countries was analysed by applying the Organisational Culture Assessment Instrument (OCAI, Cameron and Quinn, 2006) and empirical statistics.\nFindings: The OCAI was found to be a useful tool to determine a profession's culture, and, confirming what has so far been anecdotal evidence, the findings indicate that both the group and hierarchy cultures are dominant culture types among construction project managers in the GCC countries.\nPractical implications: The confirmation of the dominant culture types gives increased confidence to practitioners to develop effective cultural diversity management regarding professional interactions with construction project managers in the GCC countries.\nOriginality/value: The findings contribute to the body of knowledge by proving that construction project managers in the GCC countries perceive a dominant blend of group and hierarchy cultures.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Age segregation and hiring of older employees: low mobility revisited
|
[
"Segregation",
"Hiring",
"Ageing",
"Labour demand"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The ageing of baby-boomers has increased the average age of the labour force in many countries. This change makes the employment prospects of older workers increasingly important (e.g. OECD, 1998, 2006). First, it is likely that firms have to pay more attention to their recruitment policies and be willing to hire also older employees. Second, the ageing labour force is also challenging to the overall functioning of the labour market. If older workers have limited chances for re-entry after macro-economic shocks, the ageing of the labour force is likely to lead to increased structural unemployment.\n2. Earlier research on the job opportunities of older workers: The widely asked question in the earlier literature is: why do firms hire older workers so seldom even though their existing personnel may consist of older employees to a large extent? This question stems from the descriptive work that has considered the age segregation of hiring compared e.g. to the age segregation of existing employees (e.g. Hutchens, 1988; Hirsch et al., 2000; Disney et al., 2006). The results typically support the preconceptions that occupational segregation is substantially greater for older hires than for either young hires or employment among all older workers.\n3. The institutional setting: removing barriers to longer working careers: In this paper, we set the hypothesis that the restrictive changes in early exit policies are likely to improve hiring prospects for older employees. Finland has witnessed a clear change in pension policy during the last 20 years. The aim has been to lengthen working careers; and the most distinct elements of this policy consist of the restrictions in early retirement options. In the early 1990s the exit routes were many-fold, but these exit routes have been removed quite rapidly and simultaneously the employment of ageing workers increased at record speed among EU15 countries from the late 1990s until the mid-2000s (Ilmakunnas and Takala, 2005)[1].\n4. The data and key variables: We use data drawn from the Finnish Linked Employer-Employee Data (FLEED) 1990-2004, which include information on firms (and their plants) and the employees who can be linked to their employer. The FLEED data set merges comprehensive administrative records of all labour force participants in Finland as well as all employers subject to value added tax. The data on individuals cover the whole working age population and have information (code) of the employer of the individuals at the end of the year. The codes allow the linking of data on individuals to employers with near-perfect tractability over time.\n5. Trends in aggregate data: In the analysis of the aggregate-level flows we first examine the shares of the age groups in the total hirings and exits. Then we turn to analysing the corresponding rates where each flow is calculated in relation to the number of employees in the corresponding age group. Finally, we decompose changes in employment in different age groups like in equation (1). There our aim is to consider especially the relative roles of hirings, exits and varying cohort sizes behind the increasing employment rates among the older workforce.\n6. Estimation results: We present regressions with firm-level data on the determinants of hiring of older (50 years or older) employees. Our main attention is on the firm size effects and how they have changed over time. We use both the hiring share of older employees and the hiring rate as dependent variables. As a comparison, we also present estimates for the exit share and exit rate of older employees.\n7. Age segregation at the firm level: To gain additional insights on the labour market prospects of older employees we examine the age segregation of hiring across firms. We illustrate this in Figure 5 with segregation curves. Firms with at least 10 employees are first ordered according to the ratio of old (50-64) employees and young (20-49) employees; they are ordered separately with regard to stocks, exits, and hires. Then the cumulative share of younger employees is plotted against the cumulative share of older employees. If the distribution of older and younger employees were the same in all firms, the curves would lie along the 45 degree line. The further the curves are from the line, the more there is segregation. The curves are shown for the years 1994 and 2004. The area between the 45 degree line and the segregation curve is the Gini index G for segregation. Normalising the area of the triangle to unity, the index is between zero and one. In practice, we calculate the Gini index as G=[?]\n8. Conclusions: We have investigated the behaviour of firms in the hiring of older employees in Finland using linked employer-employee data. There is a positive upward trend in the recruitment of employees who are aged 50 and older. This trend is related to increasing cohort size, but it is much weaker than the trend in the relative share of older workers in employment. The exit rate of the older employees indicates cyclical variation while the small number of hirings seems to be insensitive to changing labour demand. We also present a decomposition of employment by age group to hirings and exits and cohort related factors. The role of the cohort size effects is important in the oldest age groups and it is strengthened by the relatively high employment rates among the baby-boom generation.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyse the determinants of hiring and exit rates by age at the firm level and firm-level age segregation in hirings and separations in Finland.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The use Finnish linked employer-employee data from 1990 to 2004. The authors present a decomposition of employment change by age group to disentangle the roles of hirings and exits from factors related to demographics effects. Firm-level analysis is conducted using regression models for the hiring rates and shares of different age groups and for the probability of hiring older employees. Similar models are estimated for the exits of older employees. Segregation is analysed using age segregation curves and Gini indices calculated from them.\nFindings: The hirings of older (50+) employees have clearly been more segregated at the firm level than the exits or the stock of old employees. Larger firms are more likely to hire older employees, but their hiring rates are lower. However, the probability of having hires or exits of older workers are much higher in large firms. The results are relatively similar for men and women.\nResearch limitations/implications: The determinants of the probability of hiring older workers and the rate of hiring them, given that the rate is positive, are different and these two processes should be modelled separately. The Gini index of segregation may be misleading when the number of employees per firm is small. Therefore it is useful to compare segregation to a random reshuffle of employees to firms.\nPractical implications: Older worker who have become unemployed or who want to change their job need to have more employment opportunities. Labour and pension policies need to be monitored and designed so that there are more incentives for the individual to search for a new job and for the firms to hire older employees.\nOriginality/value: The authors provide new empirical evidence of age segregation and hiring prospects of older employees. Age segregation has previously been examined in occupations, but the authors extend the analysis to firm-level segregation. The authors suggest a new decomposition of the rate of employment change to the hiring and exit rates and to a cohort effect.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Today's UK professional association library and information service: Challenges and best practice
|
[
"Professional associations",
"Special libraries",
"Information services",
"Information strategy",
"Best practice",
"United Kingdom"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Today, the UK has a knowledge economy, in that it has moved away from manufacturing and towards businesses and services, which require specialist knowledge (DTI, 1998). There are now 334 professional associations in the UK (Friedman and Afitska, 2007, p. 11).Professional associations not only safeguard and lobby for practitioners' interests, but also aim to develop their members' professional skills. To this end, continuing professional development (CPD), training, research and education is offered or promoted, professional news and information is disseminated and communication networks are encouraged.A professional association's library and information service is a key benefit for members, providing information resources and answers to queries. Originally, this service was run from the professional association's in-house library. But today this may be augmented or replaced by a phone-in and online information service, serving UK-wide and international members.\nAims of the study: The aims of this study were:* to present an overview of the current library and information service in UK professional associations;* to identify the challenges in the sector, especially concerning the library and information service;* to examine some of the best professional association library and information services to identify best practice; and* to construct models of best practice for the professional association library and information service, including recommendations on developing information policies and building information strategy.A full report of the study appears in Madden (2007) including a detailed case study which can be consulted there.\nStudy methods: A hybrid approach to methodology was used, bringing together methods from various research traditions (Robson, 2002, p. 548). Data were gathered using the following methods:* a literature review;* sources based research using directories;* content analysis of web sites;* statistical analysis; and* open-ended interviews with professional association staff.\nLiterature review: The review aimed at identifying literature relevant to the UK professional association generally, to gain an understanding of this subsector within the special or workplace library sector. In addition, surveys and statistics on the special library in the UK were reviewed.Sources-based research\nStudy results: A summary of the main points is give below; for a full description and analysis, see Madden (2007). Only a selection of bibliographic references is given.Challenges in the sector\nRecommendations: A model range of information services\nConclusion: The above research project yielded many examples of best practice which then were incorporated and developed into models which will benefit professional association library and information services particularly, as well as other types of business and special libraries.To obtain a fuller picture of the professional association library and information service, a study of all 334 association web sites as information marketing vehicles could be done. Interviews with as many representatives as possible could be undertaken, especially of library and information professionals, in successful, mediocre and struggling professional associations. This research would build on this paper, and on the earlier work of Friedman and Mason (2003) who analysed all professional association web sites' membership services, but not specifically the library and information services.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - This paper aims to present an overview of the current library and information service in UK professional associations. Challenges in the sector are identified and some of the best information services are examined in order to construct useful models for best practice.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A mixed method approach is used: literature review, sources-based research, content analysis of web sites, statistical analysis, and open-ended interviews. A total of 50 web sites of professional associations were analysed and 13 association representatives were interviewed. Models of best practice in professional association library and information services are proposed.\nFindings: - The professional associations with the best web site information provision often have excellent in-house libraries and a growth in membership between 1999 and 2007. Challenges include: attracting and retaining members through the information services, sufficient marketing and promotion of information services, generating or attracting enough funds, keeping information up-to-date, creating benchmarks and standards, and developing information policies and strategy.\nPractical implications: - The proposed models can be used by professional association library information services to improve their service delivery.\nOriginality/value: - The study contributes to the under-researched area of library and information services of UK professional associations. The paper outlines original models for building information strategy and best practice.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Marketing performance measurement and firm performance: Evidence from the European high-technology sector
|
[
"Marketing strategy",
"Performance measures",
"Product technology",
"Europe"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Marketing performance measurement (MPM) continues to be a large and growing concern for marketing scholars and managers alike. Questions related to marketing productivity and performance assessment rank consistently among the top research priorities of the Marketing Science Institute (MSI, 2002, 2004); current MSI priorities for 2006-2008 include the question of how to connect marketing metrics with marketing strategy, and, by implication, firm performance (MSI, 2006). Academic interest in MPM is largely based on the assumption that greater marketing accountability enhances firm performance and marketing's stature (e.g., Rust, Ambler, Carpenter, Kumar and Srivastava, 2004). However, researchers have given little attention to testing these relationships. Instead research has tended to focus on techniques for measuring marketing productivity (e.g., Morgan et al., 2002) and approaches to measuring brand and customer equity and identifying metrics in use (e.g., Barwise and Farley, 2004).One study to date (O'Sullivan and Abela, 2007) has demonstrated a positive relationship between the ability to measure marketing performance, and actual firm performance. The purpose of the current study is to examine whether, given that significant variations exist in marketing practices in different geographic contexts (e.g., Singh et al., 2005), the relationship between MPM ability and firm performance demonstrated in O'Sullivan and Abela (2007) can also be shown among European firms. In addition, while that study assumed that performance reporting frequency and marketing budget mediated the relationship between MPM ability and firm performance, we subject these assumptions to empirical testing.Our study focuses on marketers in European high-tech firms. Interest in MPM is particularly apparent in the high-tech sector, where senior executive demands for marketing accountability are acute (IDC, 2003; ITSMA, 2003). Two primary factors contribute to heightened pressure for marketing accountability in this sector. First, high-tech firms typically have an engineering rather than a marketing/market driven orientation. This is most evidently reflected in executive scepticism towards the value of marketing in these firms (Meldrum, 1995; Ward et al., 1999). Second, the collapse of the technology boom of the late 1990s led to intense scrutiny of the necessity for, and the value of, marketing (Mohr and Shooshtari, 2003). Marketers within European high tech firms, similar to those in North America, struggle to meet the accountability demands of senior management and their influence over the senior executive team tends to be weak (CMO Council, 2005).Marketing performance measurement is the assessment of \"the relationship between marketing activities and business performance\" (Clark and Ambler, 2001, p. 231). While evidence continues to mount that investments in marketing activities contribute to increases in shareholder wealth (e.g., Rao and Bharadwaj, 2008), demonstrating this link in the case of specific firms continues to be an elusive challenge. Reflecting this, marketing managers, face an unabated demand to show greater accountability for their own specific marketing investments. In turn, this has led marketers to display an almost insatiable appetite for marketing metrics and other measurement data (Doyle, 2000; Morgan et al., 2002; Kumar, 2004; Lehmann, 2004; Webster et al., 2005).Following O'Sullivan and Abela (2007), since the challenge faced by marketers is their inability to demonstrate the effectiveness of marketing activities, our focus in this paper is on marketing's ability to assess the relationship between those activities and firm performance. Also, since the interest of marketing managers is to demonstrate the value of their marketing activities, we focus on marketing not as the \"underlying products, pricing, or customer relationships\" (Rust, Ambler, Carpenter, Kumar and Srivastava, 2004, p. 76) but instead as the \"marketing activities\" themselves, defined as marketing communication, promotion, and other activities that consume most of the typical marketing budget (O'Sullivan and Abela, 2007).Ironically, demonstrating the link between investment in marketing and firm performance itself requires further investment (Bonoma and Clark, 1988). Is such an investment justifiable? O'Sullivan and Abela (2007) demonstrate a link between the ability to measure marketing performance and actual firm performance. Replicating and extending this study in a European context is the purpose of this article.\nConceptual development and hypotheses: We present the conceptual model for our study in Figure 1.We follow the theoretical framework and hypotheses developed in O'Sullivan and Abela (2007), which link MPM ability to firm performance and CEO satisfaction with marketing. The first hypothesis is that MPM ability has an effect on actual firm performance. Greater marketing accountability is commonly assumed to lead to superior marketing and firm performance (e.g., Rust, Ambler, Carpenter, Kumar and Srivastava, 2004). Previously, marketing scholars have argued that MPM improves decision making and ultimately performance (e.g., Morgan et al., 2002; Ambler et al., 2004). Accordingly, we examine the relationship between MPM ability and firm performance through the following hypothesis:H1. Ability to measure marketing performance positively influences firm performance.Many marketing scholars contend that the availability of measures to communicate marketing's contribution to firm performance enhances marketing's influence and stature (e.g., Lehmann, 2004; Seggie et al., 2007). Indeed, Webster et al. (2005) describe greater ability to account for marketing's contribution as being central to the discipline regaining its \"seat at the table\". We test this view through the following hypothesis:H2. Ability to measure marketing performance is positively associated with CEO satisfaction with marketing.Previous studies of MPM have tended to focus either on issues of which activities to measure (e.g., Rust, Lemon and Zeithaml, 2004) or the measurements in use (e.g., Ambler et al., 2004; Lages et al., 2005). O'Sullivan and Abela (2007) hypothesised that these are two distinct aspects of MPM ability. Hereafter we refer to these two aspects of MPM as \"activities\" and \"metrics\" respectively. Activities is defined as the ability to measure performance across a range of marketing activities. Metrics is defined as the ability to assess marketing performance using a comprehensive set of metrics (financial and non-financial, in relation to goals, and in relation to competitors). Both are critical: the first because of the wide range of marketing activities that make up the typical marketing plan, and the second because any single metric is not insufficient for assessing marketing performance (Ambler and Roberts, 2006).We hypothesise that the activities and the metrics aspects of MPM have separate but related effects on both firm performance and CEO satisfaction. Consistent with the earlier study we test the impact of the activities aspect first:H3. Ability to measure performance across the range of marketing activities employed positively influences firm performance.H4. Ability to measure performance across the range of marketing activities employed is positively associated with CEO satisfaction with marketing.Within the marketing literature, it is commonly recognised that measurement of performance necessitates the use of both financial and non-financial metrics (Clark, 1999). In their recent article Rust, Ambler et al.(2004) provide an overview of the need for non-financial measures to assess marketing performance. Reflecting the view, that an expansive set of measures enhances accountability, and the recent work of Verhoef and Leeflang (2008), we expect to find a positive relationship between metrics and both firm performance and CEO satisfaction with marketing:H5. Ability to provide a comprehensive set of metrics positively influences firm performance.H6. Ability to provide a comprehensive set of metrics is positively associated with CEO satisfaction with marketing.Marketing performance dashboards, which have received considerable managerial attention in recent years, are seen as means by which information is summarised and communicated to senior management (McGovern et al., 2004; Miller and Cioffi, 2004). Ambler (2003) argues that this improved visibility leads to greater trust in marketing, improved marketing investments and superior firm performance. Accordingly, in the current study we hypothesise that use of marketing dashboards mediates the key relationships:H7. The greater the use of a marketing dashboard, the more positively marketing performance measurement will influence firm performance and be associated with CEO satisfaction with marketing.Prior studies also provide empirical evidence of a relationship between the formalisation of the marketing planning process and the attainment of improved performance (e.g., Lysonski and Pecotich, 1992). This is consistent with the theorised link between the measurement of marketing performance and improved firm performance (Rust, Ambler, Carpenter, Kumar and Srivastava, 2004). O'Sullivan and Abela (2007) offer two potential explanations for the effect of MPM ability on firm performance in their study. First, they argue that the ability to measure marketing performance leads to and is approximately equal to actual measurement and reporting of performance, on the assumption that - given the aforementioned pressures for greater accountability facing marketers - it is unlikely that those possessing the ability would let any of it lie latent. Second, consistent with Webster et al. (2005) they argue that marketers are more likely to secure and defend budgetary resources when they can clearly demonstrate a contribution to firm performance.That said, neither of these two routes (actual measurement/reporting of performance and budgetary resources) through which MPM ability is proposed to impact on firm performance and marketing's stature were empirically tested by O'Sullivan and Abela (2007). We therefore extend their original study by testing both of these assumptions. Although the assumption that no marketer would leave any measurement ability unutilised appears to us to be a strong one, we nevertheless examine whether the relationship between MPM ability and firm performance is mediated by actual measurement and reporting efforts. We conceptualise these efforts in terms of frequency of marketing performance reporting. We also examine whether the amount of resources that the marketing function is able to secure - specifically the size of the marketing budget - mediates the relationship between MPM ability and firm performance. Thus the first additional hypothesis is:H8. Marketing performance reporting frequency will mediate the relationship between MPM ability and both firm performance and CEO satisfaction with marketing.Aaker and Jacobson (1994a, b) contend that where assets are harder to measure they tend to be under resourced. The corollary has also been argued, with a number of authors pointing to the need to develop metrics as a means of assisting marketers in securing, defending and growing marketing budgets (e.g., Rust, Ambler, Carpenter, Kumar and Srivastava, 2004; Srivastava et al., 1998). Similarly, Merlo et al. (2003) suggest that the level of resources allocated to marketing is determined by the degree to which marketing activities are perceived to impact on firm performance. The perceived impact of marketing is, in turn, dependant on the availability of clear and credible measures of whether and to what extent marketing impacts on performance (Ambler, 2003). Accordingly, we expect that MPM ability will positively influence willingness of senior management to allocate resources to marketing. Additionally, the degree to which resources are allocated to marketing is, in turn, recognised as a determinant of firm performance (Ambler, 2003). Consequently, in our model, resources allocated to marketing are identified as a potential mediator of the key relationships:H9. The marketing budget will mediate the relationship between MPM ability and both firm performance and CEO satisfaction with marketing.The study controls for firm size and age since both of these variables have previously been shown to impact on performance (e.g., Ahuja and Lampert, 2001; Miles et al., 2000). We control for firm age as it influences performance and competitive advantage outcomes (Zahra et al., 2000).\nMethod: Measures\nAnalysis and results: We first considered the relationship between MPM ability and both firm performance and CEO satisfaction with marketing by analysing the primary data.Firm performance: primary data\nDiscussion: The first purpose of our study was to attempt to replicate the findings of O'Sullivan and Abela (2007) in a new setting - the European high-tech sector. Our replication confirms the main findings of the original study: the positive relationship between MPM ability and both firm performance (objectively and subjectively measured) and CEO satisfaction with marketing. This is an important result. While the O'Sullivan and Abela (2007) findings can arguably be attributed to the peculiarities of the research context, our findings indicate that the results are robust and applicable to firms in the European high-tech sector. The four-factor structure of the activities construct is also confirmed by the European data. Consistent with the earlier study, when the two sub-components of MPM are considered, we find that metrics does not have an impact on the dependent variables over and above the impact of activities. In light of these findings, it seems appropriate to refocus attention on the activities measured rather than the metrics in use.Dashboards do not moderate the relationship between MPM ability and either firm performance or marketing's stature. This finding contributes to a growing body of research (e.g., Clark et al., 2006) suggesting that current managerial interest in marketing dashboards may be overstated.Our results support the influence of one of the two mediating factors considered. We find that marketing performance reporting frequency mediates the relationship between MPM ability and objectively measured performance and partially mediates the relationship with subjectively measured performance. These findings lend support to two related assumptions in the original study. Namely, that those firms with an ability to measure marketing performance utilise the ability and that performance reporting leads ultimately to an improvement in overall firm performance. The mediating effect of marketing budget on the relationship between MPM and the dependent variables is not supported. It would appear that greater ability to account for marketing does not lead to a greater allocation of marketing resources. Given these results, it would be interesting to explore the link between ability and performance through a consideration of other potential mediators and other measures of performance.Research implications and limitations\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The research aims to test whether the ability to measure marketing performance affects the actual performance of firms, in the context of the European high-tech sector. It also aims to test whether performance-reporting frequency and size of marketing budget mediate the relationship between measurement ability and performance.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Survey responses collected from 157 marketers were supplemented with firm performance data.\nFindings: - Results show that marketing performance measurement ability positively impacts firm performance and that reporting frequency mediates this relationship.\nResearch limitations/implications: - More attention should be given to the activities that are measured rather than the metrics in use - which receive much attention in the literature. Current interest in marketing dashboards may be overstated.\nPractical implications: - Enhanced ability to account for marketing leads not only to improved firm performance, but also to greater regard for marketing at the senior management level.\nOriginality/value: - This is the first study to demonstrate a link between marketing performance measurement ability or frequency and firm performance in the European market. It also provides an insight into the chain of effects linking marketing performance measurement ability to firm performance.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Professional training as a strategy for staff development: A study in training transfer in the Lebanese context
|
[
"Professional training programmes",
"Training transfer",
"Work environment",
"Lebanon",
"Working conditions",
"Training"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Human resource development (HRD) literature suggests that investments in training and development (T&D) are associated with a range of individual and organizational benefits (Buckley and Caple, 2007). HRD and management practitioners utilize formal training as a vital and comprehensive component in individual and organizational development (Noe et al., 2006; Keep, 1989; Prais, 1995; Swanson, 1995). The goal usually is set by the organization to enhance individual productivity and competitiveness (Lang and Wittig-Berman, 2000) and to facilitate employees' learning and work-related competencies and skills (Cascio, 2000; Noe et al., 2006).\nFactors influencing training transfer: The ability to learn and to convert learning into practice creates extraordinary value for individuals, teams and organizations (Ashton and Green, 1996). One way to learn is through formal training. Interest in training and learning is associated with purposes related to organizational and individual change. First, training leads to organizational development and growth through contribution to production, effectiveness, and innovation (Lang and Wittig-Berman, 2000). Second, it contributes to acquiring new knowledge, skills, and capacity to further own learning both as employees and citizens (Barrie and Pace, 1998; Dirkx, 1997). But for change to happen, training transfer should take place. A review of the literature provides evidence that training alone is necessary but not sufficient to result in positive job performance or related changes. Research studies on training and training transfer have identified many factors to have influence on trainees learning and on the transfer of new acquired competencies to their work environment (Baldwin and Ford, 1988; Holton and Baldwin, 2000; Montesino, 2002). What follows is an overview of the different variables related to training design, trainee characteristics, and work environment that influence training and training transfer (Holton, 2005).Training design\nMethodology: Organizational context of the program\nResults: This study yielded a broad perspective on issues related to formal training and training transfer. The issues explored are related to trainees' attitudes towards the training activities they were exposed to, their perceptions of the impact of training activities on their career development, and their attitudes towards work environment that might predict the transfer of training.Background and experience of participants\nDiscussion: This study followed the framework suggested by Baldwin and Ford (1988). Based on the results of this study, factors affecting transfer of training could be placed into four different categories:1. individual;2. educational;3. institutional; and4. environmental.Individual\nImplications for HRD: Nowadays, being able to benefit from formal training experiences is essential for the success of the professional development of employees more than ever. An ability to maximize learning in such contexts is not limited to accruing benefits for the development of short-term individual competencies but for the growth of such competencies over the long haul as well (Holton, 2005).HRD professionals need to be aware of the inadequate flexibility of some trainers to understand the social, political, and cultural contexts of the local culture, or their inadequate flexibility to adjust to different management styles. They need to move away from over reliance on models, concepts, and materials derived from one background that are inappropriate elsewhere. And they need to make sure that trainers should provide a long-term commitment to providing adequate follow-through and reinforcement of their training objectives and outcomes.HRD professionals need the expertise and credibility to play the leading role in supporting employee learning and in building and sustaining knowledge producing environments where the creation, sharing and application of knowledge are a dominant concern throughout the organization. To accomplish such objectives, HRD professionals should find ways to improve employee expertise based upon a continual search for better learning insights, strategies and procedures related to the mission of the organization. For instance, they should be more involved in guiding and directing trainees towards workshops that best serve their needs. Thus, short-term training interventions would gain a part to play in building future organizational capacity, but only a part. The greater need is for HRD strategies that integrate employee learning with current business and HR strategies, focus on employee career development, and act on creating a responsive culture. These strategies should include pre-training discussions with the trainees and proper feedback and follow-up after training.Additionally, management support is important for the success of professional training interventions. Without visible involvement by managers, learners do not perceive the behavioral change as strategically important to their organization. In that, HRD professionals should act as constructive and positive agents (Cohen, 1990). They must be prepared to work with both the supervisors and trainees to transfer the new acquired experiences at training into shared knowledge and performance at work. They should no longer operate in a silo (Dirani, 2007).Further research is clearly needed on the complex question of training transfer and effectiveness, particularly in terms of the influence of the wider HRD setting and the dynamics by which training programs help translate training into positive outcomes for productivity in the workplace. Such research would need to examine the financial and productivity benefits (Green, 1997), as well as the long-term benefits for the company and the workforce in terms of cultural and behavioral change.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - Research studies on training-job relevance continuously discuss the extent of transfer being found limited. This study aims to focus on exploring trainees' perceptions about the effects of a \"Western\" professional training program on their skill development and how cultural factors specific to Lebanon influence the learning.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This research adopted a mixed method study design. It was conducted in the context of a training services program offered by an HRD department in a large Lebanese financial institution. The sample frame consisted of service employees who were conveniently selected after enrolling in the professional training program. The sample was composed of 120 participants. A total number of 107 questionnaires were completed and 101 questionnaires were usable (82.5 percent response rate). Analysis of the quantitative data was through descriptive statistics. Qualitative data collection was included to corroborate the quantitative data in answering the research questions. The researcher conducted 15 interviews with participants and stakeholders in the training program to get their perceptions of how well the training workshops were helping them develop new skills.\nFindings: - This study yielded a broad perspective on issues related to formal training and training transfer in the Lebanese context. The issues explored are related to trainees' attitudes towards the training activities they were exposed to, their perceptions of the impact of training activities on their career development, and their attitudes towards work environment that might predict the transfer of training.\nPractical implications: - While professional training programs may lead to motivating trainees to become more committed to work, and enhancing learning skills relevant to individual career development and life-long learning, such trainings fail to tackle problems specific to a trainee's organizational or cultural needs. In particular, it is often hard to integrate generic training ideas into specific workplace settings.\nOriginality/value: - This paper provides original information on a topic that is not well researched in the Lebanese context. It identifies needs and offers practical help to HRD practitioners and international consultants, and provides theoretical insights to HRD scholars to better understand the field of HRD in international contexts.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Collective cultural mind programming: escaping from the cage
|
[
"Culture",
"Hofstede",
"Trompenaars",
"GLOBE"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Making sense when talking about the future [...] of meaning may depend on: our ability to avoid both the reification of methodological research programmes as if they were immortal and \"fixed\" [...] and our ability to avoid anthropomorphizing of individual organizations or collective institutional contexts (Magala, 2009, p. 188).\nIntroduction: The claim that \"national culture\" shapes the behaviour of the populations of discrete national territories (countries) both within and outside of organizations (e.g. the decisions and actions of managers and consumer choices) has not only achieved, but for decades has retained, an immense following across many management sub-disciplines. At any one time from multiple candidate causalist explanations/solutions just a few - sometimes only one - achieve explain-all/cure-all status within management. But the popularity of these catchall theories is usually short-lived. Management is an arena of fads and fashions (Collins, 2003). One might therefore have expected that the attractiveness of the supposed explanatory and action enhancing power of \"national culture\" would also have been brief. The enduring popularity of \"national culture\" in management is even more surprising because by the time its \"star\" began to rise in that arena, its bedrock depiction of \"culture\" - shared subjective values which shape the actions of partitioned populations - had been abandoned in anthropology (Abu-Lughod, 1991; Bock, 1999; Breidenbach and Niyiri, 2009; Brightman, 1995). Support has been maintained across management's many sub-disciplines despite decades of constructivist theorizing, critiques of reification, and the destabilizing contributions of post-structuralist, post-modern, and other theories as well as many direct critiques (Brubaker, 2004). Why - unlike the fate of so many other wide-ranging management theories - does belief in \"national culture\" as the primary driver of social action endure?\nThe Trio: Research, teaching, and training which attribute extensive causal power to \"national culture\" rely heavily on the conceptions and descriptions of such culture by the multi-authored Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness (GLOBE) project; Geert Hofstede; and/or Fons Trompenaars (hereafter, \"the Trio\"). Each offers a single source of descriptions and comparisons of the purported characteristics of nations aka countries. This \"one-stop-shop\" feature is an important part of the attractiveness of the Trio's model, but clearly it is an insufficient explanation. A property which distinguishes \"national culture\" from other contenders as a general explanation/solution is that it was widely believed, albeit in a more generalized sense, even before the emergence and promotion of Hofstede's, and subsequently the Trio's and GLOBE's, depictions. Attribution of immense causal power to unique national cultures, and often more specifically to national \"values\", had and has a \"head-start\" on other possible categorizations, for example, class or age. From our earliest years we are all bombarded with claims about the cultural uniqueness of our own country. The notion that the world is divisible into discrete and enduring national cultures not only has a long pedigree but also continues to be bolstered by national governments, international agencies, and others. Nationality is perhaps the most prevalent form of social distinction and discrimination. New and intensified demands from the contemporary context are also significant. Whether as academics, students, practitioners, consumers, employees, or whatever else - the geographical origins of what challenges us has greatly expanded in recent decades. Thus the need to understand diversity has grown enormously. The Trio provide what to many appears to be a readily accessible solution to that need. Unusually, their work attracts both qualitative researchers and the more quantitative researchers. Numeracy is not required to understand their research claims, but there is also much in it to engage the statistically focused. To many it appears to many to transcended broad descriptions of national populations by purportedly identifying, indeed concisely measuring, ranking, and comparing the specifics of each such \"national culture\" on the basis of a discrete number of \"dimensions\".\nDefinition of culture: There are a variety of cultural theories. Broadly, one can distinguish between at least five types: psychological; mentalism (or cognition); textualism; intersubjectivism; and practise theory. On a very basic level these schools offer opposing locations and conceptions of culture. Practice theory, for instance, may move research and attention \"down\" from the subjective to the concrete and habitual and also \"up\" to impersonal discourse (Swidler, 2001). From this perspective, culture is observable in a way that subjective values are not. Of course, there are debates about observability (positivism vs anti-positivism, and so forth). All descriptions are in the last analysis theory laden (Bendassolli, 2013). Discourses may be seen as static monoliths or diverse and dynamic; as homogeneous or heterogeneous; as all-powerful or contingently powerful; as constituting or constituted (Alvesson and Karreman, 2011).\nThe location(s) of culture: Where is culture, so defined, supposed to be located in the sociospatial hierarchy?\nCausality: If it is supposed that culture (however narrowly or widely defined) is causal, why restrict cultural influence just to \"national culture\"? Attributing causal power to one category of culture but effectively denying it to others is illogical. The Trio acknowledge other cultures but without incorporating them into their theory of action. Doing so is an empty gesture.\nCoherent or incoherent?: Of itself, the assumption of cultural determinism (above) does not exclude the possibility of inconsistent, varying, actions. The assumption of the causal primacy of subjective culture is logically necessary, but not sufficient, to imply uniformity and predictability of social action. What the causal subjective culture models also suppose is that for each specific arena or category of actors (country, ethnic group, or whoever) culture is shared and coherent. In other words, the culture (singular), posited as somehow common to a defined population, contains no contradictory elements, it is logically consistent, and so it is impossible to construct incompatible, ambivalent, or contradictory propositions from that culture. In short, each culture is seen as an internally coherent block. The assumption of monopolistic causal cultural coherence necessarily leads to assertions of the complementarity of the logics of action. As Carl Ratner (2006, p. 61) asserts, \"individuals [...] participate in a common, coherent culture that is structurally integrated on a societal level\". Analytically speaking there is no mechanism within a coherent culture to ever change. In effect it is conceived of as harmonious but \"immobilized variables\" (Fischer, 2007, p. 1). Improvization, innovation, oscillation, opportunism, localized practices, adoptions, and piecemeal changes are effectively excluded. Endogenous change - change through internal dynamics - is inconceivable. As Smelser (2012) critically states: it is impossible \"to explain variations by reference to a constant\" (p. 22).\nMeasurability: Conceiving national culture as a measurable and comparable object relies on the supposition (amongst others) that it is coherent - and therefore uniform and unchanging (Minkov, 2011). Accurate, or at least an adequate, measured comparison between countries is deemed possible through the identification of a small number of national-level differentiated normative patterns. Hence, the claim that a culture is depictable, as a limited, but exhaustive, number of static and calculable \"dimensions\" (Hofstede, 2001; House et al., 2004; Minkov, 2011; Trompenaars, 1993; cf. Kroeber and Kluckhohn, 1952). The qualities of foreigners are thus seen as calculable whether one wants to meet, greet, negotiate with, or attack them. \"Where one lives reveals what one is like\" (Allik and McCrae, 2004, p. 13). Furthermore, it is said that the \"cultural distance\", between countries can be measured (Gollnhofer and Turkina, 2015; Hofstede, 2001; Kogut and Singh, 1988; cf. Shenkar et al., 2008). It can be \"empirically found\" (Hofstede and Hofstede, 2005, p. 24). Some of the cultural distance literature explicitly confines the supposed measurements to comparisons between national levels. But much of the literature explicitly or implicitly fallaciously treats the measured difference as applicable to all levels. What is supposed to be measured? The status of what is measured is rather elusive and opaque in the literature. Many descriptions slide unclearly within an ontological hybridity, between representing the measurements as mere proxies and as measurements of something real at a supra-individual level, albeit that the latter is often strongly implied. However, if a culture (national or other) is conceived of as incoherent, measurement of culture - at any level - through static dimensions or distances is inconceivable (Haraway, 1989; Lewis, 1991; Mitchell, 1995).\nSome lessons: In response to critique, Trio followers sometimes retort: \"what's your alternative?\" That defence is defective for a number of reasons. First, it avoids engaging with the critique - \"tread softly for you tread on my dreams\". Second, it denies the fundamental and progressive roles of critique. Finally, it supposes that if one claims that the anorexic national culture theory does not explain very much, or indeed that it explains nothing, one has a responsibility to offer a different - but equally slim and all-encompassing explanation. But complexity and contingency are unavoidable. There is no philosophers' stone of the social sciences. No one theory - no matter how scholarly - can possibly apply to all aspects of social life, all situations, all historical configurations. The aspiration or claim to have done so debars or discourages openness and dialogue between diverse currents and styles of work. In a complex multivariate world is it not naive to think that any theory, however good would allow us to know outcomes acontextually? It is unrealistic to suppose that a single cause invariably predicts social action. To suppose that \"national culture\" causes social action is to commit the methodological error of the \"mono-deterministic ecological fallacy\" (above).\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Although vanquished in anthropology, the notion \"national culture\" as a set of unique, shared, closed, enduring, coherent, determinate subjective values has been repopularized in management by Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness (GLOBE), Hofstede, and Trompenaars (the Trio). The purpose of this paper is to critique the Trio's representation of culture and its purported consequences.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Identifies the essential similarity of the Trio's work by describing seven propositions they share. Drawing on research from multiple disciplines it critiques a number of these propositions.\nFindings: The Trio's representation of culture functions as a conceptual cage which confines analysis to misleading and impoverished explanations of organizational and other social action.\nOriginality/value: By describing and critiquing some of the metaphorical \"bars\" of the Trio's emasculating \"cage\" it opens further the possibility of richer and relevant cultural research.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Theorizing beyond the horizon: service research in 2050
