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The business value of cloud computing: the partnering agility perspective
|
[
"Cloud computing",
"Lifecycle",
"Cloud infrastructure flexibility",
"Cloud infrastructure integration",
"Market turbulence",
"Partnering agility"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Cloud computing refers to an \"IT service model where computing services are delivered on demand to customers over a network in a self-service mode, independent of device and location\" (Marston et al., 2011). Compared with traditional IT, cloud computing has some special features such as ubiquity, elasticity, resource sharing, data concentration, low cost, and pay-per-use (Armbrust et al., 2010). By changing the way IT software and hardware are designed and purchased, cloud computing has begun to change the IT industry and business in other industries (Son et al., 2014).\n2. Research background: 2.1. Cloud computing\n3. Research model and hypotheses: We propose the following research model (see Figure 1). That is, a firm's CI flexibility and CI integration affect its partnering agility, which in turn affects firm performance. In addition, the relationship between CI flexibility (CI integration) and partnering agility is moderated by contextual factors such as market turbulence and business lifecycle.\n4. Method: 4.1. Sample and data collection\n5. Data analysis and results: The proposed research model was tested by using PLS modeling with SmartPLS2.0. PLS has become popular in research, particularly because it has specific advantages, such as minimal requirements on measurement scales and sample distribution (Chin et al., 2003).\n6. Discussion: 6.1. Findings\n7. Conclusions: Due to its advanced features, cloud computing technology has become increasingly popular and has gained a lot of attention from researchers. Unlike prior studies that often focus on the cost-saving aspect of cloud computing, this study investigates how firms leverage the flexibility and integration characteristics of cloud computing to enhance partnering agility. Through collaboration with business partners, firms can catch more market opportunities and improve their performance. Our study suggests that besides the cost-saving aspect of benefits, the value creation aspect of cloud computing should also be emphasized in research and practice. In particular, we suggest that the flexibility-related and integration-related features of cloud computing can create value for firms by facilitating inter-firm collaboration in exploiting business opportunities. Our study provides a new perspective on understanding the business value of cloud computing.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to focus on the value creation potential of cloud computing in inter-firm partnerships. It examines how cloud-based IT infrastructure capabilities in flexibility and integration contribute to partnering agility and, consequently, firm performance. This study also introduces business lifecycle and market turbulence as internal and external context variables, respectively, to investigate the different roles of cloud computing in value creation.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A questionnaire was used to collect data from 184 client firms of the largest cloud computing services provider in China (Alibaba Cloud). The theoretical model was tested using PLS analysis.\nFindings: Cloud infrastructure (CI) flexibility has a positive effect on partnering agility, while the effect of CI integration on partnering agility is moderated by business lifecycle and market turbulence.\nResearch limitations/implications: The surveyed firms are all Alibaba Cloud clients, which may limit the generalization of the findings.\nPractical implications: The study suggests that besides the cost benefits, the value creation aspect of cloud computing should also be emphasized in research and practice. The study provides a new perspective to understand the business value of cloud computing in inter-firm partnerships.\nOriginality/value: The study suggests that the flexibility-related and integration-related features of cloud computing can create value for firms by facilitating inter-firm collaboration in exploiting business opportunities.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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Building tourism-resilient communities by incorporating residents' perceptions? A photo-elicitation study of tourism development in Bruges
|
[
"Perceptions",
"Sustainability",
"Tourism policy",
"Local residents",
"Photo-elicitation"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Tourism can be understood as a phenomenon of encounters which take place in different ways: with other people, places, cultures and environments. However, Colomb and Novy (2016) claim that the whole process of defining, measuring and conceptualizing tourism is deeply political and primarily dominated by tourism-related businesses. A dominance of the tourism sector in decision-making processes and its leading role in reshaping places and localities allows tourism to slowly enter a domain of urban social movements and to become an arena of struggle for local residents (McGehee et al., 2014). Often, conflicts surrounding tourism are not merely about tension between tourists and residents, but rather reflect wider struggles over socio-economic urban transformation, space ownership and the division of costs and benefits related to tourism (Colomb and Novy, 2016).\nAttitudes toward tourism development: Multiple studies have mainly focused on the impact of tourism on local communities using the social exchange theory as a theoretical basis (Bimonte and Punzo, 2016). This theory is concerned with \"understanding the exchange of resources between individual and groups in an interaction of situation\" where \"actors supply one another with valued resources\" (Ap, 1992, p. 668). As a result, residents perceive tourism positively if the benefits for their well-being and economic status are higher than costs (Vargas-Sanchez et al., 2011). Such residents are willing to support tourism development. On the other hand, residents who experience more costs than benefits will see tourism development as problematic (Andriotis and Vaughan, 2003). There are typically three main aspects that social exchange theory takes into account: economic, environmental and socio-cultural.\nCase study description: In this paper, we discuss the central area of Bruges which is located inside thirteenth century ramparts and considered the \"historic\" town. This area is also known as the Egg because of its elliptical form visible in Figure 1. The majority of tourist activities and tourist presence are concentrated on a very small part of the Egg which is called the Golden Triangle (Figure 2).\nMethodology: The majority of studies on our topic use quantitative data in the form of questionnaires (Sharpley, 2014). It is justified by the fact that most of the studies search for the relation between opinions and personal variables. Nevertheless, some authors call for a more comprehensive understanding of residents' perceptions (Woosnam, 2012). In such case, qualitative research which attempts to answer not only \"what\" residents think but also \"why\" can provide more information and enhance understanding of residents' perceptions of tourism and tourists (Deery et al., 2012). Moreover, the majority of studies based on quantitative research a priori categorize tourism impacts (e.g. into negative or positive, socio-cultural or environmental, etc.). The studies do not give freedom to respondents to classify the impacts by themselves but rather state the level of agreement with pre-coded positive or negative statements (Andereck et al., 2005). For example, Ap and Crompton (1998) show that the statement \"tourism creates employment opportunities\" might not necessarily be positive as the jobs might be low paid, seasonal and targeted mainly at foreigners. In this research, in order to get more in-depth answers from residents, we applied a qualitative research method in the form of photo-elicitation and interviews.\nAttitudes of residents toward tourism and tourists: The positive aspects mentioned by residents are economic gains and job creation. Additionally, residents are happy to live in a dynamic cosmopolitan city and they often benefit from the facilities and infrastructure which were originally designed for tourists. Residents also see the link between tourism and heritage preservation. Often, the efforts of the city to remain a well-known destination are translated into heritage preservation efforts. Importantly, the terrorist attacks in Brussels on March 22, 2016 and the consequent drop in the number of tourists made the residents realize how important tourism is for the economy of the city.\nDiscussion: The results show that the characteristics of local residents which are commonly shared, such as nostalgia for the past, open-mindness, local pride, etc., influence respondents' attitudes toward tourism (McKercher and Ho, 2012; Yen and Kerstetter, 2008). The conservative attitude toward changes makes respondents reluctant to accept tourism-related dynamics in the city and, in particular, decreasing the liveability of the Golden Triangle due to the development of tourism-based services. Similarly, the feeling of alienation in the city makes residents perceive tourism in a negative way (McKercher, Shoval, Park, and Kahani, 2015; McKercher, Wang, and Park, 2015). This alienation can be fostered by the existence of some stereotypes about tourists. Stereotypes and prejudices are one of the obstacles for the intergroup contact, in this case host-guest interactions (Pettigrew, 1998). On the other hand, the open-mindness of respondents for other cultures and tourists and their awareness of economic benefits of tourism influence the positive perception about tourism (Faulkner and Tideswell, 1997; Boley et al., 2014). One cannot forget that Bruges, and its surroundings, is not strongly industrialized which makes tourism an important economic sector and job creator. Thus, following the social exchange theory, respondents see tourism in a positive way as long as the benefits, mainly the economic ones, outweigh the nuisances. Respondents who directly benefit from tourism (six respondents) definitely support tourism.\nConclusions: Given the impacts tourism can have on a community, it is imperative to gain an understanding of residents' views if consensus is to be built. Residents are, after all, likely to be impacted by the changes tourism brings along. The identities they ascribe and attachments they have to their communities are likely to be altered for the better or the worse (Williams et al., 1995).\n",
"role": "user"
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"content": "Purpose: In a current trend of a growing amount of short city trips, it becomes crucial to understand how local residents perceive the presence of tourists and tourism in their cities and how their socio-cultural context influences those perceptions. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to this understanding which will enable the city planners to take actions to create the well-balanced and resilient communities in which the needs of residents and tourists are equally met.\nDesign/methodology/approach: To understand residents' perceptions' about tourism in Bruges, this research applied photo-elicitation interviews with 28 residents who lived in various locations in the historical center to understand socio-cultural background of residents, their tourism-related concerns and whether they are in line with what is commonly perceived as problematic in Bruges.\nFindings: Results show that as long as residents can benefit from tourism and tourism-related infrastructure, they support tourism. On the other hand, tourism decreases the liveability of the historical center due to supersession of infrastructure serving the residents by tourist-oriented amenities.\nPractical implications: To build a sustainable and resilient city in the future, the authorities of Bruges should cease further \"museumification\" of the historical city by breaking the hegemony of tourism industry, providing affordable housing and rethinking the concentration model of tourism.\nOriginality/value: The photo-elicitation method proved to produce rich content and good-quality data by stimulating respondents' memories and evoking experiences and emotions. Thus, this paper recommends that future research about residents' attitudes is developed around visual methods as they give voice to the residents and are able to uncover issues which are difficult to capture with other methods.\n",
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] |
The effect of infrastructure and taxation on economic growth: new empirical assessment
|
[
"Economic growth",
"Infrastructure",
"Taxation"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: An important issue for policymakers is to decide whether a strategy for increasing infrastructure is able to promote economic growth. However, it is possible that an increase in taxation is necessary to enable the expansion of infrastructure, which can therefore counteract the expansion of the product. This paper provides an empirical investigation of the impact of the core of infrastructure (telecommunication, electricity and transportation sectors) on economic growth and, in particular, analyzes whether indirect taxation is capable of eroding this effect.\n2. Data and methodology: In order to evaluate the impact of the core of infrastructure and taxation on economic growth, this study makes use of the panel data methodology for a sample of 96 countries for the period 1976 to 2014 (annual frequency - see Table AI)[2]. Following most of the literature, the dependent variable used in the models is the per capita real product growth rate (Y) extracted from PWT 9.0[3]. It is important to note that the set of countries used in the sample represents more than 96 percent of the real GDP of the world economy (PWT 9.0) and the 39 years period is adequate for analysis of economic growth[4].\n3. Empirical evidence: As a way to observe the impact of the core of infrastructure and taxation on the economic growth, we estimate several panel data regressions. Taking into account the total sample, and TELEC1 and ELECT as proxies for infrastructure, the next subsection presents empirical evidence from the FOLS and S-GMM methods. The following two subsections, based on the same framework, consider the sample of developing countries as classified by the IMF and the World Bank respectively. The fourth subsection extends the previous models through the insertion of new infrastructure sectors (TELEC2 and TRANSP).\n4. Concluding remarks: This paper analyzes the impact of infrastructure and indirect taxation on economic growth. It is important to highlight that as a consequence of the inclusion of accumulation factors in our specification (physical and human capital) as control variables, we investigated the growth impact of infrastructure due to its effect on productivity. Therefore, although our results suggest that infrastructure is relevant to economic growth, we cannot state that an increase in government infrastructure spending represents a useful tool of Keynesian economics face an economic slowdown. We performed several panel data estimations based on a total sample of 96 countries for the period from 1976 to 2014. Furthermore, in order to include new infrastructure sectors into the analysis, and to verify changes since the 1990s, estimates were made for a total sample of 74 countries and their subsamples from developing countries for the period 1991 to 2014.\n",
"role": "user"
},
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"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the empirical literature that analyzes the effect of the core infrastructure (telecommunication, electricity and transportation) and indirect taxation on economic growth.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors present empirical evidence through panel data analysis based on a comprehensive sample of countries (96) over a long period of time (1976 to 2014).\nFindings: The findings confirm the assumption that the core of infrastructure is essential to promote economic growth. Furthermore, indirect taxation is not a tool capable of stimulating growth. In particular, new sectors of the core of infrastructure, such as the internet and mobile telephony, are capable of expanding the effect of infrastructure on growth.\nOriginality/value: Based on a sample of 74 countries, we include new infrastructure sectors into the analysis (transportation, fixed telephony, mobile telephony and internet), and verify changes from the 1990s.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
From service engagement to product purchase: cross-buying behavior in hospitality contexts
|
[
"Cross buying",
"Customized solutions",
"Product retailing",
"Service engagement"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: An increasing number of hospitality and tourism firms are cross-selling tangible products to existing customers for profit maximization in competitive markets (Brandenberg, 2017; Lee and Choi, 2019). Over 12 years, the retail arm of Westin Hotels and Resorts has successfully sold over 100,000 Heavenly Beds, 250,000 pillows and 173,000 white tea fragrance products (Zacks-Equity-Research, 2012). Starbucks' product sales have accounted for over 10% of the company's revenue (Starbucks, 2018). However, not all firms are successful at product retailing; Disneyland's product sales declined by 8% in 2017 because of slowing mobile game development and consumption (Walt Disney Company, 2018). Successfully transforming customer engagement in service contexts (hereafter referred to as \"service engagement\") into product sales is crucial for promoting hospitality firms' competitive advantage. Hospitality firms must adopt effective marketing strategies (e.g. products with customized solutions as well as purchase channels) to sell products to hospitality customers. Marketing-mix product tools to serve customer needs are critical to promoting effective customer engagement (Hollebeek, 2019). Accordingly, we address the following research questions in this study:\n2. Theoretical background and literature review: 2.1 Service engagement\n3. Hypotheses development: Based on the service engagement and cross-buying literature, the transition of service engagement in terms of RFM relies on a firm's marketing mix to cater to customers' needs (Hollebeek, 2019). RFM captures a customer's transaction history as well as his/her direct contributions to a service firm, reflecting service engagement (Pansari and Kumar, 2017). RFM also predicts future cross-buying behavior through knowledge accumulation and relational commitment (Knott et al., 2002). Hotel firms can, therefore, promote products to hospitality customers by promising to provide customized solutions such as personalized products, prices or delivery services. Additionally, hotels can also sell customers products via online or offline purchase channels for convenience (Figure 1).\n4. Methodology: 4.1 Data sources and purification\n5. Results: We used ordinary least squares regression to test the main effects of RFM on subsequent product purchases (see Table 4). Model 1 included the control variables; Model 2 added the main effects. The recency of previous hotel consumption negatively influenced subsequent product purchases (b = 0.20, p < 0.01), supporting H1a. The frequency had a significant influence on subsequent product purchases (b = 0.01, p < 0.01), lending support to H1b. The monetary value of hotel consumption positively affected subsequent product purchases (b = 0.07, p < 0.01), supporting H1c.\n6. Conclusion: 6.1 Discussion\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the transformation from service engagement through hotel consumption behavior to subsequent product purchases and identify marketing strategies to facilitate this transformation.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Using a 1.5-year data set of transactional data from a typical hotel firm, the authors examined 4,999 valid purchase events via ordinary least squares regression to test the hypotheses proposed.\nFindings: Contrary to studies indicating that heavy hospitality users are resistant to external change, the authors found that hotel service engagement (in terms of recency, frequency and monetary value) significantly informed subsequent product purchases. Effects varied based on customized solutions and product purchase channel.\nPractical implications: Product managers in hospitality should target customers who have recently patronized hotels as well as hotel customers with high monetary value and frequency. Managers can adopt distinct marketing strategies (e.g. customized solutions and purchase channels) to sell hotel customers more products.\nOriginality/value: Prior studies have framed the cross-selling of hospitality services as a vital revenue management strategy from hotel firms' or frontline employees' perspectives. However, to the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study to test how hotels cross-sell tangible products by targeting customers engaging in hotel consumption and by examining two major product marketing strategies that may facilitate or hinder this cross-selling process.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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Challenges in applying design research studies to assess benefits of BIM in infrastructure projects: Reflections from Finnish case studies
|
[
"Design management",
"Methodology",
"Case study",
"Building information modelling"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Design research is acknowledged as a multidisciplinary field, where design is broadly viewed as a goal-oriented, problem-solving activity (e.g. Gero, 1990). From that viewpoint, there have been some well-noted attempts at developing a generic theory of design process (Alexander et al., 1977; Cross, 1982; Gero, 1990; Hatchuel and Weil, 2009, etc.), suggesting that design researchers believe that the overall design process broadly remains the same no matter what the problem context is. Even though these models of design process seem valid when applied across different design problems, there appears to be some critical gaps between theory and practice. For example, the understanding of the scope of design and what it means varies across the design disciplines, and the design practitioners from several disciplines, including the participating practitioners in this study, appear to have limited awareness of the existence of such generic models of design process and design theory. Therefore, it is important to clarify at the outset, that the study reported in this paper is primarily based on infrastructure design projects, and especially in the context of the potential role and perception of the changes in the design practice, brought about by information systems and design tools such as building information modelling (BIM) applications.\n2. Related research: 2.1 Measuring the benefits of BIM as an IT-enabled design tool in construction projects\n3. Research approach: A large number of studies on design activity, especially from process and cognition point of view, either use recorded data from actual design sessions or use experiments and simulated design sessions to recreate a somewhat complete design cycle in a controlled environment. Such studies usually take a very close look at design and capture isolated episodes of designing on a personal or interpersonal level, often employing the technique such as protocol analysis (Crutcher, 1994). Usually this category of research explores design as a cognitive or socio-cognitive process (Cross, 2001; Schon and Wiggins, 1992; Suwa et al., 1999; Milne and Leifer, 2000). For example, Gero (1990) defines design as a purposeful activity that transforms the requirements (an envisioned function) into a design description of an artefact. The design description is the main outcome of design, and this description can be used to produce the artefact (Gero, 1990). Elaborating on the design process, Gero and colleagues (e.g. Gero, 1990; Gero and Kannengiesser, 2004) describe design process in terms of function, behaviour and structure (FBS) variables. According to the FBS framework, design evolves an iterative process through the following steps:\n4. Research experience to reflect on: research project as it progressed: This section briefly describes the research experience, which forms the basis for the discussion and reflections in this paper. The research project is described at a broader level, allowing for a detailed discussion on the key barriers to following the initial research plan, and the implications for planning similar research projects.\n5. Results: 5.1 Why was it hard to measure the actual benefits of BIM in design?\n6. Discussion: This research project initially went through significant changes in terms of its aims, objectives and the applied methodology. By the end of the project, the research findings gave insights into the perceptions of the designers and BIM users in the participating infrastructure design companies. The findings showed differences in perceptions of expert users and new users, besides showing opportunities for improvement in aspects such as coordination between design development and BIM modelling, and BIM skills development and design management. Given the usefulness of the findings, the project was deemed successful by participating organisations and it led to the successful completion of a thesis.\n7. Conclusion: This paper presents a reflective assessment on the conduct of a research project, and does not detail the research project itself and its findings. This is consistent with the purpose of the paper, which was to highlight some of the challenges in conducting case-based design research in infrastructure design projects. The authors suspect that many other researchers conducting similar research have similar experiences, but barring a brief mention about such challenges in their papers, such challenges have not been sufficiently discussed in the literature. Therefore, this paper focusses on these challenges so that they can be investigated and understood better.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present a reflective assessment on a research project aimed at applying design research methodologies to understand the benefits of building information modelling (BIM) in infrastructure design projects, a context where design research has not been applied adequately.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The findings reported in this paper are based on a reflective diary and reporting by the researchers on the challenges and barriers they faced in a research project that involved four case studies. The data in the case studies were collected from project documentation, questionnaire surveys, interviews and workshops. Sentiment analysis was conducted to assess the research participants' perceptions.\nFindings: Several challenges faced during the research study forced changes to the research process as well as adjustments to the research objectives. From the original objective of quantitatively measuring the benefits of BIM in the design process, the objective was shifted to measuring qualitatively how the designers' perceived the benefits. There was evident lack of shared understanding between the researchers and industry partners about the scope of design research and design in infrastructure projects.\nResearch limitations/implications: The findings are based on the studies in one country, and the reflective assessment could have researchers' bias in terms of their interpretation and experience.\nPractical implications: The presented findings and the lessons learnt from the research will be useful for others planning to conduct similar studies, because they are likely to encounter similar problems. The recommendations will benefit both the industry as well as the academia in bridging the gap between design theory and practice.\nOriginality/value: This paper primarily focusses on the challenges and barriers to conducting empirical research, especially from the viewpoints of a young researcher aiming to adopt design research methodology in infrastructure design projects. While the reported challenges may be widespread in similar research projects, they have not been the focus of research themselves, and are often sidelined. The primary contribution of this research is to identify and bring the key barriers and challenges to the forefront.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Actors' roles in interaction and innovation in local systems: a conceptual taxonomy
|
[
"Innovation",
"Interaction",
"Business network",
"Focal firm",
"Industrial district",
"Local cluster"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: This paper presents a concept-based study of the role of the focal firm in local entrepreneurial communities, with the aim of formulating a taxonomy to aid in determining such firms' contribution to innovation. The object of our attention is an organization deemed to be a focal firm, whose perspective we take in inspecting the network. The paper investigates the role of this actor (i.e. focal firm and gatekeeper) with regard to the innovation processes performed in both its network and its local system.\n2. Literature review and research propositions: 2.1 Local community: industrial districts and geographical clusters\n3. A conceptual taxonomy: In formulating this conceptual taxonomy, we assume the position of an actor (Hakanson and Snehota, 1995; Hakansson et al., 2009) in a local system of firms. To exemplify a local system, we can refer to either an industrial district (Becattini, 1979, 2004; Becattini and Dei Ottati, 2006) or a cluster (Porter, 1990), as stated in the foregoing.\n4. Research implications and propositions: Let us now return to the initially proposed concept of focal firm and revisit it in light of the proposed taxonomy. It now seems possible to attribute a new meaning to the focal firm, that is, an actor that has a key role in managing innovation processes by integrating internal and external resources into the local system. Such a conception of focal firm links the firm's role in interactions to the concept of gatekeeper (Allen, 1977) of the local system vis-a-vis external systems. Thus, the conceptual tool represented by the proposed taxonomy of interaction roles and actors can help clarify such a conception of the focal firm.\n5. Some conclusions: A unified analysis of the four research propositions enables us to furnish a picture of the model of innovation with respect to a local system by considering the role of the focal firm. Figure 4 shows different models of local system innovation according to the predominant interaction roles adopted by the enterprises in the local system.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This paper aims to study the role of the focal firm in local communities. In particular, it aims at analyzing such firms' contribution to innovation, proposing a classification of the interactions and role systems that contribute to determining the innovational impact of focal firms.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper presents a concept-based study. The paper starts with a review of the literature to frame the concepts of local network and focal firm. Two key concepts, related to that of interaction, are then discussed: teaching and learning.\nFindings: The paper proposes a taxonomy of the interactions and the roles systems that the focal firm can establish. The status of focal actor for innovation in a network stems, not from an \"a priori\" central strategic role on which the actor builds its interactions, but \"a posteriori\", from the actor's previously recognized roles in interactions on which network innovation is based. The local system may or may not be present in the interaction set of the business network. The interactions and roles systems define the type of local system.\nResearch limitations/implications: Research implications regard three main aspects: the different roles in the interactions; the types of actors in the local system; and the types of local systems involved in the processes of innovation.\nOriginality/value: The paper furnishes an original interpretation by focusing on focal firms as leaders in the innovation process, in the attempt to reconcile the \"macro\" perspective of local systems with the \"micro\" perspective of the individual firm.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Attitudes towards participation in business development programmes: An ethnic comparison in Sweden
|
[
"Business training and development programmes",
"Ethnic businesses"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Immigrant businesses are widespread in European countries, and there is a good attitude towards immigrant entrepreneurship from both governments and host societies (European Commission, 2008; Rezania and Onal, 2009).\n2. Previous research: To the authors' best knowledge, despite there being a remarkable number of studies on immigrant businesses, and also a number of studies on business development programmes, there are few, if any, studies that concretely and specifically deal with business owners' attitudes towards such development programmes. We hope that our article contributes to a better understanding of this issue.\n3. The sample, the independent and dependent variables and the model specification: 3.1 The sample\n4. Empirical results: 4.1 Descriptive statistics of sample\n5. Conclusions and discussion: The paper focusses on an important issue, investigating the attitudes towards participation in development programmes of micro-firm owners in Sweden, through an ethnic comparison between business owners/managers. Several methods including a binary logistic regression model have been used to analyse a unique and new firm-level panel database. The empirical findings indicate that immigrant managers/owners are more likely to show a positive attitude towards participation in development programmes, in terms of 9 out of 15 attitude variables, than their native counterparts. The findings confirm, for example, that the immigrant managers/owners were, on average, more satisfied with the quality of education than the native group. It might be the result of well-tailored workshops and sessions that fulfilled the needs of these relatively unprivileged groups (Schlosser, 2012; Bank of England, 2002, Dhaliwal, 2008). They also regarded participation in business development programmes as a valuable tool, giving knowledge and inspiration to develop the skills of management and employees in micro-firms. This satisfaction can be interpreted as a sign of the effectiveness of the efforts made and of the awareness of the needs of the target groups (Ram and Smallbone, 2003; Fallon and Berman Brown, 2004). Because there is no information about second generation of immigrants in the sample; thus, this category may have had impact on the results. However, there is no possibility to identify any impact of this on the results.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The aim of the study is to investigate whether there are any differences between the attitudes towards participation in development programmes of entrepreneurs who are immigrants and those who are native-born.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Several statistical methods, including a binary logistic regression model, were used to analyse a unique, firm-level dataset collected by the Swedish Small Business Forum in October and November 2012. The dataset was based on a questionnaire composed of 60 closed questions that was completed by 531 participants representing 395 companies.\nFindings: Based on the analysis of 15 different attitude variables, the empirical findings are that immigrant managers/owners are more likely to show a positive attitude to participation in development programmes, in terms of nine of those attitude variables, than their native counterparts. Because there are no data about second generation of immigrants in the sample, thus, this category may have had an impact on the results. However, there is no possibility to identify any impact on the results.\nOriginality/value: There is no prior research focusing specifically on this question, and to the authors' knowledge, this study is the first that has attempted to deal with the issue. This study is based on a recent and unique database, and provides new evidence on the relationship between ethnicity and attitude towards participation in development programmes among entrepreneurs. Its context is different from that of prior research.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Do religiosity, gender and educational background influence zakat compliance? The case of Malaysia
|
[
"Gender",
"Religiosity",
"Compliance",
"Zakat",
"Islamic education"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: In Muslim-majority countries, apart from taxation income, zakat collection also plays a significant role in the national economic and community development. Zakat is an Arabic word which carries several meaning including growth, increase, cleanness and purification (see Abd. Wahab and Abdul Rahman, 2011; Ahmed, 2004). Zakat is the third of the five pillars of the Islamic faith which Muslims must obey, and it is one of the mechanisms used since the days of Prophet Muhammad to alleviate poverty and reduce income inequality by redistributing wealth from the rich to those less fortunate or needy (Ahmed and Md Salleh, 2016; Aziz and Mohamad, 2016; Samad and Glenn, 2010). Hence zakat is not only promoting justice, accountability and compassion in society, but also as a means to preserve social equilibrium in a country (Nanji, 1985). As per the teachings of Islam, paying zakat would not reduce the zakat payer's wealth, but instead the payers or contributors obtain blessings (barakah) from God (Khurshid et al., 2014).\n2. Literature review and hypotheses development: 2.1 Religiosity and zakat compliance\n3. Research method: 3.1 Data collection\n4. Results: 4.1 Descriptive analysis\n5. Conclusion: This study examined the influence of Islamic religiosity, gender and Islamic educational background on zakat compliance behaviour. Consistent with prior studies, the present study shows that Islamic religiosity has a significant influence on zakat compliance behaviour, suggesting that Muslims with strong or higher religious values are highly likely to comply with zakat obligation. With regards to dimensions of religiosity, this study identified that only three dimensions of religiosity have a significant influence on the zakat compliance behaviour, namely the obligation (wajib), virtues and vices (akhlaq) and optional ritual (sunnah) dimensions. This suggests that Muslims with strong religious commitment, like strictly obey the obligatory duties (wajib) such as praying five times a day and fasting the whole month of Ramadhan, practise the optional ritual (sunnah) such as going to the mosque and reading the Quran, and possess virtue (akhlaq), are highly likely to comply with zakat obligation. This is in line with the arguments that Muslims who practice Islamic values and involve with various religious activities are likely to fulfil their zakat obligation because they appreciate the values of Islam and tend to internalise expectations and tenets of their faith (Kamil et al., 2012). This study, however, does not find any significant relationship between the faith (iman) dimension and zakat compliance behaviour. This could be due to the fact that the faith dimension consists of the basic elements of belief that should apply to every Muslim, for example, \"There is only one God (Allah)\", \"Islam is the way of life\" and \"One should fear all that offend Allah\". As such, this dimension poses a real problem for measurement as it would not add any variation between the subjects (Khraim, 2010). Overall, the findings suggest that three dimensions of religious practices (Wajib and Sunnah) and virtues (akhlaq) are the driving factors for zakat compliance behaviour. These findings have advanced our insights into which characteristics or dimensions of religiosity are actually relevant for understanding zakat compliance behaviour. In terms of formal religious education, this study found that there is no significant association between formal Islamic educational background and zakat compliance behaviour.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of religiosity, gender and Islamic educational background of Muslims on zakat compliance. It also aims to identify which dimensions of religiosity are significantly related to zakat compliance.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study uses a self-administered questionnaire that was distributed to working Muslims individuals in Klang Valley, Malaysia. Analysis of the data was based on 690 usable questionnaires.\nFindings: The findings show that religiosity had a significant influence on zakat compliance and three dimensions of religiosity, namely obligation, virtues and vices, and optional ritual, were significantly related to zakat compliance. Gender was also significantly related to zakat compliance, but in a negative direction, suggesting that Muslim working females are less compliant to zakat obligations compared to their male counterparts. It is found that formal Islamic educational background had no significant influence on zakat compliance.\nPractical implications: Given the importance of zakat collection to the growth of the economy and society, the findings of this paper might provide some insights to Muslim-majority countries and zakat institutions which areas require more attention to encourage zakat payment among Muslims.\nOriginality/value: Compared to prior zakat studies, the findings of this study were derived from a larger sample size of Muslim working respondents. Furthermore, this study also identifies which dimensions of religiosity are significantly related to zakat compliance. Hence this study enriches the scarce literature on zakat and religiosity.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Transforming online teaching and learning: towards learning design informed by information science and learning sciences
|
[
"Online learning",
"E-Learning",
"Higher education",
"Information science",
"Online teaching",
"Learning sciences",
"Learning design",
"Instructional design"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Universities and colleges responded to the COVID-19 global outbreak by closing campuses and rapidly transitioning to unplanned-for remote teaching towards the end of the Winter 2020 term. The online pivot saw academics adapting their on-campus teaching practices to online learning in a hurry. Given just days to transition traditional residential courses to remote teaching delivery, the virus cast a spotlight on the socio-economic divide between those who have and those who do not have access, to not only affordable medical care but also to digital technologies that connect us during social distancing. On campuses, as institutional budgets tighten during the pandemic, contingent faculty face more job insecurity and loss of health benefits. Our increasingly diverse students including members from historically disadvantaged, marginalized groups, such as Black, Hispanic, Indigenous, LGBTQ, adult, international and first-generation students, experienced a deepening of inequality when online learning exposed many differences between students that had been less visible on campus (Casey, 2020). At my institution, adjuncts or sessional instructors were often excluded from meetings to prepare emergency plans as they held other employment, and international students in disciplines such as engineering and computer science suddenly lacked access to the specialized software, hardware and network connectivity that they needed to complete their final assignments and exams.\nTowards learning design informed by information science and learning sciences: In the following sections, I first present a brief overview of the way online courses are currently designed by LD in higher education through presenting a case at a small public university. Second, I propose an alternative approach that is informed by evidence from research from IS and LS. Finally, I identify some important links between learning design, IS and LS to transform online teaching and learning practices towards improved, nuanced designs.\nConclusion: In this viewpoint paper, I aimed to provide an overview of the pragmatic work of LD to help members of the IS and LS communities understand how evidence-informed learning design of online teaching and online learning in higher education is relevant to their research agendas and the ways in which they can contribute to this growing field.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the practical work of learning designers with the aim of helping members of the information science (IS) and learning sciences (LS) communities understand how evidence-informed learning design of online teaching and online learning in higher education is relevant to their research agendas and how they can contribute to this growing field.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Illustrating how current online education instructional designs largely ignore evidence from research, this paper argues that evidence from IS and LS can encourage more effective and nuanced learning designs for e-learning and online education delivery and suggest how interdisciplinary collaboration can advance shared understanding.\nFindings: Recent reviews of the learning design show that tools and techniques from the LS can support students in self-directed and self-regulated learning. IS studies complement these approaches by highlighting the role that information systems and computer-human interaction. In this paper, the expertise from IS and LS are considered as important evidence to improve learning design, particularly vis-a-vis digital divide concerns that students face during the COVID-19 pandemic.\nOriginality/value: This paper outlines important ties between the learning design, LS and IS communities. The combined expertise is key to advancing the nuanced design of online education, which considers issues of social justice and equity, and critical digital pedagogy.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
A model of adoption determinants of ERP within T-O-E framework
|
[
"Organizational change",
"Information management",
"Adoption",
"Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The contemporary global economy emphasizes the wise use of intellectual capital and technology to build competitive advantage via integrating processes, supporting corporate strategies, and optimizing resources (Metaxiotis, 2009; Pang and Jang, 2008). Enterprise resource planning (ERP) software represents one of such state-of-the-art information technologies that integrate managerial and operational processes within and beyond the traditional boundaries (Ahituv et al., 2002; Hitt et al., 2002; Shiau et al., 2009). Lall and Teyarachakul (2006) and Shiau et al. (2009) posit that ERP integrates and supports production, procurement, human resources, finance and accounting, marketing and distribution, and other functional and sub-functional systems. Scholars (Federici, 2009; Holsapple and Sena, 2005; Maguire et al., 2007) propose that process integration of this sort provides enterprises with opportunities to reduce costs and improve efficiencies through cycle time and lead-time compression, communications, optimal inventory holding, improved product quality, network relationship, and search activities. Although ERP makes operationally significant promises, van Everdingen et al. (2000) and Maguire et al. (2007) believe that significant number of vendors principally targets large firms when the agility of small enterprises and their aggressive quest to build competitiveness make them have even better need for the software. Empirical evidence (Waarts et al., 2002; Kumar and Hillegersberg, 2000; Kannabiran and Dharmalingam, 2012) confirms that large firms are more predisposed to adopt digital applications than small firms.\n2. Theoretical contexts: 2.1 SMEs and adoption of ERP\n3. Population and methods: The survey data were drawn from SMEs operating in six fast growing service enterprises with strong operations in the city of Port Harcourt, Nigeria. The SMEs were those in ICT maintenance, legal services, healthcare services, laundry and dry cleaning, make-ups (e.g. barbing, hair dressing, and manicure and pedicure), and management consultancy. We relied on the provisions of Small and Medium Sized Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN, 2005) to capture those with at least ten employees, huge investment in ICT, and annual turnover of five Million Naira or less. The criterion of ten employees was necessary because of the peculiarity of Nigeria and to avert the conditions spanning between 100 and 500 employees as stipulated by developed and emerging nations. The US Small Business Administration and many European nations measure SMEs in terms of employing 500 or less persons (OECD, 2000); South Africa and Australia between 100 and 200 persons (Scupola, 2009); and Denmark 250 employees (OECD, 2002). Another criterion used here to define the population was that the SMEs must use ERP to integrate operations within the enterprise community and be duly registered with Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) and other relevant government approved bodies. From the initial pilot study, a list of 373 SMEs was drawn and the cluster of federal and state ministries and parastatals as well as huge oil deposit and commercial activities in the city of Port Harcourt makes it to play host to expatriates and major and minor Nigeria's tribes.\n4. Data analysis and results: The logistic regression and Wald's statistics were used for analysis; the first uses the likelihood ratios, Hosmer and Lemeshow's goodness of fit, and Nagelkerke's R2 to estimate the explanatory strength of the latent variables, and the Wald's statistics test the significance of the regression coefficients of the 12 hypothesized relationships. Pang and Jang (2008) propose that such multivariate test statistic is often preferred to multiple regression tests when the dependent variable is dichotomous (adopters vs non-adopters). Logistic regression assesses the impact of a number of factors on the likelihood that the respondents report adoption or non-adoption of ERP software.\n5. Discussion: This paper attempts to provide insight into the critical factors within the framework of T-O-E that influence SMEs' adoption of ERP. On accounts that the measures of the 12-factor dimensions were reliable and valid (see Table II) and the goodness of fit criteria of the basic model meet the proposed thresholds, the hypothesized relationships were tested to confirm the extent to which they support the proposed T-O-E framework. The nine hypotheses were supported at either p<0.01 or 0.05 with each factor differing in its statistical coefficient.\n6. Conclusions and implications: ERP systems are complex, capital intensive, and integrated software that reposition enterprises' competitive advantage provided the critical success factors are well known and carefully managed. Using ERP systems to build competitive advantage spans fundamental platforms for transaction processing (the primary focus of ERP studies), supply chain management, customer relationship management, knowledge management, decision support systems, and strategic management. SMEs, by their traditional nature, lack the cognate resources to adopt such large and complex software in order to exploit the primary and extended functions of ERP. Therefore, this paper contributes to and/or extends adoption knowledge by proposing a 12-factor model of ERP adoption from the T-O-E framework and examining the strength of each factor on the SMEs' adoption process using logistic regression. The result was insightful as to the critical nature of the indicators of the three adoption drivers in the context of ERP adoption among SMEs. The coefficients of the 12 factors show that they are critical adoption factors at p<0.01 or 0.05 though some had negative values. Thus, IS innovations are highly differentiated technologies for which no single proposed adoption model is all encompassing; adoption takes place after many factors, including those that appear favorable, must have been carefully considered.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to attempts to provide further insight into IS adoption by investigating how 12 factors within the technology-organization-environment framework explain small- and medium-sized enterprises' (SMEs) adoption of enterprise resource planning (ERP) software.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The approach for data collection was questionnaire survey involving executives of SMEs drawn from six fast service enterprises with strong operations in Port Harcourt. The mode of sampling was purposive and snow ball and analysis involves logistic regression test; the likelihood ratios, Hosmer and Lemeshow's goodness of fit, and Nagelkerke's R2 provided the necessary lenses.\nFindings: The 12 hypothesized relationships were supported with each factor differing in its statistical coefficient and some bearing negative values. ICT infrastructures, technical know-how, perceived compatibility, perceived values, security, and firm's size were found statistically significant adoption determinants. Although, scope of business operations, trading partners' readiness, demographic composition, subjective norms, external supports, and competitive pressures were equally critical but their negative coefficients suggest they pose less of an obstacle to adopters than to non-adopters. Thus, adoption of ERP by SMEs is more driven by technological factors than by organizational and environmental factors.\nResearch limitations/implications: The study is limited by its scope of data collection and phases, therefore extended data are needed to apply the findings to other sectors/industries and to factor in the implementation and post-adoption phases in order to forge a more integrated and holistic adoption framework.\nPractical implications: The model may be used by IS vendors to make investment decisions, to meet customers' needs, and to craft informed marketing programs that would appeal to actual and potential adopters and cause them to progress in the customer loyalty ladder.\nOriginality/value: The paper contributes to the growing research on IS innovations' adoption by using factors within the T-O-E framework to explains SMEs' adoption of ERP.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
The effect of message framings and green practices on customers' attitudes and behavior intentions toward green restaurants
|
[
"Green practices",
"Restaurant type",
"Attribute-based message",
"Benefit-based message",
"Green advertisement"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Going green is a trend in society today. As consumers become increasingly environmentally conscious and their demands for green products and services grow, many restaurant industry professionals are making efforts to implement pro-environmental practices and identify effective ways to communicate with consumers regarding their green efforts (NRA, 2016). For example, McDonald's established a \"scale for good\" to show its commitment to sustainability with customers (Gibbs, 2018). Panera launched its \"food as it should be\" campaign and let customers know that it prioritized the greening of its ingredients (Schroeder, 2017).\n2. Literature review and hypothesis development: 2.1 Type of messages: attribute-based versus benefit-based\n3. Methodology: A between-subject experimental design with a 2 (messages: attribute-based vs benefit-based) x 2 (practices: food vs environment) x 2 (restaurants: fast casual vs fine dining) approach was used to test the proposed hypotheses. A total of four one-page color advertisements were developed using two types of advertisement messages (attribute-based vs benefit-based) and two types of green attributes (food-focused vs environment-focused). These four advertisements were then presented in two different types of restaurant conditions (fast casual vs fine dining) based on participants' recent dining experiences (fast casual vs fine dining), creating a total of eight scenarios. The overall procedure and instrument used in the study, including the advertisement development process via pilot studies, are discussed in the following sections.\n4. Results: 4.1 Sample profile\n5. Discussion and conclusions: 5.1 Conclusions\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This study identifies an effective communication strategy for promoting restaurants' green efforts to customers by using different types of green advertisement messages. This study aims to investigate the relative persuasiveness of attribute-based versus benefit-based appeal messages in green restaurant advertisements and their matching effect with different types of green practices in the restaurant (environment-focused green practices vs food-focused green practices) and with different types of restaurants (fine dining vs fast casual dining) on customers' attitude and visiting intention toward green restaurants. Furthermore, the study examines a moderating effect of restaurant types to assess whether the matching effects between types of messages and types of green practices work differently within the different types of restaurants.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A 2 (attribute-based vs benefit-based messages) x 2 (food-focused vs environment-focused green practices) x 2 (fast casual vs fine dining restaurants) between-subject experimental design was used to test the proposed hypotheses. An online scenario-based survey was developed and distributed to online panel members in the USA. Ultimately, 363 responses were used for data analyses. ANOVA and t-test were conducted to analyze the data.\nFindings: The results indicate that benefit-based messages are generally more persuasive than attribute-based messages in green restaurant advertisements. For restaurants with food-focused green practices, an advertising message emphasizing the benefit of food-focused green practices (benefit-based message) would be more effective than an advertising message describing their tangible efforts to show the greenness of the restaurant (attribute-based message). For fine dining restaurants, a green advertisement with benefit-based information would be more persuasive than attribute-based information. This study further showed that the aforementioned interaction effect between types of green practices and types of messages was salient for fine dining restaurants.\nOriginality/value: This research is one of the few studies in restaurant management to examine the green communication effectiveness in terms of the types of green practices and the types of advertising message framing. By comparing the relative persuasiveness of green advertisements on consumers' attitudes and behavior intentions, this study provides suggestions for restaurant professionals to make effective green communication strategies based on the type of green practices the restaurant primarily uses and the type of restaurant the manager is operating.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Influence of creativity and knowledge sharing on performance
|
[
"Athletics",
"Individual development",
"Self development",
"Information technology",
"Coaching",
"Knowledge sharing",
"Self‐efficacy",
"Technological creativity for sports"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Research background and motives\nLiterature review and hypothesis testing: Self-efficacy\nResearch method: The research framework was established based on the aforementioned research motivations, purposes, and literature reviews. In addition, the data were collected by conducting a questionnaire survey to test whether the hypotheses were supported. The explanations regarding the research framework, research hypotheses, research subjects, and assessment of research variables are described as follows.Research framework\nConclusions and suggestions: Conclusions\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of technological creativity for sports and knowledge sharing on individual performance, and to analyze the correlation among creativity for sports technologies, knowledge sharing, and individual performance, via the mediating effect of athletes' self-efficacy.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This study selected 250 current athletes, including tennis players, track and field athletes, volleyball players, etc. as the subjects. Statistical methods, such as Cronbach's a, factor analysis, Pearson's correlation, regression analysis, and path analysis, were used to perform analyses.\nFindings: - It was found that among the technological creativity for sports, athletes' creativity and analytic capacity had significant positive influence on task performance and team performance in athletes' individual performance. In other words, the improvement in athletes' self-efficacy may improve their creativity and level of technological capacity, which further improves team performance and task performance.\nOriginality/value: - For coaches it is necessary to constantly strengthen athletes' self-efficacy and provide them with the space for the development of creativity and technological capacity in order to specifically improve their athletic performance. This study integrated relevant theories of technological creativity with those of self-efficacy to investigate issues regarding improvements in athletes' performance. At present, there is a lack of relevant studies on technological creativity for sports. The research results can serve as a reference to future studies for continuous clarification of investigations into technological creativity for sports.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
A bottom-up approach to developing a neighbourhood-based resilience measurement framework
|
[
"Community engagement",
"Community disaster resilience",
"Appreciative inquiry",
"Neighbourhood",
"Resilience measures"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Building community disaster resilience is integral to disaster risk reduction (DRR) policies and practice (United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR), 2015). Accordingly, there is a pressing need to benchmark existing levels of resilience to aid in the development and evaluation of DRR interventions that meet local needs and enhance communities' abilities to prepare for and respond to natural hazard events (Committee on Increasing National Resilience to Hazards and Disasters and Committee on Science Engineering and Public Policy, 2012). While research into disaster resilience and its measurement continues at a rapid pace, the development of resilience measures that reflect neighbourhood-level conditions remain scarce (Eisenman et al., 2016). To move towards developing a neighbourhood-based disaster resilience measurement framework that reflects the values and needs of neighbourhood stakeholders, this research study started by conducting focus groups with stakeholders of five different urban neighbourhoods in New Zealand and the USA, investigating what they value in their communities, how they frame disaster resilience, and what they believe to be essential elements that contribute to the resiliency of their communities. This conjoint evaluation approach provides insights into common resilience denominators as well as neighbourhood-specific contextual factors.\n2. Measuring disaster resilience: Measuring disaster resilience is fraught with challenges, not least because it is a multi-faceted and multi-scalar concept with wide ranging interpretations and ways of measuring it (Committee on Increasing National Resilience to Hazards and Disasters and Committee on Science Engineering and Public Policy, 2012; Cutter, 2016; International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, 2016; Ostadtaghizadeh et al., 2015; Sharifi, 2016). Disaster resilience can be conceptualised as community capitals (Ritchie and Gill, 2011), attributes of societal systems such as physical or social units (Renschler et al., 2010), and adaptive capacities (Becker et al., 2015; International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, 2016; Manyena et al., 2011; Sherrieb et al., 2010). These capitals, attributes, and capacities allow a societal system to either bounce back (i.e. return to pre-existing functionality) or bounce forward (i.e. adapt to a different reality) from a disaster (Manyena et al., 2011). This paper frames disaster resilience as the adaptive capacities of a social system to bounce forward from a natural hazard event. That is, disaster resilience refers to individuals' and groups' abilities to learn from, adapt to, and co-exist with natural hazards and their potential consequences (Paton and Johnston, 2017).\n3. Why assess disaster resilience at the neighbourhood level?: The definition of neighbourhood can be debated without end. This paper adopted Galster's (2001, p. 2112) definition of a neighbourhood as \"the bundle of spatially-based attributes associated with clusters of residences, sometimes in conjunction with other land uses\". At the neighbourhood scale, neighbourhood characteristics pertaining to demographics, physical features, environmental conditions, politics, social interactions, and sentiments and perspectives can be examined (Galster, 2001). As such, neighbourhoods comprise of diverse communities - groupings of people who share common perspectives or relational ties (MacQueen et al., 2001). As local communities are seen as the frontline in preparing for and dealing with the aftermath of disasters, this diversity creates the need for understanding different perspectives in informing the development of neighbourhood-based resilience measures.\n4. Methods: 4.1 Study sites\n5. Results: 5.1 What do neighbourhood stakeholders consider as important in their communities?\n6. Challenges and considerations: 6.1 Community engagement issues\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: As disaster resilience activities are increasingly occurring at the neighbourhood level, there is a growing recognition in research and in practice of the contributions that community stakeholders can make in assessing the resilience of their communities. The purpose of this paper is to describe the process in deriving a disaster resilience measurement framework by soliciting the perspectives of stakeholders from urban neighbourhoods in two countries. The authors examined their community values, and their perspectives on both the concept of resilience and the essential elements that they believe would contribute to the resiliency of their neighbourhoods.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors used an appreciative inquiry approach to draw out the perspectives of 58 stakeholders from nine focus groups in five urban neighbourhoods in New Zealand and in the USA.\nFindings: Results of this research show common values and recurring perceived characteristics of disaster resilience across the study sites. A neighbourhood-based disaster resilience measurement framework is developed that encompasses individual/psychological, socio-cultural, economic, infrastructural/built, and institutional/governance dimensions of disaster resilience. In the process of developing the framework, the authors identified challenges in engaging certain segments of the population and in accounting for wider structural influences on neighbourhood resilience.\nResearch limitations/implications: Issues relating to inclusive community engagement and linkages to cross-scalar resilience factors need to be addressed in future studies.\nPractical implications: Results of this research provide insights and guidance for policy makers and practitioners when engaging communities in the development of resilience metrics.\nOriginality/value: This study fills the literature gap in evaluating community values and stakeholders' perspectives on disaster resilience when identifying metrics for resilience interventions in urban neighbourhoods. The proposed measurement framework is derived from cross-cultural and diverse socioeconomic settings.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Behind intention and behaviour: factors influencing wine consumption in a novice market
|
[
"Risk perception",
"Theory of planned behaviour",
"Wine",
"Intrinsic and extrinsic cues",
"Novice market"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The advance of globalisation and the development of new markets have projected many businesses into the international market, shifting their vision from local to global and leading them to target new consumers. At the same time, the consumer has to do with a huge variety of products daily and increasingly complex decision-making processes. In this scenario, the concepts of consumer knowledge and expertise come into play, as well as the segmentation of the market into novice and experienced consumers (Adjei et al., 2010; Dagger and O'Brien, 2010; Hsiao et al., 2012). The market itself may be defined as novice or experienced, given that the attitudes of a consumer change depending on the phase of the life cycle of the market that he or she belongs to (Keegan, 1989; Bo Liu et al., 2014).\nTheoretical background: TPB\nObjectives of the study: Considering the literature, this study aims to advance the understanding of the decision-making process of consumers from novice markets facing the choice of a complex product like wine. The objective is to explain the determinants of the consumption intention and behaviour for this product in a novice market, where search and credence aspects are highly critical for consumers, and where awareness of the new product can drive their choices. The research also takes the role of risk into account, testing the appropriateness of TPB on wine consumption for the first time in the literature. Another aim is to understand the link between product attributes and consumption intention and behaviour, analysing the role of intrinsic and extrinsic cues in wine consumption intention and behaviour.\nMethod: A questionnaire survey was conducted in St Louis, Missouri, whose wine consumers differ from Californian or East-Coast consumers (Impact, 2013). The questionnaire included questions on the TPB constructs, the importance of intrinsic and extrinsic cues in choosing a wine and respondents' socio-demographic characteristics.\nResults: The different salient beliefs, referents and control factors significantly explain attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavioural control, respectively.\nConclusion: From a theoretical point of view, this study tested the higher predictive power of the TPB than the TRA in explaining the intention to consume a complex product like wine by consumers from Missouri, a novice market for wine. This study also showed the influence of perceived behavioural control in predicting not only behavioural intention, but also wine consumption behaviour. Although the role of perceived behavioural control is secondary to that of attitude and subjective norm in predicting wine consumption intention, the predictive power of the model was found to increase when this construct was taken into account.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to advance the understanding of the decision-making process of consumers from novice markets facing the choice of a complex product like wine, explaining the determinants of their consumption intention and behaviour. It also aims to understand the link between product attributes and consumption intention and behaviour, analysing the role played by intrinsic and extrinsic cues.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This study applies the theory of planned behaviour considering that individuals do not always have complete control of wine consumption behaviour, especially when they come from a novice market. A questionnaire survey, preceded by an exploratory phase, was conducted in St Louis, Missouri, a novice market for wine.\nFindings: This study identifies a novice consumer whose choice of a complex product is driven by experiential attitude towards the product more than the conditioning of referents, and even more than the perceived behavioural control and the interconnected concept of risk. The risk is perceived to a greater extent when it has to do with the functional nature of the product linked to its sensory component, rather than with its social or health connotations.\nOriginality/value: This study assesses the role of intrinsic and extrinsic cues and of the perceived behavioural control, assumed as closely interconnected with the concept of risk, in explaining wine consumption intention and behaviour. Perceived behavioural control was omitted by previous studies applying the reasoned action approach to explain wine consumption behaviour.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Towards a model of work engagement
|
[
"Organizational behaviour",
"Human resource management",
"Employee participation",
"Employee attitudes",
"Job satisfaction",
"The Netherlands"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nTowards a model of work engagement: Bakker and Schaufeli (2008) have noted the need for positive organizational behavior (POB) research, defined as \"the study and application of positively oriented human resource strengths and psychological capacities that can be measured, developed, and effectively managed for performance improvement in today's workplace\" (Luthans, 2002, p. 59). In this article, we will focus on one such a POB-construct, namely work engagement - a positive, fulfilling, work-related state of mind. We will first define work engagement, describe its measurement, and review studies on the \"drivers\" of engagement. Then, we will outline why work engagement contributes to the bottom line - performance and client satisfaction. The findings of previous studies are integrated in an overall model that can be used to develop work engagement in today's workplace and advance career development.\nWork engagement: Definition\nDrivers of work engagement: Job resources\nEngagement - performance link: Engelbrecht (2006) noticed in her qualitative study that a highly engaged midwife \"... is service-minded and client-oriented in her work, which can be noticed in her quick, calm and patient reaction towards clients.\" (p. 156). To date, only a few quantitative studies have shown that work engagement is positively related to job performance (for overview see Demerouti and Bakker, 2006). Nevertheless, the results look promising. Bakker et al. (2004) showed that engaged employees received higher ratings from their colleagues on in-role and extra-role performance, indicating that engaged employees perform well and are willing to go the extra mile. Further, in their survey among Dutch employees from a wide range of occupations, Schaufeli et al. (2006) found that work engagement is positively related to in-role performance (b=0.37), whereas workaholism is not. These findings were expanded in another study among 327 secretaries. Gierveld and Bakker (2005) found that engaged secretaries scored higher on in-role and extra-role performance than their non-engaged counterparts. In addition, results suggested that engaged secretaries had more influence on daily business. They were more often asked to carry out additional, challenging tasks, including personnel pre-selection, the organization of trade exhibitions and conventions, and website maintenance.Bakker et al. (2006) conducted a study on engagement and performance among 105 school principals and 232 teachers. Their study showed significant and positive associations between school principals' work engagement scores and teacher-ratings of school principals' performance and leadership. More specifically, results of structural equation modeling showed that engaged principals scored higher on in-role and extra-role performance. In addition, engagement was strongly related to creativity; the higher school principals' levels of work engagement, the better they were able to come up with a variety of ways to deal with work-related problems. Finally, engaged school principals were seen as transformational leaders - being able to inspire, stimulate and coach their co-workers.Salanova et al. (2005) conducted an important study among personnel working in Spanish restaurants and hotels. Contact employees (n=342) from 114 service units (58 hotel front desks and 56 restaurants) provided information about organizational resources, engagement, and service climate. Furthermore, customers (n=1,140) from these units provided information on employee performance and customer loyalty. Structural equation modeling analyses were consistent with a full mediation model in which organizational resources and work engagement predicted service climate, which in turn predicted employee performance and then customer loyalty.In their recent study among Greek employees working in a fast-food restaurant, Xanthopoulou et al. (2007c) expanded this research, and made a compelling case of the predictive value of work engagement for performance, on a daily basis. Participants were asked to fill in a survey and a diary booklet for five consecutive days. Consistent with hypotheses, results showed that employees were more engaged on days that were characterized by many job resources. Daily job resources, like supervisor coaching and team atmosphere contributed to employees' personal resources (day-levels of optimism, self-efficacy, and self-esteem), which, in turn, explained daily engagement. Importantly, this study clearly showed that engaged employees perform better on a daily basis. The higher employees' levels of daily engagement, the higher their objective financial returns.\nWhy engaged workers perform better: There are at least four reasons why engaged workers perform better than non-engaged workers. Engaged employees often experience positive emotions, including happiness, joy, and enthusiasm; experience better health; create their own job and personal resources; and transfer their engagement to others.Positive emotions\nOverall model of work engagement: The evidence regarding the antecedents and consequences of work engagement can be organized in an overall model of work engagement. In building this model, we draw on two assumptions from the job demands-resources (JD-R) model (Bakker and Demerouti, 2007; Demerouti et al., 2001). The first assumption is that job resources such as social support from colleagues and supervisors, performance feedback, skill variety, and autonomy, start a motivational process that leads to work engagement, and consequently to higher performance. The second assumption is that job resources become more salient and gain their motivational potential when employees are confronted with high job demands (e.g. workload, emotional demands, and mental demands). Further, we draw on the work of Xanthopoulou et al. (2007a, b, c), who expanded the JD-R model by showing that job and personal resources are mutually related, and that personal resources can be independent predictors of work engagement. Thus, employees who score high on optimism, self-efficacy, resilience and self-esteem are well able to mobilize their job resources, and generally are more engaged in their work.The JD-R model of work engagement is graphically depicted in Figure 1. As can be seen, we assume that job resources and personal resources independently or combined predict work engagement. Further, job and personal resources particularly have a positive impact on engagement when job demands are high. Work engagement, in turn, has a positive impact on job performance. Finally, employees who are engaged and perform well are able to create their own resources, which then foster engagement again over time and create a positive gain spiral.\nFuture of work engagement: In this article, we intended to put work engagement on the research agenda by showing that engagement is predicted by typical job resources, is related to personal resources and leads to higher job performance. Thus, work engagement is an important indicator of occupational well-being for both employees and organizations. Human resource managers can do several things to facilitate work engagement among their employees. Important starting point for any active policy is the measurement of engagement and its drivers among all employees, for example by using the JD-R model (see Figure 1). On the basis of this assessment, it can be determined whether individual employees, teams, job positions, or departments score low, average, or high on work engagement and its antecedents. Following Kompier's (2003) advice, interventions should then focus on both individuals (in the context of the organization), and the organization at large.From a theoretical point-of-view, it is important that research on work engagement starts to use more elaborated research designs where causality is tested rigorously (using experimental or longitudinal designs) and where predictors and outcomes of work engagement are measured objectively. Moreover, it is worth to focus on the mechanisms through which work engagement leads to favorable outcomes by getting insight in the processes that it initiates or is involved in. It is, for instance, conceivable that self-regulation - i.e. goal-directed behavior - is facilitated when people are engaged in their work because they have the energy (can do) and the motivation (want to do) to undertake action. This can help them not only to achieve better performance but also to increase their chances for a better career development. As Cooper (2005) notes, individuals in the future will have to take responsibility for their own personal development. Since juggling different work demands and stakeholders at work can easily lead to a lifestyle of long working hours and workaholism, it is important to appreciate the importance of sustaining a personal and family life outside work. Promoting engagement in the workplace (and not only) can prove to be a liberating experience, giving choice and control to the individual - but individuals have to arm themselves with the right skills and attitudes, and engage in a constant program of personal career development.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - This paper aims to provide an overview of the recently introduced concept of work engagement.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Qualitative and quantitative studies on work engagement are reviewed to uncover the manifestation of engagement, and reveal its antecedents and consequences.\nFindings: - Work engagement can be defined as a state including vigor, dedication, and absorption. Job and personal resources are the main predictors of engagement; these resources gain their salience in the context of high job demands. Engaged workers are more creative, more productive, and more willing to go the extra mile.\nOriginality/value: - The findings of previous studies are integrated in an overall model that can be used to develop work engagement and advance career development in today's workplace.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Partial and iterative Lean implementation: two case studies
|
[
"Case study research",
"Lean implementation",
"Food sector",
