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The financial aspects of the Corporate Responsibility Index in Egypt: A quantitative approach to institutional economics	[ "Egypt", "Corporate governance", "Financial performance", "Institutional economics", "Corporate Responsibility Index", "G14", "D21", "L21" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The public policy that institutionalizes the relationships between corporations and stakeholders is indeed able to improve the welfare of the society. These relationships involve social activities with members in the society and internal governance aspects of corporate affairs. The common understanding is that corporate social responsibility (CSR) involves the firms' undertaking a set of actions that have the potential to increase costs. To be economically sustainable, the sources of additional costs need to be offset by some potential benefits. The first benefit is represented by the creation of reputational capital that may help the company obtain more favorable terms of trade in negotiations with stakeholders (Cornell and Shapiro, 1987). The second benefit considers that CSR may positively affect workers' productivity (Agell and Lundberg, 2003; Akerlof, 1982; Bewley, 1999; Fehr and Schmidt, 1999, 2006; Fehr and Falk, 2002; Sobel, 2002). It terms of profitability, being considered a performance metric, corporate social involvement can be evaluated through its effects on costs, sales growth and assets investments. From the cost point of view, the corporate involvement in social activities might be seen as expenses that are reported in income statements. As far as customers are concerned, the extent of their appreciation to the company's social contribution is reflected by growth of sales revenues. The interaction between the latter and expenses related to social activities results in a net income that is responsive to the company's social responsibility. In addition, the social involvement also may be reflected in the assets structure. That is, a socially responsible company may devote part of its investments in fixed assets that do not generate related earnings for the company. Therefore, company's involvement in social activities has direct effects on corporate financial performance. In this case, financial ratios are very convenient measures of the interaction between corporate income statements and balance sheets.\n2. Research objectives: This study addresses the following objectives:\n3. Corporate governance and financial performance: Corporate governance has received much attention as a result of Adelphia, Enron, WorldCom and other high-profile scandals that have served as the impetus for recent US regulations, such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. This act is considered the most sweeping corporate governance regulation of the past 70 years (Byrnes et al., 2003). The literature includes many attempts to relate corporate governance practices to firm performance based on the understanding that better corporate governance is related to better performance. That is, better-governed firms should perform better than worse-governed firms. Corporate governance studies have been derived from the agency theory, which opens a vast area of research into the aspects of agency problems (Beltratti, 2005; Shleifer and Vishny, 1997)[1]. The shared understanding in these studies is that effective corporate governance reduces so-called control rights conferred by stockholders and creditors on managers. The eventual outcome is an increasing probability that managers invest in positive net present value projects.\n4. CSR and financial performance: Verschoor (1998) and Becchetti et al. (2008) tested the relationship between CSR and corporate performance. Almost all of these studies have been published in business rather than economics or finance periodicals even though the topic of CSR is obviously relevant to both. This anomaly offers the authors of this study an advantage of providing an original contribution to this specific field by using methodological approaches that are common in finance studies.\n5. Corporate governance and CSR: the Egyptian experience: In Egypt, empirical studies on corporate governance aspects as well as CSR have been few in number. In addition, it is difficult to access the proper data about firms' CSR programs. The section that follows discusses in detail the developments of corporate governance in Egypt.\n6. Methodology and data: 6.1. Data\n7. Results and discussion: This section shows the regression estimates for various financial components against two levels of the Corporate Responsibility Index; that is low- vs highly ranked firms. This section also includes an examination of the robustness of the estimates for the low- and highly ranked firms. The robustness is carried out by regressing the financial components using the entire sample. The understanding is that the robust estimate of a coefficient does not change its significance and trend. The objectives are to determine the robust financial aspects that are associated with low- vs the highly ranked firms and at the same time are less likely to change the significance and the trends. The results are reported in Table I.\n8. Conclusion: In reality, corporate responsibility is a multifaceted, complex phenomenon that involves a set of actions that significantly affect several dimensions of financial performance. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between corporate responsibility activities and financial performance. The ultimate target is to emphasize on the financial determinants that reflect corporate aspects of social as well as governance activities. Those two dimensions constitute the newly Corporate Responsibility Index in Egypt.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the financial aspects of high vs low-ranked firms in the Corporate Responsibility Index in Egypt, and to construct a Z-score model to discriminate between high- and low-ranked firms in the Corporate Responsibility Index.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This study empirically examines a comprehensive list of financial ratios for 24 firms listed in EGX30 for four fiscal years, 2007-2010. The authors calculate 90 financial ratios to provide better insights and evaluation of the firms' financial performance. The ordinary least square regression method and discriminant analysis are utilized to explain differences between the low- and high-ranked firms regarding their corporate social governance index.\nFindings: The results show that corporate governance and corporate social responsibility (CSR) are positively related to the firms' financial performance in terms of sales turnover and customer loyalty. This suggests that in the long run, the market mechanism should be able to provide additional resources to those companies that are better at maximizing a widely defined bottom line of their social governance. The results also show that highly ranked firms are characterized financially by: strong bargaining power with suppliers; financing growth in fixed assets using debt mainly.\nOriginality/value: The study contributes to the literature in terms of providing practical insights on the financial strategies that help support effective CG and CSR in Egypt. In addition, this study offers a unique quantitative attempt to measure and examine the benefits of incorporation of socioeconomics into business practices.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The making and sustaining of leaders in health care	[ "Leadership development", "Co-production", "Health care innovation", "Place-based networks", "Triple Aim" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The challenges of sustainable health care are many, including the complexity of need in attempting to meet society's needs arising from longer life expectancies and our ability to treat more low-level illnesses. On top of this are the issues arising from the combination of physical and mental health problems across all ages. According to the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI, 2018a), these challenges can be summarised into three main areas: better care for individuals (which includes quality and patient satisfaction), better health for populations and lower per capita costs, aka \"The Triple Aim\". Controlling rising costs while simultaneously improving medical resources have two main drivers: an improved life expectancy and a growing sensitivity to the human right of good health. While the path(s) to achieving the Triple Aim are complex and self-contradictory at times, what is needed is innovation. \"Frugal innovations\" are those which are unsophisticated, which meet basic needs, i.e. which are good enough (Zeschky et al., 2015). Frugal as these innovations may be, they offer potential simple and cost-effective solutions to the world's healthcare challenges. Innovation does not come easily, rather it is the offspring of the marriage of staff (i.e. leadership) and organisational culture, contemporary literature increasingly dispels the myth that leadership is a function of the seniority of management. Managers are chiefly administrators. Leaders are change agents. Managers become more effective by virtue of their leadership, rather than their management skills. They have earned the right to assume the mantle because they exhibit the attributes and identities of:[...] guiding vision [...] passion [...] integrity (self-knowledge, candour and maturity) [...] curiosity and [...] daring.(Bennis, 2009)\nLiterature review: Leadership (L) and leadership development (LD)\nHigh-performance healthcare systems (HPHS): As noted below, Baker and Denis identify leadership (and strategy) as one of the three critical themes in health care transformation and its support for the key attributes of high performing health care systems (Table III).\nTheoretical framework: activity theory (AT): Understanding the healthcare structure and the dynamics of the operating forces is essential for investigating leadership development (Beer et al., 2016). The \"sweeping changes in the political and economic systems of our planet\" in the 1980s and 1990s mainly shared \"two fundamental features\" - their activities were \"bottom-up\", not system imposed and, they were largely unexpected and grew quickly (e.g. the fall of the Berlin Wall). The traditional precepts of behavioural and social sciences no longer could satisfactorily explain their phenomena, especially not the influence of the activities of the individual on his/her \"surrounding structures\" Thus, Cultural-Historical AT (CHAT, abbreviated to \"AT\") became internationalised as an observational tool as to how subjects' roles can evolve, how rules might change and how the community might be affected (Engestrom et al., 1999).\nMethodology: Grounded theory methodology (GTM)\nDiscussion: The new leadership model\nConclusion - limitations and future research: This study had a sample size of ten, it would be much more informative and useful if the sample was expanded by at least an order of magnitude. One target that is missing is the patient him/herself. It is becoming evident that the patient has much to add when it comes to contributing both to his/her own care, and to the community at large around him/her. Another family of targets are the various stakeholders, and those who make the rules and perpetuate the norms and conventions, some of which may not be all that helpful, e.g. the \"we've always done it that way before\" norms. Another of the limitations may be local culture, yet this research has confirmed that while changing culture is time consuming, it can and has been done, particularly when it comes to matters of safety.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Many nations are focussing on health care's Triple Aim (quality, overall community health and reduced cost) with only moderate success. Traditional leadership learning programmes have been based on a taught curriculum, but the purpose of this paper is to demonstrate more modern approaches through procedures and tools.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This study evolved from grounded and activity theory foundations (using semi-structured interviews with ten senior healthcare executives and qualitative analysis) which describe obstructions to progress. The study began with the premise that quality and affordable health care are dependent upon collaborative innovation. The growth of new leaders goes from skills to procedures and tools, and from training to development.\nFindings: This paper makes \"frugal innovation\" recommendations which while not costly in a financial sense, do have practical and social implications relating to the Triple Aim. The research also revealed largely externally driven health care systems under duress suffering from leadership shortages.\nResearch limitations/implications: The study centred primarily on one Canadian community health care services' organisation. Since healthcare provision is place-based (contextual), the findings may not be universally applicable, maybe not even to an adjacent community.\nPractical implications: The paper dismisses outdated views of the synonymity of leadership and management, while encouraging clinicians to assume leadership roles.\nOriginality/value: This paper demonstrates how health care leadership can be developed and sustained.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The evolution of holiday system in China and its influence on domestic tourism demand	[ "China", "Domestic tourism", "Holiday system", "Leisure time", "Travel demand" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Mainland China has witnessed a series of holiday-policy reforms, which are regarded as an important force shaping the development of domestic tourism (Zhang, 2008a). This paper focuses on the reforms in the public-holiday-policy system and their influence on the domestic tourism in China. The major reforms in the Chinese holiday system in last 20 years and the overall changes of the demand for domestic tourism are analyzed in this paper to provide a better understanding of China's holiday-system reform.\n2. Background: historical review of the holiday system in China: 2.1 Public holiday system in China\n3. Literature review: 3.1 The \"Golden Week\" holiday system influences the tourism development\n4. The domestic tourism changes in China: This research will mainly present tourism demand by the number of tourists' person-time, tourism expenditure, and per capita spend on tourism (Table III).\n5. The negative influence of Chinese holiday system on domestic tourism: intensive travel problems caused by the two reforms of the system of statutory holidays: Although the reform of the China's holiday system has greatly increased workers' leisure time, the increase in leisure time led to the tourism activities, but at the same time, it also completely released the huge domestic tourism market demand in those particular holidays. Compared to holidays that occur more times, and are of shorter cycle length, and more scattered special holidays, statutory holidays are longer (Golden Week has at least seven days, small long holiday has at least three days), and occur less times (there are seven legal holidays, but before 2008, the holiday system only stipulated four legal holidays). The travel habits of China's urban residents are relatively conservative, although they rise almost year by year. The travel rate was only 166.3 percent in 2007, which means, each urban resident traveling an average of only 1.66 times a year. The \"Golden Week\" seven-day off is undoubtedly the perfect time to stimulate the urban residents, which generates a travelling average of 1.66 times a year. As Qing and Bi (2009) point out, the more leisure time is continuous, the higher travel index is as compared to leisure time, and thus tourists will focus more on the strongest leisure time continuity of \"Golden Week,\" which inevitably leads to the \"blowout\" travel case. Keeping in mind the Chinese traditions, most people will choose to go home during the Spring Festival holidays to visit their relatives. On the contrary, for some popular scenic spots the load stress is not bigger than the other two \"Golden Week;\" however, it also indirectly implies that tourism demand will be more focused on \"May Day\" and \"National Day\".\n6. Discussions and implications for the future: This paper examines the correlation between \"Golden Week\" holiday system and domestic tourism demand in mainland China in the last years, and explains the trends by analyzing the effects of holiday system on domestic tourism demand. Besides, problems caused by the system were also discussed. Based on the findings above, this paper provides three feasible solutions for future development of domestic tourism in China.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to focus on the reforms in the public-holiday-policy system and their influence on the domestic tourism in China. The major reforms in the Chinese holiday system in the last 20 years and the overall changes in the demand for domestic tourism are analyzed in this paper to provide a better understanding of China's holiday-system reform for policy makers in the future.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper summarizes the development and reform of the holiday system in China. Policy review and domestic tourism statistics were applied to study the intrinsic relationship between the holiday system and the domestic tourism. The statistics of domestic tourism are cited, including the growth rates of both urban and rural tourists, the domestic tourism expenditure per capita, etc. Finally, this research explains the trends of these rates in a comprehensive background.\nFindings: The increasing length of holidays positively affects the domestic tourism demand by increasing the leisure time. Yet, the holiday-tourism activities lead to a series of problems, such as a huge pressure on transportation, overloaded tourist attractions, and threats to safety precautions. Paid leave, price leverage, and more reasonable tourist-attraction arrangements will be effective in easing China's holiday rush.\nOriginality/value: Through studying the intrinsic relationship between the holiday system and the domestic tourism, this paper points out the problems of excessive concentration of domestic tourism demand in a particular time, caused by the holiday system. Solutions and suggestions are provided on the basis of the analysis.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Information needs analysis of the aerospace discipline	[ "China", "Aerospace industry", "Information management", "Databases", "Journals", "Information needs", "Citation analysis", "Online databases", "Aerospace discipline", "Collection development" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Aerospace technology is among the most influential modern scientific disciplines. In 2010, the aerospace industry was one of the emerging industries included in China's \"12th Five-Year Plan\". The next decade therefore provides an important opportunity for development of the Chinese aerospace industry. Many colleges and universities are actively expanding the depth and breadth of aerospace study, and researchers in associated disciplines need to improve their own scientific research and innovation capabilities and academic influence in the field. Libraries and information services (LIS) also need to take an active role in development of their university or research institution by providing their institutions' scientific research personnel with appropriate resources. As an industry of global importance, understanding of the resources needed to support aerospace science will be valuable to all institutions with research and study in the field.This paper identifies the scientific research and information resources required for aerospace experts. The analysis was undertaken by a research group in a Chinese university library engaged in \"the aerospace expert scientific research and information source analysis and provision strategy study\". The goal of the analysis was to explain the difference between the supply of and demand for scientific research information for aerospace experts, in order to prepare a collection development strategy. The research data sets are not specific to Chinese researchers, so the study results reflect the structure of publication and the information requirements of scientific researchers in the aerospace field internationally. The results of this research therefore help to frame the field of aerospace studies. This in turn helps to understand the knowledge of the field and to improve the ability of LIS to provide effective knowledge services to aerospace experts.\nLiterature review: Information needs analysis\nResearch questions: The study was guided by the following research questions:RQ1. Which institutions and countries are the most productive in the field of aerospace research?RQ1.1. Does the pattern of publication in high level journals by researchers from Chinese institutions differ from that of researchers from the aerospace research institutions of other countries?RQ2. What are the core information resources used by high level researchers in aerospace?RQ2.1. What is the most cited format (e.g. journal, book, conference paper)?RQ2.2. What is the proportion of discipline-specific journals?RQ2.3. How, if at all, does the use of core information sources by Chinese aerospace researchers, differ from that of researchers in other countries?RQ3. What databases would a library collection need to provide in order to ensure adequate access to the journal information resources most used by aerospace researchers?\nResearch method: The study used citation analysis. Details of data preparation and analytical methods are provided in this section.Data preparation\nResults: The results are presented in three parts addressing the three research questions in turn. The first part concentrates on productivity, and identifies high productivity institutions in aerospace research internationally and in China. The second set of results examines the outlets in which aerospace research is published, concentrating on journals, and compares the journals in which Chinese aerospace scholars choose to publish with the most highly cited journals in the field. The last part examines coverage of aerospace journals in seven full text online databases.RQ1. Productivity\nDiscussion: The main aerospace research institutions, based on public output, are in China and the USA. US institutions published more papers in highly ranked journals in 2009-2010 than Chinese institutions (including those in Hong Kong and Taiwan). This might reflect the greater variety of high-level research institutions in the USA. Better understanding of the approach taken to research in the USA might improve integration of scientific research, production and manufacturing and government decision-making across the field in China.Authors in Chinese research institutions preferred to publish in the Chinese Journal of Aeronautics, which has a low journal impact factor, suggesting that Chinese aerospace research has limited international influence. It is important for libraries and other information service institutions in China to provide access to other aerospace journals with high journal impact factors not just as reference sources, but also as examples of outlets for publishing and international dissemination of research results.The citation analysis showed that scientific researchers in the aerospace field refer to journals more than other sources. Only 20 percent of cited journals are listed in JCR and SCIE as aerospace engineering journals while, as Table V shows, a large number of cited journals are in related fields such as fluid mechanics, applied mechanics and engineering, computational physics, engineering thermo-physics, automatic control, signal processing and control and the sciences in general. The subject distribution of journal citations by Chinese aerospace researchers is similar to that of other aerospace researchers, but Chinese researchers referred to fewer sources on average.Good coverage of the core aerospace-related journal publications can be obtained only from a combination of commercial, professional institutional and open access indexing and full text online databases. ScienceDirect and Academic Source Premier-ASP together provide coverage of the majority of commercially published journals to which aerospace researchers refer. The IEEE/IEE Electronic Library is a valuable professional institutional resource. The most valuable commercial online resource, even though it covers few journals is the aerospace industry specific database, AAIA Meeting Papers, which indexed more of the individual journal papers than any other online resource reviewed for this paper. Satisfactory coverage can only be obtained, however, by including open access databases among the online resources made available to aerospace researchers.Limitations\nConclusions: The systematic approach to information needs analysis and collection evaluation used in this paper shows that high quality research output can be used to identify the core and key peripheral literature of a discipline. Once known, the library collection can be examined quite simply to evaluate what is needed to ensure there is adequate coverage to support research and publication in the discipline. It should be possible to apply this technique to other disciplines,Aerospace research, the discipline at the center of this study, was shown to be multidisciplinary. Adequate coverage of databases to support high level research requires provision of access to a combination of commercial, institutional and open access resources. To what extent the need for such a combination of database types is discipline-specific, the norm for modern collections, or an indication of trends in new and growing fields is not known.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to identify the core literature of aerospace studies and the databases necessary to ensure its coverage in a collection for aerospace scientists. The paper also aims to examine whether China has different needs from other countries.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A sequence of bibliometric analyses was used. Institutions and countries with high aerospace research productivity were identified from 4,290 papers published in \"aerospace engineering\" journals in Science Citation Index. Journal papers cited in these papers (14,618 extracted from 17,015 citations in all) were analyzed to discover the core source journals for aerospace research. The availability of the core journals in online databases determined necessary library provision for aerospace research.\nFindings: - The most productive aerospace research institutions are in China and the USA. Journals are the most important information resources. While 20 per cent of cited journals were discipline-specific, 80 per cent were in related fields. Chinese researchers had similar resource needs to researchers from other countries. To provide for aerospace research, a library collection needs to include the databases of the field, and commercial and open access journals that cover aerospace engineering, related disciplines and the sciences in general.\nOriginality/value: - The paper reveals the characteristics of the literature of the aerospace discipline for the first time. It identifies the core journals used by aerospace researchers and the bundle of online resources necessary to adequately provide for research in the field. The technique used can be applied to other disciplines.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Cognitive leader-member exchange differences between supervisors and subordinates	[ "OCB", "LMX", "Organizational identification", "Social exchange theory" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Past research works had shown that employees' organizational identification (OI) is a central predictor for employees' efforts on behalf of an organization (Riketta, 2005). Over the past two decades, research on OI is substantially increasing and investigating its effects on employees' work behaviors (He and Brown, 2013). However, there are still five limitations as follows.\n2. Literature review: 2.1 Social exchange theory\n3. Methodology: 3.1 Sample and data collection\n4. Results and discussions: 4.1 Reliability analysis\n5. Conclusions: 5.1 Main findings\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to reveal the influence of organizational identification (OI) on organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) directed toward organization (OCB-O) and OCB directed toward individuals (OCB-I), and explore the moderating effects of turnover intention (TI) and the differences of the moderating effects of supervisors' ratings of leader-member exchange quality (LMX-L) and subordinates' ratings of LMX quality (LMX-S) in the process.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Based on social exchange theory, this study took administrative staff of private small and medium enterprises in China as population. A paired-samples design was used, and 437 valid paired samples were collected finally. Data analyses were conducted by using structural equation modeling.\nFindings: OI indicated a positive influence on both OCB-O and OCB-I. TI showed a negative moderating effect on the positive relationship between OI and OCB-I, but no significant moderating effect on the positive relationship between OI and OCB-O. LMX-L and LMX-S were not in one same direction and showed different moderating levels. LMX-L had no significant effects on the relationship between OI and OCB-O, nor did on the relationship between OI and OCB-I. On the other hand, LMX-S strengthened both the positive relationship between OI and OCB-O, and the positive relationship between OI and OCB-I.\nOriginality/value: This study explored the relationships from social exchange perspective, found that OCB-O and OCB-I had different formation mechanisms and should be explored as distinct variables, and confirmed that it was necessary to use the paired-samples design when studying dyadic phenomena.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Music business models and piracy	[ "Music industry", "Consumer behaviour", "File sharing", "Business models", "Cross‐country analysis", "Intellectual property" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: Revenues in the global music industry have been shrinking since the start of the twenty-first century (Liebowitz and Watt, 2006; Liebowitz, 2006, 2008; Elberse, 2010; IFPI, 2011). Firms in this sector are moving from a focus on selling music as a physical product towards creating value from selling music in digital formats (Parry et al., 2012) which gives rise to different business models (Balocco et al., 2010). A clear correlation exists between digitalization (i.e. MP3 format, broadband availability, online file sharing) and revenue decline in the music industry, with the most common explanation for this decline being the role of illegal file sharing, often referred to as piracy (Liebowitz, 2008). The piracy phenomena may be a form of purchase substitution, where music consumers substitute illegal downloads for legal purchase (Liebowitz and Watt, 2006; Liebowitz, 2006). Widespread availability of broadband internet facilitates the growth of file sharing. As physical distance is largely irrelevant for internet based file sharing, individuals from across the world can participate (Siwek, 2007; RIAA, 2011). To counter act illegal file sharing some countries have introduced stronger legislation. Analysis shows a correlation between stronger legislation protecting intellectual property rights (IPR) and increases in revenues (Bhattacharjee et al., 2006; Adermon and Liang, 2010; IFPI, 2011; Danaher et al., 2012).Preventing piracy through legislation is not the sole response available to the music industry. The fall in revenue is partially attributed to a reduction in consumption as a result of the consumer's unfamiliarity with new digital sales formats, as time is needed to learn and adapt to new digital technologies (Parry et al., 2012). In this new product-service system, in which market information is scarce, customers play a central role in creating value (Hilletofth, 2011) and to be successful firms need to adopt a customer-oriented perspective (Oztaysi et al., 2011). Analyzing the digital music market, there are two groups of consumers identified that represent potential sources of new digital revenues that may be recovered:1. those consumers currently engaged in illegal file sharing; and2. those consumers who have become disenfranchised with currently available digital business models.This paper uses empirical analysis of a rich and unique dataset of more than 44,000 surveys conducted in 2010 in ten different countries. The objective is twofold. First to direct the strategic approach of the music industry by estimating both the scale of illegal file sharing and the size of the market of those not engaging with digital business models for the ten countries studied. Second, to understand how value is created using correlation analysis at the country level between illegal file sharing and digital business models against total music revenues per capita. This paper calls for both improved regulation to limit piracy and the development of new business models.The paper will continue with a literature review and construction of hypotheses. Following this is an explanation of the data used, empirical analysis undertaken and a presentation of the results. The work concludes with a discussion of the results and future research.\n2 Digital business models and piracy: Revenues from the total music industry have decreased substantially since the beginning of the twenty-first century, (Figure 1). The total sales from the ten countries analyzed decreased from US$22 billion (1,000 million) in 2000 to US$13 billion in 2010. From the literature two scenarios are identified which may be contributing towards the decrease in revenue: illegal file sharing of digital music and business models which are unfamiliar to the consumer. This paper attempts to quantify and disentangle the two scenarios and identify which may be the most significant in different contexts.2.1 The file sharing challenge\n3 Empirical analysis: 3.1 Data\n4 Discussion: The empirical literature analyzing the music industry during the last decade has emphasized the role of piracy in the decrease of music industry revenues. Drawing upon a sample of more than 44,000 surveys from ten countries this work supports the previous findings and suggests that illegal file sharing decreases sales per capita and is a common problem around the world. Based upon conservative assumptions an estimated 28.2 per cent of the population participates in illegal file sharing.However, the work challenges the assumption that piracy is solely responsible for the revenue decline in the music industry. With the digitalization of music the dynamics of the music market have dramatically changed. Many new music business models reflect a theoretical shift in understanding what music retail is, presenting music to consumers not as a product but as a service (Parry et al., 2012). Examples include pay as you go business models exemplified by Apples iTunes and pay monthly models exemplified by Spotify (Osterwalder and Pigneur, 2010). The transformation may have excluded some consumers from the market, described in this paper as a business model challenge. According to the analysis presented this challenge accounts for ~22.5 per cent of the population, only six percentage points below the level of file sharing at ~28.2 per cent. Of the 50.7 per cent of the consumers who find themselves outside the legal market, only 28.2 per cent of them may be recovered through legislation aimed at reducing piracy; supporting H1 and calling for a stronger IPR regulation. The remainder of the sample must be recovered through business model innovation, providing access to music in a way that better suits this groups requirements; supporting H2.A correlation was observed between piracy level and the legal origins of the country (Djankov et al., 2002). Countries with German legal origin seem less inclined to illegally file share than other countries. However, in discussions with industry experts they recognised that in Germany there have been numerous lawsuits against File Sharers over many years whilst in Japan piracy is seen as a growing issue with regards streaming over smart phones. Future research will explore this correlation and related issues.This paper also makes a methodological contribution. Only 46.5 per cent of the survey respondents are willing to answer the question regarding their file sharing activities. This opens a debate: do the non-respondents follow a similar distribution to the respondents with regards their attitude to file sharing? Three scenarios are used to enable the redistribution of respondents. First, as with previous research (Peitz and Waelbroeck, 2004; IFPI, 2011) it is assumed that non-respondents follow a similar distribution to respondents. Second, it is assumed that non-respondents are File Sharers. Third, non-respondents are assumed to be Non-File Sharers. The evidence would suggest that non-respondents tend to be closer to non-file sharing groups, the third assumption, as they are older and would appear to favour physical music purchases. However, accepting this assumption raises a paradox (Figure 9): why would Japan, the country with the highest sales per capita, have the greatest business model challenge? This requires future research, as Japan may have a particular issue with piracy and streaming over mobile networks.A limitation of this study is the analysis of business models as applied to music services as the analysis of the digital market is undertaken without data on the usage of streaming services. Streaming accounts for ~1 per cent of revenue, but this is set to grow. Future research will correct for this gap.Finally, this paper has also managerial and policy implications. The results suggest the exploitation of business models, rather than traditional business strategy, to manage music industry uncertainty. In this sense, customers play a central role, and managers in the music industry may be aware that there is a proportion of the population that could be recovered using new business models. Music distributors have begun to understand customers' behaviour which will increase their targeting of value propositions, clarifying market segments and better describing the position of the firm within the value network. These business models are the key of future and successful business strategies. Finally, the work provides policy makers with estimates of piracy rates which can be used to benchmark individual countries.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to estimate the scale of illegal file-sharing activity across ten countries and to correlate this activity with country revenues. The work aims to elucidate an under-explored business model challenge which exists in parallel with a music piracy challenge.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The study data are drawn from a number of sources, including a data set of a survey of more than 44,000 consumers in ten different countries undertaken in 2010. Following analysis, all findings are validated by a panel of industry experts.\nFindings: - Results show that non-legitimate file-sharing activity is a heterogeneous issue across countries. The scale of activity varies from 14 per cent in Germany to 44 per cent in Spain, with an average of 28 per cent. File-sharing activity negatively correlates to music industry revenue per capita. This research finds many consumers are not engaging with online business models. Almost one fourth of the population claim that they do not consume digital music in either legal or illegal forms. This phenomenon is also negatively correlated with sales per capita.\nPractical implications: - Results support the need for policy makers to introduce strong intellectual property rights (IPR) regulation which reduces file-sharing activity. The work also identifies a large percentage of non-participants in the digital market who may be re-engaged with music through business model innovation.\nOriginality/value: - This research presents a map of the current file-sharing activity in ten countries using a rich and unique dataset. The work identifies that a country's legal origin correlates to data on file-sharing activity, with countries from a German legal origin illegally file sharing least. Approximately, half of the survey respondents chose not to answer the question related to file-sharing activity. Different estimates of the true scale of file-sharing activity are given based upon three different assumptions of the file sharing activity of non-respondents to this question. The challenge of engaging consumers in the digital market through different business models is discussed in light of digital music's high velocity environment.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
How previous positive experiences with store brands affect purchase intention in emerging countries: A comparison between Brazil and Colombia	[ "Latin America", "Brand experience", "Risk perceptions", "Store brands", "Price-value perceptions", "Cultural context" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: How do consumers experience store brands in emerging markets? Does previous experience with store brands affect consumer purchase intention in these countries? Do other variables, such as the cultural context, intervene in the process through which consumer experience with store brands leads to purchase intention within the Latin American context?\n2. Literature review and research hypotheses: 2.1 Conceptual framework\n3. Methodology: 3.1 Context of investigation\n4. Analysis and results: Before analysing the structural model, we performed a confirmatory factor analysis to ensure a correct measurement model (Gerbing and Anderson, 1988). We worked on each country separately and not on pooled data as there were structural market differences between the countries that did not allow for the achievement of measurement invariance, which is a requirement for usage of a pooled sample in order to make meaningful comparisons (Steenkamp and Baumgartner, 1998).\n5. Discussion, research implications and limitations: 5.1 Discussion and theoretical implications\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Brand experience is a key factor that helps elucidate why consumers choose a given brand among others. The purpose this paper is to investigate how previous experience with store brands affects store brand purchase intention in two emerging markets and whether the cultural context moderates the relationships between store brand positive or negative cues and store brand purchase intention.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A store-intercept survey undertaken in the Latin American context generated 769 usable responses from consumers of two metropolitan cities (Brasilia and Bogota), respectively, in Brazil and Colombia. The questionnaires were collected in four well-established retail chains by professional investigators. Structural equation modelling was used to test a series of proposed hypotheses.\nFindings: Overall, this paper reveals that consumers in Latin America do care about brand experience when shopping. More specifically, the results indicate that previous positive experience with store brands has a positive effect on consumer purchase intention in both countries investigated. In Brazil, store brand price perceptions mediate rather strongly the relationship between previous experience with store brands and purchase intention. In contrast, this effect is weak in Colombia. Store brand perceived risk has significant mediation effects in Brazil, but no mediation effects in Colombia. The authors also underline heterogeneous moderation effects of the cultural context, suggesting that common perceptions of Latin America as a culturally homogeneous region are stereotypical.\nResearch limitations/implications: Respondents were consumers of only two Latin American emerging countries (Brazil and Colombia) and shoppers of two retail chains in each country. Caution should therefore be exercised when generalising the results to other emerging markets.\nPractical implications: The paper offers recommendations on how to standardise/adapt brand experience management in different Latin American markets. Overall, retailers should go beyond the transaction itself and establish true differentiation using different store brand ranges. However, due to differences in cultural contexts, marketing communication should adopt different approaches to each country: emphasise the price advantages of store brands in Brazil, but focus on other factors such as quality in Colombia. Because they are culturally bound, risk perceptions towards store brands should also be managed carefully. It would be possible to target premium consumer segments with standard store brands in Colombia while a more sophisticated approach is necessary in Brazil (e.g. co-branding or launching more premium store brands).\nOriginality/value: By employing three theoretical frameworks (learning theory, cue utilisation theory and culture theory), this research investigates the effect of previous experience with store brands on purchase intention in two emerging countries that are geographically close but culturally different. It highlights direct and indirect processes of brand experience and underlines significant structural path differences between the two Latin American countries investigated in terms of consumption behaviour towards store brands.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Health monitoring impact on non-repairable component supply methods	[ "Condition based maintenance", "Life cycle cost analysis", "Logistics methods", "PHM", "System health monitoring" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The development of vehicle health monitoring systems enables a focus on condition based maintenance (CBM) in lieu of time based preventive maintenance. With increased knowledge about vehicle systems gained through data collected by health monitoring systems, logistics operations too should be considered. In Hess and Fila (2002) and Hess et al. (2004) discuss the potential benefits of informed logistic systems enabled by prognostics and health management systems, in particular the autonomic logistics information system (ALIS) of the F-35 fighter. With the development and fielding of health monitoring systems on a range of vehicles, taking full advantage of the information collected is an evolving task.\n2. Background: This section reviews relevant literature and discusses concepts behind model formulation.\n3. Methodology: The research methodology used in this work builds upon Vandawaker et al. (2015). The arena discrete event simulation processes a squadron of 12 aircraft through daily operations to include: flying, take-offs and landings, inspections, maintenance, supply, and health monitoring activities. Each simulation takes the aircraft through 15 years of operation and consists of 100 runs. The architecture for the ISHM model processes is found in Figure 1. This figure depicts the flow of information and aircraft through system operations. System processes include flight operations, ISHM diagnostics and prognostics, CBM order processing, and maintenance and supply actions.\n4. Results: The data presented here show the impacts of part ordering based on projected need of all aircraft over the duration of the JIT intervals. Additionally, EOQ models with both ISHM and baseline architectures are provided for comparison.\n5. Conclusion: This model is meant as a planning and design tool to study the impact of ISHM capabilities, maintenance processes, and spares management considerations. Weighing the impacts of simulation outputs and management philosophies with cost and performance objectives is left to program managers to determine the appropriate level of service required.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: From on-board automotive diagnostics to real-time aircraft state of health, the implementation of health monitoring and management systems are an increasing trend. Further, reductions in operating budgets are forcing many companies and militaries to consider new operating and support environments. Combined with longer service lives for aircraft and other systems, maintenance and operations processes must be reconsidered. The majority of research efforts focus on health monitoring techniques and technologies, leaving others to determine the maintenance and logistics impact on the systems. The paper aims to discuss these issues.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This research analyzes the impact of a health monitoring system on a squadron of aircraft. Flight, maintenance and logistics operations are stochastically modeled to determine the impact of program decisions on supply metrics. An arena discrete event simulation is utilized to conduct this research on 20 components on each of the 12 aircraft modeled. Costs and availability are recorded for comparison across three sparing scenarios to include economic order quantity (EOQ) for baseline and health monitoring cases and a just-in-time (JIT) health monitoring set of simulations.\nFindings: Data are presented for EOQ and JIT supply methods. A comparison of health monitoring enabled supply to current methods shows cost savings and availability gains. The different methodologies are compared and discussed as a trade-space for programmatic decisions.\nOriginality/value: This work demonstrates the ability of health monitoring systems and condition based maintenance to affect supply ordering decisions. The development of trade-spaces within operating environments is demonstrated along with the ability to conduct cost benefit analyses.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Building global supplier networks: a supplier portfolio entry model	[ "Supply chain management", "Automotive industry", "China", "Resource allocation", "Suppliers" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: China has become a major player in global auto manufacturing. As a result, the Chinese auto market provides huge opportunities to manufacturers, suppliers and service providers (Harwit, 1995; Gao, 2002). Many of the world's major automakers are eager to engage in this market. For example, Toyota established its fourth joint venture plant in Guangzhou in 2004 and planned to expand its Chinese production capacity to 335,000 units in 2006 (Toyota, 2005). However, foreign firms experience huge challenges as they strive to penetrate the Chinese market, since this requires dealing with Chinese government entities and relating to local Chinese suppliers (Mann, 1989; Gao, 2004). In addition, such strategic shifts to the Chinese market complicate their current supply chain network. Building an effective supply network in China also takes time - enough time to make, sell and service cars in China.The entry decision is an important starting point for such a long journey. Typically, firms may ask a very simple question: \"Should we export products to China or establish plants in China?\" Each firm can answer this question by applying various entry mode theories. From an international investment standpoint, many researchers have discussed effective entry modes for specific plants (Kogut and Singh, 1988; Datta et al., 2002; Elango, 2005). If an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) intends to target a bigger market, then it needs to redesign its supply chain network so that it includes a new supply network in the target country. Entry decisions of this type require supply chain adaptation (i.e. modification of the supply chain network structure in response to the changes in markets, strategies, products, and technologies) (Nolan and Zhang, 2002; Lee, 2002). As of now, few researchers have considered entry modes that address issues related to the adaptation of supply chain networks.This paper combines three theory streams:1. an entry mode theory for profit-maximization under a tariff model;2. a network theory to explain the mechanisms of global supplier network adaptation; and3. resource dependency theory, to understand how firms utilize available resources within the value chain network and respond to environmental uncertainties.As network participants become more interdependent, an OEM considers and involves its suppliers in making entry decisions that affect the overall interest and resource utilization of the entire supplier network.Since the scope of our enquiry is the supply chain, entry mode theory for an individual company is modified: firstly, to consider both supplier and OEM characteristics, and secondly, to cluster suppliers into several portfolios in order to make the decision model more efficient and manageable. As an illustration, this paper describes a successful case that involves the entry of Company Z into China. Our supplier portfolio decision model examines different production levels of the company, including details of the corresponding decisions.\nConceptual framework: Increasingly, global competition is evolving from enterprise-specific to supply chain-wide (Lambert and Cooper, 2002). With the fast pace of globalization, securing a wide supply chain network has become a critical strategic issue. In this context, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and their suppliers may jointly consider the details about establishing plants in other countries. Both OEMs and their suppliers would likely intend to secure component sources that would save total cost requirements in their value chains. The practical questions are, \"Who will bear the cost burdens associated with establishing supplier networks in other countries? Primarily an OEM or its suppliers? Or jointly? If so, how?\"Entry mode theory is useful in answering the above questions. Initially, entry mode theory was applied to a study of an individual company entering a foreign country (Horst, 1971; Caves, 1982). An OEM manages hundreds or even thousands of its suppliers as a network (Granovetter, 1985). OEMs and their suppliers jointly make decisions on how to use their combined resources to minimize risks and maximize returns through investments in a foreign country (Powell, 1990). Resource dependency theory focuses on how an OEM and its suppliers can collaborate together to manage environmental uncertainty in relation to their joint investments (Cook, 1977; Pfeffer and Salancik, 1978). An OEM naturally considers its suppliers' behaviors not to be based on individual but on network relationship terms (Slack and Lewis, 2003). If an OEM and its network of suppliers enter a host country, an entry mode that considers only an individual entity must be modified: firstly, to consider both supplier and OEM characteristics, and secondly, to cluster suppliers into several portfolios in order to make the decision model more efficient and manageable.In this article we focus on optimal configurations of a global supplier network (i.e. profit maximization through supplier portfolio management). Specifically, three theories related to our supplier entry decisions are presented:1. an investment entry approach (for maximizing profit and minimizing risks through the entry);2. network theory (through optimal configuration of supplier portfolios for profit maximization); and3. resource dependency theory (the OEM tries to secure suppliers to minimize resource environment uncertainty in other countries).For the simplicity of presentation, we will use a Japanese OEM and its suppliers in China to discuss our basic theory and to illustrate it with a case. The case details are real, but because the information is proprietary, the name and locations of the company and its production data have been altered.Entry mode theory\nCompany Z supplier entry case and results: In this section, more details about Automobile Company Z are presented, along with their effects on the portfolio entry model outcomes.Overview of Company Z\nDiscussion: A supplier entry decision into a foreign country to join a supplier network requires a careful consideration for the precise location of plants. A good location decision reflects the multiple impacts of supplier physical configuration in terms of low cost production, proximity to market, and availability of technological resources. Details on the entry decision (discussed and examined through the Company Z case in this paper) provide an insight into how global firms may plan their supplier location decisions. Location decisions are dynamic in that the supplier network evolves as market demand changes. In that sense, global firms need a strategy to plan and manage supplier location decisions over a long period of time.Building an effective supplier network involves more than the physical configuration of supplier relationships. The goal of an effective supplier network is profit optimization. This requires global firms to strategically pursue an integrated set of operational objectives. The real challenges are how to clearly prioritize and simultaneously achieve these multiple goals (e.g. operational efficiency, local supplier and governmental partnerships and desirable financial performance). In the context of the Chinese market, global firms need to take a strategic approach in order to position themselves competitively over the long term.This study also provides guidelines for global enterprises on how to effectively respond to Chinese government policy constraints, localization mandates, and cooperation with local suppliers. Company Z has successfully gained competitive advantage by implementing strategic outsourcing and supply chain adaptation. Other global firms may consider strategic outsourcing as the first step in testing Chinese market characteristics, so they can proceed in an evolutionary manner towards establishing multiple plants in China.Another valuable lesson from this study is the role of information sharing in planning, implementing and evaluating supplier network management (Lewis and Talalayevsky, 2004). In the Chinese context, the value of information can not be over-emphasized in all aspects of business growth. Building an effective information infrastructure requires an invisible relationship network more than the related physical supplier network (Lapiedra et al., 2004). The required level of trust and commitment for effective information sharing in the Chinese context takes time. If global firms in China aim to succeed in China, they need to demonstrate through their actions that they mean to stay in the Chinese market and work with the Chinese community. Reputation is crucial to long-term success in China, as are access to vital information that can come from the goodwill and support of the Chinese government and other business entities.\nConclusions and future research: By using resource dependency theory and supplier network theory, this paper has developed a supplier portfolio entry model, based on profit-maximization under the tariff model. This paper also identifies key country, industry, manufacturer, and supplier factors in the model, which clusters suppliers into several portfolios in order to make it more efficient and manageable. As the market demand in China grew, the Japanese OEM made careful strategic moves that involved both its own suppliers from Japan and local Chinese suppliers. The reason for their continuing success relates to their balanced and long-term view of overall business goals of the supplier network. By paying attention to the specific investment risks and benefits through the portfolio approach, the Japanese OEM could integrate the seemingly conflicting and evolving demands of Chinese market, the profit needs of its suppliers, and their own long-term business interests. Insights from this case are useful in understanding how an extended enterprise network can function in changing global market contexts.This paper also illustrates the practical implications of the model through the case of a Japanese auto manufacturing firm that is entering the Chinese market. It may be possible to extend the model beyond manufacturing enterprises. In view of the growing need for structural and infrastructural developments in China, future research in supply chain adaptation and supply network restructuring might be expanded to value chain requirements and best practices in building a highly integrated network of educational institutions, regional distributors, healthcare systems and environmental businesses.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this article is to address critical issues on how a global enterprise establishes an effective supply network. The example of a Japanese firm operating in China illustrates a supplier portfolio entry model that has not previously been examined in the literature.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This paper proposes a research model based on theories of resource dependency and supplier networks. The model shows how profit optimization is achieved through a series of decisions that build an effective supplier network.\nFindings: - The concept of portfolio management is useful in optimizing profits through a supplier network.\nResearch limitations/implications: - This research is based on a single case in one country, so it has limited validity. Further studies are also needed to examine more complex cases in multiple countries.\nPractical implications: - The leading enterprise (e.g. original equipment manufacturer) may effectively build its global network by strategically applying the key features of the supplier portfolio model.\nOriginality/value: - Practitioners and academics may gain new insights into how a global enterprise was able to build an effective supplier network in China.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Evaluating the security controls of CAIS in developing countries: an empirical investigation	[ "Accounting", "Computer applications", "Data security" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: The rapid change in information technology (IT), the wide spread of user-friendly systems, and the great desire of organizations to acquire and implement up-to-date computerized systems have made computers much easier to use. It has also enabled accounting tasks to be accomplished much faster and more accurately. On the other hand, IT has created significant risks related to assuring the security and integrity of computerized accounting information system (CAIS). IT, in many cases, has been developed faster than the advancement in control practices and has not been combined with similar development of the employees' knowledge, skills, awareness, and compliance. Implementing adequate security controls over CAIS and its related facilities used in handling, recording, processing, storing and distributing information has become a necessity. In the first part of a two-part article (Information Management & Computer Security, Volume 15, Issue 1) of evaluating the CAIS security controls in Saudi organizations, the literature review related to the security controls of CAIS have been presented and discussed.Reviewing the literature, it is observed that most of the previous studies in the CAIS security controls research area have been carried out in developed countries (Boockholt, 1989; Buttross and Ackers, 1990; Collier et al., 1991; Dougan, 1994; Henry, 1997; Qureshi and Siegel, 1997; Zviran and Haga, 1999; Dhillon, 1999; Dhillon and Backhouse, 2000; Siponen, 2000; Coffin and Patilis, 2001; White and Pearson, 2001; Warren, 2002; Wright and Wright, 2002; GAO, 2003; Hunton et al., 2005), but few studies have investigated CAIS security controls issues in developing countries (Hood and Yang, 1998; Abu-Musa, 2004a, b, c). It is believed that conducting this research in a developing country such as Saudi Arabia, can yield fruitful results. The current research could represent a substantial step in that direction.It is also observed that different authors have their own research agendas regarding the security aspects of CAIS. Accordingly, CAIS security controls have been investigated in a piecemeal rather than in an integrated fashion. The current study developed and tested an integrated and comprehensive checklist of CAIS security controls. The proposed checklist could be used by any organization to conduct a self-evaluation of its CAIS security controls. The proposed checklist would help managers, internal and external auditors in identifying and correcting computer security exposures, and could enable them to evaluate the adequacy of implemented security controls. From a practical standpoint, managers and practitioners alike stand to gain from the findings of this study. The results enable managers and practitioners to better secure their CAIS and to champion IT development for the success of their business.The current paper highlights the research methodology used to carry out the empirical investigation and introduces the main statistical findings related to the existence and adequacy of implemented CAIS security counter-measures in the Saudi organizations.\n2 Research hypotheses: The current research is an attempt to examine the following research hypotheses:H1. The implemented CAIS security controls in Saudi organizations are inadequate.H2. There are no significant differences among Saudi organizations regarding the adequacy of implemented CAIS security controls.H3. There are no significant differences among different respondents groups regarding the adequacy of implemented CAIS security controls in their organizations.\n3 Methodology: In this study, an empirical survey - using a self-administered questionnaire - was conducted to investigate and evaluate the existence and adequacy of implemented CAIS security controls in Saudi organizations. The questionnaire was pre-tested on selected members of academic staff and accounting practitioners and was piloted on a selected sample of Saudi organizations. Comments and suggestions were considered in the development and revision of the final questionnaire. The questionnaire incorporated the proposed CAIS security controls check-list to be empirically investigated in Saudi organizations. The proposed checklist classified CAIS security controls under the following main security groups: organizational security controls, hardware and physical access security controls, software and electronic access security controls, data and data integrity security controls, off-line programs and data security controls, utilities security controls, bypassing of normal access security controls, user programming security controls, division of duties, output security controls, and periodic security controls.The proposed check-list used \"Yes\" or \"No\" questions to make it easy for respondents to answer these questions and to go through the security check-list. In order to increase the respondent's motivation for completing the check-list, all questions that were similar in content and dealt with the same security control area or group were collected together under that specific security group. Also, to make it easy for respondents to answer its questions and go smoothly through the list, the author meticulously considered the sequence and arrangement of the security controls in the check-list. Moreover, in deciding the order of the questions involved, the author tried to take advantage of the cognitive ties that the respondents would be likely to make among these groups.A number of security controls countermeasures involved in the proposed security controls check-list were adopted from established research and available literature in the information security area (Boockholt, 1989; Buttross and Ackers, 1990; Collier et al., 1991, Jenkins et al., 1992; Dougan, 1994; Henry, 1997; Qureshi and Siegel, 1997; ISO 17799; CobiT 3rd Edition, and Abu-Musa, 2004c). Others, however, were specifically developed to meet the needs and requirements of this research. The final revised version of the questionnaire is used to survey the existence and implementation of CAIS security controls in Saudi organizations. The questionnaire is also used to collect the required information related to business and respondents profiles.A total of 500 questionnaires randomly distributed to different types of Saudi organizations (manufacturing companies, banks, insurance companies, retail merchandising; oil and gas companies, services companies, health care, government units, and others) in seven Saudi cities: Riyadh, Jeddah, Dhahran, Dammam, Thuqba, Khubar, and Jubeel. After the follow up, 305 questionnaires - representing a 61 percent initial response rate - were collected. However, 30 incomplete questionnaires were excluded from the analysis. The respondents refused to complete the questionnaires, claiming that they contained sensitive and confidential information. After excluding the incomplete and invalid responses, the research ended with 275 valid and usable questionnaires, representing a 55 percent response rate. This response rate is considered a relatively high response rate in this kind of empirical survey.A reliability test was carried out on the questionnaire using the a Cronbach model, to explore its internal consistency, based on the average inter-item correlation. The result of the reliability test shows that the questionnaire design is highly reliable, and the collected data related to the implemented CAIS security controls in Saudi organizations are highly reliable and consistent (a=0.8735). The student test was carried out investigate if there were any significant differences between early responses (190 questionnaires) and late responses (85 questionnaires). The results of the student test show no significant differences between early and late responses (at significance level p=0.05), which provides evidence of a representative and unbiased selected research sample.The collected data show that 61 of the responding organizations were manufacturing companies and 41 were retail merchandising organizations, representing 22.2 and 14.9 percent of the total responses, respectively, (Table I). Of the respondents, 34 were banks - representing 12.4 percent of the total response. A number of 25 respondents (9.1 percent) belonged to governmental units and 20 respondents (7.3 percent) were insurance companies. Moreover, 22 respondents (8 percent) were services organizations and 17 respondents (6.2 percent) were from the oil and gas industry. In addition, 18 respondents, representing 6.5 percent of the total belonged to health care organizations (Table I). A total of 37 respondents (13.5 percent of the total) belonged to other organizations, e.g. hotels, car rental organizations, decor and carpentry firms, publishing and printing organizations, accounting and auditing firms, construction companies, and design organizations.As Table I shows, 99 respondents (36 percent) were accountants; 55 respondents (20 percent) were managers; 39 respondents (14.2 percent) were internal auditors; and 36 respondents (13.1 percent) were controllers. Moreover, 20 respondents (7.3 percent) were working as cost accountants and four respondents were EDP auditors. Again, the respondents seem to be quite representative of the job structure in Saudi organizations.The collected data has been analyzed using the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 12. Descriptive statistics (such as frequencies and percentages) of the collected data is performed to identify the main characteristics of the research variables. In addition, non-parametric test (the Kruskal-Wallis test) is carried out to test the research hypotheses related to the existence and adequacy of implemented CAIS security controls in Saudi organizations. Non-parametric tests - rather than parametric tests - are the most appropriate statistical tests for analyzing data collected in this research since these tests are \"distribution free,\" do not require normal distribution of data, and can efficiently deal with small samples. Non-parametric tests are also very suitable to analyze nominal, ordinal, categorical, and scale ranked data (Dickinson, 1990; Miller, 1991; Hessler, 1992; Melville and Goddard, 1996; Wackerly et al., 1996; Abu-Musa, 2004a, b).\n4 Results: The statistical findings of the existence and adequacy of implemented CAIS security controls as well as the significant differences among Saudi organizations and different respondent groups will be presented and discussed in the following sections.4.1 Organizational security controls\n5 Conclusion: In this paper, an empirical survey was carried out to investigate the existence and adequacy of implemented CAIS security controls in Saudi organizations. The paper also investigates the significant differences among different Saudi organizations as well as among respondent groups regarding the above research issues. The statistical results highlighted a number of inadequately implemented CAIS security controls in Saudi organizations and accordingly, some suggestions to eliminate these weak points are recommended.According to the survey results, it is recommended to restrict access to organizations' sensitive data to the authorized employees with defined needs. Mandatory vacations of employees should be considered and enhanced personnel policies, including the rotation of duties should be enhanced. It is recommended that alarms and motion detectors should be installed in areas with a high concentration of computer equipment. Installing computers only in areas that are locked and kept under surveillance when not in use, placing lockable covers on computers and bolting computer to desks or tables should be considered. Further, un-issued physical access badges and keys should be under adequate control. Restrictions on the complete independence of individuals who are responsible for controlling physical access and those who are responsible for programming, system software, and accounting control functions should also be considered.Adequate procedures should be implemented to prevent unauthorized access CAIS. Moreover, sensitive data stored off-site should be encrypted to reduce the chance of its unauthorized exposure; legally binding confidentiality agreements related to sensitive data should be enhanced and adequate custody of sensitive data disks and backups should be strengthened in Saudi organizations.Adequate security controls should be implemented over the issuing and returning of program/data files to and from physical libraries. Librarian functions should be performed by individuals who are entirely independent of computer operation and programming responsibilities. More attention should be directed by Saudi organizations to strengthen utility security controls, to identify all utility programs or other special programs and to implement adequate security controls over the use, or even attempted use, of such programs. Stronger security should be implemented in the bypassing of normal access controls to prevent, investigate and report any unauthorized changes to organizations' data files. Furthermore, adequate controls should be in place to ensure that security is subsequently reinstated whenever bypassing of normal security controls has occurred in emergency cases.Segregation of incompatible computer tasks and duties should be considered. A clear and strict procedure should be put in place to prevent computer operators, schedulers, data input staff, and other operations personnel from gaining access to program documentation and development libraries. Moreover, systems personnel who are responsible for cataloging functions should be prevented from gaining access to program documentation and development libraries, as well as preventing them from entering the operations area or performing computer operations functions. Moreover, adequate output security controls should be put in place and directed to secure and protect sensitive data across Saudi organizations.Further investigation could be undertaken to extend and improve this research. The intention of the current research has been to evaluate the security controls of CAIS in Saudi organizations. However, more research is needed to obtain evidence from other developing countries in the Middle East and Gulf countries. Comparative studies could be carried out to investigate the significant differences between developing and developed countries regarding the adequacy and effectiveness of implemented CAIS security controls. Investigating the differences in the opinions of CAIS programmers and designers, internal auditors, external auditors and CAIS operational staff could be potential avenues for future research.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper aims to examine the existence and adequacy of implemented computerized accounting information system (CAIS) security controls to prevent, detect and correct security breaches in Saudi organization.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The first part of the paper introduces and discusses the literature review concerned with the CAIS security controls. The current paper introduces and discusses the main results of the empirical investigation. An empirical survey using self-administered questionnaire, was carried out to achieve this purpose. A total of 500 questionnaires were distributed on a random sample of Saudi organizations. Of them, 275 valid, usable questionnaires were collected and analyzed.\nFindings: - The results of the study highlight a number of inadequately implemented CAIS security controls, and some suggestions and recommendations are introduced to strengthen the weak points and to close the loopholes in the present CAIS security controls in Saudi organizations.\nPractical implications: - From a practical standpoint, mangers, auditors, IT users and practitioners alike stand to gain from the findings of this study.\nOriginality/value: - The results presented in the paper help enable managers, auditors, IT users and practitioners to better understand and secure their CAIS and to champion IT development for the success of their businesses.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Information feedback and bidders' competitiveness in construction bidding	[ "Competitiveness", "Information", "Construction", "Feedback", "Bidding" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: As construction spending by public and private clients that involve capital investments tend to be large scale and consequently expensive, it is important to optimize procurement mechanisms that lead to efficiency in the contractor selection process. Competitive bidding is commonly used in the industry where competing contractors submit independent bids (i.e. offers to sell construction services) and the lowest bidder wins at the lowest bid price. Although this job allocation mechanism is well established, an important design variable that varies across construction clients is the level of feedback information on historic bids. The information feedback conditions adopted by construction clients can be broadly classified into full, partial and no information (Oo et al., 2011). In the full information feedback condition, bidders were informed at the end of each bidding competition about all bids and the identity of the bidder making each bid. In the partial information feedback condition, bidders were provided only with the winning bid and the identity of the winning bidder at the end of each bidding competition. These two information feedback conditions are more common among public sector clients that must maintain public accountability. No information feedback, on the other hand, is prevalent in private sector procurement of construction services. The high degree of post-bid negotiation in private sector procurement may explain the clients' unwillingness to provide feedback information to bidders.\nCompetition and value of bidding feedback information: According to Engelbrecht-Wiggans et al. (1983), in a competitive setting, information about one's potential competitors - their number, their preferences, the information which they in turn possess - can indicate the degree of competition one must expect to encounter. Milgrom and Weber (1982) argued that information never has a negative value to the decision-maker, at worst, irrelevant information can be ignored. The analysis of historical bids can provide a wealth of valuable information to contractors in clarifying the relationships among many different competitive factors (Park and Chapin, 1992). The identified significant relationships include: first, relationship between number of bidders and job characteristics; second, the bid-spread - the distribution of the difference between the lowest and second lowest bids; third, the distribution of all bids with respect to a contractor's own estimated cost; and fourth, the distribution of lowest bids according to number of bidders.\nEffects of information feedback in construction bidding: There are a large number of studies in the conventional economics literature that have used experiments to explore the effects of information feedback in sealed-bid auctions. With two predominant experimental settings, namely, ascending first-price sealed-bid auction (e.g. Neugebauer and Selten, 2006; Ockenfels and Selten, 2005), and descending first-price sealed-bid auction (e.g. Engelbrecht-Wiggans and Katok, 2008; Dufwenberg and Gneezy, 2002), they provide a substantial amount of evidence that varying information feedback affect bidders' competitiveness to different degrees, thereby affecting the revenues of those accepting bids to buy or sell.\nExperimental design: The experiment was conducted at the National University of Singapore in March 2012 via e-mail over a five-week period. The design used between-subjects variation and involved information feedback as the treatment variable (F, full information feedback; P, partial information feedback). In treatment F, at the invitation to bid stage, subjects received a list of all bidders and their submitted bids in the preceding round. In treatment P, subjects were informed of the winning bid and the identity of the winning bidder in the preceding round at the beginning of each bidding round. A total of 120 students who enrolled in a cost estimating course participated in the experiment. The use of student subjects is appropriate in an experiment for which the level of experience is not a moderator variable (i.e. the level of experience is controlled - inexperienced bidders) following Weick (1967). They were randomly assigned to one of two treatments (F and P) with ten bidding rounds (two rounds per week) per treatment. Each of the two primary groups (F and P) were further split into 12 subgroups (five students in each subgroup) to simulate a bidding competition of 12 competing bidders (n=12).\nExperimental results: The unbiased cost estimate provides a common baseline from which to measure the subjects' competitiveness and for comparing bids between the two treatment groups. The measure of competitiveness between bids is to express each bid as a ratio above the unbiased cost estimate:\nDiscussion: Despite the common use of student subjects in experimental auctions and business decision-making studies (e.g. Remus, 1986; Depositario et al., 2009), the use of student subjects in similar experiments in the context of construction bidding has been recognized as a limitation of experimental designs (Soo and Oo, 2010 and Oo et al., 2011). It is encouraging to note here that the quality of the experimental data were not being jeopardized by the use of student subjects. The test results on seriousness of the subjects' bidding and the first bids from the two treatment groups provide strong justification of using student subjects in this kind of experiment.\nConclusion: Given the ambiguity inherent in field data, this study used an experimental approach to investigate inexperienced bidders' competitiveness under full and partial information feedback conditions when the number of bidders becomes large (n=12). While the variations in bids over the ten bidding rounds for both levels of information feedback are shown to be statistically significant, the results show that inexperienced bidders with full bidding feedback information are more competitive than those with partial bidding feedback information. A further test taking into account the impact of cost estimate accuracy still shows that the bids from the former group are more competitive for both +-5 and +-10 percent accuracy levels. The bid-spread analysis and the identified effect of the two information feedback conditions on the awarded contract sum, provide further evidence that full information feedback condition would lead to lower average bids in construction bidding.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Contractors rely on effective pricing methods in order to translate potential business into reality for long-term survival of their firms. This involves effective utilization of bidding feedback information toward winning jobs with high profit potential. The purpose of this paper is to experimentally investigate student (inexperienced) bidders' competitiveness under full and partial information feedback conditions when the number of competing bidders is large (n=12).\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper adopted an experimental research design. The design used between-subjects variation and involved information feedback as the treatment variable with 120 students who enrolled in a cost-estimating course participated in the experiment.\nFindings: The result shows that the variations in bids over time for both levels of information feedback are statistically significant. It is found that bidders with full bidding feedback information are more competitive than those with partial bidding feedback information. The bid-spread analysis and the identified effect of these two information feedback conditions on awarded contract sum, provide some further evidence that full information feedback condition would lead to lower average bids in construction bidding.\nPractical implications: The implication of the findings for construction clients is that they should provide as much bidding feedback information as possible so that the bid prices will be competitive.\nOriginality/value: Given the ambiguity inherent in field data, this paper provides strong justification of using experimental research design in advancing the understanding of construction pricing under different information feedback conditions. In addition, it demonstrated the suitability of using student subjects in similar experiments in the context of construction bidding.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The language of teacher agency in an eighth grade ELA classroom	[ "Teaching literature", "Curriculum English", "English language arts", "Teaching writing", "Teacher agency" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Teaching is communication. Teachers' communication with students encompasses skills, disciplinary content, and other values. In English language arts (ELA) classrooms, teachers typically focus the content of communication on the mechanics of reading, writing and speaking; using those mechanics to comprehend and analyze published poetry, fiction, and non-fiction; and developing students' habits of mind to prepare them for future education and professional practice. Given the centrality of core literacies encompassing reading, writing and speaking to educational, professional and civic life, teachers find multiple stakeholders seeking to influence the ELA classroom. From policies and educational standards to educational reformers' initiatives to students' parents, ELA teachers encounter a multitude of voices that lay claim to what students should learn. On top of that, teachers' own skills, interests, and experiences speak to them in directing them to give attention to one thing over another or present lessons in particular ways.\nFramework and literature review: Biesta and his collaborators (Biesta and Tedder, 2007; Biesta et al., 2015, 2017) have developed an ecological model of teacher agency out of Emirbayer and Mische's (1998) earlier work. Biesta et al. (2015) followed Emirbayer and Mische's insights into the past, present and future factors that co-exist in someone's actions; the agency is therefore transactional, as past influences and future orientations interact in a person's present choices. Each of these factors exists as environmental resources to use in action (Chisholm et al., 2019; Holland et al., 1998). Biesta and Tedder (2007) reinforce the view that past, present and future interact in teachers' choices in a specific environment full of resources, which justifies seeing agency as an action, rather than a quality to possess. The environment of teachers' choices includes their own history as students and teachers, professional dispositions, standards, curricular materials and scripts, knowledge of individual student needs and skills, and course sequence within a single course or across years. For teachers, then, to examine agency is to attempt to understand by what means they act within their professional role and how action within moments of classroom interaction can be shown to draw on combinations of these past-, present- and future-oriented factors.\nMethods: This paper addresses a teacher's enactment of agency by answering the following question: How do ecological factors influence an ELA teacher's agency, as defined through the instructional and linguistic choices of the teacher in the classroom, in the messages he communicates to his students about their learning?\nFindings: This paper examines the contexts of Mr Royal's ELA teaching and presents four illustrative moments observed in his classroom in which he communicated a way to use the learning and how to value the learning. It then attempts to interpret the classroom events through an ecological model of agency (Biesta and Tedder, 2007). In looking at present actions related to Mr Royal's practice of agency, this paper unpacks the influence of international (past) and projective (future) factors for Mr Royal's practice as exemplified in those times (Biesta et al., 2015, 2017) for the learning messages communicated to students.\nConclusion: While teachers develop themes in the ecological factors they select through the agency of their instruction, analogous to Bakhtin's internally persuasive discourses, in-the-moment decisions may be overtaken and authored by others' authoritative voices. Mr Royal's controlling projective orientations toward giving students a meaningful ELA education seemed to guide many of his linguistic decisions, while his education and teaching histories supplied much of the justification for those orientations. In instruction, then, Mr Royal's presentation of learning generally came to students as his voice demonstrating what he valued and projected for their learning. Students would have encountered significant amounts of learning in his room as connected to his desires for them, which may suggest why students would come to him in later years to discuss something like their memoirs. Even so, external authors still worked in his classroom interactions, despite his relatively permissive teaching context. These breaks from the general trend may then contribute to making instances where Mr Royal's language did not reflect his personal connection to the learning stand out all the more. The governing structures (Brass, 2015) of accountability were evident at important times in his instruction. Others that communicated messages through him were at times clearly visible, even to students - as at least one revealed to me in a follow up interview: \"He has certain assignments that he has to give us, like, cause I recognize it is not like him just saying, 'Here is homework' or something, like he has to\" (interview, May 20, 2014).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to apply ecological models of agency to understand factors influencing how an eighth grade English language arts (ELA) teacher enacted agency in four moments in the classroom. It focuses on how his language in relation to his instructional choices reflected messaging to his students regarding the learning he intended from his ELA instruction.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper applies an existing framework (Biesta et al., 2015, 2017), adding Bakhtin (1981) understandings of language, to classroom discourse supplemented by teacher interviews and other data sources. In looking across these data sources, the paper traces the influence of past factors (i.e. the teacher's personal and professional history) and future orientations (i.e. goals established in standards and the teacher's goals for his students) on present instructional decisions. The teacher's language in the classroom becomes a primary focus for this study, as it reveals the ways in which he drew on specific resources in the messages in his instruction.\nFindings: In each moment, the teacher's language could be shown to have motivation in a variety of factors. While influenced by external factors such as the common core standards and standardized assessments, the teacher often enacted agency out of his personal beliefs about making learning personally meaningful for students as grounded in his personal and professional history. Exceptions to this pattern, especially regarding preparing students for writing tests on state assessments, less frequently relied on the language of finding meaning in the learning.\nOriginality/value: This paper builds on studies of ELA teacher agency through the development of methodology related to an ecological model of agency and Bakhtinian concepts of language focused on the discourse of the classroom. It contributes to understanding the factors at study in an ELA teacher's instructional agency, which can help teachers and researchers further develop frameworks for describing and assessing the practice of agency in the profession.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Prioritizing marketing research in virtual reality: development of an immersion/fantasy typology	[ "Future studies", "Virtual reality", "Immersion", "Flow theory", "Future studies", "Realism-fantasy" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Virtual reality (VR), an immersive computing technology, absorbs users in a responsive virtual world (VW) (Berg and Vance, 2016), making the individual feel that the experience is real. As a result of immersion, focus on the virtual environment (VE) and forgetting the real world (Csikszentmihalyi, 1997), VR enables flow (Faiola et al., 2013; Matthews, 2015). In fact, flow explains why consumers experience learning, favorable attitudes and increased purchasing in VEs (Animesh et al., 2011; Faiola et al., 2013), making VR a novel tool to co-create brand experiences and research consumers.\nDefinition of virtual reality: Evolving from the video game industry (Gutierrez et al., 2008; Vince, 2004), VR involves a simulated VE created or mediated by computing technology with which a user interacts (Harrison et al., 2011). Guttentag (2010) defines VR as the use of computer technologies to create perceptions of a 3D VE (from 2D imagery) that affords navigation and interaction, leading to sensory activation along one or more modalities. This latter definition synthesizes prior definitions by tapping into several aspects important to VR - visualization of, immersion into and interaction with the VE (Wilson et al., 2002) - and places emphasis on movement in and manipulation of objects in VEs (i.e. Gutierrez et al., 2008; Vince, 2004). Contrary to some arguments (c.f., Gutierrez et al., 2008; Vince, 2004), Guttentag (2010) suggests that VR immersion can exist at low levels, which we support and elaborate in the findings section.\nMethodology: Following a systematic review protocol (Tranfield et al., 2003), we analyzed the literature that has empirically examined VR to provide a foundation for our proposed typology and delineate the current state of research within the typology. Such a systematic review ensured that important works were included and that the state of VR knowledge was accurately represented. We utilized Scopus, EBSCO and ProQuest online databases to locate articles published in the past 15 years (2003 to 2018) using combinations of the following keywords: \"virtual reality,\" \"immersion,\" \"immersivity,\" \"flow,\" \"realism,\" \"fantasy,\" \"simulation,\" \"virtual environment,\" \"AVE,\" \"CAVE,\" \"head mounted display,\" \"HMD\" and \"virtual world.\"\nFindings: virtual reality and flow theory: Flow theory argues that individuals can enter a cognitive state in which they become completely immersed, with higher alertness, concentration, involvement, agency and intrinsic rewards (Nakamura and Csikszentmihalyi, 2001). A fundamental component of flow, immersion, is the degree to which an individual becomes engrossed in VR apart from reality such that users' senses and thoughts are dominated by the VE (Guttentag, 2010; Harrison et al., 2011) and deem the real world unimportant (Biocca and Delaney, 1995). After reviewing the literature, we found several themes evocative of flow, including the avatar, interactivity and application quality (Figure 1). Importantly, each theme uniquely contributes to the flow state individuals experience within each VR application.\nResult from findings: virtual reality immersion/realism typology prompting research questions: Quadrant I: automated virtual environments\nConclusion: This systematic literature review provides several contributions. First, this work unifies divergent literature areas to provide a typology of VR (Figure 2). This is one of the first instances in which all VR applications have been combined to generate considerations for VR research. Second, through the systematic literature review, we examine differences in VR applications, including their viability for future studies and consumer research, and identify three themes (i.e. application quality, interactivity, and the avatar) that uniquely contribute to flow (Figure 1) depending on the application. Third, we gauge the current state of research in Table I and provide evidence of the lack of marketing research in VR. While marketing has focused some research in VWs and simulations, much of this research is either qualitative and self-focused (in the case of VWs) or related to virtual stores (in the case of simulations). Clearly, there is a paucity of marketing research in VR.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Virtual reality (VR) is of increasing interest to marketers because it can be used to explore and proactively shape long-term futures, co-create value with consumers, and foster consumer-brand engagement. Yet, to date, the field lacks a cohesive framework for approaching VR research; thus, the objective of this systematic literature review is to provide such a framework and highlight research opportunities.\nDesign/methodology/approach: First, after conducting a systematic literature review, we highlight VR themes instrumental to flow and propose a typology for VR research using realism-fantasy and immersion as dimensions. Next, we review the current state of empirical research for each quadrant. Finally, we synthesize research within each quadrant, specifying criteria and considerations for conducting research. In doing so, we propose an agenda for marketing research, centered on methodological, future studies, and consumer-related contributions.\nFindings: VR themes instrumental to flow include the avatar, application quality, and interactivity. We find, contrary to some conceptualizations of VR, that all applications are capable of producing flow. Conflicting research and gaps are highlighted in the findings section and summarized in Table III. Additionally, while prior research seems to draw from findings of other VR applications in advancing knowledge in general, the results of the literature review suggest that VR applications should be treated uniquely. Finally, we propose highly immersive VR applications as more conducive to future studies research.\nResearch limitations/implications: Scholars can utilize the findings to prioritize future research studies in marketing. By following the typology and research opportunities, scholars can advance marketing theory and enhance the external validity of research studies through VR applications.\nPractical implications: Managers can utilize the findings to ascertain consumers and societies' responses to various marketing stimuli, with implications for product development, branding, retail/service experiences, adoption of new technologies, tourism, and many other domains. VR applications offer managers more ways of testing concepts and processes in realistic fashion without the costs and risks associated with more traditional methods.\nOriginality/value: The objective of this paper is to examine varying opportunities for VR research given flow and fantasy potential and to prioritize VR research.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Core personality traits of managers	[ "Personality", "Career satisfaction", "Big Five", "Managerial competencies", "Managerial profile", "Narrow traits" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Managers are critical to the success of today's firms (Colley et al., 2007). Yet, nearly 40 years after Mintzberg (1975) noted, \"No job is more vital to our society than that of manager\" (p. 61) few studies have investigated the distinctive personality traits of managers. This paucity of research is surprising in three ways. First, managers represent an estimated 10 percent of US working adults (ONET, 2014). Second, the manager's role is well explicated, including essential skills (Kouzes and Posner, 2007); leadership styles (Oshagbemi and Ocholi, 2006); tasks (Colley et al., 2007); job functions (Lussier and Achua, 2004); and competencies (Tornow and Pinto, 1976). Third, empirical studies have found personality traits related to criteria of work success across occupations, summarized in meta-analyses of job performance (Salgado, 1997); financial success and career satisfaction (Judge et al., 1999); and job satisfaction (Judge et al., 2002).\nPersonality traits: Much empirical research linking personality with work success has relied on the \"five factor model\" (Costa and McCrae, 1992). Comprised of broad, multi-faceted personality traits - Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Emotional Stability (originally described as its opposite, \"Neuroticism\"), Extraversion, and Openness - this \"Big Five\" model has been validated in many settings, and has well-established construct content (De Raad, 2000). Meta-analyses found Big Five traits related across occupations to job performance (Salgado, 1997), job satisfaction (Judge et al., 2002), career satisfaction, and financial success (Judge et al., 1999).\nManagerial competencies: Managerial competencies have been studied since the 1920s (Bloomfield, 1928), and systematic empirical research began addressing them in the 1970s (Kamel and Egan, 1976). Tett et al. (2000) developed a comprehensive taxonomy of managerial competencies. They drew content from 12 prior, published taxonomies, including Tornow and Pinto (1976), and three taxonomies from private consulting firms, for a \"hyperdimensional\" taxonomy of 53 managerial competencies representing 13 \"traditional functions.\" Examples of the competencies included \"strategic planning\" and \"motivating by persuasion.