|
[
"Technology",
"Robotics",
"Service encounters"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The papers appearing in this special issue germinated at the 2017 Thought Leadership Conference in Service, hosted by The University of Queensland and the Australian National University in Brisbane from November 2 to 5. The conference was officially opened by The University of Queensland's Provost Professor Aidan Byrne. The goal of this conference was to bring together a multi-disciplinary group of thought leaders in service management to consider the future of the discipline which will have implications for industry and researchers.\nThe human-technology nexus: Not surprisingly, technology emerged as an important theme in all papers. What is interesting though, is the variation in the role and treatment of technology. In keeping with Kuhn's treatise, it could be argued that service research has, since its inception, been focused on \"puzzle solving\" within a dominant humanistic paradigm. Within this paradigm, humans, whether customers, employees, managers or policymakers are responsible for deciding how value propositions are defined, and how value is co-created. Little consideration is given to the role of technology (or other inanimate actors) beyond the assistance provided in support of human actors. The built environment provides a context for service delivery and consumption, the natural environment contributes resources, and technology facilitates more efficient and effective service systems. But what happens if this assumption was relaxed? What if the inanimate had independence and agency? In this sense, the traditional notions of service would be inverted, and the impact of human actors on the inanimate would emerge as an equally important issue.\nPapers in the special issue: The first paper in this special issue is \"Customer experience challenges: bringing together digital, physical and social realms\" was co-authored by Bolton et al. (2018). This paper explores customer experience at the intersection of the digital, physical and social realms. It focused on experiences involving new technology-enabled services, such as digital twins and automated social presence (i.e. virtual assistants, service robots). The authors provide a conceptual framework within a three dimensional space - low to high density, low to high physical complexity, and low to high social presence - yielding eight octants. The authors' conceptual framework identifies eight \"dualities,\" or specific challenges connected with integrating digital, physical and social realms that challenge organizations to create superior customer experiences in both business-to-business and business-to-consumer markets. These eight dualities are opposing strategic options that organizations must reconcile when co-creating customer experiences under different conditions. While most studies focus on one realm, with occasional reference to another, this paper integrates the three realms. The authors set out an engaging agenda to guide future research to study connections among the three realms rather than in a single realm. The paper concludes with offering practical guidance to managers to design and manage customer experiences.\nAnalysis and discussion: Though the primary purpose of this paper is to introduce the special issue from the second Thought Leadership in Services Conference, the theme and the associated papers provided a useful opportunity for an evaluation of how technology is predicted to change services and service systems over the coming 30 years. Using the theoretically derived framework presented in Figure 1, this section of the paper presents an analysis of how technology is treated within the papers included in the special issue. Figure 2 provides a high-level summary of this analysis, showing how the role of technology is anticipated to change in each of the service domains in the lead up to 2050.\nConclusion: It is clear from the paper summaries, analysis and discussion that this paper has made a contribution to our understanding of how the field of services is likely to develop over the coming decades. In particular, the paper highlights how the humanist paradigm is being influenced by the adoption of technology within eight different domains of services. The paper achieved this second objective through the application of a framework that identified four different scenarios based on different combinations of human touch and technology.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to introduce the special issue of the Journal of Service Management dedicated to the Thought Leadership in Services Conference held in Brisbane Australia in 2017. The paper also explores the disruptive and transformative role that technology is set to play over the next 30 years.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper provides a brief summary of the papers within the special issue. The paper also introduces a conceptual framework identifying four quadrants that reflect different combinations of human touch and technology. This framework is used to examine the treatment of technology in the eight papers.\nFindings: While it is clear that technology is having a profound impact on service, and is contributing to major changes within the eight service domains captured by the papers in the special issue; there were significant differences observed across the eight papers in the special issue. From the associated discussion, it is clear that the humanistic paradigm is still dominant within services, even though there is strong evidence that a shift is occurring.\nOriginality/value: This paper extends earlier work exploring the infusion of technology within services to highlight the progress from a humanistic paradigm to a technology-centric paradigm.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
The relationship between transformational leadership and cultural intelligence : A study of international school leaders
|
[
"Transformational leadership",
"Cultural intelligence",
"International schools",
"Intercultural schools",
"Leaders"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Globalization is a reality facing educational institutions, businesses, and multinational organizations (Moon, 2010b; Ruby, 2005; van Woerkom and de Reuver, 2009). This phenomenon manifests itself as an increasing interconnectedness and interdependence of people, organizations, and countries across national borders (Meyer, 2007). The US educational school system will see minorities increase to the extent that minority and majority children will be equal by 2023 (United States Census Bureau, 2008). Singapore has intentionally arranged its educational system to ensure that Chinese, Eurasian, Indian, and Malayan students are all able to succeed educationally (Walker and Dimmock, 2005). Intercultural schools are a microcosm of the globalization occurring throughout the world. Due to their recent exponential growth, one configuration of intercultural schools that is of particular interest is international schools (Bunnell, 2008; Pearce, 2011; Walker et al., 2007). According to ISC Research (2012) there are 6,286 international schools operating in 236 countries.\nLeadership: Leadership has been conceptualized in various ways. In the past 70 years, over 65 different approaches to effective leadership have been developed (Fleishman et al., 1991). Instructional leadership and transformational leadership are the two most influential models applied to educational leadership (Hallinger, 2003; Robinson et al., 2008). Recent work by Robinson et al. (2008) has shown that instructional leadership has three to four times the impact on student outcomes compared to transformational leadership as transformational leadership centers around the relationship between leaders and followers as opposed to focussing on specific pedagogical work. Although instructional leadership has been shown to influence student achievement, transformational leadership is the most commonly used definition of effective leadership in recent empirical literature and has been shown to be the most effective form of leadership when studying overall organizational and leader effectiveness (Bass and Riggio, 2006; Northouse, 2010). Transformational leadership has been the focus of research that has been conducted on every continent and in almost every industrialized nation in the world (Bass and Riggio, 2006). The conceptualization of effective leadership as transformational leadership is deemed appropriate for studying international leaders in a variety of settings (Bass and Riggio, 2006; Mancuso et al., 2010).\nCultural intelligence: Cultural intelligence is based on a multidimensional framework of intelligence. It is defined as \"an individual's capability to function and manage effectively in culturally diverse settings\" (Ang et al., 2007, p. 336). Cultural intelligence is conceptualized as four different intelligences residing within a person: metacognitive, cognitive, motivational, and behavioral (Earley and Ang, 2003; Sternberg and Detterman, 1986). Metacognitive cultural intelligence is the process that an individual uses to attain and to understand cultural knowledge. Cognitive cultural intelligence refers to an individual's knowledge about cultures and how they are similar and different (Ang et al., 2006). Motivational cultural intelligence is \"magnitude and direction of energy applied towards learning about and functioning in cross-cultural situations\" (Ang et al., 2006, p. 101). Behavioral cultural intelligence is the capability to enact appropriate verbal and non-verbal actions in a multicultural context (Ang et al., 2006).\nMethod: Participants and setting\nResults: Descriptive statistics\nDiscussion: The results of the study demonstrate that there is a significant positive relationship between cultural intelligence and transformational leadership in international school leaders. Leaders who have a higher level of cultural intelligence exhibit a higher level of transformational leadership style, which suggests high-cultural intelligence is related to the ability to lead and to manage more effectively in multicultural environments. These findings are consistent with Ang and Inkpen (2008), who ascertained that cultural intelligence is important to effective leadership in multicultural environments. Deng and Gibson (2009) also corroborated this conclusion in their qualitative study of 32 western expatriate managers and 19 local managers in China. Evidence was found that cultural intelligence is a key cross-cultural leadership competency for effective leaders (Deng and Gibson, 2009).\nLimitations: A number of limitations were present in the study; however, measures to decrease the threats to validity were taken. In this study, data using these two instruments were collected using two online survey forms. Thus, the testing effect was a concern. Two versions of the survey were administered in order to assist with minimizing this limitation. The first version of the survey presented the CQS first, followed by the MLQ 5X. In the second version of the survey, the MLQ 5X was presented first, followed by the CQS. The first version was administered to half of the participants while the second version was administered to the other half of the participants.\nConclusion: This study examined if there is a relationship between cultural intelligence and transformational leadership in international school leaders. The results of the study demonstrated that a significant positive relationship exists between cultural intelligence factors and transformational leadership in international school leaders. Thus, cultural intelligence should be an important consideration in the selection, training, and professional development of international school leaders and in integrating cultural intelligence into higher education curriculum.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine if there is a relationship between the factors of cultural intelligence and transformational leadership in international school leaders.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This correlational research study examined 193 international school leaders, who participated in a survey that included the Cultural Intelligence Scale and the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire 5X. A standard multiple regression analysis was used to determine if the factors of cultural intelligence predict transformational leadership. The individual contribution of each factor to the model was examined.\nFindings: The results indicate that there is a significant positive relationship between cultural intelligence and transformational leadership in international school leaders. Leaders who have a higher level of cultural intelligence exhibit a higher level of transformational leadership style, which suggests that individuals with high-cultural intelligence are able to lead and to manage more effectively in multicultural environments. Behavioral cultural intelligence and cognitive cultural intelligence were found to be the best predictors of transformational leadership.\nPractical implication: The results provide insight into the selection, training, and professional development of international school leaders. Practical implications are provided for integrating cultural intelligence into higher education curriculum.\nOriginality/value: This paper makes a unique contribution to the nomological network of cultural intelligence by identifying which factors of cultural intelligence best predict transformational leadership in international school leaders, a population to which this model had not been previously applied.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
New kids on the block: Understanding team behaviors around new members
|
[
"Team performance",
"Team-member exchange",
"Workplace loneliness"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Picture this - you have recruited a new member for your team, we will call her Jane. Jane was the best candidate on paper and gave a stunning interview. She will fill the vacant role in your team and then some with her wide-ranging experience, insights from previous role at a major competitor and highly advanced skill set. She started last week and seems to have understood all the induction training so far, and even stayed late on the first few nights when she did not have to. She is booked onto some further high-profile training courses shortly, and seems to be really hitting the ground problem. There is only one problem: Jane is sitting by herself in the staff restaurant at lunch times, and does not seem to be talking much with her fellow team members. But this is not going to affect her performance, right?\nHelp, I need somebody: The clever aspect of one research team's investigation of this area is to put themselves and the problems at hand in the shoes of the newcomer to a team, and then work out what could be improved to help support them. In their article \"The costs of being rejected: A theoretical analysis of rejections to newcomers' interpersonal helping behaviours in teams\", Chou and Chang (2016) look at the effect on newcomers to teams, especially if they experience rejection from a new team environment.\nHat trick of goals: By looking at these relationship dynamics, the authors have three goals in mind for their research:\nSix of the best: Taken together, what the researchers put forward is that there are a number of key challenges that businesses will face if the IHB of newcomers is not protected and promoted effectively, and as such there may well be negative impacts on the wider business. These challenges include:\nComment: The article \"The costs of being rejected: A theoretical analysis of rejections to newcomers' interpersonal helping behaviours in teams\" by Chou and Chang (2016) shines a welcome spotlight onto the plight of newcomers to organizations who find their every need catered for, except that of being accepted by their new team. In particular, it is refreshing to see records of so many practical recommendations, and also to feel the real empathy the researchers have for newcomers who are rejected despite their best efforts to integrate.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.\nFindings: Picture this - you have recruited a new member for your team, we will call her Jane. Jane was the best candidate on paper and gave a stunning interview. She will fill the vacant role in your team and then some with her wide-ranging experience, insights from previous role at a major competitor and highly advanced skill set. She started last week and seems to have understood all the induction training so far, and even stayed late on the first few nights when she did not have to. She is booked onto some further high-profile training courses shortly, and seems to be really hitting the ground problem. There is only one problem: Jane is sitting by herself in the staff restaurant at lunch times and does not seem to be talking much with her fellow team members. But this is not going to affect her performance, right?\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"
}
] |
Reframing construction within the built environment sector
|
[
"Organization",
"Construction",
"Novel method",
"Novel model"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nConstruction industry statistics: The International System of Industrial Classification is the method used to measure industries and their contribution to the economy. This is published by the UN (UN Statistical Division, 2008), although national statistical agencies produce their own versions of this Standard Industrial Classification (SIC). For building and construction, statistics are collected by sector and then divided into building or structure type, shown in a generalised form in Table I. Projects within a defined market sector are then grouped together to establish sector size and importance, detached housing, for example, or commercial developments. Because the data on industry activity and output are presented in these classifications, analysis of trends and forecasts of building and construction work are also usually found in this format.\nBoundaries of the industry: Because the industry statistics for building and construction output and work done do not include the wide range of inputs and activities involved, a number of researchers have considered the issue of where the boundaries of the industry might be. Ive and Gruneberg (2000) used stages of production approach, with the construction industry as one part of the process of producing and maintaining the built environment. They were the first to argue \"A narrow definition of the construction industry includes only those firms undertaking on-site activity\" (2000, p. 9) whereas a broad definition includes many firms from other industries involved in production of the built environment (their italics).\nDiscussion: Because building and construction is so diverse it is hard to get an overview of the industry. With a vast variety of projects in all possible locations made out of materials ranging from primitive to rustic to ultra-sophisticated the industry, particularly on a global scale, is so broad that a system of classification and categorisation is necessary. With the development of the SIC the industry has come to be defined by the data collected by national statistical agencies, but the role of the industry is much wider and deeper than the statistics show (de Valence and Lauge-Kristensen, 1998).\nThe built environment sector: A fundamental problem is that the same term, \"construction\", has been used in a number of ways in these different definitional studies. As the discussion above shows, there have been a range of definitions and \"construction\" has been given a widely different scope across the different studies. Thus, Ive and Gruneberg (2000) had a \"construction sector\" and Pearce (2003) described his approach as contrasting \"narrow\" and \"broad\" views of the industry. In Squicciarini and Asikainen (2011), the definitions are built around \"narrow\" and \"wide\" approaches, and like Ruddock and Ruddock (2009), used the Pearce report approach with a \"construction sector\". Carassus (1998) had a \"construction system\", and de Valence (2001/2010) and Carassus et al. (2006) an industry \"cluster\". It would be helpful to agree on a common usage.\nConclusion: The modern form of economic accounts is a statistical system that has been under development for over 70 years. The national accounting framework (UN Statistical Division, 1968) provides a useful picture of economic structure, defines the data required and simplifies the task of collection. However, the greatest difficulty statisticians face in measuring gross domestic product and economic activity is its diversity. At the industry level using SIC data, measuring economic activity is even more difficult. Despite issues of data quality and availability, bringing together the range of industries that contribute to the production, maintenance and management of cities, infrastructure and buildings as the BES would improve our understanding of both the sector and the wider economy.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Official statistics on the output of the construction industry capture on-site activities of contractors and sub-contractors; however, the role of the industry linking suppliers of materials, machinery, products, services and other inputs is also widely recognised. These two views have been called broad and narrow, with the narrow industry defined as on-site work and the broad industry as the supply chain of materials, products and assemblies, and professional services. An argument is made for using the term \"built environment sector\" (BES) for the broad industry definition of construction. The paper aims to discuss these issues.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Construction industry statistics capture the on-site activities of contractors and sub-contractors. This paper reviews research that adds to construction output the contributions of suppliers of materials, machinery and equipment, products and components, professional services and other inputs required to deliver the buildings and structures that make up the built environment.\nFindings: The same term, \"construction\", has been used in a number of ways in different definitional studies of the narrow and broad industry. The term that best encompasses the large number and range of participants in the creation and maintenance of the built environment, from suppliers to end users, is the BES.\nResearch limitations/implications: Construction economics makes an important contribution to researching the macroeconomic role of the BES. There is also a special role for construction economics in researching both the boundaries of the BES and the data available on the industries that contribute to the BES.\nPractical implications: Measuring the BES would improve the understanding of its macroeconomic role and significance.\nSocial implications: Measuring the BES would contribute to city policies and urban planning.\nOriginality/value: The paper proposes a new approach to defining and measuring the industries that contribute to the production, maintenance and management of the built environment. It introduces a new name for the combination of those industries.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Technical change, variable elasticity of substitution and economic growth
|
[
"Technical change",
"Intergenerational inequality",
"Steady state analysis",
"Variable elasticity of substitution"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The elasticity of substitution between labour and capital is an important determinant of an economy's long run performance. Ever since de La Grandville (1989) used a constant elasticity of substitution (CES) production function to demonstrate that a country with a higher elasticity of factor substitution could achieve higher economic growth and income per capita at steady state, a large volume of theoretical and empirical literature has emerged on this theme (see, e.g. Karagiannis et al., 2005; Klump and De La Grandville, 2000; Klump and Preissler, 2000; Mallick 2010, 2012b; Miyagiwa and Papageorgiou, 2007; Yip and Xue 2013; Yuhn 1991; Mallick 2012a).\n2. The VES production function and its properties: This paper uses the following form of the VES production function given in Karagiannis et al. (2005):(1)\n3. The VES production in a diamond OLG model: Consider a standard two period OLG model where the agent works during youth and is retired in old age. Population in each period is normalised to 1. Time is discrete and given by t=0, 1, 2, [...]. Assuming log utility, the utility function of the agent born at time t is:(15)\n4. Conclusion: This paper explores the growth dynamics of the VES production function in the context of a Diamond model. An exogenous parameter labelled b, affects the direction of technical change in the economy and is a determinant of the elasticity of substitution between labour and capital, is a key determinant of the dynamics of growth. For positive values of b, which are associated with an elasticity of factor substitution above 1, the economy always reaches a unique and stable steady state. Hence, for positive values of b, the behaviour of the economy, both during transition and at steady state, is identical to that of the Solow-Swan model. On the other hand, for negative values of b, for which the elasticity of substitution is between 0 and 1, the economy could be characterised by a single stable steady state, fall into a poverty trap with a capital stock per worker of zero, or have two steady states of which the lower value is stable and the higher one is not. For negative values of b, there exists a certain upper bound for the per capita capital stock, so if the economy's initial capital stock is above the unstable steady state value, the capital stock would continue to grow until it reaches this upper bound and remain fixed at that level thereafter. Unbounded growth is only possible in this setting in a special case when the VES function takes the form of the AK production function. These results suggest that the VES production function can provide insights into a variety of growth experiences observed in practice.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the properties of the variable elasticity of substitution (VES) production function, and examine the dynamics of growth associated with it.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The VES production function is incorporated into an otherwise standard Diamond overlapping generations model.\nFindings: Depending on parameter combinations, the economy can achieve a unique and stable steady state akin to that observed in the Solow-Swan model, reach a poverty trap or transition towards an upper bound of per capita capital stock. A special case of the VES production function is also consistent with unbounded growth.\nResearch limitations/implications: The paper is theoretical in nature. Further empirical analysis could shed deeper insights into the results presented in this study.\nPractical implications: The VES production function, when applied to the context of the Diamond model, can capture a variety of growth experiences observed in the empirical literature.\nSocial implications: In the context of the Diamond model, a higher value of a particular parameter in the production function leads to greater intergenerational income and consumption inequality. Hence, the study provides a potential explanation for intergenerational inequalities observed in practice.\nOriginality/value: The study demonstrates the empirical value of the VES production function in explaining observed differences in factor shares, rewards and elasticities within and between countries over time.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Brand advocacy in the frontline: how does it affect customer satisfaction?
|
[
"Service encounter",
"Customer satisfaction",
"Frontline employees",
"Brand advocacy behaviour",
"Brand identification",
"Product newness"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: More and more companies expect their frontline employees (FLEs) to build and strengthen the brand by engaging in brand advocacy behavior, which reflects the display of favorable communication of their brand's values and offerings toward customers during service encounters. Firms like Zappos and Starbucks have experienced that \"brand advocates\" increase brand awareness in the market (Walter, 2013). Lowe's, Southwest Airlines, Ford, Domino's, Bank of America, General Electric, and Verizon have featured FLEs in their advertising campaigns because these workers are perceived by the audience as credible and, thus, help \"humanize\" the brand (O'Leary, 2010). Many organizations also rely on FLE brand advocacy in brand repositioning and new product launches (Miller et al., 2014).\nTheoretical background: The role of FLEs in brand management\nConceptual framework: Based on the rich internal branding and boundary spanning literature, brand identification is considered central to the internalization of brand values and, thus, the motivation of employees to act as brand advocates. This paper, therefore, builds on social identity theory (Mael and Ashforth, 1992) and the branded service encounters framework (Sirianni et al., 2013) to construct a conceptual model and argue for the expected effects. Whereas the former theory may explain the role of brand identification, the latter helps to understand the conditional effects of brand advocacy behavior because it argues that familiarity of customers with the brand and its \"experiences\" (e.g. after-sales service encounters) determines how FLE brand-related behavior is evaluated. Brand familiarity reflects \"a customer's background knowledge acquired as a result of direct and indirect experiences with a brand\" (Sirianni et al., 2013, p. 110). The two service portfolio characteristics, service issue severity and product newness, directly relate to customer feelings of familiarity. Customers facing a simple maintenance service job experience a familiar and routinized service encounter. In contrast, severe issues such as a complex failure will feel less routinized and familiar to customers. Similarly, customers are less familiar with new than established products from a brand. After-sales service for a new product will thus feel less routinized. The next section discusses how such associations may influence the effects of brand advocacy. Figure 1 summarizes the conceptual model.\nHypotheses: In line with social identity theory, marketing scholars have shown that FLE's experienced sense of \"oneness\" with the brand's values makes him or her more intrinsically motivated to behave in a manner that benefits the brand's interests because brand values are now accepted as own values (Morhart et al., 2009). In other words, there is congruence between brand and self-interest. Talking positively about the brand one identifies with provides a way to express one's own identity (Bhattacharya and Sen, 2003). Brand identification is, thus, likely to drive brand advocacy behavior.\nMethodology: Research setting and data collection\nDiscussion: The aim of this study was to uncover the effects of brand advocacy behavior in after-sales frontline service. Academic literature studied brand identification of FLEs, but did not test its effects empirically. In addition, past studies did not isolate the effects of brand advocacy behavior from brand identification. While the potential power of brand-related behaviors by FLEs has been heralded, anecdotal accounts about negative outcomes of brand advocacy rendered the current research appropriate and necessary. The implications of the work are discussed next.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Many organizations expect their service engineers, or frontline employees (FLEs), to behave as brand advocates by engaging in favorable communication about the brand and its offerings toward customers. However, this approach is not without risk as customers may be disappointed or even frustrated with brand advocacy behavior in many service encounters. The purpose of this paper is to study the impact of FLEs' brand advocacy on customer satisfaction with the service encounter, and identify the conditions under which the effects are detrimental. This paper specifically considers service issue severity and product newness as contingency conditions.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Building on social identification theory, the paper builds a conceptual model, which is empirically tested using a data set that matches data from service engineers, customers, and archival records from the after-sales service department of a globally operating business-to-business print and document management solutions provider.\nFindings: This paper finds that brand advocacy behavior harms customer satisfaction especially in service encounters that involve simple service issues (e.g. maintenance) for products that are new to the market. Fortunately, brand identification can compensate this negative effect under many service conditions. While the joint effect of brand identification and advocacy is most beneficial for severe service issues of new products, no effect on customer satisfaction was found for established products.\nPractical implications: This paper identifies those service situations in which brand advocacy is advisable and guides managers toward achieving more favorable customer evaluations.\nOriginality/value: Past research has considered several FLE branding activities in the frontline but the effects of brand advocacy have not been isolated. In addition, most studies have assumed the effects of employee brand-related behaviors on customer satisfaction to be universally positive rather than negative and focused on antecedents and not on moderators and consequences.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Intertextuality in corporate narratives: a discursive analysis of a contested privatization
|
[
"Discourse",
"Legitimation",
"Privatization",
"Corporate narratives",
"Intertextuality"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Legitimacy and legitimation play vital roles in organizations' survival, and they become increasingly crucial following profound organizational change, such as privatization (Ogden and Clarke, 2005), transnational mergers (Vaara et al., 2006; Vaara and Tienari, 2008), downsizing (Makela and Nasi, 2010), shutdowns (Ahonen, 2009), and environmental crises (Patten, 1992; Cho and Patten, 2007; Cho, 2009; Beelitz and Merkl-Davies, 2012; Brennan and Merkl-Davies, 2014). Legitimacy affects \"not only how people act towards organizations but also how they understand them\" (Suchman, 1995, p. 575). Thus, legitimate organizations are perceived not only as more worthy but also as more meaningful, predictable, and trustworthy. Legitimacy is also about creating a \"cultural congruence\" (Suchman, 1995, p. 575) with the audience. Corporate communication constitutes an important means for management to demonstrate that the organization's practices are congruent with society's values, norms, and beliefs (Dowling and Pfeffer, 1975).\n2. Literature review: 2.1 Toward a discursive perspective on legitimacy construction\n3. CDA and corporate narratives: 3.1 A critical discourse perspective on legitimation\n4. Case background and research method: 4.1 Context: privatization and dominant discourses in a transitional economy\n5. Constructing legitimacy in a post-privatization context: In order to shed more light on the legitimizing and delegitimizing processes, this section presents the overarching dialogue between the main actors in Petrom's privatization (including the company's representatives, politicians, and experts) as it takes place through a variety of texts, including annual reports, press releases, and written media. Four main legitimation strategies were identified as the most salient with regards to Petrom's privatization: authorization, rationalization, moralization, and narrativization.\n6. Discussion: This section discusses the previously presented material in two ways: outlines how legitimacy is a result of interdiscursive processes that link the individual and societal discourse levels, and explores the construction of annual reports as a process of intertextuality, explaining the dialogical nature of these texts.\n7. Conclusion: The present analysis examines the processes of interdiscursivity and intertextuality, showing that annual reports are key elements in the process of legitimacy construction. Thus, we suggest that companies' annual reports should be read as traces of other texts and discourses from the micro and macro-levels that become comprehensible only in the context of those texts and discourses. If taken out of their discursive context, they lose their capacity to render a company's narratives coherent and understandable. Thus, it is clear that annual reports are \"traces and tracings of otherness, since they are shaped by the repetition and transformation of other textual structures\" (Alfaro, 1996, p. 268). Indeed, we argue that the common way of viewing corporate narratives, as closed and self-contained communications, should shift toward intertextual analyses of socially and historically shaped communications. Thus, the present paper contributes to an insufficiently explored field: the interplay between corporate narratives and other texts and discourses and how this dynamic is involved in processes of legitimacy construction. Moreover, this paper outlines the complex and often ambiguous discursive struggles of various actors seeking to influence how they are defined (cf. Hardy and Phillips, 1999). It does so by critically examining the role and influence of political actors (not only national but also supranational entities like the EU, the IMF, and the WB) in the processes of legitimacy construction. Hence, it is hoped this study will initiate an exploration into how actors draw on and mobilize discourses within public debates on corporate events.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Despite the growing amount of research on the social and organizational role of legitimacy, very little is known about the subtle discursive processes through which organizational changes are legitimated in contemporary society. The purpose of this paper is to explore the subtle processes of interdiscursivity and intertextuality through which an organization constructs a sense of legitimacy.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Drawing on the case of a newly privatized oil company in a transitional, post-communist economy, the authors' research uses critical discourse analysis to analyze the annual reports, corporate press releases, and relevant media from the four years following privatization.\nFindings: The authors argue for a relational understanding of legitimacy construction that emphasizes how legitimacy relies on the multiple processes of intertextuality linking corporate narratives and media texts. Corporate narratives are not produced solely by the discourses that occur at the individual and organizational levels; they are also produced by the much broader discourses that occur at the societal level.\nOriginality/value: This study's main contribution is that it reveals the intertextual and interdiscursive construction of corporate narratives, which is a key element in understanding how discourses around privatization are interlinked and draw upon other macro-level discourses to construct legitimacy.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Modeling event attendees' experiences during customer-customer encounters (CCEs)
|
[
"Emotions",
"Experiential",
"Experiences",
"Customer–customer interactions (CCIs)",