"Healthcare sector"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: In this paper it is argued that partial and iterative implementation of the lean philosophy, as opposed to its full adoption, does not represent a conscious organizational choice, but is representative of progressive changes that an organization makes in response to external pressures to improve operational performance. This offers an alternative view to that represented in the current literature where lean remains favourably regarded and the benefits following implementation make the philosophy very hard to challenge. A more critical reflection of the literature signals some deficiencies in our current understanding. The issue is that the literature advocates \"full\" adoption of lean, whereas empirical evidence indicates more patchy, piecemeal and (what we call here) partial adoption. The problem is, therefore, that without investigating the phenomena of partial and iterative lean adoption, further development and improvements in relevant techniques will be hard to establish. As lean encapsulates a number of sound best practice operational techniques, these techniques will logically be implemented where they offer organizational benefits. The findings from the research conducted for this paper indicates that techniques used by the case organizations are best described as \"unconscious\" lean implementation. This represents an idea unaccounted for within the literature, but addressed here with a critical review of the literature supplemented by empirical evidence from two contrasting cases.\n2. The literature: Lean came to prominence in the western academic literature during the mid-1980s as a result of the increased curiosity surrounding the \"secret\" of practical Japanese manufacturing techniques and the Toyota Production System in particular (Pegels, 1984, p. 3). The literature was spurred-on by cases of practical application which dispelled the myth of JIT as a secret or magical technique, but also promoted ways and means to replace more traditional \"push-type\" manufacturing planning and control systems with lower inventory, faster throughput and more efficient market/demand \"pull\" systems (Demeter and Matyusz, 2011; Ertay, 1998). This represented a change in manufacturing paradigm from mass production (O'Neill and Sackett, 1994) and was the basis for the emergence of the lean production paradigm following the publication of Womack et al.'s (1990) seminal lean production thesis The Machine That Changed the World. Very soon it was accepted that lean simply represented \"best practice\" in contemporary manufacturing operations.\n3. Research design and methodology: 3.1. Research questions\n4. Findings: For clarity, the findings from the action research interventions have been split to provide detail for Case One and Case Two, respectively.\n5. Discussion: To provide a clear structure for the discussion this section has been arranged around the research questions. Returning to the research objectives, first:\n6. Conclusions: We suggest that the issue of conscious and unconscious lean usage and implementation is an emerging, iterative, development. As such we propose that there are some parallels with the change management literature that engages in a debate about the extent of planned and emergent change within any organization (see Bamford and Forrester, 2003); for example, organizations strive to achieve best value and efficiency and lean can provide a useful mechanism/framework to provide this. We propose that lean is a continuous improvement initiative that progresses over a period of time using a number of incremental, iterative changes. Concurrently the organization will being going through a repeating cycle of change, i.e. planned, emergent, planned, emergent, etc. This, we suggest, syncs with the cycle of adoption of lean techniques (such as JIT, etc.) over a period of time through a repeating cycle of conscious, unconscious, conscious, implementation. Figure 5 shows a conceptual representation of this embryonic idea.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the implementation of lean within two contrasting UK-based organizations; a food manufacturer and a healthcare organization. The different contexts provide insight to the strategic desire for efficiency gains and tactical issues and challenges of lean execution and implementation.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The research questions developed from the review of the literature were tested using evidence from field-based, action research within a food manufacturer and a National Health Service organization. The reported contrasting case studies contribute to the longer term debate on the adoption and adaptation of lean-based \"best practice\" within organizations.\nFindings: There are three primary findings: first, that the adoption of lean provides a strategic benefit, as well as providing a basis for a strategy of operational change; second, that partial, as opposed to full, adoption of lean occurs due to external organizational constraints, such as demand patterns, supplier unreliability, little expertise in deploying change programmes, etc.; and third, that a company will balance the adoption of the lean ideology against the financial costs and operational risks incurred in full adoption.\nPractical implications: The conclusions drawn add substantially to the ongoing commentaries on aspects of lean, and develop interesting questions for future research regards the developed \"Cycles of Lean Implementation\" concept.\nOriginality/value: The conclusion proposes that partial implementation of the lean philosophy does not necessarily represent a conscious organizational choice, or any lack of conviction, but is representative of external constraints on the organization. This complements previous commentaries on appropriate strategies and develops interesting questions for future research into operational efficiency.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Standing on the shoulders of giants? A critical review of empirical talent management research
|
[
"Talent management",
"Talent",
"Empirical research",
"Literature review"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Despite the global financial crisis talent management (TM) remains a critical agenda item for senior managers (Skuza et al., 2013). Employers recognize that an engaged, skilled and motivated workforce is the key to growth and to achieve competitive advantage. The crisis, however, impels organizations to be more creative and effective in their TM approach. Yet, academic research in the field of TM does not give much support in finding the right TM solutions. In fact, research on TM has been accused of being lagging behind in offering organizations vision and direction on the matter (Collings et al., 2011; Al Ariss et al., 2014; Cappelli and Keller, 2014). Despite the increasing scholarly attention for TM during the past ten years (Thunnissen et al., 2013), and especially over the course of the past two years (Gallardo-Gallardo et al., 2015), there still is no consensus over its definition, theoretical backgrounds and scope. Besides that, the field has been criticized for focussing on TM issues in a select category of organizations, i.e. US-based organizations, and multinational (MNC's) and private organizations (Collings et al., 2011; Powell et al., 2013). Several authors call for more research on TM in other contexts and advice to contextualize TM in both theoretical frameworks as well as in research design (e.g. Collings et al., 2011; Meyers and van Woerkom, 2014; Thunnissen et al., 2013). Also the emphasis on the organizational perspective is mentioned as a limitation (Collings, 2014; Thunnissen et al., 2013). Finally, frequently the field of TM has been frequently criticized for a lack of sound empirical evidence (e.g. Skuza et al., 2013). However, the recent literature review of Gallardo-Gallardo et al. (2015) shows significant improvement in this matter: since 2010 the amount of empirical publications surpasses the amount of conceptual TM papers published each year. These authors argue that, thanks to the significant progress made in recent years, the relatively young field of TM is going to change drastically and rapidly in the next few years as it shifts from a \"growing\" to a \"mature\" field of study.\nMethods: As Figure 1 shows, we undertook this literature review in five distinct stages drawing on established methods (cf. Booth et al., 2014). We restricted our search to empirical articles that have appeared in international peer-reviewed journals. Therefore, non-empirical studies, theses, interviews, editorial notes, chapters of books and books reviews were not retained. Following a more and more common practice (cf. Arduini and Zanfei, 2014) we also excluded conference proceedings and symposiums presentations. Likewise, research conducted in either a laboratory setting, by mathematical modeling, using simulation models or without an available authorship was not retained. These criteria also excluded non-English literature with predominantly national readerships (Boselie et al., 2005) since it has little influence on the international academic debate about a topic.\nResults: General description of TM empirical research\nDiscussion: The present study adopted a rigorous review of the empirical literature on TM with the purpose of providing a clear and comprehensive picture of the research done up until now. This offers an opportunity to learn from previous experiences, but also is a useful starting point for new research and TM practice. After discussing the results of 96 empirical articles, the question can be framed: \"what do we know about TM by now?\"\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to frame empirical literature on talent management (TM), and to provide a clear and comprehensive picture of the topics under investigation, the conceptualization of TM, and under-explored areas.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors adopted a systematic review that covers empirical research on TM which has been published between 2006 and 2014 in academic peer-reviewed journals. A total of 96 articles were included in the review. A bibliometric as well as a content analysis has been carried out.\nFindings: The results reveal that the Anglo-Saxon context (in particular EU) has a great impact on empirical TM research. Also research foundations and designs are not very rigorous. A slight awareness of context and culture was found. Empirical TM research is predominantly built on an exclusive approach to TM. Yet, how TM works in practice and how well (from the perspective of multiple actors) as well as the role and perceptions of line managers are under-explored areas.\nPractical implications: The paper gives vision and direction to practitioners in particular on the definition of talent and TM.\nOriginality/value: This study frames the extent and nature of empirical research on TM, and it is the first to specifically and objectively examine the advances made in the field and to identify under-explored areas. By doing so, it helps to avoid presumptions and misguided beliefs, to advance the knowledge of TM issues in organizations and regions, and to better channel future research.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Employment discrimination law exposures for international employers: A risk assessment model
|
[
"United States of America",
"Discrimination in employment",
"Law",
"Multinational employers",
"Employment legislation",
"Risk management"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nBackground: Managerial decisions are frequently driven by concerns about employment law compliance and the risk of lawsuits from employees. This study assesses those risks as they pertain to employers operating in more than one country. We focus on loss exposures that arise because of the potential applicability of US employment laws to foreign employers operating in the USA or US employers operating outside the USA.In conducting this study, we respond to the call for organizationally sensible approaches to employment law risks (Roehling and Wright, 2004). We do so by adopting a risk management framework (Head, 1986; Head and Horn, 1985). In general, risk management involves the assessment of risks and the selection and implementation of the most effective techniques designed to prevent or reduce losses (Mehr and Hedges, 1974; Williams and Heins, 1985). Through the identification and assessment of risk, the risk management process enables organizations to deploy their resources to address the most likely types of losses. For this reason, risk management is a popular notion that has been used by some management practitioners for many years (Gallagher, 1956; MacDonald, 1966). In April 2004, the Business Source Premier database in EBSCO host contained more that 14,000 articles on the topic of risk management.Several practice-oriented articles have applied risk management concepts to employment law risks (Chapman, 2003; Davis et al., 1999; Fisher and Mittorp, 2002; Thrasher, 2003). Some of these focus on a particular type of employment law risk such as employee retirement plan compliance, sexual harassment, and workplace safety (Achampong, 1999; Davis et al., 1999; Vredenburg, 2002). Despite the popularity of risk management thinking among managers, there is very little theory-based empirical research that advances our understanding of these processes (Close, 1974). Moreover, prior research has not addressed the assessment of employment law risks as they pertain to employers operating in more than one country. Therefore, this study tests a model of employment law risk exposures for international employers. Throughout the paper, we summarize the facts of particularly illuminating cases to illustrate key points.\nModel: Employment law risk exposure\nMethods: After searching the Lexis-Nexis electronic database, we identified federal court cases dealing with the issue of the applicability of US employment discrimination laws to multinational employers. We used several different search terms (international, Title VII, extraterritorial, etc.). Using the Shephard's citation system, we determined if the cases selected had been appealed, overturned, affirmed, etc. (Roehling, 1993). The highest level opinion for each case was used to prepare this study. This resulted in a final sample of 101 relevant cases from the federal district courts, Courts of Appeal, and Supreme Court. These cases used are listed in the reference list.We content-coded each case using dummy variables in which 1 - applicable and 0 - not applicable. This process resulted in the following variables. Sex: female indicated the plaintiff was alleging sex discrimination because she was female and was being treated differently than a male. Age: older indicated the plaintiff was alleging age discrimination because he or she was treated differently than a younger employee.Race, ethnicity, and national origin indicated the plaintiffs were alleging they were being treated differently based on their membership in a particular group. Employee US indicates the employee was a US citizen. Notably race, ethnicity, and national origin often overlap. Nevertheless, they are treated as distinct concepts under US employment discrimination laws. Furthermore, national origin is often the same as citizenship. However, citizenship is a legal status question determined by a country's immigration laws, while national origin is a demographic characteristic that refers to the place where people or their ancestors were born.Employee PCN indicates the employee had the same nationality as the employer's parent country. Employee HCN indicates the employee was a national of the host country within which the MNE was operating.We constructed a measure of employer home country culture. First we coded the home country of the employer for each lawsuit. Then, the Hofstede (1980) country-level culture scores for the employer's home country were assigned to the case. As a result, each case has a home country culture score for employer: power distance, individuality, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, and long-term orientation.For measures of interunit linkages, the cases were coded to indicate for each employer whether a Foreign Parent Controlled a US Subsidiary, or a US Parent Controlled an Overseas Subsidiary.US lawsuit exposure was also a dummy coded variable (1 - yes, 0 - no) indicating if the court ruled the employer was subject to the US employment discrimination law cited by the plaintiff.\nResults: These data supported H1. Table I presents descriptive statistics and correlations between the variables in this study. The correlation between claims of sex discrimination against women was positive and significant (r=0.36, p<0.01). In addition, a hierarchical logistic regression analysis was performed with the results reported in Table II. In that analysis, the dependent variable was the dichotomous variable indicating a loss exposure. That analysis indicates that after controlling for case year, work location, and nationality of the employee and employer, sex discrimination was a significant predictor of loss exposure.Table II also illustrates as expected that there is a significantly higher risk exposure in recent years and lower risk exposure when employment is located outside the USA.The data provided partial support for H2. Table I shows there was a small and positive correlation between employee HCNs and employment law loss exposure (r=0.19, p<0.05). The correlation coefficient for PCNs was not significant. Furthermore, when entered into a hierarchical regression analysis that predicted loss exposure, this variable was not significant.The data did not support H3. The interunit linkages examined in this study (Foreign Parent Controlled US Subsidiary, US Parent Controlled Overseas Subsidiary) did not have different levels of loss exposures.The data supported H4. Owing to the relatively novel and innovative nature of this study, we chose to do a cluster analysis to explore the possible grouping of study variables. Table III presents the results of a two-step cluster analysis. In this analysis, the cases were clustered according to country culture scores and types of employment discrimination law exposures. The results of this analysis suggest the data can be grouped into clusters that can be interpreted as a Western cluster and an Asian cluster. All of the country culture means were significantly different across the two clusters. In general, the Western cluster is dominated by Anglo counties such as the USA while the Asian cluster is dominated by countries such as Japan. The type of discrimination law exposures were different for these two clusters. The Western cluster captured most of the age and religious employment lawsuit exposures. The Asian cluster had relatively fewer of these types of claims. The Asian cluster was roughly equal to the Western cluster in the frequency of sex employment lawsuit exposures. However, the Asian cluster had significantly more race and national origin employment lawsuit exposures. This suggests there are significant differences across cultures in the type of employment law exposures that face MNEs.\nDiscussion: Contribution and strengths\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to use a risk management perspective to identify the risks of employment discrimination law liability for multinational employers.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Data from 101 US Federal Court cases that involved multinational employers operating both inside and outside of the USA were content coded and then used to identify factors that predict the frequency that foreign employers operating inside the USA - and US employers operating outside the USA - were subject to lawsuits under US employment discrimination laws.\nFindings: - This study found that employment lawsuits based on sex discrimination against females was the most significant risk exposure. Employers whose home country was from a Western culture were at comparatively greater risk for charges of both age and religious discrimination. Employers whose home country was from an Asian culture were at comparatively greater risk for charges of both race and national origin discrimination.\nResearch limitations/implications: - This study demonstrates the viability and usefulness of a risk management framework for examination of issues related to law and management.\nPractical implications: - This study enables the identification of risk factors that multinational employers can use to strategically target their loss prevention efforts in order to more effectively and efficiently avoid or reduce potential liability for employment discrimination.\nSocial implications: - The risk factors identified in this study can help employers to take efforts to reduce employment discrimination in their multinational operations, thereby reducing the frequency and likelihood that such discrimination may occur.\nOriginality/value: - This is the first study to use a risk management framework to empirically identify employment law risk exposures for multinational employers.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Service process modularization and modular strategies
|
[
"Service development",
"B2B services",
"Modular strategies",
"Modularization",
"Service deployment",
"Service modularity"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: As manufacturing firms attempt to remain competitive (Jacob and Ulaga, 2008) and increase their efforts in developing new services in addition to their core product business, they need to balance meeting the needs of individual customers with ensuring a satisfactory degree of efficiency in the deployment of services. This is often done through the standardization of service processes (Bottcher and Klingner, 2011; Davies et al., 2007; Sundbo, 2002; Tuunanen and Cassab, 2011). However, achieving this balance is increasingly difficult as customer needs tend to become more diversified and heterogeneous (Bask et al., 2011).\nService modularity: The benefits inherent in using a modular approach have been known for a relatively long time in the area of software engineering, where reuse and variation of different software modules aids in developing new functions in an efficient manner (Tuunanen and Cassab, 2011). For example, complex software systems are built upon distinct existing modules (Baldwin and Clark, 2006). With this approach, the use of modules and modularity can be the foundation for new projects and avoid the re-invention of already-existing modules (Tuunanen and Cassab, 2011).\nServices as processes and the role of the customer: After surveying leading scholars, Edvardsson et al. (2005) characterized \"service\" as \"value co-creating processes\". Similarly, Lovelock and Gummesson (2004), as well as Zeithaml and Bitner (2000), also defined service as a process. Payne et al. (2008) presented a more fine-grained framework illustrating the value of co-creation as a process containing both customer processes and supplier processes. In line with this reasoning, Gronroos (2011) emphasized that an interactive (as in co-creative) process does not include two parallel processes; rather, it is one merged and coordinated interactive process.\nMethodology: In many ways, research on service modularity is still in its infancy; therefore, this study has adopted an exploratory case-based approach. Case studies are often deemed suitable when the research aim is to investigate context-bound processes in an exploratory way (Eisenhardt and Graebner, 2007; Yin, 2009).\nFindings and implications for service modularity: The analysis section of the present study identifies key issues in service modularity found in the empirical data, discusses supporting resources for the modularized service processes, and, finally, outlines modular strategies for the four different services types. Empirical examples of modular service processes of industrial services from the case firms are also discussed and used as illustrations.\nConclusions and further research: This study contributes insights to the emerging field of service modularity by investigating process modularization and modular strategies, that is, modularization from a more strategic level, which hitherto has tended to be overlooked in the literature. Proposed here is a framework outlining modular strategies for different service types covering both a passive and an active role for the customer. From a theoretical point-of-view, the role of the customer is added to the discussion to advocate for the necessity of a co-creative perspective in service modularity. This perspective is something that, to a large extent, has been suppressed in previous studies (Tuunanen and Cassab, 2011). This study also contributes with insights to the continuing debate regarding the balance between efficiency and customization in service development and deployment.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This paper aims to investigate the role of service modularity in developing and deploying efficient services, while at the same time meeting diverse customer needs. The analysis distinguishes between different service types and sets forth key issues for service modularization, identifying supporting resources (both internal and customer) and associated modular strategies for the different types.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study design used an exploratory case study approach, focusing on three Swedish manufacturing firms that are moving toward an increased service focus (service infusion). Data were collected through interviews and focus groups, and the collected data were analyzed independently, before being merged and synthesized in a cross-case analysis. Themes and patterns were extracted and linked to the theoretical framework following a systematic combining process.\nFindings: This study contributes insights to the emerging field of service modularity by investigating process modularization and modular strategies. A framework is put forward outlining modular strategies for four different service types covering both a passive and an active role for a customer. From a theoretical point of view, the role of the customer is added to the discussion to advocate for the necessity of a co-creative perspective in service modularity.\nOriginality/value: This article contributes to the emerging research field of service modularity by providing empirical insights into how modularization and modular strategies can enable more efficient services. Depending on service type, different modular strategies are set forth. This study also highlights the need to recognize customer-specific activities, resources and competencies as pivotal parts of the modular service processes. Such insights are particularly relevant given the established view of service modules as functions of intra-firm activities.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
The influence of service employees' nonverbal communication on customer-employee rapport in the service encounter
|
[
"Store atmosphere",
"Customer positive emotions",
"Customer-employee rapport",
"Employee affective delivery",
"Employee behavioural mimicry",
"Employee nonverbal communication"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Customer-employee rapport has been suggested to be an important issue for service organizations because customer-employee interactions influence the development of customer perceptions and loyalty (DeWitt and Brady, 2003; Gremler and Gwinner, 2000). This is particularly true for services with higher levels of interaction due to an increased motivation to develop a social aspect in the exchange relationships (Dagger et al., 2009). Because customers often look for cues in service interactions to assess service outcomes, increased customer perceptions of rapport are essential to positively influence their judgments of and commitment toward service relationships (Anderson and Smith, 2016; Gremler and Gwinner, 2008).\nConceptual background: Past research has found that customer-employee rapport exerts a strong influence on customer perceptions of service delivery and service organizations (DeWitt and Brady, 2003; Gremler and Gwinner, 2000). Rapport is defined as \"a customer's perception of having an enjoyable interaction with a service provider employee, characterized by a personal connection between the two interactants\" (Gremler and Gwinner, 2000, p. 92). As a relational concept applicable to service settings, rapport depends on one or more interactions between customers and employees. Appropriate rapport can enhance social bonding, which in turn enhances customer satisfaction, loyalty intentions, and positive word of mouth (Delcourt et al., 2013; Gremler and Gwinner, 2000; Hennig-Thurau et al., 2006).\nThe mediating role of customer positive emotions: Previous studies have indicated that stimulation of customers' positive emotions enriches service experiences (Mattila and Enz, 2002; Kim et al., 2016), so it is expected that customer positive emotions play an important mediating role during the customer-employee rapport development process. Customer positive emotions constitute a primary source of motivation and exert substantial influence on the thought processes (Westbrook and Oliver, 1991); as a result, customer positive emotions are likely to lead to positive reactions and less critical judgments (Forgas, 1995; Barger and Grandey, 2006).\nThe moderating role of store atmosphere: Store atmosphere refers to the physical properties of the service environment, including design, decor, music, lighting, and air quality (Engel et al., 1995). Kotler (1973) indicated that store atmosphere, a silent language in communication, is a conscious design of place to produce specific emotional effects in customers. Customers understand environments through their senses and sensory information provided by the store atmosphere (Baker et al., 2002; Kotler, 1973; Venkatraman and Nelson, 2008). Since services are generally produced and consumed simultaneously, customers often experience the whole service within the firm's physical facility (Bitner, 1992). Therefore, the service environment has a strong influence on customers' service experience and the quality of customer-employee interactions. The stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) paradigm (Mehrabian and Russell, 1974) suggests that the environmental stimuli (S) influences people's internal or organismic states (O), which, in turn, lead to behavioral responses (R). Past research on service environments has shown that store atmosphere stimuli changes organismic states, including customers' affective reactions and subsequent judgments (Bitner, 1992; Baker et al., 2002; Sherman et al., 1997; Wakefield and Baker, 1998). Evidence from environmental psychology also suggests that environmental cues influence people's inferences about a focal object or person (Baker, 1987; Baker et al., 2002). Consequently, a well-designed store atmosphere can influence customer positive emotions (Harris and Ezeh, 2008; Morin et al., 2007; Sherman et al., 1997; Wakefield and Baker, 1998) and perceived service interactions (Baker et al., 2002).\nControl variables: Because service employees' verbal communication also influences the development of customer positive emotions (Chan et al., 2012; Menon and Dube, 2000; Wang and Beise-Zee, 2013) and rapport (Campbell et al., 2006; Clark et al., 2003) in service encounters, this study controlled for customers' perceptions of employee verbal communication to enhance the robustness of the research model. Verbal communication is defined as \"the use of words to relay a message to another person\" (Babin, 2013, p. 273). Prior research has suggested two main elements of employee verbal communication in customer-employee interactions: social communication and functional communication (Van Dolen et al., 2007; Williams and Spiro, 1985). Employee social communication is personal relationship oriented and indirectly related to the transaction, whereas employee functional communication is relatively business related and focuses on the service or product (Van Dolen et al., 2007). Both social communication and functional communication enable service employees to elevate customer positive emotions and create a bond or sense of affiliation with customers (Chan et al., 2012; Gremler and Gwinner, 2008; Hwang et al., 2013; Winsted, 1997). Therefore, customers' perceptions of employees' social communication and functional communication were both controlled for in this research.\nMethod: Procedures and participants\nDiscussion: Although services marketing research discusses customer-employee relationships at great length, there is a lack of further empirical investigations on how service employees' nonverbal communication affects customer-employee rapport development during service encounters. By determining the relationships among employee nonverbal communication, customer positive emotions, customer-employee rapport, and store atmosphere, this study contributes to the understanding of the rapport-building process from the perspective of nonverbal communication. Through nonverbal communication (affective delivery and behavioral mimicry), service employees can enhance customers' judgment of rapport in service encounters. In addition, findings of this research confirm that customer positive emotions partially mediate the relationships between employee nonverbal communication and customer-employee rapport. Moreover, the results also indicate that the relationships between employee nonverbal communication and customer positive emotions/rapport are moderated by store atmosphere such that the relationships are stronger when the store atmosphere is enhanced.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Rapport between service employees and customers has been suggested to be an important determinant of customer relationship management, yet existing marketing literature still lacks a sufficient understanding of how service employees' nonverbal communication affects customer-employee rapport development in service encounters. The purpose of this paper is to fill this research gap by proposing and testing a model that explores how service employees' nonverbal communication (employee affective delivery and behavioral mimicry) influences customer positive emotions and customer-employee rapport. The mediating role of customer positive emotions and the moderating role of store atmosphere in the process of customer-employee rapport development were also assessed.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Using an observational methodology in conjunction with a customer survey, multi-source survey data collected from 303 customer-employee pairs in the apparel retailing industry was examined through structural equation modeling and regression analysis.\nFindings: Results showed that employee nonverbal communication positively influenced customer positive emotions and customer-employee rapport. The partial mediating role of customer positive emotions and the moderating role of store atmosphere in the process of rapport development were also confirmed.\nPractical implications: Service firms should train and motivate employees to use nonverbal communication to develop and strengthen customer-employee rapport. The importance of customer positive emotions in the service process should be addressed in the customer-employee rapport development process. Moreover, service managers should also allocate firm resources to create a well-designed store atmosphere for target customers.\nOriginality/value: This research represents one of the earliest studies to explore and empirically test the influence of employee nonverbal communication on customer-employee rapport development in service encounters. The partial mediating role of customer positive emotions and the moderating role of store atmosphere on the relationship between employee nonverbal communication and customer-employee rapport were also proposed and confirmed.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Effects of school design on student outcomes
|
[
"Schools",
"Design",
"Students",
"Architecture",
"United States of America"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: One purpose of this study was to identify and test school designs that possibly influence student outcomes. Another purpose was to provide a straightforward research method that could be replicated by students of educational planning and architecture. Numerous school design components have been identified as noted in the related literature review in this article and others in this issue. Only a few have been tested regarding validity and reliability. The question remains: can the physical environment's impact on student outcomes be measured according to a defensible set of hard data? The basic assumption was that there exists a chance that the measurement task might be accomplished; and effects might possibly be shown. It was hypothesized that the study would provide a clear example of how to conduct research on the relationships among school design variables and student outcomes through the use of hard data and quantitative methods.\nDefinition of the physical environment in this study: Efforts to refine ideas about the physical environment and transfer them into valid instrumentation for measurement limited themselves to three basic design patterns or categories, movement and circulation, day lighting, and views. The choice of three categories was dictated by constraints of sample size and regression analysis methods. Several authors and researchers, as indicated in the following analysis, have investigated these categories, some from a qualitative perspective.The qualitative aspect of this study began with the concept of a language that would describe and explain how a building and environment interact with students. The word \"patterns\" refers to components, items, and design characteristics interchangeably. This study was about design patterns that were initiated by the author of The Timeless Way (Alexander, 1979). According to Alexander (1979), a building will be alive to the extent that it is governed by the timeless way. The concept of the timeless way includes a process that brings order out of us. The quality of a building is objective and precise, and it is given its character by patterns of events that continue to happen there. These patterns of events interlock with certain geometric patterns in space, and people can shape buildings for themselves by using pattern language. It gives each person who uses this specialized language power to create an infinite variety of new and unique buildings, just as our ordinary language gives us the power to create an infinite variety of sentences. Three sets of patterns are presented below.Patterns of movement and circulation\nSummary of background information on the physical environment: There are numerous fine points to be associated with the descriptions of movement and circulation, day lighting, and views in the above sections. Highlights are all that are covered, but the reader is encouraged to carefully study the rich literature offered by various works cited. Freedom of movement and circulation among and within structures was a key aspect of this research project. There are many minute items such as signage, outdoor spaces, and points of reference that support this design pattern. Having daylight in a classroom is vital to the student's learning processes. Natural light and windows on two sides of the classroom allow for ease of viewing beyond the room's four walls, and for resting the eyes. When people have a choice between rooms with windows on one side and rooms with windows on two sides, they gravitate to the rooms which are lit on two sides (Alexander et al., 1977, p. 747). Unrestricted views of nature add to the well being of students and teachers. Looking into a parking lot or the wall of another building is undesirable.\nMethods: Three sections of instruments developed to assess school design provided the foundation for school design data collection for this study. To review the comprehensive set of instruments developed by the SDPL, see contributions made by Andersen (1999), Ayers (1999), Tanner (2000, 2006) and Yarborough (2001). The design variables based on the above literature review were refined in this study through reliability analysis to include the 13 items within three classifications.The instrument included a ten-point Likert scale, where items were scored (measured) from 0 to 10. Assigning a \"0 or blank\" to a specific item indicated that the item was not present, while a score of ten indicated the highest degree of presence of the design component found in the school's physical environment. This score should be considered as the proportion of classrooms or learning spaces with a given characteristic or design pattern. Scores for each of the three sub scales were assumed to be additive. The instrument may be used to evaluate existing schools (post-occupancy evaluation) or it may be employed to influence the concept design phase of school facilities planning.Given the 13 design items that passed the reliability test, a school's total score might be translated into ratings such as those found in Table I. A school facility might receive the following ratings based on its total score: 90-100 percent (superior), 80-89 percent (good), 70-79 percent (adequate), or less than 70 percent (inadequate).The original intent of the instrument was for its application only by people trained in educational planning with knowledge of the various items in its contents. However, as refinement has continued for several years, and validity increased, the small instrument found in Table II might be used for general distribution to accomplish data collection (e.g. a mail-out questionnaire). Caution is appropriate; and it should be noted that one comprehensive, valid descriptor should be added per item (see the review of literature for descriptors). Descriptors strengthen the responder's depth of understanding regarding pattern language and concept design (Tanner and Lackney, 2006; Alexander, 1979; Alexander et al., 1977).From a pool of design components that the SDPL identified and analyzed since 1997 (Tanner and Lackney, 2006; Tanner, 2000, 2006), an item to scale analysis (Cronbach's a) was performed on 34 selected components matching three sub scales: movement and circulation (26 items), day lighting (two items), and views (six items). The purpose of the reliability analysis (Table III) was to reveal an index of dependability for each of the three sub-scales employed in this study. The total number of items was reduced from 34 to 13. The original 34 items may be found in Tanner and Lackney (2006, pp. 295-306). In each set of items, the reliability coefficient was greater than 0.64, which is classified as \"good.\" Acceptable reliability standards, according to Cicchetti (1994), for clinical significance is as follows: r<0.40 (poor), 0.41<=0.60 (fair), 0.61<=0.75 (good), and >0.76 (excellent).Dependent variables defined by the ITBS\nData collection: Design scores for this analysis were retrieved from the SDPL's data bank, which maintains valid, reliable, and refined information on 71 rural and suburban elementary schools (k-6). The students' test data represented over 10,650 fifth grade students in 19 Georgia school districts[1].School design information as found in Table II was observed during site visits requiring approximately two hours each. The purpose of each visit was to complete a guided tour of the educational facilities and outdoor learning environments. A comprehensive tour was necessary to accurately complete the design assessment instrument for each facility. Three researchers trained in school design and assessment conducted each site visit (one researcher per site). That same researcher completed the instrument for each facility within one hour of concluding the visit and before beginning assessment of another school. To minimize bias, all the site visits were completed before the ITBS data were obtained from the Georgia Public Education Report Card for Parents. The data bank for this study, in addition to the design evaluation per school, included the following variables: achievement data (Reading comprehension, Reading vocabulary, Language arts, Mathematics, Social studies, and Science fifth grade ITBS scores per school), and a proxy for SES (which was the percentage of students receiving free and reduced cost school lunch).Research question and assumptions\nAnalysis of the data: Effects of school design on ITBS scores were determined by comparing the proportion of variance explained by the full regression models and the reduced models, that is, taking the difference between R2 of the full regression and the R2 of the reduced regression models. The reduced regression included the six ITBS variables (dependent variables) and a proxy for SES, which served as the independent variable. SES is frequently used as a predictor of differences in achievement (Ferguson, 2002). In this study, the R2 values ranged from 45 to 69 percent (Table IV), indicating the amount of variance associated with SES in the six dependent variables. Note in Table IV that all the R2 values indicated the correlations between SES and the ITBS scores were significantly different from \"0\" (a=0.000). The R2 values for the each of the ITBS categories in Table IV are matched with the full regression components described later in the article.Table V shows a comparison between the full and reduced regression models for each of the six ITBS categories. The reduced regression per ITBS category is presented in Table IV. SES was the only significant contributor to the variance in ITBS scores among independent variables, including the number of years of teaching experience, education levels of the teachers, and ethnicity. These variables were included in the initial analysis because some of the SDPL researchers insisted that teaching experience and education could have been significant enough to be detected in this analysis. Ethnicity, in all likelihood, was imbedded in the SES variable. Tables AI-AVI in the Appendix show the detailed calculations for each full regression and R2 change (effect). All effects were significant (F change in Tables AI-AVI) except the 1.7 percent effect determined for Social studies (a=0.298). The findings were that the school design classifications of movement and circulation, day lighting, and views, indicated significant effects on Reading comprehension, Reading vocabulary, Language arts, Mathematics, and Science.Further analysis, as presented in Tables VI and VII, reveals exactly which design classification influenced ITBS scores. Analysis up to this point has indicated significant effects among the design classifications and ITBS scores. Table VI reveals exactly where effects were.Table VII provides a detailed analysis supporting Table VI. Note that SES significantly influenced all of the ITBS components. This is not surprising, since SES represents a bundle of abilities and attitudes that a student brings to school, and accounts for variance in student achievement more than any other variable. From Table IV, note the R2 for Reading comprehension of 0.691 (a=0.000). Table VII shows that movement and circulation have a significant effect on Reading comprehension, while the other two variables, day lighting and views, did not show statistically significant effects (a=0.099 and 0.168, respectively). For this sample, movement and circulation were most important in explaining score variance, since four of the ITBS categories had significant effects from this variable. Day lighting influenced variance in Reading vocabulary and Science scores more than in the other four ITBS categories. Classrooms having views significantly influenced variance in Reading vocabulary, Language arts, and Mathematics.\nDiscussion: For each section of the ITBS, except Social studies, as indicated in Tables VI and VII, there was at least one significant R2. This result implies the importance of each of the three classifications of school design patterns. Movement and circulation patterns significantly influenced the variance in Reading comprehension, Language arts, Mathematics, and Science scores. Spaces allowing freedom of movement and circulation correlated with better test scores, which parallels Wohlwill and van Vliet's (1985) implication that a crowded school has a negative influence on student outcomes.Day lighting did not influence the variance in Mathematics scores in this study as significantly as it did in the Heschong Mahone Group's study (1999). However, it did significantly affect the variance in Science and Reading vocabulary scores.Patterns of views were probably the most surprising set of variables in this study. There exists little quantitative evidence on this topic in the literature. Views significantly influenced the variance of Reading vocabulary, Language arts, and Mathematics. Apparently, the Zen view (Alexander et al., 1977) is important for classrooms where the student needs to see outside, but not necessarily have a commanding view. The provision for the students to rest their eyes by allowing a minimum view of at least 50 feet (Nair and Fielding, 2005) is supported by this study's significant findings regarding patterns of views.If this study is replicated with parallel findings, then a case can be built that the documented significant effects were not just random occurrences. This research effort puts forth the concepts, rationale, and methods to complete other related studies designed to clarify just how much influence the physical environment has on student learning. According to results from the sample used in this study, the places and spaces where students learn make a difference in their achievement levels.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this study is to compare student achievement with three school design classifications: movement and circulation, day lighting, and views.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - From a sample of 71 schools, measures of these three school designs, taken with a ten-point Likert scale, are compared to students' outcomes defined by six parts of the Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS): Reading comprehension, Reading vocabulary, Language arts, Mathematics, Social studies, and Science. Data are tested through reduced regression analysis, where the difference between R2 of the reduced regression is compared to the R2 of the full regression. This result, in each case, is defined as the effect of the school's physical environment on students' outcomes represented by achievement scores on the ITBS.\nFindings: - Significant effects are found for Reading vocabulary, Reading comprehension, Language arts, Mathematics, and Science.\nPractical implications: - The study's findings regarding movement and circulation patterns, natural light, and classrooms with views have implications for designing new schools or modifying existing structures. They are especially important to school leaders, educational planners, and architects who engage in programming for educational facilities.\nOriginality/value: - This study is part of original research efforts at the University of Georgia, USA. Since 1997, the focus of research in the University of Georgia's School Design and Planning Laboratory (SDPL) has been the measurement of the impact of the school's physical environment on aspects of affective, behavioral, and cognitive learning. All SDPL research has been quantitative in nature, where measures of the physical environment were compared to measures of student outcomes. There are two immediate values to these studies: educational leaders may use the findings to assess their existing school facilities and determine where improvements will have the greatest impact, or planners may use the findings to guide architects in the design and construction of new educational facilities.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Leadership quality: a factor important for social capital in healthcare organizations
|
[
"Leadership",
"Healthcare",
"Social capital",
"Cohort",
"Leadership quality"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The healthcare sector face major challenges in efficiently organizing care processes to maintain quality of care (Magnussen et al., 2009) and staff well-being (Jansson Von Vultee et al.,2007; Orvik and Axelsson, 2012) when effecting cost reductions. Having engaged healthcare professionals is a key aspect when improving healthcare processes. Previous research has shown that social capital is an important resource, for example, when implementing organizational change (Rahbek Gjerdrum Pedersen and Huniche, 2011), because it influences a number of factors in the work environment of staff, such as job satisfaction, work engagement and clinical engagement in patient safety (Stromgren et al., 2016). Operationalized as perceived trust, reciprocity and recognition, social capital has in earlier research shown to be important for employees' job satisfaction and healthcare staffs' engagement in clinical improvements in patient safety and quality of care as well as for health and well-being (Oksanen et al., 2008; Stromgren et al., 2016). Social capital can thus be seen as an important resource in healthcare. There is, however, limited research on how to develop and increase levels of social capital in healthcare (Hofmeyer and Marck, 2008). Previous research has indicated that leadership may be important for social capital and that social capital should be viewed from an interpersonal perspective based on a relational model of leadership. There is, however, a deficiency of longitudinal prospective studies examining whether and how leadership is associated with social capital (Day, 2001; De Clercq et al., 2014; Kristensen, 2010).\n2. Theoretical foundation: Social capital has been studied by various researchers from different disciplines (e.g. social sciences, economics, public health) as well as on different levels (individual, organizational and societal levels) over time, and there exists a variety of definitions of social capital (Adler and Kwon, 2002). In earlier research, trust, recognition and norms of reciprocity have been highlighted as key factors of social capital (Bourdieu, 1985; Coleman, 1988; Macinko and Starfield, 2001; Putnam, 2000). Social capital is an important aspect of relations (Nahapiet and Ghoshal, 1998; Tsai and Ghoshal, 1998) and is a resource for individuals (Poortinga, 2006; Portes, 2000) and organizations (Kristensen et al., 2007) as well as for communities (Kawachi et al., 1997; Putnam et al., 1993). Studies of social capital requires a relational focus, as relationships are one of the core components of social capital (King, 2004).This study looks upon social capital as a relational resource, for example, the occurrence of networks, norms and trust, promoting coordination and collaboration for a common good (Olesen et al., 2008). Leadership plays an important role in this kind of social climate at workplaces (Luria, 2008; Wheelan, 2005; Gittell et al., 2013; Alimo-Metcalfe et al., 2008).\n3. Method: 3.1 Sample and procedures\n4. Results: 4.1 Social capital and leadership quality among employees\n5. Discussion: Our study found that leadership has an impact on social capital, which differs from previous research showing that social capital has an impact on leadership (Day, 2001; De Clercq et al., 2014; Li, 2013). The results in this study are in line with the limited previous research (Kristensen, 2010) showing an association between quality of leadership and social capital. These results can be important knowledge for managers to consider when practising leadership, as social capital has shown to be an important factor for job satisfaction, work engagement and engagement in organizational development work involving, for instance, patient safety and quality of care (Stromgren et al., 2016). Translated into the context of healthcare, this could therefore have an impact not only for engagement in specific care issues but also on employees' well-being.\n6. Conclusions: This study has shown that leadership is an important factor for building social capital and that different leadership qualities have different importance with respect to certain circumstances. The results underline that employees who report high levels of leadership quality reported higher social capital over time than employees reporting medium or low levels of leadership quality. Different types of leadership qualities - relational, developmental and task-oriented - explained increased social capital. Implications of the present study suggest that leaders should be flexible in leadership practice with respect to different conditions (contextual, managerial and group factors). The novelty in knowledge of leadership impact on social capital has been further investigated and amplifies the theoretical foundation of such interplay. Practical implications of the study feature the possibility to build high-quality leadership as an important resource for social capital by using different leadership orientations under different circumstances.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relation between leadership and social capital and what qualities of leadership are important for social capital among employees in hospital settings over time.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A cohort of employees in hospitals answered a questionnaire at three occasions. Five small (approx. 100-bed) or mid-sized (approx. 500-bed) hospitals were included. The response rate was 54 percent at baseline (n=865), 59 percent at one-year follow-up (n=908) and 67 percent at two-year follow-up (n=632).\nFindings: Repeated measures over time showed differences between groups in levels of social capital with respect to levels of leadership quality. Relation-oriented leadership had the strongest association with social capital. There was evidence that leadership was associated with social capital over time and that different kinds of leadership qualities were associated with social capital.\nResearch limitations/implications: This study conducted and analyzed quantitative data, and therefore, there is no knowledge of managers' or employees' own perceptions in this study. However, it would be interesting to compare managers' decreased and increased leadership quality and how such differences affect social capital over time.\nPractical implications: The findings feature the possibility for healthcare leaders to build high quality leadership as an important resource for social capital, by using different leadership orientations under different circumstances.\nOriginality/value: The paper showed that leadership was an important factor for building social capital and that different leadership qualities have different importance with respect to certain circumstances.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
What is responsible for the psychological capital-job performance relationship? An examination of the role of informal learning and person-environment fit
|
[
"Psychological capital",
"Workplace learning",
"Job performance",
"Person–environment fit"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Psychological capital (PsyCap) is a positively oriented psychological capacity that has received considerable research support (see Luthans and Youssef-Morgan, 2017). PsyCap can be considered \"who you are\" and \"what you can become in terms of positive development\" (Avolio and Luthans, 2006). Although it is well established that PsyCap and its facets are positively related to job performance, we lack an understanding of the mechanisms and processes through which PsyCap influences job performance (Avey et al., 2011; Dawkins et al., 2013). This study attempts to further our understanding of these mechanisms by proposing and testing a moderated mediation model. We propose that PsyCap leads to enhanced job performance through its relationship with informal learning with person-environment (PE) operating as a moderator.\nTheoretical background and study hypotheses: PsyCap defined as \"an individual's positive psychological state of development\" (Luthans, Youssef-Morgan and Avolio, 2007; Luthans, Avolio, Avey and Norman, 2007, p. 3) is a multidimensional construct identified by four positive psychological resources including self-efficacy, hope, resilience and optimism. Each of the four PsyCap dimensions has conceptual independence, exhibits discriminant and convergent validity and is state-like and open to change and development (Carifio and Rhodes, 2002; Luthans, Youssef-Morgan and Avolio, 2007; Luthans, Avolio, Avey and Norman, 2007). PsyCap as a higher-order construct has shared commonalities such as a sense of control, intentionality and agentic goal pursuit (Luthans and Youssef-Morgan, 2017). The four dimensions of PsyCap also comprise the common theme of positive interpretation and appraisal toward the circumstances (Luthans, Youssef-Morgan and Avolio, 2007; Luthans, Avolio, Avey and Norman, 2007). PsyCap has a synergetic effect whereby it is greater than the sum of its parts because it incorporates the coping mechanism that the four components have in common (Avey et al., 2011; Luthans and Youssef-Morgan, 2017). These coping mechanisms facilitate individual's motivation to engage in behaviors directed toward successfully meeting goals and completing tasks, which results in higher job performance. Psychological resources (i.e. self-efficacy and hope) may move together and interact synergistically to create distinct manifestations (Hobfoll, 2002).\nMethods: Participants and procedure\nResults: Prior to testing the hypothesized relationships, we first tested the adequacy of our measurement model. Two confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs) using a maximum likelihood solution were computed utilizing the AMOS software package. In the first CFA, we assessed the four-factor structure of PsyCap. The results showed that the proposed four-factor model was indicative of a moderate fit to the data (kh2=121.350; df=48; RMR=0.062; CFI=0.962; TLI=0.947; RMSEA=0.085). Although the kh2 statistic was statistically significant and RMSEA did not meet the rigorous fit guideline (less than 0.080), other fit indices were satisfactory suggesting that the four-factor structure of PsyCap was an acceptable fit to the data (Hair et al., 2006).\nDiscussion: Theoretical contributions\nConclusion: This study contributes to both theory and practice by showing the importance of informal learning as a mechanism responsible for how PsyCap relates to job performance and the role of PE fit as a boundary condition. Specifically, we found that when individuals experience PE misfit, they are more motivated to engage in informal learning for overcoming their lack of resources. Overall, we contributed to the goal of better understanding how and under what conditions PsyCap influences job performance.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to advance our understanding of how psychological capital (PsyCap) influences job performance. The authors do so through adopting a moderated mediation framework. Specifically, the authors investigate the mediation role of informal learning in the PsyCap-job performance relationship and the moderating role of person-environment fit, i.e. the extent to which individual and organizational characteristics are compatible, in influencing the mediation.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The final sample consisted of 221 employees and their supervisors in South Korea.\nFindings: The authors found that PsyCap had an indirect effect on job performance through informal learning. Moreover, the indirect effect of PsyCap on job performance through informal learning became stronger with low levels of person-organization (PO) and person-job (PJ) fit.\nResearch limitations/implications: The authors cannot completely rule out the effects of common method bias due to the cross-sectional research design.\nPractical implications: The results reinforce the need for managers to understand employees' level of PsyCap and take actions to enhance it because PsyCap can affect the extent to which individuals engage in informal learning, which in turn influences their job performance.\nOriginality/value: This paper adds to our understanding of the mechanisms and boundary conditions responsible for the PsyCap-job performance relationship. The authors found that informal learning operates as a mediator and both PO and PJ fit moderate the PsyCap-job performance relationship.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Trust-performance relationship in international joint ventures: the moderating roles of structural mechanisms
|
[
"Trust",
"Social exchange theory",
"Transaction cost economics",
"International joint venture performance",
"Structural mechanisms"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The relationship between trust and international joint venture (IJV) performance is complicated and contingent on other factors. While several studies propose trust as a key factor contributing to partners' performance (Bener and Glaister, 2010; Kwon, 2008; Gould et al., 2016; Nielsen, 2007; de Pablo Gonzalez del Campo et al., 2014), some recent studies indicate that trust may not always improve IJV performance (Hsieh and Rodrigues, 2014; McEvily et al., 2003; Mohr and Puck, 2013; Muthusamy et al., 2007) unless contingency factors are taken into consideration. For example, Luo (2002) found that the positive effect of trust on performance in international strategic alliances strengthens with market uncertainty, resource interdependency, commensurate risk sharing and reciprocal commitment, and reverses with the increase in alliance age. Krishnan et al. (2006) found that the positive effect of trust on performance in international strategic alliances strengthens under behavioral uncertainty and reverses under environmental uncertainty. In addition, it is found that a positive trust-performance relationship strengthens with inter-partner similarities (Silva et al., 2012) and it reverses with the increase in IJV size (Robson et al., 2008). These studies suggest that the benefits derived from trust may magnify under certain conditions and diminish under other conditions. To extend research in this direction, identifying the contingency factors in an IJV relationship is crucial in understanding the influence of trust on the performance.\n2. Theoretical background and research hypotheses: 2.1 Trust and performance of the international joint venture\n3. Methodology: 3.1 Data collection\n4. Analysis and results: 4.1 Measure validation\n5. Discussion and implications: Trust has attracted considerable research interest, with international business (IB) scholars being especially keen to understand the impact of trust on IJV performance. The general view in IB literature is that trust always improves IJV performance. However, some scholars challenge this view and argue that trust does not necessarily lead to improved IJV performance. Indeed, researchers have begun to recognize that the relationship between trust and IJV performance is contingent on other factors (Krishnan et al., 2006; Luo, 2002; Robson et al., 2008; Silva et al., 2012). Proponents of trust research (Ali and Larimo, 2016; Jiang et al., 2013; Liu et al., 2009) and TCE perspective (Hennart and Zeng, 2005) suggest that trust involves vulnerability and does not guarantee that trusted party will reciprocate the good behavior. Therefore, trust may not unquestionably be positively related with IJV performance. This suggests the probability of other factors affecting the trust-performance relationship. In this study, we assumed that the positive relationship between trust and performance should be contingent on the structure of the IJV (i.e. structural mechanisms) that limits the extent to which trusted party can be opportunistic. However, extant literature, to our knowledge, has not examined how the trust-performance relationship is moderated by the structural mechanisms of IJVs. Therefore, based on SET and TCE, we proposed and tested an integrated theoretical model of how three structural mechanisms of symmetric dependence, symmetric equity share and resource complementarity from TCE moderate the trust-performance relationship in IJVs. The empirical work adopting a contingency perspective on the trust- performance link in IJVs is very limited (Krishnan et al., 2006; Luo, 2002; Robson et al., 2008; Silva et al., 2012). Thus, we added to this stream of studies by investigating the important roles of three structural mechanisms of symmetric dependence, symmetric equity share and resource complementarity in moderating the trust-performance relationship in IJVs.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This study aims to investigate the relationship between trust and performance in international joint ventures (IJVs) with the moderating effects of the structural mechanisms from transaction cost approach.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Using web-survey, data are collected from 89 IJVs of Northern European firms in Asia, Europe and America. Empirical data are analyzed with structural equation modeling and estimates moderating effects of symmetric dependence, symmetric equity share and resource complementarity.\nFindings: The findings offer some interesting insights for transaction cost and the social exchange theory. This study demonstrates that a symmetric equity share between IJV partners does not moderate the trust-performance relationship, while a symmetric dependence and resource complementarity between partners effect positively. Therefore, trust takes on greater importance in enhancing IJV performance under symmetric dependence and resource complementarity and symmetric equity share between IJV partners deprecates the importance of equity distribution.\nPractical implications: A symmetric dependence prevents the deceit from either partner in trusting relationships. Further, a trustful relationship enhances IJV performance regardless of the equity share in IJVs. IJVs with asymmetric equity share can also be successful, provided that IJV partners develop inter-partner trust.\nOriginality/value: The extant research has not examined how the trust-performance relationship is contingent on structural mechanisms of IJVs that transaction cost economics deem necessary to prevent opportunistic behavior. Three structural mechanisms of symmetric dependence, symmetric equity share and resource complementarity moderate the trust-performance relationship in IJVs.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Social engineering: assessing vulnerabilities in practice
|
[
"Data security",
"Computer crimes",
"Electronic mail"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: Social engineering remains a popular method of compromising the security of computing systems. According to Thornburgh (2004) social engineering has gained profound acceptance in the information technology community as an effective social and psychological tool for exploiting the IT security mechanism of a target organisation. Renowned hacker turned security consultant Kevin Mitnick suggests that it is much easier to trick somebody into giving his or her password than to carry out an elaborate hacking attempt for this purpose (Mitnick and Simon, 2002). Such a process may lead to the generation of useful data for the social engineer such as insight into the security policy of an organisation, the countermeasures in place and specifics relating to personnel and their level of security privilege for possible use in future attacks. Social engineering often requires a considerable effort in planning and research in order to be successful. Mitnick and Simon (2002) compare a social engineering attack to a software development lifecycle and summarize the process into four steps:1. Research.2. Development of rapport and trust.3. Exploitation of trust.4. Utilisation of information.From a social engineer's perspective research is vital, as it provides a plethora of information regarding the target that could be used in carrying out an attack. Such information can be gathered from numerous sources. Erianger (2004) and Granger (2001) refer to dumpster diving, suggesting that an attacker may go through the paper waste produced by an organisation to gain any general and confidential information that may be useful. The same is also true for shoulder surfing. While investigating a social engineer's research toolkit, Nolan and Levesque (2005) suggest that global search engines such as Google can provide much useful information regarding an organisation or an individual. The leads generated as part of this process may serve as further input into the same search engine to gather refined results and help the social engineer carry out a better planned attack. Whichever the method of research employed by a social engineer, the vital ingredient without which successful social engineering attack would not be possible are the people within the organisation that is being targeted. The employees of an organisation need to be persuaded to give vital information or access relating to the targeted system, and as such proper awareness and training of employees is essential to preserve security.This paper provides further evidence of users' susceptibility to the problems, by presenting the results of an e-mail-based social engineering study that was conducted amongst staff within a cooperating organisation. The primary aim of the research was to assess the threat that social engineering vulnerabilities pose to IT systems and to raise staff awareness of the threat. Section 2 discusses the existing work in this area, and Section 3 describes how the experiment was designed. This is followed by Section 4, which presents specific details about the execution of the experiment, and Section 5, which provide a critical analysis of results from the study. Finally, Section 6 contains conclusions from this work.\n2 Background: The investigation of user susceptibility to social engineering threats has been the focus of a number of prior studies. Orgill et al. (2004) used a physical approach, by posing to be an individual from an organisation's computer support department and asking employees for a range of information (e.g. usernames, passwords, etc.). The findings from this study were alarming, showing that around 80 per-cent of participants provided their username and almost 60 per-cent also provided their password. Greening (1996) used an e-mail-based approach in Sydney University, by sending e-mails to undergraduate computer science students improperly requesting usernames and passwords in the pretext of intrusion detection and subsequent system upgrade. Forty-seven per-cent of students fell for this trick, and provided their valid username and password details. A more recent phishing-type study was mounted by Dodge et al. (2007), who conducted their study as part of information assurance training for students at the United States Military Academy. Students were tested against three scenarios, assessing their willingness to:1. Click an embedded link within an e-mail message.2. Open a.html e-mail attachment.3. Follow a link to a web site and provide sensitive information.All exercises revealed significant elements of failure, and helped to inform the evolution of the academy's awareness programme and other operational security practices.A combination of physical and technical approaches was utilised by secure network technologies in the audit of a credit union organisation (Stasiukonis, 2006). Specifically, they developed a Trojan that could e-mail the usernames, passwords and hardware configuration of an employee's system, and then copied the Trojan onto 20 USB memory sticks, which were placed in various places of the organisation. Fifteen of the sticks were found by employees, and all were subsequently plugged into the corporate computers. It should be noted that prior to the launch of the audit, employees had been made aware of the fact that they would be audited on human weaknesses.A different approach was adopted by Karakasiliotis et al. (2007), who carried out a web-based survey to investigate users' level of susceptibility to phishing attacks by asking them to distinguish whether 20 different messages were genuine or phishing attempts (from a set that actually contained nine genuine and 11 bogus messages). From the 179 respondents that took part, the results revealed a great level of uncertainty and confusion amongst participants, and a tendency of being overcautious when asked to determine the legitimacy of e-mail messages. Specifically, 32 per cent of messages were incorrectly characterised, and 26 per cent of messages were not characterised at all. Specifically, participants mistook phishing messages as genuine in 28 per cent of cases. Genuine messages were considered as illegitimate in 37 per cent of cases.Such prior works reveal the considerable vulnerability posed by the end-user community if they are not appropriately aware and attuned to the potential threats. However, given that such threats are now well-recognised in the security domain, it would not be unreasonable to expect organisations to take steps to guard against them. Nonetheless, it is likely that many organisations have work to do in this respect, and will consequently find that their users are still very susceptible to such deceptions.\n3 Assessing susceptibility to social engineering in practice: In order to assess susceptibility to social engineering in practice, the authors designed an experiment to mimic the techniques used in realistic social engineering scenarios. An e-mail-based approach was chosen as the basis for the study, with the premise being a message to users asking them to install a software update from an accompanying web site. In order to obtain results from a genuine user population, the experiment was conducted within a cooperating organisation, which was interested in what the findings would reveal about their users' level of security awareness (indeed, the intention was not simply to exploit the users as an experimental population, but rather to inform genuine aware-raising activities to the benefit of both them and the organisation). The organisation's IT department was informed of the experiment and advised on the wording of the associated e-mail message (primarily in order to ensure that it was not too similar to mailings that they might genuinely send).The participating organisation had an overall staff base of over 2,000 people. However, in order to ensure a manageable experiment, it was decided to target only the staff from within a single department. A key consideration here was to ensure that the experiment was containable in the event of problems (which proved to be a relevant concern once the experiment had begun). The department concerned included a mixture of operational and administrative personnel, but all shared the characteristic of being regular IT users with a need to access e-mail as part of their regular day-to-day duties.E-mail was considered to be the best communication medium for the experiment, due to the fact that e-mail addresses of staff could be easily obtained from the organisation's extranet pages, and also because all the members of staff could be addressed individually within a short timeframe, without rising too much suspicion or concern within the department. In addition, e-mail communication is greatly utilised in social engineering attacks, especially phishing. In order to keep the experiment realistic, no insider information was used; instead, all the specific details that were utilised were obtained from a publicly available source; namely the organisation's external web site. However, the actual e-mail address that was used for the experiment does not exist.3.1 Experimental design\n4 Results: From a security perspective, a desirable response to the e-mail would have been a refusal to follow the embedded link, and prompt notification of IT department about the incident. In reality, the responses were very different. This section analyses the results that were obtained from the study, by conducting both quantitative and qualitative analysis.4.1 Quantitative analysis\n5 Conclusion: The experiment itself proved to be a very interesting exercise, yet a difficult one to plan and implement, mainly due to the risk of upsetting people in the process. The main challenge was the need to get meaningful and realistic results, without generating ill-feeling. Although approval and support from relevant parties was obtained prior to the experiment, this support was not given until the end.The results of the experiment clearly revealed a significant level of vulnerability to social engineering attacks. The fact that almost a quarter of the staff members complied with a request that put their system at risk reveals a clear problem, and does not bode well for their chances of resisting a real incident. Moreover, the fact that this level of compliance was observed in spite of an attack that was in many ways signposted as suspicious further reinforces the view that users represent easy targets, and cannot be relied upon to have natural instincts to protect themselves against online threats. As a consequence, the need to raise user awareness of social engineering and the related techniques is crucial, as the success of such methods will otherwise ensure their ongoing use in future attacks.However, evidence from studies (Karakasiliotis et al., 2007) shows that users cannot be easily trained to identify social engineering and phishing in all their guises. It is certainly true that they can be trained up to a point; for example, today's widespread awareness of the dangers with unsolicited e-mail attachments demonstrates that users can exercise caution with things that they have been told to be wary of (Dodge et al., 2007). However, expecting to provide specific advice for all contexts is unrealistic. Based on this the authors have proposed a simple list of questions that users ought to ask themselves when confronted with information requests that they are in any way unsure of (Papadaki et al., 2008). Indeed, users should only need to remember that there is a list of issues (namely legitimacy, importance, source, and timing) in order to help to remember the questions concerned:* Legitimacy: does the request seem legitimate and usual? For example, should you be asked for this information, and is this how you should normally provide it?* Importance: what is the value of the information you are being asked to provide or the task that you are being asked to perform, and how might it be misused?* Source: are you confident that the source of the request is genuine? Can you find a way to check?* Timing: do you have to respond now? If you still have doubts, take time to make further checks or ask for help.The above checks should provide a useful basis for assessing a request before responding to it. Although they are not foolproof, and there might still be judgements that are not clear-cut, the intention is to enable people to apply some key criteria, take time to consider the situation, rather than just provide an immediate and instinctive response.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to investigate the level of susceptibility to social engineering amongst staff within a cooperating organisation.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - An e-mail-based experiment was conducted, in which 152 staff members were sent a message asking them to follow a link to an external web site and install a claimed software update. The message utilised a number of social engineering techniques, but was also designed to convey signs of a deception in order to alert security-aware users. The external web site, to which the link was pointing, was intentionally badly designed in the hope of raising the users' suspicions and preventing them from proceeding with the software installation.\nFindings: - In spite of a short window of operation for the experiment, the results revealed that 23 per-cent of recipients were fooled by the attack, suggesting that many users lack a baseline level of security awareness that is useful to protect them online.\nResearch limitations/implications: - After running for approximately 3.5 h, the experiment was ceased, after a request from the organisation's IT department. Thus, the correct percentage of unique visits is likely to have been higher. Also, the mailings were sent towards the end of a working day, thus limiting the number of people who got to read and respond to the message before the experiment was ended.\nPractical implications: - Despite its limitations, the experiment clearly revealed a significant level of vulnerability to social engineering attacks. As a consequence, the need to raise user awareness of social engineering and the related techniques is crucial.\nOriginality/value: - This paper provides further evidence of users' susceptibility to the problems, by presenting the results of an e-mail-based social engineering study that was conducted amongst staff within a cooperating organisation.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Creating a reliable financing mechanism for economic development
|
[
"Economic development",
"Capital provision mechanism",