\" One purpose of the taxonomy was to provide a foundation for identifying personality predictors of managerial performance, facilitated by naming specific competencies with content highly similar to narrow personality traits, like \"assertiveness\" and \"orderliness\" (Tett et al., 2000).\nCore personality traits of managers: To develop directional hypotheses about the core personality traits of managers, we focus first on Big Five traits and their meta-analytic linkages with workplace competencies Bartram (2005). Where applicable we mapped traits to corresponding, specific managerial competencies from Tett et al. (2000). We also relied on empirical research finding differences between managers and non-managers (Ones and Dilchert, 2009) and research linking narrow personality traits to managerial competencies and career satisfaction (Lounsbury et al., 2003). We based our directional hypotheses on well-defined personality traits and their overlap with job attributes indicated by managerial competency models, job analytic models, prior research on personality and managerial performance, and relevant ONET (2014) summaries.\nMethod: Overview\nResults: We used a kh2-test to compare managers with non-managers on gender and age. The tests revealed that managers differed significantly from non-managers on both gender (kh2 (1 df)=695.91, p\nDiscussion: Results demonstrated a distinctive personality profile for managers that differentiated them from non-managers. The present findings align with workplace competencies found to be related to the Big Five personality traits (Bartram, 2005), the comprehensive taxonomy of managerial competencies by Tett et al. (2000), and with Holland's (1996) vocational theory and the ASA framework (Schneider et al., 1995). All nine traits in the profile correlated significantly with career satisfaction, consistent with the importance of these traits for person-career fit, and with the correlations found with career satisfaction for all occupations in earlier research on the same traits using the same measures (Lounsbury et al., 2003). Before elaborating practical and theoretical implications, we discuss the results separately for each of the nine traits.\nPractical implications: Some managerial traits identified in the present study have been validated against managerial job performance, notably Emotional Stability and Extraversion (Salgado, 1997). In turn these traits have been found correlated with broad workplace competencies - \"adapting and coping\" and \"interacting with, presenting to, and persuading others,\" respectively (Bartram, 2005), and with managerial competencies \"resilience\" and \"stress management\" and many involving communication (Tett et al., 2000). This finding is consistent with earlier research that found emotional stability most elevated of the Big Five traits in personality profiles of managers (Ones and Dilchert, 2009), and with empirical studies that found Emotional Stability positively correlated with measures of career success across occupations (Judge and Hurst, 2008; Judge et al., 2014).\nLimitations and directions for future research: We were unable to ascertain what tasks the managers in our population performed. Knowing this could provide unique insights into the influence of personality on career satisfaction, and clarify which management tasks each individual's personality may facilitate or impede.\nConclusions: Toward filling the knowledge gap concerning personality traits of managers the present, empirical study found a profile of core traits distinguishing managers from those in other occupations. Managers displayed (in decreasing order of magnitude of mean differences) higher: assertiveness, work drive, agreeableness, extraversion, emotional stability, optimism, customer service orientation, and conscientiousness. All of these traits correlated positively and significantly with managers' career satisfaction. This personality profile, if replicated, raises questions for future research and carries practical implications for staffing, training, development, management, and work design for managers.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to empirically compare managers with employees in other occupations on Big Five and narrow personality traits to identify a distinctive personality profile for managers.\nDesign/methodology/approach: An archival data set representing employees in a wide range of business sectors and organizations was utilized to compare trait scores of 9,138 managers with 76,577 non-managerial employees. Profile analysis (PA) with MANOVA and analysis of covariance was used to compare managers and non-managers on Big Five traits Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Emotional Stability; and narrow traits Assertiveness, Optimism, Work Drive, and Customer Service Orientation.\nFindings: As hypothesized, compared to non-managers, managers had significantly higher scores across nine traits, all of which correlated significantly with managerial career satisfaction.\nResearch limitations/implications: Although job tenure and managerial level are not examined, the findings align with managerial competence models, the Attraction-Selection-Attrition model, and vocational theory and raise questions for research on the adaptive value of these traits for managers' satisfaction and effectiveness.\nPractical implications: The results carry practical implications for selection, placement, training, career planning for managers, and particularly for their professional development.\nSocial implications: A distinctive personality profile for managers clarifies the occupational identity of managers, which contributes to public and professional understanding of managers and their roles.\nOriginality/value: This study is original in reporting an empirical, theoretically grounded personality profile of managers that includes both Big Five and narrow traits.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Averting risk or embracing opportunity? Exploring the impact of ambidextrous capabilities on innovation of Chinese firms in internationalization	[ "Product innovation", "Risk aversion", "Exploitative capability", "Explorative capability", "Opportunity preference" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In the process of enterprise internationalization within the cross-cultural context, it has been an important field of international business to study effective mechanism of enterprise innovation (Knight and Cavusgil, 2004; Phene and Almeida, 2008; Cassiman and Golovko, 2011). Some previous studies have been done from the perspective of technology research and development, focussing on the effect of research input of enterprises on innovation or internationalization performance in the process of international trade or internationalization (Frantzen, 2000; Johansson and Karlsson, 2007). Some other studies have been done from the view of knowledge management and organizational learning, focussing on knowledge exchange mechanism among headquarters and overseas divisions, and its impact on innovation or internationalization performance of enterprises (Zahra et al., 2000; Pla-Barber and Alegre, 2014). Some researchers have also introduced cultural dimension such as Hofstede or GLOBE, and studied the influence of social cultural psychology on enterprise innovation and internationalization performance (Barkema et al., 1996; Drogendijk and Slangen, 2006). There's also research from the micro-level working on the innovation of enterprise internationalization with considerations of cultural diversity, perspective of expatriate individual or a view of mobility from cross-cultural teams (Castellani et al., 2013; Winkler and Bouncken, 2011). These studies have enriched the knowledge about the effectiveness of enterprise innovation in the situation of internationalization from different perspectives.\nTheory and hypotheses: Ambidextrous capabilities and innovation in firm internationalization\nMethods: Sample\nResults: Table I displays the means, standard deviations, and correlations for all of the key variables. We first examined the main effects of explorative capability and exploitative capability on new product development and commercialization; Table IV and Table V present the results. As shown in the Table IV, explorative capability was positively related to new product development (b=0.250, p<0.01), and to new product commercialization (b=0.229, p<0.01).\nDiscussion: In this study, we discussed the relation between enterprises' ambidextrous capabilities, CEO's preference of risks and opportunities in the international market as well as their product innovation performance. Some previous studies have emphasized that ambidextrous capabilities of enterprises, which are explorative capability and exploitative capability, would have important impacts on its innovation performance. However, with the popularization of internationalization, the number of MNEs increased rapidly; clarifying the relation between ambidextrous capabilities and innovation is of primary importance for understanding how MNEs can benefit from explorative and exploitative capabilities in the processes of internationalization. In this context, our study makes several contributions both theoretically and practically.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the impacts of ambidextrous capabilities, explorative capability and exploitative capability on product innovation performance in the context of internationalization and cross-cultural environment; and to examine the moderating effects of CEO's preference of risks and opportunities in the international market on the relationship between ambidextrous capabilities and multinational enterprises' (MNEs) product innovation performance.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Data were collected from 189 MNEs located in China, which develop international business through export, outsourcing, foreign equity investment or foreign direct investment. Measurement reliability and validity were examined and hierarchical linear regression was used to test the hypotheses.\nFindings: Results indicated that both explorative and exploitative capability are positively related to MNEs' new product development and commercialization of Chinese MNEs; and CEO's preference of risks and opportunities in international market plays a significant moderating role in the two phases of product innovation.\nResearch limitations/implications: This study extends organizational ambidextrous capabilities theory to better understand the effects of explorative capability and exploitative capability on innovation performance in the context of internationalization and national cultural differences. Sample constitution is a possible limitation.\nPractical implications: MNEs, especially those from emerging economies, should develop both explorative and exploitative capability to be flexible and competitive in dealing with cultural differences. fully take risks and opportunities should be taken into consideration regarding the international market and national cultural differences, and take an effective contingency strategy, driven by the ambidextrous capabilities toward new product innovation development and commercialization.\nOriginality/value: An empirical examination of how ambidextrous capabilities impact on Chinese MNEs' new product development and commercialization connects the organizational ambidexterity theory to the innovation and characteristics of upper echelons.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The role of boards in small and medium sized firms	[ "Corporate governance", "Small to medium‐sized enterprises", "Board roles", "Owner‐managers" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Agency theory is the predominant theory used for explaining the role of the board. It is based on the experiences of listed companies, and has been developed to address conflicts of interest between owners and management. According to the theory, the board should act as a watchdog to align the interests of management with the interests of the shareholders.However the ownership and control structures of SMEs are very different from those of listed companies, which is highly significant with regard to the kinds of governance problems that arise in SMEs and thus for the role of the board in an SME (see section 3).This has implications for the theoretical approach to the role of boards in SMEs. Agency theory seems too limited to explain the role of boards, and more recently there seems to have been growing acknowledgement that a multi-theory approach is needed to explain the role of boards in SMEs, including resource-based theories.In this article the focus is on the role of boards in SMEs, with the main focus on owner-managed SMEs. It adds to the existing literature by examining the role of boards in SMEs, and in particular by seeking answers to the following questions:* What do owner-managers perceive to be the most important role of the board?* Do boards generally enhance good governance in SMEs, and does the use of outside board members play a significant role?* In practice, do owner-managers see their boards as a resource, or does the board remain an untapped resource in owner-managed SMEs?The structure of this article is as follows. First, a brief overview will be given of the different theories on the role of the board. Next, on the basis of a review and analysis of different studies of the ownership and management structures of SMEs, relevant problems of SMEs are identified, and the implications of these problems for the theoretical approach to the role of boards in SMEs are addressed. Thereafter, mainly on the basis of an entirely new Danish study of 1,040 owner-managed businesses (Nykredit, 2010), there will an examination of:* which SME board roles are perceived to be most important by owner-managers;* whether the board enhances good governance in SMEs; and* whether owner-managers regard the board as an important resource in practice.\n2. Theories on the role of boards: In corporate governance theory, the board is seen as an important corporate governance mechanism that can influence and add to the governance and performance of the firm. Therefore the role of boards has been seen as an important area of research. However, most of the focus has been on the boards of large, listed companies, while until recently less attention has been paid to the role of boards in SMEs. Researchers have used different organisational theories to understand the roles of boards.The theories can broadly be classified into two main groups. The first is agency theory, which focuses on the board's monitoring role, and the second consists of theories that emphasise the central role of the board as a provider of resources in a broad sense, such as strategy, service and legitimacy.Agency theory has been used as the predominant approach to the role of boards. It has been developed to address the problem of the conflicting interests of owners and managers, which can arise when managers (agents) manage a company on behalf of the owners (principals). This problem is particularly relevant in large, listed companies (Zahra and Pearce, 1989). According to agency theory, boards should act as watchdogs to align the managers' interests with the shareholders' interests (Fama and Jensen, 1983) and monitoring and control of the management is seen as the main role of the board (Fama and Jensen, 1983; Jensen and Meckling, 1976), thus reducing agency costs.The second group of theories focuses more on the resources that the board can provide. These theories have come increasingly to the fore in explaining the role of the board role in SMEs, particularly in family firms, where the agency problem is less relevant than in listed companies (see section 3.1[1]).The resource-based theories focus on the board as a human capital resource, and see it as the primary task of the board members to use their powers, knowledge and skills internally to advise the management of the firm (Prahalad and Hamel, 1990; Teece et al., 1997; Van den Heuvel et al., 2006, Mustakallio et al., 2002). The board can thereby add to the value-creation of the firm, giving it competitive advantages.Boards are also seen as having an important external role. According to the resource dependence theory, the board members have an external function linking the firm to its external environment, such as through networking (Pfeffer and Salancik, 1978; Zahra and Pearce, 1989; Borch and Huse, 1993). Boards, and especially outside board members, can bridge the gap between the firm and its environment and serve as a mechanism for attracting resources and thereby add to the value-creation of the firm.Stewardship theory falls into this second category. Stewardship theory (Davis et al., 1997) sees managers as stewards whose motives are aligned with the objectives of the organisation (Corbetta and Salvato, 2004; Muth and Donaldson, 1998; Arosa et al., 2010); thus, board members are not inclined to indulge in opportunistic behaviour but will instead pursue the interests of the owners (Davis et al., 1997). According to stewardship theory, the main task of the board is to \"serve and advise\", and to contribute by bringing different competences and experiences that can help managers in their decision-making (Minichilli et al., 2009). They can facilitate the process of strategic change in family businesses (Brunninge et al., 2007; Voordeckers et al., 2007).As mentioned above, there is growing acknowledgement that the role of boards may be different in SMEs than in listed companies (Zahra and Pearce, 1989; Borch and Huse, 1993; Johannison and Huse, 2000; Van den Heuvel et al., 2006; Huse and Rindova, 2001), and that a multi-theory approach is needed to explain the different roles (Gabrielsson and Huse, 2005; Van den Heuvel et al., 2006; Hillman and Dalziel, 2003).\n3. The ownership and control structures of SMEs: Empirical studies show that SMEs typically have one or very few owners. In the study by Neville (2003), the ownership and management structures of 1,313 Danish private limited companies with more than one shareholder were analysed.Non-listed family firms are often very closely held (Westhead et al., 2001; Mustakallio et al., 2002) and this is also generally the case with SMEs (Neville, 2009a, b; Bennedsen and Wolfenzon, 2000). The study by Neville (2003) showed that 67 per cent of the companies had two shareholders, often with 50:50 ownership, and only 4 per cent had more than four shareholders.There was a significant overlap between ownership and management: 89 per cent of the companies formed with the minimum capital had an average overlap of 77 per cent. Unsurprisingly, in over half the companies with only a general manager (i.e. without a board) there was 100 per cent overlap.Other characteristics of SMEs are that the shareholders have long term and close connections with each other. There were family relationships in 35 per cent of the companies in the study, and in 25 per cent the shareholders were close friends.In 67 per cent of the companies in the study, all the shareholders were employed in the company, and only in 20 per cent were no shareholders employed in the company.Decision-making is very often based on a requirement for unanimity. Not only do the owners exercise the power of ownership through the ownership structure (Bennedsen and Wolfenzon, 2000; Neville, 2009b), but the follow-up questionnaire-based study showed that a majority of companies had a requirement for unanimity for important decisions. The result was confirmed by a recent study of 75 SME shareholders agreements[2].It can be concluded that the ownership and management structures of small and medium-sized companies differ significantly from those of listed companies with dispersed ownership and \"professional\" management. As will be seen below, this will affect the governance problems that arise, and the role of boards of SMEs.3.1 The implications of ownership and management structures for a theoretical approach to the role of boards in SMEs\n4. New empirical information on the role of the board: A new empirical study from 2010 gives further insight to what owner-managers perceive to be the most important role of the board. It also contributes to the research on whether boards and outside members of the board enhance good governance in SMEs, as well as revealing something about the extent to which owner-managers see the board as an important resource.4.1 The Danish study\n5. Conclusion: The present article contributes to the understanding of the roles of boards in SMEs. Studies of Danish SMEs confirm the assumptions of more recent theory that there is a need for a multi-theory approach to the roles of boards in SMEs. Agency theory is too limited to explain the role of the board, as the ownership and control structures of SMEs reduce the need for monitoring. On the other hand, the ownership and control structures typically give rise to a need to complement the competences of owner-managers, and there is often a need for the board to play a \"service\" role in a broad sense. The studies of Danish SMEs confirms this, as the owner-managers saw the role of the board as a provider of competences as being much more important than its monitoring role. The studies also indicate that a board enhances good governance in SMEs, and that outside board members enhance good governance. Despite this, the findings of the 2010 study suggest that in practice owner-managers often do not consider and use the board as a valuable internal resource. Owner-managers often appoint purely internal boards, or refrain entirely from having a board where this is permitted. Many owner-managers say that they cannot see the point of having a board. From a socio-economic perspective, this is a problem, which can result in the standard of governance in SMEs being too low, and this in turn can have serious consequences for exploiting the innovation and growth potential of SMEs. These findings therefore prompt the question of how we can make owner-managers more aware of the strategic knowledge and networking advantages that the right board can offer. Of course one can ask - why do we have to be concerned about this questions? SMEs are the most important engines for stimulating economic growth in the European Union, and it is a serious problem for the wider society if the resource of boards in SMEs remains untapped.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper aims to investigate the role of boards in owner-managed small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and seeks answers to the questions of whether boards generally enhance good governance in SMEs, and whether the use of outside board members plays a significant role. Finally, the paper seeks to examine the question of whether in practice owner-managers see their boards as a resource.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper is based on a study of the ownership and control structure in 1,313 SMEs and an interview survey of 1,040 Danish owner-managed SMEs.\nFindings: - The analysis of the empirical studies indicates that the role of a board as a resource is more important than its control role, which suggests that there should be a multi-theory approach to board roles in SMEs. It also indicates that good governance appears to be associated with the existence of boards and of outside board members, and finally that boards in SMEs remain an untapped resource.\nOriginality/value: - The paper contributes to the empirical literature on the role of boards. It contributes to the understanding of the role of boards in SMEs and to whether boards enhance good governance in SMEs. It also gives an insight as to whether boards are an untapped resource in SMEs.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Financial inclusion and extreme poverty in the MENA region: a gap analysis approach	[ "Financial inclusion", "Extreme poverty", "Gap approach", "MENA region SDGs", "C23", "G21", "O43" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The world has made remarkable progress reducing extreme poverty in the past 25 years. Between 1990 and 2015, the number of people living on less than $1.90 per day - the international benchmark for extreme poverty - dropped by one billion, bringing us closer to the United Nations (UN) sustainable development goals (SDGs). Still, the benefits of economic growth have reached regions, countries and individuals unevenly. An unacceptably large number of people, more than 700 million, still live in poverty across the globe and extreme poverty is becoming more entrenched in some places, especially those fraught by violent conflicts and weak institutions.\n2. Literature review: When the World Bank called for an end to extreme poverty by 2030 and the UN set a more ambitious goal to eliminate poverty in all its forms, everywhere, progress from the previous two decades had given the international community reason to be hopeful. More than a third of the world lived in extreme poverty in 1990, by 2015, the ratio had fallen to one tenth (World Bank, 2018). However, the pace of poverty reduction has slowed and for millions of people in SSA and MENA, poverty is on the rise. The 2015 figure proved the low point.\n3. Data: The data set is constructed as a panel of country observations from the world development indicators of the World Bank's database. The time period of the study is selected based on availability and consistency of data across countries. Additionally, given the similarities between EMs and MENA countries in the fact that their economies are comprised of sectors that have significant growth potentials, the EMs are chosen as a sample comparator. Thus, the data set encompasses 34 EMs and MENA countries over the period 1990-2017. The list of countries included in the sample is reported in Tables A1 and A2 of the Appendix.\n4. Model specification and methodology: Using system GMM dynamic panel estimation methodology on annual data for 11 MENA countries and 23 EMs over the period 1990-2017, the first part of the study estimates the role of financial inclusion - using measures of access - in eradicating extreme poverty (the first goal of SDG). To perform such an analysis, the following dynamic panel regression methodology is used:\n5. Estimation results: Table A5 presents the estimation results using equation (1) as the base model. The poverty variable is regressed on the set of five explanatory variables, namely GDP growth rate, inflation rate, trade, population growth rate, mobile subscription and the lagged poverty variable or the autoregressive (AR)(1) term. The first column shows the results of a regressing poverty on its own lag only. The results show an AR(1) coefficient of the poverty head count ratio of 0.94% of the population, representing a short-term positive correlation between poverty and its own lag.\n6. Conclusion: Using system GMM dynamic panel estimation methodology on annual data for 11 MENA countries and 23 EMs over the period 1990-2017, the study uses several measures of financial inclusion that cover access side of financial services to analyze its impact on eradicating extreme poverty (SDG 1).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Eradicating extreme poverty remains one of the most significant and challenging sustainable development goals (SDGs) in the Middle East and North African (MENA) region. The latest World Bank statistics from 2018 show that extreme poverty in MENA increased from 2.6% to 5% between 2013 and 2015. MENA ranks third among developing regions for extreme poverty and fell short of halving extreme poverty by 2015 - the target established by the United Nations' (UN) millennium development goals, the precursor to the SDGs. The purpose of this study is to analyze the impact of financial inclusion on extreme poverty for a sample of 34 countries over the period 1990-2017.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Using system general method of moments dynamic panel estimation methodology on annual data for 11 MENA countries and 23 emerging markets (EMs) over the period 1990 - 2017, this study begins by estimating the impact of financial inclusion - using measures of access and usage - on the eradication of extreme poverty by 2030, the first goal of the SDGs.\nFindings: The results of the study indicate that, on one hand, financial access measures have a positive, statistically significant impact on reducing extreme poverty for the full sample and the MENA region. The second part of the study uses a gap analysis against four poverty targets - 0%, 1.5%, 3% and 5% - and shows that no MENA country and few EM countries will be able to close the extreme poverty gap and reach the target of 0% by 2030 by depending solely on improvements in financial access. These targets are based on the two benchmarks set by the World Bank and the UN, with intermediaries to capture error and give a fuller picture of what is possible. However, if improvements in financial inclusion alone can bring every EM and MENA country except Djibouti and Romania to bring the most accessible target of reducing global extreme poverty to no more than 5% by 2030.\nOriginality/value: While research on poverty reduction in the region tends to focus on financial development and governance, less attention has been paid to the role of financial inclusion. SDG 1 - eliminating poverty in all its forms - explicitly highlights the importance of access to financial services. Indeed, evidence from Argentina, India, Kenya, Malawi, Niger and other countries demonstrates the ways in which financial inclusion can impact poverty (Klapper, El-Zoghbi and Hess, 2016). When people are included in the financial system, they are better able to improve their health, invest in education and business and make choices that benefit their entire families. Financial inclusion advances governments, too: introducing vast segments of the population into the financial system by digitizing social transfers, for example, can cut government costs and reduce leakage, with benefits that ripple across society. Yet, the links between financial inclusion and poverty reduction in MENA are less established. This study aims to analyze the importance of financial inclusion in addressing extreme poverty by 2030, the year UN member states set as a target for achieving the SDGs.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Correlation between Machiavellian leadership and emotional exhaustion of employees: Case study: Slovenian municipalities	[ "Leadership", "Emotional exhaustion", "Municipalities", "Machiavellian leadership", "Organizational cynicism" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Leadership is one of the most frequently discussed topics of organisational operation with an increasing body of research (Chughtai et al., 2015; Tang et al., 2017; Walumbwa et al., 2010; Kuoppala et al., 2008; Mellor et al., 2009; Arnold et al., 2007) focussing on the impact of leadership on the sensitivities of subordinates and employee well-being. Researchers are frequently interested in the conduct of leaders that result in undesirable consequences. Even though \"Machiavellianism\" (from which Machiavellian leadership derives) has been widely associated with \"ruthlessness\", \"dishonesty\" and \"cunningness\" (including several dictionaries, such as Cambridge Dictionary, 2018; Dictionary.com, 2018; English Oxford Living Dictionaries, 2018) for a period of almost 500 years, the impact of Machiavellian leadership on emotional exhaustion of employees has not been widely researched.\n2. From inappropriate/Machiavellian leadership to emotional exhaustion: Leaders and their leadership style impact the mental well-being of their workers (Arnold et al., 2007, p. 195) and the organisational climate (Zohar, 2002, p. 157) or a specific leader can also potentially cause stress in employees (Kelloway et al., 2000, p. 146). Various positions have specific properties and stressors. Leaders can either cause stress in their employees or they can have a positive impact that results in satisfaction and a positive working environment (Bass, 1990, pp. 94-97). A lack of communication between a leader and their employees can result in a lack of trust in the leader, frequently combined with fear and insecurity which also impacts the perception of stressful situations of employees and their relationship with their leader (Bass, 1990, pp. 100-103).\n3. Research methodology: The research is based on the idea of Gkorezis et al. (2015, pp. 620-626) who used organisational cynicism as an indirect variable to explain the impact of Machiavellian leadership on emotional exhaustion, assuming that Machiavellian leadership increases organisational cynicism which, in turn, leads to emotional exhaustion. The three authors established a positive correlation between Machiavellianism, organisational cynicism and emotional exhaustion, leading to the development of a hypothetical variable model that correlates Machiavellian leadership, organisational cynicism and emotional exhaustion. Their research was based on the assumption that business scandals and unethical conduct of leaders increase cynicism of employees in an organisation (Bommer et al., 2005; Naus et al., 2007), which is true but is far from the only factor leading to organisational cynicism. According to Naus et al. (2007, p. 717), organisational cynicism is a response of employees to novelties in organisations resulting from various external factors, such as privatisation, globalisation and competitiveness, that the organisation has to adequately adapt to by improving its productivity and efficacy. In our research, organisational cynicism appears as a direct variable which is, in our opinion, affected by a variety of factors, leading to the conclusion that employees can assume a cynical attitude towards changes in their organisation even if they have a good relationship with the leader.\n4. Research results and discussion: Hypotheses were verified by means of three methods: the contingency table, kh2 test and Pearson coefficient. The results of the Mach VI questionnaire (Machiavellianism test) of 170 or 57.3 per cent respondents were higher than 60 points, which means that these employees found a high level of Machiavellianism in their leaders and perceived Machiavellian principles in the workplace. A contingency table of Machiavellianism or Machiavellian leadership and emotional exhaustion showed a correlation between the two variables, whereby 16 per cent of respondents with a high level of emotional exhaustion believed their leaders to exhibit a high level of Machiavellianism. The correlation was established also subject to the value of the kh2 test for Machiavellianism and emotional exhaustion (73.05). The coefficient is statistically significant with a less than 1 per cent risk, leading to the conclusion that a high level of Machiavellianism has an effect on a high level of emotional exhaustion. The value of Pearson coefficient (Table I, 0.346) also confirmed a weak positive correlation between Machiavellianism and emotional exhaustion. Subject to the findings above, the first hypothesis that Machiavellianism and emotional exhaustion were correlated was confirmed.\n5. Discussion: The research showed a high level of Machiavellianism, emotional exhaustion and organisational cynicism in Slovenian municipalities. As many as 57 per cent of the population feel that their leader exhibits a high level of Machiavellianism. In total, 70 per cent of respondents also exhibit moderate and high levels of organisational cynicism. This is a highly problematic result on the organisational level because Machiavellianism is associated with lower satisfaction at the workplace and has a negative effect on organisational behaviour of employees (Dahling et al., 2009, p. 228). In addition, Machiavellian leaders have a negative impact on their employees by promoting negativity and negative emotions with their cunning and immoral conduct. With their unethical stance, Machiavellian leaders engender scepticism and have a negative impact on the entire organisation. According to Aryee et al. (2008, p. 409), abusive leaders increase emotional exhaustion of employees which can increase the risk of organisational cynicism (Lee and Ashforth, 1996, p. 130) and can also lead to emotional exhaustion. Taking the above into consideration, the results show that the current situation is critical. The high share of moderate and high levels of emotional exhaustion also gives rise to unexpected concern. As many as 88 per cent of all respondents completed the questionnaire in a way that suggests a moderate or high level of emotional exhaustion, meaning that the majority of employees working for municipal administrations are emotionally exhausted. The finding that Machiavellian leadership has a positive correlation with organisational cynicism and emotional exhaustion is similar to findings of previously mentioned past research, which also demonstrated a correlation between organisational cynicism and emotional exhaustion (Gkorezis et al., 2015, pp. 620-626). Nevertheless, in past research, organisational cynicism was used an indirect variable and in ours it was used as a direct variable.\n6. Conclusion: The existence of a correlation in Slovenian municipalities between Machiavellianism and emotional exhaustion on one hand and between organisational cynicism and emotional exhaustion on the other has led to important findings both for practical work and future research. These results can contribute to a greater understanding of mutual collaboration between leaders and their subordinates and any practical implications of this relationship, by taking into consideration the restrictions of the research which is preliminary and was conducted on a small sample of employees. The obtained results can thus serve as a good starting point for future research by highlighting the presence of organisational cynicism as a weighting factor for Machiavellianism and emotional exhaustion. In addition, the research provides major potential for further research and seeking factors that impact the presence of all variables and measures that can eliminate the effects of Machiavellian leadership, emotional exhaustion and organisational cynicism.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of the paper is to examine the impact of Machiavellian leadership and organisational cynicism on the emotional exhaustion of employees.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Survey data were collected from 463 employees of Slovenian municipalities. Surveys were used to collect Machiavellianism, organisational cynicism and emotional exhaustion data. Hypotheses were verified by means of three methods: the contingency table, kh2 test and Pearson coefficient.\nFindings: Machiavellian leadership has an impact both on the presence of emotional exhaustion and organisational cynicism. According to the results, both Machiavellianism and organisational cynicism have a direct linear impact on the increase of emotional exhaustion.\nResearch limitations/implications: The findings of the research were formulated on the basis of a survey conducted according to a self-assessment online survey.\nOriginality/value: Even though the concept of Machiavellianism was developed 500 years ago, the existing literature suggests that it continues to be relevant in modern times, most frequently in terms of examining the way leaders establish their power and adopt (un)ethical leadership practices and the implications their behaviour has on their direct working environment. Only select authors have examined Machiavellianism in correlation with organisational cynicism and emotional exhaustion, with an emphasis on the public sector. Due to a lack of research conducted on the subject, the main research challenge was to establish actual correlations between the three factors above.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A 4D automatic simulation tool for construction resource planning: a case study	[ "Case studies", "Optimization", "Construction planning", "Simulation", "4D visualization", "Game engines" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nBackground: Project planning is crucial to the success of construction projects. The planning process is complex, however, relying heavily on the experience of the construction planners involved (Waly and Thabet, 2002). There are also problems with traditional planning methods. Koo and Fischer (2000), for example, identify problems caused by a lack of spatial information provided by 2D diagrams or charts. The critical path method (CPM), as one of the more typical planning tools, cannot detect design errors and design mismatches (Li et al., 2008) and it is difficult to use and update (Huber and Reiser, 2003). Waly and Thabet (2002) label CPM as hard to manage, as a complicated CPM and can easily cause schedule inconsistencies. CPM also has no resource utilization capabilities (Lu and Li, 2003; Zhang et al., 2006) and is incapable of providing spatial features for resource and working spaces (Koo and Fischer, 2000; Chau et al., 2003). Alternative planning methods, such as space-time chainage charts and layout motion diagrams are ambiguous and difficult to use (Dawood and Mallasi, 2006). Similarly, mathematical methods and heuristic methods, as common resources planning techniques, are considered to be too complex, with varying effectiveness for different cases (Chen et al., 2012). These traditional planning methods may even interrupt construction activities (Mallasi and Dawood, 2001).\n4D visualization technologies for project planning: 4D technology for building components is generally accepted to be the same as 3D geometry, with time as the fourth dimension (Koo and Fischer, 2000). It is commonly identified as the best solution to project planning (e.g. Wang et al., 2004). Mahalingam et al. (2010) evaluated the applicability of 4D CAD on a construction project and found huge benefits when 4D CAD was integrated into an existing project planning approach. The combination of BIM and schedule to form accurate 4D simulation is a merit of using BIM (Wang et al., 2014). From previous studies (Koo and Fischer, 2000; Mahalingam et al., 2010), the development of 4D models must use the following steps: first, develop a 3D model by using commercial software (e.g. Autodesk Revit) and project schedule (e.g. Microsoft Project) separately; and second, link the 3D model and the schedule by a simulator to carry out 4D simulation of construction process. Many researchers follow this method for 4D simulation. For example, Zhang et al. (2000) suggest using a 4D management approach to better utilize site space and for construction planning. Based on this method, recent studies have also proved that 4D technology can be used to analyze workspaces, temporary structure usage (Mallasi, 2006; Jongeling et al., 2008) and manage workflow planning (Jongeling and Olofsson, 2007).\nGame engines in scientific research: A game engine was selected to help achieve the objectives of this study. Gregory (2009) defines a game engine as software that is \"extensible and can be used as the foundation for many different games without major modification.\" The use of game engines for serious games has met with considerable success in training aircraft pilots (Moroney and Moroney, 1991) and training in the US army (Lindheim and Swartout, 2001). Simulation games are also effective learning aids in the construction industry (Wall and Ahmed, 2008), with game engine applications such as improving the safety of construction plant operations (Guo et al., 2012), providing safety training to construction workers (Li et al., 2012b), assessment of construction safety knowledge (Li et al., 2012a) and training construction managers (Goulding et al., 2012). A virtual construction simulator (VCS) game has been developed to provide training to the construction industry (Nikolic et al., 2011). An updated version of VCS 3 was used by students in their third-year course (Lee et al., 2014). The results indicate that game-based training provided the opportunities for students to learn by their mistakes, which was recognized as an effective and memorable experience by the students.\nThe framework of a 4D automatic simulation tool: Based on the success of BIM and 4D simulation, the aims of this study are to develop a new approach to simulate the 4D process of a construction project based on the construction schedule, working space and resources that are input directly by the end-users. The developed simulation tool aims to provide a new platform to simulate the operation of heavy equipment (i.e. resources) with different layouts (i.e. working space) and to schedule this operation interactively. The system allows end-users to compare the result of simulations in different settings, helping them find the best result.\nCase study: Background\nConclusion: The traditional project planning process is unable to provide spatial features for resource and working space (Koo and Fischer, 2000; Chau et al., 2003), while some alternative planning methods are criticized as ambiguous and difficult to use (Dawood and Mallasi, 2006). This paper proposes arranging equipment, site layout and schedule based on the simulation tool developed by a game engine. In addition to just 4D simulation, the developed tool allows the end-users to input the construction sequence, the selection of equipment and their location. Different inputs lead to different simulation results and, by repeating the process, the end-users can find the solution that suits their practical needs. A case study was carried out to identify the optimal solution to a layout-planning problem of a real construction project in Hong Kong. The construction team of the project used the developed tool to find the optimal solution under different constraints.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Traditional construction planning relies upon the critical path method and bar charts. Both of these methods suffer from visualization and timing issues that could be addressed by 4D technology specifically geared to meet the needs of the construction industry. The purpose of this paper is to propose a new construction planning approach based on simulation by using a game engine.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A 4D automatic simulation tool was developed and a case study was carried out. The proposed tool was used to simulate and optimize the plans for the installation of a temporary platform for piling in a civil construction project in Hong Kong. The tool simulated the result of the construction process with three variables: equipment, site layout and schedule. Through this, the construction team was able to repeatedly simulate a range of options.\nFindings: The results indicate that the proposed approach can provide a user-friendly 4D simulation platform for the construction industry. The simulation can also identify the solution being sought by the construction team. The paper also identifies directions for further development of the 4D technology as an aid in construction planning and decision making.\nResearch limitations/implications: The tests on the tool are limited to a single case study and further research is needed to test the use of game engines for construction planning in different construction projects to verify its effectiveness. Future research could also explore the use of alternative game engines and compare their performance and results.\nOriginality/value: The authors proposed the use of game engine to simulate the construction process based on resources, working space and construction schedule. The developed tool can be used by end-users without simulation experience.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
PlumX: a tool to showcase academic profile and distinction	[ "Altmetrics", "Research impact", "Bibliometrics", "Faculty scholarship output", "Plum analytics", "PlumX metrics" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: The library at Saint Mary's College of California (SMC) plays an integral role in supporting one of the goals in the College's Strategic Plan: \"Raise the Academic Profile and Distinction\". While faculty publications have always been an important part of SMC library collection development, the library also recognizes the importance of capturing the research impact of faculty members. Traditional metrics, such as citation metrics, are not always adequate to represent the true impact of faculty scholarship. Faculty works come in various forms, and their social presence on the Web is often not recorded. To more fully document the intellectual corpus of SMC, the library has been experimenting with PlumX. This new altmetrics tool collects web-based information about traditionally and non-traditionally published works, for example, interacting with community groups, giving interviews and producing creative works. This case study looks at how a liberal arts college has used altmetrics to help address a campus initiative to better report the impact of faculty research, creative works and engagement in the world.\nBibliometrics and altmetrics: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development defines bibliometrics as \"a statistical analysis of books, articles, or other publications\" (OECD, 2013). Bibliometrics such as citation counts and journal impact factors have long been used as traditional measures of scholarship. The discussion of their true representative value is also longstanding. A concern with citations counts is it takes time for articles to be written, reviewed and published, as well as to be read and cited. For some sciences in some publications, the turnaround can be quick; for humanities, social sciences and business, the scholarly review process can take longer (Harley et al., 2010). With journal impact factors, many studies, including Seglen's (1997) much-cited criticism, lay out reasons why the metric posed trouble when used to evaluate research.To counter some of the shortcomings of those traditional metrics, new impact calculations have been explored, and new metrics in general are gaining favor. Quantitative measures, such as use and social media sharing and saving were assumed, and now demonstrated, to predict eventual citation (Eysenbach, 2011; Thelwall and Wilson, 2016). Gathering these kinds of statistics can be a difficult task for many individual scholars and larger library science vendors.In \"Altmetrics: A Manifesto\", the term \"altmetrics\" was coined as \"the creation and study of new metrics based on the Social Web for analyzing, and informing scholarship\" (Altmetrics, 2010). Proponents of altmetrics claim that altmetrics data are generally available more quickly than traditional metrics. In addition to scholarly publications, other types of research outputs can also be tracked for their social impact as soon as they are published on the Web. On the other hand, critics argue that the value of altmetrics is overstated owing to its lack of credibility and foundations. Still a developing trend, altmetrics cannot replace traditional metrics entirely (Tattersall, 2016).The technology of altmetrics is far from perfect. Standards and methodologies of altmetrics should be critically assessed before adoption (Roemer and Borchardt, 2015a). The purpose and the context of how it will be used in measuring research impact needs to be clearly defined. While altmetrics seems to complement conventional metrics, critics caution that altmetrics data can be unreliable, trivial and subject to manipulation and bias (Priem, 2014; Roemer and Borchardt, 2015).Many organizations have begun to develop subscription or open access products that help researchers track alternative metrics. Altmetric, now a part of Digital Science based in the United Kingdom, launched early in the altmetrics movement. Impactstory is an open-source tool, funded by several large foundation grants. These resources allow for individual researchers to manage their own profiles and see data immediately.One of the first large library vendors to get into altmetrics was EBSCO, who purchased Plum Analytics in 2014, two years after it was founded (Plum Analytics, 2016). Plum Analytics was later acquired by Elsevier in February 2017. PlumX Dashboards is one of the subscription products from Plum Analytics. Like other altmetrics tools, the growing list of data sources is sorted into simple categories which allow for similar metrics to be grouped to show more meaningful statistics: citation data from various sources is grouped into one data point, social media likes and shares in another, and so on. While much of the data are collected from many of the same freely available web APIs that other altmetrics resources use, PlumX's relationship with its larger parent company allows for it to include additional proprietary data, including usage data from EBSCO's large body of academic research databases.Despite concerns expressed of altmetrics and the newness of these tools, advocates are optimistic about the future of altmetrics in examining research impact. During an interview with Chronicle of Higher Education, Jason Priem predicts that altmetrics would be fully assimilated into metrics studies in the next five years (June, 2016). The recent PlumX initiatives at the University of Pittsburgh-Plumx (2016) and Georgia Southern University-Plumx (2016) are excellent examples of two academic institutions successfully highlighted their faculty scholarship with altmetrics.\nLibrary initiatives to implement PlumX: Distinctive excellence: Saint Mary's college strategic plan\nPlumX: an assessment: Faculty participation and feedback\nConclusion: From SMC's strategic initiative to better express \"Distinctive Excellence\" emerged the challenge of defining and showcasing \"excellence\" in faculty research, creativity and engagement. Altmetrics from PlumX has shown to be a start toward this goal. Acknowledging that altmetrics in general is a new area in scholarship, the SMC library has worked with individual schools and the College as a whole to harness the data and put it toward multi-pronged approach to assessment and publicity projects. As a tool to collect unique data, PlumX has fueled the College's efforts to better see the impact and value of faculty's work on the campus and beyond. As altmetrics - and PlumX specifically- mature, the data will certainly become more powerful and options more limitless.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The Saint Mary's College of California (SMC) library plays an integral role in supporting one of the goals in the College's Strategic Plan: \"Raise the Academic Profile and Distinction\". This case study aims to assess the effectiveness of PlumX as a tool to showcase the academic profile and distinction of SMC. The library recognizes the importance of capturing impact of non-traditional creativity and engagement in addition to just traditional impact metrics of research.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper describes the collaborative effort of the College and the College's library to identify faculty scholarship, creativity and engagement and collect data demonstrating the impact of the works. Traditional metrics, like citation counts, do not do SMC faculty justice because faculty scholarship comes beyond just books and articles. To more fully document the real intellectual corpus the College, the library is working with a new system, PlumX, to collect web-based information about both traditionally and non-traditionally published work.\nFindings: The collection of metrics across five categories (citations, usage, social media, mentions and captures), and the flexibility of displaying on screen or downloading for use in other analytic reports made possible through PlumX proved to be a start toward demonstrating the academic distinction of College's unique faculty. SMC will continue to partner with PlumX to assess and improve its usability and effectiveness.\nOriginality/value: This paper outlines how altmetrics can be used to measure and share impact of faculty research at a liberal arts, teaching-focused college in ways reflective of the unique intellectual contributions.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Exchange rate effects on trade in services	[ "Trade in services", "Depreciation", "J‐curve", "Exchange rates", "United States of America", "United Kingdom" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: The effects of a real exchange rate depreciation (or devaluation) have been discussed extensively in both the theoretical and empirical literature. As Yarbrough and Yarbrough (2000) explain a real depreciation of the domestic currency lowers the relative price of domestically produced goods and services leading to an increase in exports and a reduction in imports, thus, improving the current account balance. However, it has been argued that although the domestic currency price of imports increases immediately following the depreciation, the quantity of imports may be slow to adjust due to previous contractual obligations and the time required to find alternative (cheaper) sources of supply. Similarly, depreciation makes the exports of the domestic economy more competitive but foreign consumers may not adjust their purchases immediately (Yarbrough and Yarbrough, 2000). These effects imply that the current account may initially worsen following an exchange rate depreciation. After some time though, quantities adjust and the current account improves. Thus, the time path of the current account adjustment following a depreciation resembles the letter J and is the well-known J-curve phenomenon (Yarbrough and Yarbrough, 2000).As Yarbrough and Yarbrough (2000) note the presence or absence of the J-curve depends on the demand elasticities for imports and exports since the effect of the real exchange rate on the current account is equal to (ex + em-1), where ex is the export demand elasticity and em is the import demand elasticity (Rose and Yellen, 1989). If \|ex + em\|>1 a depreciation will improve the current account (the well-known Marshall-Lerner condition). Boyd et al. (2001) provide a simple proof that the effect of the real exchange rate on the current account is equal to (ex + em-1).There is a vast empirical literature investigating the effects of the real exchange rate on the trade balance (see, amongst others, Bahmani-Oskooee (1985), Rose and Yellen (1989), Himarios (1989), Marwah and Klein (1996), Bahmani-Oskooee and Brooks (1999), Boyd et al. (2001), Hacker and Hatemi-J (2003), Bahmani-Oskooee et al. (2006) and Chiu et al. (2010)). A detailed review of the literature is provided in the survey article of Bahmani-Oskooee and Ratha (2004) and its discussion here is unwarranted. A further summary of empirical studies in this area (including some more recent ones) is provided in Appendix A of Chiu et al. (2010). In addition, Bahmani-Oskooee and Hegerty (2010) provide a survey of the recent literature. In recent years many studies have analysed the effects of the real exchange rate on the trade balance at a disaggregated level by focusing on individual commodity (industry) groups. Many of these recent industry-level studies are associated with the work of Mohsen Bahmani-Oskooee and his associates (Bahmani-Oskooee and Kovyryalova (2008) focusing on US-UK trade, Bahmani-Oskooee and Hajilee (2009) focusing on Sweden-US trade, and Bahmani-Oskooee and Hegerty (2009) focusing on Japanese-US trade). An earlier study using industry-level data on Japanese-US trade is Breuer and Clements (2003). Bahmani-Oskooee and Kovyryalova (2008) who focused on US-UK trade showed that the real exchange rate has a short-run effect on the trade balance in the majority of industries considered. They also provided some support for the J-curve effect.Although there is an extensive empirical literature looking at the effects of the real exchange rate on commodity trade, very little work has been done to investigate the effects on trade in services. There are, of course, studies that have empirically investigated the determinants of international trade in services but to the best of my knowledge, not the adjustment of the trade balance to real depreciation. For example, Deardorff et al. (2001) and Marquez (2006) estimate price and income elasticities for US trade in services in four categories of services (Travel, Passenger fares, Other transportation services, and other private services). Mann (2004) estimated income elasticities of trade in new economy services (the \"other private services\" category) and showed that for this category the income elasticities of imports and exports are about the same. Other studies have investigated the determinants of trade in services using the gravity model (Walsh, 2008; Kimura and Lee, 2006). Moshirian (1993, p. 248) investigated the determinants of trade in travel and passenger services and concluded that in some cases \"[...] effective exchange rates have some influence on the patterns and direction of trade flows in travel services\". Sichei et al. (2007) empirically investigate the factors that influence South African-US intra-industry trade in services. The nominal bilateral Rand-dollar exchange rate is part of their model specification and the results show that a nominal depreciation of the Rand has a significant positive effect on intra-industry trade in services (i.e. it makes South African exports more competitive). Eilat and Einav (2004) analyse the determinants of international tourism and show that relative prices only affect tourism to high income countries. Finally, Mervar and Payne (2007), in an analysis of tourism demand for Croatia (proxied by the aggregate number of foreign overnight stays), found that the real exchange rate is not a statistically significant determinant of foreign tourism demand. However, Payne and Mervar (2002) using tourism revenues as a dependent variable found that the real effective exchange rate has a significant effect on Croatia's tourism revenues.The main objective of the present paper is to investigate the short- and long-run effects of the real exchange rate on the US-UK trade balance of services by focusing on the three traditional categories of internationally traded services: Travel, Passenger fares and Other transportation services. Travel covers purchases of goods and services by US persons travelling abroad (US imports) and by foreign travellers in the USA for business or personal reasons (US exports). Passenger fares cover fares received by US air carriers and vessel operators from foreign residents (US exports) and the fares paid by US residents to foreign air carriers and vessel operators (US imports). Other transportation services cover US international transactions arising from the transportation of goods by ocean, air, land, pipeline and inland waterways carriers. They cover freight charges and also expenses that transportation companies incur in US and foreign ports (receipts from foreign residents represent US exports and payments to foreign residents represent US imports). The above definitions are taken from Koncz-Bruner and Flatness (2009) from where further details can be obtained.The paper is organized as follows: the next section explains the methodology used and Section 3 presents and discusses the empirical results. The final section summarises and concludes.\n2 Methodology: In this section we present the methodology used to investigate the short- and long-run effects of changes in the real exchange rate on US-UK trade in services. Following, amongst others, Bahmani-Oskooee and Brooks (1999), Boyd et al. (2001), Bahmani-Oskooee and Kovyryalova (2008), Bahmani-Oskooee and Hegerty (2009) and Chiu et al. (2010) the model used in this paper to investigate the effects of the real exchange rate on the trade balance is the reduced-form equation of Rose and Yellen (1989). This suggests that the trade balance depends on the real exchange rate and the real income of the domestic and foreign economies. Thus, in the case of US-UK trade, the relationship for each category of services j is given as: Equation 1 where LTBj,t is the trade balance of category j defined as US exports to the UK divided by US imports from the UK in that category[1]; LRERt is the real bilateral exchange rate between the USA and the UK defined in a way that an increase indicates a depreciation of the dollar; LRGDPUSt is the real gross domestic product (GDP) of the USA; and LRGDPUKt is the real GDP of the UK. All variables are in logarithmic form and their construction is explained in the next section. Defined this way we would expect that an increase in LRERt (a real depreciation) and an increase in LRGDPUKt will have a positive effect on the trade balance while an increase in LRGDPUSt a negative effect[2].To investigate the existence of a long-run relationship between the variables and the effects of the real exchange rate on the trade balance both in the short- and long-run the paper uses the \"bounds\" testing procedure advanced by Pesaran et al. (2001) (see also Pesaran and Pesaran (2009), Bahmani-Oskooee and Hegerty (2009) and Bahmani-Oskooee and Kovyryalova (2008), amongst others, for recent applications in this context). The \"bounds\" test for the existence of a long-run level relationship between an I(1) dependent variable and a set of regressors is based on the F-statistic and is used to test the joint significance of the lagged levels of the included variables in an unrestricted error correction model. Pesaran et al. (2001) show that the asymptotic distribution of this F-statistic is non-standard, under the null hypothesis that there exists no long-run relationship between the variables, irrespective of whether the underlying regressors are I(0) or I(1).In the case considered in this paper the model takes the following form: Equation 2 where D is the first difference operator; all variables are as defined previously; and ujt is an error term. The null hypothesis of no long-run level relationship (i.e. no cointegration) is tested through the joint significance of the lagged levels in equation (2). Pesaran et al. (2001) have tabulated the appropriate critical value bounds. If the computed F-statistic exceeds the upper critical bound then the hypothesis of no long-run relationship is rejected (see Pesaran et al. (2001) for more details).If cointegration is present we then proceed to assess the short- and long-run effects of the real exchange rate on the trade balance of each category of services. The short-run coefficients of the real exchange rate used to assess the short-run effects are gi in equation (2). The long-run coefficients for each variable are calculated from equation (2) as: (-th2/th1) for the real exchange rate; (-th3/th1) for US real GDP; and (-th4/th1) for UK real GDP. Following, amongst others, Bahmani-Oskooee and Hegerty (2009) and Bahmani-Oskooee and Kovyryalova (2008) we can investigate the J-curve effect in two ways. First, we can compare the short-run coefficients (gi) at lower lags with those at higher lags: if the coefficients at lower lags are negative and those at higher lags are positive then this provides support for what Bahmani-Oskooee and Hajilee (2009), amongst others, refer to as the \"traditional\" definition of the J-curve. Second, one can investigate the J-curve by comparing the short-run with the long-run coefficients of the real exchange rate (see also Rose and Yellen (1989) and amongst others, Bahmani-Oskooee and Hajilee (2009)). This \"new\" definition of the J-curve will be supported if the short-run coefficients are negative but the long-run coefficients are positive (see, amongst others, Bahmani-Oskooee and Hajilee (2009)).\n3 Empirical results: 3.1 Variable specification and data sources\n4 Conclusion: The effect of real exchange rate depreciation on the trade balance is a topic that has received a lot of attention in the literature over many years. There is a vast empirical literature assessing the effects on commodity trade. This literature includes studies that have employed aggregate and bilateral data and, increasingly in recent years, more disaggregated data at the industry level. However, relatively little attention has been given to the effects of the real exchange rate on trade in services.The aim of this paper was to investigate the short- and long-run effects of the real exchange rate on the trade balance of services by focusing on disaggregated US-UK trade in the three traditional categories of internationally traded services: Travel, Passenger fares, and Other transportation services. In doing so the paper employed the procedure due to Pesaran et al. (2001) that assesses the short- and long-run effects within the same estimated equation. The results presented in this paper suggest that the real exchange rate has a significant effect on the trade balance of all categories of services considered in at least one of the time periods (short-run or long-run). The results also provide some support for both the \"traditional\" and \"new\" definitions of the J-curve effect. These results, of course, are based on this first attempt to investigate the effect of real exchange rate depreciation on the trade balance of services categories. There is still a lot of work that needs to be done in this area. This work could focus on more countries, more categories of services and, where possible, on a more disaggregated level of analysis.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to use disaggregated data on US-UK trade to investigate the effects of exchange rate depreciation on trade in services both in the short- and long-run.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper focuses on the three traditional categories of internationally traded services - travel, passenger fares and other transportation services - and employs the \"bounds\" testing procedure advanced by Pesaran, Shin and Smith to investigate the J-curve effect.\nFindings: - The results reveal that the real exchange rate has a statistically significant effect on trade in services in at least one of the time periods. The results also provide some support for the J-curve effect.\nPractical implications: - Empirical evidence on the J-curve provides policymakers with valuable information about the effects of currency depreciation on the trade balance.\nOriginality/value: - To the best of the author's knowledge this is the first paper to investigate the J-curve effect using data on trade in services.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Association between older adults' functional performance and their scores on the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) and Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA)	[ "Assessment", "Cognition", "Older adults", "Occupational therapy", "Function", "Occupational performance" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Geriatric evaluation and management (GEM) is a type of sub-acute care that focuses mainly on patients' functional abilities and goals and caters for patients who have prolonged or multiple conditions associated with ageing, cognitive impairment, functional decline, chronic illness or disability. Patients admitted to GEM wards commonly present with acute conditions (e.g. pneumonia and fractures of the femur, lumbar spine and pelvis) and chronic conditions (e.g. heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) [Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW), 2013]. Dementia and other forms of cognitive impairment are also common comorbidities for patients admitted to sub-acute facilities (Bloomer and Digby, 2012). Often the cognitive skills and functional performance of older adults admitted to GEM settings are assessed. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate if the performance of older adults admitted to an inpatient GEM hospital unit on the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) were associated or predictive of their functional performance (as measured by the Functional Independence Measure [FIM]).\nMethod: Participants\nResults: Participants\nDiscussion: This study aimed to explore if the MMSE or MoCA was correlated or predictive of patients' functional performance as measured by the FIM in a sub-acute inpatient setting. The findings of the Spearman's rho correlation and regression analyses indicated that no statistically significant relationships were obtained between the total and subscale scores of the MMSE and FIM and between the total and subscale scores of the MoCA and FIM. Hence, neither the MMSE nor the MoCA was significantly correlated to or predictive of older adults' functional performance (as measured by FIM).\nConclusion: This study revealed that the MMSE and MoCA were found to have no statistically significant associations with patients' functional performance as measured using the FIM. Similarly, the MMSE or MoCA were unlikely to be able to predict patients' functional performance. Thus, occupational therapists should not depend solely on patients' MMSE, MoCA and FIM results to assist in the goal setting and intervention planning processes for patients on GEM wards. Future studies are recommended to further confirm the findings of this study.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The paper aims to investigate if the performance of older adults on the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) were associated or predictive of their functional performance in a geriatric evaluation and management (GEM) inpatient hospital setting. This will inform the occupational therapy assessment and management of older adults admitted to sub-acute GEM settings.\nDesign/methodology/approach: In all, 20 participants (11 men, 9 women, mean age 82 years, SD = 6.93) were recruited from a GEM ward in an Australian hospital. Participants' cognitive abilities were assessed using the MMSE and MoCA, and their functional performance were assessed using the Functional Independence Measure (FIM). Spearman's rho correlations and linear regression analyses were completed. Bootstrapping was applied to the regression analyses to accommodate the small study sample size.\nFindings: No statistically significant correlations were obtained between the total and subscale scores of the MMSE and FIM or between the total and subscale scores of the MoCA and FIM. In other words, the cognitive and functional abilities of older adults admitted to a GEM setting were not significantly associated in this study.\nOriginality/value: The findings suggest that the MoCA and the MMSE were not predictive of participants' functional performance as measure by the FIM in a sub-acute GEM setting. Occupational therapists should be cautious when interpreting participants' MMSE, MoCA and FIM results and not depend solely on these results in the goal setting and intervention planning processes for clients on GEM wards. Further studies are recommended to confirm these findings.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
International market selection and segmentation: a two-stage model	[ "European Union", "Market segmentation", "Consumer behaviour", "Multinational companies", "Public policy" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The identification of promising foreign target markets is a critical issue in international marketing and international business research, strategy and management. Its capital importance arises from the fact that its inter-relationships with other strategic decisions, such as mode of entry (Koch, 2001), foreign marketing programmes (Papadopoulos and Denis, 1988) and, ultimately, success and performance (Brouthers et al., 2009) have been widely acknowledged. The evaluation of foreign target markets has been approached from two complementary levels: first, a market (country) perspective usually under the stream of research called \"international market selection\" (IMS) (e.g. Brewer, 2001; Rahman, 2003) and second, a consumer perspective, which can be labeled \"international consumer segmentation\" (e.g. Kamakura et al., 1994; Kolman et al., 2003) and involves the segmentation of consumers across countries. This paper is a step toward a higher integration of both perspectives by proposing a two-stage model of IMS and segmentation in the process leading to the identification of promising European target markets.Most IMS and segmentation studies use a diversity of data such as economic, geographical, political, cultural, etc. variables (e.g. Whitelock and Jobber, 2004). Consumer data, however, and especially the concept of values are under-investigated despite their relevance and robustness in cross-cultural research. In IMS, the lack of attention to consumer values is particularly acute, since neither the old nor most of the recent studies consider them. An exception is the work by Sakarya et al. (2007) which includes Hofstede's work-related values-based framework to measure cultural distance in their preliminary assessment of promising emerging markets. However, these researchers state (p. 218):Although the importance and impact of culture on IMS has been explicitly recognized through the psychic distance construct in internationalization literature, neither the traditional models nor the normative market selection process models incorporate it as a significant dimension into the screening process.In international segmentation, studies using consumer data are also under-represented (Steenkamp and Ter Hofstede, 2002) presumably because of the difficulty and cost involved in its collection. Nevertheless, consumer characteristics and values provide relevant information for managerial decisions when identifying both important and stable international segments (Burgess, 1992). In particular, consumer values are the underlying determinants of consumers' needs, attitudes and behaviors (Vinson et al., 1977; Kim et al., 2002) which illuminate critical marketing dimensions related to, for instance, advertising and product positioning (De Mooij, 2003). Managers' values have been also found to significantly influence strategic decisions and the export performance of the firm (Sousa et al., 2010). Therefore, we designed our study to cover this gap, by using consumer values in an integrative approach of IMS and segmentation.A second research gap and opportunity arises from the fact that the segmentation bases used in previous studies on international segmentation, especially at the consumer-level, are mostly domain specific (Steenkamp and Ter Hofstede, 2002). In other words, given that the data collected by researchers is generally based on a particular industry, it leads to practical implications only valid for those sectors such as the financial (Bijmolt et al., 2004) or the food (Askegaard and Madsen, 1998; Ter Hofstede et al., 1999) industries. However, general segmentation bases (e.g. market attractiveness and consumer values) are independent of concrete objects and are more stable and enduring than domain-specific variables (e.g. technological and economic characteristics of the industry, consumer benefits in using specific products) which means that they can provide decision makers with general and long-term guidance for international marketing and communication strategies (Van Raaij and Verhallen, 1994). Also considering that the IMS literature widely supports the use of general segmentation bases in a first stage of country screening (e.g. Cavusgil et al., 2004), such as the one proposed by our two-stage model, we want to alternatively apply general segmentation bases both at the country and the consumer level. More specifically, we decided to build our model on established general segmentation bases such as market attractiveness at the macro-level as well as consumer values at the micro-level.In order to identify a third research gap, we start by accepting the economic globalization process (Levitt, 1983) as the most significant trend in international markets over the last 50 years. Within this context, economically integrated blocks have proven to be one of the most important phenomena in progress worldwide. Among all of these blocks, the European Union (EU) constitutes the most advanced process of integration. This attractive and changing region offers excellent research opportunities and deserves new and updated studies considering the challenges that the two recent enlargements (ten new countries in 2004 and two in 2007, see http://ec.europa.eu.pitt.idm.oclc.org/enlargement/) and the subsequent increase in heterogeneity associated to them pose to companies targeting this block. In this light, several studies have focussed on the different approaches to market segmentation (for a recent review see Lemmens et al., 2007) and marketing strategies (Chung, 2005; Taylor and Okazaki, 2006) that can be applied across the EU or, at least, across a number of European countries. Nevertheless, studies on the enlarged single European market are notably lacking and previous research on marketing strategies has mostly resulted in mixed conclusions supporting either the idea of pan-European or multidomestic strategies (Lemmens et al., 2007). This research gap, i.e. the lack of studies on the enlarged EU, is particularly pronounced as \"EU marketing studies have addressed issues in specific country contexts, industries, cultures and geographic areas rather than being able to tackle pan-European marketing issues\" (Paliwoda and Marinova, 2007, p. 239). Therefore, we designed our model to handle and reduce the diversity of the enlarged European block that decision makers have to face when dealing with the general public or consumer products.The objective of our study is to cover the above-mentioned gaps. Our research question is, therefore, whether or not general segmentation bases can be effectively used in a new IMS and segmentation model for decision makers such as foreign institutions (e.g. governments, chambers of commerce, foreign trade institutes, etc.) and market-seeking MNEs (Dunning, 1998). More specifically, we propose a two-stage market selection and segmentation model by integrating market attractiveness and consumer values as general segmentation bases and aiming to help decision makers identify and screen the most suitable European macro-regions, countries and groups of consumers. This paper contributes to the existing literature on IMS and segmentation in three ways: it proposes an original and parsimonious two-stage IMS and segmentation integrative model for both country-level and consumer-related analyses; it applies theoretically grounded general segmentation bases and an alternative established framework of consumer values (Inglehart's value system); and it adopts an updated and pan-European perspective over the enlarged EU.In the remaining body of this paper, we first explain the theoretical bases and propose our two-step model. Second, we present the methodology used to test it, describe the two datasets employed for this objective and then discuss the findings. To conclude, we identify the implications for policy makers, managers and academics and finally address the paper's limitations and suggest future research avenues.\n2. Literature, theory and model: An established stream of literature focussing on IMS has frequently proposed segmentation models at the country level to screen countries (e.g. Cavusgil et al., 2004), while there is also a growing number of studies in international marketing and sociology that focus on cross-cultural differences in terms of values and value systems (e.g. Esmer and Pettersson, 2007). Against this background, we propose an integrative two-stage model (see Figure 1) rooted, respectively, in IMS prescriptions and the value system segmentation bases proposed by Inglehart (1997) which we apply to the enlarged EU through general (vs domain specific) segmentation bases. The theoretical background and explanation for the model then follows.2.1 The European macro-segmentation process: an IMS perspective\n3. Methodology: 3.1 Data\n4. Findings: 4.1 The identification of European countries' attractiveness\n5. Discussion, implications, limitations and future research: 5.1 Discussion\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to present a two-stage international market selection and segmentation model addressed to help decision makers such as foreign institutions and market-seeking multinational enterprises (MNEs) identify and select the most suitable European countries and groups of consumers.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The first stage is conceived as a macro-segmentation screening process based on market attractiveness. The second is a micro-segmentation process addressed to identify which groups of people are most similar across Europe in terms of social and personal values. The authors' model is rooted in previous assumptions and findings from international market selection (IMS) and Inglehart's theory of material and post-material values.\nFindings: - The model is applied to the current 27 European Union (EU) member states and is validated through the groups of countries empirically obtained. The model allows us to cluster the European countries by market attractiveness, group the European consumers by personal and social values and describe the value orientation of the resulting clusters.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The authors used cross-sectional data to validate their model. Among the implications, they encourage international marketing and business scholars to make use of Inglehart's framework.\nPractical implications: - Institutional decision makers and market-seeking MNEs can follow or adapt the prescribed model in order to identify the most promising and similar European countries and groups of consumers. Public policy makers can gain an in-depth understanding of specific personal and social values allowing them to shape public policy agendas.\nOriginality/value: - This paper contributes to the existing literature on IMS and segmentation in three ways: it proposes an original and parsimonious two-stage IMS and segmentation integrative model for both country-level and consumer-related analyses (suitable to handle and reduce the European diversity that decision makers have to face when dealing with the general public or consumer products); it applies theoretically grounded general segmentation bases and an alternative established framework of consumer values (Inglehart's value system), and it adopts an updated and pan-European perspective over the enlarged EU.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A study of academic performance by immigrant generation with an emphasis on the black immigrant experience	[ "Ethnic minorities", "Globalization", "Race relations" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The children of immigrants have become the fastest growing and most racially diverse students in the American school system (Passel, 2011; Hernandez et al., 2008; Zhou, 1997; Portes and Rumbaut, 2001; Capps et al., 2011). Immigrant students currently make up a fourth of the nation's children and by the year 2050 it is projected that they will account for more than a third of all children in the USA (Suarez-Orozco et al., 2010; Tienda and Haskins, 2011). Although the vast majority of these immigrants are of Hispanic or Asian origin, the black immigrant population has been growing at a remarkable rate. Between 2001 and 2006, immigration accounted for 20 percent of the growth in the US black population and there are now over 1.5 million black immigrant children enrolled from kindergarten to the 12th grade in the USA (Shaw-Taylor, 2009; McCabe et al., 2010). As a primary agent of social selection, education determines class positions as well as life chances in the American stratification hierarchy (Kasinitz et al., 2001; Buchmann and Parrado, 2006). Thus, it is critical that educators and policy makers understand the academic performance of this growing population. While extant research has recently turned its focus to the academic performance of black immigrants, most of the literature still refers to blacks as a single monolithic group. Few studies have separated the academic performance of immigrant blacks from native blacks (Thomas, 2009; Bennett and Lutz, 2009; Rong and Brown, 2001). Yet, this distinction is necessary because black immigrants do perform differently from native blacks on academic indicators such as grades and standardized tests (Kasinitz, 2008; Waters, 1996; Model, 2008). Research is mixed on rates of college enrollment because while some studies have found that black immigrant students are more likely to attend college than their native-born counterparts, (Massey et al., 2007; Keller and Tillman, 2008) others have shown no significant differences in rates of college completion among groups (Bennett and Lutz, 2009). Still, other research has suggested that the combined effects of race and generational status may have an influence on student performance (Perreira et al., 2006; Suarez-Orozco et al., 2010). Specifically, with regards to black immigrants, it has been suggested that students lose their competitive edge and experience a decline in educational performance with each successive generation (Portes and Zhou, 1993; Perreira et al., 2006). Rong and Brown (2001) report that while the educational performance of black immigrant students increases from the first generation (foreign-born children of foreign-born parents) to the second (US-born children of foreign-born parents) the third or native-born generation (US-born children of US-born parents) experiences a sharp decline in academic performance[1]. Similarly, in their multivariate analyses, Kao and Tienda (1995) found that while first- and second-generation black immigrant students reported high reading and math test scores, the native-born generation had significantly lower scores. Thus, when compared to their first and second-generation counterparts, it has been suggested that native or third-generation blacks may be at an academic disadvantage.\n2. Predictors of immigrant academic performance: 2.1. Assimilation theories\n3. Methodology: 3.1. Data set and study design\n4. Results: 4.1. Standardized test score performance\n5. Conclusions and implications for future research: The results of this study contribute to research on the understudied black immigrant population and emphasize the importance of race and immigrant generation on academic performance. The data analyses show that with regards to standardized tests, second-generation black immigrants do significantly better than native blacks. This is consistent with prior literature that has documented the underperformance of native blacks when compared to immigrant blacks (Kao and Tienda, 1995; Rong and Brown, 2001). The results also indicate that second-generation black and Hispanic immigrants show greater similarities to each other rather than to their native-born counterparts of the same race. This is especially evident after controlling for English fluency net of other demographic controls. It is possible that the academic excellence of these second-generation students is due to the fact that unlike their first-generation peers, they are more familiar with the American educational curriculum and this often translates into academic success (Zhou and Bankston 1998; Portes and Zhou, 1993; Gibson, 1988). It appears that on standardized tests, (with the exception of Asians) the performance of second-generation immigrants closely resembles other immigrant groups regardless of race, while the native-born population show greater similarities to each other net of all socio-demographic factors.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Instead of identifying them as a single monolithic group, the purpose of this paper is to evaluate whether the academic performance of black immigrants differs from African Americans as well as Asian and Hispanic students of comparable immigrant generation. By identifying how well black immigrant students perform on standardized tests, grade point averages (GPA) and college enrollment, this study proposes a more comprehensive look into this growing immigrant group.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The research uses a data from the Educational Longitudinal Survey of high school sophomores conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics. Data used in this study are from the baseline survey in 2002 and the second follow-up in 2006 when most students had graduated from high school. The methodology includes OLS, binary and ordered logistic regression models.\nFindings: The study finds that while second-generation blacks outperform the native-born generation on standardized tests, this does not extend to GPA or college enrollment. In fact, it appears that only second-generation Hispanic students have an advantage over their native-born counterparts on GPA and standardized tests. Furthermore, first and second-generation Asian immigrants do not show a higher likelihood of enrolling in college than their native-born counterparts nor do they report higher GPA.\nOriginality/value: This paper sheds light on a growing yet understudied immigrant population as well as drawing comparisons to other immigrant groups of comparable generation.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Taboos, morality and marketing: towards a conceptual model and illustration	[ "Consumption", "Morality", "Auschwitz", "Marketing", "Taboo", "Sacred" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: There has been some recognition of the contribution that social anthropology can make to marketing. In terms of conceptual developments, it has helped to illuminate and understand cultural meaning of consuming and consumption; in methodological terms, anthropology has provided marketing scholars with the tools of ethnographic research in their investigations (Wilk, 1997). One well-known concept that has received attention in this field - taboo - is discussed in this article as offering one way to broaden the scope of marketing, consumer behaviour and related areas of research. Specifically, we regard taboo as being integrally concerned with questions of morality (Gollnhofer, 2015; Nielsen and McGregor, 2013).\nThe origin and purpose of taboo: The word taboo was introduced into European languages by British explorer, Captain James Cook, following exposure to the idea in Tonga in 1777; he was to later discover that its meaning was common throughout Polynesia[1]. Taboo derives from the Tongan tabu and the more general Polynesian term tapu. The literal meaning of the word is \"marked off\" or \"off-limits\" and may come from a combination of ta (to mark) and pu (thoroughly or exceedingly). A taboo was typically defined as those beliefs that constrained actions by making certain items, discourses and behaviours inappropriate and/or unacceptable. As such, they exerted moral and social control over peoples' lives. Taboos could be applied to many different items or objects, both animate and inanimate. In practice, they could also mean that something or someone was set apart, or consecrated for a special use or purpose (Holden, 2000, p. 30). This is sometimes articulated in terms of a distinction between the \"sacred\" and \"the unclean\". That is, certain objects or persons are off-limits either because they are sacred or contaminated.\nThe consequences of taboo and taboo violation: One implication of the structural role of taboo noted above is that the \"force of the taboos lies less in their content than in their structure\" (emphasis added) (Davies, 1982, p. 1034). What is important to note is not what is actually prohibited - as this will differ from context to context - but the mere fact of prohibition leading to a fear of potential sanctions. Taboos emerge from, and are sustained by, fear because violation of such was traditionally thought to be met with evil, pain, loss or even death. It is precisely in cases of taboo violation or the possibility of violation that causes individuals' anguish, disgust or guilt (Bataille, 1962; Lambek, 1992; Pelzer, 2002). The mere thought that taboos could be traded-off is indeed disturbing because it infers that sacred values are, in fact, not sacred at all. Social psychologists such as Philip Tetlock also refer to such issues in terms of the sacred values protection model with expressions of moral outrage and, in some cases, the need for moral cleansing (McGraw et al., 2012).\nTaboo: a conceptual model: The discussion and various concepts contained in the previous sections are now used to construct a taboo model to account for the taboo process (Figure 1). It is contended the model can be applied to any collective entity within a marketing and consumer context. It is also accepted that some taboos will vary across social groupings and cultures. This means that what might be interpreted as taboo for one group of consumers, or even for one part of a national society, might be perfectly acceptable for another group or section of national society.\nMarketing the taboo of the Auschwitz camps: a cross-cultural perspective: We use this section to highlight the potential of the conceptual model by briefly discussing \"dark\" tourism, and particularly what is arguably the most dominant single category in contemporary commercial tourism, sites related to death and suffering. In doing so, it becomes apparent that various cultures have different social boundaries and perceptions related to dark tourism and death. There are various shades of dark tourism (Miles, 2002) and that different cultures will have different motivations, related to the taboo sanction-experience-benefit trade-off depicted in Figure 1, and that this is influenced by various consumers' socialisation. As a contribution to the literature, we passively observe and analyse social media data relevant to the model in Figure 1. Social theories used in marketing predict that a combination of media may be followed deliberately and perceived consciously by many consumers when planning an escape or vacation from their daily lives. To provide background of socialisation theories, marketers can use \"content\" such as television documentaries, movies, websites, ratings advisors such TripAdvisor to discover more about dark events.\nConclusion: This article has sought to examine a topic that hitherto has received relatively little attention in marketing and consumer behaviour (Sabri et al., 2010). Drawing extensively on the anthropological literature to identify a number of important concepts, a model for better understanding the structure of taboos and its underlying morality was developed. The value of the model is that what matters is not so much the content of particular taboos as these will be different in different social contexts, but its structure. This provides wide scope for testing its veracity within and across different marketing contexts. The framework also offers an explanation of what is likely to happen when taboos are violated. In this sense, it incorporates a necessary dynamic in terms of understanding changes over time and in various social spaces. It is also possible for multiple taboo structures to exist simultaneously in consumption societies and these may be arranged along gender, ethnic, religious, status or other lines.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Drawing on the anthropological literature, this paper aims to develop a model of taboos (morality) that applies to the marketing, consumer behaviour and consumption contexts.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper is mainly conceptual but illustrates the general premises of the model with a case study of \"dark\" tourism and the contemporary marketing of the Auschwitz concentration camp.\nFindings: The paper shows that even extreme taboos can be commodified and traded-off, and that not even the horrific deaths and large-scale suffering that occurred at Auschwitz are \"sacred\". This can occur through reframing and seeing the same taboo through different national lens.\nResearch limitations/implications: Questions pertaining to consumer morality are relative rather than universalistic, and even the most extreme cases of taboo can still be successfully marketed.\nOriginality/value: The paper is among the first to attempt to conceptually design a model and then explain the taboo process as it applies to a marketing and consumption context.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