"Instrumental"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In-person conferences feature a high level of interpersonal interactions among attendees who gather for the same conference theme. Conference experiences center on the quality and frequencies of interactions among attendees, including both managerially planned and personally initiated interactions between or among attendees (Nicholls, 2005). In March 2015, a survey conducted among the leadership including hotels and meeting planners at 39 conference centers, hotels and resorts released that the top meeting trend reflects an increased focus on the unique and creative experiences that bring attendees together (Alderton, 2015). It is of valuable significance to understand how conference planners can effectively deliver to attendees a unique, inspirational and creative conference experience by harnessing the power of this intangible element of conferences: the interactions between attendees.\nReview of literature: Events, conferences and association conferences\nMethodology: Procedure and sample\nFindings: Informants profile\nConclusions and discussion: Conclusions\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore how event attendees experience interactive encounters in the most competitive segment of the business sector of events - conferences.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A total of 26 in-depth personal interviews was conducted with previous conference attendees. Line-by-line open coding, axial coding and selective coding are performed.\nFindings: This study develops a framework for experiences during customer-customer encounters (CCEs), which presents a dual motivational structure that explains one's participation in CCEs, a classification of typical CCEs, four processes that one experiences during CCEs and three levels of situational factors that influence experiences during CCEs.\nOriginality/value: This study makes one of the first attempts to propose a multidimensional conceptualization of CCE experiences using an attendee perspective. Beyond the utilitarian and social benefits, this study suggests that it is important for event studies to explore the psychological and emotional meanings of CCE experiences through an experiential lens and that the competitive battleground in event industry should lie in staging memorable experiences during CCEs.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Scoping irresponsible behaviour in hospitality and tourism: widening the perspective of CSR
|
[
"Corporate social responsibility",
"Corporate social irresponsibility",
"Destination social responsibility",
"Deviant behaviour",
"Irresponsible",
"System social responsibility"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is frequently proposed as a primary vehicle to ensuring ethical ways in hospitality and tourism (H&T). However, some scholars question whether the increasing academic and media \"airplay\" of CSR has substantially contributed to achieving ethical H&T (Blowfield, 2005; Farrington et al., 2017). As Buckley (2012, p. 532) argues, \"private-sector approaches to sustainability such as self-regulation, corporate social responsibility [...] have been promoted widely, but proved largely ineffective\".\n2. Corporate social responsibility in hospitality and tourism: a critical appraisal: If a field tends to be blurred by a myriad of contributions, it is useful to look back to its origins. Admittedly, the origin of the notion of CSR can be traced further backwards, but Bowen (1953) is often considered to have pioneered CSR theorising. By referring to \"social responsibilities of businesses\" he invoked businesses to make decisions and pursue actions \"which are desirable in terms of the objectives and values of society\" (Bowen, 1953, p. 6). This means that at the beginning the CSR movement stood for the generic but clear and powerful idea that businesses ought to behave in conformity with societal values. At that stage, the driver of the CSR notion was not the \"business case\" for CSR, but a normatively motivated responsibility towards societal obligations.\n3. Conceptualising irresponsible behaviour: corporate social irresponsibility: Although Mowforth et al. (2008, p. 9) argued that \"a discussion of responsibility in tourism [...] of course implies that coverage has to extend to the other face of the issue, namely irresponsibility\", in reality, there is a serious scarcity of studies specifically investigating irresponsible organisational behaviour in H&T. However, some admit that the research focus on \"best practices\" and \"forerunners\" of CSR in the field of H&T came at the expense of understanding laggards and barriers to adoption of CSR (Coles et al., 2013; Van de Mosselaer et al., 2012). CSI has been defined with reference to socially irresponsible acts, which can be conceived as:\n4. Instances of irresponsible behaviour in hospitality and tourism: In comparison with the ever-growing literature on CSR or on consumers' responsible behaviour, research on irresponsible behaviour in the H&T industry is scarce. On rare occasions, alleged organisational misconduct in the H&T industry has surfaced in existing literature. This happened with respect to destination-based organisations (Granitsas and Stamouli, 2013; Weaver, 2017), to specific service providers (King et al., 2006) as well as to the whole supply-chain (Keating, 2009). Beyond culpable organisations, H&T research has also attributed irresponsibility to individuals including cases of tourists' deviant behaviour and service staff's irresponsible behaviours in the workplace. However, the literature does not provide a clear picture on what constitutes individual irresponsible behaviour in H&T. Notably, the terminology is not unified and concepts such as \"deviant behaviour\" (Aslan and Kozak, 2012; Li and Chen, 2017) \"unethical behaviour\" (Guler and Yukselen, 2010; Wong and Li, 2015), \"annoying behaviour\" (Loi and Pearce, 2012), \"questionable behaviour\" (Wong, 2000) and \"misbehaviour\" (Harris, 2012), seem to be used interchangeably.\n5. Discussion: This critical review has highlighted two biases in the existing literature on CSR in H&T, which are driven by the sole perspective on business ethics which is inscribed into the CSR concept and further perpetuated by an increasingly narrow application of it. Thus, this paper can be read as a critique of the relevance of (narrow) CSR thinking for a transformation towards more responsible tourism and hospitality practices (Higham and Miller, 2017). The paper has first identified a positivity bias in existing literature, which favours the discussion of pro-social, responsible behaviour (such as CSR) at the expense of a similarly prolific discussion of anti-social, irresponsible behaviour (such as CSI). Second, the paper has also identified an individualism bias, which mostly focuses on individual actors' responsibility and irresponsibility, and here first and foremost on corporate (ir-)responsibilities.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This paper aims to broaden the understanding of social responsibility in hospitality and tourism by positioning it in the wider context of responsibilities for deviant behaviour. The paper presents a critical literature review that scopes responsible and irresponsible behaviour of different stakeholders in hospitality and tourism and tackles some of the often-unquestioned assumptions of CSR, including who should be held accountable for ensuring responsibility (\"the onus of responsibility\").\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper follows the methods and structure of a critical, concept-driven literature review. The literature review is inclusive in terms of its source material and covers different research traditions and study fields.\nFindings: The paper helps to overcome two unquestioned assumptions of CSR, i.e. that tourism responsibility is located best at the self-regulating business level and that responsible behaviour is preferred as a focus which oftentimes overshadows the issue of irresponsible behaviour. CSR is positioned as one approach amongst many to govern and tackle deviant tourism behaviour. Moreover, CSR's blind spot on irresponsibility is removed.\nOriginality/value: The paper is the first one to integrate the literature of CSR in hospitality and tourism with the literature on deviant tourism behaviour and on corporate social irresponsibility and can thereby cross-fertilise and broaden the three perspectives. The paper contributes to the literature by substantially widening the perspective of CSR in hospitality and tourism, thus opening new avenues of research.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Perceived benefits and costs of intellectual capital in small family firms
|
[
"Family business",
"Intellectual capital",
"Intellectual assets",
"Value creation",
"Multiple case study",
"Small family firms"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The pivotal role of family firms (FFs) in economy is considered an undisputable fact (Barroso Martinez et al., 2013). Although the scale of the family business phenomenon is definition dependent and may vary according to it (Westhead et al., 2002), most authors propose that the majority of companies worldwide are FFs (Gomez-Mejia et al., 2011; Hatak et al., 2016; Nordqvist and Melin, 2010; Voordeckers et al., 2007; Wright and Kellermanns, 2011). Nevertheless, the importance of studying FFs does not stem uniquely from their remarkable number, but rather from their specific characteristics. Indeed, at least two forms of social capital coexist in FFs: the family's and the firm's (Arregle et al., 2007). Furthermore, FFs are characterized by transgenerational intentions (Chua et al., 1999), lower agency costs with respect to non-FFs (Chrisman et al., 2004), but higher risk of opportunistic behavior such as nepotism (Beehr et al., 1997) and private benefits from the family (Anderson and Reeb, 2003).\n2. Theoretical background: 2.1. IC in SFFs\n3. Methods: Building or testing theory on the role of IC in FFs is exceedingly difficult if we consider how many FFs exist, and how they are different one from another in their managerial style, size, sector, cultural and geopolitical background. Case studies research offers significant opportunities to contribute to the family business literature by advancing the theoretical understanding of FFs (De Massis and Kotlar, 2014). Consequently, several authors analyzing FFs resorted to the multiple case study approach (Chiucchi, 2013; Giuliani, 2013; Peng, 2011; Schotter and Bontis, 2009). With specific regard to the role of IC in FFs, Claver-Cortes et al. (2013, 2015) studied 25 large, international ICs.\n4. Results and discussion: The distribution of the ICAs' perceived impact on value creation is described in Figure 1. The boxplots describe the perceived impact of the eight ICAs on value creation according to the opinions of the firms' managers and senior employees. Each firm is analyzed separately in order to identify common patterns and apparent differences, resulting in four sets of eight boxplots each. The four sets of boxplots share several similarities in their patterns that will be discussed hereafter.\n5. Conclusions and future developments: Despite the flourishing literature studying FFs, few studies explored the role played by IC in them, and even fewer focussed on SFFs. This paper described how ICAs' benefits and costs are perceived in four manufacturing SFFs. Somehow surprisingly, we found a fair average accordance across the SFFs about the leading role of \"Process\" and \"Knowledge and Competence,\" due to their high perceived impact on value creation. Nevertheless, firms operating in more turbulent markets show a high standard deviation on some ICAs (such as \"Process\" and \"Knowledge and Competence\"). This suggests an internal disagreement that, especially when observed among managers, should stimulate a common reflection in order to avoid strategic ambiguity. The interviewees in our sample experienced much more internal disagreement when dealing with the expected comparative investments needed by the eight ICAs. Nevertheless, we observed that more innovative firms appear more concerned with the costs related to process improvements. The B/C analysis returned heterogeneous results for the four SFFs, but emphasized how process improvements are fundamental for most of them (all of them if we exclude employees from the analysis).\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Despite the flourishing literature on intellectual capital (IC), few studies explored its features in the perspective of family firms, and even fewer focussed on small family firms (SFFs). The purpose of this paper is to analyze how managers and senior employees in SFFs perceive the benefits and costs of intellectual capital assets (ICAs) and provides many insights for future researches.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Taking the lead from the constructivist epistemology, this instrumental study describes the implementation of a framework for the assessment of ICAs into four SFFs in order to develop general theoretical principles.\nFindings: Among the findings, it stands out that most SFFs in the sample especially rely on their internal processes and on their human resources' knowledge and competences. Furthermore, the authors found much internal disagreement with respect to the expected costs of investing on ICAs, especially within firms operating in more turbulent markets.\nResearch limitations/implications: Being referred to a multiple case study, the results may not be generalized to other organizations. Nevertheless, they are useful to build theory, either by verification of falsification, and to encourage their future testing in empirical papers.\nPractical implications: The implementation of the framework allows identifying internal disagreement with respect to the ICAs' costs and benefits and exploring their causes. Furthermore, it suggests which should be the ICAs deserving primary attention in order to have the best impact on value creation.\nOriginality/value: The paper investigates IC in SFFs, thus contributing to fill a remarkable gap in IC literature.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Verifying relationship of knowledge management initiatives and the empowerment of human resources
|
[
"Information technology",
"Top management",
"Culture",
"Human resource",
"Knowledge management",
"Kind of knowledge"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: It is essential for organizations to invest time and money for transferring expertise and knowledge from experienced and skilled experts to novices who need them for their professional occupation (Hinds et al., 2001). Also, the acquired knowledge should be organized, integrated and used efficiently and effectively (Reisi et al., 2013). Indeed, organizations should highlight knowledge-based resources which already exist inside the organization and use them effectively (Damodaran and Olphert, 2000). Knowledge is considered to be a crucial organizational instrument and supply which can be used as a sustainable and competitive merit in a world and economy that are highly competitive and dynamic (Davenport and Prusak, 1998; Foss and Pedersen, 2002; Grant, 1996; Spender and Grant, 1996). Recently, thanks to the development of information technology (IT), different organizations can use organizational knowledge and apply innovative techniques for functioning effectively and competing with other intelligent organizations.\n2. Literature review: 2.1 Knowledge management\n3. Research model and hypotheses: 3.1 Kind of knowledge\n4. Research methodology: The method of the study with regard to measurement, data collection procedure, data analysis, analysis of the measurement model and test of partial least squares (PLS) structural model are discussed below. As mentioned before, the impetus behind this study was to investigate the relationship between different perspectives of KM and empowering human resources. Accordingly, it can be argued that this research is empirical with applied and practical objectives for different workplaces, companies and organizations.\n5. Data analysis and results of the study: After distributing the questionnaires to the targeted sample participants of the study, they were gathered and statistically analyzed. Indeed, the data collected through the questionnaire were fed into SPSS version 22 and SMART-PLS 2.0. Also, SEM (structural equation models) was used in the study; it included specific statistical approaches and methods which was aimed at estimating a causal theoretical network of relationships which establishes latent complex parameters and factors which are measured by means of observable indicators. Furthermore, PLS which is a component-based procedure was used in the study. PLS is used for establishing causality with respect to linear conditional expectation (Vinzi et al., 2010).\n6. Conclusion: 6.1 Summary of the results\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This paper was aimed at investigating the impact of knowledge management (KM) procedures on enriching human resources in Water and Waste Water Company in East Azerbaijan, Iran.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The samples used in this study included the employees of Water and Waste Water Company in Tabriz, East Azerbaijan, Iran. A questionnaire was used for collecting data from the employees of the abovementioned company. Its reliability and validity were first examined and checked. Then, Smart partial least squares 2.0 was used for analyzing the structural model.\nFindings: The results acknowledged the validity of the introduced model for enriching human resources. The findings indicated that five variables, namely, kind of knowledge, top managers, information technology, culture and organization of knowledge, have significant impact on enriching human resources.\nResearch limitations/implications: It is undoubtable that research studies might have specific limitations which should be pointed out and addressed in future studies. The followings are the major limitations of the study: because the present study was carried out in Water and Wastewater Company in Tabriz, East Azerbaijan, hence, generalizing the findings of this study to other professional contexts and organizations should be made with caution. In fact, the present study need to be replicated in other context to find whether the same or different results are obtained. In other words, different cultural, contextual and professional conditions might result differently from the ones reported here. Inasmuch as the present study was a cross-sectional study and the data were collected via questionnaire, a longitudinal study with a longer observation and investigation might shed more light on the efficacy of KMS in organizations. The present study focused on a specific dependent variable (human resource empowerment) which was explained by different dimensions of an independent variable, i.e. KM. However, the impact and efficacy of KMS can be investigated on other organizational variables and parameters. In this study, due to certain logistic and real-life limitations such as the limited time of the staff members of the target organization, we had to use only one data-collection instrument. Nevertheless, future studies can use data triangulation so as to better capture professional contexts of the study. Furthermore, another limitation of the study is related to the individual variables of the employees which remained untouched. That is, whether employees' personal, emotional and cognitive variables can modify the impact of KM on human resource empowerment was not investigated in the present study.\nPractical implications: Organizational managers are recommended to provide the background for employees to share their experiences. Organizations should invest on designing and developing patterns and strategic perspectives in human resource empowerment as a key factor toward becoming knowledge-based organizations.\nOriginality/value: This paper is one of the few applied studies which acknowledged the relationship between knowledge management initiatives and empowering human resources. It addresses the gap between knowledge management and human resource empowerment.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
High potential programs and employee outcomes: The roles of organizational trust and employee attributions
|
[
"Perceptions",
"Human resource management",
"Career development",
"Attitudes",
"Careers"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Employees and organizations have been recently grappling with several career-related challenges driven by changes in the broader environment. On the one hand, it has been difficult for employees and organizations to identify opportunities for stable career development due to uncertainty (Cappelli, 2008). On the other hand, however, employees still prefer traditional career inducements such as promotion, development opportunities, high pay rates, job security, and mutual employer-employee loyalty (Dries et al., 2012; Walton and Mallon, 2004). With all these career challenges, along with demographic changes and potential labor shortages, organizations are focusing increasingly on talent management (TM) for the development and retention of their highly valuable employees (i.e. high potential (HiPo) employees) (McDonnell et al., 2017). TM programs, such as HiPo programs, not only help organizations to better engage in succession planning (Bush et al., 2016), but also help employees to develop their human and social capital, which are instrumental for their career success (Claussen et al., 2014; Parker et al., 2017).\nLiterature review and hypotheses development: TM and HiPo programs - an overview\nMethods: Pilot study\nResults: Descriptive statistics and intercorrelations\nDiscussion: Recently, Gallardo-Gallardo et al. (2015) highlighted the need to examine the reactions of employees to specific TM policies and practices. Specifically, they stated, \"this line of research be further expanded in order to come to a better understanding of the (differential) effects of TM initiatives informed by different talent philosophies (i.e. inclusive vs exclusive). Only then can we more clearly unravel the outcomes of inclusive vs exclusive TM and how they, presumably through behavioral and attitudinal employee reactions, affect organizational health as a whole\" (Gallardo-Gallardo et al., 2015, p. 277). This research examines the role of important variables (such as employee's perception of organizational trust and HiPo attributions) which, so far, are omitted in the TM literature, and supports the optimistic view of exclusive TM, i.e. managing employees through workforce differentiation such as HiPo programs leads to meaningful careers and favorable employee outcomes.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to understand how and under what conditions employees' participation in high potential (HiPo) programs leads to various employee outcomes (i.e. affective commitment, job satisfaction, organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs), and turnover intent).\nDesign/methodology/approach: Data were collected by a cross-sectional survey among 242 employees who had HiPo programs in their current organizations.\nFindings: Findings provided support for the mediating role of commitment-focused HiPo attributions in the relationships between HiPo program participation and employee outcomes (affective commitment, job satisfaction, OCBs, and turnover intent). The results also demonstrated significant interaction effects of HiPo program participation and organizational trust on commitment-focused attributions. Additionally, the results provided support for several mediated-moderated models.\nResearch limitations/implications: This study opened the \"black box\" by examining the processes through which talent management (TM) shapes employee attitudes and behaviors, and demonstrated that these relationships are not necessarily direct.\nPractical implications: To ensure employees' career success, organizations need to build trustworthy relationships with their employees, and must consider the processes related to the talent identification, as well as the messages this identification communicates to employees about their contributions.\nOriginality/value: This study is the first to examine employees' attributions about their participation in HiPo programs. Further, this study is also the first to empirically investigate the role of employees' perceptions of organizational trust in the context of TM.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Consumer evaluations of bonus packs offered with price discounts
|
[
"Bonus packs",
"Multiple promotions",
"Price discounts"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Marketers wishing to run promotions have an assortment of options from which to choose. One option is a bonus pack, whereby manufacturers offer extra product at no additional cost and communicate that information on the product's package label (Ong et al., 1997). The effects of bonus pack promotions on consumer demand can be dramatic. For instance, a sales increase of 210 per cent within a 52-week period occurred for AA and AAA alkaline batteries offered as bonus packs (Heller, 2003). Also, as bonus packs feature a change in the product and no explicit monetary value for the change can be integrated with the product's price, they do not lower consumers' internal reference prices as price discounts do (Diamond and Campbell, 1989).\nHypotheses: How do consumers evaluate BP + PD offers? To answer this question, it is first helpful to describe what these offers are and what they are not. First, a BP + PD is the simultaneous offering of multiple promotions. In addition, unlike the simultaneous offering of two or more price discounts (Carlson, 2001; Chen and Rao, 2007; Schley, 2013), a BP + PD provides two different types of promotion. Also, a BP provides extra product to consumers, whereas a PD lowers the price. In this sense, the BP + PD combination is similar to a premium and price discount (PR + PD) combination (Low and Lichtenstein, 1993). However, a BP + PD is not the same as a PR + PD. The former combination involves only one product (e.g. a price discount offered on a bonus pack of a shampoo brand), whereas the latter combination features two different products (e.g. a price discount offered on a shampoo brand, and an included premium of a free conditioner).\nOverview of experiments: Four experiments were conducted. Experiment 1A tested H1. Specifically, it was designed to show that two economically similar offers that both include a BP and a PD of varying sizes nonetheless produce differences in consumer evaluations such that offers containing the high PD but low extra amount of BP are more favorably evaluated than offers containing a high extra amount of BP but low PD. Experiments 1B and 2 tested the robustness of H1. Experiment 2 also tested H2 to provide supportive evidence for the price discount dominance account, while also ruling out skepticism or lack of scenario realism as alternative explanations. Experiment 3 tested H3 and also attempted to corroborate prior research regarding the relative ease of evaluating the price information (Campbell and Diamond, 1990) posited to produce the price discount dominance effect, while ruling out skepticism and perceived rarity alternative explanations.\nExperiment 1A: Design and procedure\nExperiment 1B: Design and procedure\nExperiment 2: Design and procedure\nExperiment 3: Design and procedure\nDiscussion/managerial implications and applications: The present research documents the existence of bonus packs offered with a price discount (BP + PD) in grocery product categories and is the first to investigate consumer evaluations of this type of multi-promotion offering. To begin, a content analysis found approximately one-fourth of 486 BPs offered with the opportunity to obtain a PD. Then, four experiments investigated how consumers evaluate BPs offered with \"straight\" PDs (i.e. offers not requiring multiple quantities to be obtained for the discount to be applicable). Specifically, the studies tested three hypotheses that tested how consumers evaluate:\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this article is to assess consumer evaluations of bonus packs offered with price discounts.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Four laboratory experiments and a content analysis were conducted.\nFindings: The opportunity to obtain a price discount was available for approximately 25 per cent of the bonus packs found in a content analysis. Consumers evaluated an offer containing a low bonus amount and a high price discount more positively than an offer containing a high bonus amount and a low price discount, despite both offers providing a similar underlying price per unit. Moreover, consumer evaluations of a bonus pack can be enhanced by providing a price discount rather than offering it at the regular price.\nResearch limitations/implications: Future research could examine consumer reactions to bonus packs offered with discounts contingent on obtaining multiple quantities (e.g. BOGO; a multiple-unit price providing a lower price per unit than the single unit's price) to determine whether the results of the present research extend to these situations.\nPractical implications: Manufacturers and retailers can evoke more positive consumer reactions to a bonus pack offered with a price discount if specifying a high amount for the latter rather than the former (if high amounts cannot be specified for both). It is possible for retailers to enhance consumer evaluations of a bonus pack by providing a price discount.\nOriginality/value: This research is the first to examine consumer evaluations of promotional offers containing both a bonus pack and a price discount.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
English as a foreign language learner autonomy in vocabulary development: Variation in student autonomy levels and teacher support
|
[
"English as a Foreign Language (EFL)",
"Learner autonomy",
"Self-directed learner",
"Vocabulary development"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Learner autonomy is defined as a learner's willingness to take taking responsibility for participating, applying, monitoring, and evaluating his/her learning, which is usually developed with the support of a teacher. Research has shown that learner autonomy is the key for vocabulary development (Dogan and Mirici, 2017; Hu and Zhang, 2017; Kameli et al., 2012; Kristmanson et al., 2013; Li, 2015; Phan and Hamid, 2017; Tuan, 2011). The idea of fostering autonomy in vocabulary development for English as a foreign language (EFL) students has not been widely implemented in the field of education in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) (Almusharraf, 2018). It is important that students become autonomous language learners, and become therefore able to contribute to their learning development, without relying too much on the teacher's input, and to continue their learning independently outside of the classroom. Therefore, teachers need to assist their EFL students in developing autonomy in vocabulary learning so that these students can make more effective use of the English language.\n2. Literature review: There are many theoretical frameworks that have shaped the idea of students' learner autonomy. John Dewey (1916) established the foundation for the development of learner autonomy in his book Democracy and Education. He highlighted the importance of generating a supportive teaching environment that promotes students' persistence in learning rather than the pure acquisition of knowledge and subject matter (Benson, 2001). However, the idea of learner autonomy was not fully developed until the 1970s when Rubin (1975) attempted to identify the characteristics of successful language learners. Educational theorists believed that such characteristics, skills, and strategies could be taught to less successful learners (Rubin, 1975). Later, Holec (1981) coined the term \"learner autonomy,\" which he defined as \"taking control over one's learning\" (p. 3). Moreover, Dickinson (1993) defined a learner in the condition of total control over the learning process as an autonomous learner. Dickinson's classifications of learner autonomy are as follows:\n3. Method: Study design\n4. Results: From this study of the interaction among teachers and their EFL students with respect to the development of learner autonomy in vocabulary development, three findings emerged. The first finding is that there were varying levels of autonomy among the students, which can be identified as low, moderate, and high. The students did not appear to know how to define learner autonomy, and, therefore, the definition of such concept was presented to them during the interview. The second finding is that the teachers were aware of the benefits of learner autonomy with regard to vocabulary development, but they did not necessarily approve of or practice an approach that would encourage the development of learner autonomy. Finally, while the teachers' method of instruction influenced their students' learner autonomy development, this development may have been influenced by other social and psychological factors that varied in their degree of influence from one student to another (Benson, 2013). These findings are described below as they relate to the two research questions posed for this study:\n5. Discussion: The present study attempted to address students' levels of autonomy in regards to vocabulary development, teachers' efforts in encouraging autonomous vocabulary learning among university students, application of learner autonomy inside the university's EFL classrooms, and possible benefits of developing vocabulary knowledge. This section provides a comparison and a contrast among the results of each case and an examination of the importance of these results with reference to the two research questions. This section also presents a discussion of the findings developed from the in-depth thematic analysis of the interviews and classroom observation notes and, as a result, traces some characteristics of learner autonomy.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: An examination of the research literature suggests that no attempt has been made to examine learner autonomy development within female university-level English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Given that English has become the world's predominant lingua franca for academia, business, and politics, the purpose of this paper, therefore, is to fill this gap in the literature.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This is a qualitative case study that aims to explore learner autonomy in vocabulary development.\nFindings: The results showed that teachers are cognizant of the concept of learner autonomy. However, they are not all certain of the benefits of autonomous vocabulary learning. This study reveals how six adult learners' levels of autonomy are highly influenced by their teachers' practices. This study draws out suggestions for English language teachers who promote learner autonomy theory and practice. It also offers specific guidance, models, and adapted learning approaches of how to promote autonomy inside the classroom.\nResearch limitations/implications: This study encountered several limitations. The first is time: the study took place over the course of two months in the Summer of 2016, when students were fully encumbered with schoolwork and social duties. The recruitment of participants during that time was a challenge. Some of the students who agreed to participate in the study were not fully engaged in the research. Additionally, the study faced difficulties with faculty commitment - one of the professors delayed the interview session multiple times and perceived some of the interview questions negatively. In addition, Dickinson's (1993) characteristics of learner autonomy are largely related to the opportunities that are presented to the students by the teacher. It appears that Dickinson's scale was meant to be used to identify students' level of autonomy, particularly inside the classroom. However, because of some of the examples of activities pertaining to how they learned vocabulary outside the classroom, they were not related to classroom teaching. Also, the number of the participants is limited in this study.\nPractical implications: A future study could be undertaken to measure and quantitatively analyze learners' vocabulary development on a larger scale. Research could also be conducted using a pretest, an intervention, and a posttest to measure the effectiveness of learning vocabulary autonomously. In addition, other pedagogical approaches could be utilized to measure EFL students' intrinsic motivation and autonomy, which play critical roles in learning. Allowing learners to self-select their preferred method of learning can help them to develop their vocabulary knowledge. The findings from this study reveal that learner autonomy plays a significant role in enhancing EFL students' vocabulary development.\nOriginality/value: When students learn vocabulary autonomously, they are better able to source the lingua franca's core pronunciation of a word and its spelling without the influence of the teacher's cultural background. Given the magnitude of teachers' workloads, they may lack the time for designing lessons that adequately meet the needs of diverse learners. Therefore, the practical way to ameliorate the problem of inadequate time is to provide them with methods (e.g. using strategies such as inquiry-based learning, problem-based learning, and project-based learning) that they can use to more readily foster learner autonomy.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Colorectal cancer screening in a rural US population
|
[
"Evidence-based practice",
"Process mapping",
"Teamwork",
"Primary care",
"Surgery",
"Continuous quality improvement",
"General practice",
"Family medicine",
"Internal medicine",
"Rural health"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Globally, colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the top three causes of cancer (World Health Organization, 2017). The incidence of CRC is rising rapidly in many low- and middle-income countries. Highly developed countries have a stable, albeit, high rate of CRC, likely related to the western lifestyle (Arnold et al., 2016). It is speculated that the increasing trend in poorer countries may be related to the widespread adoption of the western lifestyle - a lifestyle high in red meat and limited regular exercise (Cancer Research UK, 2017b).\nStudy site: OP is a rural health clinic with nine primary care providers owned by MGH, a critical access hospital with 25 beds in rural Mason County in western Washington. MGH-OP attained the National Committee for Quality Assurance-Patient Centered Medical Home (NCQA-PCMH) recognition in 2013 and is currently recognized as a Level 3 NCQA-PCMH clinic. The NCQA-PCMH recognition program is explained at the following website (www.ncqa.org/programs/recognition/practices/patient-centered-medical-home-pcmh). MGH-OP has participated in five Washington State Department of Health Quality Collaboratives, starting in 1999. The most recent partnership programs were the Patient-Centered Medical Home Collaborative in 2011-2013, the Multipayer pilot to reduce emergency visits (in conjunction with the Washington State Health Care Authority), and the Healthy Hearts Campaign (in conjunction with Qualis Health). The practice includes two general internist providers, seven family practice providers and one social worker. There are 14 licensed medical assistants and 1 registered nurse.\nEligibility and population served: The target population were all clinic patients with an office visit between the ages of 50 and 75. The total patients in the denominator in third quarter of 2016 were 1,208.\nOutcome: Utilizing protocols, standard work, load leveling, improved communication with white boards, and staff training, MGH-OP was able to make a difference in patients' lives by detecting polyps before the patient develops colon cancer or in its early stages while it is easily treatable.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Colorectal cancer (CRC) screening saves patient suffering and health system expenses if the pathology is found in its early stages. Utilizing rapid process improvement cycles, the purpose of this paper is to improve the rate of CRC screening in a rural community in the USA.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Data were gathered from the authors' electronic medical record. Non provider staff were trained to do the majority of the work utilizing population health, clinic visit checklists, and standard work. The two tests used were colonoscopy and fecal immunochemical test testing.\nFindings: Dramatic improvement in the rates of colorectal screening were achieved. The base rate of documented CRC screening was 22 percent, with the rate two years later being 62.7 percent.\nOriginality/value: This work is of interest to those working in primary care, gastroenterology, general surgery, or if interested in designing standard work.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
An ERP performance measurement framework using a fuzzy integral approach
|
[
"Manufacturing resource planning",
"Fuzzy control",
"Decision theory",
