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Adherence to surgical antimicrobial prophylaxis: "checking-the-box" is not enough	[ "Patient safety", "Infection control", "Quality improvement" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Surgical site infections (SSIs) are associated with significant perioperative morbidity and add markedly to healthcare costs (Astagneau et al., 2001; Zimlichman et al., 2013). Mortality rates and readmission rates are significantly higher in patients who develop SSIs compared with uninfected patients (Astagneau et al., 2001; Engemann et al., 2003; Kirkland et al., 1999). Antibiotic prophylaxis aims to reduce SSIs by preventing infection caused by organisms that colonize or contaminate the surgical site. Guidelines exist for surgical antimicrobial prophylaxis (Bratzler et al., 2013). However, it is unclear if these guidelines are truly followed. Therefore, a quality improvement project was undertaken to determine surgical antimicrobial prophylaxis prescribing practices in a small patient cohort at a tertiary care academic institution and assess compliance with national guidelines.\nMethods: Study population\nResults: Between January 2013 and December 2014, 283 SSIs were identified. Scheduled antibiotics were administered prior to entry into the operating room (OR) in 55 patients (19 percent) and, hence, no antibiotics were administered prior to incision in these patients. Initially, 228 patients required surgical prophylaxis in the OR. Two patients were deemed to not require antibiotic administration. Overall, 226 patients were included in the final analysis to assess antibiotic administration appropriateness. Antibiotic administration was noted in the anesthesia electronic medical record in all patients. Appropriate antibiotic type was used in 181 patients (80 percent). Appropriate antibiotic dose was used in 102 (45 percent). Less than the recommended antibiotic dose (weight based) was the most common reason for incorrect dosing. Timing complied with the recommended guidelines in 201 patients (89 percent). Among 76 patients (34 percent) who met the antibiotic re-dosing criteria, antibiotics were re-dosed in only seven patients (9.2 percent). Overall adherence to the published prophylactic antibiotic guidelines, as defined by completing all the steps listed in the Outcomes section, took place in only 54 (23.8 percent) of the eligible 226 patients (Table I).\nDiscussion: Our study is an attempt to look at intra-operative antibiotic prescribing practices in accordance with the national guidelines at a tertiary care academic institution. Our results highlight significant lapses in adherence to national guidelines. Among 226 patients that formed our cohort, all guidelines for antibiotic prophylaxis were followed in only 23.8 percent, i.e. most patients did not receive the correct surgical antibiotic prophylaxis.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to review surgical antimicrobial prophylaxis administration practices in a small cohort and assess compliance with national guidelines.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Patients that developed surgical site infections (SSI) in a tertiary care academic medical center over a two-year period were identified. Their electronic medical records were reviewed for compliance with national guidelines with respect to surgical antibiotic prophylaxis.\nFindings: Over a two-year period, 283 SSI patients were identified. An appropriate antibiotic was chosen in 80 percent, an appropriate dose was administered in 45 percent and timing complied in 89 percent. The antibiotics were appropriately re-dosed in only 9.2 percent in whom the requirement was met. The prescribing guidelines were adhered to in entirety in only 54 patients (23.8 percent).\nPractical implications: Timely and appropriate antibiotic administration prior to surgery is essential to prevent SSI. Proper diligence is required to accomplish this task effectively.\nOriginality/value: Based on the findings, it appears that merely, \"checking a box\" for antibiotic administration during surgery is not enough, and a multidisciplinary approach should be followed to ensure \"appropriate\" antibiotic administration.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Making history critical: Recasting a history of the "management" of the British National Health Service	[ "Control", "Power", "History", "Language", "Performativity", "Leader-manager-administrator" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: There is a widely received history of management in the English National Health Service (NHS) that many who have worked in healthcare since the 1970s or 1980s still tell. Similar tales are also in the academic literature, and widely told to students. Other healthcare systems across the world will doubtless have similarly widely received histories. In brief the English story runs (more or less) as follows.\nAn approach to discursive history: The primary theoretical inspiration for exploring the significance of words like \"leadership,\" \"management\" and \"administration\" comes from a reading of Jacques Derrida, a thinker whose ideas are of particular value in analyses concerned with the relationship between language and the world to which (we might assume) language refers. For Derrida, in a radicalization of John Austin's How to Do Things with Words, language never only states the way things are, it is also always performative - where performative language, is language that \"does something, in actuality, in reality, with reality\" (Royle, 2000, p. 9). And it is Derrida's radicalized version of Austin's \"speech acts\" theory that I use to understand the words \"leadership,\" \"management\" and \"administration\" as performative.\nThe era of NHS administration: The main empirical materials in this section are derived from the May editions of a journal called The Hospital (TH) which was sampled between 1946 and 1948, 1956 and 1958 and 1966 and 1968 (cf. Learmonth, 1998). During this period, TH was the official publication of the Institute of Hospital Administrators (IHA), a body to which the vast majority of hospital administrators belonged. The IHA was primarily a professional membership organization, setting examinations for apprentice administrators, as well as publishing TH in order to meet its members' continuing education needs. Today incidentally, the successor body to the IHA is known as the Institute of Healthcare Management - see www.ihm.org.uk/home - a change of name not without significance, of course, for the arguments in this paper. In any event, the study of TH was conducted not so much to enable an understanding of the formal arrangements and official reports of the time, rather it was intended to enable inferences to be made about the ways in which the people called administrators thought and acted in this period.\nThe era of NHS management: In 1983, at the request of the secretary of State for Health and Social Security, a team of businessmen headed by Roy Griffiths produced the NHS Management Inquiry - a document that was widely read as recommending the adoption of \"a clearly defined general management function throughout the NHS\" (DHSS, 1983, p. 11). As we have seen, similar proposals had been made in the 1960s with no effect. This time, however, within two years, the Thatcher government (the prestige that Thatcher accorded to business people is significant here) announced that general managers had been appointed at all levels of the NHS; albeit in the teeth of bitter opposition from many healthcare professions (Timmins, 1998).\nThe era of NHS leadership: But did the discursive change from administration to management have the effects on medical staff's allegiances that was seemingly desired? It seems that its effects were limited. Perhaps, in part, this was because for individual chief executives, even those who have never been administrators themselves, the discursive history of the term manager in the NHS always has the denigrated shadow of the administrator behind it: people called managers in the NHS are intrinsically vulnerable to being cast as \"mere\" administrators. One might speculate then that it was the negative associations accumulated by management and administration by the end of the 1990s that underlay the popular and officially sanctioned turn to leadership that occurred at that time, not just in health but in many other parts of the public sector (Ford, 2004). It may well also account for other discursive shifts in the NHS that reduced the need to deploy the term manager and management, especially in clinical matters. Prominent examples from the early New Labour era included senior nurses being described as modern matrons or nurse consultants (rather than as nurse managers) and the control of clinical activities being officially designated clinical governance (rather than clinical management).\nDiscussion and conclusion: It follows then that many activities carried out by NHS staff today \"are\" management (or administration, or leadership) in the sense that they are currently given these names. However, the contribution of this historical analysis is to show that these same activities are always potentially not management or not leadership in the sense that they can always be called by other names - and, as we have seen, they have been given different names in times past. What a particular activity \"is\" does not rely on some essence within it - things like leadership, management or administration (indeed all categories through which we experience the world) are human creations, a reflection of conventional ways of apprehending the world and not a reflection of what the world is \"really like.\" What leadership, management and administration have come to represent therefore has been made to appear self-evident through an inescapably arbitrary process of inclusion and exclusion of significance, a process held together only by convention and power. It is interesting to note in this respect, how the interview excerpts used resonate with definitions of management and administration like the one provided by Hughes (1994):Public administration focuses on process, on procedures and propriety, while public management involves much more. Instead of merely following instructions, a public manager focuses on achieving results and taking responsibility for doing so(pp. 3-4).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore a possible discursive history of National Health Service (NHS) \"management\" (with management, for reasons that will become evident, very much in scare quotes). Such a history is offered as a complement, as well as a counterpoint, to the more traditional approaches that have already been taken to the history of the issue.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Document analysis and interviews with UK NHS trust chief executives.\nFindings: After explicating the assumptions of the method it suggests, through a range of empirical sources that the NHS has undergone an era of administration, an era of management and an era of leadership.\nResearch limitations/implications: The paper enables a recasting of the history of the NHS; in particular, the potential for such a discursive history to highlight the interests supported and denied by different representational practices.\nPractical implications: Today's so-called leaders are leaders because of conventional representational practices - not because of some essence about what they really are.\nSocial implications: New ideas about the nature of management.\nOriginality/value: The value of thinking in terms of what language does - rather than what it might represent.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Barriers to discharge from inpatient rehabilitation: a teamwork approach	[ "Leadership", "Patient safety", "Health and safety", "Patient satisfaction", "Continuous quality improvement", "Discharge barriers", "Length of stay" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nBackground: Ensuring patient safety and improved health throughout the hospital course has now extended itself to the discharge process. Great care goes into helping patients' well-being while hospitalized and the same care needs to be taken to ensure patients transition home safely. Safe and efficient discharges are becoming increasingly important considering the trend toward shorter hospital stays and more care in the community (Mistiaen et al., 2000). Despite the growing concern for discharge safety, research demonstrates that a variety of adverse events frequently occur (Mistiaen et al., 2000). Studies suggest that 45 percent of patients over the age of 65 have medication errors (Jencks et al., 2009). Additionally, 18 percent of Medicare patients are readmitted within 30-days (Medicare & Medicaid Statistical Supplement, 2007), suggesting they were discharged too soon or did not have the appropriate information and follow-up once they left the hospital. Poor discharge planning contributes to unsafe return to community, prolonged length of stay (LOS), and ultimately decreases patient satisfaction and wellbeing. Conversely, improved discharge planning may promote recovery, sustain patient's wellbeing after re-entry into the community, decrease readmissions, and improve the financial climate of the healthcare system. The resolution may be development of a comprehensive discharge planning system.\nMethods: Subjects included all patients admitted to the community-based IRF utilized in this study. There were no inclusion or exclusion criteria as the implemented discharge protocol became standard of care on the unit starting in July of 2014. Patient data were not used for research purposes and all outcome measures were taken from publically accessible data. As such, the Institutional Review Board determined that approval was not necessary.\nResults: The number of discharges per year from 2012-2015, the average annual LOS, total rate of readmissions for all diagnoses and the rate of readmissions for the same diagnosis are described in Table I.\nDiscussion: After the implementation of our discharge intervention, LOS decreased, patient satisfaction improved, discharge information was optimized, readmission rates declined, and the financial wellbeing of the IRF was improved. These findings have been echoed in the Cardiac Heart Failure and geriatric literature, demonstrating that a multidisciplinary and comprehensive discharge plan can reduce costs, short-term readmissions rates, and LOS (Naylor et al., 1999; Anderson et al., 2005).\nConclusions: Hospitals have the responsibility to ensure that patients are safely and efficiently discharged home. This is becoming increasingly important, considering the trend toward shorter stays in inpatient rehabilitation and more care in the community. Adverse events frequently occur during the transition from hospital to home that can lead to increased morbidity and mortality. The implementation of our discharge intervention including identifying barriers early in the hospital course and improving communication, resulted in a reduced LOS, improved patient's satisfaction with their transition home, and a decrease in short-term readmission rates. This study demonstrated that a structured discharge plan grounded in communication and teamwork can improve patient safety during the discharge period.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: In order to prevent adverse events during the discharge process, coordinating appropriate community resources, medication reconciliation, and patient education needs to be implemented before the patient leaves the hospital. This coordination requires communication and effective teamwork amongst staff members. In order to address these concerns, the purpose of this paper is to incorporate the TeamSTEPPS principles to develop a discharge plan that would best meet the needs of the patients as they return to the community.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Through a gap analysis, barriers to discharge were identified from the following disciplines: nursing, social work, physical and occupational therapy, psychology, and rehabilitation physician. To improve communication, weekly meetings and twice-weekly huddles were implemented so that concerns regarding discharge obstacles could be identified and resolved. Visibility of discharge dates were improved by use of graduation certificates in patient rooms and green ribbons on patient wheelchairs.\nFindings: After implementation of this discharge intervention, length of stay was reduced providing cost savings to the hospital, patient satisfaction on HCAHP surveys improved and demonstrated patient satisfaction with the discharge process, and readmission rates improved.\nOriginality/value: This study demonstrated that effective teamwork and communication can improve patient safety and satisfaction during the discharge period.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Exploring political skill and deception	[ "Political skill", "Influence", "Deception", "Confidence", "Guilt" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Research into social influence theory has been extensive and it has repeatedly shown the power that both influential individuals and specific influence tactics can have over people in an organization. Organizational behavioral research has shown that influence tactics can take a prominent role in how and why organizations and organizational members make the decisions they do (Ferris and Kacmar, 1992; Wayne and Liden, 1995). Research using social influence theory to study organizational politics has shown that politically skilled individuals are able to effectively engage in a variety of political influence tactics which enhance their personal or organizational objectives (Ferris et al., 2007).\nMethodology: measures, methods, and analysis: This research uses a survey research design. A survey design provides a way to tap into the perceptual variables of interest of this study. These perceptual constructs are thereby quantified so that comparisons can be made and inferences can be drawn about the relationships between the variables in the population.\nResults/discussion: In general, all of the hypothesized relationships were supported. These findings support the purpose of the study which adds to and extends our understanding of political skill as it applies to deceptive communication efforts (i.e. politically motivated deception intent). The results demonstrate that students that possess high levels of political skill will likely experience more confidence in their ability to deceive others. This phenomenon gives new insight and explains some of the variability we see in deception confidence levels from person to person. This is important as higher levels of deception confidence are associated with deception success.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore and develop a model which examines the effects of political skill on an individual's intent to deceive.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Data were obtained through a survey research design (n=273). The sample consisted of college students. A covariance-based structural equation modeling approach was used to analyze the data.\nFindings: Individual's with high levels of political skill had more deception confidence and less deception guilt. Increased deception confidence was shown to be positively related to perceptions of deception success which is turn is positively associated with deception intent. The factors duping delight and deception guilt were also found to be related to deception intent.\nResearch limitations/implications: This research furthers deception research by using a strong behavioral framework to determine the motivational influences on an individual's politically motivated intent to deceive. In doing so, this research identifies factors which contribute to the general understanding of politically motivated deception intent. However, caution must be applied when making external generalizations outside of the sample of college students.\nPractical implications: There are practical applications to this research as well. In general those who are highly politically skilled seem to have a stronger intention to deceive. At best, these findings can begin to contribute to the understanding of who we can trust and who we should be wary of. At worst, these findings can help us know who we should turn to when we need to deceive and manipulate others without them catching on. Perhaps this is why we love the rock-star politicians on the side of the isle but loathe the rock-star politicians on the other side of the isle. If we are able to assess the level of political skill in our friends, co-workers, bosses, politicians, etc., we may be keener in picking up on the signals of deception.\nSocial implications: One final area of future research which can build on the concepts presented in this study is the area of social and political power at the macro level. Though the focus of this study is the individual, it is possible that political skill and deceptive communications play an important part of power relationships in wide range of stable institutional systems. Future research should examine to what extent an individual's political skill and deception abilities can influence society at large.\nOriginality/value: This research extends research on political skill as it explores the effect of political skill in a new context. This research identifies an important facet of why some individuals are better able than others to successfully deceive and may help explain some of the variability in the inability to consistently detect deception efforts.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Borrow Direct: a decade of a sustained quality book-lending service	[ "Lending services", "Books", "Interlending", "United States of America" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Improving access to publications today involves negotiating licenses for online access to electronic journals and digitizing print resources for virtual desktop delivery. However, improved access to non-electronic materials is still highly valued. A successful unmediated book borrowing service that consistently delights readers and deals with shared access to physical books not available in their local library has been in operation for the past decade. Called Borrow Direct, it is a patron-intitiated interlibrary loan service operating among seven academic research libraries in Ivy League universities located in northeast US[1]. It provides faculty, students and staff at any of its member institutions with the delivery of available circulating books - in physical format - within four days of placing a request online. For libraries this service has lowered the cost of providing such interlibrary loans to well below $10 per transaction and has raised the appreciation for a core service well above any of its designers' expectations. The startup and evaluation of Borrow Direct has been documented elsewhere (Nitecki and Jones, 2003, 2004; Nitecki and Renfro, 2004). This essay will review briefly the basis of this success story, highlight trends in service, management, and technology that Borrow Direct has illustrated during its ten-year history, and offer a snapshot of what issues it will face in the future.\nBackground: The late 1990s and start of this century witnessed an increasing volume of interlibrary loan requests, coupled with rising costs of providing ILL services. Several initiatives to improve the services were taken. Ohiolink was developed under the Ohio Board of Regents recommendation in 1987 to implement a \"statewide electronic catalog system.\" By the early 1990s, six universities implemented the single platform system that took advantage of advances in library automation to facilitate resource sharing among public institutions throughout the state. Beginning in 1993, during a period of significant economic stress on libraries' collection budgets, the North American Interlibrary Loan and Document Delivery Project (NAILLDD) sought to facilitate standards and technologies that would improve ILL processes, making them less labor-intensive and more cost-effective.A willingness to experiment, leverage technologies, and collaborate with peer institutions led three major academic research libraries to agree to explore and develop a concept to simplify interlibrary borrowing and lower service costs. The origins of Borrow Direct began in 1996 when directors and other librarians from the university libraries of Columbia, Pennsylvania and Yale responded to a desire from their Provosts to demonstrate cross-institutional collaboration. These three \"CoPY\" members launched the service in November 1999 and in fall 2002 expanded its membership to include the libraries of Brown, Cornell, Dartmouth and Princeton Universities. The shared vision for the service has been to provide convenient access to book collections at peer institutions as a form of extended circulation. From its inception, four success factors guided the evolution of the service design:1. The service would function independently of any specific circulation or library management system.2. Books would be delivered for reader pickup in no more than four business days.3. At least 85 percent of submitted requests would be filled by member libraries.4. The average costs to provide the service would be less than $10 per transaction.To achieve this vision defined by these success metrics, the members established the following few core service agreements:* The service begins with the premise that the reader seeks a known title, author, or ISBN. The system is designed to leverage the online catalogs and to facilitate the lending of books shared among its members. The system's purpose thus is to efficiently and conveniently locate, retrieve, send and then receive specified books and notify the reader of its transport for his or her local use.* A commercial delivery service (e.g. UPS) would be used to deliver shipments of books, consolidated for simplicity and costs, in cartons of specified packing (e.g. not to exceed 40 lbs) to one or two addresses at each campus.* Participating libraries would not charge each other any fees for the loan or delinquent return of books shared through the Borrow Direct service.* Only current faculty, students and staff are eligible for the service; for example, reciprocal loans are not extended to alumni, donors, or visiting scholars.* Service standards should be consistently and reliably met, including consistent four day total delivery time and providing a one month loan period to readers.The design of the system leveraged original screen scraping technologies. Borrow Direct was innovative in being among, if not the first, service that provided direct peer initiated requests that were processed across multiple platforms. The design was sensitive to institutional autonomy, through additional policy agreements and operational designs that assured each institution would be responsible for the following:* Determining how local readers will be authenticated for using Borrow Direct.* Deciding which branch libraries and collections are eligible for participation in the Borrow Direct service.* Customizing e-mail messages to communicate with its constituents.* Designing forms needed to page books.* Managing local workflows and staffing in accordance with its own library organization and culture.\nSources of success: The major source of the Borrow Direct success might be its compulsion for efficiency. Several system design factors contribute to reducing the effort required for the initiation and processing of interlibrary loan requests. Patrons complete several steps that in traditional ILL models are handled by staff. These include initiating the search for an available copy and verifying through selection that the needed item exists before a formal request is activated. The system automatically checks the online catalogs of participating libraries for location and also confirms availability status through checking the circulation and shelf status of copies before sending the lending library a request. Staff at the lending library are thus presented with a request for an item known to be in its holdings, reportedly available on the shelf and eligible for lending, and with the local call number and location for retrieval, typically without any catalog look up required (on occasion, libraries receive a request for an item \"on order\" or \"in process\" that does not have a call number assignment; such requests require minimal catalog verification for location). Staff also enjoy other operational efficiencies by utilizing a web-based staff module with no client to install. They have fewer processing steps. Staff processing borrowing requests update receipt and return of transactions once and do not need to work in both an ILL and circulation system as in traditional workflows. Lending staff simply print page slips with call numbers on them, retrieve books, and similarly update in one system the shipment and the completion transaction information. The system also handles patron notifications through automatically generated emails at various steps in the process to inform readers of the status of their requests. Thus the major, system provided, efficiencies result in staff not having to verify lending requests, not having to identify which libraries own the requested item or have an available copy, and not having to update both Borrow Direct and local integrated library systems. In addition, when multiple libraries have available copies, the system balances the workload by distributing the requests according to an algorithm that aims to share the demand on library collections.The results of this system design, driven by efficiencies to lower costs, did not however do so at the expense of patron experiences. From its beginning, users of Borrow Direct were delighted with its ease of use, its reliability to deliver requested items quickly, its frequent communications through email reports of the status of requests, and its less restrictive policies for interlibrary sharing. Users reported the ability to obtain items held by their local library but borrowed by someone else as high among factors contributing to their satisfaction with the service.But there are a few drawbacks identified in the service that has been designed to maximize the efficient use of automated functions. Users find the lack of renewals disappointing. Some feel that known item searching is also limiting, wishing to have the same reliable delivery as a result of full discovery systems using for example subject or keyword searching to identify books of interest. The number of e-mail notifications is annoying to some who only wish to know when the item requested is available for their use. Inconsistencies of catalog bibliographic and item level records prohibit precise matches for searches of multiple volume sets and the lack of notes in the Borrow Direct system result in special staff handling and subsequent delays.\nTrends: Use\nWhat's on the horizon?: Borrow Direct was from its inception, and remains being today, an innovative service that utilizes simple principles and technologies to provide efficient processes to locate, request, and deliver books among seven research libraries for use by faculty, students and staff. However, the service does not exist in a vacuum. Changes in technologies, user expectations and service models create opportunities for improvements as well as conditions that place Borrow Direct at risk. This essay concludes with reflections on some of these risks and opportunities.The Borrow Direct service model is a hybrid of interlibrary loan and circulation services. It improves the multiple activities involved in traditional interlibrary loan processing by automating the steps of bibliographic search, verification, location, local check of circulation status, call number identification, and patron notification. Opportunities for improvements in the next phase of this service include completing the circulation loop by integrating patron check-out with the system; at present borrowing libraries either manually create records to track the loan of the item to the patron through their circulation system or rely on trust to lend the book to the reader without a circulation record. Another anticipated improvement with a new system will be the integration of other ILL management systems with Borrow Direct, whereby an unfilled request can be automatically transferred for traditional processing, for example to ILLIAD, an ILL management software used by all current Borrow Direct participants. This will not only reduce staff effort and thus costs, but also promises to be a streamlined approach to simplifying the patron's request by requiring only one statement of need. With interest to expand the membership of Borrow Direct, several service challenges will need to be addressed. The distance between participants is relatively small, ranging from 41 to 304 miles, with an average distance of 167 miles between two members and a median of 172 miles. Adding west coast or mid west research libraries, for example, will increase the transportation distance between participants. Costs for commercial delivery currently used (i.e. UPS) are based on distance and undoubtedly such an expansion will have an impact on cost and time of response to user requests.The software components that underpin the Borrow Direct service (e.g. Apache and Informix) are old, having functioned relatively well for over a decade which is a long performance period for automated systems. However the versions of software used for which the system was designed are no longer maintained and new security patches are no longer available. Similarly, the system's original limits on outstanding transactions and storage cannot be increased without modifying proprietary portions of the code. The resulting impact has been experienced with a temporary freeze of the system. No new partners can be added without similar risks to the performance of the system.With this combination of elements of the system at risk and the opportunities for improvement, the Borrow Direct partners have been eager to change its platform. The service is tremendously popular. Its popularity has placed increased demands on the system as well as greater interest by other libraries to join the partnership. To address either, the need for change has been evident for some time.The Borrow Direct partners reviewed alternate platforms and service arrangements on a few occasions. In 2008, a detailed examination of Relais, Autographics, SIRSI Dynix, and WorldCat Local was undertaken. At the time of preparing this essay (mid-2009), negotiations are underway, but a new vendor has not been contracted. The results, transition and outcomes of changing to a new system will be content for another story.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper aims to describe the development and operation of an unmediated book-lending service between seven academic libraries in the USA.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The approach is descriptive and analytical.\nFindings: - It was found that, after a decade of operations, Borrow Direct continues to be a successful service.\nOriginality/value: - The paper offers insights that may be of value to other groups exploring ways to lower costs, improve service quality, and respond to continuing demand for books not available locally.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Improving low-income parents' fruit and vegetable intake and their potential to impact children's nutrition	[ "Low pay", "Parents", "Fruits", "Vegetables", "Children (age groups)" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Fruit and vegetable consumption\nMethods: Study design\nResults: Descriptive results\nDiscussion: Overall findings\nConclusion: Parents influence the knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors related to healthy eating among their children. Following this belief, the Network for a Healthy California - LAUSD developed their Parent Nutrition Education Program with the intent to increase the exposure students have to nutrition education at home. Much effort was exerted on the part of Network - LAUSD staff and other collaborators to design and implement this program. The findings from this study have led to positive changes among the participants and refinements of the parent nutrition education program. The success of the program on impacting the knowledge and behaviors of the parent participants reinforces the importance of developing well-designed interventions that specifically target the intended audience and intended outcomes.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this research is to test a comprehensive nutrition program developed specifically to target low-income parents of young school-aged children and determine whether the programme-resulted in changes in parents' knowledge, attitude, self-confidence, and behaviours related to both their and their child's nutrition in relation to fruit and vegetable intake.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This study used a quasi-experimental pre-test/post-test design in which parent centers were selected to participate as either intervention or control sites. The primary method of data collection was self-administered questionnaires.\nFindings: - The results show significant positive changes in parent knowledge, food behaviors, and home environment. No changes were observed in parents' attitudes; however, parent attitudes were high at baseline.\nPractical implications: - This work reinforces the importance of developing well designed interventions that specifically target the intended audience and intended outcomes.\nOriginality/value: - This is one of the few studies that have examined the potential and value of nutrition-focused intervention targeting low-income and predominantly Hispanic populations with the potential goal of impacting children.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The distribution of unlevered housing in American urban areas	[ "Housing policy", "Home mortgages", "Home ownership" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: From an investment perspective, government policy for increasing homeownership has primarily been directed toward creating access to mortgage funds through GSE's (Carr and Mulcahy, 2010). This has worked well for the white middle-class population in American urban areas, less well for lower income whites, blacks and Hispanics. Many argue that the housing bubble of the 1990s was created by a Federal Reserve policy of monetary ease and by GSE programs that increased homeownership rates to an unsustainable level through a series of liberal credit policies (e.g., no money down, no documentation, negative equity, and the use of teaser rates) that enabled individuals to qualify for mortgages they would not be able to carry. The resultant wave of foreclosures dramatically reduced housing prices and left many investors with substantial losses (Clark, 2013). This was particularly true in minority communities where predatory investors were active. The lesson to be learned from this era is that there are limits to encouraging investing in housing by creating access to mortgage funds.\nPatterns of ownership in American Community Survey (ACS) surveyed communities: Insight into the nature of home ownership can be obtained from a cross-sectional spatial analysis of local housing patterns. The housing market is not homogeneous. Regional and local variations in these factors provide a microcosm of the factors influencing home ownership (Rickman and Guettabi, 2015; Huang, 2014). The cross-sectional analysis of spatial housing patterns provides insight into long-run housing tenure decisions (Lebo and Weber, 2015; Carruthers and Mulligan, 2013).\nEmpirical analysis: Regression 1 in Table IV shows that while the percentage of the black population in a county is negatively associated with owner-occupation in total, it only explains half the variation in owner-occupation. While the gap in black-white home ownership may be due to the effect of racial segregation, other factors may be important as well. The positive correlation between the percentage of individuals 65+ in a county and owner-occupation suggests only that such individuals are more likely to live in owner-occupied homes - they may be the owner, or they may simply reside there with the owner.\nConclusions: The spatial analysis of home ownership patterns presented suggests both similarities and differences in housing tenure decisions for investors in housing with a mortgage and without a mortgage. Similarities are grouped around the importance of the amenity value of homeownership for both groups. Differences are grouped around the lesser importance of amenity value for homeowners without a mortgage and a consequent greater sensitivity to the investment potential of homeownership. These differences are reflected in the finding that median income is positively related to owner occupation across counties and negatively related to owner occupation without a mortgage and that while the relative continuing cost of housing is not significant for all homeowners, it is significant for homeowners without a mortgage. Of particular interest is the fact that no significant relationship is found to exist between overall homeownership and labor force participation, whereas a significant negative relationship is found to exist for owner-occupied housing without a mortgage. These findings suggest that the two groups have fundamentally different economic approaches to home ownership.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of social and economic factors on home ownership as an investment in American urban areas.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors run a spatial analysis using home ownership data on 817 American counties from US Census Bureau's 2013 American Community Survey.\nFindings: While the amenity value of home ownership is found to be important to overall housing tenure decisions, it is found to be less so for the ownership cohort without mortgages. Economic factors are found to impact the spatial pattern of owner-occupied housing without mortgage differently than that of all owner-occupied housing. The implications of these differences for investors are explored.\nResearch limitations/implications: The results may lack generalizability outside of the American urban areas.\nPractical implications: As a result of the findings of this study, a shift in investor focus from minimizing initial housing costs to sustainable housing costs is recommended.\nOriginality/value: This study provides insights into the social and economic dimensions of owner-occupied housing in order to create a more profitable investing policy for promoting home ownership.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The requisite match between internal resources and network ties to cope with knowledge scarcity	[ "Knowledge management", "Capabilities", "Networks", "Internal resources", "Knowledge scarcity", "Soft resources", "SMEs", "Internationalisation", "Wine industry" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Victims of galloping globalization, incessant structural change, a vicious roller-coaster of economic and financial crises, and technological advancements, wine businesses' traditional marketing tactics appear progressively powerless to defend against strengthening hyper-competition. While conventional strategic processes appear both ineffective and irrelevant, and while the illness and the symptoms are gradually being identified and acknowledged, the cure eludes a significant majority of companies (Galati et al., 2017; Crescimanno et al., 2014a; Vrontis et al., 2011, 2012).\nLiterature review and research hypothesis: In highly competitive markets such as the food and beverage one, globalization has forced SMEs to reconfigure their strategies toward internationalization (Fernandez Olmos, 2011). As early as the first years of the 2000s, scholars agreed that internationalization is a sine qua non condition for survival and success (Galati et al., 2017; Pla-Barber and Alegre, 2007). Internationalization, in its most efficient form, is the export activity that, according to Majocchi et al. (2005), plays a crucial role in accessing foreign markets for SMEs. Consequently, a significant part of extant research efforts has been geared toward identifying the main determinants leading an SME to experiment with exporting. However, scholars have not yet reached a general consensus on the most suitable factors, as Fernandez Olmos (2011) and Pla-Barber and Puig (2009) pointed out particularly for the wine industry.\nMethodology: Sample and collected data\nResults and discussion: Table II shows the descriptive statistics and the correlation matrix among variables performed using Pearson's correlation coefficient in relation to whether the data is from a normal distribution. To test our hypotheses, an ordinary least square was carried out using the SPSS software (version 17.0), the results of which are presented in Table III.\nConceptual development - a preliminary theoretical framework of small and medium enterprise internationalization capabilities and networks as a tool for supporting a successful internal knowledge management: Further to the above valuable findings, this research provides the foundation for a more comprehensive understanding of the forces and factors affecting SME internationalization. In fact, we are now able, albeit still at a conceptual level, to observe the interrelationship of three aspects of SME internationalization - the strategic, the internal and the network - not only as factors affecting each other but also as a system and as a process. This is useful for both scholarship and industry. The individual components of the triad are also presented, including functional/procedural ones and those that are softer, intangible and more subtle. This section describes this conceptual development.\nConclusions: This research has focused on two strategic approaches related to a firm's network ties and \"soft\" resources and their influence on its export strategies. Furthermore, it identifies the degree and nature of their interaction and reveals the essence and true value of the findings by concentrating on the individual elements to analyze the relationship among wineries' managerial characteristics/capabilities, knowledge acquisition and exploitation, networks tie and export performance.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to investigate the internationalization strategies of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), focusing on the interaction between network ties and \"soft\" internal resources at the foundation of knowledge management (KM). Specifically, it identifies the firms' internal capabilities that affect KM strategies, and their collective influence on the degree of internationalization; verifies the influence of network ties on the internationalization process itself; and develops a conceptual \"preliminary theoretical framework of SME internationalization capabilities and networks.\"\nDesign/methodology/approach: The primary research and analysis are based on a proportional stratified sample of Sicilian wineries; while the conceptual and implicative developments of the paper rest on the combination of the theoretical with the primary findings of the research, and, it has been designed and tested through eight experts' interviews/reviews.\nFindings: Findings underline a strong influence of the internal capabilities of firms on the internationalization process. In addition, an important role in the export process emerges from the acquisition of information and knowledge through the establishment of networks.\nResearch limitations/implications: The results need to be interpreted within the context for which this study was designed and cannot be applied generally to all businesses. However, results allow cellars' managers to better understand the relationships among the influencing factors of SMEs internationalization.\nOriginality/value: The originality of the paper lies not only in its above-stated explicit theoretical objectives and findings but also in its comprehensive conceptual framework that theoretically incorporates the \"strategic\" with the \"internal\" and \"networking\" aspects; purposefully also arming the industry with a practicable tool toward managerial implementation.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Meditation, learning, organizational innovation and performance	[ "Self managed learning", "Organizational performance", "Organizational innovation" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: With fast developing technology and gradually globalizing market, traditional organizational management is longer considered an appropriate strategy in this highly competitive business environment. Nowadays, businesses must compete for their survival through continuous improvement and innovation to sustain competitive advantages. That is, businesses need innovation in order to obtain opportunities for survival. As Leavy (1998) points out, resistance to innovation is likely to result in enterprises of decreasing performance. According to Drucker (1993), innovation is not only a process, but also a combination of innovative elements, which includes the inconsistent needs from the environment, needs of production procedure, change of industries and markets, as well as the composition of demographics.Globalization has opened worldwide trade markets which bring business opportunities that have never been seen. Meanwhile, globalization also opens the door to tough competitions in various industries. As a result, enterprises can longer consider employees as laborers who only contribute their manpower. As Drucker (1993) points out, knowledge workers have become the most vital asset in the knowledge-based society. Therefore, qualified employees are a critical component of business success, and effective strategies for continuously enhancing employees' competency are in urgent need.Knowledge is a strategic asset that helps organizations maintain their competitive ability in a turbulent environment (Jantunen, 2005). The success of organizations consequently is built upon organizations' and individuals' speed in learning. As Jude-York (1991) points out, organizations striving in today's fast-changing marketplace are facing the need to have employees who know how to learn and who can quickly retool and be ready for new challenges. Self-directed learners seem to be individuals who are most likely to succeed at this and are becoming an increasing valuable resource within modern organizations (Ho, 2008; Naisbitt and Aburdene, 1985; Senge, 1990).In addition, the pace of the modern society is placing increasing pressure on people. This is especially the case with working adults who are expected to deal with stress resulting from a multitude of social, professional, and family demands. According to Azedo, Divisional Director of Grant Thornton Asia-Pacific, stress levels are rising in Asia as competitive pressures intensify and demands on managers increase. Based on the Grant Thornton's, 2006 International Business Owners Survey, Taiwan topped the league table of countries to report rising stress levels, with 89 percent of business owners saying their felt under increased pressure (Thornton, 2006). Stress is the body's natural response to enhance efficiency in coping with demanding and competitive situations. However, over an extended period of time, stress not only negatively affects people's productivity, but also their physical and mental health (Benson, 2005). In the Chinese world, meditation seems to be a response to this phenomenon.This paper presents the results of an empirically based study on the organizational performance (OP) (term discussed in later section) of 15 electronic industrial listed and over-the-counter listed technological companies which are located in the northern part of Taiwan. The investigation aims to examine how meditation experience of the top and middle managers from these high tech companies affects their self-directed learning (SDL) capability and consequently the organizational innovative (OI) ability and OP. Furthermore, this study examines the correlation between SDL and OI, as well as OI and OP.This paper consists of five sections. In addition to Introduction, the other sections are \"Literature review\", \"Method\", \"Results and discussions\", and finally, \"Conclusion and implications\".\n2 Literature review: This section reviews the literature to identify the relevant practices comprising meditation and its benefits, SDL, OI, OP, and relationship between dimensions.2.1 Meditation and its benefits\n3 Method: 3.1 Research and hypotheses\n4 Results and discussions: In the first section of the analysis, the learners' meditation experience is analyzed against factors within the SDL, OI, and OP dimensions using t-test. In the second section, correlations are calculated for each of the dimension pairings, namely, SDL to OI as well as OI to OP, according to the research structure in Figure 1.4.1 The effect of meditation experience on three dimensions\n5 Conclusion and implications: Existing literature has consistently showed that SDL among middle and top managers is a critical component in sustaining competitiveness of organizations since 1990s (Calder and McCollumn, 1998; Robinson and Arthy, 1999). Smith et al. (2007) suggest that self-directedness of managers is worth pursuing by organizations which wish to achieve professional development in a competitive fast-changing industrial context. The study particularly targets middle and top management personnel from electronic industrial listed and over-the-counter listed technological companies in Taiwan. The study explores the condition of current SDL and OI implementation and their effect on OP, thereby proposing a theoretical model which is analyzed using t-test, Pearson correlation analysis, and multiple stepwise regression method. Similar models have been largely unexplored by prior researchers.The findings indicate that SDL can only impact OI through managers' openness to a challenge, inquisitive nature, self-understanding, and acceptance of responsibility for learning. In particular, managers' openness to a challenge is the most influential personal characteristic which contributes to technological, market, and administrative innovation. Such a finding implies that in order to maximize OI capability, organizations may encourage managers to take risks or accept new opportunities through various incentives, such as monetary rewards or public recognitions. As Pedler et al. (1997) point out, organizations may promote SDL through the following:* encourage all employees to learn and share what they have learned with other employees;* establish systems in areas of the organization that require learning;* value and reward learning in the organization; and* continuously evolve the organization with learning.The members of the organization should be given more authority and responsibility over their everyday task, self-development, and job-related training to enhance their self-directedness (James-Gordon and Bal, 2003). In addition, a proper culture which nurtures SDL is necessary to trigger the members of the organization to become self-directed learners (Jude-York, 1991), increasing their potential to participate in effective organizational learning activities (Dolezalek, 2004; James-Gordon and Bal, 2003), which consequently adds value to the firm (Kandarian, 2004).The findings also indicate that OI significantly affects OP, which are parallel with a number of prior researches (Aragon-Correa et al., 2007; Garcia-Morales et al., 2006; Guan et al., 2006; Orfila-Sintes and Mattsson, 2009). More specifically, this study discovers that while administration innovation is the most important element influencing an organization's financial performance, market innovation is the key component in an organization's market performance. Both identifications can also find supporting evidence in existing studies, such as Chen and Lee (2008), Chow et al. (2008), Demirbag et al. (2006), Deshpande et al. (1993), Nwokah (2008), as well as Radford et al. (2007). The findings imply that the most effective way to increase an organization's financial performance is through appropriate administrative planning and implementation. For instance, a firm may increase cash flow by careful and efficient investment, decrease personnel expenditure by well-designed job structures, or cut down facility investment by appropriate plant design.Finally, this study discovers that meditation experience positively affects SDL readiness, and OI ability and performance. Existing studies prove the benefits of meditation on both spiritual enlightenment and clinical psychology (Ramel et al., 2004). Meditation practice helps pain relief and physical health (Speca et al., 2000), reduces stress (Dwivedi, 2000), and supports relaxation (Smith, 1988). direct evidence shows the effect of meditation on SDL and OI, and only a few evidences support the influence of meditation on OP. Nevertheless, the finding on the effect of the meditation experience in a work setting adds values to the current literature. The finding implies that spiritual practice improves individual capability (i.e. in learning), as well as organizational capability (i.e. in innovativeness), which consequently enhances the outcomes of organizations.Even though the empirical results of this study largely support the proposed research model, at least three limitations should be carefully considered. First, since individual informants provide the empirical data, possible biases or preferences (e.g. learning styles, communication methods, and social preferences) may exist due to different personal experiences, family, or educational backgrounds. Second, this study uses a dichotomy method to differentiate managers' meditation experience (i.e. whether the managers have or have prior meditation experience). Thus, the variations of length, type, and form of meditation demonstrated by the managers in these high tech companies may influence the generalize-ability of the present study. Finally, since the data collection takes place in Taiwan, the characteristics of these participating firms may be quite different from those in other areas or countries. Hence, additional investigation may be worthwhile to discover the applicability of the present results in representing the general case. At the same time, the results for this report may provide a fundamental reference for the firms in other industries or countries whose environments are similar to those in Taiwan.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This study attempts to investigate: the effect of meditation experience on employees' self-directed learning (SDL) readiness and organizational innovative (OI) ability as well as organizational performance (OP); and the relationships among SDL, OI, and OP.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - An empirical study of 15 technological companies (n=412) in Taiwan is conducted, utilizing the collected survey data to test the relationships among the three dimensions.\nFindings: - The results show that: the employees' meditation experience significantly and positively influenced employees' SDL readiness, companies' OI capability and OP; and the study found that SDL has a direct and significant impact on OI, and that OI has direct and significant influences on OP.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The generalization of the present study is constrained by: the existence of possible biases of the participants; the variations of length, type, and form of meditation demonstrated by the employees in these high tech companies; and the fact that local data collection in Taiwan may present different cultural characteristics which may be quite different from those in other areas or countries. Managerial implications are presented at the end of the work.\nPractical implications: - The findings indicate that SDL can only impact organizational innovation through employees openness to a challenge, inquisitive nature, self-understanding, and acceptance of responsibility for learning. Such finding implies better OI capability under such conditions, thus organizations may encourage employees to take risks or accept new opportunities through various incentives, such as monetary rewards or public recognitions. More specifically, the present study discovers that while administration innovation is the most important element influencing an organization's financial performance, market innovation is the key component in an organization's market performance.\nSocial implications: - The present study discovers that meditation experience positively affects SDL readiness, and OI ability and performance. The finding implies spiritual practice improves individual capability (i.e. in learning), as well as organizational capability (i.e. in innovativeness), which consequently enhances the outcomes of organizations.\nOriginality/value: - Existing studies prove the benefits of meditation on both spiritual enlightenment and clinical psychology. Existing research documents that meditation practice helps relieve pain, improves physical health, reduces stress, and supports relaxation. No direct evidence shows the effect of meditation on SDL and OI, and only some evidence supporting the influence of meditation on OP. Nevertheless, the finding on the effect of the meditation experience in a work setting adds values to the current literature.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The influence of market orientation on innovation strategies	[ "Family business", "Market orientation", "Innovation orientation" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Market orientation has been defined as a strategic orientation toward being responsive to the needs of customers, which is rooted in an organization's culture (Kohli and Jaworski, 1990; Narver and Slater, 1990). A growing literature has examined the benefits market orientation brings to a firm (Jaworski and Kohli, 1993). It has been shown to enhance firm performance in a variety of organizational and industrial contexts (Narver and Slater, 1990; Slater and Narver, 1994).\nLiterature review: Market orientation\nHypothesis development: The relationship between market orientation and innovation strategies\nMethod: Sample and procedures\nResults: Scale validity and reliability\nDiscussion: In the present study we examined the relationships between market orientation and exploratory/exploitative innovation using a sample of 228 firms from the Australian service sector. Although we found a strong relationship between two dimensions of market orientation, namely customer and competitor orientation, and both exploratory and exploitative innovation, there was no statistical evidence to suggest that customer orientation was more strongly related to exploitative innovation, and competitor orientation was more strongly related to exploratory innovation, as has been suggested in previous research (Christensen and Bower, 1996). Further analysis revealed that whereas the relationship between customer orientation and exploratory innovation was stronger for family firms, the relationship between competitor orientation and both exploratory and exploitative innovation was weaker. However, against what was hypothesized family ownership did not moderate the relationship between customer orientation and exploitative innovation.\nLimitations and suggestions for future work: As with all research this study has a number of limitations. The first arises from its reliance on a cross-sectional design. This means we do not have conclusive proof of causality between the variables in the study. In order to address this in future researchers may collect data on market orientation and innovation variables at different points in time. Second, as firms in the present study came from the service sector the generalizability of our findings to other sectors of the economy need to be determined. Future research may investigate whether the impact of customer and competitor orientation on exploitation and exploration are similar in manufacturing firms. Finally, although in the present study we took steps to control for common method bias, future research might collect data on the main variables in our study from multiple respondents in each firm. This should provide for more robust findings.\nConclusion: This study extends the literature on service innovation by examining the relative importance of customer and competitor orientation to exploitative and exploratory innovation. In addition, by establishing that customer orientation is more important to exploratory innovation in family firms, and competitor orientation in non-family firms, it highlights the need to consider ownership factors in determining the innovation strategies adopted by firms. It is hoped this study serves as a first step to further examination the importance of market orientation to different measures of service innovation, and how ownership characteristics influence the dynamic process by which innovation strategies are undertaken.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of market orientation on exploratory and exploitative innovation, and the moderating effects of family ownership on these relationships.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This study utilizes multi-group path analysis and confirmatory factor analysis in LISREL on data from 228 firms in the Australian service sector.\nFindings: This study establishes that both customer and competitor innovation are positively related to exploitative and exploratory innovation. However, customer orientation does not lead to significantly stronger effects on exploitative innovation than on exploratory innovation, and competitor orientation does not lead to significantly stronger effects on exploratory innovation than on exploitative innovation. In addition, the study found that the relationship between customer orientation and exploratory innovation was stronger for family firms, while the relationships between competitor orientation and both exploratory and exploitative innovation were stronger for non-family firms.\nResearch limitations/implications: The cross-sectional design is one weakness of this study. In addition, as firms in the present study came from the service sector the generalizability of the findings to other sectors of the economy need to be determined.\nPractical implications: These findings of this study highlight the need for managers to build a strong market orientation in order to promote innovation, and consider the effects of ownership structure on innovation strategies.\nOriginality/value: This study is the first to measure the relative influence of customer and competitor orientation on a firm's use of exploitative and exploratory innovation strategies.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Performance evaluation in a matrix organization: a case study (Part One)	[ "Strategic evaluation", "Matrix organizations", "Performance management" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: A matrix is an organizational structure in which employees report to multiple managers, such as a functional manager and a project manager (Sy and Cote, 2004).The ultimate goal of the evaluation exercise is to improve the employee's future performance (Schweiger and Sumners, 1994).The objective of this three-part article is to understand the most effective method with which to review the functional performance of employees within a matrix organization. Through a review of the literature, we will attempt to identify the \"best practices\" in performance appraisals in the instances where an employee reports to one, manager, but functionally performs for another. This has been an enigma and challenge since the inception of the matrix. How is consistency in evaluation ensured? Making certain that there is a consistency in the standards that are applied to employees during the evaluation process, and that the criteria it takes into consideration is relevant to the industry (Grehan, 2002), it is important to understand if employees in a matrix organization are adequately reviewed when it comes to their performance evaluation.The absence of abundant and recent research on performance appraisals in a matrix organization has required this undertaking. We will present this research in three basic sections followed by a conclusion. Additionally, critical incidents with respect to personal experience by senior engineers at CAE, a leading firm founded in 1947 located in Montreal, Quebec in flight based simulators, will be offered, enabling the researchers to draw parallels and/or demonstrate contradictions to the research via a case study.CAE is a world leader in providing simulation and modelling technologies and integrated training solutions for the civil aviation industry and defence forces around the globe. CAE employs more than 6,000 people at more than 75 sites and training locations in 20 countries. The company has the largest installed base of civil and military full-flight simulators and training devices. Through CAE's global network of 27 aviation training centres, equipped with over 115 full-flight simulators, the company trains more than 75,000 crew members yearly. CAE also offer modelling and simulation software to various market segments and has a professional services division assisting customers with a wide range of simulation-based needs. With clients in over 100 countries, CAE has the broadest global reach of any simulation and training equipment and services company on the market. Ninety per cent of CAE's more than C$1 billion annual revenues are derived from worldwide exports. CAE's shares are traded on the Toronto and New York stock exchanges. CAE employs a matrix structure which will serve as a case study for this undertaking.The structure of this research article will be as follows:1. An examination of a matrix organization as it is described by the literature.2. A demonstration performance evaluation and appraisal systems and strategies. What is required for an appraisal system to be effective?3. The paper will seek to establish when and where and why an effective system of performance evaluation works, as well as demonstrates when, where and most importantly, why, it does not succeed.Additional questions worthy of investigation include: Do the functional manager and the project/program manager both take part in the evaluation process; is it delegated to the functional manager, or reserved for the project manager? How do we provide the feedback over the course of the period prior to a formal evaluation? Whose opinion of performance takes priority? Ultimately, who should actually evaluate the performance of the individual? How does an employee know when he/she is satisfying the expectations of everyone involved? Ultimately, we can illuminate the main challenge of this research article: How does one perform an effective employee evaluation within a matrix organization?If employees are not being adequately appraised, we believe that there will be a negative result with respect to their contribution to the organization. As suggested by Stanleigh (2006), it can contribute not only to poor performance on behalf of the individual, but the failure of a project as a whole. It must be difficult to ensure that an employee understands his/her value within the organization if the person who is reviewing their performance is not the person whom they actually work for on a day to day basis, especially, if the evaluation is at all negative. It would be difficult to accept criticism from someone who is not present while performing their daily functions. Edwards and Sproull (1988) argued that employees who receive a less than favorable evaluation may attribute it to the supervisor's \"poor judgment, lack of knowledge, or personal bias\". Imagine applying this to a matrix organization? This is one of the challenges to explore and explain this paradox.\nWhat is a matrix organization?: As it stands, there seems to be no clear definition of the term matrix organization. Sy and Cote (2004) define the matrix as an organizational structure where employees report to several managers. One of the earliest attempts to define a matrix organization was made by John Mee in 1964 suggesting that it is basically a \"web of relationships\" (Kolodny, 1979; Mee, 1964). Kolodny (1979) suggested that while many have attempted to clarify this definition, most tended to follow Mee's lead. More recently, Wikipedia.org defines a matrix organization as:Matrix management is a type of organizational management in which people with similar skills are pooled for work assignments. For example, all engineers may be in one engineering department and report to an engineering manager, but these same engineers may be assigned to different projects and report to a project manager while working on that project. Therefore, each engineer may have to work under several managers to get his or her job done (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matrix_management).Other definitions could be considered:... a highly organic structure, with little formalization of behavior; high horizontal job specialization based on formal training; a tendency to group the specialists in functional units for housekeeping purposes but to deploy them in small, market-based project teams to do their work; a reliance on the liaison devices to encourage mutual adjustment, the key coordinating mechanism, within and between these teams; and selective decentralization to and within these teams, which are located at various places in the organization and involve various mixtures of line managers and staff and operating experts (Wellman, 2007; Mintzberg, 1993).Matrix organizational structures were common in the 1970s and 1980s. Surprisingly contemporary research is less common and available 35 years later. Companies are continuing to adopt this structure as consumer needs are becoming more and more complex. We can see this across several industries, such as aerospace, automotive, chemical, defense, energy (Galbraith, 2000). While there is continued appreciation for this type of structure, the literature and research seems to have tapered off (Sy and D'Annunzio, 2005).While the matrix represents a different convention, it is still a hierarchical structure. As most organizations maintain dotted lines within their structure, a matrix, in effect, converts these into solid lines by having an employee report to both a program manager, and a functional manager as described in this reference:... individuals report to at least two managers: a functional manager who is responsible for their tools, training, and reassignment but does not direct their day-to-day work activity; and a program manager who directs the day-to-day activities of the team members (Wellman, 2007).We have determined through the research that a matrix structure is an organization whereby employees who may report to one manager from an organizational perspective, actually applies his/her time under the supervision of a different manager. This could range from one manager of one project, to several managers of several projects over the course of a year. These teams are created through a system which employees are borrowed from various functional areas of the organization to work on a project and then leave (Anderson and Fleming, 1990) after completion.When we refer to functional managers, we are referring to the manager to whom the employee within the organization directly reports. Formal authority with respect to employees that operate within a matrix organization on various projects tends to rest with the functional manager (Dunne et al., 1978). While daily interaction and productivity may occur under the supervision of a project manager, actual authority and performance decisions rests with the functional manager. This is one of the dilemmas.Project managers have the responsibility of managing, coordinating roles across several functional areas of an organization; however, do they have any authority with respect to employee appraisals and evaluation? According to Anderson and Fleming (1990), at Acrojet ElectroSystems Company, project managers do not generally participate in performance evaluations, as well, they offer no input with respect to merit increases.The matrix can take many forms; functional, balanced and project (Burns, 1989; Kolodny, 1979; Larson and Gobeli, 1987; Sy and D'Annunzio, 2005).Figure 1 presents the matrix forms and characteristics associated with each of the three.While the matrix structure may appear to be an appealing option for organizations that may require several projects to be completed with different project leaders, and the same resources, there are advantages and disadvantages, strengths and weaknesses.Of concern within these organizations are the goals and expectations that are set for the employee. Are they clearly communicated? This would appear to be a major challenge for the organization (Sy and Cote, 2004). Employees are placed where their talents are needed, so they could conceivably be reporting to a different project manager every day. How can the organization conduct a fair evaluation of the employee? Of particular concern is the question of ambiguous authority. While in a traditional structure which is clearly delineated, how does the employee know who he is reporting to and who will be evaluating his performance? \"In a matrix leaders can have responsibility without authority as a result of the dual reporting structure\" (Sy and D'Annunzio, 2005). See Table I for the comparison.There would appear to be some confusion in establishing who should actually be responsible for an individual within an organization, the functional or the project manager. While a functional manager can is responsible for managing the employees overall, is he/she the best one to evaluate day to day performance and contribution? There would appear to be a disconnect in relation to an appropriate evaluation process when an employee works for one manager, yet reports through and is evaluated by another. We need to rely on excellent communication between the functional and project managers in order to ensure an appropriate employee evaluation, regardless of who is to conduct the evaluation. Synthesizing the model and reality is the challenge. The following case study of CAE in part two will describe this dilemma and challenge.Also performance evaluations and appraisals will further be examined.\nConclusion: In defining a matrix organization as a company that operates with silos of employees that may be transferable from project to project over a period of time, an effective method of evaluation needs to be developed. As the success of an evaluation is reflected in the acceptance of its merit by the employee being evaluated, we can say that an evaluation must be fair and objective, and free from any preconceived notions. This is not a usual perception however.We have therefore arrived at the conclusion that the most effective method by which to measure employee performance within a matrix organization would be by employing a multi-rater system. Taking into consideration the known pitfalls and risks in evaluating employees within a matrix organization, this type of system provides the organization with the most reliable method by which to evaluate its employees.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to examine and ultimately suggest the most effective method with which to evaluate employees operating within a matrix organization. The paper aims to demonstrate the tools, corporate participation and acceptance levels required in order to ensure employee and manager \"buy in\" and implementation.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This paper consists of a comprehensive review of literature demonstrating functional areas within matrix organization as well as employee evaluation methods within various organizations. It is presented in three sections, defining a matrix organization, demonstrating effective evaluation methods and strategies, and finally showing how the two should work together. Critical incidents are interspersed throughout the article in order to demonstrate how the research compares to the methods employed by a leading aviation engineering firm.\nFindings: - Ineffective evaluation methods within matrix organizations can lead to lower employee morale as well as an ambiguous understanding of employee roles within such an organization. Employee and management buy in and support of an evaluation system and its goals are crucial to the success of the program. The multi-rater system appeared to be most effective.\nPractical implications: - Several tools exist to help employers effectively evaluate their employees in a constructive and effective manner. Among them are clear job description and corporate structure, followed by a review of performance by both functional and project managers. Additionally, peer evaluations can prove to be constructive and contribute positively to the development of the employee. This paper can be a practical aid for managers in matrix organization that need to successfully and constructively evaluate employees, but are having difficulty doing so in an effective method..\nOriginality/value: - Given the limited research with respect to evaluations within a matrix structure, this paper demonstrates an understanding of a subject that has not been adequately explored. The paper demonstrated in \"real time\" the critical synthesis for PA and the matrix organization - an absence noted in the literature.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Franchisee perceived relationship value	[ "Franchising", "Channel relationships", "Perception", "Equity theory" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: An executive summary for managers and executive readers can be found at the end of this issue.\nIntroduction: The importance of considering the franchise relationship from the view of the franchisee is supported by Frazier (1983), who called for research on \"why and how the rewards and losses from interorganizational exchange are reviewed and evaluated by each channel member\" (p. 75). Peterson and Dant (1990) cited the lack of research on the franchisee motivations for entering into the franchise relationship. In answering these calls, we explore relationship value from the perspective of the franchisee.Franchise relationships, in product or business format, operate as a system of interdependent relationships, leading to relational exchanges bounded by contractual agreement between both parties. The role of each party is essential to achieving sustainable profitability. The franchisor sets performance standards and manages brand image and economic efficiencies, and has the power to terminate the franchisee, force franchisees to purchase inputs, and misuse royalties. Franchisees must contend with restraints of the franchisor controls, contractual specifications and costs associated with the franchise system, and agree to pay out a portion of profits in the form of base fees and royalties (Baucus et al., 1993). However, the franchisee manages the local environment and daily operations in an effort to gain profits to meet the contribution requirements of the franchisor (Combs et al., 2004). In this respect, the profitability of the franchisor is dependent on the effectiveness and successes of the franchisee. If the franchisee perceived value of this alliance is imbalanced, dissatisfaction, conflict and poor performance could ensue. Thus understanding relationship value as perceived by the franchisee and implications on both behavioral and objective franchisee performances is necessary. This paper explores relationship value from the franchisees' perspective, and offer a conceptual model of franchisee perceived relationship value (FPRV).\nTheoretical background: Investigations into firms' tendency to franchise are grounded in one of two theoretical perspectives, resource scarcity theory or agency theory (Combs and Kitchen, 1999). Resource scarcity theory asserts firms offer franchises in their early years because they lack managerial expertise and capital needed to grow - and franchisees can provide both. Agency theory contends firms franchise in order to minimize agency costs through the optimal alignment between outlet managers' incentives and firms' objectives (Rubin, 1978). While these theories provide insight into research concerning organizational choice in franchising (see Combs et al., 2004), they fail to capture the behavioral concerns that characterize a relational exchange. We consider both social exchange and relational equity theories as relevant to conceptualizing franchisee perceived relationship value. This view is in line with Combs et al. (2004) citing the benefits of considering theoretical diversity in extant franchising research. We offer a brief review of these theories and extrapolate their relevance to FPRV.Social exchange theory\nReview of the value literature: Scholars have devoted attention towards conceptualizing and measuring value in business-to-business relationships (e.g. Lapierre, 2000; Ulaga and Eggert, 2005). Value has been conceptualized either based on the transaction or on the relationship between parties, with exchange at the center of each conception. The first view takes into consideration the worth of a seller's bundle of physical goods and services that is exchanged for a fair price with the buyer. The second view of value, which is more relevant to the franchisor-franchisee relationship, focuses explicitly on long-term costs and benefits associated with a customer's relationship with a supplier.In a non-franchised channel, relationship value is rooted in business and service marketing (Ulaga and Eggert, 2005). Anderson and Narus (1995, p. 5) offer a discussion of the dimensions of the value construct, and define value as the \"worth in monetary terms of the economic, technical, service, and social benefits a customer firm receives in a relationship such as shared technology practices, quality and design improvements, and improved practices that are generally derived from the continuous interaction between firms\". Wilson (1995) defined value as the outcome of a collaborative relationship that enhances the competitive abilities of the partners such that value creation is a process to develop trust and communication needed to support mutually beneficially outcomes from their interaction. Other authors such as Hogan (2001) and Lapierre (2000) conceptualized value in terms of benefits and sacrifices (Ulaga and Eggert, 2005), cost reduction (Kalwani and Narayandas, 1995), relationship management, financial and social benefits (Anderson and Narus, 1999), beliefs and competitive advantage (Wilson, 1995). These studies suggest conceptualization of franchisee relationship value is multidimensional, and can be viewed as a trade-off between franchisee benefits and sacrifices.