When did fun become so much work: The impact of social media invasiveness on continued social media use	[ "Technology adoption", "End user", "Web 2.0", "Technology choice" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: There has been much research in the last several decades investigating the acceptance and use of information technology (IT). However, only a limited number of studies have focused on the acceptance and use of social media technologies (SMTs), which have transformed the way users communicate with each other on both a personal and professional level (e.g. McGowan et al., 2012; Compeau and Higgins, 1995). This is due, in part, to the fact that SMTs are relatively new and constantly evolving (Kaplan and Haenlein, 2010), but it also has to do with the assumption that SMTs are used similarly to other technologies found in the work and private lives of users, and therefore are not in need of focused study.\nLiterature review: During the late 1980s and 1990s, there was a large body of literature devoted to the acceptance and use of IT mostly due to the problem of underutilized systems (Johansen and Swigart, 1996; Moore, 1991; Norman, 1993; Weiner, 1993). Understanding the reasons for underutilization of information systems (IS) was important to practitioners because of the increasing costs of developing IS. Because of these needs, researchers published a plethora of articles based on the theory of reasoned actions (TRA) and its offshoots, the theory of planned behavior (McGowan et al., 2012) and technology adoption model (TAM) (Davis et al., 1989; Davis, 1986, 1989; Venkatesh and Ramesh, 2006). Both models have been refined based on additional IS research and shown to be a robust way to predict users' intentions to use technology.\nModel development and hypotheses: Based on the literature review above, we now turn to building our research model. Figure 3 details this model.\nResearch methodology: In order to understand the impact TI has on people's continued SMT behavior, a research model and corresponding survey were developed based on a comprehensive literature review (Straub, 1989; Moore and Benbasat, 1991) and data collected from actual SMT users.\nResults: The data were analyzed in two stages. First, the data were used to evaluate the measurement model. Next, the structural model was evaluated.\nDiscussion: Our research model, based on TRA and TPB, focuses on a unique set of factors that impact a user's decision to continue to use SMTs. Our results are robust and demonstrate that with the exception of one hypothesis every one of the proposed relationships is significant. As expected, PU has a large impact on user's attitudes. This one belief has been shown to have a significant impact on intention (Davis, 1989) and has been found in countless TAM studies over decades of research. The more a user finds elements of SMTs useful, the higher their attitudes are to use them. Rogers (1995) suggests that it is the beliefs of the users about the characteristics of the innovation that affects adoption, so it is somewhat surprising that PU did not significantly affect continued use intentions. One explanation is that the relationship between PU and continued use is mediated by attitudes, which is common. Another possible explanation is that the usefulness of a technology is important for new adoption decisions but after a period of use, decisions to continue to use a technology have less to do with the system benefits and more to do with other factors, such as, in this case, the social influence of others to continue to use an SMT.\nContribution to research and practice: The findings of this study contribute to both research and practice.\nLimitations and future research: As with any study, there are limitations to this research that warrant further investigation. Additionally, there are opportunities with this research to extend the investigation in order to add greater support and depth to the findings. For example, the majority of participants selected Facebook as the SMT they used to fill out the survey. This number reflects the worldwide SMT usage figures, which reveal Facebook as the most used SMT today. In 2013, the number of Facebook users was 71 percent of internet users, compared to just 22 percent for LinkedIn, the next most used SMT (Hampton et al., 2011). Additional research might expand the study to compare the types of SMTs in order to determine if stress is consistent across them given the number of other SMTs a person uses. The actual network of peer users could be included as well to better understand the stress felt, based on the usage level of one's peers.\nConclusions: As discussed above, users now have a choice of technologies that not only can increase productivity at work but can impact their social lives. These SMTs, like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and others, continue to transform the way users communicate with each other on both a personal and professional level. As our research model illustrates, with this increased opportunity, comes increased stress as users devote additional time in their already busy lives to update their profiles and maintain their social connections. This research is the first of its kind to model the stress that users feel with keeping up with their SMTs and how this stress affects their decision to continue to use an SMT.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the negative impact the invasive nature of social media technologies (SMTs) can have on a user's continued intention to use it.\nDesign/methodology/approach: In order to understand the impact technology invasiveness (TI) has on people's continued SMT behavior, a research model and corresponding survey were developed based on a comprehensive literature review and data collected from actual SMT users.\nFindings: The authors found perceived usefulness has a large impact on user's attitudes. Additionally, social networking (SN) has a significant and direct impact on both attitude toward the use of the SMT and its continued use. Another interesting finding is how strongly SN increases a user's TI. The negative impact technology has on users' lives comes from the need users feel to continue to update and manage their online persona.\nPractical implications: Social media tools are becoming part of the workplace environment. If not careful, companies may introduce increased pressures on their workers to constantly be \"connected\" to SMTs. In order to obtain the advantages of SMT usage, companies would be wise to set expectation standards that alleviate some of this pressure.\nSocial implications: This growth in social media would lead one to assume that all is well with SMTs and their usage is similar to other web-based technologies. However, there are some negative effects of SMT that warrant society and companies pausing to rethink the focus on these technologies.\nOriginality/value: Previous research has looked at IT from system success and acceptance. In this paper, we investigate the negative impact the invasive nature of SMTs can have on a user's continued intention to use it.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Building strategic resilience in the food supply chain	[ "Value", "Stakeholders", "Benchmarking", "Performance", "Indicators" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Implicit in the definition of resilience is the requirement for flexibility and adaptability as well as the capacity to absorb market and environmental shocks and still maintain a fully functioning food supply chain (Folke, 2006). Factors that influence food supply chains include: natural disasters, technological accidents, infectious diseases, terrorism and food safety incidents (Leat and Revoredo-Giha, 2013), food fraud and wider food crime and market and pricing strategies. Factors that affect supply chain resilience can be internal, i.e. within the supply chain network or external factors often outside the control of the organisations involved. These factors can be categorised as: processes such as transport, communication and infrastructure; controls including protocols, policies, procedures, systems and assumptions; and demand- and supply-related issues such as the fear of, or actual disturbances to, the multi-directional flow of materials, product, finance and information (Christopher and Peck, 2004). Driving a business strategy focused primarily on cost reduction without sufficient regard for the risks that this strategy creates will make the food supply chain more brittle (Viswanadham and Kameshwaran, 2013; Waters, 2007). Food supply chain brittleness is centred on factors such as low financial margins, low profitability and low resource stocks, i.e. a lean management approach that can combine in multiple ways with social factors (e.g. consumer trust and brand loyalty) and factors such as weather vulnerability that affects quality or yield, price volatility or natural variation. The degree of financial brittleness in a particular food supply chain will depend on the level of profitability, liquidity, the ability to meet loan repayments and continue to implement capital investment plans that underpin business growth. Ultimately, lower operating margins reduce financial flexibility and create a more brittle supply chain that is vulnerable to major risks such as animal disease, volatility in commodity markets and an increasing cost of legal and/or social compliance.\n2. Strategic and operational resilience: Resilience is in part \"the ability of an organisation to approach crisis situations as a potentially positive experience, and to utilise an enhanced ability to change as the economic, physical, political and social situation demands\" (McManus, 2008, p. 26). Strategic resilience is not about responding to a single crisis or rebounding from a setback, it encompasses anticipating and reacting to secular trends that can permanently impair the earning power of the core business (Hamel and Valikangas, 2003). Alternatively it has been suggested that strategic resilience \"results when the organisation gains the capability to quickly convert threatening surprises into opportunities and to identify unique opportunities and act effectively before their competition\" (Valikangas and Romme, 2012, p. 45). Further Valikangas and Romme (2012) differentiate between operational resilience and strategic resilience where the former is recovery focused, e.g. after experiencing a crisis and tenacity in the face of threat, i.e. reactive management and the latter is renewal focused in terms of changing without the driver of a crisis, i.e. proactive management. The research has considered the concept of strategic and operational business resilience and postulated that innovative mechanisms need to be developed in order to embed resilience and drive performance and continuous improvement in the food supply chain.\n3. Conclusion: The aim of this paper is to consider the concept of strategic business resilience in order to postulate innovative mechanisms to drive business performance in the food supply chain. A 3Rs (ready, respond and recovery) business resilience risk assessment framework and an associated resilience indicator framework has been developed to enable organisations in the food supply chain to determine and improve their strategic resilience in terms of both internal organisational and external supply chain risk factors. This incorporates the five strategic resilience factors (values-based dynamics, supply chain dynamics, strategic decision making, strategic leadership and use of performance indicators) into the 3Rs strategic resilience risk assessment framework (Table V) to identify ways to ensure readiness through formal procedures and protocols, effective response and recovery. The strategic resilience indicator framework (Figure 1) can be use to develop and utilise performance indicators that demonstrate the degree of vulnerability within the socio-economic environment in which the organisation operates. Conflict of interest exists for organisations that are seeking to strategically and effectively manage the pluralistic nature of internal and external supply chain risks. The model derived in this research can be used in the food supply chain to drive supply chain agility, organisational stability and longevity, and as a result continuous improvement.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to consider the concept of strategic business resilience in order to postulate innovative mechanisms to drive business performance in the food supply chain.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The research included a literature review and the development of a resilience model that can be adopted in the food supply chain at both a strategic and an operational level.\nFindings: Conflicts of interest exist for organisations that are seeking to strategically and effectively manage the pluralistic nature of internal and external supply chain risks. The model derived in this research can be used in the food supply chain to drive supply chain agility, organisational stability and longevity, and as a result continuous improvement.\nOriginality/value: This research is of academic value and of value to policy makers and practitioners in the food supply chain.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Negative consequence of benevolent sexism on efficacy and performance	[ "Performance", "Workplace", "Self-efficacy", "Incivility", "Sexual discrimination", "Benevolent sexism", "Hostile sexism" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Since the instatement of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibited practices that discriminate against women and other social groups, overt displays of sexism have decreased (Dovidio and Gaertner, 1998). While this progress is indeed noteworthy, gender disparities remain. For example, The Census and Department of Labor statistics report that even when controlling for education and experience, women continue to earn less than white males (US Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics). This paradox raises an important question: if overt sexism and discrimination have declined, why do gender disparities persist?\nStudy 1: According to ambivalent sexism theory, sexism can manifest in traditional aggressive hostility in addition to protectively paternalistic benevolent behaviors directed toward women (Glick and Fiske, 1996, 2001). Whereas hostile sexism is defined as the traditional seething negative sexist attitude characterized by insults, disrespect, and intentional exclusion due to gender, benevolent sexism engenders inclusive, warm, and protective behaviors (Glick and Fiske, 2001).\nStudy 1: method: Participants\nStudy 1: results: Before conducting analyses, we examined initial self-efficacy reported by participants prior to the sexism manipulation. This examination revealed no significant difference between male and female participants' initial self-efficacy across conditions (initial female self-efficacy M=4.77; initial male self-efficacy M=4.74, p>0.05), providing support for the gender neutrality of the task utilized. Furthermore, to rule out the possibility that differences in post-task self-efficacy were attributable to the task itself, we conducted a 2 (participant gender: male, female)x2(confederate gender: male, female)x3 (treatment: benevolent, hostile, control) ANCOVA predicting post-task self-efficacy while controlling for participant initial self-efficacy and no significant main effects emerged.\nStudy 1: discussion: Study 1 examined the extent to which sexist behaviors, both benevolent and hostile in nature, undermined a target's efficacy for a given task. Taken together, results supported the notion that benevolent sexism can have negative consequences, but only when enacted by someone of the opposite gender. This is aligned with the idea that patronizing, benevolent sexist behavior might be perceived as an attack on one's own gender group, leading to a detrimental effect on self-efficacy. Due to the superficially positive nature of benevolent sexism, seemingly kind behaviors exhibited by someone of the same gender (\"I know this can be hard for some girls\" stated by another female) may indeed be taken as genuine rather than a condescending jab at the \"weaker\" sex.\nStudy 2: Hostile sexism in the context of the workplace often manifests in the form of workplace incivility, which is characterized by rude and disrespectful behavior, such as sarcasm, intentional exclusion (Lim et al., 2008), and a general \"lack of regard\" for others (Cortina, 2008). Incivility has been equated with modern discrimination in organizations (Cortina, 2008), and is generally explained in terms of its relation to subjectively negative and hostile forms of sexism. While hostile sexism and incivility are similar in their intent to disrespect and derogate others, incivility is often distinguished from more hostile forms of discrimination in that these underlying intents are not immediately apparent to targeted individuals (Lim and Cortina, 2005). Thus, a key characteristic of workplace incivility is the ambiguous nature of the intent of the behavior; recipients can experience distress due in large part to their inability to understand the situation and foresee what might happen next (Lim et al., 2008). In addition, incivility is not characterized by aggression, rather a low intensity behavior that might escalate into the aggressive behavior that is at the core of hostile sexism. In contrast, hostile sexism signifies explicit gender discrimination. Despite the question surrounding intent, empirical research has pointed to a number of negative outcomes arising from such overt and uncivil behaviors including impaired concentration and turnover cognitions (Pearson et al., 2000), as well as lowered job satisfaction and a noted increase in psychological distress (Cortina et al., 2001).\nStudy 2: method: Participants and procedure\nStudy 2: results: A principal components analysis of benevolent sexism and incivility items using promax rotation with Kaiser normalization revealed a two-factor solution. The two factors were benevolent sexism and Incivility. Benevolent sexism's eigenvalue was 5.12 and accounted for 39 percent of the variance; Incivility's eigenvalue was 3.13 and accounted for 24 percent of the variance.\nStudy 2: discussion: By linking benevolent sexism theory to real-world outcomes using working adults, this study supports the notion that the seemingly positive nature of benevolent sexism can result in a harmful form of sexism that has repercussions for women at work. This study also makes clear the distinction between incivility and benevolent sexism, and demonstrates benevolent sexism explains negative outcomes above and beyond incivility.\nGeneral discussion: Previous research has consistently demonstrated that traditional hostile forms of sexism lead to disruptive and often damaging outcomes for its targets. However, relatively less attention has been paid to the subjectively positive, and seemingly civil, benevolent form of sexism. Thus, the current research is one of the first attempts to illustrate the negative consequences of benevolent sexism in the workplace by clarifying self-efficacy as an explanation for the effect of benevolent sexism on job performance.\nConclusion: Recent research has taken great strides toward understanding how sexism contributes to persistent gender disparities that manifest in the modern workplace. Indeed, the policies and laws instated to deter explicit hostile sexism represent an important step; however, the role of benevolent sexism cannot be ignored. The current research suggests that in order to fully address contemporary sexism, benevolent forms of sexism must be recognized and challenged, as there is likely a dark side of these seemingly civil behaviors.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Previous research demonstrates the damaging effects of hostile sexism enacted towards women in the workplace. However, there is less research on the consequences of benevolent sexism: a subjectively positive form of discrimination. The paper aims to discuss these issues.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Drawing from ambivalent sexism theory, the authors first utilized an experimental methodology in which benevolent and hostile sexism were interpersonally enacted toward both male and female participants.\nFindings: Results suggested that benevolent sexism negatively impacted participants' self-efficacy in mixed-sex interactions. Extending these findings, the results of a second field study clarify self-efficacy as a mediating mechanism in the relationship between benevolent sexism and workplace performance.\nOriginality/value: Finally, benevolent sexism contributed incremental prediction of performance above and beyond incivility, further illustrating the detrimental consequences of benevolently sexist attitudes towards women in the workplace.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Assessing obstetric patient experience: a SERVQUAL questionnaire	[ "SERVQUAL", "Obstetrics", "Maternity", "Service change", "UK" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Internationally, there is a drive to respond to patient experience by incorporating their views into service changes. The UK Government promised to put patient experience at the heart of the health service (DoH, 2010). Nationally, routinely collecting patient feedback as a means to increase competition between service providers has been prioritised (DoH, 2010). At a local level, collecting feedback allows staff to respond to evolving patient needs.\nMethods: Aims\nResults: Returns and demographic data\nDiscussion: SERVQUAL - evaluating a changed service\nConclusion: As a survey method, SERVQUAL allows local healthcare teams to evaluate patient experience, while accounting for variation in expectation and patient priorities. This information can be used to drive further service change, in line with feedback. Overall, the clinic team received a small negative rating, suggesting that it was close to meeting their patients' antenatal service expectations. Our study highlights that hand cleanliness is high among pregnant women's expectations, but similar average responses meant that there is little difference between excellent areas and those needing improvement. It would be interesting to see if the same results were present in other services or whether it is specific to our patient population or our restructured clinic model. However, conclusions are limited by the small sample and the questionnaire's weak statistical evaluation. Published questionnaires are variable, which limits comparisons between services. It is therefore important to consider the balance between addressing local need and core national priorities, when deciding on patient evaluation methods.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Across health services, there is a drive to respond to patient feedback and to incorporate their views into service improvement. The SERVQUAL method has been used in several clinical settings to quantify whether services meet patient expectations. However, work has been limited in the obstetric population. This paper seeks to address these issues.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This study used an adapted SERVQUAL questionnaire to assess a reconfigured antenatal clinic service. The most important care aspects, as rated by patients, were used to construct the SERVQUAL questions. The questionnaire was administered to eligible women in two parts. The first was completed before their first hospital antenatal appointment and the second either at home (a postal-chasing exercise) or while waiting for their next appointment. Only fully completed questionnaires (both parts) were analysed.\nFindings: Service strengths included staff politeness, patient respect and privacy. Areas for improvement included hand cleanliness, women's involvement in decision making and communicating risk. However, the low variability in patient responses makes concrete conclusions difficult and methodological issues complicate evaluating hand cleanliness. The new antenatal clinic service received low negative weighted and un-weighted overall scores. The SERVQUAL measure was developed from patient feedback and used to further improve services.\nPractical implications: The SERVQUAL-based measure allowed an internal evaluation of patient experience and highlighted areas for improvement. However, without validation, the questionnaire cannot be used as an outcome measure and variation between published SERVQUAL questionnaires makes comparisons difficult. This highlights an important balance in patient evaluation measures - between locally responsive and externally comparable.\nOriginality/value: The SERVQUAL approach allows healthcare teams to evaluate patient experience, while accounting for variation in their expectations and priorities. The study highlights several areas that are important to obstetric patients, where expectation scores are high. However, the similar means and small samples left little difference between excellence and room for improvement.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
An evaluation of the performance of a large scale collaborative procurement initiative in the social housing sector	[ "Performance monitoring", "Financial performance", "Collaboration", "Partnering", "Social housing", "Procurement efficiency" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The aspiration of achieving value for money (VFM) beyond securing lowest cost for services and assets is well ingrained in the narrative of procurement generally, and social housing particularly. This paper reports on a four-year study carried out on behalf of the Scottish Government to monitor and evaluate the performance and efficiency of the Devanha Phase 2 innovative bulk procurement initiative, designed to deliver VFM through enhanced quality and reduced capital costs. The Devanha initiative involved a consortium of five independent housing organisations coming together to build over 1,500 new homes for rent and sale at below market rates using a mix of grant private finance as part a national programme of government investment in affordable housing. The first section of the paper provides context with a brief reflection on recent advances towards collaborative procurement arrangements in the UK construction sector. This leads into the discussion on procurement within the social housing sector with reference to related academic studies including an earlier project conducted by DTZ Pieda and Heriot-Watt University (Devanha Phase 1) the precursor/background to the current study. The main empirical section explains the mixed research method employed over the duration of the study which involved collecting qualitative and quantitative data from representatives of the project team including the contractors, consultants, sponsor and clients in order to monitor and evaluate the performance of the procurement initiative according to the research brief. The results of the programme are reported and, finally, conclusions on the performance of the Devanha procurement programme and implications for future procurement initiatives are drawn.\nThe pursuit of VFM: The pursuit of VFM by clients and its fulfillment by suppliers has been prominent in business narrative for many years in both public and private sectors. The UK Treasury's now defunct Office of Government Commerce (OGC) produced guidance on measuring VFM (Office of Government Commerce (OGC), 2005) following a spending review and the setting of PS20 bn per year savings, around 2.5 per cent of the budget (HM Treasury, 2004), to be achieved within three years. The focus on efficiency, defined as making best use of the resources available for the provision of public services or reforming services in such a way as to enhance quality of service for the same level of inputs would be recognisable to anyone familiar with value engineering or value management, i.e. getting more from the same investment or less. The subsequent crash and debt crises only intensified the pursuit of \"more for less\" in the face of deep spending cuts.\nValue, VFM and the Devanha procurement initiative: Value, its analysis and \"engineering\" has been developing since the 1940s, initially in US manufacturing industry (Miles, 1961) before being transferred to construction. The definitions of value that have been established at least since the 1960s are still recognised and have currency in the literature. These tend to be dealt with in terms of categories relating to use, cost, esteem, exchange value that products possess or should be developed with. Early work included Erlicher (1968), Mudge (1971) through to more construction-specific work of Kelly et al. (2004) and Fong et al. (2001) and latterly CABE (2006) which extends the categorisation to include social, environmental and cultural values relevant to public sector building. The objective and subjective aspects that define value and the complexity and difficulty of reflecting these in \"optimum\" design solutions that meet ill-defined and competing requirements of complex client organisations have variously been dealt with (Neap and Celik, 1999; Thomson et al., 2003). Constructing Excellence (Wolstenholme et al., 2009, p. 22) in their review of progress since Egan encapsulated this in their conclusion that \"Clients struggle to articulate what value means to them, and too few projects develop a clear brief that defines their business, social and environmental requirements\". CABE (2006), define value in relation to \"well designed\" housing emphasising quality of life, positive impact on mental health and other social development issues - aspects of value tending to the subjective and difficult to measure in design or performance in use terms.\nProcurement and collaborative practice: The drive for better VFM through collaborative procurement arrangements has come from a number of quarters over the last decade or so in the wake of Egan. The OGC commissioned a review (Ove Arup, 2008) of modern forms of collaborative contract to evaluate how well they met Egan principles across a number of criteria relating to pre-construction, construction and post construction stage processes. Unsurprisingly the report observed that, of the three reviewed (NEC3, PPC2000 and JCT constructing excellence) no single contract was superior to others and that all would enable the parties, using them correctly, to achieve the OGC achieving excellence in construction standards. A key point, very relevant to the Devanha experience, was that application of the contract is at least as significant as the contract provisions. The review also observed that the contracts require a high level of activity and preparatory work throughout the procurement phase to operate as intended or there is a substantial risk that it will not be possible to operate the contract properly. The mere selection of a particular contract form cannot on its own assure success. The Association of Consultant Architects (2010), reporting on ten years of project partnering agreements, endorsed the benefits of collaborative procurement, in particular the use of PPC2000 and TPC2005 forms of contract. A recurring theme was the need for partnering process to be supported by training and independent advice for all staff.\nProcurement reform in the social housing sector: The Housing Forum's (2010) report on the future of procurement and partnering reported \"enormous\" progress in advancing procurement best practice over the decade on a purported evidence base of, including other things, improved prices and added value through well-structured procurement and partnering of projects and programmes. Constraints on \"best value outcomes\" were identified as short termism, undermining investment in efficient design and construction that comes from less funding and a retreat to traditional single stage competitive tendering practice. Although The Housing Forum do not define best value outcomes it is a conflation of the terms best value and outcomes from one of the working groups' from which the report draws (Mosey, 2010) and which provides a wide ranging discussion of procurement and partnering processes and their role in securing value and successful project outcomes for housing sector clients. Given the shifting economic landscape to recession at this point, the shift back to traditional competitive tendering is at least understandable. A lot of emphasis was placed on early contractor involvement citing the familiar advantages of supply chain expertise and creation of shared client/supply chain information systems. The Housing Forum is an industry body concerned with a government and industry audience - \"the entire housing industry\" - but notably this did not include the academic community.\nThe Devanha bulk procurement programme: Devanha Phase 2 is a consortium of RSLs. RSL is the generic term used for a variety of mainly non-profit distributing organisations (often housing associations) which have been the principal vehicles for delivering government social and affordable housing programmes in the UK over a number of decades. RSLs are independent of government but have to conform to government regulation in order to be eligible for grant funding. Comparable systems have developed in a number of European countries, notably in The Netherlands. In the UK and Europe, these organisations have come under pressure to work more efficiently, with reduced grant and greater levels of commercial awareness (Pawson, 2006; Czischke, 2009). The Devanha Phase 1 initiative stemmed from a distinctive response to the Egan and Latham Reports taken by Scottish Homes in 1997 and carried through by its successor organisations (first Communities Scotland and then Scottish Government). Initially Scottish Homes streamlined its grant giving procedures and removed bureaucracy to encourage RSLs, to become best practice clients (Scottish Homes, 1997). Building on this, Communities Scotland sponsored a series of initiatives, often including collaborative working, to explore innovative approaches to procurement through its Building a Better Deal (BABD) programme (Scottish Executive and Communities Scotland, 2002; Communities Scotland, 2006). Devanha Phase 1 was developed under BABD to deliver efficiency and quality gains while demonstrating effective implementation of Egan principles in the North East of Scotland (DTZ Pieda/Heriot-Watt University, 2006). In Devanha Phase 1, five RSLs collaborated together in a relatively informal \"affiliation\" to jointly tender their housing development programmes and its success in achieving efficiencies was limited (DTZ Pieda/Heriot-Watt University, 2006, p. 8). It was believed that a closer and more formal relationship was needed to maximise the benefits of collaboration and in 2006 Devanha was set up as a limited company controlled by its member RSLs and working as their agent to deliver the Devanha Phase 2 housing development programme. This compromise, in which an attempt was made to use collaborative working as a tool to achieve efficiency, while retaining individual RSL autonomy, came to be a defining feature of the Devanha initiative.\nDevanha Phase 2 - the implementation: The research brief required creation of a monitoring and evaluation framework to assess Devanha's processes and performance in meeting its objectives. Table I highlights Devanha's key objectives and the research instruments developed in the monitoring and evaluation framework. The study employed a mixed method approach with annual rounds of qualitative and quantitative data collection with an underlying philosophy that monitoring and evaluation should involve the minimum necessary work from Devanha partners. At the conclusion of the monitoring period a series of semi-structured interviews was carried out with the partners from the cost and project management consultants, contractors, Scottish Government and development arms of the RSLs. These were recorded and transcribed for later analysis, with the assurance that findings would not be attributed to any individual participants. A number of key conclusions were drawn and these formed the basis of the final report for Scottish Government (Morgan et al., 2012).\nDevanha - the outcomes: On completion, the Devanha Phase 2 procurement initiative delivered 1,383 housing units in 51 schemes between 2007 and 2012 against an initial expectation of 1,563 units. At the conclusion of the research monitoring and evaluation period, complete cost data were available for approximately 55 per cent of these schemes. The remainder had not reached final account stage and were awaiting sign off. However, the quantity and spread of available data were considered representative of the programme as a whole and provided the basis for findings and conclusions that were sufficiently robust for the final evaluation of the programme and fulfillment of the research brief. This, ultimately, was to assess whether VFM had been achieved through the bulk procurement initiative.\nDiscussion and conclusions: The Devanha programme failed to meet its stated cost efficiency targets as set out in the initial contract. The key findings are summarised as follows.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to understand the factors relating to the implementation of a new procurement initiative that affect performance and value for money (VFM). The study is based on a four-year research project carried out on behalf of the Scottish Government to monitor and evaluate the performance and efficiency of a bulk procurement vehicle for social housing.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The researchers had a brief to monitor and evaluate the implementation of the procurement process and its influence on cost and efficiency targets. The study employed a mixed method approach with annual rounds of qualitative and quantitative data collection from project stakeholders including the contractors, consultants, clients and sponsor. Confidential semi-structured interviews were conducted on conclusion of the project to gauge views on how well the procurement process worked from the various perspectives and to reflect on the influence of the process on VFM.\nFindings: The procurement programme failed to achieve the capital cost and efficiency savings targets quantified at the outset and on this measure alone VFM was not demonstrated, although there were a number of reported benefits. A major factor was the extent of process and behavioural change required from the project team and, although a procurement consultant was engaged to facilitate this, the theoretical benefits of \"best practice\" were not realized. The picture was further complicated by rapidly changing economic conditions experienced, and debate about the robustness of original cost savings targets.\nResearch limitations/implications: The findings and conclusions are of relevance and interest to clients and construction organisations undergoing change through adopting novel procurement processes.\nOriginality/value: The empirical nature of the study provides a comprehensive evidence base for the performance of a collaborative procurement programme and an understanding of the potential difficulties in attaining the theoretical benefits of procurement innovation.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
An Excel-based dice game: an integrative learning activity in operations management	[ "Spreadsheet programs", "Operations management", "Continuous improvement", "Manufacturing systems" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: With global emphasis on continuous improvement of internal, as well as external supply chains, operations management (OM) has become a central business function in many organizations. OM academicians and practitioners must explain the \"value proposition\" of our field to multiple stakeholders (e.g. students, parents, employees, bosses, and researchers) in a manner that convinces these parties of the relevance of the operations function in all modern organizations and business sectors. In order to ensure continued prosperity of the OM function, we must demonstrate our value proposition in an unambiguous and interesting manner through both our research and teaching. Thus, an important question for those of us in OM is how to communicate our value proposition in unambiguous terms to our constituencies and ensure future demand for our field?As discussed in the literature review, there is substantial evidence that OM academicians have continued to address such questions and kept our teaching/research agenda relevant (Hayes, 2000; Leschke, 1998; Miller and Arnold, 1998). However, there appears to be a paradoxical relationship between OM research and practice, i.e. there is a gap between the relevance and importance of academic research and the perceived importance of the OM subject areas to practitioners (Slack et al., 2004; Voss, 1995). Considerable debate has centered on the appropriate content of OM courses and the methodological rigor employed (case-based empirical approach vs a theory-driven modeling approach) to deliver the subject matter (Spearman and Hopp, 1998). In addition, OM scholars have argued that there is a need for a new OM framework so that the OM as a field is not viewed as a \"blizzard of management buzzwords\" (Schmenner and Swink, 1998).One much discussed and researched issue is how to introduce important manufacturing and service topics, e.g. operations strategy, performance measures, and decisions relating to processes, capacity, quality, and inventory using a framework that is holistic, interesting, and easy for novice managers to understand (Wilson, 2002). It has been suggested elsewhere (Gupta and Boyd, 2008) that Goldratt's theory of constraints (TOC) provides such a cohesive framework. Although the impact of TOC as a management philosophy has been much discussed by academicians and practitioners, there is little doubt that The Goal is a very popular text that many managers remember from school, professional development seminars or casual reading. It is a story about how a plant manager learns about and implements the concepts of TOC to dramatically improve the performance of his manufacturing plant (Goldratt and Cox, 1984). In the novel, Goldratt introduces an exercise referred to as the \"dice game\" to illustrate several concepts of TOC and OM, in general.This paper describes an Excel-based dice game designed to complement, integrate, and reinforce conventional OM concepts using Goldratt's TOC as a framework. The paper is organized as follows: in Section 2, we establish the importance of this paper by briefly reviewing the literature concerning a need for:* unifying theory; and* experiential activities in OM.In addition, we review earlier research involving similar dice games. In Section 3, we discuss a TOC-based framework to manage operations, and in the Section 4 we introduce the Excel-based dice game, which was developed to address some of the shortcomings of earlier dice games. In Section 5, we present a set of experiments designed to illustrate and integrate various OM and TOC concepts and demonstrate the versatility of the model in simulating a variety of scenarios. Finally, in the last two sections, we list some shortcomings of our model and suggest future research directions..\n2 Literature review: 2.1 Theory of constraints\n3 A TOC-based framework to manage operations: In this section, we briefly discuss three dimensions - mindset, measurements, and methodology - of TOC from an OM perspective (detailed discussion can be found in Boyd and Gupta (2004)). We also show that the TOC novel The Goal can be integrated as a comprehensive case study to illustrate various OM concepts.3.1 Mindset, measurements, and methodology\n4 An Excel-based dice game model: In this section, we discuss the Excel-based dice game, in detail. We present this game as a complete unit (i.e. its purpose, underling story line, its mechanics, performance measures used, and various panels of the Excel model) to be presented to nascent managers (i.e. students or executive trainees).4.1 Purpose of the game\n5 Experiments: In this section, we will describe a set of experiments clearly stating the purpose and expected outcome. We also provide sample assignments for each experiment that can be used to gauge users' understanding of TOC/OM concepts.5.1 Understanding the model and the impact of variability and dependency\n6 Discussion: We have only described a basic set of scenarios to illustrate the impact of WIP, capacity, process time variability, and constraint location on performance. Other scenarios combining two or more of these factors can also be developed, and the Excel model can be easily modified to operate as a kanban, drum-buffer-rope or CONWIP system. An interesting exercise for the user would be to find a combination of factors that would maximize one or more of the performance measures. In addition, a useful extension of the model would be to decrease the number of operations to three and increase it to seven or nine to illustrate the effects on system performance of changes in variability and dependency due only to the number of operations.One lesson that may emerge is the large amount of variability that can be seen between a single run of 20 days and 1,000 runs of 20 days. For both students and experienced managers, these differences can be used to start a discussion of the difficulties of learning from experience when a limited number of observations are available and a number of variables are involved. This observation can also be used to lead into a discussion of the central limit theorem.We hope it is clear after the discussion of the dice game model that it can be used to guide users through Kolb and Kolb's (2005) stages of experiential learning. In doing the manual calculations of expected performance and running the base model, users have concrete experience that they can reflectively observe in order to develop an abstract conceptualization of the operation of the system. The experiments described form a new basis for concrete experience, reflective observation, and additional conceptualization. We believe the dice game described here is simple enough to students and new managers to achieve a good understanding of while at the same time being complex enough to help them bridge the gap from textbook concepts to real world applications.\n7 Conclusion and future research directions: The primary focus of this paper was to discuss an Excel-based dice game designed to complement, reinforce and help to integrate OM concepts using a TOC-based framework. We discussed a set of scenarios grouped by factors the user can manipulate to illustrate OM concepts from a student or a new manager's viewpoint. We also provided instructions and suggested questions to be asked in order to lead users to consider the integrative nature of various OM decisions.Minor modifications to the model described here could be helpful in developing managers' understanding of additional issues, for example, the model could be extended to address:* increased number of operations;* more complex environments;* JIT, MRP or CONWIP manufacturing scenarios; and* integration of TOC with TQM and Six Sigma.We have gathered feedback from students on their experience with the model and find that students generally find the exercises useful and enjoyable. However, we have not done a true experiment comparing the experiential approach described here to other approaches such as case study or lecture/discussion. Gosen and Washbush (2004) review literature evaluating the use of computer-based experiential learning approaches and conclude that \"there have not been enough high-quality studies to allow us to conclude players learn by participating in simulations or experiential exercises.\" In view of this, there is an opportunity to perform such a study comparing results of this experiential approach to traditional approaches to teaching OM.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to extend the role of the theory of constraints (TOC) to complement, reinforce, and help integrate conventional operations management (OM) concepts by using an Excel-based version of the dice game discussed in The Goal by Goldratt.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper discusses the motivation for and the development and evaluation of an Excel-based dice game model of a production system for novice managers to experiment with. A set of experiments related to OM concepts (e.g. inventory, capacity, and variability) is designed and counterintuitive results are discussed. The paper concludes by demonstrating how TOC provides an integrative OM framework.\nFindings: - The novel The Goal by Goldratt serves as a comprehensive case study in OM. The computerized dice game provides a mechanism for understanding relationships among various OM concepts. The proposed set of experiments strengthens the linkages between OM and TOC concepts. Managers can conduct additional experiments and predict/interpret the results without spending time in the logistics of setting up the manual dice game repeatedly.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The proposed dice game simulates a fairly simple serial production system so the generalization of results obtained might not be intuitively convincing for more complex production systems. More advanced OM concepts such as push (MRP) and pull (JIT) systems can easily be investigated using the underling logic of the dice game proposed here.\nPractical implications: - The model provides an innovative way to integrate TOC concepts with mainstream OM concepts and thereby, renews interest in OM.\nOriginality/value: - Several versions of dice games, both manual and spreadsheet based, have appeared in the literature, however, none attempt to address as wide a variety of operations issues as the game proposed here.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Innovation risk in digital business models: the German energy sector	[ "Risk management", "Internet of Things", "Business model innovation", "Digital innovation", "Energy industry", "Virtual power plant" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The concept of business model innovation gained significant attention over the last years, as companies like Apple and Uber disrupted whole industries and generated tremendous returns, offering not just new products or services but designing new concepts of doing business. Two key features characterize an essential portion of these business model innovations: They are enabled by digital technology and embedded in complex inter-organizational ecosystems. In these ecosystems, firms do not solely rely on internal innovation and value creation endeavors. Instead, they are essentially involved in joint innovation activities with other organizations, and thus are highly dependent on resources and contributions of suppliers, vendors of complementary offerings, consumers and other partners.\nWhat are business models: A business model refers to the logic of how the firm operates and creates value for its stakeholders. As it represents a system-level approach to explaining how firms manage their business, a key element of a business model is the firm's boundary-spanning activities (Zott et al., 2011), the firm's relations to the partners and its position within the value network (Chesbrough, 2007). These relations link suppliers, complementors, integrators and customers and enable mutual value. Thus, to successfully design and deploy the business model, the firm has to clarify which resources it has to acquire from its business partners and which main activities these partners perform and build and maintain effective and efficient relations to the key collaborators. Due to the rapid transformation of the technological and competitive environment, business models require regular monitoring, and therefore have themselves become a subject of innovation (Osterwalder and Pigneur, 2010).\nHow digital technology fosters business model innovation: As digital technology is combining atoms and bits to turn digital and physical components into novel products, ubiquitous computing enables the interconnection of multiple devices (Iansiti and Lakhani, 2014). In particular, the internet of things (IoT) has a strong potential to transform products, services and whole industries (Manyika et al., 2015). The IoT constitutes a \"dynamic global network infrastructure with self-configuring capabilities based on standard and interoperable communication protocols where physical and virtual things [...] use intelligent interfaces, and are seamlessly integrated into the information network\" (Vermesan and Friess, 2014, p. 15). Companies like Nest, SmartThings and Axeda, for instance, link billions of devices worldwide. Moreover, established firms like GE and Cisco have started to develop and offer numerous IoT-based products and services, increasingly extending to virtually all areas of everyday life. More and more, smart, connected products are questioning the traditional logic of how value is created and captured, offering firms new possibilities for business model innovations (Porter and Heppelmann, 2014).\nRole of risks in digital business model innovation: Risk management refers to the process of assessing, treating and monitoring risks (e.g. ISO/IEC 33000). Traditionally, managers focus on risk management at the operational level, while its strategic role in the multi-partner business model innovation remains under-investigated (Calandro, 2015). Conventional risk management techniques like VaR (Value at Risk) rely on quantitative and historic data and on predicting and controlling specific risk events. Thus, they provide little help for digital business model innovations.\nHow digital technology transforms the energy industry: In the past, the success of German energy supply companies resulted from the ownership of big centralized power plants that mass-produced electricity for a large number of households and industrial customers. In this business environment, energy providers gained competitive advantages by building on the economies of scale. This business model, however, is increasingly under siege from the shift toward decentralization of production, ecological consciousness of customers (de-carbonization and the so-called \"German nuclear exit\"), as well as the liberalization of energy markets. Realizing this dramatic change and addressing it through innovation strategies is crucial for firms competing in energy markets. The municipal utility companies that used to rely heavily on conventional (fossil) power plants are currently facing significant disruption through increasing capacity additions of renewable energies. For these companies, an innovative response that compensates for the loss of market share involves offering consultancy services and new storage solutions for the fluctuating renewable power supply. This change leads to a fundamental transformation of the underlying business model where the IoT and Big Data offer many new business opportunities for energy providers because the collected data can help to develop new products and services for customers, including weather forecasts, energy consumption data and optimization of connected electricity flows.\nVirtual power plants (VPP): a digital business model innovation in the energy sector: Mainly caused by highly fluctuating feed-in times of renewable energies, a stable energy supply, in particular a reliable base load that enables companies to ensure their power supply, has become much more important than in previous years. VPPs provide an innovative solution to this problem as they integrate several small, decentralized power-generating units, especially renewable ones such as photovoltaic, wind farms and biogas plants.\nVPP case study methodology: To address co-innovation risks in digital business models, the paper adopts an exploratory multiple-case study research design that allows us to research unexplored topics (Yin, 2014). For an in-depth examination of the risks, the authors conducted 22 semi-structured interviews with managers from leading German energy utilities, as well as major providers of VPP technology. We chose the case companies for their popularity and their market position, deliberately choosing pioneers, as well as fast and late followers, to compare their differing approaches. To provide a holistic view, we included perspectives from all ecosystem actors over the value chain. For instance, we interviewed leading project managers from the supply side (power operators), the customer side (industry, grid operator), internal project managers, as well as leading research institutes for industry standard development. In addition, we collected, clustered and listed 36 press articles and official documents along with internal documents (partnership agreements, supplier conditions, legal documents, etc.). Finally, we included the observations made by one of the authors who participated in the VPP project in one of the case companies for more than 10 weeks.\nManagement of risks in digital business model innovations: a new framework: From the in-depth analysis of both the best and the worst practices and experiences mentioned by the interview partners, our research findings suggest a four-step framework for the management of risks associated with the innovation of business models with multiple partners (see Figure 2).\nFirst step: mapping the ecosystem and interdependencies: The major challenge of this step is to assess whether the company is maneuvering through the interplay of several interdependencies. Managers need to identify their ecosystem partners and their roles first. The actors participating in the digital business model innovation are, for instance, the providers of technical components, complementary products and services, as well as the marketers and the customers.\nSecond step: risk identification: Following the insights gained in step one, managers should identify distinct categories of risks associated with the innovative business model. First, there are typical risks of internal corporate R&D and product innovation projects (e.g. development of a new component). These risks can be mitigated with well-known technology and innovation management tools, such as the Stage-Gate(r) model. Another category of risks relates to the strategic environment of the company and its dynamics (e.g. market changes, appearance of new substitute technologies, governmental interventions, etc.). Those external risks, such as tightening of ecological regulations, can seriously affect the new ecosystem and its actors.\nThird step: risk assessment with the risk radar: To map and assess risks, many companies deploy a risk response matrix. This popular managerial tool reflects two key risk dimensions - the potential impact, or magnitude, and the likelihood of a certain risk (Aabo et al., 2005). Our research shows, however, that when many partners innovate the digital business model, such as VPP, this approach to risk assessment has to expand. Relational and performance risks can be contagious, as they might affect not only the given contractual partner but other interdependencies within the ecosystem, passing problems onto other companies in the value network, such as complementary innovators, intermediaries and system integrators.\nFourth step: collaborate with innovation partners: After identifying and assessing the interdependencies and risks, organizational decision-makers must be able to come up with a strategic action plan. For successfully managing the risks of digital business model innovations, it is crucial to integrate selected partners in this process. Depending on the allocation of responsibility for mitigating particular risks and the decision whether those risks are manageable independently or collaboratively, we suggest the following risk matrix that helps draw detailed mitigation plans for specific types of risks (see Figure 4).\nConclusion: In sum, this paper reveals that digital business model innovations do not only give birth to new business opportunities, but they also give rise to serious new risks. These risks result from interdependencies between multiple partners who take part in the business model innovation. Therefore, organizational decision-makers have to identify, assess and manage these risks in a strategic manner. To make digitally enabled ecosystems both profitable and sustainable, risk management calls for new strategies that transcend the boundaries of a single firm and build on collaboration between interdependent partners to create mutual value. By applying such collaborative approaches to risk management, firms can strengthen the relationships with key partners and gain the ability to manage complex innovation activities needed to set up digital business models. Collaborative risk management, thus, has to become an essential part of the new approach to the risk management in technology-driven industries.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Past research demonstrated that novel IT-based business models generate tremendous returns for innovators. However, the risks associated with these innovations remain under-explored. This paper aims to address this critical gap analyzing risks and offering important insights particularly for practitioners.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors adopted an exploratory multiple-case study research design. It draws on 22 semi-structured interviews with managers from leading energy utilities, as well as leading providers of virtual power plants technology within the German energy industry.\nFindings: The research reveals that main risks in new digital business models in the energy sector are associated with three forms of interdependence between innovation actors: the regulatory, the technological and the collaborative. To deal with these interdependencies, the authors propose an original multi-step risk management framework. This framework considers the outreach as a critical dimension for risk assessment and offers a new risk response matrix to draw individual and collective mitigation activities for specific types of risks.\nPractical implications: This paper offers a framework for the management of interdependence risks that are fundamental for business model innovations based on IT. Thus, it is applicable in companies both inside the energy sector and beyond.\nOriginality/value: This paper analyzes an important digital business model innovation that has not yet been explored in management literature - the virtual power plant (VPP). It is based on original and current empirical work and proposes a novel risk management framework for business organizations.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Nutritional status as a determinant of cognitive development among preschool children in South-Western Nigeria	[ "Nutritional status", "Cognition", "Preschool children" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Improving the health of children under the age of five is one of the main objectives of primary healthcare services in most developing countries. Similarly, the presence of comprehensive primary healthcare programs in developing countries to include a provision for improving the nutritional status of mothers and young children, is very essential in attaining the \"Health for All\" goal by the World Health Organization which includes attaining health security for all and increasing healthy life expectancy (Roy, 2000).\nMaterials and methods: This is a cross-sectional study that was carried out at Ikenne-Remo, in Ikenne Local Government (IKLG) Area of Ogun State, Nigeria. Ethical Approval for this study was obtained from the Ethics and Research Committee of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital Lagos, and permission was received from the zonal education officer of the education authority of IKLG and head teachers of the participating schools. Parental consent was obtained from the parents of the children used for the study.\nResults: A total of 220 mothers were recruited for the study and were given questionnaires to fill. There was an even distribution of 110 mothers each among the public and private schools. Table I shows the socio demographic variables of the mothers of the preschool children. A higher percentage of the mothers both in the public (47.3 percent) and private (53.6 percent) schools were within the age range of 31-40 years. The commonest occupation of the mothers was farming (38.5 percent) and trading (38.5 percent) in public and private schools, respectively. Majority of the study participants lived with both parents while 6.4 percent from public and 3.6 percent from private lived with single parent. A larger proportion in public schools had primary education (40.9 percent) but there was a preponderance of post-secondary education among mothers in private schools (51.8 percent).\nDiscussion: This study was carried out among preschool children in public and private schools in a semi-urban town in South-West Nigeria and it assessed the nutritional status and cognitive development of the children. Relationship between the various malnutrition indicators - stunting, underweight and wasting - and cognitive development were however examined. Relationship between the mothers socio demographic factors and child nutritional status and cognition were assessed. Environmental factors that could influence the nutritional status and cognition of the child were identified in this study.\nLimitation: Special education needs were not taken into account in this study.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Improving the health of children under the age of five is one of the main objectives of primary healthcare services in most developing countries. The purpose of this paper is to identify the nutritional status of children under the age of five and its impact on cognitive function.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The cross-sectional study was carried out in a semi-urban community in south-western Nigeria. The sample consisted of 220 school children under the age of five. Anthropometric measurements including weight, height and mid arm circumference were carried out to determine the nutritional status of the children. Cognitive function of the children was assessed using a developmental checklist developed by the American Academy of Pediatrics and their performance was graded as good, fair and poor.\nFindings: The overall prevalence of malnutrition in this study was low with stunting, underweight and wasting recording 8.2, 6.8 and 1.8 percent, respectively thereby making stunting the most common malnutrition indicator in this study. A large proportion of the children (88.6 percent) had good cognitive performance while 11.4 and 5.5 percent had fair and poor cognitive performance, respectively. Among the various malnutrition indicators measured in this study, stunting was found to have a statistically significant association with cognitive development (p=0.005).Stunted children have multiple functional disadvantages that persist throughout childhood and poor nutrition almost certainly plays a role. This paper calls for a need for the Nigerian Government to intervene by ensuring that policies are implemented that will ensure that health and nutritional needs of preschool children are guaranteed right from conception.\nOriginality/value: In view of the importance of nutrition for cognition in children, this research has shown that the cognitive function of preschool children can be affected by stunting and it has contributed to global data on nutrition and cognition particularly in South-Western Nigeria.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A rationale for alliancing within a public-private partnership	[ "Project procurement", "Risk management", "PPP", "Collaboration", "Project alliances" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Large-scale infrastructure projects are highly complex not only from a technical perspective but also from the task of coordinating, integrating and managing the extensive number of project parties involved in the project design and delivery. Project owners (POs) and their representatives (PORs) are faced with high levels of risk that planned costs and time will be exceeded and that expected project outputs and beneficial outcomes will not be fully realised (Flyvbjerg et al., 2002; Flyvbjerg, 2007). Critical and pivotal elements of undertaking effective project risk management relate to considering the way that projects are procured. Choice of contractual arrangements that determine how the PO/POR and the project parties involved in the design and delivery may be structured and integrated, and how the way that relationships between all members in the project are managed, are significant project procurement concerns.\nInfrastructure procurement options: hands-off or hands-on?: In Australia, and many other countries, public infrastructure projects such as road networks have traditionally been designed by the state government public works road works authority. Projects were tendered on a design-bid-build (DBB) basis and the successful contractor delivered what was specified. Necessary changes to the project design was subject to contract change amendments with cost and time claims being strictly transactional managed by the POR. Changes were made to accommodate missing or uncertain information at the time of tender and to cope with PO/POR induced delays. The tendered response rarely resembled the final cost or completion time. A distinct command hierarchy prevailed - the POR, the design team, the contractor and finally sub-contractors and materials suppliers. There was very little collaborative problem solving between these level (Masterman, 2002; Winch, 2003).\nPPP and PA project delivery context in Australia: Regan et al. (2011) conclude that PPPs have a mixed but generally positive record of success over the 50+ projects undertaken in Australia for State Governments but that they are no panacea. It must be remembered that a PPP locks in the PO to a long concession period so that changes in context, technology through innovation, or cyclical changes in demographics and other factors that informed assumptions made in the initial business case can leave the PO with a low-value asset when it is returned after the concession period. It is for this reason that the PO may wish to choose a greater \"hands-on\" approach in interacting with the project delivery teams such as that which is experienced in PAs.\nData analysis approach: Inspiration that guided our analysis was drawn from a grounded theory approach (Glaser and Strauss, 1967; Strauss and Corbin, 1998; Corbin et al., 2008) where by data relating to concepts (such as the scope or scale of the project) can be grouped into sub-categories (such as SOCK's technical scope and scale) that are grouped into high-level categories. We used open coding initially as recommended by Corbin and Strauss (1990, p. 12) who state that \"[...] in open coding, events/actions/interactions are compared with others for similarities and differences\" and then axial coding in which \"categories are related to their subcategories, and the relationships tested against data\" (Corbin and Strauss, 1990, p. 13). In practice, the transcripts and other background data were imported into an NVivo10 project file and analysed by the two researchers.\nCase study details: This case study is, to our knowledge, a first of its kind attempt of alliancing within a PPP. The PPP project comprised the construction of an AUD$4.8 billion, 6.7-kilometer dual tunnel toll road that we will refer to as the Oz1Airportlink project. The project was set up as a PPP \"design-construct-operate-maintain contract\" between the Oz1Airportlink consortium as the SPV, and the state government where the project is situated. The consortium consisted of two of Australia's largest construction companies (Huge1 and Huge2), and a major project financing company. The role of the consortium was to finance, D&C, operate, and maintain the Oz1Airportlink until 2053.\nAnalysis and results: Based on our use of analysis of data using the Engwall Framework illustrated in Figure 1, results indicate that much of the answer to our research question can be found in the analysis of past experience, the technical content and PA policy. The relational aspect can however be divided into more contextual, and more individual-based factors. All interviewees were clear about one determining factor - complexity, both technical and relational. This complexity drove a need to be flexible and that in turn drove behaviours that are consistent with PA behaviours. Motivation was also driven by past experience, incentivisation and learning for collaboration along with incentives that could be structured into a PA form of delivery. Figure 3 illustrates the main drivers for making the SOCK decision.\nDiscussion: Part of the uniqueness of this case study is the conceptualisation of the procurement choices and the JV made about this project. The SPV's competing consortia for this PPP took a more traditional view and conceptualised themselves as delivering a project entirely through a D&C for the design and construction phase and then being the concessionaires taking responsibility for the ownership and operation during the concession phase (see Figure 2). It did not occur to them that the Oz1Airportlink consortium's model could not also be a viable procurement solution. SPV-A, Huge2-A and Huge1-C who were intimately involved at the PPP tender stage stated that the PA solution for SOCK was a competitive advantage that their competitors did not seriously consider. This was an experimental PA for the Oz1Airportlink consortium. The PA was confined to the tunnel fitout works because there was a vast amount of interfaces between M&E and civil work that suggests a PA form to be a suitable solution. The three PA parties had experience of both working in PAs together as well as in a contractor and sub-contractor relationship. It can be argued that this PA within a D&C could be possible workable for any D&C project and thus extend advantages of the PA form where it is best suited while segregating the project into what is in effect a programme of projects where not only a PA+D&C could be a solution but a PA+D&C and even DBB projects within the programme of works. This opens up possibilities of re-thinking such large infrastructure projects as being programmes of projects all of which can be separately procured in the most suitable form.\nConclusions: This paper took its starting-point in a first of its kind attempt of a PA within a PPP. By that we have attempted to provide a unique understanding of the underlying rational leading up to such an innovative and novel configuration. From the case study, it can be concluded that Oz1Airportlink chose to create the SOCK PA on the basis of the need for close collaboration and team integration, knowledge and perspective sharing and all the features offered by a PA to combat adverse effects experienced on non-alliance projects that presented similar technically and relationally complex problems to solve. It is consequently possible to design a PA approach within a PPP for large and complex infrastructure projects and this can provide a competitive advantage to do so, however, the reasons for doing so should be clear and compelling. Parties to such an arrangement should be prepared to fully engage through adopting full PA principles. In such a case as this, the PPP SPV takes on the role of \"PO\" that normally the public body part of the PPP would normally adopt.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This case study was chosen for its rare, if not unique, project procurement strategy. It is, to the authors' knowledge, the only example of a project alliance (PA) being undertaken within a public-private partnership (PPP) project delivery approach. The purpose of this paper is to explore the case study from a strategic perspective to better understand if it is possible to combine a PA within a less collaborative procurement form, such as PPP or design and construct (D&C), and to determine if there were any specific prerequisite conditions needed for such an arrangement to be successfully adopted.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A single exploratory case study was undertaken through interviewing seven of the most senior project participant executives for approximately an hour that each had a separate and unique perspective to offer relating to the organisational role they represented in the PA. These interviewees were identified as the most knowledgeable key executives participating in the PA from whom both strategic and operational insights could be gained.\nFindings: It is possible to design a PA approach within a PPP for large and complex infrastructure projects and this can provide a competitive advantage to do so, however, the reasons for doing so should be clear and compelling. Parties to such an arrangement should be prepared to fully engage through adopting full PA principles. In such a case as this, the PPP special purpose vehicle takes on the role of \"project owner\" that normally the public body part of the PPP would normally adopt.\nResearch limitations/implications: This research reports upon a single case study within a specific project delivery culture that has extensive experience of PAs. Demonstrated positive project outcomes would not be likely to be more generally repeatable across the engineering infrastructure sector unless parties engaged within such a PA had not already experienced and understood outcomes resulting from such a close collaboration.\nPractical implications: This research has implications for project participants bidding for PPP projects as well as others using a D&C tending approach. It offers a potential competitive advantage because it demonstrates and explains how choices may be expanded beyond a simple single project procurement strategy approach.\nSocial implications: Many PPP and PA infrastructure projects are delivered to provide community benefit. This paper provides a way to improve the project delivery process and thus improving value to the community.\nOriginality/value: The paper makes three contributions. Primarily, it pioneers analysis of a PA within a PPP. Second, it provides important insights into the reasons and emergence of this phenomenon. Finally, it provides an understanding of this how this novel form of early contractor involvement with a PPP special purpose ownership vehicle that combines competition and collaboration may function operationally.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Engaging teacher educators with the sustainability agenda: A case study of a pilot professional development program from Ethiopia	[ "Professional development", "Teacher training", "Sub-Saharan Africa", "Capacity building", "Global south", "Whole-institution approach" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: With the beginning of the implementation of UNESCO's (2014) Global Action Programme (GAP), education for sustainable development (ESD) has entered a global phase of mainstreaming and implementation (Michelsen, 2015). While the previous phase under the umbrella of the United Nation's Decade on ESD was characterized by its broad scope and the diversity of objectives that resulted from national priorities and emphases, the GAP calls on educators and policy makers to focus their efforts on five priority action areas (PAAs). Higher education institutions (HEIs) are challenged to engage with policy makers to promote the integration of ESD in educational and sustainable development policies (PAA 1), to adopt whole institution approaches (PAA 2), to contribute to capacity building among educators and trainers (PAA 3), to multiply ESD actions among youths (PAA 4) and to engage more intensively with their local communities to support transition processes toward sustainable development (PAA 5). While research output and the evidence-base in the field of research on higher education for sustainable development (HESD) has increased significantly over the past years, there is still an apparent lack of practical experiences and solid research on approaches that effectively manage to engage professional educators in higher education with ESD in the context of developing countries from non-Western contexts, especially from the Global South (Karatzoglou, 2013; Barth and Rieckmann, 2015).\nHigher education for sustainable development and the challenge of professional development: Conceptual approaches to professional development in higher education for sustainable development\nCase background: environment and sustainability in Ethiopia: In Ethiopia, humans and environmental resources co-existed harmoniously by caring for each other until the second half of the nineteenth century (GebreEgziabher, 2008). Since then, according to GebreEgziabher, the centralization of state power undermined and impaired local governance. The increasingly strengthening central government thus lost sensitivity for effective environmental management at local levels, thereby contributing to a downhill spiral of environmental degradation throughout the country. Similarly, Tedla and Lemma (1998) consider the period before the Second World War as a time when pillage of natural resources was a commonplace. In addition to the pillage, the system of agriculture, which was mainly cereal based, depended on clearing large areas of land for cultivation.\nThe potential of teacher education for mainstreaming education for sustainable development in Ethiopia: Education is considered as an important approach to achieve the aforementioned goals and policy provisions, thereby guiding the country into a more sustainable future. ESD is called for, referenced and supported in key national policy documents and frameworks such as the Education and Training Policy (ETP) and the Education Sector Development Programs (ESDPs) (MOE, 2010). The current ETP gives due emphasis to environmental and sustainability issues both in its vision and objectives. The policy was, for instance, said to envisage\nThe case study: a pilot professional development program: Methodology\nCritical appraisal: This section provides a more evaluative and interpretative view on the PDP and its achievements and shortcomings. We will first discuss how successfully the general models and principles of the PD programs have materialized in the case presented. Second, we will then reflect on the specific constellation that involved two partners, each one from the Global North and the Global South, in developing the PDP. Here, we will specifically address processes of translation, adaptation and innovation that took place in the course of the delivery of the PDP.\nConclusions: The case study of a pilot PDP in Ethiopia seeking to build capacity and structures for implementing HESD has provided some overall findings that contribute to the increasing knowledge base on PD in HESD. Three lessons emerge with relevance for the broader context: these refer to:\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: There is broad consensus that the implementation of education for sustainable development (ESD) requires the consideration of geographical and cultural contexts. Despite such an agreement at a theoretical level, there is so far an apparent lack of practical experiences and solid research on approaches that effectively manage to engage professional educators in higher education with ESD in the context of a developing country from the Global South. This paper aims to address this gap and present a case study from a pilot professional development program (PDP) that sought to implement and mainstream ESD among Ethiopian colleges of teacher education (CTEs) and theological seminaries (TSs).\nDesign/methodology/approach: The research presented is based on the methodology of evaluative case study research in ESD. It analyzes the PDP's specific objectives with regard to capacity and structure building, describes major activities implemented and how these relate to the objectives and explores major outcomes of the PDP.\nFindings: The paper presents a comprehensive training curriculum aimed at addressing ESD in Ethiopian CTEs and TSs in a whole-institution approach. Results suggest that the PDP's approach to combine human capacity and institutional structure building was effective in supporting the implementation and mainstreaming of ESD in CTEs and TSs in Ethiopia.\nOriginality/value: This case study presents original research on a pilot Ethiopian PDP that was implemented in collaboration with two academic institutions from Ethiopia and Germany.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Implementation of best-value procurement for highway design and construction in the USA	[ "Design and development", "Selection", "USA", "Procurement", "Highways", "Project delivery methods" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Transportation agencies have historically used a low-bid approach to procure construction services. Under the low-bid approach, price is a sole competitive factor. Non-price factors such as qualifications, experience, technical approaches, and innovative solutions are not considered. While the low-bid approach is inherently transparent, it does not always offer the best performance during and after construction. As a result, a number of transportation agencies are increasingly using best-value procedures in an effort to improve project quality and enhance project performance.\n2. Background: Different from the low-bid procurement system, best-value procurement incorporates factors in addition to cost or price in the selection process. Since the price is not the only consideration for award, best-value procurement allows the owner to select the contractor with the optimal combination of price and other factors to achieve project goals and improve the long-term performance. These other factors will vary on a project-by-project basis, but they typically include: technical and managerial merits, financial health, and past performance (Gransberg and Ellicott, 1997; Gransberg et al., 2006). State agencies confirmed that the optimal choice of the evaluation factors and their relevant weights to promote competition is fundamental to a successful best-value procurement approach (Abdelrahman et al., 2008). Research has also shown that the main goal for a best-value selection is to obtain the optimum combination of price and technical capabilities of a contractor (Abdelrahman et al., 2008; Molenaar and Johnson, 2003). For public project contracts, best-value procurements allow government contracting agencies to evaluate offers based on total procurement costs, technical solutions, and completion dates (Molenaar and Johnson, 2003).\n3. Research motivation: Selecting the most advantageous contractor for a best-value project is a challenging task. The selection process often involves evaluating both objective elements (e.g. completion within schedule, compliance with material and workmanship requirements, or safety record) and subjective elements (e.g. effective management of subcontractors, proactive measures to mitigate stakeholder impacts, or experience on projects of similar size and complexity) (Scott et al., 2006; Gransberg and Shane, 2014).\n4. Research method: The research approach included three primary tasks. A literature review was first employed to synthesize best-value procurement practices from existing documentation. The findings of the literature review informed the data collection and analysis approaches for the second and third tasks. The second task involved a national survey of state highway agencies to gather information the procedures and maturity with best-value procurement. The survey was used to draw conclusions and identify agencies for case studies. The case studies validated the information from the first two tasks and provided additional information for the final conclusions.\n5. Case study selection and descriptions: The unit of analysis for this study is a state DOT. Seven state DOTs were selected for case studies using the following criteria: years of best-value procurement experience; use of best-value procurement with different project delivery methods including design-bid-build (D-B-B), design-build (D-B), and construction manager/general contractor (CM/GC); number of best-value projects; and comprehensiveness and availability of best-value process documentation. The DOTs of California, Florida, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Oregon, and Utah participated in this study. Participation required a structured interview, documentation review, and a review of the final analysis by agency personnel for accuracy. Table I provides the summary-level information from these seven state DOTs in the order of years of experience with the use of best-value procurement. A more detailed description of each case study follows.\n6. Findings and discussions: This section discusses the findings from the seven case studies. The research findings involve information on how procedures and practices impact transparency and fairness of the best-value selection process. These findings are classified into three main categories: evaluation committee structure, best-value procurement training, and best-value selection debriefings.\n7. Conclusions: While public clients use best-value procurement widely across multiple sectors, there are concerns with transparency in the system. These concerns are amplified in the transportation sector because, for most of its history, the US highway system was constructed by the lowest bidder. Low-bid procurement is inherently transparent because it requires only the evaluation of price. Best-value procurement requires the evaluation of both price and non-price factors. Non-price factors are scored by technical evaluators who are often required to exercise engineering judgment to arrive at an evaluation rating. Thus, the construction and consulting industries have expressed concerns about transparency and fairness of a best-value selection process.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate procedures and practices to promote transparency in best-value procurement for the design and construction of highway projects with the goal of improving this evolving procurement method.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The review of published empirical studies, a national survey of transportation agencies, and case studies of highway agencies form the basis of the conclusions in this research. In addition to the national survey, with 46 of 52 agencies participating, the research presents case studies from seven highway agencies in the USA including: California, Florida, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Oregon, and Utah. These seven case studies were selected from agencies that employ mature best-value procurement methods. The case studies involved a thorough procedural review and structured interviews of agency personnel. The agencies then validated the results and conclusions.\nFindings: The results showed that evaluation committees should include technical members who do not have a personal interest in the outcome of the selection to maintain transparency in best-value projects. The committees should receive best-value procurement training, which necessitates the development of consistent and transparent best-value selection procedures. Debriefing meetings should be conducted to provide comments about strengths and weaknesses of each proposal to enhance fairness and transparency of the best-value selection process.\nResearch limitations/implications: Knowledge of the best-value procurement procedure will allow researchers to better understand the impact of procedures and practices on transparency in selecting best-value projects. The chief limitation of this research is that the primary data were collected from highway agencies in the USA. Any future research should include more data to enhance the validity of this study outside of the public transportation sector.\nPractical implications: The result of this research will help transportation agencies and other public owners to improve their best-value procurement procedures. The findings of this research also address the construction and consulting industry's concern about transparency and fairness of a best-value selection process.\nOriginality/value: This research is the first attempt to examine the impact of the evaluation committee, best-value training, and debriefings on transparency of best-value selection.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Digital support for medication administration : A means for reaching the goal of providing good care?	[ "Perceptions", "Values", "Elderly care", "Communications technology", "Medication administration" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nBackground: The purpose of this paper is to find out how staff, mostly registered nurses (RNs) and unlicensed staff at sheltered livings, perceived a tool aimed at support medication administration by using already existing technologies in a new way. A second purpose is to reach beyond descriptions and thereby we also intend to interpret staffs' underlying values.\nIntroduction: The Swedish welfare state, which includes sheltered livings for the elderly, has changed direction since being influenced by the neoliberal trend of new public management (NPM). Efficiency and customer driven organization are forces behind this management style where clear goals and service is accountable on behalf of the service provider, are part of the discourse (Skalen, 2004; Vabo, 2009). According to politicians, information and communication technology (ICT) can be a solution for future demands in health care, and is in line with NPMs' vision of creating effective business-like organizations (National eHealth Strategy, 2010). ICT belongs to the broader concept of eHealth that can be defined as \"in a broader sense, the term characterizes not only a technical development, but also a state of mind, a way of thinking, an attitude, and a commitment for networked, global thinking, to improve health care locally, regionally, and worldwide by using information and communication technology\" (Eysenbach, 2001, p. 2). The DSM in this study can be related to this definition as a technical development of an already existing technology, a new way of using smartphones and computers in the process of administration of medications at sheltered livings. Also, it can relate to the definition by its demand on staff to accept a way of thinking about their work that by history and tradition is considered bodywork (Twigg, 2000).\nMethods: Design\nResults: The analysis resulted in three descriptive categories (Table II). Each category contains variations that are presented beneath each descriptive category in Table II. Interpreted values (Figure 1) are based on the manifest content from the descriptive categories.\nDiscussion: The result of this study has shown how staffs perceived a DSM. Furthermore, underlying values derived from staffs' perceptions have been interpreted and considered to contribute to staffs' acceptance or rejection of the eventual implementation of the DSM. Our interpretation is that the value of a good working environment, benefits and good economy are of great importance for accepting or rejecting the DSM as a means of reaching the goal of providing good care.\nMethodological considerations: This study has two approaches: manifest and interpretive. For gaining transparency in the analysis and interpretation, the process was done in collaboration between the three authors and also discussed at an open manuscript seminar. The reflective notes were part of this process, and these were written by the first author but all three had access to them during the entire analysis. We considered group interviews most suitable for collecting data because of the positive aspect of this method to stimulate and widen thoughts that might not be possible to reach individually. One downside to using focus groups is that they might impede some opinions that are not acceptable in a group setting since all workplaces are embedded in a culture built on collective norms. The authors of this study were aware of this and explicitly talked about this before each group session and participants were reminded during the interviews. There were groups that had opposite arguments and there were groups where staffs sometimes questioned each other and this strengthens our picture of the discussions as being open and dynamic.\nImplications: This studies results could be used as guidance for administrators, managers and staffs to start reflecting on and thereafter discuss values of importance when arguing for or against any suggested change. Values as a ground for the goal of an organization or a workplace can be a starting point for discussing how, by what means, can we achieve the goal. Foremost, there is a need to identify and on democratic grounds overlook how these goals are obtained. Also, the practical view of the staffs' work needs to be considered when development work is performed - only they can offer the practical insight to how the introduction of any ICT solution will affect them. To elucidate and discuss values (extrinsic values) should be reinforced to create a physical and psychical environment that supports the goal of staffs' everyday work, to give good care (intrinsic value) to the residential living at the sheltered livings. Politicians and policymakers may be over-emphasizing the positive effects in their belief that ICT will solve future challenges in health care. Much more concern to the care-giving process and its challenges from staffs' perspectives is needed, especially in big complex organizations where economy and effectiveness is important. It is of great value to involve and listen to the staffs' arguments for or against new technological solutions to use in health care. Concern to power relations and gender perspectives on innovation and implementation processes in municipality health care organizations might be fruitful to explore furthermore. In fact, in municipality-based care, this might need to be critically explored.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe staffs' perceptions of digital support for medication administration (DSM) and out of the perceptions interpret underlying values.\nDesign/methodology/approach: In total, 22 persons working in elder care participated in the study. The study had a qualitative approach and focus group interviews were used to collect data. To analyze the manifest content a phenomenographic method was used. An interpretation of perceptions was then undertaken aimed at identifying underlying values.\nFindings: Three descriptive categories, \"utility,\" \"impact on working environment\" and \"economic impact\" were the result of the manifest analysis. The values of having a \"good working environment,\" \"benefits\" and \"good economy\" were interpreted as guidance for staffs' acceptance or rejection of the DSM.\nSocial implications: The care-giving process and its challenges from the perspective of the staffs need consideration. Staffs in this study sometimes expressed strong emotions as a sign of frustration for losing prerequisites to perform their work well. In big complex organizations where economy and effectiveness are often discussed, knowledge of power relations in innovation and implementation processes would be beneficial. Although moral distress is a well-known phenomenon, future research may be needed to find solutions that diminish this negative trend in more economic focussed organizations.\nOriginality/value: This study had a twofold approach with the intention of going beyond descriptions. To gain a deeper understanding a normative interpretation was completed. Ethical conflicts are frequently characterized as conflicts between at least two values. In this study staffs expressed fear of losing prerequisites needed to perform their work well. Prerequisites that were identified as values and these values were threatened by the DSM.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