"Economic new normal"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: China's economic development in the past 40 years has an array of distinctive features that have attracted the attention of the world. The most prominent of these features is ascribable to the simultaneous and harmonious manifestations of high savings, high investment and high growth (\"three highs\") for decades. Moreover, the growth of China's economy has long been accompanied by the \"double surplus\" of current accounts and capital and financial accounts in the international balance of payments, which is not completely consistent with the traditional paradigm of development economics. These phenomena are so unique that the international community calls it the \"Mystery of China\" or \"China's Development Path.\"\n1. Understand the key position of savings/investment in economic operations: The basic feature of modern social reproduction is the expansion of reproduction. The continuous expansion of the scale requires the generation of new capital. Therefore, investing the generated new capital is among the essential tasks of a country's economic growth and development.\n2. Reform stimulates the willingness to save: The first essential step in mobilizing savings is to stimulate the willingness of microeconomic entities to engage in saving. This goal was achieved mainly by promoting progressive decentralization reform and vigorously developing the financial system before the Third Plenary Session of the Fourteenth Central Committee. After 1993, it was comprehensively embedded in the process of building and improving the socialist market economic system.\n3. The financial \"explosion\": Consistent with the shift of resource allocation power in the reform of the economic system from government plan to market orientation, since the reform and opening-up, the financial system that \"grandly unified\" in the People's Bank of China has been gradually split into an increasingly complex financial organization system, including the Central Bank, commercial banks and non-banking financial institutions. Meanwhile, a large number of other financial institutions that are compatible with the market economy, such as credit unions, financial companies and various financial institutions, including capital markets, money markets and fund markets, have also sprung up in China. The allocation of financial resources is increasingly determined by the decentralized decisions of various types of financial institutions, financial markets and non-financial sectors.\n4. Population: from \"burden\" to \"dividend\": In the short term, investment rate and savings rate are primarily a function of capital profit rate and interest rate. In the long run, the investment rate and the savings rate are mainly determined by the population structure.\n5. The role of industrialization and urbanization: From the experience of various countries, the change in the age structure of the population is only one of the necessary prerequisites for the simultaneous existence of high savings rate, high investment rate and high economic growth rate. Another prerequisite for the formation of the \"three highs\" is that the working-age population can be employed, especially in non-agricultural industries with high economic value added. Here, guiding the population to non-agricultural employment is a key factor because the non-agricultural industry has a high labor productivity. Therefore, the entry of the large-scale agricultural population into non-agricultural employment will lead to a substantial increase in the income of the employed population and drive the rise in income of the total population, and in turn lead to a virtuous cycle with mutual promotion of economic growth and increased productivity. At the same time, the transfer of labor from agriculture to non-agricultural industries has reduced the employment of the agricultural population, which will also have the effect of raising the income level of agricultural workers. As a result, the increase in the income of the entire population will inevitably lead to increased savings, which will provide support for the increase in investment, resulting in a virtuous cycle that features rising employment in non-agricultural industries, rising income, rising savings, rising investment and further growth of employment in non-agricultural industries.\n6. A short conclusion: the success of progressive reform: In the above, we started with the transfer of surplus labor, focusing on how the outcome of high savings, high investment, demographic dividend, industrialization, urbanization and other factors jointly achieved the miracle of China's high-speed economic growth for 40 years. Our analysis logic is as follows: with regard to the mechanism, the above factors were met in a timely manner and jointly contributed positive energy to China's economic growth, with the increase in the savings rate as the necessary condition and foundation, and the increase in the savings rate is attributed to the explosive expansion of the financial system at the beginning of reform and the formation of positive incentives for residents, enterprises and governments at all levels; and the expansion of the financial system and the formation of positive incentives are clearly the crystallization of the wisdom of Chinese-style progressive reform.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: China's economic development in the past 40 years has an array of distinctive features that have attracted the attention of the world. The paper aims to discuss this issue.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The analysis logic is as follows: with regard to the mechanism, the above factors were met in a timely manner and jointly contributed positive energy to China's economic growth, with the increase in the savings rate as the necessary condition and foundation, and the increase in the savings rate is attributed to the explosive expansion of the financial system at the beginning of reform and the formation of positive incentives for residents, enterprises and governments at all levels, and the expansion of the financial system and the formation of positive incentives are clearly the crystallization of the wisdom of Chinese-style progressive reform.\nFindings: Therefore, we have every reason to believe that the growth prospects of the Chinese economy remain bright. The author is nonetheless confident that the new two-step strategy for economic development will be realized, proposed by the 19th CPC National Congress.\nOriginality/value: Moreover, the growth of China's economy has long been accompanied by the \"double surplus\" of current accounts and capital and financial accounts in the international balance of payments, which is not completely consistent with the traditional paradigm of development economics. These phenomena are so unique that the international community calls it the \"Mystery of China\" or \"China's Development Path.\"\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Understanding the dynamics of the pharmaceutical market using a social marketing framework
|
[
"Pharmaceuticals industry",
"Social marketing",
"Economics"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: An executive summary for managers and executive readers can be found at the end of this issue.\nFactors associated with social movement success: The sociology literature identifies six factors associated with successful social movements (Table I) (McAdam et al., 1988) These factors are the conditions and stresses affecting society, public perceptions that reform is needed and agencies to support it, the presence of precipitating events to trigger change, and the techniques used by opposing parties to support or hinder change.Structural conduciveness\nProposed changes: The fundamental structural issues affecting drug expenditures (e.g. aging population, government budget deficits) will continue to pressure the status quo (Moran, 2000). There is also a belief that the current structure of the health care system is a major part of the problem (Newhouse, 2004; Nichols et al., 2004). Therefore, some change is likely to occur although the exact form is still undetermined. Proposed changes associated with improving drug affordability fall into three types: regulating industry, increasing competition, or making better purchases with our drug dollars.Regulating industry\nManagerial implications: Issues relating to the affordability of drugs are complex and multifaceted. The descriptive framework presented in this paper can be used as a tool to place developments in the pharmaceutical marketplace into a meaningful context. Conditions listed in Table I describe variables that can be studied to understand the swirl of conflicting information about pharmaceuticals. The two conditions of structural conduciveness and structural are useful but stable characteristics of the broad market environment. Therefore, their value lies in providing groundwork for understanding the other four, more dynamic conditions of the framework. The remaining four conditions from Table I can be studied to monitor major trends and events that impact the pharmaceutical market.Social research methodologies can permit researchers to understand the growth, direction, and character of generalized beliefs by the public about drug affordability. Public opinions about drug affordability are being monitored through polls conducted by media such as the Wall Street Journal, but most are static cross-sectional studies that do not provide much depth about public feelings. More extensive, longitudinal studies of public opinions would provide greater understanding of changes in attitudes over time. Opinion leaders can also be interviewed about their feelings on major issues such as that demonstrated in the community tracking study. This study conducts periodic interviews of households, physicians, and health system leaders in 60 communities and recently found greater support for government intervention in health care (Nichols et al., 2004). Content analyses of media reporting and publications can also be conducted to examine issues and trends identified as important by the media.Case studies can explore the direct and indirect significance of major events in the pharmaceutical market. Case studies can describe and explain unique or interesting events such as the implementation of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement Act of 2003. For instance, it is not clear at the moment whether the Act will increase or decrease pressure for change. Although it was meant to solve the problem of affordable drugs for seniors, many details and consequences of the Act are unclear. If seniors judge it favorably, and it slows the rise of inappropriate drug expenditures, pressure on the pharmaceutical market will be relieved. If things go badly, however, renewed calls for price controls and other dramatic solutions will intensify.Content analysis of the media can be used to explore resources mobilized by governmental, political, consumer, business, and professional agencies. It has been used to understand how agencies in the consumer movement mobilized resources to promote their agenda (Smith and Bloom, 1989). In a similar manner, content analysis can be used to examine issues advanced by the movement, the types of groups and individuals promoting change, and the form and direction of the change advanced over time.Finally, researchers can study the changing social control strategies used by industry to resist change. The evolving effectiveness of techniques can be instructive. For example, there is growing resistance to the acceptance of drug company money by individuals and groups. One group called \"No Free Lunch\" advocates the elimination of pharmaceutical promotion from medical education, practice, and research (No Free Lunch, 2005) If physicians, educators, and researchers widely adopt the solutions proposed by No Free Lunch, the influence of drug companies in resisting change will be diminished.\nConclusion: The only certainty in the pharmaceutical market is that change will occur. It will either happen when public demands for change overpower the ability of the pharmaceutical industry to resist it or when industry decides that change is in its best interests. In other words, industry can be proactive in their support of change, or they can wait and let others decide. The economics of the pharmaceutical market are unlikely to spontaneously improve it, so systematic research should be conducted to understand its dynamics. The paper presents a framework for doing so.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The objectives of this paper are to describe the \"affordable drugs movement\" and present a social marketing framework to place major developments within a meaningful theoretical context.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Specific examples are used to illustrate the framework and its utility in understanding the complexities of the pharmaceutical market. Methods to research the dynamics of the market are also presented.\nFindings: - Provides referenced descriptions and examples of forces causing change within the pharmaceutical market. Classifies forces into six conditions influencing successful social movements: structural conduciveness, structural strains, growth of generalized beliefs, precipitating events, mobilization for action, and utilization of social control by opponents. Suggests social research methodologies to study the conditions in greater depth.\nResearch limitations/implications: - This is a descriptive framework that has not been validated for its use in the pharmaceutical market.\nPractical implications: - Offers a useful framework for academics, managers, students, and individuals to classify and study developments in the pharmaceutical industry.\nOriginality/value: - This paper provides an overview of major forces within the pharmaceutical market and offers direction for those who wish to explore it in greater detail.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
The glass ceiling of corporate social responsibility: Consequences of a business case approach towards CSR
|
[
"Corporate social responsibility",
"Glass ceilings",
"Business policy",
"The Netherlands",
"Ethics"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: At a major bank in Europe the board decided in 2007 to integrate corporate social responsibility (CSR) more into the core processes of the organization. The bank already had a long history of corporate philanthropy, micro credits, green funds and transparent reporting, but CSR was not yet a key ingredient in their lending and investment activities. It was decided to start at the corporate client department and to develop a policy to assess every prospect not only on financial criteria, but also on CSR criteria. In the implementation of this policy the supervisors regularly communicated their commitment to the new policy. All financial analysts had to do an e-learning session on CSR and CSR checklists were developed for the relevant sectors. Still, most employees talked about the project as a waste of time and filled in the checklist just by box ticking, without putting much effort into really probing the specific CSR characteristics of their clients. When this was discussed in the team it turned out that the CSR analysis just did not make sense to most of the employees. Having a background in economics they understood their professional role strictly in financial terms. CSR did not fit that self image. In a second phase of the project, therefore, the team supervisors took much more time to discuss how analysts could add value both to the bank and to the clients and what that meant for their own performance. One of the points discussed was that banks have a strong influence on the way clients manage their business and how this influence engenders specific responsibilities. Next, it was discussed how each employee felt about assessing and discussing CSR issues with their clients. Most employees felt proud about it, although it still was a bit strange and unreal to them. Gradually many analysts started to make sense of CSR as an integral part of their functioning, resulting in much more substantial assessments of the CSR issues of their clients.It is our claim in this paper that the problems with implementing CSR programmes illustrated in this case refer to a much more general problem in the CSR discourse. In essence this problem is that CSR is increasingly stepping aside from its moral foundation, whereas this foundation is an inherent and necessary condition of success when companies want to embed CSR in the whole organization. More specifically, we will argue that first CSR tends to become irrelevant and inherently limited if it loses its foundation in ethics and second that this foundation in ethics is jeopardized by the prevailing business case approach towards CSR. By the latter we mean that initiatives in the field of CSR are motivated in companies merely through their contribution to business success defined purely in terms of business economics (such as customer attraction, employee motivation and free publicity), but not in terms of the ethical betterment of the company or its responsibility vis-a-vis stakeholders. The implications for embedding CSR in organizations are discussed at the end of this paper.\n2. The business case approach towards CSR: 2.1 Conceptualising CSR\n3. Objections to a business case approach towards CSR: Despite the widespread adoption of the business case approach towards CSR, there are also some objections. From a critical business ethics perspective some authors claim that a strictly instrumental approach of CSR detracts attention from the imperative moral justification of business behaviours (Margolis and Walsh, 2003; Jensen, 2001; Scherer and Palazzo, 2007). A major risk of adopting an instrumental approach to CSR \"lies in an emphasis on the means of achieving CSR reputation rather than the end of social welfare\" (Gond et al., 2009, p. 76). In this article we will build upon this literature and concentrate our argument on the internal mechanisms that hamper the potential impact of a business case approach to CSR. For this, we introduce the metaphor of a glass ceiling of CSR. With this metaphor we want to stress that companies adopting a business case approach to CSR create their own limitations -a ceiling- with respect to the possible results. Furthermore we want to emphasize that many people working on CSR will not be aware of these limitations - a ceiling from glass - because the limitations result from indirect effects of a business case approach to CSR. In the next paragraph we will present a more detailed account of these indirect effects creating this glass ceiling. Here we just give an overview of them:* a business case approach to CSR results in opportunism: business cherry-picking the social issues agenda;* a business case approach to CSR leaves the institutional blockades intact; and* a business case approach to CSR drives out intrinsic motivation for CSR.3.1 A business case approach to CSR results in opportunism\n4. Discussion and conclusions: In this article we have argued that companies hit a glass ceiling when they use the assumption that any CSR effort should be legitimized by instrumental arguments towards increasing corporate profits. Such a business case approach to CSR has inherent limitations because it results in opportunism with respect to the social issues agenda, it leaves the institutional blockades to CSR intact and it drives out the intrinsic motivation for CSR that is prevalent in an increasingly large part of the workforce. Simply stating that good ethics is good business does not help.But can companies adopt CSR policies based on other approaches than the business case approach? Of course. In the introduction of the CSR concept, we already pointed at two other approaches, namely a social values-led approach based on ethical responsibility theory and a syncretic stewardship approach based on corporate citizenship theory. Instead of a profit oriented starting point towards CSR, these other approaches use different starting points like moral responsibilities of corporations or the interdependence between different actors in production and consumption system. Also, for these other approaches it is important to take the economic constraints into account. A bankrupt company is of no use to anyone. But the road towards sound economic results is different. Companies like Interface, Patagonia and Triodos Bank have demonstrated for many years that these other approaches to CSR can generate good results. Hence, it is not our claim in this article that all companies use a business case approach, but when companies are using the business case approach towards CSR they should be aware of the inherent limitations.Our argument about the inherent limitations of a business case approach to CSR should not be misunderstood as going back to ethical idealism or non-economic models of an organization. Paying close attention to the economic constraints is a prerequisite for every organization working in a competitive environment. Our argument is that to embed CSR in an organization it is necessary to combine this orientation towards economic constraints with an orientation towards individual and collective moral values and to integrate these values in corporate decision making. In order to shatter the glass ceiling, business leaders should reflect on what ethical guidelines they want to hold up in good and bad times and use this sincere commitment as a foundation for developing business models that are also economically sustainable. This makes embedding CSR more complex and demanding, but it will also make it more apt to meet the dilemmas and challenges inherent in CSR policies.For regulators or business partners it is difficult to evaluate whether a company is engaged in CSR based on a business case approach or on another approach. Ex post, also companies who use a social values led or a stewardship approach the CSR policy have win-win results; otherwise the results would not be economically sustainable. But in the process of creating these results the other parties involved will notice to what extent a company has shown a stable commitment to achieve these results or whether the CSR commitment was switched on and off depending on the calculated benefits of its business impact (Weaver et al., 1999). Furthermore, the results will address a broader range of issues because companies who work on CSR from a business case approach will more easily keep aloof from issues where a win-win outcome is uncertain because it is still to be created in the future (Zadek, 2004). For people inside a company it is even more noticeable. They will perceive to what extent it is legitimate to bring forward other arguments for CSR initiatives that are not directly linked to corporate profits. For managers this requires a balancing act. They have to create a \"culture of responsibility\" where it is legitimate to bring forward all considerations that are valued by the human beings involved and they must use these considerations as a foundation for innovating the products, services and business propositions of the company.Our article also has important implications for stage models of CSR. For example the stage model of Dunphy et al. (2007) points towards the ultimate goal of a \"sustaining corporation\", emanating from five developmental stages that all focus on a business case approach to CSR. Especially for this last stage it becomes increasingly important to address the moral foundations of CSR. Some companies started as a sustaining company - especially double-goal companies like Ben & Jerries, The Body Shop[2], Innocent Drinks and Agro Fair - and thinking about the moral responsibility of their corporation might be natural to them. But for many contemporary companies entering the stage of a sustaining corporation is not more of the same, but requires a novel approach to CSR based on a moral compass. This will be increasingly difficult when they have not learned, or have even unlearned, to frame CSR as a moral debate in the preceding stages.\nNotes: 1. Quote based on a statement of David Kreuzer of the Masssachusetts, Institute of Technology.2. An interesting development for especially the successful social ventures is that some of them are taken over by multinationals. Then the question becomes how these companies can maintain their collective mindset after the take-over or even how their distinct background can be a stimulating factor for embedding CSR in the other parts of the multinational company.Opens in a new window.Figure 1\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - This paper aims to clarify that corporate social responsibility (CSR) has come a long way by the prevailing business case approach, but increasingly hits a glass ceiling. The glass ceiling metaphor refers to the inherent limitations created by a business case approach towards CSR.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The main findings are based on an analysis of existing literature on strategies for CSR. The findings are illustrated with a case from the Dutch National Research Program on CSR.\nFindings: - The very term corporate social responsibility suggests that the debate about CSR is all about responsibilities of corporations. Maybe it once was, but nowadays it is much more about new market opportunities and a business-wise approach to ecological and social problems. CSR has evolved into a marketable asset of companies, in which profit-oriented managers and entrepreneurs are willing to invest. This \"commodification\" of CSR has helped to make it acceptable in the business world, but this comes at a considerable price from the perspective of the social responsibility of business. It is especially argued in the paper that a business case approach results in opportunism, leaves institutional blockades intact and drives out the intrinsic motivation for engaging in CSR.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Because of the chosen conceptual research approach, the propositions put forward in the paper need further grounding in empirical research.\nPractical implications: - In order to shatter this glass ceiling, managers have to deal with a paradoxical situation. They should maintain their appreciation of economic constraints and at the same time combine this with a sincere recognition of moral values. This at least requires that managers should show commitment to certain social values, be able to defend it in good and bad times and prepare all employees to deal with the inherent dilemmas of bearing different responsibilities.\nOriginality/value: - Although the paper builds on earlier articles on limitations of a business case approach, it is the first paper to argue for a glass ceiling of CSR created by the inherent limitations of such an approach.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Types of proximity in knowledge access by science-based start-ups
|
[
"Space",
"Entrepreneurs trajectory",
"Formal and informal ties",
"Knowledge networks",
"Relational proximity",
"Science-based firms"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Biotechnology is frequently presented as example of an industry whose mode of organization spans several spatial levels. In fact, research has shown that biotechnology firms tend to cluster around major centres of knowledge production and/or key clients (Aharonson et al., 2007), but also that they are frequently highly internationalized, engaging in a variety of relationships with organizations located around the world (Owen-Smith and Powell, 2004).\n2. Knowledge access by science-based firms: New biotechnology firms are knowledge-intensive companies that derive their competitiveness from the capacity to quickly expand and renew their knowledge base, in order to generate a steady stream of innovations (Owen-Smith and Powell, 2004). However, because they tend to be small firms, such competitiveness also depends on the ability to gain access to knowledge originating from external sources, in particular from research organizations (Levitte and Bagchi-Sen, 2010; McMillan et al., 2000). Given firms' specialized requirements and the distributed nature of the knowledge production in biotechnology, knowledge sources can be very diverse and located all around the world (Gertler and Levitte, 2005; Whittington et al., 2009).\n3. Proximity, networks and knowledge access: The evidence on the geographical location of biotechnology firms' knowledge sources is mixed. Biotechnology start-ups are often described as strongly dependent on knowledge originating from the \"parent\" organization, locating in its vicinity and establishing close relationships with it (Grandi and Grimaldi, 2003; Lemarie et al., 2001). However, it is also argued that the significance of these links depends on the characteristics of firms and the knowledge assets searched (Audretsch and Feldman, 1996; Mangematin et al., 2002). The complexity and frontier nature of the knowledge being exploited by many biotechnology firms may require them to search for knowledge wherever it is available (Cooke, 2006; Gertler and Levitte, 2005). Firms created outside the main \"biotechnology centres\" may need to resort more extensively (and more precociously) to geographically distant sources (Fontes, 2005; Gilding, 2008).\n4. A framework to examine the role of proximities in knowledge access: So, when addressing the knowledge networking strategies of new biotechnology firms, it is necessary to take into account both geographical proximity and other forms of proximity. Moreover, the above discussion suggests that the presence of these other forms of proximity with knowledge sources (irrespective of their location) is likely to be a significant element in the knowledge search decisions of biotechnology entrepreneurs. It is therefore important to understand whether this is effectively the case; and the extent to which entrepreneurs rely on non-geographical proximity in the building-up of their knowledge networks at different spatial levels.\n5. Research setting and methodology: The research uses the case of Portuguese biotechnology industry as empirical setting, addressing the networks established by new firms to access knowledge from research organizations. The analysis focuses on starting-up firms, thus encompassing the period of \"firm formation\", which is assumed to be a process that includes the pre-start-up period, the year of formal creation and the two subsequent years of activity.\n6. Empirical results: proximities in firms' networks: In order to answer the questions raised in Section 4, the data obtained from the reconstruction of firms' networks was analysed at two levels. In a first step, we assumed the tie as the level of analysis and combined data from all firms along three variables that correspond to the three tie attributes defined - origin of tie (trajectory, intentional) as proxy to relational proximity; spatial location of source organization (local, national and international) as proxy to geographical proximity; nature of relationship (formal, informal, both formal and informal). Drawing on this data we examined the presence and relative importance of different types of proximity (Section 6.1), as well their association with the nature of the relationship (Section 6.2), for the whole group of firms. In a second step, we assumed the firm as the level of analysis and searched for patterns in terms of specific combinations of the proximity dimensions (origin and location) in each firm network, using cluster analysis (Section 6.3).\n7. Conclusions: This paper aimed at contributing to a better understanding of the strategies adopted by science-based start-ups to gain access to knowledge resources at different spatial levels and, in particular, the role played by non-geographical proximity in those strategies.\n",
"role": "user"
},
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"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to address the strategies adopted by science-based start-ups to gain access to knowledge resources at diverse spatial levels. It investigates the presence and relative importance of ties endowed with different types of proximity in firms' knowledge networks, and the role played by non-geographical proximity in gaining access to knowledge sources, both nearby and distant.\nDesign/methodology/approach: An analytical framework is proposed that distinguishes between two dimensions of proximity - geographical and relational - leading to different forms of proximity, which are further linked with modes of knowledge interaction (formal or informal). A methodology for network reconstruction is developed and applied to Portuguese molecular biology firms, permitting to identify the origin, location and nature of the ties and to position them along forms of proximity.\nFindings: The results show that the incidence and mix of the different forms of proximity vary in firms' individual networks, being possible to identify several patterns. They also uncover the relevance of relational proximity, whether or not coexisting with geographical proximity and often compensating for its absence.\nResearch limitations/implications: This approach needs to be complemented with further research that refines the operationalization of relational proximity, by attempting to disentangle the influence of different types of non-geographical proximity. Further research will also explore in greater detail the factors that may explain variety in the proximity mix of firms' networks.\nPractical implications: The paper offers insights into the knowledge sourcing strategies adopted by science-based firms located outside the main concentrations of knowledge in their field.\nOriginality/value: The paper contributes to the literature on the role of proximity in knowledge access, by developing and empirically testing a taxonomy of forms of proximity, considering the characteristics of science-based firms. It uncovers the mechanisms through which relational proximity can contribute to span spatial boundaries, highlighting the role played by entrepreneurs' personal networks.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
TQM emphasizing 5-S principles: A breakthrough for chronic managerial constraints at public hospitals in developing countries
|
[
"Supply chain management",
"Total quality management",
"Hospitals",
"Developing countries",
"Organizational development"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Developing countries are gradually restructuring their economic systems - government interventions are downsized and market mechanisms are facilitated. Many public-owned organizations are privatized, with the aim of improving efficiency and quality (Lovell, 2002). However, generally, public health institutions have been spared, presumably due to the quasi-public nature of the service and political infeasibility. The slow or lack of reforms in many developing countries, may have contributed to the growing concerns on efficiency and quality of healthcare. The public hospital is the primary focus of scrutiny as the largest consumer of public health funds. Several high- and middle-income countries have implemented organizational reforms ranging from autonomization to privatization of public hospitals and service-purchasers. Though evaluation of such measures is fraught with limitations on data availability and methodology, some well-executed reforms have achieved improvements in quality and efficiency of care, whilst some have not achieved the desired results (Ashton et al., 2005; Tountas et al., 2002; and Harrison and Calltorp, 2000). In low- and low-middle income countries, the implementation of such reforms is more difficult due to weak markets, ineffective regulation and corporate law, and existence of powerful labour unions (Healy and McKee, 2002).Therefore, some countries and public hospitals have attempted to implement quality improvement programmes without altering the basic structure or organization. These interventions differ from large scale reorganizations; often the primary objective is limited to the improvement of quality of patient-care. Approaches include establishing technical standards and clinical guidelines, strengthening patient rights, quality assessment and accreditation, and continuous quality improvement (CQI)/total quality management (TQM). Except for CQI/TQM other strategies are essentially based on external pressure on the organization i.e. to ensure good governance for better quality of care (Ovretveit, 2003). CQI/TQM are organizational development strategies that focus on process and human resource management with the aim of providing higher quality of clinical-care and patient-satisfaction. TQM has its origins in organization-wide industrial quality improvement programmes. Different types of quality improvement tools/operational strategies can be initiated and implemented by multidisciplinary teams of workers, with the leadership of the top management. Proponents of TQM/CQI believe that TQM can improve competitiveness and improve customer and employee satisfaction (McLaughlin and Kaluzny, 1999 and Masaaki, 1997). There are evidences from the hospital sector to support this claim (Maguerez et al., 2001). A wide range of methods and tools have been used under the umbrella of CQI/TQM.Public hospitals of Sri Lanka\nMethodology: Balanced score card approach (Kaplan and Norton, 1992) is used to assess the performance of the hospital in order to capture accomplishments on multiple objectives and multiple aspects. The hospital is a government-managed hospital, providing a service free-of-charge at delivery point. Thus, general balanced score card indicators on profitability, employee turnover rate etc., are not relevant. The main objective of the hospital is to pursue improvement of quality of care, as emphasized in the vision and mission. The autonomy of the hospital management is limited; the controllable aspects of performance are restricted; the performance analysis focused only on functions/activities that were controllable. The evaluation is limited to year 2000 onwards, due to unavailability of relevant data in previous years.Value chain analysis (Porter, 1985) (refer to Figure 1) is used to assess changes that followed implementation. Internal documents including annual reports, financial accounts, minutes of monthly meetings, internal circulars, evaluation guidelines and monthly evaluations of improvement activities carried out by the work-improvement-teams (quality circles) are reviewed. Through questionnaire-based interviews, employee views are assessed.\nResults: Performance of the hospital with regard to service quality, employee-performance, fixed-asset-performance, and social responsibility increased. Data on customer satisfaction, market share and costs were not adequate to arrive at meaningful conclusions (refer to Table I, see Figure 2 and Figure 3).Value chain analysis\nDiscussion and conclusions: The study confirms that significant improvements in performance were achieved following 5-S based TQM implementation. The 5-S programme may explain improvements, at least partially. Employee feedback too indicates the positive impact. Moreover, it shows that 5-S based TQM can stimulate organizational management changes. As this system is based on a bottom-up approach with employee participation, it shows good potential for acceptance by staff of public hospitals in Sri Lanka to counter the existing problems and limitations i.e. absence of performance based remuneration, low-productivity, existence of strong labour-unions etc.The importance of leadership in organizational development is established and this reaffirms previous evidence (Guo, 2004). Moreover, the importance of employee participation in quality improvement activities is highlighted, with employees who were members of quality circles expressing higher degree of awareness and motivation compared to others. This evidence is in line with the previous findings on importance of teamwork in hospital projects (Gent et al., 1998). In addition, a strong monitoring and evaluation system and effective training and development of staff are identified as key factors for change management.More attention is needed to get the involvement of doctors, who generally are the decision makers or influencers of process management. This has been previously highlighted by researchers as vital for successful implementation of CQI systems in hospitals (Kirtchevsky and Simmons, 1991).The 5-S system was implemented first to improve basic health care procedures, e.g. proper toilets etc. However, the system now needs to focus on patients' feedback. Lack of cost data is a major drawback which can lead to considerable inefficiencies in resource allocation. The existing historical based financial system needs to be improved to provide cost information. Moreover, the cost information when available can provide the necessary evidence for larger scale organizational reforms, for example outsourcing of unprofitable peripheral activities.Lessons for others\nAcronyms: * 5-S: 5-S abbreviates the Japanese words Seiri, Seiton, Seiso, Seiketsu, and Shitsuke.* Seiri (Tidiness/Organization): Classification of items in work place, separation of what is wanted from what is not wanted, and reduction of clutter.* Seiton (Orderliness): Organization of items needed in proper place for quick, safe and easy storage, retrieval, and operation.* Seiso (Cleanliness): recommends every employee in the organization to practice cleaning, from the CEO to the janitorial staff.* Seiketsu (Standardization): establishes regular and continuous practice of maintaining tidiness, orderliness, and cleanliness.* Shitsukie (Discipline): The emphasis is on the incorporation of new practices into the organizational culture.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - This study aims to evaluate an organizational development programme (TQM) that was implemented at the tertiary-care public hospital that showed the highest total factor productivity growth in Sri Lanka for the 1997-2001 period.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Balanced score card approach is used to assess the performance of the hospital under study. Value chain analysis is conducted to identify the changes in organizational management following TQM implementation. Employee feedback is obtained by questionnaire-based interviews.\nFindings: - Performance of the hospital with regard to service quality, employee-performance, fixed-asset-performance, and social responsibility improved. Overall, value chain analysis shows that the differentiation was used to improve quality of services. Leadership, team-work and continuous monitoring were the key factors that facilitated implementation of 5-S based TQM.\nPractical implications: - The 5-S system-based TQM appears to be a feasible and promising system to initiate management improvement of public hospitals in developing countries.\nOriginality/value: - This paper is of value for hospital managers and policy makers of developing countries, where there are chronic resource shortage and managerial constraints, particularly in government sector health services.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Cross-cultural research and positive organizational scholarship
|
[
"Cross-cultural research",
"Paradox",
"Virtuousness",
"Positive organizational scholarship",
"Negative bias",
"Positive bias"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Several articulate voices have pointed out the overwhelming emphasis in organizational scholarship - and especially in international business and cross-cultural studies - on negative phenomena such as cultural misfit, cultural distance, and the liability of foreignness (Brannen, 2004; Stahl and Tung, 2015; Tung and Chung, 2010). Stahl and Tung (2015) have actively advocated for the need to consider positive cross-cultural phenomena, and other scholars have urged researchers to give more attention to investigations of extraordinary outcomes, virtuous practices, flourishing organizations, and other positive phenomena (Stevens et al., 2008). These calls for an emphasis on the positive are consistent with an emerging approach to organizational studies labeled as positive organizational scholarship (POS).\nWhat is \"positive?\": The term \"positive\" is somewhat ambiguous in its meaning and has, therefore, generated misunderstanding and criticism. A review of dictionary definitions of the term \"positive\" reveals such a wide range of connotations and so many applications as to defy the establishment of precise conceptual boundaries (e.g. Webster's, Oxford, American Heritage). On the other hand, some convergence has begun to occur as the term has been employed in POS and in the cross-cultural literature.\nInherent inclinations toward the negative: Research demonstrates that human beings react most strongly to negative events. Negativity, the research suggests, usually overpowers positive factors. For example, negative feedback has more emotional impact on people than positive feedback (Coleman et al., 1987), and the effects of negative information and negative events take longer to wear off than the effects of positive information or pleasant events (Brickman et al., 1978).\nExplanations for negative tendencies: Why are these tendencies so prevalent and pervasive? When most people were very small, they learned that ignoring negative feedback could be dangerous or produce unpleasant consequences. Ignoring positive feedback, however, usually produces little or no lasting effect. Over time, individuals learned to react more immediately and more strongly toward the negative. The predominance of the negative over the positive can be explained by theories of intensity, novelty, adaptation, and singularity.\nA negative bias in cross-cultural management research: These explanations help identify a reason why a bias exists in cross-cultural (and organizational science) research toward studying the negative much more than the positive. Because the bad has stronger effects than the good (Baumeister et al., 2001), it is understandable that researchers focus on the strongest factors accounting for the most variance. A larger effect (R2) can usually be detected by accounting for negative phenomena compared to positive phenomena. Thus, negative factors capture more attention in scholarly analyses (Seligman, 1999; Czapinski, 1985).\nInherent inclinations toward the positive: In spite of this well-documented negative bias, empirical evidence also supports the existence of an inherent tendency toward the positive. For example, human beings are more accurate in learning and remembering positive terms than neutral or negative terms (Kuntz, 1974; Matlin, 1970; Taylor, 1991). When presented lists of positive, neutral, and negative words, for example, people are more accurate over time in recalling the positive (Akhtar, 1968; Rychlak, 1977; Thomson, 1930), and the longer the delay between learning and recalling, the more positive bias is displayed (Gilbert, 1938).\nExplanations for positive tendencies: Several explanations have been proposed for why individuals experience an inclination toward the positive.\nPrioritizing the positive: Empirical research has confirmed that when positive factors are given greater emphases than negative factors, human beings flourish to a greater extent than when the reverse is true. Spectacular success has been documented when the positive dominates the negative (Cameron and Lavine, 2006; Cameron et al., 2004; Fredrickson, 2009).\nVirtuousness as a universal standard: Acquinas (1984) proposed that virtuousness is rooted in human character and represents \"what human beings ought to be,\" humankind's inherent goodness, humanity's very best qualities, or being in complete harmony with the will of God (also see Metaphysics XII, Aristotle, 2016; Sison, 2008). Virtuousness - the highest aspirations to which human beings aspire - is a commonly accepted standard in all cultures (Demuijnck, 2014; Kinnier et al., 2000). Whereas the nature of its demonstration may differ across cultures, virtuousness is universally agreed-upon as good for all (Comte-Sponville, 2001; Dutton and Sonenshein, 2007; Peterson and Seligman, 2004).\nConclusion: An over-emphasis on the negative in cross-cultural research is understandable and quite normal given inherent human inclinations toward the negative. Bad has been found to be stronger than good in terms of human reactions (Baumeister et al., 2001). An abundance of positive is required to overcome the effects of the negative.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: In view of the emphasis in cross-cultural research on negative factors such as cultural misfit, cultural distance, and the liability of foreignness, the purpose of this paper is to offer one explanation for why this is the case and highlight the advantages of giving at least equal emphasis to research on positive factors. Three propositions are offered to guide future cross-cultural research.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Summaries of empirical studies on the inherent inclinations of human systems toward the negative, as well as inclinations toward the positive, produce explanations for each of these biases and their implications for cross-cultural scholarship.\nFindings: By prioritizing positive factors instead of negative factors, individuals and organizations perform at much higher levels than when the reverse is the case. Virtuous practices, in particular, are associated with positively deviant performance. Inasmuch as virtuousness is universally valued, its emphasis can address some of the liabilities of difference inherent in cross-cultural contexts.\nOriginality/value: The three propositions offered in the paper explain why negative biases exist, how positive biases provide an advantage to individuals and organizations, and highlight future directions for cross-cultural research. Social scientists have been challenged to help enable 51 percent of the world's population to flourish by mid-century, and prioritizing positive cross-cultural phenomena is one prescription for achieving that objective.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Financial development and poverty reduction: panel data analysis of South Asian countries
|
[
"Financial development",
"Panel co-integration",
"Poverty reduction",
"Fully modified OLS (FMOLS)"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Financial development is considered to be an essential aspect in the economic growth of an economy. The relationship between economic growth and financial development has gained increasing attention in the recent literature. The findings of earlier studies suggest that a well-functioning financial system that mobilizes savings, allocates resources and facilitates risk management contributes to economic growth by supporting capital accumulation, improving investment efficiency and promoting technological innovation (Kirkpatrick, 2000, p. 366). However, the relationship between financial development and poverty has not been studied extensively in the literature (some exceptions are Dollar and Kraay, 2002; Honohan, 2004; Beck et al., 2007). Theory and evidence shows that financial development can impart on poverty directly, to the extent that it widens access to financial services for the poor individual, and indirectly through its positive impact on growth, which in turn reduces poverty. But there are conflicting views about the relationship between financial development and poverty.\n2. The link between financial development and poverty: Financial development can benefit poor people in many ways. First, the poor may benefit from decreased cost to access loans. There are high costs to take out loans in developing countries because of financial market imperfections. Further, the presence of asymmetric information between lenders and borrowers make it hard for banks to differentiate between good and bad credit risk and hence they avoid making loans. Sometimes, banks take on screening and enforcement costs in order to determine the risks of different projects and the likelihood of borrowers paying back loans which also increases the cost associated with borrowings. Again, banks put the condition of collateral to protect themselves from the risk of defaulting on the loans demanded by borrowers. Since the poor often do not have enough money or real assets for collateral, they have trouble gaining access to loans (Galor and Zeira, 1993). Even if they have profitable projects, the poor are not able to access the credit to fund them. This hinders them from also borrowing to invest in human capital or welfare, such as health and education, or insuring themselves against the risks of unexpected negative economic shocks. In perfect capital markets, this issue would not arise.\n3. Review of literature: Recently, there have been an increasing number of empirical analyses on the relationship between financial development and poverty reduction including several studies (Beck et al., 2004a, 2007; Honohan, 2004; Jalilian and Kirkpatrick, 2005a, b; Jeanneney and Kpodar, 2008). Banerjee and Newman (1993) and Galor and Zeira (1993) argue that imperfections in financial markets create hurdles to borrow funds for income-enhancing investments. As only the rich are able to overcome these hurdles, they effect the initial distribution of wealth.\n4. Data source and variable specification: This section outlines individual measures of financial development, poverty and control variables and then builds our panel data set covering annual data of 11 South Asian developing countries from 1990 to 2012. The South Asian developing countries included in this paper are: Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. The data used in the study has been obtained from database of World Bank and IMF. The length of the period is dictated by the availability of a consistent time series data for all the countries.\n5. Econometric methodology: 5.1. Panel unit root test\n6. Empirical results and discussion: 6.1. Panel unit root results\n7. Conclusions and policy implications: In this paper an attempt is made to test the long-run co-integrating and causal relationship between the indicators of financial development and poverty reduction in South Asian and South-East Asian developing countries for the period 1990-2012. The present study uses LLC and IPS test to check the stationarity properties of the variable and Pedroni Residual Co-integration test to investigate the long-run co-integrating relationship. The study uses two proxy variables of financial development, first, LCR; domestic credit to the private sector as a percentage of GDP and second, monetization variable measured by the ratio of BM to GDP (LM3). Per capita consumption expenditure is used as a proxy for poverty reduction variable. The study also uses consumer price index (LCPI) and foreign trade (LTO) as the control variables. The study attempts to answer one critical question; does financial development lead to poverty reduction in the selected developing countries? In other words, do the benefits that resulted from financial sector development trickle down to the poor or not?\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the contribution of financial development to poverty reduction in 11 South Asian developing countries using panel data set over the time period 1990-2012.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The stationarity properties are checked by using Levin-Lin-Chu and Im-Pesaran-Shin panel unit root tests. The paper applied the Pedroni's panel co-integration test to examine the existence of long-run relationship. The coefficients of co-integration are examined by fully modified OLS (FMOLS) and the causal link is checked by panel causality test.\nFindings: The empirical results of Pedroni co-integration test confirm a long-run relationship between financial development and poverty reduction in South Asian developing economies. The findings of FMOLS method confirm a strong and positive relationship between financial development, trade openness, inflation and poverty reduction. Results of panel causality test indicate that there is a unidirectional causality running from financial development to poverty reduction variable.\nResearch limitations/implications: The present study recommends appropriate economic and financial reforms focussing on financial inclusion to reduce poverty in selected South Asian economies.\nOriginality/value: This paper is the first of its kind to empirically examine the causal relationship between financial sector development and poverty reduction in South Asian economies using modern econometric techniques.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Franchising and value signaling
|
[
"Signaling theory",
"Growth",
"Franchising",
"S-D logic",
"Quality value"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: An executive summary for managers and executive readers can be found at the end of this issue.\nIntroduction: In a franchise relationship, each party is essential to sustain profitability. The success of a chain is usually related to whether or not there is a good relationship between the franchisor and to whether there is chain growth. The franchisor sells the rights to use the brand name and the franchisee benefits from the franchise's reputation and know-how in return for an initial franchising fee and ongoing royalties. The franchisee manages day-to-day business decisions within the local environment to deliver the performance and operational standards expected by the franchisor. Franchisors, like many firms, offer goods, service activities, information, experience, and other resources to franchisees to help them manage their business units. Ideally, both parties should gain value and develop a long-term relationship (Grace and Weaven, 2011).\nTheoretical background: Two theoretical approaches are used to build our arguments and our subsequent hypotheses: the S-D logic and signaling theories. Borrowed from the fields of marketing and entrepreneurship, these provide a milieu for examining franchising signals in value creation. A short summary of both approaches follows.\nDevelopment of the hypotheses: Signals are data or information that a firm uses to make inferences about the behavior of the sender of the signals. A true signal should be transmitted by someone with the ability to change its nature, should consist of easy-to-acquire extrinsic information, and should provide a basis for making inferences about the quality and value of the signaled object. Signals should be clear, unambiguous, and credible and should have a cost for the firm (Herbig, 1996; Connelly et al., 2011). Franchisors usually disclose some of their contractual arrangements and the additional services they provide to their franchisees, which can be regarded as signals that comply with earlier signaling criteria.\nMethodology: Data\nResults: Table III presents our results. Model C.1 introduces the variables widely used in previous research and the lagged number of franchised units, whereas Model C.2 adds the explanatory variables[3]. Our results suggest that the lagged number of franchised units has a positive and significant influence on the current number of franchised units, with a coefficient that is highly stable in the two estimations. This means that the number of franchised units in the previous period positively influences current performance, a result that justifies the use of the GMM estimator in this part of our analysis. Based on the first model, we find that experience, franchised units, and company-owned units have a positive effect on attracting prospective franchisees, whereas financial restrictions have a non-significant effect.\nDiscussion: Empirical testing of the model suggests that some signaling devices help to attract franchisees. According to the S-D logic, these services represent how franchisors and franchisees create value for the network for both parties as well as for prospective franchisees. A decision to invest in the franchise chain is based on the signals the franchisor provides about the quality of the chain. Based on signaling theory, we propose different signals or cues that represent the potential value of the chain. Our results suggest that prospective franchisees place more value on those chains where the franchisors provide more training and financial assistance, restrictions on passive ownership, and prohibit area development agreements. Sub-franchising may be considered a signal of the quality of the chain, or reveal the operational flexibility that is desired by franchisees. Franchisees also take into account the number of owned and franchised units and the franchise experience.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how signaling support services and contractual arrangements that create value for incumbent franchisees can help to create value for the whole network by attracting prospective franchisees.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Using data from Bond's Franchising Report the study analyses franchisors operating between 1994 and 2008 via a Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) model for an unbalanced panel of 2,474 franchisors.\nFindings: Training, financial assistance, sub-franchising and restrictions against passive ownership, and the use of area development agreements are found to be valuable for prospective franchisees. Experience and the number of company-owned and franchised units also attract prospective franchisees.\nResearch limitations/implications: Our findings imply that not all value-creating services and contractual arrangements are interpreted in the same way by prospective franchisees. Franchisors should offer training and financial assistance to new franchisees in the early stages of a franchise. They should also allow sub-franchising but restrict passive ownership and offer the possibility for area development agreements as contractual arrangements to appeal to new franchisees. Franchisors should focus not only on expansion, but should view the chain in a holistic manner by sustaining and growing both franchised and company-owned units.\nOriginality/value: The findings contribute to the franchising literature by providing new evidence on how offering and signaling some contractual arrangements and support services can help franchisors create value for incumbent franchisees and can attract new franchisees. Our research shows that value in franchising is created differently depending on whether the franchisees are incumbent or prospective.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Reconsidering contact risk and contractual risk management
|
[
"Contract",
"Contract risk",
"Contractual management model",
"Contractual risk management",
"Risk treatment device",
"Transaction risk"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Contract and risk management in practice: Contract and management originate from different scientific domains in which different rule sets apply. In business, both phenomena encounter each other. Over the past three decades, companies have increasingly been confronted with the management dimensions of the contract, a process which also covered its role in risk management. The degree as to how far the contract and its handling have entered into corporate risk management practice largely\n2. Extent of the contract's risk dimension: Today, the risk dimension of the contract is understood dynamically, i.e. from the risk management perspective, for which the contract is relevant in two respects: as source of risk and as risk treatment device (Mahler, 2007; Keskitalo, 2006; Brodermann, 2012). Its relevance as source of risk is assumed a priori, yet a theoretical foundation for this assumption is missing. For the function of the contract as risk treatment device, the situation is different: Contract theory primarily considers the contract in respect of its function to share risk (Allen and Lueck, 1999); the economic analysis of law theory emphasizes its role in risk allocation and in the protection from opportunistic behavior (Polinsky and Shavell, 2005; Schafer and Ott, 2000), the latter also being a source of risk (Gessner, 2009); legal sciences take the drafting of contracts as a precaution for the future (Carson and Bull, 2003; Rehbinder, 1993), which is characterized by uncertainty; preventive law theory focuses primarily on the anticipation of and provision for risk (Barclift, 2008) as does the proactive law approach (Haapio and Siedel, 2013).\n3. Contract as a risk source: Today, the contract is perceived as source of risk and is handled as such in practice; however, neither a common understanding in these respects nor a best practice has yet emerged. This is also shown by the fact that risks sometimes are associated with the causes, sometimes with the consequences of an event and sometimes with factors influencing on risk development (Segal, 2008; Mahler, 2010). To highlight the entire management potential of the contract and, in particular, its proactive capabilities, the understanding of risk will be based on the conceptual triad \"risk source - event - consequence\" (Aven, 2011) used for the ISO Guide 73: 2009 (ISO, 2009). Thus, it is oriented toward the concept of risk source, which fits best for (proactive) risk management purposes (Segal, 2008). Additionally, the term risk impact factor will be used for circumstances that may influence but not necessarily cause a risk.\n4. Contract as a risk treatment device: The contract is relevant for risk management in two respects: as risk source, but also as risk treatment device. As regards the second function, its understanding and valuation depends largely on the respective academic discipline. Overall, four approaches can be distinguished:\n5. Contractual risk management and the risk management system: The potential of a contract as a risk management tool can only be realized if its handling is fully integrated into the risk management system of the company. Depending on the type of transaction, the contract will be subjected to management in two ways (Kahler, 2013, 2014; Keskitalo, 2006): Unique, complex transactions (especially those in project business, M&A, investment or R&D) today are dealt with individually through contract management. In projects, contract management will be integrated into or replaced by project management (Keskitalo, 2006). For identical transactions in mass business, it is not the individual contract which is under consideration, but a contract portfolio is subjected to a process which is usually referred to as contract administration (Keskitalo, 2006).\n6. Contractual risk management and management processes: To ensure an effective and efficient use of contract for the purposes of risk management, all management processes that refer to the contract's risk dimension have to be fully integrated into the landscape of the corporate management processes. Such are risk management (ERM and TRM), but also transaction management and corporate management as higher-level processes (Schuhmann and Eichhorn, 2015). In addition, knowledge management has to be included because it connects all contract-related management processes and therefore enables the realization of the contract's planning and steering potential.\n7. Summary: Until today, the contract is usually understood and used as a merely legal instrument or as a static risk allocation vehicle. This seems to have coined its perception in the context of risk management: Contract risk is almost exclusively associated with legal issues und does not properly distinguish the concepts of risk source (cause) and risk impact factor (impact). Such an understanding of contract risk, however, does not fulfill the requirements of risk management.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The aim of this paper is to pursue three objectives: to assess the extent to which theoretical concepts and corporate practice are reflecting the contract's risk management dimensions; to identify ways to make full usage of the contract's risk dimensions for risk management purposes; to overcome the isolation of the contract caused by its perception as a legal instrument by integrating its handling into the overall corporate management processes.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Literature is analyzed regarding the contract's roles as a source of risk and as a risk management device. Based on the relevant findings, it uses the Contractual Management Model to develop a concept that integrates all contract-related risk management processes in an enterprise.\nFindings: The paper redefines the term \"contract risk\" in the light of modern understanding of contract functions and contract purposes. It shows that only Contractual Risk Management theory takes the management capacity of the contract fully into account. A Contractual Risk Management process is suggested which integrates all contract-related corporate management processes and aligns them to the requirements of transaction risk management and enterprise risk management.\nOriginality/value: The paper may guide executives to optimize corporate risk management processes through a better understanding of the risk potential of contract and of its risk management capacity. It provides a checklist of redefined contract risks as well as a concept that, for the first time, is aligning all contract-related management processes to support the corporate risk management system.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Teacher attitudes about classroom conditions
|
[
"Teachers",
"Attitudes",
"Classrooms",
"School buildings",
"United States of America"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: It is estimated that teachers spend over 2,000 hours each year in the classroom in either teaching or preparation activities. We know the physical environment influences how we work and how we feel about the space in which we must spend a major portion of our working time (Kielhofner, 2002). We also know that in the public schools there are good and poor classroom physical environments. For teachers, the highly stressful work regimen of working with children would mandate that the physical environment of the classroom support and assist them in helping students learn.Any aspect of the physical environment that distracts teachers from the main emphasis of instructional activities influences the degree of their effectiveness (Anderson, 2004). When heat, cold, lighting, and acoustics, for instance, work against the efforts of a teacher in the classroom, some compromise or accommodation must be made in the work of the teacher. Usually, such compromises result in more intense effort on the part of the teacher to do those things that are necessary to properly teach students. Teachers and students tend to compensate for unsatisfactory conditions and limited resources. In the long run, however, the students pay for this increased work effort on the part of the teacher.\nReview of research: The review of research provides a discussion of the findings of several studies in which the subject was the relationship between the school building or classroom condition and teacher attitudes. Teacher attitudes, perceptions, feelings, and morale have all been used as dependent variables in studies dealing with the possible influence the school building has upon teacher health and productivity. This review serves as a foundation of the present study, which explored the attitudes of teachers when their building was assessed as being in either unsatisfactory or satisfactory condition.Attitude and feelings\nSchool building population: The school building population chosen for the present study resulted from an earlier study by Crook (2006) in which the principal of the school assessed the condition of the building using the Commonwealth Assessment of the Physical Environment (CAPE) instrument (Cash, 1993). Cash developed the CAPE instrument for the purpose of assessing the condition of schools. In previous research studies (Cash, 1993; Earthman et al., 1996; Hines, 1996; Lanham, 1999), the effectiveness of principal assessment was tested by means of independent assessors comparing their assessment with the assessment by the principals. The instrument consisted of 39 items related to various components of a school building. The principal was asked to state whether or not certain components were available and functional in the building, if, for example, air-conditioning or windows were present in each instructional space. They were also asked to judge the condition of certain equipment and furniture.Item 25 of the CAPE asked the principal to assess the overall condition of the building. From the total population, 11 principals rated their building as being in unsatisfactory condition. These 11 schools were matched with 11 other schools rated by the principal as being in very satisfactory condition. The teachers in these 22 schools became the population for the current study.\nInstrumentation: The purpose of this exploratory study was to examine the difference in how teachers in buildings rated as being in good or poor condition felt about their classrooms and the attitudes they formed as a result. Survey methodology was selected as the best and most convenient way to measure teacher perceptions and attitudes (Babbie, 2001); to measure these two different aspects in the life of a teacher, a suitable instrument had to be found. At the time, there was no such instrument publicly available. Therefore, the researchers developed a new instrument to collect information on both perceptions and attitudes. Researchers began by reviewing instruments in related fields to identify relevant items. Further, they reviewed the corpus of research investigating the relationship between school building condition and student and teacher health, and productivity to ascertain the pertinent building components that would form a measure of classroom condition. The relative importance of various components/conditions was further examined in light of an extensive review of literature conducted for the purpose of prioritizing the importance of these various building components (Earthman, 2004). The instrument developed for this study reflected these priorities.The final instrument covered seven building components and conditions, including thermal control, lighting, acoustics, condition of the furniture and equipment, space, science equipment, and the presence of graffiti. For each of these seven, several response items were developed, resulting in a total of 23 items to which teachers were asked to respond. The items were posed in such a manner that the respondent would indicate if the component/condition was present and functioning properly. In the case of the condition of the furniture and equipment, respondents would be asked to indicate if these were in good working condition or not. For instance, respondents were asked if the science equipment was in good repair and modern. Likewise, respondents were asked if there was graffiti present in the building and if its presence was a deterrent to student learning. All of the items on this portion of the instrument related to the components/condition of the classroom to which the teacher was assigned.The attitudinal portion of the instrument consisted of 18 items. These items probed the response of teachers to the components/condition of their classrooms and asked how they reacted to each. There were three groups of items in this section of the instrument. One group of items, asked the teacher to respond to how the condition of the classroom might influence personal feelings of enjoying work, dreading going to work in the morning, or making oneself feel good about teaching. The second group of items asked the teachers to reflect upon how the condition of the classroom influenced how they worked, whether positive or negative. The third group of items asked the teachers to express their feelings about how the condition of the classroom might influence student learning and health.The final two sections of the instrument dealt with demographic data and the assessment by the teacher on the general condition of the building in order to compare teacher perceptions with the independent assessment by the principals. Teacher demographic data included gender, ethnicity, area of certification, and years of experience.The completed instrument, called My Classroom Appraisal Protocol(c) (MCAP), consisted of a total of 48 items, plus one additional item for teacher building assessment. With the exception of the building assessment and the demographic items, participants assessed the components/condition of the classrooms along a five-point scale from 5, strongly agree to 1, strongly disagree. The final instrument was subjected to content validity, asking teachers in three school buildings to respond and complete the instrument. At the same time, teachers were asked to complete an assessment of the instrument for purposes of future administration. Revisions to the items resulted from this pilot administration of the MCAP. A Cronbach a was completed on the results of this administration, yielding an a of 0.92, indicating a high level of reliability.\nParticipants: Teachers in the school buildings selected were recruited to complete the survey. Recruitment letters, containing the consent form and information about how to respond to the survey, were distributed to potential respondents in each school building. The letters also included the URL for the web site along with instructions for accessing the survey instrument. Principals at the identified schools were asked to distribute the information sheet to the teachers by placing the letters in their mailboxes. The MCAP was put on the Virginia Tech electronic survey web site. Electronic surveying provides participants the greatest degree of anonymity, assuring that only the researchers see participants' responses (Mertler, 2003). In the case of research here reported, teachers voluntarily responded while the survey was open, with 165 individual responses obtained from eight different school buildings. The demographic data obtained from the teachers provided a measure for comparison. The responses were divided into two groups, one from teachers in unsatisfactory school buildings and the other from teachers in school buildings rated satisfactory.\nResults: The purpose of this research was to find out if there were significant differences in responses concerning the perceptions of teachers working in buildings rated as being in either satisfactory or unsatisfactory condition. Analyses were limited to descriptive and correlation statistics, largely due to the small sample size (Babbie, 2001). This exploratory study did not include sufficient numbers of teachers and other data points from which to draw inferential conclusions.As stated, the instrument measured teachers' perceptions of the various components/condition of the facility, as well as their attitudes about their classrooms. The results from the survey provided insight into how teachers perceived their physical surroundings as represented by their classroom. Responses from building components/condition items were summed to provide a mean score of all teachers in both good and poor school buildings. The responses for the strongly agree and agree category were combined into one score. Likewise, the scores for the strongly disagree and disagree also were combined. This was done to provide a better comparison between two groups of teachers. The two scores were compared by means of a t-test analysis. The results of the t-test indicated a significant difference at the p<0.05 level of confidence.The responses of teachers in buildings rated as being in satisfactory condition were significantly higher than teachers in unsatisfactory school buildings. Interestingly, enough, about a quarter of the teachers in poor buildings were unable to either agree or disagree with the statements about the condition of their classrooms.The second portion of the MCAP contained items related to attitudes teachers may have as a result of the condition of the classroom. As in the previous section of the instrument, the scores of the teachers were summed to provide a mean score for all teachers in the two groups of buildings. A simple t-test analysis was made of the two independent scores of responses. The results of the t-test indicated a significant difference between the two mean scores of agree and disagree for the two groups of teachers. The difference was significant at the p<0.05 level of confidence. The results of this analysis would indicate the responses of teachers in buildings rated as being in satisfactory condition were higher than teachers in buildings rated as being in unsatisfactory condition. Thus, attitudes of teachers in better schools were more positive and upbeat than the teachers in inferior schools. This would seem to suggest that if a teacher is assigned to a classroom space that is in good and inviting condition, the teacher will have a more positive attitude. Conversely, the attributes of a classroom in unsatisfactory condition would work to produce more negative attitudes on the part of the teacher or, at best, attitudes that are less positive than what a satisfactory classroom could inspire.Classroom components/conditions\nLimitations: There are several limitations that restrict the generalization of results from this study. The first limitation is that of a small response. Teachers in 22 high schools were asked to volunteer for the study, but only 165 usable responses were recorded. There may be several reasons for the poor response rate. The first might be that the principals failed to properly distribute the information sheet with the instructions to the teachers in the building. Second, teachers are not as familiar with electronic surveys and may not respond. In addition, teachers may have limited access to the internet (Wright, 2005). In spite of the fact that electronic surveying is the easiest method of responding to a survey, teachers might not be familiar enough to feel confident in responding. Moreover, the URL for the web site to access the MCAP instrument was rather long, and there may have been some teachers who felt it was too much of an effort to log into the website to find the survey instrument (Wright, 2005). Teachers might not have properly understood the nature and importance of the research project. Teachers are not normally asked about the condition of their classrooms and how that space might influence their attitudes about their personal and professional life.\nConclusions: Clearly, the teachers in buildings rated satisfactory view their classrooms more positively than do teachers in unsatisfactory buildings. These teachers view their classrooms as pleasant places in which to work and for students to learn. Further, they view the classroom as a healthy place for them and their students. These perceptions stand in obvious contrast to perceptions reported by teachers in buildings deemed unsatisfactory.Teachers in satisfactory buildings also have more positive attitudes about their classrooms and how that space influences them and their students. Teachers in satisfactory buildings were happy with their classrooms and looked forward to teaching in these places. This is in contrast to what teachers in unsatisfactory buildings reported. The poor physical condition of the classroom in unsatisfactory buildings, however, does not seem to cause the teachers to want to leave it. When asked if poor classroom conditions would cause them to leave the profession or transfer from the building, by a sizeable majority, teachers in these buildings said they would neither transfer nor leave the profession. It may be that the geographic isolation of these two groups of teachers influenced their responses. As compared with teachers in urban centers, teachers in the central and southwestern portions of Virginia may simply have fewer options. An alternative view might suggest stubborn determination and commitment to the students they serve.The results of this research are the snapshots of the attitudes teachers have about their classrooms at a given time. There may be a cumulative effect of such attitudes over a period of years (Earthman and Lemasters, 2004), and additional research is indicated to address this possibility. The preponderance of research seems to indicate that negative perceptions and attitudes about school facilities carried over a period of years, eventually leads to low morale and burnout, even among the most undaunted of teachers.Over a quarter of the teachers in unsatisfactory school buildings in this study reported they were unhappy with their physical surroundings in the classroom. In contrast, teachers in satisfactory buildings reported the reverse of this. The feelings of unhappiness on the part of these teachers naturally play out in how they approach their teaching responsibilities and even how they interact with students.Principals shoulder primary responsibility as the stewards of their schools' learning environment. As such, they are well positioned to advocate for necessary physical changes and improvements, relying upon the research regarding the beneficial influence building conditions can have upon students and teachers to make their case. Principals should also insist upon a positive maintenance program to keep the building in a good state of repair and in clean condition. This pro-active stance on the part of principals should emanate from their first-hand knowledge of the building. District authorities are best able to promote an adequately funded maintenance and operations budget and guard against reductions of funding in lean years. Attention to building quality issues and articulation of those issues between school principals and teachers might improve the quality of the advocacy between school principals and district-level administrators.\n",
"role": "user"
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"content": "Purpose: - This research was designed to investigate the possible relationship between the attitudes, teachers have about the condition of their classrooms when the classrooms were independently assessed. Previous research reported teachers in unsatisfactory classrooms felt frustrated and neglected to such an extent that they sometimes reported they were willing to leave the teaching profession. This paper aims to address these issues.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Eleven high schools in which the principals state the buildings are in unsatisfactory condition are identified and matched with 11 schools assessed as being in satisfactory condition. The My Classroom Appraisal Protocol(c) (MCAP) is used to gather impressions and attitudes of teachers. The MCAP is entered into the internet, and teachers in the selected schools are asked to voluntarily complete the instrument and submit it electronically.\nFindings: - The differences between the responses of teachers in satisfactory buildings are significantly different than those of teachers in unsatisfactory buildings at the p<0.05 level of confidence. Similar results are obtained on the attitudinal scale of the MCAP, again at the p<0.05 level.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The size of the population is small, which limits applicability.\nPractical implications: - These findings clearly indicate the physical environment influences attitudes of teachers, which in turn affects their productivity. Such effects could cause morale problems in the teaching staff.\nOriginality/value: - The findings indicate the condition of the classroom can cause morale problems with teachers. School authorities need to recognize the importance physical conditions have upon teachers so that negative feelings and attitudes do not pervade the faculty. Such feelings eventually may influence the achievement of students.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Can tourism confidence index improve tourism demand forecasts?