\nFranchisee relationship value and research propositions: Based on previous conceptions of relationship value along with both social exchange theory and equity theory, franchisee perceived relationship value is defined as the trade-off between the perceived net worth of the tangible and intangible benefits and costs to be derived over the lifetime of the franchisor-franchisee relationship, as perceived by the franchisee, taking into consideration the available alternative franchise relationships. The unit of consideration is the relationship between the franchisee and franchisor from the franchisee's perspective. The proposed model provides a basis for understanding the predictors of FPRV, along with its impact on both behavioral and performance objectives. Here, we do not account for franchisee experience or personal traits as antecedents to their perception of relationship value. This is due to relationship value being previously defined as the net worth of benefits and costs, and is derived based on the franchisee. Thus for a more experienced franchisee the greatest difference in relationship value is reduction of monetary and non-monetary costs.Since the franchise relationship is contractual, our model includes both discreet and relational terms. Consideration is given to relational norms and their impact on relationship quality and subsequent relationship benefits. We offer a brief discussion of relational governance norms and their importance to franchise relationships.Relational governance\nDiscussion: The purpose of this research was to conceptualize franchise relationship value. We make several contributions to the emerging body of literature on value creation through franchised markets. This paper is among the first to examine franchisee relationship value and its associated outcomes. This is relevant to the marketing channels literature as most franchises attempt to standardize and regulate behavior, while maintaining entrepreneurial initiative and energy, providing perhaps a unique context in which to investigate value. This means a theory of dyadic relations cannot exist without understanding the causal dynamics of franchisor/franchisee interactions, which subsequently lead to perceptions of relationship value. FPRV might occupy a prominent role in such a theory because franchisor action is ultimately driven by the desire to maximize profitability while maintaining a high degree of control.Managerially, this research affords a useful foundation for making decisions in a franchise relationship, such as a franchisor's selection of a new franchisee. Often the choice of a new franchisee entails a comparison of an existing franchisee about which much is known, versus a new franchisee about which less is known. Our research provides a framework in which to examine the trade-off of benefits and costs from the franchisee's perspective, taking into consideration the franchisee's motivation for entering into the relationship.\nLimitations and future research: The greatest limitation is that our construct and related concepts were drawn from the literature and have not been validated empirically. However, our goal was to present a conceptual framework to stimulate research interest surrounding relationship value in franchised relationships. Future research is needed to assess the tangible benefits that are derived from social elements of the franchised relationship.\nConclusion: We have attempted to conceptualize franchisee relationship value, and in doing so we have made two unique contributions. First, we draw conclusions about the theories' effectiveness in conceptualizing franchisee perceived relationship value, and direct attention towards unanswered questions surrounding the franchise relationship. Second, by recognizing the franchisee's perspective in the relationship, we show how interorganizational relationships are perceived as valuable through dyadic evaluations.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The paper seeks to develop a conceptualization of franchisee perceived relationship value (FPRV), defined as the trade-off between perceived net worth of tangible and intangible benefits and costs to be derived over the lifetime of the franchisor-franchisee relationship, as perceived by the franchisee, taking into consideration the available alternative franchise relationships.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A survey of existing literature provided the relevant constructs and concepts for developing a conceptual framework of FPRV.\nFindings: - The behavioral aspects of the franchise relationship are explored from the franchisee's perspective, providing an alternative viewpoint of the franchise relationship.\nPractical implications: - The paper affords a useful foundation for making decisions in a franchise relationship, such as the choice of a new franchisee. This entails a comparison of an existing franchisee about which much is known versus a new franchisee about which less is known. FPRV offers a constructive lens to better evaluate this decision and help frame questions concerning the value of social elements within the relationship.\nOriginality/value: - This work is among the first to examine franchisee relationship value and consequences from the franchisee's perspective. Research propositions surrounding the franchisee's behavioral expectations in the relationship are offered, and serve to guide further research in this area.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The entrepreneurial university: a proposed model for developing nations	[ "Entrepreneurial university", "Mediation", "Developing countries", "Success tactics" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Teaching entrepreneurship to university students can be a highly complex and challenging process, so one can imagine how seemingly impossible the task of cultivating innovation and entrepreneurship in a diverse community can be. The process gets even more challenging when approached within the context of developing countries with numerous pressing constraints (Fischer et al., 2018; Foss and Gibson, 2015), making it necessary to investigate the factors that prevent, or enable, a university to achieve its socio-economic objectives, which themselves have undergone considerable change over the years.\nLiterature review: Universities have long been regarded as the creators of knowledge, and more so in today's knowledge economy, where the need for the transfer of knowledge is paramount, and the shift to entrepreneurship and the commercialization of knowledge is necessary (Mavi, 2014). Notably, this shift had its roots in the seminal work of Etzkowitz (1983), which redefined the role of the university as a generator of knowledge intended for sale to the industry. The EPU presented a new model of collaboration and interdependence among the university itself, the industry and the government, seeking new sources of funding in exchange for research and innovation. Since then, many studies have explored the mission, characteristics and dynamics of the EPU (Clark, 1998; Etzkowitz, 1993; Wasser, 1990), falling short of reaching a consensus over a common definition (Kirby et al., 2011).\nResearch methodology: The instrument\nFindings: The sample was comprised of 57.3 percent academic, staff, administrators and research university personnel, while 42.7 percent were graduate and senior students and alumni. The respondents were 48.4 percent male and 51.6 percent female, working or studying at HEIs of fewer than 5,000 students (25.2 percent of the respondents), and between 5,000 and 9,999 students (68.9 percent of the respondents), and more than 10,000 students (5.9 percent of the respondents). Respondents belonged to either the public university (10.2 percent of respondents) or private universities (89.88 percent of respondents).\nDiscussion: The abundance and diversity of resources and capabilities that an EPU possessed were identified as the most important factors that could determine its success in the developing world. This finding has roots in previous research (Gibb et al., 2012; Guerrero and Urbano, 2012) and may be particularly true of developing nations, where resources and capabilities may constitute an exceptionally significant success factor in a region where budgets for tertiary education, let alone research and exploration, are meager. Further, opportunities for transferring knowledge from the EPU to the budding startups and industrial community were perceived as having a potentially profound effect on the EPU's ability to achieve its mission. This finds support in Aranha and Garcia (2014) who suggested that the mission of the EPU could not be fulfilled if the exchange of knowledge between the three helices did not take place. One way to improve knowledge transfer is to establish strong social networks involving researchers, businesses, university administrators and university Technology Transfer Office directors among others (Padilla-Melendez and Garrido-Moreno, 2012), such that these networks could become instrumental in creating and developing social capital for the business (Gordon and Jack, 2010). This finding is highly relevant in developing nations where there seems to be a \"disconnect\" between tertiary education institutions and the industry (Hosman and Armey, 2017; Nith, 2013; Rezaie et al., 2008). This study suggests that the success of knowledge transfer feeds back into the EPU and multiplies its existing and potential impact.\nTheoretical and practical implications: The implications of this research are manifold. First, it was able to identify the factors that are perceived to be most and least important in helping the EPU in a developing nation achieve its intended outcomes. EPUs in developing nations would do best to secure resources and capabilities (Philpott et al., 2011) that are essential for producing and transferring knowledge to local industry and the government (Kalar and Antoncic, 2015). This confirms the relevance and validity of the resource-based view in underscoring the importance of resources and capabilities, of various types, for EPU development and success, hence extending the theoretical application of RBV to EPU success in developing nations.\nConclusion: This study sought to develop a model for the EPU in developing nations - a model that recognizes the limitations of the context in which they operate. The study used the quantitative approach by constructing a survey from pre-validated scales, selecting a representative sample of respondents and collecting and analyzing the data using structural equation modeling with SmartPLS.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to propose a model for entrepreneurial universities (EPUs) that operate in developing countries, as most of the existing research has either focused on the western context or neglected context altogether. The model is intended to identify the EPU's key success factors while taking into consideration its contextual constraints.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A 60-item survey instrument was designed and distributed across the top 10 QS-ranked universities in Lebanon, and the data were analyzed using structural equation modeling with SmartPLS.\nFindings: The results of data analysis confirmed the influence of resources and capabilities and knowledge transfer as the two most powerful \"university-specific\" success factors. Importantly, the relationship between the university-specific factors and innovation was mediated by the presence of a strong entrepreneurial culture, while an entrepreneurship environment was found to be conducive to entrepreneurship outcomes of the EPU.\nOriginality/value: This paper fills a gap in the literature by suggesting a model for the EPU in developing nations, taking into consideration the various constraints of those nations.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Reconceptualizing value innovation for Industry 4.0 and the Industrial Internet of Things	[ "Value innovation", "IoT", "Industry 4.0", "Strategy innovation" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Value innovation: concept, drivers and barriers: Management and marketing scholars have suggested value or strategic innovation as a key driver for the creation of competitive advantage (Baden-Fuller and Pitt, 1996) and superior customer value (Kim and Mauborgne, 1999). Simmons et al. (2013) link disruptive digital and business model innovations to the inscription of value by different stakeholders. Zhang et al. (2015) demonstrated that marketing and networking capability build up brand equity via value co-creation and customer value, while innovation capability positively impacts brand equity indirectly by facilitating value co-creation and enhancing customer value. Almquist et al. (2017) claim that as offerings are ever more commoditized, business-to-business (B2B) marketers need to address the personal, more subjective value elements purchasers bring to the table.\n2. Value innovation capability: The capability to realize value innovation or systematically generate value innovation initiatives is closely related to the concepts of absorptive capacity and dynamic capabilities (Matthyssens et al., 2006, p. 752). The former is the ability to recognize the value of new information, assimilate it, and apply it to commercial ends (Cohen and Levinthal, 1990, p. 128). The latter refers to the firm's processes that use resources - specifically the processes to integrate, re-configure, gain and release resources - to realize change. Dynamic capabilities are organizational and strategic routines by which firms achieve new resource configurations (Eisenhardt and Martin, 2000, p. 1107). Zollo and Winter (2002, p. 340) state that a dynamic capability is a learned and stable pattern of collective activity through which the organization systematically generates and modifies its operating routines in pursuit of improved effectiveness. Absorptive capacity can be considered as a key dynamic capability needed to keep competitive advantages in markets. Value innovation implies the necessity of absorptive capacity.\n3. The context of Industry 4.0 and the Industrial Internet of Things: Almada-Lobo (2015) describes Industry 4.0 as both striking and fascinating as it is a disruptive combination of cyber-physical systems (CPS), the Internet of Things (IoT) and the Internet of Services. He claims that there is still a lot of confusion about the implications of what matters in Industry 4.0 considering the complexities of technologies such as Mobile, Cloud, Big data, M2M, 3D printing etc. that trigger disruptive transformation. CPS drive smart products and more transparent supply chains mapped on digital platforms. Decentralization, advanced integration of the supply chain, connectivity and cloud computing/advanced analytics are key components of Industry 4.0. As such, experts claim that Industry 4.0 transforms the design, manufacture, operation and service of products and production systems (BCG, 2015). They identify nine key technologies (Augmented reality, Additive manufacturing, Big Data and analytics, Robotics, Cloud, Cybersecurity, Simulation, the Industrial Internet of Things [IIoT] and System integration) that in combination lead to connectivity, integration, flexibility, customization, speed, productivity and quality, thereby envisioning fully integrated data and product/communication flows across borders.\n4. Reconceptualizing value innovation: Value innovation was conceived in the nineties and it intends to break industry logics and create new forms of superior customer value thereby out-competencing competitors. Over the last two decades, the strategy has been addressing strategic pathways, organizational capabilities and marketing approaches to design, develop and market such value concepts. This approach is still valuable in the new era we are living in. However, the challenges of Industry 4.0/IIoT seem to require further evolution of value innovation theory. Dynamic capabilities and absorptive capacity, customer listening, an experimentation attitude, an open information exchange among supply chain partners, and the fighting of active inertia are still required in the new context, but will not be sufficient anymore. The new era requires advanced and integrative capabilities enabling companies to develop and market future-oriented value concepts consisting of unprecedented combinations of products, apps, systems, services, and information. This will require the building of a platform and the integration of distinct functions and skills within the company, the combination of hardware and software, and of different parties and their systems. Metallo et al. (2018) introduce to this end, the IoT mindset, which should replace the traditional product focus. Seeds of this approach consist among others of the following elements:\n5. Conclusion: Building upon our long research effort in this area, this contribution has reconceptualized the key building blocks of value innovation, a concept focusing on non-technological innovation. The definition, barriers and drivers were reconfirmed. This led to the identification of the (dynamic) capabilities underscoring value innovation capacity.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Starting from the foundations of value innovation, this paper aims to give an idea of the key drivers and barriers - internal and external to the company - and to provide insight into proven capabilities underscoring the ability to create a flow of new value initiatives. These thoughts are then confronted with the present challenges of Industry 4.0 and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). The confrontation leads to the identification of five capabilities for future-proof value innovation.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Literature review based upon the work of the author with more than two decades of experience within value innovation research is included. The review is supplemented with recent literature and an overview of the challenges of Industry 4.0/IIoT, which leads into a confrontation of the present status of value innovation with future requirements.\nFindings: Value innovation remains important specifically for established companies facing path-breaking digital disruption of their existing business models provoked by Industry 4.0 and IIoT. Five key capabilities are suggested to rejuvenate value innovation and prepare it for the Industry 4.0 challenge: capabilities for designing, adapting and marketing product service systems; capabilities for blending digital strategy and processes with value offerings; capabilities for designing and mobilizing ecosystems and integrating these into a value-based IIoT platform; capabilities for combining and integrating technological and value innovation approaches; and capabilities for linking value creation to value capturing.\nResearch limitations/implications: This paper is more of a \"viewpoint\" than an empirically based paper presenting new research findings. It is based on expert judgment and confrontation with extant literature. The outlook indicating five key capabilities needs further empirical corroboration.\nPractical implications: The overview of barriers and the \"toolkit\" for value innovation (Figure 1) and the five capabilities for future value innovation are expected to be managerially relevant.\nOriginality/value: The paper highlights the concept of value innovation, as discussed over the past decades, and links it to recent challenges and opportunities imposed by Industry 4.0 and the IIoT. The concept of value or strategic innovation is still valid but needs a re-conceptualization in view of these developments. The paper provides five capabilities business marketers should develop to perform value innovation in an Industry 4.0 environment.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The social benefits of kaizen initiatives in healthcare: an empirical study	[ "Survey", "Lean", "Kaizen", "Social outcomes", "Healthcare" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: This paper investigates kaizen initiatives in the healthcare sector. According to previous studies (e.g. Melnyk et al., 1998; Farris et al., 2008), a kaizen initiative can be defined as a structured project performed by a multi-disciplinary team with the aim of improving a targeted work area or process in a given timeframe. As in the manufacturing sector (Farris et al., 2009), kaizen initiatives in healthcare not only allow improving the operational aspects of a work area (Holden, 2011; Costa and Godinho Filho, 2016) (e.g. increasing quality and reducing costs; hereafter technical outcomes), but also help developing employees' problem-solving capabilities (or kaizen capabilities (KCs)) (Dickson et al., 2009; Poksinska et al., 2017) and a positive attitude towards continuous improvement (Lee and Bruvold, 2003; Sobek II and Smalley, 2008) (hereafter social outcomes). In particular, the development of social outcomes is critical for achieving technical outcomes (Joosten et al., 2009; Mazzocato et al., 2016) as well as for creating a continuous improvement (or kaizen) mindset (Boscari et al., 2016; Danese et al., 2017b), which is crucial to sustain benefits of kaizen initiatives in the long term (Balle and Regnier, 2007; Andersen et al., 2014).\n2. Literature review: 2.1 Theoretical framework\n3. Methodology: 3.1 Sample selection and measurement instrument\n4. Discussion: 4.1 Most influential determinants of social outcomes in kaizen initiatives\n5. Conclusions: Past literature on kaizen initiatives in healthcare provides only a limited understanding of the determinants of social outcomes in kaizen initiatives. This is in stark contrast with the crucial role played by people and their cooperation in team in improving activities and operational performance in any healthcare organisations (Holden, 2011). Drawing on the input-process-output framework and Farris et al.'s (2009) model, our study provides a more comprehensive understanding of the phenomenon. Empirical findings from 105 kaizen initiatives in two hospitals not only clarify which are the most influential determinants of employees' capabilities and attitude, but also show how these variables are related. Specifically, social outcomes are influenced by determinants related to kaizen initiative design, organisational and work area management and kaizen initiative process. Moreover, some kaizen initiative process factors - i.e., AO, ACC and IPs - can act as mediators of the relationships between some input factors - i.e., goal clarity, goal difficulty, team autonomy and management support - and social outcomes.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify the most influential determinants of healthcare employees' problem-solving capabilities and attitudes towards kaizen initiatives, and clarify how these determinants are related to social outcomes.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Drawing on the input-process-outcome framework, applied to kaizen initiatives, the determinants of the input and process factors are embodied in hypotheses concerning the direct effects of input and process factors on social outcomes and the indirect effects of input factors on social outcomes resulting from process factors. The hypotheses are tested through multiple regressions using data from 105 kaizen initiatives drawn from two hospitals.\nFindings: Of the 14 determinants investigated, goal clarity, team autonomy, management support, goal difficulty and affective commitment to change (ACC) are the most influential determinants of kaizen capabilities and/or employees' attitude. Goal clarity, goal difficulty, team autonomy and management support are also found to influence social outcomes directly and/or indirectly through ACC, internal processes and/or an action orientation.\nPractical implications: The results support healthcare practitioners to understand how to establish \"focused kaizen\" actions to leverage specific determinants that positively influence social outcomes.\nOriginality/value: This study provides an original contribution to the literature concerning effective kaizen initiatives in healthcare operations by empirically testing a comprehensive model of the relationship between kaizen initiative determinants and social outcomes. Unlike previous studies, which are mostly anecdotal or focused on one or few determinants, this research adopts a holistic view, and investigates a pluralist set of determinants on social outcomes through a systematic and quantitative approach.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Privacy engineering for learning analytics in a global market: Defining a point of reference	[ "Cross-cultural studies", "Learning analytics", "Educational Big Data", "Privacy engineering", "Information privacy" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The starting point of this work is a box labelled \"privacy rules\" found in a Chinese blueprint for a learning analytics (LA) technical architecture. We asked ourselves: what rules? What privacy? What should engineers build? And we banged our heads against the black box, not being able to unpack the concept of privacy rules, being lost in translation (did we talk about the same thing?). We were unable to gain any insight into the different contexts within which the need was ascribed, nor any of the practical requirements that could be construed from that need. In this conceptual paper, we aim at defining a point of reference for understanding privacy in the context of Educational Big Data[1] (EBD) or LA. We will use our experience working in China as a way to drive and test the exploration of the concept of information privacy with the ultimate aim to enable privacy engineering for global education.\n2. Information privacy as design requirement - conceptual exploration: In other work, we have explored how privacy is conceptualised by the less than a decade young field of LA and knowledge research, which organise yearly conferences and sponsor the Journal of Learning Analytics (Hoel and Chen, 2015, 2016, 2018; Hoel et al., 2017). This body of literature is contrasted with the general discussion of \"privacy\" in the huge corpus of research on this issue that goes back more than a century (Warren and Brandeis, 1890). To add the cross-cultural dimension to our exploration, we have reviewed literature on \"privacy\" and \"China\" and other cultural and geographical markers. However, the literature review for this conceptual paper is not done to provide a representative description of privacy as a concept, but to offer ideas and highlight direction for future inquiry as the focus of a conceptual paper is \"on integration and proposing new relationships among constructs\" (Gilson and Goldberg, 2015). In this paper, we have used intimate knowledge about the Chinese educational system acquired through participant observation to drive and test how the privacy constructs hold up for use in global settings.\n3. Big Data and privacy: In the era of Big Data, the challenges of privacy become more visible - on conceptual, technical, legal and political levels. The privacy challenges need to be addressed on all these levels, which have implications for how we approach privacy engineering. In order to turn information privacy into actionable design requirements for engineering, we need to leave an idealised world of absolutes and see how higher level values, laws, technologies and users' practices interact in a globalised setting. Grounding privacy protection policies within the individualistic and liberal notion of \"privacy\" may, according to Bennett (2018), overlook what is at stake in the broader debate over contemporary surveillance:Thus, data protection law does not halt surveillance; it manages it. It may produce a fairer and more efficient use and management of personal data, but it cannot effectively control the voracious and inherent appetite of modern organizations for more and more increasingly refined personal information, especially when those data are central to the business models of the platform economy.\n4. Envisioned privacy developments - in an educational context: When de-identification of personal information is an illusion and the \"big data tsunami\" makes us run to save face we could, as well, give up the idea of information privacy? Or in the words of Sun Microsystems' CEO, Scott McNealy, \"You have zero privacy anyway. Get over it!\" (Sprenger, 1999). However, this is not the adequate response to handling risks in society (Rauhofer, 2008). This was shown in debate spurred by Paul Ohm's (2009) article \"Broken promises of privacy: responding to the surprising failure of anonymization\". Even if the danger of re-identification is immanent with Big Data, \"good enough\" approaches work (Ohm, 2009; Narayanan and Felten, 2014; Cavoukian and Castro, 2014). Real life is more than worst cases.\n5. Conclusions - towards a research agenda: A \"black box\" labelled \"privacy rules\" introduced this paper. With China and a western country like Norway in mind, we know that rules regulating students' daily life are very different. In China, \"dorms' face recognition gets thumbs-up for convenience\" (Ma and Lin, 2018), while in Norway, student id app users are assured that \"the data is stored locally on your device and you may delete them whenever you want\" (Felles studentsystem, 2018).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Privacy is a culturally universal process; however, in the era of Big Data privacy is handled very differently in different parts of the world. This is a challenge when designing tools and approaches for the use of Educational Big Data (EBD) and learning analytics (LA) in a global market. The purpose of this paper is to explore the concept of information privacy in a cross-cultural setting to define a common point of reference for privacy engineering.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper follows a conceptual exploration approach. Conceptual work on privacy in EBD and LA in China and the west is contrasted with the general discussion of privacy in a large corpus of literature and recent research. As much of the discourse on privacy has an American or European bias, intimate knowledge of Chinese education is used to test the concept of privacy and to drive the exploration of how information privacy is perceived in different cultural and educational settings.\nFindings: The findings indicate that there are problems using privacy concepts found in European and North-American theories to inform privacy engineering for a cross-cultural market in the era of Big Data. Theories based on individualism and ideas of control of private information do not capture current global digital practice. The paper discusses how a contextual and culture-aware understanding of privacy could be developed to inform privacy engineering without letting go of universally shared values. The paper concludes with questions that need further research to fully understand information privacy in education.\nOriginality/value: As far as the authors know, this paper is the first attempt to discuss - from a comparative and cross-cultural perspective - information privacy in an educational context in the era of Big Data. The paper presents initial explorations of a problem that needs urgent attention if good intentions of privacy supportive educational technologies are to be turned into more than political slogans.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Public forum mediation: a training exercise for conflict facilitation skills	[ "Conflict", "Training", "Communication", "Team working", "Facilitation" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Organizations engaging in team strategies often have greater difficulty managing conflict and implementing problem solving techniques. Communication becomes more complex as interdependent team members may change purpose, function, tasks and activities. As teams increase in size, the communicating function becomes more difficult to manage. While the team context requires team members to be more competent communicators to be effective, increases in conflict may arise due inadequate communication skills of team members (communication competency).\nWhy train teams in facilitation skills?: Teams that have been trained to use conflict resolution skills and communication skills training report higher conflict resolution, goal setting, planning skills and produce higher quality decisions (Hartenian, 2003). Decisions improve due to the increase in sharing of knowledge and the exchange of information among team members. Further, learning to use constructive conflict strategies builds team cohesiveness by clarifying and resolving issues within the team and builds trust. As conflict issues are successfully resolved, members may feel greater pride and commitment to the team. The building of team cohesion increases the likelihood that the team members will be more productive, motivated and therefore achieve their goals.Team member training in facilitator skills should include three levels of learning: informational, behavioral and outcome results-orientation. This article describes a technique and a role-play activity meeting all three levels of training. First, trainees learn about the process of facilitation and why one would use the process. The process is described in a step-by-step fashion making the transition from being a purely informational program to one focusing on behavior as well. Second, by following the steps, trainees perform the role of both facilitator or member of the reflecting team; each role has its own learning component and expected outcome. Performing several role-plays allows the trainer to rotate trainees in several roles. Third, the program is results oriented. Trainees who learn how to use facilitation should be able to increase communication competency among team members, increase participation and discussion of divergent ideas with greater conflict resolution, goal setting and planning skills. Third, trainees return to the workplace able to use facilitator skills with some level of competence and comfort with the process.Facilitator skills training should focus on the communication role of clarifying. The clarifying role is one in which the facilitator is a gatherer of information, helps participants reframe the problem, uses active listening to engage participants in discussion, provides feedback to reframe issues of concern, and coordinate the reflecting team member ideas into the process. By using active, participative learning strategies, team members are able to strengthen skills related to clarifying. For example, facilitators learn how to listen for what is said as well as what is left unsaid. The nuances in nonverbal communication and meanings created within the context are often keys in discovering underlying conflict. Facilitators focus on interpretation at various levels-relational and contextual-to pinpoint a position, understand how language is used and create an atmosphere to decrease defensiveness. Finally, facilitators summarize, provide feedback and learn to help participants control emotions within the framework of an emotional situation.\nUsing public forum mediation to enhance facilitation training: Public forum mediation focuses on altering the language used during the conflict process and discovering alternative ways for presenting ideas. The intended outcome is to have each person's position on an issue to be heard. Topics of concern within an organizational setting might be issues related to team development, work processes or decision-making strategies and outcomes.\nPublic forum mediation: Public forum mediation is designed to address a topic of public concern from two or more people of opposing views who willingly come before an interested group of people to express their views (Mayer, 2002). This mediation process is composed of three groups and a mediator: conflict parties, the reflecting team, and the audience. The mediator is the director and facilitator of the mediation session. The reflecting team is a group of individuals enlisted to listen to the conflict parties, observe communication strategies and language, and then give comments and suggestions focused on communication strategies (Spano and Calcagno, 1996).Facilitator training using public forum mediation techniques is an event where all trainees are active participants in the process. Members of the reflecting team and the disputants gain a level of understanding about the mediation process, receive direct skills training on how to increase the clarity of communication during conflict, practice communication skills such as listening and paraphrasing and increasing the understanding of conflict process overall. During each phase of the conflict process, facilitator trainees discuss, examine and imitate/practice communication skills relevant to facilitation and conflict. Specifically, the practice sessions focus on conducting opening statements, laying the ground rules, paraphrasing and reframing the talk of the conflict parties during the fact finding and definition of the problem phase, emulating how one would use a reflecting team and their contributions, listening for and articulating the needs of the conflict parties and providing closure to the conflict.Goal: To provide trainees with a practical exercise on the skills of language intervention by listening, observing, and analyzing opposing points of view.Training exercise: The training activity is conducted in a step-by-step procedureStep I\nDebriefing: The connections to the team and work experience are vital. Questions the trainer uses to generate the trainees' interest and thinking processes are followed by the learning outcomes of the training session:What did you hear?What are good listening skills?What is the active listening feedback cycle?How can I use feedback to increase understanding of the conflict?What questions should you ask, if any?What are prodding questions to ask?What are the limits or boundaries in questioning and interviewing?What did you observe?What are observation skills?What categories can be used to organize the observations?What do the observation notes mean?What are analyzing skills?*How does the student take raw data from observation to begin commenting and suggesting possible solutions to the conflict parties?The three skills of listening, observing, and analyzing are the workhorses of this training exercise as the mediator applies the \"talk\" of each person in the process to specific concepts relevant to the public forum mediation process.\nLimitations: While many fruitful and exciting conclusions can be discussed and expanded from this exercise, the limitations are experience base and knowledge of the participants, the experience of the facilitator, time (needs 90 minutes minimum), and people (needs 15 people minimum, 25 maximum). The topic of the conflict, the needs of the trainees, and the experience of the instructor have generated variations of the exercise.\nVariation: A variation of this exercise could be to incorporate crisis modes in organizations using current events such as investor fraud and corporate accountability as the topic. The key components of worldview (Littlejohn, 2002), value system, and corporate philosophy derived from this direction would generate fruitful discussions of workplace ethics, a timely topic in any training session.\nAssessments: This training exercise has the ingredients of successful interaction and integration. The conflict resolution skills of public forum mediation are as useful in interpersonal relationships and team settings. The exercise provides trainees with experience in conflict management, problem solving techniques, alternative language use and language construction from the reflecting team observations and suggestions. The questions during the discussion of the session offer the opportunity to hear an instant re-play of the action and a glimpse into the cognitive processes of the participants. As trainees close the session, they can walk away with new and/or polished conflict resolution skills.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to describe the use of public forum mediation as a model for training in and improvement of conflict facilitation skills.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The training strategy integrates continuous involvement of all the trainees through the use of a reflective team. The team and trainees focus on recognizing communication patterns used by individuals engaged in conflict.\nFindings: - Identifying communication patterns and strategies strengthens the trainees' ability to alter language use and nonverbal behavior during the facilitation process.\nOriginality/value: - The use of public forum mediation strategies within the training context offers new and different ways for examining communication in the process of conflict facilitation.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Controlled autonomy: novice principals' schema for district control and school autonomy	[ "Autonomy", "Leadership", "Educational administration" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: School leaders are increasingly viewed as a key mechanism of school improvement (Murphy, 2008; Peck et al., 2013). As part of this framing, a number of countries across the world (e.g. the USA, France, England, Spain, Lithuania, etc.), have moved to increase school leader control around school operations and instructional practices to promote reform (Honig and Rainey, 2012; Honingh and Urbanovic, 2013; Schleicher, 2012; Tulowitzki, 2013). This shift situates school leaders as boundary spanners, operating between the school and the larger policy environment and transmitting their aligned (or misaligned) values, ideas, and rules (Honig, 2012). This role may be especially difficult given the current accountability context (Day and Gu, 2007) in which school autonomy over school-level decisions must be continually negotiated (Higham and Earley, 2013; Honig and Rainey, 2012; Marietta, 2015) and exist within fluctuating external performance guidelines and control (Bottoms and Schmidt-Davis, 2010; Marzano and Waters, 2006).\nLiterature review: Autonomy as a mechanism for reform\nThe evolving role of the district in supporting school autonomy: Perhaps principals' continued struggle to effectively utilize granted autonomies is one reason that, as US policy has shifted away from NCLB and toward new turnaround efforts, there have been calls for districts to better support school leaders in this way (Mass Insight, 2010). Knudson et al. (2011) and others (e.g. Knapp et al., 2010; Ouchi, 2009) have argued that district-level systematic changes in resource alignment and policy are essential for school turnaround. This includes increased investments and district capacity to provide meaningful instructional supports to schools (Bottoms and Schmidt-Davis, 2010; Mendels and Mitgang, 2013). This focus on instruction has also coincided with larger moves to reframe district/school relationships as requiring a \"top-down and bottom-up\" approach (Fullan, 2007) rather than a transactional one (i.e. the district talks, the schools listen).\nTheoretical framework: schema theory: The cognitive perspective was used to analyze principals' conceptualizations of the district role. This perspective facilitates an analysis of the dynamic, contextualized manner in which actors interpret conditions and problems (Coburn, 2006; Spillane et al., 2002; Woulfin, 2015). In education systems, leaders construct understandings of issues based on their knowledge, experiences, and contextual conditions (Donaldson et al., 2016; Spillane et al., 2002; Coburn and Woulfin, 2012).\nMethods: To investigate how new[1] school principals developed schemas regarding the district's role in school improvement and support, a qualitative interview study was conducted. The interview method was appropriate to gather in-depth data on principals' perceptions and experiences (Arksey and Knight, 1999; Creswell, 1998; Seale, 1998). As part of a broader study on turnaround leadership, we obtained qualitative data from multiple points in a school year to track a group of turnaround-oriented leaders. The seven participants were part of larger longitudinal research study following them through a turnaround principal training program to their eventual placement and experiences as school administrators.\nData collection: To answer questions about these new school administrators' evolving perception of autonomy, interview data were collected and document analysis conducted. There were three, one hour interviews for each of the seven participants. These interviews were conducted in September 2014, February 2015 and June 2015. At each time point, all participants' interviews took place within two weeks of one another. All interviews (n=21) were digitally recorded and transcribed. The semi-structured interview protocol asked about the leaders' beliefs and work practices as well as their interactions with district administration (Creswell, 1998; Patton, 1990). Probes served to explore specific information about the leaders' positive and negative evolving perceptions of the district as an organization and the ways the district provided support related to various dimensions of schools (e.g. operations, instruction). Leaders were asked to share recent instances when district administrators enabled or constrained their work to improve the conditions, culture, and instruction of their site.\nAnalysis: To answer questions on leaders' developing schemas of the district role, several stages of qualitative data analysis were conducted. Dedoose was used as a tool while applying deductive and inductive codes to the transcript and document data (Creswell, 1998; Miles and Huberman, 1994). Deductive codes were based in the literature on districts and the cognitive perspective (Coburn, 2001; Harris, 1994; Spillane et al., 2002). Coding included mentions of bureaucracy, district responsibilities, worldviews toward the principalship and reform, and definitions of district role. Inductive codes arose from the data. Schemas of controlled autonomy were also inductively derived. Memos on the different ways principals conceptualized the district were drafted and data were triangulated from interviews and documents to help confirm findings on developing schemas of the district role.\nFindings: Principals' responses provided evidence on their evolving schema of controlled autonomy across their experiences. Furthermore, their responses categorized district-level activities into: operations, instruction, advocacy, and goal setting/vision and goals. While participants' developing schemas varied regarding the developing balance between the school's and district's control over issues related to these categories, or domains, patterns emerged regarding the factors they identified influencing this balance. Efficiency, expertise, power, and values all weighed heavily in principals' maturing determinations of the appropriate balance of control vs autonomy for particular categories (what we call \"issue fulcrums\"). To represent their schemas of controlled autonomy, the image of a see-saw and its fulcrum is used. If we assume that a novice principal is developing their schema regarding the proper allocation of school autonomy vs district authority, we might also assume that they begin this process fairly neutral in the \"correct\" weighting of this autonomy. Therefore, the see-saw lever can be considered to be evenly weighted. As such, the \"issue fulcrum\" serves to balance the see-saw by its placement and shifting it would also shift the relative balance of views regarding school autonomy. Specifically, with two parcels of equal weight, the further the distance of the fulcrum to that item, the more the lever will be weighted in that direction. In this way, the see-saw is meant to represent the dynamic, but relative, balance of control principals seemed to desire, or perceived as ideal, between their school and the district in relation to the aforementioned categories of district activities.\nOperations: Most participants' early schema of controlled autonomy held that district bureaucrats should control operations and conduct these activities to serve their schools. However, when these activities were not carried out in what was perceived to be an efficient manner, participants argued that these operational decisions should be controlled at the school level.\nAdvocacy: Many principals feel isolated and insufficiently supported (Ackerman and Maslin-Ostrowski, 2004) and this group was no different. Participants frequently described wanting the district to act as a buffering (e.g. shielding principals from angry parents or teacher unions) or brokering agent (e.g. connecting principals to resources or promoting their work). Here, we define such activities as district advocacy on behalf of the school and principal.\nDiscussion and implications: This research focused on the experiences of first year principals of schools deploying autonomy as a mechanism for improvement within a larger context of accountability and oversight (i.e. controlled autonomy). Findings show that principals in developing their schema created complex understandings regarding the appropriate balance of authority between their schools and districts and that these conceptualizations vary by the category of activities being provided. Specifically, principals' mental frameworks valued authority over instruction, while authority was ceded to the district for operations, vision, and advocacy.\nConclusion: Taken together, these findings and the variations they reveal in the degree of autonomy novice principals desired across different domains of district activity suggest that reformers should continue to shift away from treating autonomy as a zero-sum game in which authority is either meted out and maintained (Honig and Rainey, 2012). Rather, a more flexible approach with opportunity for both sides (school and district leaders) to collaborate across different domains of activity may help to better leverage the promise of controlled autonomy as a mechanism for school improvement and student success.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to gain insights into how a group of novice principals, all in schools that deployed principles of autonomy as mechanisms for improvement, conceptualized what the authors label \"controlled autonomy\" - a condition in which school leaders are expected to both make site-based decisions and be accountable to district oversight. The study aims to support more effective interactions between school and district leaders around controlled autonomy to increase performance.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Using schema as a framework to guide the inquiry, this paper uses qualitative methods and interviewing in particular to explore the questions of interest. Seven novice principals were each interviewed three times over the year each interview lasting approximately one hour (n=21). Data were analyzed thematically using both inductive and deductive coding techniques.\nFindings: Findings show that principals tended to group potential district supports into four categories: operations, instruction, advocacy, and vision and their perceptions regarding the balance between their and the district's control over activities in each category was dynamic, varied and dependent on views relating to issues as broad as values alignment to perceptions of bureaucratic efficiency.\nResearch limitations/implications: Because of the small sample size and methodological approach, it may be inappropriate to generalize the findings across all controlled autonomy contexts. Further research in additional settings is encouraged to support the proposed findings.\nPractical implications: This paper has a number of implications for districts and school leaders. Among these is the need for districts to better articulate the parameters of controlled autonomy and for school leaders to receive more and more effective training and support to effectively utilize autonomy as a mechanism for reform.\nOriginality/value: This work fills a gap in the research regarding on how principals conceptualize controlled autonomy or, more specifically, how they view what school autonomy should look like relative to district control and is this paper's focus. It also provides insights into practice and potential means to enhance a growing, but so far unevenly implemented and under performing reform initiative (i.e. controlled autonomy).\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A new approach to measure sustainability in German facility management	[ "Service quality", "Facilities management", "Facility management", "Sustainability", "Assessment", "Service level agreement" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction and background: Despite the often exaggerated and even abusive usage in marketing jargon, sustainability in fact belongs to the original cultural heritage of mankind. Its underlying strategy and principles to balance economic, environmental and social interests have been established on every continent in the world and were known long before the modern definition provided by the Brundtland Commission (Grober, 2010). Its Our Common Future report is nevertheless considered as the initial step of situating the sustainability agenda on a global scientific and political stage (United Nations, 1987). This report established sustainability as the key to a resilient future for the world. Further milestones followed, including numerous United Nations conferences and - for the European and German perspective - the development and implementation of (supra-)national sustainability strategies which substantiated the initially abstract term of sustainability (EU Commission, 2001; The Federal Government, 2002).\nMeeting the needs - limitations and deficits of existing certification systems: In line with the national sustainable development strategy and its emphasis on the constructed environment, Germany developed its own specific tool of sustainability certifications in the early years of this millennium. From an international standpoint, different certification systems from abroad would have been already available (Reed et al., 2009; Schneider, 2011). But the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM), the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification (LEED) and so on simply did not adequately match the German understanding of sustainable buildings as incorporating balanced environmental, economic and social qualities and encompassing technical and functional aspects. Consequently, Germany developed its own certification system based upon the initiative of the Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development and through joint research of Darmstadt University of Technology (TUD) together with Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, commonly known as Deutsches Gutesiegel Nachhaltiges Bauen (DGNB). DGNB is considered as a second-generation certification system. This is because it incorporates a holistic and life-cycle-oriented approach in accordance with the globally consensual triple bottom line of sustainability. In recent years, the initial basic system for the new construction of office buildings was extended towards mapping all relevant building typologies to establish principles of sustainable construction as widely as possible. A portfolio overview is shown in Table I - which also displays the organisational separation into a public [Bewertungssystem Nachhaltiges Bauen (BNB)-system] and commercial strand (certification system of the DGNB-system).\nDiversifying the range of certification in Germany: The above analysis of existing certification systems and the detection of their limitations and deficits concerning the sustainability quality of the building operation phase are exemplary and representative of a \"wait and see\" attitude of the FM industry. Until now, FM players have shown only sporadic level of activity with regard to an explicit orientation towards sustainability (i.e. of buildings' operation phase), although this would seem to be a natural step, given its range of services (Pelzeter and May, 2012). Since 2012, however, the German Facility Management Association (GEFMA) has enhanced its sustainability involvement by setting up a task force called sustainability, composed of more than 30 representatives of science (Berlin School of Economics and Law, TUD) and practice (FM service providers, corporates, public sector, consultants, etc.) (Pelzeter and Pohl, 2013). Its main purpose is to design, develop and implement an action and assessment framework for sustainability in FM. The framework is designed to usefully complement the German certification range and to enable both FM service providers and customers to make the sustainability quality of their buildings' operation more transparent.\nConclusions: GEFMA-guideline 160 \"Sustainability in facility management\"\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present the development of an action and assessment framework to make sustainability in German facility management (FM) transparent, measurable and assessable.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The underlying research project's approach to develop the new action and assessment framework consisted of a three-step methodology: to define and substantiate sustainability in FM, to operationalise and quantify sustainability in FM and to validate the developed system draft through an initial pilot study.\nFindings: The main result of the presented research project is a set of 24 criteria, organised into the separate areas of environmental, economic and sociocultural quality, as well as the quality of FM organisation and the sustainability of building/contract-specific facility services. The assessment methodology reflects the strategic approach of a plan-do-check-act loop to create a transparent and objective appraisal and a practical action framework.\nResearch limitations/implications: The outcome of the study is initially only a measurement and assessment framework. To transform the finalised system draft and assessment tool into a certification system, further steps of development are necessary.\nPractical implications: The newly developed action and assessment framework is able to cure the blind spot that the relevant players (building owners, users and service providers) suffer from while developing, purchasing and comparing concepts for sustainable FM. The results and practical experiences of its initial pilot study show that this new framework can make the building operation phase and its processes transparent, measurable and assessable.\nSocial implications: The guideline is also able to establish a crucial basis for the development of corporate sustainability strategies and sustainability reporting. This is an important step in closing the existing gap in numerous corporate social responsibility reports.\nOriginality/value: Due to its assessment methodology and the calibration of its criteria, this new action and assessment framework both diversifies and completes the range of existing sustainability certification systems.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Determinants of subsidiary's technological capability - examining the roles of subsidiary-local supplier linkage	[ "Relational capital", "Asset-specific investment", "MNC subsidiary", "Subsidiary-local supplier linkage", "Technological capability" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: An executive summary for managers and executive readers can be found at the end of this issue.\n1. Introduction: The introduction of a product with shorter life cycle and the heightened expectation of customer in fiercely competitive global markets have forced firms (including multinational corporations [MNCs]) to coordinate each with other in supply chains (Chan and Chan, 2010; Stevenson and Spring, 2009). The benefits of inter-organizational coordination between up- and downstream supply chain entities include the reductions in cost, risk and capital investment as well as the increases of transaction efficiency, customer service and profit margin (Arshinder et al., 2008; Bookbinder et al., 2010; Sanders, 2008). An important building block in effective supply chain management and upgrading a firm's capability is strategic linkages between buyers and suppliers (Ketchen and Hult, 2006; Simchi-Levi et al., 2008; Vickery et al., 2003; Zolkiewski and Turnbull, 2002). The linkage between MNC overseas subsidiary and host country supplier has a great impact on enhancing subsidiary's capability. Upgrading the subsidiary's capability has become a critical path for the MNC to gain competitive advantages (Cantwell and Mudambi, 2005; Dunning, 2000; Frost et al., 2002; Molero and Garcia, 2008). For instance, Hobady and Rush (2007) revealed that some MNC subsidiaries in Thailand gradually upgraded their technological capabilities, thus increasing their contributions to the MNCs; however, others still stayed in the preliminary stage of providing basic assembly. Therefore, a growing number of studies investigate the factors affecting the MNC subsidiary's capability, such as headquarters (HQ) investments, subsidiary's entrepreneurship, host country environments and subsidiary-local supplier linkages in supply chains (Almeida and Phene, 2004; Andersson et al., 2002; Birkinshaw et al., 1998).\n2. Conceptual framework and hypotheses development: 2.1 Subsidiary's local linkage to supplier\n3. Research methodology: 3.1 Data collection\n4. Research findings and discussion: The hypotheses proposed, in this study, were tested using a multi-regression model. As shown in Table III, the adjusted R\n5. Conclusions and future research directions: The current empirical results have some important theoretical implications. First, compared with previous studies, which focused principally on the \"intensity\" of the linkage or the level of embeddedness, the present study has unpacked the \"intrinsic characteristics\" of the linkage, thereby providing a better understanding of the manner in which the local linkage contributes to the development of the subsidiary's technological capability. The results have shown that the supplier's ASI and the RC cultivated in the subsidiary-local supplier linkage both improve the subsidiary's technological capability. These benefits of ASI and RC are not easily obtained in arm's-length market transactions. The economic (ASI) and social (RC) advantages inherent in the subsidiary-local supplier linkage should be actively applied to enhance the subsidiary's technological capability. These advantages are the primary motivations for subsidiary to establish linkages with local firms.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This study aims to explore the effects of subsidiary-local supplier linkage characteristics in a supply chain and the moderating effects of a multinational corporation's (MNC's) international experience (IE) and a subsidiary's innovation orientation (IO) on the subsidiary's technological capability.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A new research framework is developed comprising four constructs and six research hypotheses. Applying the regression model, the hypotheses were tested on data from Taiwanese MNC's subsidiaries of manufacturing industries in Asian developing countries.\nFindings: The subsidiary-local supplier linkage characteristics, including economic aspect: asset-specific investment (ASI) of local supplier and social aspect: relational capital (RC) of local linkage, are positively associated with subsidiary's technological capability. Moreover, the MNC's IE can enhance the positive effect of RC on the subsidiary's technological capability and the subsidiary's IO decreases the positive impact of ASI on the subsidiary's technological capability.\nPractical implications: This study provides useful insights into how MNCs and subsidiaries should concentrate on the factors that increase the subsidiary's technological capability. Moreover, MNCs' and subsidiaries' managers must endeavor to establish long-term linkages with carefully selected local suppliers, induce these suppliers to provide appropriate ASI, and actively develop RC in the subsidiary-local supplier linkage to enhance the subsidiary's technological capability.\nOriginality/value: This study demonstrates that subsidiary-local supplier linkage characteristics, MNC's IE and subsidiary's IO can be applied to examine the technological capability of subsidiaries operating in less advanced countries.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Towards sustainable public FM: collective building of capabilities	[ "Action research", "Education", "Facilities management", "Organizational development", "Management", "Professionalisation", "Sustainability", "Employees", "Code of conduct", "Public buildings", "Green FM" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Sustainability in the built environment has been on the political and professional agenda for decades, and a variety of definitions and approaches to sustainable development have emerged over time. Within the field of facilities management (FM), sustainability has been addressed in the academic literature (Baharum and Pitt, 2009; Love and Bullen, 2009; Elmualim et al., 2010; Price et al., 2011; Junghans, 2013) as two distinct challenges: either as a challenge to implement sustainable buildings, green technology, audited management systems and sustainability certifications or as a challenge to integrate sustainability into the local FM culture and work processes (Elmualim et al., 2010; Galamba, 2011a). This paper adds to the existing body of literature by exploring a framework for FM organisations' collective capabilities for strategic sustainable facilities management (SFM).\nMethodology: The methodological approach included a literature review and action research undertaken at the local Department of Public Property in Albertslund, Denmark, from 2008 to 2011. The local authority of Albertslund has a high profile in its actions implementing Agenda 21 and environmental sustainability and, as such, is a trendsetter in integrating sustainability into Danish public real estate management. Albertslund has published green accounts for the municipality since 2000, and in 2007, it became the first local authority in Europe to become 100 per cent certified according to the European \"Eco-Management and Audit Scheme\". The local authority is at the forefront of the implementation of sustainability tools in Denmark (Nielsen and Galamba, 2010; Galamba, 2011a, 2011b). The conclusions of this research are therefore relevant both to local authorities in general and to larger private organisations whose FM departments confront the challenge of choosing a strategy for sustainability and committing to building in-house capabilities to implement such a strategy.\nDiscussion: We suggest that individual and collective capabilities for sustainable FM practices must be purposively accumulated, which can be achieved through a workshop-based process in which employees construct common utopian horizons for a sustainable society and a culturally embedded FM code of conduct.\nConclusions: The goal of this article was to show how an empowerment process facilitated largely through workshops can help FM employees to develop the collective capability to make a purposive impact on the sustainable development of local society. The process is based on a holistic understanding of SFM and anchored in an emerging \"FM code of sustainable conduct\".\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Public facilities management (FM) is in the unique position of aligning building projects and FM with the policies of sustainable development at societal level. However, sustainable facilities management (SFM) is an emergent profession, and there is a need to build a code of conduct for SFM in FM organisations. The purpose is to develop and test a workshop based concept for collective building of capabilities targeting in-house FM organisations, in particular public in-house FM organisations.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This research explores the role of public facilities managers and examines how an empowerment process can help FM employees develop collective competences for SFM. The methodologies used are literature review, and a 3-year-long action research process in the Danish local authority, Albertslund, which is internationally recognised for its innovative and green profile.\nFindings: This paper describes the phenomenon of public SFM imbedded in societal steering paradigms and suggests a framework for a sustainable FM code of conduct. The suggested \"Next generation SFM code of conduct\" support the employees in taking a proactive strategic position in which translation between politics, strategy, tactics and daily practice becomes the basis for prioritisation and decision-making. The capabilities needed is FM knowledge (including FM know-how, understanding of technologies for sustainability and public governance); it is the FM code of conduct, and it is control of own practice to be obtained through strategies and planning, collaboration and education.\nResearch limitations/implications: This study is based on findings in a single local authority, why the findings are primary valid for concept development to be further developed and tested. However, the local authority of Albertslund is recognised as a front runner in green FM, why this case, compare to other cases, represents a relatively mature thinking in terms of FM contribution to sustainability at societal level. When this FM organisation express a need for developing collective competences for sustainability in FM, it can be assumed that less mature FM organisations needs it even more. The findings seem relevant beyond public FM organisations.\nPractical implications: The produced framework for a sustainable FM code of conduct is useful for educational purposes as well as for strategic decision about FM organisations collective competence profile. The use of workshops for the building of collective competences might be useful for many other organisations and not only public FM organisations.\nSocial implications: Public FM organisations manage significant shares of existing buildings and can be a driver for societal change if they have the capabilities. This paper provides an answer to how these collective capabilities can be build within an organisational development process, through dialogue and collective reflections.\nOriginality/value: This paper is a pioneer in understanding the capabilities needed in FM organisations to take leadership in an integration of sustainability in FM processes.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Familiarity and purchasing intention of Belgian consumers for fresh and processed tropical fruit products	[ "Fruits", "Consumer behaviour", "Fresh foods", "Processed foods", "Belgium" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Consumers' decision to eat fruit is the result of complex interactions between socio-demographic, psychosocial and environmental factors (Kamphuis et al., 2006). The emphasis of many studies has been on socio-demographic characteristics as important determinants of fruit intake (Johansson and Andersen, 1998; Johansson et al., 1999; Pollard et al., 2001). Baker and Wardle (2003) found that women are more likely to regard eating healthy, and thus also fruit intake, as important. Older age groups, people living in urban areas and those with a higher education have been reported to eat more fruit (Pollard et al., 2001; Turrell et al., 2002; Mitchell, 2004). Trudeau et al. (1998) found that the role of demographic determinants on fruit consumption was markedly different depending on gender. Among men, only education was positively associated with fruit consumption whereas among women, fruit intake was positively associated with age and education. It was also shown that people with more travel experience are more open towards the consumption of ethnic foods (Centeno, 2005; UNCTAD, 2005).Apart from socio-demographic characteristics, several studies have underscored that product familiarity, past behaviour and experience, beliefs and attitudes towards a healthy diet as well as the influence of the social environment are strongly associated with fruit intake (Brug et al., 1995; Steptoe et al., 2004; Kvaavik et al., 2005). Cheron and Hayashi (2001) determined familiarity as a composite measure of cognitive and behavioural experience, and found that the level of familiarity with a product or product category has a major impact on purchasing behaviour. Similarly, other studies defined familiarity as the number of product-related experiences, which lead to the development of attitudes towards a product and hence subsequent behavioural and purchasing intention (Pollard et al., 2002; van Kleef et al., 2005). Past experiences are thus to be considered as substantive predictors of later behaviour. However, a distinction has to be made between past experience and habit; this latter being defined as a behaviour that is at least habituated with repeated performance rather than being completely reasoned ad hoc (Verbeke and Vackier, 2005). Attitudes, predictors of intention and barriers to increase fruit intake were assessed by Cox et al. (1998). They found that beliefs with respect to health, nutritional value, taste and cost were strongly associated with general attitudes towards fruit and with the intention to increase fruit consumption. A positive relationship between health benefit perceptions and fruit consumption was documented by Kearney et al. (2000). Individuals with positive attitudes towards healthy eating showed a larger intake of fruit (Brug et al., 1995; Hearty et al., 2007). Furthermore, several studies have mentioned a positive effect of socio-environmental factors such as social support from family and other people (e.g. friends and co-workers) on fruit intake (Steptoe et al., 2004; Kamphuis et al., 2006; Kamphuis et al., 2007).In sum, the complex interaction between different factors influencing consumers' decision to eat fruit in general has been widely described in literature. Little research has been done specifically with respect to tropical fruits and their products. Most research about this food category focuses on trade-related aspects, nutritional properties, production methods, and processing and packaging issues. Nonetheless, this food category can be expected to boom in Europe in the next couple of years as the demand for various tropical fruits is increasing due to consumers' increased health consciousness (Centeno, 2005), population growth of ethnic minorities in Europe (CBI, 2006) and through international travel and global communication (Kortbech-Olesen, 1996; Centeno, 2005). The food industry is also making greater use of tropical fruits as ingredients for a wide assortment of food items in order to respond to consumers' growing demand for variety, new exotic flavours and innovative products.However, it is unlikely that tropical fruits will easily become part of consumers' daily diet. Numerous fresh and processed tropical fruit products are quite unknown to most consumers and are likely to remain so unless consumers' acceptance of these products, followed by successful market introduction, occurs. Therefore, it is important to understand how consumers perceive these products, how they make choices and how their consumption and purchasing intentions are shaped.The scarcity of insight in consumers' decision-making process towards tropical fruits forms the rationale of this study. This research aims at investigating to what extent the previously described determinants of fruit choice (i.e. product familiarity, attitude, beliefs and social norm) hold in the specific case tropical fruit. Two main objectives have been set for this study. The first objective is to analyse and describe consumers' familiarity with tropical fruits, their general attitude and beliefs towards this fruit category, the influence of social norm on tropical fruit consumption and to evaluate consumers' purchasing intention of tropical fruits. Associations between socio-demographic characteristics and each of the aforementioned determinants are also investigated. The second objective consists in evaluating the role of product familiarity, general attitude, beliefs and social norm as predictors of the purchasing intention of fresh and processed tropical fruit products.\nResearch methodology: Primary quantitative data were collected through a questionnaire-based survey. Fieldwork was done during Agriflanders, an agricultural and food fair held 11-14 January 2007 in Ghent (Belgium). A non-probability quota sampling procedure was used (Malhotra, 1996), envisaging the completion of predetermined quota with respect to age (envisaged half-half female-male) and age (envisaged equal distribution over four predefined age categories). The recruitment of participants was based on the personal judgement of the researcher, taking the predetermined quota and people's willingness to participate into account.The questionnaire included closed-ended questions in the form of fixed measurement scales using metric interval Likert (Likert, 1932) and semantic differential scales (Osgood et al., 1957). The questionnaire consisted of five parts which were separately assessed for fresh and processed tropical fruit products (see Appendix 1). \"Familiarity\" was measured by combining two subjective assessments related to knowledge and use of tropical fruits, with a more objective assessment of the number of product-related experiences (Pollard et al., 2002; van Kleef et al., 2005). First, subjective knowledge and use of tropical fruits and their products were measured by two items on a seven-point Likert scale. Second, for 12 fresh tropical fruits[1] commonly available on the Belgian market, and four tropical fruit product categories, consumers' product-related experiences were evaluated. Next, \"general attitude\" was evaluated by six items using a seven-point semantic differential scale. \"Beliefs\" were assessed by evaluating multiple product attributes (i.e. attractive, taste, special, healthy, safe, price, available, ethical, quality, nutritious and sustainable) on a seven-point semantic differential scale with end points associated with bipolar labels. Further, \"social norm\" was measured by evaluating five items on a seven-point Likert scale. Finally, two items, measured on a seven-point Likert scale were used to determine \"purchasing intention\" of fresh and processed tropical fruit products. The questionnaire also included socio-demographic characteristics (gender, age, place of living and level of education). Additionally, respondents were asked if they had travelled beyond Europe in the last two years by indicating Africa, Latin America, Australia, Asia and the USA as possible destinations.The questionnaire was pre-tested and modified before starting the fieldwork. After editing and codification, the data were analysed by means of SPSS12.0. The analysis included paired samples t-test, independent samples t-test and one way ANOVA for comparisons of means, factor analysis using principal components in order to assess relationships among sets of interrelated attributes and stepwise multiple linear regression. For all statistical analyses, a 95 per cent interval of confidence (a=0.05) was used as the threshold for significance.\nResults: A total of 294 questionnaires were completed of which 290 were valid for further analysis. The sample characteristics are presented in Table I. The overall gender and age distributions match well with the predetermined quota. However, this sample is not statistically representative for the population. Findings need thus to be interpreted within the sample characteristics and may not be extrapolated to the overall Belgian population. Nonetheless, the amount of respondents in the gender and age categories is sufficient to draw statistical inferences between sample subgroups (Sudman, 1976).The majority of the respondents (67.0 per cent) reported living in urban areas while 33.0 per cent reported living in rural areas. With respect to education, 46.5 per cent went to school until the age of 18 whereas 50.0 per cent continued beyond their 18th year. More than one quarter (27.4 per cent) of the respondents had travelled outside Europe in the last two years, with Africa as the main destination (38.3 per cent) followed by the USA (20.6 per cent) and Asia (19.6 per cent).The presentation of the results is further split up in two parts. First, findings with respect to fruit choice determinants (i.e. product familiarity, general attitude, beliefs and social norm), purchasing intention of fresh and processed tropical fruits, and their associations with socio-demographic characteristics are described and the underlying dimensions that constitute consumers' beliefs and social norm are assessed. Second, the impact of individual characteristics (product familiarity, general attitude and beliefs) and social norm as predictors of purchasing intention of fresh and processed tropical fruit products is analysed and discussed.Tropical fruit choice determinants and purchasing intention\nDiscussion and conclusions: A higher familiarity, i.e. in this study a composite measure of respondents' subjective assessments of knowledge and use of tropical fruits combined with the claimed number of product-related experiences, has been found for processed tropical fruit products rather than for fresh tropical fruits, although both mean values remained close to the mid-point of the scale. The different product categories containing tropical fruits seem all to be well known, whereas some fresh tropical fruits are better known and more often bought than others. Hence, a distinction can be made between exotic and common tropical fruit, with the first group containing tropical fruits being unknown for the majority (>60 per cent) and the latter containing fruits that are known and bought by more than 70 per cent of the respondents.A positive general attitude towards tropical fruit consumption among consumers has been reported. This positive attitude, together with the beliefs that tropical fruits are nutritious, healthy, good in taste, attractive and special, fits into the current trend towards healthy eating and the search for new, exotic flavours and variety (Fulker, 2001; Diop and Jaffee, 2005; Centeno, 2005).Partner, children and other factors in the social environment have an important influence on consumers' tropical fruit consumption. This corroborates with previous studies mentioning a positive effect of socio-environmental factors on fruit intake (Steptoe et al., 2004; Kamphuis et al., 2007).Consumers reported a rather positive intention to purchase tropical fruits. Product familiarity is the most important determinant predicting purchasing intention for both fresh and processed tropical fruit products. This is in line with the findings reported by Cheron and Hayashi (2001) who found a relationship between level of product familiarity and purchasing behaviour. Also perceived specialty and attractiveness of tropical fruits has a significant impact on the intention to purchase these products.Socio-demographic characteristics associate with product familiarity, consumers' general attitude and beliefs, and hence purchasing intention. General attitude towards fresh and processed tropical fruit products does not differ between men and women, but product familiarity and purchasing intention do, with women reporting higher scores. This confirms previous findings about gender differences and fruit consumption in general, e.g. as reported by Baker and Wardle (2003). They found that attitudes and preferences towards fruits differed very little between men and women, although men eat fruit generally less frequently than women. Consumers who had travelled outside Europe in the last two years are more familiar with fresh and processed tropical fruit products and are more likely to purchase these products. This is in line with several studies indicating that non-ethnic people are more familiar with ethnic food due to influences of international travel, and are hence more liking to purchase these foods (Centeno, 2005; UNCTAD, 2005).The results contribute to the limited knowledge about consumers' behavioural intention towards tropical fruit consumption. Insights about food choice determinants with respect to tropical fruits and their role as predictors of the intention to purchase these fruits are obtained. These insights are pertinent to producers, processors and retailers of tropical fruits and derived products, and to those involved in food policy. As product familiarity with fresh and processed tropical fruit products is found to be the most important determinant predicting purchasing intention of tropical fruits, effectively stimulating trial (purchase) will be a key success factor. Persuasive and appropriate communication about nutritional properties, health benefits, usage and consumption issues will be an essential tool in persuading people to consume and purchase tropical fruits. Taste samples in a retail environment, sales incentives and price promotions to stimulate trial purchase are recommended.This study faces some limitations, inherent to the research method and the nature of data collection. The first limitation pertains to the use of non-probability quota sampling. Because of the sampling procedure used, results should be interpreted within the sample characteristics and may thus not be extrapolated to the overall Belgian population. Second, as no specific elicitation techniques were conducted in an exploratory research phase, important attributes influencing consumers' purchasing behaviour, such as sensory attributes (Roininen et al., 2001; Zandstra et al., 2001), may have been neglected in this study. As a result, the findings obtained from this study are to be regarded as mainly exploratory, and would hence benefit from further substantiation, based on the use of larger and representative consumer samples.Despite the aforementioned limitations, the present study also stresses the need for further consumer research in this field. Although this study sheds some light on the importance of product familiarity, general attitude, attribute beliefs, and social norm in shaping the purchasing intention of tropical fruits in general, those aspects deserve a more profound investigation. As sensory attributes are also found to be prominent factors in fruit consumption and repeat purchase, these characteristics merit further attention. Furthermore, this study included only a limited number of factors determining the intention to purchase tropical fruits. Further research about motives and barriers influencing the purchasing intention of tropical fruits is recommended. When investigating these issues, it is recommended that different product categories of processed tropical fruits were considered separately.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to focus on tropical fruits, both in fresh and processed form, and on the influence of socio-demographic, psychosocial and socio-environmental factors on their consumption and purchasing intention.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A questionnaire-based survey (n=290) was used to gain insight in the perceived importance of different food choice determinants (i.e. familiarity with tropical fruits, attitude and beliefs towards this food category, influence of social norm and socio-demographic characteristics), and their role on the intention to purchase tropical fruits. Data analysis consisted of descriptive analyses and statistical validation.\nFindings: - Familiarity with tropical fruits differs and depends on consumers' product-related experiences. Tropical fruits are perceived as nutritious, healthy, good in taste, attractive and special. Socio-demographic characteristics, such as gender, place of living and travel experience outside Europe, associate with product familiarity, consumers' general attitude and beliefs, and the purchasing intention of tropical fruits.\nOriginality/value: - This paper covers a previously rather unexplored, even neglected research topic, namely consumers' attitude and behavioural intention towards fresh and processed tropical fruits.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