End users' purchasing task involvement, power and influence strategies in organizational buying	[ "Power", "Users", "Trucks", "Influence strategies", "Organizational buying processes", "Purchasing task involvement" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Organizational buying behavior is one of the most prominent streams of research in the field of industrial marketing (Kaufmann et al., 2017; Cortez and Johnston, 2017; Sincic Coric et al., 2017). Scholars have long been attracted by the complexity of organizational purchasing because of the number of people, the multiplicity of responsibilities and roles involved and the impact of purchasing on companies' profitability and performance (Mogre et al., 2017). A large number of studies have therefore assessed how organizational buying decisions are made, and who and what factors affect decisions and outcomes (Sincic Coric et al., 2017 for a recent review).\n2. The role of end users in organizational buying processes: Studies about individuals' influence on buying processes make up a large body of research in the stream of literature on organizational buying behavior (Kauffman, 1996; Mogre et al., 2017). One aspect, however, is under-researched compared to others: the role of end users (Celuch et al., 2007). Users generally have a low position in the formal organizational hierarchy (Ronchetto et al., 1989). They are therefore frequently assumed to be passive recipients of purchasing decisions taken by more senior organizational members (Tanner, 1998; Abrell et al., 2016), and volunteer or sporadic rather than legitimate participants in purchasing processes (Tanner, 1998). A thorough analysis of the literature to gauge the current state of knowledge about end users' influence of organizational purchasing (see Table I) shows that the majority of studies investigating the influence of end users focused on their roles at different stages of the industrial purchasing process.\n3. Power and influence strategies in organizational buying: Previous studies have stressed the need to link individuals' influence in buying centers with power (Kohli and Zaltman, 1988; Kohli, 1989; Ronchetto et al., 1989; Ramsay, 1994; Katrichis, 1998; Katrichis and Ryan, 1998; Farrell and Schroder, 1999). Several frameworks of power are used in industrial marketing research (Cowan et al., 2015), but French and Raven's (1959) conceptualization is the one most frequently applied to organizational purchasing (Meehan and Wright, 2012). French and Raven's work was originally designed to explain supervisor-subordinate hierarchical relationships (Raven, 1993, 1999), making it well-suited for use in examining decisions (including buying decisions) involving different organizational roles. Five bases of power are generally considered (French and Raven, 1959): reinforcement, referent, legitimate, expert and information power. Actors can induce others to comply with their requests because: they are in a position to mete out rewards/punishments (reinforcement power); others have regard and esteem for them (referent); they hold a particular formal rank within the organization (legitimate); they are knowledgeable about relevant issues (expert) or they have access to and control relevant information that others do not (information power).\n4. Methodology: Heavy truck purchasing was chosen as the research setting. Trucks are capital equipment, so their purchasing should require a high level of collegiality, even though they are often purchased on fixed terms (on average, once every five to seven years). Under these circumstances, purchasing can be framed as modified rebuy, a situation in which the level of users' involvement in the buying process is expected to be low (Robinson et al., 1967). Trucks are, however, used by end users on a daily basis, so could also be considered a buying task in which end users' involvement should be high. Heavy truck purchasing was also considered an optimal setting because of the specificity of the product. According to recent research on trucks and truck drivers (Pedeliento et al., 2016), trucks are a special case of business-to-business product because of the high degree of product-subject interaction, with trucks being both a working tool and the driver's workplace. Pedeliento et al. (2016) argued that this interaction means that users are more likely to develop feelings toward the product that extend beyond its function and may even result in the development of emotional attachment.\n5. Findings and discussion: 5.1 Purchasing task involvement\n6. Conclusions: This study contributes to research on influence in organizational buying processes by focusing on a category of buying center members seldom analyzed in previous studies: end users. Several industrial firms are now seeking to target end users to boost sales and penetrate deeper into business-to-business organizations, but research on the topic is still in short supply.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: End users are often involved in organizational buying, but very little is known about the role that they play and how they influence purchasing decisions. This study aims to explore the factors behind end users' attempts to influence purchasing and the strategies they use.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The research draws on the concept of purchasing task involvement, which describes the feelings of personal relevance that a buying center member has for a specific organizational purchasing decision. This concept is used to gain a deeper understanding of users' influence in organizational purchasing and link it to sources of power and the corresponding influence strategies. The study is based on 90 in-depth interviews with buyers, drivers and sellers of heavy trucks.\nFindings: End users' purchasing task involvement is only marginally determined by the product's performance or technical features. Purchasing task involvement leads to influence when there are specific power relationships between the buyer and the user and under specific circumstances.\nOriginality/value: This is the first study that links end users' purchasing task involvement, power and influence strategies in organizational buying.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Moderating role of involvement in building a retail brand	[ "Retailing", "Brand equity", "Brands", "Consumer behaviour" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: While there certainly are many psychological effects on the relationship between the \"objective\" reality of a retailer and the way in which consumers perceive it (Luomala, 2003), the present study concentrates on involvement as a moderating factor. Involvement is commonly acknowledged as being a key determinant in consumers' shopping behaviour (including the choice of retail outlets; Steenkamp and Wedel, 1991). The present study assumes that involvement also influences the building of a strong retail brand.Branding can be especially important in retailing, given its highly competitive nature and its strong influence on patronage behaviour (Ailawadi and Keller, 2004; Hartman and Spiro, 2005). Thus, the increasingly widely used view of the retailer as a brand is one of the most important trends in retailing (Grewal et al., 2004). At the same time, empirical studies regarding the retailer as a brand have only been pursued on relatively rare occasions so far (Davies, 1992; Kent, 2003), while substantially more research has been conducted on store image. We have applied the terminological understanding of, e.g. Ailawadi and Keller (2004), and do not equate retail brands with private labels, store brands or retailer brands. Instead the retailer itself is seen as the brand, e.g. Tesco, IKEA or Aldi.The aim of the present study is to analyse how consumer involvement affects the relationship between the perception and evaluation of retailer attributes and customer-based retail brand equity, using multiple-group structural equation modelling. While previous studies concentrate on single retail sectors and raise the question of whether the results can be generalised to cover other retailing sectors (grocery: Morschett et al., 2006; textiles: Birtwistle et al., 1999; Pappu and Quester, 2006; furniture: Groeppel-Klein et al., 1999), the present study does look at the relevance of low-involvement and high-involvement consumers specific to the retail sector, but focuses mainly on the moderating role of involvement intersectorally.Based on the present research on retailer attributes, their impact on customer-based retail brand equity and the role of involvement in this relationship are conceptualised. Hypotheses address the relationship between perception of retailer attributes and retail brand equity, focusing particularly on the moderating role of involvement. Methodology and results form part of the empirical study, which then leads to the overall conclusions.\nConceptual framework, constructs and hypotheses: Conceptualisation of the perception of retailer attributes\nMethodology: Sample characteristics\nHypothesis testing: Analysis of the impact of retailer attributes on customer-based retail brand equity\nDiscussion and implications: The study shows in a general and stable model that evaluation of various dimensions of retailer attributes influences consumer-based retail brand equity, and in what way. On the one hand, this creates an awareness in general of the relevance of store attributes in building a strong retail brand, and on the other hand it is shown that not only one, but also several instruments should be taken into account in explaining retail brand equity. It was not the aim of the present study to break building of a retail brand down to the level of an individual sector or firm; the objective was rather to identify common dimensions of retailer attributes applying intersectorally and which have an impact on retail brand equity. Retailers' service quality seems to be of highest importance, but also the considerable influence of the price and store design have to be highlighted. It underlines the fact that the price, which is often the dominant factor in retailing, should not be overestimated for retailing in general and, in conformity with the actual aims of several price leaders in various sectors in Germany, price should be supplemented by other attributes for positioning of a firm as a retail brand.The main focus of the present study, however, was the role of involvement, which is why the most concrete implications were obtained in this respect. Here, too, the managerial implications are first of all to create an awareness of the importance of involvement, be this in their own sector (from the customer's perspective) and above all to establish their own firm as a strong retail brand. As indicated, the studies conducted so far were only able to assume a difference in perception or in processing of information by customers with low and high involvement. Based on H2, the following discussion focuses on the perceived dimensions of retailer attributes. All in all, it can be concluded that service and assortment have a greater effect on retail brand equity in the customer group with low involvement and that price/value ratio, communication and store design are the dimensions with a higher effect on retail brand equity for consumers with high involvement. It has to be noted that these differences are not significant. The following explanations can be provided for the individual findings based on the preceding discussion of the results of other studies.The influence of service is significantly greater for customers with low involvement than for highly involved customers. There is a plausible reason for this: consumers with high involvement are presumably informed on the product beforehand (Maoz and Tybout, 2002; Park et al., 2007) and thus, do not have to rely entirely on service and advice from sales personnel. In addition, other studies have shown that it is the sales personnel and the perceived service quality they provide in sales situations with low involvement that have an important influence on evaluation of a retail firm. This can even go to such lengths that the outward appearance of the personnel, as an indicator of reliability and competence, influences purchasing behaviour (as demonstrated by Shao et al., 2004); particularly for customers with low involvement.Similar conclusions can be drawn for assortment, which has also been verified as having stronger effects in the consumer group with low involvement. On the other hand, well-informed customers do not appear to require a particularly wide assortment because they have already formed an opinion on the basis of the various information they have gathered and thus, do not need a particularly large selection. This finding, however, should certainly be subjected to future discussion.Closely related to this topic is the considerable importance of store design for consumers with high involvement. Based on the assumption that, due to their greater interest, these consumers have already gained an overview in the so-called pre-purchase phase and formed an opinion, it is important for consumers with high involvement to be able to find their way around a store relatively quickly so that they can locate the desired articles quickly and easily. On the other hand, consumers with high involvement are more receptive to stimuli and information from the store environment. This would also be an exciting topic for more detailed investigation, bearing in mind the many studies on in-store management (Turley and Chebat, 2002).The stronger effect relationship between price/value ratio and retail brand equity found in consumers with high involvement can be explained without doubt by the fact that high-involvement customers have more precise information and conceptions and can also assess the price/value ratio more \"objectively\" (i.e. whether a price reflects the value of products) than consumers with low involvement. As mentioned before, involved consumers value the product more, engage in more product-related activities and have a better knowledge of product attributes and prices (Chandrashekaran and Grewal, 2003; Richins and Bloch, 1986). Thus, the high-involvement customers are influenced more easily by a positively perceived price/value ratio than customers with low involvement, who may not even be directly aware that a price is attractive.The greater importance of communication policy in relation to consumers with high involvement can be explained by the communication indicators of the respective retail firm, the content of which is formulated in relatively concrete terms. If involvement is higher, customers take more notice of the retail firm's communications and can thus form an opinion more easily (Chandrashekaran and Grewal, 2003). On the other hand, customers with low involvement only perceive a firm's communications subliminally or to a limited extent because, for example, they are less interested in the retailer or the retail sector concerned and what it has to offer.These types of consideration can be applied when building a retail brand. All in all, the results discussed show that consumer involvement has a moderating influence on the effect relation between individual perception of retailer brand attributes and retail brand equity, as was expected in view of the central role of involvement as an antecedent for consumer behaviour in general. At the same time, however, it was shown for the first time for retailing in general that different attributes are relevant to retail brand equity, depending on the level of involvement.Of course, the present study is limited in some aspects. A sector-specific view or even an analysis specific to a particular firm would be more meaningful for its management and would also allow precise conclusions to be drawn for retailing sectors and individual firms. On the other hand, covering several sectors in the present study enabled the authors to generalise their observations to a certain extent. It was methodologically important to check the constructs for measuring invariance across the five retail sectors. Furthermore, the fact that the analysis was restricted to a single city has obvious disadvantages. Nevertheless, the main level of competition in retailing is still found locally or specific to a location.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to focus on one of the main antecedents of consumer behaviour concerning its role in building a retail brand. It addresses how consumer involvement influences perception of retailer attributes, which affects customer-based retail brand equity when considering retailers as brands.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A model is developed that includes the impact of central dimensions of the perception of retailer attributes, their effects on customer-based retail brand equity and the moderating role of consumer involvement. The empirical study is based on a sample of 3,000 consumers spread over five retail sectors (grocery, clothing, DIY, electronics and furniture).\nFindings: - Using multiple-group structural equation modelling, the intersectoral relevance of involvement as a moderator in building a strong retail brand is demonstrated. In retailing, consumer involvement has a moderating effect on the influence of retailer attributes on retail brand equity. The direction of this influence differs, however, from one perceived retailer attribute to the next. Whereas the influence of price, communication and store design is greater on highly involved consumers than on those with low involvement, the influence of service and assortment is greater in consumers with low involvement. Since consumers with a different level of involvement have a different perception of retailer attributes, this factor is relevant to retail branding.\nOriginality/value: - Understanding retailers as brands - conceptually - a basic model shows how to build retail brand equity using the dimensions of retailer marketing instruments, and this model is stable enough to test different antecedents, including involvement for the first time in this context. The five sectors surveyed distinguish the study methodologically from those that focus only on one sector. Finally, the results show that the retailer attributes relevant to retail brand equity differ between customers with high involvement and those with low involvement. This aspect must be considered in the preliminary stages of retail brand building.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Online customer experience (OCE) in clothing e-retail: Exploring OCE dimensions and their impact on satisfaction and loyalty - Does gender matter?	[ "Gender", "Loyalty", "Satisfaction", "OCE functionality dimension", "OCE psychological dimension", "Online customer experience (OCE)" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Researchers have highlighted the role of customer experience in driving key business outcomes, such as customer satisfaction and loyalty in the retail purchase context (Klaus, 2013; Palmer, 2010; Verhoef et al., 2009; Tynan and McKechnie, 2009; Gentile et al., 2007) Several characteristics of online shopping, such as the level of interactivity, two-way communication, flexibility to showcase product options and richness of customer behaviour data, influence the online shopping experience. This has led to the emergence of studies, focussing on the importance of online customer experience (OCE) (Trevinal and Stenger, 2014; Grewal et al., 2009). Numerous researchers have explored the conceptualisation of the various dimensions of OCE (Klaus, 2013; Khalifa and Liu, 2007). However, there is a dearth of studies that empirically validate the impact of OCE dimensions on key business outcomes like customer satisfaction and loyalty (Martin et al., 2015; Rose et al., 2012), leading to a research gap.\n2. Conceptual model and hypotheses: This study draws on literature to identify impact of functionality and psychological dimensions of OCE on satisfaction and loyalty of customers. Klaus (2013) identified the functionality OCE dimension as encompassing technical attributes of a website such as, usability, communication, social presence, product presence and interactivity of the website and the psychological dimension of OCE as composed of trust, value for money and context familiarity. The model by Klaus (2013) is based on qualitative inputs from customers buying a search product (books) with data from developed countries. However, this study explores OCE in the context of the clothing category in an emerging market, India, which may differ from developed countries.\n3. Methodology and results: 3.1 Measure development\n4. Discussion: This study adapts, extends and validates the functionality and psychological OCE dimensions in the Indian clothing e-retail context. Six new OCE factors namely e-negative beliefs, e-self-inefficacy, e-logistic ease, e-convenience, e-enjoyment and informativeness are identified. It highlights that both the OCE dimensions impact the customer satisfaction and loyalty in the online clothing context (Martin et al., 2015; Klaus, 2013). Of 21 hypothesised relationships in the OCE-satisfaction-loyalty chain, 12 are found to be statistically significant and in the predicted direction. The study validates that the impact OCE dimensions on satisfaction and loyalty may vary across different contexts (Klaus, 2013; Verhoef et al., 2009; Constantinides, 2004). In addition, it adds to the extant knowledge of moderating impact of gender on the OCE-satisfaction-loyalty chain. Overall, the paths between e-distrust, e-negative beliefs, website interactivity and satisfaction are moderated by gender (Meyers-Levy and Loken, 2015; Ranaweera et al., 2005). The influence of these OCE dimensions impacts the satisfaction of males, whereas these three paths are insignificant for females. However, gender does not moderate the impact of OCE dimensions on loyalty, thereby corroborating previous findings (Hernandez et al., 2011).\n5. Limitations and suggestions for future: This study was limited to a specific context, an emerging market scenario such as India. Future studies can, therefore, explore diverse product categories and country contexts. In addition, given the increasing application of the mobile platform for shopping, especially among the millennials, the framework may be extended to include the impact of mobile technology on e-shoppers and their experiences. The study can also be replicated using longitudinal data to enable further generalisation and validity. Future studies across other geographies can offer useful insights on the impact of cultural aspects on OCE dimensions. While this study looks at moderating the impact of gender on the OCE-satisfaction-loyalty chain, other moderators like age, education and income, to name some, need to be studied across different contexts and regions to assess and validate the consistency of the present results. Given the long-term significance and impact of OCE for success of e-retailers, further research studies into various OCE factors would be of paramount importance.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the dimensions of online customer experience (OCE) and their impact on satisfaction and loyalty in the clothing e-retail context. Furthermore, it explores the influence of gender on the OCE-satisfaction-loyalty chain.\nDesign/methodology/approach: OCE dimensions were drawn from the literature and then adapted and validated using two samples (217 - exploratory factor analysis, 651 - confirmatory factor analysis) of experienced online clothing shoppers in India. An analysis was done using structured equation modelling.\nFindings: Six OCE psychological factors and four OCE functionality factors were revealed. Both OCE dimensions impact loyalty either directly or indirectly through satisfaction. Gender is observed to moderate the relationship among three OCE factors (e-distrust, e-negative beliefs and website interactivity) and satisfaction.\nResearch limitations/implications: The research results are limited to the factors related to each of the two OCE dimensions explored within the clothing e-retail context in India.\nPractical implications: Clothing e-retailers need to focus on both the OCE dimensions to drive business sustenance. Furthermore, their OCE strategies should be in line with the gender-based differences highlighted by the study.\nOriginality/value: The study facilitates in the adaptation and validation of the OCE dimensions in the clothing e-retail category in an emerging market. While all factors associated with both OCE dimensions are important for driving satisfaction and loyalty, the study underscores the need for a higher focus on visual engagement by e-retailers in the given context. Gender moderates the OCE-satisfaction paths, but does not moderate the OCE-loyalty paths.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A multilevel study on servant leadership, job boredom and job crafting	[ "Longitudinal", "Multilevel analysis", "Servant leadership", "Job crafting", "Job boredom" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Job boredom refers to a state of unpleasant passiveness, in which employees lack interest in their work activities, and have difficulties in concentrating on them (Reijseger et al., 2013). Studies on boredom at work have increased in volume over the past decade (Vodanovich and Watt, 2016). Commonly perceived as a product of monotonous working environments in the past (Loukidou et al., 2009), boredom is now acknowledged as employee ill-being, which may emerge in diverse work contexts (Harju and Hakanen, 2016). The effects of the social context of work, such as the team and its leadership, have largely gone unstudied. Hence, little is known of the team-level factors, which may protect individuals from job boredom. The present study set out to extend this knowledge by examining the effects of team-level servant leadership, a leadership style that puts the success of followers first by empowering employees and providing them with the resources they need to excel in their work (Van Dierendonck, 2011), on job boredom.\nTheoretical background and hypotheses: Servant leadership\nMethod: Sample and procedure\nResults: Table I shows the means, standard deviations, Cronbach's a, intra-class correlations and inter-correlations of the study variables.\nDiscussion: No support was found for the negative cross-level effect of team-level servant leadership T1 on job boredom T2 (H1 was not supported). However, job crafting T2 mediated the effect of team-level servant leadership T1 on job boredom T2 (support for hypotheses H2-H4). Finally, a cross-level moderating effect was not found of team-level servant leadership T1 on the relation between job crafting T2 and job boredom T2 (H5 was not supported).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine cross-level effects of team-level servant leadership on job boredom and the mediating role of job crafting. Cross-level moderating effects of team-level servant leadership were also investigated.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This longitudinal study employed a multilevel design in a sample of 237 employees, clustered into 47 teams. Servant leadership was aggregated to the team-level to examine the effects of shared perceptions of leadership at T1 on individual-level outcome, namely job boredom, at T2. In addition, mediation analysis was used to test whether team-level servant leadership at T1 can protect followers from job boredom at T2 by fostering job crafting at T2. Cross-level moderating effects of team-level servant leadership at T1 on the relation between job crafting at T2 and job boredom at T2 were also modeled.\nFindings: Job crafting at T2 mediated the cross-level effect of team-level servant leadership at T1 on job boredom at T2.\nResearch limitations/implications: The findings suggest that team-level servant leadership predicts less job boredom by boosting job crafting.\nOriginality/value: This study is the first to assess the effects of servant leadership on job boredom and the mediating role of job crafting. This paper examines job boredom in a multilevel design, thus extending knowledge on its contextual components.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Leveraging open-standard interorganizational information systems for process adaptability and alignment: An empirical analysis	[ "Supply chain integration", "Industry 4.0", "Open standards", "Process adaptability", "Inter-organizational information systems" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The rapid growth and development in digital technology have provided great opportunities to evolve traditional businesses and industries. Although most of the attention has been paid on the transformation of the digital economy, many of these advanced technologies are also re-shaping traditional manufacturers. Driven by the aforementioned new technologies, many have viewed the next phase of industry development to have higher levels of operational efficiency and productivity due to supply chain integration and automation (Lu, 2017). This new phase of industry development is coined as Industry 4.0, and it is characterized by digitization, optimization and production customization, automation and adaptation, human machine interaction, value-added services and businesses and autonomous data exchange and communication (Posada et al., 2015; Roblek et al., 2016).\n2. Research and theoretical background: 2.1 Industry 4.0 and OSIOS\n3. Hypothesis development: 3.1 Curvilinear relationships between OSIOS and process adaptability\n4. Methodology: To test the hypotheses, this study collected data from manufacturing companies operating in China using a self-report survey instrument that was carefully developed following existing guidelines and exemplars (Sethi and King, 1994). China is considered as an ideal environment to study IOS and supply chain management because of several reasons. First, China is currently one of the foremost global manufacturing centers and is an attractive place for companies throughout the world to set up a manufacturing base (Flynn et al., 2010). Second, the Chinese Government has made significant efforts in the drive toward achieving Industry 4.0, with many resources being invested into areas such as smart and intelligent manufacturing (Zhong et al., 2017). Lastly, the Chinese Government also places great emphasis on its efforts to achieve the \"Made in China 2025\" project, and as a result, there are growing efforts devoted by Chinese companies in deploying IOS to integrate partners within their global supply chains (Huo et al., 2014; Liu et al., 2016). To collect data from the existing adopters of OSIOS, the respondents were asked to identify the type of IOS implemented by their companies before they were provided with the questionnaire to fill in.\n5. Data analysis and results: 5.1 Measurement validation\n6. Discussion and implications: OSIOS technology is an important fundamental IT artifact to help achieve Industry 4.0. It has the potential to provide the standards for business processes and data exchanges that can create an autonomous, decentralized supply chain network, thus helping firms to achieve better supply chain integration. As found in Flynn et al. (2010), supply chain integrations can be described in three dimensions, namely, internal, customer and supplier integration. OSIOS technology is important in helping firms improve their supply chain integration (Chong and Ooi, 2008). However, OSIOS deployment is still in its infancy stage, given that the technology is still elusive to most manufacturers. Most manufacturers understand the potential values of OSIOS, but at the same time, they are taking a cautious approach in investing in OSIOS. Our research advances contemporary knowledge of the values brought by the assimilation and diffusion of OSIOS. Drawing on the theoretical lens of the relational view of the firm, we examined how manufacturers can achieve process adaptability and alignment by deploying OSIOS. Through collecting surveys from a large group of manufacturers, we were able to examine the non-linear impact of OSIOS assimilation and diffusion on process adaptability and alignment, thus shedding light on how manufacturers should optimize their deployment of OSIOS to achieve the best outcomes. As such, our research bears significant implications for both theory and practice.\n7. Limitations and future research: Despite the contributions of this study in both theory and practice, there are several limitations. First, this study could not show the value creation of OSIOS over time. Future studies can consider the dynamism of time when evaluating the relationship between OSIOS and relational capabilities. This study used cross-sectional data, which might be subject to the risk that the influence of OSIOS on organizational outcomes is only temporal. The quasi-open attribute of OSIOS makes imitation easy, which will reduce the uniqueness of OSIOS and erode a firm's competitive advantage overtime. It is important to ensure that performance gains from OSIOS can be sustained in the long term. Future study can conduct longitudinal research to understand whether and how OSIOS deployment can promote long-term advantages. The use of cross-sectional data also restricts us from exploring whether the capabilities developed from OSIOS deployment, in the long run, will, in turn, affect the extent to which OSIOS are deployed. With improved adaptability and alignment, a firm might be more capable of assimilating and diffusing OSIOS to support inter-firm activities.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to understand the value creation mechanisms of open-standard inter-organizational information system (OSIOS), which is a key technology to achieve Industry 4.0. Specifically, this study investigates how the internal assimilation and external diffusion of OSIOS help manufactures facilitate process adaptability and alignment in supply chain network.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A survey instrument was designed and administrated to collect data for this research. Using three-stage least squares estimation, the authors empirically tested a number of hypothesized relationships based on a sample of 308 manufacturing firms in China.\nFindings: The results of the study show that OSIOS can perform as value creation mechanisms to enable process adaptability and alignment. In addition, the impact of OSIOS internal assimilation is inversely U-shaped where the positive effect on process adaptability will become negative after an extremum point is reached.\nOriginality/value: This study contributes to the existing literature by providing insights on how OSIOS can improve supply chain integration and thus promote the achievement of industry 4.0. By revealing a U-shaped relationship between OSIOS assimilation and process adaptability, this study fills previous research gap by advancing the understanding on the value creation mechanisms of information systems deployment.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The pensions glass ceiling? Savings challenges for small business owners	[ "Gender", "Retirement", "Entrepreneurship", "Owner-managers", "Self-employment" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nReview: Many people assume that those who own their own business must be good with money. Sure, for those who lose their businesses multiple times, then that assumption will disappear pretty quickly. However, when looking at a friend or relative who is a small business owner (SBO), and admiring their large house, garage full of cars or expensive holidays, the last thing we might think is that they are profligate in any way.\nPension battle of the sexes: This is the starting point for the study by Janice Redmond, Elizabeth Anne Walker, and Jacquie Hutchinson published in their article \"Self-employment: is it a long-term financial strategy for women?\" (2017). In it they take the exploration of pension saving habits of SBOs one step further, surmising any issue might be worse if than it would be for men given the additional burdens and pressures they may typically face.\nSaving for a rainy day: If these conclusions hold, then it is just one further step to question whether the personal finance circumstances of women are also in a worse state than their male counterparts, especially when it comes to pensions. Using data and analysis in Australia, Redmond et al. looked at precisely these circumstances with some interesting findings outside of their core focus:\nPension potty: When it came to specific preparations to pensions, the gap between male and female became more pronounced. While 6 in 10 men declared they had adequate or more than enough funding for their retirement, less than half of women felt able to say the same. Correspondingly, 15 per cent of women summarized their retirement packages as very underfunded, compared to only 4 per cent of men.\nComment: The article \"Self-employment: is it a long-term financial strategy for women?\" by Redmond et al. (2017) should prove a wake-up call to governments, pension providers, and women SBOs the world over to stave off some potentially miserable consequences of a lack of adequate personal finance planning. The article reviewed here shines a light onto a very serious problem for the entrepreneur community, and it is to be hoped that further research will highlight the issue further and push forward changes to the current levels of pension saving among female SBOs.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.\nFindings: Many people assume that those who own their own business must be good with money. Sure, for those who lose their businesses multiple times, then that assumption will disappear pretty quickly. However, when looking at a friend or relative who is a small business owner (SBO), and admiring their large house, garage full of cars, or expensive holidays, the last thing we might think is that they are profligate in any way.\nPractical implications: The paper provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world's leading organizations.\nOriginality/value: The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Linking financial performance to strategic orientation and operational priorities: An empirical study of third-party logistics providers	[ "Operations management", "Third‐party vendors", "Logistics data processing", "Financial performance", "Hong Kong" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Over the past decade, third-party logistics (3PL) providers have extended their scope beyond traditional transportation and warehousing activities to also include procurement, distribution, inventory management, packaging, manufacturing, and even customer services (Titone, 1996). Globalization, lead time and cost reduction, information technology, outsourcing, and ever increasing customer expectations are some of the reasons that have contributed to changes in the logistics landscape. Companies nowadays are realizing that they can no longer compete as stand-alone entities, and are better off as part of an interlinked value chain network. Furthermore, synchronization and coordination of complex supply chain activities across multiple facilities and countries requires the commitment of substantial resources. Third-party logistics providers have the expertise and resources to perform these activities more efficiently and effectively than an in-house team. Recent data show that about 80 percent of the Fortune 500 companies surveyed use 3PL services, which comprise a steadily increasing percentage of their logistics operating budgets (Lieb and Bentz, 2005). As such, the competitive strategies of 3PL providers as to how obtain business and compete in this growing market, becomes paramount.To compete successfully, 3PL providers may have to develop skills, competencies, and more value-added activities, which inevitably results in additional cost. Therefore, the main challenge for a 3PL provider is to pick a competitive strategy and prioritize their operation activities in such a way as to achieve acceptable business performance. While substantive research has been done in the area of 3PL strategy and operational drivers, very little research has been conducted to address 3PL-strategies and their operational priorities in relation to business performance. This research addresses this gap in the literature by investigating the relationship of strategic choices of pure cost-, pure differentiation-, or a combination-strategy on a composite measure of financial performance for third-party logistics providers in Hong Kong. In addition, it identifies the importance of operational drivers underlying the respective adopted strategy, as well as the importance given to future competitive challenges for each strategy. Finally, the research also addresses how these different strategies may be used to improve competitiveness and performance in the 3PL industry in Hong Kong, and concludes by identifying a number of future research areas.In the subsequent section, a literature review is conducted to review relevant research in 3PL-service provision, the generic competitive strategies of cost leadership and differentiation as applied to 3PL's, their underlying operations priorities and capabilities, as well as measures of financial performance in the industry.\nLiterature review: Operations priorities\nResearch methodology and analysis: Data collection\nManagerial implications: From the results of the study, some important managerial implications are summarized below.Financial performance and strategic choice\nConclusions and areas for future research: This research investigated the relationship of strategic choices of pure cost-, pure differentiation-, or a combination-strategy on a composite measure of financial performance for 3PL providers in Hong Kong. Our survey results revealed that a significant number of companies have been able to pursue both low-cost and differentiation strategies concurrently, and have been reporting better average perceived competitive financial performance as compared to their pure cost-, or pure differentiation-counterparts.This research furthermore provides a timely analysis of the strategies, business performance, operations priorities, and future plans of 3PL providers in Hong Kong, as described in the paper. The findings provide valuable information and insights for logistics practitioners, as well as policy makers.Furthermore, several future research directions are suggested by this research. First of all, financial performance was measured as perceived performance by the 3PL organizations. Future research may also address the perceptions of competitors and customers to show a more holistic picture of performance within the industry as such. Secondly, research could be conducted periodically to track and monitor trends and changes in the strategies of the 3PL providers, as well as the logistics industry at large. In-depth studies of specific logistics areas could also be carried out in order to examine issues such as technology adoption, information sharing, strategy formulation, operations practices, and benchmarking. With the booming economy in China, further studies could be conducted to investigate the competitive implications of 3PL providers exploring the Chinese market, as well as the strategic and operational imperatives involved. Future studies could also focus on trying to better understand the differences between high and low performers in terms of business performance, and the processes that enable low performers to become high performers. Finally, it would also be fruitful to compare logistics strategies and practices between different countries.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - Aims to investigates the relationship of strategic choices of pure cost-, pure differentiation-, or a combination-strategy on a composite measure of financial performance for third-party logistics (3PL) providers in Hong Kong. In addition, it seeks to identify the importance of operations priorities underlying the respective adopted strategy, as well as the importance given to future competitive challenges for each strategy.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Uses cluster analysis, ANOVA.\nFindings: - Logistics service providers classified to follow different strategies report different financial performance, with companies adhering to the combined strategy of cost and differentiation performing best, followed by pure differentiation companies, which in turn outperform pure cost-, commodity driven-companies.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Future research may be widened to include customer, and not solely competitor, perceptions. Further studies could elaborate on technology adoption, information sharing, strategy formulation, operations practices, and benchmarking. Other studies could focus on the differences between high and low performers in terms of business performance, and the processes that enable low performers to become high performers; as well as comparing logistics strategies and practices between different countries.\nPractical implications: - Third-party logistics providers, solely competing on cost and offering basic services only, need to differentiate to gain improved financial performance. Logistics companies can improve along multiple operational dimensions to achieve competitive advantage in the marketplace. Research identifies operational areas to be emphasized to drive strategy according to strategic orientation, as well as generic factors that will drive future logistics management in Hong Kong.\nOriginality/value: - Linking perceived financial performance to strategic choices of pure cost-, pure differentiation-, or a combination-strategy for 3PL providers in Hong Kong.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
An intelligent risk assessment system for distributed construction teams	[ "Architecture", "Construction engineering", "Fuzzy logic", "Risk assessment", "Worldwide web" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Concurrent engineering (CE) is becoming increasingly recognised as an approach to reduce project lead times in the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) sector and to improve design quality. However, CE is more difficult to realise in the AEC industry than other industry sectors due to the high degree of fragmentation and geographical dispersion between the members of a construction project team (Anumba et al., 2000; Kamara et al., 2000). Hence IT-based enabling tools are required to facilitate CE between geographically distributed construction project team members. Such tools need to address specific areas of construction in supporting CE. Risk assessment is an important area in this regard, as construction projects are initiated in complex, dynamic and uncertain environments resulting in many kinds of risks. These risks affect potentially the cost, time and quality of the construction project (Abdou, 1996; Baloi and Price, 2003). A risk assessment tool is essential for AEC professionals to ensure that the design meets the expectation of the project within the limitations of the budget and time. Such a tool should have the following objectives:* identify the potential risks associated with a project;* determine the relative significance of different risks and put them in order of priority;* develop a plan to avoid, mitigate, monitor and manage risks; and* guide future construction management effort.Project team members generally are too preoccupied with solving current problems involved with getting work done and therefore have insufficient time to think about, much less carry out, a formal risk assessment procedure. There is a lack of an accepted method of risk assessment and management among professionals in the construction industry (Mulholland and Christian, 1999). Moreover, risk management has been limited by the lack of efficient risk assessment tools able to handle fuzziness (imprecise and uncertain information) and the geographical distribution of project team members (Chao and Skibniewski, 1998; Tah and Carr, 2001). The system presented in this paper seeks to evaluate and rank risks using fuzzy set theory and web-based technology during the conceptual design stage. It identifies and determines the major risks through the integration of all team members' views in construction projects. The risk assessment system has been implemented to facilitate CE through client/server three-tier architectural pattern and web-based computing. The specific objectives of the prototype system implementation are to:* facilitate communication between geographically distributed team members via the internet;* deal with the imprecision and uncertainties in risk assessment practice; and* demonstrate the applicability of the system using a scenario.The paper focuses on the design and implementation of the web-based risk assessment system and describes the system architecture and its functional components. A risk assessment scenario is used to demonstrate the operation and benefits of the prototype system.\n2. Risk management: A proliferation of risk management methodologies and techniques are available to support construction project risk management. They can be categorised into the following areas based on a literature review of previous research projects.2.1. Risk management process\n3. Design of web-based risk assessment system: 3.1. System workflow\n4. Implementation of web-based risk assessment system: The three main components of the system are distributed between the web client, the web server, the application server and the database server: interface component, application component and database component. Figure 4 shows the three components (web presentations, risk applications and database objects) and their interfaces (IRender, IRiskApp, and IPersistence) that organise in the information system's design view into the three-tier architecture. The web presentation component provides visual interface for presenting information and gathering data. The database object component maintains, accesses and updates the risk data. The application component bridges the elements in the two components and encompasses all the applications that manage requests from the user to execute a risk application, including fuzzy logic computation and other risk assessment rules. The three components access the services of the other components using a dependency relationship. The presentation generator realises the IRender interface, the PHP generator component realises IRiskApp interface, and the MySQL server component realises IPersistence interface.4.1. Presentation - the first tier\n5. A scenario for risk assessment: The risk assessment process is initiated by the project manager (PM) who specifies the project information, including project title, location, start date and a list of team members (see Figure 8). Then the PM notifies the team members their passwords. All participants need to log into the project website using their role name and password. After an authentication procedure, the participants enter their respective discipline-specific user-interfaces. In this example, three project team members are involved in the risk assessment process: a client, an architect, and an engineer. The team members get the project information and specify the top three risks that they consider important. The system collates the submission of the whole team and the PM rationalises the risks to avoid duplication. A total of seven risks are sent to the server after rationalisation (see Figure 9). The team members weight their relative importance for the risk issues; in this case, every member has equal weighting. Every member specifies the contribution degree between the seven risks (see Figure 10) and the system integrates the specification and chooses risks using FSM (see Figure 11). The team members rate the risk probability and impact using five linguistic variables: H, MH, M, LM, and L. Based on team members' ratings, risks are ranked by the system. The system chooses the top five risks and the PM specifies actions to be taken for each risk (see Figure 12).\n6. Summary and conclusions: The risk assessment system has been designed as a thin client three-tier architecture so as to result in greater flexibility, scalability and robustness according to application requirements. The system consists of three functional components based on the three tiers - these are presentation interface, application logic, and data access. The risks can be identified and ranked by the risk assessment tool function, by the team members and the project manager, by its use in various steps of the risk process, by the environment and system architecture. The benefits of the system include:* Each team members' preferences can be expressed in fuzzy linguistic terms enabling the system to handle the uncertainties and imprecision often associated with risk ranking. Therefore, the use of fuzzy logic to predict risks yields a more realistic model at the conceptual design stage. The output of the system is presented both numerically and linguistically, providing the team members with a useful and realistic guide to the likely risks for the project.* The system's use of the internet as a communication medium enables geographically distributed team members to collaboratively undertake risk assessment. This means that team members can access the system through a web browser, from wherever they happen to be.* The system provides workflow management functionality to facilitate team members' collaborative work in a distributed environment, and offers them session tracking to ensure that the information is reliable and secure - only the authorised persons have access to the system.* The thin client system architecture allows for easier maintenance and support, since it is easier to change and upgrade a single specific component. For example, if the risk interface is changed, it is only necessary to change the software in the presentation tier on one server.* Separating the risk applications into distinct parts provides encapsulation for the different tiers and components, which can result in more robust applications. Each tier is treated as a black box by the other tiers. Different components can be implemented in different programming languages. Only clearly defined inputs and outputs from each tier can be seen by any of the other tiers. Interface clarification in each tier enables different components to reuse existing code if linked with a legacy application.The developed system is intended for building design projects within a multi-disciplinary construction project team. It has been evaluated through several hypothetical but realistic scenarios. An example was presented in section 5 of this paper, which demonstrated the operations and benefits of the system. However, there are refinements and improvements to the system that could be made before the system can be used in real projects. These relate to how to meet specific requirements of different project types, and further refinement of the user interface better. There is also scope to extend the system by the development of a risk management module.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The paper proposes addressing the design and implementation of a web-based risk assessment system that enables remote project team members to assess the risks at the conceptual design stage.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The prototype system is based on a client/server architecture and uses fuzzy logic and web-based technology. A risk assessment scenario is used to demonstrate the operation and benefits of the prototype system.\nFindings: - The research found that the use of a web-based risk assessment system for distributed project team members has major benefits in terms of use of linguistic terms to express risk assessment, ease of communication, ease of maintenance, and greater consistency, among others.\nResearch limitations/implications: - There is scope for enhancing the system through the development of a risk management module, improving the user interface and making specific provisions for different project types.\nPractical implications: - The move in industry towards collaborative working practices is supported by systems such as this. Risk assessment is an important area that requires the input of all team members, if evenly distributed.\nOriginality/value: - This paper has presented an innovative approach to risk assessment for distributed project teams. It will be of interest to all parties involved in construction projects, particularly those involved in risk assessment.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Empowering group leaders encourages knowledge sharing: integrating the social exchange theory and positive organizational behavior perspective	[ "Empowering leadership", "Positive organizational behaviour", "Knowledge sharing", "Social exchange theory", "Psychological capital" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In the age of the knowledge economy, knowledge sharing plays a key role in the knowledge-management process (Foss et al., 2010). Previous studies have proven that good knowledge sharing can effectively elevate an organization's absorptive capabilities, productivity, performance and competitive advantages (Cohen and Levinthal, 1990; Argote and Ingram, 2000; Dyer and Nobeoka, 2000). Therefore, successful knowledge sharing is vital for a company's survival and sustainable operation (Tangaraja et al., 2015). Even though knowledge sharing can produce many benefits for companies, it does not occur spontaneously (Cabrera and Cabrera, 2002). Moreover, because the main executors of knowledge sharing within organizations are their employees, it is important to understand employees' psychological processes surrounding knowledge sharing (Lin and Lo, 2015; Li et al., 2015). Thus, a micro-foundation approach should be used to analyze the issue of knowledge sharing at the individual and group level (Grandori, 2001; Foss, 2007; Michailova and Foss, 2009).\nTheory and hypotheses: We will use SET to theorize the relationship between empowering leadership and knowledge sharing. The relationship between empowering leadership and psychological capital, and between psychological capital and knowledge sharing, are established based on a POB perspective. Finally, we combine SET and POB to theorize the empowering leadership-psychological capital-knowledge-sharing relationship.\nMethodology: Sample\nResults: Table I provides the means, standard deviations and correlations of the variables used in this study. In Table I, we can see that knowledge donating and knowledge collecting are highly correlated, perhaps because the two variables fall under the same construct of knowledge sharing.\nDiscussion and conclusion: Employees' decisions and activities are always influenced by their work-group environment. However, most previous knowledge-sharing studies have explored the antecedents based on individual factors and have rarely taken into account the impact of a group. Drawing from SET and the POB perspective, this study contributes to the knowledge-sharing literature by highlighting the importance of empowering leadership and psychological capital based on a multilevel framework. At the group level, we find that empowering leadership in a work group has a cross-level influence on both psychological capital and knowledge sharing. At the individual level, the results show that psychological capital has a positive impact on knowledge sharing. In addition, psychological capital plays a partial mediation role between empowering leadership and knowledge sharing.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Knowledge sharing usually happens in a work group context, but it is rarely know how group leaders influence their members' knowledge-sharing performance. Based on social exchange theory (SET) and the perspective of positive organizational behavior (POB), this study aims to argue that a group leader's positive leadership (e.g. empowering leadership) can help group members develop positive psychological capital which can increase their knowledge sharing.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors conduct a multilevel analysis to explore the interrelationship among empowering leadership, psychological capital and knowledge sharing. The sample includes 64 work groups consisting of 537 group members, and empirical testing is carried out by hierarchical linear modeling.\nFindings: The results show that empowering leadership in a work group has a direct cross-level impact on members' knowledge sharing and that psychological capital partially mediates the relationship between empowering leadership and knowledge sharing. As a result, this study shows that group leaders with positive leadership can help their members develop better positive psychological resources, which should lead to better knowledge sharing.\nOriginality/value: Based on the multilevel perspective and SET, this is the first study to explore how group leaders' empowering leadership influences members'knowledge sharing. Depending on integrating the POB perspective into SET, this study is also the first one that connects two emerging and important research issues - POB and knowledge sharing.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The effect of auditor quality to professional skepticsm and its relationship to audit quality	[ "Professional skepticism", "Audit quality", "Auditor quality" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Research on audit quality in the business sector has emerged because the auditor's profession has been the focus of society in recent years to Adelphia (2002) cases in the USA. Similarly, in Indonesia, Telkom's case (2003) makes the credibility of auditors increasingly questionable. Public confidence in government accountants is declining because of media scrutiny that questioned the quality of the audit, as some government agencies that received unqualified opinion were still found to be corrupt in the agency.\n2. Theoretical background: An efficient auditor must possess certain general qualities besides statutory qualification, so that he can carry out his work efficiently and smoothly. The qualities of an auditor as classified as follows: professional qualification, i.e. statutory qualification; professional qualities, i.e. personal qualification; and personal qualities, i.e. general qualities.\n3. Material and method: The analysis method to test the causal effect of auditor quality to professional skepticism and audit quality. The respondent in this research is the auditor in Audit Board of the Republic of Indonesia (BPK) in South Sulawesi province using questionnaire. The conceptual frameworks of research are presented in Figure 1 below.\n4. Result and discussion: 4.1 Validity and reliability of instrument\n5. Conclusion and reccomendations: The conclusion of this study is as follows:\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationships between auditor quality to professional skepticism and between auditor quality and professional skepticism to audit quality.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The analysis method to test the causal effect of auditor quality to profesional skepticism and audit quality. The respondent in this research is the auditor in the Audit Board of the Republic of Indonesia in South Sulawesi province using questionnaire. The analysis tool used in this research is partial least square.\nFindings: The auditor quality has direct effect on the professional skepticism. Professional skepticism has direct effect on the audit quality. The auditor quality has no direct effect on audit quality, but auditor quality has indirect effect on audit quality with mediation of professional skepticism.\nOriginality/value: This paper shows a research was conducted about professional skepticism public sector in governmental sector for producing the audit quality, especially in South Sulawesi province in Indonesia. This research retests the research result from Aranya and Amernic (1981); Carcello et al. (1992); Behn et al. (1997); Copley (1998); Brown and Raghunandan (1995); Beasley et al. (2001); Chiu (2003); Suraida (2005); Lewinsohn et al. (1997); Novianti (2008); Varelius (2009). The researcher uses model combination (design) method of sequential explanatory based on evidentiary sequence from Creswell 2009, quantitative research (by instrument using questionnaire).\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Driven to Lead: Good, Bad and Misguided Leadership	[ "Learning and development", "Human behavior", "Leadership", "Learning", "Development" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Driven to Lead: Good, Bad and Misguided Leadership is the author's effort to create a unified and accurate model of human behavior and leadership. Paul Lawrence has spent a lifetime researching and writing across the social science fields while teaching at Harvard Business School. In his previous book, Driven, he introduced the concept of four drives that explain human behavior. This book applies that concept to the practice of leadership. Dr. Lawrence calls his theory The Renewed Darwinian Theory of Human Behavior and Leadership, finding deep insights from Charles Darwin's second book, The Descent of Man. In 300 pages, this book shows how disciplines from cultural anthropology and psychology to biology and economics can come together to explain human evolution, the current state of the world, and the way forward.\nWhat's worthwhile?: The book introduces the four drives as the criteria by which our brains evaluate situations and make decisions. The drive to acquire is what one needs for survival, while the drive to defend protects the individual and his or her offspring. All species must have these two drives in order to survive. It is the two additional drives - the drive to bond and form lasting relationships, and the drive to comprehend and make sense of the world - that have allowed humans to thrive. Balancing these drives is what creates understanding of the situations and events surrounding us. The book explains how the drives evolved, how they are reflected in leadership in politics, corporations, religion, art and science, and implications for the future.Throughout the book, bad or evil leadership is discussed. There exist a small percentage of humans who are genetically missing the drive to bond. These are \"people without a conscience,\" who ascend to positions of power and then take advantage of those who have a moral sense of conscience. People without a conscience, from Constantine to Napoleon to Hitler, from the \"robber barons\" and stock manipulators to current CEOs who have allowed the fleecing of millions of decent people, are discussed.\nWhat's inside?: Part one of the book discusses the structures and evolution of the human brain, demonstrating that good leadership is natural human behavior (p. 2). In addition to the four drives, chapter two discusses recent brain research and the role of emotions and the prefrontal cortex in human and leadership behavior. Decision making is shown to require a formula, impulse/check/balance, in its efforts to integrate knowledge and context, detect conflict and weigh options. Chapter three discusses Darwin's insights about how humans in groups developed a sense of conscience along with their mental powers. The growth of the human brain begins the evolution to social bonding, providing protection of children and food. Social bonding allowed for tribes to share skills and responsibility. The development of morality evolved from the drive to bond and the drive to comprehend, becoming an innate skill. The chapter also discusses people who lack a drive to bond, and so never develop a moral sense. These are psychopaths, who lack conscience and will take what they want and do as they please. Social controls can contain them, if they are recognized, which is not as simple as it might seem.Part two looks at leadership as a process of influencing others and motivating people to work together to accomplish great things (p. 81). Chapter four explains how moral leadership encourages individuals in organizations to meet their four fundamental drives. Chapters five discusses the evolution of political institutions, weaving Constantine and Machiavelli into an explanation of how leaders without conscience manipulated monarchies, aristocracy and the church. Further, it shows how the framers of the United States Constitution used checks and balances to encourage a balance of the human drives. Chapter six looks at the rise of economic institutions - corporations. Corporations are unbalanced in terms of the four drives; they are driven by acquisition and defense. The need for regulation to balance these drives has met with opposition from leaders who champion unbridled capitalism, regardless of the public good. Chapter seven tackles the institutions of human meaning: religion, art and science. The possible reconciliation of religion and science to create a better world is explored.Part three explores leadership in today's world. Chapter eight relates stories of good and moral leadership in highly successful organizations. \"Agency theory,\" which encourages rational self-interest and benefits stockholders over stakeholders, is shown to have encouraged corporations to create market bubbles and led to the erosion of trust in the economic system. Corporate greed can also corrupt the political process, further undermining trust in government. Chapter nine explores the economic meltdown of 2007-2009. The lack of impulse/check/balance led bankers to create a \"fleecing machine\" that swindled homebuyers and institutional investors alike. The need for regulation is clearly developed. Chapter 10 discusses application of the theory to the global economy and community. The need to address environmental resource degradation, eliminate weapons of mass destruction, and stop people without conscience from attaining power are essential to human development. People can choose how to meet these challenges, to create checks and balances on a global scale. Renewed Darwinian Theory can enlighten these efforts. Chapter 11 dwells on the need for moral leadership, especially the need for leaders to build trust and work with groups of people to encourage performance and survival. Finally, Chapter 12 offers a challenge to move toward \"a potentially harmonious world\" with humans at the top.\nWhat's the recommendation?: This is not easy reading, it is a scholarly and well reasoned discussion of the human condition. The theories are thought provoking and the reader is challenged to think about current affairs and historical records through a new lens. This is a call to the global population to grow up and take on the issues that face us with renewed purpose and vigor. The next stages of evolution will determine our way forward.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper reviews the latest learning and development books across the globe and pinpoints practical implications.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.\nFindings: - Driven to Lead Good, Bad and Misguided Leadership is the author's effort to create a unified and accurate model of human behavior and leadership. Paul Lawrence has spent a lifetime researching and writing across the social science fields while teaching at Harvard Business School. In his previous book, Driven, he introduced the concept of four drives that explain human behavior. This book applies that concept to the practice of leadership. Dr Lawrence calls his theory The Renewed Darwinian Theory of Human Behavior and Leadership, finding deep insights from Charles Darwin's second book, The Descent of Man. In 300 pages, this book shows how disciplines from cultural anthropology and psychology to biology and economics can come together to explain human evolution, the current state of the world, and the way forward.\nPractical implications: - The paper provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world's leading organizations.\nOriginality/value: - The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to digest format.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Healthy behaviours in music and non-music performance students	[ "Music", "Students", "Lifestyles", "Personal health", "Performing arts" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Expert musical performance requires the coordination and mastery of a diverse set of physical and psychological skills, and as such, a growing body of research has examined the health consequences of extended musical training (Guptill et al., 2000; Jabusch and Altenmuller, 2006). A recent concerted programme of work has now begun to consider the health lifestyles of music performance students in higher education contexts, as well as the practical implications and applications of this research (Kreutz et al., 2008a, b; Williamon and Thompson, 2006). The present investigation was designed to expand this research to students of subjects other than music performance, in this case students of nursing and biomedical sciences, focusing on the similarities and differences their self-reported health-promoting behaviours, other psychological variables and health problems.It might be thought self-evident that healthy lifestyles promote physical and psychological health directly (World Health Organisation, 2002). Or rather, it may be that better health, socio-economic status (Wardle and Steptoe, 2003) and other psychosocial factors contribute to healthier lifestyles (Pender, 1996), thereby enhancing health and well-being. Either way, attitudes to health and health-promoting behaviours have been investigated widely, including those of university students in Hong Kong (Lee and Yuen-Loke, 2005), college students in the USA (Oleckno and Blacconiere, 1990), nursing students in Kuwait (Al-Kandari and Vidal, 2007) and music performance students in the UK (Kreutz et al., 2008a, b).The health-promoting behaviours of music performance students are of particular interest given the physical and emotional demands of expert music making. Kreutz et al. (2008a) have shown that music performance students score particularly low, in relation to the populations on which the tests used were standardized, on some aspects of health lifestyle (health responsibility, physical activity and stress management) and only slightly, albeit significantly higher on others (nutrition, spiritual growth and interpersonal relationships). Kreutz et al. further examined these health-promoting behaviours in relation to positive and negative affect states, self-efficacy and self-regulation. Significant inter-correlations between the various measures were found, suggesting that healthy lifestyle and psychological well-being influence each other.Kreutz et al. (2008b) also investigated the occurrence of music performance students' musculo- and non-musculoskeletal health problems, and sought to determine the impact these problems were perceived by respondents to have on the quality of their technique, practice and performance. Six categories of health problem were identified, using factor analysis. Five categories were musculoskeletal (elbow/upper arm, left hand, right arm and hand, spine and orofacial) and one was non-musculoskeletal (fatigue). Regression analyses showed that fatigue and spinal pain were the most reliable predictors of self-perceived impaired technique, practice and performance quality.In order to assess the significance of the findings reported by Kreutz et al. (2008a, b) in relation to other student populations, the present study compared music performance and health students' health-promoting behaviours, psychological well-being and health-related experiences. We wish to acknowledge from the outset that student populations may differ systematically in a variety of ways. However, by exploring specifically the similarities and differences between their approaches to health and psychological well-being, we aim to shed light on how students adapt to the demands of their individual programmes of study.Our main research questions were as follows:RQ1. What are the differences, if any, between the reported health-promoting behaviours of music performance and health students?RQ2. What are the differences, if any, between the experiences of ill-health reported by the two groups of respondents?RQ3. To what extent are these associated, for the two groups of respondents, with reported health-promoting behaviours, emotional affect state, self-regulation and self-efficacy?We also explored sex differences within the data, as previous research has shown significant differences between men and women in some aspects of healthy behaviours of Chinese students (Lee and Yuen-Loke, 2005).\nMethods: Respondents\nResults: Overall HPLP II\nDiscussion: What are the differences, if any, between the reported health-promoting behaviours of music performance and non-music performance students?\nConclusions: To our knowledge, this is the first study that has compared health-promoting behaviours and self-reported health problems in age-matched groups of music performance and non-music performance students. Despite its limitations, a number of significant differences relating to health and psychological well-being emerged - as well as some similarities - that should serve as the focus of further research with larger and wider samples.It may be that nursing and biomedical science students are better prepared than music performance students, as part of their training in health and medicine, to engage in health-promoting behaviours and, as a result, report somewhat healthier lifestyles. If this is the case, then conservatoires have much to learn from those who train health professionals. The music performance students' comparatively lower scores suggest that they are not learning - or applying the information they are given - about health in a way that would be useful to them in their careers as performing musicians. We would argue that this suggests a need for better health promotion as early as possible in the training of young musicians, involving instrumental and vocal tutors, who have an important role to play in modelling healthy behaviours and providing advice on health to their students. We would wholeheartedly support Chesky et al.'s (2006) recommendation that schools of music and conservatoires should adopt health promotion frameworks within which occupational health courses for students and staff are offered.We would, however, go further than this. The systematic training of musicians can begin as early as two years of age, and by the time students are admitted onto higher education courses, the sheer probability that they will have experienced health problems would seem higher than for non-performance students who do not accumulate an equivalent 10,000 hours of physically and psychologically taxing practice (Chaffin and Lemieux, 2004). Unhealthy habits and practices - known to be endemic within the music profession (Wynn Parry, 2004) - have ample time to embed themselves into these young musicians' day-to-day work, and it is not surprising, therefore, to discover that musicians report higher incidences of pain and physical discomfort and fewer health promoting behaviours. In addition to gaining ground in the training of higher education music performance students, further effort is also needed in informing and educating pre-conservatoire musicians on how to achieve a positive and healthy approach to learning and performing music, as well as how to build a robust psychological profile suitable for making music at the highest levels throughout one's life. Such progress will be good not only for individual musicians, but also for the health of the profession as a whole.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to compare the self-reported health-promoting behaviours of music and non-music performance students in higher education. It also seeks to determine the extent to which perceived health and self-reported symptoms are associated with lifestyle, emotional affect state, self-regulation and self-efficacy.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Music performance students from two conservatoires (n=198) and students of nursing and biomedical science (health students) from two universities (n=65) aged 18-26 years completed the health-promoting lifestyle inventory; the positive and negative affect, the self-efficacy and the self-regulation scales, as well as reporting their present health and completing an inventory of musculo- and non-musculoskeletal health problems.\nFindings: - Music performance students score lower than health students on health responsibility, physical activity and spiritual growth; also on self-efficacy and self-regulation. Music performance students rate their health, generally, worse than do health students, and report a wider variety of symptoms, which they rate as more severe than do health students. Perceived present health is most strongly correlated with reported healthy lifestyle. This in turn is associated with positive affect, self-efficacy and self-regulation.\nResearch limitations/implications: - This is a relatively small-scale investigation of the health-promoting behaviours and experiences of ill-health reported by two groups of students following different programmes of study and with different career aspirations. Firm conclusions cannot therefore be drawn.\nPractical implications: - While nursing and biomedical science students may be atypical in that they are likely to gain a greater awareness of health issues from their studies, it could be argued that music performance students need to adopt healthy lifestyles in order to reach their full potential as musicians, and health promotion should be part of their training.\nOriginality/value: - The interrelationships among lifestyle, physical health and psychological well-being have been studied in a number of populations. The health-promoting behaviours of music performance students in comparison with those of other students are of particular interest given the physical and emotional demands of expert music making.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Is consumption-Laffer curve hump-shaped? The VAT evasion channel	[ "Bulgaria", "Fiscal policy", "General equilibrium", "Consumption tax", "Consumption-Laffer curve", "VAT evasion", "D58", "E26", "H26" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction and motivation: Ever since Laffer (1981) and his idea that there is an inverted-U relationship between tax rates and revenue, macroeconomists have tried to incorporate this effect in general-equilibrium setups with the government sector[1]. As shown in Trabandt and Uhlig (2011, 2013), Vasilev (2015a), Junior (2016), among others, the standard RBC model is able to generate such a pattern for both labor and capital taxation, but not for the consumption tax rate. Over a reasonable range for the consumption tax rate, the relationship between the tax rate and the revenue generated is monotone increasing. The explanation for this phenomenon provided in the literature is that since the tax on consumption is a tax on demand (in contrast to capital and labor taxation, which are taxes on the supply of productive inputs), then there should not be any peaking relationship.\n2. Model description: For the most part, the model follows Vasilev (2016): the novelty here is in the more careful modeling of the rent-seeking technology. There is a unit mass of households who derive utility out of consumption, leisure and public services. The time available to households can be spent in productive or in activities leading to VAT evasion. The benefit from opportunistic behavior is measured in terms of the share of extracted VAT payments. Thus, the government is assumed to be inefficient, and not being able to collect all the tax revenue, and will thus spend less on utility-enhancing public purchases and government transfers. On the production side, there is a representative firm, which produces a homogeneous final good, which could be used for consumption, investment or government purchases.\n3. Data and model calibration: To compute the size of VAT evasion in Bulgaria, we will focus on the period after the introduction of the currency board (1999-2014). Data on output, consumption and investment was collected from National Statistical Institute (2015), while the real interest rate is taken from Bulgarian National Bank (2015) statistical database. The calibration strategy described in this section follows a long-established tradition in modern quantitative macroeconomics: first, the discount factor, b=0.937, is set to match the steady-state capital-to-output ratio in Bulgaria, k/y=3.491. The labor share parameter, 1-a=0.571, was obtained as the average value of labor income in aggregate output over the period 1999-2014. This value is slightly lower as compared to other studies on developed economies, due to the overaccumulation of physical capital during the communist regime, which was in place until 1989 (which in turn made capital share in Bulgaria higher than the value measured in other western countries).\n4. Steady-state: Once the values of model parameters were obtained, the steady-state equilibrium system solved, the \"big ratios\" can be compared to their averages in Bulgarian data. The results are reported in Table II on the next page. The steady-state level of output was normalized to unity, which greatly simplified the computations[13]. Next, the model matches consumption-to-output ratio by construction. The investment and government purchases ratios are also closely approximated. The shares of income are also identical to those in data, which are an artifact of the assumptions imposed on functional form of the aggregate production function.\n5. Consumption-Laffer curve: In this section, we perform the following experiment: we allow the consumption tax rate to vary, while holding th0 and gt fixed, to see how consumption and total tax revenue respond. As seen in Figure 1 on the next page, in the absence of VAT evasion (corresponding to setting e=1 and th0=0), there is no hump-shaped consumption-Laffer curve. Only in the presence of a VAT evasion channel, and evasion that depends on the rate of the consumption tax, do we see (in Figure 2) a peaking consumption-Laffer curve for a positive consumption tax rate[14]. The revenue maximizing consumption tax in Bulgaria turns out to be tc=3.38 percent.\n6. Conclusions: This paper shows a standard RBC model, when augmented with a VAT evasion channel, where evasion depends on the consumption tax rate, can produce a hump-shaped consumption-Laffer curve. Furthermore, when the evasion channel is turned off, the hump in the Laffer curve disappears, resulting in a monotone relationship between the VAT rate and both the consumption and total tax revenue. This result comes in stark contrast to Hiraga and Nutahara (2015), who generate a peaking curve for consumption tax revenue in a model with a separable utility in consumption and leisure and no evasion. Their results are contingent on implausible values for elasticity parameters, and in addition predict a revenue-maximizing consumption tax rate which is implausibly high. The paper contributes to the public finance literature by providing evidence for the importance of the evasion mechanism, while at the same time adding to the debate about the existence of a peak tax rate for consumption tax revenue.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to show a standard RBC model, when augmented with a VAT evasion channel, where evasion depends on the consumption tax rate, can produce a hump-shaped consumption-Laffer curve.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The methodology is in the spirit of modern quantitative macroeconomic literature.\nFindings: The model with VAT evasion can generate a peaking consumption tax revenue curve, which is a little discussed result in the taxation literature.\nResearch limitations/implications: The paper contributes to the public finance literature by providing evidence for the importance of the evasion mechanism, while at the same time adding to the debate about the existence of a peak tax rate for consumption tax revenue.\nPractical implications: Contrary to popular belief, raising VAT rate as a cheap way (being a tax on demand) to finance government expenditure, is still not a free lunch, and raising the rate, especially in a country with substantial VAT evasion, quickly leads to a drop in the revenue associated with that category.\nOriginality/value: This is the first study that provides a tractable model of VAT evasion, and a setup where consumption tax revenue curve is peaking.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Differences in welfare take-up between immigrants and natives - a microsimulation study	[ "Immigrants", "Benefits", "Welfare", "Immigration" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Higher rates of welfare take-up among immigrants relative to natives can be observed in many developed countries. The risk of receiving means-tested welfare benefits in Germany is twice as high for migrants as it is for their native counterparts[1]. Immigrants are also overrepresented relative to the group of employed individuals in Germany. Official statistics on welfare use and employment for Germany show that approximately 22 percent of all employable individuals between 15 and 64 years who receive means-tested welfare benefits do not have German citizenship, while the share of migrants in the population of dependent employees amounts to only 8 percent[2]. The higher welfare take-up rates found in the raw official data often dominate political and public discussions about the benefits and risks of migration for host countries. In Germany, this discussion has emerged recently due to recent waves of immigrants to Germany from other EU countries, especially from Eastern Europe.\n2. Microsimulation model and data: To simulate welfare entitlements, we employ the Tax-Transfer Microsimulation Model of the Institute for Employment Research (IAB) of the German Federal Employment Agency (IAB-MSM). The IAB-MSM is based on the Steuer-Transfer-Mikrosimulationsmodell (STSM) of the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW)[3]. The IAB-MSM is a static microsimulation model that consists of a detailed implementation of the German tax and transfer system as well as an econometrically estimated labor supply model. The model is mainly used for the ex ante evaluation of social policy reforms directed at low-income households in Germany. Its validity with regard to official statistics and its robustness referring to model assumptions and data selection has been verified in several studies (Arntz et al., 2007; Blos et al., 2007; Wiemers and Bruckmeier, 2009; Bruckmeier and Wiemers, 2012). The principal task of the IAB-MSM tax and transfer module is the computation of household net incomes under varying tax and transfer rules. Therefore, we use the gross incomes of the household, e.g., labor and capital incomes, as they can be found in the underlying data. All deductions from gross income and public transfers are simulated on the basis of the simulation model. Table AI describes the incomes, taxes, and other income deductions considered in the computation of net household income. Important for our analysis is the simulation of welfare entitlements.\n3. Simulation results: Our simulation of welfare entitlements results in 35.4 million (weighted) households (5,960 household by year observations) that are eligible for SA benefits for employable persons (SGB II) and for non-employable and older persons (SGB XII) over all seven waves. Hence, on average about five million households are eligible per wave. Most households are eligible for SGB II benefits (approximately 90 percent), which can also be found in official statistics[7]. Following Castronova et al. (2001), we focus on first generation immigrants - i.e., individuals who have immigrated to Germany by themselves - only[8]. We distinguish between three groups of migrants among the first generation immigrants according to their current citizenship. The first group consists of foreigners who have citizenship in an EU country or in a country related to the European Union[9]. The second group consists of all migrants with foreign citizenship not included in the first measure (non-EU citizenship). The last group consists of individuals with German citizenship.\n4. Estimation approach: We follow the literature on welfare benefit take-up and analyze take-up behavior within a discrete choice framework (Blundell et al., 1988; Riphahn, 2001; Wilde and Kubis, 2005; Whelan, 2010; Bruckmeier and Wiemers, 2012). Benefit take-up will be observed if the net level of utility from claiming a benefit exceeds the utility from not claiming the benefit. Because the decision to claim benefits hinges on unobservable factors, suitable observable proxies x for the utility and costs of claiming SA should be chosen. The literature suggests that the utility from claiming SA depends positively on the amount of the SA entitlement of the household (see, e.g. Moffitt, 1983; Blundell et al., 1988). Thus, we use the simulated entitlement to SA as the most obvious proxy for utility from claiming benefits. Costs of claiming, on the other hand, can be differentiated into information costs (insufficient knowledge or the false interpretation of entitlement rules, insufficient knowledge of the claiming process or of administrative procedures) and stigma costs (fear of stigmatization, negative attitudes towards dependency on SA) (see van Oorschot, 1991). We build on the existing literature in choosing proxies for costs of claiming (see Riphahn, 2001; Becker and Hauser, 2005; Wilde and Kubis, 2005; Frick and Groh-Samberg, 2007; Bruckmeier and Wiemers, 2012). See Bruckmeier and Wiemers (2011) for a discussion on the expected effects of the proxies on the utility and costs of take-up.\n5. Results: Estimation results for our four alternative specifications are presented in Table II[12]. In order to facilitate interpretation of the signs and magnitudes of the estimated effects, we present marginal effects calculated as the averages of the marginal effects for each household by year observation[13].\n6. Conclusion: We study whether immigrants in Germany differ in their take-up behavior conditional on being eligible for receiving welfare benefits relative to their German counterparts. The empirical approach aims to determine eligibility for welfare benefits for a representative sample of the whole population in Germany using a microsimulation model based on data from the GSOEP and then to estimate probit models of observed welfare benefit take-up for the sample of eligible households. Our analysis differs from previous work (Castronova et al., 2001) in four ways. We provide first evidence on this issue after major social policy reforms were implemented in Germany, which were likely to have affected the take-up behavior of eligible individuals. We also make use of a complex microsimulation model to determine welfare entitlements and to focus on different groups of immigrants. Finally, we use a panel-data approach and take into account unobserved individual heterogeneity.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: International empirical evidence suggests that immigrants have a significantly higher risk than their native counterparts of being on welfare due to their observed characteristics. Nevertheless, it remains unclear if immigrants are also more prone to take-up benefits, conditional on being eligible. The authors explicitly focus on this potential explanation for higher welfare take-up rates. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to analyze the take-up of social assistance in Germany by immigrants and natives, conditional on being eligible, and hence focus on take-up behavior rather than on determinants of eligibility.\nDesign/methodology/approach: To simulate welfare entitlements, the authors employ a Tax-Transfer Microsimulation Model. It is a static microsimulation model that consists of a detailed implementation of the German tax and transfer system as well as an econometrically estimated labor supply model. After the simulation of welfare entitlements, the authors analyze take-up behavior within a discrete choice framework. The authors estimate probit models of observed welfare benefit take-up for the sample of eligible households taking into account unobserved heterogeneity.\nFindings: The estimation results do not reveal a significant effect of being a migrant on the probability of taking-up entitlements. The authors found a significant negative effect for citizens from European countries on the take-up probability, which disappeared after controlling for unobserved heterogeneity.\nResearch limitations/implications: The authors find that it is worthwhile to focus on different groups of immigrants. Although not statistically significant, the rates of non-take-up of welfare benefits differ between different immigrant groups. The analysis further shows that controlling for unobserved heterogeneity is important when analyzing welfare differences between immigrants and natives.\nPractical implications: The higher welfare rates of immigrants are explained mainly by their higher risk of welfare dependence. Thus, given that reducing the welfare dependence of immigrants is a political goal, social policy measures to improve welfare recipients' labor market prospects are contested. However, restricting eligibility rules to reduce entitlements does not seem to be the appropriate measure, because the take-up probability does not differ between immigrants and natives after controlling for individual characteristics.\nOriginality/value: The authors build on Castronova et al. (2001) and analyze the take-up behavior of individuals who are entitled to basic means-tested welfare benefits for employable persons in Germany. The analysis differs from Castronova et al. (2001) in four points. First, the authors provide first evidence of immigrant-native differences in welfare benefit take-up under the new welfare system in Germany after its reorganization in 2005. Second, the authors apply a microsimulation model of the comlete tax and transfer system in Germany to determine welfare eligibility. Third, the authors extend the analysis to a panel framework and take into account individual unobserved heterogeneity. Fourth, the authors distinguish between different groups of immigrants.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The signification and the feasibility of measuring globalization of economy	[ "Globalization", "Economic growth", "Slovenia" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: National governments are increasingly interested in the position and potentials of their economies in the period of contemporary globalization. This interest is combined with the realization that the economies that actively participate in the globalization processes achieve higher positive effects of globalization. According to Srinivasan (2002) globalization is a benevolent force that creates opportunities for rapid growth and faster poverty alleviation, namely in the economies that are ready for it, that is, in those economies in which domestic economic, political and social environment is conducive to underpinning the globalization processes. Thus, the active participation of economy in these processes comprises the creation of such environment, which then increases the possibilities for higher economic growth and welfare. The framework of these conditions depends upon the theoretical concept of global economy.Some researchers, who study globalization of economies, define the global economy by means of the indicators of international integration of markets, such as international trade, foreign direct investment (FDI), activities of transnational companies, international financial flows and information-communication technology (ICT) (Kearney, 2004; WMRC, 2001; Lockwood, 2001; Andersen and Herbertsson, 2003; Zywietz, 2003; Dreher, 2003; UNCTAD, 2004; The World Bank Group, 2003; OECD, 2003). Others deal with this topic in a more holistic way: they view global economy as its competitiveness which influences the economic growth (Porter, 1998; Hamalainen, 2003). These authors define the economy as a complex system of mutually dependent spheres of operation. The economic system attains the most favorable effects if all of the mutually dependent spheres are able to adapt at the same time to the demands of the changed techno-economic and socio-institutional paradigms.The main purpose of our paper is to present an alternative approach to measure the globalization of economies, which is based upon the theory of systemic framework of national competitiveness and economic growth. On this basis we will set up a system of indicators, which will be combined into a composite indicator of global economy, using a two-step principal components analysis (PCA) approach. Reliability of each indicator will be verified by using Cronbach's a. Based on the obtained composite indicators we will rank the economies in the sample, with special stress on the position of Slovenia among nine comparable economies.\nDefining the global economy: Systemic approach\nThe construction of composite indicator of global economy: In the selection of data sources, we have tried, as far as possible, to rely on international statistical organizations (mainly on OECD and World Bank). In order to guarantee the comparability, we have also preferred data sets, which cover most of the statistical sample (44 countries) and all five years of observation (the period from 1998 to 2002). Owing to the systemic and interdisciplinary nature of our theoretical framework, we could not rely on traditional data sources alone. We were forced to use many unconventional data sources and proxy variables in order to match our theoretical arguments (we have mainly relied upon the data of Economist Intelligence Unit and World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Report).Methodology\nConclusions: During the past few decades the continuous growth and geographical integration of markets has led to an increasingly complex international division of labor where national economies are tightly linked by international trade, FDI and cross-border cooperative ventures. The globalization has created serious problems for the established techno-economic and socio-institutional paradigms. These problems were an important catalyst to the current paradigm shift.The new ICT paradigm requires rapid and balanced techno-economic and socio-institutional adjustments of nations. Structural adjustments are not easy, however, because they have to overcome significant mental inertia and rigidities. In this context, the increasing competition, specialization, complexity, structural change and knowledge intensity of modern economies is challenging the efficiency of the market mechanism, the governments and the whole society.On the basis of the thesis that during and after a techno-economic paradigm shift, the growth of an economic system depends on its particular socio-economic starting point - and its adjustment capacity vis-a-vis the new \"best practice\" techno-economic and socio-institutional paradigms, it is reasonable to define the global economy not only as globally integrated, but also as globally competitive as well. Such economies are complex systems where \"everything depends on everything else\".The composite indicator of global economy, constructed by the PCA on the basis of indicators of systemic framework of economic growth, has proved as reliable. But in spite of the fact that statistically, like arbitrary, determined weights of indicators in the composite indices, do not reflect their actual importance, they have proved as the most appropriate for measuring the entanglement of globalization of economies. The second suitable method for determining weights could be regression analysis, which results, however, due to the mutual dependence of the spheres of economic growth and consecutive multicolinearity of variables, could be distorted.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - To introduce the systemic approach towards measuring globalization of the economy that is based on the theory of systemic framework of national competitiveness and economic growth.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Construction of a composite index of global economy by the principal components analysis (PCA) on the basis of 83 individual indicators, linked into the seven spheres of national competitiveness in the period of contemporary globalization. The weights of single indicators in the composite index are determined by two levels: on the first level, the weights of the indicators in the subindices are determined, whereas on the second level the weights of the sub-indices in the joint composite index of global economy are determined. Reliability of the composite indices is verified by Cronbach's a.\nFindings: - The results of the PCA indicate the high reliability of the joint composite index on the basis of five subindices, whereas the inclusion of the remaining two subindices - international business activities and government role - has lowered the reliability of the joint composite index. This finding is combined with many statistical limitations in the field of measuring globalization of economies.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The unavailability and incomparability of statistical data in the field of international business activities presented great obstacles to deeper analysis. Such analysis would be attainable above all by the international harmonization of hard data collecting and greater emphasis on development of qualitative surveys in the field of activities of transnational enterprises.\nOriginality/value: - This paper develops the concept for monitoring and benchmarking globalization of economies which is founded on the comprehensive theory and solid methodology. It offers a useful tool for national policymaking.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Awareness of occupational hazards in learning organizations: Knowledge sharing behavior and sense of spirituality perspective	[ "Spirituality", "Bangladesh", "Awareness", "Higher learning institutions", "Knowledge sharing behavior", "Least developing country", "Occupational hazards" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Occupational hazard has been an area of intense investigation both by academicians and practitioners across a variety of industry (Brenner et al., 2016; Jordan, 1997; Margolis et al., 1974; Szymanska, 2007). Previous studies on occupational hazard have mainly focused on the prevalence of occupational voice disorder, stress, burnout in context of educational institutions (Angelillo et al., 2009; Hamann and Gordon, 2000; Russ et al., 2002). However, most studies have focused on the issues of occupational hazards with regard to employees and academic staff of educational institutions. Very few studies have concentrated on occupational hazard from students' perspective. Moreover, studies are inadequate that focused on students' awareness of occupational hazards (AOH) in the context of higher learning institutions. This study aims to fill that gap taking Bangladesh - a typical developing country - as a unit of analysis.\n2. Conceptual framework development: Occupational hazard can be defined as the risk, impairment or danger that an individual member in an organization may be exposed to in their respective environment, whereas occupational diseases are the result of such vulnerabilities to a particular individual (World Health Organization, 1986). Occupational hazards may occur in the workplace in a variety of forms. These are related to chemical, biological, physical and adverse ergonomic conditions (Awodele et al., 2014; Packard, 1989).\n3. Methodology: Based on the research objective and the proposed hypotheses developed through the review of extensive literature, this research applied a survey method instrument to collect data to test the reliability and validity of the proposed model. Therefore, the current study applied confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modeling (SEM) to test the proposed model (Figure 1). The researchers used SEM as the proposed model is combination with both observed and unobserved variables. The scaled item, ranging from 5 (strongly agree) to 1 (strongly disagree) is an example of an observed variable. Unobserved variables are termed latent factors, factors or constructs and are depicted graphically with circles (i.e. KSB, SS, AOH) (Figure 1).\n4. Discussion of findings: The aim of this research is to investigate the antecedents that are resulting in an enhancement of the students' AOHs in their respective institutions. The researchers proposed a theoretical model consisting of three constructs: KSB, student SS and their AOHs. The findings of the study confirm that students' SS mediates the relationship between knowledge-sharing behavior and AOHs. Thus, the results of this study extend prior understanding of KSB literature, especially in the higher learning institutions context, relating that students' SS plays an essential role in the development of awareness of occupational hazards.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this research is to investigate the significant antecedents that influence students' awareness of occupational hazards (AOHs) in their respective institutions. The researchers proposed a theoretical model consisting of three dimensions: knowledge sharing behavior (KSB), sense of spirituality (SS) and awareness of occupational hazards (AOHs).\nDesign/methodology/approach: This study targets students of different public and private higher learning institutions in Bangladesh with a total of 260 respondents, utilizing a survey questionnaire as the data collection instrument to test the proposed conceptual model. The structural equation modeling approach was used to test the proposed model.\nFindings: The results show that SS has a mediating effect on KSB and AOHs at higher learning institutions.\nOriginality/value: The study contributes for first time to the theoretical novelty of the body of the existing literature in the domains of students' KSB, SS and AOHs. The study also provides insight on future research directions by helping in identifying gaps in literature in this field and higher learning institutions in Bangladesh.