|
[
"Confidence index",
"Forecast combination",
"Forecasts comparative accuracy",
"International tourism demand",
"Panel of experts",
"Short-term forecasts"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1.\nIntroduction: Tourism forecasting is of great value for tourism practitioners, as it provides strategic input to the decision-making process of both governmental bodies and businesses. Forecasts on the long-term development of demand are a fundamental input when formulating and implementing strategies and policies. Short-term forecasts are equally relevant to operational decisions about capacity, pricing and all other factors that can vary in the short run. As a service sector, excess output of tourism service providers cannot be stocked, hence short-term adjustments can solidly contribute to optimise the use of existing resources. This is best exemplified by the aviation and hotel pricing models, where adjustments are currently made on a daily basis, if not in real-time.\n2.\nForecasting short-term tourism demand: Since 1990s, tourism demand modelling advanced significantly, with the adoption of up-to-date econometric methodologies, such as error correction models, time varying parameter models and structural equation models. Methods based on state-of-the-art technology have also been introduced recently, among which genetic algorithms, fuzzy theory and neural networks (for references see Peng et al., 2014; Song and Li, 2008; Li et al., 2005; Petropoulos et al., 2006). However, findings are still contradicting and none of the proposed methods proved to its superiority in all circumstances (Song and Li, 2008; Wong et al., 2007; Li et al., 2006a, b; Witt and Witt, 1995).\n3.\nResearch design: The major aim of this study is to test accuracy gains, if any, brought by the UNWTO TCI when used in combination with statistical forecasts. To achieve this goal the efficiency of three combinatory approaches is tested against individual forecasts, both in terms of accuracy gains and capability to predict turning points.\n4.\nEmpirical results: The TCI and ARIMA forecasts have been regressed[7] against the corresponding series of ITA, to assess their predictive power. Results (Table I) suggest that, for most series, the homologised TCI explains a larger part of variation in ITA than statistical forecasts. This is coherent with previous research findings, showing that judgmental forecasts' main value is in predicting directional change. In both cases, forecasts predictive power is considerably reduced for those two series marked by high volatility and a small base of experts, namely the Middle East. Still, for this latter region the TCI returns a most accurate forecast than any individual or combined forecast (Table III).\n5.\nCaveats and conclusions: The link between confidence and economic decisions has been widely covered in the economic literature, yet it is still an unexplored field in tourism. This study addresses this gap, and demonstrates that a TCI can provide meaningful indications about the sign of future growth in ITA, and that it can also significantly contributes to improve forecast accuracy in specific occasions.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The link between confidence and economic decisions has been widely covered in the economic literature, yet it is still an unexplored field in tourism. The purpose of this paper is to address this gap, and investigate benefits in forecast accuracy that can be achieved by combining the UNWTO Tourism Confidence Index (TCI) with statistical forecasts.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Research is conducted in a real-life setting, using UNWTO unique data sets of tourism indicators. UNWTO TCI is pooled with statistical forecasts using three distinct approaches. Forecasts efficiency is assessed in terms of accuracy gains and capability to predict turning points in alternative scenarios, including one of the hardest crises the tourism sector ever experienced.\nFindings: Results suggest that the TCI provides meaningful indications about the sign of future growth in international tourist arrivals, and point to an improvement of forecast accuracy, when the index is used in combination with statistical forecasts. Still, accuracy gains vary greatly across regions and can hardly be generalised. Findings provide meaningful directions to tourism practitioners on the use opportunity cost to produce short-term forecasts using both approaches.\nPractical implications: Empirical evidence suggests that a confidence index should not be collected as input to improve their forecasts. It remains a valuable instrument to supplement official statistics, over which it has the advantage of being more frequently compiled and more rapidly accessible. It is also of particular importance to predict changes in the business climate and capture turning points in a timely fashion, which makes it an extremely valuable input for operational and strategic decisions.\nOriginality/value: The use of sentiment indexes as input to forecasting is an unexplored field in the tourism literature.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Does packaging matter? Energy consumption of pre-packed salads
|
[
"Supply chain",
"Energy management",
"Retailing",
"Refrigeration",
"Food manufacturing processes",
"Food packaging"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: During the last decade, despite costing four to five times more than fresh unpacked vegetables, fresh processed, and packaged vegetables have experienced rapid diffusion, with sales volumes increasing by 20 per cent annually (Baldi and Casati, 2009).\n2. Materials and methods: LCA (Curran, 2006; De Menna et al., 2015) served as the methodological background for the present work; however, technically, this research cannot be referred to as an LCA study because it is mainly dedicated to energy inputs and does not take raw material consumption and waste/emissions into consideration. Nevertheless, the adopted methodology (functional unit, system boundaries and approximations, and flow diagrams), follows the typical LCA structure.\n3. Experimental results: 3.1. Product transformation\n4. Discussion: The energetic inputs for the entire supply chains are reported in Table X and Figure 2, showing significant differences among the food chains considered in the analysis, with the energetic consumption of packed products being more than one order of magnitude greater than that of unpacked foods; the chart in Figure 2 was replicated on a different scale in order to enhance the contributions of U-S and U-L.\n5. Conclusions: The energetic input of packed and unpacked salad products has been analysed from farm to retail considering both direct and indirect contributions. The results suggest that packaging matters, because packed products have an energy cost that is at least ten times higher than that of raw products.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Packed salads are popular in many countries of the world. The purpose of this paper is to assess the energy footprint of these products from farm gate to retail gate, compared with unpacked produces distributed by retailers and farmers' markets in Italy.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Life cycle assessment served as methodological background, even if the analysis was focused on direct and indirect energy consumption. Three supply chains were analysed: packed (P-S) and unpacked (U-S) sold in supermarkets, and unpacked produce sold locally (U-L). Energy inputs were accounted for processing, packaging, refrigeration, transport, and distribution. Data were collected from available literature and from interviews with key experts in the transformation, packaging, and retail sectors. Energy inputs were computed for 1 kg of finished edible product (kgp).\nFindings: Packed salads require an elevated energy input ranging from 16 to 37 MJ kgp-1. Input energy is mostly required for packaging and refrigeration. By comparison, the U-L chain requires about one tenth of the energy (1.8-2.6 MJ.kgp-1), but local sold produces attain the best performance with only 0.6-1.2 MJ.kgp-1, since they do not need processing, refrigeration, and disposable packages. Packed products mainly rely on the availability of cheap fossil fuels and all the sector has significantly suffered after the oil shock of 2008. Increasing energy costs may lead the price of the commodity out of the market.\nOriginality/value: The paper addresses the subject of energy consumption in a popular sector of processed food to which at present little attention has been paid in the domain of food research.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Corporate governance and corporate social responsibility interface: a case study of private equity
|
[
"SMEs",
"Corporate governance",
"Private firms",
"Corporate social responsibility",
"Private equity",
"Emerging markets"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Corporate governance (CG) debate in 21st century has started to move away from the shareholder supremacy and financial performance maximization objective toward including non-financial stakeholders and socially responsible agenda into CG equation. Such move is driven and supported by international organizations such as OECD, United Nations and European Commission via various guidelines, standards and recommendations, and is well illustrated by the Business Roundtable's recent redefinition of corporate purpose away from solely serving the interests of shareholders to committing to serve all stakeholders (Business Roundtable, 2019).\n2. Theoretical setting: CSR is defined as \"the responsibility of enterprises for their impacts on society\" (European Commission, 2011). More specifically, \"CSR is the commitment of a business to contribute to sustainable economic development, working with employees, their families, the local community and society at large to improve their quality of life.\" (World Business Council for Sustainable Development, 2004), and it is always beyond what is required by the law. CSR being something beyond the firm's interest is proposed in some definitions (McWilliams and Siegel, 2001), but in this paper, we do not assume this should be the case. If anything, we could add that CSR is not in an immediate interest of the firm.\n3. Method and data: Phenomena that are in early stages of development, such as interface between CG mechanisms and CSR, are better suited for qualitative research (Yin, 1994; Di Toma and Montanari, 2017). Case study method is appropriate when the phenomenon is complex, and it is difficult to draw a line between the contextual factors influencing the phenomenon and the phenomenon itself. Also, how and why research questions and the focus on contemporary events speak in favor of case study. While case study is often considered as an exploratory tool that identifies empirical regularities or offers in-depth sense-making, this paper is aimed at theory building via strategic case selection (Flyvbjerg, 2006) and \"unveiling the phenomena's actual or possible mechanisms\" (Tsang, 2013). Little is known about the CG mechanisms that address both financial and social performance of the firm. Underlying every mechanism are certain processes and qualitative approach helps to uncover those (social) processes. In particular, qualitative inquiry is about how these processes are created and given meaning rather than analyzing causal relationships between variables (Denzin and Lincoln, 2008).\n4. Results: This section discusses our findings about the research questions posed. With regard to RQ1, BaltCap announces that their \"primary purpose as a business is to create long-term value for our shareholders and investors\" (Company website). This clearly underlines the relevance of capital owners over other stakeholders. However, the firm maintains that excellent financial performance is not enough to reach this goal - it has to be achieved with responsible and sustainable business practices that take into account the interests of various stakeholders. Thus, the long-term value and accelerated value growth for shareholders stem from other domains than only bottom line.\n5. Discussion and conclusion: Our study illustrates how PE weaves CSR into its business logic. While previous studies have shown that institutional investors with shorter investment horizons (like PE) do not necessarily see value in CSR, our case study shows the opposite. Following CSR principles such as fair treatment of business partners, employees and community, respecting the environment and avoiding corruption improves also the financial outlook of the firm and thus increases the potential value for owners. This confirms the value-enhancement hypothesis of CSR (Jensen and Meckling, 1976) and strategic CSR thesis whereby both the society and the firm experience increased benefits (Porter and Kramer, 2011).\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This paper aims to explore why private equity (PE) cares about corporate social responsibility (CSR) of its investees given their relatively short investment time-horizon and how it designs corporate governance (CG) bundle to achieve both financial and CSR goals of the private firms it invests in.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Case study design is applied to get deeper insights on the why and how questions posed. Analysis is based on triangulation of secondary data and in-depth interviews with both PE and their investee firms.\nFindings: The authors find that long-term sustainability supported by CSR increases firm value. They also outline specific CG bundle that the PE uses to achieve both its financial and CSR goals. CG mechanisms appeared to reflect agency theory, but even more resource dependence theory.\nPractical implications: The outlined CG bundle could be used as a template for all types of private firm owners to improve both financial and CSR performance of the firm.\nOriginality/value: The paper adds to fragmented area of CG and CSR interface. The authors specifically focus on several under-researched contexts of this interface: private small and medium size firms (SMEs), emerging markets and PE investors.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Community archives in the Manuscript Department of the National Library of Russia
|
[
"Russia",
"History",
"Society",
"Academic libraries",
"Archives",
"Books"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The past few decades have been marked by a new round in the development of archive studies. Traditional views and approaches to the study of the archive as an institution - the place of storage of documents - have given way to the paradigm expressed by Michel Faucault and his followers. According to this concept, the archive is a combination of historical and cultural memory, and can even be without its traditional material embodiment. The concept of archive as \"fantasy of knowledge\" (Richards, 1993, p. 6) required a wider application of methods of study of archival documents as a part of local and global cultural heritage.\nCommunity archives as part of archival heritage of Russia: Recent trends in archival research demonstrate the interest in archival collections stored outside traditional institutional settings. Special attention is given to the so-called community archives, which are increasingly becoming actual in the field of archival studies.\nNational Library of Russia as archival repository: The Manuscript Department of the NLR is one of the largest archives in Russia. Founded in 1795, the Imperial Public Library[2] was solemnly opened in 1814 and became a major center for collecting, studying and storing book and manuscript collections (Kobeko, 1914, p. 76). At the present time, the library fonds include over 38,000,000 items.\nCommunity archives in the National Library of Russia collections: problems of attribution: Among the collections of the Manuscript Department of the NLR, there are some materials of community archives. However, a number of questions of their attribution arise. Concerning the problem narrowly, of the principle of the founder (original owner), there are only nine archival fonds of non-state societies in the Manuscript Department of the NLR - only 0.6 per cent of the total number of department fonds. These are the archives of the Literary Fund, the Union of Mutual Assistance of Russian Writers, the Society for Library Science, the Society of Friends of the Book, the Society of Admirers of the Old writing (OLDP), the Russian Archaeological Society (RAO), the Russian Geographical Society, the \"Leningrad Teacher\" Museum and the \"Rodina\" society Museum.\nArchives of historical societies: The largest group of community archives in NLR consists of materials of scientific historical communities: The OLDP and the RAO. During nineteenth to early twentieth centuries, the main purpose of scientific historical communities was collecting different historical sources, principally medieval manuscripts and documents. Their activity included search, purchase, description and publication of historical documents and manuscripts. That line of community activity was a response to the increasing interest of Russian people to the history of the country and its archival heritage. Also, historical communities competed in their aims with private collectors and with state institutions, first of all with the Archeographical Commission. The Commission was founded in 1834 as a part of the department of society education, which was located in St. Petersburg. The Commission was the most influential organization in search and publication. Moreover, universities and other institutions such as public libraries were also engaged in creating collections. It is noteworthy that there was a united scientific community of historians in the Russian Empire. They worked at the universities or libraries, but at the same time were members of quite a few historical communities. They could even take part in the activities of the Archeographical Commission and act themselves as private collectors. This peculiarity of the intellectual life of Russian society hampers the search and identification of historical community and small archives in Empire.\nArchives of literary societies: A bright phenomenon of the literary and social life of Russia in the second half of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was the emergence and activity of the Society for the Benefits of Needy Writers and Scientists (the so-called Literary Fund). It existed in 1859-1922 in St. Petersburg (Petrograd) and was created by the example of the British Royal Literary Fund. The purpose of the society was to provide material assistance to needy writers and scientists and their families, help in arranging for hospitals and educational institutions, assistance in finding a service, typing works, getting scientific trips and organizing social events (readings, evenings and concerts). The personnel of the society included, in addition to the writers, many representatives of the educated circles of Russia: scientists, officials, teachers, military officers, book workers, doctors, artists, etc. (Sazhin, 1979, pp. 4-6).\nArchives of bibliological and bibliographic societies: The archives of the Society for Library Science (NLR, Manuscript Department, fond 533) and the Society of Friends of the Book (NLR, Manuscript Department, fond 535) are also parts of the manuscript collection of NLR.\nArchives of non-state museums of the second half of the twentieth century: Two interesting examples of community archives in the NLR collection are archives of non-state museums created by public organizations of the second half of the twentieth century.\nConclusions: The Manuscripts Department of the NLR is, as our investigation assumes, an example of storage of various types of community archives. The archives of the societies from the first half of the nineteenth century until the end of the twentieth century are preserved in the NLR, some of the communities have successfully continued their work to this day.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This paper aims to characterize community archives in the common array of the manuscript collection of the National Library of Russia (NLR). The purpose of the paper is to identify the features of organization of the archival system of Russia and the place of community archives in it. The authors intend to characterize the features of origin, history of existence and preservation of archives of public organizations in Russia on the example of the archives of Russian societies of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries; to spread knowledge about historical communities of Russia and their archival heritage and to discuss the value of community archives and their information potential.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The research is based on the traditional methodology of the academic archival studies. At the same time interdisciplinary approach plays a great role in the field of study of community archives. The findings of the study were obtained as a result of the application of methods of historical research and special historical disciplines: archival heuristics, archive studies, source studies and archeography. The data were complemented by documentary analysis, including materials of nine archives, documents concerning acquisition and storage of these archives.\nFindings: As a result of the study of different community archives in the Manuscript Department of the NLR the authors came to the conclusion about poor preservation and diffusion of these archives. It suggests the necessity of developing methods of virtual archive reconstruction.\nOriginality/value: This is the first study to date on the community archives in Russia. The first attempt to attribute and classify community archives of the NLR.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
The dark side of coopetition: when collaborating with competitors is harmful for company performance
|
[
"Company performance",
"Business-to-Business marketing",
"Coopetition",
"Resource-based theory",
"Relational view",
"Dark side"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Coopetition (or coopetition activities) is a fundamental business-to-business marketing strategy (Rusko, 2011; Dahl, 2014; Bouncken et al., 2015; Leite et al., 2018). It comprises cooperative and competitive dimensions that help organisations to acquire new resources, capabilities and opportunities that they would not have access to under individualistic business models - where coopetition does not occur (Ritala et al., 2014; Gnyawali et al., 2016; Arslan, 2018; Velu, 2019). In terms of its seminal definition, coopetition is \"a dynamic and paradoxical relationship, which arises when two companies cooperate in some areas (such as strategic alliances), but simultaneously compete in other areas\" (Bengtsson and Kock, 2000, p. 411). As coopetition activities are intended to provide firms with new ways to compete within their competitive business environments, it is unsurprising that scholars have invested a large volume of research towards understanding the relationship between coopetition and company performance (Bengtsson and Kock, 1999; Luo, 2007; Bouncken and Kraus, 2013; Crick and Crick, 2016a; Sanou et al., 2016; Velu, 2016; Felzensztein et al., 2018; Gnyawali and Charleton, 2018; Tidstrom et al., 2018).\nFraming literature: Resource-based theory and the relational view\nConceptual framework and hypothesis development: Conceptual framework\nMethodology: Empirical context\nResults: Characteristics of the final sample\nDiscussion: Prior to this investigation, the business-to-business marketing literature had conceptualised that by engaging in coopetition, organisations are likely to obtain higher-levels of company performance (Bengtsson and Kock, 2000; Ritala, 2012; Bouncken and Kraus, 2013; Bouncken et al., 2015; Akpinar and Vincze, 2016; Crick, 2018a). Such findings were driven by a body of knowledge surrounding coopetition providing firms with new resources, capabilities and opportunities that would not be available to them under individualistic business models (Rusko, 2011; Dahl, 2014; Ritala et al., 2014; Bouncken et al., 2018; Chou and Zolkiewski, 2018; Velu, 2019). Yet, very few scholars had considered the potential for a non-linear (quadratic) relationship between coopetition and company performance (Luo et al., 2007; Ang, 2008; Crick, 2019). This was surprising, as there has been an emerging strand of research pertaining to the dark side of coopetition, such as the inter-firm tensions that might exist when two or more rival firms share resources and capabilities (Grayson and Ambler, 1999; Tidstrom, 2009; Fang et al., 2011; Raza-Ullah et al., 2014; Abosag et al., 2016; Grandinetti, 2017; Tidstrom et al., 2018).\nConclusions: Summary\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Coopetition is the interplay between cooperation and competition, involving organisations sharing resources and capabilities with rival entities. Earlier work has suggested that coopetition has a linear (positive) relationship with company performance, with scarce considerations towards whether this link could have a diminishing-returns effect. Thus, this paper aims to examine the non-linear (quadratic) relationships between coopetition and three performance outcomes. Using resource-based theory and the relational view, this study is designed to evaluate the dark side of coopetition, in terms of identifying situations when such activities can be harmful for company performance.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Survey data were collected from a sample of 101 vineyards and wineries in New Zealand. After purifying the measures through a series of multivariate statistical techniques, the research hypotheses and control paths were tested through hierarchical regression. Furthermore, the statistical data passed all major assessments of reliability and validity (including common method variance).\nFindings: Coopetition was found to have non-linear (quadratic) relationships with customer satisfaction performance, market performance, and financial performance. These results indicate that while coopetition provides organisations with new resources, capabilities and opportunities, there are some dark sides of coopetition activities. With \"too little\" coopetition, firms might struggle to survive within their markets, with an insufficient volume of resources and capabilities. With \"too much\" coopetition, companies could experience increased tensions, potentially lose intellectual property and dilute their competitive advantages. Such negative outcomes could harm their performance in several capacities.\nPractical implications: Firms should appreciate that coopetition is a competitive strategy. In other words, regardless of how much collaboration occurs, coopetition partners are still competing entities. It is recommended that organisations should strive to engage in an \"optimal-level\" of coopetition, as \"too little\" or \"too much\" of such strategies can be harmful for various types of company performance. To mitigate some of the dark sides of coopetition, businesses should attempt to use all the benefits of collaborating with competitors (i.e. accessing new resources, capabilities and opportunities), but at the same time, not become dependent on rivals' assets.\nOriginality/value: This paper develops and tests a framework examining the non-linear (quadratic) linkages between coopetition and multiple assessments of company performance. It highlights the benefits and drawbacks of businesses sharing resources and capabilities with their competitors. Contrary to prior studies in the business-to-business marketing literature, the results signify that firms need to engage in an \"optimal-level\" of coopetition to minimise certain dark sides, such as reduced company performance. After providing some practitioner implications, this paper ends with a series of limitations and avenues for future research.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Developing design principles for an e-learning programme for SME managers to support accelerated learning at the workplace
|
[
"Small to medium‐sized enterprises",
"Managers",
"Workplace learning",
"Learning"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nBackground to the study: The rise of digital technologies and high-speed communication links has not only revolutionized the 21st century workplace but has resulted in a shortage of the necessary skills which are needed to be competitive and successful in this new \"connected\" economy. It is also increasingly recognized that within this fast-changing workplace there is increased pressure to identify the most constructive and cost-effective ways of using communication technology as a resource for learning (Guile, 1998) coupled with an increasing emphasis on self-directed and lifelong learning (Delors, 1996; Diamantopoulou, 2001). Before the entry of ten new member states in May 2004, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) represented 99.8 per cent of businesses in the European Union (EU)[1], employing over 74 million out of a total workforce of 112 million, yet they often experienced difficulty in finding the time or resources to undertake relevant training (European Commission, 2001). A recent survey found that less than 10 per cent of the EU workforce had received any form of training (Reding, 2001) whilst, despite the ever increasing availability of e-learning courses for use in the workplace, many of them have been perceived to be poor in quality and design (Massey, 2002).This paper aims to describe how a recently completed funded project with partners from academia and business in five EU countries (the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Denmark, Malta and the UK)[2], collaborated in the creation of sound design principles to underpin the development of IMPACT[3], a 20 hour e-learning programme to support accelerated learning in the workplace for time-pressured SME managers. It was intended that managers taking this course would develop a better understanding of how they and others in their organization could become more effective learners in order to achieve improved management and bottom-line performance. At the end of the course it was hoped that participants would be able to:* identify ways to build learning into everyday work;* understand themselves better;* recognise how important it is to reflect and learn from experience;* learn more effectively from existing resources (particularly the web); and* demonstrate improved soft skills (excerpt from the online promotional material for the course (www.pelm.eu.com/intrototrial.htm, accessed: 07 March 2005)).The initial pilot for the course was to be offered to EU SME managers recruited by the project partners.\nCreating a pedagogic framework: What does prior research say?\nTrialling the course design concept: The course design was to be based on the pedagogic framework described above but before work began on creating the online course, a series of five workshops were held with further groups of SME managers in all the partner countries with the aim of testing the course design concepts, identifying future business issues and needs and also to find out what cultural issues across the different partners counties needed to be addressed. Each workshop was run on a similar format using the same materials and resources. The total number of participants was 53, with each workshop ranging in number of attendees from 7 to 15 and they represented a wide range of managerial contexts. Just over half of the managers (28) worked in micro or small companies ranging from sole trader to up to 49 employees, with the rest coming from medium enterprises. Thirty-one came from private and 14 came from public companies, with eight representing other organisations such as charities (4) and adult education (2). Twenty-three worked in business/financial services; nine in manufacturing and eight in retail/distribution with the rest working in organisations ranging from non-profit making (4), government employees (4) to leisure (3) and adult education (2). They were all asked to complete a questionnaire at the end of the workshop in order to ascertain how relevant the workshop had been to their own business development needs.Analysis of the questionnaire showed that participants felt that there should be a clear introduction and purpose to the course. Whilst finding the workshop content relevant to the workplace there was some scepticism about how it would work in an online environment. For many the main benefit they derived was interaction with their peers:The interaction with others was key to the day. (UK)A deeper understanding of how other managers from SME companies reflect on skill and knowledge and the development in these in the future. (Denmark)Debating and feedback from other managers... (Denmark)They particularly valued the idea of creating an SME network to create a network of like-minded people to share ideas with and to provide feedback: \"made me even more aware that I can learn a lot from sharing\" (Malta). The importance of reflective opportunities was highlighted in many of the responses, with the realisation that they could learn from success as well as from mistakes:I stopped and thought about myself. (Czech R.)I realised my weaknesses. (Czech R.)Given time for reflection on issues that are important in my work. (UK)A frequent comment was the workshop acted as a reminder of previous learning \"reaffirmed a lot of what I knew but had forgotten\" (UK). \"Research fits in with my own experience\" (Denmark). There was support for the idea that time would prove to be a major issue, together with a wish to see the course modules simple and limited to key issues, \"be down to earth\" (Denmark), and that SMEs would need to be convinced that taking the course would be an effective use of their time.It was clear that there was considerable commonality in the comments from all the participants in the five workshops as to how they perceived and reacted to the course design principles, despite the different national cultures they represented, ranging from northern to southern European. There was strong support from all the participants for having the opportunity to be more reflective in their working practices and for the considerable benefit to be found in finding the time and opportunity to actively network with their business peers, both nationally and internationally. There was some reservation expressed about national differences, \"the cultural perspective should have a higher focus\" (Denmark) but the overwhelming feedback from the workshops was that the themes identified for the course had resonance with SME managers across the five project countries (see above). The on-going challenge for the course developers was how to find a means of replicating the workshop experience in a totally online course.\nBuilding the course: Building on the pedagogic framework identified above, and bearing in mind the situated nature of management learning (Williams, 2003), the course aimed to build on prior knowledge and experience to support the SME manager in developing new personal and managerial skills and was therefore underpinned by a constructivist approach to learning (Jonassen, 1994; Jonassen et al., 1993; Reeves, 1999). A course design framework was developed which mapped applicable system features to the main design themes and types and nature of tasks, as identified by the project's earlier research (Table II). It was based on a prior study looking at the nature of team activities (McGrath and Hollingshead, 1994) and a further study that considered how technology could be used to support the team process (Birchall and Lyons, 1995). Interactive technology like synchronous communication and online simulations could present powerful learning situations but the course design needed to reflect the practical reality for many SMEs who, in their every day working life, had access to PCs with low bandwidth and slow online access. Thus the emphasis in the course was to provide an asynchronous communication facility to encourage the sharing of ideas and reflections, supported by a tutor (with provision for one or two synchronous sessions) and to include activities which could be carried out in the workplace and then reflected on. The use of reflection by, for example, providing an online journal facility could be a powerful tool for self-awareness and learning (Laurillard et al., 2000).\nReflections on the design process: One of the lessons that we have learnt from our experience thus far in the project has to do with the importance of developing a shared understanding and ownership of the project among all stakeholders. Ensuring commitment and shared ownership among all stakeholders in the program is important for its success (Vrasidas and Glass, 2004). By involving managers in the design process, trying out the material, and developing the content, it helps establish them as partners in the design process, which is important to ensure its adoption. By distributing some of the control of the program, managers are more likely to use it, be active participants, and make it serve their needs. Working together primarily in an e-environment has challenged project partners in the five countries. Their own \"learning journey\" has not been without its own tensions. The partnership put in place a process for reviewing its own learning, partly in order to better inform future course design but also to enable it to progress to other collaborative activity.An e-environment creates challenges for the course designer seeking to adopt work-based learning as a basic approach, particularly when the programme is intended for use in many cultural settings. Learner expectations are not easily aligned when communication is exclusively asynchronous. Many mature learners do not understand the concept of work-based learning although they well may be practiced in their everyday work without being aware of the process.One of the major disadvantages of text-based e-learning is the lack of visual and audible cues during communication. Body language, facial expressions, gestures, and voice intonation are all excluded from such an environment. A simple face expression can often communicate so much more than any text message. The same expression said with two different voices, can also have different meanings. This lack of richness of communication in cues communicated is one of the major disadvantages of e-learning projects (Vrasidas and Zembylas, 2003). However, e-learning provides ample opportunities for interaction. In online education, there are multiple kinds of interaction. Among these are interactions between, learner-content, learner-teacher, learner-learner, and learner-interface (Vrasidas and Glass, 2002). These interactions may be facilitated through various strategies. One such strategy is collaboration. Structuring collaborative projects is a good way to promote interaction among online community participants. Further, collaborative projects allow members of the community to have access to each other's expertise, as this expertise is distributed across space, individuals, and groups. For example, in this 20 hour course, asking participants to respond to tutor seeded questions and post to an online discussion area and reflect on and respond to other postings are strategies that promote interaction. The activities forming the basis of learning are not easily identified and engaged with without the spontaneity of face-to-face discussions: careful use of stories, web-based diagnostics and discussion areas are seen as a means of leading managers into the process of active learning.Because of the constraints of the text-based e-learning environment, evaluation and assessment need to be carefully considered. E-learning programs require a variety of methods for evaluating and assessing participants' learning (Vrasidas and McIsaac, 2000; Mason, 2002). For example, given that the online facilitator does not have access to facial expressions, voice intonation, or body language, other methods of data collection can be used such as, the collection of information gathered from participants' work, participants' moderations of online discussions, their postings in online conferences, self-reflective journals, and other material developed and used while participating in the project. Early feedback suggests that SME managers are welcoming the opportunity to access learning and development but full evaluation of their experience is required to examine the extent to which the course has helped these managers to become better equipped as \"learners\" and reflective practitioners.\nConclusion: This paper has described the development of a design process for a 20 hour e-learning course for SME managers which was based not only on sound pedagogical underpinnings which were rooted in e-learning and managerial learning literature but also on the development of a clear set of design requirements and objectives derived from SME managers' business needs. There was marked convergence between the identified best practice revealed by the literature and by the expressed needs of the SME managers. It is believed that the design and the reflections on the process presented here may be usefully extracted to inform the creation and development of other cross-national or SME-focused e-learning programmes.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - This paper reports on the development of a workplace-based e-learning programme for small and medium enterprise (SME) managers in five European countries. The course is designed to address the specific needs of SME managers who, it has been noted, represent a significant proportion of the EU workforce but often experience difficulty in finding time or resources to undertake relevant training. The aim of this paper is to present the design principles developed to underpin the programme. These principles were developed specifically to address the need for greater pedagogic structure in the design of e-learning courses.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The course design was informed by a literature review of e-learning and management learning and by a set of focus groups conducted to identify the specific concerns of SMEs with regard to accelerating their learning in the workplace. The course structure was further refined through trial workshops in all five partner countries.\nFindings: - The paper presents a pedagogic framework and a structured set of design features, both of which were built into the course as a result of the research undertaken. It also provides reflections on the efficacy of the design process that resulted in the formation of the design principles, and also the prospects for e-learning programmes in supporting accelerated learning in the workplace.\nPractical implications: - The design process and reflections may usefully be extracted to inform other cross-national or SME-focused e-learning programmes.\nOriginality/value: - The paper draws on theory and research data to demonstrate the importance of thorough research in e-learning course development.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Performance measurement definitions: Linking performance measurement and organisational excellence
|
[
"Performance measures",
"Organizational effectiveness",
"Business excellence"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Organisations in the public and private sectors around the world are struggling with their performance measurement systems. In particular they are finding it difficult to develop cost-effective, meaningful measures that drive performance improvement without leading to undesired negative consequences. Given all this confusion, a clear performance measurement definition can help managers go in the right direction and focus on what really matters. Indeed, as Gaster (1995, p. 21), referring to quality in public services, says, \"Definitions are important: they drive the whole implementation process\". The most quoted performance measurement definition is Neely et al.'s. (2002, p. xiii) \"the process of quantifying the efficiency and effectiveness of past actions\". While this definition emphasises effectiveness as well as efficiency, it is unlikely to make managers stop and challenge their performance measurement systems and gives little indication as to what they should quantify or why. The definition I recommend is \"evaluating how well organisations are managed and the value they deliver for customers and other stakeholders\" (Moullin, 2002, p. 188). This definition gives much more guidance to people involved in performance measurement. In particular, it encourages them to consider the extent to which organisations measure the value they deliver to their customers and whether it covers the main aspects of how performance is managed.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to offer a definition of performance measurement.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper describes performance measurement definitions in the context of organisational excellence\nFindings: - It is shown that there is a clear relationship between performance measurement and organisational excellence.\nOriginality/value: - The paper outlines a definition offering a clear link between performance measurement and organisational excellence\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Strategic management research in hospitality and tourism: past, present and future
|
[
"Strategy",
"Strategic management",
"Hospitality management",
"Hospitality",
"Strategy research",
"Strategy topics"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: At the crux of an organization's ability to sustain an advantage laid the deployment of strategic (unique) resources that tapped opportunities in the firm's immediate environment or countered threats to create value for key stakeholders (Olsen et al., 1998, 2008). This concept was foundational to the existence of organizational forms which researchers in the generic strategic management as well as the hospitality and tourism domains had tried to capture in various attempts over the past several decades.\nEvolution of hospitality and tourism strategy research: As stated above, the basic themes in this section followed those identified from Harrington and Ottenbacher (2011) with further refinement based on the topical area of research within the hospitality and tourism domain. Key themes included the environment and the contingency perspective (strategy and uncertainty); corporate and business strategies (strategy and the internal perspective including competitive strategies); and organizational/firm structure/core competencies and strategy implementation. Harrington and Ottenbacher (2011) provided a framework that captured the essence of strategy as conceptualized and developed within the hospitality and tourism domain that aligned well with that of the mainstream. The depth and recency of their work provided a good basis for selecting it as a framework for tracking the evolution of topical areas within the domain.\nDiscussion: The current study provided important insight into the state of strategic management research in the hospitality and tourism field. Using an original approach to identify basic themes of hospitality and tourism strategy research over more than a three-decade period, the primary areas of research appeared to fall under the key themes of the environment and the contingency perspective, corporate and business strategies, organizational/firm structure/core competencies, strategy implementation and a more holistic perspective to the concept of strategy.\nConclusions and the hospitality and tourism research landscape: Hospitality and tourism strategic management researchers also need to consider the changing landscape of hospitality and tourism research to produce research that is of high quality, innovative and meaningful. It is important to note that there is a withdrawal or at least reduction of state research funding in higher education in some parts of the world, including Europe, the USA and the UK. On the other hand, the importance of scientific hospitality and tourism research and accordingly research funding is growing in emerging economies including China, India, Brazil and Russia. In addition, the quality indicators for research are diverse and it is not clear globally what constitutes quality. Moreover, there is a worldwide trend of aging academics with PhDs. All these trends have implications toward the development of hospitality and tourism strategy research. First, hospitality and tourism strategy researchers need to respond to the needs of the industry, where there is a growing recognition of the value and relevance of research in the corporate world. However, the ability to complete meaningful research will require strong relationships between researchers and industry to provide access to qualitative and quantitative data as well as better understand the unique characteristics of the field to enhance the quality of hospitality and tourism strategy research. The research suggests that hospitality and tourism strategy researchers equip themselves both with academic and research skills as well as skills of selling their ideas and consultancy.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this study is to review the hospitality and tourism strategy literature to identify trends related to key topical areas of research. The study objectives include identifying hospitality and tourism strategy challenges; presenting a synthesis of frequent strategy topics; and identifying opportunities for future research.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Earlier studies in the hospitality strategy literature were reviewed and synthesized to identify trends, gaps and opportunities.\nFindings: Hospitality strategy research continues to improve and extend the boundaries of strategic thought in the hospitality literature. In assessing the literature from 1980 to 2013, it was apparent that the literature was following the mainstream trend of combining theoretical perspectives to some degree as well as applying more process-based concepts to hospitality strategy research. There were several challenges for propelling hospitality strategy research forward; these included the educational infrastructure, theory development and the quantity and quality of researchers in the field.\nResearch limitations/implications: Given the depth and breadth of the strategy topics and research, it was difficult to ensure sufficient coverage was provided in the limited space of one journal article.\nOriginality/value: The study provides a good foundational understanding of where the hospitality strategy research had been and the trajectory of where it was headed. Further, it serves as a valuable resource for current researchers and those entering this area of research.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Temporary migrants and occupational mobility: evidence from the case of Estonia
|
[
"Job mobility",
"Central- and Eastern Europe",
"Occupational mobility",
"Temporary migration"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The opening of the labour markets of the old EU countries to the workforce of the new member states has led to massive East-West migration. That is especially the case for the Baltic States, including Estonia (Hazans and Philips, 2011). While outward migration, especially of young and educated people, may seriously undermine the further competitiveness of countries, temporary or return migration may also benefit the countries if the migrants attain new skills to be used later in the home (or sending) country, or if they accumulate savings in order to start as entrepreneurs[1]. There are three major channels through which international labour migration is considered to have a direct positive effect on the development of the sending country: return migration, remittances and the transfer of knowledge, technology or investments (Lowell and Findlay, 2002; Katseli et al., 2006)[2].\n2. Overview of the online job search portal data used in the analysis: In our study we use a data set from the largest online job search portal in Estonia, CV Keskus. The extract from the database from January 2010 includes about 261,000 resumes from job seekers. The resumes were mostly updated between 2008 and 2009 (i.e. the period covered in our data concludes in early 2009). Depending on the year, the data covers about 10-15 per cent of employment in Estonia (50-90 thousand employees) for 2000-2009. The data on employment history includes the last five jobs, and these are used to calculate various occupational mobility and migration indicators. For each of the five jobs, we know name of employer, country of employer, job start and end dates with monthly precision, and job title and category[4]. The information on employers (e.g. industry of employment) was obtained by matching the CV Keskus data with Estonian Business Registry data based on the employer's names. In addition, the data includes general background information (age, family status), information about education, training courses, skills (e.g. languages, driver's licences) and also a description of the person's desired job and wage. Such data are rarely used in economic research and have clear advantages in terms of sample size and informational content. Yet we also acknowledge the weaknesses of the data, as these work histories are self-reported and we do not know what kind of information was left out as undesired by the job seeker. Many data fields (like occupation, education) do not follow standard classifications and are filled with open text by the owner of the CV.\n3. Occupational mobility: measurement issues and descriptive evidence: Occupational mobility has been rather a common phenomenon in the sample period: during 1993-2009, in each year 5-13 per cent of people change their occupation, defined at the level 1-digit ISCO codes. In most cases employees switching occupations also change firm and sector (i.e. complex switches as defined by Neal, 1999): among all the occupational changes 11 per cent occur within the firm, 13 per cent include change of employer within the same 2-digit NACE Rev. 2 industries and 76 per cent involve both a change in the firm and the industry; these proportions were similar among return migrants and stayers. One possible explanation could be the peculiarity of our data: job seekers may have limited incentives to report different jobs within the same organization in their CV. For comparison, Campos and Dabusinskas (2009) indicate that the share of complex switches for 1989-1995 was 69 per cent on the basis of Estonian LFS data. Only about 10-25 per cent of the occupational flows are related to changes in the overall structure of occupations (e.g. decreasing share of blue-collar jobs).\n4. Method for studying the determinants of occupational mobility and temporary migration: In previous studies the occupational mobility has been modelled either using a bivariate probit model (whether the particular kind of mobility takes place or not, e.g. Campos and Dabusinskas, 2009), ordered probit model, whereby the degree of mobility in the occupational ranking is modelled (Carletto and Kilic, 2011), or multinomial logit model, for upward mobility, downward mobility and staying at the same occupation (Cobo et al., 2010). Our dependent variable was the dummy for upward occupational mobility. Similarly, for migration the modelled variable was the indicator variable of temporary migration. The probit model for temporary migration can be derived from the latent variable model, i.e. for individual i the latent variable ret_mig\n5. Results of econometric estimations: Table IV presents the results of the bivariate probit models that model the presence of occupational mobility and return migration, accounting for the endogeneity of the latter. In the case of females, there is evidence of the negative effects of return migration on occupational mobility; this can be seen for rankings of occupations based on both wages and human capital (the latter is not reported in order to save space but is available upon request). While our motivation for running the estimates separately on the basis of gender was driven by the consideration of selection to migration and the suitability of instruments, the evidence on the negative effects for females might be related to the generally weaker position of females in the home country labour market (i.e. Estonia). In other words, after returning to the national labour market, it may be difficult for them to obtain a job of equal quality, and stable employment could be especially valuable for females. Another explanation could be their higher risk aversion not allowing females a longer job search period and the luxury of waiting for better job offers. But even for males, the lack of evidence of the positive effect of return migration might be potentially a warning signal. While several studies we have mentioned have found a positive impact from return migration on wages (e.g. Hazans, 2008 for Latvia) or occupational mobility (Cobo et al., 2010; Carletto and Kilic, 2011), in fact the lack of a positive or even negative effect of return migration has also been detected - negative wage premium for Albanian returnees (de Coulon and Piracha, 2005), lower odds of getting employment among Finnish returnees due to lost contact with Finnish labour market (Saarela and Finnas, 2009) and lower productivity of return migrants in the Chinese venture capital industry (Sun, 2013). Yet this evidence might be seen as consistent with the tendency for movers to work abroad in jobs that do not correspond to their level of education, shown, for example, by our evidence presented in Section 2, or Hazans and Philips (2011), who reported high rates of over-qualification (60 per cent) for tertiary educated movers, but also for return migrants (38 per cent vs 28 among stayers). The issue then could be about the lack of an accumulation of skills abroad or an inability to make these useful in the home country labour market. The results for occupational rankings based on wages and human capital are rather similar; this is not surprising given their high correlation.\n7. Qualitative evidence on the effect of temporary migration on labour market performance at home: In order to complement the quantitative analysis we also conducted 75 structured interviews by phone to gather employer opinions and attitudes about selected characteristics of the candidates. We randomly selected representatives of organizations who had advertised vacancies on the job portal CV Keskus in the period from March 2012 till June 2012. Among other questions we also asked specifically how employers value the presence of experience working abroad among job applicants. Approximately half (Table VI) of the interviewees estimated the presence of experience working abroad as a positive factor (positive and rather positive) and only 12 per cent of the respondents perceived it as a rather negative or negative factor in the candidate's resume. The proportion of negative attitudes was highest among interviewees who recruited high-skilled blue-collar workers - 38 per cent. Comments show that this kind of evaluation could arise from two aspects. Those who have worked abroad will be eager to do it again, and their reservation wage is too high[14]. The interviewees also said that specialists could benefit from the experience of working abroad only if the experience is connected to the field of activity the candidate is applying for employment in. Command of foreign languages was also mentioned as a positive aspect of working abroad. Experience working abroad is valued more highly in small organizations (64 per cent of respondents estimated it either as positive or rather positive, among large firms 44 per cent). The largest percentage of negative estimations was given by interviewees from the secondary sector and the largest share of positive valuations by organizations from the trade and service sectors.\n8. Conclusion: Migration from Eastern to Western Europe is an increasing phenomenon. Since much of it is of a temporary nature, it is important to look into its effect on the labour markets of the sending countries via the relative performance of the returnees. In this paper we undertook an empirical estimation of the effect of return migration on upward occupational mobility in the ladder of occupations determined by wages or required human capital using a unique data set from the leading Estonian online job search portal. The literature on the home country labour market effects of return migration is not very extensive, and in particular, the effect of return migration on occupational mobility has been explored in only a small number of studies.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of temporary migration on the upward occupational mobility by using a novel database from Estonia.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors use a unique data set of the online job search portal of Estonia that includes thousands of employees with foreign work experience. The authors study whether the presence of temporary migration in ones working career is associated with upward movement in the occupational ladder, defined either in terms of wages or required human capital.\nFindings: The authors did not find any positive effect of temporary migration on upward occupational mobility and in case of females the effect was negative. The results could be related to the short-term nature of migration and the occupational downshifting abroad as well as the functioning of home country labour market.\nResearch limitations/implications: While the uniqueness of the data set is of value, one needs to acknowledge its weaknesses: the job-seekers work histories are self-reported and the authors do not know what information was left out as undesired by applicant.\nPractical implications: The findings imply that the benefits of temporary migration from Eastern to Western Europe on the sending country via the returnees' labour market performance might be limited, yet it does not exclude the benefits of return migration through other mechanism.\nOriginality/value: The literature on return migration is not big and there are only a few papers dealing with occupational change or mobility of the return migrants. Compared to earlier studies we have looked at wider set of occupations ranked by different ladders. Using the unique data set the authors have included in the study ca 7,500 return migrants while earlier studies have been based on rather small samples.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Regulating healthcare complaints: a literature review
|
[
"Law",
"Healthcare",
"Quality healthcare",
"Patient complaints",
"Disciplinary proceedings",
"Complainant motivations"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Even though professional regulation dates back to the nineteenth century, in most countries health professionals have largely been left to determine their own entry and exit processes, and standards until recently (Jacobson, 2001; McDonald, 2012). However, recent healthcare-governance trends involve enhanced professional accountability and greater external control by the State (Moran, 2003; Healy, 2011); hence regulatory bodies and strategies have proliferated (Healy and Braithwaite, 2006) to supplement and oversee existing professional self-regulation networks (King, 2007). These reforms are due to diminished trust in health professional's capacity to self-regulate, fuelled by high-profile medical scandals (Faunce and Bolsin, 2004), and have given rise to several new research questions (Davies, 2004). Around the world, different health-professional regulation models are being investigated in response to community demands for more transparent mechanisms (Dixon, 2007; Braithwaite et al., 2005; Paterson, 2012). Medical scandals, plus uncontested evidence of substantial harm to patients resulting from healthcare, undoubtedly play a role (Davies, 2007), together with correcting preventable errors (Kohn et al., 2000; Department of Health, 2000; Richardson and McKie, 2007).\nFrom collegiality to external regulation: Self-regulation has been re-examined by governments, regulators and healthcare professionals in response to several factors, including high profile, unacceptable healthcare practices (Shaw et al., 2009; Davies, 2007). Although peer review and self-regulation are now considered outdated and have been substantially eroded (Thomas, 2005), King (2007, p. 13) observes that in sectors such as healthcare \"more external and formalised regulatory regimes remain dependent on the well-embedded professional practices of peer review and clinical evaluation for both legitimacy and expertise\".\nResearch into healthcare complaints: There is a small but growing research body into healthcare complaints, examining features such as complaint numbers and types, complainant and respondent profiles and outcomes in different care settings. Increasing attention is being paid to using complaints data to improve service quality (Bismark et al., 2006b; Christianns-Dingelhoff et al., 2011; Walton et al., 2012).\nFuture challenges and participant perspectives: Under the new national registration and accreditation system for health practitioners in Australia, the notification system is now operated jointly by 14 national professional boards and the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency. In NSW, the complaints system is embedded in the existing co-regulatory structure involving the NSW Health Care Complaints Commission and the NSW professional councils, established in 2010. By adopting a new national scheme, whilst retaining a co-regulatory system in NSW, Australia provides a natural laboratory for studying a shift to a national scheme, with an opportunity to compare the national system and co-regulatory model in NSW.\nConclusion and recommendations: Regulating the healthcare sector has attracted increasing international attention, with the transition in many countries from self-regulation to a model involving greater external oversight by the State. Complaints and disciplinary processes form one regulatory strategy (Gauri, 2013) and a small but growing research body is devoted to this area. Studies yield interesting insights into complainants' motivations and experiences, the complaints process impact upon health professionals and features such as complainant and health professional profiles, complaint type and outcome. Our review reveals that there are significant variations between formal complaint processes and outcomes depending upon the jurisdiction and regulatory body. However, a common finding is that care, treatment and communication problems are the factors most commonly precipitating complaints, although results vary about which factor takes precedence or whether they are jointly responsible. There is evidence that complaint rates are low when compared to preventable adverse events and that people involved in such events may be more likely to complain informally than formally; and certain socio-demographic features appear to be linked to propensity to complain. Raising awareness about complaints processes and how to access them, therefore, is important. How best to collect and harness complaints data to systematically improve service quality is a significant theme within the literature. Most healthcare complaints research examines intra-institutional, rather than external, regulatory bodies. There is therefore more scope for examining the processes of health complaints commissions and comparable bodies in their own right, to understand how to make these processes fairer and better able to meet complainants, health professionals and society's complex needs.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore approaches to the regulation of healthcare complaints and disciplinary processes.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A literature review was conducted across Medline, Sociological Abstracts, Web of Science, Google Scholar and the health, law and social sciences collections of Informit, using terms tapping both the complaints process and regulation generally.\nFindings: A total of 118 papers dealing with regulation of health complaints or disciplinary proceedings were located. The review reveals a shift away from self-regulation towards greater external oversight, including innovative regulatory approaches including \"networked governance\" and flexible or \"responsive\" regulation. It reports growing interest in adoption of strategic and responsive approaches to health complaints governance, by rejecting traditional legal forms in favor of more strategic and responsive forms, taking account of the complexity of adverse health events by tailoring responses to individual circumstances of complainants and their local environments.\nOriginality/value: The challenge of how to collect and harness complaints data to improve the quality of healthcare at a systemic level warrants further research. Scope also exists for researching health complaints commissions and other \"meta-regulatory\" bodies to explore how to make these processes fairer and better able to meet the complex needs of complainants, health professionals, health services and society.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Developing criteria for elderly nursing homes: the case of Lebanon
|
[
"Performance levels",
"Quality awareness",
"Nursing homes",
"Elderly people",
"Elder care",
"Lebanon"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In Lebanon, elderly reliance on private care has largely increased over the decade. The expansion of health related services, management and oversee of Elderly Nursing Homes (ENH's) has demanded greater accountable measures by these institutions. Elderly persons and their guardians stipulate a greater quality service, transparency, suitable structures, and a functional health care system. Hence, ENHs in Lebanon face the challenges of providing quality care in a new era of administrative accountability and accreditation systems.Representatives from the World Health Organization (WHO); Lebanon office, the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH), and the Ministry of Social Affairs (MoSA) have suggested that ENH quality assurance and standards are much-called measures for health services. The work of the MoPH with the Australian consultants on the Overseas Project Cooperation of Victoria resulted in the development and implementation of a national accreditation program for hospitals (El-Jardali, 2007). This impetus, supported by WHO, the MoPH, and the MoSA brought interest to the development of procedures and key performance standards to upraise quality for ENHs. Despite the call for surveillance of ENHs, the development of standards and guidelines has not materialized within Lebanon in a foreseen national strategy. If translated into policy, it would envision a plan to develop standards as guidelines to upraise ENHs in promoting elderly wellbeing. Thus, the establishment of criteria is a first step in the development of quality assurance measures across ENHs (Cesarotti and Di Silvio, 2006).Elderly health systems in the US (Joint Commission for the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO), 2007), England (Department of Health, 2003), Australia (Braithwaite et al., 1993), and other Western countries follow strict administrative practice, and high standards (Sewell, 1997). The recognition of performance measures as indicators to evaluate and assess institutional performance within ENHs (Joint Commission for the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO), 1989, cited in Idvall et al., 1997; Proctor and Campbell, 1999), they underline the outcome-based approach to quality service.In Lebanon, survey studies by the National Commission of Elderly Affairs, sponsored by both MoSA and United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), and Doumit and Nasser (n.d.) study; identified a number of measures used as indicators for the betterment of elderly life in ENHs but made little pathway among policy makers to develop a national elderly health strategy. The current synergy among the different Ministries and WHO underlines the awareness and need of elderly homes base-line information to better the structures, outcomes and processes of elderly lives.According to Waltz and Sylvia (1991), previous literature has been criticized by a lack of conceptual framework guiding the selection of outcome indicators. Hence, the approach used in this work is to build on available evidence in the field and literature, along a theoretical framework expressed in Donabedian's (2005) model known by structure/process/outcome for quality assessment. Donabedian's dimensions characterize a system in terms of resources, organization, and operational aspects of the healthcare delivery system. Process measures referred care, including elderly health assessment procedures, feeding, and daily care outcomes related to elderly quality of life and wellbeing (Mularski, 2006). Unique to Donabedian's model is that it provides a framework to evaluate structure, skills, and activities within ENHs and subsequently the establishment of criteria that result in objective measures and key performance indicators (Fahey et al., 2003).The importance of the structure, processes, and outcome framework for service users in ENHs cannot be overly stressed. Evidence of facilities, resources, policies, activities, are outcome measures used as indicators for performance. The authors sought out criteria drawing from recent literature and existing consensus documents of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Center for Health Service Research and Analysis (Zimmerman et al., 1995), the Minimum Data Set in all US Medicare/Medicaid certified nursing homes, and the standard handbooks that assess ENHs in England (Department of Health, 2003). The criteria were selected and organized nominally to include:* types of ENHs;* funding;* health services;* boarding services;* activities;* structures; and* elderly rights.The seven issues that were conceptualized in this study were grounded from the field and used to carry out the panel discussion and fit within Donebedian's framework of structures, processes, and outcomes.The study surveyed a representative sample of administrators and practitioners of ENHs (known as the panel). All administrators of the 46 registered ENHs in Lebanon were invited to a one-day panel discussion. A second panel discussion invited the caregivers and support team in ENHs.The objectives of the study were to:* establish indicator measures for elderly living in ENHs;* provide face validity for the criteria measures judged by elderly home administrators and caregivers; and* provide recommendations and future direction in the development of criteria for ENHs.\nMethod: The method used in this study combined evidence from elderly wellbeing literature and expert perspectives. A panel of experts was invited to attend a roundtable discussion made up of elderly home administrators, caregivers, specialists, public health practitioners, association members, researchers, and academics. They were asked to provide a perspective on a set of criteria for ENHs and explore aspects related to ENH structures, skills, activities, and knowledge. Specifically, the expert panel provided face validity for each of the seven aspects mentioned earlier. The method in this study follows the consensus panel method (Campbell and Cantrill, 2001) were issues are quantified having limited evidence. This method is used to develop appropriate criteria (Ashton et al., 1994) and quality indicators (Campbell et al., 1998). It has experts or practitioners establish consensus on issues in a one-shot approach. The authors (group facilitators) with participants debate a topic, advance a view, discuss and share information. The debate is considered nominal to the extent that not one idea or discourse emerges. The panel members review, suggest, and generate quality improvement criteria for ENHs.The study employed two panel discussions. The first panel had administrators, the second panel had caregivers and support team of ENHs. A set of themes were presented separately to both panels. This approach prompted professional views, perspectives, and discussions that were carried out in an academic setting. A closed roundtable with administrators and specialists was held in one session while another was held with caregivers. The panel was given nominal questions or propositions about the seven main issues dealing with structure, skills, activities, and knowledge. In the discussion each idea was mulled over to generate a wider perspective and consensus over an issue.The panel was presented with questions and suggestions substantiated by the research literature, and Doumit and Nasser's (2008) field results. Investigators provided the panel with detailed background information and field data. One investigator introduced the panel to the conceptual framework and objectives followed with a set of factual information like the number of ENHs in Lebanon and the type of available services. Seven dimensions were posted on the wall for all participants to see. The panel was asked to brainstorm, develop recommendations, discuss, provide relevancy, consider alternatives, and provide rationale for each of the criteria as a consensus building activity. Each of these aspects and issues were discussed again with the elderly caregivers.The expert panel responses was used to collate opinions (Dalkey, 1969). Several perspectives and views presented a variety of perspectives that were nominally organized (Robert-Davis and Read, 2001).Sample\nResults: The results of the study were organized around seven main issues:1. types of ENHs;2. funding;3. health services;4. boarding services;5. activities (social, spiritual, physical and mental);6. structures; and7. elderly rights.The comments on the seven main issues during the panel discussion made by administrators, caregivers, and specialists, gave perceptible criteria and measures for ENH. The seven sections below present the content analysis field notes and video recordings of the two sessions.Types and classification of ENHs\nDiscussion: This study sought to identify concerns and issues dealing with structures, processes, and activities in ENHs. As a result 40 criteria were retained; many of those are now in use by various health care organizations around the world as competency measures for accreditation. Perspectives and ideas reported by health care administrators and caregivers in the study can be transformed into criteria that produce quality services. The study used a group consensus approach to generate ideas about measures to improve the quality of life. There were seven main issues that identify the criteria required by administrative and nursing staff to meet the needs of elderly people being cared for in ENHs.It is evident that the criteria established were not exhaustive. Further involvement of the ministries can be crucial in the development of a national policy on elderly public health and enforce regulatory guidelines. Although, the attempt was to develop measurable indicators, we were faced by a number of needs called for by both administrators and caregivers. For example, administrators were complaining about insufficient financial subsidies, but, as we learned later from MoPH, a large number of ENHs were not willing to provide government financial documents even to receive more assistance. These and other needs often drove the discussion away from the intended scope but refocused through moderator interventions.A number of criteria were identified by the panel but were difficult to include in the list, such as the physician's assessments, patients perspectives, and attitudes. Zingmond et al. (2007) explained that these measures are not easily observable and generalized within ENHs. A number of indicators were not evident and did not generate consensus, or missed altogether by administrators and caregivers. In one case the panel members diverged somewhat to lay concerns specific to their institutions, as to engage MoPH and MoSA; however, the moderators were cautious to set the discussion back to the intended course. In summary, the key criteria and indicators raised by the panel are summarized in Table I.Building measures and criteria is not new to public health in Lebanon. More recent attempt by the MoSA in partnership with the Population Development Strategic Program of the United Nations and the National Committee of Elderly Affairs for the collection of data through year 2005-2006 has not led to a published report. A pressing need calls for a national and integrative data base on a set of validated criteria for ENHs. These criteria if turned into competencies and standards can contribute to quality improvement for ENHs. There is a need for a well informed team with a multi-disciplinary strategy involving health professionals, decision-makers (within the Ministries of Public Health and Social Affairs), academicians, specialists, social workers, clinicians, ENH leaders, public and private sectors, not only to review, rate, validate, and prioritize the quality and importance of criteria, in terms of their applicability, appropriateness, and adequacy (Johnson et al., 2006) but also to provide elderly with the quality service they expect and to translate these expectations into performance standards with the appropriate level of practice for each criterion (Clare, 1996). Anecdotal evidence suggests that policy makers need elderly home standards in order to increase government accountability. Thus, an inter-judge agreement measure as to whether the criteria were applicable, appropriate, or adaptable would provide further evidence to the construct validity of the criteria. In future studies, elderly opinion is a vital component to the effectiveness and quality of care (Langemo et al., 2002). Once indicators or criteria are conceptualized as we have done in this study, operationally defining these criteria will help us measure, them in real life conditions (Quality Indicator Study Group, Society for Health Care Epidemiology of America, 1995) as to establish a standard for ENH quality.Hence, this project has several key operational outcomes that could help in the implementation of a mechanism for establishing quality indicators. Future work would suggest:* normative standards, those defined by administrators and caregivers;* elderly assessment of quality indicators in ENHs; and* involvement of both ministries, MoSA and MoPH in the process of implementing standards, surveillance and programmatic system appraisals.Thus, in reporting outcomes and established a set of criteria as essential aspects for the functioning of ENHs. The criteria (measures) proposed by this consensus process are viewed as an early step to establish standards offer their services to dependent, semi-independent, and independent elderly to improve their care by stimulating further discussion, innovation, testing, and refinement. Additional works suggest underwriting procedures and key performance standards that involve experts, practitioners, and academics to integrate elderly heath care information across the different health services as in hospitals, clinics and elderly homes. This work is preliminary in the establishment of criteria as measures of ENH quality. Enforcing these measures suggests a set of policies, laws, and regulations to ensure consistency across health services (Fleishman et al., 1996). The results of this study are preliminary and future work should promote resident elderly voices that engage family members in the process of quality care through participation and development of the ENH criteria.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this study is to establish a set of measurable criteria for elderly nursing homes (ENHs) in Lebanon. Donabedian's model known by structure/process/outcome was used as the driving conceptual framework for the study.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The study reports on a panel discussion where administrators, caregivers and specialists, separately established and exchanged key information on best practice approach. The work was carried out in the summer of 2008, using the consensus panel method. A group of expert opinions (Dalkey) made up of elderly home administrators and caregivers, policy makers, and academics discussed specific key issues related to elderly health and quality of life.\nFindings: - A total of 40 criteria were retained along seven main dimensions: types of elderly homes; funding; health services; boarding services; activities; structures; and elderly rights.\nResearch limitations/implications: - A major limitation in this study is that elderly were not part of the consensus making process. Thus, including elderly in the process would have substantiated and added validity to the established criteria.\nPractical implications: - The criteria developed in this study can be turned into key performance standards for elderly homes in Lebanon, other Mediterranean and Arab countries. These criteria would greatly benefit elderly homes if validated and used as guidelines for quality care.\nOriginality/value: - The study is original in the sense that it seeks to establish measures for criteria, a blueprint, and benchmarks for ENH standards.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Linking personality traits and individuals' knowledge management behavior
|
[
"Knowledge sharing",
"Knowledge acquisition",
"Knowledge application",
"Knowledge storage",
"Big five personality traits",
"Knowledge management behaviour"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Knowledge is one of the most important resources of competitive advantages in organizations (Lee, 2016). In addition, improving organizational performance through the effective knowledge utilization is a critical issue in organizations (Cui, 2017). Given the growing importance of individual knowledge management (KM) in organizational effectiveness (Hwang, 2016), it is necessary to understand the role of individual differences in KM behaviors. Employees with different characteristics bring a variety of skills and capabilities, which can result in creating and modifying of the knowledge in organizations. While individuals' KM behaviors are gaining importance, very few studies have examined how individual differences (e.g. personality) influence individuals' KM behaviors in organizations (Wang et al., 2014).\nLiterature review: Knowledge management\nTheoretical background and hypothesis development: Ajzen's (1991) TPB is used to explain the theoretical background of this study. This theory is widely used and supported for understanding and predicting human behaviors (Chen, 2017). It suggests that the intention is based on attitudes toward the behavior (beliefs about a behavior), subjective norms (beliefs about others' attitudes toward a behavior), and perceived behavioral control (beliefs about one's ability to perform a behavior) with respect to the behavior. These three factors are affected, respectively, by three kinds of beliefs including behavioral, normative, and control beliefs. Furthermore, certain background factors (personal, social, and information) influence the three kinds of beliefs, and, as a result, affect the intentions and behaviors. It is reported that background factors such as personality traits can influence intentions or behaviors directly (Ajzen, 2005).\nResearch methodology: Sample and measures\nResults: To analyze the research model, this study employed partial least square (PLS) analysis technique using SmartPLS 3.0 software (Ringle et al., 2015). Following the two steps including the assessment of the measurement model and the structural model, we tested the reliability and validity of the measures, followed by testing the hypothesized relationships (Hair et al., 2011).\nDiscussion and conclusion: The present study aimed to determine the effect of the five personality traits on individuals' KM behavior. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first research of its kind broaching the direct effect of the BFP traits on four main KM behaviors at the individual level. This research proposed and tested a model demonstrating the fact that the strength of KM behaviors among individuals could vary depending on their personality types. This study supports the idea that individuals' behaviors at work mostly rely on their individual differences, such as their personality traits (Gerber et al., 2011).\nImplications and recommendations for future studies: The results are noteworthy from a theoretical perspective as they extend the literature of TPB and SET. The findings have shown personality as one of the background factors in TPB model is a meaningful construct that could directly influence individuals' KM behaviors. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first comprehensive investigation of the effect of five personality traits on four KM behaviors at individual level. Most of the studies examined the indirect effect of personality traits on KM behavior. This study reinforces the idea that traits could directly affect KM behavior in firms. In addition, the results admitted that SET can explain the positive effect of two traits, namely openness and agreeableness, on KSB.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Inspired by the theory of planned behavior, the purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of the big five personality (BFP) traits (openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism) on four aspects of individuals' knowledge management (KM) behaviors: knowledge acquisition, knowledge storage, knowledge sharing, and knowledge application.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A survey-based approach was used to collect data from 221 employees from five knowledge-intensive firms.\nFindings: The partial least square analyses confirmed a positive effect of two personality traits, openness and conscientiousness, on knowledge acquisition as well as knowledge application behavior. In addition, the positive effects of extraversion and conscientiousness traits on knowledge storage behavior were confirmed. The findings also revealed that agreeableness and openness traits positively relate to knowledge sharing behavior. Finally, neuroticism had a negative effect on knowledge acquisition and application behavior.\nPractical implications: This study suggests that organizations need to incorporate employees' personality into the design and implementation of their KM systems. The findings provide managers with insight into the course of personnel selection and retention to facilitate KM behaviors in organizations.\nOriginality/value: Little is known about the relationship between the BFP traits and four aspects of KM behaviors at the individual level. The present study has contributed to the existing body of literature through clarifying how personality traits relate to four dimensions of individuals' KM behaviors.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Dynamic interdependence between the US and the securitized real estate markets of the Asian-Pacific economies
|
[
"Non-linear Granger causality test",
"US and Asian-Pacific securitized real estate markets",
"Dynamic integration",
"Return and volatility connectivity",
"Time-frequency domain",
"Wavelet decomposition"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Understanding the degree of interdependence between national real estate markets and the nature of their relationship have implications for market stability and international diversification, particularly when securitized real estate has become a major capital asset component of the domestic stock market in many economies. This is because this emerging asset class has displayed competitive returns and low correlation with the other asset classes. Its long-term inflation hedging capacity also makes it an increasingly attractive asset class to invest. However, in contrast to the stock market, it suffers from small market size, low market immaturity, as well as more speculative behavior and market instability. Lizieri and Satchell (1997) found that stocks of securitized real estate assets are stocks in the short-run; but that they are real estate in the long-run. Moreover, Ling and Naranjo (2002) observed that securitized real estate has become increasingly less sensitive to common stocks in some countries in recent years. Therefore, a specific focus on international diversification of securitized real estate markets may be warranted. The current study revisits the interrelationship between the US securitized real estate market and the national real estate markets of each of the nine Asian-Pacific (APAC) economies (Australia: AU, China: CH, Hong Kong: HK, Japan: JP, Malaysia: MY, Philippines: PH, Singapore: SG, Thailand: TH and Taiwan: TW) by investigating the dynamic linkages between those markets in time-frequency domain. In this paper, wavelet decomposition via multi-resolution analysis (MRA) is employed as an empirical methodology to consider the time-scale issue in studying the dynamic changes in the US-APAC cross-real estate interdependence. In so doing, this paper adds itself to an understanding of the varying time-frequency relationship of the two markets, an issue which has not been addressed sufficiently in previous empirical studies.\n2. Brief literature: 2.1 Cross-real estate market interdependence literature\n3. Research data and wavelet decomposition: We include ten securitized real estate markets in this study. Besides the largest world real estate market, US market, the remaining is nine APAC securitized real estate markets of AU, CH, JP, HK, SG, MY, PH, TH and TW. Both developed public real estate markets (US, AU, JP, HK and SG) and emerging markets (CH, MY, PH, TH and TW) are covered and all the raw total return series are derived from the S&P property index. The S&P property index is a daily composite index which includes both public listed real estate firms and REITs within one market.\n4. Empirical methods and results: 4.1 Multi-scale ADCC between the US and APAC real estate markets\n5. Conclusion: In this study, we make contribution to the real estate literature by revisiting the co-movement and market integration dynamics between the US and APAC real estate markets in the time-frequency domain. A novel feature of the empirical work is the use of the wavelet-based MRA in the form of multi-scale dynamic conditional correlation analysis, multi-scale return exogeneity analysis, multi-scale impulse response analysis, multi-scale return and volatility connectedness analysis and multi-scale linear and non-linear Granger causality analysis, making the study more comprehensive and useful for investors and policymakers. From a broader perspective, understanding the dynamic behavior of real estate market co-movement and market integration is important because it has practical implications in implementing investment and risk management strategies. Wavelet approaches enhance the understanding of this dynamic behavior of real estate market relationship at different time-scales or frequencies.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to revisit the dynamic linkages between the US and the national securitized real estate markets of each of the nine Asian-Pacific (APAC) economies in time-frequency domain.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Wavelet decomposition via multi-resolution analysis is employed as an empirical methodology to consider time-scale issue in studying the dynamic changes of the US-APAC cross-real estate interdependence.\nFindings: The strength and direction of return correlation, return exogeneity, shock impulse response, market connectivity and causality interactions change when specific time-scales are involved. The US market correlates with the APAC markets weakly or moderately in the three investment horizons with increasing strength of lead-lag interdependence in the long-run. Moreover, there are shifts in the net total directional volatility connectivity effects at the five scales among the markets.\nResearch limitations/implications: Given the focus of the five approaches and associated indicators, the picture that emerges from the empirical results may not completely uniform. However, long-term investors and financial institutions should evaluate the time-scale based dynamics to derive a well-informed portfolio decision.\nPractical implications: Future research is needed to ascertain whether the time-frequency findings can be generalizable to the regional and global context. Additional studies are required to identify the factors that contribute to the changes in the global and regional connectivity across the markets over the three investment horizons.\nOriginality/value: This study has successfully decomposed the various market linkage indicators into scale-dependent sub-components. As such, market integration in the Asia-Pacific real estate markets is a \"multi-scale\" phenomenon.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Continuing professional development of academic librarians in Trinidad and Tobago
|
[
"Academic libraries",
"Libraries",
"Continuing professional development",
"Trinidad and Tobago",
"Developing countries",
"Academic librarians"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Continuing professional development (CPD) is an imperative tool for the advancement of librarians and information professionals in achieving their career goals. In meeting the aims of a twenty-first century librarian, the pursuance of CPD is even more crucial in today's technologically innovative society. In this regard, the study presents a detailed investigation into the approaches of academic librarians in Trinidad and Tobago in pursuing CPD activities. The study also examines the extent of their participation in CPD at both the institutional and external levels in contributing to the development of their careers. In addition, the research serves to identify the gaps and the need for a progressive and participatory approach on the part of the librarians, academic institutions, and library schools and associations. In general, CPD is paramount to the survival of academic librarians in maintaining relevance and keeping on par with the dynamism of the information environment in a developing country.\nBackground: The twin island Republic of Trinidad and Tobago with a population of 1.3 million is a multi-ethnic, culturally diverse country located in the Caribbean region. With much impetus placed on higher education, there has been a growing number of tertiary level institutions and programs. The academic institutions examined in this paper comprise of the St. Augustine and Open Campuses of the University of the West Indies, the University of Trinidad and Tobago; the College of Science, Technology and Applied Arts of Trinidad and Tobago; the University of the Southern Caribbean; and the Cipriani College of Labour and Cooperative Studies.\nMethodology: The study explored the efficacy of CPD activities by academic librarians in Trinidad and Tobago in the pursuit of ongoing advancement of their careers. In the development of a framework for the study, the following factors were identified and examined: the demographics of the academic librarians as enabling variables for pursuing CPD; the approaches of the academic librarians in pursuing CPD activities; the level of the academic librarians' participation in CPD at the institutional and external levels to determine their effectiveness; the level of the academic librarians' contribution to CPD to determine their effectiveness in imparting skills and training to their peers; the benefits of the academic librarians' participation in CPD and its relevance to their current position; the support of employers, library associations and library schools for CPD activities; and the impact on the use of technology by the academic librarians for CPD as well as implications for their changing work environment.\nLiterature review: The importance of CPD cannot be underestimated in the life learning process of any profession. Majid (2004, p. 58) defined the concept of CPD as \"a systematic method of learning that leads to growth and improvement in professional abilities, enabling individuals to function successfully in a changing work environment\". In addition, Kumar and Shah (2005, p. 226) concurred that CPD is \"a process of personal growth to improve the capability and realize the full potential of professionals\". Brine (2005, p. 14) also noted that \"individuals should follow an appropriate path of continuing professional development that analyses their existing skill [...] and leads the individual to an increased and improved set of skills that will support their chosen career\". Cossham and Fields further stated that \"the maintenance of professional education, standards and practice is usually dependent on some form of continuing professional development\" (2006, p. 235). In essence, CPD seeks to provide the required skills set at fostering the process of ongoing education, training and collaboration. In a dynamic library environment, it is imperative that information professionals timely equip themselves with the skills and tools required to meet the challenges of this changing landscape. It is noteworthy, that the literature revealed that there is a dearth of CPD research as it relates to academic librarians in Trinidad and Tobago. The studies to date are Gosine-Boodoo and McNish (2005), which examined the geo-economic position of librarians in the attainment of their professional development; and Hosein, Y. and Bowen-Chang, P. (2014, 2011) and Bowen-Chang, P. and Hosein, Y (2009) on cataloging training at the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine.\nFindings and analysis: Most of the respondents (75 per cent) from the survey (Table I) were employed at the St. Augustine Campus of the University of the West Indies. This was followed by the University of Trinidad and Tobago (16.67 per cent), the College of Science, Technology and Applied Arts of Trinidad and Tobago (5.55 per cent) and the Cipriani College of Labour (2.78 per cent).\nConclusion: The study emphasizes the importance and relevance of CPD for academic librarians in Trinidad and Tobago, in equipping them to embrace greater responsibilities in an evolving workplace. It demonstrates the active role and willingness of academic librarians in Trinidad and Tobago in providing and participating in CPD training and support to library and information personnel at both the national and international levels. In addition, it highlights the crucial role of the employer in fostering and encouraging CPD activities in the development of their employees' skills set to maintain their relevance in the workplace. In the promotion of the growth of the profession, the study demonstrated that greater collaboration amongst librarians, library schools, library associations and employers is paramount. Recognition is given to the increasing use and advantage of technology as a tool in promoting CPD activities. The study also brings to bear the urgency of succession planning which requires a strategic leadership approach at CPD for the effective management and transformation of the academic institutions in Trinidad and Tobago. The paper can serve as a valuable document for library associations in shaping policies on CPD for its membership. Finally, it can be used as a guide for all librarians in the pursuit of their professional development in Trinidad and Tobago and the developing countries.\n",
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"content": "Purpose: This study aims to present a detailed investigation into the approaches of academic librarians in Trinidad and Tobago in pursuing continuing professional development (CPD) activities. The paper also examines the extent of their participation in CPD at both the institutional and external levels in contributing to the development of their careers.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The instrument used was a questionnaire which assesses the effectiveness of the librarians in their involvement in and attitude toward CPD activities.\nFindings: The paper demonstrates the active role and willingness of academic librarians in Trinidad and Tobago in providing and participating in CPD training and support to library and information personnel at both the national and international levels.\nOriginality/value: The paper underscores the effectiveness of a group of academic librarians in Trinidad and Tobago who pursue and provide a high level of CPD activities to professionals.\n",
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] |
Cultural and creative entrepreneurs: understanding the role of entrepreneurial identity
|
[
"Entrepreneurship",
"Longitudinal",
"Qualitative techniques",
"Identity"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Entrepreneurs are different from who I am(A cultural and creative entrepreneur interviewed during the study).Worldwide, the cultural and creative industries (CCI) have a strong economic impact (Cunningham, 2004; Potts, 2009; BMWi, 2014b, 2015; Lhermitte et al., 2015). According to the German Ministry of Economics, CCI consist of the following sub-industries: music, publishing/book market, art market, film, broadcasting, performing arts, architecture, design, press market, advertising, software and games, and others (BMWi, 2014a). Next to their economic contribution, CCI also influence ethics and moral values and play an important role in urban development (O'Brien, 2013). \"It is their knowledge and creativity elements together with the link to art, culture and entertainment - and intersection with markets - that gives them increasing importance today\" (de Bruin, 2015, p. 281). However, one cannot deny the economic aspect of entrepreneurship (Jones and Spicer, 2009). CCI display strong growth and are worldwide considered a driver of economic growth (Cunningham, 2004; Matheson, 2006; UNESCO, 2013; BMWi, 2014b). Cultural and creative entrepreneurs (CCI entrepreneurs) are the economic driver of and also key agents in the industry (Hartley et al., 2013). However, CCI entrepreneurs struggle with their entrepreneurial identity. One common attribute among them is that they do not regard themselves as entrepreneurs and avoid acting entrepreneurially. Ideally, CCI entrepreneurs combine CCI values and business values (Lampel et al., 2000; Chaston, 2008; BerziNGs, 2012; Chaston and Sadler-Smith, 2012). However, this often does not work in reality. Business economics are often neglected or seen as an inhibitor to creativity (Rae, 2012). Many CCI entrepreneurs prefer to work as \"creative practitioners\" with the \"primary goal of creative fulfilment and lifestyle\" (Rae, 2012, p. 612). It is common currency to believe that economics crowd out creativity (Eikhof and Haunschild, 2007). Therefore, CCI entrepreneurs feel that they have to decide between CCI values and business values. They feel that business values contradict their personal values and their cultural and creative identity. They regard business only as a means of realising their cultural and creative ideas.\nTheoretical foundation: The study draws on three streams of research. The first stream is on the literature that has a critical view on CCI entrepreneurship. The second one is on the psychological profile of entrepreneurs themselves; it also covers CCI entrepreneurs (Cunningham, 2004; Matheson, 2006; UNESCO, 2013). The third one is on identity and how it is related to entrepreneurship.\nMethod: According to Eisenhardt (1989), qualitative research allows to develop an understanding of dynamics in settings and the analysis of behaviour that takes place in a real-world context and is closely linked to social connections. A multiple case study approach with replication logic (Eisenhardt and Graebner, 2007; Yin, 2009) enables researchers to devise theory from cases.\nResults for the formation of an entrepreneurial identity by CCI entrepreneurs: Subsequently, the study analyses the process of whether and how CCI entrepreneurs develop an entrepreneurial identity. It follows a process logic and examines the journey from the initial entrepreneurial motivation to the entrepreneurial identity. Throughout the analysis, illustrative quotes of the entrepreneurs are provided. To make the analysis clearer, it is divided into two phases.\nPhase 1: I am NOT an entrepreneur!: At the beginning of their entrepreneurial career, the participants behave like creative practitioners. They focus on the creative side of their business and neglect business economics. Their business ideas are based on creative talents. They do not see themselves as entrepreneurs but strive to realise their creative identity. Their main business purpose is to pursue their creativity.\nPhase 2: I am an entrepreneur: As long as CCI entrepreneurs do not regard themselves as entrepreneurs, entrepreneurs are different and have a negative image. Nevertheless, CCI entrepreneurs must act entrepreneurially if they want to earn a living with their work.\nDiscussion: This study applies a longitudinal case study approach with eight CCI entrepreneurs from Germany to analyse the development of their entrepreneurial identity. It shows that CCI entrepreneurs do develop a distinct entrepreneurial CCI identity, and it examines how this development takes place.\nConclusion: This study analyses the entrepreneurial identity development of CCI entrepreneurs. It thereby advances research on CCI entrepreneurship. Data were generated in real-time, and a longitudinal qualitative research design with eight CCI entrepreneurs was applied. The findings show that creative practitioners develop into CCI entrepreneurs and form their own entrepreneurial identity, which comprises aspects of both traditional entrepreneurship and CCI principles. Research so far has shown that CCI entrepreneurs challenge traditional business models. They commonly struggle with entrepreneurship, as business economics are believed to drive out cultural and creative values. However, this study reveals how CCI entrepreneurs develop a distinct entrepreneurial CCI identity. First, the entrepreneurs have to be motivated to act entrepreneurially; ideally, their decision to engage in entrepreneurship should be voluntary. It is common for CCI entrepreneurs to start with a business that concentrates on their creative talents. Second, the entrepreneurs have to take several actions allowing them to combine business with creative strategies. They have to self-reflect on their business and to define their individual means and values. Furthermore, entrepreneurship is a social discipline, and entrepreneurs do not develop in a vacuum. Therefore, they have to communicate with other entrepreneurs and their market. Third, through these actions, CCI entrepreneurs change their role definition of an entrepreneur. Gaining entrepreneurial experience, they manage to combine business with creative strategies and to arrive at their very own role definition of a CCI entrepreneur. This development makes CCI entrepreneurs change how they define their \"in-groups\" and \"out-groups\". While initially perceiving traditional entrepreneurs as \"opponents\", CCI entrepreneurs later on discover similarities with them and let go of potential prejudices. Finally, they make them part of their \"in-group\". CCI entrepreneurs develop an entrepreneurial identity and recognise the need to make money; at the same time, they still manage to retain their core values and CCI principles and act accordingly. With our findings, we advance CCI entrepreneurship in theory and practice: to the best of our knowledge, our study is the first to show how CCI entrepreneurs develop an entrepreneurial identity that allows them to act entrepreneurially and to stand up for their CCI values. Furthermore, this study contributes to research on entrepreneurial identity. It supports research highlighting the importance of an entrepreneurial identity. Our study also reveals the need for CCI-specific support programmes and indicates on which aspects such programmes should focus.\n",
"role": "user"
},
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"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore whether and how entrepreneurs in the cultural and creative industries develop an entrepreneurial identity. It also aims to expand research on cultural and creative entrepreneurship.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study is based on longitudinal qualitative cases and analyses the potential entrepreneurial identity development of eight cultural and creative entrepreneurs from Germany. The researchers create a framework to ascertain whether and, if so, how cultural and creative entrepreneurs develop an entrepreneurial identity.\nFindings: The findings suggest that cultural and creative entrepreneurs do develop an entrepreneurial identity and incorporate their cultural and creative identity into that entrepreneurial identity whereas self-reflection is a key driver in the development.\nPractical implications: Cultural and creative entrepreneurs are a key driver of economic development. Hence, it is important to generate a more detailed understanding of their entrepreneurial mind-set and their behaviour.\nOriginality/value: The study suggests that cultural and creative entrepreneurs actively develop an entrepreneurial identity and that self-reflection, communication with other entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial experience are the main drivers of their identity development. Nevertheless, their cultural and creative identity does have an influence on their entrepreneurial identity. In addition, the study demonstrates how such entrepreneurs develop their identity.\n",
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"We are not phobic but selective": the older generation's attitude towards using technology in workplace communications
|
[
"Technology",
"Older generation",
"Face-to-face communication",
"Intergenerational communication"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The technology revolution has not been uniformly embraced by generations in the workplace. For example, older employees (the so-called Veterans and Baby Boomers) have made known their displeasure and rigidity in adapting to it. On the other hand, the younger generation (Gen X and Y), who grew up in a technology-enabled environment, is seen to be a strong supporter of technology (Feiertag and Berge, 2008; Salkowitz, 2008). They recognize that the application of technology to business processes is imperative to increase efficiency, effectiveness and productivity. Robertson (2000) states that technology has changed the way we work. The pace at which technology is changing has compelled organizations to be more creative in the way they structure their resources to be more productive. The problem faced by organizations is the older generation's deferential attitude toward its application (Helyer and Lee, 2012). Parivartan[1] is facing intergenerational issues like differing attitudes toward work, conflicting work values and communication breakdown. Extant research focuses on categorizing the older generation as non-technocrat and seldom makes the attempt to explore the reasons for their diffidence toward technology.\nThe present study: This study endeavors to understand the older generation's attitude toward technology usage for communications. It was carried out in an Oil and Gas Public Sector Undertakings. Parivartan is the largest exploration and production organization in India. It contributes 72 per cent of India's total production of crude oil and 48 per cent of natural gas. Thirty older generation employees, having a mean age of 52 years, were interviewed in depth. There were 21 males and 9 females. They belonged to all the three levels of management (top level, mid level and first level)[2]. Data were recorded, transcribed and analyzed to draw out themes.\nKey findings: The older generation prefers face-to-face communication to technology[3]. Following are the reasons cited by the older generation for favoring face-to-face communication:\nConclusion: It is important that organizations and employees understand the psyche of the older generation. Thus, an effort should be made to address the mental block of the older generation regarding the use of technology. It is imperative to understand that the older generation, despite knowing the positives and the importance of technology, is reluctant to use it. We need to address this \"approach-avoidance\" situation. Human resource managers need to first work at the psychological level to deal with approach-avoidance dilemma of the older generation with respect to use of technology. For instance, reverse mentoring can be adopted, wherein the younger generation could educate the older generation on the usage of technology on a regular basis to reduce the approach-avoidance dilemma. Formation of cross-generational teams will increase the level of communication between generations and will help the older generation to alter their selective mindset in relation to technology.\n",
"role": "user"
},
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"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to study and understand the older generation's attitude toward use of technology for workplace communications.\nDesign/methodology/approach: In-depth interviews were conducted with the older generation employees of an Indian Oil and Gas Public Sector Undertakings. Data gathered from the interviews were then analyzed to draw broad themes.\nFindings: Although the older generation is aware of the importance of technology and has adequate knowledge of its use, they are reluctant to use it. The reluctance is not on account of techno-phobia; it is more in the nature of approach-avoidance.\nResearch limitations/implications: Organizations and human resource managers should focus on addressing the mental block of the older generation regarding the use of technology.\nPractical implications: Reverse mentoring and formation of cross-generational teams can be used to alter older generation's selective mindset in relation to technology.\nOriginality/value: This paper discusses the role of technology in intergenerational communication in the Indian context.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
The mechanism of positive emotions linking consumer review consistency to brand attitudes: A moderated mediation analysis
|
[
"Hedonic",
"Experience",
"Emotion",
"Brand attitudes",
"Consumer review"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Consumer reviews have become an important part of consumer decision making (Mudambi and Schuff, 2010) because consumers perceive that consumer reviews are more accurate and timely than commercial advertisements (Ho-Dac et al., 2013). Comments in consumer reviews contribute information about products and services' value and quality prior to the actual purchase, which leads to lower perceived risks when making purchases (Zhu and Zhang, 2010; Cui et al., 2012). According to a consumer review survey in the USA, 86 percent of consumers who purchase products and services online read online reviews before making any purchase, and 95 percent of these consumers are ages 18-34. In addition, approximately 80 percent of 18-34-year-old consumers have written an online review. Moreover, 91 percent of consumers aged 18-34 years trust consumer reviews as much as they trust personal recommendations (Murphy, 2018). These statistics show that reading consumer reviews is important for consumers, especially adults aged 18-34 years. Therefore, various empirical studies in the marketing and communication fields have explored the impacts of consumer reviews on attitudes toward brands and purchase intentions (e.g. Cheung et al., 2009; Park and Lee, 2009; Mudambi and Schuff, 2010; Cui et al., 2012; Quaschning et al., 2014; Wan and Nakayama, 2014; Ahmad and Laroche, 2015).\nMethod: Participants\nResults: The study's hypotheses were tested in two interlinked steps. First, to test H1 and H2, we used the partial mediation test, following Baron and Kenny (1986). Second, the proposed moderator variable was integrated into the model. An overall moderated mediation model was tested to investigate H3a and H3b.\nDiscussion: In this study, we investigated the effects of consumer review consistency on attitudes toward brands, as well as the effects of positive emotions caused by reading consistent consumer reviews and the importance of positive emotions in that context. The survey results indicated that reading consistent consumer reviews creates a positive attitude toward a brand (H1). Positive emotions act as partial mediators between consumer review consistency and attitude toward a brand, as positive emotions arrived at by viewing consistent consumer reviews positively influence consumers' attitudes toward brands (H2). However, positive emotions do not derive from consumer review consistency in every context. The results show that positive emotions work well when consumers shop using hedonic value. Positive emotions increase positive attitudes toward brands when consumers shop using hedonic value (H3a), but this significant effect does not occur when consumers shop using utilitarian value (H3b). The results for shopping using utilitarian value differ from the assumption in H3b because the mediation effect vanishes and does not support our prediction that the effects are not strengthened. This may occur because of affect intensity, or how strong emotions are in a person (Larsen and Diener, 1987). Previous research indicated that emotions must be strong enough to influence a person's attitude (Larsen and Diener, 1987; Haddock et al., 1994; Daus, 2001). When shopping using utilitarian value, consumers tend to use cognitive processes rather than emotions (Babin et al., 1994; Overby and Lee, 2006). Affect intensity levels might play a role. Therefore, further research should include affect intensity levels when investigating the effects of emotions on utilitarian shopping.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: As consumers read multiple reviews, so consumer review consistency is important. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of consumer review consistency in influencing attitudes toward brands by examining its underlying effect on consumers' emotions after they read consistent consumer reviews. In addition, the moderation effect of hedonic and utilitarian purchase values on positive consumer emotions and attitudes toward brands is explored.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This study used a quantitative design in which 329 participants - undergraduate and MBA students at a university in Taiwan - were asked to complete online questionnaires. To generalize the results, the questions in the questionnaire were based on any consumer reviews that the participants had recently browsed.\nFindings: Consumer review consistency positively influences attitudes toward brands. Positive emotions are also developed when reading consistent consumer reviews, and this positively influences consumers' attitudes toward brands. However, positive emotions are not derived from consistent consumer reviews in all contexts. The results show that positive emotions work well when consumers shop using hedonic value. Positive emotions create positive consumers' attitudes toward a brand when they shop using hedonic value, but this significant effect does not occur when consumers shop using utilitarian value.\nResearch limitations/implications: This study's results suggest that only investigating the quality of a consumer review or other aspects of a single review might overlook the impact of consumer review consistency, as consumers read multiple reviews. Consumer review consistency plays an important role in brand effectiveness, as consumers form positive attitudes toward brands when they read consistent reviews. Positive emotions can strengthen consumers' attitudes toward a brand. Moreover, positive emotions increase positive attitudes toward brands only when consumers shop using hedonic value. However, positive emotions do not enhance consumers' attitudes if they shop using utilitarian value.\nPractical implications: Rather than focusing on the quality of a single review, online shops should carefully consider consumer review consistency. Although positive reviews are better than negative reviews, it is quite difficult for every shop to maintain 100 percent positive reviews. Therefore, maintaining and offering quality products and services are rather important to acquiring more positive reviews. Online shops should consider experimental marketing strategies when managing online shops. The layout of online sites that show consistent consumer reviews can provide consumers with cues that shorten decision making, especially for products that consumers tend to shop for using hedonic value.\nOriginality/value: This research extends the previous consumer review literature. Previous research was focused mainly on the quality of consumer reviews or other aspects of a single review. This research shows that focusing a single consumer review is not sufficient, as consumers generally read more than one consumer review. In addition, the role of positive emotions as a mediator between consumer review consistency and attitudes toward a brand was investigated. Furthermore, the moderated mediation effect was applied to investigate the role of shopping value (hedonic vs utilitarian value) as a moderator of positive emotions' mediation effect.\n",
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] |
Demand for pesticide-free, cisgenic food? Exploring differences between consumers of organic and conventional food
|
[
"Food consumption",
"Genetically modified food",
"Consumer purchasing decisions",
"Labelling",
"Consumer choice"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The global market for organic food is experiencing a sharp growth, with an increase from $15.2 to 80.0bn between 1999 and 2014 (Willer and Schaack, 2016). The productivity levels are, however, typically lower with organic production methods (Seufert et al., 2012), resulting in higher price levels. While the organic market share is increasing, the total market share remains small (Willer and Schaack, 2016), suggesting that the willingness-to-pay (WTP) for organic relative to conventional food is for most consumers lower than the price premium they face on the market. Meanwhile, many consumers are concerned about the food safety due to pesticide residues and express preferences for food produced without pesticides (Eurobarometer, 2010), proposing that advances in enabling cheaper production of pesticide-free food is requested by consumers.\n2. Methods: Food based on cisgenic or transgenic breeding methods are currently not labeled differently on the market. In some countries, there is mandatory labeling of GM as such (e.g. EU member states, Japan, Australia) while in others it is voluntary (e.g. the USA and Canada), and in both cases cisgenics is considered GM and not regulated separately from transgenics (Qaim, 2016). This implies that it is not possible to evaluate consumer preferences from market data, wherefore stated preference methods such as choice experiments are commonly used. While these methods are limited by their hypothetical nature, they enable estimation of attributes not on the market and of attributes that are highly correlated among marketed products. The pesticide-free attribute is, for example, mainly supplied by organic products, while GM products are not typically offered in pesticide-free versions. In conclusion, for the purposes of this study, data were not available from markets and stated preference data were collected in a choice experiment.\n3. Results: Table II presents the estimated population means in the left column (coefficient) and the standard errors are presented below. The standard deviations in the right column present the variation in WTP around the mean and the standard errors for these estimates are presented below. A large and statistically significant standard deviation relative to the population mean thereby implies diversity among respondents in WTP for that attribute. Traditional breeding (base level) is preferred over both GM methods, as revealed by the negative and statistically significant parameters for transgenics and cisgenics in Model 1. Statistical tests for differences between parameters are presented in Table III. This reveals that respondents differentiate between transgenics and cisgenics (wtrans=wcis is rejected) and this is in line with previous studies (Lusk and Rozan, 2006; Delwaide et al., 2015). There is more variation in preferences regarding cisgenics than transgenics, as revealed by the relatively larger standard deviation. The mean WTP for pesticide-free is not different from 0 when achieved by transgenic methods. It is, however, valued positively when achieved by cisgenic methods, as revealed by the significant interaction between cisgenics and pesticide-free. The variation is, however, large in magnitude relative to the mean, suggesting heterogeneity among respondents in their wtp. Organic is by far the most preferred production method, although the large standard deviation relative to the mean imply variation between consumers. Domestic bread is favored over imported, and this preference is large in magnitude and relatively homogenous. While the sign of the domestic parameter is in line with other studies (Alfnes and Rickertsen, 2003; Ehmnke et al., 2008), the magnitude compared to the other attributes, such as transgenics, is surprising. A possibility is that Danes are not accustomed to face rye bread labeled as imported, since the product is a national specialty. The domestic attribute may also be interpreted as a sign of freshness among the respondents. The WTP parameters for the domestic attribute are for these reasons carefully interpreted compared to the other attributes. The remaining product parameters reveal that sliced bread is preferred over whole bread loaves and store-baked is preferred over prepacked bread. The WTP for these attributes is in the same range as the discount required for cisgenics compared to conventional (DKK6.6-9.1). Finally, the opt-out parameter is negative, revealing a WTP for the base-level bread over not purchasing any bread.\n4. Concluding discussion: Pesticide residues in food are a concern among many consumers, and while organic production meets these concerns, it is also associated with lower productivity. GM enables production with fewer pesticides while maintaining productivity levels, but consumers are reluctant to accept such breeding methods. Consumer concerns related to aspects such as food safety and unnaturalness are addressed by breeders with GM types such as cisgenics, which only allow gene transfers between sexually compatible species. This restriction is not the case in the hitherto most familiar GM type, transgenics. This study analyzed the market potential for food based on cisgenic crops produced without pesticides, and investigated if there are differences in demand between consumer segments, defined by their share of organic purchases.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the consumer acceptance of foods that are pesticide-free while obtained by cisgenics, a form of genetic modification that only allows gene transfers between sexually compatible species. Potential differences in acceptance between conventional and organic consumer segments are explored.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Data were collected from a survey, including a choice experiment, which was distributed to a consumer panel in Denmark. Survey responses were combined with actual purchase data among the same respondents and thereby providing information about the respondents' share of organic consumption.\nFindings: No consumer segment differentiated between pesticide-free, cisgenic bread and conventional alternatives. Conventional consumers preferred cisgenics over transgenics, while pesticide-free is not highly valued. Frequent organic consumers were having willingness-to-pay (WTP) a large premium for organic, indicating that they will continue to purchase such products even if cisgenic, pesticide-free products are introduced.\nOriginality/value: This paper provides insights on the potential reception of cisgenic food, and if there is a positive willingness to pay for a pesticide-free label if this is cisgenics. Moreover, the possibility to allow new breeding techniques in the organic requirements has been discussed, and this paper contributes with insights on the organic consumers' preferences on this matter.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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Founders, leaders, and organizational life cycles: the choice is easy - learn or fail!