"Performance measurement (quality)"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: Owing to the highly severe market competition and the immense impact of advances in information technology progress, a number of companies have widely implemented the enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. A comprehensive ERP system implementation project involves selecting an ERP software system and a cooperative vendor, implementing the selected system, managing business processes change, and examining the practicality of the adopted ERP system (Wei and Wang, 2004). That is, completing ERP system implementation is not the final stop but a go live start. One of the most significant challenges faced by information managers today is measuring the performance of the adopted ERP system to justify its value-added contribution for accomplishing the organization's missions. Furthermore, managers would also like to know which parts of their ERP system need to improve and whether the system's overall performance is enhancing over time.Success has often been defined as a favorable or satisfactory result or outcome (Saarinen, 1996). In reality, \"the success of an ERP system\" is achieved when the organization is able to better perform all its business processes and when the adopted ERP system really achieves the objectives that managers strive. That is, the development of ERP performance measurement process should establish a feedback mechanism between the desired objectives of ERP adoption and the substantial effects of ERP execution (Mashari et al., 2003). Traditionally, a set of performance indicators (PIs) is employed to determine the effectiveness and efficiency of an ERP system. The key is to build up a process for determining the relationships between the objectives of the ERP implementation project and the ERP PIs for measuring its performance, so that they have identical guidance and evaluation standards during the entire project period.Typically, there are many factors with many characteristics to consider in the ERP performance evaluation: tangible, intangible, quantitative and qualitative. The post-usage perception of an ERP system to a user is a subjective interaction. Personal evaluation differs from one user to another depending on individual variance of personal subjectivity, experience, and cognition. Furthermore, for many people, the evaluation of a qualitative PI is a subjective and ambiguous concept hard to be expressed, and not all people can concretely voice out their feelings on a scale of one to five. The evaluators often express their ratings in natural language rather than in numbers. The concept of a linguistic variable is very useful in dealing with situations that are too ill-defined to be reasonably described in conventional quantitative expressions (Chen and Hwang, 1992). Fuzzy set theory is developed for solving problems in which descriptions of activities and observations are imprecise, vague, and uncertain and widely used in the decision analysis problems, like selection (Liang and Wang, 1994; Shamsuzzaman et al., 2003; Wei and Wang, 2004; Sharif Ullah, 2005; Chen and Ben-Arieh, 2006) and performance assessment (Chan et al., 2002; Jain et al., 2004; Ohdar and Ray, 2004; Chang et al., 2007). Thus, a fuzzy aggregative method is highly effective in integrating linguistic assessments and weights to measure the performance of an ERP system.This paper aims to construct an ERP performance measurement framework to elaborate the process of PI development for linking with the ERP implementation objectives. According to the knowledge of the ERP implementation objectives, decision makers can extend them to suitable PIs for measuring whether the objectives have been achieved. A fuzzy ERP performance index is used to account for the ambiguities involved in evaluating the performance of an ERP system. A method of translating the fuzzy ERP performance index back to linguistics is also used to obtain the linguistic achievement representation of the ERP implementation objectives and the overall ERP system. An empirical case in Taiwan is described to demonstrate the practical viability of the proposed method.\n2 Method review: Several methods have been proposed for measuring the performance of ERP systems or other information systems (IS). Traditionally, financial performance metrics such as return on investment, net present value, or payback period could be used (Kivijarvi and Saarinen, 1995; Murphy and Simon, 2001), but because of the unique nature of the IS investment, they seldom suffice in practice. Instead, the evaluation of IS success has to be supplemented by a subjective judgment and surrogate measures.The system and data quality assessment of IS have been widely studied (Delone and McLean, 1992; Palvia et al., 2001; Lee et al., 2002). The quality measurement reflects the engineering-oriented performance characteristics of the system itself and the quality of information and data. Data quality focuses on the IS output, namely, the quality of the information that the system produces. Later, numerous information quality measures have been included within the area of \"User satisfaction.\"Information technologies cannot by itself influence the productivity of a company. The main efficiency factor lies in the way people use these technologies. Related studies about user satisfaction evaluated the IS performance using the experience and perspective of various users, like employees, middle managers, top managers and system engineers (Wu et al., 2002). Some IS user satisfaction measurement questionnaires and methods have also been applied to real cases (Doll and Torkzadeh, 1988; Klenke, 1992; Saarinen, 1996; Wu et al., 2002).Recently, some popular techniques have been used to measure the performance of ERP systems or other IS, like analytic hierarchy process (AHP) (Chan et al., 2006; Chan and Kumar, 2007), data envelopment analysis (Stensrud and Myrtveit, 2003), importance-performance maps (Skok et al., 2001), and balanced scorecard (Michael and Jens, 1999; Hagood and Friedman, 2002). These reports integrated the traditional PIs with new techniques to build up performance measurement systems and offered some useful applications in practice.Many researchers stated that there is no best appraisal technique that addresses all project considerations (Saarinen, 1996; Irani, 1999). Further, they argued that the reason for this is the investments in IS are aggregates of complexity, and notably different from each other. However, the most frequently adopted measures are to refer to the common indices without developing tailor-made measures that echo the objectives of ERP implementation for a specific company's ERP system. Additionally, little research has addressed the relationship between the ERP implementation stage and the ERP use stage. This study develops a framework with fuzzy set theory to synthesize managers' tangible and intangible measures with respect to numerous PIs extended from the objectives of ERP implementation to obtain an aggregated fuzzy ERP performance index. The framework also can translate the fuzzy ERP performance index into simple scores and then back to linguistic terms for indicating how the adopted ERP system is performing and what actions the managers should undertake to improve the ERP system.\n3 Procedure for measuring the ERP performance: Three principal themes are noted in the proposed ERP performance measurement framework, including the PI structure construction, fuzzy group ERP performance measurement, and result analysis and system improvement. To clearly present the proposed ERP performance measurement framework, a step-wise procedure is first described:1. extend the objectives of the ERP implementation project to appropriate PIs;2. add other crucial PIs into the PI set in an ERP output view;3. construct the proper PI structure;4. develop the detailed performance assessment method;5. assess the performance of the adopted ERP system;6. aggregate the assessments to determine the fuzzy ERP performance index; and7. analyze the results and improve the ERP system.Figure 1 shows the flowchart of the proposed ERP performance measurement framework. The details of each step are presented below.3.1 Extend the objectives of the ERP implementation project to appropriate PIs\n4 Practical example: The case company used in this study is in the business of various modular microwave communication systems design, manufacturing, and sale to USA, Europe, and Mainland China. The sales cycle of exportations and the need to maintain good customer service put great pressure on the company. The company seeks to maintain its competitive advantage in the highly dynamic business environment by improving the effectiveness of its global logistics. Additionally, the legacy IS were disparate. The fragmented modules and systems limited the efficiency of the company's operations, caused much duplication of efforts, and put the business process into turmoil. Adopting an ERP application was expected to be the logical solution that could replace and integrate their legacy IS.Then, an objective structure of the ERP implementation project including the fundamental-objective hierarchy and means-objective network has been constructed during the ERP project implementation phase. There were two major aspects in the objective structure, namely, the ERP system dimension and the ERP vendor dimension. Figure 2 shows the fundamental-objective hierarchy. For details, readers can refer to Wei et al. (2005).After adopting the ERP system, the information managers hoped to know how the ERP system is currently performing and how it should be performing at a future point in time. Additionally, they want to justify the success and the value-added contribution of the ERP system to accomplish the objectives of the ERP system implementation project. The stepwise procedure is presented in the following.4.1 Step 1\n5 Conclusion: An ERP system implementation project needs to invest enormous money, labor, and time for a company. Hence, managers must understand what benefits the system has contributed and what aspects the system should be improved. The PIs reflect whether the input resources and efforts in an ERP system implementation project have achieved the objectives which managers want to gain. This study presents a framework to measure the performance of an adopted ERP system under fuzzy environment. The proposed framework developed an ERP PI structure according to the knowledge of ERP implementation objectives. Since humans are difficult in giving quantitative ratings exactly, where some PIs are comparatively efficient in linguistic expressions. An integration model that uses the fuzzy operation and fuzzy integral method was proposed to obtain a fuzzy ERP performance index. Then, the fuzzy ERP performance index can be translated into a performance score and back to a linguistic term. The evaluation results can truly reflect the current situation of the adopted ERP system and the accomplishment of the ERP implementation objectives.It must be noted that the evaluation results do really not be used to punish someone or any department in order to avoid the resistance and misunderstanding of employees. The results point out the functionality and service of the ERP system can be trusted and the high-system performance standards can be maintained. The key point is how to improve the performance of ERP system. The PIs are also aligned with the objective structure of the ERP system implementation and the framework can ensure the inclusion of the concept of continuous improvement.The proposed framework offers the following advantages in the ERP performance measurement processes for the companies:* It provides a comprehensive and systematic method to extend the objectives of an ERP implementation project to suitable PIs of an ERP performance measurement mechanism. Managers can easily assess the achievement of the ERP implementation objectives by following the stepwise procedure.* The proposed algorithm considers not only quantitative data but also linguistic data. Managers can assess the performance of their adopted ERP system against various PIs, particularly in an ill-defined situation, by using linguistic or quantitative values in the ERP performance evaluation.* The fuzzy ERP performance index can be translated back into to linguistic terms. The linguistic results provide a semantic and impressional description about the current condition of the ERP system.* Additionally, the fuzzy ERP performance index can be calculated to obtain a crisp score. The trends of ERP performance scores of each main category, fundamental-objective and PI can indicate whether the system's performance is enhancing or descending over time. Managers can recognize the directions of ERP system improvement and the strategies of corporate IS in the future.* The proposed framework can also be applied to other enterprise information systems (EIS) performance evaluation problems. However, because the characteristics and roles of various EIS are different in a company, the framework should be revised as it is applied to other EIS.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to propose a comprehensive framework for measuring the performance of an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system to survey suitable performance indicators (PIs) according to knowledge of the ERP implementation objectives set up at the implementation phase and build consistent measurement standards for facilitating the complex ERP performance evaluation process.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A seven-step ERP performance measurement framework based on the objectives of ERP implementation is proposed. A fuzzy ERP performance index is used to account for the ambiguities involved in evaluating the performance of the ERP system. The fuzzy ERP performance index can be translated first into simple scores and then back to linguistic terms. An actual example in Taiwan demonstrates the feasibility of applying the proposed framework.\nFindings: - The findings indicate that the PIs of ERP performance measurement should align with the objectives of ERP implementation. The assessment results can represent the achievement of these objectives and the directions for improving the adopted ERP system.\nOriginality/value: - This study may be interesting to some academic researchers and practical managers. The proposed framework can provide a procedure to link the objectives identified in the ERP system implementation phase and the performance considerations in the ERP use phase.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Two rebelling approaches but only one embraced by policy: On the different policy advices of NIS and IMP
|
[
"Policy",
"Innovation",
"IMP",
"NIS"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: two new rebelling approaches: The industrial crisis of the late 1970s and early 1980s did not only produce low economic growth and high unemployment, in the process revealing several established industrial structures as obsolete and some core industrial regions as highly vulnerable. Industrial policy - and above all - the theoretical perspectives used to analyse technological development and industrial renewal (today depicted as \"innovation\") were also in a state of crisis. There was an acute need for perspectives that first could explain the state of affairs and second point towards hope at the end of the tunnel (Mytelka and Smith, 2002; Sharif, 2006; Eklund, 2007; Miettinen, 2013).\nEmpirical study: the embedding of the IMP and NIS approaches in the Swedish policy setting: The intellectual foundation of STU was already changing when the first publications from IMP and NIS were presented in the early and mid-1980s. The aftermath of the late 1970s industrial crisis, and the growing understanding that \"linear model\"-inspired approached did not reflect the innovation process, evoked interest in research that could articulate STU's governmental commission: to increase the investments in \"technical-industrial development\" (Weinberger, 1997, p. 398). In the following sections, we will take a closer look at what this interest meant for the Swedish policy makers' adoption of the IMP and NIS approaches to encourage technological development and industrial renewal.\nWhat does NIS provide to policy? And what could IMP provide? A comparison of theoretical assumptions and policy advices: NIS, in the late 1990s filled with legitimacy from the OECD, turned out to be quite useful in the Swedish research policy setting. It is doubtful that the IMP approach could have served a similar function, due to its lack of association with the OECD. However, besides NIS's and IMP's different relation to OECD, they also differ in terms of theoretical foundation, something that in turn produces rather different advice to the policy sphere. Below we will take a closer look at the underpinnings of the two approaches - which both claim that they represent a system perspective that challenges conventional market theory - and the following policy implications. Hence, it is important to note that this section is not a discussion of how NIS has been used in the OECD and the Swedish policy context, and it is neither a discussion of why IMP has not been adopted in these settings. Rather, it is a comparison of what analytical lenses and advices to policy these two approaches provide.\nConcluding discussion: Does it really matter if the policy arena selects IMP or NIS as its main analytical framework for policy interventions? Are there aspects of the innovation process and its context that one approach can shed light over that the other cannot? At a first glance the similarities abound. Both approaches expect durable relations between organisations to develop over time, both emphasis the role of contextual knowledge for policy analysis and both perceive a conservative bias in the innovation process.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is twofold, first, to shed light on the different patterns in which international marketing and purchasing (IMP) and national innovation system (NIS) were embedded into the Swedish policy context, where the first approach must be regarded as a relative failure and the second a success, second, to compare their analytical lenses and policy implications through the study of a number of seminal texts of the two approaches.\nDesign/methodology/approach: First, a Swedish case is selected since it provides an example of a policy context where both approaches have been considered and used as sources of inspiration for the design of policy measures. Second, the authors study a selection of the seminal texts of the two approaches in order to identify their basic theoretical assumptions. The emphasis here lies on how the schools view the importance of relations between companies, how they perceive the innovation process, their attitude towards the neoclassical market model and the explicit and implicit implications of their theoretical assumptions for policy.\nFindings: IMP and its notion of the heterogeneity of resources can provide a much more context grounded analysis than is possible within the NIS/Lundvall framework. However, it requires deep contextual knowledge of individual companies, industries and national and international settings to understand the value of these resources. IMP is \"tied to the ground\" and radically critical of the atomistic abstractions characterising the neoclassical market view. NIS, on the other hand, requires contextual knowledge on a more superficial level and can co-exist with neoclassical economics.\nResearch limitations/implications: While the authors mainly focus on IMP and NIS, which date back to the 1980s, a later wave of concepts from the 1990s and onwards involve clusters (Porter, 1990), and triple helix (Etzkowitz and Leidesdorff, 1998). However, these latecomers share with NIS the ability to co-exist with neoclassical economics.\nPractical implications: IMP requires high demands on any policy maker that would adopt it, in terms of acquiring deep contextual knowledge and giving up established views on how the economy works\nOriginality/value: The paper reveal that while both IMP and NIS like to present themselves as rebels radically departing from neoclassical economics and the linear model, NIS can still co-exist with neoclassical economics. Furthermore, IMP places high demands on any policy maker that would adopt it, in terms of acquiring deep contextual knowledge and giving up established views on how the economy works. NIS, on the other hand, requires contextual knowledge on a more superficial level.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Quality management in the global brewing industry
|
[
"Quality management",
"Brewing industry",
"Operational excellence"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: In global market, companies engaged in beer production have reached colossal sizes, while the competition between them has become very intense. International literature mainly deals with issues related to production processes and beer storage and deals less with TQM issues regarding brewing companies. Most successful companies of the industry are those that manage to harmonize productivity with quality, while in the same time they maintain their market share by meeting the consumers' demands. In this study, it is clearly shown that quality in the brewing industry is a matter that has to do with the entire supply chain and all the stakeholders involved from production to consumption. Most studies in the international literature focus on production, where the company aims to ensure product quality and reduce production costs through increased productivity. In this way, most studies try to interpret and evaluate the competition between brewers based on technical criteria and quantitative methods. Few studies concerning the examined industry focus on quality criteria and combinatorial methods for assessing lean production, which is exactly what this study does.\n2. Literature review: The most basic studies on which this paper is based is that of Alfnes et al. (2008) which refers to the operations excellence audit sheet for lean manufacturing. Alfnes et al. by combining three well known plans of Godson (2002), Kobayashi (1990) and Schonberger (1996) give a very helpful tool for the assessment of operational excellence at a brewing company. The second study is that of Kristiansen (2010), who examines lean six sigma concepts and other basic concepts of lean manufacturing. Kourtis and Arvanitoyannis (2001) make a clear statement of the implementation of Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP) on alcoholic beverages and specifically on the beer. Poksinska et al. (2002) in conjunction with ISO Press (2010) give the basic properties of the family of standards ISO 9000.\n3. Global brewing industry - world leaders: Saturated local markets and increasing competition between beverage producers are the reasons that force brewers to seek new markets for growth and ways to increase their profit margin on branded products worldwide. The challenge for multinational brewing companies is twofold: they must gain the local markets by diversifying their products, while through standardization they must achieve economies of scale and low production cost (Sobithan, 2009). With a greater variety of drinks available, consumers are less likely to remain in a single brand or type of beverage. This is the basic reason for global mergers, acquisitions, alliances and the continuing consolidation of global brewing industry. As consolidation continues, in 2002 the top ten breweries increased their share market from 34 to over 50 percent. Nowadays, major brewers try to standardize equipment, automation systems, and engineering practices in order to further improve productivity and reduce production costs. However, the benefits of standardization and application of standards need time, because most of the purchasing decisions still remain at local operation levels.\n4. Implementing concepts of excellence in brewing operations: Business excellence models such as the Malcolm Baldrige National Award, the EFQM, and other quality approaches are powerful tools for achieving consistency between strategy and best practices programs. However, in brewing industry, these tools are few and they are confined in the assessment of lean manufacturing.\n5. Best practices: Quality management in the global brewing industry can be identified in every leading brewing company. In this section quality policies regarding the third and the fourth largest brewing companies in the world are presented. More specifically, Heineken and Carlsberg are two companies that know about quality and have implemented many of the above methods and systems in their brewing operations.\n6. Conclusions: Quality management in the brewing industry is improving the various operations performed within and outside the brewing factory. After an extended research in order to find the right tool that could cover most of the areas in a brewery; Alfnes et al. (2008) proposal of the audit sheet seemed to be the most appropriate for the assessment of a brewery. The audit sheet categorizes 15 business operations in order to identify existing problems, which could be eliminated. Operations strategy is the basic factor that will provide the basic conditions for improvement in a brewery. Therefore, the sheet should be used to determine the company's profile and to identify areas for improvement so as capabilities and strategy can be aligned.\n7. Further research: The tools described in this work are meant to be a small part of the quality tools and techniques used in the global brewing industry. Other quality tools, except the audit sheet referred in this paper are the Paretto analysis, the cause-result chart, the flow chart, the histogram, the scatter diagram and the control chart. All these can be very useful tools for facing problems and improving procedures in a brewery. Another research proposal would be the extension of this work with detailed references to these tools in order to produce a quality guide for brewing companies. Finally, further research could be addressed toward the analysis of other large brewing companies, which are characterized by the concepts of quality management i.e. Molson Coors Brewing Company.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to stimulate interest in the use of quality management methods and tools and to provide a basis and direction for further improvement in the global brewing industry.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The methodology that is followed in the paper is based on the study of quality management tools and best practices in global brewing companies.\nFindings: From all evidence found by this research, the conclusion is that quality management can dramatically improve certain operations and reduce cost or increase profit as well. All of the global brewing companies examined in this paper have their quality policies and each one of them uses what fits best to its business profile.\nResearch limitations/implications: This study refers to some of the largest brewing companies in the world. Future research could be addressed toward the analysis of other smaller brewing companies, which are characterized by the concepts of quality management.\nPractical implications: The analysis of quality management in the global brewing industry may cause the interest of other brewing companies and other stakeholders affected by this industry. Quality tools can be very useful for dealing with problems and improving procedures in a brewery. Furthermore, the extension of this work with detailed references to these tools could produce a quality guide for brewing companies.\nOriginality/value: The value of this paper lies in the identification and presentation of tools and quality policies which have been successfully developed by global brewing companies and may as well be implemented by others.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Female entrepreneurship in Africa: Strength of weak ties in mitigating principal-agent problems
|
[
"Africa",
"Entrepreneurship",
"Women",
"Principal-agent",
"Strength of weak ties"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: women entrepreneurs in an African context: Within developing countries, particularly in Africa, there is an emerging literature which highlights the unique obstacles faced by women entrepreneurs who start and develop their own businesses. There is also an expanding literature which focuses on the role of social networks in facilitating female entrepreneurship. Networks are groups of actors with a relationship or tie that connects them (Hoang and Antoncic, 2003).The relevance of networks for an entrepreneur lies in the presence of other entrepreneurs who may work in customer and supplier companies, business services providers, or as finance professionals. They may also involve legal and governmental institutions. The information and ideas circulating within these networks can influence a person's attitude towards business start-up. They can also be a key resource for starting, growing, and sustaining the business.\n2. Barriers facing African women entrepreneurs: Women entrepreneurs in developing countries often face many barriers. According to Nziku (2012, 2016), in studies of women entrepreneurs in Tanzania, the most common barriers were inter alia: personal, cultural, stereotypes, and discrimination, access to capital, lack of networks, access to information technology, access to market, and poor education. Such obstacles are common across SSA countries as well as in other developing countries (Minniti and Naude, 2010; Jamali, 2009). Though many developing countries have high levels of female participation in self-employment, insufficient recognition is given to their contribution and many of the challenges they face are overlooked (Davidson and Burke, 2004; Diaz-Garcia et al., 2016).\n3. Role of social networks among women entrepreneurs: Networking is described as a set of interrelated relationships with a mutual benefit to all involved, through the sharing and giving of information and data, resources, and personal referrals. This makes it possible to leverage additional capital once the initial capital has been raised. The entrepreneurship literature often refers to such forms of capital as social capital, institutional capital, or network capital (Greve and Salaff, 2003; Johannisson and Monsted, 1997).\n4. The \"Strength of weak ties\": Granovetter (1973, 1983) considers acquaintances (weak ties) as those individuals who have less social interaction with each other compared with close friends (strong ties). In Figure 1 this is depicted as relationships between individuals and their acquaintances who form a \"low-density network\". In the diagram this occurs when many of the possible lines of contact (\"relational lines\") are missing. By contrast, when the network is formed between an individual and his/her close friends, they will tend to be \"densely knit\". Many of the possible lines of contact are in evidence in Figure 1. The self-esteem or individuality of the person is central. An individual with self-esteem will be able to bring together close friends who are often in touch with each other. They are then able to create a tightly woven social structure. The network can be expanded further because these close friends will have other acquaintances who can also join the network. Therefore, the social structure which arises from the complete chain will be very different from the original social structure which the individual with self-esteem started with.\n5. Embedding \"SWT\" networks within a P-A framework: a possible taxonomy: The P-A paradigm has a long pedigree in economic analysis with different applications across many different contexts. Originally applied to contract theory, especially labour contracts, the P-A problem relates to the possibility that within any business, structure, or organisation, there can be a conflict of interests (objectives) between the principal (e.g. the owner of a business) and the agent (the manager of the business). Jensen and Meckling (1976) were perhaps the first to set out a formal theory of the P-A paradigm and it has since been applied in many different contexts including labour markets, banking, and industrial economics. There are five main dimensions to this paradigm and from these dimensions the authors identify six measurable indicators to enable the design of the taxonomy.\n6. The \"SWT\" networks in mitigating P-A problems: In this section the authors summarise the key implications of the taxonomy outlined in Table I. In doing so, the aim is to produce a scorecard to compare the outcomes for male and female entrepreneurs in terms of the six main P-A indicators highlighted in Section 5. The main contention in this study is that women entrepreneurs, especially in Africa, face certain barriers that are not usually encountered by male entrepreneurs (see Section 2). The insights offered by presenting the obstacles faced by African women entrepreneurs in the context of the P-A paradigm are outlined in Table I. When combined with \"SWT\" networks within a P-A framework this leads to several tentative conclusions.\n7. Future research, policy implications, and conclusions: The next stage of the research will involve empirical work on women entrepreneurship in selected African countries. The aim will be to examine whether the \"SWT\" concept can help to mitigate at least some of the P-A problems identified in the taxonomy. To this end, the design of the empirical tools (questionnaires and interviews) that will be used to elicit responses from a sample of women entrepreneurs will be based on a methodological framework derived from experimental/behavioural economics. The pioneering work of Kahneman and Tversky (1979), which adopted a completely new approach to decision making under uncertainty from the traditional expected utility approach, will be used. This \"new\" approach with its emphasis on concepts, such as prospect theory, framing, and loss aversion, will determine the design of the empirical approach including the types of questions asked to respondents in the sample.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to develop a conceptual framework which combines the strength of weak ties (SWT) concept with an innovative taxonomy for mitigating principal-agent (P-A) conflicts. The taxonomy highlights the mechanisms through which African women can overcome the obstacles faced when setting up businesses.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper discusses the role of \"weak ties\" networks in entrepreneurial activities and integrates the concept with the key parameters of the P-A paradigm. The aim is to develop a taxonomy (or scorecard) for mitigating the challenges faced by women entrepreneurs in Africa from a P-A perspective. Six P-A parameters are analysed, namely, attitudes towards risk; behaviour-based vs targets-based contracts; asymmetric information; risk-sharing; transaction costs; and verification and monitoring costs.\nFindings: With the aid of the taxonomy developed in the paper, the authors analyse the channels through which \"SWT\" networks may impact in mitigating the problems arising from the P-A paradigm. Some implications for women entrepreneurs in Africa are highlighted.\nResearch limitations/implications: The current conceptual study suggests that the \"SWT\" concept can be used by African women entrepreneurs to mitigate P-A problems. The authors argue that the original P-A taxonomy developed in the paper fills a conceptual research gap in the existing literature. Embedding the SWT concept within a P-A framework will facilitate further research not only to understand African women entrepreneurs' attitudes (and responses) towards risk and uncertainty, but this will also facilitate greater understanding of the importance women attach to the role of incentives within their businesses.\nPractical implications: The taxonomy presents new insights for understanding the most serious constraints that hinder women entrepreneurs in Africa. The taxonomy will be the basis for a follow-up empirical paper on selected African countries.\nOriginality/value: The originality of this study lies in the development of an innovative taxonomy which highlights the role of \"SWT\" social networks towards mitigating the P-A problem among African women entrepreneurs. The paper makes a significant contribution to the literature from a conceptual perspective.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
A potent secret for winning a crucial edge over your rivals?
|
[
"Motivation (psychology)",
"Job satisfaction"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Chief executives of most organizations rarely miss an opportunity to remind their audience (and themselves) that their people are their most precious asset. Certainly, in the highly sophisticated economies in which organizations operate today, where every player can gain access to a similar calibre and quality of technology, and where basically all players need to pay about the same for their financing, premises and other key resources - it is a matter of sheer commercial logic that an organization's people represent the most crucial weapon in its bid for competitive supremacy.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - To explain that a fully-engaged employee is an extremely important commercial asset.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - In the absence of detailed research, the author draws on his extensive experience of working with numerous large organizations on maximizing the extent to which their employees are engaged. His experience is practical and has involved working with employees who themselves toil at the \"coal-face\" of organizational success. The research presents an informed anecdotal approach to the subject and is made systematic through a range of practical guidelines.\nFindings: - The nature of the research means that it discusses general strategic issues in business rather than specific statistical findings. But inherent in the paper is the fact that these general strategic issues are unchanging and are of permanent importance.\nPractical implications: - The practical implications of the paper are enormous. The author is saying nothing less momentous than that the difference between an engaged employee (i.e. one who is fully emotionally and intellectually motivated by his or her work) compared with an employee who is not engaged, is prodigious and can make a huge commercial difference to an organization's performance.\nOriginality/value: - Perhaps the most important observation of all given by the author is that engaged employees provide a discretionary input, that is, they give a level of energy and commitment to the job which the job does not require from a contractual perspective.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Scared enough? How terrorism threats affect US-Canadian business ties
|
[
"Strategic management",
"Industry",
"Executives",
"Firms",
"Policymakers",
"Border management",
"Cross-border trade",
"Firms",
"Integrated value chains",
"North America",
"Policymakers",
"Border management",
"Security and terrorism",
"Cross-border trade",
"Integrated value chains",
"Security and terrorism"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The common geographic space and close trade relations Americans and Canadians share were forever changed after the terrorist attacks on the USA on September 11, 2001. Increases in security were the new order of the day, but it remains to be seen exactly what these continuing changes mean for firms that conduct business across the USA-Canada border. Our goal is to provoke thought and reflection on an issue that, despite touching all governments, firms and individuals in the two countries, has received relatively limited attention in academia. Our paper explores how terrorism and security issues affect industries, firms and executives in the highly integrated neighboring economies of Canada and the USA.\nA general perception of terrorism and security issues: Terrorism has plagued the global arena, at least, since biblical times. Despite the advances of modernity, we are daily reminded in the media of the security threats to which neither technological betterment nor bromides about the global village can make us immune. It is no surprise, then, that terrorism presents a serious concern for today's executives.\nThe North American experience: North American economic integration has been driven primarily by the trade-related preoccupations of industry and firms from the bottom up (Cimon and Rebolledo, 2004). Although this process ultimately culminated in NAFTA, it has largely ignored common political institutions, as Canada and the USA wish to remain as independent as possible in the political arena.\nIndustries, firms and executives in the \"new\" North American environment: According to the Conference Board of Canada, the trade volume between Canada and the USA has not diminished since 9/11 (Goldfarb, 2007b) and cross-border investments remain robust. According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, 2010), average cross-border mergers and acquisitions activity, both sales and purchases of firms, between the USA and Canada, was just under US$64 billion for the 1990-2000 period, but climbed to US$262.8 billion for the 2004-2006 period. Similarly, for foreign direct investment (FDI), both inward and outward, the average over the 1990-2000 period stood at US$202 billion but increased to US$260 billion over the 2003-2006 period. The cross-border stock of FDI grew from US$825 billion in 1990 to US$2,600 billion in 2000 and climbed further still to US$4,173 billion in 2006, an increase in share of GDP from an average share of combined GDP of 7.1 to 15.8 per cent, which reflects the increasing integration of the economies.\nConclusion: While executives operating globally are aware of terrorism, it is not a main concern for them, as they seem to regard it as a fairly low-level risk. In North America, while 9/11 did elevate security concerns to high-ranking priorities for the Canada-USA relationship, it did not annul nor even hinder the historic, deep integration of the two countries. The cross-border cohesion brought upon by NAFTA may have precluded disintegration in trade and other cross-border activities because economic agents were so intertwined that disentangling them may have done more harm than good. Additionally, the 2003 blackout and the mad cow scare serve as reminders of this highly integrated and interdependent economic space. While overall trade has not seemed to suffer from the fallout of 9/11, industries that depend on export and trucking have been affected. Firms have been forced to adopt numerous security measures, and managing the associated costs have sometimes led to a resurgence of pre-free trade behaviors, which decrease the benefits that accrue from economic integration. Although North American executives do not report much concern about terrorism and its consequences, business advocacy groups are pushing for better border management (mostly in Canada) and a better linkage between business security and national security (mostly in the USA).\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine how security-related issues affect business in an integrated economic space. North America is an interesting case, as Canada and the USA have historically been highly integrated economies.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Research that focuses on the relationship between security and business is reviewed. First, the perception of security issues by business leaders is examined. Second, the North American case is discussed.\nFindings: In the decade following 9-11, not all industries felt the aftermath in the same way, and business leaders from Canada and the USA did not necessarily focus on the same priorities. A thickening border is increasingly challenging for firms even though they have historically coped somewhat efficiently.\nResearch limitations/implications: This paper has implications for integrated economies. Policymakers need to frame their response to security issues in a way that takes into account their effect on trade and firms.\nPractical implications: Given terrorism's impact on industries, the differences in priority ascribed to the issue by executives and the varying responses to address the problem, ensuring the ongoing gains from transborder business activity, requires creative solutions.\nOriginality/value: The effect of security on business is seldom studied. This paper provides a vivid example of the interplay between these two critical elements. This renewed understanding allows policymakers and business executives to find a common ground so that security issues are not dealt with at the expense of firms and cross-border trade.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Segmenting critical success factors of humanitarian supply chains using fuzzy DEMATEL
|
[
"Humanitarian supply chains",
"Critical success factors (CSFs)",
"Fuzzy DEMATEL",
"Odisha"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Coastal areas worldwide are vulnerable to meteorological disturbances and natural disasters those originate from climate change. Earlier studies reveal that proneness to these natural disasters of Asia Pacific region is four times higher than that of African and 25 times that of the European region. These disasters not only pose a threat to the survival, dignity and livelihood of human being, but also to the global economy. Prior studies reveal that global economic losses have been three folded in 30 years from US$100 billion in 1980 to US$300 billion in 2010 (GAR, 2011). The economic damage of disasters is also boosted by the development in high-risk areas, especially in fast-growing economies where there is little land-use planning (Issues of India, 2013). The coastal belt of India that span over 7,516 kilometres has also been affected by various meteorological disasters that include tropical cyclones, tsunami, storm surge, river flood, high tide, etc. This can be attributed to the geographical location of India, which is surrounded by large water bodies on 3 sides, the Bay of Bengal in the south-east, the Arabian Sea in the south-west and the Laccadive Sea in the south. The Bay of Bengal has long been considered as a breeding ground for tropical cyclones as 10-13 depressions on average and at least two powerful cyclones are formed here annually and strike coastal states of India or that of Bangladesh. Out of 35 deadliest tropical cyclones in the world history, 26 have been the Bay of Bengal storms. During the past two centuries, 42 per cent of Earth's tropical cyclone-associated deaths have occurred in Bangladesh and 27 per cent in India (Issue of India, 2014). Vulnerability of the coastal areas of India is further intensified due to its river system. The economic condition, as well as socioeconomic characteristics of the people living in coastal areas, reflects the degree of vulnerability of these areas (Patnaik and Narayanan, 2009). Generally, the coastal population depends on agriculture, forestry, salt farming and fishery, etc., for their livelihood which is highly influenced by the ecosystem. Hence, the increasing trends of flood and cyclone will certainly affect the livelihood of vulnerable population living in these coastal areas. In fact, these natural disasters are pushing more and more people below the poverty line, making them landless, homeless and depriving them of their livelihood. Therefore, pre-disaster proactive approaches prevention, mitigation and preparedness as an effective disaster management are needed to minimise the damage and cost of relief and reconstruction.\n2. Literature review: The literature review is divided into three subsections to provide a better comprehension of humanitarian supply chains and their CSFs. The first subsection deals with a brief discussion on the importance of humanitarian supply chains in managing relief supplies in an emergency scenario. The second subsection is devoted to descriptions, history and evolution of CSF, whereas the third subsection is concerned with the literature of CSFs in the context of humanitarian supply chains.\n3. Empirical study: In this research, Odisha, an east coast state of India located between the parallels of 17.49N and 22.34N latitudes and meridians of 81.27E and 87.29E longitudes, is selected for the study. The state situated on the Bay of Bengal coast of India is one of the most vulnerable regions in the world to violent tropical cyclones (Chittibabu et al., 2004; Thomalla and Schmuck, 2004). Taking together the storms and severe storms, coastal Odisha is about twice as vulnerable as compared to the other eastern states (World Bank, 2013). The 1999 super cyclone devastated almost all the coastal districts of Odisha and few inland regions too. It affected 1,827 gram panchayats and 28 urban centres in 97 C.D. Blocks of 12 districts, and 30.00 lakh families comprising 125.69 lakh people in 15,676 villages were affected (GoO, 2000; Panigrahi, 2003). Furthermore, the lesson learned from the 1999 super cyclone was incorporated and knowledge and awareness of a cyclone event helped in mitigating the adverse effects of cyclone Phailin and cyclone Hudhud.\n4. Methodology: 4.1 DEMATEL method\n5. Results and discussion: A combination of fuzzy theory and DEMATEL methodologies has been employed in this research to find out the CSFs of humanitarian supply chains typically experienced during cyclone response in Odisha, India. Humanitarian supply chains deal with strategic planning, implementing and executing those plans in order to assist victims at the right time. The successful execution of humanitarian supply chains depends on the list of factors. This study is chosen to list out and categorisation of selected CSFs into cause group and effects group CSFs. Based on ri-ci score in Table VIII, the selected CSFs have been categorised into two groups, i.e. cause group and effect group. The analyses of these two groups are presented below.\n6. Concluding remarks: Recent trends of disasters and the people coming in their way are increasing since past 10-15 years. Although lots of improvement in the relief practices has been observed, due to the unpredictable nature of disasters, still lot of improvement is yet to be practised. The east coast region in India is known as one of the most cyclone-prone regions in the world. After the devastating 1999 super cyclone, the coastal state governments have taken many interventions to minimise the casualties and in managing the relief and response activities effectively. The improvement achieved, especially in educating vulnerable communities, helped a lot while responding to a flood or cyclone scenario in terms of household preparedness, first aid preparedness, safety and security of belongings, livestock and more importantly women, kid and senior or ill persons. But the aim of any humanitarian relief chains should not be limited to provide aid during an emergency, but should also stretch the boundary to reduce the risk of such hazards in the future. In this research, an attempt has been made to identify such CSFs of humanitarian supply chains those affect the performance in terms of speed in responding to minimise the losses and in distributing relief items during recent cyclones in Odisha. Based on literature survey and experts input, total 16 CSFs of humanitarian supply chains have been selected and analysed using fuzzy DEMATEL approach. The analysis of CSFs resulted into a cause and effect diagram as shown in Figure 3 and the interdependencies among the CSFs are shown in Figure 4. Based on the analysis shown in Tables VIII and IX and Figures 3 and 4, it can be concluded that out of 16 CSFs, 8 CSFs have been categorised into cause group CSF. Later, two CSFs having reasonably importance in recent cyclones were added to avoid any chance of less focus on these two and thus the total cause group CSFs became 10. These ten cause group CSFs are: Strategic planning for emergency relief supply system (F1), Continuous improvement in the preparedness and response practices (implementing the lesson learnt from previous calamities) (F2), Availability of logistics centres and multipurpose cyclone shelters (F3), Improved forecasting and early warning system about cyclone (F5), Organisation structure and distribution of responsibilities (F6), Coordination and collaboration with other organisations (F7), Hazard mapping and vulnerability assessment (F9), Commitment and support of state government and disaster management organisations (F10), Robust information and communication technology (F11) and Timely reporting of information (F12). These ten CSFs of humanitarian supply chains are the combination of cause group CSFs and those CSFs have relatively high ri+ ci values, i.e. F3 and F7.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore and analyse the critical success factors (CSFs) of humanitarian supply chains in mitigating the impact of cyclones in the Indian context using the fuzzy Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) approach.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The selection of CSFs of humanitarian supply chains has been done through several secondary sources and discussion with 12 disaster experts. Thereafter, DEMATEL, an expert judgement-based technique, has been used for selecting, building and analysing a structural model that involves causal relationships between the set of identified CSFs. Furthermore, to accommodate the vagueness involved in human judgement, fuzzy logic is incorporated with the DEMATEL.\nFindings: Based on a literature survey and expert judgement, total 16 CSFs of humanitarian supply chains have been segmented into cause and effect groups based upon their relative influencing scores. The analysis shows that the out of 16 CSFs, ten CSFs have been categorised into cause group CSFs and six as the effect group CSFs.\nPractical implications: The findings of this study will help disaster management institutions, humanitarian agencies, logisticians, NGOs and cyclone-prone countries to improve the critical ingredients in designing and executing an effective cyclone response operation.\nOriginality/value: In this study, fuzzy DEMATEL has been applied to identify and analyse the CSFs of humanitarian supply chains for the cyclone disaster response in the Indian context, which is a novel contribution widening the existing knowledge in humanitarian relief domain.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Users' reactions captured by means of an EEG headset on viewing the presentation of sustainable designs using verbal narrative