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Capacity building: a course on sustainable development to educate the educators	[ "Training", "Education", "Sustainable development", "Mexico" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: For the last decade there has been an increasing momentum for educators in all academic fields to incorporate concepts, values and approaches of sustainable development (SD) into their curricular activities. Similarly, many governments and enterprises are facing similar challenges/opportunities. Consequently, it is essential that institutions of higher education ensure that their educators and administrators are not only knowledgeable but also committed to making SD an integral part of all curricular activities of present and future students.In this context, Tecnologico de Monterrey (ITESM) has incorporated sustainable development concepts within its new mission and vision statements, which are to be fully implemented by 2015. Specifically, the Mission states that Tec faculty are responsible for:... preparing people with integrity, ethical standards and a humanistic outlook, who are internationally competitive in their professional fields; at the same time, they will be good citizens committed to the economic, political, social and cultural development of their community and to the sustainable use of natural resources (www.itesm.mx/2015/english/index.html).This means that the institution must take actions to ensure that the concept of SD is incorporated into our professional education, and that SD must be part of all institutional activities.Fortunately, the United Nations established the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD)[1] that started in January 2005, with the goal of supporting the incorporation of SD into courses and curricula throughout the World. Hence, both the Mission of Tec de Monterrey and the United Nation's ideological support provide momentum to our educational activities.Criticism about sustainable development is directed to its ambiguity and inefficacy to solve complex problems that future generations will face. Jickling (1994) plays down the role of SD in education, stating that it is only a set of ideas that will be in fashion for a while, without necessary depth or implementation. But SD has to be approached from an interdisciplinary stance, with a strong critical component towards un-sustainability, in order to generate discussion and action awakening (Warburton, 2003). Because of the latter, this education for SD should effectively combine a conceptual framework and autonomous discovery through the acquisition of sustainable practice, and this must happen first at a personal level before it can be expected at a global level (Warburton, 2003).This gap between theory and practice has led this paper's authors to develop an \"Educate-the-Educators\" course which first reviews the origin and meanings of SD concepts and second involves faculty learners in converting their courses to be more actively and thoroughly engage their students in learning to become \"Change Agents for SD\" through their academic experiences. To accomplish such empowerment, the faculty are challenged and supported in making a personal commitment to teach students to include SD in their professional and personal lives.Following the arguments of Dale and Newman (2005), the main effort was to make learners capable of understanding and developing new responses to dynamic situations. This was accomplished by providing a wide range of content that illustrated interconnections and interdependencies that underline \"dynamic\" responses instead of \"fixed\" ones (Warburton, 2003).According to some case study reports, different approaches and strategies for incorporating SD into the curricula have been tried by university faculty (e.g. Steiner, 2006). A relevant approach takes into consideration transdisciplinarity, which provides the complex, multidimensional focus into case studies. There have been attempts to permeate university life with SD (Moore, 2005), also attempts have been made to evaluate SD understanding and comprehension (Lourdel et al., 2005, 2007; Ferrer-Balas et al., 2006: Segalas et al., 2006). The later authors have proposed a method to assess understanding regarding sustainable development for students by using concept maps, which facilitates evaluation of comprehension through time.A report on SD embedding at the engineering department of the University of Cambridge, (Fenner et al., 2005) emphasizes that one must understand the process of change in order to successfully introduce SD concepts into courses and curricula. Approaches and strategies to overcome the typical barriers to change are presented by Lozano (2006). The barriers are grouped in three levels:1. resistance to the idea of SD itself;2. resistance to involving deeper issues; and3. deeply embedded resistance to change.Education of faculty members can partially overcome the first two barrier levels.It is on this task, i.e. \"capacity building of faculty to teach SD\", that this part of our campus SD efforts have been focused.It is increasingly evident that \"capacity building of educators,\" must be considered to be the cornerstone of transforming universities to become effective in empowering their students to become change agents for SD in their professional and personal lives after their university experiences. If those who teach in HE are not versed in, conscious about and committed to SD, they cannot explain these concepts to their students and/or to incorporate such concepts into their research.In the \"Educate-the-Educator's\" work at Tecnologico de Monterrey (Monterrey Campus) is part of a holistic programme that covers every aspect of the institution. For a more detailed description of all other facets of the Sustainable Campus Programme (see Lozano et al., 2006). The Sustainable Campus programme presented in this document underscores that not only academic issues need to be addressed when a higher education institution works to incorporate sustainability.\nBackground to this new, multi-disciplinary \"Educate-the-Educators\" course: In January 2003 faculty at the Monterrey Campus developed a three-day \"Educate- the-Educators\" course about SD. This course was designed to increase their awareness, to provide the foundation of a common language regarding SD and to provide tools and literature to help them to modify their courses. In that way, they could increasingly integrate the holistic approaches that are essential for student empowerment, so that communities can be transformed into sustainable societies.This course was given four times. Approximately 100 dedicated faculty members took one of the courses.Analyses of feedback from the faculty showed that although the three primary facets of SD (people, planet and profits or economics, ecology and society) were addressed, they were not appropriately integrated. This was apparently due to the way the course was prepared and delivered. Consequently, the educators could not develop adequate insight into how to integrate all three facets into their own courses.This is especially important because SD is based on interconnections and complexity, which means that decisions made in certain spheres have implications beyond the discipline or societal/ecological context within which it is made. Consequently, after further analyses of the results of the first four short-courses on SD for educators, the organizing team decided to thoroughly restructure the course to ensure that it be more integrated and interconnected. In this way, educators will more effectively learn how to integrate all dimensions of SD dimensions into their courses as interconnected elements.All academics who have sought to work in this multi-disciplinary context know it is challenging to accomplish holistic integration of such diverse dimensions of knowledge into their courses and curricula but at the same time it is exciting and essential to do so.In order to make progress in this complex system, several conditions must be fulfilled.First, the course content should be structured so that the educators gain insight into the complex web of connections of the TBL, as well as of the other essential concepts of SD.Second, a dedicated group of educators must be empowered to work as a team to design the general goals and objectives as well as the specific course content of the integrated SD course for the educators. Of course, they must then be dedicated to teaching the course and be supported to work as a team, much as a philharmonic orchestra would perform a symphony.Third, a support activity to the SD course should be designed to help educators incorporate SD themes, problems, case studies, projects, etc., into their courses. To accomplish this objective, a workshop was developed to address these practical aspects as the course developed.Finally, it was essential to develop a way to assess the progress that the newly educated educators made in understanding SD concepts, vision and complexity. Details about these four aspects are presented in the following sections.\n1. The new course's structure, content and methodology: 1.1 Structure linking relevant issues as the foundation of the course\n2. Dedicated group of educators engaged in the preparation and teaching of the new SD course for educators and attending educators' disciplinary background: In 2003 the first course on SD for educators was developed with experienced lecturers chosen to guide the course. This course was based on the TBL. The professors could effectively portray each dimension. However, that group of lecturers was not able to continue working on the initial course, to make it more integrated and to show the interconnectedness among themes. Therefore, a new team of dedicated educators was sought on campus to carry on this initial effort. The criterion was that the professors be outstanding in their own disciplines, and also be willing to work as members of a joint, multi-disciplinary team to develop and to teach the new course. As a result of the search, a team of four educators was selected. The disciplines of the four faculty members includes: environmental economics, international relations, forestry, and plant pathology. This group was considered able to effectively present the concepts of the TBL as essential to the SD transformation that is needed to help educators on their SD journeys.A pilot offering of the new was given in May 2006 with educators from the Division of Management and Finance. Then from September to October 2006, the newly designed course was offered to the Campus Faculty, with participating educators from management, engineering, law, industrial design and education.As the course evolved, the educators began to broaden their perspective instead of conceiving of issues from the typical restricted vision from their own disciplines. This became evident in the various role plays, presentations, and group discussions used in the course. Although apparent to participants and lecturers, the challenge would be how to assess this change in attitudes, perspectives and values. This is expanded on within the following section.\n3. Assessment to monitor the re-educated educators' understanding of SD concepts and their progress within the new course: 3.1 Concept maps as tools for assessing the progress of the changes in understanding of those attending the new course\nSummary and conclusions: To foster SD in higher education in Higher Education, to be an active part of the global effort within the UN Decade of Education for SD, and to help implement the Vision and Mission of Tecnologico de Monterrey for 2015, the design and planning of a course on SD for educators was achieved by a multidisciplinary team of lecturers.A pilot was offered to nine educators and the comprehensive course was given to 14 educators.The course design was based on the following concepts:* Drivers that have taken us through an unsustainable path.* Ways to change our current path.* Changes needed in the educational realm, tools that have to be considered.* Implementing the changes.* Assessment or evaluation of sustainable development.In order to assess the knowledge and concepts acquired by the \"faculty who took the course\", the tool of concept maps was applied at the course's beginning and end.Tools employed to analyse results were based on concept maps:1. First concepts were clustered along eight semantic categories, by expanding on Lourdel's six categories (Lourdel et al., 2005, 2007; Segalas et al., 2006; Ferrer-Balas et al., 2006); hence Lourdel's economic, scientific and technical aspects category was divided into an economic category and a scientific and technical aspects category, while a new education category was added. Simple statistical tests were applied to the data in order to have a basic evaluation, consisting of averages and t tests.2. Second, using graph theory and a complexity metric; maps were further processed and evaluated to obtain various metrics related to the degree of acquired knowledge.The purpose of the course was to educate educators on how to educate their students in the full range of SD, with a special emphasis on the TBL. That the TBL understanding was accomplished can be inferred from the radar and column charts (Figures 3 and 4).However, educators need to understand the interconnected and complex web, so papers by Lourdel et al. and Segalas et al. would, as well as this work findings suggest that we should modify the course to eventually reach the future students of the participants. Besides the assessment of concept maps for educators that attended the course, digraph theory was used to evaluate the complexity concept maps, structures, and partitioning.The team teaching course was designed to build capacity among Monterrey Campus educators on educating their students in SD. The course was based on the TBL and was expanded with further concepts related to SD; interconnectedness was emphasised throughout. Educators increased their understanding of SD. An assessment method was based on concept maps, first using statistical evaluation for concepts portrayed in relation to SD, second using digraph theory with complexity values, and finally, using digraph structure.Based on the results, it is clear that further work to modify and enhance the course is needed, especially to show a more robust interconnectedness among all SD concepts. Moreover, a follow up assessment should be carried out to help consolidate the educators' work in SD with a set of courses to deepen sustainability in specific disciplines. The new 2015 Vision and Mission statements endorse the value of this journey towards sustainability.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to present information about a team-teaching course on sustainable development (SD) for educators in an institution of higher education, Monterrey Campus of ITESM in Mexico.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Four faculty members were invited to work together with the Sustainable Campus Programme coordinator in the process of developing the \"Educate-the-Educator's\" SD course. The course was structured using lectures, readings, class role play activities, homework, and general discussion. Additionally, a workshop-format was woven throughout the course; its function was to help the educators incorporate SD issues within their own courses.\nFindings: - It was found that a multi-disciplinarily developed and delivered course is an effective vehicle for educating educators on SD. Documentation of some facets of the learning process further helped the \"students\" and the course leaders to better understand the whole learning process.\nOriginality/value: - The paper's value rests on the interconnected structure, showing resonance with the triple bottom line, as well as many other dimensions linked with sustainable development. This structure increased the course participants' comprehension of sustainability. Furthermore, the use of concept maps and digraph theory to evaluate \"faculty participants'\" comprehension of the interconnections and dimensions of SD proved to be a successful innovation.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The contribution of Buddhist wisdom to management development	[ "Management development", "Philosophy", "Corporate social responsibility", "Ethics", "Organizational development", "Human resource development", "Performance measurement (quality)", "Behaviour modification", "Business values", "Training the mind", "Practical wisdom", "Defensive behaviour" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: This paper is written for readers with limited or no knowledge of Buddhism. The second section describes the purpose of Buddhism and presents comments by Buddha relating to business ethics and practices. The third section introduces three Buddhist concepts useful for improving business performance. The fourth section presents the application of these concepts to organisational development, the fifth section to management development and the sixth and last section to teaching in business schools and executive management development programmes.\n2. The purpose of Buddhism and Buddha's quotes relating to business: The goal of Buddha was to find a way to end suffering. Buddha summarised his conclusion in the \"Four Noble Truths\":\n3. Three Buddhist wisdom concepts useful for increasing organisational performance: Buddhist wisdom is about moral values and how rational thinking has to be combined with understanding the effects of emotions and used for reducing the effects of negative inclinations like self-centredness, disregard of the interests of others, jealousy, arrogance and many other similar \"destructive emotions\". At first sight, these concepts may appear far removed from the world of business. But they are not, as will be shown in the following sections about application.\n4. Organisational development: This application is about the implementation of the stated values of businesses, also referred to as: business principles, code of ethics, code of conduct or our values.\n5. Management development: This section will describe three application areas: reducing tensions and conflicts in an organisation, reducing defensive behaviour and training the mind.\n6. Application in business schools and executive management development programmes: This paper, together with similar articles about other spiritual traditions, provides sufficient information for preparing a lecture about practical wisdom from different spiritual traditions. This should be of interest to many organisations and institutions. It would stimulate the members of the audience to further study.\n7. Conclusion: Buddhist practical wisdom concepts should not be seen as an alternative to the practical wisdom of other spiritual traditions. They represent an additional set of moral and ethical concepts.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present selected Buddhist concepts that are useful to leaders of business and to those that want to increase the performance of their businesses and of their organisations implementing practical wisdom from a Buddhist perspective.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The design is to present relevant Buddhist concepts and their application. The methodology used is to consider their logic and rationality, the experiences of Buddhist business leaders in Taiwan and Thailand, and my experience of explaining and applying the concepts. The approach is to present the concepts such a way that the reader can determine if these concept merit further study and trying them out.\nFindings: Finding Buddhist wisdom concepts that can be applied to management development often require reformulation from the original texts. The original information is vast and requires selection to those concepts that can be readily understood by non-Buddhists.\nResearch limitations/implications: At a high level of abstraction core Buddhist concepts are the same but not in detail. In the paper two types of Buddhism have beeb referred to, Theravada and Tibetan traditions, and not for example Zen.\nPractical implications: Special emphasis is placed on how to see to it that the values a company describes in its mission, values and business principles statements are practiced. There is always a gap between intentions and results. Where is the gap, how big is it, what can be done about it?\nSocial implications: Buddhism like all spiritual traditions aims to increase the well-being of all. Buddhist concepts can contribute to reduce conflicts and increase happiness by influencing healthy motivations and intentions, and strengthening self-discipline.\nOriginality/value: The Buddhist wisdom concepts have been selected together with the scholarly monk Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, with profound knowledge of Tibetan Buddhism and with the scholarly monk and abbot of the Nyanavesakavan temple, P.A. Payutto, one of the most brilliant Buddhist scholars in the Thai Buddhist history.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Business relatedness measurements: State-of-the-art and a proposal	[ "Strategic planning", "Diversification", "Measurement", "Perceptions", "Core competences" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Accurate managerial judgments on relatedness between business units are central to diversification decisions in industrial firms as these decisions have major performance effects (Nayyar, 1992; Prahalad and Bettis, 1986; Stimpert and Duhaime, 1997; Pehrsson, 2006). More specific decisions that rely on the identification of similarities across the corporation concern, for example, core competence determination, investments in products and markets, mergers, acquisitions, formation of strategic alliances, and divesture.The examination of over three decades of research on the matter provided by Palich et al. (2000) showed that a moderate degree of business relatedness is associated with the highest performance. The major reason for this is the opportunity to exploit a common pool of resources (Ramanujam and Varadarajan, 1989; Lubatkin and Srinivasan, 1997; Nayyar, 1992), thus yielding advantages to the firm due to economies of scope (Markides and Williamson, 1994; Seth, 1990). Moreover, Pehrsson (2006) found that performance is not only due to the degree of relatedness, but also to the type. In that study, moderate relatedness based on product technology similarities outperformed moderate relatedness based on customer similarities. A conclusion from previous research is, however, that variations in the measurement of business relatedness seriously affect the outcome of diversification-performance studies.Thus, we are not yet ready to formulate enough management advice on the measurement of business relatedness in industrial firms. This paper, therefore, presents the state-of-the-art of research on business relatedness measurements and puts forward a model for the measurement of business relatedness in industrial firms.Researchers have commonly evaluated relatedness between different business units by comparing standard industrial classification (SIC) codes of businesses or by using certain indices such as the Herfindahl entropy measure of diversification which treats product-market similarities (Capron, 1999; Palepu, 1985; Robins and Wiersema, 2003; Wilhelmsson and McQueen, 1999). Alternatively, researchers have classified firm data into predetermined relatedness categories following types of business attributes (Rumelt, 1974, 1982).Another line of research (Nayyar, 1992; Stimpert and Duhaime, 1997; Pehrsson, 2006) has questioned this objective measurements approach and instead acknowledged the validity of managerial perceptions of business relatedness. The major rationale is that assessments made by managers underlie strategic decisions, and therefore managerial perceptions to a large extent could be used as input into the development of business relatedness measurements. This research underscores the multidimensionality of relatedness, reflecting combinations of business attributes. In addition, both Nayyar (1992) and Stimpert and Duhaime (1997) explored how management perceptions correlated with the dominant objective measurements and therein found major differences.There is, hence, a need to evaluate contemporary measurements of business relatedness and to put forward a proposal. Accordingly, the purpose of this paper is to contribute to the understanding of business relatedness by addressing two specific questions: What characterizes the existing types of measurements of business relatedness? What are the weaknesses of these types? On the basis of answers to these questions, we would be able to put forward a model for business relatedness measurements.The paper is organized as follows. First, as relatedness concerns specific business attributes, we present the attributes commonly used in measurements. A review of previous studies on types of measurements of business relatedness (codes or indices, researcher assessments and managerial perceptions) then follows, together with a discussion on correlations between perceptual and objective measurements. Finally, we offer conclusions relating to the two specific research questions, propose a model of measuring business relatedness by using perceptual data, and specify the need for further research in order to develop the model.\nCommon business attributes: Similarities between business units have been studied with respect to similarities of certain types of business attributes. The dominating attributes are variants of product-market attributes, resource attributes and value chain attributes. Some studies (Farjoun, 1998; Pehrsson, 2006; Stimpert and Duhaime, 1997; John and Harrison, 1999), however, have combined the types in order to capture the multidimensionality of relatedness.Product-market attributes include variants of product technology specifications. Product technology is the basis for SIC codes and most business relatedness indices; it is also a conventional attribute in studies where researchers classify business units according to the seminal works of Wrigley (1970) and Rumelt (1974). Product-market attributes include product types, end customer types, and similar attributes (Pehrsson, 2006).Lemelin (1982) was among the first to underscore the importance of resource attributes as sources of relatedness. The resources that provide the basis for business relatedness have since then been viewed as part of a continuum: from the unique and specialized assets, skills and capabilities that give each of a firm's businesses a competitive advantage, to general management skills. The concept of uniqueness is also a similarity concept since its determination fundamentally involves a process by which a firm assesses itself in comparison with other firms according to key strategic resources. However, Farjoun and Lai (1997) conclude that, in essence, models for empirical identification of uniqueness are still unexplored territory.Finally, researchers have recognized value chain attributes in comparing businesses. Galbraith and Kazanjian (1986) noted that businesses representing different stages in the value chain face very different managerial tasks. They argued that similarities in organizational structure, management processes, dominant functions, successions paths, and management beliefs and values are what really matters. Ilinitch and Zeithaml (1995) referred to this as 'managerial relatedness'. Moreover, the rationale of John and Harrison (1999) was that units might develop interrelationships in any sequence of the value chain. Pehrsson (2006) and Tsai (2000) went one step further and separated input aspects (such as supply channel types) from sales channel types and other output aspects.\nTypes of measurements of business relatedness: Table I refers to previous studies on three types of measurements of business relatedness: application of SIC codes or different indices, assessments by researchers and studies of managerial perceptions. In the table, studies using researcher classifications are sorted according to the business attributes that have been the main focus of the studies.SIC codes and indices\nCorrelations between perceptual and objective measurements: One line of distinction among business relatedness measurements comprises the differences between perceptual measurements and objective measurements made from outside firms (SIC codes or different indices, researcher assessments). Stimpert and Duhaime (1997) calculated correlations between the three relatedness factors (product-market relatedness, differentiation relatedness and financial relatedness) which they found in their study of perceptions of 200 managers of large diversified firms, and the Herfindahl index and the entropy index, respectively. The two indices were highly correlated with each other, and they were both highly correlated with the perceptual product-market factor. This suggests that some managers of large diversified firms think of relatedness in the product, market and technological characteristics incorporated in objective measures. However, none of the other factors correlated with the indices. From this, Stimpert and Duhaime logically concluded that business relatedness should be viewed as a multidimensional construct, and that objective indices were not valid enough as they inadequately reflected the nature of business relatedness.Other researchers also have concluded that managers' perceptions of relatedness may differ significantly from pre-determined categories (Bettis, 1981; Keats, 1990; Nayyar, 1992; Prahalad and Bettis, 1986). For example, Nayyar's comparisons of the results of diversification based on external (Rumelt's researcher classification and the entropy index) and perceptual data found little evidence of any correlation. Nayyar's conclusion was that objectively determined relatedness among businesses may not reveal actual relatedness. Consequently, firms that have been classified as either related or unrelated business firms may have, in fact, been something else. This data problem most probably is one reason for the shifting results of diversification-performance studies.\nConclusions, a proposal and further research: This section provides conclusions from the foregoing review of previous research. We then propose a model for application of perceptual measurements of business relatedness, and specify the need to develop the proposed model.Conclusions of the review\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to extend understanding of business relatedness, a concept that is central to diversification issues. These questions are put forward: What characterizes existing types of measurements of business relatedness? What are the weaknesses of these types? What would be the features of a model for measurement of business relatedness?\nDesign/methodology/approach: - As relatedness concerns specific business attributes, common attributes used in measurements are presented. A review of previous studies on types of measurements of business relatedness (codes or indices, researcher assessments and managerial perceptions) is followed by a discussion on correlations between perceptual and objective measurements.\nFindings: - The review shows that application of standard industrial classification codes/indices and researcher assessments suffer from weak content validity of the measurements, and underestimation of the multidimensionality of the construct. Use of managerial perceptions needs to address the uncertainty inherent in managerial self-assessments; previous research has found a major divergence between perceptual and objective measurements.\nPractical implications: - A model is proposed for the measurement of business relatedness using perceptual data. It is stressed that the context of the comparisons (i.e. reason for comparison and units to be compared) has a major influence on the outcomes. Business attributes to be subjectively compared by managers are those that have been singled out as important for financial performance.\nOriginality/value: - The paper is unique as it represents a continuation of the most recent research on measurement of business relatedness, i.e. those measurements that are based on managerial perceptions. Another key value is that the review of research leads to a measurement model.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Perceptions of psychological contract fairness of Hispanic professionals	[ "Psychological contracts", "Discrimination", "Ethnic minorities", "Social status", "Hispanics", "White collar workers" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Clearly, Hispanics are a growing component of the workforce that corporations need to consider, especially if it can be demonstrated that they differ from other groups in the workforce. Despite the explosive growth of the Hispanic population in the USA, there has been little research done on this group. The rise in the number of Hispanics poses challenges for researchers and practitioners and has important implications for organizations, especially considering the lack of scholarly work in this area. Moreover, Hispanic business professionals have been largely under-investigated by business researchers. In the present study, business professionals were operationalized as those white-collar workers with a minimum of an undergraduate college degree.The emergence of Hispanic business professionals has effects on various levels. In addition to gaining strength as a larger portion of the workforce, Hispanics are becoming a more powerful consumer group. Increasing numbers of Hispanics are also beginning to make significant in-roads in their corporate presence. As a result, learning more about this group and their perceptions about business practices and more specifically their perceptions of psychological contracts is important to not only corporate America, but also to Hispanics themselves. For the purposes of this study we operationalize Hispanic business professionals as Hispanics employed in professional \"white collar\" jobs and have attained at least a bachelor's degree. This group is pertinent as Hispanic workers continue to aim to become integral members of corporate America.Psychological contract research is a popular area of study for those interested in organizational theory and behavior. Rousseau (1995) defines the psychological contract as the individual's beliefs about mutual obligations between the employee and employer. These are expectations of the worker from the organization and the expectations of the organization from the worker. For example, the organization or manager is, expected to treat individuals justly, provide safe working conditions, allow them reasonable vacation time and provide proper resources to complete their tasks. On the other hand, the employee is expected to complete requested tasks, demonstrate a good attitude, promote the image of the company and obey corporate policy.Expectations on both sides of the employment agreement have been defined more specifically as remuneration, personal support and job security on the employer's side. On the employee's side loyalty, and accepting job transfers are expected (Rousseau, 1995). While the psychological contract contains both the employee and employer's view, most research focuses on the employee's perception of the contract. The organization's perception of the psychological contract is difficult to operationalize because issues arise as to who actually personifies the organization.Psychological contract fairness\nMethodology: Sample\nFindings: The total sample included 164 participants, as this was the number of surveys that met the criteria for analysis. Scale reliabilities were calculated using the entire sample (n = 211). For most analyses, the n = 164 sample was used, as they self-identified as Hispanic. The remaining subjects identified themselves as either a member of some other racioethnic group, or did not respond to this particular question.Table I summarizes the demographic variables of the sample (n = 164). Organizational tenure ranged from zero to 37.5 years with a mean of 4.15; age ranged from 20 to 68 years with a mean of 33.67; average salary for the group was $71,000; 99.4 per cent of the participants were born in the USA; 53.5 per cent were male, 44.7 per cent female and 94.1 per cent had at least a college degree. While most were affinity group members, a small percentage were non-members attending the conference for personal development. These participants may account for the non-degreed respondents.For all hypotheses, time 1 measures (the initial data collection) of psychological contract fairness are used as criterion variables. However, in order to control for common method bias (Avolio et al., 1991; Doty and Glick, 1998) psychological contract fairness was measured at time 1 (initial data collection), then each participant was asked to complete a follow-up survey containing the same psychological contract fairness measure 30 days later. This lag meets the criteria set forth for removal of common method bias established by Doty and Glick (1998). The time 2 survey (i.e. the second data collection) had a 62 per cent response rate. However, when examining the differences between time 1 and time 2 measures of psychological contract fairness there was an intercorrelation (the level of similarity) of 0.75 (p<0.001) and paired sample analysis of variance indicated no significant difference (t = 1.688, ns). Paired sample analysis of variance compares the responses of the same participants at two different points in time. In order to retain a larger sample, psychological contract measures from time 1 are used as the primary criterion in all analyses (see Table II).Means, standard deviations and intercorrelations among all pertinent measures, (i.e. psychological contract fairness, perceptions of discrimination, autonomous status judgments and demographic variables) are presented in Table III. The magnitude of correlations among variables was moderate, ranging from 0.00 to 0.62.H1, which predicted that perception of discrimination would be inversely related to psychological contract fairness, was supported (see Table IV). The demographic control variables were entered first as a separate hierarchical block. To test this hypothesis, the outcome variable (psychological contract fairness) was then regressed on an index of individual perception of discrimination. The regression analyses replicated previous findings in that perception of discrimination is a strong predictor of psychological contract fairness (F = 3.463, p<0.005). Further, the hypothesized direction (i.e. positive) of the relationship was supported. Consequently, this finding gives further credence to the argument that Hispanic workers frequently perceive unfairness of the psychological contract. Seventy per cent of the current sample reported an unfair contract. As perceived discrimination increases, psychological contract fairness decreases. This creates a prime building block for a fully developed model of studying Hispanic psychological contract fairness.The first hypothesis attempted to replicate the findings of Blancero et al. (2007). They found that perception of discrimination to be a significant predictor of psychological contract fairness. Their study reported a negative relationship between perception of discrimination and psychological contract fairness. The predictive utility of perception of discrimination was tested alone and after controlling for the variance accounted for by the demographic variables of age, gender, generation in the USA, organizational tenure and salary. These overt demographic characteristics are commonly used as control variables in studies that examine facets of demography (Tsui and Gutek, 1999). Reliability statistics were calculated for each of these scales with psychological contract fairness alpha = 0.778 and perception of discrimination alpha = 0.846. These levels both exceeded the acceptable alpha level of 0.70, which was set at the onset of this investigation.H2, which predicted that autonomous status judgments would be positively related to psychological contract fairness, was supported. In the past the use of titles or span of control might have been employed to determine an employee's status, but in reality when examining organizations and the status of particular employees, especially minority employees, individual perceptions of status should have greater predictive importance (see Table V). After evaluating control variables it appears that autonomous status judgments are a significant predictor of psychological contract fairness (F = 6.280, p<0.001).While a direct relationship between autonomous status judgments and psychological contract fairness was statistically established, the possibility of perception of discrimination mediating this relationship still exists. For H3, Baron and Kenny's (1986) method for evaluating mediation was employed. H3, which predicted that perception of discrimination will mediate the relationship between psychological contract fairness and autonomous status judgments, was supported (see Table VI). The psychological measure of status seems to be an indicator of psychological contract fairness and perception of discrimination on an individual level.Finally, significant evidence is provided to show that psychological contract fairness is relatively stable over time. While previous research has espoused that psychological contract content is not stable over time (Anderson and Schalk, 1998; Rousseau and Tijoriwala, 1998), the present study shows that there is no significant difference in level of psychological contract fairness over time. This may be due to the content of the psychological contract, since it may change over time. However, individual perceptions of fairness are relatively stable. In this vein, research that focuses on psychological contract violation as a discrete event (Rousseau and Tijoriwala, 1996; Rousseau, 1998) may not be the most accurate portrayal of worker's perceptions of work agreements. Based on this research of Hispanic workers, it seems that global fulfillment of the psychological contract is of great importance.\nResearch limitations: A limitation of this study was the use of a non-random sample. In order to attract participants of interest, a convenience sample was employed. Future research might employ a random sample to compare different groups of racioethinicities. Sample size was also a limitation. While the final n = 164 was sufficient to test the hypotheses, perhaps with a larger sample predictor variable effects and variance might have increased. Self-report bias (Spector, 1994) presents some limitations. While a lagged dependent variable was employed, future research might find another method of collecting criterion data. Additionally, the level of effort employed by each participant cannot be gauged, as their goal may have only been to quickly complete the survey in order to receive their incentive.Some critics may also note the use of an Hispanic affinity group members as participants. Their membership in an Hispanic affinity group may make them more prone to stronger identification with their racioethnic group. However, significant variance among participants in the present investigation existed on measures of Hispanic identity and level of acculturation. While these variables were not employed in this study, future research might evaluate the impact of acculturation and identity on variables such as psychological contract fairness and autonomous status judgments. While response for the lagged dependent variable survey was quite high, it may be desirable to test this model on a larger sample of both Hispanic and non-Hispanic participants in order to show potential differences in perception.\nPractical implications: Since this study found that perception of discrimination fully mediates the relationship between psychological contract fairness and autonomous status judgment, one can infer that employees do not necessarily report unfair work agreements solely based on their racioethnic identification. Reporting may be based on the employee's perceived experiences at work and feeling of status within the organization. This could have practical implications in the workplace. Autonomous status judgments are significant predictors of psychological contract fairness. By empowering Hispanic employees and giving them the resources to truly believe they are valued by the organization, individual outcomes such as productivity and satisfaction could be positively affected.Of additional interest is the interaction of psychological contract fairness and age. Preliminary findings (Blancero et al., 2006) show a linear trend in terms of age (F = 5.078, p<0.05). As Hispanic professionals got older they reported lower levels of psychological contract fairness. There is a possibility that older workers are less acculturated or it may be that younger workers are more easily adaptable to multiple racioethnic identities. Perhaps they view themselves as bicultural. In this vein, next steps in this stream of research could include the impact of cultural flex (Ramirez, 1999). Cultural flex has to do with individuals being able to mold themselves to the identity of many cultures. With this topic comes the idea of individuals who term themselves as bi-cultural (24.1 per cent of the current sample) and the possibility that they marginalize one or more of their cultural identities as necessary. This is similar to the classic sociologic theory of the marginal man.\nOriginality/value: This study takes a new approach to investigating the psychological contract by looking at explanatory constructs of the violation phenomenon not previously considered in the research literature. Numerous scholars (Anderson and Schalk, 1998; Guest, 1998; Rousseau, 1998) have stated that future directions in psychological contract research should focus on addressing the major criticisms that exist in the research landscape concerning measurement, definition, dynamics/outcomes as well as the added value of the construct. This would include identification of clear relationships with other more solidly defined organizational behavior constructs and the testing of these alternative or \"explanatory constructs\".The present study differentiates itself from past content research by allowing respondents to idiosyncratically define their psychological contract. Past research attempted to decipher what is included in each individual psychological contract. This approach to studying psychological contracts may help to eliminate the agency issues associated with psychological contract research, such as treating the supervisor as the de-facto representative of the organization. It may also serve to refine the global fulfillment argument. This argument debates whether the entire psychological contract remains intact with minor violations versus the discrete event, which is any violation of the psychological contract, dictates the entire contract has been violated. By evaluating fairness of the psychological contract on a seven-point Likert type scale, greater variance in the dependent variable and more robust results were obtained.The difficulties in measuring psychological contract fairness, as noted earlier, suggest that there can be significant differences in the psychological contract over time (Anderson and Schalk, 1998; Rousseau and Tijoriwala, 1998). However, in this case, significant variance was noted in the measure. Measuring the variable at time 1 and 30 days later with no significant difference indicated stability over time.This study addresses the arguments about the sources of discrimination and fairness perceptions and expands the findings of Blancero et al. (2007), who reported a disproportionate number of Hispanic business professionals with an unfair or violated psychological contract. The present research suggests a model of racioethnically-based psychological contract evaluation by examining levels of autonomous status judgments and various demographic characteristics of Hispanic business professionals.This study has contributed to the existing literature on both psychological contracts and Hispanic workers. Key to these contributions is that level of racioethnic identification may have some impact on an individual's perception of discrimination, but does not directly influence their likelihood of reporting an unfair work agreement. Further, autonomous status judgments are a powerful predictor of individual level variables. This study provides significant evidence that where an individual perceives himself or herself to reside in the organizational hierarchy is a strong predictor of perception of discrimination and psychological contract fairness. Employee perceptions can be very powerful and perhaps more powerful than titles or peer perceptions of status.Perceptions of discrimination and fairness are important issues to both employees and employers. While these issues are of increasing interest in relation to Hispanic professionals (Foley et al., 2002), academic research has largely ignored the potential differences that may exist among racial/ethnic groups. The present investigation focused on issues of the Hispanic professional's perception of psychological contract fairness, perceptions of discrimination and the changing nature of these relationships.Opens in a new window.Figure 1\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to investigate Hispanic business professionals' perception of psychological contract fairness, perception of discrimination, and the influence of autonomous status judgments on these variables.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Participants were drawn from a sample of an association of Hispanic business professionals. The survey instrument was created from existing scales; validity and reliability were established in a pilot study. The survey was administered at two time intervals to 164 Hispanic business professionals. Data were analyzed using a multiple regression analysis.\nFindings: - There were significant relationships between Hispanic business professionals' psychological contract fairness perceptions, and perceptions of discrimination and autonomous status. As the score for psychological contract fairness increased, the score for perception of discrimination decreased. As the score for psychological contract fairness increased, the score for perception of autonomous status increased.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The sample for the study was a convenience sample and therefore may contain a self report bias.\nPractical implications: - By empowering Hispanic employees and giving them the resources to truly believe they are valued by the organization, individual outcomes such as productivity and satisfaction could be positively affected.\nOriginality/value: - This study took a new approach to investigating the psychological contract over time and provided useful data on the global fulfillment argument. It created a new model for studying the interaction of mediating variables on the psychological contract and filled a gap in the present research on Hispanic perceptions of psychological contract fairness.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
School leadership styles among educators in Abu Dhabi	[ "United Arab Emirates", "Leadership styles", "Principals", "Abu Dhabi", "Academic performance", "Lead teachers" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: 1.1. School leadership in Abu Dhabi\n2. Literature review: 2.1. Global perspectives on effective educational leadership\n3. Method: A case study design permits investigation of phenomena in the context of real life, and is particularly useful in situations where delineation between the phenomena and context may be difficult (Yin, 2009). To gain an understanding of the leadership styles of both administrators and lead teachers at private and government schools (GSs) in the UAE, this study used ethnographic interviews with four participants over the course of one semester. The case study data are qualitative (Silverman, 2009), allowing the exploration of phenomena rather than quantification of numerical data. Moreover, case studies also allow the researcher to build on the qualitative experience of an individual and either reinforce or define new knowledge, even if the sample size or number of cases is small (Creswell, 2013).\n4. Findings: 4.1. Principals\n5. Discussion: 5.1. Principals\n6. Implications: The present findings have implications for both policy and practice. It is within the purview of the UAE government to mandate change as part of the next decade's educational goals. The question of whether the government will correspondingly continue to mandate leadership models, which may affect the way teachers are treated and utilized, as well as impacting educational development, remains open. Global research is increasingly demonstrating the importance of collaboration in complying with reforms and achieving high levels of educational attainment. Thus, formal acknowledgment that both male and female teachers have the capacity to be leaders, role models, and change agents could lead to higher levels of educational attainment for the UAE in the global arena. Given that teachers educate and inform the children who will ultimately shape the future, this would be a significant development in terms of both formal policy and modern practice. On the other hand, a certain degree of caution is also warranted as the unequivocal adoption of new leadership practices that are predominantly derived from the West may have far-reaching consequences and unintended effects with a local population with traditional cultural inclinations toward top-down hierarchal management, the upholding of existing transactional relationships, and avoiding the uncertainty of untried or unknown outcomes (Hofstede et al., 2010; Kabasakal et al., 2012; Litz, 2014).\n7. Conclusion: The underlying premise of this study was that leadership roles in Abu Dhabi schools are multidimensional. The principals interviewed reported the utilization of contextually appropriate strategies integrating aspects of several leadership models, and perceived themselves as performing well in the various domains of management. However, findings suggest that principals may need to increase collaboration in their working relationships with teachers and improve their leadership in curriculum development and professional in-service training. Despite the centralized decision-making culture in the UAE educational system, improved collaboration at the school level may allow willing and capable teachers to contribute more to the country's change agenda provided it is also respectful of the unique local cultural norms, traditions, and socio-political context. Improving curriculum development skills might be a greater challenge, due to the control of the Ministry and ADEC. However, principals could volunteer to serve on curriculum committees or in advisory roles.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to report on an examination of the perceptions of two principals and two lead teachers regarding their own leadership styles, including how they define and perform their roles as leaders.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The research employed a case study design whereby two principals and two lead teachers (one of each from a government school (GS) and a private school in Abu Dhabi UAE) were interviewed over the course of one semester.\nFindings: Results suggest that the two principals viewed themselves as succeeding in six domains - school climate, school leadership, personnel management, administration and school management, student management, and relationships with parents and the community - but that they desired to improve with regard to curriculum development and professional and in-service development. The two lead teachers primarily defined their leadership roles as providing assistance to others and modeling best practice and flexibility, and considered themselves bridges between other teachers and the administration, as well as task facilitators and task achievers.\nOriginality/value: The paper reveals that both principals and teachers in Abu Dhabi engage in a number of activities consistent with much of the literature on effective school leadership styles. However, the findings also shed light on several marked differences between private and GSs in the Emirate, a lack of genuine collaboration between principals and teachers, and possible constraints on school leadership caused by top-down administrative practices.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Dynamic technical inefficiency and industrial concentration in the Indonesian food and beverages industry	[ "Dynamic technical inefficiency", "Indonesian food and beverages industry", "Industrial concentration", "Life hypothesis", "L10", "L11", "L13", "L66", "C33" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The Indonesian food and beverages industry is important for the Indonesian economy. Since 2004, the sector has contributed approximately 7 per cent to Indonesian gross domestic product and approximately 23 per cent to total manufacturing output (see Setiawan et al., 2012a, b). The industry has also accounted for approximately 23 per cent of total employment in the Indonesian manufacturing industry since 2006. Annual data from the Indonesian Bureau of Central Statistics (2016) suggest that Indonesian households have spent approximately 50 per cent of their income on food and beverages since 2005. Given the importance of the sector for the Indonesian economy, the efficiency with which it operates can significantly affect the welfare of consumers and the profitability of Indonesian firms.\n2. Literature review: Previous research generally found a significant effect of industrial concentration on static technical efficiency. For example, Gumbau-Albert and Maudos (2002), Al-Muharrami and Matthews (2009), Setiawan et al. (2012b) and Swaminathan et al. (2015) all found that higher industrial concentration reduced static technical efficiency. So far, there is no research estimating the relationship between industrial concentration and dynamic technical efficiency.\n3. Modelling approach: 3.1 Dynamic technical inefficiency and industrial concentration\n4. Data and variables: This research used data on the Indonesian food and beverages industry that were collected in the Survey of the Manufacturing Industry, conducted annually by the Indonesian Bureau of Central Statistics. The data cover the period from 1980 to 2014 and correspond to the five-digit level of the International Standard Industrial Classification (ISIC) system. The actual codes used are from the Klasifikasi Baku Lapangan Usaha Indonesia (KBLI), which are comparable to the ISIC codes. This research uses the most recent KBLI from 2009. The original data set covered 75 subsectors; subsectors with fewer than 30 observations were merged into groups of similar products or groups at the four-digit ISIC level, resulting in 44 subsectors. For example, the subsectors with the ISIC codes of 10215 (fermented fish), 10216 (extracted fish), 10217 (pulverised fish), 10218 (iced fish) and 10219 (other fish process) were grouped into a new subsector classified with a new ISIC code of 10220.\n5. Results and discussion: 5.1 Dynamic technical inefficiency and industrial concentration\n6. Conclusion and policy implications: This research investigated the relation between industrial concentration and dynamic technical inefficiency for the Indonesian food and beverages industry during the period 1980-2014. This research contributes to the literature by using dynamic technical inefficiency rather than static technical inefficiency as the measure of performance. This research also uses more recent data and covers a longer period than earlier research. The dynamic technical inefficiency measure takes into account the costs of adjustment associated with investment, which may be incorrectly attributed to technical efficiency in static approaches.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relation between industrial concentration and technical inefficiency in the Indonesian food and beverages industry using a dynamic performance measure (dynamic technical inefficiency) that accounts for the presence of adjustment costs.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This research uses panel data of 44 subsectors in the Indonesian food and beverages industry for the period 1980-2014. The dynamic input directional distance function is applied to estimate the dynamic technical inefficiency. Further, the Granger causality between industrial concentration and dynamic technical inefficiency is tested using a dynamic panel data model. A bootstrap truncated regression model is finally applied to estimate the relation between industrial concentration and dynamic technical inefficiency based on the results from the Granger causality test.\nFindings: The results show that the Indonesian food and beverages industry has a high dynamic technical inefficiency. Investigation of the causality of the relation shows that industrial concentration has a positive effect on dynamic technical inefficiency at the subsector level, with no reversed causality. The results suggest that the quiet life hypothesis applies to the Indonesian food and beverages industry.\nOriginality/value: The literature investigating the relation between industrial concentration and performance relies on static measures of performance, such as technical efficiency. Static measures provide an incorrect metric of the firms' performance in the presence of adjustment costs associated with investment. Therefore, this research has a contribution in measuring dynamic technical inefficiency that accounts for the presence of the adjustment cost as well as its relation with industrial concentration in the Indonesian food and beverages industry.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Sri Lankan entrepreneurs in Australia: chance or choice?	[ "Australia", "Sri Lanka", "Migrants", "Ethnic entrepreneurship", "Mixed embeddedness" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Migration flows to advanced countries have increased over recent times. In Australia, changes to immigration policies since the 1970s have seen an influx of migrants who are largely concentrated in state capitals. Since the 1980s there has been an increase in Sri Lankan nationals settling in Australia, with the largest concentration being found in Melbourne (Andrews, 2005; Gamage, 1992, 1998). Most are professionally qualified, despite Sri Lanka being a developing nation.\nEthnic entrepreneurship: the theoretical framework: There are a number of perspectives on ethnic entrepreneurship (Volery, 2007): structural accounts focus on the push of disadvantage or discrimination into necessity entrepreneurship, while the pull of opportunity associated with entrepreneurial predispositions and motivations within certain communities is the focus of culturalist accounts. Just as push (i.e. necessity) or pull (i.e. opportunity) accounts of entrepreneurship more generally present a false dichotomy (see Williams, 2007), so too do they in this literature (Jones and Ram, 2007; Vershinina et al., 2011). An integrative model emphasizing structure and agency was proposed to overcome this (Waldinger et al., 1990), but criticisms have been made of its inability to account for how \"changing patterns of globalization and racialization of immigrant minorities in many western countries influence the dynamics and characteristics of immigrant entrepreneurs\" (Collins and Low, 2010, p. 102).\nAn overview of Victoria's Sri Lankan small business community: In Victoria, Sri Lankans make up the eighth largest immigrant group (Museum Victoria, 2008). The majority resides in Melbourne and they are mainly concentrated in Melbourne's South-Eastern suburbs (Gamage, 1992). Research on the Sri Lankan community is significantly limited (Andrews, 2005; Azmat and Zutshi, 2012a), focussing mainly on cultural and social aspects of lives. From a business perspective, Azmat and Zutshi (2012a, b) have investigated perceptions of corporate social responsibility with a small group of Sri Lankan entrepreneurs in Melbourne. While studies such as Collins and Low's (2010) or Lever-Tracy et al.'s (1991) investigated motivations for Asian immigrants into self-employment, their samples did not include Sri Lankans. Generally, there is a lack of knowledge about how these immigrants survive in Australia, and specifically their motivations for business.\nMethods: The purpose of this paper is to examine factors in the decision to engage in self-employment. Case studies were undertaken to enable comparison and contrasting of decision-making. In terms of the sample size, Onwuegbuzie and Collins (2007, p. 289) argue, \"it should be not so small as to make it difficult to achieve data saturation, theoretical saturation or information redundancy. At the same time it should not be so large that it is difficult to undertake a deep, case-oriented analysis.\" For phenomenological research Creswell's (2007) guide is five to 25 interviews, while Guest et al. (2006) show that data saturation can be reached in six to 12 interviews.\nFindings: Business 1\nDiscussion: influences on the entrepreneurial decision: In these cases we can see both pull and push factors influencing the decision to enter self-employment (Table III). For instance, resources found within the community were important and included: moral support from family friends and former colleagues; financial support from family and friends; co-ethnic customers; familial and co-ethnic labor and suppliers.\nConclusions and future research: Australia has one of the most multi-cultural populations of advanced Western nations and significant numbers of those born outside Australia are self-employed and engaged in business (Collins, 2008). The purpose of this paper was to understand the factors in the decision for members of one ethnic community to become self-employed and establish business in Australia. The mixed embeddedness framework was used to frame this study as it \"links the meso-level of the opportunity structure with the micro-level of the individual entrepreneur\" (Kloosterman, 2010, p. 40) and when resources are conceptualized as forms of capital (Jones and Ram, 2007) advances are make to theorising ethnic entrepreneurship. Narratives of their entrepreneurial journey were obtained from five Sri Lankan entrepreneurs.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Ethnic entrepreneurship is, and always has been, a means of survival. However, there is limited literature on ethnic entrepreneurship in Australia and therefore, an understanding of ethnic entrepreneurs' motivations to become self-employed. The purpose of this paper is to report the influential factors in the decision to engage in self-employment through case studies of members of Melbourne's Sri Lankan community informed by the mixed embeddedness approach.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The mixed embeddedness approach frames the study where the authors examine the motivations for business of five Sri Lankan entrepreneurs. Narratives are used to construct individual case studies, which are then analyzed in terms of the motivations for, resources used and challenges faced on the entrepreneurial journey.\nFindings: For these ethnic entrepreneurs, their entrepreneurial activity results from a dynamic match between local market opportunities and the specific ethnic resources available to them at the time of founding. The self-employment decision was not prompted by a lack of human capital but an inability to use that human capital in alternative means of employment at specific points in time. Moreover the authors highlight the importance of social and cultural capital as resources used to overcome challenges on the entrepreneurial journey.\nOriginality/value: In this community, entrepreneurship was not a result of a lack of human capital but how it was utilized in combination with social and cultural capitals in the given opportunity structure. The mixed embeddedness approach enables the uncovering of how ethnic network ties were used in light of the opportunities available to build entrepreneurial activity.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The relationship between innovation capability and performance : The moderating effect of measurement	[ "Performance", "Innovation", "SME", "Performance measurement", "Performance management", "Innovation capability" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: A firm's capability to produce innovations has been suggested to be crucial for its success. An innovation can be a new product or service, a new production process, or a new structure or administrative system (Hult et al., 2004). Since innovation capability is typically viewed as a multifaceted construct, there is no common way to study it, due to the variety of perspectives of innovation management (Perdomo-Ortiz et al., 2006). Thus, the term \"innovation capability\" has been defined in several ways. According to Neely et al. (2001), an organization's innovation capability can be described as its potential to generate innovative outputs. Lawson and Samson (2001) define innovation capability in closer detail as \"the ability to continuously transform knowledge and ideas into new products, processes and systems for the benefit of the firm and its stakeholders.\" In addition, innovation capability varies from firm to firm and is determined by multiple factors (Silva et al., 2012).\n2. Literature review: 2.1 Innovation capability\n3. Methodology: 3.1 Variables\n4. Results: The validity of the variables was examined prior to hypothesis testing. Although the determinants of innovation capability are theoretically distinguishable constructs, factor analyses (FA) were conducted. The seven scales were subjected to principal component analysis to test the unidimensionality of the constructs and to eliminate unreliable items. One item was excluded, because it loaded alone among other items into one factor. The final results of the FA (Table II) for the determinants of innovation capability indicated that the measurement items had strong loadings on the constructs they were supposed to measure, thereby demonstrating unidimensionality. To test the reliability of the results, a Cronbach's a test was performed. The alpha values of six factors, as shown in Table II, were >0.60. In one factor (individual activity), the alpha value was <0.50, which indicates that the reliability of the factor can be questioned, and therefore the results concerning the factor should be handled circumspectly. Table III presents the intercorrelations of the variables. The variance inflation factors (VIFs) were computed to assess whether multicollinearity was a concern in the sample. All VIF values were well below the cut-off value of 10, indicating that multicollinearity did not cause problems.\n5. Discussion: The findings support the conception that the positive impact of the exploitation of external knowledge on firm performance is moderated by performance measurement. Further, the results do not indicate the significant moderating effect of performance measurement related to other determinants of innovation capability. Beyond providing empirical support for the innovation capability-firm performance relationship, this study confirms the role of performance measurement as an important moderating link. This role can also be confirmed by taking the entire model under examination.\n6. Conclusions: This paper has presented the results of a study investigating the moderating effects of performance measurement in the relationship between the determinants of innovation capability and organizational performance. The results show that measurement partly moderates the relationship. Firms that measure the determinants of innovation capability, especially through active exploitation of external knowledge, are more likely to engage in a higher level of innovation capability, which in turn has a positive impact on their performance. Performance measurement can thus be used as a tool for improving SME performance through innovation capability.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to discuss whether performance measurement moderates the relationship between innovation capability and firm performance.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study was conducted through a web-based survey in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). A total of 311 responses were received from a sample of 2,400 randomly selected SMEs.\nFindings: Consistent with predictions, the link between innovation capability and firm performance is significant in the presence of performance measurement. Performance measurement can thus be used as a tool for improving the performance of SMEs through innovation capability.\nPractical implications: Using the results of this study, practitioners can improve their innovation capability through performance measurement by taking better account of various aspects.\nOriginality/value: Previous research has studied the effects of performance measurement, but not in the area of innovation management. Previous research has also showed that measurement has positive effects on innovation capability. The present study goes one step further by investigating the impacts of measurement on the relationship of multiple aspects of innovation capability and firm performance.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Service employee evaluations of customer tips: an expectations-disconfirmation tip gap approach	[ "Service management", "Tipping", "Disconfirmation", "Employee displayed emotions", "Expectations-disconfirmation theory" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: During face-to-face service encounters, both customers and employees hold expectations about each other's behavior (Brown et al., 2008). Customers expect employees to deliver a certain level of service quality (Mei et al., 1999; Strombeck and Shu, 2014), and to display appropriate emotions (e.g. friendly greeting, smiling), while employees expect to be rewarded verbally (e.g. with thanks, praise), non-verbally (e.g. through body language), and through other culturally appropriate actions (e.g. providing references) and rewards (e.g. tips, gifts) (Pugh, 2001; Brown and Lam, 2008).\nTheoretical background: Expectations-disconfirmation theory posits that a person's psychological or AS results from a cognitive evaluation of the discrepancy between expected and actual rewards (Oliver, 1980). For instance, an employee rewarded with more than what was expected (positive disconfirmation) is likely to be satisfied with the employment rewards. On the other hand, an employee rewarded with less than what was expected (negative disconfirmation) is likely to be dissatisfied with the employment rewards.\nConceptual model and hypotheses development: The present study focussed on investigating the link between the employee's disconfirmation tip gap, AS, and DE. In terms of DE, the focus was on readily observed emotions, and excluded other dysfunctional or deviant behavior that is not readily displayed and hence very difficult to measure. Figure 2 depicts the proposed theoretical model. The theory guiding the proposed sequence of events model is expectations-disconfirmation theory (Oliver, 1980). Negative disconfirmation, which occurs when the employee receives a tip that is less than anticipated and is referred to in the psychology literature as a trigger event (Elfenbein, 2007), is expected to have a negative influence on the employee's AS and subsequent behavior (i.e. negative DE) in the workplace. Further, the employee's emotional self-control (SC) is expected to moderate the relationship between the employee's AS and DE.\nMethod: Data were gathered by means of a scenario-based experiment. Three between-subjects (two manipulations and one control) conditions were created.\nResults: After the editing, cleaning, and removal of incomplete questionnaires, 107 useable questionnaires remained across the three groups (control, 36.4 percent; D1, 30.8 percent; D2, 32.7 percent). Table II presents the basic demographic characteristics of the sample. Most of the participants were female (79.4 percent); and between 18 and 24 (44.0 percent) and 25-34 (36.4 percent) years old. The higher percentage of females and younger age groups in the sample is largely consistent with the demographic profile of waiters in the USA (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2010). Results from a Pearson's kh2-test of contingencies (a=0.05) showed that the three groups were not associated with gender (kh2=0.85, p=0.65) or age group (kh2=3.50, p=0.90). In addition, the results from a one-way ANOVA (a=0.05) showed no significant difference in the minimum (F\nDiscussion and conclusion: Past tipping research in the services literature have devoted very little attention to employee tip expectations, and to our knowledge no study has investigated the relationship between employee tipping expectations, AS and DE toward customers in the workplace. This study therefore broadens the focus of tipping research by presenting a more complex expectations-disconfirmation tip gap model to explain employees' DE.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Many service employees rely on non-contractual voluntary customer tips as a major source of their income. The purpose of this paper is to empirically test the relationship between the service employee's cognitive evaluation of the tip (expectations-disconfirmation tip gap), affective state (AS) and displayed emotions (DE) toward customers in the workplace.\nDesign/methodology/approach: An experimental, between-subjects, scenario-based research design was conducted on 107 waiters in the US restaurant industry. A simple mediation model was first tested, before testing a more complex moderated mediation model that was developed to investigate if employees self-control (SC) moderates the relationship between the employees tip gap, AS, and DE.\nFindings: An employee's negative disconfirmation tip gap negatively influences the employee's AS, which in turn results in negative DE toward customers in the workplace. However, an employee's positive tip gap does not positively influence the employee's AS, relative to the control. In addition, employees' SC does not moderate the relationship, which suggests that when employees experience negative tip disconfirmation they may openly violate the service provider's display rules and service scripts, and display negative emotions toward customers in the workplace.\nResearch limitations/implications: The scenario-based research design was limited to self-reported perceived levels of SC and DE. The scenario was also limited to one country and one tipping context (i.e. restaurants). Future studies could compliment these findings by conducting both qualitative studies, and survey research that relies on actual tipping data or re-enactments of actual service encounters.\nPractical implications: Service managers not only need to manage display rules and service scripts to influence employee DE, but also need to manage employee tip expectations, especially when employees expect to receive tips that are greater than actual tips (i.e. negative disconfirmation). Communicating and educating employees on customer tipping and what tips to expect should be central to managing employees who rely on customer tips.\nOriginality/value: Tipping has received very little attention in the services management literature. This study broadens the focus of tipping research in the literature by presenting a more complex expectations-disconfirmation tip gap model.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The behavioural response of the professional buyer on social cues from the vendor and how to measure it	[ "Buyer-seller relationship", "Trust", "Social cues", "Approach and avoidance", "BIS/BAS-theory", "Neuroscientific theory" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: It appears to be difficult to grasp the difference between a successful and an unsuccessful vendor, especially in a business-to-business (B2B) context (Szymanski and Churchill, 1990; Franke and Park, 2006). As there is more interpersonal interaction between sellers and buyers in a B2B context than in a business-to-consumer (B2C) one and there is mostly more at stake (Lynch and Chernatony, 2004), it is relevant to understand the key ingredients of successful vendors, being the \"face of the firm\" (Javalgi et al., 2014).\nThe function of social cues: Why are professional buyers likely to be sensitive to social cues? The process of buying implies having some kind of relationship with another party. That relationship is in the first place functional by nature, but, especially when personal selling is involved, also has social elements. \"To successfully establish and maintain social relationships, individuals need to be sensitive to the thoughts and feelings of others\" (Pickett et al., 2004, p. 1095). Interpersonal sensitivity is reflected in the ability to detect and decode social cues. Social cues direct attention, entail valuable information that guides social interaction and are crucial for the first-impression effect.\nSocial cues and perceived relationship value: Social cues direct attention and are used as a source of information, which is specifically of impact when making first impressions. In this section, the elements of that impact are explored. We use social cues as an additional source of information to figure out the others' intentions. The information provided by social cues colours the way the buyer perceives the seller, the product or service to be sold and thus the perceived value for the buyer.\nBehavioural response of the buyer: the behavioural inhibition system/behavioural activation system theory: Table I summarises the effects of the different dominant cues as addressed in the previous sections. However, measuring the actual behavioural response to social cues remains difficult. The limited research on social cues in the marketing and sales domain mostly uses an experimental design in combination with verbal reports. For example, Leigh and Summers (2002) showed manipulated videotapes of a salesperson to 90 professional buyers, who were asked to assess the salesperson's favourability and personality traits on a Likert scale. Such verbal reports do not give an accurate view of a tendency to buy and therefore have limited predictive power. To overcome this, the behavioural inhibition system (BIS)/behavioural activation system (BAS) theory is introduced as a valuable perspective for B2B marketers wanting to measure the impact of social cues on buying potential.\nMeasuring the impact of social cues on business-to-business decision-making: The inferences people make based on social cues are reflected in explicit attitudes - of which people are consciously aware and which can be expressed in verbal reports - and specifically in implicit attitudes - of which people are unaware and which are therefore more difficult to observe (McConnell et al., 2008). For example, negative subliminal primes, or masked stimuli can result in negative implicit attitudes but nonnegative explicit attitudes (Rydell et al., 2006). Because of the unconscious nature of implicit attitudes, \"irregular\" research methods may be required. As people are not consciously aware of the impact of social cues on their evaluation of the other, verbal self-reports during different phases of the first encounter(s) will not be sufficient. To test the impact of social cues during different moments of the first encounter(s) means we have to \"read the minds\" of potential buyers at different times. This creates a demand for longitudinal studies and/or sequential experimental methods to test the development of attitudes over time and to bring more dynamics into the buying decision models (Bush et al., 2015; Denant-Boemont and Petiot, 2003; LaPlaca and da Silva, 2016). Research techniques such as video observation and neuroscientific techniques will make it possible to follow the external expressions and internal neural state of the buyer during the encounter. A nice example forms the research by Boshoff (2012), who used neuroscientific research techniques to assess the impact of gender and ethnicity during different stages of a service encounter.\nManagerial and scientific implications: The themes of interaction and relationships have dominated the B2B marketing literature (Turnbull et al., 1996; Young et al., 2015). First impression effects in a marketing context, like the effects of social cues, are important to understand, because they influence the first stages of B2B relationship-building: selecting and evaluating potential suppliers (Naylor, 2007). The plea of this paper is to focus research attention on social cues and the behavioural responses they provoke.\nDiscussion and conclusion: Buyers probably differ in their vulnerability regarding social cues, just as people differ in the strength of their BIS or BAS and therefore in their response to incentives versus threats (Pickett et al., 2004; McConnell et al., 2008; Sutton and Davidson, 1997; Elliot and Thrash, 2002). Resting patterns of frontal EEG asymmetry have trait-like properties, creating individual different emotional responses (Davidson and Fox, 1989).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Vendors' social cues - physical or behavioural hints - have an impact on the professional buyer. However, little is known about that impact. The purpose of this paper is to place knowledge about the impact of social cues that other disciplines acquired in the context of business-to-business (B2B) marketing to contribute constructively to the research agenda.\nDesign/methodology/approach: By integrating findings on the processing of social cues and the behavioural response from the disciplines of neuroscience, biology and psychology (specifically the behavioural inhibition system [BIS]/behavioural activation system [BAS]-theory), this paper aims to provide an interdisciplinary perspective on the automatic evaluation of vendors by professional buyers.\nFindings: Social cues are likely to be of substantial value in the (first) encounter between buyer and seller. Positively evaluated social cues create an approach-motivated behavioural intention, whereas negatively evaluated ones create avoidance. This process is probably predominantly mediated by trust and moderated by personality and contextual factors.\nResearch limitations/implications: This paper stimulates research about the impact of social cues in a B2B context. While such knowledge would add practical value, this paper also explores possibilities for managers to use neuroscientific techniques to assess and train sales agents.\nOriginality/value: The impact of social cues is hardly covered in the B2B marketing literature, but they have an important impact on B2B decision-making. The conceptual framework combines the BIS/BAS theory (approach/avoidance) with the SOR-model (stimulus-organism-response), which is unique to the B2B marketing field.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The emergence of (post) academic courses in occupational safety and health: the example of Portugal	[ "Education", "Health and safety", "Courses", "Portugal" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Training and education in occupational safety and health (OSH) is not a very \"glamorous\" subject, as one looks at the scientific press (Verbeek and Kroon, 1995). There are only a few publications on topics related to education (Arezes and Swuste, 2012; Gute et al., 1993; Safety Science, 1995), and this is rather surprising given the crucial role training and education is playing in the development of the professional and scientific domains of these areas.The first academic training started in Europe the 1970s. In the period till the 1990s, initiated by series of big disasters in the process industry, insight was gained on the extreme complexity of the field of OSH. And from that period onwards the number of academic or post academic training and education rose, particularly after the Bologna declaration on 1999 (Arezes and Swuste, 2012).New input from educational sciences has replaced the focus of the content of training and education from a straightforward list of topics, as learning inputs, to learning outcomes. In Europe, the European Quality Framework (EQF) formulated these learning outcomes in terms of knowledge, skills, and competences (EQF, 2008).The cycles are also defined in terms of European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) credit points, which is an indication of its size and duration (ECVET, 2009). These credits are based on the workload students need in order to achieve expected learning outcomes. The purpose of Bologna, considering the application of the EQF, ECTS, and European Credit System for Vocational Education and Training (ECVET) systems, is primarily designed to facilitate transfer of workers and learners across borders, by making educational qualifications transparent and easy comparable. Level 4 corresponds to vocational training, level 5 to short cycle higher education, level 6 the first Bologna cycle (bachelor: 180-240 ECTS), level 7 to the second Bologna cycle (master 90-130 ECTS), and the last level, level 8 to the third cycle (PhD). Table I is showing these general learning outcomes as descriptors from level 4 onwards, i.e. the levels relevant for professional safety experts.Considering this differentiation and the need to \"translate\" these requirements into the specific field of safety, some European partners had proposed to develop a research project in this domain called EUSAFE (2011). This project, developed within the European Network of Safety and Health Professional Organizations (ENSHPO), aims to develop a new professional qualification and training framework based on the existing certification standards. These standards have been enacted in different forms into the national legislation of all member states, causing a lack of transparency and recognition of competences and qualifications for OSH managers and technicians. The final goal of the project is to enable OSH professionals to achieve recognition of their competences and qualifications. Some initiatives already have been launched elsewhere (e.g. Bollmann and Windemuth, 2011; Gute et al., 1993), but these were either restricted to education outside universities, or were presenting case studies of only one university.In April 2011, authors have reported on post academic courses on OSH in Europe (Arezes and Swuste, 2012). Based upon a general survey, the report provided an extensive literature review, as well as a general overview of post-graduation courses on OSH in 24 European countries. The main conclusion of the survey was the large variability amongst the analyzed courses. This variety can partly be understood from the rapid increase of safety, health and hygiene courses on post academic level, organized by non-university organizations, without any research tradition. Partly these differences may be related to national particularities (Verbeek and Kroon, 1995), legal issues, but also to the nature of the institutions and people behind the courses, which means that also the cultural attitudes toward OSH. It is even possible to assume that some courses content may also be influenced by the role of the safety adviser/manager in a particular country (Hale et al., 2005; Swuste and Arnoldy, 2003).One of the outcomes of the EUSAFE project are country reports on OSH training, a new profile for OSH professionals with qualifications in units of learning outcomes based on the ECVET system and educational objectives, teaching plans and example teaching materials standardized at EU level. In this case study, Portuguese post academic courses in OSH are presented, guided by the following questions:* What is the course structure; the qualifications and professional background of the teaching staff, the topics and modules of the course, the teaching methods used and forms of examination?* Is the course part of an official certification procedure of safety managers/technicians?* Which quality system the course is applied? Are there any links to the changes implemented?* Is there a relation with research conducted by the institution? Does the course lead to research outputs? Does research \"feeds\" the course? And does research of the institution fits into a particular safety school?\n2. Materials and methods: During the survey of post-graduation courses, visits were conducted to selected universities and courses, including an interview with to the courses' organizers. From the previously mentioned survey (Arezes and Swuste, 2012), it was possible to notice that Portugal is hosting 29 post-graduation courses on OSH. This number of courses is relatively high, compared to Northern European countries and considering the country dimension. OSH education is regulated by law and all the courses should be homologated by the Portuguese Agency for the Working Conditions, which is the government branch for the OSH domain.For the second stage of the survey, courses were selected using the previously defined selection criteria for each country, namely:* answered the first stage questionnaire;* maximum of two courses by country (when available) and three for countries with ten or more answers in the first survey; and* need to cover the diversity of courses, both in terms of the \"schools\" and type of institution.Considering these criteria, the following three courses were selected:1. MSc. on Human Engineering (since 1992), School of Engineering - University of Minho.2. Post academic Degree in OSH Specialist (since 2003), Science and Technology Faculty - New University of Lisbon.3. MSc. on Occupational Safety and Hygiene Engineering (specialization course since 2003 and master course since 2005), Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto.Course coordinators of these courses were interviewed for a period of approximately 2 hours. The interviews were half structured, addressing topics mentioned in the research questions. Appendix presents more detailed information on the interview topics.\n3. Results: 3.1 The courses\n4. Discussion and conclusions: To train students at the appropriate EQF level, a direct relation between research conducted of the organization and the content of the course is essential. Specially the relation between research and education is, in authors' opinion, vital for courses to ensure a (post)academic level. According to EQF levels 6 and 7, (post)academic courses should teach their students the ability to reflect critically on results of surveys and research either conducted by students themselves, or by others. An overview of international research on the topic of study is a prerequisite for such a critical reflection, and therefore it is important that a majority of course's teachers have a strong relation with academic research. It is therefore highly desirable, and even necessary, that research, and results of research of organizing groups, are feeding the educational programs. Students should not only be educated in easy to use tools, but also in underlying theories, models, metaphors of relevant disciplines, and differences between schools of research.Unfortunately, in Portugal the homologation of courses in OSH was opened for every institution, public or private, of education or not. These certified courses are a pre-requisite for certification of safety practitioners. Therefore, the offer of courses has increased substantially, not only in universities and other high education institutions, but also in companies of vocational training, an even in companies without any background experience on education at all.Returning to research questions mentioned previously, this survey with three Portuguese universities shows they are all organizing EQF level 6/7 courses for safety practitioners. All of them teach their students in the areas of research methods and techniques, occupational safety, hygiene, medicine, and management. There are some differences between universities in the number of teaching hours per domain, which are related to the history of the course, the specialization of the school or the faculty developing the course, and the availability of scientific domains within each university.The topics of the courses are restricted by governmental and third-party certification agencies, but the final definition of the scientific content of modules is guarded by the universities' autonomy. While 50 percent or more of the teaching staff is working at the university organizing the course, and their research is feeding the course, ensuring the academic level of training of students and the latest developments of a scientific domain.All courses have an official course homologation by the Portuguese Authority for Working Conditions, and a third-party certification, or have planned such an assessment. Course coordinators had the opinion that these certifications are necessary, because the successful completion of these courses is one of the personal certification requirements for Portuguese OSH managers.Finally, it important to acknowledge that this survey did have some limitations. Course coordinators interviewed are likely to be biased positively towards their own course. Authors believe this bias is minimized, due to the extensive experience of authors on organizing/coordinating similar courses. And in case of any doubt, thorough questions were asked during the interviews, including asking for \"physical\" evidences. The other limitation is the methodology used in this survey. Authors are aware that they could have extended the survey by interviewing past students, co-workers of past students, and employers and employees of companies of former students. This undoubtedly would generate very useful information on the quality and effectiveness of the course, and would provide a better insight if courses are accomplishing their learning outcomes. Unfortunately time and financial constraints of the survey did not allow such an extension. By focusing on internal information of courses examined, authors hope to show that these courses educate students in problem solving instead of rule-following.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper aims to present the results of a survey of post-graduate and MSc courses on occupational safety and health and it is restricted to three Portuguese university courses of EQF level 7.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Course coordinators were interviewed, in half structured sessions, addressing four main topics: the course structure, certification, quality system and changes implemented, and finally research activities of the organizer group, and the possible dominance of a particular \"safety science school\".\nFindings: - The analyzed courses are fed by research, educating students not only in easy to use tools, but also in underlying theories, models and metaphors of relevant disciplines, as can be expected from an academic training.\nPractical implications: - Although the profile of the health and safety professional is defined and is the aim of several initiatives, the study of the health and safety education and its characteristics at the universities is still a scarce topic. By considering this case study of some Portuguese courses, these data will allow the definition of a benchmark of some courses' characteristics.\nOriginality/value: - As consensually accepted, there is a current need for developing a new professional qualification and training framework based on the existing occupational health and safety professional reality and that includes the need to understand the reality and the education approaches used by the already existing courses, as those reported in this case study.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Consumer-to-store employee and consumer-to-self-service technology (SST) interactions in a retail setting	[ "Consumer-to-employee interaction", "Consumer-to-SST interaction", "Retail patronage", "Self-service technology (SST)" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Over the past decade, retailers have adopted a number of technologies as a tool for gaining a competitive advantage. While the internet receives the most attention from the media and the public, many other types of retail technology exist. Retail firms tend to believe that technology applications help them enhance interaction with consumers by offering more touchpoints and thus provide better service to consumers (Ahearne and Rapp, 2010). According to Solomon et al. (1985), service encounters are defined as \"face-to-face interactions between a buyer and a seller in a service setting\" (p. 100). However, they also recognized that there are different types of service encounters, such as human-to-machine interactions (e.g. interactions taking place via automatic teller machines), and maintained that human- and machine-delivered services are two separate service settings. Likewise, Sousa and Voss (2006) classified the means of service delivery into physical channels and virtual channels. While a physical channel environment consists mainly of delivering service to consumers through face-to-face communication, a virtual channel environment employs telecommunications, information, and multimedia technologies to communicate with consumers. As technology plays an increasingly important role in the service production process and retailers continue to make considerable investments in this area, consumers are now able to receive service without direct interaction with service employees due to new technologies called self-service technologies (SSTs) (Meuter et al., 2000). Consumers are currently surrounded by a variety of SSTs including internet-based services, automated airline check-in systems, self-checkouts, interactive kiosks, and TV shopping. In particular, as retailers increasingly use multiple channels to interact with their customers, SSTs have come to be an integral part of shopping (Verhoef et al., 2009). According to the survey results from the 9th Annual Kiosk Benchmark Study (2009), 40 per cent of respondents said they had deployed self-serve kiosks in retail stores, making them the most popular location for kiosks. The primary reasons that retailers have or want to have kiosks included improving customer service, increasing customer touchpoints, providing information/promotions, and generating revenue. However, although large numbers of customers have adopted these technologies, it is still unclear whether the technologies offer any clear benefits to firms (Burke, 2002).\nConceptual framework: The concept of customer contact has been used to describe the interaction between consumers and service providers during the service production process (Kellogg and Chase, 1995). Traditionally, customer contact has occurred in in-person or face-to-face environments (Solomon et al., 1985). Customer contact has long been recognized as a key determinant of consumers' perception of overall service quality (Jayawardhena and Farrell, 2011; Pugh et al., 2002). However, as advances in technology transform the ways that consumers interface with service providers, the traditional definition of service encounters has been expanded to embrace virtual contact and technology-driven contact (e.g. SSTs) (Salomonson et al., 2013).