An empirical assessment of the antecedents of electronic-business implementation and the resulting organizational performance	[ "Organizational performance", "Corporate culture", "Top management support", "Knowledge management capabilities", "E-business implementation", "Learning capabilities" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Within only few years, e-business (electronic business) has considerably emerged as one of the most active research areas in the field of information systems (ISs) (Ghobakhloo and Tang, 2011). E-business is critical to technological innovation strategy, since it integrates internet-based systems with core business potentially affecting the whole business (Kim and Ramkaran, 2004). It enables firms to use the internet to search for and share information, enhance how they purchase or facilitate transactions, improve customer services and strengthen supplier integration (Zhu and Kraemer, 2002; Martin et al., 2011). Hence, e-business can potentially transform a firm into a networked entity with seamless supply chains and value creation processes by helping to build and manage relationships with customers, suppliers, employees, and partners (Lucia-Palacios et al., 2014).\n2. Research model and hypotheses: This study discusses the organizational factors constructs of the research model in terms of organizational learning capabilities, knowledge management capabilities, adhocracy culture, and top management support. The research model investigated in this study is shown in Figure 1, which hypothesized that each one of these constructs affects e-business implementation which, in turn, affects organizational performance. Each construct involved in the research model and hypotheses are discussed below.\n3. Research methodology: 3.1. Sample and data collection\n4. Results: 4.1. Descriptive statistics\n5. Discussion and implications: 5.1. Discussion\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to propose and empirically test a unified framework that captures the antecedents of e-business implementation, that is; organizational factors which is decomposed into organizational capabilities (training availability, technical expertise, knowledge level), knowledge management capabilities (knowledge acquisition, application, and sharing), adhocracy culture, and top management support, e-business implementation, and organizational performance (efficiency, sales performance, customer satisfaction, relationship development).\nDesign/methodology/approach: Data from a survey of 258 top managers in Saudi Arabian enterprises were collected to empirically test the proposed research model. Additionally, the statistical techniques employed included a confirmatory factor analysis to examine the reliability and validity of the measurement model, and structural equation modeling using AMOS is utilized to test the hypotheses.\nFindings: The findings of this study suggest that organizational factors influence e-business implementation. Moreover, e-business implementation affects organizational performance.\nResearch limitations/implications: This study did not investigate all organizational factors and knowledge management processes. Future research could assess the influence of additional factors such as technology and environment contexts on e-business implementation.\nPractical implications: Owners/managers considering e-business implementation would be best to focus on internal (organizational) factors and their interaction within and beyond the organization, rather than focussing exclusively on technological considerations.\nOriginality/value: This study is significant for at least two reasons: it determines the key antecedents to successful business implementation based on organizational factors and it helps to understand the effects of e-business implementation on organizational performance.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Supporting the underperforming manager: Teaching the soft skills that can make all the difference	[ "Management development", "Leadership", "Training", "Organizational performance", "Organizational culture" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: No organization can afford to employ an under-performing manager who fails to add significant value to the business - yet it is surprising how many inadequate managers exist in British industry.\nPlaying the blame game: Why are middle managers getting the blame? Are they being made scapegoats or do people work hard to get to the top and simply lose their momentum as they progress up the ladder?Not surprisingly, the answer is more complex than either scenario. In my work with companies of all sizes and from a range of sectors, the crux of the problem seems to be that frequently talented people are promoted to positions that they are not adequately trained or prepared for. A surprising number of companies still operates the habit of systematic promotion as a pat on the back or a reward for longevity and loyalty. The result is a high number of managers - 60 percent, in fact - described as \"reluctant\" by the Institute of Leadership and Management.\nMake training a priority: Skills such as performance and relationship management, delegation, time management and team building are labeled \"soft\" skills. Despite the fact that these skills are an essential part of effective management, many departments are investing their increasingly restricted training budgets in areas that sound more impressive. However, to neglect equipping a newly promoted or emerging manager with the new skills that he or she will need is irresponsible and shortsighted.Training does not have to be an expensive residential course full of management theory, but should aim to build essential skills and confidence in performance management, managing difficult conversations, effective team meetings, delegation and communication skills. When employers cut their training budgets to save money, they often fail to appreciate the resulting cost in poor management and decline in productivity, as good managers are the most cost-effective resource that an organization has.\nFour key areas: Good management is basically a combination of skills and the confidence needed to deploy them effectively. In my work with companies across the UK, it has become obvious that both experienced and newly promoted managers benefit hugely from improving their skills and confidence in four key areas.Self-awareness\nCultivate a supportive ethos: Management has its rewards but it can also be an isolated place where seeking help is still interpreted as a sign of weakness or incompetence. The higher the climb, the further there is to fall. Even the experienced and confident manager can feel vulnerable and exposed at times.While managers understandably feel unable to turn to junior members of staff for encouragement and support, they do have an important ally in other managers. A well run company should foster a system of peer support where it is acceptable to admit to doubt and seek advice. Ultimately, managers learn best from other managers and get support and encouragement that they may be unable to find elsewhere. Peer groups are also a great place to grow as a manager; supporting, mentoring and sharing best practice with others, while learning through the experiences of trusted colleagues. A company with a newly promoted manager should always appoint a more experienced manager to mentor him or her in the early days in the new position to ensure that the person is able to benefit from the experience of others and continue the company's management ethos.Managers have a lot riding on their shoulders and a lot is expected of them. They need to be given the tools and training to carry out their role effectively. Now is the time to address the failings in management; not by apportioning blame but by looking at how the potential that middle managers have can be developed and maximized for individual organizations and the economy as a whole.\nNote: Rosie Garwood is Managing Director of Reflection Consulting Ltd. The core of her business is providing practical, relevant training and support for managers and trouble-shooting for teams in all sectors. More information is available at www.reflectionconsulting.co.ukShe also runs the Rising Stars Management School for emerging managers and leaders of the future. Visit www.risingstarsmanagementschool.co.uk for more information.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to lament the poor quality of many managers and highlight four key skills that can help to improve their performance.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper emphasizes the importance of self-awareness, delegation, communication and organizational skills.\nFindings: - Details the key role of training in helping to impart these skills.\nPractical implications: - The paper highlights the role of a supportive organizational culture in management development and draws attention to the cost to the economy as a whole of poorly performing managers.\nOriginality/value: - The paper examines how middle managers' potential can be developed and maximized to benefit individual organizations and the economy as a whole.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Customer integration into supply chains: literature review and research propositions	[ "Customer integration", "Supply chain management", "Customer-centric supply chain", "Customer-driven supply chain" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The integration of the customer into supply chains is a theme that is attracting more and more interest from both academics and practitioners (Stevens and Johnson, 2016). Nowadays, as supply chains operate in a business context where the rate of change continues to increase and where high levels of turbulence and volatility, globalization, new competition and more demanding customers challenge a company's positioning (Christopher, 2016; Merigo et al., 2016), supply chains need to reconfigure themselves in more flexible and networked structures (Anderson, 2012). For these reasons, some authors have suggested customer-driven supply chains (CDSCs) and customer-centric supply chains (CCSCs) supply chains as conceptual constructs where the final customer is considered as an integrated actor into the interconnected supply chain processes (Christopher, 2016).\nLiterature background: The role of the customer in the supply chain processes began to gain initial and general attention in the 1980s, when the lean management and lean supply perspectives and practices set a new production model that was demand-driven (Houlihan, 1985; Stevens, 1989; Womack et al., 1990). In the 1990s, more literature examined the link between a company's procurement processes and its customer relationships (Harland, 1996; Novack and Simco, 1991). Researchers focused on the fact that a company's management of upstream relationships is closely connected to its management of downstream relationships. The agile manufacturing concept (Christopher, 2000; Mason-Jones and Towill, 1999) provided an answer for responding rapidly to volatility in demand, in terms of a change in both volumes and variety. Furthermore, hybrid forms - as a legal approach (Christopher and Towill, 2000) - were introduced for dealing with unpredictable demand and long lead times, where customer integration into the supply chain was always more necessary.\nMethodology: To achieve the main aim of this paper while ensuring replicability of the study and research rigor, a systematic literature review is developed. This specific methodology:\nFindings and discussion: Customer-driven supply chains: a systematic literature review\nFrom customer-driven to customer-centric supply chains: a conceptual framework and research propositions: To systematize our analysis and answer RQ1 and RQ2, we based our literature review on Potter et al.'s (2015) supply chain evolutionary model. We focused our attention on the fourth and fifth phases of this model - CDSCs and CCSCs - as they assume a customer orientation and integrate the customer as an active part in the supply chain. We differentiated our analysis from the existing contributions as we aimed to systematize literature and describe the determinants of the evolution from customer-driven to customer-centric and their respective characteristics using a conceptual framework. Merging the previous findings, we can answer RQ3: What new research propositions can be developed by comparing CDSCs and CCSCs that can enhance the understanding of customer integration into the supply chain? In particular, it is possible to formulate a conceptual framework and research propositions to identify promising areas for contributions, which can lead to future studies in the advancement of customer integration into the supply chain agenda (Figure 5).\nImplications: The systematic literature analysis developed herein leads to the systematization of knowledge about customer integration into the supply chain. The contribution of this paper is not exhausted in the rewriting of existing literature (Whetten, 1989), but instead lies in the recognition and identification of different approaches linked to diverse levels of customer integration. This paper provides a conceptual framework and some outcomes related to further research as well as theoretical and practical implications (Corley and Gioia, 2011). Three main research propositions concerning variables supporting customer-driven or customer-centric approaches in different business contexts, intra-organizational issues underscoring the CCSC, and the impact of digitalization on supply chain processes have been addressed.\nConclusion: The need for an evolutionary perspective from CDSCs to CCSCs stems from the individualization of customer preferences, the increased volatility and ambiguity of business contexts and the digital revolution. This shift is the maximum expression of customer integration into supply chains.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the topic of customer integration into supply chains. Particular attention is focused on literature concerning customer-driven and customer-centric supply chains. The aim is to provide a deeper understanding of these two approaches, clarify the differences, compare them and provide a conceptual model and research propositions, leading to theoretical and managerial implications.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper presents a systematic literature review conducted using a consolidated methodology. The protocol used allows for the identification, analysis, synthesis, reporting and discussion of the results stemming from the literature on customer integration into the supply chain. This analysis enables us to summarize the results in a conceptual framework and introduce new research propositions.\nFindings: Using the results of the literature review, the authors first systematized the literature on customer-driven supply chain and on customer-centric supply chain in the conceptual framework. For each of the two sets of studies, the authors highlighted three main streams of research concerning customer integration into the supply chain. The authors analyzed three different topics: why customer integration is needed, how customer integration takes place and which intra-organizational issues are necessary to implement customer integration into the supply chain. Second, the authors developed a conceptual framework to confront customer-driven and customer-centric approaches to supply chain management in an evolutionary perspective. The authors thus formulated research propositions aimed at entering in greater depth the management of the shift from the customer-driven to customer-centric supply chain.\nResearch limitations/implications: The systematic literature analysis developed in the paper contributed to more integrated and comprehensive knowledge of customer integration into the supply chain. The paper identifies and describes the characteristics of different supply chain approaches through the organization and interpretation of academics' contributions. The paper suggests the need for further research in at least three areas: the study of variables supporting customer-driven or customer-centric approaches, the relevant intra-organizational issues underscoring the customer-centric supply chain and the impact of digitalization on supply chain processes.\nPractical implications: The paper outlines the main structural elements that compose the customer-driven and customer-centric supply chains. The results of the systematic analysis of the literature can be used to inform managers about the different levels and approaches for achieving customer integration. These diverse configurations of customer integration imply administrative and organizational considerations. Major issues to be considered when managers want to integrate the customer into the supply chain are identified. In addition, conditions underscoring different options - namely, customer-driven and customer-centric supply chains - are provided.\nOriginality/value: The originality of this work lies in the systematic review of literature examining customer integration into supply chains, which highlights two main levels of customer integration: customer-driven and customer-centric. The main contribution is the formulation of a conceptual framework and new research propositions from the comparison and merger of these two configurations. The information presented in this paper enhances the literature on recent developments in customer integration, thereby enabling managers to select the most suitable configuration for the supply chain structure.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Multiple commitments and behaviors: a mixed concept approach	[ "Brand commitment", "Employee behavior", "Brand citizenship behavior", "Department commitment" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Commitment in the organizational context has received a considerable amount of attention from scholars. O'Reilly and Chatman (1986, p. 493) defined organizational commitment as \"the psychological attachment felt by the person to an organization\". A multitude of types of commitment and measures have been proposed (for the most commonly used measurements, see Meyer and Allen, 1991; O'Reilly and Chatman, 1986), tested for correlations with relevant outcome variables such as job performance (Jaramillo et al., 2005), job satisfaction, turnover intentions and actual turnover (Cooper-Hakim and Viswesvaran, 2005), as well as other behavioral intentions such as organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). For a comprehensive overview of antecedents, correlates and consequences of different forms of commitment, see the meta-analysis from Meyer et al. (2002).\n2. Selection of relevant focus points: 2.1 Brand focus versus organizational focus\n3. Prior conceptual models for investigating multi-foci relationships: Two different concepts exist in which the relationship between commitment foci and related behaviors are discussed:\n4. Development of a mixed concept model: 4.1 The relationship between commitments and behaviors\n5. Procedures: The survey was conducted at a publicly administered maximum care hospital with approximately 2,500 employees in Germany in fall 2014 after a pretest in spring 2014. To prevent confounding commitment to the organization with commitment toward the corporate brand, an introduction before the item battery of CBC and BCB was provided asking respondents to think specifically about the corporate brand, brand values and the brand promise. Additionally, it was surveyed within the questionnaire whether employees perceive that the organization has a corporate brand and if employees possess sufficient brand knowledge. Participation was promoted by corporate representatives and an incentive for participation was provided. In total, 402 questionnaires were returned during the survey period. After testing for consistent response behavior, 366 completed forms were entered into the analysis. The sample consists of four major professional categories: nursing (41.5 per cent), physicians (21.7 per cent), management/administration (20.3 per cent) and supportive facilities such as housekeeping, building services, logistics and information technology (12.8 per cent). The majority of the 366 respondents (70.8 per cent) was female, 21.2 per cent have personnel responsibilities. Median age is between 41 and 50 years, and median tenure is above 10 years. Two-thirds of the employees are working full-time. The reflective measurement models were analyzed with SPSS Statistics 22 and AMOS 22.\n6. Results: 6.1 Assessing reflective lower-order constructs\n7. Discussion: 7.1 General discussion\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the interrelationships between different foci of commitment, namely, department commitment (DC) and corporate brand commitment (CBC), and their relationship toward favorable employee behavior on the same level of aggregation.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A survey at a maximum care hospital in Germany was conducted (N = 366).\nFindings: Integrating two contrasting frameworks (\"key mediating concept\" and \"compatibility concept\") into a mixed model by using the accessibility-diagnosticity framework, support for the predictive nature of DC on CBC was found. Based on the compatibility principle, relationships between DC and department citizenship behavior (DCB) as well as between CBC and brand citizenship behavior (BCB) are empirically supported. Negligible spillover effects were found.\nResearch limitations/implications: Understanding the relationship between DC and CBC shows new ways to strengthen CBC, as the generation of DC has synergetic effects on favorable employee behaviors. DC facilitates employee behavior supporting the department and has an indirect impact on BCB, which is extremely important in service sectors with limited differentiation potential.\nOriginality/value: This paper provides a new theoretical reasoning to derive relationships between different foci of commitments applicable for future research. Additionally, it is the first implementation of CBC in a multi-foci framework of commitments and favorable employee behaviors. Moreover, it is the first application of the BCB construct in a healthcare context. Finally, empirical support for a mixed concept approach over past models in a multi-foci framework is provided.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Co-creation in hotel service innovation using smart phone apps: an empirical study	[ "India", "Co-creation", "Service innovation", "Luxury hotel", "Smart phone apps" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Mobile commerce (m-commerce) has seen a remarkable growth in the hotel industry (Bilgihan et al., 2011; Morosan and DeFranco, 2016), and the smart phone has evolved as new mobile technological device to facilitate the firm-customer interactions (Kleijnen et al., 2007). The service firms prefer mobile technology as a medium to exchange information and deliver services to customers (Nessler, 2010). Today, hotels are using smart phone apps to assist their guests to interact with their service staffs and to design new services as per their needs and preferences. Thus, m-commerce, characterized by personalization, ubiquity and convenience (Wang and Wang, 2010), uniquely and comprehensively mediates customer-firm co-creation in different service settings (Vargo and Lusch, 2008; Prahalad and Ramaswamy, 2004). Co-creation is considered as the emerging \"service dominant logic\" (SDL) and viewed as a natural way of integrating competences (Skalen et al., 2014). It helps the service firms to, on the one hand, develop new service propositions (Lusch et al., 2010) and, on the other hand, it ensures customer satisfaction by meeting their needs and wants.\nReview of literature: Theoretical foundations\nResearch hypotheses development: Customer innovativeness and customer involvement\nMethodology: In this study, data were collected from luxury hotel guests, who used smart phone apps or at least had experience and knowledge of using smart phone apps. The Indian luxury hotel business has observed tremendous growth in past few years, and it is projected that the number of hotels will increase from 750 (2012) to 1,338 (2017) and 2,457 (2,022) (India Tourism Statistics, Ministry of Tourism Government of India, 2012). There are total 92 five-star luxury category hotels in India, and the capital, New Delhi, has 6 (India Tourism Statistics, Ministry of Tourism Government of India, 2014). New Delhi is the place of data collection. Luxury hotels are categorized into five-star deluxe, five- and four-star and heritage hotels (India Tourism Statistics, Ministry of Tourism Government of India, 2014). We approached all of them but only five luxury hotels agreed to participate in the data collection process.\nResults: In addition to the testing of hypotheses proposed in conceptual model, this study also examined the measurement model's goodness of fit indices, reliability, convergent and discriminant validity.\nDiscussion and conclusions: A conceptual model was designed to highlight a set of relationships among the constructs that were tested and validated. The validation provides evidence that customer involvement can be used to predict customers' adoption intention in luxury hotel service innovation using smart phone apps.\nConclusions: This study presents a comprehensive view of co-creative service innovation in Indian luxury hotels and confirms that co-creation can occur with a multitude of consumer and contextual factors grounded in consumer innovativeness, nature of interaction and involvement, and it can be influenced by mobile technology and m-commerce. Thus, this study contributes to the existing body of knowledge in co-creation, hotel service innovation and m-commerce by setting up the foundation for a comprehensive conceptualization of co-creative service innovation. Similarly, usage of smart phone apps to facilitate co-creative service innovation could represent the inception of personalized interactions, leading to new service development. Finally, we conclude that service firms can enjoy superior business performance with strategies to perform co-creative service innovation activities, facilitated by mobile technologies (Okumus, 2001).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this study is to extend and revise the basic technology-based service (TBS) adoption model in luxury hotels in India using smart phone apps, and to analyse the impact of the guests' innovativeness, willingness to co-create, need for interaction and involvement on their adoption intention towards co-creatively developed new services.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Data were collected through online and field surveys from luxury hotel guests, resulting into 229 valid responses. A data analysis was done by applying the confirmatory factor analysis along with structure equation modelling.\nFindings: The findings of this study indicate that both guests' innovativeness and need for interaction with service staff significantly affect their involvement. A guest's willingness to co-create acts as a partial mediator between his/her innovativeness and intention to adopt co-creatively developed new services.\nResearch limitations/implications: Use of smart phone apps by hotel guests to co-create new services and their intentions to adopt such services have been examined in the context of luxury hotels in India only and thereby limits generalization of results to other industry and country contexts.\nPractical implications: The findings of this study would look to guide policy planners and hotel managers for implementing technology application in the co-creative hotel service innovation.\nOriginality/value: The need for interaction and customer involvement have been added as two supportive variables to the basic TBS model to analyse the adoption intention of luxury hotel guests. This is a new addition to existing literature, as majority of empirical studies in this field are from industries other than hospitality and with differing contexts.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Designing parental leave for fathers - promoting gender equality in working life	[ "Design", "Fathers", "Gender equality", "Working life", "Parental leave", "Father’s quota" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The work and welfare model in Nordic countries includes policies that support working mothers and fathers through an extensive parental leave system combined with high-quality day-care for children (Brandth et al., 2017). This reflects the dominant parenting norm of dual earners and dual carers (Gornick and Meyers, 2009), a norm promoted by welfare state researchers as a key to achieve gender equality (Pascall, 2012).The Nordic countries have acted as pioneers of several gender equality incentives in parental leave schemes (Haas and Rostgaard, 2011). This includes granting fathers parental leave rights. The father's quota, which is an individual, earmarked, non-transferable right for fathers, represents a core component of the leave system in four of the Nordic countries.\nThe interaction of welfare state policies and working life: According to Liebig and Oechsle (2017), work organizations are important contexts for studying possible changes towards dual earning and dual caring among parents. How parental leave is implemented in working life has received little attention by researchers (Lewis and Stumbitz, 2017; Moss and Deven, 2015). In general research on how to increase father involvement in childcare has often pointed to work organizations representing barriers against change in fathering practices. Discussing fathers' use of policies promoting shared childcare Haas and Hwang (2019) suggest that barriers to fathers' leave taking in general are deeply embedded in workplace culture. They emphasize that a dramatic change to the concept of the male ideal worker is needed in order to create more equality between fathers and mothers in this field.\nData and method: The analysis is based on two qualitative studies of fathers' parental leave use. In the first study 40 interviews were carried out in late 2012/early 2013. For the analysis in this paper, we have singled out 19 in which the fathers had higher education at the masters' and PhD level. This is in order to increase the probability of finding fathers with high commitment work/ideal worker norms. The interviews were carried out during the second year after the child's birth. The fathers in the sample had right to 10 and 12 weeks of individual leave and 27 or 26 weeks of shared leave if they chose 100 per cent wage compensation.\nNorwegian parental leave policy for fathers: The Norwegian statutory parental leave scheme is an earnings-related social insurance programme in which parents \"earn\" the right through participation in working life. In this way, family policies are closely connected to employment policies. One general objective of parental leave policies in Norway is the equal sharing of paid and unpaid work, which is encouraged by the leave system, which demands that both parents work in order to acquire rights to paid parental leave.\nNormalization of male employees as caring fathers in working life: Because the father's quota has existed for over 20 years in Norway, it is well known, and as stated in the introduction the great majority of Norwegian fathers use the quota. It has been a widely used practice for Norwegian fathers from the early days of the father's quota. The Norwegian experience with a special fathers' quota is that taking leave has become a norm for what men do when they become fathers (Halrynjo and Kitterod, 2016; Naz, 2010). Using interview data with fathers from our research projects this section focusses on how working life and welfare state polices interact. We explore how the design elements of the parental leave for fathers work in order to promote gender equality in working life.\nConclusions: Comparative international research has found that fathers in countries that offer earmarked, non-transferable leave have a higher take-up than in countries where such a leave design does not exist. The point of departure of his article has been the major change that has taken place in Norway when it comes to the participation of fathers in caregiving for young children. The father's quota which reserves part of the parental leave for the father has played an important role in this respect. In this paper, being interested in how leave policies work, we have approached leave use by studying fathers' actual perceptions of and experiences with taking leaves. From their perspectives, we have aimed to gain knowledge about the connection between leave design, its use and possible impacts. We have studied attitudes to fathers' leave use in working life and considered the consequences for gender equality in working life.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyze the Norwegian parental leave policy for fathers, the father's quota, which has reached a mature age of 26 years, asking how gender equality has been affected in working life.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Based on interviews with 28 fathers who have used the father's quota, the paper analyzes the connection between leave design, its use and impacts by using the design elements of individualization, generosity and non-transferability.\nFindings: Findings show that in granting fathers an individual, earmarked and non-transferable right, the welfare state has contributed to turning leave taking into a norm for modern fathering. The generosity in terms of length and full wage compensation strengthens it as a right in working life. Fathers being paid their full wages for staying at home taking care of their child emphasize the dual-carer norm. The analyses show that the collision between fatherhood and the ideal of the unencumbered employee has weakened in many types of organizations.\nOriginality/value: The paper addresses the request put forward by Lewis and Stumbitz (2017) and Moss and Deven (2015) where they state that there has been little research addressing how parental leave is implemented in working life.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
How to thrive in change and uncertainty	[ "Change management", "Uncertainty management", "Workplace", "Change", "Performance", "Mindset", "Thinking patterns", "Emotional response", "Behaviour", "Personality" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Survival in the Arctic is similar to surviving in the world of business. It requires the ability to be aware of your emotions and thoughts, since both will drive behaviour. This ultimately impacts on your ability to deal effectively with any changes that arise. And in business today, change is a regular occurrence.\nChange curve: The change curve model shown in Figure 1, featured in Cope with Change at Work (Stockdale and Steeper, 2012), highlights the four main stages of emotional transition that people experience, ranging from denial, when optimism is relatively high, to resistance and acceptance, where optimism is lower. It is only when we get to commitment that optimism tends to increase again.Individuals move through the change curve at varying rates, depending on the type of change that is experienced. For example, if the change is known to you and other people (e.g. volcanic dust in air causes flights to be cancelled and the training course is postponed as a result), it is likely to have a lesser negative impact on you than a change that is unknown to you but known to others (e.g. the team you are training are being made redundant in three months' time) - because there is a greater element of surprise for you personally. In this case it may take you longer to adapt depending on how you view your (potentially weakened) situation.\nJohari window: The Johari window (Figure 2) is a cognitive psychology tool that was developed in the 1950s to help individuals better understand the self and others. The arena is the part of ourselves that we see and others see. The blind spot is composed of the aspects that others see but we are not aware of. The facade is our private space, which we know but keep from others, and the hidden potential is the most mysterious in that it is the unconscious or subconscious part of us that is seen by neither ourselves nor others.Using the Johari concept of the known or unknown, this article will explore the behaviours that can result from how we approach different situations, as well as how quickly individuals may move round the change curve.\nSituations that are known to all: When an individual faces a situation that is familiar to them as well as others, there is a spectrum of possible behaviours they can choose to adopt, ranging from enthusiasm and excitement, to antipathy and avoidance (Box 1).For example, Steve was a highly experienced trainer and had been delivering the same four-day training programme for a number of years. By day three, both Steve and the participants had got into some sort of \"autopilot\" in terms of what they expected to happen. Steve knew who the loud characters were in the group, and how individuals typically engaged with one another. As a consequence he adopted a pattern of behaviour based on his experience of dealing with similar individuals in the past.When the loud character in the group began to speak, the others would roll their eyes upwards. If Steve felt positive, he would engage the individual and give them a bit of air time, before asking others if they had any thoughts. If Steve felt antipathy towards the situation, he was more likely to avoid eye contact with the individual because it was too stressful to deal with. This mindset can lead to what the US Coast Guard refer to as \"hazardous thinking patterns\" and ineffective behaviour.When people face high stress situations, they can adopt five hazardous thinking patterns that have a major effect on the person's ability to respond effectively. The thought patterns are:1. anti-authority;2. impulsiveness;3. invincibilit;4. macho; and5. resignationIn Steve's case, he was experiencing resignation, as he did not believe that his contribution would make any difference, so he preferred to take no action and wait for others to do something. He did not want to take responsibility.The key factor that Steve needed to be aware of was how he was feeling \"in the moment\" and remind himself that he could make a difference by taking even a small action.\nSituations that are unknown to the self and known to others: The next area is situations that are unknown to you, but known to others (see Box 2). An example of this is when a trainer or individual goes to work in a new department or company, where the culture or norms are already familiar to others.In this case, the individual is at a potential disadvantage, because a lot about the way things are done in the organisation is unknown to them. A positive approach is to engage in conversation or ask questions to begin to flush out the important points that they need to be aware of when working in the organisation. By using their observational skills, they can quickly notice how people behave and what is valued by others. This takes the focus off themselves and onto others, which can be a useful strategy early on because it enables those who have the \"knowledge\" to feel valued.On the other hand, a trainer's approach could be defensive from the outset, where they feel they have to prove themselves and don't like being in a position of not knowing. As a result they tend to focus the attention on themselves and often do a lot of talking rather than listening. This can lead to the hazardous thinking pattern of \"anti-authority\", where their mindset is \"no-one tells me what to do\".This happened to a trainer who had to do some training in a logistics company and they set the timing for their programme from 9,30 am to 5 pm. Many people were yawning and tired at the end of the day because they normally started work at 7 am and worked until 3 pm. It may have been more beneficial for the employees' learning if the trainer had adapted and started the second day at 7 am to suit their preferences, but he ignored the hints given by the participants and as a result, most people had lost interest by late afternoon and did not learn as much as a result.\nSituations that are known to the self and unknown to others: The next situation is where an individual faces a situation that is known to them and unknown to others (Box 3). For example when a trainer goes in to deliver a skills programme, this is often the case, as they have knowledge that they need to share.From the positive perspective, if the trainer believes that the people attending the course are able, capable and have the potential already within, it is likely that they will deliver their material in an engaging way using questioning to help draw out the knowledge from the participants. It is likely that they view the trainees as peers whom they can share their knowledge with to enhance everyone's capability.On the other hand, if they begin the training with the belief that \"I cannot believe these people don't know this already - how stupid are they?\", the trainer is more likely to come across from the mode of expert who holds all the power. As a result the trainees can feel inadequate and are less willing to ask questions for fear of looking stupid in front of their peers.This type of behaviour from the trainer can lead to two hazardous thinking patterns: \"invincibility\" and \"macho\". The invincibility pattern is a lack of awareness of the implications of their behaviour, and the macho behaviour means that trainers often take unnecessary risks, and overestimate their own capabilities.So in order to counter these potentially unhelpful behaviours, it's important to become aware of what drives you as an individual (power, recognition, achievement). Then learn to accept that others are likely to be aware of your capabilities already, so there is not always a need to prove your brilliance to others, or the need to put yourself and maybe other colleagues into risky situations.\nSituations that are unknown to all: Finally when going into a situation that is unknown to everyone (Box 4), there is the potential for the greatest risk and the greatest rewards. This could be the development of a new innovation or breakthrough thinking for an organisation.And in order to develop the mindset that will be most helpful, the trainer has to maintain their own curiosity and interest, while demonstrating an air of confidence. This can encourage others also to step into the unknown, and therefore a trainer needs to be authentic and not afraid to say \"I don't know\". Some people can find this difficult if their personal identity is tied up around the notion of being an expert, and the need to be seen to have all the answers.In this stressful type of situation, the hazardous thinking pattern that may be prevalent is \"impulsiveness\", where the tendency is to do something - just anything - and as a result they take an action that is unhelpful. In this situation, the trainer should stop, take a breath, and think. Slowing down and noticing breathing will give your brain to change to catch up and not just go into automatic pilot.\nConclusion: Having considered the four different types of situations that people can encounter and how they may react, this will determine how quickly they are likely to move around the change curve.As Table AI shows, individuals who tend to have a fearful reaction to each situation longer can take longer to be committed to change. When organisations want high levels of performance and staff to be fully engaged at work, it is important to be aware of how each person's mindset when facing a new situation will have an influence on their behaviour.While it is recognised that an individual's personality is partly inherited, and partly a result of their upbringing and circumstances, it is possible for people to adapt their behaviour once they become aware that their mindset impacts the everyday situations they experience. And the more people learn to deal effectively with uncertainty and change, the easier it is for them to maintain high levels of performance in the workplace.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - As training professionals, it is likely that there are many occasions where they have to step into unfamiliar environments and deliver highly effective results. So the importance of understanding the factors that influence how individuals respond to uncertainty should not be underestimated. The purpose of this paper is to use two well-known models (the Johari window and the change curve) to explore this issue and consider how to develop an effective mindset and behaviour when entering unknown or unfamiliar environments at work.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The framework was designed in order to deliver a workshop on change for an academic audience, and bring together two unrelated concepts.\nFindings: - Mindset is the critical element to pay attention to when entering an unknown environment, as it drives behaviour.\nPractical implications: - Trainers should be cognisant of their own beliefs and mindset and recognise how they can help or interfere with how they perform at work.\nOriginality/value: - This is original research bringing together these two models.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Sparking worker creativity: cultures where garden variety creativity can flourish	[ "Employee productivity", "Innovation", "Culture" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Today's uncertain economy is driving companies to find new ways to make sustained performance improvements through increased worker creativity - improvements at all organizational levels and across all work activities. Garden variety creativity is one way to make these necessary changes, and successful initiatives can increase worker productivity, help meet financial goals, and even decrease turnover (Mayfield and Mayfield, 2004, 2008). Such creativity occurs when workers develop new and better ways to perform their jobs, and these improvements help companies meet the increasing demands of faster global competition. As such, broad based worker creativity is an excellent tool for fostering a learning based organization.\nUnderstanding garden variety creativity: Garden variety creativity - as initially presented by Amabile (1998) - occurs when workers develop new and better ways to perform often routine jobs. These innovations arise when rank and file employees manage their knowledge to make their own jobs more efficient or effective. This creativity is usually spurred by both a worker's intrinsic desire to do a better job, and from a motivational set of rewards. Such creativity also helps increase organizational learning at operational levels where goods are produced and customers are directly dealt with: where typical organizational tasks are accomplished. In the right company setting, worker creativity can occur on a daily basis.Garden variety creativity is different from the creativity that is most often discussed and researched: high level creativity. This more visible type of innovation is used to make major organizational or product changes; it comes from specialized professionals launching endeavors that have major effects on employees and markets. These innovations are rare - usually only occurring once or twice a year from any one worker or even a team of workers (Amabile, 1998). While high-level creativity results in organizational learning, such learning is usually focused on more narrow, strategic level processes. In addition, such creativity requires special resources, work settings, and highly trained professional workers. In comparison, garden variety creativity arises when any worker simply makes his or her own work better (Mayfield and Mayfield, 2008).The successful organization will nurture both creativity types since each one contributes value in different ways. While important, high-level creativity is more specialized: often accounting for major steps in the strategic organizational plan, and largely fueled by intrinsic motivation. On the other hand, garden variety creativity drives continuous, incremental workplace improvements that are just as significant for organizational success. Table I summarizes the differences between these creativity types.\nCultivating garden variety creativity: Creativity cannot flourish without a strong commitment from top leaders - furthermore, this commitment should be expressed in formal policy and actual behaviors. Organizational policies can also block creativity. While each work situation is unique, a generic feature of such bad policies is having rules and regulations that reward rote worker procedures and punish attempts at performing work in new ways - decreasing worker intrinsic motivation, and providing extrinsic motivation for non-creative functions (Amabile, 1998; Mayfield and Mayfield, 2008).To cultivate creativity, wise managers must first remove the blocks that hinder worker initiative. One major block is setting unnecessary deadlines. Deadline pressures force workers to concentrate on arbitrary goals rather than innovative results that truly add value to organizational outcomes. The manager must assess if a deadline is required for organizational performance, or has been artificially imposed. Equally important, organizational politics that do not support strategic goals can quickly decimate a worker's creativity. Negative organizational politics divert creative energy away from quality performance in order to fulfill entropic ambitions (Amabile, 1998).Removing these blocks to being creative will improve a worker's extrinsic motivation more than by increasing positive rewards. Extrinsic motivation is improved when negative rewards or punishments for creative work are removed. Such changes are necessary before more positive rewards can be put in place.Once creativity blocks have been reduced, the organization must sustain the resulting employee efforts. One of the easiest ways to support creativity is to provide organizational rewards and encouragement. Such reinforcement can take the forms of verbal praise, company wide recognition, or even awards for creative solutions such as with recognition programs. On the interpersonal level, supervisors must encourage worker creativity through frequent two-way communications. This means that supervisors have to fully understand the company's creativity development policy and be rewarded for providing this support. Work group culture is also necessary. By designing, training, and rewarding work groups that nurture creativity, the organization brings strong and enduring norms that enhance an innovative culture. This step is very important because it provides much of the extrinsic motivation typical workers need to attempt and sustain creative efforts, and extrinsic motivators are highly important to such workers.Finally, the nature of assigned tasks strongly shapes the breadth of a worker's creative potential. An innovative work setting's most basic requirement is having the resources to perform the targeted job. Without these well-springs, creative energy must be spent in simply trying to complete routine tasks - not in discovering better ways to obtain more positive organizational outcomes. Similarly, worker autonomy also generates worker creativity. Worker's cannot experiment with better approaches when they have little control over how they perform their tasks. Furthermore, autonomy is a key factor in self-efficacy, a foundation of the quality performance model. Lastly, priority must be given to making the work itself motivational through job design and associated responsibilities. All of these factors will enhance a worker's intrinsic motivation to be creative. With a well-crafted task structure, workers will seek out opportunities to express themselves with innovative contributions towards organizational goals.These steps' essence is to change the organizational opportunities and constraints that workers have for being creative - to better align worker motivation with an organization's need for greater creativity. This alignment is necessary because organizational culture plays a central role in promoting or inhibiting worker creativity (Martins and Terblanche, 2003; Schein, 1989).Figure 1 presents an integrated system process model - based on these recommendations and existing management research - showing how an organization can enhance worker creativity.Garden variety creativity development, as can be seen from this model, is part of an organization's continuous learning cycle, and embedded within an organization's culture. The organization's culture will set available resources for increased worker creativity, and will also provide opportunities and constraints on workers' intrinsic and extrinsic motivation to be more creative (Sloman, 2005). Cultural norms will determine what rewards are available for creative work, and how these rewards will be determined and distributed - thereby enhancing or reducing extrinsic motivation. Similarly, intrinsic motivation toward creativity can be promoted or curtailed through such cultural artifacts such as supervision, job autonomy levels, and the nature of the job itself.Informal learning and knowledge creation plays an important role in leveraging creativity to increase organizational performance through the presented process. The process will only continue if the last step in the cycle (recognizing new creativity developments) is fully realized. This step often takes place through the workers' recognition that new, creative developments are useful to daily work activities, and is manifest with employee refinement of these developments. As with much of garden variety creativity, this knowledge creation process must take place by informal means that workers incorporate into their daily activities. Organizations must recognize the importance of such non-standardized learning processes, set rewards appropriately, successfully communicate top management's commitment to creativity, and develop a culture to promote the learning process. If this process is fully incorporated into the creativity development process, organizations will see increased performance outcomes through the routinization and incorporation of new, successful creative ideas developed by workers at all levels (Amabile, 1998).\nConclusion: While it takes planning and commitment, your organization can reconfigure to foster greater garden variety creativity. It is critical that commitment comes from the top of the organization, and is clearly present at all organizational levels. Making an investment of time, energy, and resources, is a wise decision since it leads to a workplace capable of meeting the business environment's demand for flexible, innovative organizations and workers.In sum, leaders need to address three workplace characteristics to create an environment that promotes garden variety creativity. Creativity blocks must first be removed so that workers can take the initiative. Next, workers must be provided with the resources - including needed rewards - to sustain creativity. And finally, job assignments must be continually fine-tuned to motivate workers to be more creative.While these tasks are not easy, implementing them will bring rich rewards in terms of organizational improvements. The recommended interventions will make for a better overall organization by promoting healthy performance. In fact, these programs can be easily tracked and serve as a meaningful feedback loop. As a result, these changes will favor success, including positive financial returns, by inspiring workers to innovate solutions on a daily basis. And such creativity will revitalize your organization to meet competitive demands, and thrive even in very challenging business climates.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This article discusses how managers can increase creativity from all workers, and how this increase will improve organizational outcomes at all levels.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Paper recommendations are based on existing conceptual and data based garden variety creativity studies. From these studies, a practical, management oriented implementation model is developed.\nFindings: - Managers can substantially improve worker creativity by removing creativity blocks, providing creativity support, and structuring work to promote creativity.\nOriginality/value: - The provided recommendations will improve worker creativity, and this increased creativity will aid companies to better cope with unexpected changes in the business environment.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Developing proactive salespeople - a study and recommendations for sales management	[ "Performance", "Salesperson", "Sales", "Proactivity", "Proactive behavior" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Proactive behavior among salespeople has been shown to impact individual job performance as well as to increase the value of the relationship between salesperson and customer (Thomas et al., 2010). Bateman and Crant (1993) describe proactive behavior as a dispositional construct that identifies differences among people in the extent to which they take action to influence their environments. In a sales setting, proactivity may serve to establish, build and maintain buyer-seller relationships as such behaviors center on taking action to affect change and solve customer problems. For these reasons alone, it is important for sales managers to implement strategies to develop proactivity among their salespeople. To do this, requires some understanding of the key drivers of proactive salesperson behavior.\nAssessing key proactivity traits: A convenience sample of 308 business-to-business salespeople were contacted and asked to participate in an online survey, of which 292 finished it. From these, 278 surveys were considered usable (due to excessive missing items) making the completion rate about 90 per cent. On average, study respondents were male (65 per cent), 28 years of age, had a little over 5 years of selling experience and earned on average 71.4 per cent of their compensation from salary. The top industries represented were business services, health care/medical, manufacturing and automotive.\nConclusion: The results of this study suggest that salesperson proactivity is an important driver of sales performance. Understanding some of the key personal salesperson attributes will enable sales managers to implement strategies to hire, train and coach proactive salespeople.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, it provides the results of a study of key characteristics of proactive salespeople and the impact of salesperson proactive behavior on selling performance. Second, it provides recommendations for sales management to implement organizational strategies designed to develop, train and coach salespeople to be more proactive.\nDesign/methodology/approach: In all, 278 business-to-business salespeople were surveyed to identify key traits and outcomes of proactive salespeople. The average subject was 28 years of age with 5 years of selling experience. Scales from the management, organizational behavior and sales performance literature were used to identify the degree that subjects engaged in proactive behavior in their selling role, a self-assessment of their sales performance and individual traits thought to predict higher levels of proactive behavior.\nFindings: The findings revealed that proactive salespeople exhibited high levels of selling behavior performance - an important contributor to measurable selling results. In addition, proactive salespeople were intrinsically motivated, confident in the tasks of selling and willing to take calculated risks.\nPractical implications: Practical implications suggest that sales managers can play a key role in fostering proactive behavior among salespeople through development, training and coaching. First, sales managers can play a role in the development of salesperson intrinsic motivation by stressing the importance of asking good questions to understand their customer's problems to the extent that they can be proactive and recommend solutions for change. Second, training programs to make salespeople more confident should center on fully understanding product/service functionality and applications to typical customer problems. Finally, coaching tools such as win-loss reviews, post-call analysis/feedback and role-playing are useful mechanisms to reinforce the right type of risk-taking selling behavior decisions.\nOriginality/value: The value of this research is to shed light on the importance of salesperson proactive behavior as a means to drive selling organizational performance and fostering long-term customer relationships. Understanding the drivers of proactivity among salespeople is the first step for sales management to be able to operationalize organizational strategies to develop, train and coach salespeople to be more proactive in their selling approach.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Dynamic framework transfer model for public-private partnerships: Lessons from a China water sector case study	[ "China", "Process", "Process model", "Case study", "Public–private partnership", "Project management", "Novel model", "Water sector", "Transfer phase", "Dynamic framework transfer", "IDEF0" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Unlike traditional means of developing infrastructure projects, a public-private partnership (PPP) is characterized by a long-term (10-30 years in China) contractual relationship between the government and a private party. Its lifecycle can be generally divided into different phases that involve varying tasks and outcomes. For instance, at the project identification phase, a risk allocation strategy should be considered (Li et al., 2005; EIB, 2012), while at the project procurement phase, the focus will shift to the selection of an appropriate concessionaire (Zhang, 2004a; El-Mashaleh and Minchin, 2014). For PPPs contracted on specific models such as build-operate-transfer (BOT), transfer-operate-transfer, etc., the last phase centers on the transfer of the project back to the government; the transfer phase (TP). Such kinds of PPPs are in the majority, especially in China, where more than 80 percent of existing PPPs were developed on the BOT model (Cheng et al., 2016). Consequently, for these PPPs, projects will be transferred back to the government on the expiry date. Simply, for most PPPs in China, the TP will inevitably occur at the end of the contract term.\nMethodology: Research process\nStatus quo of transfer: the \"AS-IS\" model: A two-level hierarchical structure was built to show the status quo of the transfer process. The first level is represented by a context diagram A-0, which shows the connection between the TP and its outside environment (Figure 3). The second level presents the TP in a more detailed way by breaking it down into several steps linked by 18 key factors, as shown in the A0 diagram (Figure 4). The sources of key factors are shown in Table II.\nProcess control factors: The factors controlling the process of transfer are those which are indispensable for the entire transfer process and should be well prepared in advance of the commencement of the TP. Nine factors shown in Table II belong to this category:\nProduct factors: This group of factors refers to those produced by each step of the TP, and are utilized by other steps as inputs or controls (see Table II and Figure 4). They can be further grouped into two categories: physical products and informational products.\nPhysical products: The physical products contain four categories of project assets. These four factors in fact refer to the same batch of assets being processed by successive steps of the TP:\nInformational products: Two informational products were identified in the TP, namely, transfer arrangements and transfer knowledge. They are used to facilitate the management of various transfer steps, as well as activities after the TP:\nFeedback factor: This category of elements returns to the beginning of the development process to facilitate the TP by optimizing decisions made throughout the PPP lifecycle:\nConstraint factors: This category of factors is related to limitations constraining the TP. It is common sense that any business process is under certain constraints (e.g. schedule, manpower, budget, etc.), otherwise there is no need for conducting management activities. The TP is mainly influenced by limitations from two aspects:\nOptimizing transfer: the \"TO-BE\" model: The \"AS-IS\" model that comprises a two-level hierarchical structure (Figures 3 and 4) is constructed using multiple materials pertinent to PPP transfer. It describes China's current transfer management procedures. The challenges were then examined and identified using the model to analyze the recently transferred case of the Chengdu Project. This section presents those challenges, and the solutions proposed, which are summarized in Table III.\nProblems in making overhaul plan: An important trait of water PPPs is that production relies heavily on a great number of facilities and equipment. This trait results in a relatively long list of items to be overhauled. As there is no universally accepted guideline or experience for overhauling water PPPs, the approval of the overhaul plan has to undergo a lengthy and intense negotiation process. That is to say, the longer the checklist is, the more problems may occur.\nLate determination of the transferee: Although the government is responsible for the transfer of a PPP, it is neither able nor allowed to run the project directly according to the law of China. Naturally, the real situation in China is that when transfer process is done, the project will be awarded to a transferee selected by certain means to play the responsible role in managing post-transfer operation. In this case, a transferee is certainly a close involver of the TP; however, its important role has not been displayed by the AS-IS model.\nLacking emphasis to personnel settlement: During the TP, frontline employees have to make decisions of whether to stay or leave under a circumstance that is with uncertainty to their future career and life. The uncertainty stems from two aspects. On the one hand, this kind of decision could be very hard for the one who has worked for so many years in a place where his/her family has been established and rather accommodated to the life style. On the other hand, the government normally reserves its authority to keep or refuse any original employee after the transfer.\nImpracticality of evaluating PPP lifecycle performance: Performance evaluation is one of the significant activities in the contract management of PPPs (EIB, 2012). Nonetheless, most of the existing methods for performance evaluation are still arguable, even in those with mature PPP market (Liu et al., 2016). The main reason lies in the complexity in nature of PPPs. Therefore, it is easy to understand the impracticality of evaluating lifecycle performance within a short step at the end of the TP (i.e. Step A4 in Figure 4).\nLow quality of key factors in the AS-IS model: The key factors identified by a process model can be seen as possible critical success factors (CSFs) that, when utterly met, guarantees the successful completion of the process (Sanvido et al., 1992). In other words, the quality of the key factors matters to the success of a process. As for the transfer process of the water PPPs in China, the low quality of some key factors in the AS-IS model has given rise to adverse ramifications, which can be viewed in the Chengdu Project.\nRedefining original Step A1: In the GTPM, the original A1 step is divided into two steps: A1 - prepare for transfer - and A2 - overhaul assets. This alteration aims to separate the preparation of transfer from the overhaul of project assets, so the two processes could be more focused and ordered. The practitioners of transfer management could also be reminded that the primary task for the TP is to develop a holistic, workable plan for the TP. To do so, both parties should make full use of their resources and intelligence to reach an agreement on the arrangement efficiently. When the arrangement together with other details is set, overhaul could be conducted following the SPV, while the government agency changes its focus into monitoring. Owing to the clear division between the planning process (Step A1) and the implementation of the plan (Step A2), the practitioners can be fully aware of their dynamic responsibilities and foci, carrying out rational adjustment to the allocation of their limited resources and efforts.\nDecomposing new Step A1: Given the inefficiency of this step exposed by the case, it is necessary to build a more explicit roadmap showing the process of transfer preparation. As shown in Figure 6, this paper fulfilled this need by decomposing new A1 step into the third level, the A1 level, prepare for transfer, which encompasses three sub-activities (i.e. A11, A12 and A13), and a number of sub-factors (note that the controls from the outside of the A1 step are not displayed in Figure 6 for the sake of brevity). These sub-steps start with the government agency planning for the TP and post-transfer operation in advance. It is of great importance for the government to advance some work before the formal TP, as Chinese Governments with little experience in PPP transfer need more time to decide proper transferee and acceptance condition which are crucial factors for following activities. In the meanwhile, the SPV should finalize the compilation of preliminary overhaul plan, personnel settlement plan and transfer checklist. With clear cognition of each's duties and demands, the two parties then can meet together and make effective discussion on the details of transfer to justify the transfer arrangement and acceptance criteria.\nRenaming new Step A4: Step A3- perform assets transfer - in the AS-IS model is renamed as A4 - perform transfer procedures - in the GTPM. This change is to emphasize that transfer is not only with reference to the project assets but also need adequate attention to deal with possible issues related to frontline employees. Pre-communication should be carefully conducted by the SPV to capture the real thinking of the employees and the transfer arrangement should be developed with full consideration of their reasonable requests. The government should also participate in the investigation to the employees earlier, by which they can carry out necessary evaluation to them and make proper decisions accordingly (World Bank, 2016). If transfer leads to staff leaving, make sure that their next placement is clearly told, and in the meantime, recruitment for vacant posts as well as necessary training for new staff are conducted timely.\nPostponing original Step A4: Putting this step behind the TP is not to despise the significance of evaluating the PPP lifecycle performance. It is only because the TP is too short to systematically deal with a complicated evaluation. Besides, currently there is still an absence of a reliable and practical way to evaluate PPP performance in China, as existing methods failed to handle issues caused by China's uniqueness in many aspects, such as the preliminary stage of PPP development, poor reservation of PPP data (Cheng et al., 2016), special economic and political systems, etc. Without solid approach, the reliability of the evaluation result could be uncertain. Therefore, to guarantee the reference value of a lifecycle performance evaluation, this paper suggests the government assigns separate time and team to do it systematically after transfer, on the premise of a careful method selection and a comprehensive data collection.\nDeveloping Step A5: Performing post-transfer procedures matters as the transfer of a PPP is not the end of the project's life but a transition of two different ways to run the project. The best situation is that this transition happens smoothly without any interruption of the product/service provision. This purpose requires that all post-transfer actions, such as to form new contractual partnership with succeeding operator, to put all relevant items (e.g. project assets, personnel, work instruction, contractor warranties, technology, knowhow, etc.) in place, are completely accomplished. With this step, several critical stakeholders referring to the post-transfer operation of the project, such as transferee, sponsor and succeeding operator, which are not shown in the AS-IS model, are highlighted in the GTPM, and their definitions are summarized in Table IV.\nImproving the quality of the key factors: A total of 23 key factors are finally identified in the GTPM (refer to Tables II and IV for detail). Analysis of the case showed that transfer success is closely related to the quality of these key factors. Note that the Chengdu Project was developed under a national BOT scheme of China, with outstanding performance in engineering and maintenance (Chen, 2009). However, it also suffered difficulties due to the low quality of some factors during the TP. For the majority of other existing water PPPs in China, their operation status are almost unknown to the public because of the poor monitoring system of the government over the last two decades (Cheng et al., 2016). As a result, the possibility of their future transfer coming across similar challenges resulting from low-quality factors is likely to be high. In this context, the GTPM can contribute to the industry by revealing what factors need to be concerned for better transfer, and then corresponding measures could be taken in advance to maintain the good quality of those factors.\nDynamic management framework for transfer: Based on above analysis, a dynamic management framework for the transfer of China's water PPPs is shown as Figure 7. This framework displays how the proposed GTPM can facilitate the transfer management, and in the meanwhile, accomplish self-evolution by learning from the transfer process.\nConclusions: For numerous water PPPs in China, the final phase of the lifecycle is to transfer the project back to the government. Compared with other phases, the TP is little known due mainly to the limited number of projects having reached this stage. Relevant knowledge and experience about the TP is rather limited, which has led to many challenges in transfer management. Hence, this paper aims to contribute to the body of knowledge on PPPs by proposing a complete transfer process model that hierarchically displays the detailed composition of the TP of water PPPs in China.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Public-private partnerships (PPPs) have emerged in developing countries, such as China, as a ubiquitous means by which government procures needed infrastructure. In this regard, they have been much studied. However, due to their long concession period, running into decades, few have run their full course into the transfer phase (TP) in which the PPP concession reverts from the private entity back to the public. In China, this is about to change as many PPPs approach their TP. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to comprehensively investigate the TP of PPPs in China.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A three-part methodology was undertaken to achieve the research purpose. Extensive literature review was first conducted to analyze the status quo of the transfer management regime in China, followed by the identification of critical challenges and the exploration of solutions via studying the TP of the Chengdu No. 6 Water Plant B Project - the first PPP in China's water sector to reach the TP. Research procedures and outcomes were hierarchically visualized by using Integration DEFinition language 0 (IDEF0) method.\nFindings: The current transfer management regime of PPPs in China's water sector is deficient in many aspects. Based on the insight into the practice, a generic transfer process model with hierarchical structure process and sub-processes serving as a dynamic framework transfer model with self-evolving nature is developed to facilitate the successful transfer of the PPP utility.\nOriginality/value: To the authors' best knowledge, this is the first attempt to systematically probe the TP of PPPs. Hopefully, the findings of this paper are to instruct government and PPP practitioners alike on mechanisms for smoothing the TP of further PPP projects ending their concession period.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Theoretical lenses and domain definitions in innovation research	[ "Product development", "Innovation" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The terms \"radical, incremental, really-new, imitative, discontinuous, architectural, modular, improving, and evolutionary\" innovations have been used to define innovation (Garcia and Calantone, 2002). These conceptualizations lack clear distinction in the literature however; the underlying reasons lie in the different discourses employing various levels of analysis and in the adopting of diverse perspectives (Danneels and Kleinschmidt, 2001; De Brentani, 2001). Distinct theoretical foundations have led to ambiguities in causal relationships. Innovation or innovativeness has been modelled as independent variable, dependent variable or moderator (Danneels and Kleinschmidt, 2001; Kleinschmidt and Cooper, 1991). The diverse labels, categorizations and causal roles have resulted in significant discrepancies in empirical results and difficulty in their interpretation (Garcia and Calantone, 2002; Kotabe and Swan, 1995).Accordingly, our overall objective is to classify the recent literature on innovation and to illustrate theoretically derived discourses in the study of innovation. These discourses unveil what innovation is because the meaning of a construct is closely associated with its theoretical umbrella. Past approaches to conceptualizing innovation relied on typologies that assumed that construct specification comes first: i.e. the definition of innovation was embedded in an innovation typology. We have no quarrel with this way of grasping the meaning of innovation, and indeed organizing and understanding the literature according to a definitional typology such as Booz-Allen and Hamilton (1982) or Garcia and Calantone (2002) can offer useful insights. We took a different approach however.We have collected and examined a database of 238 articles from a comprehensive set of journals publishing innovation research1. While past research has used innovation typologies in order to define innovation by delineating innovation types, our approach focuses on typologies of discourses of innovation. Such discourses reveal the meaning of the innovation construct but also the umbrella theoretical net of associated constructs. In general, typologies are qualitative classifications that depict how different types of a phenomenon are located on a list of specified dimensions; they describe diverse types and point to similarities and differences (Bailey, 1994). Based on our review, we then proposed a theoretical divide in the innovation literature: the diffusion/ adoption theoretical foundation (78 articles identified) versus the resource-based/contingency theory foundation (160 articles). Starting with this categorization based on theoretical genesis, we further classified each reviewed article as:* focusing on a single new product/project versus focusing on a program, firm or SBU (and hence multiple products/projects); or as* taking the customer's perspective versus the firm's perspective versus both firm and customer perspectives.This results in ten discourses, each of which unveils a meaning of innovation, a domain, and a net of associated constructs.The paper is organized as follows: we commence with a description of the method used to select the articles to include in our analysis. We proceed with a brief review of prevailing classifications of innovation types. We then present the typologies used to classify and analyze the innovation research. We elaborate on each of the discourses of the innovation literature by describing the research themes, conceptualizations and classification of the phenomenon presented in each discourse. We end with recommendations for future research.\nThe reviewed literature: Innovation has been associated with the terms radical, incremental, really new, imitative, discontinuous, architectural, modular, evolutionary, administrative, technical, innovativeness, advantage and newness. Thus, we performed a search, using the business database ProQuest (ABI Inform database), for articles published in scholarly and peer reviewed journals from 1989 to 2007 containing these keywords. Referring to journal ranking studies by Hult et al. (1997) and Linton and Thongpapanl (2004), we focused only on published refereed papers, including articles published in Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, European Journal of Marketing, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Marketing, Journal of Consumer Psychology, Advances in Consumer Research, Journal of Product Innovation Management, Creativity and Innovation Management, Journal of Management, Organization Science, Management Science, Academy of Management Journal, Administrative Science Quarterly, MIS Quarterly, Journal of Business Research, Strategic Management Journal, Journal of Marketing Management, Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing, Industrial Marketing Management, and IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management.In order to conduct a more complete search, literature reviews were gathered and read for additional references. Therefore some articles published prior to our data range (back to the 1970s) were included because they were referenced in another article. Studies that were eliminated from consideration viewed innovation as culture. For instance, articles in the consumer behaviour literature that were based on cognitive processing without a focus on adoption behaviour were not included. In total, 238 articles were included. The reviewed articles are starred in the Reference list.