|
[
"Senior management",
"Non‐profit organizations"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Founders and other nonprofit leaders are often hardworking, creative, and innovative people. Just think about some of the reasons they start organizations: a cause, a sense of urgency to help others, a vision for a better world. Often called visionaries, they are consumed with enjoying a present pleasure instead of a future one. In other words, they live in the moment and develop organizational initiatives for the moment. The future is often just that - a distant time. The following case offers insights on the founder of a nonprofit organization who experienced six phases of a business life cycle model: Introduction, Growth, Maturity, Revival, Decline, and Death (see complete model in the list shown below).\nThe case: (names and managerial actions have been slightly altered to preserve anonymity): Jane Ford, the founder and executive director of the Vista Agency in the USA, had a burning passion to help less fortunate citizens in her community. She translated her passion into hard work by toiling seven days a week to solicit funding for the agency she founded (Phase 1: Introduction). She took the initiative to contact several key players in local foundations and government agencies and built alliances with them. Ford became politically active and over time she gained a considerable amount of influence and power in the nonprofit arena. Over a five-year period, the agency began to follow the organizational life cycle process. During its growth phase, Ford hired administrative personnel and staff and the agency enjoyed double digit annual funding increases. To handle the unprecedented growth of the organization, Ford moved her storefront operation to a much larger facility. Growth continued and she aggressively sought external funding for the agency to increase the delivery of services to constituents (Phase 2: Growth). By year 15, Ford and her board of directors felt comfortable with the agency's niche within the larger community of nonprofits. Money, staff, and programs were sufficient and Ford became less vigilant. The agency had reached the Maturity Phase (3), where it remained for the next five years. As she aged, Ford lost interest in the daily operations of the agency, and felt that continued growth would not be worth the trouble. She had taken the precaution of squirreling away enough money for the agency to have a solid financial portfolio and to support a 40-person work force. In essence, Ford and the agency were on automatic pilot. She was content with organizational and financial status quo and expressed no desire to increase programs or personnel. With no new initiatives, the agency began to feed off itself financially as spending exceeded revenue. Yet, Ford did not feel the need to revive the agency which began to slowly, but steadily decline (Phase 5). By its twenty-fifth year, the agency trailed off into near death (Phase 6) where it remained barely active by offering one or two programs, only operated with a skeletal staff, and began spending monies from its dwindling board account. The agency remained at death's door until Ford died the next year.Learning from mistakes: The Six-Phase Life Cycle Model\nOrganizational life cycle characteristics (adapted from: Miller and Friesen (1984)): 1. Introduction:* low degree of formalization (informal structure/communication);* experimentation in program design and offerings;* establish place in marketplace; and* single manager/small staff size.1. Growth:* enthusiasm;* aggressive pursuit of programs/funding;* collaboration; and* seek public/community recognition.1. Maturity:* sedentary;* complacent;* high degree of formalization (structure bureaucratic/communication); and* financially strong.1. Revival:* need to compete with rivals;* need to reestablish market leadership position;* need to increase financial balance sheet;* need for renewal of programs and personnel.1. Decline:* loss of major funding sources;* competitors dominate;* steady decrease in programs/services; and* eroding constituent base.1. Death:* major atrophy;* disposal of assets;* discontinuation of services/programs; and* dissolution.Not all nonprofits reach Phase 4 (Revival). When an organization reaches this phase, founders/leaders can rebuild the organization. Revival depends on a personal or organizational action (or reaction, for that matter), that prompts the founder/leader to renew enthusiasm for the organization. For example, a founder/leader's decision to retire and leave a legacy may trigger renewed interest in rebuilding the organization. A belief, real or perceived, by the leader that a rival organization poses a threat, is making better financial strides, or is gaining a greater degree of prestige within its community may encourage the founder/leader to revive the organization. Moreover, Phase 4 may last for several years. Yet reverting to Phase 3 (maturity) is always possible. Revival may be a continuous proposition in organizations. If, on the other hand, the founder cannot revive the organization, then the organization moves to Phase 5 (Decline) and begins a slow, but steady downward spiral. This phase includes a loss of market share, an increase in the number of aggressive competitors, a loss of constituents and a loss of organizational funding.Organizational death is the final phase (Phase 6). The founder/leader cannot prevent the organization from hemorrhaging. Due to the inability of the organizational leader to compete within the sector, many staff exit the organization willingly or the organizational founder/leader institutes a reduction in force (RIF). There is a major exodus of constituents and services and programs are eliminated; the organization can no longer sustain itself and it closes its doors.\nThe lessons: Founders/leaders can prevent the organizational life cycle from occurring if they are willing to learn the components of the organizational life cycle and are cognizant of their current position in the cycle. Most of all, they need to adopt a continuous learning model to avoid the demise of the organization. How do founders/leaders achieve these outcomes? Some suggested strategies follow.In Phase 1, as founders/leaders define themselves and their organizations, they also need to put in place mechanisms for achieving and reviewing their initial imperatives of program design, marketplace identity, and organizational scope and size. Implementing annual reviews and appraisals, together with ongoing communication with and among staff, should help achieve these objectives.The Growth phase (2), while initially exciting, requires constant monitoring and maintenance. Funding for nonprofits works well as long as the nonprofit delivers on its services and contributes to greater social and economic well-being for its clients. Accordingly, founders/leaders need to build a culture of teamwork and collaboration to ensure sustained growth that is consistent with the nonprofit's mission.Phase 3 is when founders/leaders can become complacent about the success of the organization company. This phase could benefit from workshops or retreats with staff intended to both review the current situation and establish new strategies and programs for the next 5-10 years. Phase 3 is a time when founders/leaders could start thinking about re-inventing the purpose of the non profit and how to achieve new initiatives.A well thought-out approach in Phase 3 takes the organization into the revival Phase (4) on its own terms, instead of having terms imposed on it by external rivals and agenda. The prudent but nonetheless visionary leadership of Phases 3 and 4 in combination is critical to ensuring the longevity of the non profit. These phases require founders/leaders to review the vision and mission of the organization, and to build succession opportunities into every level of the organization. Through constant review, restructure, and renewal, organizational decline (Phase 5) may be prevented. Avoiding decline and ultimately death (Phase 6) of the organization means that the nonprofit we see at this stage of its life cycle is a vastly different organization to the one with which we began. Founders/leaders able to sustain the non profit through to this final phase will have established the structures and culture needed to take the organization into a newly-created life.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this article is to provide executives and other organizational leaders with a six-stage organizational life cycle and its components at each stage.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This article uses the case study method to show the impact of the organizational life cycle on the founder of a nonprofit organization who over time lost the drive and desire to remain competitive.\nFindings: - Founders and organizational leaders who fail to understand the consequences of not remaining vigilant will cause their organizations to suffer the consequences.\nPractical implications: - Leaders will learn about the issues associated with an organization's life cycle, and will be shown strategies that can be implemented in order to deal with these issues.\nOriginality/value: - This article informs leaders about the importance of learning the steps in the organizational life cycle to help them avoid failure.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Employee training needs and perceived value of training in the Pearl River Delta of China: A human capital development approach
|
[
"Employees",
"Training needs",
"Human capital",
"China",
"International investments"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Human capital development in its context\nResearch questions and research objectives: Given this intimate relationship between training investment, human capital appreciation and productivity predicated by scholarly discourse, what does the reality on the ground look like? Whilst most of the extant knowledge has been derived from and relevant to developed economies, what is the situation in developing economies? How is the human capital infrastructure developed and maintained in developing economies?The People Republic of China's (PRC) economy poses a challenge to any theorist or practitioner in the social sciences, given its unparalleled sustained growth over the past three decades, making it presently the fourth largest economy in the world and projected to become the second largest by 2030 (Lehman Brothers, 2005). Its main growth engine has been the private sector, which runs on market capitalist principles of profits driven private equity and ownership, alongside the state sector, predicated on socialist centralized command economy principles. This mixed economy model has been characterized as Market-Leninism: an \"alliance to both market economics and Leninist political principles\" (Kristof and Wudunn, 1994, p. 431). A key driver of the private sector has been direct foreign investment, either wholly owned subsidiaries or joint ventures. It is these foreign investors' position on human capital development that is the focus of our interest here.To investigate this issue in a real life context we aimed to examine an entire region of the People's Republic of China: the Pearl River Delta (PRD). The PRD covers nine prefectures of the Guangdong Province, namely Guangzhou, Jiangmen, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Dongguan, Zhongshan, Foshan, Huizhou (specifically Huizhou City, Huiyang, Huidong, Boluo), and Zhaoqing (specifically Zhaoqing City, Gaoyao and Sihui), as well as the Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macau. It is the most dynamic economic region of China. Fast growth can be largely attributed to direct investment flowing in from Hong Kong and Taiwan manufacturers since the \"open door\" policy; and European and American continuous foreign investment adding to this growth. The average annual real GDP growth rate of PRD for the period 1990-2002 was 17.4 percent compared to China's overall growth rate of 9.7 percent (www.thegprd.com/about%5Ceconomic.html).We decided to confine the study to investments from one particular origin, as a way of controlling for geo-political variance, namely investments emanating from Hong Kong, which enjoys in the PRC a special administrative status. Hong- Kong companies have a strong presence in the region, with nearly 30,000 firms claiming to have investments in the PRD[1].The following research questions were posited:RQ1. What are the declared knowledge[2] and skill-based training[3] needs of Hong-Kong based firms operating in the PRD?RQ2. What is the preferred mix of training provision to cater for these needs?\nMethod: A mail questionnaire survey was carried out to collect information on employers' views about knowledge and skills training needs.The sample\nFindings: Sample characteristics\nDiscussion: Human capital development and human capital depreciation\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - This paper aims to explore Hong Kong firms' training needs in the Pearl River Delta, a booming region in the fast growing People Republic of China economy, by resorting to a human capital approach. Also, to identify the training policies selected by those firms in order to cater for those needs.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A survey based mail questionnaire was sent to a large sample of Hong Kong firms (mostly SMEs) operating in the Pearl River Delta area. The questionnaire was designed in two parts: the first asked close-ended questions about firm characteristics, knowledge needs of staff and recruitment policies; the other enquired about preferences for study training programs. Results are analyzed employing an Anova and Conjoint Analysis within the context of a human capital framework.\nFindings: - Finds that Hong Kong firms investing in PRD recruit their senior staff from Hong Kong, whereas junior and intermediate level staffs are hired from the Mainland. It also shows that intermediate and senior level staff benefit from most of the training investments, where unskilled are deprived of training altogether.\nPractical implications: - Obtains a practical insight on human capital management policies by foreign investors in fast-growing emerging economies.\nOriginality/value: - Provides an innovative study of an under-researched area in the fastest growing region of the People Republic of China.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Identification of critical points during domestic food preparation: an observational study
|
[
"Diseases",
"Food products",
"Contamination",
"Food safety",
"Microbiology",
"Ireland"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The home is the final control location of food safety hazards. All food business operators are required by law to take responsibility for the safety of the food that they handle (Regulation EC, 178/2002) and use some form of a Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) system, however, HACCP is not appropriate for the home and consumers may handle food as they see fit. In 2007, 22 European Member States and two other European countries submitted information on food-borne outbreaks to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). The most common setting of exposure for verified outbreaks was the private household (37.0 per cent) (EFSA, 2009). However, many consumers do not accept the role of the home in food borne infections (Eurobarometer, 2006; Beumer and Kusumaningrum, 2003). Such failure to accept personal responsibility for food safety, a prerequisite for implementation of appropriate food safety behaviours (Unklesbay et al., 1998) means that they neglect the relatively simple but necessary precautions, to reduce microbiological risks (Redmond and Griffith, 2003a; Hoorens and Harris, 1998).The International Scientific Forum on Home Hygiene's (IFH) approach to intestinal disease prevention is \"targeted hygiene\", which means identifying the routes of transmission of infection in the home and community, and targeting hygiene measures at \"critical points\" (CPs) to break the chain of transmission (IFH, 2009). This paper aims to identify and prioritise CPs in the home kitchen environment during food preparation in order to inform food safety campaigns.It has previously been reported that due to the likelihood of managed responding when questioned about personal food safety practices it is important to carry out observational studies in the domestic environment (Fischer et al., 2006; Redmond and Griffith, 2003b). It is also valuable to use a transdisciplinary team that includes social and natural sciences when researching consumer food safety practices (Nauta et al., 2008; Fischer et al., 2007). This study includes observations during home food preparation and it involves expertise from the fields of food safety, consumer science, microbiology, communications, psychology, sociology and medicine.\n2. Methods: A total of 60 participants were recruited by Amarach (Ballsbridge, Dublin, Ireland), a marketing research agency. A quota control was used so that the participants chosen were representative of main food shoppers in terms of age and gender[1]. The recruited participants were then contacted by post and given instructions regarding the ingredients to purchase for either beef burgers (lean steak mince, iceberg lettuce, tomato, garlic, onion, eggs, flour, burger bun, ground black pepper, salt and olive oil or warm chicken salad (garlic, onions, iceberg lettuce, chicken breast fillets, lemon juice, ground black pepper, salt and olive oil). The participants were later contacted by telephone and arrangements were made for the researcher to visit at a day and time that suited the participant. The participants were reimbursed for the expenses involved in taking part in the study.The meal preparation and cooking was recorded by a webcam. A researcher observed the preparation and cooking and used a checklist to score hygienic performance. The checklist was later verified by two independent researchers, who watched the webcams. Before and after food preparation and cooking, microbiological swabs were taken (as described by Kennedy et al., 2011) from four kitchen areas (sink drainers, taps, work tops, refrigerator handles) and two kitchen utensils (knife blades, chopping boards). After the food preparation, swabs were taken from participants' hands and samples (25 g) were taken of cooked beef burgers, cooked poultry, and accompanying salad vegetables from each dish. Analysis included tests for the presence of total viable counts (TVCs), total coliform counts (TCCs), C. jejuni, E. coli, S. aureus.Swabs and samples were stored below 5oC in plug-in cool boxes, transported to the laboratory, stomached and enriched in Preston Selective Enrichment Broth (SEB) (Oxoid, Basingstoke, UK) and Buffered Peptone Water (BPW) (Oxoid). Then 1 ml aliquots from the stomached swabs was serial diluted to 10-2 dilution were spread plated (100 ml) onto Baird Parker medium (Baird Parker agar base with egg yolk tellurite emulsion, Oxoid), Chromocult coliform agar (Chromocult, Merck, UK) and plate count agar (tryptone glucose yeast agar, Oxoid) in duplicate. All plates incubated at 37oC for 24 to 48 h. Selective enrichment broths were incubated at 37oC for 24 h. Aliquots (100 ml) of SEB were spread plated onto either Preston agar or Chromocult agar in duplicate. Preston agar plates were incubated microaerophilically at 37oC for 48 h, Chromocult plates were incubated for 24 h at 37oC. To confirm, S. aureus were confirmed by indentifying typical colony morphology, namely 2 mm black shiny colony with zone of clearing. Two presumptive colonies per sample were sub-cultured onto nutrient agar (Oxoid) for 24 h at 37oC and confirmed as positive using Staphyloslide latex. All typical growth on Preston agar plates was Gram stained, and tested for presence of Campylobacter spp using Campylobacter latex kit (Oxoid). The TCC was made by enumerating all colonies on Chromocult that showed typical colouration (pink/salmon/blue). E. coli was identified by typical colony colouration on Chromocult (blue). Presumptive colonies were confirmed as E. coli by API 20E.All batches of media passed quality control. Preston SEB, Preston Agar: using wild type Campylobacter (CK4, University College Dublin, Ireland), Chromocult, BPW: using E. coli NCTC 1093, BP: using S. aureus NCTC 8325. The quality control of isolation procedure: Campylobacter (CK4, 108 CFU approx.); E. coli (NCTC 1093, approx 105 CFU) applied to environmental sampling swabs, retained at 4oC for 6 h, then processed as above. Campylobacter and E. coli were both detected on selective agar plates following selective enrichment.A self-reported questionnaire was designed containing questions on level of conscious effort to ensure safe food, importance of correct food handling and preparation practices, perceived risk of food poisoning based on situational vignettes, food safety practices, food safety knowledge, and past-experience of food borne illness as well as socio-demographic information. After preparation and cooking of the food, the participants were given the questionnaire and asked to complete it while the researcher collected swabs from the various sites in the kitchen as well as food and hands.2.1 Data analysis\n3. Results: 3.1 Profile (sex, age and formal education) of the respondents\n4. Discussion: Results from this study show a key deficit in relation not only to food safety knowledge but in relation to safe food practices and importantly, that the two are statistically linked. This is contrary to some studies (Albrecht, 2007; Brennan et al., 2007; Raab et al., 1997; Worsfold and Griffith, 1997; Altekruse et al., 1999) which have reported a disparity between food safety practices and knowledge but similar to others which have found a link (Kennedy, 2011; Kennedy, 2005; Dharod et al., 2004).Participants displayed low levels of food safety knowledge, particularly in relation to identifying the foods that are commonly associated with various bacteria, the most likely site to contract food poisoning, the temperature \"danger zone\" and the correct methods for checking that beef burgers and poultry are cooked thoroughly. Food safety knowledge was associated with food safety behaviours and hand cleanliness. Making a conscious effort to ensure that the food is safe was associated with food safety knowledge, lower levels of micro-organisms in the prepared food and no previous experience of food poisoning.Scores for reported unsafe food behaviour and low scores for observed food safety were also correlated. In an application of the theory of planned behaviour to hygienic food handling behaviour, Mullen and Wong (2009) found that past behaviour/habit was a strong predictor of behaviour and, similarly to this study in relation to the importance of food safety, attitudes towards hygienic food preparation were seen to be positive, though not predictive of behaviour.Those who reported making a conscious effort to ensure that the food they eat is safe, were more likely to have cooked and prepared microbiologically safer food and they were also more likely to have never suffered from food poisoning than those who reported not making a conscious effort. Reported \"frequent\" engagement in unsafe food practices was associated with men, those who have suffered from food poisoning in the past, those who have been ill from drinking contaminated water in the past and those who attributed lower levels of importance to safe food behaviour in the prevention of food poisoning.Overall, a high level of importance was attributed to various food safety practices in the prevention of food poisoning by participants and the results show that higher levels of importance were associated with gender (female). Although a high level of perceived risk was reported in relation to situational vignettes, this perceived risk was often related to the importance of food safety practices but was not related to higher levels of observed food safety behaviour, nor was a high level of importance attributed to food safety in the prevention of food poisoning seen to be related to higher levels of observed safe food behaviour.Nearly all participants reported always doing their own cooking and food shopping, meaning they play a key role in the control of domestic food hazards and the prevention of food borne illness. No participants reported that their home was the source of a food borne illness that they had experienced but almost a quarter reported that the 'home' is the most likely source of food borne illness. Most participants also perceived that their cooking skills were good and many participants reported rarely engaging in unsafe food practices last month. Redmond and Griffith (2004) have commented on the advent of optimistic bias and the illusion of control in relation to the perceived risk of contracting food poisoning insofar as these judgements are likely to contribute to the ongoing implementation of unsafe food-handling behaviours, which are associated with microbial risk during domestic food preparation. It has also been suggested that it is this low level of perceived personal risk associated with food produced in the home that constitutes an important barrier to consumers taking appropriate steps to reducing their own exposure to food-related hazards (Redmond and Griffith, 2004; Frewer et al., 1995).It was possible using the results of this study to identify the CPs. A hierarchy of CPs for the domestic kitchen environment was created by taking into account the stage in the domestic food preparation chain that the hazard was present and also the frequency of the unsafe practice (as determined by the observations checklist) and severity of the hazard (as determined by the microbiological results).4.1 CP1: cooking\n5. Conclusion: The identified CPs offer a clear framework for the development of a food safety awareness campaigns which should ultimately aim to reduce the frequency and severity of the unsafe practices. As poor food safety behaviour has been statistically linked with poor food safety knowledge, enhancement of consumer food safety knowledge of these critical elements should underpin such campaigns. These campaigns should include information on how to reduce the likelihood of pathogens entering the domestic kitchen and controlling the spread of pathogens when they are introduced. It is important that all domestic food handlers are appropriately informed of both the risk associated with unsafe food safety practices and are competent in the employment of simple measures to effectively control domestic food hazards.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The International Scientific Forum on Home Hygiene's (IFH) approach to infectious disease prevention is \"targeted hygiene\", which means identifying the routes of transmission of infection in the home and community, and targeting hygiene measures at \"critical points\" (CPs) to break the chain of transmission. This paper aims to identify and prioritise CPs in the home kitchen environment during food preparation in order to inform food safety campaigns.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This study involved: filming participants (n=60) while they prepared a meal according to a specified recipe (30 beef/salad burgers and 30 chicken salads); swabbing key potential contamination sites in the participant's kitchen for microbiological testing; sampling the meat and salad components of the cooked meal for microbiological testing; visual inspection and temperature check of the meat after cooking; and administering a survey of knowledge, attitudes and demographic factors.\nFindings: - This study has identified the critical points (CPs) during domestic food preparation as: CP1: correct cooking practices; CP2: prevention of cross-contamination; and CP3: correct food storage practices. Statistically significant links were found between food safety knowledge and behaviour as well as between food safety attitudes and demographic factors.\nOriginality/value: - This is the first study to link all aspects of observed consumer food safety practices in the home to food safety knowledge, attitudes, perceptions, psychosocial and demographic factors to identify these CPs.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
A consumer behavioural approach to food waste
|
[
"Consumer behaviour",
"Structural equation modelling",
"Food waste"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: A country is considered food secure when all its people at all times have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that is in line with their dietary needs and food preferences (FAO, 2006). Food waste is a global and complex problem that affects each of the three pillars of sustainable development: environment, economic and social (FAO, 2013). Food loss is defined as the decrease in quantity or quality of food, whereas food waste is the removal from the food supply chain of food which is fit for consumption, or which has spoiled or expired mainly due to economic behaviour, poor stock management, or neglect (FAO, 2014). The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations estimates that around one-third of the edible parts of the food produced for human consumption in the world gets lost or wasted globally, which corresponds to about 1.3bn tons of food per year (Gustavsson et al., 2011). Food loss and food waste are closely associated with food security as reducing it will help feed more people, alleviate the pressure on natural resources, and mitigate the negative impact on environment from greenhouse gas emissions of food chain operations and loss of biodiversity due to agricultural activities.\nLiterature review: The food being wasted cannot be defined through any single behaviour, but rather through a combination of multiple behaviours that can increase or decrease the likelihood of food being wasted. Food waste at the consumer end has the greatest economic, social and environmental impacts because of its value-added lost, the opportunity cost of not feeding other people who might be living in hunger, and the loss of natural resources, biodiversity and other resources such as labour and energy. To reduce food waste, we need to understand the factors associated with food waste behaviour.\nMethods: The TPB provides a theoretical framework that is commonly used to explain behaviour systematically (Ajzen, 1991). Our research model is an application of the TPB (personal attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control, intentions, behaviour), with six contextual factors identified through our extensive literature review and empirical work in Qatar: food choice motives, financial attitudes, planning routines, social relationships, food surplus and Ramadan (Aktas et al., 2017).\nResults and research synthesis: In total, 305 responses were collected from the survey. We applied a location filter to focus on the responses from Qatar. The reason for having responses from outside Qatar is the fact that the survey link was shared on the SAFE-Q project blog, which is open to public (https://blogs-commons-georgetown-edu.pitt.idm.oclc.org/safeq/). After the location filter, the sample comprises 277 responses. We used mean replacement to treat the missing values in the 39 indicators of the model. Mean replacement has the benefit of not altering the sample size and also the mean value of variables in the sample does not change (Hair et al., 2017).\nImpact: A total of 2.6m people live in Qatar (MDPS, 2018). The annual population growth of 2.87 per cent (World Bank, 2017) places Qatar above the average population growth in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries in the region. This increasing population, and the food provision depending on imports that comprise more than 90 per cent of the food consumed in Qatar, make food security a top priority for policy makers (Almohamadi, 2017).\nConclusion: Concerns around food security and its close connection to physical resources like arable land, lakes, and seas, prompt a rethink regarding food waste, and specifically regarding where and how it occurs throughout food chains (Irani et al., 2018). In this paper, we focussed on consumer-generated food waste and investigated how consumers' food waste behaviour can be explained using the TPB as a theoretical lens together with contextual factors we identified in the literature and the SAFE-Q project. We identified food choice motives, financial attitudes, planning routines, social relationships, food surplus and Ramadan as the contextual factors that help explain the food waste behaviour beyond the TPB.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Food waste occurs in every stage of the supply chain, but the value-added lost to waste is the highest when consumers waste food. The purpose of this paper is to understand the food waste behaviour of consumers to support policies for minimising food waste.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Using the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) as a theoretical lens, the authors design a questionnaire that incorporates contextual factors to explain food waste behaviour. The authors test two models: base (four constructs of TPB) and extended (four constructs of TPB plus six contextual factors). The authors build partial least squares structural equation models to test the hypotheses.\nFindings: The data confirm significant relationships between food waste and contextual factors such as motives, financial attitudes, planning routines, food surplus, social relationships and Ramadan.\nResearch limitations/implications: The data comes from an agriculturally resource-constrained country: Qatar.\nPractical implications: Food waste originating from various causes means more food should flow through the supply chains to reach consumers' homes. Contextual factors identified in this work increase the explanatory power of the base model by 75 per cent.\nSocial implications: Changing eating habits during certain periods of the year and food surplus have a strong impact on food waste behaviour.\nOriginality/value: A country is considered to be food secure if it can provide its citizens with stable access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food. The findings and conclusions inform and impact upon the development of food waste and food security policies.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Venture waqf in a circular economy
|
[
"Waqf",
"Circular economy",
"Venture philanthropy",
"Zero-waste economy",
"Equity-at-default"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Waqf is an endowment for a good purpose and is sanctioned by the Shari'ah (Islamic law). It has played a pivotal role in Islamic civilization and Muslim societies as recorded in the voluminous historical literature. Over the past three decades, a vast contemporary intellectual effort has emerged, and significant policy-driven institutional efforts have been made all over the world to reinvigorate this important institution of the Islamic economy. There are numerous practical initiatives ongoing worldwide to harness the power of waqf for multidimensional human development. In different jurisdictions, these initiatives are registered under waqf, endowment, trust, or charity laws. In a recently released joint study by Bank Indonesia (BI), Indonesian Waqf Board (BWI) and Islamic Research and Training Institute (IRTI)-Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) (2018), Jeddah, the challenges, principles, and rules of good governance of waqf are set. It is understood from these guidelines that waqf can be established by a God-fearing Muslim philanthropist for any good purpose that can please Him. This, in the author's view, includes the new purpose of waqf that is focused on in this paper, namely, to make impactful businesses successful.\nThe Islamic vision of entrepreneurship and the ideals of zero-waste economies: This paper is based on our understanding of the existence of two competing paradigms about human motivation and behaviour as evident from several Qur`anic verses:\nEcological balance (mizan): The Qur`an has numerous references to the balance in the creation of the universe and its living species and the life-sustaining qualities of water, air, and energy. It further points out the calamities and disasters that occur because of irresponsible human behaviour:\nSearching for a compassionate paradigm: Ecology, as it appears in the Qur`an, is referred to in the previous section. This section deduces an economic paradigm from the previous sections.\nPoverty as a state of mind: Continuing on the previous sections, which have set basic parameters for multidimensional development, in this section, it is argued that poverty is a state of mind and that we need to get rid of it by recognition, determination, enterprising mindset, and focused action. However, the development of sustainable small businesses also requires multidimensional efforts by different stakeholders. Let us cite here a hadith of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) narrated by Anas ibn Malik:\nBlending compassion and the profit motive: The previous sections outlined the parameters of a new economic paradigm based on compassion, avoiding waste and caring for the environment, future generations, and other species. This section discusses the institutional framework that is required for a transition from the current linear economic paradigm driven by waste and greed to the more compassionate circular economy paradigm.\nConclusion: Venture waqf opens a potential new direction in the transformative role that waqf can play for internalizing compassion in financial contracting and in developing an Islamic vision of entrepreneurship for achieving a waste-free halal market economy. Blending compassion with the profit motive are inherent ideals of Islamic economics and finance; but under the influence of the dominant waste-driven economic and financial system, it has been pushed to the side. VW and EaD could potentially reform the financial architecture in a significant way. Lending on the one end and collaterals and foreclosures on the other end are the two pillars of the current financial architecture. EaD blends compassion with responsible profit motives and offers prospects to reform both pillars of the architecture.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This paper aims to enhance the impact of incorporated waqf institutions by blending their resources to promote responsible small businesses that are inclusive of human development, service to society and preservation of ecological environment and other species. This is expected to shift the paradigm of businesses from the current waste-oriented linear economy to ideally a zero-waste circular economy.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This is an analytical study building on the experience of European Venture Philanthropy Organizations (VPOs) that work with the primary objective of making impactful businesses successful, with capital protection and return on investment being of secondary concern. This paper suggests an incorporated institutional design that blends resources for promoting responsible businesses using a new hybrid financial mechanism, namely, equity-at-default (EaD) to replace collateral and foreclosure requirements with responsibility and compassion.\nFindings: The research calls for changing the business paradigm from linear to circular, an incorporated institutional framework for venture waqf, purpose of the waqf to make impactful small businesses successful and designing a financial contract to loan in favor of responsible businesses that convert to equity stake for the waqf in case of default (EaD) replacing collateral and foreclosure requirements.\nResearch limitations/implications: This is a theoretical study motivated by the success of VPOs but assigns a new role to waqf institutions. Furthermore, the incorporated nature of waqf is a new idea and EaD is a new mechanism. Being new, these ideas have the risk of not being implemented. However, the broader message that waqf shall promote businesses that are inclusive of ecological concerns is generally applicable.\nPractical implications: The paper has a significant practical implication to transform the responsibility and consciousness of businesses. Waqf is fundamentally a compassionate institution, and it must enhance the responsibility of businesses to become more inclusive of the environment and other species. It should also become more compassionate toward businesses that are in distress and default. In this sense, the paper tries to internalize compassion in financial contracting that can potentially change the architecture of lending.\nSocial implications: Altering businesses' mindset from a waste-driven extractive linear economy to inclusive circular economy has a tremendous transformative role. This will have implications for enhancing business consciousness and responsibility. As poverty is a phenomenon of state of mind, changing the society's state of thought in Muslim communities is expected to have basic positive implications. Entrepreneurs with a new mindset can have far-reaching positive impacts on the society.\nOriginality/value: The paper offers potentially innovative perspectives in four key areas and blends the different resources in an incorporated waqf that makes responsible entrepreneurs assume a partnership role in times of distress through EaD. Furthermore, the integration of compassion in financial contracting could have better implications for return on investment as well. The ideal state of an economy is where waste is turned into wealth and well-being is something that all policymakers must keep on the top of their agendas.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Management control systems and organizational development: New directions for managing work teams
|
[
"Team management",
"Decision making",
"Control",
"Organizational development",
"Behaviour modification",
"Innovation"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Recently, the behavioral accounting literature has addressed the need for new research directions that incorporate organizational development (OD) process and structural intervention strategies to study the management control systems of teams in organizations. The call for change has been largely caused by the need to improve the functional performance abilities of management accounting systems to respond effectively to environmental changes. Recently, the advent of growth in international competition has given prominence to the importance of cost as a competitive tool and the need to undertake changes in organizational structures and systems. The emergence of new organizational structures and processes, the need to cut costs and change the cost structures associated with production and sales, brought forward the importance of teams in managing organizations. Moreover, organizational growth through acquisition and diversification strategies, coupled with technology and structural changes, has increased the demand for teams to coordinate activities.This paper applies organizational systems perspectives to discuss the new directions and relationships that have emerged between management control systems and organizational change and development strategies on managing work teams. It examines the effect of managerial power relations, cultural process and structural change intervention strategies on the formation, i.e. size and composition, and operational activities, i.e. functions and assignment of tasks, of teams. The three types of organizational development and management control relations that affect the operating performance of teams are:1. normative;2. coercive; and3. remunerative-instrumental (utilitarian).\nWork teams: definitions: In the OD literature, work teams are defined as having members who are drawn from several departments or possessing different functional areas of specialization, for example accounting, finance, marketing, production or organizational expertise. Hollenbeck et al. (1998) have identified three team attributes that are important in team decision-making processes. First, teams are highly interdependent, and members collaborate to share information and specific tasks relevant to accomplish their work objectives. Teams select leaders who can manage and lead, and take initiative in innovations and problem solving. Second, team members share \"a common goal and a common fate\", where they are held accountable and responsible for their performance outcome. Third, there is interaction, influence and feedback among team members, which yields better team performance results (p. 269).There is substantial research in the management accounting literature relating performance feedback and economic incentives of teams to performance outcome and accountability (see Birnberg, 1998; Drake et al., 1999; Evans, 1998). However, it needs to be noted that there are cultural, social and power-political control issues that affect the formation and the effective functioning of teams in organizations (Kirkman and Shapiro, 1997). When management control systems are viewed as OD-oriented strategies, the functions of control systems become systemic, purposive, and are able to institutionalize cultural norms for managing teams. Accordingly, systems analysis is used to show that the synergetic effect between OD and management control systems brings new directions in the implementation of organizational control mechanisms to manage teams effectively.\nSystems approach to organizational change and development: An overview of systems theory\nSystems intervention strategies: process versus structural intervention: The systems approach suggests that organizations simultaneously pursue both process and structural intervention strategies to create desired changes in work team functions. Process and structural interventions thus affect management control systems and the operational performance of work teams in organizations.Process intervention\nPower, management control and compliance systems: The subject of power and control has been of interest to sociologists, behavioral accountants and OD researchers. In general, the study of power and control in organizations has varied depending on the theoretical approaches - i.e. structural-functional (SF), radical structuralism, conflict-pluralistic or interpretive - and definitions of power (see Burrell and Morgan, 1979). However, the common thread among these perspectives is that power involves a relative relationship where an actor has the ability to influence another actor to carry out his/her directives. Power creates dependency and imbalanced relationships, which can affect social exchange mechanisms in networks or work group teams (Sisaye, 1997). Managers who are in power use rewards (physical, material or symbolic) and punishment (deprivation) to secure employee compliance with organizational goals. Subordinate orientation to compliance can be either positive (commitment) or negative (alienative) (Etzioni, 1980, pp. 87-8).Second, these approaches have stressed that the basis of power, whether at the individual, group or organizational level, can influence the extent to which leadership and management can secure employee compliance. To this effect, Etzioni (1961, 1964) has identified three bases of power control:1. normative;2. coercive; and3. utilitarian (remunerative-instrumental)He has also identified three associated forms of compliance:1. moral under normative power;2. alienative when coercive power is used; and3. calculative in remunerative power (see also Etzioni, 1980, pp. 87-100).A discussion of these three types of control system now provides the context within which OD and management control systems impact the operating activities of work teams.Normative power and control\nA process view of culture and organizational power control: The systems approach defines organizations as having cultures. Over time, as organizations become increasingly complex and institutionalized, they develop their own cultural identity, norms, and values (Baligh, 1994; Hatch, 1993).Organizational culture: definition\nConclusion - a cultural systems view of management control innovation: the shift from individual to team-based management control systems: The systems approach to organizational change, power relationships and management control systems have been rooted in the principles of OD's process and structural intervention strategies. OD has been viewed by Porras and Silvers (1991) as a change program designed to create a \"better fit between the organization's capabilities and its current environmental demands, or promoting changes that help the organization to better fit predicted future environments: \"OD concentrates on work-setting changes that help an organization adapt to its external environments\". It focuses on \"planned change\" approaches that emphasize \"change in individual employees' cognitions as well as behaviors\" (p. 54). Accordingly, OD has focused on management control issues of individual and group processes as well as structural arrangements and reward systems.The cultural intervention approach of OD has been popular in continuous improvement programs of total quality management (TQM), where bottom-up participation and the use of change leaders (quality circles) and teams have been advocated for production and quality improvement programs (Sisaye and Bodnar, 1995). OD's structural change approach has advocated simultaneous changes in all organizational control systems. Many organizations have implemented new or emerging management control techniques that emphasize group/team control structures such as TQM and business process reengineering (BPR) and accounting control systems such as activity-based costing (ABC). TQM, BPR and ABC are implemented to support more flexible organizational structures and systems to manage teams and process innovation changes (Sisaye, 2001, 2003).These organizational control techniques have shifted the basis of management control systems from meeting separate, individually based budgetary goals to a team based performance measures that are dependent on the achievement of organization wide goals. Performance and compensation packages are now being increasingly tied to team-based performance goals. These environmental-induced changes in management control systems have led to profound cultural changes. It has changed the administrative control mechanisms philosophy of the conventional model of management accounting systems, which has been based on the principles of instrumental-remunerative and coercive control. The traditional approach has stressed individual control, centered on principal agent (management-subordinate) relationships, hierarchy of authority, chain of command, and bureaucratic control. However, these mechanistic approaches are currently being substituted or replaced by organic-based processes and structures of team-based control systems. Accordingly, team-based management controls are being used in manufacturing organizations to monitor production quality and cost control, manage incentive systems, design and implement process innovation changes in management accounting systems such as ABC. These recent new directions in management control systems and OD's process and structural intervention strategies have transformed management accounting control systems such as ABC as the new administrative control innovations mechanisms for managing teams' performance and activities in industrial organizations.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - Aims to apply organizational systems perspectives to discuss the three types of organizational development (OD) and management control systems (MCS): normative, coercive and remunerative-instrumental (utilitarian) that affect the operating performance of teams.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper examines the effect that managerial power relations, cultural process and structural change intervention of these three types of control systems have on the formation (size, composition, and strategies), and operational activities (functions and assignment of tasks) of teams. The paper uses library archives research to study OD, MCS and teams. It has applied an organizational systems perspective that examines the effects of OD and MCS on teams' management.\nFindings: - Recent new directions in management control systems and OD process and structural intervention strategies have transformed management accounting control systems as the new administrative control innovations mechanisms for managing teams' performance and activities in industrial organizations. Accordingly, the traditional mechanistic control approach has been substituted or replaced by organic-based processes and structures of team-based control systems.\nPractical implications: - In organizations, the management of teams is multi-dimensional, involving the simultaneous use of normative, remunerative and coercive control mechanisms. The paper advances the views that the effectiveness of team management in organizations is contingent upon several structural and process factors including the mix of these three types of compliance systems and the form of organizational setting, i.e. manufacturing or professional organizations.\nOriginality/value: - In the management control literature, the management of teams has centered on normative or remunerative or coercive control systems. This paper shows that OD's cultural process and structural intervention strategies provide new directions to address these three types of management control system for teams in industrial organizations.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
The futile fight against (human) nature: A public choice analysis of the US Army Corps of Engineers - special focus on Hurricane Katrina
|
[
"Centralized control",
"United States of America",
"Disasters",
"Floods"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: The Military Engineers have taken upon their shoulders the job of making the Mississippi over again - a job transcended in size only by the original job of creating it Mark Twain, 1882.\n1 Introduction: a brief history of the Mississippi river problem: Throughout the nineteenth century and into the early twentieth century the Mississippi river was a topic of great interest to engineers, politicians and economists alike. The Mississippi river problem, as the topic was generally called, was broad enough to encompass concerns about the navigability of the river, flood protection, political and financial responsibility and so forth and so on. Here, we are concerned with the aspects of the problem that impacted the decision to transfer control of the Mississippi river to the federal government. Specifically, the problems concerning the protection of the Mississippi river valley from frequent flooding and the technical problems of shipping along the river (Cowdrey, 1977, p. 15).In some ways, these two problems tended to work against each other with the solution for one tending to exacerbate the other. With flood protection in the hands of local governments levees tended to be the chosen method. The problem with levees for river navigation concerned the sediment that the river carries. In its natural state the river floods its banks periodically, depositing sediment on the land around it. With levees stopping flooding the sediment was not dumped and was deposited on the bed of the river instead. This caused the formation of sandbars and shallow places in the river that made navigation difficult and restricted the volume of goods that could be carried by ships up the river (Barry, 1997, pp. 40-2).Navigational concerns were used as the first justification for federal involvement in the operations of the Mississippi river. In 1879, the Mississippi River Commission was formed as an advisory body to help solve the problems hindering navigation along the river. In its original mandate, the Mississippi River Commission was specifically prohibited from dealing with the flood issue at all. Any federal funds that were allocated to the commission or to local governments for construction on the levees were to be used only for navigational purposes (Cowdrey, 1977, p. 25). This lasted until 1928 when Coolidge signed into effect a flood control act that transferred complete control and fiscal responsibility to the federal government (Barry, 1997, pp. 406-7).The official reasons that were used to justify the federal control of the Mississippi river flood protection were:* river trade is a public good and it cannot exist without the support of the people who live along the river;* \"the levee system is only as good as its weakest link\" and all districts could not afford the costs of building levees high enough to withstand the biggest floods; and* the technical nature of the task required a single actor in order to insure that \"local considerations\" did not hinder the ability of engineers to accomplish it (Delano, 1928; Haupt, 1904; Jadwin, 1928; Morgan, 1928).However, those in favor of centralized control failed to anticipate the problems that human nature would cause.A public choice analysis of bureaucracy points to several reasons why the centralized control of flood protection along the Mississippi river may have unintended consequences. Specifically, the US Army Corps of Engineers faces inherent difficulties because of its existence as a bureaucracy: over-confidence in science over experience, information distortions and coordination problems. These difficulties, in light of the Hurricane Katrina disaster, should encourage questions concerning the bureaucratic management of flood protection.This paper will proceed as follows. Section 2 will examine efficiency arguments for centralized control and Section 3 will examine the potential for government failure. Section 4 will analyze the disaster of Hurricane Katrina with these problems in mind. Section 5 will conclude.\n2 Efficiency matters: Matters of public policy should be decided on the grounds of what is the most effective. However, there is often little ability to make a definitive judgment on whether an alternative policy would have produced better results. However, we can examine the arguments for various types of flood control in terms of economic efficiency. In this section, we will examine the arguments that economic efficiency makes for and against centralized control of flood management.2.1 Efficiency of centralization\n3 Government failure: Even if economic efficiency were to argue for centralized control another dimension of the problem must be taken into account before such a course can be recommended. That is the apparatus in place to carry out governmental decisions; bureaucracy. The problems with bureaucratic decision making are well known. However, any task that is completed through collective action as opposed to individual private action must involve this institutional structure. The particular problems of bureaucracies that are cause for concern in flood management are: over confidence in science at the expense of experience, information distortion and inability to coordinate complex tasks.3.1 \"Faith\" in science\n4 Hurricane Katrina: a case study[7]: Hurricane Katrina was a unique storm in many ways. To begin with, despite its location, New Orleans had only been hit by a few major storms in the twentieth century. It has been flooded only a few more times, the most notable of those being Betsy in 1965 (IPET 1: 25). Although Katrina was only a Category 3 when it made landfall, the storm surge and waves were the largest to strike North America in recorded history (1: 32). In light of the unprecedented intensity of this storm it is not surprising that portions of the Hurricane Protection System (HPS) failed to perform as designed.Hurricane Katrina devastated the HPS. There were over 50 major breaches of which four were caused by foundation failures with the rest being a result of overtopping and resulting scour (1: 41). This resulted in almost 80 percent of the New Orleans metropolitan area to be inundated and to remain so for 53 days (1:48). It is estimated that if there had been no breaches and the pumps had been working the damage would have been about one third of the actual damages (1: 51). The fact that levees and floodwalls were breached is not in itself a failure of the US Army Corps of Engineers as a bureaucracy qua bureaucracy. However, it appears that several of the reasons for the breaches can be attributed to problems that inherently characterize centralized bureaucratic control.The immediate cause of the breaches was overtopping, water levels reaching over the height of the levees, in most cases. Only four of the 50 breaches were the result of foundation failure. In the case of those levees that breached due to overtopping, as the waves crested over the levees the pressure created extreme velocities on the unprotected side of the levees. This scoured the back of the levee effectively undermining it from the protected side. The four floodwalls that breached due to foundation failure all experienced wall deflection, the pressure from the water was able to push the wall over slightly. This opened cracks at the foundation, which allowed water to scour the levee from underneath (1:41-46).The ultimate reasons for these breaches span the entire planning and building of the HPS. Furthermore, many of the mistakes that were made can be attributed to characteristics inherent to centralized bureaucratic agencies. Specifically, problems due to the over-confidence in scientific theory, information distortions and coordination difficulties are evident during the entire process.4.1 \"Faith\" in science\n5 Conclusion: While it is impossible to guess how a local or decentralized flood management scheme would have performed over the last 75 years, the arguments in this paper suggest that the previous belief in centralization was unfounded. The problems characterized by bureaucratic management, over-confidence in scientific theory, information distortion and lack of coordination, will be evident whenever a good is provided through political or collective means. The one thing that should be put into focus with the advent of Hurricane Katrina is that the devastation of 2005 will not be the last great flood. Just as the flood of 1913 was not or that of 1927, or 1973 or 1993 if the provision of flood protection remains in the hands of an enormous federal government bureaucracy. History has not shown the US Army Corps of Engineers to be particularly successful at preventing disaster. Perhaps, it is time we consider other options.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The paper aims to discuss bureaucratic management, over-confidence in scientific theory, information distortion and lack of coordination with particular focus on the post-Hurricane Katrina situation.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper examines efficiency arguments for centralized control and the potential for government failure. It also analyzes the disaster of Hurricane Katrina with these problems in mind.\nFindings: - The Flood Act of 1928 officially transferred the responsibility of flood protection along the Mississippi River to the federal government. While it is true that local provision failed to eliminate the problem of flooding, the problems caused by federal provision have not been fully appreciated. The specific characteristics of flood protection as well as the general problems caused by bureaucratic management and the absence of market mechanisms suggest that local provision of flood protection is a more efficient solution.\nOriginality/value: - The arguments in this paper suggest that, the previous belief in centralized flood management was unfounded.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Improving sentiment scoring mechanism: a case study on airline services
|
[
"Social media",
"Sentiment analysis",
"Text mining",
"Airline services",
"Scoring mechanism"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Sentiment analysis is an area of research that is interested in decrypting unstructured data for the purpose of establishing the attitude of an author with respect to a subject matter (Liu, 2012). The interest in extracting information from amorphous data has seen the field of sentiment analysis expand from customer reviews (Bagheri et al., 2013; Gupta et al., 2015; Maharani et al., 2015), electoral and political analysis (Adedoyin-Olowe et al., 2016; Delmonte et al., 2013; Smailovic et al., 2015), disaster management (Li et al., 2016; Neppalli et al., 2017; Vo and Collier, 2013) to epidemic breakouts (Almazidy et al., 2016; Missier et al., 2017; Sun et al., 2015). Similarly, the aviation industry recognizes the impact of social media in improving not only the airline brand awareness but also customer loyalty and recognition (Li, 2017; Yee Liau and Pei Tan, 2014).\n2. Literature review: Medhat et al. (2014) identified two techniques when it comes to lexicon-based approach for sentiment analysis, namely, corpus based and dictionary based (Figure 1). The polarity value in corpus-based approach is calculated with reference to the co-occurrences of the phrase with other positive or negative seed words in the corpus, and is either statistically or semantically computed. The dictionary-based approach, however, employs predeveloped polarity lexicons such as SentiWordNet, WordNet, SentiStrength, etc. (Agarwal and Mittal, 2016). This paper focuses on adopting the dictionary-based approach, particularly manual lexicon creation.\n3. Sentiment Intensity Calculator (Senti-Cal): SentI-Cal adopts basic calculations from SO-CAL such as intensification, capitalization and negation. The enhancement comes in the inclusion of letter repetition which ultimately influences the overall sentiment strength (Brody and Diakopoulos, 2011; Gezici et al., 2012; Song et al., 2012). Figure 3 illustrates the phases involved in developing the core scoring mechanism in SentI-Cal.\n4. Case study on airlines X and Y: Ford et al. (2015) stressed the success of a business is heavily dependent on a well-designed customer service program that not only enhances customer satisfaction but also customer retention which ultimately provides the needed edge to stay above competition. These issues are particularly important to the airline industry that relies on customer loyalty (Simone Guercini et al., 2014; Yee Liau and Pei Tan, 2014).\n5. Evaluation metrics: The standard evaluation metrics known as accuracy, precision, recall and F1-measure (Ghorbel and Jacot, 2011; Kaya et al., 2012; Trinh et al., 2016) were applied in evaluating SentI-Cal. Total number of cleaned data (Table I) for both airlines was analyzed using SentI-Cal and SO-CAL. Next, 300 randomly selected posts from the pool of 14, 480 cleaned posts were selected to be verified by three linguistic experts. The experts manually analyzed each post and labeled them as positive, negative or neutral. Once the feedback was received from the experts, the results were tallied according to the majority count. For example, if there was a conflict on the label (positive, negative and neutral), the final result was taken based on the common label among the three. This pool of 300 was then used as training data for SentI-Cal evaluation performance based on the evaluation metrics discussed in the following section.\n6. Results and discussion: The results of this study are divided into a few parts. The first portion looks into SentI-Cal performance evaluation followed by airline X vs airline Y polarity results. Facebook posts were classified with respect to customer service, price, pre-flight, facility and others. Results are presented in a graphical form to showcase the sentiment score of each category. The polarity range for the sentiment is between +5 to -5 where the strength of the sentiment is indicated by a higher number (+3 is more positive compared to +1). For posts that bear no sentiment, a 0 score is assigned.\n7. Conclusion, limitation and future works: The objective of this study was to develop an enhanced version of sentiment scoring mechanism focusing on letter repetition. Inclusion of letter repetition is crucial because a large portion of social media data is plagued with letter repetition in order to express their sentiment (Ghorbel and Jacot, 2011; Nobata et al., 2016). The proposed SentI-Cal leveraged on this area and identified words that contained letter repetition and assigned sentiment scored based on the length of the alphabet that was repeated. Two methods were employed to analyze the repeated letter, namely, looping and stemming. The looping method focused on analyzing letter repetition that only belongs to one type of repetition while stemming included letter repetition that belonged to two or more types (Taboada et al., 2011). Results from testing the proposed SentI-Cal against SO-CAL showed a significant improvement in sentiment score thus confirming the proposed mechanism was able to classify sentiments more accurately compared to SO-CAL. Furthermore, the result substantiates the importance of including letter repetition in determining a final sentiment score as each repetition contributes toward sentiment strength (Brody and Diakopoulos, 2011; Ghorbel and Jacot, 2011; Nobata et al., 2016).\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of including letter repetition commonly found within social media text and its impact in determining the sentiment scores for two major airlines in Malaysia.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A Sentiment Intensity Calculator (SentI-Cal) was developed by assigning individual weights to each letter repetition, and tested it using data collected from official Facebook pages of the airlines.\nFindings: Evaluation metrics indicate that SentI-Cal outperforms the baseline tool Semantic Orientation Calculator (SO-CAL), with an accuracy of 90.7 percent compared to 58.33 percent for SO-CAL.\nPractical implications: A more accurate sentiment score allows airline services to easily obtain a better understanding of the sentiments of their customers, hence providing opportunities in improving their airline services.\nOriginality/value: Proposed mechanism calculates sentiment intensity of social media text by assigning individual weightage to each repeated letter and exclamation mark thus producing a more accurate sentiment score.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
To examine the relationships between supplier development practices and supplier-buyer relationship practices from the supplier's perspective
|
[
"Supplier development",
"Competitive advantages",
"Buyer-supplier relationship"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Increasing competition forces buyers towards making their supplier base more innovative and leading towards new technology adaption (TAD) for being competitive. For being competitive in market, the supplier base of a buyer should be self-efficient, and this can be achieved through implementation of supplier development practices (SDPs). Buyers may face a risk of supplier switching over or technology leak from suppliers during or after the development stage, so it is necessary that there should be support and trust in the relationship between the buyer and the supplier for achieving competitive advantage (CA) and minimizing such a risk (Sako, 2004; Sanchez-Rodriguez et al., 2005; Nyaga et al., 2010). Firms have begun to realize that improving performance and efficiencies within the organization is not enough to be competitive in the market; developing supplier base continuously is also required to achieve it (Monczka et al., 1998; Li et al., 2007; Choi and Wu, 2009; Prior, 2012). Traditional approaches within an enterprise have been limited for being competitive in quality and cost due to increasing competition. Emerging ways of SDPs along with cooperation with suppliers can make buyers more efficient and thus enable them to purchase the goods at lower prices; moreover, they also enable the buyers to look at their core competencies to remain competitive (Lau, 2011; Routroy and Pradhan, 2014). More focus of these efforts for SDPs is towards supplier performance, buyer-supplier relationship improvement (BSRI) and CAs (Li et al., 2007). Nowadays, not only SDPs but also supplier-buyer relationships from the supplier's perspective are becoming critical success factors for supply chain performance (Krause et al., 1998, 2000; Aslan et al., 2011; Lee et al., 2013).\n2. Literature review: SDPs are emerging as a feasible solution for buyers, as it is not possible for a buyer to search for a new supplier every time and to manufacture product in-house. Buyers should make a proper evaluation of their suppliers by doing frequent visits, and if some issues come up, then they should provide the required training or help to improve respective suppliers (Wagner, 2006). Indirect/short-term supplier development improves suppliers' product and delivery performance, whereas direct/long-term supplier development improves supplier capabilities (Wagner, 2010, 2011; Aslan et al., 2011). Supplier development is becoming crucial for buyers in improving the supplier performance and the organization performance. It is necessary to make the supply chain both responsive and efficient, which can be achieved through supplier development (Wen-li et al., 2003; Routroy and Pradhan, 2013; Rosell et al., 2014).\n3. Research framework and hypotheses: This section summarizes the theoretical framework (Figure 1) and hypotheses. Work is classified into six parts: drivers for SDPs, SDPs, BSRPs, BSRI, CAs and profitability (PR). Drivers include productive measure (PM), competitive pressure (CP) and customer uncertainty (CU). SDPs include SE, TE, EC, AS, TMS, JA and rewards (RE). BSRPs include trust (TR), LTC and supplier perspective for buyer supplier relationship (SPBSR). CA includes operational effectiveness (OE), innovation (INV), TAD and RIM. Framework ends with profitability, which can be achieved through CAs under the condition of BSRI. BSRI can be achieved by SDPs and BSRPs together. Drivers, BSRI and profitability are the first-order construct, and SDPs, BSRPs and CAs are the second-order construct. For the current study, the following seven hypotheses are quoted:\n4. Research methodology: Research methodology is a crucial part in research which facilitates researchers in achieving the objectives. This study consists of three phases: item generation, pilot study and large-scale data analysis.\n5. Mediation and group effect testing: 5.1 Hypotheses testing for mediation effect\n6. Conclusion: The purpose of this paper was to identify the factors for SDPs and BSRPs, and their link with BSRI for achieving CAs (CS) leading to profitability (PR). It was necessary to identify the drivers responsible for SDPs. It is found that two drivers, namely PMs (e.g., quality, cost, rejection rate and engineering level) and CP of rivals, were found to be significant which are forcing the buyer towards SDPs. Another driver, CU, is not found to be significant for SDPs.\n7. Managerial implications: Outsourcing is becoming necessary for a buyer as it is not possible to manufacture all components or to perform all processes in-house. For customer satisfaction, PMs such as cost, quality, engineering levels and rejection rate along with pressure of competitors are driving buyers to adopt SDPs. So for the effective implementation of SDPs, the study suggests that the SDPs start from SE, followed by respective TE and necessary AS. TMS plays a crucial role along with EC for effectively implementing SDPs. As EC between the buyer and supplier increases, it leads to JAs which can be termed as early supplier involvement for making a better product to satisfy the end user. Continuous evaluation is necessary to sharpen the performance of the supplier, and giving reward for performance improves the morale of the supplier.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationships between supplier development practices (SDPs) and supplier-buyer relationship practices from the supplier's perspective (SBRSP), and seek to understand how specific SDPs may impact a buyer's operational performance as well as supplier-buyer relationship practices.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors conducted a survey of 512 respondents from the different manufacturing firms in India and applied structural equation modelling to test a structural model that proposes the impacts of various efforts of SDPs on a buyer's performance as well as SBRSP.\nFindings: The study concludes that SDPs and SBRSP together improve the relationship between a buyer and supplier, and this improved relationship leads to competitive advantages (CAs) followed by profitability. Results indicate that supplier perspective of buyer-supplier relationship can be improved under the condition of SDPs and SBRSP together. SDPs are driven by productive measure and competitive pressure, whereas customer uncertainty is found to be statistically insignificant.\nResearch limitations/implications: The study was carried out in North Maharashtra Industrial Zone of India, where the auto sector and machine/components manufacturing firms have been established for a considerable period of time. Results of the study are limited to manufacturing organizations predominantly focussing on the automobile sector and machine/components manufacturing firms.\nPractical implications: This study provides significant insights into the specific impact of various SDPs and SBRSP for both academics and practitioners. SDPs along with SBRSP practices lead to improvement in the relationship leading to CAs. SBRSP suggests that trust, long-term commitments and the supplier's perspective are important practices for relationship improvement.\nOriginality/value: The current study attempts to identify what are the success factors for the supplier-buyer relationship from the supplier's perspective and SDPs and how the supplier-buyer relationship can be improved under the condition of SDPs and SBRSP. Hence, the aim is to develop a more thorough understanding of the outcomes of a supplier-buyer relationship improvement from both buyer's and supplier's perspective, under the conditions of supplier development to achieve CAs leading to profitability. Furthermore, the study analyses the effect of the improved supplier-buyer relationship for achieving CAs leading to profitability.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Industrial branding in the digital age
|
[
"Social media",
"Digital media",
"Industrial branding",
"I-branding",
"Industrial brand"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Digitization, globalization and so forth have increased competition, which in turn has forced business-to-business (B2B) companies to find new ways to distinguish themselves in the market. Increasingly companies are focusing their efforts on specialized activities like manufacturing and branding to stay competitive (Hsiao and Chen, 2013). It has been suggested that B2B branding and brand management are now even more critical success factors for organizations than they were before (Helm and Jones, 2010; Kotler and Pfoertsch, 2007).\nBranding strategy formation in the digital age: Requirements of digital age for branding\nMethodology: Case study and the case company\nResults: Basis of the brand\nDiscussion: Discussion and theoretical contributions\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe the overall branding logic of an international industrial company operating in the renewable energy industry and to respond to calls for empirical research on how to build a business-to-business (B2B) brand in the digital age and how digital media can be used for branding. A digital branding model is also developed.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A single case study of a company at the forefront of digital media usage is used to develop the model. The main data come from semi-structured theme interviews and from content analysis of the channels used to create a brand on the Internet.\nFindings: In the digital age, firms seem to benefit from having a strong market orientation and a holistic branding approach with robust integration of their different functions. Branding in the digital age not only requires strong internal communication and consistent external communication, but also positioning of the brand in topical conversations. For an industrial organization, becoming an opinion leader is a strategy well-suited to branding and can be supported by creating relevant content subsequently delivered through various social media channels.\nResearch limitations/implications: The results of this study are based on a single case study and hence are not generalizable.\nOriginality/value: This study is among the first to respond to the calls for empirical research on industrial brand management in the digital age and contributes to the emerging B2B branding and branding on digital age literature.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Technology implementation strategies for construction organisations
|
[
"Construction industry",
"Change management",
"Technology led strategy"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The construction industry, more so than any other industry, is subject to high degrees of fragmentation (Skibniewski and Nitithamyong, 2004). This lack of unity has been highlighted by many authors as a fundamental obstacle to be overcome in order to achieve the successful implementation of new technologies (Anumba and Ruikar, 2002; Skibniewski and Nitithamyong, 2004). It is also said to have led to the construction industry lagging behind other industries in the uptake of new technologies (Skibniewski and Nitithamyong, 2004; Marsh and Flanagan, 2002; Anumba and Ruikar, 2002).It is evident that other industries have been able to discover competitive advantage through the absorption of technologies enhancing their processes; however, the extent to which the construction industry is able to do this, or is willing to do this, appears to be significantly reduced. Nevertheless, environmental factors including the ever increasing globalisation of the industry and the fierce economic climate, combined with technological factors such as the progression of technology infrastructures and applications over the past decade, as well as the growing cultural dependence on technology in everyday activities, has called for a need now, more so than ever, to be proactive in the seeking of new initiatives in order to remain competitive.There has been a tendency in the past to blame the technology itself when desired results have not materialised. This, combined with the difficulty of quantifying the impact of technology within the construction industry due to the degree of fragmentation, can be attributed to a slower uptake in new technologies than in other industries. However, there is evidence that the future of construction is one that embraces technological advances, and therefore the time has come where a strategic adoption of technology is required in order to extract its full potential.Accordingly, this study explores the current strategies of construction organisations in an attempt to identify ineffective or under-performing practices, as well as the drivers and barriers to technology implementation. This is in order to develop recommendations to the industry which achieve a move towards the successful strategic implementation of technologies.\nMethodology outline: In order for all issues regarding technology implementation to emerge from this research, a macro-level investigation was undertaken. In addition, to ensure the identification of the industry-specific factors that influence the success of technology implementation in construction organisations, the research adopted a two-phase approach, as follows:1. Initial literature review.2. Semi-structured interview process.The initial literature review phase enabled a broad range of scientific literature to be assessed in order to gain a full understanding of previously discovered issues. These included:* benefits and drivers of information technology (IT);* reasons that affect the uptake of information technologies in construction organisations;* how IT investments are evaluated;* barriers to implementation;* resistance to change(s); and* current implementation and evaluation frameworks.In addition, it also formed the basis for the second phase of research, when semi structured interviews with industry practitioners were conducted. The semi-structured interviews focused on investigating and ascertaining the key issues identified during the initial review stage. Topics covered in the interview questionnaire reflect this. Broadly, the questionnaire covered aspects of: the decision-making process, implementation process, how and by whom the need for a new initiative is identified and then proposed, how benefits of new IT initiatives are identified and evaluated, how implementation strategies are formulated, what evident implementation barriers there are, and how change is managed.A random sample of large construction companies was approached for interviews. These represented a breadth of construction disciplines, including construction, building services, engineering, building maintenance, and consultancy organisations. Interview participants were identified on the basis of their positions being either senior management level and therefore actively involved with the formulation and implementation of strategic management, or at a level that was directly exposed to the consequences of the strategies implemented. This was recognised as critical, as Cresswell (1994) states that when selecting participants for sampling, it is essential that all participants experience the phenomenon being studied. An overview of the participant's background and their organisation's disciplines are presented in Table I.All interviewees were sent a predefined interview questionnaire prior to the interview so that they were able to fully understand the questions, as well as prepare answers. Face-to-face interviews were conducted where possible in order to establish a stronger rapport with the interviewee, as well as to benefit from being able to assess additional, non-verbal communication such as body language (Hakim, 1997). Telephone interviews were conducted when the location of the interviewer and interviewee as well as their individual time demands were not complementary. All interviewees were encouraged to divulge their experiences and real-life examples, whilst the semi-structured interview format facilitated additional probing to extract further information where necessary. Analysis of the data was mainly carried out qualitatively; however, for illustrative purposes, quantitative representations supplemented the findings where appropriate. The next section presents the main findings from the interviews.\nMain research findings: Decision making process\nConclusions and discussions: The underlining theme of this study is that due to technology implementation involving a change in practices being made, the fundamental issues regarding technology implementation strategies are, to a large extent, aligned with those of change management. In particular it is evident that these issues are predominantly apparent in the behaviours and emotions of humans, which has been shown through the significance of the implementation barriers of \"fear of uncertainty\" and \"the resistance to change\".In order to improve technology implementation strategies, it was found that progress is needed in addressing these behavioural and emotional concerns. It was also viewed that to have the greatest positive impact on overcoming these issues, a minimisation of the initial uncertainty surrounding change needs to be made. This is due to its evident link with increasing the levels of emotional distress of change participants.To accomplish this, two-way communication, education, training and understanding of the rationale bringing about change should all be improved. This is due to it being observed within this study that these aspects can all be enhanced through focusing on increasing the levels of involvement of all participants in every stage of the process.In summary, although improvements have been identified within specific stages and/or procedures within the implementation process, the degree to which successful technology implementation is achieved ultimately depends on the degree to which change can be planned, managed and evaluated effectively. It is therefore not so much a technological problem as it is a human behavioural one.It is therefore expected, through a multi-dimensional approach requiring the effective leadership of the process, people and culture, that a greater adaptability and acceptance of change can be created. This is due to the reduction of emotional distress throughout the change process. The extent to which this has been achieved should be evident in the degree to which the transition of employees from being \"change intolerant\" (the late majority and laggards) towards becoming \"change embracing\" (innovators and the early majority) is observed. If this can become normal at all levels of an organisation, it is expected that improved levels of adoption can be experienced, thus leading to a reduction in the extent to which the construction industry is perceived to be \"lagging behind\" of other industries.\nThe way forward: In order to provide insights into the way forward for future related research, the following recommendations are made.As this research project has observed findings from large construction organisations, future investigations into whether these findings are echoed by the entire industry should be undertaken. Conducting similar research with samples of organisations of differing sizes will enable an insight to be gained into what contrasts or similarities there are, as well as the reasons for these. This should enable an assurance that these recommendations are applicable to the industry as a whole, or that more targeted recommendations can be made to varying segments of the industry depending on how the findings converge.It is also proposed that further research is conducted into how to better align the differing levels of organisations so that they progress through the change cycle at more similar rates. In relation, an investigation into how to reduce the overall emotional distress caused by change on all participants may identify further means to improve people's acceptance levels of future change. This could therefore further reduce the prominence of the most significant technology implementation barriers of resistance towards, and the fear of, change.\nRecommendations to industry: Based on this study's findings, the following recommendations to industry can be made:* An improvement into the degree of involvement experienced by all hierarchical levels, in every stage of the technology implementation process (from need identification to implementation and evaluation) needs to be made.* To break down the evident barriers within the currently adopted proposal systems (such as time and resource limitations, as well as the requirement of an agreement of the need from a superior), there is an opportunity to utilise \"share sites\" or \"communities of practice\".* An exploration should be made of combining \"experience and intuition\", \"research\" and \"localised trialling\" benefit identification methods in order to identify a more realistic expectation of each initiative. This will also enhance the strength of evidence to improve the understanding of clients into the need for the adoption of new technology initiatives.* A more structured evaluation method of benefits versus the impacts of new initiatives needs to be adopted. This should take the form of a balanced scorecard approach, in replacement for this appraisal being based on \"intuition\" and \"gut feelings\".* Enhanced levels of training, education and two-way communication should be incorporated not only post implementation, but also throughout the process and most critically prior to the change materialising. This is so that the levels of shock and uncertainty (and therefore emotional distress) can be reduced.* A culture should be sought which actively evaluates implementation strategies and processes, at timely intervals throughout, as well as in totality once the process has concluded. This is in order to identify lessons learnt and continuously improve the process.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - This paper aims to present an overview of the findings of a study aimed at investigating industry-specific factors that influence the success of technology implementation in construction organisations. These include: the identification of a need, proposal procedures, benefit identification/evaluation, formulation of implementation strategies, implementation barriers, change management and overall implementation evaluation.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A semi-structured interview-based approach is adopted to identify the industry-specific factors that influence the success of technology implementation in construction organisations. The findings are discussed and recommendations to industry for potential improvements are given.\nFindings: - The extent to which successful technology implementation can be achieved, ultimately depends on the degree to which changes are planned, managed and evaluated. Therefore, technology implementation within construction organisations is not so much a technological problem as it is a human behavioural one.\nPractical implications: - As technology implementation ultimately consists of changes in practices being made, the fundamental issues regarding technology implementation strategies are well aligned with those of change management. As a result, it is vital that human behavioural and emotional issues are addressed if successful technology implementation is to be achieved.\nOriginality/value: - An investigation into the industry-specific factors which have resulted in the perception that the construction industry is lagging behind other industries in the uptake of new technologies.\n",
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] |
Have electronic benefits cards improved food access for food stamp recipients?