\nHypotheses development: Engelland et al. (1998) empirically demonstrated a positive relationship between usage frequency and service quality perception. Their study used Schwartz's (1989) reinforcement theory as a theoretical foundation for supporting this relationship. According to reinforcement theory, when people are exposed to a stimulus, they perform a specific behaviour in order to fulfil their needs. Following reinforcement theory, Engelland et al. (1998) posited that consumers' patronage of a service provider becomes habitual when a service provider offers positive reinforcement through delivering high-quality service. Furthermore, continued positive reinforcement helps the service provider build a loyal customer base. Meanwhile, prior studies have suggested that more loyal customers evaluate service quality more favourably than less loyal customers (Bogomolova, 2011). In Crosby et al.'s (1990) study, contact intensity positively influenced the quality of the buyer-seller relationship. Therefore, applying these findings to a consumer-to-SST contact environment, we hypothesize that SST usage frequency has a positive relationship with SST service quality perception and a negative relationship with interpersonal service quality perception:\nMethod: Research design and data collection\nResults: Sample characteristics\nDiscussion and implications: Retailers' interest in incorporating technology into the service delivery process has greatly increased in recent years. Retailers believe that technology can improve organizational efficiency by decreasing the number of store employees (Dechert-Hampe\nLimitations and future research: Caution must be used in interpreting and generalizing the results of this study. Since this study's sample was comprised of consumer panels recruited from a market research firm and the questionnaire was administered online, future research should involve representative samples more comparable to the general population. Another limitation is that the current study requested information about shopping experiences over the past six months, meaning that the accuracy of the participants' recollections cannot be guaranteed. Thus, future researchers should collect data through other methods. Lastly, this study compared only two in-store kiosk service modes. Thus, it would be an interesting avenue for future research to test the proposed model in other service options (e.g. technology-assisted, technology-facilitated, or technology-mediated service options) to determine whether the results of this study apply to other service options.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to understand the underlying mechanism of how consumer-to-store employee and consumer-to-self-service technology (SST) interaction qualities contribute to consumer retail patronage.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A total of 300 surveys for each type of in-store kiosk were used for the data analysis. The proposed model was analysed using structural equation modelling.\nFindings: This study suggests a direct link from SST usage frequency to perception of SST service quality. Also, retail patronage intentions were positively influenced by both interpersonal service quality and SST service quality, and SST usage intentions were positively affected by retail patronage intentions. Lastly, three causal links were shown to be dissimilar between the two types of in-store kiosk: interpersonal service quality-retail patronage intentions, SST service quality-retail patronage intentions, and SST service quality-SST usage intentions. The remaining links were similar for both types of in-store kiosks.\nOriginality/value: Previous empirical work on this topic has mostly been limited to investigations of service quality of either a human- or a technology-based service option. In contrast, the current study incorporates both interpersonal service quality and SST service quality as critical factors affecting retail patronage intentions and thus provides an important opportunity to advance the understanding of consumer-to-store employee and consumer-to-SST interaction qualities and their contribution to consumer retail patronage.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Post-disaster social capital: trust, equity, bayanihan and Typhoon Yolanda	[ "Social capital", "Trust", "Philippines", "Community disaster resilience", "Typhoon disaster", "Resilience and recovery" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: On 8 November 2013 Super Typhoon Yolanda (international name: Haiyan) hit the Visayas region of the Philippines. Typhoon Yolanda (herein referred to as Yolanda) was one of the strongest typhoons ever to make landfall with wind speeds of up to 315 kms per hour and a storm surge that reached six metres in some coastal areas (Lagmay, 2014). Official figures show that 6,293 individuals were reported dead, 1,061 went missing and 28,689 were injured. In total, approximately 16 million people were affected by Yolanda. Tacloban, a highly urbanised city[1] and administrative centre of the Eastern Visayas region, suffered the greatest damage in terms of casualties and infrastructure (NDRRMC, 2014). Yolanda was an extreme, but by no means isolated, event as typhoons in the region are becoming more frequent and intense (Mei and Xie, 2016). Coupled with increasing urbanisation, typhoons have an increased likelihood of turning into disasters with the poor being the least able to mitigate, adapt or migrate.\nSocial capital: Social capital is argued to be the capital of the poor because it is commonly asserted that while poor people lack material assets, they can generally rely on kinship and social networks to protect themselves against \"routine deprivation\" and occasional risks and shocks. Perhaps unsurprisingly social capital has also been presented as a core driver of post-disaster recovery (Aldrich, 2012; Aldrich and Meyer, 2015; Reininger et al., 2013). This is based on the assumption that strong bonding ties help poor households to more easily recover, especially when other forms of material capital are in short supply. However, the link between social capital and post-disaster recovery is still unclear and until more studies are done, a strictly optimistic view would overlook the significant structural barriers poor households face regularly and during post-disaster recovery.\nData gathering: Geographically, Tacloban is low lying, faces east towards the Pacific and experiences regular typhoons. Tacloban, as the largest and most devastated city in the region, became the focus of the relief effort in the aftermath of Yolanda and was therefore chosen as the case study for this paper. Narratives of resilience and bayanihan referenced Tacloban more than any other area struck by Yolanda. The fact that Tacloban was the hometown of former first lady, Imelda Marcos, and that the Mayor of Tacloban was her nephew, simply fuelled that exposure.\nResilience and social capital: rhetoric and reality: Before Yolanda struck the Philippines then President Benigno Aquino III called on Filipinos to \"cooperate with the authorities and exercise 'bayanihan'\" (Tan, 2013) in light of the incoming typhoon. Subsequent to the disaster, numerous news agencies made reference to the bayanihan spirit in relation to local rehabilitation efforts (Viray, 2014; Castaneda, 2015) and donations and fundraising organised by the Filipino diaspora and the international community in general (GMA News Online, 2013; Abenoja and Lacamiento, 2014). International statesmen including then President Barack Obama (Obama, 2013) and Chief of the United Nations Commission for Refugees, Bernard Kerblat (Quismundo, 2013) also made reference to bayanihan as a national trait. Bayanihan then was being articulated not just as a form of bonding social capital evident between similar people in the same locality, it was also being articulated as a form of linking social capital capable of bringing diverse people together as part of the relief and rehabilitation effort.\nDiscussion: Our evidence indicates that the distribution of aid generated discontent in the communities. Even though aid agencies were meant to liaise with City Hall and the barangay captains to ascertain who was eligible for aid this did not always work well as checks were not made, records were lost or the barangays captains allegedly favoured friends and relatives over others. When asked if aid was distributed fairly key concerns of family interviewees were that the master lists of those eligible for aid drawn up by barangay captains were tampered with and that goods were not distributed fairly. In some cases, this led to simmering resentment within communities and whilst this can be dismissed as petty jealousy, the perception of unfairness or exclusion can also have a \"profound effect on people's self-confidence and civic and political connectedness\" (Ong et al., 2015, p. 42). As such, the inequitable approach used by NGOs and government officials for the allocation of relief goods and services undermined the growth of resilient and cohesive communities.\nConclusion: The evidence above illustrates that notions of bayanihan after Yolanda were overstated. Bayanihan was a term that originated in farming communities. It worked within the rhythm of harvests and the weather and was based upon common expectations, benefits and trust. The urban poor will still invest in bayanihan, or bonding social capital, if returns are certain and \"thick\" trust prevails. However, the lack of transparency and perceived inequity that characterised the distribution of relief goods and services and the fragmentation of communities meant that returns became haphazard and uncertain. Consequently, social capital floundered as people resorted to cost benefit calculations of coordinated action.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of disaster rehabilitation interventions on bonding social capital in the aftermath of Typhoon Yolanda.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The data from the project are drawn from eight barangays in Tacloban City, the Philippines. Local residents and politicians were surveyed and interviewed to examine perceptions of resilience and community self-help.\nFindings: The evidence shows that haphazard or inequitable distribution of relief goods and services generated discontent within communities. However, whilst perceptions of community cooperation and self-help are relatively low, perceptions of resilience are relatively high.\nResearch limitations/implications: This research was conducted in urban communities after a sudden large-scale disaster. The findings are not necessarily applicable in the rural context or in relation to slow onset disasters.\nPractical implications: Relief agencies should think more carefully about the social impact of the distribution of relief goods and services. Inequality can undermine community level cooperation.\nSocial implications: A better consideration of social as well as material capital in the aftermath of disaster could help community self-help, resilience and positive adaptation.\nOriginality/value: This study draws on evidence from local communities to contradict the overarching rhetoric of resilience in the aftermath of Typhoon Yolanda.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Our Byzantine heritage: consumption of the past and its experiential benefits	[ "Consumption", "Heritage", "Consumer behaviour", "Imagination", "Experiential learning", "Greece" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: An executive summary for managers and executive readers can be found at the end of this article.\nConsumption of the past: During the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, we are witnessing an increasing popularity of the past that directly involves marketing, selling, and consumption of various products, services, and experiences. This trend has been identified as a \"contemporary quest for history\" (Goulding, 1999) and involves various consumption practices that result in the \"commodification of history\" (Barthel, 1996). Consumption practices related to the past can be expressed in many different ways that are presented in Table I as past-related consumption categories. Notwithstanding the importance and multiplicity of these consumption categories, past-related consumption phenomena are lacking a theoretical viewpoint that will assist in better understanding and facilitating the experience of the past.\nPurpose of the study: This paper is concerned with the role heritage objects play in the consumption of the past. The focus is on the odd attraction of antique objects that are displayed in a heritage exhibition. Antique objects are considered by Baudrillard (1968) in his work The System of Objects. The questions that he raises are \"what lies behind the persistent search for old things - for antique furniture, authenticity, period style, rusticity, craftsmanship, hand-made products, native pottery, folklore, and so on? What is the reason for the strange acculturation phenomenon whereby advanced peoples seek out signs extrinsic to their own time or space, and increasingly remote relative to their own cultural system?\" (p. 75).Grounding the point of departure in the above questions that Baudrillard raises for antique objects, this research seeks to understand consumers' attraction to the past at a heritage exhibition. More specifically, it tries to answer the questions: \"what are the benefits consumers derive at a heritage exhibition?\" and \"how do consumers relate with the specific heritage that is represented at a heritage exhibition?\" The goal in this endeavor is to provide a better theoretical account of how the past is consumed. To this extent, we anchor our \"past\" exploration at Lowenthal's (1985) pioneering work The Past is a Foreign Country.\nTheoretical background: What is appreciated in the consumption of the past depends on a variety of factors, including cultural background, prior knowledge, nostalgia proneness, and personal involvement (Chronis and Hampton, 2002a; Goulding, 1999, 2001; Holbrook, 1993; Holbrook and Schindler, 1991, 1994). Notwithstanding the specific conditions that operate in each consumption situation, Lowenthal (1985) conceptualizes six major benefits that are related with people's attraction to the past:1. Familiarity. Knowledge of the past assists people in understanding the present. \"Without habit and the memory of past experience, no sight or sound would mean anything; we can perceive only what we are accustomed to\" (p. 39). Without historical knowledge and the memory of things said and done, the present day would be aimless and tomorrow without significance.2. Reaffirmation and validation. The past offers a standard for judgment. \"Historical precedent legitimates what exists today; we justify current practice by referring to 'immutable' tradition\" (p. 40).3. Identity. The past is essential to both personal and group identities. \"Ability to recall and identify with our past gives existence meaning, purpose, and value\" (p. 41).4. Guidance. The past can be also beneficial because of the lessons it teaches. We have to know the events of the past in order to make a better future.5. Enrichment. The past is capable of enriching the present. An existing past history provides present individuals and groups with a family and national history.6. Escape. The past offers one way of escaping the present. In this regard, the past possesses certain benefits that the present lacks. \"In yesterday we find what we miss today. And yesterday is a time for which we have no responsibility and when no one can answer back\" (p. 49).According to Lowenthal, the above benefits of the past do not have sharp boundaries; a sense of identity, for example, is also a mode of enrichment, while familiarity provides guidance. There is also the case that some benefits conflict with others: \"using the past to enrich present-day life is at odds with wanting to escape from the present\" (p. 38). Furthermore, the above list is not exhaustive. Nevertheless, the benefits provided by Lowenthal can assist our exploration of the benefits derived from the past and can give us an initial guidance in order to interpret our findings as to how consumers articulate their experience at a heritage museum. The opportunity for data collection came in the context of a Byzantine exhibition in Thessaloniki, Greece. Before the presentation of the findings, more details are provided about the context of the empirical investigation and the adopted methodological approach.\nMethodology: Data collection took place at the White Tower of Thessaloniki, Greece. During a large part of its past life, the White Tower was used as a defensive structure and as a prison. Today, it is the most representative landmark of the city of Thessaloniki and part of its cultural identity. It is used as a permanent museum that contains various collections of sculptures, frescoes, fragments of mosaic floors and wall mosaics, icons, coins, inscriptions, pottery, glass and metal items. At the same time, it is used for temporary exhibitions of special interest, like the one dedicated on the Byzantine life, called \"Byzantine Hours: Works and Days in Byzantium\" that provided an appropriate context for this study.Permission for data collection was taken by the Museum of Byzantine Culture, one of the co-organizing institutions. Data was collected through personal interviews. With the exception of four interviews that were conducted in English, the rest of the interviews were in Greek. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, translated in English, and double-checked for transcription and translation mistakes.A total of 49 interviews were conducted during the period December 2001-January 2002. Since most of the visitors were in groups of two or more people, each interview was not restricted to one person; rather, any person from a group of visitors was able to participate in the discussion. This tactic resulted in 82 individuals whose voice was recorded as part of the verbal data (Table II). The age of the informants ranged between eight and 65 years, while the average age was 39. Out of a total of 82 informants, 45 were females and 37 were males. Interviews with visitors followed the basic premises of the phenomenological tradition (Chronis and Hampton, 2002b; Husserl, 1931, 1970; May, 1969; Moustakas, 1994; Polio et al., 1997; Schmitt, 1967; Thompson et al., 1989, 1990) that, in its most general sense, explores the essences underlying a particular phenomenon. Phenomenology refers to knowledge as it appears to consciousness, or to the immediate awareness and experience. It emphasizes the living immediacy of experience as the individual lives it, and thus, it is the most appropriate approach for the exploratory purpose of our research into consumers lived experiences in a heritage museum. We asked visitors broad questions derived from our research purpose in order to elicit rich verbal data (Lofland and Lofland, 1995) in the form of consumer-generated narratives representing the visitors' experience of the past. As Stern et al. (1998) stated:The use of narrative text as data is justified in the interpretive paradigm as a contribution to better understanding of the consumer's perspective (pp. 196-197).Examples of the broad questions that were asked are: can you please describe what did you have in your mind during the time you were in the exhibition? What were your thoughts and feelings during the time you were in the exhibition? What was the motive to visit this exhibition? What was your reward for visiting the exhibition? What benefits did you get?Verbal data were read and re-read in order to gain familiarity with the text (Arnould, 1998), while the analysis process followed the basic steps of categorization, abstraction, comparison, dimensionalization, iteration, and refutation, suggested by Spiggle (1994, 1998). Interpretation was a more abstract, synthetic, and illuminating experience of the researcher that resulted to an emergent, holistic, extra-logical insight and understanding (Spiggle, 1994). In addition, a great assistance to the interpretation stage of the research was the benefit categories provided by Lowenthal (1985).\nFindings: Although Lowenthal's (1985) benefits of the past formed the basis for the analysis and interpretation of the data, especially during the categorization (coding) stage, at a deeper level of analysis and sense-making (abstraction) a diversion from the six benefit categories was decided in order to better encapsulate the contextual richness and the actual experiences of the consumers. Thus, in presenting the findings in this section, Lowenthal's \"familiarity\" and \"reaffirmation/validation\" benefits are included into one category that was coded as \"knowledge.\" Similarly, Lowenthal's benefits of \"guidance\" and \"enrichment\" are merged into the theme of \"value.\" Furthermore, Lowenthal's benefit of \"identity\" is combined with the notion of \"myth of origin\" that is borrowed from Baudrillard (1968), in order to better express the informants' assertions related with their collective ethnic identity. In addition to the above benefits anchored on the extant literature, the experiential benefit of \"narrative connection\" is introduced that has the potential to greatly enhance our understanding of the experience of the past and the consumers' active engagement.Knowing the past\nDiscussion: The lessons to be learned from our exercise in the past are manifold. First, there are multiple and often overlapping benefits of the past. The past is not similarly perceived and consumed by all its attendees. Consumers of heritage assign their own meanings to their encounters with the past; and in this way, they turn inanimate matter into monuments and meaningful experiences (Horne, 1984). Each person focuses on, and thus consumes, different aspects of the same \"product\": an adventure of knowledge, a dive into a mythical ancestry, a legacy of values, an escape from the presence, an aesthetic beauty, a glimpse of human life.Second, as it is illustrated in Figure 1, these benefits are embedded on a cultural narrative that is formed by the information provided in the exhibition and is enriched and completed by the consumers' historical knowledge and their personal struggle to follow this narrative through imagination. In this process, visitors' prior knowledge about the specific historical period will play a facilitating role in narrative construction and will moderate their ability to follow the story. At a deeper level though, consumers might achieve a certain state of connection with the past. This connection constitutes a valuable outcome by itself and it can be characterized as the essence of the heritage experience. Future research should also examine the extent to which the heritage benefits identified here hold in different contexts and types of consumption experiences.Third, the beneficial consumption outcomes of the past are mediated by imagination. Imagination seems to be a necessary condition for connecting consumers with a narrative and in this role it is a source of pleasure. According to Campbell (1987), modern \"individuals employ their imaginative and creative powers to construct mental images which they consume for the intrinsic pleasure they provide\" (p. 77). In this sense, consumption pleasures are based on the emotions aroused by the manipulation of external symbols by consumers themselves. In our context, visitors to the heritage exhibition appropriate the symbols offered by the exhibited objects and use them to construct imaginary heritage narratives and in this way connect with the Byzantine past. More generally, connection with a narrative comes in the form of \"what it really feels like to live in the story.\" Marketers can perceive this connection as a major payoff for the consumption of products associated with stories.Managerial implications\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to explore consumers' attraction to the past and the experiential benefits associated with past-related consumption practices.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - An interpretive study was undertaken using a heritage exhibition in Greece as an appropriate context. A total of 49 interviews using the central premises of phenomenological research were conducted in which 82 individuals participated. Informants were asked to elaborate on their consumption experience. Verbal data were analyzed and interpreted using theoretical guidance by Lowenthal's pioneering work on people's attraction to the past.\nFindings: - Six experiential benefits are found that are prevalent among consumers in their contact with the past: the experience of knowledge, cultural identity, cultural values, escape in time, aesthetic appreciation, and narrative connection. These benefits are embedded on existing cultural narratives that are further enriched through consumption practices. Moreover, the beneficial consumption outcomes of the past are mediated by imagination that functions as a \"linking glue\" and a \"creative force\" in the construction of narrative vignettes.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Although this discovery-oriented study provides insight into the consumption of the past, its exploratory nature does not guarantee generalizability beyond the convenience sample employed and the specific context. Further research should also investigate the extent to which the specific consumer benefits are prevalent in other consumption experiences.\nPractical implications: - This research provides orientation for the management of experiential products. Marketers can facilitate consumer experiences through the appropriate staging of the servicescape in both substantive and communicating ways. Specific direction can be taken by paying attention to each of the identified experiential benefits.\nOriginality/value: - As experiential consumption rises in consumer research, it is of paramount importance to elucidate what drives consumers in participating and enjoying various consumption experiences. This study provides theoretical guidance to researchers in the area of experiential consumption by elaborating on the benefits associated with the consumption of the past. It also offers suggestions to practitioners for the appropriate management of an experiential servicescape.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Neoliberalism and Western accreditation in the Middle East: A critical discourse analysis of Educational Leadership Constituent Council standards	[ "Leadership development", "Educational administration", "Globalization", "Critical theory", "Professional standards" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Prevalent in the last 25 years, neoliberalism is a dominant ideology that promotes the capability of the market exchange and guides all human action in both thought and practice (Harvey, 2005). Under the facade of globalization, neoliberalism permeates and shapes nations' educational polices by reducing education to products and services that can be globally sold to those with adequate resources (Giroux, 2002). Products such as education management systems, professional and curriculum standards, teacher training packages, national testing services, and even well-known university franchises are now part of the global education market. Since education and universities in general are like social services, they are under increased pressure \"to adopt neoliberal principles that encourage privatization, entrepreneurship, standardization, assessment, and accountability\" (Hursh and Wall, 2011, p. 560). This results in specific higher education reforms that impact universities \"in four primary areas: efficiency and accountability, accreditation and universalization, international competitiveness and privatization\" (Torres, 2011, p. 177). Consequently, \"educational accrediting bodies have found their niche not only in the United States, but also many countries throughout the world\" (Ness and Lin, 2013, p. 116). In particular, colleges of education in the Middle East are seeking accreditation from the dominant teacher education accrediting agency, the National Council for Accreditation for Teacher Education (NCTAE).\nNeoliberalism and accreditation: Neoliberalism can be defined as \"global market-liberalism based on a market-driven approach to economic, social and educational policy\" (Cherif et al., 2011, p. 472). Shah (2010) argues neoliberalism is a theoretical instrument aimed at global trade with the goal of permitting nations to flourish and develop justly and equitably. \"Basically, neoliberalism attempts to develop and make trade between nations easier, freeing the movement of goods, resources and enterprises with the goals of finding cheaper resources and to maximize profits and efficiency\" (Romanowski, 2013, p. 4).\nEducation and educational leadership programs in the GCC: Romani (2009) points out that in 1940, in the Arab world, there were only ten universities. By the year 2000, there were 140 and by 2007, 260 universities existed. The last to participate in this academic boom are the three GCC countries: Qatar, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Saudi Arabia. Prior to 2003, there were eight universities in Saudi Arabia. Since 2003, 100 colleges were created in Saudi Arabia, and the UAE and Qatar have established 40 foreign branches of Western universities. Romani (2009) states the goal is to change the \"Arab academe from a site for knowledge reception to one of knowledge production [...] all this 'taking place in the wider context of the opening of a globalized market of higher education throughout the world'\" (p. 4).\nNCATE and ELCC standards: For US Colleges of Education, the NCTAE serves as the dominant accrediting agency and template for excellence in teacher education. Founded in 1954 as a nonprofit, nongovernmental organization, NCATE is the profession's mechanism to help establish high-quality teacher preparation (NCATE, n.d.). NCATE's accreditation system is performance based and centers on developing the knowledge, skills, and disposition of educational leaders, and classroom teachers work to improve the education of all P-12 students (NCATE, n.d.).\nEducational standards as a discourse: Foucault (as cited in Thomason et al., 2013) describes discourse \"as texts and utterances but also as ways of thinking and sense-making and as behaviours, relationships, interactions, and arrangements of signs and material objects. Discourses are not just what is said, but they are also practices\" (p. 3). McGregor (2004) explains that discourse builds power and knowledge that regulates and normalizes by placing boundaries that limit what is considered legitimate knowledge and what perspectives can be used to interpret reality. Anderson (2001) points out that this particularly holds true in nonscientific disciplines such as educational leadership. For example, the ELCC standards are a form of discourse because they are a set of negotiated ideal statements articulating an uncontested meaning of educational leadership. In addition, educational standards have power because they do not simply describe good leadership and teaching but rather they produce these types of leaders and educators.\nHabermas' KCIs: McLaren (2007) argues that wherever knowledge is acquired, it \"is never neutral or objective but is ordered and structured in particular ways; its emphases and exclusions partake of a silent logic\" (p. 196). Knowledge is never neutral or objectively selected but rather all forms of knowledge represent particular interests, assumptions, and beliefs. Regarding the production of knowledge, it is never produced by a pure intellectual act in which the knowing subject is himself disinterested.\nResearch methodology: Fairclough (2002) argues CDA scrutinizes text starting with related social problems and issues rather than the text itself. This analysis does not just look at abstract language but acknowledges the different meanings of words in different contexts. Johnstone (2008) contends CDA is a form of discourse analysis that examines relationships between discourse and ideology bringing a political goal of some kind to the text in an attempt to demonstrate how the text could be biased toward a particular ideology. In this context, the NCATE accreditation process and ELCC standards are products of neoliberalism that restrict educators to particular ways of thinking (ideology), playing a major role in influencing educational leaders in these institutions (political goal). Thus, in this context, CDA is a useful tool to expose the ideological assumptions embedded in the ELCC in order to resist and overcome the control of standards (Fairclough, 1989).\nFindings: To begin, a caveat must be addressed. Those who use professional standards are in control of standards; the standards as written can yield different meanings depending on the context. How school leaders utilize a standard highly depends on how standards are interpreted. In the case of accreditation and ELCC standards, these standards are developed in the West for a Western culture and can look significantly different in a GCC context because the implementation of standards goes through a transformation as users interpret and construct culturally relevant meanings. However, from a Western point of view, this can be problematic because the meanings of particular concepts in the standards can be drastically altered. For example, the ELCC standards require educational leaders to promote \"social justice within the school.\" The understanding of social justice draws upon normative elements that are highly influenced by race, ethnicity, class, gender, religion, culture, experiences, and access to power among other factors (Teasley and Rice, 1996). Since these ELCC standards are written in the US, social justice is commonly defined from a Western democratic perspective centering on issues such as discrimination based on gender, religion, age, race, or other characteristics; valuing diversity; equitable treatment; support for human rights; and the fair allocation of resources, just to name a few.\nELCC standards: the technical knowledge cognitive interest: The technical interest is embedded in four of the standards, elements, content knowledge, and skills when leaders are required to use evidence-based decision making, efficiently using resources, using accountability systems data collection systems, assess organizational effectiveness and skills of management, and monitoring all which signify important aspects for school leaders with a technical interest. These technical areas of leadership center on the management and control of resources, people, the environment, curriculum, and instruction. These skills that center on efficiency and effectiveness are designed to secure outcomes that are aligned with particular predetermined interests. This is evident in ELCC Standard Element 1.2 \"develop and use evidence-centered research strategies and strategic planning processes\"; \"use evidence-centered research in making curricular and instructional decisions\" (Professional Skills 2.2); and \"efficiently using human, fiscal, and technological resources\" (ELCC Standard 3.0)\nELCC standards: the practical knowledge cognitive interest: The practical interest is evident in all six standards with terms such as community, collaborative, communication, stakeholders, and trust. For example, ELCC Standard Element 3.4 states, \"Programs provide evidence that candidates demonstrate skills required to model distributed leadership skills; involve school staff in decision making processes.\" This leadership approach exemplifies the practical interest by developing leadership that takes into consideration the voices of the people and the context of the complex organization.\nELCC standards: the emancipatory knowledge cognitive interest: The emancipatory interest is embedded in ELCC standards five and six, with evidence of this interest in standard two. Quong (2003) states \"an emancipatory (critical) interest incorporates moral and ethical criteria into the discourse about practical action\" (p. 260). This is evident in ELCC standard five that requires principals to \"act with integrity, fairness, and in an ethical manner\"; model \"ethical behavior as related to their roles within the school\"; evaluate \"the potential moral and legal consequences of decision making\"; safeguard \"the values of democracy and equity\"; and promote \"social justice within the school.\" Standard five requires leaders to consciously reflect and act within an ethical framework in their leadership and related activities. Furthermore, the emancipatory interest is reflected when principals must consider the meaning and implementation of concepts such as democracy and social justice and how these are integrated within their leadership and played out in their actual work as school leaders.\nFloating signifiers and ELCC standards: As previously mentioned, professional standards use various concepts but never specifically define these concepts, allowing for interpretation of the meanings. This analysis applied the concept of floating signifier to the ELCC standards. Findings indicated that the discourse of the ELCC standards includes concepts that appear to have a fixed meaning, but because how concepts are define and interpreted greatly depends on the culture, the terms employed in the ELCC standards could be defined and articulated quite differently than originally intended or they float or shift.\nDiscussion: It is unlikely that the use of Western accreditation and professional standards will dissipate in Middle Eastern countries. Therefore, this research provides educators with insight into the different forms of knowledge and understanding of the surplus of meanings of various concepts that are used within the accreditation process and the ELCC professional standards. This knowledge can aid educators to stop blindly serving standards and instead have professional standards serve them in their profession. With that in mind, there are several issues for discussion.\nConclusion: Accreditation is becoming an industry unto itself (Knight, 2008). CAEP/NCATE using ELCC standards has developed a metanarrative about leadership and legitimized a particular version of reality, which places that reality beyond question and prevents oppositional viewpoints from entering the discussion, thus eliminating the possibility of differences. It is vital for school leaders to critically interrogate the accreditation process and professional standards, enabling school leaders to realize how knowledge shapes thinking and to engage in rethinking their role as educational leaders. More importantly, it is vital to critically interrogate the accreditation process and the use of professional standards, because this provides an understanding of how Western knowledge shapes programs, teaching, and students. This type of thinking is vital when addressing neoliberal polices.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of neoliberalism and the accreditation of educational leadership programs in one Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) country by contextualizing the accreditation process and closely examining the Educational Leadership Constituent Council (ELCC) standards used by NCATE, now CAEP, to accredit educational leadership programs in the GCC. By using Habermas' knowledge constitutive interests (KCIs) and evoking notions of floating signifiers, the paper develops an understanding of the use of Western-developed standards in a country that is different than the one in which these standards were conceived and how the discourse of accreditation standards shapes understandings and meanings of educational leadership.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A critical discourse analysis of the ELCC standards is conducted using a two-prong strategy that applies Habermas' KCIs and evoking the notions of floating signifiers as a theoretical framework.\nFindings: Understanding that knowledge is bounded by cultural circumstances, findings indicate that the ELCC standards contain all three KCIs, and various floating signifiers are embedded within the ELCC discourse that are problematic in a culture that is vastly different than the one in which these standards were conceived.\nOriginality/value: There are a few, if any, studies that have examined neoliberalism and accreditation in a GCC country. In particular, there are no studies that have examined the ELCC standards being used outside the USA. The research provides educators with an insight into the different forms of knowledge and understanding of the surplus of meaning of various concepts that are used within the ELCC professional standards outside the country where the standards were conceived without due regard for contextualization. The study provides discussion on how the discourse of the ELCC standards shapes understandings and meanings of educational leadership and educational leaders.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Authentic OM problem solving in an ERP context	[ "Problem based learning", "Authenticity", "Enterprise resource planning systems", "Simulation game", "Enterprise resource planning", "Simulation" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: Profound changes occur in many educational systems. These reforms aim to help students master higher-order cognitive, affective, and social skills that were not in the focus of traditional programs (Clarke and Clarke, 2009; Walker and Leary, 2009; Anderson and Lawton, 2009). According to these authors, reform should go beyond changes in curriculum content or technological infrastructures, it should introduce learning contexts that will result in better preparing graduates for their professional lives.In the field of operations management, students must not only acquire technical knowledge and various techniques such as forecasting, production planning and scheduling, and inventory management, they must also understand the role of operations management within an organization and its interactions with other enterprise functions. As such, academic programs must prepare students to resolve complex real-life business problems and expose them to multi-criteria decisions that fall beyond the use of a single resolution technique or approach.In educational literature, problem-based learning (PBL) is considered a valuable instructional approach for enabling this new focus on learning. With a PBL approach, students are placed in authentic problem-solving contexts and must use their resources to develop a valid resolution for the issues they face. In this process, students will either have to apply existing knowledge and skills, or find the required knowledge relevant to the problem (Walker and Leary, 2009). Among the benefits of PBL, a number of meta-analyses report higher motivation in students and a better retention of knowledge (Dochy et al., 2003).In the field of operations management, several authors report successful PBL initiatives (Yazici, 2006; Tan et al., 2010; Hulya Julie, 2006). In fact, there is a long tradition of using simulation training approaches in operations management (e.g. Beer game) as a way to create micro-worlds (Fischer and Barnabe, 2008) in which students are highly engaged due to the competitive nature of the games.The major issue that remains is the authenticity of the task required for solving the problems. PBL literature stresses the importance of the authenticity and representativeness of problems used to develop transferable skills (Hmelo-Silver et al., 2007). In today's information technology (IT)-driven business environment, operations management is supported by large integrated corporate systems. To be authentic and representative, problems must be solved using the same real-life information systems that students will use after graduation. Consequently, they need to learn how to solve real-life situations using complex IT solutions in a realistic supply chain context. We further investigate research on PBL, with an emphasis on the research performed in the context of operations management in Section 2.This paper describes a simulation game called ERPsim which provides learners with an authentic problem-solving experience in operations management using an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. The proposed pedagogical approach is based on the simulation of realistic collaboration scenarios in real-time. End-users are placed in a situation where they must make decisions and manage the operations of their enterprises using an actual ERP system, namely SAP, used in large organizations. One key characteristic of this approach is that all decisions made by the participants must be entered into the ERP system. Similarly, all of the information required for making decisions must be extracted through standard reports in the ERP system. Section 3 presents the characteristics of the simulation developed.Based on a survey conducted with a sample of instructors using the simulation, we show that the simulation developed provides a learning environment that can be used for a PBL pedagogical approach. The survey methodology and results are presented in Section 4.\n2 Authentic problem solving in operations management: According to Walker and Leary (2009), PBL is widely associated with a large body of work originating in the medical education research field. Briefly, PBL is characterized as an approach to learning in which students are given more control over their learning than in a traditional approach, and are typically asked to work in small groups. Most importantly, students acquire new knowledge by solving authentic, ill-structured, and cross-disciplinary problems similar to those found in professional practice. Over time, PBL has been used in multiple contexts and disciplines (Savery, 2006). In the myriad of definitions that have surfaced, Walker and Leary (2009) observe that changes to PBL were also initiated by institutions in order to reflect their needs and the needs of their discipline. Considering the many changes that have been made, it is somewhat difficult to construct a clear statement about what PBL is and what it is not. Walker and Leary (2009), borrowing from Barrows (1996) and Hmelo-Silver and Barrows (2006), define PBL according to these five minimal characteristics (or standards):1. Ill-structured problems are presented as unresolved so that students will develop, in addition to multiple thoughts about the cause of the problem, multiple thoughts on how to solve it (Barrows, 2002). Such problems may not have a single correct answer and could engage students in the exploration of multiple solution paths (Hmelo-Silver and Barrows, 2006).2. A student-centered approach in which students determine what they need to learn. Learners themselves derive the key issues of the problems that they face, define their knowledge gaps, and pursue and acquire the missing knowledge (Barrows, 2002; Hmelo-Silver and Barrows, 2006).3. Teachers act as facilitators or tutors in the learning process. These tutors, typically faculty, initially prompt students with meta-cognitive questions and in subsequent sessions minimize that guidance (Barrows, 2002). Tutors forgo lecturing about content in favour of modeling the kinds of learning processes that lead to success in PBL settings (Hmelo-Silver and Barrows, 2006).4. Authenticity forms the basis of problem selection, embodied by alignment to professional or \"real world\" practice (Barrows, 2002). As such, the problems are inherently cross-disciplinary and require students to investigate multiple subjects (Barrows, 1996) in order to generate a workable solution.5. PBL is typically experienced in a small group setting (Barrows, 2002; Hmelo-Silver and Barrows, 2006).The effectiveness of the problem-based approach has been highly scrutinized in literature. According to Dochy et al. (2003), results from a meta-analysis suggest robust positive effects using the PBL approach. While some findings suggest that students may gain less knowledge using this approach (Colliver, 2000), most evidence suggests that students retain the acquired knowledge much longer (Vernon and Blake, 1993; Dochy et al., 2003; Walker and Leary, 2009). Results also suggest that PBL provides a learning context that is more enjoyable and challenging, and can have an important impact on student motivation (Norman and Schmidt, 2000; Hung et al., 2003). Compared to traditional training programs, Norman and Schmidt (2000) identify the following potential benefits of PBL: increased motivation; improved learning, retention, and recall; and better skills in problem solving and self-directed learning.Hmelo-Silver et al. (2007) cite several studies that promote the success of PBL approaches, which enable learners to achieve significant long-term learning gains compared to control groups.The problem-based approach also has great potential in management studies, especially operations management (Sherwood, 2004). Moreover, several authors report PBL initiatives in operations management and related engineering fields (Ahern, 2010; Brodie, 2009; Lau et al., 2006; Yazici, 2006; Hulya Julie, 2006). Learning in OM implies practice. PBL is very well suited to provide such learning. PBL complements traditional learning approaches by developing new skills which are difficult to develop in standard class settings. For example, the MRP II concept has always been thought as a top-down approach. A traditional teaching approach can certainly help students to learn how to derive a material requirement plan and eventually a detailed production plan starting from the demand plan. Dealing with exceptions (the release of a rush production order to quickly respond to unplanned customers' orders or a decision of purchasing more material than required in order to avoid an imminent price increase) is however difficult to master as all the MRP plans become misaligned. In this case, PBL can recreate that scenario and students learn how to properly react by experimenting with different ideas. In fact, PBL brings them to understand that material and production planning is clearly a question of trade-offs and that the MRP calculation logic embedded in information systems cannot solved all problems. Therefore, PBL is particularly well suited for OM teaching in today's world.In operations management, simulation has often been used as a way to create realistic and authentic problem-solving situations. Immersive teaching strategies, such as learning based on computer simulation, allow the implementation of learning environments that recreate situational contexts of problem solving that closely resemble those encountered in actual businesses. These simulations are often geared towards learning objectives or developing specific skills. This teaching strategy also requires some interaction, which allows learners to test strategies in order to solve problems, to experience the consequences of their actions, and to adjust decisions in a safe environment. According to several authors, well developed simulations generally allow rapid development of skills and a deeper understanding of complex situations (Randel et al., 1992; O'Neil et al., 2005). Simulation is proven to be an effective way of teaching top level management skills (analysis, synthesis, creation of new knowledge and categories) (Schrage, 2000).Tan et al. (2010) provide a review of existing simulation games in the field of operations management: Beer game, Buckingham game, Dice game, Rope game, Simlogistics, Prisoner's dilemma, and Nagare game. Each game targets specific knowledge and competency acquisition such as the bullwhip effect, just-in-time manufacturing, buffering and production variability, theory of constraint, scheduling and fleet management, flow management and resource allocation. However, one of the key elements to be considered in the PBL paradigm is related to the authenticity of the task; the skills developed while solving the problem must be close to those required for solving the same problems in the real world.Currently, IT is pervasive in operations management. More than 80 percent of the Fortune 500 firms are using ERP systems; a growing number of public organizations and small to medium-sized companies are now adopting the same strategy (Pellerin, 2008). These IT systems, characterized by a centralized database, support the end-to-end internal supply chain. To create an authentic problem-solving context, we claim that students must use a real-life enterprise system (ES) in order to experience the complex operational situation in which they must apply their knowledge and skills to solve the problems they will face in their careers.\n3 A real-time simulation-based pedagogical approach: 3.1 An overview\n4 Methodology: For more than five years, ERPSim has been used as a pedagogical approach by 211 professors, lecturers, and professional trainers[2] in over 160 universities worldwide. Between September 2009 and June 2011, more than 3,000 simulation games were played by 16,398 teams[3] composed of university students across the SAP University Alliance (teams typically being composed of three to five members).To assess the effectiveness of this learning approach from a PBL standpoint, a survey was sent to 147 instructors, who used the simulation between January 2010 and June 2011. Instructors were contacted by e-mail and asked to complete a short on-line questionnaire to rate:* the perceived learning achieved with the simulation; and* the extent to which the simulation achieved the main characteristics of a PBL-oriented pedagogy.Key outcomes related to the responses to this survey are highlighted in the results.In addition to assessing the PBL dimensions, perceived ERP learning was measured using the scales proposed by Seethamraju (2007) and Cronan et al. (2009a, b, 2010). According to these authors, perceived ERP learning is measured using multidimensional constructs - ES knowledge, business process knowledge, and transactional knowledge. Items used to measure perceived learning are listed in Appendix 1.4.1 Operationalization of PBL variables and analysis of results\n5 Discussion and conclusions: In this paper, we presented an innovative pedagogical approach (ERPSim) using PBL to teach operations management in the context of integrated information systems that is authentic, ill-structured, student-centered, and facilitator-driven. The realism of the ERPSim approach brings technology, operations management, and strategy together in one forum for learning. ERPSim is recommended over typical paper-based strategy games since in these games, the focus is mostly on making the right strategic decisions. In the ERPSim simulation approach, this no longer suffices. For enhanced learning, strategy must be implemented into the system and subsequently executed using operations management knowledge and skills. Moreover, teams must learn to master the technology (which presents some challenges) but they must also learn how to manage the processes, use available decision support systems, and make the tactical and operational decisions necessary to support the operational strategy. Winning teams are those that master the technology, achieve operational excellence, and use the transaction data acquired in the process appropriately. The central \"lesson learned\" by participants is that technology, operations management, and business strategy cannot be learned in isolation; all three are required to achieve business success. To convince the readers of the advantages of using ERPSim in teaching operation management, we presented evidence from instructors using the ERPSim simulation in their classes. The results are quite convincing - this approach implements PBL learning theory - and indicates that students learn ERP, business process, and transactions. Moreover, we presented evidence from other studies that show students also perceived that they learned from participating in the simulation.We recognize that the results reported in this study have some limitations. Respondents are all using this simulation game and might be more inclined to experiential pedagogical methods. Also, the objective of this study was not to compare the depth of understanding of OM concepts between the PBL method and a more traditional approach. While this question should be addressed in future studies, this paper aimed at illustrating the opportunities of using experiential approaches in OM. Based on the authors' own experience at using this simulation, we observed that it has generated significant improvements in student evaluation, learner motivation, attendance, and engagement, and that increased learner competency with the technology can be achieved by using a real-time simulation pedagogical approach as a component of an ERP system.The authors are involved in the ongoing development of this simulation. The current efforts are being invested in further developing the analytical dimension of this simulation. With the increasing size of data available for decision making, the pressure to compete on analytics rely on the shoulder of future OM graduates. The next generation of PBL approaches in OM needs to provide an authentic experience of analytical-driven context in which students are developing their skills in a risk free environment.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - It is argued that problem-based learning (PBL) is a valuable approach to teaching operations management, as it allows learners to apply their knowledge and skills in an environment that is close to real-life. In fact, many simulations currently exist in the teaching of operations management. However, these simulations lack a connection to real-life, as they are typically turn-based and do not use real-life IT support. The current paper seeks to address this issue by presenting an innovative pedagogical approach designed to provide learners with an authentic problem-solving experience in operations management within an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper proposes a simulation game called ERPsim whereby students must operate an enterprise in a simulated economic environment using in real time a real-life ERP system, namely SAP. Based on a survey with instructors, it assesses the extent to which this proposed simulation is aligned with the five characteristics of the PBL approach.\nFindings: - Survey respondents confirm that significant improvements in student evaluations, learner motivation, attendance, and engagement, as well as increased learner competence with the technology can be achieved by using the proposed approach.\nPractical implications: - For more than five years this pedagogical approach has been used by more than 250 professors, lecturers, and professional trainers in over 160 universities worldwide. Between September 2009 and June 2011, more than 3,000 simulations games were played by over 16,000 university student teams.\nOriginality/value: - Results and observations on using the proposed pedagogical approach are presented and compared to the main characteristics of the PBL approach (authenticity, ill structured problems, student-centered, small group settings and facilitator dimensions).\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Trade credit in emerging economies: an interorganizational power perspective	[ "Trade credit", "Power", "Market share", "Supplier concentration", "Political ties", "Supply chain finance" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Trade credit is a form of supply chain finance used by many firms to allow delayed payment from their buyers (Li et al., 2019). Trade credit accounted for about 90 percent of world merchandise trade in 2007 (Williams, 2008) and about 80 percent of business-to-business transactions in the United Kingdom and United States (Seifert et al., 2013). It is widely accepted that buyers with higher power enjoy more trade credit (Giannetti et al., 2011; Klapper et al., 2012). However, the real-world business practice is more complex. For example, as a powerful buyer in the retail industry, Walmart is criticized to exploit its suppliers (Van Riper, 2007) but is also reported to help its suppliers with faster payment (Lee et al., 2018). Obviously, trade credit is not merely determined by buyer power. Therefore, it is necessary to unpack the contingent factors affecting the relationship between buyer power and trade credit, thereby contributing to the better understanding of the real-world practice of trade credit. Thus, it can also provide managerial insights for decision-makers in better utilizing their internal and external resources rather than relying on market power as the only means of negotiating trade credit.When buyer firms request their suppliers to provide trade credit, this action would be influenced by the power imbalance between buyers and suppliers (Porter, 1979; Pfeffer and Salancik, 2003; Cho et al., 2019). The more powerful party is likely to exploit the weaker party (Schleper et al., 2017) to demand more favorable trade credit terms. The extant literature has reported the significant effects of buyer power (e.g. Giannetti et al., 2011; Klapper et al., 2012) and supplier power (e.g., Fabbri and Klapper, 2016; Chod et al., 2019). However, few studies have examined how buyer power and supplier power jointly determine trade credit. Given that interorganizational power is a relative concept (Touboulic et al., 2014), this study attempts to narrow this research gap by investigating the interactive effect of both powers on trade credit.Equally important and noteworthy is how institutional factors affect trade credit. Prior studies indicate that firms adopt trade credit at a higher level in emerging economies, where credit from financial intermediaries is limited (Giannetti et al., 2011). Although previous studies have highlighted the importance of market power in trade credit (e.g., Klapper et al., 2012; Chod et al., 2019), they provide limited understanding of how institutional factors affect the power imbalance in buyer-supplier relationships. According to institutional theory, which focuses on how social influences and pressures shape organizational actions (Oliver, 1997), political ties are one of the valuable institutional resources for firms (Peng and Heath, 1996; Peng, 2003), particularly in emerging economies with imperfect legal systems and capital markets (Fisman and Love, 2003). Therefore, the power imbalance in buyer-supplier relationships could be altered by political ties. Thus, there is a need to explore how political ties affect trade credit via power imbalance.Against this background, we aim to investigate trade credit in emerging economies from an interorganizational power perspective to answer the following research questions:RQ1. How do buyer power and supplier power jointly influence trade credit?RQ2. How do buyer firms' political ties moderate the relationships between market power (including buyer power and supplier power) and trade credit?These research questions are examined using longitudinal secondary data from 2,433 listed firms in China during the period from 2009 to 2017. The results indicate that a buyer firm's market share (an indicator of buyer power) promotes trade credit, but this effect is weakened by supplier concentration (an indicator of supplier power). Moreover, a buyer firm's political ties enhance the impact of market share on trade credit and attenuate the negative moderating effect of supplier concentration.This study contributes to the relevant literature in several ways. First, it advances our understanding of trade credit by identifying the interactive effect of buyer power and supplier power. Second, this study further reveals that political ties, as a critical resource to gain power advantage in emerging economies, can affect the power imbalance in buyer-supplier relationships, which in turn will have impact on trade credit. In addition, our results may enlighten managers in China and other emerging economies to gain a better understanding of how trade credit is determined by power imbalance between suppliers and buyers.\n2. Literature review and hypotheses development: 2.1 Trade credit\n3. Research method: 3.1 Data\n4. Results: We used a fixed effects model to test the proposed hypotheses in order to address the potential endogeneity concern about omitted variables (Petersen, 2009). All independent variables are lagged by one year to address the reverse causality problem (Amore et al., 2014). Besides, in all models, the variance inflation factor (VIF) values are less than 10, which indicate that there is no severe multicollinearity among the independent variables.The results of the fixed effects models for H1-H3 are presented in Table III. The results of Model 1 suggest that the buyer firm's market share has a significantly positive impact on trade credit (coefficient = 0.1748, p < 0.1). Hence, H1 is supported. Further, the coefficient estimation on the interaction of MS and SC in Model 2 is significantly negative (coefficient = -0.7570, p < 0.05), which indicates that supplier concentration is a moderator of the relationship between the buyer firm's market share and trade credit. Thus, H2 is supported. In Model 3, the coefficient estimation on the interaction of MS and PT is significantly positive (coefficient = 1.2708, p < 0.01), confirming that the buyer firm's political ties have a positive impact on the relationship between the buyer firm's market share and trade credit, which supports H3.To test the moderated moderating effect (H4), we applied the procedures suggested by Lam et al. (2019), which identifies if the significance of the coefficient of the three-way interaction is sufficient. Table IV presents the results of the fixed effects models for H4. Model 1 is the three-way interaction model. The coefficient of three-way interaction (MS x SC x PT) is significantly positive (coefficient = 3.1469, p < 0.1), indicating that the moderating effect of supplier concentration is conditional on the buyer firm's political ties, thus H4 is supported. Furthermore, we divided our sample into two subsamples (weak vs. strong political ties) based on the median value of PT to demonstrate the moderating effect of political ties. The results of Model 2 and Model 3 in Table IV show that the moderating effect of supplier concentration exists only for buyer firms with weak political ties. Thus, the prediction (H4) that the negative moderating effect of supplier concentration on the market share-trade credit relationship is more pronounced in buyer firms with weaker political ties is evidenced.To further demonstrate the moderating effect of supplier concentration at different levels of political ties, we conducted the simple slope analysis (Aiken and West, 1991), as shown in Figure 2. The moderators were assigned the value of one standard deviation above and below their means to indicate two levels of supplier concentration and political ties, respectively. According to Lam et al. (2019), for supporting the hypothesis of a moderated moderating effect, there are three conditions to be satisfied. First, the three-way interaction (i.e., the coefficient of MS x SC x PT) needs to be statistically significant, which is confirmed. Second, when the buyer firm's political ties are weak, the simple slopes at low and high supplier concentration should be also statistically different (i.e., d1 is significant). In this study, the difference between these two simple slopes are statistically significant (coefficient = -0.8937, p < 0.05), thus the second condition is supported. Third, in case of low political ties, the simple slope at low supplier concentration should be statistically significant. Given that the coefficient of this simple slope is-0.5320 (two-tailed p < 0.05), the third condition is satisfied. Therefore, H4 is supported.We checked the robustness of our results by measuring political ties in a more sophisticated way, by considering the ranks of different positions at different government sectors. In 2013, the Central Committee of Chinese Communist Party issued a policy to ban government officers who are above a certain level to take part-time jobs at firms. Thus, differentiating the directors who are holding or held positions at government sectors may divide the sample of this study into two extremely unbalanced sub-samples. As such, we choose to explore the different effects of different political ranks on trade credit. Similar with Chen et al. (2017), we divided political ties of directors into five categories: central level (score = 5); provincial and ministerial level (score = 4); department and bureau level (score = 3); county and division level (score = 2); and township and section level (score = 1). A director's political rank was estimated by the highest one of all his current or past political ranks. Then, we used the weighted average of all directors to measure the strength of the firm's political ties (PT) and re-tested H3 and H4. The results, as presented in Table V, indicate that the positive moderating effect of political ties (MS x PT) and the negative moderated moderating effect of political ties (MS x SC x PT) remain significant.\n5. Discussion: In this study, by combining RDT and institutional theory, we investigate how market power (including buyer power and supplier power) and political ties jointly shape trade credit in emerging economies. Using longitudinal secondary data from 2,433 listed firms in China, the analyses reveal that the buyer firm's market share promotes trade credit but this effect is weakened by its supplier concentration. Moreover, the buyer firm's political ties enhance the impact of market share on trade credit and attenuate the negative moderating effect of supplier concentration. 5.1 Theoretical implications\n6. Conclusions and suggestions for future research: This study proposes a research framework to investigate how interorganizational power in buyer-supplier relationships determines trade credit. Our results suggest that a buyer firm's market share is positively associated with trade credit, and this relationship is negatively moderated by supplier concentration. By identifying the interaction between buyer power and supplier power in a unified setting, this study enhances our understanding of how the power imbalance between buyers and suppliers shapes trade credit. Moreover, this study incorporates the role of political ties in supply chain finance. It reveals that political ties, as another source of power advantage derived from institutional environments, can significantly enhance the positive influence of a buyer firm's market share on trade credit and reduce the negative moderating effect of supplier concentration on the market share-trade credit relationship. By addressing the two important issues of interaction within market power (i.e., buyer power and supplier power) and between market power and non-market power (i.e., political ties), this study makes contributions to the trade credit and power literature. The study also provides some practical insights.This study is not without limitations, which may also be opportunities for further research. First, this study focuses on some specific power-related factors in buyer-supplier relationships, namely, the buyer firm's market share, supplier concentration and political ties. Other factors associated with bargaining power may be identified in future cases. Second, our sample is restricted to China's listed firms; hence our findings may need to be cautiously interpreted in other contexts. Third, this study investigates the effects of existing political ties on trade credit. It is also an interesting research question to ask what would be the consequence if a buyer firm loses its existing political ties. The above-mentioned policy issued by Chinese government in 2013 provides an ideal opportunity for such a promising study. Last, the supplier exploitation literature argues that power is the source of exploitation and predicts that buyer firms may seek to create more power imbalance to exploit their suppliers, ethically or unethically (Schleper et al., 2017). Given that trade credit is a typical form of supplier exploitation besides pricing, the empirical examination on the extent of whether it is ethical (since it is a common business practice for buyer firms to save money as much as possible) or unethical (since buyer firms might get disproportionate benefits through squeezing their suppliers) will be an interesting study.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The extant literature recognizes that trade credit is influenced by the power imbalance between buyers and suppliers but most studies focus on either buyer power or supplier power. The purpose of this study is to investigate how buyer power and supplier power interact and jointly influence trade credit. Moreover, this study examines the moderating effects of political ties in an emerging economy context.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A research framework was developed by combining resource dependence theory and institutional theory to investigate the interactive effects of market power (i.e. market share and supplier concentration) and non-market power (i.e. political ties) on trade credit. The proposed hypotheses were empirically tested by a fixed effects model using secondary data from 2,433 listed firms in China.\nFindings: The results show that a buyer firm's market share promotes trade credit but this effect is weakened by supplier concentration. Moreover, the buyer's political ties enhance the impact of market share on trade credit and attenuate the negative moderating effect of supplier concentration.\nOriginality/value: This study contributes to the trade credit and supply chain power literature by identifying the interactive effects of market share, supplier concentration and political ties in trade credit. It advances our understanding of how trade credit is jointly determined by a variety of factors in emerging economies.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Regulating wellbeing in the brave new quantified workplace	[ "Regulation", "Wellness", "Quantified self", "Wearable technologies", "Workplace discipline", "Workplace surveillance" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Envision a case when every employee working for a company is wearing a small, attractively looking, comfortable and computationally powerful device that consists of a range of sensors capable of tracking movement, heart rate, proximity to other employees, body temperature and skin conductance. Simultaneously, every work-computer-based activity is also tracked in par with the wearable device. Data from both wearable devices and work computers is wirelessly uploaded to a central system. The system provides detailed personal analytics for each employee: levels and suggestions for physical activity, indicators of stress, productive and sedentary periods at work, work-based social interaction patterns and general health diagnostics. All the data are synchronised with individual calendars and planners, with e-mail systems and individually tailored virtual encouragement and performance dashboards.\nConclusion: The \"future normal\" involves more and more tracking devices (Ramirez, 2013) and this movement is accelerating rapidly in workplace behaviour regulation experiments. But who is responsible for creating the \"ethical body\" in a world where data privacy is increasingly tenable (Morrison, 2015)? Time will tell. For now, however, this paper has introduced a range of issues that will need to be addressed as the trend for WSTT in workplaces continues and academic researchers will need to take these into account. Whether these technologies are simply part of a lineage of worker control methods (Upchurch, 2016) or something specifically different because of their increasing accessibility to physiological data (Moore and Piwek, 2015) is to be determined. Nonetheless, further issues will include the exacerbation of workplace surveillance (Otis and Zhao, 2016, p. 151; Ball, 2010) paired with new \"freedoms\" to work wherever and whenever you want such as those recently provided by Netflicks, where workers have been given the go ahead to take a holiday at any point for any length of time, paired with unlimited paternity and maternity leave (Olanoff, 2015). Furthermore, as employees generate increasing amounts of health and productivity data in most cases without any extra pay for the activities that generate data (Till, 2014), companies providing the means to do so may be increasingly investigated to avoid data protection violations and what may be considered ethically questionable activities. But if that happens, questions will emerge around the extent to which legal regulation could lead to obstacles to innovation of work design.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to lay out the conceptual issues arising alongside the rise of sensory technologies in workplaces designed to improve wellness and productivity.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This is a text based conceptual paper. The authors' approach is to throw light on some of the emerging issues with the introduction of wearable self-tracking technologies in workplaces.\nFindings: The paper indicates that scholars will need to put ethical issues at the heart of research on sensory tracking technologies in workplaces that aim to regulate employee behaviour via wellness initiatives.\nPractical implications: The study explores the legal issues around data protection and potential work intensification.\nSocial implications: Privacy and personal data protection, workplace discipline are discuss in this paper.\nOriginality/value: This is an original paper. Since there is very little scholarly research in this area, it is important to begin to consider the implications of sensory technology in workplaces linked to wellness initiatives, given the probable impact it will have on work design and appraisal systems.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Activating multiple roles of customer-firm relationships in service failures	[ "Service recovery", "Relationship", "Rumination", "Buffering effect", "Customer forgiveness", "Magnifying effect" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Negative service incidents are common in everyday life. These incidents not only make customers emotionally upset but they are likely to trigger some negative thought processes. In order to offer ways to assist companies to overcome the negative effects of service failures, this study will focus on the impact of two strategies: company-customer relationships and service recovery (DeWitt and Brady, 2003). While the effects of these strategies have been investigated in response to service failures in isolation, their joint effects have only rarely been examined (e.g. Mattila, 2001). More importantly, the impact of service recovery has been overwhelmingly positive (e.g. DeWitt and Brady, 2003), whereas the role of relationships has been proposed to help either to cushion (i.e. buffer) (Sajtos et al., 2010) or conversely to magnify (c.f. Gregoire et al., 2009) the negative effects of service failures. Therefore, by incorporating customer cognitions and the direct as well as moderating effect of relationships, this study aims to help consolidate two disparate streams of literature each of which happened to find either a negative (magnifying) or a positive (buffering) moderating role of relationships.\nLiterature review: Firms can employ service recoveries and develop relationships to overcome the negative impact of service failures (DeWitt and Brady, 2003). Studies confirmed the benefits of service recovery and relationship in terms of increasing satisfaction (Hocutt et al., 2006; Vazquez-Casielles et al., 2007) and repurchase intentions (Hess Jr, 2008; Palmer et al., 2000), and decreasing complaint and negative word-of-mouth intentions (DeWitt and Brady, 2003; McDougall and Levesque, 1998). While the effect of service recoveries has been proven to be unequivocally positive in rectifying the negative incident at hand (Brown et al., 1996), two schools of thought have emerged regarding the impact of customer-firm relationships. One group of scholars have found that customers with strong relationships are more resistant to the negative effect of service failures compared to customers with weaker relationships (i.e. positive moderating role of relationships), which is referred to as the \"brand equity\" (Tax et al., 1998), \"buffering\" (Hess et al., 2003), or the \"love is blind\" effect (Gregoire and Fisher, 2006). In contrast, other scholars evidenced the opposite, namely that customers with stronger relationships tend to have a more negative attitude towards the company after a service failure compared to customers with a weaker relationship (i.e. negative moderating role of relationships), which is referred to as the \"service quality\" (Tax et al., 1998), magnifying (Hess et al., 2003) or the \"love becomes hate\" effect (Gregoire et al., 2009).\nMethodology: Study design and data collection\nAnalysis and findings: Manipulation checks\nDiscussion: This study has examined the effects of service recovery and relationship strategies on anger; and two previously unexplored constructs; rumination (as brooding and reflection) and customer forgiveness. While prior studies have clearly demonstrated either a positive (Tax et al., 1998) or a negative moderating impact (e.g. Gregoire and Fisher, 2008) of relationships, this study captures these two schools of thought and underlines some differences in each of these reported effects (see Table III). By incorporating customer cognitions and the direct as well as moderating effect of relationships, this study concurrently captures both buffering and magnifying effects and more importantly, unearths relationships and cognition as the source of these effects. In essence, this study helps consolidate two disparate streams of literature and further identifies various forms of buffering and magnifying effects, and thus, four active roles of relationships following service failures (c.f. Sajtos et al., 2010). By undertaking a review of previous studies in this domain, Table III shows two types of buffering and magnifying effects each, which mirror each other with opposing consequences. These two buffering and two magnifying effects are labeled as damage control and benefit catalyst and, benefit attenuator and damage catalyst, respectively.\nLimitations and future research: This study may be subject to limitations in the following areas. First, this study uses a restaurant-based experimental scenario and hence, its results may not be generalizable. Second, in contrast to previous studies (Gregoire and Fisher, 2008; Mattila, 2001), this study did not focus on double deviation incidents, hence further research could explore whether these effects hold under \"double deviation\" conditions as well. Third, rumination and customer forgiveness have been proposed to be time sensitive (McCullough et al., 2003). By introducing a narrative task in-between the manipulations and the post-failure outcomes, our experimental design successfully enhanced respondents' ability to experience the intended effects of the manipulations. Nevertheless, future research could replicate these results by creating a longitudinal design and temporally separate the administration of the manipulations and the measurement of the cognitive, emotive and motivational responses. Fourth, \"relationship\" in this study were conceptualized by drawing on social aspects of an interaction (Mattila, 2001), while previous studies employed other conceptualizations such as relationship quality (Gregoire and Fisher, 2008), affective commitment (Evanschitzky et al., 2011) or attachment styles (Mende et al., 2013). Therefore, replication of the current study using different relationship conceptualizations could be beneficial in determining whether these (buffering and magnifying) effects and potential relationship roles can be linked to certain aspects of a relationship. Finally, considering the significant damaging effect of rumination, future studies can explore (more) effective strategies in reducing customers' ruminative tendencies. For instance, research in psychology has shown that expressive writing can help reduce brooding (Gortner et al., 2006), therefore studies may want to examine the potential impact of \"immediate\" feedback (e.g. placing feedback cards on restaurant tables) on customers' ruminative tendencies.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Scholars have proposed that the negative effects of service failures can be countered by developing and maintaining high quality customer-company relationships or by providing excellent service recovery to customers. While both strategies have been proposed as ways to overcome the negative effects of service failures, there are only a limited number of studies that have examined their joint effects. The purpose of this paper is to fill this gap by investigating the impact of these two strategies jointly on rumination (brooding and reflection), anger and customer forgiveness (revenge, avoidance and benevolence).\nDesign/methodology/approach: The experimental design used in this study is an adaptation of Mattila's (2001) research design, which manipulated both the level of service recovery and relationship. A total of 677 respondents were assigned randomly to one of the six experimental conditions. Multi-group structural equation modeling was employed to estimate the proposed model across three relational conditions.\nFindings: This study suggests that the buffering effects are directly triggered by the impact of relationships, whereas, the magnifying effects are primarily related to the customer's cognitive processes. This study reveals multiple forms of concurrent buffering and magnifying effects in service failures.\nOriginality/value: The findings of the study led to a classification system of the various forms of buffering and magnifying effects of relationships in the event of service failures. The four active roles of relationships are identified as damage control, benefit catalyst, benefit attenuator and damage catalyst. This proposed typology breaks new ground for theorizing about relationship utilization in negative incidents.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A framework for assessing value chain agility	[ "Value chain", "Flexibility", "Agile production", "Product development" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In today's market, firms face stiffer competition due to international trade agreements and increased customer accessibility via the internet (Li and O'Brien, 1999). Moreover, firms face other challenges such as rapid technological advancement, reduced product lifecycles, and increased global market fragmentation. Since an agile organization is better equipped to thrive in a competitive and turbulent environment, agility has become a necessary component in an organization's competitive strategy (Yusuf et al., 1999) and a vital element for addressing market turbulence (van Hoek et al., 2001). Given the importance of agility, several definitions have emerged since the Iacocca Institute first associated agility with organizational abilities in manufacturing (Iacocca Institute, 1991). Sharifi and Zhang (1999) define agility as:... the ability to cope with unexpected challenges, to survive unprecedented threats of business environment, and to take advantage of changes as opportunities.While Kidd (2000) provides one of the most comprehensive definitions of organizational agility:An agile enterprise is a fast moving, adaptable and robust business. It is capable of rapid adaptation in response to unexpected and unpredicted changes and events, market opportunities, and customer requirements. Such a business is founded on processes and structures that facilitate speed, adaptation and robustness and that deliver a coordinated enterprise that is capable of achieving competitive performance in a highly dynamic and unpredictable business environment that is unsuited to current enterprise practices.These definitions depict organizational agility as dynamic, context-specific, change-embracing, and growth-oriented (Goldman et al., 1994). It is dynamic because the manner in which an organization achieves agility today may not be effective tomorrow. It is context-specific because the market environment influences the level of needed agility. It is change-embracing because it provides the impetus to adapt. Last, agility is growth-oriented through the organization's ability to re-conceive its vision, regenerate its strategies, and reinvent its techniques (Hamel and Prahalad, 1994).Agility is derived from the three building blocks of relevancy, accommodation, and flexibility (Global Logistics Research Team, 1995). Relevancy is \"the ability to maintain focus on the changing needs of customers,\" accommodation is \"the ability to respond to unique customer requests,\" and flexibility, which will be discussed later, is \"the ability to adapt to unexpected circumstances.\" Clearly, agility is a broad concept that draws upon many characteristics in a firm. In a manufacturing context, one component of organizational agility is agility within the value chain (VC) which involves the activities, \"to design, produce, market, deliver, and support its products\" (Porter, 1985). An organization with an agile VC can adapt its abilities to develop, produce, and deliver innovative products. Although previous research has addressed the general issue of organizational agility (Fliedner and Vokurka, 1997; Mason-Jones and Towill, 1999; Nagel and Bhargava, 1994), there is little understanding of agility in terms of the organization's value-adding processes. This poses the logical question, \"What are the determinants and key drivers of VC agility?\"The need for an operations-based framework of VC agility from a theory-building perspective motivates the development of our VC agility model. Our notion of VC agility considers the speed with which a VC can improve its ability to support its competitive priorities. Since flexibility is inherently focused on the ability of each VC process to effectively adapt, we theorize that flexibility impacts VC agility which represents a comprehensive ability of the entire VC to rapidly adapt. In our framework, the drivers and determinants of VC agility are identified by examining characteristics of flexibility within four key components of a firm's VC: product development, procurement, manufacturing, and logistics. We also propose that information technology (IT) capabilities impact flexibility within the four VC components as well as overall VC agility. Our analysis using this model provides initial insights into value-adding processes to employ to attain and increase VC agility.The next section presents our framework with its propositions. The third section presents the scale development followed by a discussion of the managerial insights and benefits of using this framework in future research.\nValue chain agility framework: Gunasekaran's (1998, 1999) frameworks of manufacturing agility posit that agility is attained through strategies, technologies, systems, and people. While these frameworks provide insights, we believe a different topology is needed to understand VC agility in terms of its underpinnings on flexibility. This philosophy is reflected in recent frameworks of manufacturing flexibility (Koste and Malhotra, 2000) and VC flexibility (Zhang et al., 2002), wherein the authors overlay their perspectives while linking existing theories to explain the drivers and determinants of flexibility. While Zhang et al.'s (2002) recent framework of VC flexibility focuses on the relationship between competence and capability within each VC activity, it does not address synergy among the flexibilities nor the link between VC flexibility and VC agility.We propose a framework involving the drivers and determinants of VC agility and its impact on firm performance. Although Zhang et al. (2002) do not describe agility, it appears they treat flexibility and agility interchangeably. In contrast, we distinguish between flexibility and agility, and view flexibility as an antecedent to agility.Agility and flexibility\nTheoretical development: The VC agility framework presented is unified with existing theories on organization flexibility. The literature referenced is not exhaustive but does anchor our constructs and propositions. We begin by discussing the dimensions of flexibility then present each construct followed by our propositions.Dimensions of flexibility\nScale development: Survey approach and sample statistics\nManagerial insights and conclusion: Managerial insights can be gained from the strength of the item measure loadings and the strength of correlations between the different constructs. Looking at product development flexibility in Table II, key determinants of range are the extent to which modular and platform-based designs are pursued whereas key determinants of adaptability are utilizing product differentiation and postponement strategies. Effective use of these strategies increases the available product selection options and enables the firm to support increased product variety. IT provides an important role in utilizing these strategies by assisting in the sharing of design information among the product design teams. Use of IT in product development correlates with product development range (Table IV); however, product development adaptability has an insignificant correlation with IT; thereby P1a is only marginally supported at best. Both product development range and adaptability have good correlations with VC agility thus supporting P3a.In procurement flexibility, key determinants of range are the extent to which supplier capacity can be influenced and the extent of flexibility in supplier contracts while the key determinants in adaptability are the abilities to change delivery quantities and implement design changes of purchased materials. Of interest is the lack of a significant correlation of either procurement range or adaptability with the use of IT to perform procurement activities, thus P1b is not supported. This could be the result of the IT applications represented in the IT construct. On the upside, both procurement flexibility dimensions strongly correlate with VC agility, thus supporting P3b. Of note are the positive correlations of procurement adaptability with on-time delivery and ROA. This concurs with results of prior studies (Tan et al., 1996; Narasimhan et al., 2001) that show firms, which tap into suppliers' abilities achieve higher customer service levels. Firms seeking higher levels of flexibility should choose suppliers who can adapt with the firm, and not choose suppliers based on cost. While increased outsourcing does reduce complexity of a firm's internal supply chain (Vachon and Klassen, 2002), it is important to wisely select and manage supplier relationships in order to reap benefits of improved delivery performance (Table V).For manufacturing to benefit from procurement flexibility, it must be able to adapt product mix, introduce new products, and incorporate design changes to meet customer demands. We believe capacity change is an important measure even though the ability to change capacity is not a statistically significant measure of manufacturing flexibility. One possible explanation for this result is that firms in our response pool may focus more on flexibility, as it pertains to product variety, not capacity. Based on insignificant correlations, there is no support for P1c which proposed that manufacturing is enabled by the use of IT. There is support for P3c based on the significant correlations of manufacturing range and adaptability with VC agility. Moreover, we found that manufacturing range has a negative relationship with time to market. One possible reason is that the range of manufacturing options can be broad that it may actually increase time to market. However, there is a positive correlation between manufacturing adaptability and ROA.The number of items per distribution center and the number of items per customer order are prominent determinants of logistics range. Within logistics adaptability, key abilities are being able to change distribution capacity and redistribute finished products among global storage facilities. Here, we find support for P1d that using IT enables firms to achieve higher logistics flexibility according to the strong correlations of range and adaptability with IT in logistics. Also, the correlations provide support for P3d that logistics flexibility does positively influence VC agility. While logistics adaptability correlates with profit margin, it has a lackluster correlation with on-time delivery. One explanation of this counterintuitive result is that logistics adaptability measures capture the ability to move product among distribution centers which may increase delivery time but be effective in moving product to regions with larger product demand.Statistically significant correlations among the range and adaptability dimensions of flexibility within the VC functions indicate that synergy exists. Procurement flexibility enables a firm to utilize its manufacturing flexibility, take actions to procure components for new products, and incorporate design changes into purchased material. A possible reason that procurement relates negatively to logistics while relating positively to manufacturing and product development is that product development and manufacturing flexibility rely on a supplier's technology base and responsive delivery abilities, whereas logistics flexibility does not. The strong correlations among the range and adaptability constructs support our view that firms should equally focus on developing both range of options and adaptability. Overall there is support for P3 given that VC agility is positively correlating with all flexibility constructs except for logistics range. Based on these results, achieving VC agility relies on the integrative nature of the VC functions.Primary determinants of VC agility are the speed to improve delivery reliability and responsiveness to changing market needs. These relate to the speed of reducing manufacturing lead time, which is another key measure. While VC agility correlates positively with on-time delivery and ROA, it negatively correlates with time to market. Possibly, firms within our respondent pool place more emphasis on existing product delivery versus new product development. Overall, the correlations provide some support for P4a and P4b. Nevertheless, it is clear that future research is needed to truly understand VC agility's impact on VC performance and business performance.Looking at IT, we see that the primary IT ability in product development is to employ internet technologies to access and manage product and process information. The ability to use internet technologies to share CAD, CAE and other software design tools runs a close second. Within purchasing, primary IT applications include the use of EDI, the internet, and B2B technologies for interfacing with suppliers. Within manufacturing, the use of IT and ERP to coordinate and manage production activities are important. Within logistics, inventory management and information exchange among distribution centers are key IT tasks. Lastly, the primary determinant of IT usage at the corporate level is using IT as an enabler for integrating activities within the organization's VC. While we posit that IT enables a firm to achieve flexibility, weak correlations exist. However, there are significant correlations between IT at the corporate level and VC agility thus supporting P2 and indicating that firms derive higher levels of VC agility through integrating information across the VC activities rather than integrating information within these activities.In closing, this paper has proposed a framework for understanding VC agility and developed a construct of VC agility. We have also further clarified the distinction between flexibility and agility. Our research indicates that VC agility is influenced by flexibility in the VC and that it impacts VC performance and business performance. We have also examined the role of IT in enabling agility in the VC. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to operationalize VC agility and theorize that VC agility is influenced by flexibility in the VC and enabled by IT integration.While this analysis has provided initial insights, more research is needed to understand the strength of the relationships among the constructs within the VC agility model. For example, would this framework differ between firms producing standard products versus firms providing custom products and if so, how? These answers would guide firms with different customization strategies to tailor their approach to achieving VC agility. Another question that needs to be addressed is, \"How does the level of competition impact the needed level of VC agility?\" This study has presented measures of logistics flexibility, but more research is needed to further develop the construct of logistic flexibility for subsequent study of its role in a firm's competitive strategy. It is our hope that this paper provides exploratory insights concerning VC agility and aids in future research on agility.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - To gain understanding of value chain (VC) agility in terms of value-adding processes, this paper seeks to present a VC agility framework and then to develop the involved constructs.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A framework of VC agility and its theoretical underpinnings is presented. Within the framework, drivers and determinants of VC agility are identified as characteristics enabling flexibility within key components of a firm's VC. Also, it is posited that information technology (IT) capability impacts the levels of achieved flexibility and agility, and that VC agility impacts business performance.\nFindings: - From scale development, key determinants of flexibility within VC activities are identified. Correlation analysis suggests that firms derive higher levels of agility through integrating information across the VC rather than within VC activities. Firms with flexibility in their VC functions enjoy higher levels of ensuing VC agility and on-time delivery, ROA, and market share.\nResearch limitations/implications: - While the sample size is adequate for scale development, it is not adequate for structural equation modeling since the guideline is to have at least five survey responses for every item measure. Thus, insights were gleaned from initial analysis based on correlations.\nPractical implications: - Managerial insights concerning key value-adding activities that build flexibility and ultimately agility are identified.\nOriginality/value: - To the best of one's knowledge, this work is the first to operationalize VC agility from the perspective that agility is derived from flexibility in the VC processes and is enabled by IT integration. From exploratory research, insights are gained on how VC agility links with business performance.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Characterisation and jelly processing potential of different fig cultivars	[ "Processing", "Ficus carica", "Jelly", "Sensory acceptance" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The fig (Ficus carica L.) is the fruit of the fig tree, belonging to the family Moraceae. It originates in the Mediterranean region and is among the most cultivated species in the countries of the Mediterranean coast, particularly Turkey, Algeria, Greece, Italy and Spain (FAO, 2006). Brazil is considered the largest producer of figs in the southern hemisphere, with a cultivated area of approximately 2.591 ha. Brazil has the world's seventh-largest production (25.833 t) and fifth-highest productivity (9.97 t/ha), positioning the country among the largest fig producers (IBGE, 2018). The good production and commercial results obtained in Brazil with the fig tree, which is one of the most important cultivated temperate fruit trees there, is closely linked to its broad climatic adaptation (Pio et al., 2019).\nResearch method: Ingredients\nResearch results: Fig cultivar characterisation\nResearch conclusion: The studied fig cultivars differ with respect to antioxidant activity and bioactive compounds and produce jellies with different physicochemical and rheological characteristics. However, these differences did not significantly influence product acceptability, demonstrating that all studied cultivars have high jelly processing potential.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to characterise eight different fig cultivars with respect to antioxidant activity and bioactive compound content and to assess the influence of these cultivars on the physicochemical characteristics, rheological properties and sensory acceptance of the obtained jelly to identify cultivars with increased potential for processing when grown in subtropical regions.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The analyses of fig fruits and fig jellies were performed in triplicate. To characterise the fig cultivars, analyses of antioxidant activity, phenolic compound content and ascorbic acid concentration were performed on fresh fruits. For the jellies, the total titratable acidity, pH, soluble solids, colour, texture profile and sensory attributes were analysed.\nFindings: With respect to antioxidant activity and bioactive compounds, the Roxo de Valinhos displayed the highest antioxidant activity according to the ABTS method, ss-carotene and DPPH; the Tres num Prato, Lemon and Brunswick cultivars presented the highest ascorbic acid values; and the Tres num Prato cultivar also had the highest total phenolic content. Generally, the various fig cultivars yielded jellies with different physical and chemical characteristics and different rheological properties. This variation did not significantly affect acceptability. This study demonstrates that all of the evaluated cultivars have high potential for processing.\nOriginality/value: This study evaluated the processing potential of Roxo de Valinhos and other fig cultivars in the form of jelly, which in view of the food risk concerns of the dried fig, seems to be an interesting alternative for consumption of processed fig.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