\nTypologies: based on construct definition or theory?: A review of innovation typologies\nOverview of the dimensions: Dimension: theoretical foundations\nAdoption and diffusion theory: Previous research on adoption and diffusion of innovations highlighted the role of the users' perceptions in the definition of an innovation (Boone et al., 2001; Kim and Chhajed, 2001; Lowrey, 1991; Pae and Hyun, 2002; Ziamou, 2002). Rogers (1976), one of leading scholars of the field, has defined innovation as \"an idea perceived as new by the individual\". In the same vein, Rogers and Shoemaker (1971) emphasized the subjective and the perceived notion of the \"newness\" of an idea. The adoption and diffusion of innovation literature demonstrates that the greater discontinuity of an innovation, the more difficult it is for the user to adopt. Another common construct related to innovations is \"fit\", which indicates how well the internally available knowledge and/or resources fit the requirements for the use of the technology or product (Atuahene-Gima and Ko, 2001; Danneels and Kleinschmidt, 2001). Based on this view, highly innovative products face significant threats to their adoption since their degree of fit with both the existing knowledge structures of consumers and the design, manufacturing and marketing practices of firms is likely to be very low.Adoption/diffusionxlevel of analysis (Table III)\nThe resource-based view: The RBV, which is considered one of the robust theories in the organizational literature, takes into account the influential internal and external factors on the conduct of firms' business and competitive actions. In studies that have relied upon this theory, innovation has been broadly identified as response(s) to market and/or technological changes, including the attitude taken and adjustments made in an organization (Damanpour, 1991; Garcia and Calantone, 2002). To be more innovative and develop products that are new to both the firm and the market, more learning and change are required, the right resource mix is necessary, and more uncertainty is involved. This uncertainty can be reduced through external orientation (for example, partnering) and market information processing. Despite these challenges, the innovating firm has a higher likelihood of achieving a differentiated position and success than its less innovating competitors. In this stream, conceptualizations of innovation are built mainly on the degree of familiarity organizations or users have with a product, process and/or actions (Danneels and Kleinschmidt, 2001; De Brentani, 2001; Song and Montoya-Weiss, 1998).RBV/contingencyxlevel of analysis (Table III)\nDiscussion: The overall objective of this research has been to provide an extensive review of the new product/innovation literature in marketing, management and engineering organized by means of a theory-driven typology that illuminate the different discourses on innovation. The primary dimension of our typology of discourses is theoretical underpinnings, namely adoption/diffusion theory versus the resource-based/contingency theory view (RBV); our secondary dimensions are level of analysis (product/project versus program/firm/SBU) and firm vs. customer perspective. These dimensions serve to frame the discourses and conceptualisations in the innovation literature and to provide a parsimonious categorization of the phenomenon. In general, there is no \"one to one\" mapping of the discourses discussed in this paper to the cells in standard (market) X (technology) matrices (as in Figure 1); nor is there meant to be. The natures of these discourses were described in detail in previous sections; what follows summarizes our conclusions overall.We reviewed a database of 238 articles from a comprehensive set of 22 journals publishing innovation research. Out of these 238, 21 were from 1990-1994, 69 were from 1995-1999, and 103 were from 2000-2007 (and the rest appeared in 1989 and prior). Our first observation is that there appears to have been an explosion of innovation research beginning in about the mid-1990s.All articles were classified according to the discourses identified. In the \"References\", the classification codes of the articles are listed. We provide these codes because the discourses are fairly distinct, and thus we recommend that research within a discourse encompasses as its potential literature base at least those articles identified as belonging to that discourse. In other words, we propose that the relevant literature that needs to be reviewed in any particular research is determined by the discourse to which that particular research belongs.Theoretical foundation: adoption/diffusion versus resource-based/contingency view\nConclusions and implications: We contribute to the literature by number of ways. First, we tackle the issue: \"what is really an innovation?\". Is it an organization-wide focus on new product generation and bold actions, or is it the actual novel product entity that changes how people live and think? To address these questions, we provided an extensive review of the innovation literature, initially with a particular focus on the proposed innovation typologies. We studied the purpose of these typologies, their similarities and differences. We found that most typologies were based on (market) X (technology) dimensions (e.g. Chandy and Tellis, 2000; Johnson and Jones, 1957), but that some took a more distinct perspective (e.g. Damanpour, 1987; Henderson and Clark, 1990). Overall, these typologies in the literature serve to specify the meaning of the innovation construct and its domain(s); we argue that all attempt to define and classify innovations without reference to the underlying theory. In the controversy over what comes first, theory or construct specification, all these typologies assume that construct specification comes first and hence that the literature should be organized and understood according to the divisions of the construct. As our second contribution, we argue for starting with theory as the basic division and propose a theory driven typology.While not obvious from any of the typologies existing in the literature, we identified two distinct theoretical streams on innovation: the adoption/diffusion tradition and the resource-based view (possibly with contingency theory aspects). Within these two theoretical views, the perspectives taken in the conceptualization of the innovation and the operationalizations of the construct also differed, bringing about further diverse discourses. Through our division based on theory stream (i.e. theoretical genesis), we wish to create a shared understanding among academics and practitioners of what constitutes innovation and constructs within the related theoretical net.Based on our extensive review of the literature of the innovation literature, we have a number of suggestions for future research. First, we recommend a number of research areas that have received little attention, followed by various moderation analyses that can be employed in contingency studies. Our review of innovation research revealed two important areas in which there is paucity of studies: program level research and innovation studies linking the firm with the market perspective. Program level innovation, both within its unique context and from the point of view of its differences from organizational and project-level innovation, deserves further research attention. Such a focus may also benefit practitioners because it may provide new insights on how to reflect corporate/firm strategies on innovation teams and processes and/or how to manage innovation programs for higher productivity.Since innovation requires a match between technology and market dimensions, the analysis of moderation by different levels of marketing and technological uncertainty within innovation models derived from the discourses identified may provide interesting results. Moreover, we recommend that researchers employ a (market) X (technology) taxonomy that discerns at least four levels of innovativeness in investigations of these moderating effects. Firm size or available resources may be examined as moderators rather than antecedents to the innovation process.Finally, we identified an emerging stream of literature for the study of innovation, which deserves further research interest: innovation through relationship management. Rising environmental turbulence due in part to intensive competition has increased the rate of innovation required to survive and has generated impetus to enter into strategic collaborations. The increased complexity and cost of developing innovative products have led firms to search for expertise lacked internally and to engage in joint new product development arrangements (Kotabe and Swan, 1995; Varadarajan and Cunningham, 1995). Some more recent studies have focused on new product alliances (Amaldoss and Rapoport, 2005; Rindfleisch and Moorman, 2001; Sivadas and Dwyer, 2000), as well as a very few on networks (Alves et al., 2007) through which firms acquire and utilize information and know-how.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This study aims to scrutinize the meaning and domain of \"innovation\" by providing an extensive theory-driven review of the new product literature in marketing, management and engineering. The overall objective is to classify the recent literature on innovation and to illustrate theoretically derived discourses in the study of innovation.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper organizes this literature by providing typologies of discourses, which define innovation. Based on our review of 238 articles from a comprehensive set of journals publishing innovation research, we propose a theoretical divide in the innovation literature.\nFindings: - Theoretical underpinnings, namely adoption/diffusion theory versus the resource-based/contingency theory view, form one dimension of the typology. Jointly considered with the other two dimensions - level of analysis and customer vs firm perspective - a framework is formed of the different discourses and conceptualisations in the innovation literature.\nOriginality/value: - Past researchers have always proposed a definition of innovation that was embedded in a typology of innovation types; in contrast, the paper allows the theoretical discourses to unveil meanings of innovation and associated constructs (and hence it starts with theory specification, not construct definition). It argues for starting with theory as the basic division and proposes a theory driven typology. Through its theoretical genesis, the paper wishes to create a shared understanding among academics and practitioners of what constitutes innovation and constructs within the related theoretical net.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Dependence, trust, and 3PL integration: an empirical study in China	[ "Trust", "Integration", "Process coordination", "Dependence", "Information sharing", "Greater China" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In the past decades, an increasing number of companies (3PL users) rely on superior service offerings from 3PL service providers (3PL providers) to improve their supply chain efficiency and effectiveness, and even to achieve competitive advantages (Wittmann et al., 2014). However, 3PL management faces much more challenges than physical production outsourcing (Maltz and Ellram, 1997). The 3PL management issue, first and foremost, is a dependence management issue. One reason is that 3PL users engaging in physical producing are usually unfamiliar with logistics service processes, leading to serious information asymmetry in logistics outsourcing. Another reason is that 3PL services are process-based activities and are difficult to monitor with concrete guidelines (Maltz and Ellram, 1997; Liu et al., 2015). Thus, as 3PL users increasingly outsource their logistics to 3PL providers, they become increasingly dependent on the providers and inevitably face uncertainties from their environment (Lai et al., 2013; Huo et al., 2015).\nLiterature review: 3PL relationship management in China\nConceptual model and hypothesis development: Based on above discussion of relevant literature, it is apparent that dependence is a pertinent factor to studying 3PL integration. Therefore, we propose a dependence-trust-integration-performance model as shown in Figure 1. We will investigate the direct and indirect relationships between dependence and integration considering the mediating effects of goodwill trust and ability trust. Besides, we attempt to validate the relationships between 3PL integration and the 3PL user's financial performance.\nMethodology: Sampling\nResults: Direct effects\nDiscussion and implications: Major findings\nConclusion and future research: In this study, we develop and test a dependence-trust-integration-performance model in the Chinese 3PL context. The findings show that integration is a response to dependence situations, but the mechanism for developing integration is different according to specific dependence contingents. Goodwill trust mediates the relationship between dependence and integration, while ability trust is not a mediator in this relationship. Our findings add important new knowledge to extant dependence-integration literature and suggest that dependence does not always result in integrative behaviors.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate relationships among dependence, trust, and integration in the Chinese 3PL context. 3PL integration is manifested in two key dimensions: information sharing and process coordination.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This study develops a dependence-trust-3PL integration-performance model and tests it using structural equation modeling with survey data collected from 361 companies in the Greater China area (i.e. mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan).\nFindings: The results show that switch dependence is indirectly related to information sharing and process coordination through goodwill trust, while goal dependence has direct links with both integrative behaviors. The authors also found that only goodwill trust mediates the relationship between dependence and integrative behaviors, while ability trust does not mediate any relationships. Finally, the analysis validated the direct link between process coordination and financial performance, but did not find a significant link between information sharing and financial performance.\nOriginality/value: Different from most previous studies on similar topics, this study examines the impacts of different types of dependence and trust on different 3PL integration dimensions. As a result, the findings are more specific and have direct relevance to effective 3PL relationship management in China.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Effects of reputation and credibility on monetary policy: theory and evidence for Brazil	[ "Reputation", "Credibility", "Monetary policy", "Central bank", "Inflation bias" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The seminal articles of Kydland and Prescott (1977) and Barro and Gordon (1983a, b) served as theoretical frameworks for the development of studies about reputation and credibility of the monetary authority. The economic literature influenced by these studies has handled the problem of persistent inflation as a consequence of loss of reputation of the monetary authority, which failed to maintain their commitment to society. Studies point that monetary policies will be more effective and the credibility will be improved, if the monetary authority strengthen its reputation and follows a strategy concerned to price stability (King, 2000; Romer, 2000; Taylor, 2000).\n2. Theoretical model and some preliminary evidence: Under inflation targeting, the main instrument of monetary policy to control inflation is the short-term interest rate, however, the daily monetary policy is based on the control of liquidity with the intention to ensure the announced short-term interest rate, and thus the equilibrium in the money market. Thus, the daily liquidity control depends on the deviations of the nominal interest rate from its target value. According to Walsh (2010, p. 454), under an interest rate peg, the money demand is no longer relevant because the central bank must allow the nominal money stock to adjust to the level of money demand at the targeted interest rate and the equilibrium level of output.\n3. Empirical evidence for the Brazilian economy: There is empirical evidence in the literature suggesting that the credibility earned by the regime of inflation targeting, in Brazil, has contributed to the reduction of uncertainties and has improved macroeconomic performance[6]. Hence, the Brazilian economy - one of the most important developing economies - represents an interesting case study regarding the importance of reputation and credibility for the conduct of monetary policy under inflation targeting.\n4. Conclusion: Although the explicit instrument of monetary policy in Brazil is a short run interest rate (the SELIC rate), the monetary authority, in order to control the interest rate and maintain the equilibrium in the money market, must manage liquidity every day. The present paper proposes a different analysis from that offered by de Mendonca and de Guimaraes e Souza (2009), which analyzed the impact of the credibility on the volatility as well as on the level of the SELIC interest rate. The estimates found by de Mendonca and de Guimaraes e Souza (2009), for the Brazilian economy, confirm the hypothesis that higher credibility implies lower variations (and lower level) in the interest rate for controlling inflation. In the present paper, the original contribution was the presentation of empirical evidence that confirms the hypothesis that credibility affects the effort of the monetary authority in terms of liquidity management and thus the task to maintain the equilibrium in the money market.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that both the reputation of the monetary authority and the credibility of the regime of inflation targeting are important to reduce the inflation bias and the effort of the monetary authority in an emerging economy.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper develops a model which shows that the gain of credibility reduces the effort of the monetary authority in the conduct of monetary policy. The paper presents an econometric analysis for Brazil through ordinary least squares, generalized method of moments (GMM), system of equations by GMM and vector autoregressive.\nFindings: The findings suggest that the reputation of the monetary authority is important to the improvement of credibility, and the gains of credibility reduce the effort of the monetary authority in the conduct of monetary policy, reducing the variations of the monetary base.\nOriginality/value: In the theoretical field, the study develops a model which shows that credibility is important to reduce both the inflation bias and the efforts of the monetary authority in the conduct of monetary policy. In the empirical field: first, it proposes a new index of reputation for the monetary authority; second, it demonstrates that the gain of reputation improves credibility, but also that attempts to exploit the output-inflation trade-off reduces credibility; third, the analysis found that the gains of credibility reduce the efforts of the monetary authority in the conduct of monetary policy.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Applying a Kansei engineering-based logistics service design approach to developing international express services	[ "Logistics service quality", "Kansei engineering", "Express logistics", "Customer service survey", "International expeditors", "Kansei", "Repurchase intentions" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Introduced in the 1960s, \"international express\" is an important logistics activity that private logistics companies in North America and Europe offer to ensure that international commercial documents and parcels are delivered on time. Thus, the basic features of international express are speed, flexibility, and convenience. Although international express was previously conducted primarily between airports, integrated door-to-door transport models have developed over the last 20 years (Park et al., 2009). To ensure fast and accurate delivery, international express companies provide such services as fleets of mobile service vehicles, query-convenient computer network systems, and business locations and transit centres throughout the world. Nevertheless, because customers' logistical needs are increasingly complex, understanding and satisfying customers' requirements is important to further influence their decision-making and retention behaviors (Garver et al., 2012).\nLiterature review: Service element issues in logistics service quality\nMethodology: As shown in Figure 1, the process of applying Kansei engineering is explained through five steps in designing IESs.\nResult analysis and synthesis: The profiles of the respondents' companies\nConclusions, implications, and limitations: Research conclusions\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: To obtain a competitive advantage in the logistics market, international express companies should design services to stimulate customers' usage intention by understanding customers' affective perceptions (or in Japanese, Kansei) of the service offerings. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to analyze the relationships among the service elements of international express, customer Kansei perceptions, and intentions to use the service, to provide new ideas for the design of international express services (IESs).\nDesign/methodology/approach: By using Kansei engineering approach, customers' Kansei perceptions related to elements of IES are first determined, and the logistic regression technique is then used to analyze three constructed models based on the relationships among the service elements of international express, customers' Kansei perceptions, and usage intention.\nFindings: Accordingly, five critical service elements that correspond to four vital Kansei words related to usage intention were obtained based on cross-comparisons of the results of three models. The findings have important implications for international express managers, in that the priorities in designing services should be those service elements that favorably elicit certain Kansei perceptions among customers and effectively lead to customers' usage intention in the pre-purchase phase. Moreover, some important missing Kansei perceptions further derived from customers' real service experiences in the post-purchase stage should be incorporated into future design considerations.\nOriginality/value: This study incorporated customers' Kansei perceptions into the procedure of IES design. By understanding the service elements and feelings that customers deem important, international express companies can improve the content of existing services and strengthen the design of new services to increase customers' behavioral intentions.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The impact of digitalization on business models	[ "Business model", "Business model innovation", "Social media", "Big data", "Digitalization" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Attention to business model innovation (BMI) is increasing in both entrepreneurial practice and research (Zott and Amit, 2010). In this paper, the concept of BM is defined as the business logic to create and capture value for both consumers and businesses. In other words, it refers to the way a single organization or a network of firms collaborates at strategic and operational levels to bring products and/or services (bundles) to the market. A single organization or a network of firms makes use of technical platforms and architectures to create and capture value for both (networked) organization and the customer (Bouwman et al., 2008). BMI is defined as a change in a company's BM that is new to the firm and results in observable changes in its practices toward customers and partners. The focus of our research, however, is how companies and specifically small- to medium-sized enterprises (SME) experiment with BMs as a result of digital transformation, specifically with regard to social media and big data. BM experimentation is defined as activities related to discussing and trying out changes in BMs carried out by a manager or a team with a budget specifically allocated for BM experimentation. In this paper, we focus on BM practices, defined as the way the team in charge of the experimenting process makes the transition from strategy to BMs in practice through digital transformation. It is about how strategy is actually implemented while experimenting with social media- and big data-driven BMs.\n2. Theoretical background: Here, we briefly discuss some main concepts from the BM innovation literature. Conventionally, research on BMs can be categorized into three main areas:\n3. Hypothesis development: The overall leading theoretical model (Figure 1) posits that both internal (innovation activity and strategy) and external (competitiveness intensity and technology turbulence) factors directly influence BM experimentation. This paper proposes that BM experimentation - discussing and trying out changes in BMs - positively influences BM practices, that is, the transition from strategy to BM in practice. In addition, this paper proposes that BM practices positively influence both innovativeness and the overall business performance of a firm. Finally, this paper proposes that innovativeness influences the overall business performance. These concepts are introduced in the following subsections.\n4. Research methodology: quantitative data: In this section, the method used in this study to examine and evaluate the proposed research model is elaborated. Based on the above discussion, an empirical research is performed to examine how digitalization enables firms to change or innovate their current BMs.\n5. Data analysis and results: 5.1 Validity and reliability\n6. Discussion: Findings from both quantitative data and case studies illustrate that internal drivers related to innovative activities and strategy, as well as technology turbulence, play an important role when social media and big data are part of the BMI. The case studies show some nuances by suggesting that the impact of big data is more extensive than that of social media. This can be explained by observing that social media usage relates more to channels, while big data can affect companies in all their core activities and the activities of their key partners. Making resources and management structure available for BMI, labelled as BM experimentation, is considered important. As illustrated by both quantitative data and case studies, this is a condition for the practice of implementing companies' strategy in their BMs. It was found that BMI and strategy implementation practices in BM led to more innovations and increased performance.\n7. Conclusions, limitations and future work: Our research contributes to a better understanding of internal and external aspects of BMI and the literature on the impact of BMI on performance and outcomes, specifically when social media and big data are implied. It is important to understand how BMI occurs in organizations and how strategies are implemented in the business logic. As suggested, both quantitative as well as qualitative research on BMI matter. This paper contributes to a better understanding of how digitalization in BMI works. It offers insights into drivers and outcomes specifically for BMI driven by digitalization. However, the authors of this paper are aware that this study has only dealt with a small part of a vast area of research. In future, the aim is to focus in more detail on how companies experiment, how BM components are affected and how implementation approaches with regard to human and organizational factors affect BMI performance.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to explore how digital technologies have forced small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to reconsider and experiment with their business models (BMs) and how this contributes to their innovativeness and performance.\nDesign/methodology/approach: An empirical study has been conducted on 338 European SMEs actively using social media and big data to innovate their BMs. Four in-depth case studies of companies involved in BM innovation have also been carried out.\nFindings: Findings show that the use of social media and big data in BMI is mainly driven by strategic and innovation-related internal motives. External technology turbulence plays a role too. BMI driven by social media and big data has a positive impact on business performance. Analysis of the case studies shows that BM is driven by big data rather than by social media.\nResearch limitations/implications: Research into big data- and social media-driven BMs needs more insight into how components are affected and how SMEs are experimenting with adjusting their BMs, specifically in terms of human and organizational factors.\nPractical implications: Findings of this study can be used by managers and top-level executives to better understand how firms experiment with BMI, what affects business model components and how implementation might affect BMI performance.\nOriginality/value: This paper is one of the first research contributions to analyse the impact of digitalization, specifically the impact of social media and big data on a large number of European SMEs.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Does Lean implementation interact with group functioning?	[ "Health care", "Quality improvement", "Employees", "Sweden", "Questionnaire", "Teamwork" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Healthcare organizations are struggling to meet increasing demands on healthcare services with limited resources (Joosten et al., 2009). The industry-based management strategy \"Lean Thinking\" has currently been adopted by healthcare organizations worldwide to manage these challenges (Young and McClean, 2008). The core objective of Lean is to add value to, and remove waste from, the production process (Womack and Jones, 2003). Lean implementation in healthcare has mainly focussed on improving efficiency, quality and safety of healthcare delivery systems. Lean can thus be seen as a socio-technical system which can be analyzed through how it is practiced (Shah and Ward, 2007). These socio-technical aspects are described as interactions between social (e.g. teamwork) and technical (e.g. Lean) elements of the work system (Harrison et al., 2007). The relationship between the social and technical part is likely to be reciprocal. When Lean is implemented, it will by necessity change the way staff work together (Holden, 2011) and at the same time, the way staff work together may influence how Lean is implemented. The available research on Lean in healthcare mainly discusses the operational aspects while less attention has been directed to the socio-technical aspects (Joosten et al., 2009) even though, they are, arguably, equally important in order to design a balanced Lean approach (Joosten et al., 2009).\nTheoretical background: From the \"temporal group perspective,\" it is suggested that groups develop over time (Tuckman, 1965; Wheelan, 1994). The Integrative Model of Group Development suggests that groups ideally develop through five stages (Wheelan, 1994). The first development stage (I) is about inclusion and dependency. At this stage, members tend to be anxious and speak little, striving to secure their position in the group. The second stage (II) is about fight and counter-dependence; members start to speak out and argue about their roles and responsibilities. The model suggests that this fight over roles and responsibilities at an early stage is necessary for better cooperation among group members in later stages. Resolving conflicts helps to establish good relations with the leader and with colleagues. Open conflict at this stage also helps to establish solidarity and openness in the group. After having gone through this stage, the group members should also have established values and norms for the group. The third stage (III) is about developing work structure, establishing goals and division of labor. The fourth stage (IV) is about smooth work and productivity; members have established good work relationships, the structure, roles and goals are clear and work pace is high. Groups that have a planned ending of the work experience the fifth stage, i.e. termination. This stage may cause either unrest and conflict or a feeling of happiness and fulfillment in the group. Many theories (Dunphy, 1968; Mann, 1966) suggest that the first two stages, related to authority, status and intra-group relations, are necessary prerequisites for the last two stages which are more related to structure, productivity and norms.\nMethod: Study design\nFindings: GDQ scale results\nDiscussion: In this study, we investigated how implementation of Lean in healthcare was related to group functioning. The results suggest that when Lean is implemented (more) successfully, it may be positively related to group functioning. More specifically, it indicates that the relationship may differ between different types of teams and depending on how the group is functioning before the introduction of Lean. The question about causality remains elusive, however. Did group functioning enhance (or hinder) Lean application or did Lean application enhance (hinder) group functioning, or both? Either way, Lean may mesh better with the later stages of group functioning than earlier ones, e.g. those relating to structural issues such as effective organization, trust/cooperation, and culture/norms/values, but less well with issues concerning group member relations.\nPractice implications: The combination of longitudinal data on group functioning and multi-source data on Lean implementation and context supports the links between Lean and group functioning, in line with previous research showing that group functioning may improve when Lean is implemented (Collar et al., 2012; Fairbanks, 2007; Fillingham, 2007; Kimsey, 2010). Specifically, this study adds to the literature by suggesting that Lean implementation may be more compatible with the later stages of group functioning than initial stages. Hypothetically, work groups struggling with basic relational issues (e.g. GDQ stages I and II) may not be motivated, or able, to implement Lean in the first place, or be pulled back to resolve the relational issues first. Based on our results, it can also be speculated that the group functioning at the time when Lean is initiated may affect the implementation of Lean.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: As healthcare often is studied in relation to operational rather than socio-technical aspects of Lean such as teamwork, the purpose of this paper is to explore how a Swedish hospital Lean intervention was related to changes in teamwork over time.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Teamwork was measured with the Group Development Questionnaire (GDQ) employee survey during Lean implementation at three units, in 2010 (n=133) and 2011 (n=130). Qualitative data including interviews, observations and document analysis were used to characterize the Lean implementation and context. The expected teamwork change patterns were compared with GDQ data through linear regression analysis.\nFindings: At Ward-I, Lean implementation was successful and teamwork improved. At Ward-II, Lean was partially implemented and teamwork improved slightly, while both Lean and teamwork deteriorated at the emergency department (ED). The regression analysis was significant at ED (p=0.02) and the Ward-II (p=0.04), but not at Ward-I (p=0.11).\nResearch limitations/implications: Expected changes in teamwork informed by theory and qualitative data may make it possible to detect the results of a complex change.\nPractical implications: Overall, Lean may have some impact on teamwork, if properly implemented. However, this impact may be more prominent in relation to structural and productivity issues of teamwork than group members' relational issues. Practitioners should note that, with groups struggling with initial stages of group functioning, Lean may be very challenging.\nOriginality/value: This study focussed specifically on implications of Lean for nurse teamwork in a hospital setting using both qualitative and quantitative data. Importantly, the group functioning at the time when Lean is initiated may affect the implementation of Lean.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
30 years of contemporary hospitality management: Uncovering the bibliometrics and topical trends	[ "Literature review", "Bibliometrics", "Machine learning", "Contemporary hospitality management", "Structural topic modelling" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: With the escalating growth of the hospitality industry, the interest in hospitality management research has increased significantly throughout the past few decades (Nunkoo et al., 2013a). As two top hospitality management journals in terms of impact factors, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management (IJCHM) and International Journal of Hospitality Management (IJHM) have been published since 1989 and 1982, respectively. Since then, hospitality management research has come a long way and continues to position itself as a different and diverse subfield of the management discipline (McKercher, 2018). The diversity and development of hospitality management research as a separate academic discipline can be observed in academic research journals, which are referred to as the \"life-blood of research\" (Smyth et al., 2006). As per Phillips and Moutinho (2014), hospitality management research is diversifying, and with that, numerous opportunities for cross-pollination of ideas and theories are created. Moreover, McKercher (2018) pointed out that any steps for growth and evolution of hospitality management should be enhanced and supported. To understand the diversity of hospitality research and facilitating informed decisions by authors, reviewers, editors and practitioners, numerous scholars have reviewed the published hospitality research (Law et al., 2014; Line and Runyan, 2012; Nunkoo et al., 2013b). While these studies are somewhat valued, Nunkoo et al. (2013a) indicated that researchers often fail to appreciate the inner functioning of journals (i.e. the working, the black box). Similarly, Tribe et al. (2012, pp. 7-8) stated:\n2. Methodology: 2.1 Data collection and samples\n3. Results: 3.1 Overview of International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management\n4. Discussion: This study aimed to trace the 30-year history of IJCHM, by investigating its citations and authorship networks, and discovering diverse hospitality management research topics and their trends over the three decades. Specifically, we used a mixed research method combining:\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to showcase the trends in the research topics and their contributors over a time period of 30 years in the International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management (IJCHM). To be specific, this paper uncovers IJCHM's latent topics and hidden patterns in published research and highlights the differences across three decades and before and after Social Sciences Citation indexing.\nDesign/methodology/approach: In total, 1,573 documents published over 199 issues of IJCHM were analyzed using two computational tools, i.e. metaknowledge and structural topic modeling (STM), as the basis of the mixed method. STM was used to discover the evolution of topics over time. Moreover, bibliometrics (and network analysis) were used to highlight IJCHM's top researchers, top-cited references, the geographical networks of the researchers and differences in the collaborative networks.\nFindings: The number of papers published continually increased over time with changes of key researchers publishing in IJCHM. The co-authorship networks have also changed and revealed an increasing diversity of authorship and collaborations among authors in different countries. Moreover, the variety of topics and the relative weight of each topic have also changed.\nResearch limitations/implications: Based on the findings of this study, theoretical and practical implications for hospitality and tourism researchers are provided.\nOriginality/value: It is the first attempt to apply topic modeling to a leading academic journal in hospitality and tourism and explore the diversity in contemporary hospitality management research (topics and contributors) from 30 years of published research.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
CRM and customer service: strategic asset or corporate overhead?	[ "Customer satisfaction", "Customer relations" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Customer relationship management (CRM) has been recognized since the mid-1990s; due mainly to the fact that many industries were experiencing increased demand from their customers for higher quality and less fuzzy access to service. This emphasis on renewed customer service drove corporations and the top managers to rethink the traditional ways of providing service.\nBusiness best practices: Improving customer service\nCustomer support from the resource-based view (RBV) perspective: Customer support services\nConclusion and recommendations: Once an organization has developed a CRM strategy for customer service, it must then develop a process for measuring and monitoring performance. Measurement is a critical component of the overall customer service strategy. Kim et al. (2003) identified several reasons why performance measurement is important. First, measuring performance resolves ambiguity and disparity surrounding the overall strategic objectives. Second, it provides a means for communicating what the organization wants and how it intends to accomplish it. Third, it allows continual evaluation, refinement, and alignment of strategic goals. Finally, it improves the probability and speed of positive change in the organization.Measuring the performance of the organization's customer service strategy provides feedback, which identifies the strategy's overall effectiveness. It helps the organization realize the benefits, showing how the organization's customer service strategy increases retention and loyalty, creates added value to the customers and contributes to a higher quality of products and services (Pfeffer et al., 1995).Customer service strategy and creating a CRM scorecard\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - To provide practitioners of management a sense of the importance of strategically leveraging the customer relationship management (CRM), which has been growing since the mid-1990s. Many industries were experiencing increased demand from their customers for higher quality and easier access to service. Corporations and top managers started to rethink their traditional ways of providing service. Customer relationships started to become a strategic asset among corporations.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A review of the applied literature on practices for improving customer relationships include analyzing the customer, being proactive to their needs, segmenting customers by group and empowering employees to improve the customer experience.\nFindings: - Once the need and importance surfaced, tools such as technology to provide customers and employees faster and more useful information surfaced. Once a CRM strategy and technology for customer service was in place, it became vital to develop processes for measuring and monitoring performance. Metrics created to measure customer retention; acquisition and market share have been implemented and used as a key management tool.\nPractical implications: - This paper describes how strengthening customer relationships have been moved to the top of the corporate priority list and cites examples of how the technology can improve CRM strategies.\nOriginality/value: - Going forth with understanding the customer by segment and implementing CRM processes and applying software tools. Continually monitoring of customer satisfaction and behavior and measuring successes with benchmarking and more will make sure the processes continue to evolve in the best method.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Combined framing effects on attitudes and behavioral intentions toward mortgage advertisements	[ "Canada", "Lenders", "Mortgage", "Advertising", "Message framing", "Attitudes", "Behavioral intentions" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: A mortgage advertisement in a local Canadian newspaper reads \"We're buying our first home, what kind of mortgage should we be looking at?\"Buying a home is a major financial decision. A mortgage loan is one of the most expensive financial decisions a consumer can make (Nicholson et al., 2019). Mortgage borrowing is a long-term commitment, taking most people many years to pay off. For first-time home buyers, the mortgage process can be a daunting task. In the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation's [CMHC] 2017 mortgage consumer survey, consumers noted that they wished they had gathered more information on interest rates and types of mortgages when they obtained their current one.According to the Canadian Bankers Association [CBA] (2019a), there are 88 banks, 35 of which are domestic, contributing to 3.3% of gross domestic product. Together, Canadian banks hold over $4.6 trillion in assets. According to the Canadian Credit Union Association [CCUA] (2019), Canadians are also served by 252 credit unions, which are full-service financial cooperatives. In Canada, banks are the largest lenders of residential mortgages, followed by credit unions and caisses populaires--these groups combined control about 90% of the market share of the total outstanding mortgage loans in Canada (CMHC, 2019). Canada's residential mortgage market is very important to the national economy and is estimated to be in the range of $1.3 to $1.4 trillion in 2018 (CMHC, 2019).In comparison to the United States, Canada has fewer banks. In the United States, there are over 4,700 Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation [FDIC]-insured commercial banks (Szmigiera, 2019). As a result, in the residential mortgage market, the United States has increased competition and choices for consumers (Pruss, 2015). Because there are fewer banks in Canada, the level of scrutiny is higher from banking regulators, which leads Canadian banks to be highly conservative (Pruss, 2015). In contrast with banking in the United States, bank failure in Canada is very rare. According to the FDIC (2019), 559 banks have failed since October 1, 2000, in the United States, whereas in Canada, 43 financial institutions have failed since 1967, according to the Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation [CDIC] (2019). Canada's banking system is considered one of the soundest in the world. In the executive opinion survey of the World Economic Forum (2017), Canada ranked #2 globally in the soundness of banks, whereas the United States ranked #24 in the same survey. Over 81% of Canadians trust their banks, according to a 2017 J.D. Power survey (Gray, 2017), whereas only 30% of Americans according to a 2018 Gallup survey trust theirs. This significant difference in \"trust\" is because Canadian banks did not suffer as much as American banks during the 2007-2009 recession exacerbated by the subprime mortgage crisis (Pruss, 2015). The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation's [CMHC] 2018 mortgage consumer survey showed that the majority of Canadian home buyers were satisfied with their mortgage lenders, with the response varying from 65% for first-time buyers to 79% for repeat buyers.In Canada, a down payment of less than 20% requires borrowers to purchase mortgage loan insurance (CMHC, n.d.). The amortization period to pay off insured mortgages in Canada is 25 years, whereas in the United States it is 30 years (Crawford et al., 2013). Most Canadian home buyers opt for a five-year renewal term, a fixed-rate mortgage and a 25-year mortgage amortization period to pay off their mortgages (CMHC, 2018). Another difference between Canadian and American mortgages is that mortgage interest is tax-deductible in the United States but not in Canada. Perhaps this makes Canadians more careful borrowers. In Canada, 0.23% of bank mortgages payments are reported as delinquent by 90 or more days (CBA, 2019b), compared to 0.95% in the United States (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau [CFPB], 2019).Consumers process multiple cues when evaluating information (e.g. Filieri, 2016) and seek different types of information when making a decision about a mortgage (Morrison and Vancouver, 2000). Message framing can facilitate persuasive mortgage marketing communication, including advertising. Framing is a message strategy as to how an individual's decision-making can be shaped by the way information is presented (Entman, 1993; Hauff et al., 2014; Song et al., 2019; Ulkumen and Cheema, 2011). The literature shows that message valence (e.g. Evans et al., 2019; Song et al., 2019; Yoon and La Ferle, 2018), specificity (e.g. Huhmann and Bhattacharyya, 2005; Ulkumen and Cheema, 2011), and temporality (e.g. Gibbs, 1998; Stanley and Tyler, 2002) play important roles in financial behavior of consumers. For instance, mortgage loan advertisements (ads) carry several message themes and frames, such as negative/positive framing and informational/transformational themes, to inform and persuade home buyers to choose the advertising lender's mortgage product (Perry et al., 2016).Mortgage consumers interact with a wide variety of information sources, such as online sources (e.g. lender websites, broker websites), family members, real estate agents and their primary financial institutions. Often, it is the real-estate agent who facilitates the purchase of a home by referring home buyers to a lender for mortgage financing. According to CMHC's mortgage consumer survey (2017), 72% of mortgage consumers consulted a real estate agent. In the same survey, 57% of mortgage consumers looked to family or mortgage lenders for advice. Those looking for a mortgage also consulted with the primary financial institutions with which they do their everyday banking. For these financial institutions, advertising mortgages is a great way to communicate to their customers the mortgage products being offered.The banking industry spends millions of dollars advertising home mortgages. In the United States, mortgage lenders spent US$95.72 million on advertising in 2017 (Guttmann, 2018). With such investments in mortgage advertising, it is important to understand that how a message is framed can impact how consumers interpret it. If the message is misinterpreted, incorrect beliefs and attitudes can be formed. As a result, the message would have a negative impact on mortgage sales and could lead consumers to mistrust the lender of that message.Poor financial literacy is a global issue (Furstenau and Hommel, 2019; Rodrigues et al., 2019) that has a negative impact on consumers' ability to make informed financial decisions (Bajoa and Barbi, 2018). It has been documented that those with poor financial literacy are more likely to have costly mortgages (Gathergood and Weber, 2017; Lusardi, 2019, as cited in Moore, 2003). For example, it is estimated that borrowers overpaid on average $120,000 over the life of a 30-year mortgage in Australia due to poor mortgage decisions (Nicholson et al., 2019). When it comes to mortgage knowledge, most Canadians were unable to answer correctly questions about mortgage terms and loan insurance in a financial literacy survey (Shmuel, 2017). Given that mortgages are a major consumer financial decision, mortgage marketers need to communicate the necessary mortgage information in a way that consumers can understand and trust.Canadian consumers differ in their ability to gather and understand mortgage information (Allen et al., 2014). This is perhaps due to low financial literacy (Shmuel, 2017). According to CMHC's 2018 mortgage consumer survey, more than one-third of home buyers felt concerns about buying a home. Home buyers wished they could have had more information on mortgage fees and types of mortgages when obtaining their current mortgage. Huhmann (2017) suggested that low consumer financial literacy could be improved by simplifying the presentation of financial information. Though this study focuses on the context of Canadian mortgage consumers, it is the first empirical study of its kind to study the effectiveness of message framing in mortgage advertising. This research looks into the following question: How do combined message frames influence home buyers' evaluations of mortgage product information and mortgage lenders? At this time, it is unknown what type of message framing is the most persuasive at affecting attitudes and behavioral intentions toward mortgage products. There is no known study that has studied the message framing effectiveness of mortgage ads. Hence, this research is the first of its kind to investigate how combinations of message frames in mortgage ads affect attitudes and behavioral intentions. This research is guided by the following research questions (RQ):RQ1. What are the effects of message framing in mortgage ads on consumer attitudes toward the (a) advertising message, (b) product advertised, and (c) brand?RQ2. What are the effects of message framing in mortgage ads on consumer behavioral intentions toward the advertised mortgage product?Next is a literature review of message framing in advertising and its relevance to mortgage loans. It is then followed by the research hypotheses of the proposed three dimensions (valence, specificity and temporality) for the main experimental framing effects study. The two studies--a pilot exploratory qualitative content analysis and the main quantitative experiment--are then presented. This paper ends with a discussion of the research results and implications.\nLiterature review and hypotheses: According to Hallahan (1999), \"framing puts information into a context and establishes frames of reference so people can evaluate information, comprehend meanings, and take action, if appropriate\" (p. 224). Building on framing theory (Entman, 1993; Goffman, 1974; Hallahan, 1999), the literature has identified valence, specificity and temporality. The following section examines these three dimensions of message framing.Valence\nMethods: A mixed methods research design was used in this research. To understand how message framing was used in actual ads, a pilot exploratory qualitative content analysis study was conducted to examine the types of message frames most prevalent in mortgage ads. As discussed in the literature review, there are theoretical reasons to study the three mentioned frames. The content analysis explored whether these were indeed the most prevalent frames and examined what other frames were used in mortgage print ads in a newspaper. The following section discusses the study methods in Study 1, a pilot qualitative content analysis, and in Study 2, an experiment with a 2(V x S x T) between-subjects design.\nStudy 1: qualitative content analysis: Research design and methods\nStudy 2: experimental study: Based on the literature review and the results of the exploratory content analysis, the experiment studied the combined effects message valence, specificity and temporality have on attitudes and behavioral intentions toward a mortgage. The experiment was guided by the following research question: What are the effects of these three framing dimensions on consumer attitudes and behavioral intentions when it comes to mortgages?Conceptual development\nDiscussions and implications: Content analysis - study 1\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Mortgage lenders often combine a variety of framing strategies when developing mortgage advertisements. To date, these frames have mostly been studied separately. This paper, however, studies the combined framing effects of message valence, specificity, and temporality on consumers' mortgage decision-making.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A mixed methods design was used. First, 13 unique print ads collected from a Canadian newspaper were analyzed for content. Second, a 2 x 2 x 2 scenario-based experiment with 400 undergraduate participants examined the framing effects of valence, specificity and temporality on attitudes toward the mortgage advertising message, the product advertised, and the brand, as well as on consumers' behavioral intentions toward the advertised mortgage product.\nFindings: The content analysis suggests that combined framing does exist in print ads. A positive message with a fixed term and a specific interest rate were the most commonly used frames. The experiment revealed that, for behavioral intentions, the main effect of the message temporality was significant. The effects of advertising a long-term mortgage on behavioral intentions were more favorable than those of advertising a short-term mortgage.\nPractical implications: This research provides a combined framing model for designing advertising strategies for the financial services industry to market complex financial products, such as mortgage loans to consumers. This is relevant to lenders when designing a persuasive package or ads for potential customers.\nOriginality/value: This study is the first of its kind to investigate the effects of combinations of message frames on consumers' mortgage decision-making, while also advancing the understanding of message framing theory for the financial services industry.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A model for exploring players flow experience in online games	[ "Behavioural theories", "Computer games", "Empirical study", "Virtual world" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Online games businesses have generated substantial profits in recent years. The worldwide market for online games is expected to grow from $15.7 billion in 2010 to nearly $29 billion in 2016 (DFC Intelligence, 2011). More than 700 million people are now playing online games worldwide (Spilgames, 2013). Online games have become increasingly prevalent with greater global internet use. It is crucial to identify the reasons why people play online games. This study thus attempted to understand why online games have become so prevalent.\nLiterature review: Online games\nResearch model and hypotheses: This study attempted to elucidate the reason for the success of online gaming from both the perspective of online game characteristics as well as personal factors related to online games. This comprehensive model involved all the constructs that could be associated with the antecedents of flow. Hoffman and Novak (1996) introduced these antecedents (skill, challenge, focused attention, and telepresence) and proposed a personal involvement construct; we included them in the current study. Perceived attractiveness is the degree to which a person finds an online game aesthetically pleasing. According to the mechanics, dynamics, and aesthetics (MDA) framework, aesthetics is generally considered to be one of the core elements of videogames (Hunicke et al., 2004; Schell, 2008). Moreover, interactivity refers to two or more entities that affect each other while communicating (Laurel, 1993). The most distinctive trait of online games is their enhanced interactivity (Kim et al., 2005). Most gameplay involves uncertainty. Furthermore, the delivery of online games is subject to uncertainty (Wu and Liu, 2007). Dickey (2007) reported that uncertainty is a key element of the MMORPG gameplay experience. In addition, the utilitarian perspective has been recommended for studying the characteristic of online games (Lin et al., 2012; Storgards et al., 2009; Storgards, 2011). Players might experience utilitarian motivations including earning money, prizes, or grades (Lepper et al., 1973). These motivations result in a utilitarian goal that enhances player intention to play the game. Figure 1 illustrates the flow model proposed in this study.\nResearch methodology: Measurement\nData analysis and results: Measurement model assessment\nDiscussions and implications: This study shows that the perceived attractiveness of online games had a significant effect on telepresence and focused attention. Online games with attractive designs (including layout, colors, acoustics, and general impression) stimulate greater perception of telepresence and attention focus than do those with unattractive designs. This study indicates that unattractive online games may reduce telepresence and player attention. Nonetheless, an attractive online game should stimulate a player's mediated perception and increase attention focus in online gameplay. Aesthetics play a crucial role in the decision to play an online game. How an online game attracts loyal players is critical to online game marketers and developers. Therefore, when designing an online game, online game marketers and developers should thoroughly consider the aesthetic aspect of the game to attract a high number of players. Online game designers and developers can provide sensory stimulation to players through features like graphics and sounds, while inducing player desire to construct imaginary sequences.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Extending on flow theory, the purpose of this paper is to explore how interactivity (human-to-human interactivity and human-to-machine interactivity) and personal beliefs (perceived attractiveness, personal involvement, and perceived uncertainty) impact flow experience; this study also investigates how flow experience is related to replay intention. Furthermore, this is the first study to explore the relationship between perceived uncertainty and challenges in online gaming.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The proposed research model was empirically evaluated using survey data collected from online game players. The evaluation was conducted using partial least squares of structural equation modeling.\nFindings: The findings revealed that flow experience was a significant predictor of replay intention. Four antecedents of flow (telepresence, focused attention, skills, and challenges) had a positive influence on flow experience. Interactivity (human-to-human interactivity and human-to-machine interactivity) and personal beliefs (perceived attractiveness, personal involvement, and perceived uncertainty) influenced these antecedents. Moreover, human-to-human interactivity exerted a greater impact on the flow experience antecedents than did human-to-machine-associated interactivity. This study reveals that human-to-human interactivity is most crucial to the effective development of online games. In addition, the author find that utilitarian motivations have positive moderating effects on the relationship between flow and replay intention. Finally, additional practical and managerial implications are discussed.\nOriginality/value: Few empirical studies have explored the moderating role of utilitarian motivations. This original study analyzed how utilitarian motivations moderate the relationships between flow and replay intention of online game players. Moreover, this is one of the first studies to explore the characteristic of uncertainty and its role in the context of online game playing.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A comparison of front-of-pack nutrition claims between the US and EU	[ "EU", "Food labels", "Front-of-pack nutrition claims", "US" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Nutrition labeling of food products has attracted significant attention in the applied marketing literature. Growing consumer interest in the relationships between health and diet has led to an increasing role of nutrition labeling on food packaging (Cheftel, 2005; Nayga, 2000; Drichoutis et al., 2006; Wills et al., 2009). In particular, front-of-pack (FOP) nutrition labeling of food products is intended to enable informed consumer choices and stimulate the production and consumption of healthful products (Baltas, 1999; Wartella et al., 2010, 2011).\n2. Literature review: 2.1 Global, US and EU nutrition labeling legislation\n3. Methodology: 3.1 Data collection\n4. Results: After analyzing the seven sets of FOP claims made on food products launched in the US and EU in 2009 six claims were found to be significantly different. In each of these sets of claims, the US exhibited a larger number of products with claims than the EU. Only the \"vitamin/mineral fortified\" claim was not found to be statistically significantly different as shown in Table I.\n5. Discussion: 5.1 Regulatory environment\n6. Conclusion: This research provides a systematic comparison of the use of FOP claims in the US and EU for seven sets of statements; \"functional\", \"Vitamin/mineral fortified\", \"gluten-free\", \"total cholesterol\", \"calorie\", \"total fat\" and \"total sodium\" for food products launched in 2009.\n7. Limitations and further research: This paper explores the use of FOP claims in the US and EU, advancing the first comprehensive analysis of recent food product innovations. The authors provide evidence of differences in the use of certain FOP claims by type and product category.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to compare the use of front-of-pack nutrition claims made on 32,257 food labels launched in 2009 in the US and the EU.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Information from Mintel's Global New Product Database was analyzed, for 25,417 products launched in the EU and 6,840 in the US. The hypothesis was that \"products launched in the US and EU have a different frequency of front-of-pack nutrition claims\". Using inferential statistics, significant differences (two-tailed Z-tests) in the number of claims are explored and compared to differences in legislation standards and consumer preferences.\nFindings: The initial analysis revealed that there were six significant differences between the presence of the seven health and nutrition claims across 16 product categories in the US and the EU. Further analysis of the 16 product categories revealed a range of significant differences between the frequency of US and EU claims.\nOriginality/value: The emerging relevance of front-of-pack nutrition labeling as a marketing tool makes such differences pertinent. This paper marks the first systematic comparison of the use of claims between the US and EU.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Senior secondary workplace learning and transition success in Australia	[ "Workplace learning", "Year 12 completion", "Post‐school engagement", "Youth transitions", "VET in schools", "Australia" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Rates of Year 12 (the final year of secondary schooling) completion in Australia increased steadily over several decades and reached a plateau at about 71 per cent between 1992 and 1999. Since then, a further modest increase to 76 per cent by 2009 has occurred (Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), 2007, 2010). Increased retention to Year 12 has been driven by structural changes in Australia's economy, leading to reduced low-skill employment opportunities and increased demand for high-skill workers (Australian Treasury, 2010). In addition to the changing structure of the labour market, population ageing has fuelled the need for greater productivity. Increasing school retention is seen as one vehicle to promote greater labour force participation and productivity (Australian Treasury, 2002). Consequently, all state and territory governments have raised the compulsory school attendance age from 15 to 17 in recent years. This measure has been consolidated by the Council of Australian Governments (COAG)[1], which has agreed to a common 90 per cent target completion rate of Year 12 or its equivalent by 2015 (COAG, 2008).Traditionally, the senior secondary (Years 11 and 12) curriculum had an academic orientation that aimed to prepare students for higher education. While in 1980 only about 35 per cent of young people completed Year 12, the advent of mass participation in senior secondary education (now at about 76 per cent, see ABS, 2010) has pressured schools to accommodate the learning needs of a more diverse student body. This pressure has resulted in a greater variety of subject options being made available. During the 1990s, a variety of school-based industry-related vocational subjects were developed. Later, nationally-recognised vocational education and training (VET) studies were introduced into schools (Barnett and Ryan, 2005). These studies are recognised under the Australian Qualifications Framework and can lead to the award of vocational qualifications. These subjects also conform to the requirements of the senior secondary certificate. In 1996, 16 per cent of senior secondary students enrolled in at least one VET subject. Growth in enrolments has been rapid, reaching 37 per cent in 2005 and rising to 49 per cent in 2009 (National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER), 2008, 2010).Nationally recognised VET normally requires industry-based experience. However, the extent to which these requirements are enforced in vocational education and training in schools (VETiS) varies considerably between and within state jurisdictions (Barnett and Ryan, 2005; Lamb and Vickers, 2006; Smith and Green, 2001). Lamb and Vickers, in particular, identified very varied levels of commitment by schools to workplace learning. They showed that 42 per cent of schools had either a weak commitment or no requirement for workplace learning as part of VETiS programs. A recent national consultation drew attention to this issue by stating:A major concern is the inconsistency between VET in Schools, both within a jurisdiction as well as across Australia. Currently there are no common standards around approval, regulation, resourcing, administration, delivery and monitoring of VET in Schools (Service Skills Australia, 2010, p. 3).Some students may enrol in a VET qualification without undertaking any work placement as part of their studies. Other students may decide to participate in a school-based apprentice or traineeship. Yet others may enrol in a VET qualification and undertake structured workplace learning as part of their study. Structured workplace learning refers to situations in which VET studies are combined with related industry-specific and formally-assessed work placements (Barnett and Ryan, 2005; Lamb and Vickers, 2006; Smith and Green, 2001). These options can be regarded as three levels of school-based VET treatment in Australia. Our focus is on the latter option, structured workplace learning.In Australia and elsewhere (e.g. Bennett, 2007 for the USA; Onstenk, 2009 for the Netherlands), work placements are aimed at helping students obtain the knowledge and practical experience required to make smoother transitions to employment in a related field or to tertiary VET studies, as well as providing a pathway to higher education for traditionally non-university bound students. One of the numerous advantages associated with work placements is students' ability to test out specific occupations while still in secondary school. If students decide to pursue a given occupation, work placements help them to develop industry linkages and showcase their suitability to potential employers (Misko, 2001a). Students' perceived benefits from work placements include an improved understanding of a given industry or occupation, the development of practical industry-specific experience, and the acquisition of interpersonal and other generic skills (Misko, 1998; Smith and Green, 2001). However, some teachers have voiced concerns over students' ability to balance VETiS participation and the development of workplace competencies with the demands of their general senior secondary school subjects (Jung et al., 2004).\nEffects of VETiS and workplace learning: The rationale for a policy focus on increasing Year 12 completion has been questioned. Dockery (2005) hypothesised that there is an optimal level of education for individuals and that pursuing schooling beyond that level leads to no marginal gain. Specifically, he tested the notion that students with a low likelihood of Year 12 completion, but who remained at school and completed Year 12, would have less successful outcomes than those who left at Year 10 and sought work. His analysis did not focus on VETiS or work placements, but compared students with low and high propensities for Year 12 completion, irrespective of their school programme. He showed that low-achieving students who remained at school experienced lower wage returns and a lower likelihood of being employed than those who left at Year 10.Marks et al. (2004) argued that the evidence for successful transitions from completing Year 12, but not undertaking further study, is equivocal. They showed that early school leavers eventually experience less unemployment and earn higher wages than do school completers. However, they also demonstrated that the initial transitions of early school leavers were more difficult. When compared with Year 12 completers, male early school leavers experienced greater initial unemployment, while their female counterparts were more likely to be out of the labour force and not undertaking any study or training. Overall, the findings from Dockery (2005) and Marks et al. (2004) suggest that experience in the labour market might be more beneficial than additional schooling, at least for low-ability learners.Anlezark et al. (2006) used data from the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY) Y98 cohort[2] to examine participation in VETiS and subsequent transitions. They found that VETiS is more likely to be taken by low achievers and by students whose parents had low-educational attainment. These findings were corroborated in a subsequent study by Coates and Rothman (2009). Anlezark et al. (2006) further found that Year 10 to Year 11 progression was enhanced by VETiS, but that participation in VETiS had a negative influence on Year 11 to Year 12 progression. They further determined that among students who left school after Year 11, those who had taken VETiS fared better post-school than those who had not. Yet among Year 12 completers, those who had taken VETiS fared less well in their initial post-school transitions than their non-VETiS peers. Anlezark et al.'s comprehensive study examined VETiS participation in general; we expand on this work by focusing on the effects of structured workplace learning as a more intensive intervention within VETiS.\nPurpose: There is reason to believe that work placements might be an important element in enhancing students' transitions. Billett (2001, 2004) argued that the workplace provides meaning and structure for learning. Phillips et al. (2002) showed that participation in workplace learning led to more successful transitions largely because work placements helped students develop realistic transition plans. Misko (2001b) ascertained positive post-school outcomes for students who had participated in structured workplace learning programmes, with over 50 per cent subsequently engaged in full-time or part-time work, 40 per cent undertaking full-time or part-time tertiary studies, and only 7.5 per cent being unemployed. Against this backdrop, the purpose of our study is to evaluate the effect of participating in workplace learning during Year 11 on student transitions. Workplace learning is regarded as effective if it meets policy objectives of improving student transitions by enhancing Year 12 completion rates and increasing the engagement of young Australians in work or post-school study.\nMethodology: Sample\nResults: Covariate balance\nDiscussion and conclusion: The COAG policy of increasing Year 12 completion is based on macroeconomic policy analysis that projects increased labour force participation and enhanced productivity arising from the skills bonus of higher educational attainment. Previous qualitative research has found that benefits accrue to structured workplace learning (Misko, 1998; Smith and Green, 2001). However, quantitative research (Anlezark et al., 2006; Dockery, 2005; Marks et al., 2004) has shown either a penalty or marginal short-term gains to Year 12 completion for low-achieving individuals and those taking VET courses. We find that students who undertake structured workplace learning as part of VETiS while in Year 11 have higher Year 12 completion rates than similar students who do not undertake this form of learning. This finding extends to levels of post-school engagement, albeit to a slightly reduced extent.Several explanations exist for the differences between our conclusion and those reported by Dockery (2005), Marks et al. (2004), and Anlezark et al. (2006). Dockery and Marks et al. compared the relative benefit of either remaining at school or gaining labour market experience for low achieving students, but they did not examine the programmes taken by the students who remained at school. Anlezark et al. did consider the programmes that students took, examining the outcomes of VETiS students, and finding a penalty for these students remaining at school through Year 12. We note the great variability in VETiS programmes, which may incorporate only one VETiS subject or alternatively consist entirely of VETiS courses (Australasian Curriculum Assessment and Certification Authorities, 2010). Compared to the variability of VETiS (Lamb and Vickers, 2006), workplace learning is a well-delineated intervention within VETiS (Coates and Rothman, 2009). Given that we consider only those students who undertake structured workplace learning, any positive effects from work placements are likely to be diluted in any broad analysis of VETiS. Collectively, the conclusions reached by Anlezark et al. (a penalty to Year 12 completion for VETiS students) and ourselves (a benefit to students who undertake workplace learning) imply that students who take VETiS programmes without related work placements may suffer a penalty with respect to transition outcomes.Our results suggest that promoting greater participation in structured workplace learning programmes can contribute to achieving the COAG Year 12 completion goal. The gain of 5.2 per cent in Year 12 completion from participation in work placements may help to bridge the gap between the current 76 per cent completion rate and the 90 per cent policy target. Achieving this goal will require many more schools to place a strong emphasis on workplace learning in their VETiS programmes (Lamb and Vickers, 2006). This is a challenge given the extreme variability with which VETiS programmes are handled between schools and jurisdictions throughout Australia (Service Skills Australia, 2010). Work placements also make a modest contribution (3.8 per cent) to the COAG goal of successful post-school transitions. Overall, it appears that workplace learning as part of VETiS programmes can provide a similar exposure to work from which early school leavers were found to benefit through labour market experience (Marks et al., 2004).Our study is somewhat limited by its moderate sample size that consists of 440 treatment and 440 matched control cases. While a larger sample would have been desirable, sample size limitations are a common challenge when examining very specific interventions with longitudinal datasets. Notwithstanding, we hope that this broad exploratory analysis sets the foundation for further research. While we assess transition success for work placement participants on one hand, and comparable VETiS and non-VETiS students on the other, future investigations could focus on outcomes for VETiS-specific subgroups. Such subgroups may include students with low- and high-vocational subject loads, as well as those undertaking school-based apprenticeships or traineeships. Finally, while there are reasons to believe that work placements are advantageous (see also Billett, 2001, 2004; Phillips et al., 2002), it is apparent that workplace learning itself is subject to considerable variation in the quality and intensity of exposure (Barnett and Ryan, 2005; Lamb and Vickers, 2006; Service Skills Australia, 2010). Certainly, not all work placements yield equally positive transition effects. Future research should focus on understanding better the characteristics of more effective workplace learning programmes in order to maximise the benefits that accrue to it.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to examine the effectiveness of participation in workplace learning among senior secondary students in Australia. Work placements are deemed to be effective if they meet policy objectives of improving student transitions by (a) enhancing Year 12 completion rates and (b) increasing the engagement of participants in post-school work or study. Engagement is defined as full-time study, full-time work, some full-time/part-time combination, or two simultaneous part-time engagements (e.g. part-time work and part-time study).\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Propensity score matching is used to address selection bias into work placements. After controlling for numerous student background characteristics and creating equivalent comparison groups, we estimate the influence of participation in work placements on Year 12 completion and post-school engagement.\nFindings: - It is found that participation in work placements during Year 11 is associated with a 5.2 percent increase in Year 12 completion and a 3.8 percent increase in full-time engagement one year after the modal Year 12 completion age.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The study is somewhat limited by its moderate sample size (n=880; 440 workplace learning participants matched with 440 comparable non-participants). Moreover, it seems likely that considerable variation exists in the quality of workplace learning programmes. It would be useful to examine what specific qualitative aspects of work placements produce positive transition outcomes.\nPractical implications: - The findings suggest potential benefits from increasing participation in work placements during Year 11 for students who undertake vocational education and training in schools (VETiS) and those who are lower-achieving.\nOriginality/value: - Previous research has questioned the value of VETiS for Year 12 completion, and the overall benefit of Year 12 completion to lower-achieving students. This paper expands on the extant literature by suggesting that participation in workplace learning may contribute to more successful transition outcomes for lower-achieving students and those taking VET courses.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Is independence really an opportunity? The experience of entrepreneur-mothers	[ "Motherhood", "Independence", "Women’s entrepreneurship", "Opportunity-necessity" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The desire for independence is a primary motivator for people to start new businesses. The pursuit of independence, defined as the ability to control the timing, location, and nature of one's work (Douglas and Shepherd, 2000; Gelderen, 2016), has long been framed as an agentic preference (Carter et al., 2003; Douglas and Shepherd, 2000, 2002; Hessels et al., 2008; Kolvereid, 1996; Orhan, 2005). Although the underlying factors driving the quest for independence among entrepreneurs are rarely explored (Gelderen and Jansen, 2006), it is widely presumed that individuals who want greater autonomy over their lives and work start businesses with the specific aim of achieving that goal (Kelley et al., 2015, 2016; Reynolds et al., 2002).\nIndependence and the opportunity-necessity framework: Various taxonomies have been advanced over the decades to explain and classify entrepreneurial motivations (Chell et al., 1991; Kanter, 1983; Shane, 2003). In recent years, however, it has become increasingly common to sort entrepreneurial motivations into opportunity and necessity classifications, owing to the widespread adoption of this approach by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) (Amoros and Bosma, 2013; Kelley et al., 2016; Reynolds et al., 2002), a major international survey which is used by policymakers to determine the level of voluntary or involuntary entrepreneurship within and across countries, and to inform policies and programmes aimed at supporting entrepreneurs. Necessity motives are generally negative and circumstantial, and include job loss, long-term unemployment, or unsatisfactory or discriminatory working conditions (Dawson and Henley, 2012). Opportunity motives, in contrast, are intrinsic or extrinsic factors that are presumed to lure individuals to entrepreneurship by their own merits, such as the desire to exploit a profitable idea (Shane, 2003); the desire for personal challenge or self-actualisation (Orhan, 2005; Sullivan et al., 2007); or the desire to create a social good (Solymossy, 1997).\nMotherhood and entrepreneurship: It is well established in the work-family literature that motherhood exerts a constraining influence on women's employment within organisations (Gerson, 1986; Hochschild, 1989; Powell and Greenhaus, 2010; Williams et al., 2013). Women with children face particular double-binds when it comes to balancing the \"ideal worker\" (Williams, 2000) and \"work-devotion\" (Blair-Loy, 2003) schemas embedded in many workplaces against societal expectations around \"good\" motherhood (Elvin-Nowak and Thomsson, 2001; Johnston and Swanson, 2006). Women with children also experience unexplained \"motherhood penalties\" (Budig et al., 2012; Correll et al., 2007) in terms of their hiring, promotion, and salaries within organisations, which are not experienced by fathers or women without children (Livermore et al., 2011). Consequently, many women alter or scale back their careers (Mainiero and Sullivan, 2005, 2006), take jobs that require fewer skills or time investment (Corby and Stanworth, 2009), or \"opt-out\" of paid employment entirely (Cabrera, 2007; Stone, 2007). Entrepreneurship provides an alternative career path that allows women to engage in paid employment while attending to familial obligations (Lewis et al., 2015, 2016; McGowan et al., 2012). Entrepreneur-mothers are more likely than all other entrepreneurs to cite family-related flexibility, in conjunction with independence, as a primary motive for starting a business (DeMartino and Barbato, 2003; Georgellis and Wall, 2005). Entrepreneur-mothers are also more likely to run small, home-based businesses (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2015), and devote significantly more time to household chores than other workers, male or female, entrepreneur or employee (Craig et al., 2012; Gurley-Calvez et al., 2009). In their research on self-described \"mumpreneurs\", who deliberately construct their businesses around their families (Ekinsmyth, 2011, 2013), other scholars (Duberley and Carrigan, 2013) have found that these entrepreneur-mothers are strongly influenced by the ideology of intensive mothering (Hays, 1996), a pattern of beliefs and values concerning the \"appropriate\" manner of child-rearing that has been observed in employed and \"at-home\" mothers in various countries (Johnston and Swanson, 2006, 2007; Liss et al., 2013).