|
[
"Food security",
"EBT card",
"Food stamp reform"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: During the past 15-20 years many in-kind and cash-based government aid programs have moved from paper-based vouchers to electronic ones. Electronic delivery of benefits relies on a system where benefits are loaded into an account that is drawn down over a period of time using an electronic benefits transfer (EBT) card. The most visible of these reforms has been in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), more widely known as the Food Stamp Program (FSP). In the past, aid recipients would receive monthly booklets of coupons or stamps. These stamps would enable them to purchase approved food at no cost. However, the paper-based form of benefits delivery has fallen out of favor for a variety of reasons. Paramount among those reasons was the desire to reduce costs, and streamline the provision of benefits. Although it is clear that the switch to EBT cards has been highly successful in reducing costs, there remain questions about other less immediately apparent effects. We intend to determine whether or not the use of EBT cards in the FSP had an impact on food security for program participants.\n2. Literature review: Although a considerable literature with regard to the FSP exists, very little has been written investigating a specific linkage between EBT cards and food security. However, many papers have made key contributions to the current understanding of the FSP and EBT reforms that influence and inform our study.\n3. Background: 3.1 Historical\n4. Data: We rely on two essential sources of data in order to determine if EBT card reforms have had a bearing on food insecurity for food stamp beneficiaries. One data set provides us with information about California's roll-out of EBT card reforms, while the other allows us to contemporaneously track food insecurity across California. The central condition for both data sets is that they need to have time information at the monthly level and they need to have geographic detail down to the county level. Given that this information is available, the two data sets can be linked and used in conjunction with the quasi-random roll-out of EBT reforms to answer questions about changes to food security as a result of the reforms.\n5. Model and methodology: 5.1 Necessary assumptions and conditions\n6. Results: The fundamental question to this study is \"Did you eat less than you should because of money?\" which we believe captures the overall effect of EBT conversion on food insecurity as it the most flexible and comprehensive question. We have denoted this as food insecurity measure A. Table II shows regression estimates for this particular question using multiple specifications. We vary inclusion of controls for year effects, month effects, and individual characteristics. The treatment effect estimates are denoted in the following way, t-6 represents the impact on food insecurity of being at a point in time six months prior to EBT conversion, t-2 represents the impact on food insecurity of being at a point in time two months prior to EBT conversion, t0 represents the impact of EBT card reforms in the first month of EBT card reforms, and t+6 represents the impact of EBT card reforms six months after the initial reforms.\n7. Conclusion: We investigate the roll-out of EBT card reforms in California during the period 1998-2006 to determine if EBT card reforms had a causal impact on food security for California FSP participants. Although a common expectation was an expected decline in food insecurity, as EBT cards would likely reduce trafficking, loss and theft of benefits that all contribute to food insecurity, we find no such evidence of a permanent relationship. However, we do find evidence for a transitory increase in food insecurity immediately following implementation of EBT card reforms. The magnitude of the effect is roughly a 3 percentage point increase in the likelihood of an individual reporting food insecurity in the past month. The result is significant at either the 95 or 99 percent confidence level and lasts for one or two months before returning to pre-reform levels. We consider a variety of measures of food insecurity and find the result robust to changes in measurement and inclusion of controls. We posit that the transitional increase in food insecurity stemmed from program participants' difficulty navigating the new EBT environment. Potential avenues for these difficulties are recipients' failure to obtain their EBT cards in time, lack of knowledge about how to use the card, card malfunction, and vendors that were slow to make the transition to EBT transaction terminals. Our findings are also supportive of the claim that food stamp trafficking did not substantially contribute to food insecurity.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate electronic benefits transfer (EBT) card reforms in California's Food Stamp Program, and its impact on food insecurity.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors test the hypothesis that EBT cards reduce food insecurity by reducing the food costs associated with loss and theft of benefits, as well as by decreasing fraudulent sales of benefits. The authors use a natural experiment in the form of the time-varying roll-out of EBT card reforms across California counties in conjunction with the California Health Interview Survey, to conduct an event study.\nFindings: The findings suggest no evidence for a decrease in food insecurity. The authors do, however, find evidence of a transitory increase in food insecurity immediately following implementation of EBT reforms. Reforms increase the likelihood of food insecurity by about 3 percent for up to two months. The result is distinguishable from zero, and robust to changes in specification, inclusion of controls, and measurement choices. The authors posit the increase was due to frictions in the transition to EBT card systems.\nOriginality/value: Although a considerable literature with regard to the FSP exists, very little has been written investigating a specific linkage between EBT cards and food security. The findings are not supportive of policy makers' hypothesis that a positive externality of EBT benefits delivery is a lasting reduction in food insecurity.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Computer self-efficacy as a predictor of undergraduates' use of electronic library resources in federal universities in South-west Nigeria
|
[
"Academic libraries",
"Nigeria",
"Undergraduates",
"Computer self-efficacy",
"Electronic library resources",
"Federal universities"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Undergraduates are expected to use electronic library resources (ELRs) for their academic activities. ELRs are used mainly for academic purposes in teaching, learning and research. ELRs are vital in learning and research through enhancement of undergraduates' access to global electronic information resources for scholarly activities. The importance of ELRs became apparent because they are a great complement to print materials and accessing them is not limited by geographical location (Sabouri et al., 2010).\nLiterature review: The importance of ELRs in the provision of access to global electronic information resources cannot be over-emphasized. Past researches have focussed on factors that hamper effective use of ELRs in universities. However, in this review, the focus would be on use, influence of computer self-efficacy on use of ELRs.\nMethodology: Research design\nConclusion: Undergraduates in federal universities in south-west Nigeria used ELRs mostly for academic activities, although not all are frequently used in comparison to investments made in acquiring these resources. In addition, the findings revealed that undergraduates used E-thesis and OPAC more frequently on daily basis than E-books, E-journals and CD-ROM databases.\nRecommendations: The interference between computer self-efficacy and use of ELRs among undergraduates in federal universities in south-west Nigeria is evident. Based on the findings of the study, the following recommendations are made:\n",
"role": "user"
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"content": "Purpose: Undergraduates use electronic library resources for academic activities. However, literature has revealed that undergraduates' use of electronic library resources is low in Nigeria owing to attitude, computer literacy and information retrieval skills, while little attention was given to computer self-efficacy. This paper aims to examine computer self-efficacy as a predictor of undergraduates' use of electronic library resources in federal universities in south-west Nigeria.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The descriptive survey research design was adopted. Multi-stage sampling method was used to select 1,526 undergraduates from the population size of 30,516 from six federal universities in south-west Nigeria in four faculties (Arts, Engineering/ Technology, Science and Social sciences) and three departments from each of the faculties (English, History and Philosophy; Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Civil Engineering and Mechanical Engineering: Economics, Sociology and Psychology). Data were collected using a questionnaire and were analysed using descriptive statistics, mean and standard deviation, Pearson's Product Moment Correlation, hierarchical and regression analyses at 0.05 level of significance.\nFindings: There was a significant relationship between computer self-efficacy and use of electronic library resources (r = 0.13, p < 0.05). The result of the analysis showed that computer self-efficacy influenced undergraduates' use of electronic library resources in federal universities in south-west Nigeria.\nResearch limitations/implications: The data for the research were obtained from undergraduates in the selected faculties in the six federal universities except for two faculties which did not have some departments that were common to the selected faculties.\nPractical implications: The findings indicated that computer self-efficacy improves the use of electronic library resources for academic purposes. It therefore encourages the library management to provide the necessary support and training for the undergraduates to acquire the technical skills required for the acquisition of computer self-efficacy. This has greater influence on undergraduates' ability to use the computer maximally to access electronic library resources for academic purposes.\nSocial implications: It will improve the undergraduates' use of electronic library resources for academic purposes. This implies that the undergraduates will have access to information around the world that could be useful for development in and around their locality which will become easily accessible. Also, in this era of computer, it will encourage reading culture among undergraduates. This could inform policymakers on the need to provide more electronic library resources for libraries.\nOriginality/value: The study provides original data on computer self-efficacy as a predictor of undergraduates' use of electronic library resources in federal universities in south-west Nigeria. This can provide valuable indicator for library managements considering enhanced utilisation of electronic library resources.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Operations strategy of cloud-based firms: achieving firm growth in the Big Data era
|
[
"Cloud computing",
"Operations strategy",
"Firm growth",
"Cloud-based firm",
"Data processing capability",
"Data transformational capability"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Cloud computing, an enabling technology in Industry 4.0, contributes to the realisation of valuable business offerings by providing high-performance, low-cost data storage and computing services while connecting various stakeholders and enabling them to access IT resources on-demand from any platform or device at any time (Mell and Grance, 2011; Xu et al., 2018). Path-breaking cloud computing technologies can not only help firms make use of Big Data, but also encourage firms to develop their capabilities to fulfil emerging data-based business needs (Kumar et al., 2018). Cloud platforms, such as Amazon's AWS and Microsoft Azure, have attracted much attention in recent studies (Li and Kumar, 2018; Retana et al., 2018); however, cloud platforms are insufficient for realising the technological paradigm shift of Industry 4.0 (Christensen and Rosenbloom, 1995) until there are sufficient firms who establish their businesses on the cloud. These firms, termed cloud-based firms in this study, turn data storage and computing capabilities of cloud platforms into data-based products or digital services (Brinch, 2018; Hartmann et al., 2016; Kathuria et al., 2018).\n2. Literature review: 2.1 Cloud-based firms\n3. Research design: This study constructs a multi-method triangulation research design to elucidate operations capabilities and their contribution to the growth of cloud-based firms (Boyer and Swink, 2008; Choi et al., 2016). The triangulation approach, which combines multiple research methods, can develop and validate the findings or conclusions of each method (Venkatesh et al., 2013). Thus, research quality can be improved by mitigating the intrinsic limitations of any single method (Boyer and Swink, 2008).\n4. Phase 1: content analysis and hypotheses development: 4.1 Content analysis\n5. Phase 2: hypotheses testing: To ensure the generalisability of the content analysis results and provide more insights (Choi et al., 2016), data were collected through a questionnaire survey to test the hypotheses proposed in the first phase of this study.\n6. Discussion: 6.1 Theoretical implications\n7. Conclusion: A two-phase multi-method approach was adopted in the present study in an attempt to understand the current status of cloud-based firms from an operations strategy perspective. Content analysis of secondary data was conducted and then proposed hypotheses were tested using survey data. The SUR and bootstrapping results indicate that DR and capabilities contribute to the growth of cloud-based firms. Moreover, DPC and DTC have different mediating effects for different types of FG.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Cloud computing is a major enabling technology for Industry 4.0 and the Big Data era. However, cloud-based firms, who establish their businesses on cloud platforms, have received scant attention in the extant operations management (OM) literature. To narrow this gap, the purpose of this paper is to investigate cloud-based firms from an operations strategy perspective.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A two-phase multi-method approach was adopted. In the first phase, content analysis of 27 reports from cloud-based firms was conducted, aided by text mining keyword extraction. Two data-related operations capabilities were identified and hypotheses were posited regarding the relationships between data resources (DR), operations capabilities and firm growth (FG). In the second phase, a sample of 190 cloud-based firms was collected. Seemingly unrelated regression and bootstrapping method were employed to test the proposed hypotheses using the survey data.\nFindings: The content analysis indicates data as a key resource and both data processing capability and data transformational capability as critical operations capabilities of cloud-based firms. FG is regarded as a top priority in the cloud context. The regression results indicate that DR and the two capabilities contribute to the growth of cloud-based firms. Moreover, a follow-up bootstrapping analysis reveals that the mediating effects of the two capabilities vary between different types of FG.\nOriginality/value: To the authors' best knowledge, this is one of the first OM studies on cloud-based firms. This study extends the operations strategy literature by identifying and testing the key operations capabilities and priorities of cloud-based firms. It also provides insightful implications for industrial practitioners.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
The knowledge management functions of corporate university and their evolution: case studies of two Chinese corporate universities
|
[
"China",
"Knowledge management",
"Knowledge network",
"Corporate university"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Since the 1980s, a growing number of corporates have set up their own corporate universities to adapt to the rapid changes of knowledge and meet their needs for high-skilled employees (Meister, 2001; Cappiello and Pedrini, 2017). According to Nixon and Helms (2002), 80 per cent of the Fortune Global 500 companies have established their own corporate universities. In China, corporate universities started late, but they have developed rapidly over the past two decades. By 2015, the number of Chinese corporate universities had reached nearly 3,700 (Li et al., 2015).\n2. Literature review: 2.1 Knowledge network\n3. Research method: 3.1 The cases\n4. Findings: 4.1 Functions of corporate university\n5. Discussion and conclusions: The research found that the knowledge management functions of the corporate universities encompass knowledge transfer, knowledge creation and knowledge services for intrapreneurship. The knowledge management functions of the corporate universities are enhancing with the development of the corporate universities. The knowledge management function mutually reinforce each other. The knowledge network of the corporate universities is expanding, and the scope of knowledge managed is broadening.\n6. Limitations and further research: The current research has a number of limitations. First, as both corporate universities for the case studies were selected from the ICT industry, the study may have limited implications for corporate universities outside the ICT industry. Future research can investigate corporate universities from other industries. Additionally, this research adopted a qualitative research approach. Future research can use mixed research method to further enrich the study.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the knowledge management functions of corporate universities and their evolution.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Two Chinese corporate universities in the ICT industry were selected for the case studies. Data were collected by interviews and consulting the documents of the two corporate universities. Grounded theory was used for data analysis.\nFindings: The research found that the knowledge management functions of the corporate universities encompass knowledge transfer, knowledge creation and knowledge services for intrapreneurship. The knowledge management functions of the corporate universities are enhancing with the development of the corporate universities. The knowledge management functions mutually reinforce each other. The knowledge network of the corporate universities is expanding and the scope of knowledge managed is broadening.\nPractical implications: Companies should make full use of corporate universities in facilitating knowledge transfer, knowledge creation and knowledge services for intrapreneurship.\nOriginality/value: Analyzing the knowledge management functions of corporate universities and their evolution from the perspective of knowledge network enriches research on knowledge management of corporate universities.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Transitioning business school accounting from binary divide to unified national system: A historical case study
|
[
"Globalisation",
"History",
"Higher education",
"Business schools",
"Economic reform",
"Corporatization"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: During the past century, the international higher education fabric has encountered multiple transformations (Parker, 2002, 2012), some followed by national economic reforms (Li, 2003). These transformations have been subjected to multiple theoretical (Hoffman, 1999) and empirical studies (Dobbins and Leisyte, 2014), predominantly in relation to their impact on organisational structure and curriculum development (Ghoshal, 2005). Despite the importance of human relations (Schachter, 2016) and its interaction with organisational identity (Sato, 2010), there has been little research on cultural and human-resourcing aspects of such transitions. Yet, organizational changes often require changes in cultural or cognitive elements, and in some cases, institutional identity (Hoffman, 1999; Parker, 2011). This study examines the historical development of accounting pedagogy, research and practice engagement in one of the largest and longest standing Australian university business school in a period of major national higher education transition. Considering the social structure of the university as embedded in the environment of the national higher education (Van Baalen and Karsten, 2012), the paper traverses environmental, structural, educational and research changes, paying particular attention to their organisational culture and human capital dimensions. The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) case exhibits an exemplar of how a business school accounting area responded to the structural and strategic changes (Pederzini, 2016) enforced by external educational policy changes. RMIT University was one of the earliest to deliver accounting related education when it first commenced as the Working Men's College in 1887 (Murray-Smith and Dare, 1987) and has continued as a major national and international accounting education deliverer to the present day. This study extends Parker's (2013) contemporary study of universities and their environments to also portray a case study of multiple historical organisational changes that took place in response to the gradual and then major growth in university education markets, both nationally and internationally. RMIT has now become one of the largest university entities and a member of the Australian Technology Network of Universities with one of the largest student bodies in the Australian university system. Accounting in the earlier years was taught as a single subject and as a social practice[1], and subsequently developed to become one of RMIT's most popular courses within one of Australia's largest business schools (Bellamy, 1997; Cooper, 1994, 1996).\n2. Historical methodology: The past is alive in the present and may be shaping the emerging future (Pettigrew et al., 2001, p. 700).\n3. Business schools in a changing global world: Universities in many developed countries have been impacted by waves of reforms in higher education environments (Van Baalen and Karsten, 2010), predominantly triggered by governmental policies (Parker, 2002; Li, 2003). Accordingly, they have been increasingly pressured by governments to obtain non-government funding, as the latter reduced the allocation of public funding to the higher education sector. Reflecting the accompanying marketisation of higher education, universities have increasingly relied on market-generated revenues as a funding mechanism (Gray et al., 2002; Parker, 2011). The evidence for diminishing government financial support for higher education is considerable, with government funding trending downwards for at least 15-20 years (Parker, 2011). For example, diminished public funding of universities has been evident in the USA (Berman, 1998; Parker, 2011; Press and Washburn, 2000). In the UK, this diminishing public funding trend became evident some decades ago, when for example government funding per student declined by 40 per cent between 1976 and 1993 (Alexander, 2000). In Europe, while direct government funding remains the major source of university funding, Eicher (1998) has reported major declines in government funding per student across European countries including Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Belgium, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland (Parker, 2012).\n4. Australian higher education: from binary divide to unified national system: In 1965 (VOCED archive ref 10,707/228215), the committee of the Australian Universities Commission published a report The Future of Tertiary Education in Australia, known as the \"Martin Report\", with a perspective on building a modern nation (Pick, 2006). This report highlighted the growth in population and demanded increased opportunities for higher education, particularly during the post-war years in Australia. The Committee argued that there had been a rapid increase in the number of individuals seeking higher education, and that economic growth in Australia was dependent upon a high and advancing level of education and accelerating technological progress. The committee aimed to meet the training needs of industry and business through institutions providing further education; and, at the same time, to maintain diversity to preserve the elite nature of university education. As a result, the committee suggested formation of three distinct categories of institution: universities, colleges or institutes and teacher training facilities. This resulted in the development of a \"binary\" system comprising a separate sector of colleges of advanced education operating in parallel with universities.\n5. Accounting education at RMIT: As observed by Cuff (1996), accounting, particularly before 1930, dominated business education. Accounting education at RMIT has a lengthy history. Here we provide an overview of the evolution of RMIT as institution. We then review the early years of its commerce and accounting education programmes in the Department Of Accounting Studies from early 1970s to the mid-1990s (see Figure A1).\n6. Strategic themes: From the early 1970s to the mid-1990s, three major strategic themes emerge in the accounting department experience. These relate to major teaching innovations, the sandwich year initiative and the initial attempt to instigate a research culture:\n7. Discussion: Within the changing national economic and tertiary education environments that conditioned the changing business school environment, at accounting departmental level, the changes in accounting education and research strategies and culture over the period studied, particularly reflected significant influences of its RMIT organisation's history, and its external national and organisational context. More specifically the teaching focus for the department reflected RMIT's history of applied vocational teaching, early distance learning uptake and early expansion into international education markets. The department grew under the influence of this organisational teaching environment, similarly innovating in subject design and delivery, developing diploma courses, building close relationships with the accounting profession, and significantly growing its student numbers.\n8. Conclusion: Since its establishment as the Working Men's College in 1,887 and when accounting was taught as a single subject, accounting became one of the most popular courses at RMIT University within one of Australia's largest business schools (Bellamy, 1997; Cooper, 1994, 1996). Through contextual analysis of reports and archives, and analysis of qualitative interviews with key staff members employed in the department during the period of examination (1972-1992), this study provides an exploratory account of changes in accounting education in this institution during the early period of the onset of higher education's global marketization, and the associated commercialisation and corporatisation of universities. This examination reveals major changes in accounting education at the institutional level and has analysed the links between core national higher education strategies at the time and developments at a case study business school department level. We have attempted to examine the impact of external and internal factors on a higher education institution's transition, with specific reference to the micro-level changes and responses of an accounting department within the business school. Education authorities and accounting professional bodies also had a particularly strong external influence the latter exhibiting an influence that has been observed in many different national and historical settings, such as analysed in the USA by Siegel and Rigsby (1998). The main internal factor contributing to the departmental level successes or failures appears to have been university and business school management strategies. These drove teaching innovations, use of technology, accommodation and international activities. Notably, close cooperation between the accounting educational and professional bodies appears to have been a key factor in the evolution of this accounting department's strategies. This was evidenced for example in the early days by the success of Robinson's classes (late 1930s), and the later sandwich year programme (commenced in 1972). Innovation and commitment to industry engagement practices by such an accounting department, forms an important part of the overall picture of its teaching strategy.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This paper aims to provide a historical case study of strategic changes in accounting at an Australian university's business school department during 1972-1992 when it was repositioning itself in the early stages of major changes in the Australian and international tertiary accounting education environment. The study is conducted within the context of the university history within which the department operated as well as major government policy and global education shifts shaping university structures and focus.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This study offers a historical analysis of early stage changes in university focus at the business school's accounting department, developed through departmental and university reports and oral history interviews. A narrative analytical methodology is adopted to portray a history of an academic accounting department in transition.\nFindings: This case study illuminates the impacts of and responses to the beginning of marketisation and globalisation of higher education, and the commercialisation of universities and explains the strategic implementation processes in one university's business school departmental during a period of significant formative change in the Australian accounting education landscape.\nOriginality/value: This study deepens our understanding of environmental, structural, educational and research changes at the operational departmental level of academic institutions, paying particular attention to the organisational culture and human capital dimensions.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Leading from the middle: its nature, origins and importance
|
[
"Leadership",
"Collaboration",
"Professionalism"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: One key characteristic of high-performing educational systems is a strong teaching profession (Hargreaves and Shirley, 2009, 2012; OECD, 2011; Tucker, 2019). Ontario, in Canada, has been repeatedly identified as an exemplary high performer, not just because of its overall achievement scores, but also due to its high levels of equity in a context of considerable cultural and linguistic diversity (Campbell et al., 2017; Fullan and Rincon-Gallardo, 2016; Mehta and Schwartz, 2011). One of the features of Ontario and other Canadian provinces that also perform well is a teaching profession that has high status, that is well rewarded, and that experiences a positive environment of professional development, collaboration and support (Campbell et al., 2017; Fullan and Quinn, 2015).\nTop-down and bottom-up leadership: LfM contrasts with leadership that is top-down or bottom-up in nature. Top-down leadership is often associated with autocratic, unwanted and even bad leadership. Kellerman (2004) argues that bad leadership has at least one of two characteristics. It is unethical, ineffective or both. Bad leadership is either wrong in its means or its ends, or weak in how it pursues these ends, or both of these things. Unethical leaders are the ones that are most obviously associated with top-down administrations. Unethical leaders may be callous, corrupt or evil. They suppress, oppress and manipulate their people in order to advance their own interests. In education, bad leaders only care about the short-term outcomes that will accelerate their own advancement and they sweep aside teachers who get in their way.\nMiddle-level leadership: One of the consequences of putting too much emphasis on control at the top, even when it is combined with freedom or individual school autonomy at the bottom, is that it has bypassed the middle of the system. This has led to incoherence across entire systems. Without engagement of the middle, the top lacks first-hand knowledge of what is happening in the schools, and the bottom lacks colleagues who can help to communicate what is transpiring in other schools undertaking similar reforms.\nContext and research design: The research reported in this paper was funded to document collaborative work with a Consortium of ten Ontario school districts as a follow-up to a 2008-2011 evaluation of a government-funded project entitled \"Essential for Some, Good for All\" (ESGA). This prior project focused on improving the academic results of students with special needs in all 72 of Ontario's school districts (Hargreaves and Braun, 2012). The Consortium was facilitated by the Council of Ontario Directors of Education (CODE).\nMethodology: Our five-member research team conducted initial visits to CODE Consortium meetings in 2015 to begin collaboration and develop our research design alongside members of the CODE Consortium as well as the Ontario Ministry of Education. In May 2016, our team conducted site visits to all ten of the participating districts across the province. At least two team members visited each district. Team membership was mixed and rotated in order to enhance cross-validation of interpretation. Team members conducted interview-based mini-case studies over one to two days with each school district. We interviewed 222 educators, selected project leaders, and project coordinators at the district and Ministry level. Interviews lasted approximately one hour each and were conducted in private locations in each district office or school building. Interviews were audio recorded with the knowledge and informed consent of the interviewees.\nFindings: According to a Superintendent of Curriculum in one of the districts, LfM \"kind of morphed into different things\" over time. By 2014-2018, even though LfM had less funding and no governmental support aside from encouragement and attendance of senior Ministry staff at Consortium meetings, it had assumed greater depth and complexity in relation to students, teaching and learning. It had become an embedded set of practices that varied in their structures and design yet were clearly recognizable by Consortium participants through member checking with diverse constituents across all ten of the districts. These had philosophical, structural and cultural components.\nDiscussion: leading from the middle; not in the middle: The research reported here took place in two stages, although it was not planned as such in advance. The first stage of ESGA research surfaced an idea and strategy of LfM involving districts working together in a deliberately designed way to meet the needs of all their own and each other's students more effectively. LfM was seen at this time as an alternative to top-down change and leadership. It enabled and empowered districts to drive change based on their own needs and expertise rather than simply implementing changes imposed from the top.\nImplications of LFM in Ontario: Just a few weeks after the research team's report was published in April 2018, Ontarians elected a populist government under Progressive Conservative Premier Doug Ford. The new government is fulfilling its campaign promises to reduce taxes and to balance the budget by eliminating 3,475 teaching positions in four years' time along with many other forms of support, such as coaches and consultants, that the Ministry of Education had been able to provide to districts and schools over many years (Gray and Alphonso, 2019). An immediate government travel ban for public educators and district leaders, on the pretext of needing to implement austerity measures, directly inhibited the capacity for face-to-face collaboration that is essential for LfM and that was evident in the CODE Consortium. A 10-20 percent increase in secondary school class sizes will not only make classrooms more difficult for teachers to manage, but will also increase educators' overall workload, prompting massive protests from students, parents, and teacher unions (Martin, 2019). Meanwhile, the framework for student well-being, championed by the former Premier, has been quietly removed from the Ministry website. LfM will have to struggle to endure in this unfamiliar but not unprecedented setting of a populist policy environment in Ontario.\nA global movement of LFM?: If the immediate prospects for LfM in Ontario seem not very promising, the work of the Consortium of school districts in this decade, and the associated contribution of our research with the Consortium, has supported the beginnings of an international movement of educators and researchers who are producing their own definitions and signature practices affiliated with LfM.\nLimitations: There are three primary limitations to this research. First, although this research has provided a rare opportunity to gather and analyze data on leadership and policy implementation in a high performing system over more than a decade, the research questions and respondents across the two phases of the research are not identical or strictly comparable in any controlled sense, although nine of the ten districts are identical across the two studies. Statements of progress, change and development regarding the ideas and interpretation of LfM are therefore made by inference rather than direct extrapolation.\nConclusion: In democratic and inclusive educational policy environments of increasing urgency and complexity, such as the one that characterized Ontario over the course of our research, LfM offers a promising option to achieve greater quality and equity by having leaders collaborate closely with each other to improve teaching, learning and well-being. LfM, in this respect, provides evidence of an integrated philosophy, structure, and culture of change that has advanced aspects of shared, democratic, or distributed leadership that have been advocated for many years but that have been difficult to bring about in practice on a systemic scale. LfM represents a significant advance over LiM. The first is a strategy that engages and empowers a strong profession to serve and support learning and well-being for all students within and across local and diverse communities. The second is an abstract and systemic method to increase efficiency and coherence in any kind of context, including ones that have abandoned or avoided community democracy, and that are less committed to developing strong teaching professions capable of exercising collective professional judgment.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to cover a 10-year period in ten of Ontario's 72 school districts on the nature, origins and importance of \"leading from the middle\" (LfM) within and across the districts.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The research uses a self-selected but also representative sample of ten Ontario school districts. It undertook three-day site visits in each of the districts, transcribed all the interviews and compiled an analysis into detailed case studies.\nFindings: LfM is defined by a philosophy, structure and culture that promotes collaboration, initiative and responsiveness to the needs of each district along with collective responsibility for all students' success.\nResearch limitations/implications: To be sustainable in Ontario, LfM needs support and resourcing from the top. The current environment of economic austerity therefore threatens sustainability. Globally, examples of LfM are emerging in at least three other systems. The analysis does not have identical questions or respondents in phases 1 and 2. Ontario's version of LfM may differ from others. The collaborative design may downplay criticisms of LfM.\nPractical implications: LfM provides a clear design for leading in complex times. Compared to top-down leadership the whole system can address the whole of students' learning and well-being. LfM is suited to systems and cultures that support local democracy, community responsiveness and professional empowerment and engagement.\nOriginality/value: LfM is an inclusive, democratic and professionally empowering and responsive process that differs from other middle level strategies which treat the middle merely as a way of connecting the top and bottom to get government policies implemented more efficiently and coherently.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Hydrolysates of skim milk: Peptide profiles using two proteolytic enzymes
|
[
"Proteins",
"Milk"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Protein hydrolysates have been used since 1940 for therapeutic purposes to maintain the nutritional state of patients with protein or amino acid dietary restrictions. Moreover, the interest in these preparations has increased during the last few decades due to the fact that enzymatic hydrolysis shave been shown to be capable of improving the functional properties of proteins (Candido, 1998; Leonil et al., 2000). Similarly, protein hydrolysates have been employed in special foods for premature babies and children with diarrhea, mal-absorption or phenylketonuria (Smithers and Bradford, 1991; Clemente, 2000), as well as in diets for old people and athletes (Frokjaer, 1994).The nutritional quality of hydrolysates is directly related to the biological value of the original protein and to the hydrolysis method, giving rise to a mixture of peptides with different molecular weights, especially small di- and tripeptides (Grimble et al., 1986; Silvestre et al., 1994a, b).Several reports showed that the amino acids provided by protein hydrolysates are more quickly and completely absorbed than intact protein (Ziegler et al., 1990) and free amino acids (Grimble and Silk, 1989; Minami et al., 1992; Keohane et al., 1985; Boza et al., 1995; Synowiecki et al., 1996). The study of absorption mechanisms revealed that in the case of small peptides the completion for the transport system is lower than that observed for free amino acids (Grimble et al., 1986; Clemente, 2000).Our interest in protein hydrolysates is associated with the preparation of dietetic supplements for several purposes. In this way, we have been testing different protein sources, enzymes and hydrolytic conditions in order to have an appropriate peptide profile from the nutritional point of view, i.e. a high oligopeptide content (Morato et al., 2000; Morais et al., 2002; Carreira et al., 2001; 2004). Also, for many years we have been examining several analytical methods of protein hydrolysates (Silvestre et al., 1993a, b, 1994a, b, Silvestre, 1997).In this work, a protease from Aspergillus Oryzae was used alone or in combination with papain, in different hydrolytic conditions, for hydrolysing skim milk. The peptide profiles of the hydrolysates were then analyzed after fractionation by high-performance size exclusion chromatography and quantification by the correct area fraction method, described in detail before by our group (Silvestre et al., 1994a, b).\nMaterial and methods: Materials\nResults and discussion: 1. Characterization of standard hydrolysates\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The aim of this research is the evaluation of the profile of peptides isolated from skim milk hydrolysates.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Five hydrolysates were prepared using a protease from Aspergillus Oryzae (AO) separately or in combination with papain (PA) in different reaction times. The hydrolysates were fractionated by size-exclusion HPLC and the rapid method of correct fraction area (CFA) was used for quantifying the peptides and free amino acids in the chromatographic fractions. The nutritional quality of hydrolysates is directly related to their di- and tripeptide contents, several reports show that the amino acid provided by these peptides are more quickly and completely absorbed than those from intact protein.\nFindings: - The results showed a nutritional similarity of the isolated action of AO and its combinations with PA, considering the peptide patterns produced, giving rise to 16 percent of di- and tripetides. Increasing the reaction time of the two enzymes led to poorer peptide profiles, while no change was achieved when the reaction time of only one enzyme (AO) in the combination was enlarged. Other hydrolytic conditions could be tested in order to improve the peptide profile of skim milk hydrolysates.\nPractical implications: - The application of this study relates to the possibility of using these hydrolysates for preparing high nutritional formulation for dietetic purposes. The use of a technique allowing the fractionation of peptides according to their size as well as the use of the skim milk as protein source, instead of casein, which is very expensive in the developing countries, represents a novel approach.\nOriginality/value: - Provides an evaluation of the profile of peptides isolated from skim milk hydrolysates.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
UK print media coverage of the food bank phenomenon: from food welfare to food charity?
|
[
"Newspapers",
"Media",
"Food banks",
"Food policy",
"Food charity",
"Food welfare"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Food banks are a relatively new phenomenon in the UK and Europe, although they have long been a feature of the North American welfare landscape (Poppendieck, 1997, 1998; Riches, 1986, 1997a, b, 2002, 2011). In 2000, there was only one reported food bank in the UK (Hawkes and Webster, 2000). In the face of global economic austerity the numbers using food banks are spiraling (Lambie, 2011; DeSchutter, 2013).\nMethods: There were six stages of iteration:\nResults: As noted above our analysis was based on themes derived from our data which are set out in the coding frame (see the Appendix). For reporting purposes we have coalesced and reordered these themes.\nMajor themes: Growth and drivers of UK Food Banks\nDiscussion: The paucity of reporting on food banks in the UK in our sample before 2011 reflects the fact that there was only one food bank in existence in England in 2000 (Hawkes and Webster, 2000). Before 2011 food banks are framed by the UK press as an exotic feature of \"foreign news\" with most of the reporting focusing on food banks in the USA and New Zealand - both countries with longer histories of food bank establishment (Uttley, 1997; Poppendieck, 1997). The trends in reporting suggest that the media have moved from reporting food banks in the UK for UK citizens as a quite unusual, short term and emergency feature of the recession towards them becoming normalized and a routine long term feature of British food distribution system.\nConclusion: The reporting of food banks has shifted in the UK print media over time from something exotic and unknown to a regular occurrence. There is little critical analysis of the operation and even the need for food banks in the media, little question about other models or ways of delivering food and how to use food banks as the stepping stone to more fundamental and fairer changes (Saul and Curtis, 2013). This can be attributed to the changing newspaper landscape in the UK where falling newspaper circulation and readership combined with increasing competition from other platforms have put economic pressures on the journalism model. This has led to the demise of expensive investigative journalism and the failure of time-pressed journalists to properly interrogate issues such as food welfare (Lewis et al., 2008).\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore how British print media have reported the emergence of food banks in the UK.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The research uses the news database Nexis and focuses on the period since the global financial crisis in 2007 in nine national UK print media titles. The search criteria included mention of the term food bank at least three times in the newspaper article and a UK focus. This resulted in 190 usable articles from the newspapers.\nFindings: There were no UK-focused newspaper articles before 2008 and few until 2012 when the number increased dramatically. A key theme in reporting was increasing numbers of food banks and users of them. The data most often cited were from the Christian charity The Trussell Trust which runs a franchise system of food banks. There were clusters of newspaper articles indicating a common source. Few of the articles used direct quotes from current food bank users. A \"frame contest\" appeared in 2013/early 2014 with newspaper articles reporting both changes in welfare provision and the proliferation of food banks as the reason for the increase in food banks and food bank use. Tensions emerged between three key sets of players: government ministers, church leaders and The Trussell Trust as the key provider of food banks in England.\nResearch limitations/implications: The authors only examined newspapers, the reporting in other media may be different.\nPractical implications: The media reporting of food poverty and the use of food banks has the potential to influence public perceptions and policy.\nOriginality/value: This is the first study to look at how food banks are reported by the media.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
The perceived impact of packaging logistics on the efficiency of freight transportation (EOT)
|
[
"Freight transportation",
"Logistics",
"Packaging logistics",
"Physical distribution",
"Transport packaging",
"Structure equation model"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: There is an increasing tendency to see packaging as a part of an integrated system and a means to improve the efficiency of all related logistics processes (Chan et al., 2006; Jahre and Hattelan, 2004). Also, packaging has been recognized as an important activity to reduce logistics costs. In addition, it contributes to improve the efficiency of the supply chain including the reduction of logistics costs, which are affected both directly and indirectly by packaging (Garcia-Arca et al., 2006; Ebeling, 1990). There is a relationship between packaging and logistics (Henriksson, 1998; Johansson et al., 1997; Saghir, 2002a, b). Packaging in logistics is presented in a variety of ways, such as transport, standards and information carriers (Sjostrom, 2000). However, many packaging-dependent costs in logistics are frequently overlooked (Twede, 1992; Ebeling, 1990).In the recent decade, a new discipline was developed and is known by the term \"packaging logistics\" (PL) (Bjarnemo et al., 2000; Saghir, 2002). This field was generated from the recognition of the significance of the interrelation between packaging and logistics. Nevertheless, a well-defined definition of PL is difficult to find in the current literature. Saghir and Jonson (2001) tried to define PL with the definition of packaging and logistics by the Council of Logistics Management (CLM).The PL is derived from the interaction and relationship between a packaging system and a logistical system to reduce packaging-dependent costs and add value to the combined overall system. However, the impact levels in the interaction and relationship between two systems has not been clarified yet. Hence, this paper aims to explore the impact levels of PL on the efficiency of freight transportation (EOT). EOT represents the reduction of transport cost through unit load system (ULS). PL is defined by using four factors in this research. First, box modularity aims to develop standards for packaging sizes and to rationalize packaging dimensions for use in identical pallets. In other words, box modularity is the combination of box sizes that is necessary to load boxes on an identical pallet. Second, palletization aims to allow for the loading of boxes onto a pallet without the need for a loading pattern. Third, returnable system aims to return unit load devices, including boxes and pallets, and helps supply chain partners reduce their holding costs. Fourth, information system aims to provide traceability, visibility, security, and safety of goods for stakeholders in a supply chain.The paper is organized as follows. In Section 2, research framework is set up with hypotheses based on the results of literature reviews. In Section 3, research methodology is described with sample data analysis and measurement of variables. In Section 4, we discuss the results of confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structure equation modeling. And, conclusion is presented in the final section.\n2 Literature review and hypotheses: In this section, we review previous researches that have explored PL, and formulate hypotheses to describe the perceived impact of PL on EOT.The transport unit and stackability directly affect transport. Because, the transport unit is the unit load to deliver with stacking boxes on a pallet, and it causes a transport cost reduction. Particularly, the weight and height of a transport unit constrains transport efficiency and cost (Hellstrom and Saghir, 2007). Packaging rationalization is conducted to improve logistics by promoting the 1,200x800 mm EUR pallet and using packaging dimensions that are multiples of the 600x400 mm module (Garcia-Arca et al., 2006). International standardization for pallet size is recommended as 1,100x1,100 mm in the Pacific Rim area, 800x1,200 mm, 1,200x1,000 mm, 1,140x1,140 mm in the EU and 48x40'', 42x42'' in the US (ISO 6780, 2003). Packaging modules are also standardized to sizes such as 600x400 mm for 1,200x1,000 mm and 1,200x800 mm (ISO 3676, 1983; ISO 3394, 1984). Transport packaging also affects transport costs (Lambert et al., 1998). Boxes that contain products are loaded onto pallets for transportation and warehousing (Abdou and Yang, 1994).Palletizing boxes simplifies the movement of product. Inefficient palletization leads to usage of more pallet space, reduces the efficiency of transport, and increases its cost. Therefore, standardization of transport packaging size and palletization are also very important (Ge, 1996). In addition, Ge (1996) pointed out that the suboptimal packing of products on a pallet leaded to an increase in transport costs. Abdou and Yang (1994) discussed the factors influencing palletization, including box size, weight, orientation, and density. Box sizes differ based on the product or order size, resulting in different pallet layout patterns; box weight should be taken into account because boxes are not solid enough; box orientation affects the layout of the pallet; and box density has significant influence on pallet loading stability. Stability of a load is a serious problem when packed boxes do not exactly fit into a desired storage or transport location. Stability is enhanced when a pallet is filled with larger boxes compared to that filled with smaller boxes.The pallet loading problem (PLP) involves the interlocking of boxes on a pallet and is defined as a two-dimensional, rectangular, identical item-packing problem, and the determination of an optimal loading pattern for a set of identical boxes to be loaded onto a pallet. In recent studies, the trade-off between high utilization of a pallet and stability of the load pattern is emphasized and considered as an important concept for research and development (Kocjan and Holmstrom, 2010; Hellstrom and Saghir, 2007). Pennington and Tanchoco (1988) addressed PLP of loading multiple size boxes on pallets to maximize space usage on the pallet, resulting in increased efficiency and reduced transport costs. Morabito et al. (2000) examined not only the loading of boxes on a standard pallet, but also the loading of pallets on trucks, and developed utilization indices to evaluate the economical performance of unit load systems.The optimal layout of non-uniform boxes on a standard pallet must be necessarily determined to improve pallet loading and to utilize the minimum number of pallets (Chen et al., 1991). Customer orders should be packaged in varying dimensions and stacked onto a standard pallet to maximize the stack volume on the pallet (Hodgson, 1982). Martins and Dell (2007) suggested a minimum size instance (MSI) of an equivalence class of PLP, and developed limits for the dimensions of boxes and pallets as the MSI of any class. They presented an algorithm for MSI generation and used it to enumerate all 3,080,730 equivalence classes with an area ratio (pallet area divided by box area) less than 101 boxes. Boxes may be rotated 90deg so long as they are packed with an edge parallel to the pallet edge. Advantages of palletization are summarized as:* cost reduction of transportation and inventory;* reduced loading and unloading operation times;* facilitation of freight handling; and* reduction of the number of damaged, lost and stolen items (Morabito et al., 2000).Bearing in mind these considerations, we have formulated the following hypotheses:H1. Box modularity produces a positive effect on palletization.H2. Palletization produces a positive effect on EOT.Returnable transport items (RTIs) include returnable pallets as well as all forms of reusable crates, totes, trays, boxes, roll pallets, roll cages, barrels, trolleys, pallet collars, racks, lids and refillable liquid or gas containers (ISO/IEC 15459-5, 2005). Decision models are available to help identify efficient RTI system designs (Hellstrom and Johansson, 2010). Hellstrom and Johansson (2010) examined the impacts of different strategies determined by the operating rules for transport (forward/reverse), maintenance, storage, and administration of RTIs. They suggested that these strategies differently affect the efficiency and effectiveness of RTI system. Many companies have invested in RTIs to reduce the use of one-way packaging materials and to derive operational benefits and to decrease packaging waste to adhere to regulations (Maloney, 2001; Twede and Clarke, 2004; Witt, 1999). In a returnable network, the quantity of purchasing new containers is formulated as a model by forecasting returns of reusable containers (Kelle and Silver, 1989). Mollenkopf et al. (2005) compared the cost of an expendable container system to that of a reusable container system. Based on these considerations, we formulated the following hypotheses:H3. Palletization produces a positive effect on the returnable system.H4. A returnable system produces a positive effect on EOT.When RFID tags are embedded on transport boxes, traceability, security and visibility of all products leaving the manufacturing unit is assured and a reasonable stock of finished products can be achieved (Lahiri, 2006; Patrick, 2005). Hartvanyi and Marek (2007) addressed RFID applications in small- and medium-sized supply chains and described benefits of application of RFID using multi-way unit load devices in picking, packing, and shipping processes, etc. Also, they proposed that unit load devices, such as euro-pallets and roll-cages, should be tagged. However, packaging represents an interface between supply chain actors and affects the efficiency and effectiveness of a supply chain (Saghir, 2002). Exchange of information is necessary to coordinate an optimal supply chain, and this type of information system improves the efficiency of transport. Such packaging-related information and measures have been suggested in the Swedish grocery industry (Saghir, 2002). Bearing in mind these considerations, we have formulated the following hypothesis:H5. Palletization produces a positive effect on the information system.Information technology (IT) has been recognized as an essential infrastructure to improve the efficiency of supply chain management (Jin, 2006; Gupta and Capen, 1996; Koh and Saad, 2006). Supply chain management is concerned with managing the relationships of partners to deliver products at lower costs (Stevens, 1989). Information system is developed by allowing for sufficient communication with partners, such as packaging suppliers, manufacturers, forwarding agents, distributors and retailers. In addition, the shared information is used for the traceability, security and safety of freight transport. This has enabled real-time integration of supply chain partners (Li et al., 2009). Based on these considerations, we formulated the following hypotheses:H6. An information system produces a positive effect on the returnable system.H7. An information system produces a positive effect on EOT.We set up a research framework with the above hypotheses based on the results of previous literature reviews, as shown in Figure 1.\n3 Research methodology: 3.1 Sample data\n4 Results and discussion: 4.1 CFA and liability analysis\n5 Conclusion and further research: PL was generated from the recognition of the significance of the interrelation between packaging and logistics. The perceived impact of PL on EOT was explored in this paper. Research framework was constructed with seven hypotheses from the findings of literature reviews, and tested with data and SEM. PL was described by four factors; box modularity, palletization, returnable system, and information system.This paper makes two contributions to the literature. First, the interaction and relationship between packaging and logistics to improve EOT was statistically examined and presented with SEM. The relation of two systems had been expected in previous researches (Chan et al., 2006; Jahre and Hattelan, 2004; Henriksson, 1998; Johansson et al., 1997; Shair, 2002). Second, the perceived/relative impact levels, in interaction and relationship, were clarified. Both directly and indirectly impacts were conceptually expected (Garcia-Arca et al., 2006; Ebeling, 1990).The impact levels give information which factor, describing PL, is the most influential to improve the EOT. This kind of information not only helps logistics and/or supply chain managers make a practical plan and a managerial strategy, policy makers focus on necessary measures to reduce packaging-dependent costs, but also practioners efficiently operate the packaging logistical system.PL obviously adds value the combined overall system between packaging and logistics. However, there is a need to explore the evident measurements and case studies on impact levels in interactions and relationships. Based on findings of this paper, the problem for eco-efficient logistics operations and supply chain management will be explored in further research. This paper will hopefully speed up more studies in this field.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - This paper aims to explore the perceived impact of packaging logistics on the efficiency of freight transportation (EOT), and examine the interaction and relationship between packaging logistics and EOT.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper set up the conceptual model with seven hypotheses from the findings of previous literatures, and this model was tested with data and SEM.\nFindings: - The paper provided empirical insights about the perceived impact of packaging logistics on EOT and clarified the relative impact levels in the relationship between packaging logistics and EOT.\nResearch limitations/implications: - In spite of the chosen research approach, the perceived impact of information system on EOT may lack generalisability. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to test the proposed propositions in further studies.\nPractical implications: - Findings of this study can be used by practioners to improve EOT and by researchers to investigate further studies.\nOriginality/value: - The paper fulfilled a need from previous literatures to clarify the interaction and relationship between packaging logistics and EOT.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
SMEs' dynamic capabilities and value creation: the mediating role of competitive strategy
|
[
"Dynamic capabilities",
"Value creation",
"Competitive strategy",
"SMEs"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Several scholars (Drnevich and Kriauciunas, 2011; Prange and Verdier, 2011; Lin and Wu, 2014; Girod and Wittington, 2017; Ko and Liu, 2017) suggest that dynamic capabilities can improve organisational performance. However, dynamic capabilities may not be sufficient for firms' performance improvement, but their contribution to performance is significant (Rice et al., 2015; Wang et al., 2015; Teece, 2018). While much of the literature investigates the impact of dynamic capabilities on organisational performance, little attention (Rodrigo-Alarcon et al., 2018; Eikelenboom and Jong, 2018) has been paid to understanding how dynamic capabilities create value to small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Value is defined as the non-financial aspects of performance measurement from the stakeholders' view (Amit and Zott, 2001). According to Zott and Amit (2007), this value is considered in terms of four aspects: novelty (innovative provision of new products, services, distribution and marketing channels), lock-in (maintaining a durable relationship with customers and partners), complementarities (offering bundles of products, services and distribution channels) and efficiency (decreasing cost to provide higher benefits for vendors and customers).\nTheoretical background and research hypotheses development: Role of different dynamic capabilities in value creation\nMethods: Research context and measurement\nAnalytical result: Data analysis was conducted using structural equation modelling (SEM). Compared to a more conventional method of multiple regression, SEM enables researchers to examine several sets of regression equations simultaneously (Hoyle, 2014). Of the various methods of SEM, path analysis in LISREL was found most appropriate for hypothesis testing and examining the accuracy of the two proposed models (Figures 1 and 2).\nConclusion: Discussion\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this research is to explicate the role of dynamic capabilities in the ability of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to create value and also investigate the relationship among different dynamic capabilities, competitive strategy and SMEs' value sources.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Empirical evidence based on a survey conducted on a sample of 441 UK-based SMEs was used to test the research hypotheses.\nFindings: The findings illustrate that sensing, learning, integrating and coordinating capabilities play a significant role in SMEs' value creation, and competitive strategy mediates the impact of dynamic capabilities on value creation.\nResearch limitations/implications: This study demonstrates the benefits of understanding the relationship among the four types of dynamic capabilities, competitive strategy and value creation. Moreover, this study contributes to the notion of the contingency nature of dynamic capabilities.\nPractical implications: It offers managers insight into the aspects on which to focus their efforts to enhance their firm's capacity of value creation.\nOriginality/value: While much of the prior studies have conceptually/qualitatively investigated the financial return of uni-dimensional dynamic capabilities of large firms in the manufacturing sector, this study made a significant effort to quantitatively examine the non-financial value potential of SMEs in service sector through four processes of dynamic capabilities.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
The experience economy: micro trends
|
[
"Tourism",
"Consumer trends"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: the experience economy: The experience economy dominates the philosophy of tourism: it permeates how we engage with tourism and how we consume tourism. The literature tells us that tourists want to encounter a whole range of experiences such as holidays abroad, cultural events, fine dining or cutting-edge leisure activities (Pine and Gilmore, 2011). They want to enrich their daily lives by experiencing new things and undertaking activities that deliver self-improvement, enjoyment and revitalisation. Sampling new, unique and aspirational experiences provides consumers with the opportunity to develop new skills, acquires new knowledge and thus boosts their share of social and cultural capital (Bourdieu, 2000). The desire to collect \"stories\" underpins so many of our consumption choices: new experiences are sought in order to build memories, identities and stores of social capital. Hence, consumers can be seen as the experience seekers. Indeed, social media has become a living journal and portfolio of our daily lives, which naturally increases the demand for experiences to fuel our online story platforms. Snapchat and Instagram stories allow consumers to display a constant stream of experiences, where the mundane or everyday sits comfortably with more glossy, performative content. Here, shareability and good storyfodder is worth more than any material value. From beautifully presented restaurant meals to music concerts often the sharing of every moment with friends and followers appears to overtake living in the moment itself. Alongside this, rising access to those items once seen as luxuries has encouraged many to place a greater focus on the pursuit of experiences - whether in addition to, or in place of, more material-based forms of consumption. The ephemerality of the experience economy is also a common draw. Limited-edition events feel more exclusive, while transient pop-ups provide extra status for those who are in the know and reach the location first. And the most premium of experiences cleverly create even more hype by eschewing social media altogether - though shareability and status-boosting is still key. Cult venues such as www.sohohouse.com and www.secretcinema.org ban mobile phones so guests cannot take photos, which could be considered a riskier approach for brands who want to build reputation. However, consumers benefit from feeling they have experienced something truly unique and are even more likely to share it in real life via word-of-mouth. A growing focus of the luxury sector has been the delivery of premium, status-boosting experiences in addition to best-in-class physical products. Those with the means to access the sector will expect the experiences they collect - in-store, on holiday, online - to surpass those available to a mass market clientele.\nMicro trends and experience economy: As the experience economy is now mainstream, how will it evolve and what are the micro or sub trends that will shape its future? Penn (2007) and Penn and Fineman (2018) note that micro trends illustrate the changes that are occurring in the experience economy and that they are consumer focused. Key micro trends are as follows.\nConclusion: The experience economy is a fluid concept and that fluidity is a representation of its future and transformation. Tourism experiences include everything from a Michelin meal in an exclusive restaurant to an encounter with a Kingfisher bird while on a nature adventure. Indeed, the desire for new and enriching experiences is growing exponentially and those providers that deliver experiential value beyond basic function will be particularly successful. Experience-hungry tourists will actively seek experiences that offer new skill acquisition, have a sense of purpose and are associated with aspirational value.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This trends paper is based upon a literature review and access to a series of databases; thus, with the help of these the purpose of this paper is to provide insight into changing consumer behaviours.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper explores how the experience economy will evolve and outlines the micro and sub-trends that will shape its future.\nFindings: This paper identifies seven micro trends associated with the experience economy. The micro trends are: once is never enough, luxury experienced, leisure upgrade, escape from modernity to authenti-seeking, fluid identity, everyday exceptional and experience first.\nOriginality/value: This trends paper provides useful insights into the experience economy for researchers, practitioners, students or interested parties. Going beyond a broad interpretation, it focuses on specific micro trends in action.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Consumer perceptions and motivations in choice of minimally processed vegetables: A case study in Italy
|
[
"Consumer behaviour",
"Italy",
"Food quality",
"Attitude",
"Environmental sustainability",
"Fresh-cut products"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The appearance of powerful competitors due to economical globalization force local companies to look for competitive quality advantages in differentiating their products. In order to satisfy the evolution of the consumer needs, it is important that companies know how to organize themselves to obtain increasing innovation for this new market. An increasing health consciousness and growing interest in the role of agro-food production on environment is now characterizing the consumer in actual society (Ballestrazzi et al., 2011; Kher et al., 2013). Vegetables are well recognized for their benefits toward healthy living (Cox et al., 1996; Feart et al., 2013). Despite public health campaigns, vegetable and fruit consumption remain below recommended daily intake in many countries (Marshall et al., 1994; Wootton-Beard and Ryan, 2011). Barriers relate to changes in consumer's behavior detected less time for cooking, leisure instead of cooking and increasing out-of-home food consumption (Cowan et al., 2001; Frewer et al., 2001). Numerous studies have shown that consumer's needs for convenience are correlated with food choice (Anderson and Shugan, 1991; Eales and Unnevehr, 1993; Grunert et al., 2001; Verlegh and Candel, 1999). A wide assortment of minimally processed vegetables and fruits has been developed to meet consumer's needs for \"quick\" and convenient products (Ahvenainen, 1996). The term \"minimally processing\" has been defined in various ways, for example very broadly as \"the least possible treatment to achieve a purpose\" (Manvell, 1997). A more specific definition which addresses the question of purpose describes minimal processes as those which \"minimally influence the quality characteristics of a food giving the food sufficient shelf-life during storage and distribution\" (Huis in't Veld, 1996). An even more precise definition, which situates minimal processing methods within the context of more conventional technologies, describes them as techniques that preserve foods but also retain to a greater extent their nutritional quality and sensory characteristics by reducing the reliance on heat as the main preservative action (Fellows, 2000; Raybaudi-Massilia et al., 2013). Minimal processing techniques have emerged to meet this challenge of replacing traditional methods of preservation while retaining nutritional and sensory quality. Examples of processes are washing, cutting, mixing and packaging. This assortment of mainly vegetables and some fruits is becoming more and more popular. In Italy, until the end of 2012, purchases of fresh-cut and minimally processed vegetables had an increasing trend, with the complicity of the high service content and ease of use that have boosted consumption by 380 percent in ten years, although prices are higher than the traditional fresh products. Most research about the food category of minimally processed vegetables focusses on microbiological quality, safety, processing and packaging issues (Foley et al., 2002; Luna-Guzman and Barrett, 2000; Allende and Artes, 2003; Allende et al., 2006; De Azeredo et al., 2011).\n2. Conceptual background: 2.1. Health consciousness and motivations\n3. Proposed model: Starting from the theoretical framework described above relating to health motivations, green motivation, attitude, perceived quality and WTP for minimally processed Eco-labeled products is developed a theoretical model that shows the relationships between these constructs in the process of consumption of this particular product: fresh cut lamb's lettuce:\n4. Research methodology: The method used for the data collection was face-to-face interviews, using a structured seven-point Likert scale questionnaire, articulated in three sections and respectively investigating: consumers' health consciousness and motivations, green motivations and behavior, attitude toward a minimally processed Eco-labeled fresh cut lamb's lettuce, WTP more for this product and socio-demographic characteristics of interviewed. Convenience sampling method was used by approaching consumers who were coming out of the stores and willing to answer the questions in two big malls situated in the North East of Italy.\n5. Results: The analysis conducted with LISREL 8.80 allowed to test the hypothesis made in the proposed model.\n6. Discussion and managerial implications: The economic importance of the food sector and the strong imperative for innovation in the sector, has led to a body of research into innovation within the food sector. Such research embraces topics such as: research and development (Bougheas, 2004), networks and the supply chain (Drivas and Giannakas, 2006), innovative behavior (Avermaete et al., 2003; Rama and Von Tunzelmann, 2008), product and process innovation (Avermaete et al., 2004), service quality (Rosa and Nassivera, 2013) and technology (Bigliardi and Dormio, 2009). Type of innovation in the food sector, in particular in minimally processed productions, has been investigated in this work with a particular focus on the relationships between types of innovation and consumer sensitivity via SEM. In the survey it was found that the \"green motivations\" of consumers (in which it is incorporated considerations on environmental sustainability of the minimally processed fruit products), have a direct and significant influence on the attitudes toward a minimally processed product with Eco-label and the WTP more for products with these characteristics. The analysis of the measurement scale indices, allow to underline the significant interest in environmental sustainability issues, which characterize the evolution of consumer needs of minimally processed food products.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the usefulness of integrating measures of motivations in predicting purchase intentions of fresh cut products. In order to gain this purpose the authors developed a field study that involved about 425 consumers of fresh cut vegetables products.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Questionnaire data were gathered in Italy on a Likert scale. Questions focussed on intentions to purchase fresh cut lamb's lettuce from environmental sustainable farms, simulating a fresh cut product with an Eco-label. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM). The SEM technique is used to develop propositions representing a theoretical approach in the context of the process for purchasing fresh cut products. With regard to distinguishing between the motives, the authors referred to the approach that sets out two different types of motive: health and green.\nFindings: The resulting managerial implications make it possible to assess how much the different types of motive influence the attitude and affect the choices and the behavior of the consumers.\nOriginality/value: This implies important managerial implications for new marketing strategies for minimally processed food products, with the opportunity to take advantage of the potential adoption of an Eco-label.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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Managing performance better: advent of a new appraisal system at Infosys Limited
|
[
"Performance",
"Appraisal",
"Bell curve",
"ICount",
"Infosys"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Performance appraisal refers to planned and formal events in organizations wherein performance of the workforce is evaluated and measured against pre-defined criteria and feedback is provided to employees. Typically, organizations adopt annual or bi-annual appraisal cycles.\nWhat is the inverted bell curve system of performance management?: The bell curve or the \"forced distribution\" system of appraising performance was championed by Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric (Stewart et al., 2010). The system is followed in many organizations across the world.\nIs the bell curve system helpful?: The bell curve was widely implemented in organizations due to some of its positive impacts:\nWhat are the disadvantages of the bell curve system?: The effectiveness of the bell curve as a performance management tool has often been debated upon. This is primarily because the approach of categorization propagated by the system leads to a ceiling on the number of employees in each group and often requires \"force-fitting\" of performance on the normal curve, leading to faulty evaluation of employees.\nIntroduction of new feedback-based system: Considering these characteristic shortcomings of the forced ranking system and its impact on social capital, especially for middle- and low-level performers, some Indian organizations have implemented new appraisal systems. Infosys Limited, an Indian tech major, is one such notable example.\nConclusion: The current competitive and dynamic work environment requires organizations to implement effective policies and practices to keep their social capital intact. Bell curve, which is a widely adopted performance management tool, now seems to have run out of utility. Organizations now need to think of better and more efficient appraisal systems that are able to keep today's diverse and evolving new-age workforce sufficiently motivated and engaged. iCount is one alternative that companies such as Infosys are trying out. It will be interesting to watch over the next couple of years how successful this new tool will be.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This paper aims to discuss the importance and impact of performance appraisals on morale and productivity of employees while describing one of the most popular tools for appraisals, the bell curve. It draws attention to how owing to the various flaws of the bell curve system, few organizations, such as Infosys, are now adopting alternative systems of appraisals.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper describes various advantages and disadvantages of the bell curve in detail. It also describes iCount, an appraisal system based on open ranking that has been adopted by Infosys, and discusses the expected advantages and disadvantages of the new system vis-a-vis the bell curve.\nFindings: Organizations are now questioning the effectiveness of the bell curve, as a performance management tool, in light of its drawbacks. Infosys Limited has, therefore, moved to an alternative system named iCount, which is expected to be more effective and to enhance the morale of its employees.\nOriginality/value: This paper scrutinizes the bell curve approach to performance appraisals, its premise, distinct advantages, and adverse impact on employees, that have led Infosys Limited to move on to a feedback-based system.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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Is the performance improvement effect of social capital contingent on life cycle stages of professional athletes? Evidence from motorboat racing in Japan
|
[
"Japan",
"Social capital",
"Social networks",
"Professional athletes",
"Panel data",
"Performance analysis",
"L83",
"Z13",