New governments: new policies	[ "Health care", "Government policy" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: After 16 years in power, the Labor Party of New South Wales emulated its British counterpart and was decimated at the polls. In the end it was a mercy killing of a government out of ideas and with a transparently false spin agenda in its latter years. A cumbersome health system had been re-organised twice within a period of a few years, the last set of changes occurring a few months before the Government's demise. The incoming Government promptly ordered the resident chief health bureaucrat out of post (the staff email used the time honoured term, \"clear my desk\") by midnight on around day 2 of power. Further significant re-organisation of the health care system is promised. Similar perturbations occurred in the NHS after the change of government in England.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This article's aim is to report on the influence of changing of the political guard on health care and health care policy.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This is an observational piece.\nFindings: - Governments orchestrate change but whether change leads to improvement remains to be seen.\nOriginality/value: - The article reports the effect of Government.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A standardised flexibility assessment methodology for demand response	[ "Demand response", "Smart grid", "Demand side management", "Demonstration study", "Energy flexible buildings", "Smart readiness indicator" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Buildings are becoming an integral part of the energy system as electrical grids evolve from a hierarchical, generation following load structure to a distributed smart grid. Energy flexibility, the ability of a building to reduce or increase its electrical load profile (Ostergaard Jensen et al., 2017), is a key measure targeting the three core challenges of grid balancing, hosting capacity (of renewable generation) and stability (of frequency and voltage) (European Commission, 2016). To date, flexibility has been mainly provided by a small number of large industrial users (Ofgem, 2016). However, to enable hosting capacities for distributed renewable energy sources above 25 per cent (DG Energy, 2013), it would be beneficial for a much greater variety of building types, e.g. commercial office, multi-family buildings and residential to also participate and offer flexibility. Low participation rates of buildings in demand response services are a result of three main factors: first, regulation (e.g. restrictive energy tariffs and lack of appropriate programmes) (Baak, 2017); second, lack of clarity around energy flexibility potential, i.e. quantification of flexibility and the financial cost or technical effort required to access it is not well understood (Ofgem, 2016); and third, difficulty in identifying, implementing and actuating many small sources of energy flexibility rather than a few large ones (Annala et al., 2018). This paper aims to address second and third.\n2. Current state of the art in energy flexibility characterisation: Section 2.1 reviews approaches for flexibility evaluation, specifically the quantification of flexibility and parameter representation, Section 2.2 reviews existing KPI labels while Section 2.3 evaluates available benchmarks for flexibility. Finally, Section 2.4 addresses the contribution of this paper.\n3. Flexibility assessment methodology: Based on the analysis in Section 2, a four-step flexibility assessment methodology was developed. The four steps in the methodology, shown in Figure 1, are Step 1: systems, loads, storage and generation identification; Step 2: flexibility characterisation; Step 3: scenario modelling; and Step 4: KPI label.\n4. Detailed case study: A detailed case study demonstrating the application of the flexibility assessment methodology and validating the effectiveness of the approach was conducted at the Skills Academy for Sustainable Manufacturing and Innovation building, Gateshead College, Sunderland, UK.\n5. Conclusions: An early stage, standardised four-step flexibility assessment methodology was created, implemented and validated. It provides an easily implementable way of assessing the power flexibility of buildings, overcoming the requirement for hiring building energy experts or conducting detailed online data acquisition. Explicit and systematic source selection ensures that flexible systems are not missed during cursory assessments and avoids time wasted on non-flexible systems in detailed assessments.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to standardised four-step flexibility assessment methodology for evaluating the available electrical load reduction or increase a building can provide in response to a signal from an aggregator or grid operator.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The four steps in the methodology consist of Step 1: systems, loads, storage and generation identification; Step 2: flexibility characterisation; Step 3: scenario modelling; and Step 4: key performance indicator (KPI) label.\nFindings: A detailed case study for one building, validated through on-site experiments, verified the feasibility and accuracy of the approach.\nResearch limitations/implications: The results were benchmarked against available demonstration studies but could benefit from the future development of standardised benchmarks.\nPractical implications: The ease of implementation enables building operators to quickly and cost effectively evaluate the flexibility of their building. By clearly defining the flexibility range, the KPI label enables contract negotiation between stakeholders for demand side services. It may also be applicable as a smart readiness indicator.\nSocial implications: The novel KPI label has the capability to operationalise the concept of building flexibility to a wider spectrum of society, enabling smart grid demand response roll-out to residential and small commercial customers.\nOriginality/value: This paper fulfils an identified need for an early stage flexibility assessment which explicitly includes source selection that can be implemented in an offline manner without the need for extensive real-time data acquisition, ICT platforms or additional metre and sensor installations.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Adolescent-friendly technologies as potential adjuncts for health promotion	[ "HIV", "South Africa", "Adolescents", "Social networking", "Health promotion", "Adolescent health", "Mobile phone" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The Health Promoting Schools model is based on the Ottawa Chart for Health Promotion by addressing educational, political, economic, environmental and medical factors to reduce disease and promote health in schools (Reddy and Swart, 1999). Globally, adolescents face many health concerns which the Health Promotion model can address, including mortality, sexual and reproductive health (SRH), malnutrition, mental health and substance use, violence and/or unintentional injuries (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention et al., 2004; Reddy and Swart, 1999). In sub-Saharan Africa, SRH remains a major health concern for young adults and adolescents. Health Promotion is an important strategy to address SRH decision making and practices amongst school-going children, including adolescents (World Health Organization; WHO, 2009). South Africa has the highest Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) prevalence in the world. An estimated 45 per cent of new HIV infections occur amongst 15-24 year olds and mainly via sexual transmission (UNAIDS, 2010). In South Africa the prevalence of HIV amongst adolescent females and males aged 15-19 years is 6.7 and 2.5 per cent, respectively (Shisana et al., 2009). Health Promoting Schools in South Africa are therefore committed to reduce risk for HIV amongst school-going adolescents. Females and males differ in regard to their biology as well as exposure to health risks, leading to the fact that Health Promotion policies and programmes should consider these gender differences when designing Health Promotion strategies (Ostlin et al., 2006). Novel and innovative ways are required to reach adolescents that reflect current communication practices. Mobile phone technologies may be an efficient novel strategy to promote health information among adolescents.\nMethods: Setting\nResults: Baseline characteristics\nDiscussion: This study substantially contributes to South African research, advocating for the use of adolescent-friendly mobile phone technologies for Health Promotion. We found high rates of mobile ownership and usage, much more than in the general population (Mapham, 2008). Adolescents in this study were more likely to have mobile phone access when they were Sotho speaking, living in formal housing and reported heterosexual orientation. In addition, the data showed high use of social networking applications like, Mxit and Facebook and participants high willingness to participate in a future study using these web sites indicate that mobile phone interventions may be a convenient and potentially effective mechanism to disseminate Health Promotion information and health interventions to adolescent populations in peri-urban settings such as Soweto. To our knowledge this is the first study to publish prevalence and predictors of mobile phone access and the use of social networking applications among adolescents in South Africa. Hence, future research is needed to explain and support these findings.\nConclusion: Our study demonstrates high access to mobile phones among a sample of adolescents from Soweto, South Africa. Mobile phone interventions may represent an effective and novel means for disseminating Health Promoting Schools messages among school-going adolescents in Soweto, South Africa.\nAcknowledgement: The investigators of the Botsha Bophelo study wish to thank the adolescent participants for generously sharing their time and insight with the authors. The authors also wish to thank the study coordinators Mazo Tshabalala and Matamela Makongoza. The authors acknowledge the support of the Canadian Institutes for Health Research, Human Development, Child and Youth health: No. 230513 and the South African AIDS Vaccine Initiative (SAAVI), a division of the South Africa Medical Research Council. Many thanks as well to Kganya Motsha Adolescent Centre and the PHRU for their support. Simon Fraser University, through a President Research Award, to Dr. Cari Miller provided initial seed funding for this study. Last, Janan Dietrich holds a Thuthuka award through the National Research Foundation (NRF) of South Africa.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to measure prevalence and predictors of mobile phone access and use among adolescents in Soweto, South Africa.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The current study was an interviewer-administered, cross-sectional survey among adolescents 14-19 years living in a hyper-endemic human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) setting in South Africa.\nFindings: Of 830 participants; 57 per cent were female. The median age was 18 years (IQR: 17-18). Mobile phone access was high (91 per cent). Almost half of participants (42 per cent) spent more than five hours daily using their mobile phones. Two-thirds (62 per cent) had access to the internet, most (84 per cent) accessed the internet via their mobile phones. Mobile phone access was more likely amongst Sotho language speakers (aOR: 2.87, 95 per cent CI: 1.30-6.36), those living in formal housing (aOR: 3.55, 95 per cent CI: 1.97-6.42) and those who reported heterosexual orientation (aOR: 2.37, CI: 1.35-4.16).\nOriginality/value: This study substantially contributes to the literature about mobile phones usage and patterns among school-going adolescents in Soweto, South Africa.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Informing TEL strategy through formal and informal channels:a case study	[ "Technology enhanced learning", "Learning", "Teaching", "United Kingdom" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The University of Dundee was among the first institutions in the UK to produce a dedicated policy relating to online assessment in 2003 (subsequently revised in 2009) and a strategy document relating to e-learning (2004). In 2010 an institution-wide review of e-learning identified a need to facilitate better communication between schools and the centre in relation to technology enhanced learning (TEL) and to embed institutional aims and guidance. Research has indicated that successful strategic implementation is more likely when strategy is informed by multiple channels and recognises the key drivers emanating from different levels of the organisation (de Freitas and Oliver, 2005). This University of Dundee's new strategic approach is informed through both formal and informal channels, driven from the \"bottom-up\", \"middle-out\" and \"top-down\" (see Figure 1). Responsibility for devising TEL strategy has historically resided with the University's Library and Learning Centre (LLC); however a new approach, outlined in the following, will result in the integration of strategic aims and plans within the University's Learning and Teaching Strategy (ULTS).\nChannels: The formal: university learning and teaching strategy\nConclusions: The University of Dundee's approach to informing strategic developments in TEL facilitates the flow of information from the bottom-up, middle-out and top-down, ensuring that all levels of the institution have opportunities to contribute to the development of strategy which, in turn, helps to foster collective ownership throughout the institution. Institutional leadership and strategy were identified within the recent report to HEFCE by the Online Learning Taskforce (2011) as being fundamental to the success of an institution's online provision, and the triangulation of channels embedded here aims to achieve a strategic approach that is informed, developed, discussed, deployed and owned across the institution.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to outline and discuss a multifaceted approach to embedding change in academic practice, resulting in the integration of technology-enhanced learning (TEL) within the wider institutional strategic approach to learning and teaching.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This approach is evidenced through a discussion of three examples of practitioner engagement and ownership across the institution - \"bottom-up\", \"middle-out\" and \"top-down\" activities - demonstrating the attendant potential for transferability to other institutional settings.\nFindings: - The triangulation of all three levels of activity in this way ensures that strategy is informed, developed, discussed, deployed and owned across the institution.\nOriginality/value: - The paper addresses the challenges of integrating TEL approaches within an overall teaching and learning strategic framework through the medium of practitioner-developed and supported initiatives developed at the University of Dundee but with potential for transferability to other institutions.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Transformational leadership and psychological empowerment: The mediating effect of organizational culture in Indian retail industry	[ "Transformational leadership", "Organizational culture", "Retail industry", "Psychological empowerment", "India" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The retail industry is one of the largest among industries, accommodating 8 percent of the country's employment and accounts for more than 10 percent of the country's GDP. Over the last decade, there is a dramatic shift happening from unorganized to organized retailing in Indian retail industry. On identifying flourishing markets for retail investment, the US-based management consulting firm, AT Kearney in their 2012 global survey has ranked India as the fourth most attractive nation (Sharma, 2012). The unprecedented growth of the industry is paving its way toward becoming one of the most happening places in Indian business history.\nTransformational leadership: During the last decade, the domain of leadership has undergone significant growth from trait theory to behavioral theory of leadership. Transformational leadership is an offshoot of behavioral theory and was developed by Burns (1978) and further refined by Bass (1985). Transformational leadership allows employees to look beyond one's self-interest for the betterment of the group and the organization as a whole (Bass, 1998; Bass et al., 2003; Yukl, 2006). Transformational leadership increases employees (as followers) self-efficacy, facilitating them to organize and accomplish the assignments to realize the organizational strategies from time to time (Shamir et al., 1993; Fitzgerald and Schutte, 2010). Bass (1985) defined transformational leadership as a set of interrelated behavior that includes idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individual consideration. By providing idealized influence, the leader serves as an ideal role model for the followers (Bass, 1985). This is achieved through sharing a clear-cut vision while explaining the followers the way to attain the vision.\nPsychological empowerment: During recent years the concept of empowerment has been considered as a potent weapon to raise organizational effectiveness. Extracting the ideas from earlier theories of empowerment (e.g. Conger and Kanungo, 1988; Thomas and Velthouse, 1990) Spreitzer (1995) defined psychological empowerment as a kind of intrinsic motivation which is manifested from four kinds of cognitions: meaning, competence, self-determination and impact. He argued that these four dimensions are necessary to constitute the overall construct of psychological empowerment; and lack of a single one out of these four dimensions decreases the overall extent of perceived empowerment. The conceptualizations of the dimensions are as follows:\nOrganizational culture: The concept of culture has been the subject of considerable academic debate in the last 25 years especially in the domain of social science research. Culture is a kind of unwritten rule enforced by its members for getting along in an organizational setup. It is in tacit form and a new comer is expected to learn it to become an accepted member of the organization (Schein, 2004). Organization is a multilevel concept (Pareek, 2002) and is composed of \"values\" as its first level that gives distinct identity to a group. The second level of culture is \"climate\" which is defined as the professed features of an organization that is followed by its members. Organizational atmosphere is the third-level construct that affects the development of the system as a whole. Pareek (2002) suggested that the organizational culture should be based on eight ethos: openness, confrontation, trust, autonomy, proaction, authenticity, collaboration, and experimentation and named it as OCTAPACE culture. Wallach (1983) suggested that a conducive organizational culture enhances employee performance in terms of involvement of employees in their job assignments (Shadur et al., 1999), wholehearted commitment to their entrusted tasks (Lok and Crawford, 1999), and deriving job satisfaction (Silverthorne, 2004). Earlier studies have considered organizational culture as an independent variable whereas this study examines organizational culture as a potential mediating variable.\nTransformational leadership, organizational culture, and psychological empowerment: In past decades, the researches on organizational culture and leadership traits have gained considerable interest from academic fraternity and management practitioners. Earlier findings have found a positive relationship between both the constructs and majority of them have stated that leadership culture influences the organizational culture. Bass and Avolio (1993) advocated that many MNCs by using idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individual consideration have transformed the culture of their organizations. Their findings have supported the fact that transformational leadership has a direct positive impact on organizational culture. A study conducted by Block (2003) found that when employees identify their organizational culture as adaptive, flexible, integrative has given them a better clarity in understanding the mission and vision of their organizations, while rating their immediate supervisor high in terms of transformational leadership. Many empirical studies conducted later across organizations and nations have admitted that there is a significant positive relationship between transformational leadership and organizational performance. In another study Ogbonna and Harris (2000) confirmed the mediating effect of organizational culture between transformational leadership and organizational performance. More recently, a study conducted by Sarros et al. (2008) explored a significant mediation of performance-oriented organizational culture between transformational leadership and organizational climate.\nObjective and rationale of the study: A review of the literature shows that substantial relationships exist between the three concepts of transformational leadership, psychological empowerment, and organizational culture. Empirical literature also promotes the idea that transformational leadership influences psychological empowerment. However, there has been a dearth in empirical findings for establishing whether organizational culture can mediate the relationship (positively or negatively) between transformational leadership and psychological empowerment. Very rare studies are available in any of these above constructs in the Indian context and particularly within the retail industry. Therefore, the present study has been undertaken to address the above mentioned gap areas. Based on the research gaps in the literature the following objectives are formulated:\nTheoretical model and research intent of the study: On the basis of the review of the literature and earlier empirical research carried out among the constructs, the authors propose that psychological empowerment is influenced by transformational leadership, and is positively mediated by the impact of organizational culture. In general, a given variable is said to function as a \"mediator when it gets associated with the relationship\" between independent and the dependent variables (Baron and Kenny, 1986).\nMethodology: Sample\nAnalysis and results: Data analysis strategy\nResults: The means of the dimensions of transformational leadership range from 15.17 (individualized consideration) to 29.85 (idealized influence), while the means of organizational culture range from a maximum value of 19.47 (trust) to a minimum value of 14.25 (openness) and psychological empowerment ranges from 12.70 (meaning) to 13.20 (competence).The expected range for asymmetry and kurtosis lies between -2 and +2 in order to ascertain normal univariate distribution of the data (George and Mallery, 2010). The skewness and kurtosis value of the dimensions in Table II shows that it is within acceptable range, so the data distribution is normal.\nMediation analysis: The potential mediating role of organizational culture (the mediator) on the relationship between transformational leadership (the predictor) and psychological empowerment (the criterion) was assessed. In order for the mediating effect of the organizational culture to be significant, the four relationships identified as Path A, Path B, Path C, and Path Adash, as shown in Figure 2, must be satisfied (Baron and Kenny, 1986).\nDiscussion: In this study, we have first examined the association between transformational leadership and psychological empowerment. Results have shown that there is a positive relationship between transformational leadership and psychological empowerment. The results were found to be supportive and consistent with our objective that organizational culture significantly mediates the relationship between transformational leadership and psychological empowerment. Thus, the findings of the study support the findings of earlier research demonstrating that there is a positive and significant relationship that exists between transformational leadership and psychological empowerment (Schein, 1992; Trice and Beyer, 1993; Waldman and Yammarino, 1999). Our findings have also supported the empirical study carried out by Sotirofski (2014) stating that an organizational culture that is conducive to change is one of the important factors that can influence psychological empowerment. The significant correlation between transformational leadership and organizational culture was found to be consistent with past research findings suggesting that transformational leadership directly affects the climate of an organization while providing the necessary thrust to bring a competitive, performance-oriented organizational culture (Song et al., 2012). Our study also provides evidence that transformational leaders motivate their followers through the mechanism of psychological empowerment (Bass and Steidlmeier, 1999).\nManagerial implications: The findings of this study have several implications. First, the study provides sufficient indication that psychologically empowered professionals are proactive and self-expressive; they also derive purpose for their work and act with self-confidence (Conger and Kanungo, 1988; Spreitzer, 1995; Thomas and Velthouse, 1990). The role of psychological empowerment suggests that transformational leaders are the key agents of employee empowerment (Spreitzer, 2008). The findings from the current research advocates that the managerial echelons in the organization need to understand the importance of culture of their organizations. They need to explore strategies to psychologically empower their employees. Employees in our study have experienced that if there is no autonomy, and if decision making is highly centralized then there is likely to have little effect on their psychological empowerment levels. In order to overcome this issue, transformational leaders may contemplate to create a more open and flexible culture within the organization.\nLimitation and scope for future research: The present study has a set of limitations. First, the size of the sample of the study is relatively small (N=310) and most of the respondents are predominantly belonging to the executive cadre. Second, the study is limited to the employees of eastern Indian retail organizations. Third, participants provided ratings of transformational leadership, organizational culture, and psychological empowerment at one point of time. So, the relationships between these variables are likely to be overestimated because of the use of common method bias (CMB). Thus, confirmatory factor analysis could be carried out to overcome the issue of CMB in future data analysis (Richardson et al., 2009).\nConclusion: Empowering employees is an important managerial practice particularly in the retail industry where employees have major responsibilities to handle customers and clients. They are expected to generate satisfaction through offering better and innovative services. The managers play an important role in human resources empowerment because they influence all organizational factors directly and indirectly. The managers are expected to provide the necessary context for empowerment by delegating adequate power to their employees, giving them independence and freedom, providing them an atmosphere for collaboration, giving them a feeling that their work is meaningful and that it is going to have a better career impact. Findings from the current study offer a distinct standpoint on the association between transformational leadership and psychological empowerment. The study has demonstrated that organizational culture plays a significant mediating role (partial) between transformational leadership and psychological empowerment. It appears that organizations with an OCTAPACE culture offers a natural setting for transformational leaders to empower their employees and enable them to approach their work with a sense of purpose, autonomy, and self-confidence.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of transformational leadership in psychological empowerment in Indian retail industry. This study also tries to examine whether organizational culture plays a mediating role in the relationships between transformational leadership and psychological empowerment.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A sample of 310 respondents was randomly selected from different Indian retail organizations for the study. Data collections were carried out using a set of standardized questionnaires. Raw data were analyzed using SPSS 20.0 and process plugin of Hayes for mediation analysis.\nFindings: The empirical investigations of the study have shown that transformational leadership is positively related to psychological empowerment. The study also found partial mediation of organizational culture between transformational leadership and psychological empowerment.\nResearch limitations/implications: First of all, the sample size of the study is relatively small (n=310). The study is limited to the employees of eastern Indian retail organizations. Second, the common method bias is presumed to influence and inflate the relationships between the variables of the study as the data on all three variables were collected at the same point of time from respondents.\nPractical implications: The road map presented in this paper may be helpful for the retail executives to diagnose organizational culture and leadership styles prevailing in the organization and their influence on psychological empowerment. The study may be helpful for retail managers to develop a desirable culture through the practice of transformational leadership that would enhance the empowerment process.\nOriginality/value: This paper adds value to the limited body of knowledge about the association among transformational leadership, psychological empowerment, and organizational culture. The findings presented in this paper would be beneficial for Indian researchers, OD experts and organization scientists in developing a culture of empowerment by the help of transformational leadership. Unique statistical tools have been used for mediation analysis.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Improving the effectiveness of the employee performance management process: A managerial values approach	[ "Maturity model", "Engagement", "Effectiveness", "Employee performance management", "Managerial values" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: It is well recognised by scholars of human resource management (HRM) that employee performance management (EPM) is one of the most pivotal of HR processes (DeNisi and Murphy, 2017), which can guide employee performance and have an immense positive effect on organisational success (Den Hartog et al., 2004). However, EPM is associated with control and hierarchical management (Adler et al., 2016; Garr, 2013; Pulakos et al., 2015; Pulakos and O'Leary, 2011; Cunha et al., 2018). Certainly, EPM is a highly controversial and perplexing process for which managers often show contempt (Elicker et al., 2006). There is mounting evidence that the problem of ineffective EPM may be at least partly attributed to the manager - the supervisor of the employee. It has been found that many supervisors poorly execute the EPM (Pichler et al., 2016; Weibel et al., 2016), and this, in turn, can be a major contributor in rendering the EPM ineffective (Longenecker and Fink, 2017). Even worse, a poorly implemented EPM system can do more harm than good (Leigh and Watkins, 2010).\n2. Methodological approach: A comprehensive review of the EPM and values literature was conducted to address the research question. Drawing on Jones and Gatrell (2014), it included the interdisciplinary bodies of knowledge that contribute to discussions on improving the effectiveness of the performance management process via managerial values approach. That is, an integrative review method addresses these mature topics to result in the advancement of knowledge and a new conceptual framework (Snyder, 2019). As Snyder's article \"Literature review as a research methodology\" suggests, a four-step approach was applied consisting of designing the review, conducting the review, analysis and writing the review.\n3. Employee performance management: 3.1 Broad overview of several strands of performance management and measurement\n4. Managerial values as a vital contributor to organisational activities: Before addressing the dilemma of EPM through a managerial values system, it is useful to take a step back: on the one hand, to gain an overview of the context and concept of values and values systems, and their application to management; and, on the other hand, to temporarily leave the operational view and take up an organisational meta-perspective.\n5. Improved effectiveness of EPM through values-based behaviour: 5.1 Managerial values enactment as a contributor to the EPM system\n6. Discussion and conclusion: 6.1 Discussion\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of managerial values in improving the effectiveness of employee performance management (EPM).\nDesign/methodology/approach: The research has been conducted as a conceptual study, in which EPM criteria are compared to managerial values and the related maturity model. A thorough review of the EPM and values literature identified relevant and significant works.\nFindings: Despite copious extant literature on EPM, the process is riddled with persistent problems, particularly concerning the manager's enthusiasm to adequately implement EPM and its subsequent effectiveness. A managerial grounded values framework is, therefore, proposed. Using a circular approach that is assisted by a values maturity model, it serves as a charter that guides the supervisor's actions, goals, choices, decisions and attitudes; principles that are very much at the heart of an effective EPM process. Curiously, managerial values and EPM have not generally been connected.\nPractical implications: This values-based circular framework contributes to the effectiveness of the EPM process and thus to a positive EPM experience that motivates, enhances engagement and guides personal development. When enacted individual values and EPM are linked, they are argued to lead to sustained superior financial performance.\nOriginality/value: This study makes an important and novel contribution to the performance literature by using a values-based maturity model to improve the effectiveness of the EPM process.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
How to manage the big bang: evolution or revolution in the introduction of an MLE?	[ "Learning organizations", "Computer based learning", "Organizational change" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: \"Higher education cannot change easily\", writes Diana Laurillard, yet, she concedes that it is being \"forced to change\" (Laurillard, 2002, p. 3) and the introduction of wide-scale e-learning to UK higher education (HE) campuses is one of the key drivers of this pressure on institutions to reinvent themselves. Indeed one of the main factors in this process centres around the move from small-scale e-learning initiatives, often using a virtual learning environment (VLE) to centrally managed, joined up systems and processes that are institution-wide through the creation of a managed learning environment (MLE)[1]. MLEs are regarded as favourable due to economies of scale and efficiency and because they can \"streamline\" the student experience (see Lee, 2003). However, as Britain (2001) cautions, the introduction of \"new technology into an organisation will necessarily involve a process of change\"; change can even be seen as \"the reason for adopting the technology\".Yet, while there seems to be widespread agreement that technology and change are inextricably linked, particularly in relation to the HE environment, there is less consensus on how such change can be implemented or embraced. A number of models have been put forward to help shape the philosophy and direction of change, such as Laurillard's (2002, p. 215) notion that institutions need to become \"learning organisations\", but while HE institutions are regarded as resistant to change there is an obvious tension here. In addition, many UK HE institutions are fiercely independent of their individuality. As Stiles (2003, p. 2) notes, a \"need for the organisation to become 'distinctive' in a changing and competitive [...] sector\" can be a major driver for reviewing teaching and learning practice and strategy. Boys (2002, p. 10) reminds us that:... the requirements of scaling-up and integration demanded by an MLE necessarily throw into relief the inherent tensions in large complex organisations with different stakeholder perspectives.So where does this leave a UK HE institution in the process of implementing an MLE? Faced with often conflicting internal and external drivers and levers, the introduction of an MLE can seem like a panacea, a placebo or an inevitable consequence of the changing HE marketplace. The aims of this paper are to first contribute to this growing body of research evidence on issues surrounding the management of institutional change, with specific reference to the implementation of an MLE at City University, and second to promote the practice of action research as a way of facilitating the management of such change (see for example, Searle, 2003; JISC, 2002b; Foster et al., 1999; Steeples and Jones, 2002; Collis and van der Wende, 2002).As Jane Searle (2003, p. 11) argues:... in most accounts of institutional change there is a recognition that successful institutional implementation of learning technologies depends on key individual stakeholders.Semi-structured interviews carried out in recent months with several key decision makers at City University has formed the basis of this research. Although the investigations are ongoing, the paper provides a snapshot of the institution at a critical moment in the implementation of an MLE. It has been suggested that \"there are two basic paradigms for MLE development, one concerned with merely integrating existing systems and the other with rethinking educational and organizational processes\" (Boys, 2002, p. 10). We might characterize these as evolutionary and revolutionary respectively. Before considering how this applies to City, we consider the theoretical perspective more fully.\nTheory and method: Much of the growing literature on change in HE in general, including the impact of technology, has been characterised by attempts to map experience and empirical data to models of change. Given the essentially integrative nature of MLEs it is clear that the full-scale implementation of an MLE potentially involves all aspects of educational and organizational processes. Inevitably this embraces the multiple organizational cultures that constitute a modern university. As Adrianna Kezar (2001, p. 2) has observed:... the need for cultural models seems clear from the embeddedness of members who create and reproduce the history and values, the stable nature of employment, the strong organizational identification of members, the emphasis on values.Additionally, as the evidence analysed below suggests, social cognition models are relevant to any analysis of organizational change since, at a basic level, there are multiple interpretations of what an MLE is, as well as competing visions of what it can be used for.As far as the speed of change is concerned a recent Universities and Colleges Information Systems Association (UCISA) report by Browne and Jenkins (2003) notes that among UK Higher Education and Colleges \"the overall picture is one of evolutionary consolidation\". The previous study carried out by Collis and van der Wende (2002) on the use of ICT in HE in general and the uptake of VLEs/MLEs in particular, concludes that while change is indeed slow, \"nevertheless institutions are gradually 'stretching the mould' \" although \"changes [...] are gradual and usually slow\" (Collis and van der Wende, 2002, p. 7). The present study has been framed with reference to both of these aspects the models and speed of change.Fullan (1991) has drawn attention to the importance of examining the subjective meaning of change for those involved in the process, pointing out that subjective meanings may be different not only for individuals but for groups of individuals, be they academics, managers or from support services. Since all three groups are (or should be) involved in the rollout of an MLE, 15 key decision makers, five individuals from each of these areas at City were invited to participate in recorded interviews about the implementation of the MLE. The E-Learning Unit (ELU), charged with leading the e-learning initiative at City, decided to carry out this research in order to help shape its future planning agenda. While there were some strategic objectives established in the institution around e-learning, it was felt that these may not be apparent to all within the organisation or the effects of a wide-scale implementation may be viewed differently. This decision to undertake such action research was triggered in part by a wish to see how senior decision makers in the university perceived the impact of e-learning on core business activities.Bentz and Shapiro (1998, p. 127) define action research as:... less a separate culture of enquiry than [...] a statement of intention and values. The intention is to change a system, and the values are those of participation, self-determination, empowerment through knowledge, and change.By interviewing various stakeholders from the academic, management, administrative and support units within City this research intends to encourage this notion of reflective practitionership. The interview process itself involves a debate about the issues which result from the acquisition of an MLE and provides a forum for the dissemination of information as well as an opportunity for contributing to the decision making processes. Of the key stakeholders initially identified, seven have been interviewed thus far. While there is a reasonable spread of academics and senior managers from both academic and support services there has been no positive response from those with a specifically technical responsibility. Whether or not this reflects a feeling of exclusion from the wider implications of MLE implementation has yet to be established.Staff from the ELU designed and piloted an interview schedule which focused on the following key areas:* implications for infrastructure development and pedagogic direction;* the drivers behind MLE procurement;* responsibility for producing an e-strategy and perceptions of the role of the MLE in this;* staff support and development;* student support; and* strategic vision - evolution or revolution?Semi-structured interviews were chosen as the appropriate method; such an instrument allows the exploration of shared or contested meanings of some of the key terms and issues involved in the interview process, such as e-learning, MLE/VLE, the future direction of the university and its e-vision. The interviews were recorded and full transcripts made available to each of the interviewees with a guarantee of confidentiality. These interviews were carried out six months into the implementation process over the Christmas period 2003-2004. A total of six interviews were carried out; three with administrative/support staff and three with academic staff.\nContext: City University has been delivering online learning for over four years in a distributed model - certain departments and individuals have been pioneering new technologies, through VLEs and other web-based solutions, while other areas have been largely untouched by new e-learning initiatives. The rationale for developing such e-learning offerings has been mixed from developing new delivery modes to increasing and widening participation rates to experimenting with more innovative methods of classroom delivery. Such an evolutionary developmental model for e-learning implementation is not unfamiliar to other institutions, as recorded by Browne and Jenkins (2003). A UCISA (2001) report described VLEs as \"part of a continuum of development\" and their deployment at institutional level as symptomatic of an institution reaching an \"innovative\" stage of development (Browne and Jenkins, 2003, p. 24). Such a process is mirrored in the experience at City - this is common in pre-1992 universities which are often characterised by a devolved decision-making model.In 2003, the situation at City radically changed with a high-level strategic commitment to rollout e-learning across the institution. This was evidenced by the establishment of the ELU and the purchase of a site-wide license to an MLE. There were a number of reasons why this change in policy occurred and the development came at an apposite time. First, the pressure on localised initiatives had grown to a level where the initiatives could no longer be sustained efficiently. Second, interest across the institution was growing and there was a concern that inefficiencies were occurring through repetition and inadequate resource sharing. Third, a number of other university initiatives to improve City's \"e-readiness\" (both from a learning and teaching and administrative perspective) were now in progress[2].The E-Learning Unit (ELU) was placed at the centre of the e-learning process by both managing the rollout of the MLE over the summer of 2003 and supporting all staff engaged with online learning in the university. In order to complete this large task in a short time a set of priorities was drawn up including technical implementation and integration; staff development and training; migration of existing material; student support and guidance to ensure that the project achieved its targets. In September 2003, the MLE went live on time and on target with over 70 modules operational to 2,000 students. The experience that the institution underwent in achieving this result in such a short time scale is an important one and one which can provide useful evidence for other institutions faced with a similar situation. These interviews conducted with senior management enabled us to discover the perceptions on the e-learning initiative six months on.\nFindings: The e-learning initiative at City transepts the boundaries between academic activities, administrative activities and support areas. In order for the MLE to function efficiently it needs to pull information from all these different systems and act as a conduit between the various business processes of the university. Although City is still in the early stages of this implementation, a number of key findings have resulted from the changes experienced by the institution. These can be grouped into the following areas, which loosely map onto the major themes of the interviews listed above:* Pedagogic direction - the impact of e-learning on existing and new modes of learning.* Operational connections and development - relationships between registry, administrators and academics.* Organisational structure and change - where to situate e-learning, who has responsibility?* System process - technological constraints.* Professional development - how to educate staff and students.* Strategic vision and perception - what is e-learning all about?Pedagogic direction\nConclusion: These six key lessons relating to the implementation of e-learning and the MLE have been brought to light through the research interviews with key decision-makers at City. Examining the strategic vision of influential figures in senior management in relation to City's overall commitment to improving its online business systems and particularly how e-learning connects with this vision has provided valuable insight into the process of institutional change within the university. One of the most significant features of all these interviews is the recognition that institutional change is a complex evolutionary process. While the establishment of the ELU and rollout of the MLE system could be regarded as instances of a revolutionary \"big bang\" for the university; most of those engaged with the process view this as the beginning of a longer transitional period. Although City has undoubtedly undergone some major change in e-learning provision since the summer of 2003, the ELU and other staff involved with creating the MLE are still working within existing parameters concerning organisational structures, funding mechanisms and perceptions. This therefore limits the revolutionary impact of the \"big bang\" of summer 2003 and sees the advent of a \"bedding down\" and quieter integration period.There will be a number of challenges ahead, but the main one for staff involved with e-learning at City will be to keep the momentum going by maintaining that enthusiasm of early adopters while convincing and engaging more sceptical staff. And through all this the university will have to communicate a clear sense of strategic direction and commitment. Yet one of the most positive aspects of this process has been the establishment of effective communications between hitherto disparate elements in the organisation and a greater shared sense of ownership of the process of change in the organisation. The over-arching message that came out of all the interviews we carried out was that the e-learning process and this research has made senior decision makers reflect on their role within the institution and the role of the MLE in this cycle of change. And this is perhaps one of the most truly revolutionary, unanticipated outcomes of the e-learning initiative.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - To examine how introducing an institution-wide managed learning environment impacts on the processes of organisational change using City University, London as a case study.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Literature-based discussion of current issues around the introduction of online learning to provide theoretical framework. Action research methodology used for interviews with leading members of the institution.\nFindings: - There is a significant amount of literature available on institutional change and managed learning environments; however, how the introduction of such systems operates in practice depends on the context of the institution. In the interviews with key stakeholders six significant themes are identified for the management of change in this area: pedagogic direction; operational connections and development; organisational structure and change; system process; professional development; strategic vision and perception. Any implementation project regarding the introduction of managed learning environments should encompass these key themes.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Based on interviews with a small number of stakeholders at the institution. Further research could compare the experience at City with other institutions and revisit a wider selection of stakeholders at City to assess their views at a later stage in the implementation.\nPractical implications: - Provides guidance after the experiences encountered at the institution which could assist other universities both during the planning phases of such a project or during the implementation itself.\nOriginality/value: - Identifies a number of key areas to shape and formulate project management. Combines empirical evidence with theoretical context.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Electronic word-of-mouth and information overload in an experiential service industry	[ "Service industry", "E-WOM", "WOM", "Information overload" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: As a relatively new discipline, consumer behavior did not develop into a field of study until the 1960s (Smith and Rupp, 2003). Early theory relied heavily on economics, purporting that customers would act rationally in order to maximize their own gain, with the goal of selecting the product or service which best meets their needs. Later, researchers discovered that consumers do not always act perfectly rationally, and were just as likely to make impulse purchases; purchases that are often effected by not only advertising, but also recommendations and testimonies of friends and acquaintances (Schiffman and Kanuk, 2000). In studying such phenomena, the importance of word-of-mouth (WOM) for product success was established. Consumers trust each other significantly more than they trust communication from companies (Helm, 2003; Ladhari, 2009). Defined as general evaluations by others for an original service provider (Kuo et al., 2013), WOM has shown to affect how potential and current customers will often base their purchase intentions (Zeithaml et al., 2006). As such, WOM has been shown to impact sales and profit (Reichheld and Sasser, 1989), stock prices (Luo, 2009), customer satisfaction (Lang, 2011), among other outcomes.\ne-WOM: Malhotra (1984) provides an extensive review and outline of research related to consumer behavior, and models consumers' product selection decision. According to this model, consumers are faced with an optimization problem, in which they must select a product among a set of alternatives which most effectively meets their needs. This becomes an information processing challenge, as consumers must complete this optimization problem in the face of substantial uncertainty about the ability of each product to meet their needs.\nInformation load: Researchers in the field of information overload have traditionally investigated the effects of information load on decision-making outcomes. While we use the term information load, information quantity (Keller and Staelin, 1987), elaborateness (Racherla and Friske, 2012) and information intensity (Eppler and Mengis, 2004) have been used to describe information load in previous studies. We contend that e-WOM context is an ideal setting to study the effects of information load as an increasing number of individuals are not only looking toward the internet for reviews, but for actual purchases (Einav et al., 2014). In this study, we will examine the information load of online reviews, or the amount of information contained in the review, as measured by word count. This is consistent with Mudambi and Schuff (2010), who refer to the word count of a review as review depth.\nTrust: Trust aids an individual's confidence and willingness to have faith in another party (Lien et al., 2014). Traditional studies in the area have identified several conditions that may affect the level and type of trust a person may possess: competence, consistency, loyalty and openness (e.g. Jennings, 1971; Gabarro, 1978). In an online environment, trust formation between members of virtual communities had been tied to one's reputation within that community, as well as the extent to which one identifies themselves in their profile (Ridings et al., 2002), knowledge-based familiarity and characteristic-based similarity (Lu et al., 2010). Indeed Lu et al. (2010) viewed trust in both online community members and trust in the platform as antecedents of consumer-to-consumer purchase intention in virtual communities.\nIntent to purchase: The concept of purchase intention is predicated on Ajzen's (1991) theory of planned behavior. Purchase intention has been widely studied by consumer behavior researchers in a variety of contexts (Jamieson and Bass, 1989; Kalwani and Silk, 1982), which is not surprising giving its clear implications for practitioners. A great deal of those studies are focused on identifying drivers of purchase intention, and some such drivers include brand familiarity (Laroche et al., 1996), how sales people dress (Shao et al., 2004) celebrity endorsement of the product (Daneshvary and Schwer, 2000) and the perceived ethical behavior of the organization (Creyer, 1997). In an e-commerce context, in addition to trust, purchase intention has been tied to the perceived security of the e-tailer (Salisbury et al., 2001), the perceived interactivity of the website (Jiang et al., 2010) and the mood of the consumer (Park et al., 2005).\nMethods: The hypotheses were tested using a web-based simulation. Used across a number of different area of study such as psychology, management, accounting and finance (e.g. Bent and Van Hentenryck, 2004; Johansson et al., 1999; King et al., 2003), scenario-based research controls for variations in environments by facilitating a standard setting across participants. In order to test our hypotheses, we followed the Potts (1995) protocol, and conducted a scenario-based simulation experiment which required participants to interact with a mock-up of a web page which presented the user with three hotel reviews. We chose the hotel industry, because hospitality services are experiential in nature (Liu et al., 2013), lack the ability to \"try before you buy\" and are not returnable (Buhalis, 2003); and as such, represent high-risk purchases that should cause the consumer to extent a substantial attention when purchasing (Jeong and Lambert, 2001). Further, the intangibility of the experience should enhance the uncertainty for consumers, increasing their motivation for information search and their need to rely on WOM. This argument for the use of the hotel industry is consistent with Sotiriadis and Van Zyl's (2013) study on the influence on e-WOM via Twitter reviews.\nResults: Using SPSS 21, hypotheses were tested using a one-way between subjects ANOVA, in which we compared the effect of information load on both trust and purchase intention across three information load conditions: low, moderate and excessive. Please see Table II for our sample's descriptive statistics.\nDiscussion: With over three billion people having access to the internet (InternetWorldStats, 2014) our need to expand our knowledge as to how communication and information processing has changed cannot be overemphasized. This study adds to the growing body of literature that attempts to assess technologies effects on traditional paradigms by exploring purchase intention and trust formation as outcome of online reviews. In order to ascertain these consequences, a scenario-based approach was used. As Figures 1 and 2 show, the level of information presented directly influences how well the consumer develops trust and purchase intention. Although modern customers are able to scan and process information faster than past generations (Kymes, 2005), that ability to quickly scan information is theorized to come at the cost of a reduced retention. Research suggests that 80 percent of young people prefer reading online, but 60 percent of those respondents admitted that they retain more information from printed media (Liu, 2005). This suggests that although consumers are able to access information more quickly, the amount of information that is to be presented has changed.\nConclusion: In this study, we used scenario-based web simulations to empirically support an inverted U-shaped relationship between the information load of a review and consumers' subsequent trust in the review and purchase intention. This study incorporated uncertainty reduction theory as well as information overload to support those relationships. Moreover, this study contributes to the continued understanding of impact of service experience. Since hotel services are experiential in nature, and consumers do not generally have the ability to sample the hotel before selecting and purchasing it, they are dependent on the information provided by previous guests on their experience in the hotel. As e-WOM becomes more and more common, consumers will likely become more and adept at processing the information contained in online product reviews, and they will likely develop heuristics to aid in that information processing. Understanding consumers' information processing strategies as these developments carry through will represent a fertile domain for e-commerce researchers.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Trust and purchase intent are established, dependent variables in electronic commerce research. Recent studies have highlighted the importance of online product reviews in the development of purchase intention, which has led to the development of a substantial research effort in the realm of electronic word-of-mouth (e-WOM). The purpose of this paper is to incorporate e-WOM, information processing and decision-making theories to propose a model of the development of trust and purchase intention based on online product reviews, and incorporate information overload as a moderating factor.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This study tests the hypotheses using a scenario-based experiment. In total, 157 working adults were asked to read three hotel reviews of different information load. Upon completion, they were then asked to respond to Likert-based questions regarding their trust in the review and purchase intention.\nFindings: An inverted U-shaped relationship exists between information load and both trust and purchase intention, where low-information load is ineffective at fostering trust and purchase intention, moderate information load is effective at fostering trust and purchase intention, and high-information load is less effective than moderate information load at fostering trust and purchase intention.\nResearch limitations/implications: Although the authors supported the inverted U-shaped relationship between information load and two outcomes, the authors only tested three different review lengths, resulting in limited precision, it is not clear where the inflection point is (i.e. exactly how many words results in information overload). Future studies might both seek more precision, and also consider more consumer characteristics, such as risk propensity.\nPractical implications: Review platform operators with a stake in encouraging a sale should prioritize and highlight reviews of moderate length (which can be assessed automatically via word count), and consider restricting new reviews of products to minimum and maximum word counts.\nOriginality/value: This study enhances the relevant and growing body of online review research by: bringing uncertainty reduction theory to bear on the consumer's information search efforts; using information overload, an important construct from classic information processing and decision-making literature to explain consumer behavior; and identifying a review characteristics (information load) which influences consumer attitudes about a review (trust) and the product (purchase intention). Finally, this study enhances research understanding of a specific experiential service: hospitality.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Portrayals of F.W. Taylor across textbooks	[ "Management history", "Education", "Historical periods", "Psychology", "Books" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Textbooks are a primary source of information for college students. Instructors rely on textbooks for course content so much so that they can be the determining factor in what students are expected to learn (Solorzano, 1986). Furthermore, students often accept information in textbooks at face value (Perlmuter, 1997). Therefore, instructors expect textbook authors to include only accurate, relevant information in their texts (Allen and Preiss, 2002).\nA brief history of Taylor: Between 1900 and 1917, labor had several problems, including \"soldiering\" (i.e. intentional slacking; Taylor, 1903) and labor strikes. Taylor set out to develop a shop management system to address organizational problems, including a lack of efficiency, antagonistic employer-employee relations, and employees' belief that it was not in their best interest to give their best initiative (Taylor, 1911). Furthermore, Taylor and his colleagues believed many payment methods were ineffective, as they did not reward efficiency, were unjust, and led to poorer quality and greater accidents and injuries (Gilbreth, 1912). He believed a differential piece-work incentive system should be replaced with a piece rate incentive system (Wren, 2005), and traditional management plans lacked accurate methods to measure efficiency, leaving efficient men unrewarded and often weeded out (Gilbreth, 1912).Taylor wrote several papers and spoke with many managers about setting wage-contingent performance standards based on scientific time study. In 1903, Shop Management was published, in which Taylor described the benefits and process of using scientific management principles. He is perhaps best known for his 1911 book, The Principles of Scientific Management, where he described multiple time studies conducted to determine how much work an individual could be expected to accomplish daily. He examined several jobs including cutting metal and machine belting, moving pig iron, shoveling coal, and inspecting ball bearings. Taylor called scientific management a \"mental revolution,\" summarized as a fourfold philosophy:1. science over rule of thumb;2. scientific selection and training;3. cooperation over individualism, and;4. an equal division of work best suited to management and employees.Taylor was so significant to scientific management that he has been referred to as the \"Father of Scientific Management\" by historians (Copley, 1923). In fact, this is engraved on his headstone (Wrege and Greenwood, 1991; Wren, 2005).Scientific management influenced the society of Taylor's era in several ways. First, scientific management's impact on organizations was apparent in the formation of \"employment departments\" that were responsible for such tasks as using job analysis techniques to select employees, training employees, maintaining records of employee performance, assisting employees after accidents or with financial matters, and providing services, such as lunchrooms. It also furthered the interest of employees through its support of unions and union-management relations in addition to the encouragement of employee participation in decision-making via employee representation plans such as shop councils and committees in non-union shops (Wren, 2005). Second, scientific management influenced training and networking opportunities for personnel management employees. It led to the institution of university-based programs that trained students in personnel management, including Dartmouth's Amos Tuck School of Administration and Finance, and to the creation of professional associations such as the National Personnel Association (Wren, 2005). Finally, scientific management influenced the scope of industrial psychology as a discipline. The founder of industrial psychology, Hugo Munsterberg, was influenced by Taylor's ideas about focusing on individuals and efficiency as reflected in his writing (e.g. Psychology and Industrial Efficiency Wren, 2005).Although Taylor's work had a positive influence, management and labor antagonism, poor union relations, strikes, and charlatans led to scrutiny of Taylor and scientific management. His system was nicknamed \"Taylorism,\" which became a derogatory term. A US House of Representatives committee was formed to investigate his controversial plant management system, congressional hearings transpired, and a bill passed (but did not become a law) to ban the use of time measurement or bonus reward systems in government work. Essentially, the committee found that scientific management was \"unevenly and at times unscrupulously applied\" but it was too early to determine its effect on the health and pay of employees or wages and labor costs (Hearings, 1914, p. 1930). The committee found no evidence of abuse nor any need for remedial legislation, yet scientific management lost some credibility when the government refused to endorse it in government work (Peterson, 1990; Van De Water, 1997). Taylor died in 1915, but his ideas lived on through his followers who founded the Society to Promote the Science of Management, later renamed the Taylor Society, which merged with the Society of Industrial Engineers in 1936 to form the Society for Advancement of Management (Wren, 2005, p. 169).\nTaylor's insights: Taylor's work on scientific management impacted numerous fields. His book The Principles of Scientific Management was reprinted in the Classics of Management (Merrill, 1970) and the Classics of Industrial and Organizational Psychology (Mankin et al., 1980). Taylor's ideas influenced management practices in the USA, Great Britain, continental Europe, Japan, and the Soviet Union (Wren, 1979, 2005). Indeed, Hodgetts and Greenwood (1995) observed that the four principles of scientific management are alive and well in organizations that have adopted total quality management. Additionally, many books and articles have been written about Taylor and his work. Some have portrayed him as a prominent historical figure making key contributions to many fields (Boddewyn, 1961; Drucker, 1976; Fry, 1976; Gilbreth, 1912; Person, 1923), whereas others have attacked and criticized him (Lewin, 1920; Wrege and Perroni, 1974; Wrege and Stotka, 1978). In terms of those who have criticized him, in an extensive evaluation of Taylor's ideas and techniques, Locke (1982) determined that most of the criticisms of Taylor were invalid. For example, Taylor has been called dishonest; accused of lying about the pig iron \"experiments\" (Wrege and Perroni, 1974) and plagiarizing his colleague Morris L. Cooke (Wrege and Stotka, 1978). Locke showed that different details of the experiments were emphasized but not necessarily contradictorily. Also, Hough and White (2001) argued that minor discrepancies in Taylor's reports should not overshadow the object lesson of the story - that basic processes can be substantially improved through scientific management (Tsuneo and Wren, 2002). Finally, Cooke consented to Taylor publishing his book and gave credit to Taylor for his work (Dean, 1997).In our reading of Taylor's writings and analyses of his work, we noted a number of contributions and insights Taylor made that are well-accepted practices today and yet, Taylor is not typically given credit for providing the foundation for these ideas and findings. We also noted that many criticisms of Taylor were more likely misperceptions and misunderstandings. We organize our findings into ten areas within management and I-O psychology:1. job analysis;2. job design;3. selection;4. motivation and incentive systems;5. job performance criteria;6. performance appraisal;7. employee attitudes;8. group processes;9. organizational change and development; and10. human factors.Locke (1982, p. 23) conducted a similar evaluation of Taylor's techniques concluding that \"most of his insights are still valid today.\" We expand upon Locke's work identifying even more of Taylor's insights.Job analysis\nMethod and results: Sample of textbooks\nDiscussion: The purpose of this study was to examine the portrayal of Frederick W. Taylor across two disciplines: management and psychology. First, it is interesting to note the inclusion rate of Taylor in the 93 college-level textbooks we examined. Clearly, Taylor is believed to be an important contributor to management, as he was included in 89 percent of the management textbooks we examined. In contrast, Taylor was in 44 percent of the psychology textbooks we were able to locate. The majority of these textbooks were introductory psychology books in which a chapter on the history of the field is almost always included; however, information about I-O psychology is rarely included (Raley et al., 2003). We coded the amount of space devoted to Taylor and his ideas within these textbooks and the same trend emerged with more space devoted to Taylor in the management textbooks than in the psychology textbooks.In our review of Taylor's writings, we noted a number of other insights Taylor made that are well-accepted practices today, and yet Taylor is not typically given credit for them in textbooks despite some acknowledgement by other authors (Locke, 1982; Wren, 2005). We classified these insights into ten topics:1. job analysis;2. job design;3. selection;4. motivation and incentive systems;5. job performance criteria;6. performance appraisal;7. employee attitudes;8. group processes;9. organizational change and development; and10. human factors.When coding the various textbooks, we noted the chapters in which Taylor was referenced. He was most frequently noted in a chapter devoted to historical contributions, but he was periodically acknowledged for his ideas related to job analysis, employee attitudes, and organizational change and development. No textbooks made reference to his ideas regarding selection, motivation, job performance criteria, performance appraisal, incentive systems, group processes, and human factors.Interestingly, something as objective as Taylor's occupation was not consistent across textbooks and disciplines. About half of the books from management and psychology described him accurately as an engineer; although the specific type of engineer varied. Whereas all of the management textbooks discussed scientific management, less than half of them identified Taylor as the founder/father of scientific management. Most of the psychology textbooks also discussed scientific management, but only one referred to Taylor as the father of it. These discrepancies are likely related to the reasons why the inclusion of Taylor is variable across textbooks within a given sub-discipline.One quarter of the textbooks included a picture of Taylor or some illustration related to his work and/or ideas and most of these were introductory management textbooks. Interestingly, two of the illustrations were comically oriented, somewhat mocking Taylor and his ideas. Both of these were in management textbooks.The information provided about Taylor in the majority of textbooks was accurate, with relatively more management books reporting accurate information than psychology textbooks. Among the keywords and phrases we coded, the pig iron studies, the four principles of scientific management, the congressional hearings, and \"the one best way\" were mentioned relatively more frequently in the management textbooks than psychology textbooks. However, time and motion studies were described relatively more frequently in the psychology textbooks. Interestingly, \"Taylorism\" (a relatively negative term) was not used in any of the management textbooks but it was included in four of the psychology texts.Limitations and future directions\nConclusions: Frederick W. Taylor is just one of many people who contributed to management theory and human behavior in the workplace. Whereas he was also a controversial individual, textbook authors ought to give him credit for more of his insights into the various topics within management and psychology. Historical accounts should be as accurate and unbiased as possible, as they are used to educate future managers and management scholars. Our analyses revealed historical accounts about Taylor vary considerably both within and across management and psychology. The amount of information and the positive and negative spin taken by textbook authors is particularly noteworthy. Unfortunately, the variability in the information and how it is portrayed conveys a different overall contribution for Taylor. In conclusion, professors and students are cautioned about taking textbook information about Taylor and other historical figures at face value.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - To conduct a content analysis of the portrayal of Frederick W. Taylor in management and psychology textbooks to reveal differences both within and across disciplines.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Forty-four textbooks from six sub-disciplines within management and psychology were content analyzed for the amount and accuracy of the material presented about Taylor and the extent to which key terms were included in these descriptions.\nFindings: - The data show that more information is provided in the management texts and the majority of the information conveyed across disciplines appears accurate.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Not all textbooks were examined within all sub-disciplines within management or psychology or all sub-disciplines to which Taylor ostensibly contributed. Future research is needed to determine why Taylor is portrayed differently across texts.\nPractical implications: - Results have important teaching implications as they reveal how accurately textbooks portray one controversial historical figure and what students are learning. Students might be encouraged to consult original sources and information beyond the text. Textbook authors should be held accountable for the accuracy of the information in their texts and may find the comparison information informative. Instructors may find the results useful when selecting a new text.\nOriginality/value: - This paper depicts variability in how historical figures are depicted in textbooks, which is an important part of management history education.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Conceptualizing a framework for customer integration during new product development of chemical companies	[ "Marketing strategy", "Innovation", "Cooperation", "Business-to-Business marketing" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The competitiveness and sustainability of today's enterprises are strongly determined by their ability to adapt the existing products to future customer needs, to generate customer-centered innovations and to create added value to distinguish themselves from their competitors. Thus, the continuous development and commercialization of new products and services represent a great challenge for enterprises to maintain or expand the current market position (Schumpeter, 1934). In today's business environment, the integration of customers is an effective instrument for ensuring long-term corporate growth by reducing the innovation risk for NPD projects and by complementing the internal resources with the expertise and the network of a partner (Das and Teng, 1998). Existing literature, which deals with customer integration, is mainly focused on buyer-seller relationships (Droge et al., 2004; Frohlich and Westbrook, 2001; Oinonen and Jalkala, 2015). The analysis of specific contributions and the role of the raw material suppliers in the management of NPD have so far been neglected in the literature. Although it is sometimes difficult to assess to what extent the raw material suppliers contribute to the product development, the importance of their role for the generation of new products is indisputably high. The present, explorative study analyzes the role of chemical companies during NPD in emerging markets. New materials play an important role in determining the industrial progress. Especially for the development of emerging technologies such as alternative energies, electric vehicles, fuel cells, bio- and nanotechnology and new materials have made and will make a huge contribution toward the introduction of novel products to various industrial sectors.\nMethodology: This study uses extended case method as a guideline to expand the existing theory. In comparison with the grounded theory building, which involves the construction of theory through analysis of data, extended case method is reconstructing and extending of existing theory. The method explains similar phenomena with a new view to explain differences (Burawoy, 1991). Theory extending and building from cases are regarded as the \"most interesting\" research, as case studies emphasize the rich, real-world context in which the phenomena occur (Eisenhardt and Graebner, 2007). While a single case study is capable of describing an existing phenomenon, multiple case studies normally provide a solid base for theory building. Extended case method is a reflexive research method, which relies on participant observation (Burawoy, 1998). Observations of specific cases are used to extract principles and to challenge existing theory. The method is often used in not only social sciences but also finds applications in business literature (Danneels, 2002; Wadham and Warren, 2014). Similar to the abductive approach, the extended case method is based more on empirical knowledge, while positive science is based more on theoretical knowledge (Burawoy, 1998). The benefit of this method is that it uses empirical data gathered through case study to reconceptualize and extend theory (Polsa, 2013). In a first step, relevant literature is analyzed and research gaps are identified. In a second step, the data are collected on the basis of guided interviews. There are two exchanges between literature review and data analysis (exploration of literature), and between data analysis and data collection (continuously moving back and forth between data collection and analysis) (Burawoy, 1991). In the final step, the reconstruction of existing theory takes place by aligning the empirical data and theory. The collected data were interpreted using a hermeneutic approach (Thompson, 1997). Within this process, provisional understandings are formed, revised and further processed through an iterative movement between individual interview transcripts and the theories. In so doing, observations were compared with the current status of theory. To simplify and organize data gained from interviews, text analysis software MAXQDA (software capable of indexing, searching and theorizing unstructured data) was used to condense the transcripts into manageable form. Consequently, the current study builds upon four case studies derived from the following interview partners.\nDiscussion and conclusion: This study uses raw material supplier perspective as the starting point and expanded the bilateral approaches of customer integration to a value chain-oriented approach. Therefore, the authors used extended case method to identify the framework for customer integration in NPD by using existing literature and four case studies. Direct and indirect customers have different key capabilities. Whereas direct customers have a more technical-based view, which helps to enhance technical feasibility of the new product, indirect customers can offer more detailed market insights (Kibbeling et al., 2013). The main findings can be summarized as follows: the integration of indirect customers opens more detailed insights into new market trends (forecasting accuracy) and gives better market access than integration of direct customers. A greater level of access to market know-how and scouting can further enable the early elimination of inventions, which have limited market relevance. As a result, the raw material supplier can concentrate on the development of high-potential inventions and is able to reduce the time-to-market significantly. In all other considered categories, the assumptions for both direct and indirect customers are comparable and are more dependent on individual issues as the field of investigation and the identification of the right partner. Another outcome of this study is that indirect customers should rather be involved in the first phases of the NPD process and direct customers rather in the later phases and if technical feasibility needs to be proven. Therefore, relationships with indirect customers should be more long-term-oriented. In some cases, the company can act as reference customer or lead customer (Lilien et al., 2002) because of the dominance of OEMs in this study.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to gain knowledge on the impact of customer integration on the new product development of chemical companies in growing markets. The literature affirms the value of customer integration in the new product development, but it is relatively silent on the integration of value-adding partners, who are located further down the value chain. Considerable research has shown that organizations are more successful, when they integrate customers and suppliers into the product development and design process. The research described herein juxtaposes two modes of current theory on customer integration and refines and expands the existing theoretical framework. Hence, the purpose is to build theories from cases to provide an answer to the question of how an organization adopts customer integration by refining the understanding of the different roles of value-adding partners in the innovation process.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper uses an extended case method, including the resource-based view, literature related to the customer integration and four cases as a basis for establishing theoretical framework. Several in-depth interviews were conducted to gather information on the managerial practice to strengthen the grounding of theory.\nFindings: An explorative study provides a value chain-oriented theory for chemical companies to improve the efficiency of the product development process. Therefore, it differentiates between the integration of direct and indirect customers. Each party can bring in complementary resources, which are not available internally. The findings show that integration of indirect customers contributes to more accurate anticipation of market needs. This allows companies to increase their success rate for new product development (NPD) activities.\nResearch limitations/implications: The results of this explorative study cannot be generalized, as theory building from case studies stands on its own analytic unit. Therefore, scholars are encouraged to test the proposed propositions using quantitative data and to apply them in other industrial sectors.\nPractical implications: The paper includes implications for the development of a more efficient research and development, as well as launch, process of radical innovation of chemical companies.\nOriginality/value: This is one of the first studies using a value chain-oriented approach for customer integration during new product development.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Ethnic disparity in financial fragility in Malaysia	[ "Malaysia", "Chinese", "Indian", "Ethnic", "Household debt", "Financial fragility", "Malay" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Malaysia is a multi-ethnic society made up of three distinct main ethnic groups which are Malay (68.8 percent), Chinese (23.2 percent) and Indian (7 percent)[1]. Although all three ethnic groups live in the same communities, Malay are found relatively more in non-urban areas while Chinese and Indian are disproportionately more in urban areas[2]. As a pluralistic nation, Malaysia's priorities are to maintain national unity and social harmony. Disparities in income and wealth among ethnic groups are major concerns as they breed conflict and social instability (Gurr, 1970; Huntington, 1968; Russett, 1964; Cramer, 2005; Kanbur, 2007). The occurrence of the violent ethnic riot in May 1969 was the consequence of the imbalance in economic inequality compounded with unequal representation of political power (Khalid, 2011). This incidence is always a constant reminder to the government authorities and to all Malaysians of the importance of ensuring and maintaining social harmony and eradicating ethnic prejudices. Central to any national policy is ensuring a more equitable distribution of income and wealth which contribute to economic growth (Cingano, 2014) and economic prosperity promotes stability.\nHousehold debt and financial fragility, measures and determinants: Household debt is discussed in the literature from the life-cycle hypothesis (Ando and Modigliani, 1963) and the permanent income hypotheses (Friedman, 1957). These theories assume that consumers seek stable consumption during their lifetime to maximize their utility, which can be achieved by borrowing and saving accordingly (Fasianos et al., 2014). Debt enables households to smooth their consumption profile when faced with unsteady and erratic income flows. In the life-cycle income hypothesis, individuals have a hump-shaped time-earning profile. They would tend to borrow to fund current consumption in periods when their income, relative to the expected average income over their lifetime, is low. Loans will be repaid in periods when income is high (Barba and Pivetti, 2008). Based on these theories, it is expected that borrowings are more prevalent among young households or individuals (Jappelli et al., 2013).\nData and measurement of variables: Data\nSample description and findings: Table I presents a description of the 1,290 Malaysian respondents from the WVS-6. They are made up of 67.5 percent Malay, 24.7 percent Chinese and 7.8 percent Indian, which are comparable to the population percentages. The sample is made up of slightly more men than women, and majority of them (68.8 percent) were currently married or living with a partner, while less than 4 percent were either divorced, separated or widowed at the time of the survey. Many had completed secondary education, and over 75 percent were in paid employment. The age distribution is somewhat normally distributed with the highest number of over a quarter between 36 and 45 years old. In terms of income, over 45 percent of the respondents identified themselves as in the upper income scales of 7-10, but relatively more Malay indicated being in the lower income scales of 1-3.\nDiscussion and conclusion: This study measures financial fragility using two proxies. The first is to determine the degree of deprivation in terms of food, medicine or medical treatment needed and cash income. The second reflects the extent of financial distress with regards to the insufficiency of income to cover family's expenses. The results show that the level of financial fragility in Malaysia is low compared to its neighboring Asian countries. Although this result is encouraging, the analysis however indicates that over 40 percent are just getting by in terms of their expenditure relative to income. This group of individuals may be at risk and not able to cope with financial shocks if they do not have adequate accumulated savings or other sources of fund. The findings show that there exist differences in financial vulnerability across ethnic groups. Malay and Indian are in a more financially fragile situation compared to Chinese using the deprivation indicator which reflect the more serious situation of financial fragility.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the extent of financial fragility and its disparity across ethnic groups in Malaysia. Disparities related to income and wealth are major concerns as they breed conflict and social instability. The study also compares the level of financial fragility of Malaysians with their neighboring Asian counterparts.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This study uses the World Values Survey to construct two financial fragility measures. Descriptive analysis is used to compare the level of financial fragility of Malaysia with other Asian countries. Ordinary least squares and generalized ordered logit regressions are applied to determine the existence of ethnic disparity in financial fragility in Malaysia.\nFindings: There exist ethnic differences in financial vulnerability in Malaysia where Malay and Indian are in a more financially fragile situation compared to Chinese. Other socio-economic factors and character trait also impact financial fragility. Compared to neighboring countries, the level of financial fragility in Malaysia is low. Nevertheless, over 40 percent of the Malaysians are just getting by in terms of their expenditure relative to income. They may be at risk to financial shocks without adequate savings or funds.\nSocial implications: Ethnic disparity in financial vulnerability added to the inequality in income and wealth can pose a serious threat to Malaysia which attempts to achieve long-lasting social harmony and sustainable development.\nOriginality/value: This is the first study that attempts to compare the level of individual financial fragility across Asian countries. It also makes use of a larger scale survey and a more representative sample to examine ethnic disparity in financial fragility in Malaysia. In addition, character trait is included in the analysis to provide a better understanding of human behavior in affecting financial outcomes.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Improving trade promotions through virtual forward buying	[ "Channel management", "Promotion", "Trade promotions", "Forward buying", "Channel cost", "Simulations", "Channel relationships", "Cost reduction" ]	[ { "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 the article.\nTrade promotion improvement strategies: Researchers agree that the main problem with trade promotions (from the manufacturers' point-of-view) is forward buying. Whenever a trade promotion is on offer (i.e. a cash-based trade promotion or an off-invoice promotion), the retailer forward buys. As we mentioned previously, to solve this problem, two approaches have been presented in the literature. In the first approach, Ailawadi et al. (1999) propose that because forward buying cannot be totally eliminated, it is better to co-opt this practice rather than to change it. Their main message is that trade promotions applied judiciously are good for the manufacturer; however, quantity discounts given indiscriminately can be bad because they lead to forward buying. Ailawadi, Farris, and Shames show that tying the amount of trade promotions to final list prices charged to consumers increases consumer pass-through and overall sales. They also prove that their method is better than the everyday low price (EDLP) strategy. However, a problem with the co-opting method is that it involves a great amount of coordination between the retailer and the manufacturer. It also involves a high degree of monitoring because retailers could provide false sales price information to obtain a larger trade promotion. The co-opting method also involves asking retailers to give up part of their pricing autonomy; that is, with this method, the manufacturer can attempt to dictate the retailer's pricing. This raises questions about the efficacy of this method in the real world as well as about its legality because giving different trade promotions to different retailers could be considered illegal.\nVirtual forward buying: Because both the co-opting and the scan-back methods suffer from some weaknesses, we propose another method that can lead to better use of trade promotion dollars: virtual forward buying. We propose that this method overcomes the biggest weakness of the previous two methods, namely, an extreme change in behavior. In virtual forward buying, the retailer and the manufacturer are able to do business the way they have been doing, with only a minor change in the way the logistical movements of the goods take place. Our goal with this model was to determine whether we could reduce the total channel costs and make the manufacturer, which is currently compelled to offer trade promotions without any gains from higher sales, better off. Our goal was not to increase sales of the system (though higher pass-throughs) but to reduce the inherent costs that are associated with participating in trade promotion programs and, thus, to reduce the overall channel costs. Virtual forward buying is a new contractual mechanism in which the trade promotions are accrued virtually. In a way it is similar to long term contracts where the product is specifiable i.e. the product that is delivered in the long term is same as the products contracted for. Mature/ commodity products fit the bill perfectly for making such contracts. However products where technology changes fast or is dependent on fashions might not be suitable candidates for such contractual mechanisms.\nSimulation model assumptions: Because all models are abstractions of reality, we need to make assumptions that reflect reality as closely as possible. Thus, we make assumptions that enable us to evaluate the effects of our model in a simplified but realistic manner. First, we perceive our model as consisting of only one manufacturer and one retailer. This assumption is used by many modelers to simplify the modeling process (e.g. Blattberg et al., 1981; Dreze and Bell, 2003; Gerstner and Hess, 1995). We assume that the manufacturer supplies all its products to only this single retailer. This is an important assumption because it implies that the manufacturer is in the weakest possible situation and is fully dependent on one retailer, which means increased power of the retailer compared to the manufacturer. Such a manufacturer would be more inclined to provide trade promotions than a manufacturer that is not dependent on a single retailer. This is a realistic assumption as research suggests that in recent years the increased buying power of retailers has been accompanied by reduced leverage of manufacturers and their brands (Glynn et al., 2007).\nSimulation model building: The virtual forward-buying model tries to minimize the sum of costs that the retailer and the manufacturer incur. First, we model the costs incurred by the manufacturer during the virtual forward-buying phase. The cost that must be modeled is the inventory holding cost, which the manufacturer incurs during the manufacturing phase. This inventory holding cost, I(v,t), can be represented as follows: Equation 5 where DS is the delivered sales.\nDiscussion: For all the scenarios we modeled, it is clear that the virtual forward-buying model performs better than the current practice model. In addition, regardless of the situation modeled, the manufacturer is always better off using our model than the alternative models. Although overall efficiency is maximized in the no-forward-buying scenario, the gains from such efficiency are not shared equitably. In contrast, in the virtual forward-buying model, both the retailer and the manufacturer share the gains accrued from adopting this system.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to propose a virtual forward-buying model that allows for forward buying but reduces the channel cost with no major behavioral change on the part of manufacturers and retailers.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Using simulations, the authors compare the proposed virtual forward-buying model with the traditional forward-buying and everyday-low-price approaches.\nFindings: The authors find that the proposed model leads to lower overall channel costs that are shared equitably between both the manufacturer and the retailer.\nResearch limitations/implications: No primary or secondary is used, a situation that is usually very difficult to find in this area.\nPractical implications: The paper presents a new method to improve trade promotion efficiencies that does not require a drastic change of habits for either the manufacturer or the retailer; allows the practice of forward buying to continue; and leads to channel cost reductions for both parties.\nOriginality/value: The paper presents research in an area that is under-researched due to lack of data.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Corporate governance strength and stock market liquidity in Malaysia	[ "Malaysia", "Stock market liquidity", "Corporate governance strength" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Stock market liquidity is a key factor for well-functioning stock markets due to its important repercussions for several parties. Having a liquid market is essential either for developed and emerging countries, as a highly liquid market means efficient allocation and a tool for economic growth (Bencivenga et al., 1996; Levine, 1991). Liquidity is a critical pre-condition for financial market growth and development (Wang, 2013). One of the issues that have been examined in terms of liquidity is corporate governance, in that effective corporate governance is a crucial for enhancing the investors' confidence and broadening and deepening the capital market. Effective corporate governance serves to protect the shareholders' rights by mitigating perverse insider behavior.\n2. Literature review: In the literature, several studies have examined liquidity based on the legal impact and regulatory differences across countries (Bacidore and Sofianos, 2002; Brockman and Chung, 2003; Chung, 2006). They justified that poor shareholder protection is the reason behind the liquidity differences. The main aim of corporate governance is to resolve the conflict between major and minor shareholders, as well as between shareholders and managers, as this can lead to mitigating agency costs. Firms with strong corporate governance are usually associated with a high level of financial and operational transparency, and a high level of information disclosure quality implying less information asymmetry and high stock market liquidity.\n3. Methodology: The initial sample of this study consists of 822 firms listed in the Malaysian main market. Then, this study applies the following screening criteria: the firms must be nonfinancial firms, as financial firms have different corporate governance regulations and different annual reports' format; the firms must have complete information over the period of the study (2009-2012). Thus, 2,020 observations (505 firms over four years) is the final data set in this study. The sample period starts at 2009 because the revised corporate governance code became effective and firms are mandated to disclose about the amount invested in internal audit function. The study ends with year 2012 due to the challenge of extending the time frame, as corporate governance attributes are hand-collected from the annual reports. Other variables included in this study are extracted from DataStream.