\nResearch scope and method: The empirical data for this study were collected in 2012. Participants were recruited via social media networks populated by women entrepreneurs, whose motivations might be more market-focused, and by self-described \"working mothers\" and \"mumpreneurs\", whose motivations might be more motherhood-focused. The aim of this study was not to produce a random or statistically-significant sample, but to locate individuals with direct experience of the phenomenon under study, without presupposing their characteristics (Mays and Pope, 1995). The study did not impose limits on women's participation by the age of their children, their duration in business, or their motives for becoming self-employed. Nor did it limit women's participation in the study by the timing of their transition to self-employment relative to the onset of motherhood. This allowed the inclusion of women with a wide range of circumstances and motivations.\nFindings: motherhood, time, and work quality: Themes of independence dominated the women's narratives, and revolved around three overlapping themes. First, the women were motivated by \"motherhood\" motives; which we define as the desire (or perceived need) for independence to be available and accessible to their children to facilitate the enactment of a \"good\" mother ideal. Second, the women spoke extensively about the difficulty of securing the temporal and location flexibility required to meet the demands of \"good\" motherhood. Third, given the challenges and poor quality jobs they encountered in organisational employment, many women were motivated by a desire to re-establish control over the quality of their work, in flexible environment. All 60 participants expressed some combination of these motivations. Some expressed all three, as illustrated in the following quote:I wanted to be available for the children [...] and I didn't feel that my work and the hours required would be flexible enough for me to be available for the kids. And if I returned in a part-time role, which is only what I was really prepared to do, the types of projects that I would be able to take on would not be challenging. I wouldn't get the same job satisfaction that I had previously(Int. 04).\nDiscussion: The majority of women in this study were strongly motivated to entrepreneurship by the pursuit of independence. Contrary to the predominant conceptualisations of independence, however, the women's desire for autonomy, freedom, flexibility, and control was not grounded in longstanding aspirations or desires. Starting a business was, instead, a reaction to, or a revolt against (Sullivan et al., 2007), organisational cultures that were perceived to force women to choose between their commitment to work, on the one hand, and their commitment to family on the other (Blair-Loy, 2003). To the extent that the women saw their employment options in as severely restricted by the practical, temporal, and perceived moral obligations of motherhood, their pursuit of independence was born of necessity, rather than opportunity. Rather than being pulled to entrepreneurship by the lure of independence, they were pushed out of organisational employment because they could exercise no real independence in this context.\nFamily-driven entrepreneurship: Consistent with prior research, we find that family-related factors are a major motivator for women entrepreneurs with children (Dawson and Henley, 2012; DeMartino and Barbato, 2003; Georgellis and Wall, 2005; Hughes, 2003; Kirkwood, 2009). Our contribution shows, however, that for many entrepreneur-mothers, family-related factors and the pursuit of independence are inextricably linked. Furthermore, our findings suggest that independence cannot be classified as a clear and unequivocal opportunity motive when assessing entrepreneurial motivations. Thus, we propose a new category of entrepreneurial motivation - family-driven entrepreneurship - based on the need for independence to accommodate family care. We argue that future studies should incorporate gender and family-sensitive measurements of independence, such as \"needed flexibility to manage care\", \"needed flexibility to be a good parent\", \"could not find part-time or flexible work to manage child care\", or \"needed to be available for children\" and recalibrate traditional opportunity variables to reflect the family-driven motivations demonstrated in this study.\nConclusion: Despite the centrality of independence to the entrepreneurship literature, the underlying factors that drive individuals to pursue greater autonomy are rarely studied (Gelderen, 2016; Gelderen and Jansen, 2006). Applying an expressly interpretive approach to the narratives of 60 women who started businesses after having children, we find that entrepreneur-mothers are strongly motivated by independence. Contrary to the literature, however, we find that entrepreneur-mothers do not perceive the pursuit of independence as an opportunity to be exploited, but as a functional necessity in managing the temporal and perceived moral obligations of motherhood. We argue that there is a fundamental difference between wanting control over one's time to pursue a more autonomous lifestyle, and needing control over one's time to accommodate one's family responsibilities. This dynamic is not adequately captured in current models and frameworks used to understand and classify entrepreneurship, framing the labour market marginalisation of these women as an agentic \"choice\". As a result, we propose the incorporation of \"family-driven entrepreneurship\" to the existing opportunity-necessity framework to provide a more complex understanding of the gendered experience of independence and better capture the socio-cultural and institutional factors that may disproportionately push women with caregiving responsibilities towards self-employment.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore how entrepreneur-mothers experience independence in the transition to entrepreneurship, and whether they perceive independence as an agentic, opportunity-maximisation motive or a constrained, necessity-driven response.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Adopting a qualitative and interpretive approach, the authors analysed interviews with 60 entrepreneur-mothers to refine conceptual understanding of independence.\nFindings: The authors find that entrepreneur-mothers experience independence not as an opportunity, but as a functional necessity in managing the temporal and perceived moral demands of motherhood. The authors assert that there is a fundamental difference between wanting independence to pursue a more autonomous lifestyle, and needing independence to attend to family obligations, a difference that is not adequately captured in the existing conceptualisation of independence. Consequently, the authors propose the classification of \"family-driven entrepreneurship\" to capture the social and institutional factors that may disproportionately push women with caregiving responsibilities towards self-employment.\nPractical implications: This paper proposes that a new category of entrepreneurial motivation be recognised to better account for the social and institutional factors affecting women's entrepreneurship, enabling policymakers to more accurately position and support entrepreneur-mothers.\nSocial implications: The authors challenge the existing framing of independence as an agentic opportunity-seeking motive, and seek to incorporate family dynamics into existing entrepreneurial models.\nOriginality/value: This paper delivers much-needed conceptual refinement of independence as a motivator to entrepreneurship by examining the experiences of entrepreneur-mothers, and proposes a new motivational classification, that of family-driven entrepreneurship to capture the elements of agency and constraint embedded in this transition.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Investigating broker centrality in innovation-driven networks	[ "Innovation", "New product development", "Manufacturing technology", "Supply networks" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The management of technological innovation has attracted considerable interest in the literature (e.g. Gloet and Terziovsky, 2004; Gaimon, 2008; Theyel and Hofmann, 2015). Much effort in the extant operations management literature on technological innovation and new product development (NPD) has focused on the individual firm and the buyer-supplier dyadic contexts (e.g. Koufteros et al., 2007; Petersen et al., 2005; Sumo et al., 2016). While these studies have provided valuable insights into the dyadic and vertical inter-firm collaborations for innovation and NPD, there is a need to move beyond the individual firm and buyer-supplier dyad contexts to study how a horizontal network of firms collaborate together on NPD and technological innovation projects in view of the contextual differences that exist between such firms. For instance, due to privacy and liability issues, a horizontal network of firms may have a need for formal governance structures that may be different from what obtains in individual firms and traditional supply chains. In this paper, we define a horizontal network as a form of persistent arrangement that may involve competitors and other firms from similar or different industries collaborating to jointly develop new technologies, products and services (Pittaway et al., 2004; Huxham and Vangen, 2004; Oke and Idiagbon-Oke, 2010; Ma et al., 2012; Chandrashekar and Hillemane, 2018). Such networks enable firms to access external resources that help to improve their performance (Powell et al., 1996; Stuart, 1998; Sosa et al., 2003; McEvily and Marcus, 2005; Jain and Benyoucef, 2008; Koufteros et al., 2010; Cheikhrouhou et al., 2012; Benstead et al., 2018).\nTheoretical background: Network broker\nMethods: We adopted the case study approach since our objective was to investigate and build theories of horizontal network dynamics by exploring changes in social processes in organizations (Eisenhardt, 1989; McCutcheon and Meredith, 1993; Voss et al., 2002). The case study methodology offers the opportunity to study networks in their own natural settings where links and underlying meanings can be explored at different levels of analysis (Miles and Huberman, 1994; Yin, 1994). In this study, the focus was on three horizontal networks of firms.\nWithin-case analysis: In our analysis, we searched for evidence of how the centrality of the broker within the networks changed over the duration of the project and how these changes affected NPD performance. We also investigated for factors that may be responsible for these changes. The summary of the within-case analyses of the three networks is presented in Table III and Figure 1.\nCross-case analyses, discussions and propositions: Cross-case analyses enable the comparison of findings from the within-case analyses through the identification of similarities and differences across the three networks. Based on our cross-case analyses, in this section, we also develop propositions regarding the relationships between broker centrality, NPD performance, network structure and perceived broker power in a dynamic horizontal network. The results of the cross-case analyses are summarized in Tables IV and V.\nContributions and conclusions: Previous contributions on inter-firm collaborative projects tended to investigate how related factors influence a focal firm's performance. Such inter-firm arrangements or supply chains are not necessarily focused on a collective goal or performance of the network; as such, the motivation of actors within such networks may be questionable. Our use of a case study empirical approach enabled us to elevate the level of the analysis from the firm level to the network level to investigate two objectives; the first being the link between broker centrality and NPD performance in a dynamic horizontal network. We developed propositions that provide a basis for further investigation into the relationships between power, network structure, broker centrality and NPD project performance in networks. Our study draws from the PPT (Mullins, 1999) to contribute to the network centrality literature (Ibarra, 1993) and related prior research in the network innovation area (e.g. Ireland and Webb, 2007; Oke and Idiagbon-Oke, 2010), particularly in an operations environment. The study also contributes to the social network research literature on network structure and performance in operations (e.g. Coleman, 1988; Burt, 2002). The specific theoretical and practical contributions of the study are summarized below.\nLimitations and future studies: A critique of the case study approach is that it lacks external validity (Eisenhardt, 1989). However, although three networks or cases are studied, the networks comprised 15 firms in total. Further, the purpose of a case study analysis such as this one is not to strive for statistical generalization but for an analytical generalization (Yin, 1994). Thus, generalization is from the case or network to a broader theory not from a sample to a population (Stuart et al., 2002). We tried to alleviate the issue of external validity by using literal and theoretical replication logic in our sampling strategy (Yin, 1994; Voss et al., 2002) by selecting networks that had similar and diverse organizational representation and worked on tasks with similar and different task complexity. We collected data from different sources to increase validity. Our use of a case study protocol helps to ensure the reliability of the study.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: In contrast to the vertical supply chain structure, firms are increasingly engaging in horizontal inter-firm collaborations to develop new technologies, products and services, yet, little is known about factors that influence the governance mechanism and performance of such collaborative projects. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how different factors affect the role or the centrality of the governing mechanism (the broker) in inter-firm collaborative networks.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Using a case study method approach, this paper studies three dynamic networks comprising firms that are not in a traditional supply chain relationship. The networks comprised firms engaged in the development of different aspects of an innovative automotive technology.\nFindings: The study finds that broker's centrality varies over time and is directly related to project performance; network structure and perceived broker power are related to broker centrality in dynamic networks. The more loosely connected a network is (open network), the more the degree of broker centrality. The higher the degree of expert power that a broker is perceived to possess, the higher is the degree of broker centrality.\nOriginality/value: Investigating governance mechanism and determinants of network outcomes in inter-firm collaboration for new product development represents a departure from the traditional studies on similar phenomena in vertically structured supply chain arrangements; thus, contributes to the literature on innovation in inter-firm arrangements. Understanding how the salient factors contribute to performance at the network level builds on firm level and dyadic level of analysis or focus of previous studies.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Integrating Design Thinking into peer-learning community: Impacts on professional development and learning	[ "Professional development", "Workplace learning", "Pedagogy", "Design Thinking", "Peer-learning Community or PLC" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The teaching profession requires continuous learning and development, as it directly deals with human capital (Harris and Jones, 2010). Teachers are traditionally expected to constantly evaluate new information, practices, methods to improve the ability, aptitude and attitude of the students (Lieberman, 2000). Pedagogical knowledge is critical for the teachers, as it represents the body of knowledge on learning processes and environments for the students (Hord, 2009; and O'Riordan, 2018). Classrooms today have changed over time owing to more diversity and have become more complex because of digital technology and generational gap (Sonmark et al., 2017; and Gomes et al., 2015). As a result, a school is not only a place for students to learn new knowledge and skills but also a workplace where teachers can learn and improve their profession. Essentially, they need to frequently update their profession's knowledge.\nProblem statement: The fundamental question for this study is as follows: How can a school become an attractive workplace where learning and development of teachers positively contribute to better teaching and learning for the students? Successive studies have highlighted the need for the teachers to change how they teach (which needs to be more collaborative) and to adapt to more contemporary practices such as more teamwork (or co-teaching) (Fry and Bi, 2013; and Sonmark et al., 2017). In this case, the attractive workplace implies that a school in which learning constantly takes place and benefits both teachers and students. A school needs to become a more appealing and innovative workplace for the teachers which will also result in better teaching and learning for the students (Ratten et al., 2017).\nResearch objective: The study aims to develop a pedagogy which can transform a school to become better workplace for learning. This is expected to benefit teachers' professional development while improving teaching and learning for students. Design Thinking is an integral part of this development.\nCase study's background: In Thailand, the schools belonging to Ministry of Interior - local municipalities and two special administrative zones (i.e. BMA, and Pattaya City Administration) - have traditionally performed poorly in national assessment and are perceived to have low quality in students' development. The primary reasons for this ongoing problem stem from: student background and family well-being and school readiness to apply the centralized curriculum. In particular, the families whose children attend these schools are generally regarded as poor and less-educated. The parents likely work as the daily wage earners and often move from one place to the next (Fry and Bi, 2013; and Hallinger and Bryant, 2013). See Table I.\nFindings: This case study started in 2015 after a batch of BMA teachers returned from the study visit to Finland. The trip was one of the key initiatives from Deputy Governor who oversaw BMA's Department of Education from 2014-2017. Owing to the continuous decrease in the morale among BMA teachers (the annual request to transfer was approaching 10 per cent of the current teachers to Ministry of Education' schools), the drastic change in the workplace (i.e. the school) was urgently needed. In addition, the failure of the students through the national examination became alarming, especially at the secondary level.\nDiscussion: For BMA schools, PLC represents a new approach to train teachers or is regarded as in-service teacher training. PLC aims to minimize the variability in teachers' expertise in academic subjects and experiences in student engagement (Ning et al., 2016; and Vanblaere and Devos, 2015). In this pilot project, PLC also includes students. PLC allows the students to learn more collaboratively and also to acquire soft skills that are needed (Stoll et. al., 2006 and Zhao and Kuh, 2004).\nImplications: The pilot project's implications is divided into two groups: teachers and students. For teachers within the context of a school as a workplace for learning, PLC represents a platform for their professional development and students' learning. It is regarded by three BMA teachers as a mechanism to learn from one another. PLC allows effective sharing among more and less experienced teachers (Hord, 2009). The communication barrier is removed because PLC allows free flow of ideas and information (Stoll et al., 2006). Together with Design Thinking, the teachers can share their personal value when dealing with students, and key objectives of student's learning through the viewpoints of the students from the lowest tier.\nCurrent and future plans to sustain PLC's deployment: One of the unexpected benefits from PLC for the students is the perceived reduction in school's bullying. BMA schools have had some difficulties in dealing with cyber bullying life skills and soft skills, including the issues such as cyber bullying. This problem has also happened at Mattayom Suwitserianusorn School. Cyber bullying happens through digital devices such as smart/cell phones, computers and tablets. This bullying often includes sending, posting or sharing negative, harmful, hurtful, wrong content about someone else. It also involves sharing personal or private information about someone else causing embarrassment or humiliation[3]. Teenagers, from 12 to 16 years of age, are at risk, especially female students.\nConclusion: The case study outlines the progress and the impacts of PLC's implementation at BMA schools. It describes and illustrates the incorporation of Design Thinking for the integrated lesson plan development. PLC represents pedagogical improvement and development which is needed for BMA schools (as well as the schools under the jurisdiction of Ministry of Interior) due to the limitation in complying with the centralized curriculum. The case study covers a group of three BMA teachers who have piloted the PLC and have gained national and international recognitions. These recognitions are based on the students' impacts. The feedback from these three teachers is collected and analyzed to gain more understanding on PLC success. PLC together with Design Thinking can have positive impacts on workplace or school's learning for and professional development of teachers and also for students' skill development. Finally, the next phase of the case study to examine the sustainability of PLC is briefly explained.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This study aims to develop a pedagogy which would help a school become a workplace for learning and professional development. Essentially, this objective addresses the following critical question. How can a school become an attractive workplace where learning and professional development of teachers positively contribute to better teaching and learning for the students?\nDesign/methodology/approach: The research is considered as a case study. The pilot project or experiment has taken place at Mattayom Suwitserianusorn School which is part of Bangkok Metropolitan Administration. Design Thinking and Finnish practices have been explicitly integrated into peer-learning community (PLC). Design Thinking, through the use of empathy, helps highlight the interrelationships among motivation, emotion and cognition of students. Follow-up meetings provide insights into teacher's professional development and impacts on student's learning. The verification is based on award and recognition gathered over the past years for students and the school.\nFindings: PLC helps improve a school as a place for learning and professional development. The significance of integrating Design Thinking is extensively discussed. The project shows how co-teaching can be applied, given a proper selection of a problem. Higher motivation and better behavior among students are noticeable. The pilot project reinforces the importance of PLC in the current pedagogical development as it helps transform a school into workplace learning for both teachers and students. Blending Design Thinking helps strengthen the sustainability of PLC, as a lesson plan should be revised according to the students' background and needs.\nResearch limitations/implications: The study responds to the call by several international studies for better pedagogical development and in-service training for teachers' continuous learning and professional development. More vigorous comparisons with other schools will be needed to help verify the study's findings. This is due to the need to have a longitudinal study of PLC's impacts.\nPractical implications: For teachers, an understanding of their common interests and the recognition on the need to learn from one another is important. For students, an understanding of their psychology and emotional intelligence through the use of Design Thinking is highlighted. Motivation, emotion and cognition of students are interrelated and can help transform a school into learning space.\nOriginality/value: The study contributes to the transformation of a school as a workplace for learning and professional development which is based on the aforementioned pedagogical development. Also, Design Thinking helps strengthen PLC as an alternative pedagogical practices.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
All executives are equal, but are some more equal than others? Imbalances in Icelandic	[ "Gender", "Leadership", "Executives", "Power relations", "Organizational practices" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nReview: One of the most common, and indeed cliched, terms used in business refers to the \"cutting edge\". Referring to the latest technology or innovation, it is generally accepted as being a good thing to be on the cutting edge. Firms boast about their cutting edge, organizations salute the cutting edge of their employees and governments applaud the cutting edge of their policies. Everyone wants to be on the cutting edge, and no one wants to be on whatever the opposite of the cutting edge is. Blunt edge? Reverse edge? Retreating edge?\nNational level: However, what about cutting edge countries - who is at the positive end of the spectrum when it comes to equality? Traditionally, people will think about Nordic countries where equality is concerned, and Iceland is the focus of the article \"Top managers and the gendered interplay of organizations and family life: the case of Iceland\" by Juliusdottir et al. (2018). They seek to dig beneath the assumption of equality that many outside observers would have of Iceland by looking at the existing state of affairs in the country and what factors contribute to this.\nCareer conundrums: To understand what is going on behind the seeming paradox of egalitarian society and gender-biased management structures, the authors looked at both qualitative and quantitative data to try and uncover what factors could explain this state of affairs. The framework for this approach had two chief components. First, many people argue that due to the scale of the historical embeddedness of male dominance in organizations, overcoming it to produce a truly equal organization will take a huge effort over time, and require massive and prolonged changes in culture above and beyond any regulatory changes. In addition, the interplay between these organizations and what happens in employees' home lives is also an important consideration, as similar changes will have to occur behind the doors of millions of homes as well as the thousands of organizations people work for.\nWorking late again: The first key finding centered on working hours, which showed that men tended to work for longer hours across the board. For example, while no women CEOs or executives worked longer than 70 h a week, 10 per cent of male CEOs and 6 per cent of male executives did just that. In addition, 58 per cent of female executives worked between 41 and 50 ho a week, while 41 per cent (the highest share) of male executives worked 51-60 ho a week.\nComment: The article \"Top managers and the gendered interplay of organizations and family life: the case of Iceland\" by Juliusdottir et al. (2018) provides a fascinating, unique insight into gender issues in Iceland. While it offers sobering reading for those in even less gender-neutral countries, it does reward careful reading due to the rich storytelling it offers from the many interviews conducted by the authors. As such, it deserves the full attention of anyone seeking to redress gender imbalances in their organization.\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 papers in context.\nFindings: One of the most common, and indeed cliched, terms used in business refers to the \"cutting edge\". Referring to the latest technology or innovation, it is generally accepted as being a good thing to be on the cutting edge. Firms boast about their cutting edge, organizations salute the cutting edge of their employees and governments applaud the cutting edge of their policies. Everyone wants to be on the cutting edge, and no one wants to be on whatever the opposite of the cutting edge is. Blunt edge? Reverse edge? Retreating edge?\nPractical Implications: Provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world's leading organizations.\nOriginality/value: What is original/value of paper? This 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" } ]
Reviews' length and sentiment as correlates of online reviews' ratings	[ "Sentiment analysis", "Consumer emotion", "Insurance services", "Online review rating", "Review length", "Review sentiment" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Online consumer reviews, a form of user-generated content, draw particular attention because of their effect on the purchasing decisions of consumers (Lin et al., 2017). When purchasing products or using services from an online website, consumers often find it difficult to make purchase decisions based only on information provided by vendors due to their being suspicious of the vendors' bias in portraying their products/services in a more favorable position than deserved (Lopez-Lopez and Parra, 2016). Therefore, they look for other consumers' reviews, which are subjective and based upon their own experiences/opinions (Eslami and Ghasemaghaei, 2017; Lee et al., 2016). This consumer-generated information provides indirect pre-consumption experiences of a particular product or service by other consumers, and is thus helpful in making purchasing decisions in online environments (Baek et al., 2012; Cheung et al., 2008; Park and Lee, 2009).\n2. Theoretical background: 2.1 Review ratings\n3. Hypotheses development: 3.1 The associations between review length and sentiment on review ratings\n4. Methodology: 4.1 Sentiment analysis\n5. Data analysis and results: 5.1 Statistical summary\n6. Post hoc analyses: 6.1 Interaction between review length and review sentiment on review rating\n7. Contributions, limitations, and future research: 7.1 Theoretical contributions\n8. Conclusions: This research used sentiment analysis to investigate how it might help online vendors to understand their consumers' specific emotions toward their products/services using online consumer reviews. In this study, we focused on consumers' reviews regarding insurance services as this sector has endured several years of constrained growth and, thus, understanding consumers' sentiments and emotions could provide insurance companies with valuable information to develop appropriate marketing and public relations strategies. In our sample, we found that in 2012 consumers had more positive sentiments toward insurance services than in the following subsequent three years. This could be one of the reasons for the several years of constrained growth. We also extracted consumer emotions and found that consumers generally have more negative emotions toward insurance services. Moreover, we found the most frequent words in consumers' reviews that shape their emotions for different types of insurance services. The results of this study also showed that consumer review sentiment and review length are associated with review ratings. Moreover, we found that significant differences exist between positive, neutral, and negative sentiments regarding review ratings for all insurance types. Furthermore, in terms of text length, we found that significant differences exist between short, medium, and long reviews with respect to review ratings, whereby consumers who are more dissatisfied write longer reviews as they are more willing to share their anger with others. This research can be used by companies to develop better strategies to improve relations with their customers, to reduce their negative attitudes and increase positive ones.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to identify and validate reviews' length and sentiment as correlates of online reviews' ratings; and second, to understand the emotions embedded in online reviews and how they associate with specific words used in such reviews.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A panel data set of customer reviews was collected for auto, life, and home insurance from January 2012 to December 2015 using a web scraping technique. Using a sentiment analysis approach, 1,584 reviews for the auto, home, and life insurance services of 156 insurance companies were analyzed.\nFindings: The results indicate that, since 2013, consumers have generally had more negative emotions than positive ones toward insurance services. The results also show that consumer review sentiment correlates positively and review length correlates negatively with consumer online review ratings. Furthermore, a two-way ANOVA analysis shows that, in general, short reviews with positive sentiment are associated with high review ratings.\nPractical implications: The findings of this study provide service companies, in general, and insurance companies, in particular, with important guidelines that should be considered to increase consumers' positive attitude toward their services.\nOriginality/value: This paper highlights the importance of sentiment analysis in identifying consumer reviews' emotions and understanding the associations and interactions of reviews' length and sentiment on online review rating, which can lead to improved marketing strategies.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Value-based consumer segmentation: the key to sustainable agri-food chains	[ "Consumer behaviour", "Segmentation", "Supply chain", "Developing countries", "Supply chain management", "Food industry", "Kenya" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: 1.1 Problem background\n2. Methodology: 2.1 Case study\n3. Results: 3.1 Component factors\n4. Discussion: 4.1 Universal value profile\n5. Conclusions: 5.1 Summary\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The final consumer has the exclusive right to define what constitutes value in a product or service. Under increasing pressures of globalization and urbanization, a consumer-focused approach to performance improvement in supply chains can lead to more satisfied consumers and improved returns to growers and retailers. This paper aims to demonstrate that such an orientation, though lacking in agri-food supply chains in developing countries, can mitigate threats to food safety, consumer health and environmental quality.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Data were collected through random survey intercepts (n=418) at different retail outlets for fresh vegetables in Nairobi, Kenya in 2010. Multi-step cluster analysis (Ward Method, K-means) was used to classify fresh vegetable consumers, in terms of their product, production and marketing process preferences.\nFindings: Four heterogeneous segments in terms of value preferences, behaviour and personal profiles (p<0.05) were derived. They were labelled Prestigious Shoppers (25 per cent), Market Enthusiasts (18 per cent), Ethics Crusaders (41 per cent) and Safety Sceptics (16 per cent). All segments expressed high or moderate preferences for product quality. In addition, the Prestigious Shoppers expressed a moderate preference for customer service. Market Enthusiasts attached the highest values to market conditions and customer service. Ethics Crusaders most highly preferred customer service, while Safety Sceptics most highly preferred safe production.\nResearch limitations/implications: Since it is difficult to predict consumer behaviour precisely, these findings may be contextual. Yet, the segments have unique value preferences despite actors treating them as homogeneous. Ignoring these differences can lead to unsustainable attempts to improve chain practice and policies.\nOriginality/value: This paper is the first of its kind. It advocates for use of universal value profiles as a basis for development of consumer-focused strategies for sustainable performance improvement in agri-food chains in developing countries.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Family business internationalisation and networks: emerging pathways	[ "Relationships", "Networks", "Family business internationalization", "Meta-synthesis" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Since the first articles appeared in family business (FB) internationalisation research, a series of studies have explored developments in the field (Casillas et al., 2007; Kontinen and Ojala, 2010; Pukall and Calabro, 2014). Nevertheless, although literature review articles have provided useful insights into specific aspects of FB internationalisation, they have given only a limited understanding of the key themes driving FB internationalisation research from a network perspective. Such a perspective lies at the core of internationalisation, defined as \"a process of initiating, developing, and maintaining international business relationships\" (Johanson and Mattsson, 1998, p. 288). It is consistent with the view that \"internationalisation depends on a firm's networks and relationships\" (Johanson and Vahlne, 2009), a premise that holds true for FBs just as it does for other firms (Graves and Thomas, 2008). The lack of knowledge of networking in FB internationalisation may result from the fact that relatively few articles have been included in previous reviews adopting a network perspective. Thus, in the review by Kontinen and Ojala (2010), the network theory of internationalisation was used in only one of the studies included, whereas in Pukall and Calabro's (2014) review, only five of the articles included made use of the network theory. Nevertheless, such a perspective is of particular importance for research on FB internationalisation networks, because it has the potential to provide a better understanding of the internationalisation processes of FBs overall (Fletcher, 2008). In particular, a network approach to FB internationalisation complements existing FB entry mode research (Plakoyiannaki et al., 2014). It seems that when FBs decide on their entry mode, they first consider how to establish relationships with other nodes (i.e. other businesses or business networks) in the local market in question, and then find suitable partners to develop committed relationships (Graves and Thomas, 2008; Kontinen and Ojala, 2011a). Failures in establishing and maintaining successful relationships with foreign partners may endanger the survival of FBs in the international arena and adversely affect their entry mode choices.\n2. Study background: the network perspective in IB literature and in FB internationalisation research: A network is generally conceptualised as \"a specific type of relation linking a defined set of persons, objects or events\" (Donckels and Lambrecht, 1995, p. 273). A business network can be defined as \"the long-term business relationships that a business has with its customers, suppliers, distributors, competitors and government\" (Johanson and Mattsson, 1988, p. 288).\n3. Methodology: To fulfil the twofold aim of the current study (see Introduction), we followed Short's (2009) suggestions for conducting a good literature review, and Hoon's (2013) insights for conducting a meta-synthesis. Thus, our research design followed three steps, as described below.\n4. Findings: The articles (n = 25) were published in 20 different academic journals, published between 1993 and 2014, with a peak between 2011 and 2014. It should be noted that the majority of the articles were published in the Family Business Review Journal (three articles) plus the Journal of International Business Studies (two articles). The majority of the studies were empirical (n = 22); however, we found three conceptual papers. The articles were written by 52 different authors. The authors with the largest number of publications were Kontinen and Ojala (in collaboration), who wrote three empirical research articles. It should also be noted that as with IB literature, the theoretical approaches to networking in FB internationalisation literature, and the concepts used, are highly heterogeneous. The vast majority of the studies used a combination of theories from the fields of FB, IB and international entrepreneurship. In a few cases, the FB researchers borrowed theories from other fields as well (e.g. from social psychology); these enabled them to explain the actions of both partners in a network (de Farias et al., 2009).\n5. Discussion and conclusions: This study provided a review of FB internationalisation studies, adopting a network perspective. It also provided a meta-synthesis of theoretical approaches, key findings and concepts. Most importantly, the study identified various areas of research that could spark development within this specific field. Overall, we would like to emphasise the extent to which current research on FB internationalisation has offered only limited knowledge on the processes and strategies of internationalisation, in terms of networking activities. Research on key actors' decision-making with regard to the networking phenomena may provide a more holistic understanding of different types of FBs, and of how they operate during internationalisation.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The aim of this study is twofold: to provide a meta-synthesis of the current state of knowledge in family business (FB) internationalisation research, adopting a network perspective, and to highlight emerging themes that may set the stage for future work on FB internationalisation, for the benefit of researchers adopting a network perspective.\nDesign/methodology/approach: To address the twofold purpose of the study, the current paper provides a state-of-the-art review of 25 peer-reviewed journal articles published from 1993 to 2014. This study also presents a meta-synthesis of the theoretical approaches, key findings and concepts that were pinpointed in the review, and proposes emerging key themes that are likely to set the stage for future work within this specific field.\nFindings: The results indicated that since the mid-1990s, research in the field from a network perspective has mainly focused on three aspects, namely, the role of networks and relationships in the internationalisation process, the factors that influence network formation and strategic/managerial issues in the formation and building of network ties. The current paper pinpoints emerging themes within these three aspects and proposes future pathways.\nResearch limitations/implications: The review and meta-synthesis are restricted to 25 studies identified in this specific field.\nOriginality/value: This study comprises an initial attempt to encompass the interface of FB internationalisation and networks.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
How lean are financial service companies really? Empirical evidence from a large scale study in Germany	[ "Service", "Organizational change", "Lean", "Lean thinking", "Financial services", "Quantitative survey" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Lean management is a management philosophy that aims at a continuous improvement of a company's value creation capability by engaging all employees. In order to follow this philosophy, the core idea of lean management is to reduce any kind of waste (Womack and Jones, 2003). Adopting this philosophy throughout a company is supposed to be positively correlated with higher efficiency (Dahlgaard and Dahlgaard-Park, 2006). Manufacturing companies were the first ones to apply lean management (Mefford, 1993). However, service industries and service-related departments in manufacturing companies are increasingly guided by the ideas of lean management (Moyano-Fuentes and Sacristan-Diaz, 2012).\n2. Literature review: 2.1. Background\n3. Methodology: 3.1. Survey instrument\n4. Results: The eight lean management principles are bundled to two levels as described in Section 2. Overall, the two levels result in the lean degree of financial services providers. Figure 1 shows the results for each level.\n5. Discussion: Overall, a tendency towards a lean organised work environment in financial services companies can be observed. However, the self-awareness of the participants is stronger than the actual degree of implementation. This result indicates that the participants of our survey have the intention for acting in a lean way, but this intention is not supported by concrete actions in this regard.\n6. Conclusion and outlook: This is the first investigation to study the lean degree of financial services companies. Previous work is limited to case studies which analyse the effect of implementing certain lean principles but do not focus on the lean degree. The results reveal that if a financial services provider wants to become a lean company, lean thinking has to be embedded in the mind of its employees. Ways have to be found so that employees really perform their daily work in a lean way. This is much more important than using specific tools and techniques when applying lean management.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Lean thinking is important for a successful implementation of process-driven changes. Especially financial service providers are forced to improve their organisational efficiency due to intense competition and regulatory burdens. The purpose of this paper is to identify how lean financial service companies in Germany are.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A quantitative survey published online is used. In total, 3,624 employees from every hierarchical level participated in the study.\nFindings: The results not only reveal that there is only a moderate lean thinking in financial service companies. We rather observe a \"lean fata morgana\". Employees in general believe they are leaner than their actual behaviour discloses. In addition, managers perceive their work environment leaner than subordinates do. At the same time, managers do not behave lean as they spend almost a third of their working time with operational work instead of guiding the employees.\nResearch limitations/implications: Answers are based on the anonymous, subjective ratings of employees and thus statements regarding single organisations cannot be made.\nPractical implications: The results can be used by managers to address typical weak aspects when introducing lean management to improve the success chances. Furthermore, the questionnaire can be applied for assessments for a single organisation before an introduction of lean.\nOriginality/value: For the first time, this paper presents results which cover the lean degree beyond a single company's perspective. The results allow for an indication which aspects of lean are unincisive with regard to functional areas and hierarchical levels of financial service providers.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Ownership concentration of three large Belgian banks during the crisis	[ "Financial crisis", "Corporate governance", "Banking", "Ownership" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In 2008, Belgium's largest bank, Fortis (now BNP Paribas Fortis), had to be bailed out by the Belgian government. During the same crisis, Dexia (now Belfius) and KBC also needed strong government support and cash injections. Today, the lawsuits resulting from these events are far from over and seven members of Fortis' top management are accused of having misinformed shareholders. The Fortis case is very sensitive in Belgium because the bank was deeply anchored in the country's economy and its history goes back to the nineteenth century. Furthermore, its stock was known for being safe and paying regular dividends, which made it popular among the small Belgian investors. Hence, many small investors who were shareholders lost a significant part of their savings due to the 2008 events. Ex post, the bank's management made two errors according to Limbos and Phillips (2010): overinvesting in collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) and acquiring the Dutch bank ABN Amro. All of this was accompanied by \"[a] financial communication [that] was poor and vague\" (Limbos and Phillips, 2010).\nInstitutional context: The banking sector has a crucial role in Belgium, representing 5.8 per cent of the total economy and 60,000 jobs in 2012 (Febelfin, 2014). In 2013, banks lent 86 billion to public authorities, 186.9 billion to households and 117.8 billion to enterprises (Febelfin, 2014). One should therefore not be surprised that the country's economy is highly dependent on the health of its financial sector. In past decades, the Belgian banking sector has been highly concentrated, with the top three banks representing as much as 80 per cent of the country's banking assets in 2011 and a Herfindahl-Hirschman Index value of 0.27 (IMF, 2011). This index is especially high when compared to other countries, and it reinforces the contamination effect in the event that one of the banks faces financial problems[2]. Furthermore, the Belgian banking sector is very internationally oriented. This reflects the fact that Belgium, a small country in the middle of Europe, has an economy that is highly reliant on foreign countries, as 80 per cent of its gross domestic product (GDP) depends on exports.\nLiterature review: Factors influencing ownership structure\nThe Fortis case: background: From AG to Fortis Bank\nInterview findings: Two different models\nConclusion: In this study, we analyze two different ownership structures in Belgian banks:\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: In this paper, two different ownership structures in Belgian banks are studied to see whether this had an impact on how these banks went through the financial crisis of 2007-2008. On the one hand, there is the concentrated ownership structure with a number of major shareholders, while on the other hand, the ownership can be really dispersed with no shareholder having a significantly large stake and ability to influence management's decisions.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors study three large Belgians banks. Dexia and KBC followed the first model (concentrated ownership), while Fortis' ownership was really dispersed since the year 2000. The authors perform several interviews with people involved with these banks during the crisis and analyze several external sources of information.\nFindings: The mitigating impact that major shareholders could have had on the - in hindsight - wrong decisions of Belgian banks' top managers is found to be very limited. Therefore, it can be concluded that the dispersed ownership structure of Fortis was not an important factor in its collapse. Nevertheless, a concentrated ownership structure has been found out to help in case of financial distress, mainly because governments will be more inclined to participate to bailouts when a sound rescue strategy, elaborated with the help of a stable and concentrated ownership structure, is present.\nOriginality/value: By performing interviews, the authors get an insider's point of view of these banks during the crisis.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Better practice prediction using neural networks: an application to the smartphone industry	[ "Performance measurement", "Benchmarking", "Data envelopment analysis", "Artificial neural network", "Performance prediction", "Smartphone industry" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Coping with rapid rates of environmental change is a way of life in many industries. Increasing environmental complexity and competitive intensity make planning more difficult. These conditions are typical for firms grounded in technology and innovation, i.e., smartphone providers. In this turbulent, competitive environment, successful business outcomes are at least partially related to the expenditure of scarce resources, which poses a serious challenge to both leading and lagging firms. For these firms, maintaining their competitive advantage is instrumental to superior performance, and to defending against competitors efforts; both of which are minimum requirements for survival. Accordingly, constant effort is needed to maintain and extend their competitive edge. Because of the crucial need to succeed on both fronts, these firms' efforts are focussed on performance improvement via the execution of their established strategy; improvement in their cost structure, operational efficiency, and proficiency; and the promotion of knowledge creation and its translation into tangible business outcomes. Consequently, strategy-driven improvement becomes a core concern for improvement-conscious managers.\n2. Related studies: The pursuit of continuous improvement and the promotion of innovation have been considered the goal of performance benchmarking. To this end, firms strive to achieve competitive advantage over their competitors based on quality enhancement, technology advancement, and cost optimization (Anand, 2008). With increasing interest and extended applications, various definitions of benchmarking have been presented by researchers. These definitions commonly address a sequential process which includes a search for the best practice, comparative measurement, continuous improvement, and superior performance (Bogan and English, 1994; Camp, 1995; Cox et al., 1997; Dai and Kuosmanen, 2014; Estampe et al., 2013). Anand (2008) analyzed definitions of benchmarking and contributed this comprehensive definition of benchmarking to the literature:\n3. Methodology: 3.1. DEA\n4. Data and variables: For this study, eight major Smartphone providers competing in the USA and global markets were selected: Apple (noted as APL in this paper), HTC (HTC), LGE (LGE), Nokia (NKA), Motorola (MOT), Research in Motion (RIM), Samsung (SMS), and Sony (SEM). These companies well represent the turbulent nature of the industry. Their performance reveals the intense competition between these companies, and the variation in competitive advantage of each company. As a consequence, each company strives to sustain its operations in a rapidly fluctuating and changing competitive environment. From this perspective, these companies are singularly focussed on performance improvement (Grundberg, 2012a, b; Luk, 2012; Robinson and Kendall, 2012). To capture these industry characteristics and to develop an adaptive prediction capability to support improvement initiatives, the new approach of using ANN with a DEA preprocessor is introduced. For this ANN-based modeling and analysis, publicly available data were collected from each company's annual reports between the periods of 2002-2012 inclusive, with SEM and LGE between 2006 and 2012, inclusive. Data for SEC and MOT for 2012 were not available due to the consolidation of their performance data into the results of the purchasing firms, Sony Corporation and Google, respectively. These merger and acquisition activities reflect the dynamic, rapid changes that are typical of the technology-oriented smartphone industry.\n5. Experimental results: 5.1. Empirical setting\n6. Concluding remarks: This study explores the potential capability of a DEA-ANN approach as a vibrant incremental benchmarking prediction tool and demonstrates the successful implementation of the combined model based on an empirical analysis of the smartphone industry over the period of 2002-2012. The results of this research highlight the promising performance of the ANN-based prediction model. In this research, a combined DEA-ANN modeling approach is presented. In this underrepresented research avenue, a few previous attempts to integrate two methods have been made with major applications to estimate production functions via efficiency prediction (Azadeh et al., 2011; Hsiang-Hsi et al., 2013). Even compared with the rare applications of this combined approach, the present study fills a research gap in that the proposed model predicts actual quantities of output variables thus overcoming the limitation of the past approach of predicting ES only. In this two-stage process, DEA efficiency produced in the first stage serves as a key neural input mixed with knowledge resources to leverage a desired performance level. With this design scheme, the hybrid model extends the previous combined model for best prediction to support better practice benchmarking, thus enabling incremental improvement initiatives (Kwon, 2015). The encouraging performance of the proposed model highlights the bright potential of ANN and its hybrid system for benchmarking applications.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to develop an artificial neural network (ANN) based prediction model via integration with data envelopment analysis (DEA) to provide the means of predicting incremental performance goals. The findings confirm the usefulness of the herein developed prediction approach, based on the results of analyses of time series data from the smartphone industry.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A two-stage hybrid model was developed, incorporating sequential measurement and prediction capability. In the first stage, a Chames, Cooper, and Rhodes DEA model is the preprocessor, generating efficiency scores (ES) of decision-making units (DMUs). In the second or follow-on stage, the ANN prediction module utilizes knowledge variables and ES to predict the change in performance needed for a desired level of improvement.\nFindings: This combined approach effectively captured the information contained in the industry's turbulent characteristics, and subsequently demonstrated an adaptive prediction capability. The back propagating neural network successfully predicted the incremental performance targets of DMUs, which translated the desired improvement levels into actionable performance goals, e.g., revenue and operating income.\nOriginality/value: This paper presents an incremental prediction approach that supports better practice benchmarking. This study differentiates itself from previous research by introducing an adaptive prediction method which generates relevant quantity outputs based upon desired improvement levels. The proposed modeling approach integrates performance measurement with a prediction framework and advances benchmarking practices to enable better performance prediction.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
UK university policy approaches towards the copyright ownership of scholarly works and the future of open access	[ "Open access", "Scholarly communication", "Copyright", "Licensing", "Intellectual property", "Self-archiving" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Increasing concerns about the so-called \"serials crisis\" - where the cost of journal subscriptions considerably exceeded the rate of inflation and the ability of libraries to pay (Okerson and O'Donnell, 1995; White and Creaser, 2004) - led to calls for scholars to self-archive copies of their research papers to make them available on open access. This came to be known as the green road to open access as distinguishable from the gold road of making papers available through open access (or hybrid) journals (Harnad et al., 2004). One of the key factors inhibiting such self-archiving activities was the practice, common then and still common today, of authors assigning the copyright in research papers to publishers in exchange for getting those papers published. Indeed, Banks (2016) describes the practice of assigning copyright to publishers as the \"root cause\" of the scholarly communication crisis facing UK universities. The assignment of copyright led to concerns from scholars that they could not self-archive their papers for fear of infringing what was now the publisher's copyright (Swan and Brown, 2004; Creaser, 2010). These issues were considered in detail by the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC)-funded Rights Metadata in Open Archiving (RoMEO) Project in 2002-2003. The resulting series of papers examined the impact of copyright on self-archiving (Gadd et al., 2003a), how scholars expected to both protect and use open access research papers (Gadd et al., 2003b, c) and a study of publishers' copyright transfer agreements (Gadd et al., 2003d). The principal message of the first of these studies (Gadd et al., 2003a) was a call to universities to join together with their academic employees to retain the copyright in their research papers. The necessary publication rights could then be licensed to publishers, while copyright remained with the academic authors who created it, and their employing institutions who arguably owned it (more on this below), and papers could be made open access on their terms. The paper generated much discussion, including a recommendation from Denicola (2006) that scholarly works should be asserted as \"works-for-hire\" (in US copyright terms) to enable universities to retain the right to make scholarly works open access, but there was no concrete action along the lines proposed. The first part of this paper considers the literature relating to the reasons for, and the consequences of, the failure of UK universities to assert joint copyright ownership in scholarly works on the development of open access. The second part provides a content analysis of 81 UK university copyright policies with a view to considering whether, after over a decade, UK universities appear to be making any policy moves towards joint ownership.\nPrevious studies of intellectual property (IP) policies: In the UK, copyright ownership is usually addressed as part of a university's broader IP policy. There have been a small number of IP policy analyses in the last 20 years, but none with the focus or scale of this study in the UK. Harvey (1996) performed an analysis of nine UK university IP policies with a focus on \"tangible\" forms of IP (patents, software, designs, etc.) and concluded that they were \"ill-informed, internally and externally inconsistent\" (p. 300). However, it was difficult with such a small sample to assume the findings would scale up to the wider higher education (HE) community. Weedon (2000) undertook a larger study of UK university copyright policy approaches on behalf of JISC, including a survey with 87 respondents, interviews, and an analysis of 36 IP policy documents. He found that 69 per cent of policies made a generic claim to the IP produced by staff although 53 per cent waived rights to scholarly works. Hannabuss (2001) wrote a paper discussing academics' IPR ownership position with reference to a small number of policy documents. Only two UK IP policy analyses have been undertaken in the last decade. A study of eight IP policy documents was performed by Rahmatian (2014) alongside interviews with the relevant universities. The purpose was to consider universities' claims to copyright ownership in scholarly works produced by academic staff. Indeed, in all cases a generic claim to copyright produced in the course of employment was made. However, no information was provided about the characteristics of the universities studied. A study of 81 UK IP policies was undertaken by Davies (2015) with a particular focus on their approach towards ownership of teaching materials as evidence of commitment to academic freedom. There was no analysis relating to other scholarly works.\nCopyright ownership and open access policy developments: University open access policies and mandates\nMethods adopted: The vast majority of UK universities are members of Universities UK (2015) - a group that aims to be the \"definitive voice for universities in the UK\". This group of 130 were selected as the population for this study. Others have noted the problems associated with generating a suitable sample for IP policy analyses due to the wide variety of institutions that make up the population, and the range of policy approaches (Harvey, 1996). It was therefore decided to locate as many IP policies as possible for this study. Web searches were undertaken on the Google search engine between February and April 2015 to locate the IP policies for these universities, using the institution's name and either \"IP policy\", \"IP\" or \"copyright policy\". Where an IP policy formed a clearly identifiable part of a set of University Regulations, Research Code of Practice or Staff/Student Handbook, these were also used for analysis. However, where there was not enough information to a form a picture of the university's copyright ownership position, such documents were discounted for the purposes of this study. Where a document clearly referenced another openly available document that explicitly formed part of the university's overall approach to copyright ownership, this was analysed. A message was sent to the key UK universities' e-mail discussion list for copyright matters, Lis-Copyseek (2015), to solicit the help of members in locating copies of closed or unlocatable copyright policies. In retrospect, it is recognised that Freedom of Information Requests could have been made to universities with closed policies in order to get a wider sample.\nFindings: Mission group of universities studied\nDiscussion and conclusions: These findings show that since the publication of the RoMEO studies in 2003, UK universities have failed to tackle head-on the controversial issue of copyright ownership of scholarly works with academics. Instead, they have chosen to introduce open access policies or mandates - which take as their starting point the academic's ownership of copyright - with varying degrees of effectiveness. Funders have taken on the role of \"employer\" in copyright terms, and have each introduced their own open access policy. The terms of these policies are sometimes in conflict (Banks, 2016) and have been administratively challenging (Burgess, 2015). Publishers have responded to funder open access policies in varying ways - mainly by introducing embargoes on green open access and introducing a paid alternative, gold open access, achieved through costly article processing charges (Pinfield et al., 2015). Not surprisingly, the current open access policy environment is not realising affordable Green open access as envisaged (Bjork et al., 2014; Laakso, 2014).\nConclusions and recommendations: A joint ownership approach has the benefit of reframing the whole scholarly communication debate. Publishers would be negotiating with large institutions or groups of institutions rather than individual academics. Academics and their employers would be on the same side, without the current tensions inherent today. Undoubtedly, cultural change on this scale would take time because copyright ownership continues to be seen as an indicator of academic freedom. However, there is good evidence that the rights universities seek to exploit (the right to make work available on open access immediately) are fully supported by academics, and the rights that academics want to protect (moral rights and the right to prevent unauthorised commercial re-use) are best supported by universities. Indeed, a conversation around the conflict between academics' desire to protect their work and the open access movement's desire to liberate it, would best be held between academics and their university as neutral partner. Ultimately, it is in a university's best interests to fully support and protect their academics' interests. Whether the current moves towards shared ownership of rights through licensing eventually translate into a full joint ownership situation remains to be seen. However, it is recommended that universities begin to consult with their academic staff on these issues, using the UK-SCL as a starting point. The evidence presented in this paper suggests that universities and academics are beginning to recognise that a shared approach to copyright ownership is the best way to enable the effective communication and consumption of scholarship on scholars' own terms, and that a move along these lines has a greater chance of success than ever before.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to consider how the open access policy environment has developed since the Rights Metadata for Open Archiving Project's call in 2003 for universities and academics to assert joint copyright ownership of scholarly works and investigate whether UK universities are moving towards a joint copyright ownership.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper analyses 81 UK university copyright policies to understand what proportion make a claim over: IP ownership of all outputs; the copyright in scholarly works; re-using scholarly works in specific ways; and approaches to moral rights. Results are cross-tabulated by policy age and mission group.\nFindings: Universities have not asserted their interest in scholarly works through joint ownership, leaving research funders and publishers to set open access policy. The paper finds an increased proportion of universities assert a generic claim to all IP (87 per cent) relative to earlier studies. In total, 74 per cent of policies relinquished rights in scholarly works in favour of academic staff; 20 per cent of policies share ownership of scholarly works through licensing; 28 per cent of policies assert the right to re-use scholarly works in some way; and 32 per cent of policies seek to protect moral rights. Policies that \"share\" ownership of scholarly works are more recent. The UK Scholarly Communication Licence (UK-SCL) should have an impact on this area. The reliance on individual academics to enforce a copyright policy or not to opt-out of the UK-SCL could be problematic. The paper concludes that open access may still be best served by joint ownership of scholarly works.\nOriginality/value: This the first large-scale analysis of UK university policy positions towards scholarly works. The paper discovers for the first time a move towards \"shared\" ownership of scholarly works in copyright policies.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The relationship between organizational culture and withdrawal intentions and behavior	[ "Organizational culture", "Absenteeism", "Employee behaviour" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Both organizational culture and employees' withdrawal intentions and behaviors have long been important topics in organization science. The concept of organizational culture has been evolving since the 1970s (Schein, 1990). Specifically, this topic has received considerable research attention with the emergence of influential writings by Denison (1990), Hofstede et al. (1990), Katz and Kahn (1978), Pettigrew (1979), Schein (1990), and Schneider (1987, 1990). The major interests of organizational culture researchers have been addressed towards the relations between organizational culture and both organizational and individual behaviors.Over the past five decades, employees' turnover intentions, absenteeism, and actual turnover have received substantial theoretical and empirical consideration (e.g. Baysinger and Mobley, 1983; Cotton and Tuttle, 1986; Griffeth et al., 2000; Mobley, 1982; Mobley et al., 1979; Mowday et al., 1982; Porter and Steers, 1973; Steel, 2002). A major reason, among others, for these efforts is the interrelationship between turnover intentions, absenteeism and actual turnover. Withdrawal decisions lead to absenteeism, which, in turn has been found to be related to actual turnover (r = 0.20; see Griffeth et al. (2000)). Withdrawal decisions may also lead directly to actual turnover (range between r = 0.58 according to Mobley et al. (1978), and r = 0.35 according to Griffeth et al. (2000), and actual turnover has a significant impact on the organization (Mobley, 1982; Price, 1989).Although the relations between these themes have received research attention (e.g. Hofstede et al., 1990; Schneider, 1987; Sheridan, 1992), more should be done to extend our understanding of the influence of organizational culture on withdrawal behaviors. Furthermore, despite the importance of studying antecedents across types of turnover intentions (see Blau, 2000; Cohen, 1993) to attain better understanding of similarities or differences between types of turnover intentions, little, so far, has been done in this direction (Blau, 2000). Hence, the major goal is to bridge these gaps and examine the influence of five dimensions of organizational culture on three forms of employees' withdrawal intentions (i.e. from the occupation, job, and organization), and one form of employee withdrawal behavior (i.e. absenteeism).The paper is structured as follows: In the next (second) section, the theoretical background and the research hypotheses are discussed. In the third section, the methodology is presented. The results of the study are presented in the fourth section. Finally, in the fifth section, the results are discussed in light of the theoretical background, recommendations for future research, and the limitations of the study.\n2. Background and hypotheses: 2.1. Organizational culture\n3. The research methodology: 3.1. Participants and procedure\n4. Results: 4.1. Descriptive statistics\n5. Discussion: The major goal of this study was to examine the relationships between five dimensions of organizational culture and - three different types of employees' withdrawal intentions (e.g. from the occupation, job and organization), as well as withdrawal behavior (e.g. absenteeism). Building on a previous study by Hofstede et al. (1990, p. 311), the study focuses on daily practices as the core of an organizational culture.By so doing, the study contributes both to the organizational culture and withdrawal process studies in three points. First, regarding the field of organizational culture, Vandenberghe (1999, p. 183) noted that \"organizational culture measures are rarely used outside the national context where they are developed, and therefore their generalizability to other nations is often questionable\". The current study extends the generalizability of the organizational culture, using a highly interesting profession (i.e. social workers) in the health care industry. Second, regarding the employees' withdrawal process, Blau (2000) pointed out the lack of studies, despite their importance, which examine antecedents across types of turnover intentions (see also Cohen, 1993) in order to obtain a better understanding of similarities or differences between these forms. The current study contributed to this end by examining a wider range of employees' withdrawal intentions and behavior. The third contribution of the study refers to the relative lack of studies regarding the influence of organizational-related factors on employees' withdrawal intentions and behaviors (see Baysinger and Mobley, 1983).The results of this study provide preliminary evidence that employees' withdrawal behavior and intentions are partly products of organizational culture. In particular, the study's findings reiterate the importance of an organizational culture that emphasizes and challenges the employees in their job. This finding is encouraging both theoretically and practically, and it might be related to the specific features of the social worker profession. In the health care system, social work is a profession which does not offer any idiosyncratic economic benefits. On the contrary, even the material benefits are very modest in the Israeli health care system. People who choose to enter this profession are not likely to develop elements of the \"side-bet\" theory (Becker, 1960), since they are not driven by a calculative approach. Rather, they are driven by the challenge of their jobs. Bloor and Dawson (1994, p. 285) presented an insightful analysis of the social work profession, which strengthens the findings of this study. They argued that \"... Social workers are more outspoken ... they also serve as an important source of innovative proposals and are often willing to deal with complex situations that other professionals do not wish to tackle\" (Bloor and Dawson, 1994, emphasis added). Furthermore, challenge at service work, which involved high level of emotional labor, is very important element for diminishing burnout, and thus, reduce employee turnover intentions.The current study provides reasonable support to the findings of Hofstede et al. (1990), according to whom results-oriented culture was highly correlated with lower employees' absenteeism. Results-oriented culture can be seen as a version of job challenge. It contains features such as coping with \"unfamiliar situations\", and items such as \"each day brings new challenges\" (Hofstede et al., 1990, p. 303), which are very similar to the variable (job challenge) examined in the current study.There are also implications for top management in organizations regarding the control and management of the employee withdrawal process. The study encourages top management to assess their organizational culture. It suggests that they should consider organizational-related factors such as organizational culture, while managing their employees' withdrawal processes. They must understand that employees are not only driven by utilitarian reasons, but that professionals such as social workers might look for a more challenging job. Although it is far beyond of the scope of this study, I believe that many high-tech firms should understand that competitive utilities are important, which is not to say that other psychological and social utilities are not less important.Several suggestions for future research should be mentioned. It is essential to validate the relationship between organizational culture and employees' withdrawal behaviors. This study used organizational culture as a personal variable and it would be interesting to take a multi-level approach to culture. One of the most challenging research tasks is the examination of organizational culture across occupations to explore the similarities or differences in the effects of organizational culture on employees' withdrawal behaviors. Finally, recent research has introduced and tested how the concept of job embeddedness predicts why people stay in their organizations (Mitchell et al., 2001). This is an important path to understand differences between why people stay and why they leave with implications for organizational culture.Finally, the reader is cautioned to recognize the limitations of this study. First, the study focused on social workers in the health care industry. It is necessary, for example, to explore social workers in other industries in order to validate the results. The organizational culture measure should also be validated by its employment on samples from other countries and professions. We cannot claim for causality because the data were collected at one point in time. In this study, validated and usable measures were employed to reduce potential for percept-percept inflation (see Crampton and Wagner, 1994). In an additional effort to estimate the potential for common method bias, we used Harman's one-factor test (Podsakoff et al., 2003). The results from a factor analysis of all items suggest that a one-dominant factor did not emerge and that the first factor accounts for only a very small part of the variance. The data were taken from social workers employed in different units of the Israeli health care system. However, more should be done to validate the findings, and a longitudinal study might be an appropriate approach.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The goal of the present study is to examine the influence of five dimensions of organizational culture (i.e. job challenge, communication, trust, innovation and social cohesiveness) on employees' withdrawal intentions and behavior. Specifically, three forms of employees' withdrawal intentions (i.e. from the occupation, job, and organization), and one form of employees' withdrawal behavior (i.e. self-reported absenteeism) are examined.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper investigates these relationships among social workers in the Israeli health care system through a structured questionnaire. Regression analyses were employed to test the research hypotheses.\nFindings: - The findings of this study indicate that an organizational culture that provides challenging jobs, diminishes employees' absenteeism, and withdrawal intentions from the occupation, job, and the organization. The results also show that other dimensions of organizational culture were not significantly correlated with the dependent variables, with the exception of the relationship between a culture of innovation and employees' withdrawal intentions from the job.\nOriginality/value: - This study contributes to a better understanding of the influence of organizational contexts (e.g. culture) on the development of multiple withdrawal intentions and behaviors among social service employees in the health care sector.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The romance of the follower: part 1	[ "Leadership", "Career development", "Organizational development" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Two CEOs are standing at the top of a cliff arguing over whom has the better followers. The first CEO looks over the cliff and says proudly to the second, \"My followers are so loyal to me that if I decide to jump, they'll jump too!\" The second turns to the first and says, \"My followers are even better. If they see me about to jump over the cliff, they'll stop me from doing it and tell me why I shouldn't go there!\" This story is usually told in the context of the relative value of Eastern and Western follower behaviours. We believe, however, that neither CEO is correct and neither approach is valid. Both are examples of poor, one-dimensional models of followership.There is a third, better model: the good follower, having seen what direction the leader wants to go in, figures out how to get there quickly, effectively, and without anyone getting hurt in the process. They may go over the cliff but the way it is done depends on the reason or intent. If, for example, the purpose is to rescue an injured climber trapped halfway down the side, then rappelling equipment is in order and the correct approach is to go over the edge. If it is the desire to visit a town located beyond the cliff, perhaps hiring a bus and taking the road is best. Only by deeply understanding the needs of the leader or company is a solution implemented that respects the intent, not just the direction.At least our two CEOs were having a dialogue about followship because ignoring it has personal and organizational consequences. First, followship behaviours are often used unwittingly to evaluate staff and this can have a detrimental impact on morale. Beehr et al. (2004) note that, \"People consider promotions based on performance fair, whereas they consider non-performance criteria for promotions unfair.\" As we will see, followship behaviours have organizational impact, they are a valid performance criterion, and leaders routinely promote and give perquisites based on it. By keeping it hidden and unexplained, its implicit use creates the appearance of favouritism. Second, leaders have difficulty evaluating productive followship behaviours if they do not know what they are. Thirdly, making leadership the sole basis for success reduces the desire and ability of followers to be active participants. Finally, without a reasonable model of good followship it is difficult to introduce the HR systems, training, or mentoring that improve it. Making the invisible visible allows for a productive discussion of followship and its implementation throughout an organization.In this first of a series of three papers we present an overview of existing research on followship and examine its value to careers and organizations. The second paper introduces a model of followship consisting of two core competencies - leader support and personal manageability. In the third and final paper, we illustrate how followship can be made into an effective HR tool for personal and organizational development.