"C23"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Economic agents are embedded in social structures, networks, and relationships, be they formal or informal. Examples include nations, local communities, industrial clusters, trade associations, labor contracts, friends, and families. Some characteristics of the networks generate social capital, thereby enabling economic agents to extract benefits in the form of access to information about new opportunities and resources as well as psychological aid (Abell et al., 2001; Davidsson and Honig, 2003). Thus, social capital is considered to compensate for limited internal resources of economic agents, and there is a consensus that social capital has positive effects on performance at micro (individual or firm), meso-macro (industrial or regional), and macro (social) levels (Tsai and Ghoshal, 1998; Bjornskov, 2012; Laursen et al., 2012a). One of the important streams in recent research on social capital is the contingency theory that considers several moderators affecting the impacts of social capital on performance, such as technological regimes and phases of growth or development (Gabbay, 1997; Coviello, 2006; Elfring and Hulsink, 2007). This concept highlights that different types of social capital exert different effects on performance according to circumstances economic agents are in.\n2. Hypotheses: Network characteristics and social capital\n3. Method: Data\n4. Results: Table III shows estimation results. Though not robust, some models show that the relationship between performance and experience is non-linear. In other words, race experience has a positive effect on performance until it reaches at a specific threshold while it exhibits a negative effect beyond the threshold. Model 5 examining male racers, for instance, indicates that the threshold is approximately 43 race periods (=79376/(2x929)). This means that, other things being equal, a new graduate from the training institute, at 19 years old in many cases, could improve performance till approximately 41 years old (=19+43/2). After that his performance starts to decline. This result appears to demonstrate the characteristics of motorboat racing as a sport in which relatively old athletes remain active. In fact, there are active racers nearly 70 years old with almost half century-long experiences.\n5. Discussion: The results of bonding social capital lend support to the contingency theory of social capital that network requirements of economic agents change over time (Lechner et al., 2006; Slotte-Kock and Coviello, 2010). The training period secluded from the external world incubates a dense network comprising strong, overlapping ties among trainees, which helps cultivate bonding social capital. Social capital of this type is conducive to psychological aid, which is the most beneficial when racers are inexperienced. This is consistent with previous findings that cohesive networks and strong ties improve performance in the emergence period of new firms while sparse networks and weak ties are complementary to performance in the early growth period of new firms (Hite and Hesterly, 2001; Rothaermel and Deeds, 2004).\n6. Conclusion: The contingency theory in social capital assumes different effects of different types of social capital on performance in different circumstances. This concept is important to understand variations in performance of professional athletes in individual sports whose playing career is limited and who are strongly motivated to improve performance. Using panel data of motorboat racers as a sample occupation, this study is the first to examine the contingency theory in sport. I analyzed determining factors in the number of wins in a final, highlighting social capital, with physical factors like reflexes kept constant. The results show that bridging social capital, measured by the number of motorboat racers in the same regional division, has no impact on performance. On the other hand, bonding social capital, measured by the number of racers who graduated from the training institute in the same race period, has positive impacts on performance. Strong bonds among peers who are homogenous in terms of experiences and skills are incubated through the training period where the trainees were isolated from the external world. Bonding social capital coming from such strong ties provided novice racers with psychological aid. The positive effect of bonding social capital is not confined to novice racers who are less experienced, which suggests the possibility that psychological aid coming from bonding social capital remains important for experienced racers, too. Another interpretation is that douki acts as a source of bonding social capital which provides psychological aid in the initial phase of racers' growth and gradually changes its nature so as to offer different benefit to experienced racers. The results also suggest homogenous networks enabled to share the costs of investment into physical assets, such as for modification of propellers, which tends to take place among individuals without conflict of interest. This study adds to the previous literature on the contingency theory by demonstrating different types of social capital affect performance through different routes in different individual growth stages. This study also provides several practical implications which have to do with the management of the training institution, races and social capital formation among female racers, and the design of incentive mechanisms for less motivated racers.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine whether bonding and bridging social capital of professional athletes affect their performance and whether the impacts vary according to their life cycle stages.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This study establishes an unbalanced panel of motorboat racers in Japan, and estimates a fixed-effects negative binomial regression model to analyze determining factors in the number of wins in a final, focusing on not only physical factors but also social capital.\nFindings: Bridging social capital, measured by the number of racers in the same regional division, has no impact on performance. Bonding social capital, measured by the number of racers who graduated the training institute in the same period, has positive impacts on performance. This positive effect is more salient among racers who are less experienced, and thus need to extract benefits from social capital to augment limited internal resources.\nOriginality/value: This study adds statistical evidence to previous literature on the contingency theory that different types of social capital have different impacts on performance under different environments.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Shaping the blends
|
[
"Blended learning",
"E‐learning",
"Learning styles",
"Learning methods",
"Curriculum development"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: \"Blended learning\" is one of those fashionable phrases that you hear and think that you understand but are too afraid to query in case you're labouring under some misapprehension or are just plain wide of the mark.\nReducing the time taken to achieve competence: \"Our clients tell us that combining learning delivery methods in this way reduces hugely the time taken for trainees to achieve competence, since everyone is up-to-speed with what they need to know prior to the trainer starting the classroom-delivered part of the programme. In addition, it makes the training more effective because people are always able to go back to the electronically-delivered learning materials and remind themselves of what they have been trained in,\" he said.Novartis Pharmaceuticals use Echelon's \"book ended learning\" to support their core training courses. Since Novartis's employees access learning materials before attending their training course, the facilitator needs to spend less time on \"chalk and talk\", allowing maximum time for the trainees to develop and practise their skills. According to Hill, employees are referred to the electronic resource at the end of the training as part of their on-going self-development or as a reminder of the course's learning.Each module is supported by a preview of the content and an interactive validation of the learning, written in HTML. This is stored and logged by the individual and the company. Access is via Novartis's intranet to a discrete part of Echelon's server.When a large insurance company wanted to upgrade its company-wide computer system to Windows XP and standardise its e-mail browser as Microsoft Outlook XP, along with introducing new user domains and refreshing its stock of computers, it turned to Training Synergy for help in implementing the accompanying training for its 12,500 or so staff throughout the UK.Specialising in providing appropriate development solutions, Training Synergy helped the project manager and his team to produce a one-hour training presentation on the subject, accompanied by handout notes - for those who wanted to attend a classrom-based training session.\nCatering for learners' preferences: \"Those who prefered the self-study approach were given access to both 'hard copy' and e-learning materials,\" said Daniel Hanlon, Training Synergy's managing director. \"These, along with a version of the classroom-based presentation, were also available via the company intranet as refresher training materials. Finally, every person who underwent the training had access to 'one-to-one' coaching sessions.\"The fact that there has been no increase in calls from the company's staff to its internal IT helpdesk would indicate that the training has been a success,\" Hanlon added.However, like all things, blended learning has its critics. They criticise it on two main grounds: first, it is jargon; and second, they see it as a post hoc rationalisation by sellers of learning materials. First, these sellers - allegedly - claimed that computer-based training and, later, its derivative, e-learning, was the only, and a superior, alternative to classroom-delivered training. When this proved untrue and the amount of classroom-delivered training carried out barely declined in the face of the e-learning revolution, the sellers allegedly invented a new set of \"Emperor's New Clothes\" and called them \"blended learning\".\nE-learning's failure to impart soft skills: \"The term 'blended learning' was coined when e-learning's suppliers and buyers realised that e-learning alone would not impart soft skills because developing soft skills requires interaction,\" said Neil Lasher, managing director of e-learning specialists Trainer1.\"Blended learning exists because e-learning can only provide knowledge,\" commented Alun Harvey, managing director of Open Mind, the UK's largest distributor of generic learning resources. \"So unless you're doing a course on computer skills, legislation or something else that is entirely knowledge-based, further support - such as a classroom-delivered course or mentoring - is essential so that a real person can test the learner's understanding and explain how to apply the new knowledge in practical situations. If approached in this way, blended learning can be an ideal solution.\"Over the last three years, Ashridge, the internationally renowned business school, has turned its international Executive MBA programme into a blended learning programme by introducing elements of e-learning - including some sophisticated business simulations produced by Tata Interactive Systems (TIS). These business simulations come from TIS's range of over 160 simulation-based learning objects (SimBLs(tm)), which were originally developed in association with the University of Phoenix, in Arizona, in the USA. Ashridge's international Executive MBA candidates work through SimBLs(tm) (see www.simbls.com) on:* Ethical differences in cultures.* Building a global organisation.* Determining the debt-equity mix.* Capital budgeting.Commenting on the use of simulations to teach these business skills, Alan Samuel, head of TIS in the UK, said: \"SimBLs(tm) help learners to focus on the key learning points in the material. They can be used as standalone learning tools or, as is the case with Ashridge's programme, can be blended with other forms of learning. They can even be used as ice breakers, pre-assessments or even assessment tools.\"\"E-Learning has strengths and weaknesses, and needs to be used appropriately,\" Ashridge's Anthony Mitchell commented. \"E-learning has the potential to promote the paradigm shift from teaching to learning, but its adoption is a change process and, to be successful, needs to be built on a learning culture across all players. It then should be aligned to business strategies and needs and managed as carefully as any other business change.\"\nDamning with faint praise: Still, there are those who prefer to damn blended learning with faint praise. Interpreting the term in its widest sense, they point out that, since the dawn of recorded history, there have been a number (a blend) of ways in which human beings can learn: via a book, which is the original form of another piece of trainers' jargon, \"distance learning\"; through the practical experimentation of trial and error; in a group; individually with the aid of a tutor, coach or mentor, and so on. Thus, they argue, blended learning is not new. So, they say, what's the big deal with blended learning now?Of course, only an embarrassed adolescent or a coward thinks that jargon is pretentious. Every field has its jargon. It is not pseudery or exclusivity. It is precision. Learning the jargon is part of the initiation to proficiency and professionalism.The big deal with blended learning today is that, thanks to continuing advances in technology which are changing the ways in which we work and live, more people are using more technology to do more things than human beings have been capable of doing in the past. With this comes a need to learn more new things - in order to keep productivity rising as well as the work-life balance in some sort of equilibrium.This may be expressed in the need to attain more knowledge - perhaps to satisfy the compliance regulations for industries such as healthcare and financial services - or in the need to know where to find relevant information as and when necessary.\nGroundbreaking applications: So, while there is nothing new about the concept of blended learning, that concept is now being applied in previously inconceivable ways. In the process, it is making people more knowledgeable, efficient and proficient - enabling their organisations to provide greater value for money.According to Donald Clark, formerly of Epic and now a director of Ufi: \"Blended learning has moved beyond the disconnected delivery of classroom or e-learning courses. What it hasn't done is move us much beyond simple models, where formal methods are put shoulder to shoulder; with informal techniques still largely ignored.\"Speaking at this year's Learning Technologies conference in London, the author and analyst Clive Shepherd sees blended learning as a useful motif, not something to be scorned or ignored,\" Clark continued. \"His analysis was spot-on. Blended learning is fine in theory, but falls down in practice. Knocking down the single methods of delivery - classroom, e-learning and on-the-job, he sees more sophisticated blends as the answer. As usual, Clive was solidly pragmatic and has published his own 'book of blends' to make his point (The Blended Learning Cookbook, published by Saffron Interactive).\"\nBlended learning benefits: A well-constructed blended learning experience provides the benefits of both e- and classroom-delivered learning, including:* Consistent delivery of message - via e-learning.* Instant access to learning materials as, when and almost wherever required - via e-learning.* Constant access to the learning materials for refresher training - via e-learning.* A learner-controlled learning experience - via e-learning.* Access to peer-group learning - via the classroom.* Access to expert knowledge, advice and guidance - via the classroom.According to Vaughan Waller, head of the Technologies for Business and Learning (TBL) consultancy and the chairman of the eLearning Network (eLN), the UK's foremost professional association for users and developers of e-learning: \"Basically, e-learning on its own is not enough. Tutor-led training on its own is not enough; neither is informal or any other form of learning. Learning tends to be effective where one or more delivery methods are chosen because they are the most appropriate for the job in hand. The complex bit comes when you try to work out what is the most appropriate way to do something.\"\nSomething more than e-learning: \"Using e-learning alone may seem like a good idea in theory - it saves money and time - but, in practice, it hasn't worked out too well,\" agreed Jane Knight, the founder of the e-Learning Centre and, for over 20 years, a well-known figure in what is now the e-learning world, who recently became the head of research, organisational learning technologies at Learning Light, a non-profit organisation that helps to build relationships between learning technology researchers, suppliers, buyers and learners.\"Employees aren't that enthusiastic about sitting at their computers ploughing their way through hours of online course materials,\" she added. \"They soon get fed up. If they encounter any technical issues, they just don't bother. If their line managers think they are wasting valuable working time, they stop altogether.\"The real problem is not with e-learning per se, but with not providing employees with an appropriate solution to their learning needs - one that fits in with their ways of working and learning, one that is presented in the most suitable format for them, one that is valued, encouraged and supported by line managers, one that works technically, one that is available for the employees when they need it and one that meets the budget.\"Knight believes that the key to achieving this is, first, to carry out a thorough examination of the learning situation. What usually happens when a training manager has a training problem is to ask a developer to create an online multimedia course, she explained. However, this places emphasis on the solution and the technology to build the solution, rather than on the problem and the environment in which it exists.\nIdentifying an appropriate learning solution: \"When identifying an appropriate solution for a learning problem, you have to understand the problem fully - the specific training need, how quickly a solution is required, the number, type and location of learners, and the budget available,\" said Knight. \"So, if there are only a handful of learners, all based in the same office, who need to be trained rapidly on a new computer application and there is little money to fund the solution, then a simple solution - such as a couple of web pages, a presentation or a short training session - would be more appropriate than an all-singing, all-dancing online, multimedia course that might take months to produce.\"And once the general type of learning solution has been identified, a lot more needs to be understood about the environment in which the solution is to be used,\" she added.This includes knowing the organisational culture and the technical environment, so that a solution can be designed that:* is not such a cultural mismatch that it doesn't fit in with the learners' ways of working and learning, or that middle managers do not approve of it and so do not encourage or promote its use; and* requires a higher computing specification than is in place, so that it fails to run properly on learners' computers, or requires a more sophisticated understanding of computers than is the case.\nThe need for a disciplined approach: \"There needs to be a more disciplined approach to designing learning solutions, by professionals who have wide experience in organisational behaviour, pedagogy and learning technologies,\" said Knight, \"so that the outcome is effective, efficient and - most importantly - appropriate learning solutions that meet the organisational and technical environment.\"\"In reality, there should be no such thing as 'blended' learning,\" said Trainer1's Lasher. \"We should consider every option in delivering appropriate learning - not e-learning, blended learning or any other 'type' of learning.\"The eLN's Waller added: \"Research by cognitive psychologists has shown that we prefer to learn some things one way and other things another way. But this is too formulaic for me. We are all human and we are all different - at least, I am.\"In Waller's view, if e-learning is just another method of delivering learning, then blended learning is just another element in the instructional design process. He believes that the perfect training programme is one that is designed well and, because of this, the majority of humans using it will learn from it.Or, perhaps, as Shakespeare almost said: \"There's a divinity that shapes our blends, rough-hew them how we will\".\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to describe and critique \"blended learning\", with examples of the use of this approach to delivering learning.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper contains information from leading authorities in the UK on e-learning and blended learning - the eLearning Network, the e-Learning Centre and Learning Light - along with comments from leading providers of blended learning, including Echelon Learning, Open Mind, Tata Interactive Systems and Trainer1.\nFindings: - Blended learning is not new and has its critics, but the key principle behind this concept - that learning activities must be appropriate for the learners, not only with regard to their learning preferences but also within the context of their organisation culture - is vital to producing a successful learning programme.\nPractical implications: - The paper argues that blended learning can - and does - work, providing effective learning solutions. However, it is more important to find an appropriate learning solution - which may well be some sort of blended learning. This calls for a disciplined approach to designing learning solutions, by professionals who have experience in organisational behaviour, pedagogy and learning technologies.\nOriginality/value: - Highlights the principle that learning activities must be appropriate, not only with regard to learners' learning preferences but also within the context of their organisation culture.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Performance management in supply chains: logistics service providers' perspective
|
[
"Performance management",
"Supply chain management",
"Logistics service providers",
"Obstacles",
"Case studies",
"Sweden"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Many scholars report an increasing use of logistics service providers (LSPs) in supply chains (Larson and Gammelgaard, 2001; Hertz and Alfredsson, 2003; Panayides and So, 2005; Fabbe-Costes et al., 2009; Liu et al., 2010; Briggs et al., 2010). The term LSP is applied as a synonym for similar terms such as carriers, forwarding companies, transport(ation) companies, third-party logistics providers and logistics service companies, as suggested by Fabbe-Costes et al. (2009). LSPs provide for their customers traditional logistics services such as transportation and warehousing, and supplementary services such as order administration and track-and-trace services (van Hoek, 2001; Fabbe-Costes et al., 2009). LSPs often act as intermediaries between suppliers and customers in supply chains (Hertz and Alfredsson, 2003). They handle larger shares of their customers' activities and are therefore significant actors in supply chains.Logistics performance in supply chains, such as lead time, flexibility and on-time delivery, is created by customers, suppliers and LSPs, and should be a shared responsibility (Forslund et al., 2009). As the business environment is getting more competitive, Piplani et al. (2004) and Wilding and Juriado (2004) claim that the acquiring, analysing and reporting of performance data is a success factor for LSPs and their customers. Also, according to Liu et al. (2010) and Briggs et al. (2010), performance capabilities are of special importance for LSPs' competitiveness. A large share of the customers studied state that they use formalised performance measurement with their LSPs (Wilding and Juriado, 2004).Management of performance in supply chains is no longer based on functional hierarchies, ownership, or intra-company power but rather cross-company relationships (van Hoek, 2001; Lehtinen and Ahola, 2009). Literature on performance measurement is biased towards intra-organisational studies (Lehtinen and Ahola, 2009). According to Panayides and So (2005) and Mortensen and Lemoine (2008), it is unusual to include LSPs in performance measurement studies in supply chains. Some identified studies of LSPs and performance have too narrow a focus on merely selecting performance metrics (van Hoek, 2001; Wilding and Juriado, 2004). However, other studies on performance measurement in supply chains (Lai et al., 2002; Piplani et al., 2004; Forslund and Jonsson, 2007) show that not only should performance metrics be addressed but also the broader concept of performance management.Performance management is described as a process consisting of five activities as follows: selecting performance variables, defining metrics, setting targets, measuring and analysing (Forslund and Jonsson, 2007). Current research offers limited knowledge about how LSPs are handling performance management in detail with their supply chain partners. It is likewise relevant to make such descriptions for a practitioner audience interested in supply chain performance improvements. Such research could indicate LSPs' relative performance management capabilities. In a recent study, Tian et al. (2010) point out the importance for LSPs' to distinguish themselves from their competitors. LSPs' PM capabilities may complement or be superior to performance management capabilities of LSPs' customers (Hertz and Alfredsson, 2003). Such knowledge can imply that performance management activities are divided between the LSP and customer, which can result in the achievement of synergies (Hertz and Alfredsson, 2003; Forslund and Jonsson, 2007; Fabbe-Costes et al., 2009). This study makes such descriptions from the perspective of LSPs, encouraged by Hertz and Alfredsson (2003) and Maloni and Carter (2006) who stress that such research is lagging behind studies made from customers' perspectives.Many companies handle performance management with an internal scope (Forslund and Jonsson, 2007). The question of the scope of the supply chain in which the performance management process is handled by LSPs - internally, dyadically or with a broader supply chain scope - remains unanswered. Hertz and Alfredsson (2003) conclude that integration of the supply chain is a way for the LSP industry to gain competitive advantage, and stress the importance for LSPs to manage their relationships with supply chain partners. This study hence poses the following research questions:RQ1. How are LSPs handling the performance management process?RQ2. With what scope of the supply chain do LSPs handle the performance management process?Handling performance management in supply chains is a complicated issue. Studies (Brewer and Speh, 2001; Forslund and Jonsson, 2009) show obstacles such as supply chain partners' conflicting objectives, poor IT support and a lack of trust. Forslund et al. (2009) describe performance management among one supplier, one customer and one LSP, where the LSP is perceived an obstacle to performance management by focusing on metrics other than those the customer demands. Larson and Gammelgaard (2001) point out various coordination obstacles, such as differing metrics definitions between LSPs and their customers. Also Mortensen and Lemoine (2008) show IT-related obstacles to performance improvements between LSPs and customers. But knowledge of the obstacles for performance management from the perspective of LSPs is scarce, which is a gap in literature. We do not know if obstacles from studies in customer companies are similar to those in LSPs or if they struggle with other obstacles. Knowing the obstacles for performance management is a critical part of actually improving performance management in supply chains. An additional research question is, consequently, which obstacles for supply chain performance management are perceived by LSPs?According to Panayides and So (2005), Selviaridis and Spring (2007), Fabbe-Costes et al. (2009), Lehtinen and Ahola (2009) and Tian et al. (2010), more research is necessary to provide a better understanding of how LSPs contribute to improving logistics performance in supply chains. The purpose of this paper is twofold: to explore the handling of the performance management process and to explore the obstacles for performance management in supply chains from the perspective of LSPs. To limit the study, this paper focuses on the LSPs' key account customers and on their most important service - road freight. By responding to the research questions, the aim is to contribute to performance management theory and its practice.\nLiterature review: The performance management process\nMethodology: With exploratory purposes, a case-study approach is appropriate (Yin, 2003). Case studies are especially relevant, as the majority of LSP research is survey-based (Maloni and Carter, 2006; Selviaridis and Spring, 2007). A multiple-case study is conducted to discover the handling of the performance management process and to identify its obstacles. According to Transport Intelligence (2009), three large actors dominate the Swedish LSP market: LSP 1, LSP 2 and LSP 3 Logistics Sweden. In such large organisations, there are many possible organisational levels to address. Respondents should represent the managerial level in Swedish headquarters, where considerable knowledge and decision-making are expected to exist. Maloni and Carter (2006) encourage specifying the company size and managerial level in LSP research.More than one respondent per case was needed to get the entire picture. Such an approach - to use multiple sources of evidence or data triangulation (Yin, 2003) - can only strengthen the construct validity of the study. An interesting observation is the ease in LSP 3 to identify managers responsible for performance management issues. In the two larger LSPs, it is difficult to find the manager directly responsible, and more general managers are addressed. Hence, the organisation of performance management responsibilities in LSPs seems to vary. In Table I, the respondents' positions are shown.The clear link between the literature review, based on the performance management process model (Forslund and Jonsson, 2007), and the empirical data collection tool - a structured interview guide with open-ended questions - strengthens the construct validity of the study (Yin, 2003). The respondents are perceived to be experienced in performance management issues and show understanding for the questions. Telephone interviews of between 1 and 2 h, together with e-mail contacts, are conducted during 2010. The structured interview guide eases the coding of the interviews. Cross-case comparisons and pattern matching (Yin, 2003) are used as analysis methods. The respondents validate both their own case descriptions and the final paper, leading to minor modifications. The reliability of the study is ensured by clearly documenting the different decisions and questions in a case study protocol (Yin, 2003). Method limitations are further discussed in the Conclusions section.\nCase descriptions: Each case description follows the heading structure from the literature review.LSP 1\nAnalysis and discussion: This section is structured after the research questions posed in the introduction section.How are LSPs handling the performance management process?\nConclusion, contributions, limitations and future research: The purpose of this paper is to explore the handling of the performance management process and the obstacles for performance management in supply chains from LSPs' perspective. Detailed descriptions of the handling of the performance management processes are provided, which indicate similarities among LSPs, especially in selecting performance variables, in defining metrics, and in data capturing. The differences are indicated in target setting, in reporting performance results, and in analysing those results. Tian et al. (2010) stressed the importance for LSPs to distinguish themselves from their competitors. LSPs have better data-capturing and often better report-making capabilities than their customers. Differences in the perceived demand of performance management from customers are found. Performance management is handled with an internal or, at best, dyadic approach by LSPs. Three obstacles empirically identified and supported by theory for supply chain performance management perceived by LSPs are found as follows: lack of understanding, poor capabilities for adapting performance metrics definitions and lagging IT solutions for performance reports. Altogether, the findings imply improved ways of dividing performance management activities to the supply chain partner that has the best capabilities, in order to avoid duplication and to increase integration and efficiency in supply chains.This study offers a better understanding of how LSPs can contribute to improving logistics performance in supply chains. It contributes to performance management theory by providing detailed descriptions of the performance management process. It also indicates that obstacles from three LSPs' perspectives are similar to those perceived by customers. Both of these documentations were previously gaps in literature. The exploratory character of this study, however, reduces the possibility of generalising the findings outside the sample.The practical implications are obvious. The study has revealed differing performance management capabilities and practices among LSPs; customer companies can choose an LSP that handles performance management activities in the way demanded. Customers are made aware about the differences in organisation, knowledge and priorities among the LSPs. LSP managers can benchmark how other LSPs handle performance management activities.Confirming the exploratory results in broader survey studies is a logical next step. This study has a static view of LSPs' practices; it is acknowledged that a lot of development is going on. The geographical scope can also be increased, although the studied LSPs already act internationally. Some limitations are related to the methodology of this study, which imply a need for future research. The narrow focus on large LSPs, managerial-level respondents, and key account customers can be widened. It has become obvious during the study that it is desirable to conduct a complementary study from the customers' perspective. Such a study can provide a deeper knowledge about customers' demands, expectations and satisfaction; it can describe gaps and the degrees of congruency between LSPs and their customers in performance management. A recently published study (Rollins et al., 2011) support such an approach. When LSPs share their customers' knowledge through close relationships, the customers' satisfaction with the LSP is increasing. Such a study can also highlight obstacles from the customers' perspective and contribute to both performance management theory and practice.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - Logistics service providers (LSPs) are important actors for creating logistics performance in supply chains. However, there is little previous research on how they handle the performance management process. The purpose of this paper is to explore the handling of the performance management process and its obstacles from the perspective of LSPs.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A multiple-case study is conducted with the three largest LSPs in Sweden.\nFindings: - The handling of the performance management process shows similarities among LSPs in selecting performance variables, defining metrics, and capturing real-time data. The differences are found in target setting, in report-making and analysing, and in the perceived demand for performance management. The following three perceived obstacles are found for supply chain performance management: lack of understanding and knowledge; poor capabilities for adapting performance metrics definitions; and lagging IT solutions for performance report-making. The findings indicate possibilities for an increased supply chain scope where activities are handled by the partner that has the best capabilities, improving efficiency in supply chains.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The study contributes to performance management theory by providing exploratory knowledge of the supply chain performance management process and its obstacles from the perspective of three LSPs. The study focuses on large LSPs and has respondents at the managerial level.\nPractical implications: - The study reveals differing supply chain performance management practices among LSPs, which implies that customers can choose an LSP that handles performance management in the way required.\nOriginality/value: - Little previous research includes LSPs in studies of supply chain performance management. In particular it is unusual to have the perspective of LSPs and apply case-based methodology.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
The relationship between teachers' perceptions of transformational leadership practices and the social ecological model: Universal vs national culture
|
[
"Comparative study",
"Transformational leadership",
"Teachers"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: While some researchers argue that transformational leadership practices (TLPs) are universally effective across cultures with some TLP similarities across countries (e.g. Muenjohn and Armstrong, 2015), other researchers have found that TLP may not be equally likely to occur in all cultures (Leong and Fischer, 2011).\nOverview of US and Israeli educational systems: The USA\nLeadership in a cross-cultural perspective: In explaining the relationship between TLP and SEM, this study considers the four main dimensions of SEM developed by Hofstede (2001), which together have substantial face-validity and have been empirically demonstrated to be related to many aspects of leadership and organizations (e.g. Ergeneli et al., 2007; Leong and Fischer, 2011). According to Hofstede's model, culture is the collective programing of the mind that distinguishes the members of one group of people from others. This model consists of the following main dimensions:\nTransformational leadership practices: TLPs have been characterized as a process in which leaders take actions to increase their followers' awareness of what is valued and important. This process is exemplified by leaders motivating and influencing followers to perform \"beyond expectations\" and encouraging followers to look beyond their own self-interest for the good of others.\nThe SEM: With growing recognition that school leadership is a complex phenomenon influenced by multiple factors (Berkovich, 2014), this study examines the meaning of TLP through its relationship with the SEM, which based on previous studies includes a broad spectrum of subsystems (e.g. Swearer and Hymel, 2015). Using the SEM will help to develop an integrative approach that takes teachers' TLP into consideration and may thereby affect leadership policy.\nMethod: Sample\nResults: In order to discuss and compare the different dimensions of TLP (USA vs Israel), the authors found the following five dimensions common to both the USA and Israel: MTW, a=0.84; ISV, a=0.88; CTP, a=0.90; EOA, a=0.81; and ETH, a=0.82. This is supported by previous studies (e.g. Abu-Tineh et al., 2008). Based on paired samples for TLP, the authors found significant differences in each country between the various dimensions of TLPs, supporting the existence of the five dimensions in each country.\nDiscussion: In light of the tension between researchers who advocate the universal culture vs the specific national culture approach, this study investigated an integrative model that combines relationships between teachers' perceptions of TLP and different subsystems of the SEM within the context of a country's culture (USA vs Israel). The findings indicated that some universal leadership aspects, such as the most dominant practice (MTW) and the least dominant practice (CTP), were found both in the US and Israel. This universal aspect appearing both in the USA and Israel may be explained by the characteristics shared by both educational systems. Both are centralized. In Israel the system is controlled by the Ministry of Education and in the US by the different state authorities. This may suggest dimensions of masculinity and uncertainty avoidance culture, which could have an impact on principals' leadership - they would tend to encourage their teachers to act as they do and not take risks or attempt new challenges. At the same time, differences between the three settings and teaching experience in Israel and the USA were not significant.\nConclusion, contribution for school leaders and future research: This study focused on an integrative model combining teachers' perceptions of TLP and the SEM within the context of universal culture and specific national culture, which has largely been ignored in educational leadership studies. By adding SEM to educational leadership research, this study demonstrates the role of the transformational leader in improving educational systems in the USA and Israel. Future research should develop an integrative approach that considers the study limitations mentioned in the Method section (e.g. translating issues, potential non-response bias) and additional subsystems of SEM based on teachers' perceptions.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine an integrative model combining teachers' perceptions of transformational leadership practices (TLPs) and different subsystems of the social ecological model (SEM) within the context of country culture (US vs Israel).\nDesign/methodology/approach: A quantitative study was conducted among 615 Israeli teachers and 541 US teachers. The leadership practices inventory (LPI) questionnaire was used, and analyses focused on the interaction effects of ecological subsystems and country on teachers' perceptions of TLP.\nFindings: Results indicated that some universal leadership aspects appear in both the USA and Israel, with modeling the way being most dominant and Challenging the Process least dominant. However, the findings also indicated some specific national leadership aspects. For example, Israeli teachers perceive their school principals' TLP to be significantly higher than do US teachers in all five dimensions. In addition, the study indicated significant differences between Israel and the USA regarding aspects of TLP, after taking school level into account. The results are explained by Hofstede's culture dimensions.\nOriginality/value: This study focuses on teachers' perceptions of TLP in relation to SEM, which has been largely ignored in educational leadership studies. The findings may help to develop an integrative policy related to both TLP and SEM, which will enhance the impact that school leadership may have in both countries, taking the cultural context into consideration.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Digital dividends in the phase of falling productivity growth and implications for policy making
|
[
"Information technology",
"Quantitative techniques",
"Industry",
"Productivity paradox"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Many developed economies have experienced slowing productivity growth in recent decades, especially following the global financial crisis (GFC) of 2007-2008 (OECD, 2015). Figure 1 shows the annual average growth rates in multifactor productivity (MFP)[1] in 20 OECD countries for 1991-2014, separated by five-year periods. As shown in the figure, the average MFP growth trends are somewhat lower in the countries for the 2006-2010 and 2011-2014 samples, as compared to what they experienced during 2001-2005 or preceding periods (Figure 1). Figure 2 illustrates the net change (in per cent point) in annual average growth rates in MFP for these OECD countries in 2006-2014 from those in the preceding decade (1996-2005). As shown, the changes have all been negative, except for Spain. The largest shortfalls happened in Ireland (-3.28), Finland (-2.26), followed by Sweden (-1.61), the UK (-1.61), the USA (-1.07), Australia (-0.98) and so forth.\n2. Brief review of the literature: As the wave of digitalization is breaking at a rapid pace, interest in business value from IT[2] has intensified (Cowen, 2016; World Bank, 2016). IT potentially has the ability to unleash in all industries and sectors, creating greater opportunities to shift towards new business models, better customer experience and business performance (Veit et al., 2014). However, returns from IT investment are not straightforward, but rely on the roles of certain mediating factors (Liang et al., 2010; Shahiduzzaman et al., 2015).\n3. An Australian case: 3.1 Aggregate and sectoral patterns\n4. Method and data: 4.1 Model\n5. Estimation results: 5.1 Basic elasticity\n6. Conclusion and policy implications: Since the second-half of 2000, aggregate productivity growth in most advanced countries has slowed down, with average changes hovering around zero in many cases. This led to a major concern over \"digital dividends\", as the emergence of the \"New Economy\" was thought to provide new opportunities of business growth and efficiency (World Bank, 2016).\n",
"role": "user"
},
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"content": "Purpose: Despite the rapid pace of digitalization, aggregate productivity growth rates in most advanced countries have slowed down consistently in recent years. It creates a \"puzzle\", as investment in information technology (IT) has often been thought of as a remedy to solve productivity problems. The purpose of this paper is to examine the \"puzzle\" by using industry-level data.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This research uses industry-level longitudinal data and examines changes in both labour and multifactor productivity (MFP) in Australian industries. This study uses an instrumental variable (IV) approach to estimate the models.\nFindings: Findings suggest an improvement in IT-led productivity performance in recent years. Industries with an above-average share of IT (IT investment as a share of total investment) have experienced MFP boosts since 2005.\nResearch limitations/implications: Because of the aggregate nature of the data it was not possible to incorporate firm-specific factors, such as managerial and organisational factors, in the analysis.\nPractical implications: The performance of IT has improved despite the falling growth in technology investment in recent years, suggesting that intangible factors, such as better regulatory and policy frameworks, have potentially played a positive role.\nOriginality/value: There are only a few studies using sectoral and longitudinal-type data, with many having become dated, meaning that there is a lack of understanding surrounding recent developments.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
The effect of strategic orientations on business performance in SMEs: A multigroup analysis comparing Hungary and Finland
|
[
"Finland",
"Growth",
"Business performance",
"Hungary",
"Small-to-medium-sized enterprises",
"Strategic orientation"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The research community largely shares the view that growing SMEs are of special importance in the economy (e.g. Storey, 1994) as they play a major role, for example, in job creation (Smallbone and Wyer, 2000). Consequently, SME growth has been extensively studied (e.g. Dobbs and Hamilton, 2007; O'Regan et al., 2006; Delmar et al., 2003; Davidsson et al., 2002; Wiklund, 1998) and several determinants of firm growth have been proposed. Dobbs and Hamilton (2007), for instance, reviewed 34 recent studies featuring over 30 determinants of small firm growth. These factors relate to management strategies, characteristics of the entrepreneur, environmental/industry specific factors, and the characteristics of the firm. However, no particularly strong explanatory factors have been identified (Gibb and Davies, 1990; Gibb, 1997; Pistrui et al., 1997; Poutziouris et al., 1999). In fact, attempts to build models for predicting the future growth of a firm, i.e. \"picking winners,\" have not been particularly successful. It has been argued that still only little is known about SME growth (Wiklund et al., 2009).\n2. SOs and business performance: 2.1 Learning orientation\n3. Conceptual model and hypotheses development: The conceptual model (Figure 1) illustrates the relationships between the four SOs and the three performance measures and how they are moderated by country. Below we describe each of the relationships as well as the moderating effect of country on these, and develop our research hypotheses.\n4. Context, data and methods: 4.1. Hungary vs Finland\n5. Analysis and results: 5.1. Measurement model\n6. Conclusions and discussion: 6.1 Brand performance, market performance and business growth\n7. Managerial implications: The results of this study indicate that SMEs operating in both Hungary and Finland should consider relying on multiple SOs in their pursuit of growth. They also need to take into account the ways in which different SOs actually contribute to growth. SME owner/managers thus need to first introduce mechanisms for measuring their success not only in terms of growth, but also in terms of their operational (i.e. non-financial) performance. It is also important to understand how different performance measures relate to each other. Having an understanding of different aspects of organizational performance and the tools for measuring them, firms can more effectively build and develop their strategies.\n8. Limitations and future research: It has been argued by Cadogan (2012) that researchers should pay great attention to the selection of their performance measures, given that different SOs contribute to only certain domains of performance. The present study addressed this point by employing multiple performance measures. However, future research could extend this study by including additional performance measures in the model to improve its predictive power. This would allow researchers to investigate whether the SOs that were found here to have a negative or insignificant effect relate to alternative performance measures.\nAcknowledgment: The authors wish to thank the North Karelian Centre for Economic Development, Transport and Environment, the European Social Fund (ESF), the Joensuu Regional Development Company, and the Foundation for Economic Education for their financial support for this research. The authors also thank John Cadogan and the anonymous reviewers for their useful comments and suggestions for improving this manuscript.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The present study sheds light on the role of strategic orientations (SOs) in explaining business growth. The purpose of this paper is to examine how different SOs, namely learning orientation, entrepreneurial orientation, market orientation and brand orientation simultaneously affect business performance measured with brand performance, market performance and business growth in SME context and whether these effects vary across countries.\nDesign/methodology/approach: An extensive data set of 1,120 effective responses is collected from two European countries, namely Hungary, representing a post socialist rapidly growing market, and Finland with a stable, highly developed and competitive economy. A multigroup moderation analysis is conducted. Confirmatory factor analysis is used in testing measurement invariance, subsequently followed by structural equation modeling procedure used in testing research hypotheses developed on the basis of a literature review.\nFindings: The results show that entrepreneurial orientation, market orientation and brand orientation have a positive effect on business growth in SMEs in both Hungary and Finland through brand and market performance. With regard to learning orientation, a positive yet somewhat weak effect on growth is found only in the Hungarian sample. The moderation analysis reveals that country moderates several of the hypothesized paths from SOs to business performance.\nOriginality/value: Prior studies on SOs have mainly focussed on single orientations at any given time. However, researchers increasingly argue that many firms are better off if they build their strategies on multiple SOs. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this study is one of the first empirical studies to address multiple (four) SOs in the same research model. Furthermore, little is known about if and how the performance effects of different SOs vary across countries.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
"As rare as a panda": How facial attractiveness, gender, and occupation affect interview callbacks at Chinese firms
|
[
"Gender",
"Discrimination",
"Hiring",
"Beauty",
"Chinese firms",
"Facial attractiveness",
"Field experiments",
"Internet job boards",
"Resume correspondence audit study"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nI. Introduction: From the perspective of job candidates, obtaining an interview is an essential and critical first step in the hiring process. Discrimination at this stage of the job seeking process can have profound impacts on individuals' labor market outcomes. Both rewards to, and discrimination based on, beauty, facial attractiveness, and gender in obtaining jobs, getting promotions, and determining compensation have been explored in a wide range of labor market contexts. There is, however, a shortage of research that examines the effects of facial attractiveness and gender in Chinese labor markets, especially with regard to obtaining job interviews via China's rapidly expanding internet job board sector.\nII. Review of the literature - facial attractiveness - and gender-focussed resume audit studies: Resume audit (correspondence) studies yield the benefits of controlled experiments conducted in realistic field settings and have been used to study discrimination in a wide variety of country and labor market contexts[2]. Resumes of fictional applicants are first carefully crafted to make candidates appear equally productive in terms of their work histories and educational backgrounds. Researchers then control a particular attribute or set of attributes under study - in our case gender and facial attractiveness. Discrimination is estimated by calculating the differences in the rates of callbacks for interviews received by individuals whose applications vary only in terms of the attribute(s) under study.\nIII. Experimental design: Our experiment focusses on one rapidly growing, dynamic segment of China's labor market - the internet job board sector. On a daily basis, millions of jobs are advertised on China's internet job boards and many millions of applications are submitted in response[3]. These boards serve a wide variety of firms but tend to focus on well-educated individuals seeking jobs in private firms (Kuhn and Shen, 2013). According to iResearch China (2013, Chart 2-2) in 2012, 27.4 percent of college graduates found their jobs through internet job boards. A slightly earlier report predicted that by 2012, internet job board companies would take over 16 percent of China's hiring market (iResearch China, 2009, Chart 10-2). We employ the largest of the Chinese job boards, 51job.com, to investigate whether Chinese firms respond differently to job applications from male and female candidates and from facially attractive and unattractive candidates[4]. In China, it is standard practice to attach a photo to job applications and resumes.\nIV. Photo selection: attractive and unattractive faces: To select photos for use on our resumes, we first purchased, from on-line stock photo companies, the rights to use 36 (18 male and 18 female) real, non-celebrity portrait-style photos of ethnically Chinese young men and women. We created an online survey to gather people's rating of the candidates' attractiveness on a scale from 1 (very unattractive) to 5 (very attractive), as well as the respondents' demographic information[5]. The majority of our survey respondents were Asian men and women, most of whom resided in China. Since our goal was to select photos that reflect Asian standards of attractiveness, we restricted our photo selections to the ratings of the survey's 583 respondents who identified themselves as Asian. The most \"attractive\" male and female photo candidates received average ratings of 4.29. The \"unattractive\" male candidate received an average rating of 2.42 while the \"unattractive\" female candidate received an average rating of 2.63.\nV. Application process: From June through August of 2012, we submitted a pair of applications for each suitable job posting in each of our four occupations in each of our six locations. By \"suitable,\" we simply mean that our candidates' characteristics were a good match for the advertised position, that is, they appeared well qualified for the positions. The content of the two resumes that we customized for each occupation in each location were used, unaltered, for each posting. However, throughout the summer's application process, each of these resumes was assigned hundreds of times to each of our fictitious, attractive and unattractive, male and female candidates with their respective photos.\nVI. Results - descriptive analysis: The first two columns of Table II reveal that on average our male and female candidates were contacted to set up interviews (or carry out the next step(s) in the hiring process) by 11 and 12 firms, respectively, for each hundred applications that they submitted. The differences in callback rates were much more pronounced on the basis of facial attractivenss. Attractive candidates experienced an interview callback rate of 13.27 percent while unattractive candidates experienced a rate of 10.01 percent. Table II, columns 3 and 6, also present ratios of callbacks of men to women and of the attractive to the unattractive. What these ratios reveal in terms of gender differences is that a woman could put in 9 percent less applicantions than an equally qualified man and still expect to get the same number of interview callbacks. However, an unattractive candidate would need to put in 33 percent more applications than an equally qualified attractive one to receive the same number of callbacks. This finding is consistent with that of Lopez Boo et al. (2012) who find, based on resume photos, that attractive people in Argentina receive a 36 percent higher rate of interview callbacks than unattractive people.\nVII. Results - multivariate probit analysis: In Tables II through VI above, we have sequentially discussed some of the factors (gender, attractiveness, location, occupation) that influence the callback rates received by candidates using paired resumes. Recall that these applications differ only in terms of gender and facial attractiveness (indicated through attached resume photos) as the same pairs of resumes were used repeatedly. In this section of the paper, we explore how these factors interact. We estimate probit regressions with the 0-1 dependent variable indicating whether or not a candidate received a callback for an interview. The independent variables include controls for a candidate's occupation, location, gender, and attractiveness. We also create control variables to track firm characteristics such as firm ownership and firm size (indicated by the number of employees). Table VII presents the results of our probit regression based on all 24,192 observations. Tables VIII-XI present results separately for each occupation.\nVIII. Conclusion: This paper explores the issues of discrimination based on gender and facial attractiveness of job candidates in the hiring process of Chinese firms that post job openings on internet job boards. Our data was collected through a resume audit study conducted in summer of 2012. Callback rates were calculated based on 24,192 applications submitted in response to job postings across four occupations in six cities.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore how both gender and facial attractiveness affect job candidates' chances of obtaining interviews in China's dynamic internet job board labor market. It examines how discrimination based on these attributes varies over occupation, location, and firms' ownership type and size.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors carry out a resume audit (correspondence) study. Resumes of fictitious applicants are first carefully crafted to make candidates appear equally productive in terms of their work histories and educational backgrounds. The authors control gender and facial attractiveness. The authors establish the facial attractiveness of candidate photos via an online survey. In total, 24,192 applications are submitted to 12,096 job postings across four occupations in six Chinese cities. Callbacks are carefully tracked and recorded. Discrimination is estimated by calculating the differences in the rates of callbacks for interviews received by individuals whose applications vary only in terms of facial attractiveness and gender. The authors reuse the same resumes repeatedly through this project such that names and photos of each of the candidates: attractive man, attractive woman, unattractive man, and unattractive woman is attached to each resume hundreds of times for each occupation in each city.\nFindings: The authors find sizable differences in the interview callback rates of attractive and unattractive job candidates. Job candidates with unattractive faces need to put in 33 percent more applications than their attractive counterparts to obtain the same number of interview callbacks. Women are preferred to men in three of the four occupations. Women, on average need put in only 91 percent as many applications as men to obtain the same number of interview callbacks.\nResearch limitations/implications: The analysis of this paper focusses on only four different occupations. Its scope is also limited to exploring only the first part of the hiring process - obtaining a job interview. Furthermore, its fictitious applicants are all young people, approximately 25 years old. It would be useful to explore how gender and facial attractiveness affect candidates' chances of landing a job after getting an interview.\nOriginality/value: This paper contributes to and expands the literature on hiring through China's internet job boards. It also contributes to the literature on the role of facial attractiveness in hiring.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Investigating training through the lens of dramatic possibilities
|
[
"Training",
"Drama",
"HRD",
"Theatre",
"Experiential learning theory (ELT)",
"Kolb"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: The stage is a magic circle where only the most real things happen, a neutral territory outside the jurisdiction of Fate where stars may be crossed with impunity. A truer and more real place does not exist in all the universe.(Baber, 2010)\nLiterature review: In this paper, the role drama-based training can play in various fields of specializations has been investigated with special focus on the link between theatre and business. There are supporting empirical evidences and experiments from literature on the basis of which it is proposed that such form of training must gain more acceptance in more diverse areas of specialization, especially related to business management, considering the potential it has as a tool for achieving behavioral transformation.\nConclusion: Drama-based intervention has tremendous potential to deliver lessons through entertainment in a fresh and impactful manner for learning and development professionals in organizations. There are plenty of instances of its usage in the various field of specializations out of which education and medicine emerged as early adopters with success. There are also some empirical supports to champion its usage, albeit in lesser number. It is one of the most powerful tools for trainers to lift participants' motivational levels in their quest toward meeting the ultimate objective of learning in most engaging manner. Be it interactive form of drama for experiential learning (Boggs et al., 2007) or non-interactive portrayal of events or situations by the actors, the potential to find a connect with the participants is huge vis-a-vis lecture mode. It is encouraging that many organizations in India are adopting such forms of interventions more than ever before. At the same time, there is a case for amplifying its usage by organizations so that behavioral trainings can be taken outside the confines of classrooms. The understanding of DRAMA model is especially suited to experiential learning as it evokes a powerful approach to attract learners into experiencing events and/or situations. This in turn helps in learning by transcending beyond the \"lecture platform into the interactive, participative, doing phases\" (Mockler, 2002). Surely there is a compelling logic for trainers to use interventions as drama-based training for greater engagement of the trainees given the fact that the generation of whirlwind of emotions while watching drama can act as a trigger to succor and add to the effectiveness of the training session via instant recall. There are limitations for sure as not every form of training can be covered through such interventions but wherever there is a possibility, surely drama can make itself count amongst one of the most engaging tools for bringing about identification and recognition of desired behavioral changes. This also finds an echo in Kolb and Kolb (2005) who considered the traditional art-based education as an integration of theory and practice through experiential learning wherein more focus was on expression of ideas and skills. It will not be a far-fetched statement to make that drama-based interventions are personifications of the spirit of experiential learning and has tremendous potential for both, the trainers and the trainees. Clearly, a win-win proposition.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to probe aid readers' understanding of the areas in which drama-based trainings are being used and how drama as a tool acts as a means to achieve desired learning and behavioral changes in organizations.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper uses literature review to analyze the practice of drama-based training.\nFindings: Drama-based training is one of the most effective tools to engage participants. It elicits the desired response in them when they ruminate over familiar circumstances or behaviors being depicted and leads to instant recall and associations that acts as a propeller to imbibing new learning. Coming up with an alternative response or behavior as a result of experiencing events through drama could help them learn or manage the situation through behavioral transformation.\nResearch limitations/implications: Being conceptual in nature, this model must be tested empirically by relevant stakeholders in the area of learning and development to add further weightage to literature.\nPractical implications: By detailing drama-based training used in varied areas of specialization and how its usage has tremendous potential to facilitate bringing about desired behavioral changes, the paper demonstrates the importance of creating a lasting impact through this method of training that will specially be relevant to HRD managers.\nOriginality/value: Multidisciplinary areas in which drama- or theatre-based trainings are being used have been studied through literature review and a conceptual model of training, abbreviated as DRAMA for easy recall, has been proposed with inclusion of salient features that make drama-based interventions for training so engaging and effective for disseminating learning. This model also finds some connection with the Kolb's experimental learning theory.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Profiling research published in the Journal of Enterprise Information Management (JEIM)
|
[
"Research",
"Publications"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: The Journal of Enterprise Information Management (JEIM), previously published as Logistics Information Management, is more than 20-years old. It is a well-known information systems (IS) research journal. JEIM's reach and its value to IS academics is aptly demonstrated by its inclusion in the journal rankings published by the Association of Business School, Cranfield Business School and Kent Business School. Furthermore, JEIM appears in the journal rankings endorsed by the Australian Council of Professors and Heads of Information Systems. Given its long period in circulation, JEIM has developed and accumulated intellectual assets covering a multitude of IS areas. It is therefore important that this repository of knowledge be methodologically analysed and presented for the benefit of the readers. Although it is acknowledged that the JEIM editorials have routinely reflected on the direction of this journal, nevertheless the authors consider that an in-depth analysis encompassing the last ten years of JEIM will be of great interest to the readers since a profiling study usually helps to unearth the intellectual wealth which has evolved during the period of a journal's circulation (Dwivedi et al., 2009).With reference to journal publications, profiling is considered to be an art of self-examination that aims to benefit a specific audience, and takes a journal towards the right and balanced direction (Dwivedi et al., 2008, 2009; Dwivedi and Kuljis, 2008; Palvia et al., 2007). This paper provides an overview of research published in the journal and complements previous work by Avison et al. (2008), Claver et al. (2000), Dwivedi et al. (2008, 2009), Dwivedi and Kuljis (2008) and Palvia et al. (2007) towards understanding and developing the area of IS research. Furthermore, this study is likely to stimulate researchers to profile other Information Systems Journals (ISJs) in order to conduct comparative/cross-journal studies which will ultimately help to understand the overall evolution of the IS discipline (Dwivedi et al., 2008, 2009; Dwivedi and Kuljis, 2008).Before stating the aim and the objectives of this paper, it is important to briefly describe efforts in reviewing IS literature by JEIM authors. A search of JEIM publications resulted in a number of review papers on a range of IS topics. A few of the more recent review papers are mentioned here. For example, by undertaking a thorough literature review, Parker and Castleman (2009) critique a range of theories for explaining the idiosyncratic nature of small firms and their e-business adoption decisions; Mason et al. (2008) attempt to understand knowledge management, clustering and regional development; Sutton (2006) analyse existing research to establish the basis for the logical formation of a framework for future enterprise risk management research; Mondragon et al. (2006) critically review business trends and drivers affecting the performance of supply chains and build-to-order initiatives; Stockdale and Standing (2004) review benefits and barriers of electronic marketplace participation for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The publication of these studies indicate that JEIM regularly publishes papers focusing on various facets of IS research evolution. This paper will be a further contribution towards understanding the evolution of the IS discipline from JEIM's perspective.In light of the above, the aim of this paper is to provide a systematic review of JEIM publications in order to ascertain the current status of its publications. This overall aim is realised through the following seven objectives:1. to identify the most prolific authors publishing in JEIM;2. to determine the occupation/position of the contributing authors;3. to identify authors' backgrounds (i.e. academic or practitioner);4. to perform co-author analysis;5. to determine the geographic location of the contributing authors;6. to classify JEIM publications according to the research methods employed; and7. to determine the most frequently used keywords in JEIM publications.These objectives were realised by conducting a systematic review of 381 JEIM papers published during the period 1999-2008. The remainder of this paper is structured as follows. Section 2 provides a discussion of the method employed in the analysis of the published JEIM research. The findings are presented and discussed in Section 3. Finally, Section 4 presents conclusions from this work and the limitations of the approach.\n2 Methodology for meta-data analysis: Building a profile of the last ten years of JEIM publications necessitated that the authors systematically review a total of 381 research papers (see Table I for number of papers published each year) to capture data on several variables like authors, institutions, etc. Such an approach for the systematic classification of research published in a particular journal is termed as a \"meta-study\" or \"longitudinal literature review\" (Palvia et al., 2007; Dwivedi and Kuljis, 2008; Dwivedi et al., 2008, 2009). This approach has been successfully employed to profile a number of IS and related journals, including the European Journal of Information Systems (EJIS) (Dwivedi and Kuljis, 2008), Information & Management (I&M) (Claver et al., 2000; Palvia et al., 2007), the ISJ (Avison et al., 2008), Information Systems Frontiers (ISF) (Dwivedi et al., 2009) and Journal of Electronic Commerce Research (JECR) (Dwivedi et al., 2008). It is therefore considered appropriate to use the \"meta-study\" approach for JEIM also.The methodology employed for this profiling study is now described. For each of the 381 papers in our data-set, information was collated for variables such as authors and their backgrounds, geographic regions and countries of authors' affiliated institutions, the research methods employed and the most frequently utilised keywords. The impact of the research was assessed using Google Scholar citation counts. The authors' backgrounds and geographic location variables were adapted from previous studies by Avison et al. (2008) and Dwivedi et al. (2008, 2009). However, consistent with the arguments presented in Dwivedi et al. (2008, 2009), three geographic regions suggested by the Association of Information Systems (AIS) were further divided into seven regions to reflect the true picture of the publication activity from different geographic regions. These regions are as follows:1. AIS-R1 - USA and Canada;2. AIS-R1 - other (Latin American and South American Countries);3. AIS-R2 - Europe and UK;4. AIS-R2 - Middle East and Africa;5. AIS-R3 - South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, Japan, India;6. AIS-R3 - Australia and New Zealand; and7. AIS-R3 - other.The research methods employed by the JEIM authors were coded under different categories. These categories were adapted from previous studies by Avison et al. (2008), Chen and Hirschheim (2004), Dwivedi et al. (2008, 2009) and Palvia et al. (2007). These research method categories are as follows:* descriptive/theoretical/conceptual;* survey;* experiment;* case study;* data analysis;* interview; and* ethnographic studies.The reader is referred to the above-mentioned studies to find detailed information on the research method categories.Earlier profiling studies have cautioned that the findings with regards to the most active authors and universities with the most contributors should be regarded as indicative and not an authoritative declaration (Claver et al., 2000; Dwivedi and Kuljis, 2008; Dwivedi et al., 2008, 2009; Palvia et al., 2007), and this study takes a similar view. The authors agree with the argument presented in the earlier studies that some authors prefer to publish in a specific journal than others and some universities may have niches of research expertise that are not yet visible.\n3 Findings and discussion: The findings of this study are now presented under different subsections. Each of the 11 subsections discusses the findings in relation to a particular variable. The variables are as follows: most productive authors (Section 3.1), occupation of authors (Section 3.2), area of academic expertise/authors' home department (Section 3.3), authors' background (Section 3.4), co-author analysis (Section 3.5), country and geographical regions (Section 3.6), type of publication (Section 3.7), research method employed (Section 3.8), keyword analysis (Section 3.9), citation analysis (Section 3.10) and most downloaded paper (Section 3.11).3.1 Most active authors\n4 Conclusions: The aim of this paper was to analyse the current state of IS research published in JEIM by presenting the results of a systematic and comprehensive review of 381 papers that appeared between the years 1999 and 2008. The paper presented the results along a series of dimensions, for example, most active authors, research impact of published papers, authors' backgrounds, most frequently used keywords, research methodology employed, etc. The followings are the main conclusions that have emerged from the analysis presented in this study:* In terms of most active authors, the list includes only two authors (Zahir Irani and Peter E.D. Love) who have appeared as most active author in profiling analysis of other leading IS journals including EJIS (Dwivedi and Kuljis, 2008) and I&M (Palvia et al., 2007).* A large proportion of JEIM authors hold lectureship, followed by professors, associate and assistant professors.* In terms of the home department of JEIM authors, the largest numbers of researchers are from Business and Management discipline followed by MIS/IS backgrounds, Computer Science and Software Engineering, and Engineering disciplines.* JEIM authorship also includes many practitioners.* Research published in JEIM shows strong collaborative works. The largest numbers of papers are co-authored by two authors, followed by three author contributions. There are a number of papers co-authored by four, five and six authors.* UK is the single largest contributor of JEIM authors and their institutions. Consecutively, AIS-R2 - Europe and UK emerged as the most dominant region, followed by AIS-R1 - USA and Canada.* The descriptive/theoretical/conceptual methods, followed by case study and survey, were the most dominant research methods utilised by JEIM authors within the span of our study.* Analysis indicated that \"information systems\", \"electronic commerce\", \"internet\", \"logistics\" and \" supply chain management\" were the most frequently utilised keywords.* The highest research impact is reported for the paper published by Beamon (1999), followed by Angeles (2000) and Tetteh and Burn (2001). The research impact was assessed by citations obtained from Google Scholar for all papers published in JEIM.We anticipate that JEIM readers will find this paper a useful source of information, especially if they wish to learn more about the various facets pertaining to the existing body of published IS research in JEIM.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to analyse research published in the Journal of Enterprise Information Management (JEIM) in the last ten years (1999-2008).\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Employing a profiling approach, the analysis of the 381 JEIM publications includes examining variables such as the most active authors, geographic diversity, authors' backgrounds, co-author analysis, research methods and keyword analysis.\nFindings: - All the findings are in relation to the period of analysis (1999-2008). Research categorised under descriptive, theoretical and conceptual methods is the most dominant research approach followed by JEIM authors. This is followed by case study research. The largest proportion of contributions comes from researchers and practitioners with an information systems (IS) background, followed by those with a background in business and computer science and IT. The keyword analysis suggests that \"IS\", \"electronic commerce\", \"internet\", \"logistics\", \"supply chain management\", \"decision making\", \"small to medium-sized enterprises\", \"information management\", \"outsourcing\" and \"modelling\" are the most frequently investigated keywords. The paper presents and discusses the findings obtained from the citation analysis that determines the impact of the research published in JEIM.\nOriginality/value: - The primary value of this paper lies in extending the understanding of the evolution and patterns of IS research. This has been achieved by analysing and synthesising existing JEIM publications.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Macro-level enabling conditions for the formation of social business enterprises in the Philippines
|
[
"Financial services",
"Social entrepreneurship",
"Entrepreneurial culture",
"Good governance",
"Entrepreneurial formation and growth",
"Inclusive economy"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: This study turns the spotlight on social enterprises, herein defined as entrepreneurial organizations, following a business model, which focus on the provision of goods or services that primarily aim to solve social problems and, therefore, benefit the community. At the forefront, this study emphasizes that a conducive and enabling environment is imperative for the formation of sustainable social business enterprises (SBEs). The significance of exploring the context in which social enterprises are formed and flourish lies in the sheer importance of understanding the sustained prevalence of SBEs in many economies - both in developed and developing ones. The study primarily aims to identify macro-level enabling conditions necessary for the formation of SBEs and to analyze them in the context of the Philippines, an emerging economy that is yet to be transformed into an inclusive one.\n2. Macro-level enabling conditions for social entrepreneurial formation in the Philippines: This section identifies and elaborates four major exogenous conditions for the formation of social enterprises in the context of the Philippines (see Figure 1). The following determinants are explained in this section:\n3. Conclusion: In this article, the author identified four components that contribute to the formation and growth of social enterprises in the Philippines. The points and examples provided in this article advocate that social enterprises are viable instruments that can significantly reform traditional capitalist structures and markets to become more inclusive, with more noble goals, and with greater impact. Government institutions act as the stirring factor directing economic policies. SIEA serves as an instrument, that when effectively utilized, can promote and optimize SBEs' socio-economic value; financial services are the enriching component; and the entrepreneurial culture can be considered as a catalyst that both enhances SBE formation and reflects any impact that the other three conditions may have contributed to SBEs in general.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: A conducive and enabling environment is imperative for the formation of sustainable social business enterprises (SBEs). This paper aims to identify the macro-level enabling conditions necessary for SBE formation and to analyze them in the context of the Philippines, an emerging economy that is yet to be transformed into an inclusive one.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Major developments on micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises, specifically on social enterprises, were revisited and analyzed. The author also looked into how they are sustained, supported and nurtured in the Philippines' overall economic landscape. Extensive data were collected from relevant agencies in public and private sectors, after which they were analyzed parallel to existing academic literature, i.e. theories, models and concepts, on social entrepreneurship and development nexus.\nFindings: It has been found that the four macro-level enabling conditions, namely, governance, socially inclusive economic approach, financial services and entrepreneurial culture, presumed to be vital for SBE formation, contribute to the latter at various levels, but surely complement each other in the process.\nResearch limitations/implications: The significance of exploring the context in which social enterprises are formed and flourish lies in the sheer importance of understanding the sustained prevalence of SBEs in many economies - both in developed and developing ones.\nOriginality/value: By having a more structured knowledge of the components surrounding SBE formation, the community may be able to also simultaneously explore why and how social entrepreneurs form profit-earning business entities that are primarily driven by social advocacies and goals.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Identifying landmark publications in the long run using field-normalized citation data
|
[
"Bibliometrics",
"CSS method",
"Dynamically normalized impact score",
"Highly influential publication",
"Landmark publication",
"Outstandingly cited publication"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Besides peer review, research evaluation is frequently based on indicators (Bornmann, 2011; Moed and Halevi, 2015). The most prominent group of indicators comprises bibliometric indicators with the basic indicators being number of publications and their citation impact - as a proxy of quality (Wilsdon et al., 2015). \"Bibliometric assessment of research performance is based on one central assumption: scientists, who have to say something important, do publish their findings vigorously in the open, international journal literature\" (van Raan, 2008, p. 463). Also, citations are rooted in the basic requirements of scientific activity: \"It is one of the basic rules of scientific research that a piece of written research, in order to warrant publication, needs to be adequately situated within the existing research literature\" (Woelert, 2013, p. 350).\n2. Methods: 2.1 Data\n3. Results: We used the annually classified papers from 1980 to 1990 to identify the landmark papers. These are papers which receive a very high impact across decades. Furthermore, we clustered the data to identify patterns in impact distributions across the citing years.\n4. Discussion: The standard distribution of citation impact over citing years starts with a rapid increase and slow decrease, which generally happens on a relatively low impact level. Instead, landmark publications reach a very high level of citation impact and are able to remain on this level across many citing years.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to propose an approach for identifying landmark papers in the long run. These publications reach a very high level of citation impact and are able to remain on this level across many citing years. In recent years, several studies have been published which deal with the citation history of publications and try to identify landmark publications.\nDesign/methodology/approach: In contrast to other studies published hitherto, this study is based on a broad data set with papers published between 1980 and 1990 for identifying the landmark papers. The authors analyzed the citation histories of about five million papers across 25 years.\nFindings: The results of this study reveal that 1,013 papers (less than 0.02 percent) are \"outstandingly cited\" in the long run. The cluster analyses of the papers show that they received the high impact level very soon after publication and remained on this level over decades. Only a slight impact decline is visible over the years.\nOriginality/value: For practical reasons, approaches for identifying landmark papers should be as simple as possible. The approach proposed in this study is based on standard methods in bibliometrics.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Design of hazardous materials transportation safety management system under the vehicle-infrastructure connected environment
|
[
"Hazardous materials",
"Transportation safety",
"Management system",
"G IS",
"Route optimization",