|
[
"Consumer behaviour",
"Creativity",
"Design",
"Behaviour",
"Advertising effectiveness",
"Advertisements",
"Usage scenarios",
"Measured emotions"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: A wide range of products for many different functions are continually being replaced or surpassed by new products that come into being, thanks to advances made in technology or the appearance of new needs. Sometimes a product is good for a specific use, but not so much so for a different use. This makes the user feel dissatisfied and left with the need to purchase more products than expected (Cooper, 2005). Within the context of sustainability, these patterns are related with eco-efficiency, which seeks to reduce the consumption of materials and energy, increase recyclability and extend the life of the product (Verfaillie and Bidwell, 2000). The need to reduce the consumption of natural resources is highlighted by the number of products with a high percentage of recyclable or reusable materials that are currently thrown away (Perez-Belis et al., 2012). Yet, the high costs and difficulties involved in recycling may turn out to be insurmountable obstacles for many countries in the future [World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD, 1995, 2000], and thus increasing the intensity of the service and the useful life of the product is a commitment to the future (Sundin et al., 2009).\n2. Theoretical background: 2.1 Green advertising\n3. Method: To test the above hypothesis, an experiment was performed to determine the emotive signals of the consumers, regarding their previous experience with the problem that the selected product seeks to solve (experienced vs non-experienced consumers), and how the information is delivered to them (verbal vs visual narrative).\n4. Results: As a result of the data treatment performed before the statistical analyses, only 40 of the 54 subjects initially selected were considered as valid. Table I shows the final number of men and women participating in the study as well as the group they belong to.\n5. Discussion: 5.1 Short-term excitement\n6. Conclusions: Regarding the main objective posited in this study, namely, to determine whether there is a difference in perception between watching a visual narrative ad showing the functionality and use of a pushchair and a verbal narrative ad that explains the problems and the advantages of using the new product, collecting EEG signals interpreted as emotional parameters included within those considered as cognitive states in the taxonomy of Storm and Storm (1987) shows that:\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The aim of this paper is to determine whether consumers accept new arguments for choosing a product that adapts to future needs. It is also seeking to investigate whether the design of products and their ensuing advertising and promotion through a sustainable approach by means of verbal narrative ads can generate a more positive emotional response in the future users of the product than with the application of visual narrative ads.\nDesign/methodology/approach: To this end, an experiment was conducted consisting of consumers, with and without experience with the product, watching a promotional video based on verbal narrative, created using the new usage scenarios approach, in which the advantages of a sustainable product are shown. The neuronal response of the possible users was then measured by means of the electroencephalogram (EEG) headset. To be able to establish a comparison, the same response was also measured in the same consumers when they viewed a commercial video based on visual narrative about a product with similar characteristics.\nFindings: The results show, among other conclusions, that viewing the verbal narrative ad first triggers higher emotional values of excitement, both in the short and the long term, as well as frustration. It is also observed that having no experience with the product causes higher meditation values.\nPractical implications: This research pretends to discern the emotional effect of watching a green advertisement in the consumers. This can be useful to enterprises both to design their products to orientate them to consumer concerns, and to design the advertisements to emotionally link consumers with the product.\nOriginality/value: This can be useful to enterprises both to design their products in such a way as to orientate them towards consumer concerns, and to design advertisements in such a way as to link consumers emotionally with the product.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Historic horizons of Frederick Taylor's scientific management
|
[
"Scientific management",
"Taylorism",
"Russia"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Published 100 years ago, Taylor's (1998)\nThought revolution in management: Scholarly literature on Taylor's concept and its applications formed two major streams of discussion. One displayed a traditional organizational perspective focused on the shift from empirical to rational (analytic) approach to management and work organization, and on the aggregation of tools and techniques for higher productivity and effectiveness at the level of the firm (Nelson, 1980; Locke, 1982). The other took a broader societal, political and ideological perspective on Taylorism including know-how transfer to the other countries (Merkle, 1980; McLeod, 1983; Morgan, 2006; Wagner-Tsukamoto, 2008; Simha and Lemak, 2010).\nTaylorism and economic growth: The first hypothesis about universality stems from F. Taylor's great conviction about the \"absolute\" nature of his scientific paradigm. He wrote that the new scientific methods, \"four elements that differentiate the new management forms from the old [...] can be applied absolutely to all classes of work, from the most elementary to the most intricate\" (p. 30).\nTaylorism and socio-political systems: the Russian experiment: The second argument relates to the societal implications of F. Taylor's work and its applications to non-American industrial practices. The authors suggest that historic limits to scientific management were defined not only by the type of economic growth but also by the political environments that directly influenced economic systems.\nConclusions: This article contributed to the discussion about historic boundaries of the major paradigm shift in management triggered by F. Taylor's The Principles of Scientific Management. It raised questions about conceptual models (science vs organizational practice), efficiency (firm vs society), implementation (economic vs ideological), and the transfer across borders (fit economic epoch vs fit political context). Several lessons should be drawn from this study.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of the article is to historically position F. Taylor's scientific management in a broad socio-economic landscape, arguing that Taylorism was predetermined by the distinctive industrial type of economic growth and shaped by a political environment of an industrial economy. The authors further aim to discuss how scientific management transcended national boundaries and to analyse the case of Russia, with the focus on the rise and fall of Taylorism in that country in response to political transformations in the twentieth century.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors summarize key attributes of F. Taylor's scientific management as a systemic theoretical approach to efficiency with prioritized practical programmatic orientation and perceived social effects. The discussion on how scientific management fits the industrial economic growth and responds to the political environment follows. The authors conduct archival research and aggregate major literature on the history of Taylorism in twentieth century Russia.\nFindings: The key findings of the study include: a summary of F. Taylor's management paradigm; Taylorism as the product of the industrial type of economic growth; how the political environment in Russia modified the unique cycle of scientific management with its emergence in the 1910s, rise in the 1920s, fall in the 1930s, and rebirth on a technocratic basis in the late 1950s.\nResearch limitations/implications: The paper contributes to the general discussion on Taylorism and provides unique assessments of its historic development in Russia. The results of the study have both academic and educational implications.\nOriginality/value: The findings of the study enrich the discussion about Taylorism and its application in other countries. The archival and analytic results of the study permit conclusions at a high level of aggregation; highlight conflicting positions on the history of Taylorism in Russia in the literature; provide the framework to better understand the scope of scientific management in a historic socio-economic landscape; and display original arguments to support major findings.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Entrepreneurial skills and wage employment
|
[
"Earnings",
"Entrepreneurialism",
"Self-employed workers",
"Employees"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Entrepreneurship has been continuously attracting all the more attention from both political elites (European Commission, 2009, 2013) as well as the scientific community (Kuratko, 2005; Praag and Versloot, 2007; van der Sluis et al., 2008). It gained interest in the context of the current economic crisis as it is commonly considered a motor of innovation and economic growth (Carlsson et al., 2009; Grossmann, 2009; Iyigun and Owen, 1999). Consequently, there is general support for policies directed to enhance the entrepreneurial competencies of the population. In this respect, entrepreneurial competencies have been added to the curricula of several studies, from secondary education to university degrees (Martin et al., 2013; Bae et al., 2014). However, within the literature on entrepreneurship it is not clear what entrepreneurship education should embrace (Bechard and Gregoire, 2005; Fiet, 2001; Haase and Lautenschlager, 2011; O'Connor, 2013), neither whether it has a positive effect on entrepreneurial activity. While some evidence points toward an increase in entrepreneurial success due to entrepreneurship education (Martin et al., 2013), other studies find a null or negative relationship (von Graevenitz et al., 2010; Oosterbeek et al., 2010; Bae et al., 2014).\n2. Literature review: The literature on entrepreneurship education and skills has grown rapidly during the last two decades. However, there is still little agreement on what entrepreneurial skills are. The ability to create or recognize opportunities is in the core of entrepreneurial skills (Kirzner, 1973). There is less consensus to classify other competencies as entrepreneurial skills. Some authors include the ability to evaluate these opportunities (Tang et al., 2012; Ardichvili et al., 2003), others include social ability and networks (Aldrich and Kim, 2007), risk tolerance and other personality characteristics (Caliendo et al., 2014).\n3. Data and methodology: Data\n4. Results: As mentioned in the previous section, we estimate a Heckman selection model where the logarithm of gross hourly wage is the dependent variable in the main equation and whether individuals are employed in wage employment is the selection variable.\n5. Conclusions: This paper identifies and estimates the effect of entrepreneurial competencies on wages for higher education graduates in Spain. Entrepreneurial skills are understood as those competencies that increase the likelihood of self-employment. We employ a sample of university graduates from the REFLEX survey, who graduated in the year 2000, and were interviewed five years later.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Promotion of entrepreneurial skills is often considered as an adequate policy to enhance job creation and economic growth. However, neither the definition of entrepreneurial skills, nor the costs and benefits of such a policy are clear. The purpose of this paper is to check whether the benefits of entrepreneurial skills extent beyond self-employment. The authors denote entrepreneurial skills as those competencies that enhance the likelihood of self-employment. Then the authors analyze whether they are rewarded in wage employment.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors estimate a Heckman selection model with wages in a salaried job as the main dependent variable and working in wage employment vs self-employment as the selection equation. The authors use a sample of higher education graduates from Spain, from the year 2000 interviewed in 2005 within the REFLEX survey.\nFindings: Results reveal that alertness to new opportunities, ability to mobilize others and knowledge of other fields are the competencies that enhance self-employment in Spain. Yet, these skills are not rewarded in a salaried job. Therefore, benefits of policies fostering entrepreneurial skills do not extend to wage employment in Spain.\nResearch limitations/implications: The exclusion restriction used in the analysis is father's education. The authors assume that all the effect of parental education on wages goes through education attainment of the individual and her ability (proxied by her grade in secondary education). A better proxy for ability would be desirable.\nOriginality/value: The authors identify which competencies enhance self-employment in Spain. The authors find that these competencies are not rewarded in wage employment, so the benefits of policies promoting entrepreneurial education remain within self-employment activity only.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Digital natives vs digital immigrants: A multidimensional view on interaction with social technologies in organizations
|
[
"Organizational level",
"Digital natives",
"Extroversion",
"Digital immigrants",
"Social technologies",
"Technological frames"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: This research is motivated by the need to understand the effect of generational differences among knowledge workers that shape uses of social media in organizational contexts. Social media have played an increasingly important role in organizational activities, ranging from knowledge sharing to marketing functions (Leonardi, 2017). Since these technologies made inroads into organizations, key discourses have revolved around ways these technologies may instantiate and fuel the tension between different generations of workers, including how they view work practices and digital technologies (Jarrahi et al., 2017). The role of age on organizational uses of social media is highlighted by both the practitioner and academic literatures (e.g. Bolton et al., 2013; Deloitte, 2017; Khoir and Davison, 2014; Puybaraud and Hahn, 2012). These studies suggest that the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in organizations, in general, and the use of social media, in particular, may vary across different generations of workers, namely digital natives and digital immigrants. We specifically explore the generational differences in the context of consulting firms. In doing so, we also point to other differences among knowledge workers that may influence how these technologies are put into practice.\n2. Literature review: 2.1 Social media use and knowledge sharing in organizations\n3. Conceptual framework: social construction of technology: To explain different interpretations and uses of social technologies by knowledge workers, we build from the concept of technological frames and RSGs. These two concepts are developed under the larger approach of the social construction of technology (SCOT). The SCOT perspective is concerned with the influence of social, political and cultural structures on technological innovations (Pinch and Bijker, 1987).\n4. Methodology: 4.1 Research strategy\n5. Findings: In addition to generational differences, we found two key sets of differences among knowledge workers. We discovered variations among interviewed knowledge workers based on their work-related and personality-driven technological frames. Work-related dimensions stem from organizational and knowledge needs. Two important personality traits that shape the use of social media are enthusiasm for technology and personal disposition (extraversion vs introversion).\n6. Discussion: Our findings make clear that there are multiple RSGs, beyond generational differences, regarding the use of social technologies in organizations. These groups tend to construct and draw from divergent technological frames that have a significant bearing on how social technologies are interpreted and used for knowledge sharing. The RSGs identified in this study help explicate the distinctiveness of knowledge workers who share similar or different views on social technologies. Using the concept of technological frames, we conceptualize the uses of social technologies as an interpretive process in which users make sense of tools and appropriate them based on their knowledge, personal preferences and organizational roles.\n7. Conclusion: This study examines how the age factor is brought to bear and how this influence can coincide with that of other factors rooted in organizational roles and personality traits. Myers and Sadaghiani (2010) assert that although past research has studied some characteristics of digital natives, such as work ethic and work hours, it has ignored the roles of digital natives in their organizations as a primary explanatory variable.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Generational membership is argued to have an impact on how social technologies are used for knowledge sharing and communication in organizational contexts. Previous research has especially underscored the difference between digital natives and digital immigrants in how they make sense of and interact with social technologies for work. The purpose of this paper is to provide a multidimensional perspective and to explore generational differences as well as other factors deriving from both work-related and personal characteristics.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper presents a summary of the findings from interviews with 58 consultants from 17 managing consulting firms. Participants were selected based on their knowledge-intensive roles and their willingness to share information about their knowledge practices.\nFindings: Findings highlight the significance of the organizational rank, knowledge needs, individuals' enthusiasm for technology use and personality disposition in shaping workers' attitudes toward social technologies for knowledge practices. This work builds from a social construction of technology perspective to provide a comprehensive insight into the roles played by work and personality-related factors beyond age and generational differences in the use of social technologies in and for work.\nOriginality/value: This research contributes to the discourse on generational differences and the use of social technologies. It puts this question into a broader context, and highlights other factors that shape this relationship.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Modelling of critical factors for responsiveness in supply chain
|
[
"Responsiveness",
"Trust",
"Value chain",
"Supply chain management"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: In globalized market, organizations are facing tough challenges due to rapid technological changes, shorter product life-cycles and dynamic market requirements. Gunasekaran (2005) has observed that presently manufacturing and logistics operations are increasingly driven by customer needs rather than forecasts. According to van Hoek and Chapman (2006), the growing unpredictability of supply chains (SC) and increased product proliferation has made time-to-market very critical to avoid obsolete inventories. Organizational responsiveness is a central issue in determining business success (Webb and Pettigrew, 1999). In particular, the ability of firms to quickly respond to changes in their external environment is a primary determinant of firm performance (Liao et al., 2003, Charan, 2012). Organizational responsiveness enables companies to quickly detect market changes, reconfigure their processes to meet new market requirements, share information across organizational borders, take maximum advantage of information processing systems and adopt new product and process technologies ahead of their competition. Thus, it is critical to understand the organizational conditions that contribute to the ability of firms to quickly and effectively respond to environmental change. Responsiveness is a critical factor in allowing organizations to develop a competitive advantage (Yu, 2001).\n2. Literature review: To sustain competitiveness, SCs have to be responsive to meet challenges of shortening product life cycle, decreasing lead time for delivery and manufacturing and increasing variety of products (Singh and Sharma, 2015). Kim et al. (2006) have observed that a firm's ability to remain responsive comes not only from the firm itself but also from its SC partners. Singh and Sharma (2015) have observed that SCs should manage their resources, process and performance issues in a cohesive manner. Collaborative efforts and strategic foresights put together by the firm and its SC partners are more likely to enhance SC responsiveness (Moller, 2006). Collaboration among SC partners at various information systems levels is important as it integrates the individual systems of SC partners to provide the infrastructure necessary for effective strategic collaborations and inter-firm information exchange (Kim et al., 2006). Many Indian firms such as Maruti Udyog Ltd, Tata Motors, Mahindra and Mahindra have gotten a competitive advantage due to strong collaboration and partnership between different SC partners at different levels. This is also making their operations more effective and responsive. Kim and Lee (2010) have observed that responsiveness have significant positive relationship with SC performance. Ganesen and Saumen, 2005 have observed that it is important to have top management support for cross-functional training, integration of departments within the organization and vendor development of a responsive SC.\n3. Research methodology: Developing relationship model among selected critical factors from literature is very important to put research findings in usable form for organizations and researchers. To develop a structural model among these critical factors for responsiveness and to determine the relationship between dependent and drivers, ISM methodology has been used. ISM is an interactive learning process. The method is interpretive in that the group's judgment decides whether and how items are related; it is structural relationships among elements of a system (Sage, 1977). However, the direct and indirect relationships between the factors describe the situation far more accurate than the individual factor taken in isolation. Therefore, ISM develops insights into collective understandings of these relationships. However, for developing relationships between two variables, experience of experts/respondents is very crucial. For the developing relationship between different factors, a team of five experts was formed. Three experts were from industry and two were from academia. It may be noted here that this team was constituted only to develop the relationship between factors. Reliability test of these factors was done separately as a part of a research project (unpublished work) and Cronbach's a value for all these factors was found 0.83, i.e. more than the minimum requirement of 0.5 (Nunnally, 1978).\n4. Result and discussion: ISM model of the critical factors for responsive SC indicates the relationship between different critical factors and also gives the level of critical factors as determined in different iterations (Table VI). Driving power and dependence diagram of the critical factors for responsive SC divides the factors in four categories such as: autonomous, dependent, linkages and drivers due to which analysis of factors becomes easier:\n5. Conclusion: These days competition is between integrated SC rather than individual organizations in isolation. To be more competitive and responsive for meeting dynamic market requirements, a SC should be well co-ordinated. This study has identified 17 factors from the literature for analyzing SC responsiveness. These factors are top management commitment, strategy development, resource development, trust development, information sharing between SC members, risk and reward sharing, collaborative decision making, use of IT technology, co-ordinated SC, accurate forecasting of data, integrated inventory management, lead time reduction, agility of SC, agreed vision and goals, long-term relationship between SC members, availability of point of sales data and responsiveness in SC. The ISM approach has been employed to develop the structural relationship among these factors. ISM approach helped in determining driving and dependence power for all these factors. It is observed that top management commitment, strategy development and resource development are major drivers for improving responsiveness in SC. These factors help in achieving integrated inventory management, lead time reduction, agility and responsiveness in SC through trust development, information sharing, collaborative decision making and accurate forecasting of data. Therefore major implication of this research is that for SC responsiveness, top management should be proactive in taking different initiatives to improve resource utilization and strategy implementation. For academicians, this research gives good scope for future research to analyze coordination and responsiveness issues of humanitarian SC in case of unplanned or accidental events, disasters such as earthquake and floods.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: In globalized economy, product life cycle is reducing continuously, customers demands are changing fast, and lead time for response is decreasing. In such scenario, ability of firms to quickly respond to changes in their external environment is a primary determinant of firm's performance. This can be only possible when whole of the supply chain (SC) is responsive. For this, firms have to manage internal operations effectively to enable SC, responsive for market requirements. The purpose of this paper is to identify different factors for responsive SC.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Based on literature review, total 17 critical factors for the responsive SC have been identified. Some of these factors are process oriented and some are result oriented. To develop structural relationship among these factors from strategic perspective, interpretive structural modeling (ISM) approach has been applied.\nFindings: It is observed that top management commitment, strategy development, resource development, use of technology, risk and reward sharing are major drivers for responsive SC. By managing these enablers, organizations can also benefit in terms of inventory management, lead time reduction and agility.\nResearch limitations/implications: ISM has got some limitations. Major limitation is that the relationships developed are subjective and there are chances of biasing. Therefore findings need to be validated with case studies and empirical findings.\nPractical implications: Top management should strive for effective use of resources and technology to improve SC capabilities to meet market changes.\nOriginality/value: This study develops structural relationships between different factors and it will help organizations in taking initiatives for improving responsiveness.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Big data for big pharma: Harmonizing business process management to enhance ambidexterity
|
[
"Big pharma",
"Business process management",
"Ambidexterity",
"Big data",
"Strategic management"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Big data is a fundamental resource for obtaining innovative, hyper-detailed, and somewhat unimaginably complex information about general or specific topics after collecting, connecting, and extrapolating many pieces of information from various sources that are quite different from another but are nevertheless altogether capable of producing large volumes of data (Gandomi and Haider, 2015; Monino, 2016). The use of big data can be helpful for every business activity. A fact that has emerged in recent years, as big data has become increasingly widespread, is that big data analysis, management, and application can also impact the manner in which business processes are conceived, implemented, and evaluated (van Der Aalst, 2014).\nLiterature review: In exploring the existing research, the authors have adopted the following approach. First, they have chosen Google Scholar as the database of reference for the investigation for two main reasons: it includes every type of scientific product (articles, books, book chapters, proceedings, patents, etc.) (Cocchia, 2014), and subsequently, it enables a \"vast coverage of the scholarly literature\" (Bramer et al., 2016). These reasons are very important for conducting research on a topic that is breaking new ground and that probably has not been widely investigated to date. The limits of Google Scholar are also well known, not with regard to low precision, but with regard to its possible use for systematic literature reviews (Bramer et al., 2016).\nResearch objective and methodology: Starting from the considerations discussed above, the main research question of this study is the following:\nInvestigation through grounded theory: The first part of the research methodology consists of determining which pharmaceutical companies can be defined as \"big pharma\" in 2017; only after this determination, in fact, can the research on Google Web start. Research on different sources (cf. Table II) has allowed the construction of the following scheme.\nDiscussion of findings: From the grounded collection, analysis, and reconstruction of the items of the analysis discussed above, the authors have been able to conceive a theoretical framework that represents a partial, but solid, answer to the research question of the current study. This scheme constitutes a methodological tool for governing business process management in big pharma and naturally ambidextrous organizations that are interested in using big data.\nResearch limitations and scientific/managerial implications: Grounded theory is a powerful methodology, but theoretically speaking, it is an abduction (Richardson and Kramer, 2006); thus, it is not possible to obtain clear validity of the theory only from the grounding. In addition, in this research, the observations are not actual circumstances (the 15 most important big pharma companies) but are items of analysis obtained from queries on Google Web.\nConclusion: Taking advantage of information technology is necessary for current and future enterprises and, above all (most probably), for ambidextrous enterprises. However, this advantage is realizable only if a coherent business process management is adopted with respect to the information technology infrastructure.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Big pharma, which comprise the most important companies in the pharmaceutical sector, are ambidextrous organizations by nature. Big data can heavily influence this characteristic by simultaneously requiring adequate business process management. In fact, the impact of big data on business process management can assist big pharma in increasing process efficiency (which is related to the research and development pipeline) and process efficacy (related to product portfolio management). The purpose of this paper is to investigate this possibility and opportunity.\nDesign/methodology/approach: In the absence of specific scientific studies, as indicated by a review of the existing literature, the authors have adopted a grounded theory approach. This research has observed multiple cases (the 15 most important big pharma companies worldwide) through an electronic survey conducted on secondary data. The study has allowed the generation of a theoretical framework based on the (direct) relationship between knowledge process standardization (as the dependent variable) and big data (as the independent variable) in organizations oriented toward ambidexterity, such as big pharma in the specific scope of this research.\nFindings: As big data utilization becomes widespread along the pipeline (or even along the value chain/supply chain), business process management increasingly uses (or tends to use) standardization, adopting process standardization as the main coordination mechanism to manage big knowledge. This theory is even more true when considering the moderating role of ambidexterity. An enterprise oriented toward structural ambidexterity (such as big pharma) that uses big data will require increased process standardization to manage big knowledge. Alternatively, an enterprise oriented toward contextual ambidexterity that uses big data will require increased output standardization.\nOriginality/value: Based on an analytical literature review, no research to date has focused strict attention on the influence that big data can have on business process management to improve the natural ambidexterity of big pharma. The main unique feature of this research relies on this point. The main value of the research originates from the theoretical framework reconstructed by grounded theory, which constitutes a powerful strategic tool to support executives and managers of big pharma in organizing business process management for their ambidextrous organizations using big data.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Problem-solving approaches in maintenance cost management: a literature review
|
[
"Problem-solving",
"(Meta-)Heuristic",
"Incremental",
"Maintenance cost management",
"Planning, Synoptic",
"Monitoring",
"Controlling"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In today's industry, maintenance is an integral part of the production strategy subject to periodic, predictive, and corrective maintenance of the machineries, equipment and physical assets. In typical manufacturing companies, maintenance costs are between 15 and 40 percent of the total cost of production (Wireman, 2014). The potential to reduce or optimize maintenance cost is about 10-20 percent; including the material and labor cost (Pawellek, 2013). Effective cost saving and controlling ultimately influences economy of production and profit. The studies confirmed that reducing maintenance cost by between 3.5 and 16 percent, while keeping production costs the same, leads to an increase in pre-tax profits of between 2.8 and 14 percent (Wireman, 2014). Management (i.e. planning, monitoring, and controlling) of budget and expenditures is, therefore, essential for the overall success of companies.\nSurvey design and methodology: The literature survey of MCM models has been conducted in 2013. The scope of the selection procedure was limited to the models that consider economic impacts of maintenance. Investigating the scientific databases and journals, such as databases of Emerald, Elsevier, IEEE, and Springer, in the first step, brings up approximately 95 relevant articles. In the second stage, all papers have been reviewed and non-relevant, out-of-date, or poor quality works have been excluded (i.e. approximately 15 articles). Following this, the related and interconnected works have been searched out. This has decreased the number of models and clarified the path dependencies between some of the models. Finally, the research results in the qualification of 68 models. Of the selected models, 31 percent are from the articles published by the IEEE Transactions, namely articles which appeared in IEEE Transactions on: Reliability, Engineering Management, and Energy Conversion. The survey showed 16 percent to be from journals of operational research, 10 percent from maintenance engineering journals especially the articles appearing in the Journal of Quality in Maintenance Engineering, and also 10 percent came from production management journals published by Springer and Elsevier. Maintenance handbooks and books and well-known IEEE conferences on reliability and maintainability make up 10 percent of the articles. Additionally, 9 percent of the articles belong to the conference publications (proceedings) of the European Operations Management Association, and other related peer-reviewed conferences on production and operations management. Last but not least, 4 percent of models come from articles published by IIE Transactions (IIE stands for Institute of Industrial Engineers).\nSurvey results: Table II presents the results of the survey by sorting the reviewed models in the chronological order. Each column represents a criterion and associated expressions, based on Table I. Each row shows a model and its association with the criteria. In case of interdependency between models, they are mentioned in one row or indicated by means of footnote. The check-mark () is used to indicate whether a model fulfills a certain expression or not. Finally the sum of counted check-marks is presented.\nDiscussion and conclusion: The literature survey is intended to extend and deepen the insight into problem-solving approaches in the literature of MCM. The survey revealed patterns for classification of the reviewed MCM models by implementing eight criteria and associated expressions.\nFuture: The general pattern, detected through morphological analysis identifies the major characteristics of the surveyed MCM models. It reveals the efforts to establish maintenance control models for bridging the gap of \"planning-monitoring-controlling\", as an important aspect in the literature of MCM. The study brings to the fore the major characteristics for the evolution of a novel reference model in MCM. In terms of problem-solving methodologies, most of the reviewing models use either incremental or synoptic approaches. This is a drawback to conventional MCM models. So a novel MCM model should be established based on new premises, i.e. ends (goals)-means (alternatives): to find the best (optimal) values corresponding to cost or other economic variables, while the evolution of the problem solving is continuous. The trade-off between ends and means is achieved deploying knowledge assets of MCM (i.e. historical data, documented experiences, and domain expertise of the maintenance personnel) for reviewing the past events and planning future ones.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the use of problem-solving approaches in maintenance cost management (MCM). In particular, the paper aims to examine characteristics of MCM models and to identify patterns for classification of problem-solving approaches.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper reflects an extensive and detailed literature survey of 68 (quantitative or qualitative) cost models within the scope of MCM published in the period from 1969 to 2013. The reviewed papers have been critically examined and classified based on implementing a morphological analysis which employs eight criteria and associated expressions. In addition, the survey identified two main perspectives of problem solving: first, synoptic/incremental and second, heuristics/meta-heuristics.\nFindings: The literature survey revealed the patterns for classification of the MCM models, especially the characteristics of the models for problem-solving in association with the type of modeling, focus of purpose, extent and scope of application, and reaction and dynamics of parameters. Majority of the surveyed approaches is mathematical, respectively, synoptic. Incremental approaches are much less and only few are combined (i.e. synoptic and incremental). A set of features is identified for proper classification, selection, and coexistence of the two approaches.\nResearch limitations/implications: This paper provides a basis for further study of heuristic and meta-heuristic approaches to problem-solving. Especially the coexistence of heuristic, synoptic, and incremental approaches needs to be further investigated.\nPractical implications: The detected dominance of synoptic approaches in literature - especially in the case of specific application areas - contrasts to some extent to the needs of maintenance managers in practice. Hence the findings of this paper particularly address the need for further investigation on combining problem-solving approaches for improving planning, monitoring, and controlling phases of MCM. Continuous improvement of MCM, especially problem-solving and decision-making activities, is tailored to the use of maintenance knowledge assets. In particular, maintenance management systems and processes are knowledge driven. Thus, combining problem-solving approaches with knowledge management methods is of interest, especially for continuous learning from past experiences in MCM.\nOriginality/value: This paper provides a unique study of 68 problem-solving approaches in MCM, based on a morphological analysis. Hence suitable criteria and their expressions are provided. The paper reveals the opportunities for further interdisciplinary research in the maintenance cost life cycle.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Causal paths to acceptance of technological innovations by individual employees
|
[
"Experience",