\n2. Existing research: In discussions with colleagues and business acquaintances we have often encountered the perspective that, while followship may be interesting, leadership is vital. Is this valid? In a series of studies Meindl et al. (1985) reviewed popular press, academic writing, and business magazines and concluded that leadership was disproportionately emphasized. Next, they conducted a particularly revealing experiment. Participants were given a short passage to read about a fictional large volume manufacturer of household appliances, the Gemini Corporation. The short paragraph stated only a few facts about The Gemini Corporation:* it was in a market subject to change;* it was in an economy subject to change;* the manager of the sales team had been replaced in the previous year; and* the staff in the sales team had been replaced in the previous year.Therefore, any year-over-year difference in sales could have occurred for one or any combination of these four reasons: the economy, the market, the new sales manager, or the new sales staff. The wording of the text carefully avoided emphasizing one reason over another so the a priori likelihood of each being the cause was equivalent. The passage then mentioned a sales outcome for the previous year ranging from a 25 percent drop in sales to a 25 percent increase. Interestingly, when sales were either very poor (-25 percent) or very good (+25 percent) the leader was cited as the reason for the change significantly more than all other possibilities combined. When sales were basically unchanged (-10 percent, -2 percent,+2 percent,+10 percent), the leader was given the same weight as all the other reasons combined - still an over-attribution but not nearly as dramatic. In other words, with no evidence one way or another, people ascribe exceptional outcomes to the actions of the leader. The authors called this effect, The Romance of the Leader. We believe this infatuation with leadership has been a major reason why the relevance of followship has been overlooked. To be accurate, we are not arguing against the importance of leadership but rather advocating for the value of followship. Perhaps we need its complementary idea - The Romance of the Follower.Where the study of followship does exist it is often disguised or appears in fragments rather than as a single, unified construct. Some areas of followship that have been studied include:* upwards impression management - influencing management through persuasion and other tactics (Harris et al., 2006);* organizational citizenship behaviors - examples of this include civic virtue, sportsmanship, or helping others (Podsakoff et al., 2000);* proactive personality theory - the idea that people can influence and shape their own environment (Thompson, 2006); and* leader-member exchange or LMX - the interchange and relationships between a leader and follower (Gerstner and Day, 1997).However, present research misses critical components of followship such as the ability to convert strategies into actions that deliver on the actual intent. We will discuss the missing content in more detail in the second paper in this series.2.1 Followship and career success\n3. Followship theories: Theories of followship generally are presented in one of two ways. The first is to identify a key defining trait(s) and then fit most of what is good or bad into that framework. Some of the most prominent trait-based models are noted below in Table I.One flaw with trait-based models is that the traits are not specific to followship - surely engagement is as important to leaders as it is to followers? Good followers have some of the same traits as good leaders but there are also traits specific to followship. All the trait-based models blur this distinction, creating confusion even in the research literature. For example, Tanoff and Barlow (2002) noted significant a positive correlation between the LPS leadership scale and Kelley's (1992) PFS followship scale. Taylor and Rosenbach (2005, p. 84) comment similarly that, \"Qualities that make effective followers are paradoxically the same qualities found in effective leaders.\" The resolution to this \"paradox\" is that there are actually three categories of qualities: those specific to followship, those specific to leadership, and those valuable to both. The traits considered as key to followship in most existing models are, in fact, ones valuable to both leaders and followers.The other flaw in trait-based models is that the underlying constructs are either overly general or incomplete. For example, courage can be taken to mean the courage to disagree, the courage to comply, the courage to take risks, the courage to listen, or even the courage not to listen. Courage is a broad construct open to much interpretation. Furthermore, courage misused can have negative consequences to both the person and company disproportionate with its potential value. Engagement, on the other hand, is incomplete because it does not answer the question, \"Engagement in what?\" Engagement simply means being busy or occupied; it is just as easy to be busy with activities that do not add value or possibly even destroy value. Good followers need to be engaged in doing the right things, in the right way.The second category of theories directly lists the behavioural attributes of good followers (see Table II). As with the trait-based models, these lists suffer from intermingling attributes specific to followship - does not blame the boss; supports and does not undermine - with those applicable to both - stays current. The lists also suffer from too much specificity in the items. Nevertheless, we do believe both categories open up a valuable dialogue about followship, and each builds on this emerging body of knowledge.\n4. Conclusions: Practitioners and academics are beginning to realize that followship is a distinct area of competency. Good followers derive greater satisfaction, remuneration, self-actualization, and other benefits from work than poor followers. Having good followers enhances organizational effectiveness and adaptability. Making followship visible reduces the appearance of unfairness and it makes improvement possible.To summarize, if leaders create the plans and followers carry them out, both are integral to a successful organization. Building better organizations requires a balance of strengthening leadership and followship skills.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to provide a compelling argument that followership has significant practical value in enhancing career and organizational value; and, second, to encourage dialogue about followership. Part 2 will extend current ideas about followership to provide a more comprehensive, holistic model. Part 3 will show how the model can be used as a training tool, in mentoring, for performance appraisals, and in designing HR solutions.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The strengths and weaknesses of current theories are highlighted, motivating both the need for making followership more visible within an organization and the need for a more comprehensive model.\nFindings: - Good followers report higher career satisfaction, get promoted more often, and add greater value to their organizations. Moreover, followship skills can be developed.\nOriginality/value: - Previous research has focused on followship as either a fixed set of behaviours or traits, or as something a leader has to learn to manage. This is the first paper to empower followers - everyone in an organization is a follower and followership skills can be learned. As such, the three articles are of particular interest to senior executives and HR departments.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A nonparametric approach for optimal reliability allocation in health services	[ "Data envelopment analysis", "Healthcare reliability", "Reliability allocation" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Healthcare service systems have undergone major changes in the last two decades by means of its practices and approaches in the field of reliability. Decision makers of health service providing institutions have embraced this long dismissed discipline with enthusiasm and considered it as a significant criterion in the management models employed. Primary reason of this consciousness lies in the reality of higher than overall inflation of medical expenses along with stricter rules and regulations enforced by lawmakers on the safety of patients and service providers. Failure to comply with these rules and regulations, human errors, and inefficiency of processes altogether put an enormous financial burden and safety concern on the shoulders of health service providing institutions. Results of a study conducted by the Institute of the Medicine illustrate this impact clearly by providing statistics on operational costs and fatality rates (Kohn et al., 2000). According to this report, USA alone encounters almost 100,000 fatalities and one million injuries with a cost of 17-29 billion USD each year as a result of human errors in healthcare practices. More importantly, this study categorizes these fatalities and injuries as preventable medical errors thus highlighting the importance of failure analysis and reliability improvement programs in healthcare systems compromising care providing facilities, workforce, and equipment. Another study conducted in Turkey on 52 patients found that occurrence of surgical side infections costs on the average $6,850 per patient and increasing even more for cases requiring reoperation (Coskun et al., 2005).\nDEA as a measure of service efficiency: The foundations of productive efficiency is first introduced in a seminal paper (Farrell, 1957) and later evolved into an extreme point method known as DEA (Charnes et al., 1978; Banker et al., 1984). Nonparametric nature elicits the DEA as a powerful modeling technique that has long and widely been used for the comparative performance evaluation of homogenous operational units such as banks, schools, hospitals, etc. operating under multi-dimensional output/input performance indicator set. Homogeneity of the solution domain is achieved by the identification of a unique transformation process that utilizes same set of inputs in order to generate same set of outputs for all of the DMUs. More importantly, DEA does not require an assumption of a functional form relating these inputs to outputs. Evaluations are rather carried out by directly comparing against a peer or combination of peers within the same domain.\nReliability allocation model: Reliability allocation in complex systems has been a challenging task since the ultimate objective lies in the heart of striking the best balance between the competing goals of high reliability and optimum levels of operational factors. There is a certain trade-off between the reliability improvement efforts (achieved either by redundancy or upgrading to superior performing components) and the factors such as inadequate test data, maintainability issues, or budget restrictions imposed by the higher management. Cases on such allocation principles for physical products are already available within the literature. An application on hybrid electric vehicles illustrates the obstacles of reliability allocation where data uncertainty is present, highlighting the importance of accurate data collected through emission tests and their use in reliability analysis (Allella et al., 2005). Classical cost constraint structure of the allocation model, which is based on fixed unit costs, may also be demonstrated in a diverse fashion where the total cost of ownership is considered. This approach includes other costs such as operational, maintenance, and support costs in a multi-dimensional manner, reflecting the sensitivity of reliability allocation with respect to system age (Kumar et al., 2007). More complicated system structures such as series-parallel and parallel-series are also studied with respect to their reliability allocation fundamentals. These kinds of mixed nature systems found usage when different technologies can be used to substitute an alike function or component of the system (Elegbede et al., 2003; Yalaoui et al., 2005).\nCase study: Data set under investigation contains various performance indicators of a hospital network that operates 22 hospitals in Turkey. An in depth analysis of these indicators (resources) by FMEA method is carried out to identify the ones having impact on service reliability and those which can be related to a component of the healthcare service system (Table I). In a similar fashion, selected inputs should have the ability to be improved by reliability allocation with an estimable component unit cost. A correlation analysis is also conducted to eliminate the redundant indicators (as well as reducing the size of the data set) that may lead to overestimated assessment of scores mentioned in the previous section. The following five factors constitute the final set of inputs:\nConclusions: This study aims to provide a new perspective on the optimal reliability allocation necessities of service industries, specifically healthcare services. By utilizing the popular performance analysis technique DEA, a transformation process is carried out by compromising reliability conscious inputs and an output of failure free rate to obtain unreliable (or inefficient) hospitals with respect to its reliable (or efficient) peers. Afterwards, an optimal allocation model is solved to identify optimal resource allocations that maximize network reliability within a budget limitation.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Reliability evaluation of healthcare services has been a challenging task for both operations managers and system engineers working in the respective field. The purpose of this paper is to develop a data envelopment analysis-based reliability allocation model.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A two-phase optimization scheme for the reliability evaluation and allocation of homogeneous system entities, namely, hospitals, operating in a healthcare network is proposed. First, reliability evaluation is performed nonparametrically through the frontier estimation technique data envelopment analysis by considering several failure modes and failure free discharged patients as the inputs and output of the service system. Subsequently, optimal reliability allocation that maximizes the overall network reliability subject to a budget constraint is carried out by utilizing weights of the inputs and output calculated on the Pareto optimal frontier, which is constructed from the most reliable hospitals operating in the network.\nFindings: The popular performance assessment methodology DEA is found to be an invaluable reliability assessment and allocation tool, where optimal weights of the associated envelopment model, under certain budget restrictions, are used to maximize overall network reliability.\nOriginality/value: An empirical illustration of the proposed model is presented on a set of hospital network data from Turkey. Modeling implications can be carried out on similar service operations where identification of the critical performance indicator costs is possible.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Further exploration of subjective knowledge in the wine sector	[ "Consumption", "Benefits", "Wines", "Consumer behavior", "Survey research", "Subjective knowledge", "Psychometric qualitative" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The wine industry has experienced increasing commoditization of its product, resulting in varying wine types and multiple price tiers (Blackman et al., 2010). By expanding wine diversity and aggressively competing on price (Folwell et al., 2001; Lewis and Zalan, 2014), the industry has increased its consumer base and has become, to a large extent, an everyday product:\nLiterature review: Research has paid particular attention to the use of information sources in making purchase decisions and evaluating wine and wineries. Information sources include the use of personal resources such as prior knowledge and product experience (Dodd et al., 2005; Vigar-Ellis et al., 2015; Viot, 2012), as well as traditional or published media, word-of-mouth testimonials and other recommendations. Prior knowledge has been divided into two main sub-types: objective knowledge (OK), i.e. what consumers know, and subjective knowledge (SK), i.e. what consumers say they know (Brucks, 1985).\nResearch methodology: Research design and sampling\nResults: Profile overview\nDiscussion of results: This exploratory study of 734 winery visitors offers insights into the role of SWK during wine tourism and wine evaluation activities. First, the findings indicate that personal experiences are positively related with SWK, i.e. respondents with higher SWK tend to visit wineries more often. Also, demographics such as gender, education and income are pertinent to SWK. Results show that respondents who claim higher SWK tend to be male, highly educated and have a higher household income.\nConclusions: The research adds to the literature on SWK in consumer search and consumption situations by defining SWK in ways that approximate OWK measurement tactics. Overall, present SWK measures are related in expected ways to other constructs typically investigated in studies of wine knowledge. This study shows that consumers with higher SWK consume and purchase wine more frequently, buy greater quantities of wine at a time, buy higher-priced wines and drink red and/or dry wines more frequently. Respondents with higher levels of SWK value a critical few information sources exclusively targeted on wineries and wine rather than the more general advertising channels or personal recommendations. Knowledgeable consumers also recognized more types of wine benefits, i.e. personal, symbolic and, to some degree, social and, thus, can more readily recognize value in a wine brand.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to discuss methodological issues with the measurement of subjective wine knowledge (SWK). The current study offers deeper insights into the relationship between SWK and consumer perceptions of benefits and purchase/consumption habits.\nDesign/methodology/approach: An empirical study of US winery visitors was conducted, comprising surveys using a structured self-administered written questionnaire and trained field researchers. A sample of 734 surveys was used in subsequent exploratory and confirmatory analysis of the relationships between SWK and an array of consumer perceptions and wine consumption behaviors.\nFindings: The majority of respondents were older, female, more highly educated, of the professional or executive class and possessing higher incomes. Slightly over half of the sample professed no or basic knowledge of wine and grape types or wine regions and geography. In general, respondents rated personal benefits of wine consumption higher than they did symbolic or social benefits. The level of SWK, from novice to advanced, was significantly and positively associated with the frequency of visits to wineries (experience), with wine-focused published external information sources and with a majority of perceived benefits.\nOriginality/value: The primary value of the study is to support marketing strategy by addressing the measurement of SWK. Knowledgeable consumers recognize more types of benefits, i.e. personal, symbolic and social and, thus, can more readily attest to value in a wine offering.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A systematic approach for maintenance performance measurement: Apparel industry in Sri Lanka	[ "Sri Lanka", "Maintenance management", "Performance measurement" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Maintenance is defined as the blend of all the technical and administrative activities, including supervision, retention or restore of an item to a state in which it can perform a required or intended function (Mobley et al., 2008). High investment in new machinery, equipment and technology has mainly impacted the productivity rises in the apparel sector. Thus, the maintenance has become one of the major functions in the apparel sector (Laihonen et al., 2012). Each and every successful company measures the performance of maintenance, in order to stay competitive and cost effective in business. Awareness of the need for maintenance performance measurement (MPM) in the business and their functions are essential for the creation and successful application of the MPM (Waggoner et al., 1999).\n2. Literature review: 2.1 Importance of maintenance management with its changing role\n3. Research methodology: This research study adopted the survey approach under quantitative phenomenon as this research aimed to identify and evaluate the performance indicators relevant maintenance management in order to determine significant indicators for maintenance decisions in the apparel industry. Data required for the research were collected by using the questionnaire survey. The questionnaire was developed as a web questionnaire, consisting of two sections: Section A was for general information and Section B was for evaluation of MPIs. In the questionnaire, the identified MPIs were added for evaluation by respondents. Five-point Likert scale was provided to indicate the numerical value which describes the level of importance of each MPI. The respondents were asked to state their response over a five-point Likert scale of 1=very less important, 2=less important, 3=moderate important, 4=high important and 5=very high important.\n4. Results and discussion: In relation to the maintenance decision making in the apparel industry, the responses given by the survey respondents were analyzed. Through analysis, the findings are presented along with the statistical results to determine the significant MPIs. The statistically significant and insignificant MPIs are presented subsequently.\n5. Conclusions: As a vital role in an organization making correct decisions on maintenance is an important factor to be concerned as it could influence whole organizational performance. There is a potential link between the performance data of maintenance of building systems and such correct and updated maintenance decisions. The identification of significant MPIs in this research mainly contributes to the knowledge on major MPIs among the maintenance professionals in Sri Lankan apparel industry. Additionally, the research has crafted the key contributions to knowledge by providing a systematic approach to make decisions on maintenance management in the apparel industry and key areas to be addressed in the MPM in Sri Lankan apparel industry.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to determine the maintenance performance indicators (MPIs) which are significant for maintenance decision making in the apparel industry through an accurate maintenance performance measurement.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A quantitative research approach was followed. A questionnaire survey was used to collect the data which were evaluated based on Mean Weighted Rating and Relative Importance Index.\nFindings: In total, 15 significant MPIs were determined which can directly affect maintenance decision making. A systematic approach was finally developed by allocating weightages for each critical MPI.\nPractical implications: These results can be used to assist the decision-making process and as a performance measurement platform for maintenance management of the apparel industry.\nOriginality/value: The significance of maintenance has not been recognized and the value created through such massive efforts has remained hidden. Therefore, the need of adopting a performance-based approach for maintenance management in apparel industry exists. This research was aimed to provide a systematic approach to make decisions on maintenance management in the apparel industry in Sri Lanka.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Dynamically monitoring the service efficiency with tracking signals	[ "Diversified management", "Dynamic monitoring", "Service efficiency", "Tracking signal" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: In today's workplace, diversified management is compulsory in a time-sensitive business. Organizations pursuing global market connections must embrace diversity to evaluate how their internal and external customers perceive, perform, and think. Nowadays, \"efficiency\" evaluation has become more and more critical to many organizations across different sectors because of its importance in achieving a competitive advantage to outperform their opponents and/or counterparts. In a general notion, efficiency is defined as the success with which an organization uses its resources to produce outputs; that is the certain degree of performance to which observed use of resources to produce output of a given quality matches their optimal use (Bahagavath, 2006).\n2 The tracking signal approach: The ultimate endeavor of a forecasting is to provide an accurate and unbiased estimate (Wisner et al., 2008; Chary, 1995); thus, a forecast model must be reliable to a certain extent. Forecast error, the difference between the actual and the forecasted value obtained from the model, is expressed as in equation (1). Forecasted result which significantly deviates from the actual ones is one of the main factors for substantial increase in both operational and opportunity costs of involved organizations: Equation 1 where e\n3 Case studies: 3.1 Central Product Solutions at ASE\n4 Discussion and conclusion: Nowadays, the notion of efficiency has become more and more important and well recognized by most organizations doing business in the severely competitive market. The majority of previous researches aggregate multi-dimensional efficiencies by different weighting strategies (Rays, 1988; Nyman and Bricker, 1989; Ramanath, 1992; McCarty and Yaisawarng, 1993; Kooreman, 1994; Lundvall, 1999; Dijk and Szirmai, 2006; Assaf et al., 2011; Biloslavo et al., 2013) into a single index for making their judgments (Jovanovic, 1982; Ericson and Pakes, 1995). In fact, these approaches mainly focus on the first phase of the decision-making procedure by considering the efficiency in a static-state (current information only), which obviously ignores previous (but definitely unavoidable) information in making decisions. For some cases such as the first case study in this paper, some drawbacks are found in this static method. First, for each evaluation period, the static method does not actually represent efficiency because it does not consider the impact of when the subject performs the assigned tasks with early or late on the start or completion. Moreover, due to neglecting most of past efficiency performance records, this static method only assesses efficiency performance at the current evaluation interval.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Nowadays, diversity management in business organizations becomes so imperative in a time-sensitive business. However, diversity should not be measured as a static number. To better understand the fast-changing terrain, the paper aims to strongly propose using the tracking signal method to dynamically monitor the efficiency performance in regard to the future of diversity and best practices. This will allow diversity to play a more strategic role in cultivating sustainable business growth.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper employs the tracking signal, widely used to monitor the performance of a forecasting model, with some extension to dynamically monitor the technical efficiency due to its ability in alarming out-of-control signals.\nFindings: The approach is considered as a quantitative, objective and reasonable evaluation system because it can quickly alert employees with inferior performance and promote those with persistently outstanding performance. It also provides managers the right timing to find assignable causes affecting their workers' performance. Most importantly, it can be unsophisticatedly implemented in many aspects of efficiency evaluation for assisting organizations to improve their competitive power through efficiency gains and well expedite their broadly managerial decisions.\nOriginality/value: The majority of previous researches aggregate multi-dimensional efficiencies by different weighting strategies into a single index before making their judgments. These approaches mainly focus on the first phase of the decision-making procedure by considering the efficiency in a static-state. As efficiency is time-sensitive, it should be evaluated dynamically. Thus, serving as the second phase of the procedure, the method is a complement of previous researches.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The Holy Grail: Environmental management, competitive advantage and business performance in the Spanish hotel industry	[ "Performance", "Classification", "Environmental management", "Cluster analysis", "Spain", "Hotel industry", "Business performance", "Competitive advantage", "Hotel", "Environmental proactivity", "Cost competitive advantage", "Differentiation competitive advantage" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The quest to demonstrate that environmental management improves business financial performance has been compared to the search for the Holy Grail (Kelly, 2004) on the grounds that it produces only inconclusive results (Margolis et al., 2007; Orlitzky, 2011) cannot explain under which conditions these variables are related, or, indeed, establish a causality (Vogel, 2005). Most studies analysing the relationship between environmental management and competitive advantage conclude that there is a positive and significant relationship. For example, environmental management allows firms to reduce costs (increasing efficiency and productivity) (Bohdanowicz, 2006; Bohdanowicz et al., 2011; Bonilla-Priego et al., 2011; Chan, 2009; Chan and Ho, 2006) and increase differentiation by improving reputation and image (Chan, 2013; Chen and Peng, 2012; Lee et al., 2011; Leonidou et al., 2013; Lopez-Gamero et al., 2009, 2010). However, empirical studies examining the relationship between environmental management and firm performance are not conclusive (Molina-Azorin et al., 2009a).\nTheory development: Environmental proactivity and competitive advantage\nMethod: Population and sample\nResults: We first offer a descriptive analysis of environmental management in hotels located in Spain, contextualized by category, chain affiliation and size. Table IV shows that five-star, chain-affiliated and large hotels are the most proactive in all environmental systems, with significant differences by number of stars, chain affiliation and size.\nDiscussion and conclusions: Discussion\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to analyse the influence of environmental proactivity on cost and differentiation competitive advantages, and to explore the double relationship between environmental proactivity and business performance.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The population consists of all three- to five-star hotels in Spain. A sample of 350 hotels was classified according to environmental proactivity and performance levels, employing a two-step cluster analysis. Significant differences between groups were examined.\nFindings: The results show two types of environmental behaviour (reactive and proactive), with proactive hotels developing significantly better on both cost and differentiation competitive advantage and achieving significantly higher performance levels. Hotels which achieve above average business performance levels are significantly more environmentally proactive.\nResearch limitations/implications: The present paper demonstrates that environmental management is related to competitive advantages and business performance. Environmental management systems are more developed in higher category, chain-affiliated and larger hotels. This could be due to having more resources to develop their environmental capability. The environmental proactivity scale employed in this study is presented as a reference measure for hotel managers to benchmark their current practices and implement environmental improvements.\nOriginality/value: First, measuring environmental proactivity using four managerial systems (operative, information, strategic and technical) is innovative and provides a more detailed approach to measuring environmental proactivity. Second, demonstrating a double association between environmental proactivity and performance provides fresh insights into the relationship between these variables.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The differential effects of solution-focused and problem-focused coaching questions: a pilot study with implications for practice	[ "Solutions", "Coaching", "Problem solving" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Coaching is increasingly being used as a means of enhancing performance, development and well-being, and effective questioning lies at the very heart of the coaching conversation. But what constitutes \"effective\" questioning in coaching? Should such questions should primarily be focused on analysing problems and exploring unhelpful thinking patterns (Neenan, 2008), or should they be focused on constructing solutions (Berg and Szabo, 2005)? To date there has been no research on this issue. In this paper, in order to better inform coaching practitioners and trainers, we present a brief overview of the literature and the results of a pilot study which examined the relative impact of problem-focused and solution-focused coaching questions on individuals' levels of understanding, self-efficacy, affect and goal approach.Coaching is generally understood as being a collaborative, action-oriented conversation that facilitates the enhancement of life experience, goal attainment, self-directed learning and performance in the coachee's professional and/or personal life (Spence and Grant, 2007). Given the above conceptualisation of coaching, coaching questions that are truly effective should have the effect of enhancing motivation, developing understanding, increasing positive affect and self-efficacy for change, as well as helping the coachee to move closer towards their goals or objectives. But what is the best way to create such effects?\nSolution-focused approaches: asking \"how to?\": Many coaches will be familiar with the \"ask-tell matrix\" first popularised by Whitmore (1992). The matrix consists of two orthogonal dimensions - an \"ask-tell\" dimension and a \"how-why\" dimension (see Figure 1) - and this provides a useful framework for discussing the differences between solution-focused and problem-focused coaching questions.Solution-focused approaches to coaching emphasise the importance of keeping the coaching conversation focused on the \"asking how to\" quadrant (see Figure 1). The solution-focused approach posits that coaches should spend most of the time asking questions that elicit thoughts from the coachee about how to best attain their goals, rather than asking \"why\" questions that explore causality. The underpinning theory here is that one does not need to know the aetiology of a problem in order to be able to construct solutions and move towards goal attainment. Indeed, some solution-focused proponents would argue that problem exploration can have a detrimental effect on the coachee (Jackson and McKergow, 2002).Although the research into solution-focused approaches is still young (Corcoran and Pillai, 2009), there is emerging support for its effectiveness. Recent meta-analyses of counselling applications of solution-focused brief therapy (SFBT) found that SFBT demonstrated positive effects (Kim, 2008; Stams et al., 2006). There is also a growing interest in using solution-focused approaches in non-therapy areas. Bell et al. (2009) reported on a successful solution-focused intervention deigned to reduce golfers' putting yips (e.g. jerk in the putting stroke). Visser and Butter (2008) found solution-focused approaches in organisational coaching and consultancy to be strongly associated with success. In addition there are an increasing number of books that outline solution-focused approaches to organisational and personal coaching (Grant, 2006; Jackson and McKergow, 2002; Szabo and Meier, 2009).\nAsking \"why?\": understanding the essence of the problem: In the problem-focused approach the underpinning assumption is that the coachee needs knowledge of the problem aetiology in order to gain the understanding necessary for goal progression. In this approach the coaching conversation is more focused on the \"asking why\" quadrant (see Figure 1). There are a range of theoretical frameworks that can be used in problem-focused interventions, including root cause analysis (e.g. Wilson et al., 1993) and psychodynamic approaches (e.g. Kilburg, 2004).With regard to coaching and related helping modalities, cognitive-behavioural theory (CBT) is perhaps one of the more common theoretical frameworks associated with a problem-focused approach. Cognitive-behavioural theory rests on the notion that problematic emotions and behaviours stem primarily (although not exclusively) from cognitive processes, and that such problems can be solved by understanding how such thoughts arise, and then systemically changing one's thinking patterns, behaviours, and by also changing the environment where possible (Froggatt, 2006). The kinds of questions that stem from a CBT approach would ask about the origin and chronology of the problem, would seek to uncover details of the thoughts associated with the problem, and would explore the impact of those thoughts on the individual. There is a considerable amount of research both clinical, counselling and organisational settings showing that the CBT approach can be highly effective with a wide range of problems (Ost, 2008; Proudfoot et al., 2009).\nThe aims of the current study: Our aims were to examine the impact of problem-focused and solution-focused coaching questions and to determine which is more effective. To this end we conducted a pilot study that was designed to emulate a problem-focused and a solution-focused interaction within a coaching session. That is, we did not conduct a whole coaching session; rather, we asked a series of problem-focused and solution-focused coaching questions.\nMethod: Participants\nResults: Paired t-tests were used to examine the impact of the coaching sessions with in each group. An independent sample t-test was used to examine the difference in goal approach. Alpha was set at 0.05. All p-values are two-tailed. There were no significant differences between groups on any pre-coaching measures.Problem-focused coaching session\nDiscussion: Both the problem-focused and the solution-focused sessions were effective at enhancing goal approach. However, a comparison of the pre-post difference scores for the two groups indicated that the increases in the solution-focused group were significantly greater than the increases for the problem-focused group. The solution-focused group's goal approach scores increased on average 16.00 per cent compared to the problem-focused group's mean increase of 5.94 per cent (see Table III and Figure 3). Thus in terms of goal approach, it would appear that the solution-focused approach was superior to the problem-focused condition.The problem-focused questions: asking \"why?\" reduces negative affect\nImplications for practice: This paper has some useful implications for practitioners. We suggest that coaches aim for a solution-focused theme in their work with clients. This is not to say that we should ignore the existence of problems: solution-focused does not mean problem-phobic! In reality, problem-focused and solution-focused approaches overlap, coaching conversations are not solely solution-focused or solely problem-focused. Coaches move between these approaches to best meet the needs of the coachee. Many clients want to talk about their problems. Having the time and space to talk about problems can be cathartic, and stopping them from doing so can alienate them. Indeed, just thinking about problems seems to help coachees move towards their goal. However, and this is an important point for coaches, consultants and trainers to bear in mind, although a problem-focused approach may reduce negative feelings, it may not increase positive feelings: we of course assume that it is important that clients feel energised by their coaching sessions.\nLimitations of the present study and future research: In a pilot study such as this there are inevitable limitations and these should be taken into account in interpreting the findings. Firstly, the sample size is somewhat small. While sample sizes of thirty-nine and thirty-five are sufficient to detect medium to large effect sizes in within-subject designs they may be on the small size in terms of producing reliable correlational statistics (Cohen, 1992). We recommend that further research use larger sample sizes. Secondly, the participants in the study took part as part of their course requirements. It would be useful to replicate this study using actual coachees, rather than mature age students. Thirdly, the measures are purely self-report. Future research could use objective behavioural indictors of goal progression in addition to the self-report measures used in the present study. Fourthly, because the participants completed the exercises one week apart, the results of the solution-focused session may be partly due to a practice effect as the participants had done a similar exercise one week before. Despite these limitations, this paper has given some insights into how to ask more effective questions in coaching and will hopefully provoke further work along these lines.\nSummary: Although both problem-focused and the solution-focused conditions are effective at enhancing goal approach, the solution-focused group had significantly greater increases in goal approach compared to the problem-focused group. Problem-focused questions reduced negative affect and increased self-efficacy. However, the solution-focused questions were overall more effective, providing the same benefits as the problem-focused condition while also increasing positive affect and participants' understanding of the nature of the problem. Overall it seems that while both problem-focused and solution-focused questions are effective, generally, solution-focused coaching questions are more effective than problem-focused questions. Thus, we suggest that coaches aim for a solution-focused theme in their coaching work if they wish to conduct effective goal-focused coaching sessions that build self-efficacy, reduce negative affect, increase positive affect and support the process of goal attainment.Coaching is becoming increasingly established as a positive change methodology. However, there is still much to learn about what constitutes effective coaching practice and how coaching works. This paper represents a small step in developing such knowledge, and we look forward to further research that uncovers the psychological mechanics of successful coaching practices.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to explore the differential effects of problem-focused and solution-focused coaching questions by means of a literature overview and results of an exploratory pilot study.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - In a problem-focused coaching session 39 participants complete a range of measures assessing self-efficacy, their understanding of a problem, positive and negative affect, and goal approach. They then respond to a number of problem-focused coaching questions, and then complete a second set of measures. The 35 participants in a solution-focused session complete a mirror image of the problem-focused condition, responding to solution-focused coaching questions, including the \"Miracle Question\".\nFindings: - Both the problem-focused and the solution-focused conditions are effective at enhancing goal approach. However, the solution-focused group experience significantly greater increases in goal approach compared with the problem-focused group. Problem-focused questions reduce negative affect and increase self-efficacy but do not increase understanding of the nature of the problem or enhance positive affect. The solution-focused approach increases positive affect, decreases negative affect, increases self-efficacy as well as increasing participants' insight and understanding of the nature of the problem.\nPractical implications: - Solution-focused coaching questions appear to be more effective than problem-focused questions. Although real-life coaching conversations are not solely solution-focused or solely problem-focused, coaches should aim for a solution-focused theme in their coaching work, if they wish to conduct effective goal-focused coaching sessions that develop a depth of understanding, build self-efficacy, reduce negative affect, increase positive affect and support the process of goal attainment.\nOriginality/value: - This is the first study to explore this issue.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A dynamic capabilities view of improvement capability	[ "Dynamic capabilities", "Orchestration", "Microfoundations", "Improvement capability" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Large, persistent and unexplained variations in performance persist in healthcare. This variation cannot all be explained by differences in the health status of populations, geographical differences or by better outcomes in some higher spending regions (Lavergne et al., 2016). This suggests that policy reform aimed at system wide quality and efficiency may prove promising (Lavergne et al., 2016) in reducing variation. Therefore, organisations continue to seek better ways to improve performance, including a focus on the quality and safety of healthcare. Talbot (2010) describes four approaches that can be taken to ensure improved performance: managerial and contractual interventions; market mechanisms set through the policy context such as regulation; user choice and voice; and interventions to develop improvement capability. Improvement capability can be defined as \"the organisational ability to intentionally and systematically use improvement approaches, methods and practices, to change processes and products/services to generate improved performance\" (Furnival et al., 2017, p. 606). However, there has been little theoretically informed research on how to develop improvement capability (Talbot, 2010; Downe et al., 2010; Dixon-Woods and Martin, 2016). This deficit is addressed in this paper.\nMethodological approach: The theoretical framework developed in this paper is the second element of a larger scale research study. It was developed by drawing on a synthesis of existing improvement capability frameworks and assessment instruments detailed in the integrative literature review (Furnival et al., 2017) which was conducted in phase 1 of the larger study. The methodological approach to this integrative literature review started with a general literature review, to understand what is already known about improvement capability and relevant theoretical perspectives. The approach to the review drew initially on the seminal text from Bessant and Francis (1999). Next, backwards and forwards citation searching was used to inform a wider reading of the literature. Literature was identified using several search keyword strategies, including thesaurus terms, free-text terms and broad-based terms to optimise searching for qualitative evidence (Shaw et al., 2004). The search was not limited by sector or academic discipline to ensure the widest possible field. Multiple cycles of iterative literature searching and browsing took place to support serendipitous discovery (Greenhalgh and Peacock, 2005) including the use of snowballing strategies and the use of personal knowledge and connections to seek out more obscure literature until saturation was reached (Randolph, 2009; Jones et al., 2019).\nImprovement capability: The integrative literature review (Furnival et al., 2017) revealed that the concept is broad, ambiguous and fragmented, with high levels of terminological heterogeneity across many disciplines. Different definitions identified from the literature (Furnival et al., 2017) are presented in Table I. One perspective describes improvement capability as an organisational wide process of focussed and sustained incremental innovation to maximise creative problem solving (Bessant and Francis, 1999; Bessant and Caffyn, 1997). Whereas, Adler et al. (2003) describe improvement capability as supporting innovation across an organisation. Alternatively, Peng et al. (2008) distinguish improvement capability as focussing on existing products and processes, rather than innovation capability. Interestingly, later definitions from healthcare take a human capital and actor driven perspective, where improvement is delivered through individuals and their leadership. This perspective describes improvement capability as encouraging staff to learn skills for conducting improvements (Kaminski et al., 2014; Bevan, 2010). However, Babich et al. (2016) return to the earlier definition provided by Adler et al. (2003), which takes a process view indicating that organisational improvement is generated through following particular procedures and methods. Recognising this heterogeneity in the conceptualisation of improvement capability, it is important that the literature consolidates and builds on previous research in a structured way (Barreto, 2010). Therefore, this paper takes a process view of improvement capability and uses the definition of improvement capability synthesised in Furnival et al. (2017) drawing from the wide-ranging literature as a follow-on and related study. This paper extends this perspective further by using theory to explore improvement capability.\nTheoretical perspectives: There are many different theories that could be used to underpin research concerning improvement capability, and Table III outlines three capability led theories of performance drawing from Talbot (2010). These are the resource-based view (Barney, 1991), organisational ambidexterity (O'Reilly and Tushman, 2004) and the dynamic capabilities view (Helfat et al., 2007). These widely accepted capability led theories of performance have had a significant impact on debates and are interdisciplinary in nature. Table III highlights the main principles, focus and components of each theory, and provides information on the support for and the critiques of these theories. Each are now described in turn.\nA dynamic capabilities view of improvement capability: This section considers how the dynamic capabilities view contributes to the understanding of improvement capability, using the concept of microfoundations. Dynamic capabilities build from three constituent parts or \"microfoundations\": sensing, seizing and reconfiguring (Helfat and Martin, 2014; Teece, 2012). Microfoundations have been described as a way of unpacking ambiguous concepts to examine their origins and evolution as a function of lower level factors (Barney and Felin, 2013). Using microfoundations as an analytical approach allows collective concepts to be unpacked into individual factors to understand their impact (Barney and Felin, 2013). Barney and Felin (2013) describe microfoundations as a pragmatic and important approach for examining collective constructs. This is important given the conceptual inconsistency identified from the integrative literature review (Furnival et al., 2017) and the need for operational definitions to support development plans, measurement and evaluation.\nConclusions: The framework developed in this paper views improvement capability through the lens of the microfoundations of dynamic capabilities, conceiving it as a combination of eight dimensions which all play an important role in its formation and development. This paper has discussed the application of the dynamic capabilities view to analyse improvement capability and has contributed to a more nuanced understanding of its configuration. It has explored and explained how the dimensions of improvement capability interact as microfoundations of a dynamic capability and how this process of interaction may influence variations in organisational performance. This is important for policymakers and practitioners, in healthcare and other domains, who wish to improve performance, as it will help to identify and draw out specific areas of under or over-development of dimensions of improvement capability allowing resources and priorities to shift in response. The framework enables a more fine-grained understanding of improvement capability and its configuration and identifies avenues for further research.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Organisations within healthcare increasingly operate in rapidly changing environments and present wide variation in performance. It can be argued that this variation is influenced by the capability of an organisation to improve: its improvement capability. However, there is little theoretical research on improvement capability. The purpose of this paper is to set out the current diverse body of research on improvement capability and develop a theoretically informed conceptual framework.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper conceptualises improvement capability as a dynamic capability. This suggests that improvement capability is comprised of organisational routines that are bundled together, and adapt and react to organisational circumstances. Existing research conceptualises these bundles as three elements (microfoundations): sensing, seizing and reconfiguring. This conceptualisation is used to explore how improvement capability can be understood, by inductively categorising eight dimensions of improvement capability to develop a theoretically informed conceptual framework.\nFindings: This paper shows that the three microfoundations which make up a dynamic capability are present in the identified improvement capability dimensions. This theoretically based conceptual framework provides a rich explanation of how improvement capability can be configured.\nOriginality/value: Identifying the component parts of improvement capability helps to explain why some organisations are less successful in improvement than others. This theoretically informed framework can support managers and policy makers to identify improvement capability dimensions in need of development. Further empirical research, particularly in non-market settings, such as publicly funded healthcare is required to enhance understanding of improvement capability and its configuration.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
An integrated model highlighting information literacy and knowledge formation in information behaviour	[ "Knowledge", "Information literacy", "Information needs", "Information behaviour", "COFIB", "Integrated model" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The concepts of information needs, information behaviour (IB) and information use as well as their relationship appear to have been well explored in the literature (e.g. Wilson, 1997; Case, 2007; Niu and Hemminger, 2012; Clarke et al., 2013). However, the majority of the models portray IB as a linear process and do not seem to establish how information literacy (IL) and knowledge fit within people's IB.\nMethodology: This paper reviews selected models of IB for links with IL and knowledge formation. Lists of prominent IB models analysed in Wilson (1999) and itemised in Detlor (2003) were used as an initial search of the old and new IB literature. This search identified a number of IB models spanning many decades of scholarly research such as Belkin (1980, 1995), Choo (2006), Cole (2011), Dervin (1992), Ingwersen (1996), Kuhlthau (1991, 1993), Wilson (1981, 1997, 1999, 2000), Niu and Hemminger (2012).\nPerspectives in selected IB models: Anomalous states of knowledge (ASK) as a basis for information retrieval (IR) (Belkin, 1980)\nThe concept of IL: Discourses on the meaning and applications of IL have not achieved a universal definition, although common understandings about the practical uses exist. Perspectives however, converge around some predominant frameworks espoused by: the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) of the ALA (2000), Australian and New Zealand Institute for Information Literacy (2004), and, SCONUL's (2011) seven Pillars of IL.\nBecoming information literate: Becoming information literate is a process that leads to empowering people with ability for taking best possible decisions in the application of knowledge to specific problem-solving contexts requiring information. Walton and Cleland (2013) outlined what characterises becoming information literate as someone being able to complete specific tasks by interacting with information sources to express \"the interplay of an individual's behavioural, cognitive, metacognitive and affective states\" in determining \"the level of new knowledge learnt (or produced, or both) and the degree of changed behaviour (i.e. level of information literacy exhibited)\" (p. 23).\nDomains of the IL learning process: The debate about how best to achieve IL continues in the literature with scholars developing models to demonstrate how people become information literate; using different perspectives, and with emphasis on different contexts.\nThe usefulness of IL: The predominant perspective of IL situates the concept as a learned ability that translates to the possession of lifelong capacity to solve information-related problems. This capacity affords people the skills to adapt in society and to elicit knowledge from their information environments for practical uses. The information people receive, make sense of, and use appropriately, generates new knowledge which is applied to problem-solving and for decision-making in different circumstances (Lloyd 2010a; Walton and Cleland, 2013; Bruce, 1999). The Alexandria Proclamation on IL and Lifelong Learning echoes the multi-dimensional relevance perspective of IL by articulating that:Information literacy lies at core of lifelong learning. It empowers people in all walks of life to seek, evaluate, use and create information effectively to achieve their personal, social, occupational and educational goals(IFLA, 2005, p. 1).\nNew model: The COFIB\nConclusions: This paper has highlighted that a weakness in the reviewed IB models is the non-integration of IL and the formation of new knowledge for users in their designs. The paper has developed the new model, the COFIB model, which closes this gap. The integration of IL and knowledge within the COFIB model makes it distinctive from other IB models and provides an integrated, detailed explanatory framework of IB. This is the distinctive contribution of the new COFIB model to the literature base. With the integration and highlighting of the roles of IL and knowledge, the COFIB model, can, therefore, be considered a positive and welcome addition that anchors a broader understanding of people's IB in diverse contexts.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to review key models of people's information behaviour (IB) exploring the integration of the concepts of information literacy (IL) and knowledge in their designs. Scholarly perspectives portray IL as providing individuals with capacity for good information practices that result in generating new knowledge. It is surprising that this important perspective is not reflected in the reviewed IB models. This paper contributes to the literature base by proposing a new model highlighting IL and knowledge as important concepts within the IB discourse.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A discourse of the integration of IL and knowledge, which are integral factors, associated with IB, in selected IB models.\nFindings: Identifying a need for information and understanding its context is an IL attribute. IL underpins IB in providing awareness of information sources; how to search and use information appropriately for solving information needs and leveraging generated new knowledge. The generation of new knowledge results from using information, in a process that combines with sense-making and adaption. Correspondingly, the knowledge that develops, increases capability for sense-making and adaptation of information to suit various contexts of need, iteratively.\nOriginality/value: A new model of IB; the causative and outcome factors of information behaviour (COFIB) is proposed. COFIB stresses that IL and knowledge are prominent factors within the general framework of people's IB. The model emphasises knowledge generation as the outcome of IB, applied in solving problems within specific contexts.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
How family firms execute open innovation strategies: the Loccioni case	[ "Social capital", "Capabilities", "Open innovation", "Family firms", "Noneconomic goals" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: How do family firms execute an open innovation (OI) strategy? In particular, during this execution phase, how do family firms manage internal and external knowledge flows? This paper explores these research questions through the illustrative case study of an Italian family firm. Knowledge management lies at the very core of OI, defined as \"the use of purposive inflows and outflows of knowledge to accelerate internal innovation, and expand the markets for external use of innovation, respectively\" (Chesbrough, 2006, p. 1). Traditionally, researchers have focused on the importance of pursuing an OI strategy, stressing \"why\" acquiring external knowledge and transferring internal knowledge beyond the firm's boundaries are necessary to compete (Enkel et al., 2009). However, a well-defined strategy needs to be paired with successful execution to produce superior performance (Noble, 1999). Nonetheless, little is known about \"how\" an OI strategy is executed and, in particular, how the characteristics of a firm's governance system influence the way internal and external knowledge flows are managed during the execution phase. This is quite surprising when considering that authority structures, incentive systems and accountability norms, which are the observable manifestations of a governance system, strongly influence strategy execution (Crittenden and Crittenden, 2008; Noble, 1999).\n2. Literature review and theoretical framework: This paper focuses on \"how\" an OI strategy is executed in family firms. According to Chrisman et al. (2016), execution refers to how a firm \"identifies decisions that must be made and tasks that must be completed to resolve issues and problems; how it sets objectives; how and to whom decisions and tasks are assigned or delegated; in what sequence the decisions are made and actions taken; the accountabilities and deliverables demanded from organizational actors\" (p. 720). This definition highlights that execution refers to management processes, particularly in relation to tasks and decisions. As the authors point out, a defined strategy can be executed in different ways, which implies the importance of strategy execution more than its definition to explain good or bad firm performance.\n3. Research design: The aim of this study is to illustrate how a family firm can manage knowledge flows in executing OI. Due to the novelty of the topic and given this study's research question, the authors conducted an in-depth exploratory case study (Yin, 2003). This method is particularly suited to answering \"how\" questions (Yin, 2003) and appears appropriate to gain in-depth understanding of how management processes unfold in family firms and how family governance shapes processes, such as executing OI (De Massis and Kotlar, 2014; Fletcher et al., 2016).\n4. Findings: This section presents the study's findings. Section 4.1 introduces an overview of Loccioni. Section 4.2 describes OI in Loccioni. Section 4.3 illustrates the barriers encountered by the family firm in implementing knowledge management while executing OI. Section 4.4 presents the family firm's two distinctive capabilities. Finally, Section 4.5 discusses the relevance of the firm's capabilities in overcoming the knowledge management barriers.\n5. Discussion and conclusion: The Loccioni case study offers some insights into the family firm's distinctive capabilities that allowed it to overcome the barriers to knowledge acquisition and transfer in executing an OI strategy. These distinctive capabilities, labelled imprinting and fraternization, are theoretically rooted in two distinctive family firm traits, namely, the existence of non-economic goals (Gomez-Mejia et al., 2007; Kammerlander and Ganter, 2015; Kotlar and De Massis, 2013; Miller et al., 2015) and their unique social capital (Arregle et al., 2007; Pearson et al., 2008; Yli-Renko et al., 2001).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to shed light on how family firms execute open innovation strategies by managing internal and external knowledge flows.\nDesign/methodology/approach: First, through a comprehensive literature review, the paper identifies the barriers to the acquisition and transfer of knowledge in open innovation processes. Second, it presents and discusses the results of an exploratory case study on Loccioni, an Italian family firm providing high-tech measurement solutions, highlighting how this family firm managed to overcome the barriers in executing an open innovation strategy.\nFindings: The case study shows that Loccioni faced specific challenges in acquiring and transferring knowledge in its open innovation processes and developed two idiosyncratic capabilities - labelled imprinting and fraternization - that helped the firm overcome the barriers to knowledge acquisition and transfer. The analysis shows that these two capabilities are enabled by the distinctive goals and social capital characterizing family firms.\nOriginality/value: The paper creates a link between open innovation and family business research with an empirically grounded model illustrating how the idiosyncratic capabilities of a family firm help overcome the critical barriers to the acquisition and transfer of knowledge in executing an open innovation strategy.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Value co-creation features: an empirical case study of B2B collaboration and interactions in New Zealand	[ "Resource integration", "B2B collaboration", "Service-dominant logic of marketing", "Empirical materials marketing", "Qualitative methodology co-creation", "Value co-creation" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nService-dominant logic of marketing: Over the past decade, marketing literature is shifting from creating products to creating experiences. In the notion of service economy, service and value creation is increasingly viewed as more important in firm offerings. Although the marketing discipline remains concerned with serving customers effectively (Rust et al., 2010), new marketing concepts are emerging, which highlight service as the basis for exchange. Creation of value for firms and customers has always been the key concept in marketing. Holbrook (1996) argues that \"value creation\" is the fundamental basis for all marketing activities.\nUnderstanding value co-creation: Value as a research topic within marketing is not a new addition, although it has recently come to the fore. With the emergence of S-D logic, value is now seen as a yard stick for assessing the extent to which service has succeeded (Babin and James, 2010). In the traditional viewpoint of marketing literature, value has been described as the quality of the product and satisfaction of the customer. For Drucker (1986), marketing is value creation for customers. Marketing acquired the initial definition of value from economics literature, where value has generally been defined in terms of price (Zeithaml, 1988). To understand marketing, it is vital to understand what value is (Babin and James, 2010).\nResearch problem: A literature review suggests that much of the research on value co-creation from S-D logic view resides at theoretical and conceptual level with limited empirical evidence (Gummesson, 2008; Prahalad and Ramaswamy, 2004; Vargo and Lusch, 2004, 2008a). It is suggested that there is relatively little direction on how value co-creation process should be undertaken in different contexts such as retail, education, health care and information and communication technology (ICT). There is a need to understand the dynamics and specification of value co-creation process, as the literature is scarce in this field.\nMethodology: This paper reports on the preliminary investigation phase of a full-scale research project. The primary objective of the study was to develop a value co-creation framework that accounts for multiple actors. The scope of this paper is limited as the discussion is based on the empirical material collected during an initial single case study.\nEmpirical material reporting and discussion: Empirical material collected from above sources was analyzed by using thematic analysis technique. Four features of value co-creation process emerged after a systematic analysis on empirical material. These features are the motivators, management, disadvantages and outcomes of value co-creation process. These are discussed from personal (individual actor) as well as network (group of actors/business) perspectives.\nDisadvantages of value co-creation process: Alongside the benefits of value co-creation, one main disadvantage highlighted by actors was \"frustration.\" Value co-creation process involves the input from all actors. These inputs can result in a positive experience, innovation and a long-term relationship. However, empirical material analysis suggests that \"too much involvement\" from some actors in the process can create a level of frustration for others. This frustration can have negative effect on the relationship among actors. As reported by Interviewee 1:\nConclusion: The outcome of this small scale study suggests that resource integration holds value for all the actors involved in the value co-creation process. Each actor realizes the value in one's own context. Providers consider value differently as compare to customer. The result also highlights the important issue which is visible in the current empirical studies - a single actor view on value co-creation. By adopting multiple actors view and collecting data from vendor and client, the empirical material created rich descriptions. This provides a strong support to our stance that value co-creation is a multi-actor process.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to highlight four features of value co-creation among actors in a business-to-business environment. Service-dominant (S-D) logic of marketing is used as a theoretical lens to view at the process of value co-creation.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Using an interpretive methodological approach, the authors collected empirical material from a single case based in New Zealand. The case was based on the collaboration, interaction and relationship between vendor and client during an information and communication technology (ICT) systems integration project. The unit of analysis was \"points of value creation.\" Empirical material came from observation, in-depth interviews and documents such as meeting notes and email logs. Interpretation highlighted four features of the value co-creation process: motivators, outcomes, disadvantages and management. Moreover, personal and network aspects of value co-creation process emerged.\nFindings: The findings of this study capture benefits, as well as conflicts and frustrations, in a value co-creation process. Furthermore, it provides future research motivations for researchers currently working to develop S-D logic of marketing.\nOriginality/value: It is suggested that there is relatively little direction on how value co-creation process should be undertaken in different contexts such as retail, education, health care and ICT. There is a need to understand the dynamics and specification of value co-creation process, as the literature is scarce in this field.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Post-Soviet informality: towards theory-building	[ "Informality", "Informal economy", "Informal institutions", "Informal practices", "Post-Soviet" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The collapse of communism in Central and Eastern Europe, as well as in the Soviet Union and Mongolia, provided scholars of informality with an opportunity of studying a newly emerged and seemingly fathomless informal sphere of post-communist societies. For nearly two decades, social scientists in the fields of political studies, economics, cultural studies, anthropology, sociology, law and many other disciplines have published a voluminous amount of literature on informality in post-communist spaces. Although most of scholarship on post-communist informality has focused on informal economy, a large and growing number of studies also discuss informal political institutions, as well as informality in cultural and social spheres.\nConceptualizing informality: One important conceptual caveat in theory of informality concerns the definition of informality. The term \"informality\" has first appeared in works of Boeke (1942), Lewis (1954) and Hart (1973), where it was employed to describe dual economic models, which present the market economy as comprised of formal and informal economic spheres. Over the past 20 years, the term \"informality\" became firmly established in studies of institutional economics, as well as in the research on development micro and macroeconomics. As a result, a plethora of definitions has been created over time to describe the formal-informal economic dichotomy (Castells and Portes, 1989; Kanbur, 2009). The majority of these definitions encapsulate a primarily economic nature of informal institutions and present the term \"informality\" as synonymous with such concepts as informal sector, informal sphere, informal employment and, more generally, informal economy (ILO, 2012).\nPost-communist informality: Reliance on informal practices - contacts, connections, networks, reciprocal exchanges, one-time gifts, arrangements and many other forms of informal social interaction - is not peculiar to the post-communist world. North American \"pull\" and the UK's old boy networks (Ledeneva, 1998) and \"pulling strings\" practices (Smith et al., 2012), Chile's confianza (Lomnitz, 1971), Mexico's palanca (Daymon and Hodges, 2009), Israel's protetzia and China and Taiwan's guanxi (Gold et al., 2002; Chen et al., 2013) are among the most well-known informal practices that have been thriving at various historical periods in different parts of the world. Similarly well-known are the Arab wasta (Hutchings and Weir, 2006; Al-Ramahi, 2008; Barnett et al., 2013) and the Brazilian jeitinho practices (Ferreira et al., 2012; Smith et al., 2012). However, with the exception of Chinese guanxi, the majority of the above practices are either limited in their scale and spread, or are used only in specific contexts[4].\nTowards the theory of post-Soviet informality: This study argues that in the context of former Soviet states informal institutions and practices assume numerous distinctive characteristics which require distinguishing them from informal spheres in other former socialist countries. Owing to their spread and scale, as well as to their centrality for post-Soviet citizens, informal institutions and practices in post-Soviet spaces are easier to understand as a distinct phenomenon defined by a composite term \"post-Soviet informality\", rather than as a geographical variation of a broader concept of post-communist informality. In particular, unlike informality of Central European and Balkan post-communist societies, the post-Soviet informal institutions and practices are more widespread, more significant for the population and more closely associated with political and socio-cultural spheres (EBRD, 2011). In most of non-Baltic former Soviet states, informality not only constitutes a part of popular social culture, but it also provides indispensable social safety nets and serves as everyday coping mechanisms, equally important in economics, politics, civil association and in inter-personal relations. According to the \"Life in Transition\" survey (EBRD, 2011), over 60 per cent of post-Soviet households currently rely on informal private safety nets. In contrast, only 30 per cent of households in Central European post-socialist countries and around 35 per cent in Balkans employ private safety nets on a daily basis.\nBeyond the definition of informal economy: As detailed at the beginning of this paper, present-day scholarship on informality is dominated by both the research on informal economy and by the overall conceptual understanding of informality as an economic phenomenon. For decades, the informal sphere, also defined by the International Labour Organization (ILO) as \"informal sector\", has been a part of \"informal economy\" definition (ILO, 2012). From Hart (1973) to Loayza (1997) and Schneider et al. (2010), studies on informality are centred on the research of informal employment, manufacturing, black markets and other forms of economic activities occurring outside of the realms of formal economy.\nConclusion: This study has put forth a suggestion that the informal sphere of post-Soviet countries should be distinguished from informality elsewhere in the world. A thorough analysis of academic literature indicates that, although no single study has sought to purposefully differentiate informal institutions and practices flourishing in post-Soviet spaces from informality in other post-socialist regions, or to conceptualize it as a distinct phenomenon, numerous references in the literature about the distinctiveness of informality in the former Soviet Union support the arguments proposed by this paper. Building on the plentiful evidence in the literature, this study suggests that \"post-Soviet informality\" should be treated not as an umbrella term, but as a distinct concept.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to suggest that informal practices and institutions of post-Soviet countries differ from informality in other post-socialist regions and, therefore, proposes categorizing it as \"post-Soviet informality\" - a composite definition that extends beyond the concept of \"informal economy\" and encompasses, along with economic activities, social and political spheres.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The arguments of the paper are based on a comprehensive analysis of secondary sources.\nFindings: This paper shows that, owing to the effects of antecedent regime's legacies and the problems of post-communist transition, for the proper analysis of informality in post-Soviet countries it needs to be based on an own concept.\nOriginality/value: This study, in contrast to the existing literature on informality in post-communist spaces, specifically focuses on the informal sphere of post-Soviet countries, suggesting that the informal institutions and practices thriving across the vast post-Soviet space not only differ from the informal spheres elsewhere in the world, but also from informality in other post-communist regions.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