"Intelligent connected"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: With the rapid development of the economy and the accelerating process of industrialization, the demand for hazardous materials has been increasing year by year, resulting in a significant increase of traffic volume. Various types of vicious accidents have frequently occurred; therefore, all sectors of society have paid great attention to the safe transportation of hazardous materials. The special physical and chemical properties of hazardous materials can easily lead to secondary accidents when the accident occurred, resulting in dangerous goods leakage, explosion, poisoning and so on. According to statistics, in China, there are hundreds of security accidents caused by hazardous materials transportation every year (Lu, 2018). It has caused great losses and potential threats to the lives and property safety of the state and the people.\n2. System design: Based the background of ICV technology, this paper designed a hazardous materials transportation safety management system under the vehicle-infrastructure connected environment. The core technologies of ICV include vehicle overall sensing technology, wireless communication technology, vehicle ad hoc network (VANET) technology, safety assistant driving technology, information fusion technology and data processing technology. The system uses C# as the development language, based on the Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 platform to introduce ArcGIS Engine, SQL Server 2008, and GPS plug-in development. Using the hierarchical design as shown in Table I, the system has the characteristics of high maintainability, easy code reuse and flexible expansion. Based on SQL Server 2008 + C# platform, the database management function of hazardous materials transportation route optimization system is developed, and the information management of drivers, vehicles, hazardous materials, transportation records and emergency plans is realized.\n3. Subsystem function design and introduction: 3.1 Vehicle and driver management subsystem\n4. Conclusions and prospect: 4.1 Conclusions\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: For the purpose of reducing the incidence of hazardous materials transport accident, eliminating the potential threats and ensuring their safety, aiming at the shortcomings in the process of current hazardous materials transportation management, this paper aims to construct the framework of hazardous materials transportation safety management system under the vehicle-infrastructure connected environment.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The system takes the intelligent connected vehicle as the main supporter, integrating GIS, GPS, eye location, GSM, networks and database technology.\nFindings: By analyzing the transportation characteristics of hazardous materials, this system consists of five subsystems, which are vehicle and driver management subsystem, dangerous sources and hazardous materials management subsystem, route analysis and optimization subsystem, early warning and emergency rescue management subsystem, and basic information query subsystem.\nOriginality/value: Hazardous materials transportation safety management system includes omnibearing real-time monitoring, timely updating of system database, real-time generation and optimization of emergency rescue route. The system can reduce the transportation cost and improve the ability of accident prevention and emergency rescue of hazardous materials.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Volatility, trading volume and open interest in futures markets
|
[
"Futures",
"GARCH",
"Volatility",
"Open interest",
"Trading volume"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Futures' trading[1] plays an important role in providing a full range of markets necessary for economic efficiency (Sutcliffe, 2006). However, since most futures markets, especially after the 2008 crisis, are of great interest by hedgers and speculators, it is important to examine the relationship of volatility with other important key financial variables. An important aspect of volatility is its relation to liquidity variables such as trading volume and open interest (Martinez and Tse, 2008).\n2. Methodology and data: Measuring price volatility is a fundamental issue in empirical finance. Price volatility can be measured in different ways, e.g. using open, low, high and closing prices or by considering the closing price of the examined index only. There is a vast literature developing new techniques to get accurate estimates of volatility. The three main techniques in estimating volatility are based on stochastic volatility models, implied volatility using options or time-series models of returns. In this study we measure volatility (price changes) using a specific class of models within the time-series models for daily returns. More specifically, we base our estimates of volatility on GARCH specifications which have been very successful in the literature (Engle, 2001).\n3. Data description: For our empirical analysis we need data on three variables: prices, open interest and volumes for each one of the futures contracts analysed. We consider data on the closing price, the number of contracts existing in a futures market which have not yet been closed out (as proxy for open interest) and the number of trades of each contract considered (as proxy of trading volume). Constructing a continuous series of futures contracts needs an assumption about the rollover period since futures contracts has an expiration date and a limited lifespan. We use data from the nearby month contracts, i.e. the contracts with the closest settlement date[4]. Trading is usually most active for these contracts as compared to deferred contracts[5].\n4. Empirical results: In this section we discuss the empirical results about the relationship between volatility, trading volume and open interest in the 36 futures markets analysed. As a preliminary analysis we examine the summary statistics of all futures prices and returns. All examined series confirm that returns follow standard financial characteristics (i.e. skewness, kurtosis, integration of order 1, etc.)[6].\n5. IRFs: IRFs are essential tools in empirical causal analysis. They track the impact of any variable on others in a specified system. In the topic of this paper, we show in this section the dynamic response of our three variables of interest (i.e. volatility, open interest and trading volume) to shocks in the other economic variables and the variable of interest itself.\n6. Conclusion: Since futures markets are much more liquid than stock markets and liquidity is proxied by trading volume and open interest, we examine the empirical relation between price volatility, trading volume and open interest in futures markets using recent data from 36 international markets. Using a two-stage approach, the empirical results show that open interest helps explain futures market volatility. However this effect depends on the type of the contract (currencies, sovereign bonds, interest rates and energy commodities provide a negative relationship while for the rest of asset classes we can find few positive relationships). We also report that trading volume contributes positively and significantly in explaining the conditional volatility of futures markets. Liquidity variables can account up to 20 per cent of variation for some markets and are quite important variables causing volatility overall during periods of market stability. These results are supported by the IRFs which also reveal a more relevant role of trading volume when explaining futures market volatility. Further research should examine the ability of open interest and trading volume to predict volatility of futures markets.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of trading volume and open interest on volatility of futures markets. The authors capture the size and change in speculative behaviour in futures markets by examining the role of liquidity variables (trading volume and open interest) in the behaviour of futures prices.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The sample includes daily data covering the period 1996-2014 from 36 international futures markets (including currencies, commodities, stock indices, interest rates and bonds). The authors employ a two-stage estimation methodology: first, the authors employ a E-GARCH model and consider the asymmetric response of volatility to shocks of different sign. Further, the authors consider a regression framework to examine the contemporaneous relationships between volatility, trading volume and open interest. To quantify the percentage of volatility that is caused by liquidity variables, the authors also regress the estimated volatilities on the measures of open interest and trading volume.\nFindings: The authors find that: market depth has an effect on the volatility of futures markets but the direction of this effect depends on the type of contract, and there is evidence of a positive contemporaneous relationship between trading volume and futures volatility for all futures contracts. Impulse-response functions also show that trading volume has a more relevant role in explaining market volatility than open interest.\nPractical implications: These results are recommended to financial managers and analysts dealing with futures markets.\nOriginality/value: To the best of the authors' knowledge, no study has yet considered a complete database of futures markets to investigate the empirical relation between price changes (volatility), trading volume and open interest in futures markets.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Mapping and leveraging influencers in social media to shape corporate brand perceptions
|
[
"Communication management",
"Communication systems",
"Competitive advantage",
"Corporate communications",
"Corporate branding",
"Public relations",
"Brand awareness",
"Social media"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nThe brand will be socialized: Global enterprises are struggling today to understand how social media impacts their brands. Corporate management is witnessing a new level of activism from an influential constituency rarely heard from in the past - ordinary consumers. Many of these new consumer influencers are gaining a large share of voice in the market thanks to the power of the internet, and to technologies that bring together people who share common interests. Consumers are impacting brand equity as never before. This unnerves corporate marketing practitioners with responsibility for brand management. How can corporate marketing control the reputation of their brand in an environment which is increasingly out of their control?Companies feel pressure to control the brand conversation. They may not currently have a voice in the social media space and feel an acute need to immediately jump in the conversation flow to simply catch up. However, establishing a presence on Twitter or Facebook without the due diligence required to make the effort worthwhile will produce few worthwhile results. Simply acquiring a presence on these sites for the sake of maintaining control over the brand discussion provides the illusion of taking action and taking action often feels like taking control.The truth is that corporate marketing never had control of the brand. The ownership of the brand and its reputation has always belonged to the consumer. Some companies outsource the solution to this problem to a digital marketing agency, which delivers services that focus on the technical development of internet-based marketing products. These services can include web design, e-mail marketing or microsite software development. Additional services may include viral marketing campaigns, banner advertising, search engine optimization, podcasting or widget development. Digital marketing agencies tend to emphasize web-based tool development as a means to an end - focusing on everything except the most important social media element: the quality of the relationship between the firm and the consumer.\nBrand ownership: The rate at which Americans are using the internet for social media purposes continues to increase year over year. Most notably, social networking and (micro-) blogging sites and video have increased, with:Four out of five internet users visiting a social network site on a monthly basis, with Facebook and Twitter propelling much growth in the industry, and six out of seven US internet users now viewing online video content in a month (Radwanick, 2010).With this increase, brand ownership is increasingly being shared among consumers and the brands themselves. Through social networks, blogs and videos, consumers are entrenched in the dissemination of information. Long gone are the days when media would communicate a brand's message to consumers. Consumers are now the individuals broadcasting personal or second-hand stories to their social networks and the world. They are a brand's storytellers and the new brand ambassadors.These storytellers must be leveraged and cultivated as part of a firm's social media strategy. Recognizing who your storytellers are and engaging them in your brand's discussion can shape, or in some cases, protect a brand's reputation. Companies must \"listen\" and monitor what is being said throughout the many channels of the social web. Whether the conversations generated are positive or negative, a firm awareness and understanding of their content enables practitioners to turn an unhappy consumer into a brand advocate. Companies must first listen and then act to have an active hand in owning their brand's story.\nThe importance of identifying activist influencers: Before any engagement begins in social media such as blogger outreach, practitioners must develop a strategy and align it with communications objectives:The goal is to stimulate an engaging conversation that allows us to change perception, diagnose expectations and bring clarity to the dialogue. That's the essence of developing a brand strategy - the foundation of your communication that builds authentic relationships between you and your audience. It is by defining your brand strategy that allows you to utilize marketing, advertising, public relations and social media to consistently and accurately reinforce your character. Without defining the core strategy, all channels of communication can often become a hit and miss expense (Tsai, n.d.).A critical element of success in any social media initiative is the strategy that drives the larger plan. Social media is about enabling conversations among your audience or market. Most companies already are deeply engaged in communications. Social media is all about building relationships and enabling conversations within the marketplace. As we know, control is an illusion. Companies cannot control the conversations with social media, but they can influence them. \"Influence is the foundation on which all economically viable relationships are built\" (Remorin).\nA customizable social media valuation algorithm: With the explosion of blogging in recent years, identifying bloggers with relevant influence can be a daunting task. In an effort to streamline the analysis and help practitioners create a list of key relevant bloggers, a valuation algorithm has been created. The fundamentals in the development of corporate communications campaigns and plans remain the same in social media as they do in public relations. After the initial decision-making process, practitioners must then define communications objectives to begin mapping out influencers in which to engage in a digital conversation.\"Influentials generally do have many direct 'friends' and 'followers,' but what makes them truly valuable is the number and relevance of their extended or indirect connections\" (Hall, 2010). The valuation algorithm or influencer index seeks to measure these connections to determine blogger influence. The influencer index identifies key influencers; helps brand managers understand how they influence other more traditional target audiences; and aids in establishing new strategies to reach these key influencers. The model evaluates a cross-section of variables, and illustrates a methodology for engaging these influencers in order to support brand-affecting communications objectives.The variables are measured both quantitatively and qualitatively to determine a numeric rank of the blogger's influence. Additionally, the index identifies \"conversation points\" that guide engagement with each individual blogger, determining aspects such as subject and tone. Below is a list of each variable and its definition, as illustrated in the graph below:* Viewers per month (vpm). The number of visits to the blog per month.* Linkages. The popularity of blog post links inbound and outbound.* Post frequency. Volume of posts per given time.* Media citation score. Volume and level of media that cites blogger.* Industry score. Number of industry guru points based on industry events such as key notes, bylines and panel participation.* Social aggregator rate. Level of participation in the social web (e.g. Twitter, other bloggers/blog communities, LinkedIn, etc.).* Engagement index. Reader response and the quantity of comments.* Subject/topic-related posts. Volume and immediacy of subject/topic-related posts.* Qualitative subject/topic-related posts. Qualitative review of subject/topic-related posts.* Index score. Identification and rank of influencer in the social web based on above variables.The algorithm ranks bloggers based on an average weighted score called the \"index score.\" The development of the influencer index measures not only quantitatively but also qualitatively. To compute the index score, a rating system has been created to assign a value to each variable, measured on a scales of 1-5 for poor, fair, good, very good and excellent. Each rating corresponds to a different objective or subjective set of values. In addition, variable research uses social media monitoring services, manual identification and blogger authority vendors.Shown in Figure 1 is the influencer index, providing a graphical illustration of the customizable valuation algorithm.Because the algorithm is customizable, practitioners seeking to uncover a desired variable can add or delete from the influencer index to fit their needs.\nThe influencer index - an example: Figure 2 shows an example of how the influencer index works to showcase its value in identifying and analyzing bloggers as influencers. Pretend we are a client seeking to engage influencers who are active in social media that has covered the computer software industry. We would like to reach out to them to support an upcoming product launch. Our objective is to engage influencers in computer software with reach in specific arms of the social web.After reviewing the results, the influencer index suggests that Scobleizer is an influencer in this space. Not only is this blogger an influencer, but his index score is 4.6 out of 5, classifying him as a particularly highly regarded and influential blogger. Once practitioners begin to use this analytical approach to identifying social media influencers, they can begin executing their social media campaigns.\nTiered index results: As you begin to identify high-value bloggers it becomes possible to categorize them into specific tiers.Tier A blogs have a large readership and their writing tends to be more news oriented. They are often less social than Tiers B and C blogs and do not provide the advantages of a specifically targeted reach. Frequently, Tier A blogs have a team of contributors, accept advertisements, treat their topics in a broad context and provide the opportunity for expanded content. Many online news outlets fit this description.Tier B blogs draw fewer readers than Tier A blogs, but tend to be more focused on a particular topic, providing insight and information occasionally found nowhere else. These writers are considered passionate authorities by their readers. Tier B blogs are often on the verge of massive recognition, often searching for ways to monetize their popularity.Tier C blogs often draw the smallest amount of traffic, but can be the most influential outlets due to their extremely targeted subject matter. Authors of Tier C blogs are the grassroots enthusiasts searching for the story, topic, link or scoop to propel them out of obscurity into the public eye, and because of that desire, they write as passionate experts - not as objective, or trained journalists. Frequently, Tier C outlets provide frank, candid, detailed product reviews, and serve as springboards for op-eds and forums for thoughtful discussion.\nIntegrating results into a social media strategy: Each brand campaign requires a specific strategy to find, analyze and engage with appropriate blogs and bloggers. A well-developed strategy can help ensure effective results. We use a consumer-to-consumer process as step-by-step strategy to optimize blogger outreach:1. Set objectives and strategies:* Establish measurable goals that relate clearly to the initiative.* Pinpoint target audience leveraging the influencer index results: professional bloggers, emerging bloggers, general interest bloggers, academics, developers, consultants, media and analysts.* Define parameters of the activity.* Determine strategic approach including reviews, contests, giveaways, causal, informational, sneak peek, invitations to key events.2. Search and analyze:* Keyword searches:- Brand, product, services, competitors, industry experts.- Search engines (Blog search, Google.com, Technorati.com, Alltop.com).- Existing blog list (blog rolls and network affiliations).* Analyze:- Subjectively: 45-to-1 rule - devote a minimum 45 minutes to reading every blog to determine relevance. Review about me, section, postings, comments, tone.- Three key questions: Who is talking? What are they saying? Do we fit in the conversation?- Objectively: viewers per month, index authority rating.3. Engage and socialize:* Engagement:- Clearly identify intent.- Introduce topic before client.- Explain relevance.- Ask, do not tell.- Say thank you.* Socialize:- Comment on relevant postings.- Follow on Twitter and social aggregators.- Connect on social networking sites.4. Report and refine:* Agree on format and/or service.* Link to objectives.* Refine strategies.\nConclusion: In the world of social media, practitioners are transforming the way to communicate with their target audiences. While the fundamentals of public relations are essentially the same as social media relations, the addition of this new marketing channel allows practitioners to engage with influencers one on one. Practitioners must listen and act strategically and almost immediately to continue consumer conversations about their brands. With the immense growth of bloggers and their increasing power as influencers for media and consumers alike, analyzing and evaluating the most influential will be a vital part of any social media campaign.The creation of a customizable valuation algorithm or influencer index is helping practitioners analyze and evaluate the varying degree of influence of any blogger on a particular topic. The dissection of a cross-section of variables provides a qualitative and quantitative review of each blogger being analyzed. The influencer index produces an influence score to help practitioners better identify the various influencers.Identifying the tiers of influencers and how they fit into a brand's social media strategy will ensure a social media engagement that produces measurable results and a positive contribution to brand equity.\n",
"role": "user"
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"content": "Purpose: - The emerging new influencer community is wielding significant power over the perceptions of brands and companies, largely driven by the rapid expansion of social media channels through which influencers communicate. The \"nobodies\" of the past are now the new \"somebodies\" demanding the attention of communication professionals who seek continuous engagement with targeted consumers throughout the various channels of the social web. The purpose of this paper is to present a means of identifying these new \"somebodies\".\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This paper reviews a customizable valuation algorithm created to identify the \"new somebodies\" who are the influencers creating a revitalized level of brand awareness for companies. The index valuation algorithm measures a cross-section of variables that numerically rate influencers in the social media conversation about a particular company, product or service.\nFindings: - This information helps us understand how these \"somebodies\" influence traditional target audiences, and help communications professionals establish effective outreach strategies. Integrating the influencer index data into a holistic social media strategy provides a comprehensive social media approach for optimizing brand equity.\nOriginality/value: - The index identifies the \"conversation points\" that should guide engagement with each individual influencer, determining aspects such as subject and tone, and identifies these influencers.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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Scale up predictive models for early detection of at-risk students: a feasibility study
|
[
"Higher education",
"Learning management system",
"Predictive models",
"Learning analytics",
"Student activity data",
"Student course success"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nScale up models for early detection of at-risk students: a feasibility study: The recent decade has witnessed an increasingly common use of learning management systems (LMSs) as a valuable tool to facilitate teaching and learning in higher education (Becker et al., 2017). LMSs are web-based applications with a variety of functions that allow instructors to share course materials, create online forums, develop online quizzes, collect and evaluate assignments and record grades. The adoption of LMSs for teaching and learning in higher education not only enhances the efficiency of course administration but also has the potential to promote active learning and student-student and student-instructor interaction/collaboration (Azevedo and Aleven, 2013; Cerezo et al., 2016).\nMethods: Three mandatory undergraduate courses with large class sizes were selected from three different faculties within a Canadian university, namely, faculties of science, engineering and education. Large undergraduate courses were chosen because the predictive model of at-risk students is believed to be most beneficial to large classes where personalized feedback on student learning is most needed but typically not feasible. All three courses are administered through Moodle (https://moodle.org/), an open-source and free LMS designed to facilitate learning and teaching in educational contexts. Instructors can flexibly design modules according to their syllabi, providing students with online access to activities, course materials, communication tools and assessments. All three courses are offered every fall and winter semester, and their formats, contents and requirements are relatively consistent in recent years. For each course, the LMS data used for analysis was from two different semesters. In total, 75 per cent of data from Semester 1 was used to train and validate the predictive model, while the remaining 25 per cent was used for testing the model performance. Data from Semester 2 was used for testing the generalizability of the model by examining whether the predictive model can be generalized to sessions of the same course but offered in a different semester. The generalizability analysis is especially important for early prediction of student performance, as models trained with data from past semesters must be used for the prediction of on-going courses.\nResults: Table III presents the descriptive summary of the extracted features of LMS data for the examined science, engineering and education courses. The comparison of feature means across the three courses revealed that the frequency and time in student LMS usage differ significantly among various courses. This finding is reasonable given the expected differences in structures, contents and requirements across different courses. The standard deviations of different features tend to be large. For example, the average number of total clicks for the science course was around 116 and the standard deviation is around 47, indicating a large variability among student behaviors taking the same course. The feature of the number of clicks for module \"Assignment\" was not applicable for the science and engineering courses as these two courses did not include assignments during the first four weeks.\nConclusions: The purpose of this study was to examine the commonalities among course-specific predictive models developed based on various courses using LMS data and to explore the feasibility of developing general models that can be applied to different courses to predict and identify at-risk students. In this study, we built different course-specific predictive models for three large undergraduate courses in a Western Canadian University. By comparing these course-specific models, we aimed to:\n",
"role": "user"
},
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"content": "Purpose: This study aims to investigate the feasibility of developing general predictive models for using the learning management system (LMS) data to predict student performances in various courses. The authors focused on examining three practical but important questions: are there a common set of student activity variables that predict student performance in different courses? Which machine-learning classifiers tend to perform consistently well across different courses? Can the authors develop a general model for use in multiple courses to predict student performance based on LMS data?\nDesign/methodology/approach: Three mandatory undergraduate courses with large class sizes were selected from three different faculties at a large Western Canadian University, namely, faculties of science, engineering and education. Course-specific models for these three courses were built and compared using data from two semesters, one for model building and the other for generalizability testing.\nFindings: The investigation has led the authors to conclude that it is not desirable to develop a general model in predicting course failure across variable courses. However, for the science course, the predictive model, which was built on data from one semester, was able to identify about 70% of students who failed the course and 70% of students who passed the course in another semester with only LMS data extracted from the first four weeks.\nOriginality/value: The results of this study are promising as they show the usability of LMS for early prediction of student course failure, which has the potential to provide students with timely feedback and support in higher education institutions.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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Elephants in the room: An exploratory conceptual study of facilities management in zoological facilities
|
[
"Facilities management",
"Management framework",
"Zoological gardens and parks",
"Zoo sector",
"Conservational/scientific and display imperatives of zoological facilities"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: As an area of study, facilities management is non-eccentric, even prosaic, and firmly rooted in the examination of the interface between humans and building (facility) environments. Yet, there are organizations where it may be supposed that the application of facilities management concepts and \"principles\" may apply, or are required to apply, to trans-species environments - notably in zoological gardens and wildlife parks (for convenience in exposition, we shall henceforth use the term \"zoo\" to describe both); other specialist displays of fauna such as aquaria and aviaries; and even, perhaps, in agricultural production industries. Beyond the natural scientific literature on zoological matters, which are concerned with the philosophy and ethics of human relationships with animals, and scholarship on zoos and animal welfare and behaviour in zoos, found in diverse locations including academic journals and textbooks (for an excellent example of the latter, see Hosey et al., 2009), it is difficult to identify any sustained (as opposed to occasional or episodic) public scholarship into the realities of pragmatic management of zoological facilities, although:\nWe are all going to the zoo tomorrow - a brief history of zoological \"attractions\": It is not the intention of this paper to give a detailed overview of the development of zoological and related facilities. Several standard historical and other works may be consulted on this topic (Baratay and Hardouin-Fugier, 2004; Hoage and Deiss, 1996; Rothfels, 2002; Hosey et al., 2009; and for more philosophical and sociological perspectives, see Frost, 2011). Our purpose here is rather to offer a sketch of the key contextual issues which bear on our main theme: the potential for the role of facilities management in zoological contexts.\nIf we could talk to the animals - issues in zoo management: Gusset and Dick (2011, p. 567) state that zoos worldwide attract about 600 million visitors per year, 142 million of which are in Europe. With zoos mostly depending on their visitors for their income, many try to maximize spend per visitor by investing in their attractions, restaurants, souvenir stalls and dwell time. Visitors have changed from strolling Victorian dressed ladies and gentlemen to young families with children consuming ice-cream and hamburgers. Dwell time for some zoos has grown from 2 hours to a full day or more. Some zoos run their own hotel or campsite, organizing night safaris and breakfast with the animals. The scope of the zoo business has broadened tremendously to increase revenues and stock value. As an example, private equity firm Blackstone is said to have paid $2.5 billion for Anheuser Busch's Busch Gardens and Seaworld parks (approximately 24 million visitors per year) (Hall and Davies, 2009).\nImplications for facilities management strategy: Having considered the background and key issues facing the operation of zoological facilities, attention now turns to the implications these hold for facilities management strategy, planning and practice in the areas of strategies for the management of stakeholder behaviour; building and environmental design; safety, security and health; and \"miscellaneous\" services.\nA framework for future investigation: Both descriptive and analytic models and frameworks are not unusual in the facilities management literature, whether they are implied (McLennan, 2004) or explicit (Chotipanich, 2004), they tend to the generic (Jones and Sharp, 2007) or focus on a specific industry or process (in the case of the latter, process, an exemplary case is Coenen et al., 2013). Some such models/frameworks, though prosaic, have practical utility, others are highly descriptive and thus of use at primarily the conceptual level. Increasingly, social and economic context is seen as an important element in developing the epistemology of facilities management at both a macro- and micro-level (though it is much more wide-ranging in content, the outstanding collection of essays by Alexander and Price, 2012 offers many valuable insights into this trend, including placing the raison d'etre of a facility at the centre of analysis).\nConclusion: In providing a framework for understanding the possibilities for the application of facilities management in zoos, we make no claims for profundity. Our intention, rather, has been to provide a heuristic by which:\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This paper aims to develop an understanding of the potential for application of facilities management concepts and principles in the context of the \"zoo sector\".\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper is a conceptual one and begins with a narrative designed to provide sufficient background to understanding key issues relevant to the practice of facilities management in zoological and similar institutions, including the implications of conservational/scientific and display imperatives of zoological facilities for facilities management. We then consider how these issues can be worked through in the context of four broad dimensions of facilities management: strategies for the management of stakeholder behaviour (non-human animals, personnel and visitors); building and environmental design (including space usage); safety, security and health; and \"miscellaneous\" services. The paper concludes by providing a provisional framework for further research into facilities management in the zoo sector.\nFindings: As a conceptual paper, there are no empirical findings. Conceptually, the paper offers an initial and simple framework for interpreting the possible application of facilities management in zoological and related facilities.\nOriginality/value: In a search of the two principal journals in the field of facilities management, nothing could be found of direct relevance to the management of facilities in zoological and similar organizations. This paper is thus a singular contribution to the field. Conceptually, the authors attribute neglect of the topic to the distinctive traditions in the study of facilities management, which, at the risk of caricature, emphasise either the pre-eminence of a building and building services approach to facilities management, or an approach which is almost exclusively focused on the \"human\" dimensions to the discipline.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Divestment laws, fiduciary duty, and pension fund management: an empirical examination
|
[
"Divestment laws",
"Pension fund governance",
"Public pension funds"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Public pension fund managers in the USA are legally required to uphold common law fiduciary duty standards, to proceed with prudence, and to act in the best interest of their beneficiaries. This paper examines whether foreign policy-inspired state-imposed divestment requirements may cause a conflict for public pension fund trustees and managers in that they may be required to take actions that breach their fiduciary duties. The paper undertakes a cost-benefit analysis of divestment laws and closely examines the differences between the various divestment regimes across the states. The paper concludes that divestment laws should either be repealed or significantly modified.\nMethodology: A database search was conducted for specific federal laws, presidential executive orders, and departments, offices, and terminology relevant to the topic of the research to explore the extent by which states employ public pension divestment regimes inspired by the federal government's designation of the four countries (Cuba, Iran, Sudan, and Syria) labeled as state sponsors of terrorism (SST) (US Department of State, 2011) as well as those that fall under a separate sanctions program administered by the US Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) (2011)\nFindings: Which states require divestment?\nConclusions: Data suggest that divestments can be costly to present and future retirees. No evidence was found that divestment legislation benefits pension system beneficiaries. Accordingly, state-imposed divestment schemes are in essence forcing public pension fund trustees and managers to displace their common law fiduciary duty responsibilities with government-mandated political decisions that may harm the beneficiaries. In fact, in a survey administered to public pension fund officials, the GAO found that 59 percent of fund managers who had:\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This paper aims to conduct an empirical analysis of subnational laws of the USA that require public pension funds to divest from companies that are in business with Cuba, Iran, Syria, and Sudan and explores whether public fund officials may be in violation of their fiduciary duty responsibilities toward pension system beneficiaries as they execute state-mandated divestment schemes.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A database search was conducted for specific federal laws, presidential executive orders, and departments, offices, and terminology relevant to the topic of the research to explore the extent by which states employ public pension divestment regimes inspired by the federal governments designation of the four countries labeled as state sponsors of terrorism. Quantitative and financial calculations were used to conduct the cost analysis of divestment laws.\nFindings: Divestment laws are costly for the beneficiaries. In the majority of the states that have divestment laws, the public funds, rather than the states, must cover the losses associated with divestment, resulting in pension fund trustees and managers having to take action that are in violation of their fiduciary duty responsibilities.\nResearch limitations/implications: The study recommends a major overhaul of the current divestment laws.\nPractical implications: Divestment legislations must be revised as they cause a divergence of interests between state-driven political gestures, the fiduciary responsibilities of pension system trustees, and the financial interests of the beneficiaries.\nOriginality/value: This is the first study that recommends specific legislative action that would resolve the divergence of interests between state-driven political gestures, the fiduciary responsibilities of pension system trustees, and the financial interests of the beneficiaries.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Gender equality in paid and unpaid work: priorities for UK policy intervention
|
[
"Gender",
"Women",
"United Kingdom",
"Government policy",
"Equal opportunities"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: This paper reports on a one-day conference held at the Church House Conference Centre, London on 8 December 2009. It was organised by Dr Anke Plagnol and Professor Jacqueline Scott from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Gender Equality Network (GeNet; www.genet.ac.uk), and targeted at academics, policy makers, pressure groups, practitioners and third-sector workers who are concerned about the current gender imbalance in paid and unpaid work.Gender equality issues in paid and unpaid work are long established and well known. Yet huge changes in the social and economic context in which men and women live out their work and family lives have been taking place. The current generation of working parents make choices and face constraints that their parents never encountered. Getting the balance of paid and unpaid work right is an important challenge for policy makers. The changing nature of work, the development of more flexible working patterns, the narrowing educational attainment between men and women, and the rising economic costs of juggling careers and motherhood pose new challenges to men's and women's work and family lives in the twenty-first century. These challenges are global in scope. Changing patterns of migration and new human rights discourse underline how gender aspects of paid and unpaid work vary markedly by race and ethnicity, as well as by class and age. The current economic crisis means that gender equality issues are at risk of being neglected while immediate concerns focus on stemming the rising tide of unemployment and minimising the dangers posed by looming public service cuts. However, losing sight of gender equality is short-sighted and costly because the balance of paid and unpaid work matters hugely, not just for the well-being of UK families, but also for the life-chances of their children.Of course, labour market inequalities are not only restricted to gender, but are also often based on social class, age and ethnicity. However, following the theme of the conference, we will focus on gender inequalities in this paper, but we are aware that gender inequalities often intersect with other forms of inequalities. The key priorities for policy intervention suggested in this report are based on those developed during group discussions and a plenary discussion session. These group discussions focused on inequalities in the labour market and followed presentations by Professors Linda McDowell and Shirley Dex. Linda McDowell discussed how diversity and differences are shaping divisions of labour among immigrants in London (McDowell et al., 2009). She presented qualitative research on workers at a London upmarket hotel and at a teaching hospital, and pointed out how these workers are often chosen for these mostly precarious jobs based on their gender and ethnicity. Shirley Dex analysed a sample of mostly British women, revealing how women continue to enter occupations that have lower wages than men (Dex et al., 2008, 2009). Interestingly, women have better chances than men of upward moves on the social status scale, especially from its lower ranks, but not on occupations ranked by pay. Women often change from full-time work to part-time employment after child birth, which can lead to a loss in human capital due to less time in the labour market and thus lower hourly compensation if women remain in part-time positions for several years after the birth. This suggests that government policies that aim to address labour market inequalities need to be holistic in the sense that such inequalities are interlinked with patterns of unpaid work, for instance child care.In the second set of presentations, Professor Jonathan Gershuny underscored this argument by showing how trends towards gender equality in unpaid work time have been faster in the Nordic countries than in other Continental European countries or liberal welfare states like the UK and the USA (Gershuny, 2009). He connected this with cross-national differences in the policy packages including support for female labour force participation and child care but also encouragement of men's parental leave take-up (Kan and Gershuny, 2010). Professor Sue Himmelweit and Fran Bennett further emphasised in their presentation that public policies can influence the distribution of resources within households through the effects of taxes and benefits and differential encouragement of men's and women's employment (De Henau and Himmelweit, 2007; Figari et al., 2007; Bennett et al., 2009, 2010).The bullet points listed below include the key priorities identified during group and plenary discussions. The groups each consisted of nine to 11 participants, seated at 11 tables. Each group was asked to first identify key priorities for the government to reduce labour market inequalities, and then focus on the role of employers and trade unions (TU). Interestingly, each group proposed sets of quite distinct key priorities which is a reflection of the large number of labour market inequalities that still exist today.What are the key priorities for government to reduce labour market inequalities?*Government policy should be more holistic: work inequalities should be seen in the context of domestic inequalities.*Government should provide clear definitions for its equality goals, so that appropriate evaluation measures can be developed to assess progress.*Government should support obligations and right to care by protecting employees' entitlement to take time off work for caring responsibilities.*Properly implement the recommendations of the Women and Work Commission (Women and Work Commission, 2006, 2009).*Provision of more affordable child care that is good quality and covers sufficient hours and weeks of the year.*More encouragement for men to take care leave and reduce work hours, e.g. paternity leave (possibly with a \"use it or lose it\" aspect), transferable parental leave, better compensation of care leaves. Improved take up of leave by fathers might in the long term lead to changes in gender role attitudes.*More flexible work legislation, so families can reconcile work and home life; for instance better provision of breastfeeding at the work place; make men more aware of work-life balance choices.*Consider intersectionality of gender, class and ethnicity in labour market policies by pursuing more transnational cooperation in this area as well as providing information specifically for migrant workers.*Introduce effective legislation to protect vulnerable groups, e.g. migrant/agency workers; review existing legislation that may exacerbate labour market inequalities.*Women quotas in organisations to promote more equal representation. Look to Nordic countries to assess relevance of quotas.*Minimum wage affects disproportionally women and thus needs to be raised or at the very least protected.*Protect public sector jobs and wages since women are well-represented in this sector.*Fiscal encouragement to allow more employees, including those working for small businesses, to have flexible work patterns (part-time, flexible hours). Small businesses should be provided with more help to manage and navigate the legislation and regulations, since at the moment many small businesses are more concerned with finding ways to get round it.*Increase number, scope and quality of apprenticeships.What can TU and employers do?*Improve quality of jobs and thus enable part-time workers to progress within jobs.*Reduce working hours and encourage part-time work among men to reduce the barriers to a greater involvement of men in caring and family life.*Rethink working hours of certain industries and recognise that they are also socially constructed: does the education sector have to be largely part-time while the banking and finance sector is more than full-time?*Protect or increase minimum wage.*Temporary/vulnerable or new groups of workers are often not protected by unions, who mostly protect their current members rather than potential new ones.*TU are not very clear on their purpose. Particularly young workers are often not sure what TU are for.*Good practice needs to be shared more actively between and within sectors. Good practice has to be implemented by smaller companies as well, not just large organisations.During the discussion it was repeatedly noted that reducing inequality in the overall labour market is just as important as reducing inequalities between men and women, as the former will have an important impact on the latter. Inequalities based on gender, class, age and ethnicity thus need to be addressed by government policies simultaneously.Some of the policies suggested above have already been successfully implemented in other European countries, including improved paternity or parental leave (Brandth and Kvande, 2001; Gornick and Meyers, 2008; Kamerman and Moss, 2009). Other policy suggestions might be considered by some as being part of a utopian ideal world - such as a reduction in work hours - which would likely not be accepted by employers, but possibly also by employees who want to preserve their current wages.However, changes for women often stem from changes for men (or the lack of change in their partners' hours) and a reduction in men's working hours might shift employers' and society's perceptions about normative family structures and responsibilities for caring. The current recession can be seen as an opportunity to better promote existing policies and let people work flexibly. This might make employers more aware of the potential benefits of flexible work arrangements. Several conference participants reported that some employers are encouraging their workers to reduce hours in order to lower costs. While the subsequent reduction in salaries is surely not desirable for many households, a more egalitarian work hour culture could have positive consequences for the domestic division of labour. Taking the recession as an opportunity to renegotiate work and life is an interesting aspect, which, however, might not be feasible for migrant workers and others in low pay employment. Indeed, some companies already offer opportunities to work flexibly in order to attract top talent (Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, 2009), but these options are mostly available in knowledge-based industries.However, as was pointed out by Angela Mason, the chair of the plenary discussion, \"Things don't change; people change things\". It is therefore important that those that would be affected by policy interventions voice their opinions and if possible point out potential advantages for employers and society as a whole. We believe that the policy suggestions developed at the conference provide a range of feasible options to improve labour market and domestic conditions for both men and women.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to summarise policy interventions and realistic strategies for achieving greater gender equality in paid and unpaid work, which were identified during a conference on \"Gender equality in paid and unpaid work\" held on 8 December 2009 at the Church House Conference Centre, London, UK.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The conference included four plenary talks and group discussions. The paper is based on the presentations and group discussions.\nFindings: - Government policies need to be holistic in the sense that labour market inequalities are often interlinked with inequalities in the home. The current economic recession can be seen as an opportunity to renegotiate work and life arrangements.\nOriginality/value: - The papers presented at the conference included original qualitative and quantitative research by researchers from several social science disciplines. The participants in the group discussions were academics, policy makers, pressure groups, practitioners and third-sector workers, and thus provided a variety of different viewpoints.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Chinese teachers' attitudes toward performance pay: the cases of three schools
|
[
"Chinese teachers",
"Teacher performance pay"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Teacher performance pay (TPP) is currently a hot educational topic worldwide. Many countries have implemented a performance-related pay policy to improve teacher productivity and to recruit more qualified candidates. The success of implementing TPP depends heavily on the support of classroom teachers. Teacher compensation reforms can flounder if policymakers pay little attention to teachers' acceptance of the reform. Many TPP programs implemented in the USA have encountered resistance on the part of teachers and eventually failed (Cornett and Gaines, 1994; Jacob and Springer, 2008).\n2. Method: 2.1. Participants\n3. Results: 3.1. Quantitative results\n4. Conclusions and discussion: This paper presented evidence on teacher opinions regarding performance-linked pay in China. There were three research questions. The first research question for this study was:\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate Chinese teachers' attitudes toward performance pay. Specifically, this study examined the extent to which Chinese teachers supported performance-pay programs. The study also examined the effects of these programs on teachers, particularly on their levels of collaboration, work motivation, and job stress.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This research was conducted in a northeastern city of China. Criteria sampling and maximum variation sampling techniques were used to select three schools, representing different characteristics of teacher performance pay (TPP) programs. In all, 150 questionnaires were administered to each of the three schools. The questionnaire contained three parts. Part 1 asked about respondents' overall attitude toward pay-for-performance in general. Part 2 was composed of 20 closed-ended items asking respondents to rate their levels of agreement with various aspects of implementation of performance pay. Part 3 of the questionnaire comprised open-ended items.\nFindings: Approximately 48.5 percent of the teachers supported the teacher-performance-pay programs. This indicated a low support of Chinese teachers in comparison to that in some countries. Regarding how teachers' attitudes toward performance pay are related to teacher characteristics (e.g. teaching experience, professional ranking), the ANOVAs results showed no significant differences in any of the factors. This quantitative result was different from the qualitative result of this study (e.g. veteran teachers complained about the implementation of performance pay). In spite of the differences between quantitative and qualitative findings, some findings from the current study are consistent with those found in western countries.\nResearch limitations/implications: One limitation of this study was the small sample size for quantitative analyses. Future research should consider a larger sample size to conduct more advanced statistical analyses such as structural equation modeling to examine further the relations among, for example, how much the incentive pay should be, and what proportion of teachers should receive it, the level of teacher stress, their work enthusiasm, and peer relationships. Another limitation of this study was that the qualitative data were collected through open-ended questions of the questionnaire. Future research should interview teachers and principals to obtain richer voices from the teachers.\nOriginality/value: Very few articles published in Chinese journals surveyed the implementation of TPP. In addition, these few articles were not well-designed from an empirical sense. So far research of teacher opinions about performance pay was a missing area in China's educational discourse. The present study provides information to non-Chinese readers who are interested in Chinese teachers' attitudes toward TPP. It is hoped the present study adds knowledge to the literature of TPP from the perspective of Chinese teachers.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Understanding customer requirements of corrugated industry using Kano model
|
[
"Kano model",
"Customer satisfaction",
"Quantitative methods",
"Corrugated"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: In today's modern aggressive market, the purpose of every business is to create and retain customers and it is only possible when an organization strategically pitch customer requirements with best of their inputs. Customer satisfaction (CS) is only and ultimate objective of every enterprise which drives growth and success of business. It is a key element that differentiates firm from others and helps in measuring their growth (Gitman et al., 2005). With the intense competition among manufacturing firms in an industry, CS has always been a matter of priority. Understanding, designing and developing customer needs in to a product is one of the prime factors to make strong existence in present competitive market (Mckay et al., 2001). Satisfied customers serve as criterion for increase in sales as customers are expected to make repeat purchases and point of reference to others also (Aziz et al., 2014). Company's success has direct link with CS as higher the CS higher will be the returns or vice-versa. Now, companies can no longer depend on high volume and low cost production for growth and survival (Meng et al., 2015) but they need to identify innovative and unique competitive propositions which can attract and retain customers. Companies should design strategies to deliver value to customers as this can help in enhancing customer perceptions of the value. Even after delivering customer's need, there is no guaranteed full \"CS\" (Shahin et al., 2013), yet they can be somehow satisfied (Zultner, 1999). Going beyond to ordinary approach of CS, it is essential to answer:\n2. Kano model: Kano model, developed by Professor Noriaki Kano, is based on Herzberg's \"Motivation-Hygiene\" Two Factor Theory which is extensively used to categorize and prioritize customer requirements for a product and how they affect customer's satisfaction. This model highlights the various ways through which quality practitioners can understand and prioritize customer requirements. Kano model provides insight to the complexities of customer needs and their relationship to CS in graphical format.\n3. Methodology: The algorithm of the study is depicted in Figure 2. In this paper, Kano model is employed for data collection and analysis. The coefficients of CS are evaluated as proposed by Berger et al. (1993) and Park et al. (2012).\n4. Data analysis and discussion: Corrugated packaging is preferred more than other types of packaging as it is available at fair price and allows printing technology. It is frequently used for exports because of its unique features safety and weightless transit of material. In the study, after developing knowledge about corrugated box industry, 15 customer requirements were determined and transferred to their corresponding modules as illustrated in Table VII. Each module represents its own scope that increases demand and utilization of corrugated boxes in different industries.\n5. Conclusion: The present study attempts to apply a two dimensional Kano model to categorize different attributes of corrugated industry for quantitatively evaluating customer preferences and satisfaction. This technique is used as a quality tool to analyze which customer requirements are already satisfied and which requirements can leads to satisfaction after including in the product. Generally, it identifies three types of requirements: must-be, one-dimensional and attractive; that might influence end user satisfaction. It acts as a strategy to analyze and rank the voice of the customer data and to formulate and implement effective decisions. The main purpose of this study is to identify all the prominent needs of consumers of corrugated box industry. Attribute with two extremes; lowest critical point and highest dissatisfaction index are the top priority for corrugated box manufacturers to handle with care. It has been observed that maximum of requirements belong to \"Must-be\" category: printing of manufacturer's details (M3), small orders (M8), and payment policies (M12) which shows that their absence can create high dissatisfaction and presence will not matter. Printing of manufacturer's details on corrugated box is essential as it depicts authenticity and reliability of organization without being any reason of increasing satisfaction to customers apart giving them assurance. Similarly, small orders are pain for manufacturer's to fulfill because it consumes extra resources comparatively to bulk orders and mostly manufacturer's are reluctant to that. Therefore, all consumers expect that manufacturer's should easily accept their requirements in small lots also. In terms of payment policies, all customers expect to have good credit period and easy extension with liberal interest policies. Rest of the requirements belongs to \"Attractive\" category: price negotiations (M5) and vendor links (M13) which shows that their absence in the future may not cause dissatisfaction; but its presence on the other hand will delight users. The proportion of requirements belonging to \"Indifferent\" category is high which may be a cause of worry and concern for the corrugated packaging industry. From the results of the study, it is obvious that Kano method can be adopted, especially when the focus of the requirements elicitation is on identifying the voice of the customers and providing the satisfaction and delight is ultimate objective.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to illuminate concerned companies to develop a better understanding of customer needs through reference of Kano model.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper facilitates decision-making process for the productive use of strategy management through a case study approach for corrugated industries in India. A hybrid approach is employed by calculating coefficients of satisfaction with S-CR (customer requirements and customer satisfaction (CS)) relationship functions and self-stated importance evaluation.\nFindings: Kano's model provides an effective approach for both industries and academic research in classifying different customer requirements into different categories based on their impact on CS. It empowers to obtain competitive and factual information about customer needs.\nResearch limitations/implications: This study is limited in terms of sample size, domain of the study and the coverage of participants.\nOriginality/value: This paper suggests a valuable Kano approach for concerned organizations and practitioners, to correctly identify customer requirements and channelize their resources in right direction. Fulfilling customer requirements by providing them satisfaction and delight timely is only golden rule for sustaining in this competitive world.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
The questionnaire on productivity attributes (QPA): Designing and developing a measuring tool to estimate productivity in manufacturing industries
|
[
"Exploratory factor analysis",
"Questionnaire survey",
"Key factors",
"Productivity attributes",
"Rasch analysis",
"Scale categorization"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The productivity improvement concept has captured the researchers' attention in different ways. From an early time, productivity improvement concept has been studied from the explanation of productivity change (Jorgenson and Griliches, 1967) to the appraisal aspects for its improvement (Sanyala and Biswaab, 2014). Studies have shown that productivity improvement affects the outcomes of an organization.\n2. Development of the QPA: 2.1 Identification of productivity attributes\n3. Methodology: 3.1 Pilot survey\n4. Field survey analysis: 4.1 Understandability and applicability\n5. Results: 5.1 Understandability and applicability\n6. CFA for QPA validation and best fit measurement model: To investigate the factor structure of the QPA, the work is tested different models using CFA techniques using AMOS SPSS version 24. A five-factor model examines the 31 productivity attributes used to organize the literature review. Using CFA techniques is more appropriate than EFA for two reasons. First, given that there are several competing possible factor structures, use of CFA allowed to directly test these competing models. Thus, conclusions of this study are based not only on the absolute fit of one model but also on the relative fit of alternative models. Second, as models are specified a priori when using CFA, researchers are less likely to capitalize on chance, as they often are with EFA (Fabrigar et al., 1999). Similarly, according to Wong and Cheung (2005), the structural equation model (SEM) includes two types of models, namely measurement and structural models. Mulaik and Millsap (2000) recommended that in development of measurement models, most of the model modifications can be possible to obtain the acceptable model fit. Therefore, an appropriate way is to establish measurement model for latent variables first and then structural model to set relation among the latent variables. The structural model would be tested after establishing it as a good measurement model. Model fit improvement techniques are applied on basic productivity model to develop a best fit measurement model having acceptable values of all model fit tests and indices.\n7. Discussion: From the above results, it is clear that EFA performed on a five-dimensional conceptual framework supports a base of questionnaire development. Factor loading and model fit statistic measures have suggested the elimination of 14 items to finalize five-dimensional conceptual framework with 31 items. Further, the CFA is conducted to validate the five-dimensional conceptualized framework of questionnaire. The developed best fit measurement model finalized the conceptual five-factor model with 22 attributes as shown in Figure 2. The first one-key factor considered is HRM which includes four items, namely motivation, unions, worker's recruitment, and personal recognition. The second dimension is of MS which is reported by five items including resources, safe workplace, feedback, top management commitment, and service quality. OC is the third dimension of conceptual framework which exposes six items as: teamwork, leader's support, two-way communication, competition, financial incentive, and training. The fourth dimension named as PM compromises three items such as equipment effectiveness, inventory management, and supervision. The fifth dimension performance is described by rework, working overtime, benchmarking system, and worker's health. Kamble and Wankhade (2017) have discussed all these items and factors in their review work. It is clear that all included items in this research work are generalized and relevant across all occupational sectors. The conducted CFA has given a best fit measurement model showing relation among observed variables and latent variables and also addressed their reliability and validity. This model should be the basis to set causal relationship among the latent variables with the help of SEM.\n8. Conclusions: There is an abundance of research available on productivity improvement. However, productivity measurement in manufacturing industries still faces a big challenge. This work is an attempt to fill in the large gap in this direction. The research study presented a generic questionnaire with an aim to solve at least some of the problems faced by public managers. The developed questionnaire consisted of the five dimensions of HRM, MS, OC, PM, and performance. The latest statistical technique of Rasch analysis is used for the refinement of ordinal scale and optimization of number of categories. This research work developed a questionnaire on productivity attributes for manufacturing industries only to a limited extent. The strength of the newly developed method will be revealed only after the testing validity of productivity attributes questionnaire. As questionnaire will be used to improve productivity in industries, proper collection of measured data and its analysis can prove its usefulness. There is also a need of developing a creditable productivity measure for public organizations such as healthcare centers, consultancies, as still they are facing the challenges of productivity measurement in their sectors. Although this work is carried out with manufacturing industries, it is possible to extend it to other project-based industries. In the future, the developed questionnaire could be basis for formulating favorable productivity model in terms of all identified attributes.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Although there are many studies investigating attributes affecting productivity, the research into measurement of those attributes has been incomplete. In an attempt to bridge this gap, the authors reviewed the productivity literature, identified and integrated previously described attributes, and developed a measure to estimate those attributes. The developed questionnaire - questionnaire on productivity attributes (QPA) - is based on a five-dimensional conceptual framework, which consisted of human resource management, management strategy, organizational culture, production methodology, and performance. A model that measures a way to construct a linear scale from ordinal data has also been introduced. The paper aims to discuss these issues.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Initially, a pilot survey among Indian academic and industrial experts as well as employees working in manufacturing industries was conducted to optimize clarity, readability, and construction of the QPA. After pilot-testing, the 45 QPA items were further field surveyed amongst a representative sample of 311 Indian engineers, managers, and workers from manufacturing industries. One-way analysis of variance is performed to examine whether there are differences among engineers, managers, and workers in the understandability or applicability of QPA. Exploratory factor analysis is used to confirm the five-dimensional conceptual framework. Also, infit and outfit measures have been used to check the QPA model fit. To increase confidence, all retained items are tested for goodness-of-fit test. Finally, the functioning of optimal response categorization of the QPA is demonstrated in terms of frequencies, average measures, and standard error.\nFindings: A five-dimensional conceptual framework is identified. A generic short scale was constructed. Finally, the developed questionnaire provides new insights into how to avoid the trade-offs commonly observed in productivity research.\nOriginality/value: The newly designed QPA appears as a general measure for productivity attributes which can be used by scholars and practitioners to conduct basic research on productivity improvement in various industries.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Impacts of the perceived quality by consumers' of a la carte restaurants on their attitudes and behavioural intentions
|
[
"Consumer behaviour",
"Consumer satisfaction",
"Gastronomy",
"Food and beverage marketing",
"Structural equation modelling (SEM)"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The word restaurant has its origin in the Latin word restaurare, which means restoring - restoring force, repairing, leading to good physical condition (Rodrigues et al., 2006). The origin of the word also dates back to fifteenth-century France, wherein a restaurant was a soup of meat that had the function of restoring individuals. Around the year 1820 in France, the word entailed characteristics closer to those of restaurants as we know them today. Symons (2013) affirms that restaurants emerged in Paris with the expansion and liberalisation of the market economy and its attendant emphasis on consumerism, represented by a la carte dining. Astuti and Hanan (2011) emphasise that these restaurants became fashionable in France in the nineteenth century, with Paris having establishments of this kind in all corners of the city. After the success of these Parisian restaurants, the existence of such establishments spread throughout the world (Spang, 2003).\n2. Theoretical-analytical background: The theoretical-analytical background was developed with eagerness to introduce the constructs included in the structural model proposed in this paper and their inter-relationships.\n3. Methodology: In eagerness to respond to the proposed objectives, the present study had two phases, with the first being qualitative in nature and the second of a quantitative character. During the qualitative phase, we sought to identify the attributes that comprised factors related to quality perceived by restaurant consumers through literature review. Such attributes and factors were included in a framework that was submitted for consideration by three experts with the purpose of evaluating which of the attributes/factors should be kept, discarded or grouped into other constructs. The results of this stage of the work allowed us to identify the attributes and factors of perceived quality that should be included in the scale and the proposed structural model. Table I presents the factors that were included in the quantitative phase of this work, in addition to the authors that contemplated them in their studies.\n4. Results analysis: 4.1 Description of the sample\n5. Conclusions: This work proposed and tested a model for evaluating consumers' perceived quality of a la carte restaurants and reviewed the impacts on their attitudes and behavioural intentions.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: A la carte restaurants have faced increasing challenges in meeting the needs and desires of new food consumers. The purpose of this paper is to propose and test a model for evaluating the consumers' perceived quality of a la carte restaurants and to review the impact on their attitudes and behavioural intentions.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A survey was conducted with 508 university students in Brazil, and the data were analysed using structural equation modelling (SEM).\nFindings: The results showed that global perceived quality (GPQ), which is a multidimensional construct with nine dimensions, directly impacted emotions, the satisfaction and perceived value by consumers. This satisfaction positively affected word-of-mouth (WOM) communication and the propensity for loyalty. Price did not have a statistically significant impact on customer satisfaction.\nOriginality/value: This paper, based on the structural model herein proposed and tested, is the most complete of all available articles in the literature about a la carte restaurants, as this study contemplates a greater number of perceived quality factors. In addition, both tangible and intangible perceived quality factors were included in this tested model, which goes beyond what is typically contemplated in other such. Moreover, none of the existing articles in the existing literature simultaneously observed the relationship between perceived quality, positive and negative emotions, price, perceived value, satisfaction, WOM communication and propensity to loyalty. Finally, the questionnaire developed in this study could be used both by academics in future studies and by restaurant managers.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Measuring consumer neural activation to differentiate cognitive processing of advertising: Revisiting Krugman
|
[
"Advertising",
"Neuromarketing",
"Replication",
"Electroencephalography",
"Event-related potential",
"Consumer neuroscience"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Neuromarketing seeks to apply the principles, methodologies and findings of neuroscience to further understand the impact of marketing on human behavior (Lee et al., 2007; Hubert, 2010). This means researchers engaged in neuromarketing examine the human brain and nervous system to better understand the impact of marketing by measuring both direct and indirect neurological processes of consumers (Daugherty and Hoffman, 2017). Krugman (1971) was among the first to use electroencephalography (EEG), which monitors electrical activity in the brain, for marketing research to examine what he describes as \"consumer engagement\" with advertising. However, nearly five decades have transpired since Krugman published this innovative research, and neuroscience technology and methods have since evolved to the point where it could be valuable to use a modern-day approach to replicate a first-generation neuromarketing study.\nThe replication paradox: The scientific method has governed much of the research process associated with discovery and knowledge since the age of Aristotle (Gauch, 2003). Central to this approach is the axiom that what begins with observation must ultimately be confirmed through replication. In fact, it is considered of critical value by both natural and social scientists (Campbell and Jackson, 1979; Rosenthal, 1991; Schickore, 2012), with the act serving multiple functions within the scientific method, including to control sampling error, unexplained artifacts, fraud and validation (Schmidt, 2009).\nStudy 1: direct replication: Advertising scholars often point to Krugman (1971) as the seminal study where the monitoring of brain activity was first introduced to test advertising effectiveness. Krugman (1971) argued that traditional advertising research tools at the time were insufficient to capture the complexities of consumer mental processes during media exposure. His conclusion, which was based on asking subjects to recall a series of ads, suggested that subjects with minimal ad engagement (measured by how much subjects scanned the ads) were better at remembering some ads, yet worse at remembering others, for no explicable reason. Thus, he believed that television was a medium of low engagement because of the number of personal connections that occur between the viewer and stimulus. Meaning, as consumer's view television their thoughts spontaneously link content to personal experiences because of a relaxing mental state induced by TV viewing. In contrast, print is a high engaging medium in that active mental processes result from increases in arousal when looking through a publication.\nMethod: In the original study, Krugman (1971) used a within-subjects design to test the effectiveness of four advertisements (one magazine and three televisions) by monitoring the brain wave activity of a single participant. While every attempt was made to replicate exactly the initial research design, a small number of variations were required to allow for valid testing today (e.g. color television, ad length, etc.).\nResults: The goal for this replication was to match Krugman's (1971) analysis process as closely as possible bearing in mind the predetermined differences. Frequency band intervals for the study (i.e. slow, alpha and fast) were defined to match Krugman with ten measurement epochs designated corresponding with the same stimuli exposure procedures (i.e. one magazine and nine televisions). However, because the ad lengths for the replication are 30 s as opposed to the original 60 s, the duration of the measurement epochs is obviously different. Therefore, per cent of power (mV) spectral analysis was used to allow for a more comparable evaluation of brain wave frequencies given the epoch duration differences (Pfurtschellera and Lopes da Silvab, 1999, p. 6). In fact, Krugman acknowledges that the reported wave pattern data in his study is actually more closely representative of \"proportions of waves\" rather than additive frequencies.\nStudy 2: conceptual replication: The purpose of the second replication is to integrate current measurement practices into Krugman's (1971) original work in an attempt to validate his desire to better understand consumer mental activity when evaluating advertising. In particular, we seek to determine if advances in brain measurement technology (e.g. 256-channel dEEG) and procedures would have allowed Krugman to differentiate measurable neural activation differences between the three television test ads as originally intended. A second replication, conceptually extending Krugman is significant for several reasons. First, measurement practices for collecting and analyzing EEG data have changed dramatically in the past 45 years. Each change in procedure has been made on the basis of an argument that more sophisticated equipment and analytic schemes will yield greater benefits in terms of research and practice. Despite these claims, we are not aware of a study that has established the truth of this assumption. As technology becomes more complicated and expensive, it seems reasonable and worthwhile to empirically determine whether or not the stated ends (e.g. increased value) justify the means (i.e. increased cost). Second, methodological concerns bring into question the validity and generalization of Krugman's initial findings. For instance, a single subject is rarely adequate in the social sciences, even for an EEG study, to demonstrate a theorized effect, and modern-day reviewers would likely criticize Krugman's stimulus selection and lack of experimental control.\nMethod: A within-subjects design was used to test the neural activation of the same three television ads used in Study 1. Within-subjects research is common in neuroscience research because activation patterns are highly reliable within participants but not necessarily between participants (Corsi-Cabrera et al., 2007), suggesting that individuals provide their own optimal baseline for measuring activation differences. While the ads and repetitive exposure process used by Krugman (1971) remain, established research design changes are implemented to effectively detect the necessary neurological activation differences that were eluded by Krugman and in Study 1, which are further detailed in subsequent sections.\nResults: Data analysis\nImplications: For marketing managers facing advertising decisions with large implications, the gold standard is to draw from multiple methods to make the right decision. This research shows that a single method (EEG) can be used in multiple ways to provide richer insight and add legitimate value during the research process. In one respect, we were able to illustrate the consistency of effects observed using neuroscientific techniques in Study 1, and also show that neuromarketing adds insight into issues of interest within the realm of advertising - insight that could not be provided by traditional measurement paradigms (e.g. neural activity). Nonetheless, to fully understand the effectiveness of examining neural activation in testing advertising, we need to dig deeper enabling the examination of executional differences that drive consumer behavior. While both observable and statistically significant neural activity differences were detected, these differences do not necessarily indicate valence (positive or negative). The reason is because, while overall neural activation reflects cognitive processing, the source of that processing must be localized spatially within areas of the brain to better determine categorical judgments.\nConclusions: In the years since Krugman (1971), brain wave techniques and technologies have evolved with measurement practices growing and becoming more precise. As a result, these new tools offer advertisers the potential to better analyze and understand consumer behavior and have helped usher in a new renaissance for neuromarketing research. This renewed focus is often attributed to a growing appreciation for objective measurement as opposed to more traditional methods (i.e. focus groups, survey, etc.) (Daugherty et al., 2016). While the considerable promise of neuromarketing has been met with increasing recognition from both scholars and the marketing industry, challenges remain.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Herbert Krugman (1971) was among the first marketing scholars to utilize electroencephalography (EEG) to examine advertising. However, nearly five decades have transpired since this innovative research, making it potentially valuable to use a modern-day approach to reproduce a first-generation neuromarketing study. Thus, the purpose of this study is to replicate and extend Krugman's original work.\nDesign/methodology/approach: To measure participants' neural activity, two within-subject experiments were conducted to test the effectiveness of advertising using EEG. Independent factors, as defined by Krugman (1971), were three national brand ads differentiated by their level of effectiveness (high/low) associated with recall and arousal.\nFindings: Results from Study 1 largely support Krugman's original findings, in that an inverse relationship is observed among brain waves (beta, theta and alpha) across multiple exposures and levels. Meaning, similar patterns of activation and dissipation occur regardless of ad type or frequency. Findings from Study 2 were successful in accomplishing what Krugman originally could not by distinguishing between the ads utilizing an event-related potential (ERP) design.\nOriginality/value: This study demonstrates that a single neuromarketing approach can be used in multiple ways to provide richer insight while adding value during the research process. At the very least, the re-inquiry is an informative act associated with the theoretical relevance of using EEG measurement in marketing research.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
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