"Enjoyment"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Innovations that need to be incorporated in a workplace's processes are of little value if they are not accepted and implemented by employees (Frambach and Schillewaert, 2002; Rizzuto et al., 2014). Individual employee must actually use an innovation to realize the intended benefits and increased productivity (Maduku et al., 2016; Partala and Saari, 2015; Dauda and Lee, 2015). According to Rogers's (2003) model of innovation adoption, innovation passes through a set of stages before it is implemented by people. Individuals develop the ability to formulate attitudes, make decisions, implement and confirm whether or not innovations should be accepted. Despite an organizational decision to adopt an innovation, its actual usage depends on how employees implement it (Rizzuto et al., 2014). It is therefore important to examine employees' acceptance of innovations because if they do not do so, then the desired benefits cannot be realized and the organization may eventually abandon the innovation. People by nature will resist change unless they can be convinced that they can directly benefit from the change (Ajzen, 1991). New technologies are rapidly replacing old ones by providing more powerful tools, efficiency and speed for users (McKenna et al., 2013; Oliveira et al., 2016). Adoption can succeed when employees accept and effectively use the innovation, meaning that an organization should realize the acceptance process and the drivers that are essential in making it effective (Lee et al., 2006).\n2. Theoretical background: The theoretical framework for this study is based on the theory of reasoned action (TRA), the technology acceptance model (TAM), TAM2, TAM3, theory of planned behavior (TPB) and the conceptual framework devised by Frambach and Schillewaert (2002). The TRA is based on the assumption that human beings are usually quite rational and they can make systematic use of information available to them (Ajzen and Fishbein, 1980). According to TRA, a person's execution of a specific behavior is determined by his or her behavioral intention to enact the behavior, and behavioral intention is jointly determined by two basic determinants: a person's attitude toward a particular behavior and subjective norms concerning the behavior in question (Ajzen and Fishbein, 1980; Mishra et al., 2014; Kukafka et al., 2003). TRA postulates that external stimuli influence attitude through changes in a person's belief structure (Ajzen and Fishbein, 1980). Research has found that external variables can influence a person's beliefs or the relative importance he/she attaches to attitudinal and normative considerations (Ajzen and Fishbein, 1980). Their argument confirms that external factors may also influence behavior. Although Ajzen and Fishbein (1980) stated that external factors can help understand behavioral phenomena but the authors did not include the external variables explicitly. External variables are assumed to influence an individual's interpretation of the environment and thus the beliefs that a person holds. This study acknowledges Ajzen and Fishbein's reference to the possible influence of external variables and expands on their model by including explicitly external variables. These variables impact on employees' behavior in terms of their attitude about an innovation being considered for implementation. The TPB is an extension of TRA that emphasizes attitudinal aspects impacting behavioral intention. In fact, TPB is concerned with individual intention which is influenced by an individual's attitude, subjective norm and behavioral control (Baker and White, 2010). The performance of many behaviors may be constrained by the lack of appropriate opportunities, skills and resources. For that reason, the TPB extends the TRA to include the perceived behavioral control which is conditioned to some extent to external facilitators, among them the organizational support received by the employees.\n3. Model development: The conceptual model used in this paper is based on the TRA which incorporates elements of the TAM, TAM2, TAM3 and Frambach and Schillewaert's (2002) model. The five variables include perceived usefulness, innovativeness, experience, self-image and enjoyment which are similar to the elements included in the TRA, TAM, TAM2 and TAM3. TRA used a single belief construct called behavioral beliefs. TAM used two behavioral beliefs--perceived usefulness and ease of use. Two variables: organizational patronage and incentives are external elements to the individual considering adopting an innovation. Ajzen and Fishbein (1980) did not include external factors in TRA but state that an examination of the external factors would be useful in enhancing the understanding of a given behavioral phenomenon. The external variable is also suggested in the original TAM (Davis et al., 1989). Frambach and Schillewaert (2002) included organizational facilitators as external factors in their model. The researcher has included external factors in the model because Ajzen and Fishbein (1980) highlighted their importance. Furthermore, Frambach and Schillewaert included the above external factors into the model. TAM3 also included organizational patronage as an element of external control. The factor \"incentive\" is adopted from Chang and Cheung (2001) who developed their model integrating TRA and TAM. The external factors such as organizational patronage and incentives are linked to the organization where individual employees are based. This study adopted the variable \"experience\" from TAM2 to provide better understanding of the adoption of innovation model. Thus, the behavioral beliefs, cognitive processes and external factors affect individual attitude toward innovation, which consequently influence individuals' adoption of innovation. Figure 1 presents the proposed conceptual model of innovation adoption integrating all the variables discussed above.\n4. Hypotheses development: 4.1 Organizational patronage\n5. Methods: The data for this study were collected from professional and management personnel at the University of South Australia, primarily using an online survey questionnaire. The study examined the use of selected advanced features of Microsoft Outlook such as calendar applications. Microsoft Outlook is good for this reason because it has been widely used for many years. However, it has many advanced features beyond the core (e-mail) function, in which there is a large variation in the usage of these advanced features, and the university is keen to increase their use. Microsoft Outlook is a personal information manager incorporated into the Microsoft Office suite. Although often used mainly as an e-mail application, it also provides a calendar and has the capacity for contact management, task, note taking, journal and web browsing. It can be used as a stand-alone application, but can also operate in conjunction with other Microsoft Servers to provide enhanced functions for multiple users, such as sharing mailboxes, calendars, public folders and meeting time allocation (Poremsky, 2003). Microsoft Outlook is not a new innovation. Organizations have been using Microsoft Outlook for many years. However, many employees are mainly using e-mail as a core application of Microsoft Outlook. Many employees are not using its advanced or sophisticated features and many are not even aware of what other features exist and what they can do with them. The features of any software that have not been used by many are considered new and innovative. This refers to the definition of innovation used by Zaltman et al. (1973, p. 8) who stated that \"innovation can be defined as an idea, practice, or material artifact perceived to be new by the relevant unit of adoption.\" It is any new system or program, which is new to individuals who are adopting it, no matter how old the system may be or how many other organizations may have adopted it. The length of time the innovation has been in existence and the number of other organizations that have adopted it does not directly affect its newness to organizations or to the individuals considering its adoption (Zaltman et al., 1973). They stated that \"this does not imply that each new idea or system or technology adopted by an organization is necessarily new to society. A particular new system may be new only to organizations or to individuals who are adopting it\" (p. 11). For example, one of the advanced features of Microsoft Outlook is \"calendar.\" It is an advanced feature because it is only used by a few employees who are especially trained due to their particular needs and interests. The aim of this study is therefore to test the proposed model of innovation adoption using the calendar application.\n6. Results: 6.1 Confirmatory factor analysis\n7. Discussion: The study has revealed some interesting findings that have refined, deepened and advanced our knowledge of the driving forces shaping adoption and practice of an advanced technological innovation in an Australian organizational setting. The study found that organizational support and motivation are important factors in a smooth adoption process. When individuals perceive strong managerial support, allocation of sufficient resources and some kinds of personal benefits, they are likely to treat the innovation in a positive way. Managers need to focus careful attention on showing their commitment to innovation. This finding suggests that management needs to play an active role in providing necessary technical, administrative and other necessary support including training and dissemination of information to employees which would be instrumental in having an innovation accepted and used by employees. Unless individuals perceive that management is strongly behind the use of an innovation, they are unlikely to perceive it favorably. The findings further suggest that proper incentives can also influence employees' decision to try and eventually practice a technological innovation. A business organization may nurture in their employees, a positive perception to use an innovation by implementing preplanned support activities such as allocating resources and providing incentives such as recognition, increased autonomy and greater job security. Motivation also plays an important part in the possibility of promotion, workload concession for learning a new system and certificate of appreciation. This finding is supported by previous research such as Wang and Lai (2014), Chang and Cheung (2001), Cheung et al. (2000), Nilakant and Rao (1994), Bhattacherjee (1998), Currid (1995), Wang et al. (2016), Chen and Ching (2002), and Lin (2014).\n8. Conclusion and Implications: To sum up this study has revealed a number of important findings that have been discussed above. This research noted that some of the most common obstacles to innovation adoption are lack of human capacity and expertise, and inadequate managerial support contributing to its underutilization. Any innovation is likely to encounter a substantial amount of resistance. However, the model demonstrates that it may be particularly important to the organizations and employees wanting to adopt and implement innovation. In short, the theoretical framework developed and utilized in this research provides a rich and potentially fruitful area for further research, and contribution to knowledge. It has practical implications for organizations, managers, administrators and the employees concerned with taking up innovation in the organization.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Despite much research on organizations' adoption of innovation, little is currently known about individual employees have gone about it. The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate the determinants that address individual employees' decisions concerning innovation in the workplace.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Data were collected from 272 employees from a tertiary education institution in Australia using a structured instrument.\nFindings: Results from the structural equation modeling analysis indicate that enjoyment and motivation impact significantly on attitudes to an innovation, which, in turn, affects how employees behave toward it.\nPractical implications: Furthermore, organizational patronage, innovativeness and self-image have been found to influence the innovation adoption process. These findings have implications for the effective management and implementation of an innovation at the individual level.\nOriginality/value: Although innovation adoption has been studied extensively, drivers of adoption and research on individual innovation acceptance remain limited. Designing an effective approach for increasing end-user acceptance and subsequent use of innovation continues to be a fundamental challenge. The current literature indicates that we know relatively little about the ways in which individuals adopt and the factors that influence individual adoption of innovation. This study is designed to fill that gap. The identification of the factors is important to create a work environment that is conducive to individual adoption of innovation and thereby gain the expected benefits from the innovation.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Implementing lean methods in the Emergency Department: The role of professions and professional status
|
[
"Qualitative research",
"Sociology",
"NHS",
"Organizational innovation",
"Professions",
"Accident and emergency"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nBackground: Health care systems in the developed world have been under increasing pressure from the state to control costs and improve quality since at least the 1970s. Despite these efforts, health care systems have proven to be remarkably resistant to various schemes of \"reform\". Leaving aside the difficulty of defining and measuring concepts like efficiency and productivity, especially in health care, a key factor frustrating the projects of governments of all political persuasions has been the power of the health care professions, particularly medicine (physicians and surgeons). Though the literature has applied the concepts of deprofessionalisation (Ritzer and Walczak, 1988) and proletarianisation (Haug, 1988) to, inter alia, medicine, Willis (2006) concludes that \"there is also evidence that the medical profession retains very significant power and authority\" (p. 427). Pickard (2009) suggests that medicine has been quite successful at subverting managerially-imposed initiatives to suit their own ends, while McDonald et al. (2008) argue that medicine has created new forms of professionalism which allow it to incorporate and appropriate managerial initiatives. The question thus arises of whether lean is another managerially-inspired method of controlling professionals in health care or something that professionals can successfully incorporate into their ideas about what it is to be a professional.\nContext: This paper considers an initiative to increase productivity and quality in health care, the use of \"lean methods\" in a hospital ED in the UK National Health Service (NHS). Lean is by no means the first method derived from industry which has been applied to the NHS. Other initiatives which have been used in the past include total quality management (Pollitt, 1996), rapid cycle change (Powell et al., 2009), \"Six Sigma\" (Pyzdek and Keller, 2009) and business process re-engineering (Hammer and Champy, 1993). Despite the enthusiasm demonstrated by the NHS using change management strategies derived from industry, even the proponents of these strategies are starting to doubt whether they are especially effective (Isern and Pung, 2007).\nStudies of lean: Though this approach has been used to improve services in a variety of settings within the NHS (NHS Institute, 2008), it has not yet been widely applied within EDs in the UK. There are a small number of studies on initiatives of this type elsewhere in the world. In the emergency medicine literature. Dickson et al. (2009a) report on a application of this approach in the USA and in Dickson et al. (2009b) provide comparative data across four EDs. Ben-Tovim et al. (2008) and Ieraci et al. (2008) report on similar projects in Australia. This literature is fairly uncritically positive about lean methods, and does not address any contextual or cultural factors, though Dickson et al. (2009a) acknowledge their importance. The other papers in the medical literature (e.g. Walley, 2003) are not empirically based, and are largely introductions to the idea of lean methods and its potential applicability to the ED. What is striking about the literature on lean in the ED context is that papers published in medical journals, written by doctors, are generally so uncritical of what is clearly a managerial initiative, which would be expected to be opposed by doctors. The reasons why this might be will be discussed in more detail below. Mazzocato et al. (2012), in a mixed-methods study of lean in a Swedish ED, point to \"a mismatch between job tasks, licensing constraints, and competence; a perception of being monitored, and discomfort with inter-professional collaboration\" as factors which inhibited the success of lean, suggesting professional and cultural issue are worthy of further investigation. Eljiz et al. (2011), in a paper using lean in an ED as a case study, show the importance of cultural factors in determining whether innovation is acceptable in health care. Holden (2011) points out that lean's impact on ED staff is rarely discussed in the literature he reviewed.\nMethods: In total, 27 semi-structured, qualitative interviews were conducted with staff from the ED in spring 2010 when the lean project had been running for seven to eight months. Interviews were conducted in the ED, by two research associates who are both experienced qualitative interviewers. Topics covered included the interviewee's understanding of what the project is about, their involvement in the project, what they thought about it. The interview was then broadened to consider more general issues of inefficiency/productivity, how lean relates to protocols and guidelines and predictions for future. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed by the research team. The interviewees consisted of eight doctors (ranging from F2[2] to consultant EM physician), 16 nurses (ranging from unqualified nurses to Emergency Nurse Practitioners) and three others (including EDAs).\nResults: Acceptance\nDiscussion: Resistance to lean\nConclusions: By comparison with a very similar initiative (Waring and Bishop, 2010), lean methods were received more positively by clinicians in the ED. We acknowledge that this study is a snapshot at a particular stage in the process, and that the long-term future of the initiative may be open to question, but nonetheless this is a striking finding. The level of acceptance is a product of several factors. At the level of national policy, the four-hour waiting time target for ED patients which fundamentally altered the status of the ED vis-a-vis the rest of the hospital, and the nature of work in the ED. Aspects of the professional culture of emergency medicine and the ED also played a part, as did the way in which the lean methods initiative was introduced in this context. Perhaps of wider interest is the relationship with emergency medicine's comparatively low status as a medical specialism, which is itself related to the possible development of a type of organisational professionalism not usually associated with medicine. The status of the professionals involved, and the stage they have reached in the process of professionalisation are significant factors in whether initiatives like lean are accepted in health care.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the implementation of lean methods in an Emergency Department (ED) and the role of the professions in this process.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Qualitative, semi-structured interviews with ED staff in a UK NHS hospital.\nFindings: Lean was met with more engagement and enthusiasm by the professionals than is usually reported in the literature. The main reasons for this were a combination of a national policy, the unique clinical environment and the status of the professional project for doctors in emergency medicine.\nResearch limitations/implications: Single site, one-off study.\nPractical implications: The status and development of professionals involved may play a big part in the acceptability of initiatives like lean methods in health care. The longer term sustainability of the organisational changes introduced remains open to question.\nOriginality/value: This paper analyses the success of lean methods in health care with reference to the professional status and stage of development of the professions involved, using the sociology of professions. This approach has not been used elsewhere.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
The level of food safety knowledge among meat handlers
|
[
"Retail stores",
"Food safety knowledge",
"Meat handlers",
"Meat processing plants",
"Slaughterhouses"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Food-borne diseases, are caused by biological, chemical and physical hazards, which can contaminate food at several points during production and preparation process. Although the research in this field have been very intensive during the last decades, and many preventive and control measures have been already applied in the food industry, the burden of food-borne diseases remain at unacceptably high level (Havelaar et al., 2010).\n2. Material and methods: 2.1. Selection of meat handlers\n3. Results and discussion: 3.1. Sample characteristics\n4. Conclusion: This survey provides very important information on the level of food safety knowledge among Serbian meat handlers and difference/gaps in the knowledge among workers from different roles within the meat chain (slaughtering, processing and retail). This is of special importance, as these results might serve as a base for further improvement in the knowledge and training/educational material and emphasize the need for continuous food safety training among meat workers. It is crucial for all meat handlers to receive adequate and focused food safety training that will cover most important factors that contribute to food-borne outbreaks (cross contamination, time/temperature abuse during storage of ingredients or products, insufficient heat treatment and meat handlers' hands being one of crucial vectors for microorganisms). It is often assumed that the training leads to knowledge based changes in attitudes and practices on site. Nevertheless, several authors questioned if these trainings will result in assumed food handling changes (Bas et al., 2006). Reasons for this might be found in the fact that the food handlers are often recruited from lower socio-economical class and subsequently with lower initial education, rapid staff turnover and poor motivation due to the low payment and condense job assignments (Soon et al., 2012). Pellegrino et al. (2015) discussed several motivational models for improving hand hygiene. Clayton et al. (2002) indicated that trained food handlers had identified many barriers to implement obtained food handling information, such as lack of time, lack of staff and a lack of resources. Additionally, food handlers often underestimate themselves and the risk of their own role in the safety of meat and meat products. Therefore, it is not only the food safety knowledge that should be obtained through the risk-based food safety training, but also the change of company culture arising from the management in meat establishments. Additionally, food safety managers should be proactive and dedicated in both supervising meat handlers activities and on-site correcting/training of handlers in order to improve and advance food and handlers hygiene.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper was to evaluate food safety knowledge of among meat handlers in Serbian meat establishments along the meat chain, i.e. in slaughterhouses, meat processing plants and retail stores.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A structured, self-administrative questionnaire was designed and used to assess the level of food safety knowledge among handlers in different meat establishments. In total, of 352 meat handlers were involved in this study, with 110 handlers from slaughterhouses (31 per cent), 125 handlers from meat processing plants (36 per cent) and 116 handlers from retail stores (33 per cent). For each participant, the knowledge score was calculated by dividing the sum of correct answers by the total number of correct responses. Additionally, knowledge gaps among meat handlers were identified for each question across the three types of establishments (slaughterhouses, meat processing plants and retail stores).\nFindings: The average knowledge score for all participants was 64 per cent, whereas handlers from slaughterhouses and meat processing plants obtained significantly better scores (65 per cent and 66 per cent, respectively) than handlers from retail (60 per cent, p\nOriginality/value: This is the first research aimed to investigate the food safety knowledge among meat handlers in Serbia and also the first research performed to determine food safety knowledge among workers operating in different phases of the meat chain, namely meat handlers from slaughterhouses, meat processing plants and retail stores.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Enterprising health: Creating the conditions for entrepreneurial behaviour as a strategy for effective and sustainable change in health services
|
[
"Entrepreneurs",
"Sustainable development",
"Regulation",
"Health services",
"United Kingdom"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Entrepreneurial behaviour plays a key role in sustainable change. Recent UK government policy pronouncements advocate the need for health service staff at all levels to be entrepreneurial in finding ways to make change happen. Yet such policy rhetoric runs the risk of underestimating the complexity of the conditions within which entrepreneurial behaviour can thrive. The ability to achieve effective and sustainable outcomes varies considerably even between National Health Service (NHS) Trusts faced with comparable challenges such as the implementation of nationally prescribed targets. This variance can be explained in terms of the ability of the organisation to generate the structures, processes, individual competence and motivation which enable employees at all levels to act as entrepreneurs with the ability and legitimacy to achieve strategic goals by working creatively in the spaces between formal organisational structures.The UK Government's NHS Modernisation Agenda explicitly sought to move the UK NHS from a centrally regulated bureaucracy delivering mass-produced services to an innovative sector responsive to individual patient needs. The ambitious ten-year NHS Plan (Department of Health, 2000a) pursued fundamental changes in NHS organisational culture, challenging deeply embedded traditions and practices, introducing new values, transforming patient experience and improving the working lives of staff. To promote such changes government ministers and civil servants championed \"entrepreneurial leaders\" bringing \"vision, leadership and passion\" to the NHS, and who \"generate new and alternative solutions that extend the boundaries of healthcare...challenge factors that are growth-limiting and refuse to accept the status quo\" (Sir Nigel Crisp, 2005).This study builds on the author's experience in implementing one of these NHS Plan initiatives as a County Programme Lead for the Improving Working Lives (IWL) programme (Department of Health, 2000b). IWL attempted a systemic review of HR practice and working life across the 1.3 million NHS staff, and was specifically designed to create attractive and rewarding workplaces to motivate, recruit and retain skilled employees. Working with the 11 NHS Trusts in an English County from 2004 to 2006, the author reflected on the different approaches to implementation and the stark variation in quality and sustainability of outcomes, even though each trust achieved accreditation within a uniform regulatory process. Recognising that implementation was heavily focused on the actions of these individual IWL Leads in each Trust a small pilot study explored the different factors contributing to this variance. Analysis of this data suggested that CEO and board support and, unexpectedly, the entrepreneurial behaviour of the lead were key factors affecting outcomes.Seeking to examine the conditions under which some managers emerge as entrepreneurs and the consequences for the programme, thematic analysis of interview data from IWL leads in all 11 trusts was undertaken, and was repeated on data from interviews held 12 to 18 months later to analyse the sustainability of the programme.To be sustainable, IWL principles needed to be embedded in all areas of hospital management and practice, and not treated as another set of short-term performance targets. However the author found notable variance in achievement and sustainability across the Trusts despite a national programme audit instrument, which ensured uniform targets, validation procedures and support between trusts. This variation illustrates the real difficulty of securing effective and sustainable change in an organisation as complex and intransigent as the NHS with its deeply engrained power structure. Other studies have found great variation in the extent to which similar NHS Trusts given comparable training, financial and expert resources have been able to achieve and sustain change (Bevan et al., 2007, p. 137).Addressing the limitations of organisational theory in explaining effective and sustainable change, the conceptual basis of this research is grounded in a rarely explored synthesis between emerging bodies of research on changing regulatory structures (\"post-bureaucracy\"), and on the emergence of entrepreneurial behaviour in order to understand how individual identity construction is informed both by context and by factors unique to individuals.Sustainable organisational change\nDesigning the study: Building on the author's experience of supporting and validating IWL accreditation with the 11 NHS trusts, each IWL lead was interviewed on two occasions after the end of the programme (with a period of 12 months between each individual's interviews). All 11 trusts within this Strategic Health Authority (SHA) are representative of those found in other SHAs, including mental health, acute, and primary care trusts. Thematic analysis (Boyatzis, 1998, p. 4) of the interview data was undertaken sequentially at two levels: first a broad brush analysis of two sets of interview data from each of the ten leads, and second an in depth analysis of six sets of transcripts from three trusts/leads (first and second round interviews) which revealed detailed coded narrative for interpretation.Drawing on theories arising from the pilot study and the literature, three \"themes\" were identified for thematic analysis across each \"case\" (trust):1. organisational regulation, structure and support;2. Individual identity/behaviour; and3. effectiveness and sustainability of change.The broad brush analysis showed that all leads acknowledged the role played by the CEO, board and senior managers in supporting them or otherwise, and the necessity of involving staff side representatives and middle managers. Engaging staff side and employee representative together with a broad cross section of staff was both essential and difficult due to service pressures and resistance by some middle managers. Designated as \"leaders of change\" all leads across the 11 organisations demonstrated varying attributes of either \"champion\" or \"entrepreneur\". However, the distribution of entrepreneurial behaviour was not evenly distributed throughout the sample, with some more susceptible to the constraining influences of bureaucracy and new managerialism. There was notable variance in quality of outcomes from the first interviews and stark differences in the sustainability of change were observed at the second interview 12 months later.The broad brush analysis revealed key patterns of variance in terms of four potential ideal typical responses, grounded in the interaction between individual behaviour and organisation structure. These four ideal typical responses are classified for the purposes of this research as: conformity, seen in 70 per cent of the organisations, resisted or dissonant entrepreneurship (20 per cent), organisational entrepreneurship (10 per cent), and symbolic entrepreneurship (see Figure 1):1. Organisational entrepreneurship is sanctioned and supported at board level; actors have autonomy and opportunities for creativity in working between organisation structures and across organisational boundaries and networks, leading to wider staff engagement, sustained change, improvement and innovation.2. Resisted or dissonant entrepreneurship is where the key actor possesses a real understanding of the need to embed change within the deep structures of an organisation, but is constrained by those same structural forces. In such cases entrepreneurial behaviour may be interpreted as subversive in that although it is focused on achieving shared goals it does so in ways, which involve bypassing established practices or mobilising resources to which the actor has partial access.3. Conformity is characterised by compliance in which hierarchical management \"deep structures\" produce dependence on performance targets and conformity to working within given roles.4. Symbolic entrepreneurship exists where the language of entrepreneurship is adopted at corporate level but without evidence of entrepreneurial behaviour in practice.Only three of these ideal types are represented within the data generated by the broad analysis of the 11 trusts. Although several trusts within the sample demonstrated some characteristics of entrepreneurial practice, only one appeared to have made a significant break from a traditional culture of compliance.Selecting the trusts for in-depth analysis\nThe leads in their organisational context: Sally\nConclusions: The government's NHS modernisation agenda has led to rapid-paced reforms, driven by the need for new responses to social, technological and economic trends. However despite the accompanying political rhetoric of entrepreneurialism, change in the vast, hierarchical, labour intensive NHS is principally driven by government policy. While IWL represented a significant innovation, the really hard task lies not in designing policy measures but in securing their even and sustainable implementation. Evidence from NHS organisations in this study and elsewhere demonstrates that IWL was capable of generating sustainable change, but that it did not do so evenly or inclusively. Pilot study evidence prompted exploration of potential syntheses between theories of regulatory change, entrepreneurship and identity construction, providing a structure for the analysis of the empirical data.By focusing on the lived experiences of individual health service managers engaged in a national change programme, this study offers an empirically grounded understanding of how co-existing modes of regulation interact with individual behaviour to generate strategies differentiated by entrepreneurship or conformity. These can be represented, by four ideal types, namely: organisational entrepreneurship, resisted or dissonant entrepreneurship, conformity, and symbolic entrepreneurship (see Figure 1). As this paper demonstrates, trusts represented in this study correspond strongly with the characteristics of three of these ideal types.Organisational change literature pays insufficient attention to entrepreneurship, the factors inciting entrepreneurial behaviour and how entrepreneurs affect the sustainability of change. All three trusts studied in depth demonstrated the persistence of \"deep structures\" (Ferlie and McNulty, 2004, p. 1394) reflected in bureaucratic demarcations, regulation and control. However, two leads emerged as entrepreneurs from the ambiguity and complexity of co-existing modes of regulation. Trust Two, an organisation strategically focused on change, appeared to break significantly from a traditional culture of compliance. IWL's transformational potential in this culture of organisational entrepreneurship supported and informed Sonya's emerging identity as a self-motivated entrepreneur pursuing trust interests, leading to sustained practice, change and innovation. Conversely Sally's self perception as a bureaucrat was reinforced within Trust One's culture of conformity characterised by compliance and dependence on residual \"deep structures\" of hierarchical management. Working within HRM parameters as an \"IWL Champion\", Sally toed the corporate line and restricted change to a \"tick box\" exercise. Consequently Trust One marginally achieved IWL accreditation but generated little evidence of sustained improvement in working lives.Jess and Sonya's experience validates literature findings that inconsistency and ambiguity in regulatory objectives and goals are important factors in stimulating new forms of entrepreneurship (Saddler, 2000, p. 36). Yet Jess's resisted or dissonant entrepreneurship within Trust Three shows that opposition will be met in an organisational context not conducive to entrepreneurial behaviour. However, she learned to exploit the deep structures of bureaucratic hierarchy in order to achieve shared goals. Jess possessed real understanding of the need to embed change within Trust Three but experienced dissonance in the face of structural inertia. Although she secured real workforce benefits, these were not sustained when Jess was redeployed on completion of the programme. Confirming Downing's (2005, p. 196) findings, Jess and Sonya's interactions with senior management, and the support they received from the staff, sustained and transformed the nature of their entrepreneurship.Existing literature does not explain the uneven distribution of entrepreneurial behaviour throughout the workforce, where some individuals continue to be more susceptible to the constraining influences of bureaucracy and new managerialism. Jess constructed an entrepreneurial identity despite working in an organisational context as unpromising as that of Sally. Jess shows that even when working within similar structural contexts, the particular qualities that individual identities bring to change have a major effect in differentiating outcomes. Identity research suggests that individuals secure their sense of meaning and reality from participation in discursive and disciplinary practices that constitute them as subjects. Participation confirms an individualised sense of identity, which is continuously being constructed, as the surrounding relations, practices and discourses change (Hallford and Leonard, 1999, p. 658). However for Sally, whose experience led her towards a more conformist identity, new managerial discourses were incorporated into narratives of self-identity as a form of social domination. Thus corporate regulation of self may constitute an invisible identity cage (Courpasson and Clegg, 2006, p. 320). In short, regulatory structure and identity construction can be complicit in preventing the emergence of entrepreneurial behaviour.In symbolic entrepreneurship the language of entrepreneurship is adopted at corporate level but with little to support entrepreneurial behaviour in practice. Although not evident from the current study, this may reflect a common reality hidden behind government rhetoric about \"a new breed of entrepreneurial leaders\" (Sir Nigel Crisp, 2005). The language of entrepreneurship has been adopted by policy makers within the modernisation agenda, obscuring the real difficulty of securing effective and sustainable change in an organisation as complex as the health service.In conclusion, a synthesis constructed from emerging bodies of research on changing regulatory structures (\"post-bureaucracy\") and on the emergence of entrepreneurial behaviour builds understanding of how individual identity construction is informed both by organisational context and by factors unique to individuals. This suggests that the interaction of regulatory structures and the identity work of individuals influence the emergence of entrepreneurial behaviour and thus the effectiveness of change. This study has therefore identified specific conditions for stimulating the emergence of entrepreneurs as agents of effective and sustainable change in the NHS, and has identified policy considerations for planning future change programmes.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - This paper seeks to investigate conditions under which entrepreneurs emerge as agents of effective and sustainable change in UK National Health Service Trusts.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The research synthesises literature on changing regulatory structures (\"post-bureaucracy\") and entrepreneurial behaviour to understand how individual identity construction is informed both by context and by individual attributes. Thematic analysis of interview data involving managers from 11 NHS Trusts, including detailed analysis of six transcripts, focuses on regulatory processes, the emergence of entrepreneurial behaviour and outcome variations in workplace innovation and improvement.\nFindings: - This study identifies co-existing modes of regulation, which interact with individual behaviour, generating strategies differentiated as entrepreneurial or conformist. Four ideal types are identified: organisational entrepreneurship, resisted or dissonant entrepreneurship, conformity, and symbolic entrepreneurship. Analysis reinforces those literature findings, which suggest that the interaction of regulatory structures and the identity work of individuals influence the emergence of entrepreneurial behaviour and the effectiveness of change.\nPractical implications: - The ability to achieve effective and sustainable outcomes varies considerably even between NHS Trusts faced with comparable challenges in implementing nationally prescribed targets. This variance is explained in terms of the organisation's ability to generate the structures, processes, individual competence and motivation which enable employees at all levels to act entrepreneurially with the ability and legitimacy to achieve strategic goals by working creatively in the spaces between formal organisational structures.\nOriginality/value: - The study identifies specific conditions, which stimulate the emergence of entrepreneurs as agents of effective and sustainable change in the NHS, identifying factors that policymakers should consider when implementing change.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Performance-based contracting for advanced logistics services: Challenges in its adoption, design and management
|
[
"Logistics service providers",
"Agency theory",
"Performance management",
"Incentive alignment",
"Business services",
"Contract management",
"Performance-based contracting"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: This paper empirically explores the key challenges associated with adopting, designing and managing performance-based contracts (PBC) for advanced logistics services, as seen from a service provider viewpoint. A provider perspective is deemed appropriate since PBC mostly originates in supply side (rather than demand side) initiatives. Logistics service offerings have grown in complexity as providers bundle core transport and warehousing activities with value-added services to combat tight margins. Such extended service configurations are marketed as third party logistics (3PL) (Selviaridis and Spring, 2007). The introduced lead logistics provider (LLP) and fourth party logistics (4PL) business models convey the provider's extended roles in their customers' supply chains. In this paper we use the term \"advanced logistics services\" (Andersson and Norrman, 2002) to refer to the provision of bundled, management- and information-oriented logistics services (including 3PL and 4PL/LLP). We distinguish advanced services from single-activity (transport or warehousing) offerings (Lieb and Bentz, 2005). Providers of advanced services (typically non-asset based) aim at increasing supply chain performance of their customers by coordinating information flows and managing a network of service sub-contractors (van Hoek and Chong, 2001). In exchange for extended management responsibilities and risk-taking, providers expect to appropriate part of the performance benefits that their customers enjoy (e.g. sharing cost savings) and increase their profit margins (Prockl et al., 2012).\nTheoretical frame of reference: PBC\nResearch method: The study adopted a multi-case embedded design (Yin, 2003) for two reasons. First, case studies are suitable for building in-depth understanding (Voss et al., 2002). The cases allowed building in-depth insights into key challenges of adopting, designing and managing PBCs. Second, the embedded case design allowed capturing not only provider-specific factors but also others associated with contractual relationships and service interactions with other supply chain parties. Service performance too often depends on coordination of inputs of multiple actors, i.e. logistics providers, customers and service sub-contractors. This entails challenges with regards to designing incentives, sharing risk and managing performance across the service supply chain (Selviaridis and Norrman, 2014). Although our primary unit of analysis was the challenges of PBC adoption, design and management, the study also analyzed service delivery interactions with customers (secondary unit of analysis).\nWithin-case description and analysis: This section describes briefly the cases (aided by Table I) and presents within-case analyses in terms of key challenges of PBC adoption, design and management.\nCross-case analysis and discussion: This section presents the cross-case analysis of PBC adoption, design and management challenges. It also discusses the findings in relation to existing literature.\nConclusions and implications: This paper seeks to empirically explore and understand key challenges associated with adopting, designing and managing PBCs for advanced logistics services from a provider perspective. Figure 1 summarizes these challenges. It also depicts the potential re-design of PBC on the basis of lessons learned by providers and their customers. Contract re-design was discussed as a potential outcome during the contract management phase resulting from attempts to overcome difficulties in relation to defining and weighting KPIs and designing balanced bonus/malus schemes. Overall, the empirical findings largely confirm what agency theory posits with regards to contract adoption and design (Eisenhardt, 1989).\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore key challenges of adopting, designing and managing performance-based contracts (PBC) for advanced logistics services, as seen by providers. The shift toward performance-based solutions has proved challenging since providers often struggle to link performance to their payment. Despite such managerial challenges, empirical research in this area has been limited.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A multi-case design was adopted. Three cases of logistics service providers were selected based on purposive sampling. Data were collected through 38 semi-structured interviews and review of 43 documents such as contracts and customer target letters.\nFindings: Key PBC adoption challenges include customer and provider intention to align their goals and incentives as well as their views on risk and reward sharing. Contract design challenges center around performance metric definition and weighting, designing performance monitoring systems that consider service co-production effects and help improve customer relationship and designing incentives with appropriate intensity levels. Contract management challenges include fostering provider pro-activity, provider changes in terms of processes and resource investments, perceived fairness of designed incentives and contract re-design to allow for win-win relationship outcomes.\nResearch limitations/implications: The study empirically contributes to extant logistics service provider literature by identifying specific challenges that extend also beyond PBC adoption and design and cover contract management (and potential contract re-design). It also unpacks the notion of performance attributability by analyzing its role also in terms of contract and performance management as well as its potential effects on customer relationship management.\nPractical implications: The study presents implications for logistics provider managers regarding how the observed PBC challenges can be overcome.\nOriginality/value: The study unearths several challenges of PBC for advanced logistics services, particularly in connection to contract management and re-design.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