What drives organizations to switch to cloud ERP systems? The impacts of enablers and inhibitors	[ "Cloud computing", "Two-factor theory", "Technology-organization-environment framework", "Information systems success model", "Expectation confirmation theory" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: In recent years, cloud computing has become a common phrase in daily life. Cloud computing provides a foundation on which to develop new business products, services, and solutions over the Internet (Gen, 2008). Cloud services developed for organizations can be further categorized as public, private, and hybrid clouds. According to the 2019 cloud report, 94 percent of organizations use clouds; of these, 91 percent use public clouds, and 72 percent use private clouds (Flexera, 2019). According to a recent Gartner survey, the public cloud services market reached 182.4 billion in 2018. Gartner also forecasts that the global public cloud services market is expected to grow to 214.3 billion in 2019, with a growth rate of 17.5 percent (Gartner, 2019). This prediction indicates that several organizations are increasing their investment in public clouds.Pubic cloud computing has been applied to the development of various business software, such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, business intelligence, and customer relationship management (CRM) (Chang et al., 2019). ERP systems are important to most organizations because the systems are used to manage core business processes, including financial accounting, management accounting, human resources, manufacturing, and order processing. Therefore, cloud ERP systems are a common application of public clouds in organizations (Low et al., 2011). As with the development of public clouds, some of the world's leading software suppliers, like SAP, Oracle, and Microsoft, offer cloud ERP systems for their customers.Recently, public cloud ERP systems have received increasing attention because of their apparent financial and functional benefits. Organizations are driven to adopt cloud ERP systems by the benefits, including low start-up cost, pay only for utilized systems, up-to-date functionalities, and rapid deployment (Kenyon, 2012). An increasing number of studies on cloud computing have identified adoption factors of cloud ERP systems, such as the availability and characteristics of the technologies, financial resources, technical competence, industry pressure, and government policy (Lee et al., 2013; Low et al., 2011; Paquette et al., 2010).However, most existing organizations currently implement on-premise ERP systems. An investigation of the adoption of new information systems (IS) may not accurately explain the dilemma faced by organizations, because switching to cloud ERP systems means giving up incumbent ERP systems. Sunk costs of incumbent ERP systems and uncertainty costs of cloud ERP systems might tip the balance toward on-premise ERP systems (Lee et al., 2013; Lian et al., 2014). Thus, switching intention should be considered to be different from adoption intention, as the factors of adopting new IS and giving up incumbent IS should be accounted for. Therefore, it is important to gain an understanding of what factors motivate/demotivate organizations to switch to cloud ERP systems.Although several studies have identified factors conducive to cloud computing adoption (Hsu and Lin, 2016; Gangwar et al., 2015; Gutierrez et al., 2015; Lucia-Palacios et al., 2016; Martins et al., 2019; Safari et al., 2015; Oliveira et al., 2014), a few studies have addressed switching issues to cloud computing at the organizational level (Fan et al., 2015; Lucia-Palacios et al., 2016). Because these studies did not consider switching intention as the dependent variable and did not highlight the enablers and inhibitors concerning switching to public clouds, it may be difficult for top managers and owners of enterprises to determine what factors will benefit organizations and negatively impact organizations. Accordingly, it is important to understand the factors associated with switching decisions, so that organizations intending to switch to cloud ERP systems could take appropriate actions.In order to fill this gap, this study uses two-factor theory to investigate the effects of switching benefits and costs on switching intention. Certain IS studies applied two-factor theory to investigate two categories of factors that influence system adoption (Hachicha and Mezghani, 2018; Kang, 2018; Wu et al., 2019; Park and Ryoo, 2013). Thus, we characterize the factors as motivators (i.e. switching benefits) and demotivators (i.e. switching costs). However, switching benefits and costs are too generic, so two-factor theory must be strengthened with other models or external variables (Hachicha and Mezghani, 2018). Because technology-organization-environment (TOE) framework is suitable for studying cloud computing adoption from technological, organizational, and environmental perspectives (Gangwar et al., 2015; Gutierrez et al., 2015; Senyo and Effah, 2016), this study integrates two-factor theory with TOE framework. The factors that affect benefits are organized based on TOE framework, and the factors that affect costs are sunk costs of incumbent ERP systems and uncertainty costs of cloud ERP systems. Some relevant factors are developed based on expectation confirmation theory (ECT) and information systems (IS) success model. Therefore, the research model grounded in multiple theories can help investigate the factors that influence organizations' switching to cloud ERP systems.This study examines the effects of the enablers and inhibitors on switching intention to cloud ERP systems. We confirm that switching benefits and costs independently and simultaneously affect switching intention. The results also show that technological, organizational, and environmental factors can enhance switching benefits, while sunk costs of incumbent ERP systems and uncertainty costs of cloud ERP systems can intensify the effects of switching costs. These findings can help cloud service providers better understand organizations' decisions regarding platform switching. The understanding can help improve the functionalities of cloud ERP systems, enhance services, develop effective marketing agendas, and evaluate potential customers.\n2. Literature review: 2.1 Cloud computing adoption\n3. Research model and hypotheses: 3.1 Switching benefits and costs\n4. Methodology: 4.1 Data collection\n5. Results: 5.1 Common method bias\n6. Discussion: This study investigates the enablers and inhibitors that influence organizations' switching intention from incumbent ERP systems to cloud ERP systems. Table VI summarizes previous studies in the contexts of cloud computing. As can be seen from the table, most previous studies have used TOE framework as the main theoretical foundation, because the framework can take into account technological, organizational, and environmental perspectives (Hsu and Lin, 2016; Safari et al., 2015). TOE framework can further be incorporated with other theories, such as TAM, theory of planned behavior, DOI, or ECT (Gangwar et al., 2015; Lucia-Palacios et al., 2016; Martins et al., 2019; Oliveira et al., 2014).Different from previous studies, this study is grounded in a set of theoretical foundations, including two-factor theory, TOE framework, IS success model, and ECT. The two-factor theory is used to characterize switching benefits and costs, and TOE is used to organize factors that affect benefits. Information quality and systems quality come from IS success model, while satisfaction with incumbent ERP systems is derived from ECT. In addition, the dependent variable of previous research mainly focused on cloud computing adoption rather than switching intention, so few studies considered switching decisions from incumbent systems to cloud systems. However, top managers and owners of the enterprises must make decisions between incumbent and cloud ERP systems based on enablers and inhibitors, such as benefits of cloud ERP systems, sunk costs of incumbent ERP systems, and uncertainty costs of cloud ERP systems. The critical factors have been addressed in our developed research model grounded in multiple theories.In technological contexts, system quality is an influential factor in switching benefits. This finding is consistent with that of other studies (Ifinedo et al., 2010; Lin, 2010; Tsai et al., 2012), which posited that system quality has a positive impact on individual and organizational benefits. Therefore, good system quality of cloud ERP systems increases the organization's expected benefits of switching to new systems. Although previous research has shown that information quality is another factor in organizational benefits (Ifinedo et al., 2010; Lin, 2010; Tsai et al., 2012), the results show that information quality is not found to significantly affect switching benefits. One possible explanation is that ERP systems are known for collecting and disseminating integrated data in real time (Wylie, 1990). Both on-premise and on-demand ERP systems provide high-quality information in this respect. Thus, organizations do not view high-quality information as a strong factor that increases switching benefits of cloud ERP systems.In organizational contexts, the results confirm that financial advantage of using cloud ERP systems is an important determinant of switching benefits. The significance of financial advantage is in line with previous research (Gangwar et al., 2015; Safari et al., 2015), which pointed out that the advantages associated with cloud computing are based on pay-per-use models. The payment models bring cost savings and flexibility of financial resources, which, in turn, increase switching benefits.In environmental contexts, the factor of government support has a high mean score of 4.95, which implies that organizations have perceived government support. Previous studies proposed that organizations with government support are more likely to increase the benefits of adopting cloud computing (Hsu and Lin, 2016; Ifinedo, 2011; Lian et al., 2014; Oliveira et al., 2014). However, contrary to our prediction, the results show that government support is not found to significantly affect switching benefits. One possible reason for this result is that the Taiwan government tends to support cloud technology by promoting and building government clouds and improving the infrastructures for networking. Although the Taiwan government plans to invest 24 billion in cloud computing over five years (National Development Council, 2012), these measures might provide long-term benefits rather than immediately tangible benefits to organizations. As a result, although the score for government support is high, it does not significantly affect switching benefits of cloud ERP systems. On the other hand, this study indicates that industry pressure is a significant determinant of switching benefits. This result is consistent with previous studies (Hsu et al., 2014; Lian et al., 2014; Low et al., 2011), which supported the effect of industry pressure on cloud computing adoption. The finding indicates that organizations are forced to adopt cloud ERP systems by trading partners and business competitors in the competitive environment.The results show that perceived risk, satisfaction, and breadth of use are important determinants of switching costs. Prior studies pointed out that sunk costs of giving up incumbent IS increase switching costs (Bhattacherjee and Park, 2014; Fan et al., 2015; Lucia-Palacios et al., 2016), while security risks of using new IS enhance switching costs (Martins et al., 2019; Sabi et al., 2016). According to our findings, satisfaction with and breadth of use of incumbent ERP systems cause organizations to lose previous efforts and costs, which further reduce their switching intention to cloud ERP systems. Cloud ERP systems bring security risks and uncertainties, which further lead organizations to retain incumbent ERP systems and hinder their switching intention to new systems.\n7. Implications for theory and practice: 7.1 Implications for theory\n8. Limitations and future research: Our research model is grounded in two-factor theory, which characterizes switching benefits and costs as motivators and demotivators. This theory can model switching benefits and costs of system usage and open up many research opportunities. First, the model can be further extended to investigate factors that enhance switching benefits. The factors are organized based on TOE framework in this study, but other theoretical perspectives, such as TAM, DOI, and TRA, can also be incorporated in the future. Second, we found direct associations between the factors of perceived risk, satisfaction, and breadth of use and switching costs. Perceived risk was originally studied in e-commerce contexts. This study shows that the factor also increases switching costs in public clouds. Further studies can be devoted to investigating the role of risks in private clouds, which are accessed through Internet owned by organizations. The effects of satisfaction with and breadth of use were originally studied in personal applications. This study shows that the two factors also increase switching costs of public clouds in enterprise applications. Further studies can investigate whether the same factors increase the costs of adopting private clouds.This study contains certain limitations that require further examination and additional research. First, a bias related to self-reported scales might exist in this study. Second, the results based on 2014 data may be constrained by the age of the data. Caution must to be taken when generalizing the results to today's research. Third, the empirical data for our study were collected from organizations in Taiwan, and thus, the generalizability of the results may be limited. The results may differ due to different countries or regions. Fourth, the cloud systems being investigated in the study were from a single software supplier. The findings may vary due to different suppliers. Fifth, because the data were cross-sectional and not longitudinal, the posited causal relationships can only be inferred rather than proven. Finally, although it has been demonstrated that behavioral intention leads to actual use behavior, this study stopped at switching intention.\n9. Conclusions: This study aims to investigate the enablers and inhibitors that influence organizations' switching intention from incumbent ERP systems to cloud ERP systems. From an academic perspective, we provide the empirical evidence regarding switching to public cloud computing. This study develops a theoretical model by integrating two-factor theory, TOE framework, IS success model, and ECT. Two-factor theory is used to characterize switching benefits and costs that affect switching intention as motivators and demotivators. The factors that influence switching benefits are organized based on TOE framework, and the factors that influence switching costs are the uncertainties inherent in cloud systems and the benefits of the deployed on-premise ERP systems. From a practical perspective, our findings suggest that cloud service providers can enhance switching benefits by enhancing technological (system quality) and organizational (financial advantage) factors. The presentation of environmental factors (industry pressure) is also helpful. Cloud service providers should also try to reduce the perceived risk of using cloud ERP systems because perceived risk is one of the factors that contributes to switching costs. Satisfaction with and breadth of use of incumbent ERP systems are also major factors that increase switching costs. Cloud service providers can target organizations that are not satisfied with their incumbent ERP systems or deploy a limited number of modules of incumbent ERP systems.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Switching to public cloud enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems not only provides financial and functional benefits to organizations, but also results in sunk costs of incumbent systems and uncertainty costs of cloud systems. The purpose of this study is to investigate the enablers and inhibitors concerning switching to cloud ERP systems at the organizational level.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Data were collected from 212 top managers and owners of the enterprises in Taiwan, and 10 hypotheses were examined using structural equation modeling.\nFindings: Technological (system quality), organizational (financial advantage), and environmental contexts (industry pressure) are found to be the antecedents of switching benefits. Perceived risk of cloud ERP systems and satisfaction with and breadth of use of incumbent ERP systems are found to be the predictors of switching costs. Switching benefits positively affect switching intention, but switching costs negatively affect switching intention.\nResearch limitations/implications: This study develops a theoretical model grounded in a set of theoretical foundations, including two-factor theory, technology-organization-environment (TOE) framework, information systems (IS) success model, and expectation confirmation theory (ECT). Two-factor theory is used to characterize switching benefits and costs that affect switching intention. Technological factors come from IS success model, and the factors affecting benefits are organized based on TOE framework. Sunk costs of incumbent ERP systems are developed based on ECT.\nOriginality/value: Different from previous studies on cloud computing adoption, this study provides insights into switching intention to cloud computing. The study also proposes an integrated model grounded in multiple perspectives to explain organizations' decisions to switch to cloud ERP systems. These findings help cloud service providers better understand how to promote cloud ERP adoption from technical, organizational, and environmental perspectives.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The corporate identity, total corporate communications, stakeholders' attributed identities, identifications and behaviours continuum	[ "Corporate identity", "Corporate communications", "Organizational identity", "Company law", "Corporate image", "Stakeholder identification" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: The heart of scholarship is not only vision but revision: re-vision. McCraw (2008, p. 226).\nIntroduction: Corporate identity, for all its strategic significance, is habitually overlooked, disregarded or narrowly conceived by scholars and managers alike. Adopting a broad revisionist scholarship agenda, an explicit aim of this article is to further elucidate the strategic and pivotal utility of corporate identity and, additionally, to explicate the corporate identity, total corporate communications, stakeholders' attributed identities, identifications and behaviours continuum.\nCorporate identity adaption and change: Corporate identities are never entirely \"fixed\": they are in a constant state of flux. They are not immutable. Internal or external change often has a domino effect in terms of an entity's corporate identity traits and corporate marketing activities, viz: \"the corporate identity wheel of change\" (Balmer, 2001a). This is especially apparent in terms of key identity interfaces:\nThe corporate identity, total corporate communications, stakeholders' attributed identities, identifications and behaviours continuum: The remainder of this article discusses the constituent parts of the schema/continuum which is shown in diagrammatic form in Figure 1.\nCorporate identity: The first part of the schema, and the cornerstone element of the continuum, is the corporate identity. This section explains the orthodox school of thought vis-a-vis corporate identity); discusses the nature and importance of corporate identity traits (the author outlines five criteria by in assessing corporate identity trait determinants); and briefly explains the fundamentals and importance of the legal theory of the organisation apropos corporate identity.\nTotal corporate communications and stakeholder prioritisation: The next part of the schema/continuum focuses on two critical concerns: total corporate communications and stakeholder prioritisation. Because of their critical importance, senior managers need to be regularly appraised of both areas. Understanding and meeting the needs of customers and other key stakeholders is a cornerstone of corporate marketing and a requisite for business success and survival.\nAttributed identities: This part of the schema/continuum notes the saliency to senior managers of attributed identities and also notes the significance of corporate images and corporate reputations. Corporate images and corporate reputations being the building blocks of attributed identities.\nExternal and internal stakeholder identification and attitudes: The nature and strength of key stakeholders' identifications with an organisation is another key senior management concern. In corporate marketing contexts, stakeholder identification relates to how stakeholders define themselves (or not) in terms an organisation and this will inform their attitudes towards a company.\nExternal and internal stakeholder behaviour confirms corporate identity: From a senior management perspective, the translation of a positive external/internal stakeholder identification with a corporate identity invariably translates into positive behaviours towards an organisation. Thus, the link between identification and behaviour is likely to be palpable. Stakeholder behaviours, clearly, are of important, viz., customer, employee, shareholder loyalty and a willingness of governments, local communities and suppliers, etc. to support the organisation. Tagiuri (1982) notes how internal and external identification confirms a corporate identity. Understandably, positive stakeholder behaviour towards an entity is a key consequence of effectual corporate identity management.\nExternal and internal behaviour disconfirms corporate identity: Senior managers also need to be appraised of the effect of disidentification (negative stakeholder identification) and its possible bearing on the behaviour of customers and other stakeholders. This may lead to disconfirming of the corporate identity (Tagiuri, 1982).\nStrategic analysis of business environment: The efficacy of strategic analysis of the business environment is a necessary dimension of the schema and account should be taken of this as well as issues of stakeholder attributions, identification and behaviours and the total corporate communications effect, etc. As noted by the celebrated business economist and strategist, Roberts (2004), both strategy and an organisations activities/design are important. Moreover, he avers that there needs to be a fit between strategy, the organisation and the technological, legal and competitive environment (Roberts, 2004, p. 11).\nManagement intervention, direction and leadership: Following an explicit corporate marketing logic and the establishment of company-customer value, a key strategic senior management task is the determination, modification, alteration and termination of corporate identity traits. Another is to ensure that corporate identity traits are comprehended by customers and other key stakeholders but area also meaningful and for them. As such, a key senior management function is for senior executives to regularly appraise the saliency, sustainability and profitability (from company-stakeholder perspectives) of an entity's corporate identity attributes.\nReflection: The heart of scholarship is not only vision but revision: re-vision. McCraw (2008, p. 226)\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to introduce a new integrated strategic framework entitled, \"The corporate identity, total corporate communications, stakeholders' attributed identities, identifications and behaviours continuum\" and elucidates the central and strategic importance of corporate identity apropos corporate communications, corporate image, attributed stakeholder identifications and resultant behaviours. The strategic importance of corporate identity is noted. The continuum incorporates a variety of disciplinary/theoretical perspectives.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper/framework is informed by corporate marketing and strategic perspectives; legal theory of the firm; social identity branch theories; and stakeholder theory. The effects and management of corporate identity are seen as a continuum. The framework accommodates Tagiuri's (1982) scholarship on corporate identity.\nFindings: This paper formally introduces and explicates \"The corporate identity, total corporate communications, stakeholders' attributed identities, identifications and behaviours continuum\". Corporate identity management is an on-going strategic senior management/strategic requisite. Notably, the legal theory of company law - routinely overlooked - and its impact on corporate identity management is accepted, acknowledged and accommodated. The importance of stakeholders and stakeholder identification (a derivative of social identity theory) is underscored.\nPractical implications: Via the explication of the continuum, managers can comprehend the nature and importance of corporate identity; appreciate that corporate identity adaptation/change is on-going; comprehend its interface/s with corporate communications, stakeholder attributed identities, identifications and the business environment; understand the need for on-going fidelity to an institution's legally based core purposes and corporate identity traits (juridical identity); cognise the efficacy of constant stakeholder and environmental analysis. Corporate identity sustainability requires corporate identity to be advantageous, beneficial, critical, differentiating and effectual. Stakeholder prioritisation is not solely dependent on power, legitimacy and urgency but on legality, efficacy, ethicality and temporality.\nOriginality/value: The resultant framework/approach, therefore, aims to make a meaningful advance on the territory and, moreover, seeks to be of utility to scholars and practitioners of corporate marketing, strategy and company law. Arguably, therefore, the framework is more ambitious than extant framework on the domain. The resultant framework/approach, therefore, aims to make a meaningful advance on the territory and seeks to be of utility to scholars and practitioners of corporate identity, communications, images, identification, stakeholder theory, company law and, importantly, corporate strategy.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The problem of identity and trust in European works councils	[ "Trust", "Works councils", "Human resource management", "Industrial relations", "Europe" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The paper examines the problem of trust in European works councils (EWCs). In that context, it looks at how worker representatives, their identity choices and their corresponding role performances within the forms go on to influence the development of multiple and shifting trust alliances and antagonisms along the lines of national cultures and industrial relations. In respect to the labour-side, the paper concludes with reserved optimism that: EWCs can be an effective means by which to further the interests of employees insofar as the institutions also serve to redefine and clarify questions of self-identity in a way that is conducive to the long-term establishment of trust among workers. The paper also casts doubt on the emergence of solid partnership and trust between workers and employers.It is important to study the problem of trust in EWCs because it has never been done at great length before. Plus, beyond just filling lacunae in the literature, the study also has consultative implications for some trade unions, workers and central managers of trans-European businesses. The paper thus makes both a substantive and an original contribution to the ongoing academic debates and also offers itself as a set of pragmatic guidelines for implicated or interested persons and organisations. In building a bridge between theory and practice, I have sought to highlight the importance of being both systematic and useful in the study of industrial relations in Europe.The first section offers a very short history of social dialogue leading up to the Directive on the establishment of EWCs for the purposes of informing and consulting employees. The second section draws from 19 interviews that I have conducted with British EWC members employed in a large, traditional manufacturing company with operations in the UK and parts of northern Europe. Within this context, I conceptualise five key factors that play into the underlying problem of trust in EWCs. The paper concludes with a brief summary of its main points and some forward-looking remarks and policy implications on how best to overcome the problem of trust in EWCs, or lack thereof.\nSocial dialogue leading up to the EWC directive: The Vredeling proposal of 1980 was a pioneering draft directive that laid the foundations for the emergence of the 1994 Directive on EWCs. According to Streeck (1997a, p. 640), the proposal (OJ 1980/C 297/3) \"specified in great detail a wide range of information on financial, economic and employment issues to which workforces were to be regularly entitled, and in addition established legal consultation rights on decisions likely to have 'serious consequences' for employees\" (emphasis in original). From the start, it could be argued that Vredeling's directive was, practically speaking, doomed to failure inasmuch as its success would have required a unanimity of votes in the Council of Ministers. As expected, by 1986, negotiations on the proposal were adjourned, but \"employers' and employees' federations within the Community were encouraged to continue their dialogue 'at all appropriate levels' in order to reach agreements providing for the information and consultation of employees (OJ 86/C 203/01)\" (Falkner, 1996, p. 194).The Maastricht Treaty of 1992 is thought to have been a turning point in the struggle to re-implement information and consultation procedures at European level, especially since it \"set up the corporatist patterns which now characterize EC social policy\" (Falkner, 2000, p. 705). In addition, it also helped to push for an expansion of \"qualified majority voting (QMV) in social policy areas, in particular with respect to 'working conditions' and 'the information and consultation of workers'\" (Kim, 1999, p. 397). QMV meant that legislation could no longer be blocked by one member state. This is arguably one of the most important reasons for the UK's opt-out of the Social Policy Agreement. To be sure, the Conservative Government at the time was not alone in its preference to protect the integrity of the voluntarist tradition from EU labour law interference. Like the government, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) was not keen on laying the groundwork for a system of European collective bargaining (Eberlie, 1993). Interestingly, though, Kim (1999, p. 400) points out that, in respect to the Social Partners' Agreement of 1991, the CBI's opposition lasted until the last minute, at which time it did eventually sign the accord. He implies that political pressures and the need to have a dissenting voice in social dialogue - rather than no voice at all - were real factors in its acquiescence.The principal corporate, or \"social actors\", at European level are three: the Union of Industrial and Employers' Confederations of Europe (UNICE), the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) and the European Commission. According to Keller and Sorries (1999, p. 115), the \"Commission is the 'prime mover' among the corporate actors because it generally launches regulation and has the task of promoting the consultation of the social partners at Community level\". Taking much care to adhere to the principle of subsidiarity (Streeck, 1994), it seeks generally to strike a delicate balance between pushing for a more social Europe and respecting the autonomy of the member states and their interest groups. Falkner (2000, p. 707) aptly characterises the positions of the other two actors: \"UNICE favour[s] a flexible and voluntary approach [and the ETUC demands] binding EC law\".Dialogue among the social partners sprung again in 1993 from the European Commission's attempts to implement consultation procedures in accordance with the Maastricht Social Agreement. The dialogue marked the post-Vredeling rebirth of the idea of information and consultation of employees at European level. Unsurprisingly, UNICE and the ETUC assumed their respective positions; one sought flexibility and voluntary compliance to regulation and the other sought binding EU legislation. The talks themselves are widely deemed to have been a failure (Falkner, 2000, p. 708; Keller and Sorries, 1999, p. 116), the cause of which is unclear inasmuch as both partners blamed each other (Ross, 1995, cited in Falkner, 2000, p. 712). What is more clear is that the final wording of the Directive on EWCs reflected UNICE's demands for flexibility and voluntary compliance more so than the ETUC's demand for EU labour law. For example, \"[w]hen the Commission submitted its final proposal to the Council, EC Commissioner Flynn explained: 'The entire thrust of the legislation on the table now is to allow management and labour to negotiate their own settlements' (cited from AE, 1994, p. 13)\" (Falkner, 1996, p. 201). As Streeck (1997b, p. 332) also points out, \"voluntarism does not favour the weaker party\", especially in the context of EWCs where the obligatory provisions are confined to mere information-sharing only once per year. On this basis, I find Kim's (1999, p. 416) suggestion peculiar that \"the labour union side is not necessarily underprivileged vis-a-vis the employer side in collective bargaining at the European level, as the analysis of the EWC case shows\".On 22 September of 1994, the Council of Ministers finally adopted Directive 94/45/EC \"[o]n the establishment of a European Works Council or a procedure in Community-scale undertakings and Community-scale groups of undertakings for the purposes of informing and consulting employees\" (Official Journal of the European Communities, 1994). The Directive set a provision under Article 13 for the establishment of voluntary agreements (Rivest, 1996) insofar as they were concluded before 22 September of 1996. A span of three years was then allowed for negotiation to take place between workers and central management with respect to the appropriate form of EWC to be established within each company. If, by the end of the three years, the employees' special negotiating body (SNB) and management failed to reach an agreement, a statutory EWC then became compulsory as spelt out in the Annex to the Directive. Notably, the UK's 1992 opt-out from the Maastricht Social Chapter was reversed over a two-year span by the incoming Labour Government in the 1997 Treaty of Amsterdam.\nFive factors of the problem of trust in EWCs: The problem of trust in EWCs is both multifaceted and complex. I argue that trust or, more precisely, lack of trust, is one of five factors embedded into a complicated fabric of social interaction in EWCs. Each of the five factors is considered below. Prior to explication of these factors, I briefly outline the methods by which the data were collected. Analysis of the first factor begins with a conceptualisation of trust and a discussion the various pitfalls that can emerge in EWCs. Second, I look at how lack of trust effectively spills over into a lack of co-operation, and vice versa. Third, I examine the causes of mistrust and lack of co-operation, especially as they relate to questions of exclusionary identity choices and divergent national industrial relations models. Fourth, I point out how management can and often do \"hijack\" the EWC and use it as a tool for human resource management (HRM). Finally, I consider the prospects for strategisation on the part of workers' and employers' representatives for the purposes of constructing trust and co-operation in EWCs.Methods\nPolicy implications and conclusion: After providing a short history of the 1994 Directive on the establishment of EWCs, I posited empirically an organisational deficit of trust and co-operation within the fora and explained the deficit in terms of the exclusionary identity choices of the workers' representatives. Drawing from my own qualitative case study research on a large, Anglo-European multinational firm, I went on to suggest that most workers' representatives did not identify themselves primarily as social partners at company level, but neither did they identify with their labour-side counterparts at European level. In consequence, I argued that the employers' representatives of the case study firm were in a strategic position to exploit the workers' representatives' identity-based divisions in a manner such that the EWC could be transformed effectively into a tool of HRM. Finally, I concluded with a discussion of the potential for workers' strategisation in EWCs on the basis of converged identities and trust. Policy implications follow naturally.In the end, trust is a valuable commodity (Dasgupta, 1988) like any other inasmuch as it forms the basis for co-operation in institutions (Gambetta, 1988). Most workers' and employers' representatives would certainly agree that trust is a \"good thing\", but how can it be constructed and where should it be applied? There is no easy answer to these questions, but a few suggestions come to mind. As I have indicated in the above, to build real and lasting trust along the lines of industrial relations in EWCs is, for the most part, wishful thinking. It is likely that the underlying antagonism between workers and employers will tend to foil attempts on both sides to forge partnership on the basis of trust. In other words, one implication of the study is that it is probably not worth the effort for institutions to channel their already limited resources towards the construction of trust between workers' and employers' representatives in EWCs. Its fragility in such circumstances would probably make it a \"bad investment\", so to speak.However, the paper lends credibility to the vital importance of constructing trust within the labour-side of EWCs. Perhaps the establishment of confidence in one another may assist workers' representatives to overcome the challenges associated with recognising where their interests lie, fundamentally (Offe and Wiesenthal, 1985), and how best to pursue those interests in the context of an EWC. Not only that, but also it would seem that trust might also facilitate strategisation on the part of workers' representatives to define the situation. I suggest that trust as an attitude would reverse the exclusionary identity choices of the employees and thereby shift the perception of collective interests from national to supranational level. The implications of such a shift of interests could be absolutely groundbreaking for the international labour movement, but how can it be achieved, practically speaking?The first suggestion is that the time and frequency of the meetings should be extended with the essential help of the ETUC's ongoing push for a revision of the Directive. This suggestion echoes the importance of what Zucker (1986) has called process-based trust. According to Lane (2002, p. 11), process-based trust develops incrementally via the accumulation of knowledge of the other. It is hard to imagine long-term trust developing among workers insofar as they meet only once or twice per year for a couple days. Therefore, I would argue that a revision of the Directive so as to call for an extension of the number of meetings per year as well as a lengthening of the time span for each meeting would be structurally conducive to the establishment of trust among workers.Second, I suggest that trade unions should channel more of their own resources to encourage socialising and networking beyond the scope of the EWC. More informal gatherings should be organised in order that the representatives have the opportunity to forge bonds with one another in a way that will likely have a spill over effect on social relations within the EWC. This suggestion is very much in line with the basic tenants of social capital theories (for example, see Putnam, 1993, 2000). As such, I would suggest that socialisation and networking would deal a damaging blow to the prevalence of identity-based differences in EWCs.The third suggestion is that workers' representative should in all circumstances take advantage of EWC pre-meetings as a means by which to form strategy in the absence of central managers. As Goffman (1959, p. 112) has indicated, \"it is here the illusions and impressions are openly constructed\". The importance of pre-meetings is that they offer the labour-side of the council a sort of \"backstage\" area in which they can openly talk about how their performance in the EWC should unfold. It is also important inasmuch as it provides an opportunity for workers to communicate as a team in order to come to terms with the nature of their underlying interests. The resultant sense of teamwork, I suggest, will help build trust among workers' representatives.Finally, I would say that there is room to improve the formal training of EWC representatives (Stirling, 2004). As suggested, one possible problem for workers' representatives is that they may not know precisely how to define the situation. Proper training, however, has the potential to assist the labour-side of the council in defining \"cases of good practice\" in a way that is conducive to the establishment of trust among workers. Part of this training may involve language instruction so as to set a common medium of interaction (Miller et al., 2000). Another part of this training may involve cultural instruction that emphasises class identification over and above national identity constructs. Interestingly, whatever content is taught, the latent function of such training will be to strengthen the extent to which workers trust one another.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to look analytically at the relationship between identity and trust in the context of European industrial relations.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Drawing from a case study of a European works council from a large, multinational firm in the traditional manufacturing sector, the problem of exclusionary identity choices along the lines of national cultures and industrial relations is examined via ethnographic methods.\nFindings: - In the light of the delegates' assumed identities, it was found that trust relations in the European Works Council case study were characteristically sub-optimal both between worker and employers' representatives and also among the workers themselves. The extensive lack of trust in the forum was thought to be problematic with respect to the prospects for co-operation. As a result, employers' representatives are able to use the European works council as a self-serving tool of human resource management.\nPractical implications: - The implications for improving cross-national industrial relations action are spelled out in the conclusion.\nOriginality/value: - The paper offers a unique approach to studying the obstacles to co-operation in European industrial relations settings.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The social value of rescuing food, nourishing communities	[ "Food waste", "Social enterprise", "Social value", "Food security", "Food rescue" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Food insecurity and food waste are symbols of inequalities and inefficiencies found within contemporary food systems (Midgley, 2014). Food security at the individual, household, national, regional and global levels occurs when individuals have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life (UNFAO, 2015). Despite a universal human right to be food secure, nearly 800 million people worldwide do not have enough to eat, including developed countries (Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), 2016). That means one in nine people is suffering from hunger. While many factors contribute to food insecurity, people are not hungry because of a shortage of global food supply as the world is producing more than enough food to feed every single person on this planet (Mirosa et al., 2017). The FAO (2016) estimate that recovering just half of the food that is lost or wasted could feed every person on the globe.\n2. Methods: This qualitative investigation primarily explored outcomes key stakeholder organisations experienced as a result of their involvement with FoodShare; additional inputs required for these outcomes provided context for these findings. Semi-structured interviews and an anonymous online survey were conducted in early 2015. Research protocols were approved through the University of Otago Human Ethics Committee (D15/072); informed consent was obtained from all participants.\n3. Results: The results from the interviews and survey are reported by stakeholder group in order to showcase the breadth of value being created by the FoodShare enterprise, and to allow between group comparisons. The results focus on the outcomes (gains or losses) for each stakeholder organisation, resulting directly from their relationship with FoodShare. Outcomes for the food donors (3.1), financial donors (3.2), recipient agencies (3.3) and volunteers (3.4) are described.\n4. Discussion: The case study examination provided qualitative evidence of the social value created by a food rescue enterprise. Key stakeholders perceived FoodShare's activities created considerable value for themselves or their organisation as well as for the wider community, with minimal negative outcomes reported.\n5. Conclusion: This qualitative investigation explored the social value created by a perishable food rescue enterprise, FoodShare. Through stakeholder interviews and a survey, rich qualitative data were produced in terms of outcomes stakeholders experienced as a result of their relationships with FoodShare. All participating food and financial donors, recipient agencies as well as volunteers experienced a number of beneficial outcomes that far outweighed any negatives experienced. The main benefit reported across stakeholder groups was the positive feelings and emotions associated with being able to make a difference within their local community.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the social value food rescue enterprises can create for both their stakeholders and the wider community \"in the meantime\" whilst longer term solutions to the problems of insecurity and waste are sought.\nDesign/methodology/approach: FoodShare, a New Zealand urban-based social enterprise specialising in food redistribution, served as a case study for this research. Semi-structured interviews (n=13) were conducted with FoodShare staff and key stakeholder groups (food donors, financial donors, recipient agencies and volunteers). In addition, an anonymous online survey (n=40) was completed by the wider organisational volunteer network. The interview guides were structured around a new social value evaluation tool, Social Return on Investment, which is increasingly used to demonstrate the impact of such programmes. Deductive methods were used to code the resulting transcripts to identify key outcomes experienced by FoodShare's stakeholders.\nFindings: The outcomes of FoodShare's work differed for the various stakeholders. For food donors, outcomes included \"more involved relationships with community\", and \"improved perceptions of corporate social responsibility\". Identified key outcomes for the financial donors included \"key promotional opportunity\" and \"do something good\". For recipient agencies, important outcomes were \"greater volume of food\" and \"increased reach\". Volunteers reported \"meeting new people\", \"a sense of accomplishment in helping others\" and \"learning new skills\". There were also a number of nutritional and environmental outcomes for the wider community.\nOriginality/value: Given the dearth of evidence on the societal value that is created in redistributing unsold food to people in need, this novel perspective makes a significant contribution to the literature in this area.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Municipal reaction to functional rescaling in Italy	[ "Italy", "Local government reform", "Municipalities", "Intermunicipal cooperation", "Patterns of conflict", "Rescaling" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Academic debate on territorial rescaling and on normative provisions concerning local authorities, in particular municipalities, aiming at improving their efficiency and effectiveness, is decade long (Keating, 1995). Whether such a rescaling should be imposed to small municipalities, or instead if municipalities should autonomously decide to join, cooperate or amalgamate, is also an old issue (Swianiewicz, 2010). European local and national governments differently resolved this ambivalence: with voluntary, compulsory or mixed approaches. In analyzing the different choices all around the countries, academic literature has focused its attention above all on central governments' preferences and on how they approached the topic. But how municipalities react to these different approaches, and for what reason, is also an interesting perspective and will be the one employed in this paper. The debate on territorial policies and reforms aiming at rationalizing local authorities, both in size and functions, has recently re-entered European national policy agendas, although it never really left them (Kersting and Vetter, 2003). Territorial reforms have in fact re-started in several countries, more or less intensely triggered by the global crisis (Baldersheim and Rose, 2010; Kuhlmann and Bouckaert, 2016).\nStriving for functional rescaling: The debate on size and rescaling is central when territorial reforms are concerned. As argued by Kettunen and Teles (2016, p. 142) \"there is considerable agreement that territorial and institutional scale is relevant\", in particular when speaking about reforms affecting territorial processes and the size of administrative territorial units. This is however a very ancient concern, which largely precedes contemporary debate. Ancient thinkers, from Plato to Aristotle, argued on the implication of size on the polis' government and on citizens' role. Much more recently, Dahl and Tufte (1973) wondered if democracy was somehow linked to size and which (dis-)advantages could arise in differently sized political systems in respect to their responsiveness (system capacity) and to citizens' control (effectiveness). Lately, Swianiewicz (2002) and Denters et al. (2014) made a further step, trying to overcome the limits of national peculiarities and to generalize international findings on how (population) size affects municipal democratic quality in Eastern and Northern Europe, respectively.\nPatterns of conflict and resistance to rescaling: Local authorities may play a crucial role in the success of territorial and rescaling policy measures, depending on their degree of acceptance of such innovations. Reactions (and resistance) usually emerge when previous assets of power are touched and power reallocation is at stake. As far as territorial reforms are concerned, Baldersheim and Rose (2010, p. 14) state in fact that \"the more comprehensive or the more deep-going change, the more likely that opposition and resistance will occur.\" Among the large body of literature on this topic, if reducing the focus on municipalities and their reactions to functional rescaling reforms, some specific patterns of conflict (or factors of resistance) may be singled out. Personal interests may lead to an open obstructionism (Kerrouche, 2010; Getimis and Hlepas, 2010), when local elites are moved by their own electoral or power interests at the local level. The size of the local entities involved in the reform may trigger different reactions (Kerrouche, 2010; Getimis and Hlepas, 2010): usually small- and medium-sized municipalities may resist functional rescaling due to their opportunity of benefiting from free riding and spillover (Hanes et al., 2012) but they can also be willing to accept it because they may realize significant scale economies (Steiner, 2003). Moreover, small municipalities may suffer a lack of organizational and administrative resources and this can also be a push factor toward the acceptance of rescaling reforms. As well, income plays a role and usually wealthier municipalities are reluctant to cooperate (let alone to amalgamate) with less wealthy municipalities and vice versa (Hanes, 2015; Steiner, 2003; Strebel, 2014). Political orientation and the traditional left-right political cleavage also seems to affect the municipal opinions where \"the expectation is that overall the left will favor amalgamations and large scale local government more than the right, especially if change is framed in terms of enhancement of welfare provisions\" (Baldersheim and Rose, 2010, p. 14). The center-periphery cleavage (Baldersheim and Rose, 2010, p. 14) (i.e. the traditional opposition that local, rural and peripheral authorities present toward central actors) as well as the technocracy-politics pattern of conflict - conceived both as a potential conflict between civil servants and politicians having different views of the reform (and tracing back to the traditional bureaucrats/politicians cleavage studied by Aberbach et al. (1981), and as a cleavage between technocracy-decided reforms and \"more democratic\" procedures and/or effects (Steiner et al., 2016) - may also induce some resistance. On the contrary, a clear knowledge of the reform's objectives and of the new tasks for local level could produce a more positive attitude (Steiner et al., 2016, p. 27). Identity and historical bindings among the concerned territories may have a positive effect on the decision to accept territorial reforms, as well as prior connections between municipalities, which may mitigate uncertainty and resistance (Hanes et al., 2012). As for Italy in particular, within-country differences in terms of regional specificities are in fact present, as extensively argued by Putnam et al. (1985, 1993) and as confirmed by more recent studies on regional institutional performance (Vassallo, 2013), social capital and trust (Bordandini and Cartocci, 2014), social capital and political accountability (Nannicini et al., 2013) as well as efficiency in the provision of public services (Cartocci and Vanelli, 2008). These variations are also expected to produce different attitudes toward the recent provisions of functional rescaling. Moreover in Italy, as found out by Steiner et al. (2016, p. 33) through an expert survey concerning municipal amalgamation, technocracy-politics resulted to be the major pattern of conflict, while political orientation and central-local dimension were of medium importance, and income and size were of minor relevance. During implementation (Steiner et al. 2016, p. 35) instead the main problems were the lack of resources and the opposition of the personnel - where the opposition of politicians, the overlapping in time of other reforms and the poor policy design were quite relevant, and the lack of time to prepare the reform was uninfluential.\nItaly: municipal fragmentation and territorial reforms: Italy is no exception in the phenomenon of functional rescaling. As many other southern countries, it adopted transcaling strategies (Kuhlmann and Bouckaert, 2016, p. 5) as well as more general rescaling reforms (Bolgherini and Lippi, 2016; Bolgherini, 2016) that however started quite recently, while the debate on size and democracy had remained lukewarm, with only few exceptions (Castronovo, 2010).\nResearch questions and methodology: Given this context, the paper will explore the implementation of CJM as a functional rescaling tool to cope with municipal fragmentation. This policy provision affected in 2015 5,054 municipalities out of 8,036 (62.9 percent) and has been the only functional rescaling tool to be nationwide monitored by national ministries, thus allowing a reliable availability of data.\nData and findings: Results and reactions to functional rescaling imposed to Italian small municipalities through the CJM of their basic tasks will be presented following the three RQs that guided the research.\nDiscussion: The cultural variable, operationalized as said as (past and present) networking attitude of municipalities toward IMC and horizontal cooperation at large, resulted to be very important (Figure 1): history and tradition, mind set as well as regional features concur to shape a mixed result throughout the country with regions more prone to cooperate, with consolidated networking attitudes and other regions more fearful to loose, through a rescaling project, both identity, territorial peculiarities and political and bargaining power. The reluctance to comply with the CJM may be in fact explained with the strong individualism of Italian municipalities, which could be traced back to the Middle Age but which still plays a role nowadays: in the interviews, reluctance to cooperate and fear to lose both identity and power turned out to be important factors in explaining the resistance to functional rescaling, with the half of respondents (ten) stressing it as present in the municipalities of their region.\nConclusion: This paper explored the territorial institutional reforms oriented to functional rescaling occurred in Italy in recent years. The 2010 national provision, which introduced the CJM of the basic municipal tasks for small-sized municipalities, was a top-down measure that however needed a strong municipal commitment to be correctly implemented. Both quantitative (our original database) and qualitative (interviews and questionnaire) data allowed us to answer our three research questions, as well as to test in the Italian case some of the more consolidated assumptions in the literature on the patterns of conflict emerging when dealing with functional rescaling.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to discuss the municipal reaction to a recent rescaling policy in Italy that, since 2010, require to small municipalities to jointly manage their basic tasks (compulsory joint management - CJM) through intermunicipal forms of cooperation. The paper will investigate: how many small municipalities did effectively join their basic tasks; which forms of cooperation did they choose to perform these tasks; and which kind of reaction municipalities enacted toward the national provision.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Quantitative data rely on an original database collecting information on all Italian municipalities up to 2015. A qualitative research has also been conducted by submitting a semi-structured questionnaire and interviews to the civil servants in charge of the CJM in each of the 20 Italian regions and to other privileged interlocutors.\nFindings: Italian municipalities poorly complied with the CJM norm and when they did, they choose the easiest way to do it (using the simplest available intermunicipal cooperation form). Among the explanations for this reaction: the lack of consistency and clear political will of the national policy maker in respect to this norm and the lack of a mind set at the local level oriented to cooperation and networking.\nOriginality/value: This paper highlights the main patterns of conflict in functional rescaling of small-sized municipalities in Italy, thus providing both fresh new data on this phenomena and useful elements for shaping future policy making on this topic.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Implicit leadership effects on multi-source ratings for management development	[ "Leadership", "Management development", "Behaviour" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Multi-source feedback (also called 360-degree assessment) is a popular leadership development method that involves other people, such as subordinates, peers, and superiors, rating the frequency with which focal managers exhibit selected behaviors (Day, 2001; London and Beatty, 1993; Yukl, 2002). The data for this feedback is often collected using some type of instrument designed to rate the occurrence of a set of behaviors that are considered part of effective managerial leadership (Herold and Fields, 2004; Kouzes and Posner, 1987; Yukl, 2002). The ratings from subordinates, peers, superiors, and the manager him/herself may be provided to the manager along with norms based on large numbers of other managers. Ratings from each source may also be reviewed with a facilitator or other managers.\nImplicit models of managerial leadership: An alternative model that challenges the assumptions inherent to the use of multi-source ratings for management development suggests that ratings of the frequency of a manager's behaviors are driven by the implicit leadership models held by subordinates, superiors and peers. In general, a person's implicit leadership theory represents cognitive preconceptions of happenings as a result of leadership and what kinds of behaviors leaders exhibit (Emrich, 1999; Meindl, 1993). Implicit leadership theories held by work groups can strongly affect the evaluation process, as raters are likely to respond to survey questions in a manner that is more closely related to their own implicit theories than to the actual events they observed (Bass, 1990).This model suggests that subordinates, peers and superiors may observe that a manager's work unit has a high performance level and attribute this performance to the overall abilities of the manager. That is, rather than relying on observations of a leader's behaviors, organizational members may observe good unit performance and attribute that performance to behaviors cognitively associated with the effects that a good manager should bring about (Bryman, 2001; Brown and Lord, 2001; Chemers, 2000; Emrich, 1999; Lord and Emrich, 2001). When subordinates, peers and/or superiors are subsequently asked to rate the frequency with which the manager exhibits a group of specific leadership behaviors, their responses are driven primarily by each person's mental model of how an overall good leader should behave. Each person's mental model reflects the rater's implicit leadership model or theory of how a manager whose unit is performing well should behave (Chemers, 2000; Lord and Emrich, 2001). If a person believes a behavior is self-relevant, it is more likely to be elaborated (Banji and Prentice, 1994) and serve as a referent for decisions regarding other people (Dunning and Hayes, 1996). Owing to the socialization that takes place within the work environment and the similarities of past experiences, work group members are likely to form implicit leadership theories (Epitropaki and Martin, 2004). These theories are personal assumptions about traits and abilities that characterize an ideal business leader. They are influenced by individual beliefs, values, and personality traits as well as by shared beliefs and values about the leaders in the organizational culture (Gerstner and Day, 1994; Keller, 1999). The process describing the rater's use of an implicit leadership theory as a way of mentally constructing the leader behaviors of a manager is shown in model B of Figure 1. In this case, observed performance of the work unit drives the overall assessment of the manager which in turn influences the reported frequency of leadership behaviors (Chemers, 2000).If model B more accurately describes the actual reasoning process of the subordinates, peers, and superiors providing behavior ratings, the value of multi-source feedback for leadership development may be severely limited. First, the ratings of behavior frequencies may reflect the implicit leadership models of the observers rather than actual observations of the manager's behaviors. Second, performance assessments made by each group may tend to focus only on the aspects of work unit performance that is most directly observable or is most important to the rater (Hoojiberg and Choi, 2000). That is, the relationship of ratings of leader behaviors with organizational performance may depend on the characteristics of the situation, such as the task to be performed, the experience, skills and tenure of raters, as well as the organizational level of the individual providing ratings of behaviors and performance (Bass, 1990; Chemers, 2000; Harris and Schaubroeck, 1988; Salam et al., 1997). In some cases, the same behaviors that were positively related to performance assessed by persons in one job role may be negatively related to performance assessed by persons in another job role (Salam et al., 1997).\nEvidence for the alternative models: In this study, we examine evidence as to which of the cognitive models (Figure 1, model A vs model B) seems to best describe the relationship of multi-source ratings of leadership behaviors of retail convenience store managers with measures of each store's performance obtained from company records. The stores are operated by two companies in the North Central USA. Ratings of the frequency of leadership behaviors were obtained from subordinates, superiors, and the managers themselves. The measures of performance cover store employee retention, adherence to prescribed store operating procedures, and store merchandizing.The two alternative models of how subordinates and/or superiors may cognitively construct ratings of a manager's behaviors raise an obvious question: what evidence suggests which of the two alternative models is most likely underlying multi-source ratings of a manager and the relationship of ratings with measures of work unit performance? Most previous studies have not explicitly considered whether ratings of behaviors were based on observations of managers or constructed from observations of performance along with the application of implicit leadership models. While specific behaviors are potentially relevant to overall managerial effectiveness, not all behaviors are relevant in all situations (Yukl et al., 2002). In general, the guidelines for instruments used to assess multi-source ratings of managerial behaviors measure a wide range of behaviors and anticipate that some of these behaviors will be associated with higher levels of work unit performance in different areas (Kouzes and Posner, 1997).For example, the link between leadership behaviors generally categorized under the human relations genre and employee turnover has been established (Lucas et al., 1990). The result of effective employee relations behavior is higher employee job satisfaction which in turn is likely to result in less absenteeism and turnover (Brief et al., 1981; Jones et al., 1996). Ulrich et al. (1999) have suggested that leaders interested in increasing the value of their human capital must support their subordinates by providing the various resources to meet those higher-order demands. Subordinates should also be involved in deciding what resources are necessary in order to adequately fulfill their needs. One type of support that is often overlooked and costs very little to implement is in the form of personal encouragement. Thus, if ratings are based on observations of managerial behaviors, we expect that stores with managers that more frequently exhibit support and encouragement toward their employees will experience a higher employee retention rate.Similarly, it is often essential for supervisors to take the time to utilize measured adherence to plans and procedures (Lososki, 1998). The proper administration of internal business processes is imperative to the basic legal functioning of a retail store (e.g. proper age identification of tobacco customers). Thus, if ratings are based on observed frequency of behaviors, we expect that stores in which managers monitor store operations more frequently will experience higher internal business processes ratings. However, the support and encouragement contributing to employee retention will not be as strongly related to higher internal process performance ratings.In order to eventually respond to the varying needs of retail customers, employees must first become aware of what is going on in the external environment and coordinate appropriate internal initiatives (Feorowicz and Kenosynski, 1992). Managers must also institute a great deal of operational changes in continual pursuit of satisfying the customer needs. In addition, employees who have direct customer contact may have pertinent information needed to select and make the correct changes. Thus, in a retail environment, stores in which managers more frequently monitor the external environment, explain the need for changes, and empower employees should have higher merchandizing performance. However, if subordinate and superior ratings are based on observation of manager's behaviors, more frequent monitoring of internal operations and employee support will not be as strongly related to merchandizing ratings. While we expect that superiors, subordinates, and managers themselves may have different models concerning which behaviors are more strongly related with higher performance, if ratings are based on observations of actual manager behaviors, each type of rater will see some behaviors as related to higher performance in each of the categories: internal processes, merchandizing, and employee retention (Chemers, 2000; Hoojiberg and Choi, 2000; Yukl et al., 2002). Specifically:P1. Leadership ratings by subordinates, superiors, and the managers themselves that are based on observations of the manager will be related to different performance outcomes depending on the nature of the behaviors. Higher ratings of human relations behaviors will be correlated with better employee retention; higher ratings of planning and monitoring activities will be related to better internal process performance; and higher ratings of external monitoring will be related to better merchandizing ratings.\nMethods: Sample\nResults: The average managerial behavior ratings and the standard deviation of these ratings provided by subordinates, superiors and the managers are shown in Table I.The 13 behaviors measured by the MPS were highly correlated to each other. The average correlation among the MPS behaviors were 0.69 for subordinates, 0.67 for superiors and 0.58 for managers themselves. This level of multicollinearity among the ratings of behaviors precluded the use of multivariate linear regression models using the MPS ratings to predict performance measures (Cohen and Cohen, 1983). At the suggestion of an anonymous reviewer, we examined the distributions of the measures of leadership and the dependent variables. The measures of central tendency (mean and median) for all the distribution were very nearly identical. While the distributions have different degrees of dispersion, in most cases variables had values across the possible range of the measurement scales. Consequently, there is no apparent reason to believe that the observed correlations are the results of restriction of range within the patterns of values.The correlations among the ratings of managerial behaviors from each source are shown in Table II. The partial correlations (controlling for store location, size, and supervisor) of the ratings from each source and each of the three performance measures are shown in Table III. Because ratings of each manager's behavior by supervisors were not independent (each district manager rated more than one store manager) we included an additional control variable denoting each supervisor.Based on the results shown in Table II, the ratings of managerial behaviors are relatively independent in that only two of the 39 correlations between the rater groups are significant. Based on the results shown in Table II, 12 of the 13 descriptions of leader behaviors from subordinates are significantly correlated to store internal process performance. Subordinate ratings of only one type of managerial behavior (explaining the need for change) are related to merchandizing performance. None of the subordinate ratings of managerial behavior are related to employee retention performance. All 13 of the superior ratings of managerial behaviors are related to merchandizing performance. None of the superior ratings of managerial behaviors are significantly related to retention or internal process. Only the rating of planning behavior provided by store managers is significantly correlated to any store employee retention performance (employee retention). Because the performance indicators were developed somewhat differently within each company, we examined the partial correlations of the subordinate and superior descriptions of leader behavior for the stores from each company separately. There were no substantial or significant differences in the patterns of correlations relating leader behaviors to store performance indicators from the patterns shown in Table III.The pattern of correlations shown in Table III match the prediction of P2 much better than the predictions of P1. Specifically, nearly all of the leader behavior ratings provided by subordinates are related to store performance on internal processes. There is virtually no differentiation among the behavior ratings. Leader behaviors like supporting and developing employees are correlated with internal process performance, but not with employee retention. The leader behavior ratings of superiors are almost all correlated with store performance in merchandising. Behaviors such as monitoring that seem to relate primarily to internal process performance and behaviors like developing people that seem to relate primarily to employee retention are correlated with merchandising, but not with internal process or retention performance.The pattern of relationships of the multi-source ratings to performance measures shown in Table III is not consistent with the results we expected if the ratings were based on rater observations of managerial behaviors (model A). For example, if ratings were based on observed behaviors, we expected that employee support and encouragement across all raters would be related to employee retention. In fact, none of the ratings of these behaviors were related to retention. Across raters, other behaviors that might contribute to employee retention, such as recognizing employee achievements or developing employee skills, were also not related to better retention performance.Although subordinate ratings of managerial monitoring operations were related to internal process performance, so were subordinate ratings of other managerial behaviors such as envisioning change and supporting employees. Although the partial correlation of the subordinate rating of monitoring with internal process performance (r=0.57) is larger than the partial correlation of support (r=0.29), the difference is not statistically significant (z=0.35, ns). None of the ratings of managerial behavior from superiors or the managers themselves was related to internal process performance. Although superior ratings of managerial behaviors such as external monitoring, explaining, and empowering were related to merchandizing performance, other behaviors such as monitoring operations were equally strongly related to merchandizing performance. The only non-superior rating of behavior that was related to merchandizing was the subordinate rating of explaining the need for change.\nDiscussion: Interpretation of results\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - To determine the effect that implicit leadership theories have on the relevance of 360-degree review techniques used to assess managerial behavior.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The relationships of subordinate, superior and self ratings of manager leader behaviors with three performance indicators were examined in 60 retail stores located in the USA.\nFindings: - Nearly, all of the subordinate ratings of manager behaviors were significantly related to performance of internal processes, while nearly all ratings of the same manager provided by superiors were related to performance in store merchandizing.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The performance indicators were derived from company records, independent of influence from the rater groups.\nPractical implications: - Multi-source ratings of managerial behaviors may be based on overall work unit performance rather than observation and should be assessed and interpreted cautiously in providing feedback for management development.\nOriginality/value: - The ratings of managerial behaviors may reflect implicit leadership models activated by observation of store performance rather than rater observations of the manager's behaviors.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Determinants of quality and efficiency performance in service operations	[ "Service", "Knowledge management", "Human resources management", "Service quality" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The importance of the service sector raises the issue of how to manage and improve service operations (Silvestro and Lustrato, 2015). Researchers have investigated customer orientation (Brady and Cronin, 2001; Brown et al., 2002), employee training, and development (Goldstein, 2003; Goldstein and Ward, 2004), and role of front-line employees in improving service operations performance (Babbar and Koufteros, 2008; Gremler and Gwinner, 2000). These practices along with associated theories have helped service managers strategize their operations across diverse sectors.\n2. Theoretical development of our conceptual model: 2.1. Theory of competitive priorities\n3. Hypothesis development: Customer orientation reflects a company's approach in managing customers' needs as embedded in their service processes (Brady and Cronin, 2001). Intuitively, a service organization actively tracks customers' (potential) needs and competitors' offerings while considering viable service offerings that enhance customer satisfaction. Customer orientation in service firms emphasizes understanding target customers sufficiently through timely collection of customer information and their seamless integration into operations and marketing decisions (Heskett, 1987; Liu et al., 2013). Services typically face intense competition, changing customer demand, and shrinking of product life cycles which means they have to push out new service offerings even before existing products/services mature because of preemptive actions from their competitors. Therefore, there is a need for these firms to isolate specific knowledge about their customers. Such an emphasis on customer orientation would be incomplete without capable employees and/or without offering proper job-related training to employees (Tang et al., 1996; Goldstein, 2003; Tharenou et al., 2007). In particular, by being in close contact with customers, service employees need to have the inherent capabilities of interacting with customers effectively, interpreting their needs quickly, and satisfying their needs efficiently.\n4. Research methods: 4.1. Survey design and pretest\n5. Findings: Overall, Figure 1 and Tables IV-VI indicated that all eight hypotheses tested were highly significant using a one-tailed t-test and in the direction as predicted. First, a service firm's emphasis on customer orientation was shown to be positively related to employee capability and extent of job-related training, supporting H1a and H1b, consistent with the pattern reported in the existing literature. In light of our theoretical development above, this might not be surprising as customer orientation required employee capability that captures customer information and integrates the firm's operations and marketing functions in the service delivery process. Also, training increases the effectiveness of interacting with customers in order to better match service delivery with customer requirements.\n6. Discussion: In this paper, we applied KBV to isolate the enablers of competitive priorities in service firms. Specifically, we tested the effects of customer orientation, employee capability and job-related training on service system performance based on whether the service system competed on quality, or efficiency performance. Butler and Leong (2000) empirically examined the relationship between competitive priorities and financial performance in a sample of not-for-profit, general hospitals and found that management's emphasis of cost resulted in superior business performance. They also found that quality programs were the most preferred competitive priority initiative, yet showed relatively low relationship with respect to firm performance suggesting that quality programs are a necessary, though not sufficient, component of hospital's operations strategy. In comparison, our study traced the effects of enablers on quality and efficiency performance without testing the effects on overall firm performance.\n7. Conclusion: In this study, we contributed to the competitive priority and knowledge management stream in service operations literature. Firms that have a closer alignment between external and internal knowledge appear to excel in both quality and efficiency. These findings based on diverse service sectors point to wide applicability for practicing service managers. Our study's setting also help address the void of not enough research in service settings in China that were pointed out in recent studies (Jiang et al., 2007; Zhao et al., 2007). Several insights were isolated that can be helpful to pursue further research in this area as well as have direct implications to managers of services in China.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Using arguments from the knowledge-based view and resource-based view of the firm, the purpose of this paper is to propose that external knowledge (as measured by a firm's customer orientation) and internal knowledge management (through human capital development techniques of job-related training and enhancing employee capability) together contribute to successful service delivery systems.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The hypothesized model is tested on a large sample of 249 Chinese service firms using structural equation modeling and hierarchical regression analyses.\nFindings: The results indicate that the knowledge management factors of customer orientation, employee capability and job-related training had a varying influence on quality and efficiency dimensions of service system performance. Also, internal knowledge facets of employee capability and job-related training had complementary effects in inducing improved performance on both quality and efficiency.\nResearch limitations/implications: The focus on the key enablers of customer orientation, employee capability and job-related training does not represent a comprehensive set of enablers of service system performance outcomes. Also, a longitudinal examination of capabilities that influence service system performance can also be explored.\nOriginality/value: The context of service firms in multiple sectors serves as an important contribution to the emerging literature that bridges human resource management and customer orientation in service settings. Implications of the results for practice and theory development are discussed.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Analysis of green supply chain barriers using integrated ISM-fuzzy MICMAC approach	[ "Interpretive structural modelling", "Fuzzy MICMAC", "Green supply chain management", "GSCM barriers" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Worldwide the environmental protection awareness is increasing and so trend of conserving the earth's resources and protecting the environment is growing. With the overwhelming rise in carbon emission, global warming phenomena becoming more critical. Performance of the process and products can improve by adopting green supply chain management (GSCM) according to the requirements of the environmental regulations. Sustainable development can be achieved by consuming the resources which have less potential for depletion and not to utilize easily depleted resources. It also reduces environmental risks. Implementation of green practices in industries was increasing due to pressure from the various regulations and laws brought forward by the government. GSCM helps to achieve economical benefit and competitiveness of global market. Environmental management becomes a key strategic issue with the potential for a lasting impact on organizational performance.\n2. Literature review: Research on GSCM usually focusses on aspects such as green purchasing, internal environmental operations management or green logistics, as against taking an integrative, whole SC approach. Many authors suggest that GSC research should move from subjective studies toward an experimental and theory grounded approach (Beamon, 1999; Carter and Carter, 1998; Zsidisin and Siferd, 2001). Barriers to GSCM implementation in SMEs are different from those of larger enterprises in many ways including: generation of less environmental data; fewer resources, environmental performance being driven by personal views of business owners; no common access points and differences in organizational structure. Many studies confirm that adoption of GSCM in SMEs is unhurried (Mudgal et al., 2010; Sarkis et al., 2011; Kannan et al., 2008). Carter and Rogers (2008) mention that organizations fail to adopt environmental initiatives due to internal factors including costs, improper communication structures, internal politics and institutional norms. Zhu et al. (2010) pointed out that lack of external cooperation and diffusion are proven obstacles to GSCM's operational performance. A GSC aims at confining the wastes within the industrial system in order to conserve energy and prevent the dissipation of dangerous materials into the environment (Torres et al., 2004). It recognizes the disproportionate environmental impact of SC processes within an organization. ISM methodology was utilized to understand the mutual influences among the barriers so that those driving barriers, which can aggravate few more barriers and those independent barriers, which are mostly influenced by driving barriers are identified (Ravi and Shankar, 2005).\n3. ISM methodology and model development: ISM is an interactive learning technique, which contains a set of different directly and indirectly related elements are structured into a comprehensive systematic model. This model portrays the structure of a complex issue or problem in a carefully designed pattern implying graphics as well as words. For any complex problem under consideration, a number of factors may be related to a problem. But the direct and indirect relationships between the factors describe the situation far more accurately than the individual factor taken into isolation. ISM develops insights into collective understandings of these relationships.\n4. ISM-fuzzy MICMAC analysis: The MICMAC principle is based on multiplication properties of matrices. The objective of the MICMAC analysis is to analyze the driving power and the dependence of the variables. The previously identified variables are classified into four clusters .The first cluster comprises the \"autonomous barriers\" that have weak driving power as well as weak dependence. These barriers are relatively disconnected from the system, with which they have only few links, which may not be strong. Second cluster consists of the \"dependent barriers\" that have strong dependence but weak driving power. Barriers that have strong dependence as well as strong driving power are known as \"linkage barriers\" and form part of the third cluster. These barriers are unstable, in the sense that any action on these barriers will have an effect on others and also a feedback on themselves. The fourth cluster consists of the \"independent barriers\" having strong driving power but weak dependence. It is observed that a variable with a very strong driving power called the key variable falls into the category of independent or linkage barriers.\n5. Findings and discussions: GSC is an important subject for researchers and practitioners. Implementing GSCM in an organization is challenging and difficult or costly to implement. A range of GSCMBs can make it hard to achieve successful GSCM implementation. It is necessary to investigate the impact of these barriers and to find the relationship between these barriers during the implementation of GSCM. Another useful approach would be to find the dominant barriers in the adoption of GSCM. Generally, the eradication of barriers is not easy and it needs further analysis. It is not possible to eradicate all kinds of barriers simultaneously. Hence, industries need to determine the most influential barrier.\n6. Implications of research: The implications for practitioners and researchers are as follows:\n7. Conclusion and scope for future research: The environmental consciousness of customers and the increase of environmental image in the market day by day have forced industry to think about cleaner production by means of getting acquainted to GSCM practices. Due to the complexity of GSCM practices, increase in cost of product and regulation uncertainty, implementing GSCM is considered as a tough task that increases overall product cost.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify barriers to implement green supply chain and to understand their mutual relationship. Green supply chain management (GSCM) barriers are identified using available GSCM literature and on consultations with experts from industry and academician. Interpretive structural model (ISM) was developed to identify the contextual relationship among these barriers.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A group of experts from industries and academics was consulted and ISM is used to develop the contextual relationship among various GSCMBs for each dimension of GSCM implementation. The results of ISM are used as an input to fuzzy matrix of cross-impact multiplications applied to classification (MICMAC) analysis, to identify the driving and dependence power of GSCMBs.\nFindings: This paper has identified 14 key GSCMBs and developed an integrated model using ISM and the fuzzy MICMAC approach, which helps to identify and classify the important GSCMBs and reveal the direct and indirect effects of each GSCMB on the GSCM implementation. ISM model provides only binary relationship among GSCMBs, while fuzzy MICMAC analysis provides precise analysis related to driving and dependence power of GSCMB, to overcome this limitation, integrated approach is developed.\nResearch limitations/implications: ISM model development and fuzzy MICMAC analysis were obtained through the judgment of academicians and industry experts. It is the only subjective judgment and any biasing by the person who is judging the GSCMBs might influence the final result.\nOriginality/value: This is first kind of study to identify GSCMBs and further, to deploy ISM and fuzzy MICMAC to identify and classify the key GSCMEs that influence GSCM implementation in the organization. The results will be useful for business managers to understand the GSCMBs and overcome these GSCMBs during GSCM implementation in an organization.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Self-determined leader motivation and follower perceptions of leadership	[ "Leadership", "Motivation", "Self-determination theory", "Multilevel modelling", "Full-range transformational leadership theory" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Much leadership literature focuses on how leaders can motivate subordinates, and a great deal of research supports the basic tenets of transformational leadership in achieving this outcome (see Judge and Piccolo, 2004). Transformational leadership is linked to organizational- and individual-level outcomes such as positive employee attitudes and improved performance (e.g. see Barling et al., 1996; Kelloway et al., 2012). A critical assumption underlying the transformational leadership literature is that leaders themselves are motivated - not just to hold the position of leader but also to be transformational leaders. In this study we examine the validity of this assumption and address the nature and effects of leaders' own motivation. Importantly, leaders may vary in their motivation to be effective in a leadership role, leading to different levels of performance and leadership outcomes. We further examine leader-rated self-determined motivation as a predictor of follower-ratings of transformational leadership, filling a gap in the literature where little is known about its antecedents (Nielsen and Cleal, 2011).\nSDT: SDT (Deci and Ryan, 1985; Ryan and Deci, 2002) distinguishes between intrinsic motivation, which is inherently autonomous, and levels of extrinsic motivation, which lie on a continuum from controlled to autonomous (Ryan and Deci, 2000). Autonomy involves having the experience of choice in one's work, whereas control involves feeling a sense of pressure in what actions one must engage in (Gagne and Deci, 2005). Controlled motivation is represented by external and introjected regulations. Externally regulated leaders are driven by rewards and punishments (Deci and Ryan, 1985) such as job security, a promotion, or to avoid losing their job. Introjected leaders may exhibit good leadership because they will feel guilty if they do not, or because they feel it is their duty to be a good leader (Gagne et al., 2015). Autonomous motivation consists of integrated and identified regulations as well as intrinsic motivation. Identified leaders are likely to be effective because they see the value of good leadership (Ryan and Deci, 2002). Integrated leaders are likely to feel that being a good leader is a part of who they are, that it fits with their life goals, and will bring them fulfillment (Gagne and Deci, 2005). Finally, intrinsically motivated leaders are effective because they find leadership inherently satisfying, enjoyable, or interesting (Gagne and Deci, 2005). The various levels of regulation may each influence leader behavior differently (Gagne and Deci, 2005), and thus lead to differences in follower perceptions of leadership style.\nFull-range transformational leadership theory: Significant evidence supports the tenets of Bass's (1990) transformational leadership theory and the positive outcomes of this leadership style at both individual- and organizational- levels (see Barling et al., 2011 for a review). The transformational leadership style comprises four dimensions (Bass, 1985): idealized influence (doing the right thing); inspirational motivation (encouraging employees to achieve levels of performance beyond their own expectations); intellectual stimulation (challenging employees to think about old problems in new ways; and individualized consideration (helping to meet employees' individual needs). Positive effects of transformational leadership include greater affective commitment and job satisfaction in followers (Bono and Judge, 2003). Gagne and Deci (2005) argued that transformational leaders particularly support followers' autonomy, which may contribute to these positive outcomes.\nMotivation for transformational leadership: Motivation for transformational leadership (Gilbert and Kelloway, 2014; Gilbert et al., 2016) integrates transformational leadership theory and SDT to describe leaders' self-determined motivation to perform well in a leadership role. The current study aims to replicate previous work on the construct (Gilbert et al., 2016) by predicting aggregated follower-rated perceptions of leadership as the criterion in a multi-level design and by examining these relationships in two organizational contexts.\nMethod: Organizational context\nResults: Means, standard deviations, and intercorrelations for the level one and level two study variables are presented in Tables II and III.\nDiscussion: The findings suggest that across two contexts, some autonomous forms of motivation are positively related to active-constructive leadership and negatively related to passive-avoidant leadership and that some controlled forms of regulation are negatively related to active-constructive leadership, consistent with Gilbert et al.'s (2016) findings. Although the leaders' own motivation may not be explicit to followers, it is likely to influence leadership behavior and followers' perceptions of the leader. Further, since the effects of leadership are likely mediated largely through employee perceptions (e.g. Kelloway and Barling, 2000), leader motivation may also influence other follower outcomes, such as attitudes and performance.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: A critical assumption of the organizational leadership literature is that leaders want to engage in effective leadership behaviors (Gilbert and Kelloway, 2014). However, leaders may vary in their motivation to be effective in a leadership role, leading to different levels of performance. Drawing on self-determination theory, the authors address the question of what motivates leaders to engage in transformational leadership behaviors (Gilbert et al., 2016). The paper aims to discuss these issues.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The current study examined the effects of self-determined leader motivation for transformational leadership on aggregated follower leadership ratings using a sample of 37 leaders matched with 179 followers in two organizations.\nFindings: Results show how leaders' own motivation relates to followers' perceptions of leader behavior, and specifically that, across contexts, some autonomous levels of leader motivation are positively related to follower perceptions of leaders' active-constructive leadership and negatively related to follower perceptions of passive avoidant leadership.\nResearch limitations/implications: The research is limited by a small level-two sample size and cross-sectional design. The results suggest that some forms of leader motivation relate to follower ratings of leadership behavior.\nOriginality/value: This study is the first to examine how self-determined motivation for transformational leadership predicts follower perceptions of leadership behavior using a multilevel design.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Open innovation in small and medium enterprises: a bibliometric analysis	[ "Literature review", "SMEs", "Bibliometrics", "Open innovation" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) play a paramount role in the development of current and future economies (Bruque and Moyano, 2007). Contemporary firms are constantly evolving. This requires not only a flexible and adaptable workforce able to quickly respond to customers' changing demands, but also technological expertise and financial resources, which, conversely, tend to be limited (Vrgovic et al., 2012). In this context, open innovation (OI) is seen as a solution to these challenges, enabling companies to foresee the threats of the market and strengthen their business models (van de Vrande et al., 2009). As Chesbrough (2003) describes, OI represents an innovation paradigm shift from a closed to an open model.\nMethodology: Bibliometric analyses study the bibliographic material quantitatively (Broadus, 1987), providing a general overview of a research field according to a wide range of indicators. By adopting a bibliometric approach in this study we aim not only at determining the most relevant literature in the area and different streams, but also at identifying the main authors, the leading journals and the institutions that are at the forefront of OI in SMEs. This approach is very useful as a way to get a quick overview of the state of the art of a particular field. Additionally, the main findings can be very valuable for newcomers in the field as well as for developing research policies connected to OI and SMEs.\nResults: The following section is structured in two main parts. First, we describe the results from the bibliometric analysis. Accordingly, the most influential journals, the most cited articles, and the most productive and influential authors are presented. Later information concerning the most relevant institutions, most productive countries and most relevant keywords is summarized. The second part of this section summarizes the main topics covered by the articles obtained through the bibliometric analysis. After carefully reading all articles, they were labeled depending on their focus, identifying four main themes in which to classify the existing literature on OI in SMEs. As such, we distinguish: impact of OI on firm performance and on organizations' structure; OI as a mechanism to hasten new product development; the analysis of the inbound/outbound dimensions of OI; and legal issues related to intellectual property right (IPR) management when OI is implemented.\nDiscussion: The global economy requires companies to quickly implement innovation and anticipate customers' demands. Compared to large companies, SMEs have the additional challenge of facing these demands with, typically, fewer resources. In this context, OI seems to be a suitable alternative for SMEs to create value, as it allows firms to bring ideas from the outside, permits access to new markets, expands the network, and contributes to improve internal processes. All these activities can be performed at a much lower cost than that of developing the idea internally. Given the relevance of OI in helping SMEs develop, this paper aims at providing a comprehensive overview of the existing literature on this topic, and the identification of the main authors, journals, institutions and countries interested in it.\nConcluding remarks: The ultimate purpose of this paper has been to provide a comprehensive and critical review of scholarly research on OI in SMEs. To do this, we have reviewed 112 academic articles published between 2007 and 2017. We have analyzed the articles from different perspectives, providing some general information such as the most prolific authors, the journals that publish this type of research, the most popular countries among others. We have then grouped these articles according to four thematic areas, and we have outlined several avenues for future research.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The open innovation (OI) paradigm suggests that firms should use inflows and outflows of knowledge in order to accelerate innovation and leverage markets. Literature examining how firms are adopting OI practices is rich; notwithstanding, little research has addressed this topic from the perspective of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Given the relevance of SMEs in worldwide economies, the purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive overview of research on OI in SMEs.\nDesign/methodology/approach: In total, 112 academic articles were selected from the Web of Science database. Following a bibliometric analysis, the most relevant authors, journals, institutions and countries are presented. Additionally, the main areas these articles cover are summarized.\nFindings: Results are consistent in that the most prolific authors are affiliated with the universities leading the ranking of institutions. However, it is remarkable that top authors in this field do not possess a large number of publications on OI in SMEs, but combine this research topic with other related ones. At the country level, European countries are on the top together with South Korea.\nResearch limitations/implications: Despite following a rigorous method, other relevant documents not included in the selected databases might have been ignored.\nPractical implications: This paper outlines the main topics of interest within this area: impact of OI on firm performance and on organizations' structure, OI as a mechanism to hasten new product development, the analysis of the inbound/outbound dimensions of OI, and legal issues related to intellectual property right management when OI is implemented.\nOriginality/value: The study uses a combination of bibliometric indicators with a literature review.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The complete customer journey: avoiding technology and business barriers to measure the total value of media	[ "Innovation", "Customer service management", "Internet marketing", "Measurement" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: The notion that online media can lead to offline sales is one that has been gaining popularity among online marketers - particularly among those who are eager to show the ever increasing potential of the internet. Google has published numerous reports reflecting this idea, and multiple companies, including Nielson (Swedowsky, 2009) and ComScore (Abraham, 2008), have set up controlled studies to investigate the effects of online media on offline buying behavior.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This article aims to further discussion on viable methods for marketing measurement that account for the complete customer journey by exploring common technology and communication barriers and solutions.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Extensive industry experience with technical and business methods, referenced in cited case studies, and research on available methods of tracking, also cited, informed the analysis contained within the article. The article is intended as a jumping off point for further conversation and debate.\nFindings: - Internal (author informed) case studies, and current industry offerings reveal that extant technology and standard business practices prevent the development of a total value model of marketing measurement. These barriers must be corrected before a complete picture of media efforts can be realized.\nPractical implications: - A total value model of marketing will require correcting for extant insufficient technology, and coordinating data and knowledge integration between business departments, to facilitate analysis of both online and offline marketing, and discern the value of individual media along the customer journey that lead to sales.\nOriginality/value: - This article consolidates and pinpoints the crucial barriers to a method of marketing measurement that reveals online and offline media value along the entire customer journey. It offers solutions, for C-level executives and marketers, to these barriers, and suggests that the most critical factor is internal business knowledge and practices.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