\n4. Analysis: 4.1 Summary of statistics\n5. Summary: It is widely argued that stock liquidity might be affected by the corporate governance. As firms with effective corporate governance mechanisms compel more monitoring on managers and prevent them to do any concealing or distorting for the information. Hence, information asymmetry might be mitigated which lead to less adverse selection problems among traders. Thus far, internal audit function as an internal monitoring mechanism is yet to be examined jointly with other corporate governance monitoring mechanisms on stock market liquidity. The study examines the impact of corporate governance strength on stock market liquidity by constructing a score that capture the internal and external monitoring mechanisms. The results show that there is a significant positive relationship between corporate governance score and stock market liquidity. This means that firms with effective internal and external monitoring mechanisms have better stock liquidity. This implies that maintaining good corporate governance mechanisms is beneficial for firms in terms of their stock liquidity.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of corporate governance strength on stock market liquidity in an emerging country, namely, Malaysia, by constructing a corporate governance score that captures both internal monitoring mechanisms (board of directors' characteristics, audit committee's characteristics and internal audit function) and external monitoring mechanism (audit quality).\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study uses a sample of 2,020 yearly firm observations in Bursa Malaysia over the period 2009-2012. The ordinary least square regression and several estimation methods such as two-stage least squares using instrumental variables (IV-2SLS) and dynamic GMM are employed.\nFindings: This study finds a significant positive association between corporate governance effectiveness and stock market liquidity. The finding is robust to alternative liquidity measurements, to alternative estimation methods, and to endogeneity bias.\nResearch limitations/implications: This result implies that the firms with effective monitoring mechanisms mitigate information asymmetry which leads to less adverse selection problems among traders.\nPractical implications: This study provides implications for regulators to help design regulations that enhance stock market liquidity. This study could also help investors and traders to formulate their trading decisions, and enables firms to know the importance of strengthening the corporate governance monitoring mechanisms.\nOriginality/value: This study constructs a corporate governance effectiveness measure by combining both internal and external monitoring mechanisms. These mechanisms have not been constructed together in one score in the corporate governance literature and the impact of internal audit function, as an internal monitoring mechanism on liquidity, has yet to be examined.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Seeking attention: an eye tracking study of in-store merchandise displays	[ "Consumer behaviour", "Luxury brands", "Retail", "Retailing", "Facet theory", "Shopper marketing", "Co-design", "Electronic intermediaries", "Loyalty data", "Promotional flyers", "Retail atmospherics", "Store design", "Co-branding strategy", "Flagship store", "Place marketing", "Store location", "Virtual store", "Visual merchandising", "Display", "Eye-tracking", "Method", "Point of purchase", "Signs \n\t\t\t\t\t&\n\t\t\t\t signboards" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nStore displays: the silent salesperson: Because 68 per cent of buying decisions are unplanned, retailers need to understand the effectiveness of point-of-purchase marketing efforts (Stahlberg and Maila, 2010). Effective displays and other marketing point-of-purchase materials (e.g. signs) present an opportunity to capture consumer attention and a share of the contents of their wallet as well as reduce the influence of price on purchase decisions (Allenby and Gintner, 1995). To successfully gain attention at point-of-purchase, retailers need to understand what is capturing customers' attention. \"If you want to know to what people are paying attention, follow what they are looking at,\" (Davenport and Beck, 2001, p. 19). Understanding how consumers look at displays (e.g. do they focus on the product or the sign before making an assessment?) will inform design, execution and placement of displays. We seek to expand upon previous research by using portable eye-tracking technology to assess the role of visual attention to price and non-price information on signs for merchandised products in displays. Eye tracking provides marketers with a \"shopper's eye view\" of the retail environment. The data elicited from eye-tracking informs the development of a more satisfying shopping experience (Klingensmith, 2013). An understanding of the attention-capturing power of merchandise display elements has practical significance, as our findings will assist retailers in designing more effective displays, leading to a better shopping experience for consumers and enhanced sales for retailers.\nTheory of visual marketing: Visual cognitive processing of a scene requires the eyes to attend to an object, and attention requires eye movement (Russo, 1978). Eye-movement is the fastest movement the human body can make (Holmqvist et al., 2011), consisting of a series of stops (fixations) and moves or jumps (saccades). Eye fixations direct attention and attention increases the mental processing of the meaning of the object (e.g. word, image, or other stimulus).\nEye tracking research: The bulk of peer-reviewed studies using eye-tracking methods investigated the reading process by following eye movements (see Rayner, 1998, for a 20-year review of this subject). In consumer research, the peer-reviewed studies are sparse (see Wedel and Pieters, 2008, for the most comprehensive consumer research review), and nearly all are investigations of attention capture in print or electronic media. In an early eye-tracking study, Janizewski (1999) discovered that when a focal product in a catalogue display was surrounded by other merchandise that competed for consumer attention, that competition for attention negatively influenced attention to the catalogue display and sales. Kuisma et al. (2010) found that animation in online advertisements drew more of the viewer's attention in vertical advertisements compared to horizontal advertisements. In a conjoint study, Meissner and Decker (2010) demonstrated that consumers spent more time (eye fixations) viewing product attributes that were more important to them. Maughan et al. (2007) found a correlation between eye fixations and \"liking\" of an advertisement. However, the relationship between time spent looking and consumer purchase intention is not yet firmly established. For example, Patalano et al. (2009) documented that consumer indecisiveness was related to time spent viewing information about the purchase, as well as time spent looking away from information directly related to that choice task.\nResearch method: Retail garden centres were the context for our study. We contacted four garden centres (two US and two Australian) to gain permission for data collection in situ. A complete discussion of the recruitment procedure for the garden centres can be found in Minahan et al. (2013).\nResults: We analysed the fixations where participants viewed product or price information. Of 106 participants, eight were omitted due to low sampling quality (low percentage of visual data generated by subject) by the eye tracker (\nDiscussion: Our findings suggest that product information on a sign, in the absence of price and for minimally packaged products, appears to be more influential in motivating likelihood to buy than price information conveyed on a sign without supplemental product information. This finding suggests that price should be a secondary point-of-purchase message to product information. Additional research is needed to determine the interaction between price and product information on attention and should include additional products. This finding sends a message to retailers that not all consumers even look at price. Providing more product information will draw customers closer to the product for additional inspection; providing relevant product information may increase the likelihood of a purchase.\nFuture research/limitations: The images used in the study were fixed images, and, while they featured actual plant displays, consumers might respond differently in a real-time shopping environment. Future studies should include the opportunity to use eye-tracking in a real shopping context. Other researchers have included branded products (e.g. Chandon et al., 2008, 2009) in their studies, but our stimuli images did not include brand information. Subsequent studies should consider adding branded products. Only one bottom-up factor (scene-display) from the Theory of Attention to Visual Marketing (Wedel and Pieters, 2006) was included. Researchers should develop a systematic investigation agenda to study other bottom-up factors (e.g. size, colour) in order to isolate the effects of those factors on their contribution to consumer attention and product selection.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to elucidate the role that visual measures of attention to product and information and price display signage have on purchase intention. The authors assessed the effect of visual attention to the product, information or price sign on purchase intention, as measured by likelihood to buy.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors used eye-tracking technology to collect data from Australian and US garden centre customers, who viewed eight plant displays in which the signs had been altered to show either price or supplemental information (16 images total). The authors compared the role of visual attention to price and information sign, and the role of visual attention to the product when either sign was present on likelihood to buy.\nFindings: Overall, providing product information on a sign without price elicited higher likelihood to buy than providing a sign with price. The authors found a positive relationship between visual attention to price on the display sign and likelihood to buy, but an inverse relationship between visual attention to information and likelihood to buy.\nResearch limitations/implications: An understanding of the attention-capturing power of merchandise display elements, especially signs, has practical significance. The findings will assist retailers in creating more effective and efficient display signage content, for example, featuring the product information more prominently than the price. The study was conducted on a minimally packaged product, live plants, which may reduce the ability to generalize findings to other product types.\nPractical implications: The findings will assist retailers in creating more effective and efficient display signage content. The study used only one product category (plants) which may reduce the ability to generalize findings to other product types.\nOriginality/value: The study is one of the first to use eye-tracking in a macro-level, holistic investigation of the attention-capturing value of display signage information and its relationship to likelihood to buy. Researchers, for the first time, now have the ability to empirically test the degree to which attention and decision-making are linked.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Do public service motivation, red tape and resigned work satisfaction triangulate together?	[ "Pakistan", "Public sector", "Compassion", "Red tape", "Resigned satisfaction", "Self-sacrifice", "Attraction to policy making", "Commitment to civic duty", "Civil servants" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The public sector organizations as vital part of any country's government are responsible for carrying out work of the government, implementation of policy and working for the welfare of people. The consequence of good administration and management in public organizations can be explained not only by the fact that they have to work for the welfare of others, but also, public sector is a major employer in any country. There has been a continuous growth of research on public service motivation (PSM) which focusses \"on the motives and actions in the public domain that are intended to do good for others and shape the well-being of society\" (Perry and Hondeghem, 2008). Owing to the sensitivity of the public sector service, academicians and researchers have been trying to find out the factors that affect motivation and satisfaction of the public sector employees, as these employees are considered as the most crucial element in ensuring the efficient and effective delivery of public sector services (Meier, 1997).\n2. Literature review: Red tape\n3. Research methodology: The purpose of this study is to investigate the moderating impact of PSM on individual level perception of red tape and resigned satisfaction. The study was cross-sectional in nature as data were gathered at one point of time and the study does not require any regard to time differences for data collection.\n4. Discussion: The study intends to examine the effect of red tape on resigned satisfaction and to investigate how perceptions of red tape are moderated by differences in respondents' levels of PSM. Overall, the results provide considerable support for the relationship among resigned satisfaction, PSM and perceptions of red tape. Two of four PSM dimensions had a significant influence on perceptions of red tape and resigned satisfaction even after controlling for the influence of key demographic factors that tend to affect the level of red tape within public sector organizations.\n5. Conclusion: Given the set of the objectives the study was put forth upon, it has fully met its first objective of investigating the relationship between red tape and resigned satisfaction and it can be concluded that red tape is positively related to resigned satisfaction. The research concludes that red tape and procedural constraints have a negative and demoralizing impact on the satisfaction of the public sector employees with their work. Constant lowering of aspirations in order to remain satisfied can lead to high levels of frustration which can bring harmful consequences for an administrative machinery which has already been facing criticisms pertaining to inefficiency, politicization, administrative ineptitude and corruption. This demoralization of employees is not only a contingent problem but has serious implications for public organizations such as poor organizational performance and poor service delivery to the citizens.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of public service motivation (PSM) on red tape and resigned satisfaction in Pakistani public administration.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Employees working in federal organizations were the target population of this study. As part of field survey, 350 questionnaires were distributed to collect data from respondents.\nFindings: The research findings indicate that red tape is a strong predictor of resigned satisfaction and is positively related to it. Among the dimensions of public-service motivation \"attraction to policy making\" and \"commitment to civic duty\" dimensions were found to have no relation with red tape and resigned satisfaction. Whereas, \"compassion\" and \"self-sacrifice\" dimensions of PSM had a positive moderating effect on the relationship between red tape and resigned satisfaction. It was concluded that under perception of red tape, PSM can have possible negative effect on work satisfaction.\nResearch limitations/implications: By highlighting the effect of red tape on satisfaction it can help public sector organizations in trying to crowd out the negative factors of employees' work through minimizing the rules and regulations which are worth nothing except for extra work and stress for employees. The results can also be used to assess the differences in level of red tape perceived in developed and developing countries.\nOriginality/value: This study provides a contribution to the literature, as it is study is among the first few studies in Pakistan. The main theoretical contribution of this study is that it raises an important question about the extent to which the theory and research developed in one country can contribute to the application of PSM in other counties especially developed vs developing countries.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Influence of consumer regiocentrism on perceived value of wine	[ "Perceived value", "Wine", "Slovenia", "Consumer regiocentrism", "Regional identity" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Regionality of food products has become an important criterion for European consumers' product evaluation and purchasing decisions (Lorenz et al., 2015). Obermiller and Spangenberg (1989) developed the first model of country-of-origin effects and identified three types of effects: cognitive, affective and normative. Region-of-origin effects are expected to operate through similar processes as country-of-origin effects; however, the aspects that are unique to regions make it useful to investigate them. In general, regions are much more homogenous in terms of cultural, social, emotional and environmental factors than are countries, and they form an entity based on local characteristics, such as traditions, culture and scenery (Van Ittersum, 2002; Van Ittersum et al., 2003). Our study, therefore, aims to more deeply understand consumers' value perception of wine from a region-of-origin viewpoint and, more specifically, from the normative perspective.\nMethodology: Qualitative research\nFindings: Sample description\nDiscussion and conclusion: The main objective of this study was to identify the dimensions of perceived value of wine and gain insights into the relationship between RI, CR and perceived value of wine from the perspective of regional wine consumers.\nLimitations and future research: The main limitation of our work is that the model was tested only on wine. It could be useful testing the model on other regional agricultural and food products, preferably those with protected origin as it could increase the reliability of the model.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify which dimensions of perceived value of wine dominate in the perception of wine consumers from two distinctive wine producing regions and to examine how their respective regional identity, consumer regiocentrism (CR) and perceived value of wine are inter-related in determining consumers' preference of wine.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A sample of 221 wine consumers from two Slovenian wine regions with contrasting wine-related and social specificities responded to an online questionnaire. Besides the wine-related consumer behaviour variables, the questionnaire contained CR, regional identity and consumer perceived value measurements, based on adapted CETSCALE, regional identity and PERVAL scales. The scales were validated, and structural equation modelling was used to evaluate the relationships between the constructs.\nFindings: Perceived value of wine was found to consist of three dimensions: emotional-social, quality-price and terroir, which differ from those previously observed among wine consumers from the USA. Regional identity was found to be a direct antecedent of CR, and CR directly affects all three dimensions of perceived value of wine; these findings were evident in the original model and in both studied wine regions.\nResearch limitations/implications: Future research should extend the model to include other possible antecedents of CR and study its effects on different consequences, especially purchasing intent. Future studies would benefit by adding more indicators into scales to measure CR and regional identity to improve the model fit.\nOriginality/value: This study contributes to a better understanding of perceived value of wine and extends the current knowledge of how social and psychological phenomena interact when evaluating wine. The results herein should enable marketers to develop more sophisticated positioning strategies and support their decision making for an appropriate market approach.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Annual report IC disclosures in The Netherlands, France and Germany	[ "Intellectual capital", "Information disclosure", "Public sector organizations", "The Netherlands", "France", "Germany" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Although intellectual capital (IC) receives increasing attention from accountants in recent years, the innovativeness of the specific concept makes IC not fully \"incorporated\" in financial (accounting) reports as yet. Only when companies would provide IC statements on a large scale, we would be able to speak of a true reporting revolution in company valuation, both in theory and practice.This paper at first replicates the Bontis (2002) research on IC disclosure in Canada and elaborates on the Beaulieu et al. (2001) research on IC disclosure by Swedish firms. Second, it also extends this research by looking not only at financial statements, but also at the annual report in full. Doing so, we investigate current IC disclosure practice in three European countries, namely France, The Netherlands and Germany, looking at French CAC-40, Dutch AEX and German XETRA-DAX publicly-listed companies. Our research findings are compared with not only with Bontis (2002), but also with research findings of O'Regan et al. (2001) on Ireland.\nTheoretical framework: 1. IC and accounting regulation\nResearch methodology and sample selection: The methodology used is similar to research on Canadian companies by Bontis (2002). The aim of the research being to map IC disclosures in corporate annual reports, content analysis is performed on annual reports of sample firms. Every single annual report is individually scanned for the list of IC-related terms used by Bontis (2002). The list contains the IC-related terms that were identified as encompassing most of the IC research by the World Congress on IC. These items are summarised in Table I.By researching the entire annual report for IC-related items an important addition to the Bontis (2002) methodology is made. Whereas Bontis (2002) only investigates the financial report section, this paper investigates the annual report in full. In the absence of accounting regulation regarding IC, corporate managers might choose to leave IC items out of their financial statements but include such items in other sections of the annual report to signal the perceived importance of IC to the reader.In order to enable the comparison with the Bontis (2002) findings, every individual hit is classified as being a financial report hit or a non-financial report hit. The financial report is defined as comprising the Consolidated Balance Sheet, the Consolidated Income Statement, the Consolidated Cash Flow Statement and the notes to the statements mentioned.1. Descriptive statistics are analysed per country\nResearch results: Investigating all 178 annual reports results in 458 hits of items mentioned in the Appendix. When limiting the count to the number of different search items found in the reports the count amounts to 180. In this context, \"hits\" refer to any time any search term is found in the annual report, whereas \"terms\" refer to the total number of search terms that can be found in one report.Out of the total of 38 different search terms analysed (see Table I), 23 are actually found in the annual reports, meaning that 15 terms are not found at all. Among the unfound items are \"relational capital\" and \"structural capital\". It can be argued that this signifies that the discussion on IC as it takes place in academia, has not yet found its way to the corporate world.1. Search terms\nConclusion: IC-related voluntary disclosures strongly vary among countries. This research indicated significantly higher average disclosure numbers in French annual reports relative to their Dutch counterparts. The German number is in between but is not significantly different from both countries. Corrections were made in order to ensure comparability with earlier research (Bontis, 2002). All three countries showed much larger disclosure numbers compared to the results of Bontis, who used exactly the same research in Canada. This gives rise to the conclusion that IC-related disclosures are applied on a wider scale in European countries than in Canada. Research in other countries revealed that disclosure practise stays well behind on a global scale, despite the perceived importance by corporate managers.Compared to initial expectations based on literature research the expected influence of auditor conservatism holds. It is on the other hand not shown that this observation was caused solely by differences in auditor conservatism because this was beyond the scope of this exploratory research. This can, however, serve as an important implication for further research.The initial expectation resulting from Gray's classification of the Dutch, French and German accounting systems was, however, in no way supported by research findings. Based on his framework the expectation was expressed that disclosures would be most frequent in The Netherlands and least frequent in France because of the relative position of the \"optimistic versus conservative\" benchmark of the framework. Research findings were the exact opposite of this expectation.The factor having the largest influence on IC disclosure practices will, however, probably be the accounting regulations. The intangible nature of IC creates tension with current legislation. Since the importance of IC can only be expected to increase, there is need for convergence of applicable accounting regulations. After this initial hurdle is taken the external auditors should also become acquainted with this new concept to prevent negative effects caused by overly conservative behaviour. This chain of events will, however, have to be triggered by developments in the environment of corporations: analysts and shareholders should increase their pledge for more relevant financial statements and the corporate managers need to put their money where their mouth is: when terms like \"knowledge management\", \"brand value\", \"human capital\" or \"economic value added\" are fully incorporated into boardroom discussions and daily corporate life, why not communicate them to stakeholders by including them in the financial statements?To conclude, a short note on important steps taken in this direction by the IASB (IASCF) when IAS 38 was revised late March 2004 (IASCF, 2004). For our purposes here, it suffices to mention that \"... to improve the quality of, seek international convergence on, the accounting for business combinations and the subsequent accounting for goodwill and intangible assets\" (IFRS, 2004, p. 1565), important steps have indeed been taken concerning the called for international convergence, as the changes made in the Standards are primarily concerned with clarifying the notions of \"identifiability\" of intangibles, \"useful life\" and amortisation of intangibles and of the accounting for in-process R&D (intangibles) acquired in the business (combination).As to the identifiability of intangibles, the previous IAS 38 did not define the term. It is now clearly stated that separability of the intangible asset from goodwill is not a necessary condition for identifiability: if the intangibles arise from contractual or other legal rights (regardless of transferability or separability), the identifiability criterion is met. This will allow businesses to more easily identify - at least part of their - intangibles. As to the establishment of a fair value of these intangibles, there is a rebuttable presumption that its fair value can be measured reliably - and recognised - if the asset has a \"finite useful life\". However, the Standard requires an intangible asset to be regarded as having an indefinite useful life when there is no foreseeable limit to the period over which the asset is expected to generate net cash inflows. In case of an intangible asset having an indefinite useful life, the asset should not be amortised and the Standard requires disclosure of the carrying amount of that asset and the reasons supporting the indefinite useful life assessment.As to the accounting for in-process R&D, the revised IAS 38 clearly distinguishes the research phase from the development phase. In-process R&D is recognised as an intangible asset and should be expensed when incurred if it is in the research phase, but an intangible arising from development shall be recognised if, e.g. the intention is to complete the intangible asset and use or sell it. Adequate technical, financial and other resources to complete the development to use or sell the intangible asset(s), need to be clearly demonstrated; so should the availability of measure the expenditure to the intangible during its development.These provisions will not, we think, lead to the solution of all problems firms have when faced with intangibles. The new rules will reduce the \"grey zone\" by setting clear standards and allow business entities to disclose IC-related information more \"securely\". We conjecture that this will automatically lead to further convergence of IC disclosures. Whether the revision of IAS 38 will lead to more disclosure as measured in this study, remains to be seen and is, in itself, an important topic for further research.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper replicates and extends the Bontis research on intellectual capital (IC) disclosures in Canadian companies and also elaborates on the Beaulieu et al. research on disclosures by Swedish firms.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper studies IC disclosures by French CAC-40, Dutch AEX and German XETRA-DAX publicly-listed companies for the years 2000 and 2001. The paper also discusses country-specific arguments in favour of and against voluntary disclosure by such companies and searches both the annual reports and financial statements for IC hits.\nFindings: - Applying the Gray-scale to categorise countries, the paper finds not only that voluntary IC disclosure significantly differs between these countries, but also that this difference can be explained by country-specific regulation and auditor conservatism.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The paper only studies Dutch, French and German IC disclosures in annual reports and financial statements. These three countries are European Union member states but \"differ\" significantly from one another. The differences discussed in this paper, however, are by no means exhaustive, nor do they picture the \"European situation\" in full.\nPractical implications: - The paper recognises that the intangible nature of IC creates tension with current country-specific legislation and strongly calls for convergence of applicable accounting standards and practices because of the increasing importance of IC and because of the improvement of corporate governance and policy making.\nOriginality/value: - The paper not only extends (or fine-tunes) previous research, but also links with the literature that discusses the consequences of country-specific characteristics for accounting standards and practices.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Open educational resources (OERs) in self-directed competency-based education	[ "Quality", "Self-directed learning", "Open educational resources", "Competency-based education", "OER", "Learning materials" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: This case study explores an institutional approach to the adoption of open educational resources (OERs) as a means to save students' money within a specific context of self-directed, competency-based education (CBE) programming. CBE programs are focused on awarding credit when students demonstrate mastery of skills, knowledge or behavior rather than spend time in a course (Baker, 2015). OERs are online teaching and learning resources that can be freely used and shared to support education (U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Technology, 2010). One well-known benefit of using OERs is cost savings for students (Hilton, 2016; Tuomi, 2006; Wiley et al., 2014). Cost savings is also one of the goals of the University of Wisconsin (UW) system's Flexible Option (University of Wisconsin System - Board of Regents, 2018). This case describes barriers encountered, solutions developed and suggestions for future research on implementing OER-focused curricula for self-directed learners. It demonstrates practical application of existing best practices for OER usage and adds to the discussions among the open education community about what constitutes quality OERs and how those quality measures can help instructors select the best available OER. The case also confirms that large-scale adoption of OERs as primary learning materials can be successful.\nBackground: Launched in 2014, the UW Flexible Option is the first system-wide and competency-based initiative in the country. Led by partnerships throughout the UW system and UW extension, the Flexible Option draws upon the expertise of UW faculty to offer a more personalized, convenient and affordable way for adults and other nontraditional students to earn a UW degree or certificate. There are currently six degrees and three certificate programs offered through UW Flexible Option.\nReview of relevant literature: Challenges associated with locating and maintaining OERs have been documented in the literature for some time (Hilton, 2016; Judith and Bull, 2016; Wiley et al., 2014; Neely et al., 2016). Current literature reveals that selecting OERs is a time-consuming process, especially when whole programs are considered. \"Finding open resources for a single course can be manageable but trying to identify open or low-cost resources for an entire degree program is daunting\" (Neely et al., 2016, p. 66). After finding learning resources, evaluating them for relevance to the learning goals and curating them in a meaningful way takes considerable time. OER literature shows that scholars and practitioners have produced rubrics and other tools to facilitate OER evaluation. However, as Yuan and Recker (2015) note, the practical value of these rubrics can be limited for a variety of reasons such as lack of rating scales or having been designed for specialized contexts. Perceptions about OERs are complex because faculty want to provide resources meeting quality and appropriateness standards, but they have limited time and resources to do so (Bliss et al., 2013; Harley et al., 2010). Some literature on CBE environments has touched on how adult students use course content to learn and achieve competency (Baker, 2015; Camacho and Legare, 2016; McDonald, 2018); however, the subject of OER implementation in CBE environments, specifically, is not present in current literature.\nProject needs: Early on, in the development of UW Flexible Option offerings, it became clear to those involved that there was a need to help faculty and instructional designers become proficient in evaluating and curating content. The need for more education and support was identified based on feedback from both faculty and instructional designers. For some faculty, using OERs was entirely new; others had used them to enhance traditional textbooks purchased by students, but they had not attempted to create an entire course with them. Some faculty found so many resources that they had difficulty knowing which ones or how many to include. Because they were collecting resources for self-directed learners with a great deal of control over how they learn the content, there was a tendency to include multiple resources on a given topic, so that students would have choices. While there are benefits to allowing students to choose from among several resources, in some cases, this approach quickly led to an overwhelming number of resources. This resulted in students spending a great deal of time determining with which they should interact first. Ultimately, this slowed down their progress through assessments. Baker (2015) confirms that a \"free-range attitude could be detrimental to students who lack [...] access and need more guidance as they make efficient progress toward a CBE degree\" (p. 13).\nSolutions: Following the initial program launch, instructional designers created a kit of tools and resources for use during the development process. The kit includes an overview of the process of finding, evaluating and curating learning resources (Figure 1), as well as supporting tools such as tip sheets, a learning resource evaluation checklist and an organizational and note-taking document.\nResults: This case illustrates a continual improvement approach to widespread OER implementation. It is an example of a program-level strategy that taps into existing organizational personnel and resources as a means of establishing a \"collaborative institutional culture conducive to open educational practices\" (Judith and Bull, 2016, p. 8). The evolution of this programmatic approach was driven by the needs of both faculty and students.\nFuture research potential: There are several aspects of this case that could inspire formal research into how OERs are used by faculty and perceived by students. Regarding recruitment purposes, it might be valuable to discover the real cost savings for learners. To provide more concrete evidence that the widespread use of OERs contributes to student savings, individual programs might estimate student costs if OERs were not used.\nConclusion: Learning resources are an important part of any course that students take. They are necessary to help solidify concepts and enhance learning. In CBE, their benefit lies in providing content and context to students who are working independently in a self-directed program. This case explores the challenges associated with the program-wide use of OERs. In response to these challenges and to improve the way OERs are implemented, support materials were developed to provide guidance for faculty and instructional designers. These support materials were used across several programs in UW Flexible Option to facilitate the use of well-thought-out learning materials that are annotated appropriately for self-directed, competency-focused students.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This study aims to describe how open educational resources (OERs) were used in a system-wide, competency-based higher education program. It discusses barriers encountered, solutions developed and suggestions for future research on OER-focused curricula for self-directed learners. The case demonstrates practical application of the best practices for OER usage and contributes to discussions among the open education community about what constitutes quality OERs and how quality measures can help instructors select the best available OER.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This case study uses a reflective approach to describe what the organization did to facilitate OER use in University of Wisconsin Flexible Option. The authors reflect on tools and processes used and highlight alignment with best practices from OER literature.\nFindings: This case confirms that there are challenges associated with OERs, especially for faculty with limited experience using them. It also offers insights into how to evaluate and curate OERs and confirms that students are generally satisfied when OERs are used as primary learning resources.\nResearch limitations/implications: Formal research was not conducted. This case provides a starting point for potential future research about the use of OERs by self-directed, competency-based students.\nPractical implications: Practical implications of this case study include concrete tools and methods faculty and instructional designers can use to locate, evaluate and curate OERs. This case study highlights the role OERs can play in increasing overall satisfaction with learning resources while decreasing students' costs.\nOriginality/value: This case ties unique needs of self-directed, competency-based learners with the use of OERs, addressing two overarching questions about OERs: what constitutes a quality OER? and how is quality measured?\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Development of lean manufacturing implementation drivers for Indian ceramic industry	[ "Lean", "Survey", "India", "Drivers", "Ceramic industry" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In today's competitive business scenario, where profit margins are getting smaller and resources costlier, manufacturing industry is consciously looking for ways to improve the efficiency of production. Organizations are trying to decrease the material and energy consumption through innovations in product design, production technology and/or better management of the shop floor. These days, organizations can ill afford defects, rework, overproduction, overprocessing, unnecessary waiting, wasted motion, excess inventory and so on. Therefore many organizations are pursuing lean manufacturing (LM), a new manufacturing paradigm which focuses on reduction of all types of wastes during production and improves productivity and resource utilization. The goal of LM is to become highly responsive to customer demand by reducing the waste in human efforts, inventory, time to market and manufacturing space while producing quality products effectively and efficiently (Bhamu et al., 2012). There are a number of factors that motivate or hinder the implementation of LM in an organization and an understanding of these factors is necessary to implement LM easily and effectively. The motivating factors are termed \"drivers\" and the hindering factors are called \"barriers\". Drivers to lean implementation may be defined as the various factors that contribute to the easy adoption of lean in an industry. However, there are important barriers like organizational culture, poor flexibility, resistance to change and innovation, etc. (Achanga et al., 2005; Nordin et al., 2010; Zhou, 2012). These barriers are to be mitigated for LM adoption and diffusion. Identifying drivers accurately helps in taking effective lean decisions during lean implementation planning. This papers aims at finding and developing a model of LM drivers.\nIdentification of LM implementation drivers: A few researchers have analysed the various factors that help or hinder the implementation of LM. For example, Bhasin (2012) undertook a survey of 68 manufacturing industries through questionnaires and subsequently complemented it by extensive case studies undertaken in seven organizations to study prominent obstacles to lean. He lists four drivers - improving performance, increasing competitive pressure, increasing customer pressure and building team spirit for implementation of LM - which are persistent amongst all sizes of organizations. In this study, a two-step methodology has been used to identify the LM drivers. In the first step eight research papers (Sohal and Egglestone, 1994; Hallgren and Olhager, 2009; Singh et al., 2010; Nordin et al., 2010; Panizzolo et al., 2012; Bhasin, 2012; Ghosh, 2012; Zhou, 2012) were selected due to their relevance and recent publication. These were reviewed to identify drivers of LM implementation for semi-structured interviews in the next step. In the second step, the list of drivers was then discussed with industrial experts in the ceramic industry for their suggestions and improvements. The list was modified as per their convincing suggestions. An example of this modification is the inclusion of \"unavailability of skilled workers\" in the drivers list. During the semi-structured interviews with senior managers in the industry, there was an overwhelming response that unavailability of skilled workers is a motivating factor to implement LM. Experts believe that LM implementation on one hand will decrease the requirement of skilled workers and on the other hand the level of skill required will also decrease. The resulting list of 20 drivers of LM implementation is given in Table I.\nDescription of LM implementation drivers: This section develops brief descriptions of the drivers identified in last section based on the literature and the discussions held with experts in ceramic industry.\nResearch methodology: The basic steps of the research methodology followed for this study are: development of drivers, development of survey instrument, data collection, data analysis, model proposition and model validation as shown in Figure 1. In total, 20 drivers to lean implementation were developed in the first step as presented in the last section. This section focuses on development of survey instrument, data collection and data analysis while model proposition and model validation are discussed in the next section.\nResults and discussion: The first set of tests carried out on the data did not yield satisfactory results. While the value of Cronbach's a was acceptable (0.741), there was poor correlation between the items in the inter item correlation matrix. KMO measure of sampling adequacy also had a value <0.58. Therefore, as discussed above, eight items having CITC value of <0.3 were dropped (removed from the driver list) and a second set of analysis was carried out using remaining 12 drivers. The eight drivers eliminated for further analysis are: high level of stock/inventory, high-labour cost, poor commitment of employees, customers want reliable and prompt deliveries, high cost of energy, low capacity to fulfill the regular demand of customers, short time to fulfill customer orders, and frequent changes in supply schedule by customers. The statistical results after deletion of the eight drivers are shown in Table II. Cronbach's a has a value of 0.842 indicating that the data used for analysis is reliable. A visual inspection of the inter item correlation matrix showed that the values are greater than 0.3. This implies that the items are likely to have common factors. Barlett's test shows sufficiently high values at significance level p<0.001. The KMO measure has a value 0.714 which is well above the suggested minimum standard of 0.5 for carrying out factor analysis. Hence, based on these test results, it is concluded that the drivers listed in Table II are suitable for applying factor analysis. As it can be seen from Table II, there are still five drivers with CITC values <0.5 but these need not be eliminated since the CITC values are close to 0.5 and all these five drivers have high value of Cronbach's a. The survey results show that the 12 drivers to implementation of LM in the ceramic industry have mean values ranging from 1.92 to 3.81 on a scale of 5. As perceived by the ceramic industry, \"suppliers take a long time to deliver\" is the least important driver of LM implementation whereas \"fluctuating customer orders\" is the most important driver. This indicates that customer satisfaction is held in high esteem by the ceramic industry. Implementation of LM would make the companies much more flexible in terms of volume and lead time flexibility.\nConclusions: This paper develops a statistically reliable and valid model of LM implementation drivers for ceramic industry in India. The drivers developed from the literature review and the discussion held with industry experts are grouped into three categories - internal, external and PD - using the SPSS statistical software. The model has been tested using SEM technique. Hypothesis testing affirms that ED cause PD which in turn cause ID. The study illustrates that following initiatives can be taken to drive LM implementation:\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to develop a statistically reliable and valid model of lean manufacturing (LM) implementation drivers for the Indian ceramic industry through an empirical study.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The research methodology is based on the empirical study of the Indian ceramic industry through a questionnaire specifically developed for the study through literature review and discussions held with practitioners. Exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling techniques have been used to propose and validate the model. SPSS and AMOS statistical tools have been used for the statistical analysis of the data.\nFindings: The study identified 12 drivers for the LM implementation in Indian ceramic industry. Further, these 12 drivers have been categorized into internal, policy and external drivers (ED). Structural model affirms that ED are positively related to policy drivers (PD) and PD are positively related to internal drivers.\nResearch limitations/implications: This study provides casual relationships among the various drivers, which can be leveraged by the managers for the easy and effective implementation of LM in their organizations. It is expected that the model will help the decision makers during LM implementation in taking informed decisions in prioritizing and sequencing the implementation strategy. The results of the research may apply to other industries as well, but this needs to be validated by collecting data and analysing its results.\nPractical implications: The results provide insights into motivating factors that should be focused on while taking lean decisions. The correlation results among drivers will enable the policy makers in government and industry to strategically leverage the resources for the successful implementation of LM in the industry.\nOriginality/value: This research empirically develops a model of drivers for LM implementation. The novelty of the study is the causal relationship among the drivers which can be used for decision making to implement lean easily and effectively. Moreover, the categorization of the drivers into internal, external and policy categories and driving/driven relationship among these categories provides the top management an incisive insight into broad improvement areas.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Do diligent independent directors restrain earnings management practices? Indian lessons for the global world	[ "India", "Earnings management", "Independent director", "Audit committee diligence", "Board diligence" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Earnings management by companies is a widespread phenomenon throughout the world. The lack of quality financial reporting for personal gains by the management affects investors' decision making and indicates poor corporate governance. The corporate governance structure, more than on the board, hinges on independent directors. They are responsible for bringing objectivity to the oversight function of the board and thus, improving its effectiveness. The importance of corporate governance and quality financial reporting in the business environment of the developing countries has started receiving increased attention in the recent times, especially when companies from developing economies are going global (Goel, 2018).\n2. Background: The corporate governance issues in the UK and USA arise due to the conflict between management and owners. However, in India, the governance issues are primarily the results of the conflict between dominant shareholders and minority shareholders[4]. India witnessed two large corporate scams, namely Satyam and Kingfisher in 2009 and 2012, respectively, which raised questions about the effectiveness of corporate governance and quality of reported earnings (Mathur, 2014). These corporate failures led to a change in the regulatory regime in the form of new Companies Act, 2013 and revised Clause 49 of the Listing Agreement, 2014 by SEBI.\n3. Literature review and hypotheses: Corporate boards are combination of inside and outside directors. The interests of both these categories of directors might not be similar in certain circumstances as outlined by the agency theory (Luan and Tang, 2007). The interests of the inside directors are aligned with the firm's management while the outside or the independent directors have fiduciary responsibility to monitor the management on behalf of the shareholders (Hermalin and Weisbach, 2003). This conflict of interests necessitates active involvement of the independent directors so that they are able to perform their monitoring roles effectively. This argument finds its roots in the agency theory and is also supported by the transaction cost economies.\n4. Sample selection and research methodology: 4.1 Sample selection and data collection procedures\n5. Results and discussion: 5.1 Descriptive Statistics\n6. Conclusion and implications for future research: 6.1 Conclusion\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of independent directors' diligence in restraining earnings management practices in the Indian context.\nDesign/methodology/approach: It employs a panel data analysis to test the association of earnings management with the diligence of independent directors.\nFindings: The results suggest that the diligence of independent directors has a significant impact on earnings management. The findings support the agency theory and provide evidence of the role played by the board processes in restricting earnings management.\nOriginality/value: This study is important for the regulators as it highlights the significance of independent directors' diligence in producing higher quality financial statements, thereby creating the real economic value of companies. This is the first article that explores the impact of independent directors' diligence on earnings management practices particularly in the context of an emerging economy, like India in the light of new Companies Act 2013 and revised Clause 49 of the Listing Agreement, 2014 by Securities and Exchange Board of India.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The role of audit quality in preventing firm misreporting: empirical evidence from China	[ "China", "Big 4", "Audit quality", "Discretionary accrual", "Misreporting" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Corporate misreporting has been one of the core research fields in the corporate finance literature as such misconduct can lead to a series of severe negative consequences for corporate stakeholders as well as for the overall economic system (Staubus, 2005). This issue is more pronounced in emerging economies like China, due to their less mature accounting profession (Lin and Chan, 2000) and the idiosyncratic involvement of the government (Wang et al., 2012). While China is now the world's second largest economy, with a number of sizable emerging multinationals currently shaping the world economy, the country is still being criticized for its low-quality and low-quantity accounting disclosure (Sami and Zhou, 2008). This is partly because of the late adoption of the international accounting standard (DeFond et al., 1999), and the heavy interference of the government and other political factors in the financial information environment (Habib et al., 2014). Thus, although the Chinese policy makers have made a great effort to reform the markets and enhance the accounting environment, misreporting practices are still widespread among Chinese firms (Chen et al., 2006). Such corporate misconduct could pose a serious threat to China's financial market as well as to the country's ambition of being one of the most influential economies in the future. Despite this prevalence of misreporting, there is still a lack of understanding about corporate misreporting practices among Chinese firms (Hass et al., 2016).\n2. Data and model specifications: 2.1 Data and sample overview\n3. Empirical results: 3.1 The likelihood of selecting a higher-quality auditor\n4. Additional analyses: We have so far documented that the probability of employing a high-quality auditor depends on a number of firm characteristics such as firm leverage, firm size, firm age, tangible asset and firm profitability; and that higher audit quality is associated with lower misreporting practices. In this section, we provide additional analyses to investigate further through which channels and circumstances audit value can actually affect the misreporting practices of firms. To do so, we focus on two fundamental channels through which audit value is expected to have some influence over firms' misreporting practices, which are firm reputation and firm ownership. Accordingly, in Section 4.1, we examine whether the audit value-misreporting relationship is conditioned on the level of firm reputation, whereas in Section 4.2, we evaluate whether the impact of audit value on firm misreporting might be contingent upon firms' ownership structure.\n5. Conclusion: The rise of firm misreporting practices in recent years has stimulated calls for debates and reforms to reinstate confidence in financial accounting reports. Adding to this mainstream summons, this current paper examines whether higher-quality external auditors can reduce the misreporting practices of firms.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of external audit quality in reducing firm misreporting practices.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Data are gathered from a number of sources including the Osiris database and firms' annual reports to construct a comprehensive data set containing financial and non-financial information of over 3,100 publicly listed firms in China during the period 2009-2017. A number of rigorous empirical specifications are utilized with the use of probit, logit and conditional logit regressions, as well as panel pooled OLS and fixed-effect estimators. The IV-2SLS, 2-step system GMM and difference-in-differences techniques are also employed to deal with the potential endogeneity bias to ensure the robustness of the empirical results.\nFindings: The empirical results reveal that larger firms and firms having more tangible assets and greater retained earnings are more likely to employ a better-quality external auditor. Subsequently, higher audit quality leads to a deterioration in corporate misreporting. However, these results are not homogenous across firms. While we document similar findings in the case of non-state-owned firms, state-owned enterprises (SOEs) appear to have less tendency to hire a higher-quality auditor, and higher-quality auditors in turn do not play a significant role in reducing misreporting practices in SOEs.\nOriginality/value: This paper contributes to a better understanding of the mechanism to mitigate corporate misreporting practices. It is one of the few to empirically investigate auditor selections and the association between external audit quality and corporate misreporting practices in China.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Technological change, information processing and supply chain integration: A conceptual model	[ "Manufacturing strategy", "Supply chain management", "Emerging markets", "Technological innovation", "Information processing" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Technological change and increasingly global component supply in the automotive industry increases the need to integrate new product development across the supply chain (Das et al., 2006; Jean et al., 2014; Thomas, 2013; Yan and Nair, 2015) and across technological specializations such as mechanics, electronics and software development (Fujimoto and Park, 2012; Lee and Berente, 2012). We explore how technological change affects inter-firm coordination and how the reaction of this change differs between firms from developed and emerging markets.\n2. Supply chain integration for technology development: Developing complex products increasingly involves the coordination of specialized sources of knowledge across firm boundaries (Argyres and Bigelow, 2010; Brusoni et al., 2001; Lee and Berente, 2012). This shifts the focus from challenges of intra-firm coordination to questions of supply chain integration. We use the terms integration and coordination/control interchangeably to draw on both streams of research on intra-firm coordination mechanisms (Bartnik, 2009; Jaeger and Baliga, 1985; Martinez and Jarillo, 1989; Ouchi and Maguire, 1975; Zeschky et al., 2014) and studies on inter-firm supply chain integration (Braunscheidel and Suresh, 2009; Crook and Combs, 2007; Das et al., 2006; Flynn et al., 2010; Narayanan and Raman, 2004; Zhao et al., 2011; Zhou and Benton, 2007).\n3. Theoretical framework: information processing and integration mechanisms: Information processing theory sees \"management\" as collecting, combining and processing relevant information (Egelhoff, 1991; Tushman and Nadler, 1978, p. 614; Wolf, 2005).\n4. Empirical approach: We choose the case study method to explore key variables and motivations of industry participants (Eisenhardt, 1989, 1991). The choice of firms is based on the theoretical sampling approach (Eisenhardt, 1989; Meredith, 1998), which aims to \"replicate or extend the emergent theory by identifying extremes, polar types (opposite situations along some dimension), or candidates for niche situations to help discover categories, properties, and interrelationships that will extend the theory\" (Meredith, 1998, p. 450). Following Meredith (1998, p. 451), we aim to increase the generalizability of our findings by including multiple divergent populations, notably automotive firms that operate in Japan, Germany and China. Consequently, we selected firms based on the following inclusion criteria: major carmaker or transmission supplier in Japan, Germany or China; informants involved in transmission development from the technical or commercial side; and informants ready to openly discuss transmission development strategy and process.\n5. Analysis: hypotheses on changes of information processing in automotive ECU development: Automobiles are controlled systems: mechanical parts receive orders by a growing number of electronic control units (ECU). Like overworked middle managers, the control units are asked to tease ever more performance out of their mechanical subordinates: spend less fuel, go faster, cut out all waste, etc. To handle this stream of demands, designers dope ECUs with ever stronger doses of electronics and software (Fujimoto and Park, 2012).\n6. Theoretical and managerial implications: 6.1 Theoretical implications\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Technologies change quickly in the automotive industry. This can provide opportunities to firms from emerging economies who try to enter the world stage of automotive production, provided they can react to this more nimbly than established competitors. How technological change affects the supply chain coordination of incumbents from developed economies and new entrants from emerging economies should strongly determine the speed of competitive reaction. By using the example of automotive transmission development, the purpose of this paper is to provide a conceptual model for the analysis and offer research propositions.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors build a conceptual model based on information processing theory and offer research propositions based on case study evidence of four automotive original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and five suppliers.\nFindings: The authors find symptoms of two larger trends: increasing specialization and technological linkages and a need to increase external supply chain integration beyond traditional structures. Comparing the effects on Japanese and German incumbents, the authors find that increasing external supply chain linkages proves to be harder for Japanese OEMs. Tight links and routines in the Japanese supply chain networks may harm OEM efficiency under the new technological conditions, e.g. the lack of complete part specifications and high demands for customization. Looking at effects on emerging market firms, Chinese OEMs use quasi-open modular production settings in transmission development and lean strongly on inputs from specialized foreign tier-one suppliers. Speed advantages must be weighed against long-term disadvantages of dependence and insufficient R&D investments.\nResearch limitations/implications: The study explores how technological change affects inter-firm development processes. The authors propose a framework and hypotheses based on information processing theory and link the findings to the discussion on the impact of national institutional context on supply chain coordination.\nPractical implications: OEMs wanting to adapt complex existing internal structures to the changing demands for information processing should focus first on improving internal capacities by improving the amount and richness of information flow. Implementing new standards for simultaneous and standardized software development across the supply chain is a key point for this. A second step should be to boost the internal capacity to process higher richness of information, i.e. to understand the meta-knowledge necessary to integrate across technological areas in the development of electronic control units (ECUs).\nOriginality/value: The authors draw on original interview data in developed and emerging markets and information processing theory to explore the complexity of inter-firm coordination in automotive supply chains.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
How does national culture enable or constrain entrepreneurship? Exploring the role of Harambee in Kenya	[ "Kenya", "Toolkit", "Entrepreneurship", "National culture", "Harambee" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: How does national culture influence entrepreneurial behaviour in an African context? Drawing on the perspective that views culture as a toolkit (Swidler, 1986) and the national culture categories developed by Hofstede (1980), we examine the ways in which the Kenyan national culture, Harambee, influences the fostering of entrepreneurship in an African context of Kenya. We define entrepreneurship broadly to include new-venture creation that is growth-oriented, small businesses and micro-enterprises that may provide self-employment (lifestyle and informal entrepreneurship), and social enterprises (Bhide, 2000). Harambee is a nationally adopted political rhetoric that simply means \"lets pull together\", denoting a national spirit of social inclusivity and cohesion (Chieni, 2001).\nUnderstanding culture: Hofstede (2001, p. 9) defined culture as \"the collective programming of the mind that distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from others\". Generally, culture is defined as a set of values, norms attitudes and meanings that are shared by the members of a certain group that influence how they process and interpret the world (Morrison, 2006). Most commonly, culture is seen as the taken-for-granted values, norms, beliefs and symbols acquired through socialization (Wrong, 1961), which shape action in predictable, culture reproducing directions (Peterson, 1979). According to Chrisman et al. (2002, p. 115), \"cultural differences in interpretation and perception will lead to differences in behaviours and outcomes\". Usually, culture has been categorised into national, regional, ethnic, occupational and organisational sub-cultures (Hofstede, 2001). Particularly, national culture consists of \"the underlying value systems that are specific to a group or society and motivate individual to behave in a certain way\" (Shinnar et al., 2012, p. 466), such as venturing into business activities. Generally, the configuration of cultural values across countries is based on Hofstede's (1980) seminal work on cultural dimensions. Hofstede's national culture dimensions are critical in driving cross-cultural comparisons and comprise, for instance, individualism/collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, power distance, masculinity and long-term orientation dimensions. Some scholars have argued that countries that exude a combination of individualistic, masculine cultures, that rank high on power distance and low on uncertainty avoidance could lead to a favourable entrepreneurship and possibly orientation towards entrepreneurial activities among citizens (Busenitz and Lau, 1996). In this paper, we build our arguments by conceptualising culture as a toolkit (as something that can be used and drawn upon) and explain how the values of Harambee relate to entrepreneurship.\nNational culture and its influence on entrepreneurship: Although Hofstede (1980) did not specify the relationship between culture and entrepreneurship, numerous studies recognise the influence of national culture on the level of entrepreneurial activity and economic development (Linan and Fernandez-Serrano, 2014; Pinillos and Reyes, 2011; Hayton et al., 2002; Mitchell et al., 2000), innovations and growth (Rauch et al., 2013) and entrepreneurial beliefs and intentions (Gasse and Tremblay, 2011). Some scholars established a positive relation between \"cultures that value and reward entrepreneurial behaviours (such as risk taking and autonomy) with an increased level of entrepreneurship and innovation, whereas cultures that reinforce conformity, group interests, and control over the future with low level of risk taking and entrepreneurial behaviour\" (Hayton et al., 2002, p. 33; citing Herbig and Miller, 1992). Such studies contend that there are differences in the types of entrepreneurial activities (necessity or opportunity driven) (Linan and Fernandez-Serrano, 2014) within different cultural communities. Although entrepreneurs may face similar structural constraints, they may perceive and experience them differently (Mitchell et al., 2002). Existing work on this area suggests that entrepreneurial behaviour is shaped by the country-specific culture, and this causes the differences in developing a common entrepreneurial behaviour around the world. Based on the review of 21 empirical studies on national culture and entrepreneurship, Hayton et al. (2002, p. 41) suggested that \"national culture is likely to influence national or regional rates of entrepreneurship by creating a larger supply of potential entrepreneurs\". In addition, using data from Global Entrepreneurship Monitor on 52 countries, Pinillos and Reyes (2011) showed that a country's entrepreneurship rate is negatively related to an individualistic culture when development is low or medium, but is positively related to individualism when the level of development is high. Similarly, Linan and Fernandez-Serrano (2014), established a difference in regards to entrepreneurial activity among four regions in the European Union (Central, Northern, Eastern and Mediterranean) as a result of cultural differences. Although, these studies are informative in conceptualising the influence of culture on entrepreneurship, it can be noted that most, if not all, are conducted in a Western context. This begs the question: whether similar conclusions would be reached in a developing economy context such as Kenya?\nHarambee as a toolkit for entrepreneurship action: In this section, we develop propositions that elucidate Harambee's enabling and constraining effects on entrepreneurial behaviours and how these values are translated into strategic action by different social actors.\nSocial responsibility: Entrepreneurship in Africa does not evolve in a vacuum, but rather within a complex framework of political, economic and social change (Johnson, 2000; Harding, 2006; Urban, 2008). The importance of entrepreneurship as a phenomenon in social life is critical, as entrepreneurs contribute to an economy by providing new business models for firms to trade commercially, and some of them engage in commercial activity in a socially responsible way (Urban, 2008). These individuals and ventures provide an alternative delivery system for public services such as health, education, housing and community support (Harding, 2006, 10). Moreover, entrepreneurs in Africa are also seen to be a growing source of solutions to issues that currently plague society such as poverty, crime and abuse (Schuyler, 1998; Williams and Kedir, 2016). Socially oriented entrepreneurs provide solutions to social, employment and economic problems where traditional market or public approaches fail (Jeffs, 2006).\nResource mobilisation: In Kenya, where the market for mobilising resources is inefficient (Jackson et al., 2008; Zoogah et al., 2015), entrepreneurs have limited access to resources necessary to start business ventures. This necessitates local entrepreneurs to rely on family and community networks for mobilising resources for start-up and firm growth. Developing network relations enables an opportunity structure through which entrepreneurs access financial capital to start new ventures.\nPolitical philanthropy: Entrepreneurial activities take place in a context that shapes them, but the political dimension of entrepreneurship at the national level is rarely being discussed, albeit having an important influence. Any national-level commercial activities are intertwined with political structures in these countries (Shaw et al., 2013). Understanding how politics shapes entrepreneurial activities is very important in the African context for three reasons. First, Africa is typified by institutional asymmetry (Bruton et al., 2015). Second, we know less about how institutional (and/or political) actors' strategic actions may enable or constrain the fostering of entrepreneurial activities where informal sector dominates the economy (Bruton et al., 2012; Webb et al., 2013; Webb et al., 2009). Third, there is an increasing emphasis placed by politicians and policy makers to developing entrepreneurial framework conditions by creating institutions meant to support the flourishing of entrepreneurial activities, allocating resouces and business incentives (Holcombe, 2002).\nDiscussion: We presented our theoretically driven propositions above. We attempted to unpack the main dimensions of Harambee and its effects on entrepreneurial behaviour by theorising it through dimensions of opportunity seeking, entrepreneurial intention, social enterprise, business creation and business growth (Dickson and Weaver, 2008; Mueller and Thomas, 2001; Morris et al., 1994; Urban 2008; Webb et al., 2010; Zoogah et al., 2015). We presented a conceptual model which showed the relationship between variables to inform future research on the influence of culture on entrepreneurial behaviour. Our propositions showed that Harambee values of collective reliance, social responsibility, enterprising, resource mobilisation and political philanthropy have both enabling and constraining effects on entrepreneurial behaviours. Specifically, the propositions provided initial explanations on which kinds of entrepreneurial behaviour could be associated with different cultural values of Harambee (e.g. collective reliance and social responsibility is likely to drive social entrepreneurship; and political philanthropy may influence the increase in lifestyle entrepreneurship with little or no growth ambition). Social practices associated with enterprising value of Harambee can be associated with an increased rate of entrepreneurship because of subjective norms and an enhanced self-efficacy. Nevertheless, the constraining effects of cultural values of Harambee are also evident: donation-based financing may discourage opportunity-seeking behaviours and overreliance on community and collective support limit opportunity-seeking behaviour and reduce growth aspirations. In such circumstances, opportunity identification follows availability of resources, and this is likely to foster lifestyle and informal entrepreneurship (Webb et al., 2009; Godfrey, 2011; Webb et al., 2013).\nConclusion and implications: This paper sought to examine how the values of Harambee foster entrepreneurship in an African context, such as Kenya. The paper presented several propositions based on the \"culture as toolkit\" perspective together with cultural dimensions developed by Hofstede (2001). By doing this, we extend the perspective of culture as a toolkit by identifying social practices which enable and/or constrain entrepreneurship. Specifically, we conceptualise Harambee into a toolkit consisting of a number of values that influence entrepreneurial actions.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to conceptualise how various value dimensions of Harambee, the Kenyan culture, affect the fostering of entrepreneurial behaviours. Theoretically, we draw upon perspectives that view culture as a toolkit and use cultural variables provided by Hofstede to examine the links between national culture and entrepreneurial endeavours in an African context.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper is based on review and synthesis of accessible secondary sources (published research, country-specific reports, policy documents, firm-level empirical evidences, etc.) on the topic and related areas to understand and advance research propositions on the link between enterprising efforts and national culture specific to the Kenyan context.\nFindings: Several theoretical propositions are offered on themes of collective reliance, social responsibility, enterprising, resource mobilisation and political philanthropy to establish relationships, both positive and negative, between values of Harambee and entrepreneurial behaviours. Further, the study provides initial insights into how actors blend both collectivistic and emergent individualistic orientations and display collective identity in the process of mobilising resources and engaging in entrepreneurship.\nResearch limitations/implications: The conceptual framework presented bears a considerable relevance to the advancing theory, policy and practice associated with the national culture and entrepreneurial behaviour in the African context and has potential to generate valuable insights.\nOriginality/value: This original study provides a springboard for studying the relationship between African cultural context and entrepreneurial behaviours.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Mind the gap!	[ "Leadership", "Leadership Development", "Learning Methods", "Mindfulness", "Organizational development" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nReview: The idea of mindfulness - the state achieved by focusing awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting feelings, thoughts, sensations - has ancient roots, but has only recently begun to gain significant adoption as a mainstream technique or therapy. Indeed, it has seemed to have gained more credence and followers in a post-global financial crisis, smartphone-saturated world where getting away from things and focusing on the good things in life seem to matter much more to greater numbers of people.\nMindful leadership?: One area, however, that seems to have had little attention yet is the effect of mindfulness on leadership. Aside from dealing with stress, is it possible that mindfulness could be as impactful as traditional leadership training in developing core leadership skills? This is the question posed by Brendel et al. (2006) article \"Cultivating leadership Dharma: measuring the impact of regular mindfulness practice on creativity, resilience, tolerance for ambiguity, anxiety and stress\". In the paper, they propose that mindfulness practice could even be more effective in developing leaders that traditional programs and tested this hypothesis on people based in the cities of Minneapolis and St Paul in the USA.\nDefining characteristics: First, there are five key leadership characteristics that the authors define as core skills for dealing with a VUCA-oriented world:\nChanging minds: The results of this experiment were fascinating. First, the research team of Brendel et al. found that attending weekly sessions on mindfulness significantly reduced the subjects' feelings of anxiety, and also positive development in their creative abilities was observed. Moreover, these same changes were not exhibited by those subjects attending the leadership program. Therefore, for the two core leadership skills in a VUCA environment of creativity and anxiety reduction, research showed that a mindfulness program is more effective.\nLeadership implications: Quite rightly, Brendel et al. point out that there has been a large amount of skepticism in some quarters about the efficacy of mindfulness, and it has struggled to overcome its slightly hippy reputation, especially in the workplace. However, the authors point out that this is being overcome, and that mindfulness practice is a regular feature in HR programs in major corporations such as Goldman Sachs, Pfizer, Google, Apple and IBM.\nComment: \n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoints practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.\nFindings: The idea of mindfulness - the state achieved by focusing awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting feelings, thoughts, sensations - has ancient roots, but has only recently begun to gain significant adoption as a mainstream technique or therapy. Indeed, it has seemed to have gained more credence and followers in a post-global financial crisis, smartphone-saturated world where getting away from things and focusing on the good things in life seem to matter much more to greater numbers of people.\nOriginality/value: The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Antioxidant, hypoglycemic and anti-hypertensive properties of extracts derived from peel, fruit and kernel of Salak	[ "Salacca zalacca", "Phenolic", "Flavonoid", "Antioxidant", "ACE inhibition", "Alpha-amylase inhibition" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Antioxidant is a non-nutritive compound that has been extensively recognised as an effective free radical scavenger to prevent oxidative stress from the overproduction of reactive oxygen species by neutralising initiating radicals to terminate the chain reaction (Institute of Medicine, 1998). Accumulation of free radicals in the human body can potentially trigger the onset of non-communicable diseases such as cancers, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases (Tan and Tan, 2019; Lim et al., 2007).The literature has consistently reported antioxidant compounds that naturally present in fruits and vegetables can serve as the free radical scavenger. Fruit-derived antioxidants such as phenolic acids, carotenoids and flavonoids have gained more attention recently due to their potential health benefits in diminishing oxidative stress-related diseases. Certain antioxidant-rich fruits also contain the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) or alpha-amylase inhibitory properties, which can inhibit ACE, an enzyme responsible in vasoconstriction or inhibit alpha-amylase that regulates blood sugar level. Thus, antioxidant-rich fruits with these inhibitory properties can be used as an alternative therapy in the management of hypertension or diabetes (Mazumdar et al., 2019; Adefegha, 2017; Abdullah et al., 2012; Goncalves et al., 2010).Salacca zalacca (Snake fruit) is a seasonal tropical exotic fruit from Southeast Asia, belonging to a plant in the palm (Family: Arecaceae) group that has reddish-brown scaly skin with several segments of creamy-white fruit and hard brown seeds which carry an unique taste like a combination of apple, banana and pineapple (Lim, 2012; Dembitsky et al., 2011). It is an underutilised fruit with excellent sources of carbohydrate, dietary fibre and antioxidant alike with kiwi which mildly affected by variety (Mazumdar et al., 2019; Saleh et al., 2018b; Mohd Zaini et al., 2013; Aralas et al., 2009; Gorinstein et al., 2009). The primary free phenolic acids in Salak is Caffeic acid, which has some similarities with mangosteen and rambutan (Mazumdar et al., 2019; Saleh et al., 2018b; Lee et al., 2013).Health benefits of Salak include aid in visionary problems and diarrhea due to the high content of tannins and beta-carotene. Furthermore, Salak is granted as the fruit of memory due to high levels of potassium and pectin (Aralas et al., 2009).Modern studies show Salak exhibits anti-hyperlipidaemia, anti-hyperuricaemia and anti-proliferative properties (Mazumdar et al., 2019; Saleh et al., 2018a; Lim, 2012; Dembitsky et al., 2011; Gorinstein et al., 2011, 2009; Leontowicz et al., 2007, 2006).Salak is effective in preventing human pulmonary carcinoma and gastric carcinoma (Mazumdar et al., 2019; Lim, 2012; Dembitsky et al., 2011; Gorinstein et al., 2009). However, anti-hyperlipidaemia and anti-hyperuricaemice properties of Salak are yet debatable, although several studies have been done (Mazumdar et al., 2019; Saleh et al., 2018a; Lim, 2012; Dembitsky et al., 2011; Leontowicz et al., 2007, 2006). Based on the current trend of searching naturally occurring antioxidants, this study was designated to determine the total antioxidant capacity, ACE and alpha-amylase inhibitory potential among distinct parts (peel, fruit and kernel) of Salak to justify their medicinal values. Nevertheless, this study also aimed to correlate the phenolic and flavonoid content among distinct parts of Salak with their antioxidant properties.\n2. Methodology: 2.1 Sample processing and extraction\n3. Results and discussion: 3.1 Total phenolic and flavonoid contents\n4. Conclusion: The antioxidant potential of Salak peel extracts was investigated and interpreted, accompanied by its anti-hypertensive and anti-diabetic properties. Among the three parts of Salak screened, fruit extract showed significantly higher TPC, TFC and antioxidant properties. No significant difference found in FRAP (methanol), TEAC (methanol and ethanol) and DPPH (ethanol) assays between the Salak fruit and peel extracts. Apart from this, peel extracts have shown the potential of ACE inhibitory activity and anti-diabetic properties in the current findings.\n5. Recommendation for future work: Further study is required to investigate the potential applications of Salak on its anti-hypertensive and anti-diabetic properties. This would be useful in preventive healthcare as hypertension and diabetes cases are on the rise. Isolation, characterisation and purification of the potential constituents are necessary to verify the presence of natural ACE or alpha-amylase inhibitor available in Salak.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Salak (Salacca zalacca) is an underutilised fruit. The bioactivities of this fruit have rarely been studied scientifically. Thus, the present study aimed to determine the antioxidant activity of extracts derived from the peel, fruit and kernel of the Salak fruit, as well as the hypoglycemic and anti-hypertensive properties of Salak peel extracts.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The peel, fruit and kernel of the Salak were extracted using distilled water, methanol and ethanol. Antioxidant activities, angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) and alpha-amylase inhibition properties of the extracts were estimated via in vitro standard methods. Besides, the total phenolic content (TPC) and total flavonoid content (TFC) of the extracts were also determined in the present study. The antioxidant activities of different parts of Salak extracts were determined by ferric-reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) and Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC) methods. Percent of radical scavenging properties were calculated via DPPH assay. The hypoglycemic and anti-hypertensive properties of Salak peel were evaluated using alpha-amylase inhibition and ACE assays, respectively.\nFindings: Fruit extracts of Salak in methanol were found to exhibit the highest TPC (10.27 +- 0.12 mg GAE/g), TFC (11.04 +- 0.89 mg CE/g) and antioxidant properties amongst all samples whereby the TPC and TFC were strongly correlated with antioxidant activities. On the other hand, distilled water extracted Salak kernel showed to have the lowest TPC (0.53 +- 0.05 mg GAE/g), TFC (0.37 +- 0.01 mg CE/g) and antioxidant properties amongst all the Salak extracts. Peel extracts exhibit comparable antioxidant activities with fruit extracts in the current findings. In addition, peel extracts indicated some extend of ACE and alpha-amylase inhibition activities regardless of the solvents used. Methanol and ethanol peel extracts indicated no significant difference (p < 0.05) ACE (98%) and alpha-amylase (90%) inhibition activities. However, distilled water extracted Salak peel showed significantly lower ACE and alpha-amylase inhibition in comparison to methanol and ethanol peel extracts.\nOriginality/value: The present findings suggested that the fruit of Salak exhibits the highest antioxidant properties, followed by the peel and lastly, the kernel, which shows the lowest antioxidant properties amongst all the samples. The results also indicated that the peel extracts have ACE and alpha-amylase inhibition activities.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Managing employee empowerment in luxury hotels in Europe	[ "Employee behaviour", "Empowerment", "Hotels", "Training", "Performance related pay", "Management styles" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Since, 1980s, industry and academia have shown a growing interest in the concept of employee empowerment. Empowerment is generally seen in the management literature as the process of delegating or the decentralization of decision-making power (Conger and Kanungo, 1988). Empowerment has been widely seen as the missing piece in the puzzle formed by growing global competition, organizational restructuring, and the increasing importance of service quality and customer satisfaction (Wilkinson, 2001). From a societal perspective, the concept of empowerment is also said to be aligned with the progressive democratization of both society and organizations, as it allows workers some degree of self-determination (Goldsmith et al., 1997). Empowerment has become especially important for services and hospitality, where \"frontline\" employees need the authority to respond promptly to the individual needs of the increasingly demanding consumer in increasingly unpredictable service situations (Hartline and Ferrell, 1999). Such situations typically occur in the upscale sector of the hotel industry, where a highly demanding clientele and high standards of service quality require empowered (frontline) employees. It is by no coincidence that much of the research on empowerment has had the hotel industry as its focus (Brymer, 1991; Parsons, 1995; Jones et al., 1997; Hales and Klidas, 1998).In the empowerment debate a question of principal importance to service management concerns the identification of specific interventions or behaviors that are needed to effectively implement the concept of empowerment in practice (Bowen and Lawler, 1992). In this paper, we offer a model for implementing employee empowerment. We integrate into one conceptual framework the piecemeal theories of the \"antecedents\" of empowered behavior during service delivery. In particular, we examine the importance of:* training;* reward practices;* organizational culture perceptions; and* management style.Our model is then tested through empirical research carried out among the frontline employees of 16 upscale properties of an international hotel chain spread across seven European countries. The cornerstone of our integrated model is that empowerment does not require management to refrain from controlling employee behavior, but rather it requires a change in the form of management control that is exercised.In this paper, we will first define employee empowerment in the context of the service and hospitality management literatures and delineate the behaviors which \"empowered\" employees are expected to demonstrate. Then we present our theoretically-grounded model of employee empowerment, which we test empirically within the 16 luxury European hotels, and discuss it implications for practice.\nEmpowerment in service and hospitality management: Although the empowerment construct has some conceptual ambiguities (Menon, 2001), in the service management literature there is mostly unanimity regarding its definition. Most accounts view empowerment as delegation of decision-making authority and responsibility (Maxwell, 1997). Empowerment studies typically focus on customer-contacting or frontline employees (Bowen and Lawler, 1992; Gronroos, 2000). The goal is oft to control or enhance service quality and customer satisfaction at the point of service production. Indeed, the contribution of empowerment to service quality and customer satisfaction has been supported from a variety of perspectives, notably service recovery (Zemke and Schaaf, 1989; Brown et al., 1996), customer care (Lewis, 1995), total quality management (Baldacchino, 1995), relationship marketing (Evans and Laskin, 1994) and service culture (Gronroos, 1990). The definition of empowerment used here is \"devolving decision-making authority and responsibility to frontline employees for control and enhancement of service quality and customer satisfaction during service delivery\" (Klidas, 2001, pp. 34-5).Empowered behavior\nMethod: Sample\nResults: The relationships among the aggregated scores may be inflated by the fact that we used the same raters to assess all variables. To control for this element of common method variance we followed the suggestions by Ostroff et al. (2002) and split all departments in two random sub samples. One set of sub samples was used to measure the level of empowered behavior in each department and the other set was used to measure the independent variables in each department. The number of participants was too small to measure the independents in separate sub samples. The correlation of empowered behavior with training was o.23 (n.s.), with performance-related rewards -0.14 (n.s.), with customer-oriented culture 0.43 (p<0.05), and with empowering management style 0.40 (p<0.05). In order to test the hypotheses we performed four regression analyses entering the control variables and one of the independent variables. This was done because the independents were measured in the same set of sub samples, and because the small number of cases (25) did not allow entering them together in the same analysis. The results are presented in Table II. They show that after controlling for hotel size and type of department, employee empowered behavior is not significantly related to training and performance-related rewards. Employee empowered behavior appeared significantly related to customer-oriented culture as well as empowering management style. H1 and H2 are not supported while H3 and H4 are confirmed.\nDiscussion: In our study we examined four antecedents of empowered employee behavior. The results provide support for the contribution of a customer-oriented culture and an empowering management style on empowered behavior. Both have been conceived in the theory as forms of meta control. No support has been offered for the effect of training and performance-related rewards, which were conceived, respectively, as forms of ex-ante and ex-post control.The results of the regression in Model 3 provided support for the contribution of a customer-oriented culture on empowered behavior. This result is not surprising considering the overwhelming emphasis of the empowerment literature on the importance of a customer-oriented culture in stimulating employee empowered behaviors (Peccei and Rosenthal, 2001). This finding suggests that in stimulating empowerment, cultural change, in addition to structural change, is likely to lead to the targeted outcomes. Moreover, interpreting a customer-oriented culture as a form of meta control, our result suggests that indirect and subtle forms of control may be more appropriate when empowering employees than \"traditional,\" direct control on employee behavior. In short, employees are more likely to make independent decisions for the benefit of the customer, when their environment congruent with values supporting service quality and customer satisfaction.In the regression analysis of Model 4 the results show a strong relationship between empowered behavior and an empowering management style. This result is consistent with the strong emphasis that the empowerment literature places on leadership attributes in the process of empowerment (Carlzon, 1987; Jones et al., 1997). Indeed, our study confirms the idea that frontline employees are more likely to exercise empowered behavior, when they have the encouragement, support, trust and confidence of their superiors. Such \"empowering\" behaviors also provide (directly or indirectly) signals to employees about what is valued in the organization (meta control) and what management expects from them, therefore, reducing role ambiguity and role conflict. Indeed, previous research has demonstrated that role ambiguity and role conflict are preventing customer-contact employees from undertaking initiatives during the delivery of service to customers (Hartline and Ferrell, 1999). Viewing empowering management style as a form of meta control, this result casts doubt on the importance of concurrent control through direct supervision for effective employee empowerment. Employees are more likely to engage in empowered behaviors, when managers allow them the latitude for and are supportive of such behaviors. This outcome fits the important lesson uncovered recently by Silver et al. (2006, p. 57): \"Consider making empowerment a part of a broader strategy, such as leadership, quality, or customer service focus ... \"Contrary to expectations, the regression analysis of Model 1 has not established a significant relationship between empowered behavior and training. This result indicates that the training of employees to effectively master the demands of their job tasks is not decisive as to whether the employees will eventually exercise empowered behavior. This outcome contradicts the large majority of authors on employee empowerment who stress the pivotal role of training in the empowerment process (Hope and Muhlemann, 1997). It may be that training is important in enabling employees to engage effectively in independent decisions and actions during service delivery, but whether employees will actually do so depends on other factors. Put another way, when it comes to empowerment, our results suggest, it is not the well-trained employees who demonstrate empowered behaviors, but the ones that have the backing of their managers and a customer-oriented culture. This result may further imply that training may be an effective ex-ante form of control for introducing ability to make good decisions in the service delivery process, but not for ensuring willingness to engage in independent thinking and acting during the service delivery process.In the regression analysis of Model 2 the variable of performance-related rewards was not found to be a significant predictor of empowered behavior. This means that relating rewards to individual performance is not related to the exercise of empowered behavior. This result does not offer support to those authors who argue against traditional remuneration systems and support a shift in their orientation toward individual performance. In addition, the result seems to be contrary to our expectation that performance-related rewards offer an effective alternative to concurrent control, by directing employee effort and behaviors toward desirable outcomes, in this case, empowered behaviors.An explanation for this unexpected result may be that what constitutes \"good\" employee performance - i.e. what is rewarded by management in a systematic manner - is not necessarily restricted to empowered behavior. According to qualitative information obtained in the context of this particular study (Klidas, 2001); most hotels had no systematic procedure of rewarding empowered behavior. An exception is the \"employee-of-the-month\" reward schemes, which have, however, a more symbolic value. Moreover, such rewards are not necessarily restricted to the exercise of empowered behavior, as they apply equally for the back-office personnel and they tend to reward exceptional behavior and usually only one occurrence of \"best performance.\" Therefore, in strict terms they cannot be regarded as \"performance-related rewards,\" as employees do not receive them in the context of their monthly remuneration. Even where managers did report the availability of incentive rewards, these related almost entirely to up-selling, for example, room-nights and enrolments in the guest loyalty program (reception) or wine and liquor (F&B outlets). The expected outcome of the availability of such rewards would, therefore, be up-selling and not necessarily empowered behavior.A second explanation for the outcome we obtained from testing H2 relates to the control paradox (Clegg et al., 2002; Gittell, 2000) associated with empowered behavior. In particular, the accuracy with which supervisors observe empowered employees at work is not very high since by definition, empowered employees do not operate under close supervision or surveillance. In operational service settings, such as the service situations in our hotels, important individual contributions are often both interpersonal and fleeting and, therefore, hard for the manager involved to notice and evaluate. Therefore, the accuracy with which the precise empowerment or performance level of frontline employees can be established, and on the basis of which they get rewarded, cannot be high. In other words, in frontline operational settings \"ex-post\" managerial controls may be rather weak control mechanisms on which to rely for ensuring that employees behave in an effectively autonomous way.Theoretical and practical implications\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper aims to test four potential predictors of the behavior of empowered employees during the delivery of service to customers.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A questionnaire measuring employees' perceptions of training, performance-related rewards, customer-oriented culture, empowering management style, and empowered behavior was filled out by 356 frontline employees of 16 luxury hotels in seven European countries. These statistical analyses removed common-method bias.\nFindings: - Results of regression analyses at the department level showed that two means of control - customer-oriented culture and empowering management style - correlated significantly with empowered behavior.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The survey tool would benefit from further refinement. Creative replications of the survey in different service or hotel settings may benefit service managers, consultants as well as consumers, ultimately.\nPractical implications: - A direct implication of this study's findings is that in luxury hotel service settings, enhancement to employee empowerment may be achieved through careful management and organizational development. If done well, service enhancements may be within reach.\nOriginality/value: - In prior research, employee empowerment has been identified as an important means to increase customer satisfaction. The present study contributes to a greater and more specific understanding of how employee empowerment can be attained in luxury European hotels.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]

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