What Darwin can teach us about success
|
[
"Learning",
"Evolution",
"Organizational change"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: In order to understand how to create and manage adaptability, we need to look first at how nature uses it. Nature, it seems, leaves its organism no choice. Nothing clears the mind like the hangman's noose and that is the way it works in nature. Species that fail to adapt have only one option left. Futuyma (1995) in the book Science on Trail: The Case of Evolution emphasizes that over 99 percent of all species that have ever existed have become extinct. We humans though somehow feel that they are immune to the whole process. Nature knows the folly of such an attitude but when an entity is no longer adapted to its environment, it dies.\nForced to change: The Japanese have had the very good fortune to have misfortune. They have few natural resources, little land, crowded conditions, hot and humid summers, and after the Second World War, few capital resources. However, they did respect education and were willing to cooperate. Looking back, is there any wonder that they were likely to become a global power? Your potential, with all that against you and a willingness to work together, is unlimited. Nature shows us that just enough adversity is a good thing! Struggling can make you better and give you a reason to change. In hindsight, probably nothing could have helped Japan or Germany more than losing the Second World War. They were given a chance to rebuild and given just enough help. Just enough adversity and opportunity does encourage greater competitiveness.Adaptation requires both opportunity and motive. Darwin's evolution shows us that for opportunity to exist there must be isolation as well as a motive or reason to change. Earth's changing environment probably provided the motive for our species to diverge from apes. Studies of continental drift show that during the time of human evolution both Africa and Eurasia continents became joined. This may have created geological instabilities that produced the Rift Valley in East Africa. It could also have resulted in open waterways that had the Atlantic Ocean on its west and the Indian Ocean on the east. Together these changes probably led to gradual opening up of the country and a less forested East African environment.\nCreate adversity: Find competitive opportunities, do not wait for crises, and create your own adversity. You might try to satisfy your most picky customer. Do not simply compete, but rather try to be the best in the world. Identify the highest standards, the most severe restraints, and use that as your measuring stick. Organizations, like General Electric have used \"stretch\" goals that far exceed normal expectation. If it is reasonable to assume a 2 percent growth, then stretch it to 10 percent.Unfortunately, people often do not use Jack Welch's advice. Jack Welch, the former CEO of General Electric, notes that if you know how to get there, it is not a stretch target. He then says the trick is not to punish those who fall short. If they improve, reward them even if they have not reached the goal (Welch, 1994). Demanding exceedingly high expectations requires a high tolerance to failure, risk taking, and liberal management where anything goes.Using stretch goals are not for everyone but creating some measure of adversity is essential. Sometimes we can find adversity in very high standards. Porter (1990, p. 522) in his book The Competitive Advantage of Nations points out that many US consumers will tolerate many products and services that would not be tolerated by Japanese or German consumers. Demanding consumers are the opportunity and motive that make us more competitive. Porter emphasizes the importance of tough customers and recommends selling to the most sophisticated and demanding buyers. He points out that industry exports increased substantially only when the domestic market became mature. Management should seek out buyers with the most difficult needs. They should establish norms exceeding the toughest regulatory hurdles (Porter, 1990, p. 585).\nChoosing a winning attitude: Total quality management (TQM) tells us to apply the phrase, \"Good, better, best never let it rest till your good is better and your better is best\". The philosophy is that incremental improvements when continually applied will produce a more competitive organization. Reengineering, on the other hand, encourages us to start over and ask fundamental questions about what we do and why, rather than focus on how we do it. Many have wondered if these two concepts are not at odds with each other.Nature, like business, has a place for both the slow and steady approach (TQM) and the radical departures (reengineering). She both continually improves and suddenly reengineers. Dramatic changes occurring in your environment, it seems, demands reengineering. Stable environments prefer the continual improvement approach. We want to know current conditions (what we do today) and about future environments or what might be doing.Natural selection cannot help if you do not have enough creativity in terms of ideas, behaviors or actions. Sometimes your environment changes too radically or internal resources like our people, process, products are simply not available. There cannot be natural selection's good, better, best if you work in too hostile or chaotic an environment or if you do not have enough critical resources to make a leap to the next level.\nConclusion: The need for change comes from the need to overcome adversity. You also need isolation and motive so unique ideas and cultures can emerge. However, your ability to adapt also rests on other important organizational characteristics. It also takes a special kind of leadership. It takes leadership that will accept a high level of failure while we learn to adapt. It is not human nature to take risk if the risk of failure is death or serious injury. We prefer the safe actions and status quo. It will take a bit of nurturing while we learn how to adapt and take chances. The payoff will be in the greater competitive environment that is created where innovation not the sure death of the status quo prosper.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to show how Darwin's Theory of Evolution can be used to help managers and organizations adapt to change.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper discusses Darwin's Theory of Evolution in relation to the management of organizations.\nFindings: - The paper finds that Darwin's Thoery has many applications in management. However, the ability to adapt also rests on other important organizational characteristics. It also takes a special kind of leadership which will accept a high level of failure while the organization learns to adapt.\nPractical implications: - Darwin's Theory shows us the need to create opportunity and motive for change to be effective. The paper emphasizes the need to look for a crisis so you can create a sense of adversity for change.\nOriginality/value: - Psychology and sociology are the centerpieces of management, however, other disciplines, including biology, and specifically Darwin's understanding of evolution, can be used to improve the creativity and adaptability to change.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Productivity in a private charity: Interview with the founder and leader of one of China's largest private charity foundations
|
[
"Best practice",
"Case studies",
"Values",
"Productivity",
"Strategy",
"Third sector",
"China",
"Philanthropy",
"Private companies"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction and overview: What is the role of business in addressing social and environmental issues of society? One strategy suggests that businesses should adapt their strategy to focus on producing simultaneous results in three domains - social, environmental and economic. This is the perspective of those proposing a \"triple bottom line\" framework for business organizations. It is also the perspective of the World Confederation of Productivity Science as it proposes its \"SEE-Productivity (SEE-P)\" framework. SEE-P expands the triple bottom line perspective by suggesting that each of the three bottom lines must include a denominator that creates a set of productivity ratios that should be used to evaluate the performance of a business. SEE-P espouses the view that it is not sufficient in order to be competitive and sustainable to only create triple bottom line results. It points out that in order to be sustainable and competitive, the \"costs\" (i.e. the denominator) involved in creating triple bottom line results must also be considered. We will refer to this first perspective as SEE-Productivity.An alternative perspective that is explored in this article is, to take the extreme case, that business should focus principally on its wealth creation role and that other institutions in society should address the social and environmental concerns. Proponents of this point of view would argue that if business is expected to simultaneously focus on maximizing social and environmental outcomes as well as its traditional economic focus, it would inevitably not maximize profits and society would therefore have less wealth to distribute in order to address other development concerns. This view assumes that a simultaneous focus on all three of the SEE outcomes inevitably involves making tradeoffs that prevent maximizing any one of the three. It also does not permit business to engage in illegal or anti-social behavior in the pursuit of profits. The role of business would be to pursue profit maximization but do no social and environmental harm. However business would not be expected to remediate all environmental problems or solve major social problems. In this scenario, society should focus on creating and stimulating the development of other types of organizations to address the social and environmental issues. Much of this role would be fulfilled by the private charity foundation which receives a portion of the wealth created by the private sector business, voluntarily provided and allocates that capital to address the social and environmental needs of society. This is not a new idea for the world. However, it is relatively new for China - a land characterized until recently primarily by state owned enterprises and few institutions, other than government, that addressed the social and environmental concerns of society.This second perspective does not suggest that business has no social or environmental responsibility. However, it argues that society will be better off if business focuses on wealth creation and does not dilute that focus with providing equal attention to social and economic outcomes. Without wealth created by the private business sector, the economy lacks the resources to address social and economic issues and that these issues are best addressed by other types of institutions1. Inherent in this second perspective is the view that there is a tradeoff among the three outcomes - social, environmental, and economic and that an institution cannot simultaneously maximize all three. We will refer to this second perspective as the Private Charity (PC) perspective.In order for the private charity approach to be successful in addressing society's concerns, the institutions must be \"productive\". The focus on productivity is just as important for the philanthropic organizations as it is for the wealth-creating businesses. The classic view of productivity as embracing both \"effectiveness and efficiency\" is especially relevant for philanthropic organizations. That will be the productivity focus for this article.By effectiveness in philanthropy we mean that the organization produces the \"right\" outputs or in the broader societal context it effectively addresses the \"right\" social problems. By efficiency we refer to the level of resources required to create each unit of output. In the broader societal context, efficiency refers to the organization's ability to have the maximum impact on the problem or issue chosen per unit of \"resource\" consumed or utilized (i.e. labor, materials, energy, capital). So in order to be most successful in meeting the needs of society, a private charity foundation must do the right things efficiently.This article is the second in a series based on interviews with senior executives in China who have been inducted as Fellows of the World Academy of Productivity Science (WAPS)2. The earlier article presented the results of three interviews that focused on Chinese management perspectives. Interviewees included the former leader of China Airlines, now an official in the Chinese Ministry of Transport focusing on Civil Aviation; the head of the Beijing Environmental Foundation, and the third was the CEO of a Mining Construction company. The major premise of the article was that Western executives and Chinese executives can benefit from an equal exchange of ideas and that Western executives can learn from their Chinese counterparts just as Chinese executives can learn from Western experiences.The article continues that point of view as it spotlights the work of Dr Lu Dezhi who was inducted as a Fellow of the WAPS in 2011. Dr Lu is a pioneer in the private charity sector in China. In 2008 he established the Huamin Charity Foundation, which was at the time the largest private charity in mainland China in terms of its initial capitalization. This article will apply a productivity perspective in reviewing the work of Dr Lu and his foundation the Huamin Charity Foundation. The interview with Dr Lu that served as the basis for this article was his first interview with a \"foreign\" interviewer since his foundation was established. The article is based on the interview as well as documents submitted by Dr Lu when he was reviewed as a candidate to become a Fellow of WAPS. Given the two sources and the fact that the interview utilized interpreters, the article is not presented as a series of questions and answers. It is rather presented as a narrative, that incorporates some direct quotes, and which attempts to present Dr Lu's \"story.\"At the end of the article we will return to the question we raised at the outset - what is the role of private business in addressing the social, environmental and economic needs of society? Following our discussion of Dr Lu's philosophy and the work of the Huamin Charity Foundation we will revisit the two scenarios that we have proposed - SEE-P and PC - and attempt to draw some conclusions regarding how his ideas and work may help shape our answer to this question - both for China and for more developed market economies.\nDr Lu Dezhi - background: Personal background\nHuamin Charity Foundation - an overview: Dr Lu points out that modern Chinese Philanthropy is a relatively new phenomenon. The formation of these charitable organizations is occurring more than 100 years after the establishment of modern philanthropic organizations in the West. While he believes that Chinese Philanthropy can learn from the Western examples, Dr Lu emphasizes that China must create its own model that is based on Chinese moral culture, Marxism, western liberalism, Max Weber's ideas regarding the relationship between philosophy (i.e. the Protestant Ethic) and economic activity (i.e. Western Capitalism) and modern China's domestic conditions.Dr Lu describes six characteristics of modern Chinese Philanthropy:1. Modern philanthropy should be pure, which means that doing charity has only one goal - helping people but not making money. (As such, this would be distinguished from the work of Muhammed Yunus and his concept of social business, which applies business principles to the solution of social problems. However a social business is involved in generating revenue which is used to repay initial investors and then to fund the operations that make the business sustainable and enable it to grow.)2. Modern philanthropy should be governed by law. While the establishment and operation of the organizations should be non-governmental, a legal and policy framework must be established that guides and supports the philanthropic enterprises. China now has only one law pertaining to philanthropy which is the Law of the People's Republic of China on Public Welfare Donations. However, this law is insufficient to meet the current needs. Sound legislation is required to regulate and maintain the development of modern Chinese philanthropy.3. Modern philanthropy should be done by organizations (rather than individuals) whether they are public foundations or private foundations.4. Modern philanthropy should raise its own funds (from donations and investments) in order to make its operations sustainable.5. Modern philanthropy should be done voluntarily. The volunteer principle is important in that it creates respect on the part of recipient for the donor and it demonstrates respect for the recipient by the donor.6. Philanthropy in China should be carried out by ordinary people not the Government.In accordance with these principles, Huamin Charity Foundation has been approved by the State Council and registered in the Ministry of Civil Affairs. It is the largest private charity foundation in terms of its original funding on China's mainland. The original funding for the foundation was 200,000,000 RMB (approximately $28 million US). Dr Lu provided 50 percent of the original funding and a second donor provided an equal amount. Since the Foundation was established, Dr Lu has provided virtually all of the funding that the Foundation has received. He has also declared that he will donate all his property to the Foundation before he dies. The Foundation has not devoted significant resources to fund raising however it is willing to accept contributions from other individuals who accept and are committed to the philosophy of Capital Spirit.Organizational structure of Huamin Charity Foundation\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - Private philanthropy in China is an emerging element of civil society. This paper seeks to examine the role of productivity improvement in a private charity in the context of the relative roles of charities and private business in building a harmonious society. In addition, the paper aims to examine the philosophy of Capital Spirit proposed by Dr Lu Dezhi, founder of the Huamin Charity Foundation, as the basis for a Chinese model of private philanthropy.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This case study is based on an interview with Dr Lu Dezhi conducted in Beijing by the first author. The article is descriptive, but it also contains analysis of the approach described by Dr Lu in light of the World Confederation of Productivity Science model of SEE-Productivity and previous history of efforts to shift management paradigms, e.g. quality management, etc.\nFindings: - Dr Lu provides a rational, systematic and philosophically grounded approach to creating and operating a private philanthropy in China. This model incorporates many of the key aspects of productivity science, including values-based strategy, data-based decision making, analysis and evaluation and continuous improvement. In a larger sense, Dr Lu outlines a philosophy that has the potential to shift the management paradigms of Chinese organizations to more sustainable practices.\nOriginality/value: - The focus on productivity improvement in private philanthropy is a topic that is rarely discussed in the management literature. In addition, the approach taken to philanthropy by Dr Lu Dezhi and his philosophy of Capital Spirit as the basis for a \"Chinese model\" of philanthropy is unique. Finally, the discussion regarding the appropriate role of private sector businesses in an economy based on its stage of development is a unique contribution to the management literature. Contrasting this Chinese model with Western models provides a useful cultural contrast to examine this key question.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
FDI outflows, exports and financial development
|
[
"Export",
"Financial development",
"ODI"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: With deregulation and greater economic integration, most countries have undergone major developments in their financial systems since the 1990s. These developments refer to the process of financial deepening which can be gauged with the help of indicators measuring the size of the financial sector in the macroeconomy. Well-established financial systems provide external capital sources for companies conducting international trade. Indeed, countries with advanced financial markets have been shown to enjoy comparative advantages and to occupy larger shares of the international market (Bao and Yang, 2009). Several studies on the effects of financial development investigate how trade patterns change with increasing access to finance. However, there seems to be no consensus among scholars about how financial development is correlated with trade activities. In this paper, trade activities that we are mainly concerned with are exports, imports and net exports.\n2. Literature review: The way financial development influences exports has been widely studied, particularly in the framework of new trade theories that use models of monopolistic competition to take into account key stylized facts related to export markets (Bernard and Jensen, 1999, 2004; Melitz, 2003; Helpman et al., 2004). Export-oriented firms are different in a few ways. First, export-oriented firms are typically larger and more productive than domestic-oriented firms. Second, fixed entry costs are large, which is a precondition for them to export. Roberts and Tybout (1997) further argue that the absence of trade between two countries can be explained by the fact that fixed entry costs are too high. Therefore, advanced financial systems can help firms overcome the fixed cost barrier, encouraging new firms and enlarging the production of existing ones to serve the foreign market (Manova, 2013). In addition, Levine (1997) states that financial development reduces transaction costs, enabling a better allocation of capital, facilitating the access to outside credit markets, which is likely to influence a firm's export decision. Beck (2002, 2003) and Hur et al. (2006) also show that an increase in the level of financial development has a positive influence on the value of exports, especially in industries where firms are highly dependent on the use of external funds. To sum up, these papers attempt to either theoretically or empirically prove that financial development is positively related to export.\n3. Economic model: Berthou (2010) investigates that when financial markets are assumed to be imperfect, there exists a financial transaction cost, which is inversely related to the level of financial development, affecting the decisions of firms to enter the foreign market. When the financial development level is low in a country, the financing costs are too high to set up a business abroad. This means that without enough funding, the firm will first produce and sell in the domestic market and then export. On the other hand, when the financial system develops further and the cost of raising funding becomes much lower, it is possible for domestic firms to invest in foreign countries where they can save iceberg costs. If countries choose to serve foreign markets via ODI, they may decrease their exports. In line with this rational behavior, it is reasonable to argue that there is a kind of inverted U-shaped relationship between exports and financial development. If imports normally grow with the financial market or keep stable, net exports or current accounts may also have this inverted U-shaped relationship with financial development.\n4. Data and descriptive statistics: Our data set is constructed from two sources: the World Bank and the Penn World Table (PWT). After careful data processing, the final data cover some 108 countries (Table AI in Appendix) between 1990 and 2011. Although this period is marked by a major structural break, the 2008 global financial crisis, this is nevertheless a long period of uninterrupted financial liberalization throughout the world, including China.\n5. Empirical estimations: We first investigate the impact of financial development on exports. To empirically estimate these effects, the following econometric fixed effect (FE[2]) model is used:(8)\n6. Robustness analysis: So far, all regressions have been carried out using the FE static model, so it will be useful to check if the proceeding discussions are robust depending on the different econometric modeling approaches. The Arellano-Bond results are presented in Table V and indicate that when two lag periods are considered, conclusions from the Arellano-Bond model are consistent with those from the FE model.\n7. Concluding remarks and implications: This paper systematically investigates how financial development affects exports in an inverted U-shaped manner. Using a panel covering 108 countries for the period 1990-2011, we find strong evidence to show that when a country is at a low level of financial development, further advancements of its financial system will boost exports. However, when the economy's financial system is developed enough to a certain high level, further financial system developments will not boost exports significantly. Actually, our findings suggest that for economies with well-established financial systems, firms may prefer to produce abroad via ODI instead of producing domestically and then export. On the other hand, the results also indicate that imports also change with financial development in an inverted U-shaped manner but in a flatter inverted U. Combining the patterns in terms of both exports and imports shows the following: financially underdeveloped countries typically export very little or barely anything at all because these countries cannot afford to face the costs for exports but as long as they are open to the international market, imports will flow in. By contrast, while developed countries continue to import goods, they may transfer some of their production abroad through ODI and then reduce domestic exports. These findings are robust when different measures of trade activities and different methodologies are considered.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to argue that financial development, measured by private credit in the economy, affects exports in an inverted U-shaped manner. The authors use the new trade theory model and empirical data to analyze whether the financial system is the reason of global imbalance.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper builds a simple production model to connect financial development with a country's export or outward foreign direct investment (ODI) decision. Using a panel data covering 108 countries for the period 1990-2011, the authors find strong evidence to show that when a country is at a lower financial development level, further advancements of its financial system will boost exports.\nFindings: First, an inverted U-shaped relationship between exports, imports and financial development is found in the study of 108 countries over the period 1990-2011; second, ODI provides a substitute effect to exports for financially advanced countries. These findings have provided an alternative explanation to international trade imbalances and contribute constructively to the discussion regarding whether exports and financial development are positively related or not.\nOriginality/value: As a result, the findings shed some light on the issue of global current account imbalances between developing and developed countries from a new perspective.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Financial development index and economic growth: empirical evidence from India
|
[
"India",
"Economic growth",
"Financial analysis",
"Interest rates"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nI. Introduction: The recent world financial crisis revives the debt on the finance and growth nexus and the importance of regulation of financial institutions. If we look the theoretical and empirical literature on finance and growth nexus, it showed ambiguous explanation. The theoretical literature was started through pioneering work of Schumpeter (1911). He stated financial development has important for growth. Because developed financial structure offered efficient services of financial intermediaries that transfer of funds to most innovating entrepreneur. The comprehensive thesis on financial repression was presented by McKinnon (1973) and Shaw (1973). They suggested that the government intervention[1] in the financial market impede the process of financial development and thus economic growth. This Mckinnon and Shaw hypothesis was supported by the endogenous growth literature (Romer, 1986; Greenwood and Jovanovic, 1990; Bencivenga and Smith, 1991; Barro, 1991; King and Levine, 1993b; Jappelli and Pagano, 1994; Levine, 1997)[2].But this McKinnon and Shaw hypothesis has criticized by the neo-Keynesians (Diamond and Dybvig, 1983; Singh, 1997; Singh et al., 2003; Griffith-Jones et al., 2003). They recommended financial liberalization impede economic growth because financial liberalization leads crisis rather than stable and efficient functioning of the financial system. Recently, neo-structuralist economists have stated that the financial liberalization model caused to increase interest rate and manufacturing cost that consequently, impede economic growth and inflation in the economy. Thus, the objective of the study is to develop financial development index (FDI) in the case of India and empirically determine the relationship between the FDI and economic growth by employing the auto-regressive distributed lag (ARDL) approach to cointegration and rolling window regression model to estimation the coefficient of each observation over the sample. Remaining part of the paper is structured as follows. Section II represents the literature review. Section III constructs of FDI. Section IV discusses model and estimation methodology. Section V explains empirical results and final Section VI summary of paper.\nII. Literature review: Empirical literature shows the unclear explanation about the relationship between financial development and growth. The unidirectional causality from financial development to economic growth has found by Gupta (1984), Demetriades and Hussein (1996), Neusser and Kugler (1998) and Choe and Moosa (1999). Fase and Abma (2003) and Sachsida (2001) proved bidirectional causality between financial development and economic growth. A number of empirical studies recommended causal association varies (Demetriades and Hussein, 1996; Rousseau and Wachtel, 2000; Arestis et al., 2001; Rioja and Valev, 2004; Biswas, 2008).Mattoo et al. (2006) concluded positive effect of financial liberalization on economic growth by using the data of 60 countries. On the other hand, both trade openness and financial development vital for growth in the case of Pakistan has recommended by Khan and Qayyum (2007). Ang and Mckibbin (2007) empirically proved that removal of repression positively cause the financial development and economic growth in Malaysia. But in contrast the number of empirical studies on financial development and economic growth has suggested that faster financial liberalization in the developing countries escort financial crisis (Arestis and Demetriades, 1999; Griffith-Jones et al., 2003; Demirgucs-Kunt and Enrica, 2001; Arphasil, 2001; Wade, 2001; Kaminsky and Schmuckler, 2003; Rajan and Zingales, 2003; Tornell et al., 2004; Behrman et al., 2009).Now, we review empirical studies on finance and growth nexus in the case of India. The bidirectional causality between financial development and growth has suggested by Demetriades and Luintel (1996). Bhattacharya and Sivasubramaniam (2003) empirically examined causal relationship between financial development and economic growth by using the data of 1970-1999. They were used M3/gross domestic product (GDP) as an indicator of financial sector development and concluded financial sector development causes to GDP growth. Deb and Mukherjee (2008) used three different indicators of shock market development (ratio of market capitalization to real GDP, ratio of trading volume to real GDP and stock market volatility) to investigate causal relationship stock market development and economic growth by using the quarterly data of 1996-2008. They concluded bidirection causal relationship between stock market development and economic growth. Chakraborty (2008) found cointegration between indicators of financial development (stock market capitalization, bank credit) and economic growth. Katircioglu et al. (2008) stated long-run relationship between financial development (M3/GDP, domestic credit), trade openness and real GDP.\nIII. Construction of FDI: According to Nair (2004), the process of financial development in India could be divided into the three segments. The 1950s and 1960s have characterized an initial financial development stage, after 1969 the stage of market expansion and late 1990s has demonstrated by liberalization of financial sector. When Indian Government was launched the reformed of financial sector in late 1990s and financial development indicators showed positive trend.Empirical studies on finance and growth nexus indicate that the researchers have utilized various proxies of financial development in order to construct FDI. Ang and Mckibbin (2007) construct FDI of Malaysia by using liquid liabilities to nominal GDP; commercial bank assets to commercial bank assets plus central bank assets and domestic credit to private sectors divided by nominal GDP as an indicator of financial development. Khan and Qayyum (2007) utilize four indicators of financial development, i.e. ratio of total bank deposit liabilities to GDP; the ratio of clearing house amount to GDP; the ratio of the private credit to GDP and the ratio of the stock market capitalization to GDP in the case of Pakistan. Followed by Kar et al. (2008), constructed financial liberalization index for Turkey (by using the three proxies of financial development, i.e. M1/Y; M1/M2 and M2/Y)[3]. All these studies have calculated the weights of the financial indicators by using the principal component method (PCM).This study constructs FDI for India by employing the four ratios that widely used in the empirical literature as an indicator of financial development (Rousseau and Wachtel, 1998; Xu, 2000; Fase and Abma, 2003; Rioja and Valev, 2004; Rahman, 2004; Tahir, 2008) such as market capitalization of listed companies as a percentage of GDP, liquid liabilities (M3) as a percentage of GDP, domestic credit to private sector as a percentage of GDP and ratio of broad money (M2) to narrow money (M1)[4]. The importance of each variable is calculated with the help of PCM.Table I demonstrates that first principal component elucidates 81 percent, second another 13 percent, third further 5 percent and last principal component accounts 0.01 percent standardized variance. It is clear first principal component better than compared to the other combination of variables because it indicates higher level of variations. Thus, we use the first eigenvector values as a weight to construct a summary measure of FDI and denoted as FDI[5].Figure 1 shows the graph of FDI, which indicates the changes in financial development that took place in Indian during the sample. First, it shows the steady increase than from 1991 to 1994 moderate increase. From 1995 to 2001, it fluctuates and than sharply increases.\nIV. Model and estimation methodology: From late 1990s, the India has adopted financial liberalization policies in order to expedite the economic growth process. But on the other hand, empirical studies have demonstrated if the financial liberation cannot properly manage, it leads to crisis rather than stable economic growth (Demirguc-Kunt and Detragiache, 2001; Kaminsky and Reinhart, 1999; Rajan, 2005). The present study aims to investigate the link between financial development and economic growth in India. For empirical evidence, Cobb-Douglas production function is employed and assumes that the real-interest rate (RIR) and financial development as a determinant of total factor productivity: Equation 1 The Cobb-Douglas production function is presented in equation (1). Where Y indicates GDP, d demonstrate residual with holding the impact of RIR and FDI, etc. L and K are labor and capital, respectively. The th and ph are partial elasticities of respective variables.We can rewrite equation (1) as follows: Equation 2 where Ln(Y)t, Ln(FDI)t, Ln(R)t, Ln(L)t and Ln(K)t are GDP, FDI, RIR, labor force and gross-fixed capital formation, respectively. The Ln represents the sing of natural logarithm and mt is the error term. Data of all variables have taken from the World Bank, World Development Indicators. GDP and gross-fixed capital formation are measured in local currency and labor force in members. FDI is constructing by this study.Estimating produce\nV. Estimation results: To determine the order of integration, this study is used ADF, Phillips-Perron (PP) and Ng-Perron's unit root tests. The vital results of these tests are reported in Table II. Unit root tests result indicate that all variables are integrated order one or I(1).After determining the order of integration, next we employ ARDL approach to cointegration in order to determine the long-run relationship among the variables. The result of bound testing represents in Table III.The bound testing evidence confirms the long-run relationship because the calculated F-statistic is 6.88, which is greater than the all critical value of the upper level of the bound at the 1 percent level of significance. This result gives strong indication of the existence of a long-run relationship among the variables included in the economic growth model. The second step is to estimate the long- and short-run coefficients. The ARDL optimum model is chosen by using the Schwarz Bayesian criterion. The vital long-run coefficients are reported in Table IV.The long-run empirical results demonstrate that FDI and RIR (at two-year lags) negatively determine economic growth in India. Labor and capital according to growth theory positively determine economic growth in the long run. Next, the short-run dynamics can be estimated by constructing an ARDL-based error-correction model (ECM).The finding in Table V reveals that financial development negatively (statistically significant) and RIR statistically insignificant associated to economic growth in the short run. Capital positively and labor negatively determine growth in the short run.Rolling window regression results\nVI. Conclusion: The objective of study is to construct FDI and examine the relationship between FDI and economic growth in the case of India. We apply ADF, PP and Ng Perron unit root tests in order to determine the level of integration, and long- and short-run dynamics are obtained by using rolling window approach and ARDL approach to cointegration. The result indicates that long-run relationship is presented among the economic growth, FDI, RIR, labor force and capital. But FDI negatively associated with economic growth in the case of long- and short run and RIR also negatively determine the economic growth only in the long run. The rolling regression results confirm that FDI negatively associated to growth in the years of 1978, 1979, 1984-1987, 1990, 1996-2000, 2004 and 2005 and RIR is impede economic growth in the years of 1978, 1979, 1986, 1988-1997, 2001, 2002, 2006 and 2008 (Figure 3; the Appendix). The finding of this study is useful for India's policy makers in order to maintain the parallel expansion of financial development and economic growth.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to construct a financial development index (FDI) for the Indian economy and also examine the relationship between FDI and economic growth.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Augment Dickey Fuller, Phillips Perron and Ng Perron unit root tests are employed in order to determine the level of integration. The long- and short-run dynamics are obtained by using auto-regressive distributed lag approach to cointegration and rolling window approach to estimate coefficient of each observation.\nFindings: - The results indicate that long-run relationship is presented among the economic growth, FDI, real-interest rate (RIR), labor force and capital. But FDI negatively associated with economic growth in the case of long- and short-run and RIR also negatively determine the economic growth only in the long run. The rolling regression result confirms that FDI negatively associated to growth in the years of 1978, 1979, 1984-1987, 1990, 1996-2000, 2004 and 2005 and RIR is impede economic growth in the years of 1978, 1979, 1986, 1988-1997, 2001, 2002, 2006 and 2008.\nOriginality/value: - The paper constructs an FDI for the Indian economy by using the four indicators of financial development. The findings are useful for India's policy makers in order to maintain the parallel expansion of financial development and economic growth.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Intellectual capital disclosure trends: Singapore and Sri Lanka
|
[
"Intellectual capital",
"Singapore",
"Sri Lanka",
"Developing countries"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The paradigm shift from focusing on tangible assets to non-tangible assets not recognized in financial statements to increase competitiveness of firms has challenged the decision relevance of information provided by financial reporting system (Bontis, 2000; Coy, 2001). The recent mega corporate collapses in several developed countries (e.g. Enron in the USA, HIH in Australia) has heightened the need to review provision of relevant information to investors (Clarke and Dean, 2007). In particular, it is pointed out several assets that enable firms to enhance competitiveness and future profitability are not recognized in financial statements such as knowledge assets represented by employees' collective capabilities, information systems in firms are relevant information for investor decision making (Stewart, 2001; David Skyrme Associates, 1997).Industry sectors making increasing contribution to national economies is an additional factor that has heightened the need to make disclosure beyond disclosure made through financial reporting systems. Many assets of firms in these industry sectors that are economic value creators are not recognized in financial statements (Canibano et al., 2000; Granof and Zeff, 2002; Stewart, 2001). The expansion of technology-based, communication, and industry sectors that heavily depend on human innovation and capabilities (such as research and development sector) are examples (Bontis, 2000; Dzinkowski, 2000, 1998). The intellectual capital (IC) represents a subset of such assets not recognised in financial statements.The literature provides a number of definitions of IC (Stewart, 1997; Union Fenosa, 1999; Martensson, 2000; Ordonez de Pablos, 2002) with IC as value creators of firms (Lynn, 1998). IC is \"intellectual material that has been formalised, captured and leveraged to produce a higher-valued asset\" (Australian Society of CPAs and The Society of Management Accountants of Canada - ASCPA and CMA, 1999, p. 4; The Society of Management Accountants of Canada, 1998, p. 3), and if successfully managed leading to future benefit that does not have a physical or financial embodiment (Bernhut, 2001).The disclosure of IC becomes important to signal investors about affairs of firms in an intense globally competitive economic environment. IC can give rise to agency problems as \"insiders\" of firms can take advantage of such information to earn excess profits (Thompson and Randall, 2000; Scott, 2000). Disclosure of IC in annual reports helps to make capital markets more efficient by reducing information asymmetry between \"insiders\" and investors. Additionally, IC disclosure helps the capital market to provide a more accurate market capitalization of firms (Guthrie et al., 1999).Different factors, local and global, may intervene in determining IC disclosure of firms, and the level of economic development in a country, whether it is a developed, moderately developed, or developing country could be one of them. For instance, in 1998, Singapore implemented a regulatory framework founded on a disclosure philosophy to encourage greater disclosure by firms listed on Singapore stock exchange (Cheng et al., 2002). During the same period, Sri Lanka amended the long overdue Code of Intellectual Property Act No. 52 1979 to help firms to build a foundation for a knowledge-based economy (Wickremaratne, 2000).This paper contributes to understanding of IC disclosure practices by comparing firms in a moderately developed country setting (Singapore) and developing country setting (Sri Lanka). This study uses annual reports of top 20 firms by market capitalization as source documents over three continuous years (1998-2000). The empirical findings from Sri Lanka is compared with an unpublished project provides findings for Singapore (Cheng et al., 2002).This comparative study investigates two research questions. First, whether there is an increasing trend of IC disclosure across the three-year period. Second, whether the types and level of IC disclosure provide insights into the importance attached to IC categories and items. In examining the two research questions, this paper is organized into following sections. Section 2 focuses on the conceptualisation of IC and development of hypotheses. Section 3 outlines the research design, sampling procedures, data collection methods. Section 4 presents the analysis of findings followed by discussion of the results. Section 5 offers concluding remarks, limitations of study, implications for policy decisions, and suggestions for further research.\nLiterature review and hypotheses development: Disclosure of IC\nResearch methodology: Sample selection\nData analysis: To compare with findings of this study with Singapore study, this study applied non-parametric tests, as data did not conform to normality. The Friedman test compared three years samples for IC disclosure trends, as in H1. Additionally, Wilcoxon-Signed ranks test compared each year's data with every other year for changes in IC disclosure. The Kruskal-Wallis test ranked IC disclosure in 2000 year to determine differences in IC disclosure by category, as in H2. The next section presents the results and discussion of the statistical tests.\nResults and discussion: Results of analysis\nConcluding remarks: Implications of findings\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to investigate the intellectual capital (IC) disclosure trends and disclosure category differences of top 20 listed firms in a developing nation, Sri Lanka, and moderately developed nation, Singapore. The paper aims to highlight the differences in IC disclosure practice between developing and developed nations.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The study investigates the top 20 firms by market capitalization listed on the Colombo stock exchange in 1998-2000. Using the content analysis method, it reviews the annual reports of these firms to determine IC disclosure trends in Sri Lanka. It then compares these findings with a similar unpublished study undertaken in Singapore during the same period.\nFindings: - The study identified IC disclosure differences between Sri Lankan and Singapore firms, and suggest reasons for differences from country perspectives. The paper highlights the need for a uniform methodology in intellectual disclosure framework to establish consistent disclosure practices.\nPractical implications: - This study highlights the need to establish a uniform methodology for financial disclosure under International Financial Reporting Standards that can mobilize globally uniform disclosure IC disclosure practices.\nOriginality/value: - This study offers insights into comparative trends in IC disclosure practices between a moderately developed and a developing country.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Practical wisdom for management from the Jewish tradition
|
[
"Judaism",
"Leadership",
"Management",
"Management theory",
"Practical wisdom",
"Jewish"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: \"Jewish education is character education\" (Fox, 2003, p. 262).\"For things that we have to learn to do, we learn by doing them\" (Aristotle, 1934).\n1. Jewish wisdom - guide for action or a teaching method?: At first sight, this issue's topic is worded in line with the other conferences and JMD special issues of our series: one should be able to infer from the practical wisdom of Judaism the decisions, actions and behaviors congruous with a good practice of management.Another approach, however, which is suggested by the Jewish texts themselves, offers advice on how to best \"practice the practice\"; more generally, it aims to teaching practical knowledge within management development. Such an approach can be found as early as in the Aristotelian doctrine, which entered the Jewish tradition with the Jewish rationalist movement and in particular with Maimonides, the movement's most eminent thinker[1]. Aristotle's words in the epigraph summarize this approach well. It is particularly important in Judaism, a tradition that in many respects presents itself as an extended corpus meant to answer the question of how one can learn to do something consistently and conscientiously.This question alone justifies the topic of this special issue, for in a different context, it can be asked about the corpus of management itself. The following passage by Maimonides echoes the logic of Aristotle's words quoted above:How shall a man train himself in these dispositions, so that they become ingrained? Let him practice again and again the actions prompted by those dispositions which are the mean between the extremes, and repeat them continually till they become easy and no longer irksome to him, and so the corresponding dispositions will become a fixed part of this character (Maimonides quoted by Twersky, 1972, p. 53).This passage deals with the notion of hergel (routine or habit), by which one learns to do something thanks to an unvarying, routine and meticulous practice, so that this specific practice does not prevent creativity but rather promotes it. The hergel applies in particular to the acquisition of a practical skill and this notion is of course quite significant for our topic since it is relevant in the following two areas:(1) the management sciences - indeed, they are often defined as a theory of practice and are first and foremost meant to be applied and put in practice; and(2) the ethics of management - for it is embodied in action and not in theory.Thus, two seemingly irreconcilable approaches in addressing this special issue's topic have been identified. The first one attempts to provide a \"Jewish answer\" to management problems and dilemmas. The second views Judaism as one of the teaching methods that best suit the fields - like management - in which practice plays a large part.The papers of this special issue repeatedly bring up, in various ways, the divide between these two approaches, while presenting themselves as a whole trying to unite them.Each paper belongs to one of three groups. The first group includes three papers that study how references drawn from Jewish sources can feed an organizational reflection process and aid individuals to best meet organizational challenges:* Granit Almog-Bareket (Mandel Foundation - Israel) and Pierre Kletz (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and Mandel Foundation - Israel) \"Jethro's understanding of administration and the convergence of inter-organizational goals\".* Avi Kay (Jerusalem College of Technology) \"Pursuing justice: workplace relations in the eyes of Jewish tradition\".* Andre Habisch (Catholic University of Eichstatt - Ingolstadt) \"The broken tables of stone: a Decalogue approach to corporate compliance practice.\"The second group also includes three papers. The latter do not examine social or organizational issues in the light of Jewish sources but rather analyze the practical impact of concepts found in Jewish texts:* Herve Colas (Reims management School) and Aziza Languecir (Bordeaux Management School) \"The banning of images: questions arising in the field of management\".* Bernard Kahane (Paris Est University), \"Tikkum Olam: how a Jewish ethos drives innovation.\" Analyzing the notion of Tikkun olam (healing or restoring the world).* Isaac Mostovicz (Janus Thinking Ltd.) and Nada Kakabadse (Northampton Business School) \"He has told you, O man, what is good!\" Deepen into the concepts of \"doing justice\", \"loving kindness\" and \"walking humbly.\"The third group includes two papers centered on leadership:* Shlomo Ben-Hur (IMD Business School) and Karsten Jonsen (IMD Business School) \"Ethical leadership: lessons from Moses\" outlines a model of leadership based on the characteristics of Moses.* Eli Gottlieb (Mandel Leadership Institute) \"Mosaic leadership: charisma and bureaucracy in Exodus 18\" examines the important practical implications of this approach for management.Out of the eight papers that make up this relatively small special issue, two of them focus on Moses as a leadership figure; one could find this objectionable. On the contrary, that one figure be naturally studied twice in connection with the topic of leadership is quite remarkable (did not Freud pave the way with his Moses and Monotheism?). Moreover, in the defense of this special issue, we should highlight the fact that these two papers belong to two very different disciplines: if Ben-Hur and Jonsen address the topic from the point of view of the management sciences, Eli Gottlieb writes as a psychologist and as expert in education sciences.\n2. The status of ethics: Philosophy is traditionally divided in various branches: logic and physics are concerned with truth; aesthetics deals with beauty; ethics looks for the Good, etc. The question of whether Truth, Morality, Beauty and Justice are one constitutes a philosophical question in itself; replying in the affirmative would evidence a hypothesis hastily formed. Jewish wisdom belongs to the field of ethics and is therefore a system that strives for the Good, while management has to do with Truth and is first of all an object of study. Management education must teach what is true: in order to succeed, an organization has to define a coherent marketing approach; it should know how to write a business plan; it needs to develop an adequate supply chain; and so forth. All of this is neatly summarized in the notion of good practice, so dear to business administration. Over time, the idea of one best way has been gradually discarded, but it would be absurd to maintain that in management, everything is possible, that all techniques, all procedures and all processes are of equal value. Obviously, some are more efficient while others are less adequate.Conversely, ethics is concerned with the Good, where Truth has no place. Even the worse dictators would not dispute that ethics could produce unquestionable statements similar to physical laws - like the one by which an object, attracted by the Earth's gravitation, increases its velocity by 9.81 m/s2 and falls on the ground - or to management laws - such as the affirmation that direct costs differ from overheads. Proposing Jewish wisdom as a reference - like any other religious or philosophical reference - for management is risky. Would organizations be better managed if their managers resorted to Judaism? Answering \"yes\" would be apologetic or fanatic and would confuse Truth with the Good.Now, if we are aware of this dichotomy, why do we strive to bring Judaism and management together? We have two good reasons for it. To begin with, just like any other educational corpus, management education must enable the individual to learn about different ways of thinking and of tackling problems. Judaism can boast unique intellectual gymnastics (as the Talmudic texts show it) and a rigor (thanks to Maimonides' rationalism) that together provide excellent methods to teach intellectual accuracy to trainee managers. Second, Judaism is a value system similar to Christianity, Islam or Buddhism. Therefore, if it cannot solve technical problems, it is apt to pass moral judgments on behaviors recommended by the practice of management. This special issue includes several papers (Habisch; Colas and Laguecir; Almog-Bareket and Kletz) that show how Judaism, as a moral system, could have contributed to the prevention of the stock market crash in 2009 (Mostovicz and Kakabadse). Other papers show that Judaism would unmask some types of work relations simply as exploitation of man by man (Avi Kay). This last element is without a doubt common to any religious tradition applied to management.\n3. An interdisciplinary approach: This special issue presents an interdisciplinary approach. The papers often refer to various theoretical fields in which the authors write. They include experts in management and business administration as well as education, psychology or the arts. Some of these contributors are based in academia while others are practitioners, experts and consultants.It could be objected that no specialists of Jewish texts and Judaism are included. We take responsibility for it. Indeed, this issue aims to attract the attention of managers and practitioners without turning them into experts in Judaism, into Talmudists or Kabbalists. In the same vein, some authors examine management in the light of an ethical reflection based on Jewish wisdom, but they are not rabbis, poskim (legal scholars in Jewish law) or dayanim (judges who sit in a religious court).We should add that we did not give in to intellectual compromise: this issue's reviewers do include researchers in management as well as religious figures and professors in Judaism. Moreover, referring to Jewish philosophy is completely legitimate since the management sciences can be seen both as a practical field and as a cross-roads of social sciences, philosophy, religion and economics. Many researchers in management sciences operate as mediators. They borrow concepts elaborated elsewhere in order to apply them in their own field. They are both opportunistic and open-minded. They often do not hesitate to get hold of appealing ideas to turn them into management. Considering this approach, referring to Judaism is legitimate.\n4. Conclusion: Studies on the contributions of Christian or Muslim wisdom to management exist; one that deals with Jewish wisdom and management displays specific characteristics. Indeed, one powerful trend in Judaism has to do with the exercise of free will. This trend was notably developed in the twentieth century by Leibowitz, who summed it up remarkably in one of the last interviews he gave before he passed away:Question: What is the source of your values?Leibowitz: Myself.Question: Isn't the Torah a source of values?Leibowitz: Well, whether I accept the Torah or not is up to me! (L'Arche, 1994)For this orthodox Jew, the Torah is not an absolute truth that imposes itself on the individual. Judaism rather presents itself as a philosophy that does not pretend to impose itself for transcendental reasons. The individual must choose to accept its values. This gives full meaning to Jewish wisdom as a reference for business administration and management education. The professionals in an organization have to ask themselves whether it is helpful to explicitly refer to Judaism in order to determine an organizational behavior. This encourages them to ask questions, thus contributing to the maturity of their behavior in the organization. It also prevents them from thinking that the behavior they adopt is \"the only acceptable one.\" On the contrary, referring to Judaism prompts professionals to realize that behaviors in organizations are not absolutely right; it makes them realize that these behaviors may be relative and that choosing a behavior known for being relative bears an absolute truth. Amado-Levy-Valensi (1968, p. 16) of the Bar-Ilan University summarized this well: \"Between the negation of meaning and the recognition of meaning lies the voluntary establishment of meaning.\"\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this issue is to provide an overview of the special issue on practical wisdom for management from the Jewish traditions.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The guest editorial introduces the papers in this special issue, focusing in practical wisdom for management from the Jewish traditions.\nFindings: - The question on the relationship between the Jewish tradition and practical wisdom for management is answered in two different ways: first, providing a particular Jewish answer to managerial problems and second, presenting how Judaism can be a field of reflection learning for managerial praxis at both organizational and individual level.\nOriginality/value: - The paper shows that the special issue offers insights into the value of practical wisdom of the Jewish traditions, from two particular points of view, as a guide for action and as an ethical approach to management.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
How customer and product orientations shape political brands
|
[
"Market orientation",
"Marketing strategy",
"Customer orientation",
"Political branding",
"Political positioning",
"Political strategy",
"Product orientation",
"Strategic orientation framework"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Some politicians follow and respond to voter concerns. Others shape voter concerns by their actions and strategies. It has been noted, for example, that as Americans increasingly did not support the war in Iraq after 2003, politicians also began to voice concerns and withhold their support. By understanding voter apprehensions, these politicians amended their political strategies. More Democratic congressional candidates than Republicans opposed the war in Iraq, which shaped subsequent voting decisions, and many Americans elected Democratic candidates. In this case, political strategies shaped voter behavior (Bianco and Canon, 2014). That is not always the case. History shows that while some politicians serve voters, others shape them, still others hold dialogs with them, and a few [...] simply ignore them.\nCustomer orientation, product orientation and the strategic orientation framework: Customer orientation\nStrategic orientation of political brands: Isolates\nStrategic archetypes: observations and directions: A cursory examination of the strategic orientation archetypes grid in Figure 1 might suggest that an isolate stance is obviously the least desirable, and that an interact posture is optimal. Berthon et al. (1999) argue that this is an oversimplification, and that there is no one \"best stance\". Rather, the stance that an organization adopts should be contingent on the environment in which it finds itself.\nConclusion: Considerable scholarly research in marketing has been dedicated to supporting the concept of customer orientation strategy. This ability to listen, react and adapt to customer preferences has long been thought to be the difference between successful and unsuccessful companies. Over the past few decades, attention has been directed toward the product orientation as a valuable strategy for many firms, placing less focus on the customer-oriented models that have dominated the marketing and organizational strategy landscape. It is based on these two strategic orientations that the integrated conceptual framework is derived and used to illustrate the similarities between the organizational and political settings. The dichotomous matrix is presented and assessed against political brands and environments to demonstrate its efficacy in illustrating possible political strategies. The strategic orientation framework defines political leaders by their level of customer and product orientation and divides political leaders into isolates, followers, shapers and interacts. Each mode of strategic orientation presents its challenges and opportunities, and none needs to be mutually exclusive. As with organizational strategies, the political orientation may be altered as the environment, resources and other factors change over time. It is this ability to balance current voter needs and sentiments with internal insights, knowledge and anticipation of the changing political landscape that will ultimately determine the political strategy and success. Further, it is proposed that influence in political endeavors happens in a bi-directional manner where both politicians are influenced by voter sentiment and voters are influenced by politicians. Using a careful analysis of the changing environment, political brands can better manage this relationship.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present a theory of consumer and product orientation in the realm of political branding to illustrate how politicians can choose to position and present themselves to voters. It is evident that some politicians play an active role in shaping the beliefs and actions of their constituents, while others are more influenced by voter sentiment. The effectiveness of the political strategy is highly influenced by the market realities of the voting body in question.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A dichotomy is presented to shed light on how consumer and product orientation might influence the way in which politicians choose to address the public. Specifically, four modified strategic orientation archetypes are presented and analyzed with particular focus on political brands and strategy.\nFindings: Product and consumer orientations have been shown to also be applicable to the strategic positioning of political brands. While it can be argued that no strategy is superior over another, careful consideration of the political environment in question and subsequent execution of an appropriate stance can be used to better manage the relationship between the electorate and politicians.\nResearch limitations/implications: This study provides academics in this area with a comprehensive examination of strategic orientation literature in political contexts, and lays out a strong groundwork for future studies. In this burgeoning area of research, there are several opportunities for marketing and political strategy academics to dive deeper into the intricacies that drive politicians to adopt specific strategic orientations, and how these strategies evolve over time and in differing political environments.\nPractical implications: This analysis suggests that there are opportunities for political strategists to explore the relationship between the identified strategic orientations and political brands, and for political marketing scholars to investigate the modes of focus presented.\nOriginality/value: This analysis provides better understanding of how politicians can influence voters and voters can influence political brands, and how the strategic orientation archetypes can be used to influence decisions about political strategy.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Optimal office lighting use: a Swedish case study
|
[
"Individual",
"Energy saving",
"Lighting",
"Office",
"Lighting control",
"Occupancy"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The use of all types of energy in buildings accounts for a significant percentage of national energy use, for example, 37 per cent for the European Union, 39 per cent for the UK and over 40 per cent for Switzerland and Brazil (Masoso and Grobler, 2010). Offices consume a great deal of energy, with lighting using a high proportion (Li et al., 2006; Yun et al., 2012). The amount of energy used depends on the type of lighting, geographical location (Dubois and Blomsterberg, 2011) and occupant behaviour (Wong et al., 2006; Masoso and Grobler, 2010).\nMethod: Setting\nResults: Occupancy and use of lighting\nDiscussion: In this paper, \"optimal lighting use\" was determined for the use of general lighting (ceiling luminaires) with different types of lighting controls through the case study of field measurements. With this simple alternative approach, it is possible to visualise as well as determine how the lighting was used with regard to occupancy and daylight hours.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to determine the optimal office lighting use with different types of lighting controls to achieve energy savings and provide visual comfort for individuals.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A case study and field measurements were carried out in 18 single-occupancy offices in Sweden where six different lighting controls were investigated. Occupancy and daylight hours were key issues for determining the lighting use. For each office, occupancy patterns, use of a ceiling luminaire, energy usage and perceptions of office lighting in the spring-summer and autumn-winter were established.\nFindings: The use of luminaires varied among the occupants and could be habitual. Though the study yielded positive results concerning the potential for manual or daylight dimming with occupancy switch-off controls to increase optimal lighting use, combining dimming controls with manual on/off controls is rather effective if occupants generally sit in their offices most of the day.\nResearch limitations/implications: Precise comparisons of the performances of the different controls were limited due to the offices' different window orientations; thus, measurements in identical offices are desirable. The small sample size limited analyses of lighting use and the personal perceptions of lighting quality.\nPractical implications: Apart from the contribution to simulation techniques, the findings imply that office lighting controls should be selected taking individuals' behavioural patterns and perceived lighting quality into consideration.\nOriginality/value: This paper describes an approach to determine the use of lighting controls and provides a basis for establishing optimal lighting use for individuals with regard to occupancy and daylight availability.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Teaching corporate crisis management through business ethics education
|
[
"Teaching",
"Ethics",
"Crisis management",
"Human resource development",
"Business ethics education"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: In recent years, a plethora of crises in various industry and environmental sectors has drawn substantial media attention. Such crises often stem from shortcomings in ethical awareness, judgment or action that allow what might have been preventable or relatively manageable problems to escalate into much more cumbersome, chronic or tragic situations (Nielsen and Dufresne, 2005; Gioia, 1995; Werhane, 1991). However, even when factors other than ethical lapses are at the root of such calamities, ethical considerations still remain paramount in the effective resolution of such predicaments (Pauchant and Mitroff, 1992; Seeger and Ulmer, 2001). In fact, ethics are so central to the effective management of organizational crises that the highly respected Ethics Resource Center (ERC, 2011, p. 4) recently noted that although \"organizational crises may be viewed largely as operational issues, legal entanglements or public relations challenges [...] much of what confronts us is really about character and ethics\". However, although the intersection of ethics, social responsibility and crisis management has received growing scholarly attention over the past decade (Sandin, 2009), there is still a dearth of research on whether business ethics education comprises a useful context through which crisis management can be taught. Moreover, despite the growing importance of crisis prevention and management in an increasingly globalized and environmentally at-risk world, this topic has been only scantily acknowledged and studied within a human resource development (HRD) context (Hutchins and Wang, 2008; Wang et al., 2009). Leading HRD scholars have, therefore, recommended not only additional strategic-level research into crisis management but also identified the need for some microstructural research, identifying and evaluating specific crisis-training programs that might be of benefit in HRD (Wang et al., 2009).\nCorporate crisis: Classically, corporate crisis was defined as a situation that:\nCrisis management: Crisis management is a proactive process in which various steps are implemented before, during and after a crisis (Caywood and Stocker, 1993; Simola, 2005). These steps include:\nMethod: Participants\nResults: As indicated via comparison of pre- and post-course assignment questions assessing knowledge about crisis/management, students demonstrated greater knowledge about organizational crisis/management at the conclusion of the course (t(31) = 17.00, p < 0.001, d = 3.01). The effect size as indicated by Cohen's d is large. Cohen's d effect sizes indicate increases in knowledge (or skill) from pre- to post-measures in standard deviation units. For example, a Cohen's d of 1.0 would indicate an increase of 1.0 standard deviation units.\nDiscussion: The purpose of this research was three-fold, including:\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this research was threefold, including to provide a four-point rationale for teaching corporate crisis management as a module within a course on ethical decision-making in business and organizations; to provide evaluative data supporting this approach; and to highlight the implications of this approach for human resource development and training.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Thirty-four undergraduates in a required course on ethical decision-making in business and organizations completed pre- and post-course assignments assessing their knowledge about crisis/management, as well as their skills in crisis recognition, evaluation and action planning. Participants also completed a survey on their perceptions of the crisis management module and its placement within the ethics course.\nFindings: Statistical analyses demonstrated significant knowledge acquisition on crisis/management; significant skill development on crisis recognition, evaluation and action planning; and significantly greater \"true positives\" and significantly fewer \"false negatives\" in post-course identification of crisis warning signs. Perceptions of the crisis management module and its placement within the course on ethical decision-making were positive.\nResearch limitations/implications: Although the sample size was relatively small, small samples are associated with a greater risk of failing to detect an effect that is present, rather than the greater predicament of erroneously concluding that an absent effect is actually present. This information, coupled with the fact that the results demonstrated not only statistical significance but also large effect sizes using Cohen's d, inspires confidence. Nonetheless, additional assessment with larger samples would allow for the possibility of convergent evidence. Similarly, additional assessment within different organizational contexts, including applications in human resource training and development is warranted. Future research should also include assessment of specific underlying teaching strategies and evaluation of whether certain models are associated with greater learning on a broader range of crisis management skills.\nPractical implications: Programs in business ethics education and training comprise one useful context in which to teach corporate crisis management. The program specified here addresses two training needs previously specified in the human resource development (HRD) literature on crisis management, including identifying specific methods of enhancing recognition or detection of crisis warning signs and also of providing tools and enhancing skills for assessing and containing crisis.\nOriginality/value: Despite the centrality of both ethics and HRD to crisis management, there has been a dearth of research on whether ethics education is a useful context through which to teach this topic. This research addresses this dearth and suggests new avenues for HRD in this respect.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Discussing school value: an educational services viewpoint
|
[
"Education services",
"Grounded theory approach",
"School improvement",
"School value"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: 1.1 Awareness of issues\n2. Review of prior research: We review the literature on school value from the viewpoint of research on school management and educational services.\n3. Method: 3.1 Research design\n4. Results: We derived concepts (hereinafter, core categories) encompassing the high-ranking categories per stakeholders, as responses to RQ1. Furthermore, we asked for interconnection between core categories, as a response to RQ2.\n5. Conclusion and discussion: The purpose of this paper was to learn the substance of \"school value.\" It is hardly considered to discuss the contents of school value and the structure of school value. Comprehensive and inclusive questioning was conducted with high-school instructors on \"school value.\" Then, the collected data were analyzed by using the grounded theory approach.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to define school value and its components. This paper discusses the contents of the school's value and the structure of the school's value. This paper also shows findings of educational services and value in high school.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Comprehensive and inclusive questions were posed about \"school value\" to high-school instructors. A grounded theory approach was then used to analyze the collected data.\nFindings: This analysis found that school value consists of four core categories: \"school,\" \"students,\" \"guardians\" and \"region,\" which consist of 13 high-ranking categories believed to represent the substance of school value. In addition, three of the four core categories are linked in a star pattern around the core category of \"school.\"\nResearch limitations/implications: This research analyzes the value of the school using the grounded theory approach. The data used for the analysis are interview data on the value of the school. And these analyzes reveal the contents of school value and the structure of school value.\nPractical implications: This study discussed school value based on hearing data of faculty members. In the analysis method of this research, each school can find its own value by changing the target and contents of interview.\nSocial implications: Study of this school value clarified a leader's role and action in the creation scene of school value. This finding will enable efficient activities of school leaders. As a result, it can be expected to promote school improvement.\nOriginality/value: The authors identified the categories forming \"school value\" and their relative relationships. \"School value\" emphasizes results co-created by stakeholders.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Antecedents and consequences of trust: an e-tail branding perspective
|
[
"Behavioural intentions",
"E-tailer associations",
"E-tailer awareness",
"E-tailer perceived quality",
"Online trust"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The success factors in e-business involve more than technology that can address security and to some degree, privacy: IT executives need to work with their customers to evaluate the value of trust in their business relationship (Lamonica, 2000).\nTheoretical background: Due to absence of physical interactions between buyers and sellers, trust in online retailing is emerged as a critical factor. Trust plays a major role in attracting shoppers and in building and maintaining a long-term customer-store relationship (Twing-Kwong et al., 2013; Bart et al., 2005). It is an important factor under the conditions of uncertainty and risk, when executing online transaction, as customers are not aware about the e-stores authenticity, they feel vulnerable. A recent study by Wobker et al. (2015) found that trust reduces complexity in retail purchase, and thereby moderate the impact of consumer confusion for negative outcomes. In online retailing, customers can chat with others electronically, go through product reviews and thus, they become information-rich before taking a decision to purchase a product or service. Retailers have a very little or no control over this process. In such a situation, trust towards the retailers plays a salient role in the purchase decision and in maintaining a good customer-retailer relationship. Researchers conceptualized trust in various ways. For example, accordingly to Rousseau et al. (1998), trust is a \"psychological state comprising the intention to accept vulnerability based on positive expectations of the intentions or behaviors of another\" (p. 395). In trust, one relies on his exchange partner in whom he has confidence (Moorman et al., 1993). Morgan and Hunt (1994) defined trust as occurring when one party has confidence in an exchange partner's reliability and integrity. Credibility and benevolence are the fundamentals of trust. Credibility means to the buyer's belief in the seller's expertise to do the job effectively, whereas benevolence refers to the buyer's belief in the positive intention of the seller.\nHypothesis development and proposed model: E-tailer awareness, trust, and behavioural intentions\nResearch methods: Design and participants\nData analysis and results: Descriptive statistics\nHypothesis testing: Looking at the hypothesized relationships of this study, a SEM seems to be appropriate to test the hypotheses. It is because SEM can examine simultaneous latent variables with multiples items, interrelated dependent variables, and causality hypotheses (as reflected in Figure 1). In addition, SEM can measure independent variable errors while other dependence techniques such as regression analysis and ANOVA cannot (Bollen, 1989, pp. 72-73). The SEM comprises of two sub-models: measurement model and structural model (Byrne, 2010). A measurement model describes the links between the latent variables and their observed measures. The measurement model is used to assess a construct's validity and reliability. On the other hand, a structural model depicts the links between the latent variables (Byrne, 2010) and is used to check the hypothesized relationships. AMOS, version 18, was used to perform SEM.\nDiscussions: This study explored the effects of e-tailer awareness, e-tailer associations, e-tailer perceived quality on online propensity to trust and behavioural intentions. Subsequently, this study examined the impacts of online trust on behavioural intentions. Data collected from real shoppers, have been analysed through a sophisticated analytical tool named SEM. Results found that e-tailer awareness (e-tail brand awareness) positively influences online propensity to trust (b=0.148, t=2.486, p\nManagerial implications: This study has several managerial implications. First, this study found that e-tailer awareness, associations, and perceived quality positively influence online trust. That signifies that the more e-tailer awareness, associations, and perceived quality, the more online trust is. Online trust plays the key role in e-tailing activates (Roghanizad and Neufeld, 2015). Previous studies have identified few antecedents of online trust such as online privacy, and security (e.g. Hsu, 2008). However, no one studied from an e-tail branding perspective. This study provides few antecedents of trust from an e-tail branding perspective and thus tried to contribute to this void. The results of this study suggest that e-tailers should focus on activities that influence awareness, associations, and quality of their brands, which, in turn, enhance the trust of their brands. For example, promotions may create more awareness of an e-tail brand which may lead to building trust towards the e-tail brand or e-tailer.\nLimitations and future research: This study has few limitations. First, we conducted this study in Indian context, a developing country. Consumer behaviour of a developing country could differ from a developed country. So, future research could replicate our study in a developed country context and compare its results with our results for a generalization. Second, several other branding aspects such as brand personality were not included in this study. Future study could investigate how e-tailer brand personality influences online propensity to trust and behavioural intentions. Third, consumer demographics such as gender and age may moderate e-tailing activities. Researchers can check how the hypothesized relationships of this study vary across gender, and age. Finally, as e-tailing may differ from in-store retailing, researcher could replicate this model in an in-store retailing context and compare its results with this study results.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the antecedents and consequences of trust in online shopping from an e-tail branding perspective.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A structured questionnaire was used to collect data online from Indian e-tail shoppers (n=309). A structural equation modelling (CB-SEM approach) was used to analyse the data.\nFindings: The results found e-tailer awareness, e-tailer associations, and e-tailer perceived quality as antecedents of trust in online shopping. The results also showed online trust positively influences the behavioural intentions, namely, purchase intention, repurchase, and recommendation.\nOriginality/value: This study examines the applicability and branding and brand management principles in an e-tail branding context. Theoretical and managerial implications of these results are further discussed.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Response to Cult of the "I"
|
[
"Branding",
"Library and information science",
"ISchools",
"Response",
"IField",
"Information Science"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In the \"Cult of the 'I'\" (Golub et al., 2017), three Scandinavian iSchools are compared with three American iSchools. The purpose is ambitious, to \"establish any potential differences between American and Scandinavian iSchools\" (p. 50). This is pursued through a statistical analysis of curricula together with a qualitative study of three documents. The current text is a response from researchers active at the only certified Swedish iSchool, the Swedish School of Library and Information Science (SSLIS) at the University of Boras, one of three Scandinavian schools studied. The \"Cult of the 'I'\" article is written by colleagues at another Library and Information Science (LIS) department in Sweden, situated within the School of Cultural Sciences, Linnaeus University.\nThe qualitative study: The \"Cult of the 'I'\" article attempts to understand \"considerations made by LIS departments before submitting applications\" (p. 53). This leads to the selection of one document for each Scandinavian school. Two internal, prior to the application process documents are used in the case of the Swedish and Norwegian schools. For Denmark, a conference presentation is selected (Borlund, 2011). Notably, that publication came two years after certification and the choice of this document is therefore not congruent with the above stated selection criteria.\nThe quantitative study: The purpose of the \"Cult of the 'I'\" article would appear to encourage a qualitative approach. This would seem to be particularly pertinent as there are such obvious differences regarding the way that courses are designed. Why not undertake a textual analysis of a selected number of course plans involving the same kind of course content at the different schools? This could have been followed up by in-depth interviews to explore symbolic and ideological dimensions that first led to the decision to apply for membership and then to explore the implications of these dimensions after membership was granted. Instead, the authors proceed with statistical processing that, in several ways, is questionable.\nContextual issues: We are confused by the lack of contextual discussion in the \"Cult of the 'I'\" article. If the focus is on comparing schools in the US and Scandinavia, it would be appropriate to note some historical and political dimensions. For our part, we understand the US and Scandinavian contexts and traditions of LIS as quite different. Furthermore, the existence of alternative approaches in Scandinavia is likely valuable and rejuvenating for the iSchools Movement. The article does not mention the lively discussion on the character of future of LIS which has been ongoing for most of this millennium and still lively in recent years. The authors of the \"Cult of the 'I'\" article appear to have misunderstood the mechanisms involving Scandinavian iSchool membership. They seem to expect a sudden transformation. In the case of SSLIS, we have had a long-standing development of research and education along the lines of the broad iField preceding the application. Membership, then, becomes more a matter of consolidating what has already been done, strengthening collaboration with similarly broadly oriented schools and improving on the standing and impact of LIS within the larger academic community.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to respond to an earlier article in the Journal of Documentation: The Cult of the \"I\".\nDesign/methodology/approach: The method is a form of critical response.\nFindings: Numerous problems regarding the The Cult of the \"I\" article are discussed.\nOriginality/value: This paper puts forward views about the iSchools Movement.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
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