An investigation of migrant entrepreneurs: the case of Syrian refugees in Lebanon	[ "Immigrants", "Developing countries", "Entrepreneurship", "Entrepreneurial intention" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: According to the UNHCR (2017), there are 65.3m forcibly displaced people around the world. Even though most refugees find their way to Europe, some non-European Mediterranean countries - such as Lebanon - are welcoming large numbers of them despite their small size. Indeed, more than 60 per cent of the world's refugees are currently huddled along the eastern (and southern) rim of the Mediterranean Sea. These people, who number more than 10m, include Palestinians, Iraqis, and, more recently, Syrians who have fled violent conflict in their countries (Chatty, 2017). Lebanon is now home to the highest number of refugees per capita in the world. According to the UNHCR (2017), in 2015, Lebanon was hosting 1,070,854 refugees and 12,139 asylum seekers. The Lebanese Government claims that 500,000 further refugees were informally present in the country, increasing the estimated total to around 1.5m. According to the same report, this was why, on 6 May 2015, the UNHCR suspended the registration of new refugees at the Lebanese Government's request (Yahya et al., 2018). Indeed, 30 per cent of the Lebanese population is currently made up of displaced Syrians.\nLiterature review: In the case of those populations the entrepreneurship of which tends to be underestimated in a given national context - by the women or immigrants - Jones and Spicer (2009) underlined the fact that, before establishing their motivations, their context must be examined. It is in their very determinist relationship to an often socially and politically restrictive context that these populations learn to build their agency and bring their motivations to the foreground. Socio-constructivist theory defines agency as a process of individuation that is aimed at making a unique contribution and that manifests itself in a critical relationship with standards and conventions (Giddens, 1984). Through agency, individuals define their actions as a more or less critical answer to a certain determinist perception that they have of their environment. The perception of an omnipresent determinism inhibits the choices of individuals (Giddens, 1984). Through agency, individuals can invent surrounding areas of action that signal a certain resistance to an environment that is perceived, to some degree, as deterministic and alienating.\nMethodology: The aim of this study is to uncover whether refugees in Lebanon consider starting their own businesses instead of finding salaried employment, what are their motivations to do so, and to identify the barriers they encounter in doing so. The most appropriate method to achieve this research objective is an explorative quantitative study aimed at gaining information on certain attitudes, experiences and knowledge (Kelley et al., 2003).\nResults and interpretations: The figures and results reported in this section should be interpreted with caution due to the collected data pertaining to the formal self-employed activities of refugees in the informal Lebanese economy.\nDiscussion: Obviously, those sample Syrian refugees who had some kind of entrepreneurship formation within their families seemed to possess a willingness to start new businesses in Lebanon. This study affirms the existence of a certain entrepreneurial spirit among them, one willing to show itself in the presence of a favourable environment. Certainly, this was aimed at regaining their autonomy and confidence, as pointed out by Geyer (2016), and also at avoiding unemployment and discrimination. Additionally, the average remuneration of the Syrian labour force was far below that of the Lebanese. This confirms the proposition held by Oxenfeldt (1943), who was the first to recognise that unemployed individuals or individuals with low prospects of paid employment may become self-employed to earn a living.\nConclusion: Lacking a unified plan over the past five years, the Lebanese Government has instigated a series of policies aimed at dealing with the constant flow of large numbers of Syrian refugees. These policies - which affect the refugees' residency status, employment, housing and access to services such as health and education - have primarily been dictated by security concerns, political deadlock and the structural challenges linked to providing for a sudden and expanding influx of vulnerable population groups. Although Lebanon has provided a safe haven for refugees, these policies have also contributed to their increasing vulnerability and marginalisation. This paper tried to answer the following question:\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to answer the following question: what motivates refugees to create their own businesses in a developing country, and how do they go about it?\nDesign/methodology/approach: A quantitative study was conducted before Syrian refugees in main camps in Lebanon. The self-administrated survey was translated into the Arabic language to fit the respondents understanding of the questions asked and answers choices. Closed questions with nominal ratio and Likert scales were used to gather the primary data in the line of the study of Wauters and Lambrecht. The data were analysed with a logistic regression analysis under SPSS.\nFindings: The findings show that 71 per cent of Syrian refugees seem to have a willingness to start a new business in Lebanon. The respondents are mostly young, with 62 per cent being between the ages of 18 and 35. Most of them are men (66.67 per cent) against 33.33 per cent of women. 60 per cent have already been entrepreneurs, and they are mostly motivated by earning a living but in the sector they used to work in before in their home country. Finally, the obstacles seem to be linked to financial and administrative issues, but also to the local policies. However, the fact that they share some cultural values with Lebanese such as the language or food, allow them to integrate easier and to create social bonds.\nResearch limitations/implications: The research is limited by the fact that the authors cannot generalise the findings since the Lebanese environment is very different from other countries' environment. Besides, the Syrian refugees share already a lot of values and lifestyle with Lebanese. So, the authors cannot transpose their case to other ethnic population. Also, the study is limited by the lack of a gender statement and the link between the education level and the decision of creating a new business.\nPractical implications: The authors propose some recommendations to the Lebanese Government and NGOs in order to facilitate and support the entrepreneurship actions of refugees shortly after they arrive to Lebanon.\nSocial implications: This paper confirms the importance of social ties in encouraging entrepreneurship in the case of refugees.\nOriginality/value: In this paper, the authors make four contributions to the academic debate: first, the authors studied the entrepreneurial motivations of refugees in a middle-eastern developing country while the other studies have focussed upon the adaptation of such individuals in a western and developed environment. Second, the refugees are motivated by pull and push factors at once as the authors discussed in the precedent section. Third, although adaptation to the Lebanese culture is easier, resilience is nevertheless needed due to the Lebanese Government's policies, which forbid refugees to work in the country. Fourth, with regard to migration studies in general, this paper stands half way between the various studies conducted on ethnic entrepreneurship, immigrant entrepreneurship and refugees. Indeed, the authors brought together many concepts such as social bonds, social capital, culture, political environment, and the service industry. On the managerial level, the findings allow the institutions and the government to target those refugees who show an appetence to entrepreneurship to stimulate their action, shortly after arriving in Lebanon, as their entrepreneurial intent decreases with the time they spend, often unemployed, in the host country. Should government policy change, both the integration of refugees, and entrepreneurship in general would benefit.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
User participation and valuation in digital art platforms: the case of Saatchi Art	[ "Technology acceptance model", "Meaning transfer model", "User participation", "Online art market", "Young and emerging artists" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: While consumers have benefited from new products or services with improved technological functions, at the same time, extra commitment for consumers is often required before adopting and using such products or services (Moreau et al., 2001). In market research, consumer adoption of technology is practically important for marketing managers of firms because of the close linkage between consumer attitudes about technology and their purchase intentions (Arts et al., 2011). Thus, previous research has attempted to conceptualise the determinants and process of new technology adoption and acceptance, proposing the technology acceptance model (TAM) (Davis, 1989), TAM2 (Venkatesh and Davis, 2000) and the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (Venkatesh et al., 2003).\nTheoretical background: Drawing on the theoretical insights of the TAM and MTM, this study expands the scope of previous research on arts marketing into user participation and curatorial direction in the digital environment in terms of conceptualising the valuation of artworks.\nResearch design and method: In this paper, we conduct a qualitative study of Saatchi Art as an instrumental case for theorising user participation in the online art market. It is an online platform for trading visual artworks created by young and emerging artists. Working from the philosophical assumption of constructivism, we use the logic that Stake (1995) developed when conducting a case study. Therefore, our qualitative case study can be characterised as holistic, interpretive and empathic.\nThe case of Saatchi Art: Saatchi Art has led the online art market for young and emerging artists' artworks. Saatchi Art is ranked sixth place in the digital art platform ranking (Hiscox, 2016). The online gallery presents artworks without any limitations in terms of quality and genre so as to encourage young and emerging contemporary artists. As a result, in 2015, there were over 60,000 young and emerging artists and around 500,000 original and contemporary artworks on the platform. A commerce-oriented business model (Wirtz and Lihotzky, 2003) is adopted by Saatchi Art: artists are charged 30 per cent commission on their sales. In terms of the quantity of artworks sold, the online gallery has had a lead on most brick-and-mortar galleries (Hudson, 2013).\nDiscussion, conclusions and research implications: Four main points of discussion are raised as a result of our analysis of Saatchi Art. First, empirical findings of our case study in view of the TAM suggest that users' intentions to use digital art platforms are reinforced by their usefulness and ease of use. Saatchi Art proves to be useful in overcoming barriers to transactions, such as geographical distance, asymmetric information and the intimidating cultural atmosphere of the offline gallery. With regard to users' perceived ease, Saatchi Art builds trust by assuring situational normality which is drawn from its interface (the adoption of a typical interface of e-commerce website) and the atmosphere of fostering users' appreciation of artworks. While such technological functions are important drivers for users' intentions, the TAM cannot fully explain why users select Saatchi Art among many platforms. According to Gefen et al. (2003), increased familiarity of a website through exposing e-vendors in advertisements and articles contributes to building trust in it, which corresponds with users' perceived ease of using the website. Similarly, in the online health-care community, doctors' professional articles contribute to increasing users' satisfaction (Johnson and Lowe, 2015).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of digital platforms on the contemporary visual art market. Drawing on the theoretical insights of the technology acceptance model, the meaning transfer model and arts marketing literature, the authors conceptualise the role of user participation in creating the meaning and value of contemporary artworks in the online art market.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors conduct a qualitative study of Saatchi Art as an instrumental case for theorising. It is an online platform for trading visual artworks created by young and emerging artists. The data for this study were collected through direct observation and documentary reviews, as well as user comments and buyer reviews from Saatchi Art. The authors reviewed 319 buyer comments Art and 30 user comments. The collected data are supplemented with various secondary sources such as newspapers, magazines, social media texts and videos.\nFindings: The growth of digital art platforms such as Saatchi Art provides efficiency and accessibility of information to users while helping them overcome the impediments of physical galleries such as geographical constraints and intimidating psychological environments, thereby attracting novice collectors. However, users' involvement in the process of valuing artworks is limited and still guided by curatorial direction.\nResearch limitations/implications: The first limitation of this research is that the data in this research cannot capture interactions between users, though users' intention to use Saatchi Art is affected by the social influence of other users. Second, this research has not examined artists as users of digital art platforms and their interactions with other types of users. Artists' intention to use the online platform might be underlined by enhancing their status in the peer group or seeking legitimacy in the field by following other artists and getting recommendations from important referents.\nPractical implications: The outcomes of this research suggest that newcomers in the online art market should acknowledge that users' intention to use the online art platform is determined by not only technological usefulness of the website but also the symbolic capital of the information provider.\nOriginality/value: User participation in the online art market is guided by curatorial direction rather than social influence. This confirms re-intermediation of marketing relationships, highlighting the role of new intermediaries such as digital platforms in arts marketing.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Intellectual capital reporting in a mandatory management report: the case of Germany	[ "Regulation", "Recommendations", "Management report", "Mandatory", "Requirements", "Voluntary reporting" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between intellectual capital (IC) reporting and certain company characteristics in a mandatory management report in Germany, regulated by the German Accounting Standard GAS 15 (GASC, 2010a). This standard is part of the German reporting regulation for listed companies with limited liability and requires additional narrative information on corporate performance. The study analyses what information in GAS 15 can be characterised as IC reporting, how listed German companies report on their IC with regard to required, recommended and voluntary IC components, given certain company characteristics. In a previous German study, a working group on \"Accounting and Reporting of Intangible Assets\" called for IC reporting, particularly in management reports (Arbeitskreis Immaterielle Werte im Rechnungswesen, 2005). However, the IC reporting literature has not investigated IC reporting in Germany, in the context of management reporting regulations.\n2. Literature review: 2.1. Research on IC reporting\n3. Analysis of GAS 15 for IC components: 3.1. Development of the German management reporting regulation\n4. Research design: 4.1. Sample\n5. Results: 5.1. IC reporting by reporting types\n6. Conclusion: This study aims to investigate company characteristics for IC reporting in a mandatory management report. The German mandatory management report, regulated by the standard GAS 15 for consolidated management reports, offers a unique research setting to examine IC reporting given the regulatory status of individual IC components. To achieve the research aim, the concept of IC developed in the international literature, with the categories: structural, relational and human capital, is applied to the German management reporting standard. The analysis of GAS 15 shows that IC components are included in the German regulation as required and recommended reporting. German companies also report on additional IC components beyond the management reporting regulation, classified as voluntary IC reporting.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationships of company characteristics to intellectual capital (IC) reporting in a mandatory management report. Based on the relevant regulation in Germany, IC components of the mandatory management report can be characterised as being partially required, partially recommended and partially voluntary.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A content analysis of 428 group management reports of listed German companies was conducted for required, recommended and voluntary IC reporting. To investigate the relationship of certain company characteristics to IC reporting, this study conducted a regression analysis considering company returns, size and industry.\nFindings: The findings show that structural capital dominates total IC reporting in Germany. This observation is in contrast to prior literature, in which relational capital has been found to be most frequently reported. However within the sub-group of voluntary IC reporting in German companies, relational capital has the highest proportion. The regression results show that company returns show no effect on IC reporting, but size and industry group are significantly related to IC reporting.\nResearch limitations/implications: The findings indicate that IC reporting requirements and the relatively stringent German regulatory recommendations influence corporate IC reporting behaviour. The findings provide a basis for further discussion by standard setters regarding the extent to which requirements and recommendations on individual IC components seem to encourage IC reporting.\nOriginality/value: This study utilises the unique research setting in Germany with a mandated management report to distinguish between required, recommended and voluntary IC reporting.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Organizational diagnostic factors in family business: Case studies in Thailand	[ "Organizations", "Family firms", "Thailand", "Organizational development", "Change management" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Organizational diagnostic factors are factors that need to be explored in order to understand existing strengths and weaknesses of the organization before any changes can take place. The purpose of the diagnostics is to give some clues regarding the existing organizational situation that can either promote or block the oncoming changes.\nRecommendation: From the research findings, in order to find factors that will affect change management in the organization, the managers and practitioners have to explore factors that are beyond existing factors in the model of change. This is to prevent the failure in diagnostics that will finally lead to unsuccessful change management.In a specific business like a family business, change agents (no matter whether internal change movers or external consultants) especially have to devote more time to the organizational diagnostics process since there are lots of personal issues involved. Moreover, the operation together with the decision making in family business, is usually distracted by the ownership system which can sometimes cause many difficulties in business management in a family business. Consequently, in order to manage changes in family business successfully, it is crucial that change agents understand the entire organization in its aspects.From the six factors found in our study - communication, generation, ownership, family structure, politics and national culture - it can be seen that a family business is different from other businesses as it consists of ownership and business system within a single business. These two systems can also cause some overlap between the family and organizational structures (see Figure 1).Therefore, in order to understand family businesses not only do the issues concerning the business need to be analyzed, but also other aspects of the family. How the family is structured, from what generation is the family leader and the degree of ownership involvement in the business, are also important aspects that should not be overlooked in the diagnoses. Moreover, another three factors found from the study: communication, politics and national culture, are also essential to Thai family business diagnostics as these factors represent another dimension that can affect change management.By carefully analyzing all organizational factors found, change agents can set up an action plan according to the diagnostics in order to make use of enablers and reduce the impact of the barrier to change. The change agents subsequently develop a step change management implementation procedure.From the results of the study, the step recommended to manage change in a Thai family business is to analyze family structure involved in the business.Each family business has a different family structure, some family businesses are owned by one single family, which makes the ownership of family quite simple. On the other hand, family businesses that are owned by multiple families usually have quite complex structures. Therefore, by studying the family structure in a family business, change agents can estimate the degree of politics and ownership power in the family. Moreover, when the family structure is diagnosed, change agents will also know the generation of the leader and degree of power distance toward other members.Besides analyzing family structure, other recommendations and a process to manage change in a Thai family business will be proposed in the next issue.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - To examine organizational diagnostics taken from the best practice model of change as organizational diagnostic factors in a specific type of business such as family businesses. These account for many of companies in Asia and are regarded as a special from the mixture of management focus on business, family and ownership.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - In order to manage changes in family business successfully, the organizational diagnostic factors are analyzed from executives' in-depth interviews with Thai family businesses that implement new IT systems.\nFindings: - Communication, generation, ownership, family structure, politics and national culture are six diagnostic factors in Thai family businesses that are not the same as the model of change.\nOriginality/value: - Consultants and change agents in family businesses, especially in Asia, can use these factors as an additional guideline for their effective change management.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The impact of financial restatement on auditor changes: Iranian evidence	[ "Corporate governance", "Audit firm size", "Restatement", "Auditor change", "CEO change" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The financial statements of companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange suggest that financial statements are more likely to be for companies with annual adjustments. Although responsible for the preparation and presentation of the financial statements of a management's firm, audited financial statements, a joint product auditee and the auditor will be considered. A company may want to enhance the quality of auditing and restoring its reputation after announcing financial restatements to public investors and therefore may apply to dismiss its auditor. Restatements have a significant impact on a company, which may impose severe costs on firms. In common views, it depends on the type of restatement as it can often decrease the audit quality.\n2. Theoretical issues, literature review and hypotheses development: Economic decision makers always need reliable information to make reasonable and logical decisions. Providing such information is exclusive to economic companies and enterprises, and the information users rely on the financial information (Salehi et al., 2017c). As such, auditors lend credibility to financial information. Audited financial statements are used to ensure transparency regarding the financial information of firms, so audit quality is an important aspect in the field of audit and capital market (Salehi et al., 2017b).\n3. Samples and models: The study period includes 2008 to 2014. Table I presents the sample selection. Total of observations is 2,212 firm-years.\n4. Data analysis: First, the descriptive statistics of collected data have been explained. When a mass of quantitative data is collected for research, their organization and summarization are necessary so that it is significantly understandable. Descriptive statistic methods are used for this purpose. In general, the purpose of descriptive statistics is identification of studied variables and summarizing the collected data.\n5. Hypothesis testing: In this study, dummy dependent variable, the logistic regression is used. R software is used for data analysis. Akaicke information criterion (AIC) of three models of General Logistics Systems (GLS) panel models with fixed and random effects will be compared. AIC is a measure of the relative quality of statistical models for a given set of data. AIC estimates the quality of each model, relative to each of the other models. Hence, AIC provides a means for model selection. Lower Akaike value indicates that the model is better.\n6. Conclusion: In this study, the effect of financial restatement following on a year after an auditor change has been discussed. If the restatement is due to mistakes that are considered an audit failure, the client is expected to change their auditor after the financial restatements.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to examine the effect of financial restatement on changing the auditor in the following years.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study uses data of 105 companies (735 company-years) listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange collected during the period 2008-2014. Logistic regression is used to test the hypotheses.\nFindings: The results of hypotheses present that restatement does not cause auditor changes and that as the severity of a restatement increases, the auditor change in the following year of restatement also does not increase. Restating companies having strong governance do not go for auditor changes as compared with other companies. In addition, in companies that are restating, non-big auditor changes are not more likely than a big auditor. Also, in companies restating simultaneous with a CEO turnover, there is no possibility of auditor change. Furthermore, multinomial logistic regression showed that the adjustments resulting from the correction of errors and changes in procedures and the amount of adjustments do not cause auditor change in the following year. So, the results have shown that the restatement is not an important factor in changing auditor the next year.\nOriginality/value: The current study analyses the impact of financial restatement on auditor changes in a deep manner in a developing country like Iran.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A cloud-based supply chain management system: effects on supply chain responsiveness	[ "Cloud computing", "Case studies" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The production and delivery of products or services in a timely fashion and at a minimum total cost is one the critical objectives for many companies (Christopher, 2016). The adoption of lean management practices strategies can yield positive outcomes, but the global supply chains of today are not sufficiently responsive to satisfy the requirements for short lead times needed by lean strategies (Reichhart and Holweg, 2007). With the substantial advances in Information Technology (IT) and digital communication platforms over the past decade, there is a growing awareness that supply chain performance could be improved with the successful adoption of such technologies (Qrunfleh and Tarafdar, 2014; Hsu et al., 2014; Dwivedi and Mustafee, 2010).\n2. Literature review: Over the past decade, the long-held dream of computing as a utility of Armbrust et al. (2010) and Sharif (2010), and its disruptive potential to transform a large part of the IT industry (Buyya et al., 2008; Fox, 2009; Yeo et al., 2009; El Kadiri et al., 2016) have attracted high interest by enterprises. The cloud disruptive business model (Kiss et al., 2015) of making software as a service and forming the way IT hardware is designed and purchased has increased the potentialities to reshape the way enterprises acquire and manage their computing requirements (El-Gazzar, 2014; Alshamaila et al., 2013; Armbrust et al., 2010). In line with the shared services, cloud computing is considered an innovative model for IT sourcing that generates value for adopting enterprises (Schneider and Sunyaev, 2016). Garrison et al. (2012, 2015), referring to cloud, highlighted the fact that productivity can be increased as the enterprises can focus on their core business activities; additional benefits could be the scalability, flexibility, agility and simplicity offered to the adopting enterprises (Garrison et al., 2012; Venters and Whitley, 2012).\n3. Research method: In this study, we develop a C-SCM approach; therefore, we followed an exploratory rather than a confirmatory method to show the effects of a C-SCM on the three dimensions of SCR. A case study approach of a real company was utilised in a cloud-based environment, which involves common logistics activities of a selected company from the retail fashion industry located in London, UK (for confidentiality, it will be called hereafter K&E). A series of case scenarios were analysed to explore how the components of the proposed approach interact to improve SCR. The case study supports this research by identifying and familiarising with the organisational background, functions, relationships, processes and the architecture of the case company, and by providing ground for refining and reshaping the initial C-SCM conceptual approach (e.g. Eisenhardt, 1989; Ketokivi and Choi, 2014). Building our C-SCM conceptual approach on a case study is deemed as the most appropriate in this topic area, as the links between the cloud and SCR are not clear yet, and it is mostly researched from an internal responsiveness perspective (Gonul Kochan et al., 2018). Through the case study approach, we will be able to provide freshness in perspective to an already researched topic from an external responsiveness perspective.\n4. A cloud-based SCM (C-SCM) system: For the development of the initial approach of a C-SCM, we adopted a sequential analytical method. First, we formulated the generic inter-organisational design embedded in an overarching cloud-based platform. Then we defined the roles of each of the modules within the C-SCM, and generated a detailed description of their responsibilities. The interaction between these modules was subsequently modelled by analysing several example case scenarios.\n5. Implications of C-SCM on the SCR dimensions - an analysis: In the previous sections, we discussed the multiple implications of a cloud approach for the SCM, and how this approach could enhance the responsiveness of the supply chain (SCR). This section provides an analysis linking the C-SCM to the three dimensions of the SCR. A three-step analytical process has been followed to examine effects of the C-SCM on SCR. First, the existing mode of the supply chain operations under investigation was identified, as well as areas of underperformance of the existing operations. The final step involved the identification of typical supply chain scenarios with the help of managers of the firms, and subsequently the incorporation of the use of the C-SCM, to explore the extent of which the three dimensions of SCR are affected. Each step followed the following inductive process:\n6. Implications for theory and practice: Based on the conceptual grounding of SCR, the C-SCM approach and the analysis of the case-based scenarios, several implications for theory and practice can be drawn from this study. The proposed approach and the results of the case scenarios suggest a future research agenda for further exploration.\n7. Conclusion: The global environment at the beginning of the twenty-first century has undergone a series of radical changes that exert significant pressure on organisations, including fierce global competition, shorter product lifecycles, increasing customer expectation, fluctuating inventory and changing costs. Organisations have to demonstrate the greater capability to handle these challenges in order to stay competitive and continually survive in the market. To this end, they have to be responsive enough to satisfy customised and ever-changing demands from the market. Therefore, establishing a supply chain with great responsiveness has become a core strategy to gain a competitive advantage for most of the organisations.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Despite the ongoing calls for the incorporation of the cloud utility model, the effect of the cloud on elements of supply chain performance is still an evolving area of research. The purpose of this paper is to develop the architecture of a cloud-based supply chain management (C-SCM) ecosystem and explore how it enhances supply chain responsiveness (SCR).\nDesign/methodology/approach: First, the authors discuss the potential benefits that cloud computing can yield, compared to existing mature SCM information systems and solutions through a comprehensive literature review. The authors conceptualise SCR in terms of the level of visibility in the supply chain, supply chain flexibility and rapid detection and reaction to changes, and then the authors build the detailed architecture of a C-SCM system. The proposed ecosystem introduces a view of SCM and the associated practices when transferred to cloud environments. The potential to enhance SCR through the cloud is explored with scenarios on a case of supply chain operations in fashion retail industry.\nFindings: The findings show that the proposed system can enhance all three dimensions of SCR. Implications for supply chain practice and how companies can migrate to a cloud supply chain are drawn.\nOriginality/value: Given that the development, creation and delivery of goods and services are increasingly becoming a joint effort of several parties in a supply chain, the authors contribute to the existing literature by introducing a comprehensive C-SCM system and show how companies can enhance their SCR.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A supply chain performance measurement approach using the internet of things: Toward more practical SCPMS	[ "IoT", "Supply chain", "Performance measurement", "SCOR model" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Shapiro defines a company's supply chain (SC) as \"dispersed facilities where raw material, intermediate products, or finished products are acquired, transformed, stored, or sold and transportation links that connect facilities along which products flow\" (Shapiro, 2001). SC management has been defined as \"the integration of the key business process from end user through original suppliers that provides products, services and information that add value for customers and other stakeholders\" (Stock and Lambert, 2001). To evaluate the effectiveness of SCs, many PM models and approaches have been developed, such as the balance scorecard (BSC), the supply chain operations reference (SCOR) model, etc. All these models were developed to provide the means to choose the appropriate metrics, define functions, or business processes whereby the necessary information can be retrieved to determine whether the SC has improved or degraded, identify success and potential strategies, facilitate understanding of the situation, direct management attention, revise company goals, reengineer business processes, and enhance effective and efficient decision making, not only at the management level but also at the operational level (Lapide, 2000; Chan, 2003; Marwah et al., 2012). However, due to the complexity and dynamism of SCs, many obstacles have been encountered to efficient supply chain performance measurement (SCPM). Some are related to identifying a balanced set of metrics that can satisfy integration and collaboration among and within SC members. Other problems are technical, and relate to poor data collection, dispersed IT infrastructure, poor communication, and poor visibility. Another risk relates to the structure and integrity of data due to its large size and diversity of sources (Lohman et al., 2004).\n2. Literature review: Within a few decades of the emergence of SCM, SCPM frameworks, and models have been extensively studied and a steady stream of related research has been published (Lapide, 2000; Chan, 2003; Gunasekaran et al., 2004; Kaplan and Norton, 2006; Gunasekaran and Kobu, 2007; Hall and Saygin, 2012; Agami et al., 2012, etc.). In the vast array of literature on SCPM (Ramaa et al., 2009; Arzu Akyuz and Erman Erkan, 2010; Kurien and Qureshi, 2011; Lauras et al., 2011; Estampe et al., 2013; Najmi et al., 2013), a variety of attempts have been made to classify the developed models. Najmi et al. (2013) categorized them into five types: perspective-based, Six Sigma-based, process-based, uncertainty theory-based, and hierarchy-based models. Agami et al. (2012) divided these into two categories: financial and non-financial. The latter was divided further into nine types based on their measurement criteria, the most important being BSC and SCOR.\n3. IoT in SC management: The term \"Internet of Things\" was coined by Kevin Ashton in 1999 to refer to uniquely identifiable, interoperable, connected objects using RFID at Procter & Gamble's SC (Ashton, 2009). The IoT offered a promising solution for all systems related to SC, such as manufacturing systems, transportation systems, performance management systems, and others (Da Xu et al., 2014).\n4. SCPM approach framework: This section presents a framework for the overall SCPM approach enabled by IoT (Figure 1). The framework consists of two main parts: the proposed approach, and a data collection and communication model for IoT-enabled performance metrics.\n5. Case study: The simplified SC of a beverage was used as a case study scenario for the proposed approach. The SC represented a single business unit consisting of a raw material supplier and packaging material suppliers, a production plant, a distributer, and five retailers, two of whom were active with higher demand and the others with standard demand. The manufacturer received the required materials from suppliers and produced the beverage product set to expire 12 days from production time (e.g. natural milk products). Following packaging, the finished products were transported to a distribution center (DC), from where each customer (retailer) was served. The products were made to stock and were ordered by the retailer as a theoretical final customer in this case study (Figure 4).\n6. Scenario results and analysis: The simulation model was built assuming random demand with maximum and minimum values coming through each retailer. The products were assumed to store their identity in a tag containing product expiry information. Two types of retailers were defined: active retailers, who had high demand, and non-active retailers with lower demand. Potentially expired products (three remaining days) could be moved from non-active retailers to active ones to sell at high-demand outlets.\n7. Contribution and future work: PM is an essential element in effective planning, control, and decision making and is considered a major challenge in dynamic ecosystems, such as SCs. SCPM requires enabling two integrated levels of detection capabilities. The first at the organizational level to monitor and control individual entities, and the other at the holistic level to simultaneously monitor, plan for, and integrate all SC members. To develop SCPMSs, it is necessary to coordinate the SC in order to achieve operational, spatial, and hierarchical integration. A PMS that satisfies these requirements in real time was the ideal for research in previous decades. However, the development of process-oriented SCPM models (e.g. the SCOR model), the availability of international standards to identify the automated interface between enterprise and control systems (i.e. ISA-95), and IoT technologies can help realize this ideal.\n8. Conclusion: This work introduced an approach to develop an SCPMS. The approach departed from some practical ideas to analyze SCs based on PM perception and determine a balanced scorecard that links SC business objectives to its operational objectives. It uses the SCOR model as the tool to ascertain metric data. In other words, data were assembled directly from an SC's business processes along with all its entities, hence achieving the desired integration. To directly communicate at the operational level, this approach used ISA-95 to identify information and the stakeholders, represented by an object that can be perceived using IoT technology. Therefore, it enables automatic, real-time data collection.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to introduce a more practical approach for supply chain performance measurement (SCPM) and to approve the promising role of internet of things (IoT) technologies in SCPM systems.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This is a conceptual paper that includes literature review analysis, designing a new approach for SCPM, and a case study scenario for proving its applicability.\nFindings: The case study scenario shows that IoT can enhance SCPM, as it has the capability to enable real-time data collection, increase data efficiency as long as enable real-time communication within the supply chain (SC).\nPractical implications: The proposed approach can help to develop performance measurement systems and applications enabled by IoT technologies. These systems can be used to monitor, manage, and control the overall SC in real time and in a more integrated and cooperative manner.\nOriginality/value: This paper provides a structured systems building approach tailored to show how to employ IoT technologies in the field of SCPM. This approach could help in establishing new performance measurement applications, and it is believed that both practitioners and researchers will benefit from it.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Apportionment in property valuation: should we separate the inseparable?	[ "Asset valuation", "Property", "Real estate" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: Companies with interests in property have various reasons to obtain insight in the value components of a property. One reason can result from tax-related issues. Companies often write off buildings by basing their calculation on the value of the improvement disregarding the value of the land. This method relies on the assumption that land does not wear out and does not need to be written off. Another reason to analyse a property and establish a division between the value of land and the value of improvements arises when determining the risk structure of the investment. Many investors have found that land investments involve different risks than investments in improvements. Therefore, owners and capital lenders have often sought for clarity about what part of their capital is invested in buildings and what part is invested in land.Currently the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) is debating whether IAS 17 should include directives to split property leases into a part for land and a part for building. Although this might not directly be a valuation issue, many of the same issues arise.In many different ways the notion that property merely consists of land and building and that therefore value can be structured in the same manner asserts its influence on today's economy.1.1 Aim of the paper\n2 Background: 2.1 Property valuation\n3 Apportionment in practice: In international valuation practice, two apportionment methods can be distinguished. Both methods aim to divide the value of a property into a building portion and a land portion.3.1 Residual apportionment theory\n4 Apportionment in theory: 4.1 Rust\n5 Recommendations: 5.1 International financial reporting standards\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - Property valuers are often asked to allocate portions of the market value of a property to parts of the subject property. This paper aims to illustrate that the market value of a property cannot be divided into a market value for the land and a market value for the improvement.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Apportionment methods that exist in practice are briefly addressed and shortcomings are identified. Also theory that was developed for valuation and apportionment purposes is discussed and evaluated. From a combination of theory and practice conclusions are drawn and recommendations are made.\nFindings: - The combination of theory and practice show that the existing apportionment methods are unreliable tools for property analysis. Some suggestions are made concerning tools that might replace apportionment in property analysis.\nPractical implications: - Apportionment plays an important role in property investment and finance decisions. Due to the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) apportionment will have a strong role to play in financial reporting and through this it will influence management and investment decisions indirectly. This paper shows that apportionment methods are not reliable and that important decisions should not be based on results from apportionment methods. Valuers should no longer supply these apportionments unless the client fully understands the shortcomings of the method used. On the other hand, clients, their advisors and auditors should no longer ask for value apportionments, as there are far more reliable alternatives.\nOriginality/value: - The property profession has been struggling with apportionment theory for years. At this time IFRS introduces a strong need for value apportionment. Therefore, this is the time for the property profession to thoroughly investigate the shortcomings of existing apportionment methods and to come up with alternatives. This paper is an attempt to do just that.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Understanding the achieving styles of Chinese millennials and implications on HRM policy: A life course perspective	[ "Millennials", "Human resource management", "Achieving styles", "Chinese workforce", "Life course perspective" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Chinese millennials, also known as \"Generation Y,\" the \"New Generation\" or the \"post-80\" generation, refer to those born after the year 1979, during China's one-child policy, and sometimes stereotyped as \"little emperors who has a glass heart\" (Liu et al., 2012). Scholars have argued that they are not just spoiled, but also very unpredictable. Chinese millennials at work have developed a strong sense of self-importance, and entitlement (Wang et al., 2018). Although \"employers complain that little emperors have been raised with such high expectations that they make poor hires\" (Fong, 2016, p. 95), Zhao (2018) has found that there is a discordance between Chinese millennial employees and older generation employees, which affect employee attitudes and behaviors in the workplace. Moreover, Fok and Yeung (2016) found that millennials' specific needs, such as career development, attractive recruitment packages and proactive training opportunities, are difficult to predict and manage for human resource management (HRM) managers. All of these make exploring the behavioral differences of Chinese millennials in the job setting relevant and urgent for organizational scholars and practitioners, especially when they make up for more than half of the employee population in China (Warner and Zhu, 2018).\nLiterature review: The achieving styles model\nMethod: Sample and procedure\nResults: Comparisons between millennials and Generation X\nDiscussion and conclusion: Conclusion\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Matching with the timeline of major events in China, as well as major shifts in China's human research management, the purpose of this paper is to present the comparisons of achieving styles among Chinese millennial employees, millennial university students and Generation X employees.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Drawing from the achieving styles literature as well as the life course theory, this study first proposes hypotheses on specific differences in nine achieving styles. The authors tested by using data from 889 millennial employees and 364 millennial students from five cities in China.\nFindings: The results showed that the power direct achieving style stood out for the Chinese millennials, and the competitive direct achieving style ranked higher for Generation X. Moreover, millennial employees had higher scores for all nine achieving styles than millennial students.\nPractical implications: This study advises that when motivating Chinese millennial employees, human resource managers can create a competitive environment and provide career planning guidance, and that to better assist millennial university students to socialize, human resource managers can develop matched internship programs.\nOriginality/value: The paper contributes to the life course literature and the achieving styles literature by comparing the differences among Chinese millennial employees, university students and Generation X.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The bank that likes to say yes to expansion: Growth centers on cadre of young and enthusiastic managers	[ "Retention", "Growth", "Recruitment", "Banking", "Awards", "Employee development" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: A rapidly expanding Indian bank is seeking to become the world's best by recruiting young, dynamic and professional people who are at home working across organizational boundaries to give the highest quality of service.\nCombating high attrition: The bank seeks recruits who have strong interpersonal skills, knowledge of the financial services industry and a decent academic record. To combat high attrition rates - which particularly affect managers aged 25-35 years - the bank often recruits existing employees' friends or relatives, as these people tend to be more concerned about the company.\nCareer advancement and recognition program: Ongoing training ranges from the purely operational to softer people management skills including communication skills, discipline and team-handling abilities.\nRigorous performance appraisal: Yes Bank uses 360-degree performance appraisals extensively. These help not only in basic processes such as recruitment and attendance but also in tracking assignments handled and succession planning. One performance indicator measured is the employee's potential to fill a more senior role. Executive reviews cover their strategic customer and leadership approaches, processes, values and beliefs.\nBonding to share best practice: Yes Connect provides executives with a platform to bond and share best practice to enhance individual and team productivity. It takes the form of an evening get-together where all executives from the respective branch or office recognize and applaud team members who have shown exemplary achievement at work.\nMost technologically advanced bank in India: My Voice is an intranet initiative aimed at helping Yes to become the most technologically advanced bank in India. It provides executives with an easy-to-use platform to log inquiries and grievances and the way they are dealt with.\nKnowledge-exchange platforms: Employees can have regular health checks at selected hospitals at a discounted rate. Stress-management training is also provided regularly. Private health insurance is available for employees and their families, and all employees are covered by life insurance. All the bank's offices are ergonomically designed to ensure workplace health and safety.\nNote: Alok Kumar Goel works at the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research- Human-Resource Development Center, Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, India. He studied for his PhD in knowledge management and human capital creation at the Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee. He was highly commended in the 2013 Emerald/European Foundation for Management Development outstanding doctoral research awards in knowledge-management category. He has published nine papers in international journals and 25 papers in the proceedings of leading international conferences. His research interests include knowledge management, innovation and human resource management. Alok Kumar Goel can be contacted at: alokgoel2006@gmail.com\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify the steps taken by human resource (HR) managers at India's Yes Bank to enhance employee retention and to create an environment conducive to growth.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Information gathered from semi-structured interviews has been presented.\nFindings: This paper reveals how Yes Bank has transformed its working environment through innovative HR practices.\nPractical implications: The approach adopted by an emerging Indian bank to address various HR issues has been detailed, and it is shown how the bank responded to changes and challenges in the internal and external environments.\nSocial implications: This paper explains that Indian banks are about to come under increasing competitive pressure, as limits on foreign direct investment are relaxed.\nOriginality/value: This paper provides plenty to interest practicing managers, researchers and students in HR management, organizational behavior and industrial relations.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Relationship marketing readiness: theoretical background and measurement directions	[ "Relationship marketing", "Service logic", "Measurement directions", "Promise theory", "Relationship marketing readiness" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In 2015, I described the purpose of relationship marketing as:\nPromise theory and relationship marketing: In 1986, Henrik Calonius published the promise theory for marketing in a conference publication from the 15th annual conference of the European Marketing Academy. Two decades later, this publication was republished in a marketing journal (Calonius, 1986/2006). According to the promise theory, marketing is based on the exchange of promises as well as on the fulfillment of promises, where the interplay between promise making and how promises are kept is critical to successful marketing. In a conventional marketing approach, based on the marketing mix notion and, for example, the 4 P model, the promise theory has not been explicitly voiced. The model includes the product variable, which is expected to fulfill promises that have been made through the other variables more or less automatically. Hence, keeping promises has not been considered a problem, and marketing has predominantly been a promise-making function.\nService logic and relationship marketing: Berry (1983) introduced relationship marketing in a service context. Services are processes that include a series of actions and interactions by the service provider and the customer, where tangible resources and physical and digitalized systems as well as people form the service in interactions. The importance of service to relationship marketing was recognized early on, for example, in the Nordic school research tradition (Gronroos, 1989). Relationships are based on service, and service is relational. \"Customer relationships are not just there; they have to be earned\" (Gronroos, 1990, p. 4)ba. They are earned through service.\nA relationship marketing model: In the Nordic school research approach, the marketing requirement of the promise theory and the notion of the importance of service in forming and especially maintaining and enhancing relationships with customers were recognized early on. Subsequently, a formal relationship marketing model was published; Figure 1 illustrates an updated version of this model (Gronroos, 2015).\nRelationship marketing readiness factors: As the relationship marketing model shows, successful marketing requires that the service provider's resources and processes help its customers create value in their processes (value-in-use). Two factors are enough to assess a firm's readiness for relationship marketing, namely, whether management's focus is dominated by an insight into the customers' processes and resources or by the firm's resources and processes and, on the other hand, whether or not management has a thorough focus on the customers' definition of quality.\nThe relationship marketing readiness assessment grid: In the upper part of Figure 2, the two factors developed in the previous section are combined into a RMR grid. The expected position of customers is in the upper right quadrant. The customers can be expected to be focused on their processes and resources (toward the right-hand side of the horizontal axis; the focus on the firm's or the customers' resources and processes) and on their definition of quality (toward the upper side of the vertical axis; the focus on the customers' or the firm's definition of quality). Because the customers expect the firm to support their processes to a high enough degree, such that wanted value emerges for them, this is a natural customer position in the grid.\nOutside-in vs inside-out management: The reasons why firms position themselves, both mentally and operationally, toward the bottom left corner in the grid may be many. On one hand, a firm may be genuinely product- and technology-oriented. On the other hand, this may also be caused by the management approach taken. Maintaining and enhancing relationships with customers require a service perspective, and as service profit logic (Gronroos, 2015) states, unlike in conventional product manufacturing, when adopting a service logic, many business processes outside the fields of sales and traditional external marketing are simultaneously cost and revenue drivers. The whole host of interactive processes and back office support processes do not only influence the cost level, or the firm's internal efficiency, but they also have an impact on the quality perceived by the customers and therefore also on customers' willingness to pay for what they get. In other words, these processes drive revenues as well, and influence the firm's external effectiveness. In conventional marketing, managers are used to a situation where sales and marketing drive revenues, and other business functions only drive costs, as long as these processes provide sales and marketing with a marketable product. In relationship marketing, as in service marketing, this is not the case.\nMeasurement factors: In this section, a number of measurement factors within the two broad fields of quality focus and resource focus are proposed. Although the RMR grid is equally applicable to consumer and business-to-business relationships, for the sake of clarity, the proposed measurement elements are geared toward analyzing business relationships only. Detailed scales are not discussed. Instead, the elements of a measurement instrument that covers how management and the firm are focused are outlined. The list is not intended to be conclusive; it is only indicative of what types of aspects are important to think about when the firm plans to measure its readiness to implement relationship marketing. In any given situation, other factors might very well be included and some factors in the list be omitted. The following is the list of factors:\nConcluding remarks: As the promise theory demonstrates, for marketing to be successful, promises that have been made must be properly fulfilled. In relationship marketing, as an ongoing process, there is no singular product, as in a conventional marketing model, that guarantees successful promise keeping. Instead, the interaction process in the relationship marketing model, depicted in Figure 1, is responsible for how promises are fulfilled as well as how relationships are maintained and enhanced. Therefore, in the present commentary, I have concentrated on this critical aspect of a marketing process. Unless a firm is prepared to keep promises successfully - in conventional marketing through a product and in relationship marketing through an ongoing interaction process - it is not fully prepared to implement marketing. Because of its critical importance to the successful marketing process of how promises are fulfilled, the RMR assessment model presented here covers the firm's readiness to keep promises. In parallel, assessments of how well promises - made through, for example, sales, marketing communication and price offers - are fulfilled are of course also important.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to develop the foundation of a model for assessing relationship marketing readiness (RMR) and provide directions for such an assessment.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Based on the promise theory and service logic, the importance of the customer-firm touchpoints and interactions to relationship marketing as an equivalent to the product variable in a conventional marketing approach is discussed. Then, a relationship marketing model and an RMR assessment model are developed.\nFindings: The paper suggests an RMR assessment model based on two variables, namely, whether management's focus is on the customers' or the firm's resources and processes and whether it is on the customers' or the firm's definition of quality. An indicative list of measurement factors is proposed.\nOriginality/value: The paper emphasizes the need to broaden the scope of marketing and offers a novel measurement approach, which both in theory and practice helps the development of relationship marketing understanding.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Word associations with "organic": what do consumers think of?	[ "Organic vegetables", "Organic food", "Organic meat", "Word associations" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The sales of organic food products are increasing and eating organic is becoming more popular (Hughner et al., 2007). Research about organic food is extensive, mainly focussing on the reasons for buying organically produced food. These reasons are called \"motives\". This research showed that the concern for health and well-being is central to consumers' purchase motives (Hughner et al., 2007), that consumers differ in their level of experience and knowledge regarding organic food, that consumers with different levels of experience perceive organic food differently (Zanoli and Naspetti, 2002), and that these perceptions have an effect on attitudes towards eating organic, which in turn influence the intention to purchase organic food (Lee and Yun, 2015). Though previous research provides insight into the motives to buy organic food and how individuals perceive organic food, consumers' word associations with organic food and how central these word associations are perceived to be have not been given much attention.\n2. Method Study 1: word associations, psychological distance, and values: 2.1 Participants and design\n3. Results Study 1: 3.1 Word associations\n4. Method Study 2: centrality ratings: 4.1 Participants and design\n5. Results Study 2: Word associations related to \"environment\", \"health\", \"honesty\", \"pesticide use\", \"sustainability\", \"quality\", \"naturalness\", \"additives\", \"origin\", \"certification\", and \"taste\" were central across all food groups (Table IV). In line with results from Study 1, \"animal welfare\" was central to both food and meat, but not to vegetables. \"Price\" and \"lifestyle\" were uniquely central to food. \"Check-up\" and being \"unprocessed\" were central to meat and vegetables, but not to food. \"Nutrition\" was rated central only to vegetables. Word associations were generally rated lower on the centrality scale for food than meat or vegetables. These lower centrality ratings imply that the word associations overall were less central to the concept of organic food compared to organic meat or organic vegetables, and thus more psychologically distant. This is in line with the construal-level theory (Trope and Liberman, 2010).\n6. Discussion: Research into organic food has largely focussed on consumers' motives to purchase organic food (see Hughner et al., 2007 for review). However, using construal-level theory as a psychological approach to understand what consumers think of in relation to the concept \"organic\" has not been done. Insights in the associations that consumers have provide knowledge about what information consumers need to make well-informed choices regarding food intake.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the word associations that consumers have with organic food, organic meat or organic vegetables, and how these associations differ between food type and consumer groups. Construal-level theory was used as a theoretical framework to interpret the associations. In addition, consumer groups were compared on psychological distance, values, age, and gender.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Two studies were performed. In Study 1, a sample of 154 participants filled out the words that came to their mind when thinking of organic food, organic meat or organic vegetables, and psychological distance and values were measured. In Study 2 these words were rated on centrality by an independent sample (n=52).\nFindings: Consumers think of animal welfare, price, health, pesticides, and naturalness the most when thinking of organic. The environment, health, honesty, pesticides, sustainability, quality, natural, additives, origin, certification, and taste were central across organic food, organic meat, and organic vegetables. Thinking of organic meat showed consumers' concern for animal welfare, while thinking of organic vegetables showed concern for human health. Consumer groups differed regarding psychological distance, values, gender, and age. Consumers who frequently bought organic food were more positive about organic food products compared to consumers who occasionally or hardly ever bought organic food products.\nOriginality/value: This research extends the scope of current consumer research about organic food and provides new insight in the word associations consumers have with organic food products.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Active bidders versus smart bidders: Do participation intensity and shopping goals affect the winner's joy in online bidding?	[ "Consumer behavior", "Affect" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Imagine two eBay shoppers, Michael and Jessica. Michael actively bids, counterbids and ultimately wins the item, whereas Jessica places a single bid right before the auction ends (viz., sniping) and wins. Who enjoys the most satisfying buying experience? Now, further imagine that before Michael started bidding, he had been searching eBay for a particular digital camera brand, while Jessica, browsing the site with no particular goal, accidentally encountered some nice sunglasses and impulsively placed a bid. Again, which bidder would experience more positive affect and pleasure from winning the auction? Would it be Michael after his searching and multiple-bidding, or would it be Jessica after her browsing and single-bid? Consider another scenario: What if they were buying the products not for themselves but as gifts for someone else? Would that affect their pleasure in winning? Both consumers and managers have interests in the answers to these questions. From the consumer perspective, auction participants will recognize that they may form affective biases from over-heated participation or well-calculated, determined actions in bidding processes. From the marketing perspective, auction hosting sites will better understand how bidding frequency shapes winners' post-purchase satisfaction, a known key antecedent for repurchases, customer loyalty, and recommendations (Blackshaw, 2008; Fang et al., 2011; Oliver, 1980).\nActive bidder versus smart bidder: consumer use of heuristics: Considerable research on online auction bidding behavior has documented that multiple biddings and last-minute sniping dominate the auction (Ariely and Simonson, 2003; Bajari and Hortascu, 2003, 2004; Heyman et al., 2004; Roth and Ockenfels, 2002). Bidders often rationally choose snipe bidding to avoid bidding wars; multiple bids are also common and deeply linked with emotionally loaded mental states in which bidders become highly excited and intensely gripped with desires to win, a mental disposition known as \"bidding frenzy\" (Popkowski Leszczyc and Haubl, 2010). Online bidders are profoundly heuristically driven in their psychological responses to the auction process (Lee et al., 2013; De Dreu, 2003). Although extant research has focused on how rational and frenzied bidding behaviors influence product valuation, the current work examines how individuals use such behaviors as a heuristic for inferring post-auction affect.\nStudy 1: The purpose of Study 1 is to test rival hypotheses - the active-bidder hypothesis (H1.1) and smart-bidder hypothesis (H1.2). The hypotheses are tested by using eBay auction scenarios.\nStudy 2: Study 2 has two purposes. First, this study replicates and generalizes the findings from Study 1 (H1.2) using a different product: digital camera. Second, and more important, Study 2 tests whether the smart-bidder effect observed in Study 1 is moderated by the consumer search mode (Browsing vs Searching mode; H2). Study 2 uses a 2 (Active Bidder vs Smart Bidder) x 2 (Browsing Mode vs Searching Mode) between-subjects design.\nStudy 3: The aims of Study 3 are two-fold. First, Study 3 replicates and generalizes the findings from Study 1 (H1.2: the smart bidder effect) and Study 2 (H2: Smart vs Active bidder x Browsing vs Searching mode) using an essentially different product: sunglasses. Second, and more important, Study3 tests whether the latter interaction is further moderated by the purchase occasion (H3: Purchase for Oneself vs Others). Study 3 uses a 2 (Active Bidder vs Smart Bidder) x 2 (Browsing Mode vs Searching Mode) x 2 (Purchase for Oneself vs Gift for Loved One) between-subjects design.\nStudies 4A and 4B: The objective of Studies 4A and 4B is to conceptually replicate the smart-bidder effect in a more ecologically valid setting. In online-auction simulations used in Studies 4A and 4B, participants make their own bidding decisions using various amounts of money.\nGeneral discussion: The present research tests two competing hypotheses stemming from two lay theories: the active-bidder hypothesis and the smart-bidder hypothesis. The former predicts that consumers who participate more (vs less) in the bidding process will experience more positive affect when they win the bid, relying on the effort heuristic in forming their affect (the greater the effort invested, the more positive the affect). The latter predicts the opposite effect, however, because bidders may rely on the efficiency heuristic (the lower the cost, the more positive the affect). The findings generally support the smart-bidder hypothesis across three different product categories: LED TV, digital camera and sunglasses. Furthermore, consistent with Lee and Ariely's (2006) shopping-goals theory, this heuristic-driven effect is absent when bidders have concrete shopping goals by being in searching (vs browsing) modes and when they are bidding for items for themselves (rather than for gifts for someone else). But when either of these two necessary conditions (searching and buying for self) is unmet, the heuristic-driven, smart-bidder heuristic might dominate. In addition, the smart-bidder effect was sufficiently robust to be observed even when the bids are made at will.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to contrast two lay theories of how consumers draw affective inferences about their online bidding experiences. The active-bidder theory (smart-bidder theory) predicts that after winning a bid, highly (minimally) participative bidders would be more satisfied than minimally (highly) participative bidders.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Four experiments test two competing hypotheses, the active-bidder hypothesis and the smart-bidder hypothesis (Study 1), identify a condition that mitigates the observed effects (Study 2), identify when the mitigation is effective or ineffective (Study 3) and replicate the findings in a scenario-based study where participants are allowed to make actual bidding decisions (Studies 4A and 4B).\nFindings: The findings support the smart-bidder hypothesis across three different product categories; however, this heuristic-driven effect is absent when bidders have concrete shopping goals. The effect was sufficiently robust to be observed even when the bids are made at will.\nResearch limitations/implications: The present research does not incorporate the widely adopted procedure of second-price auction (also known as proxy bidding in the eBay setting), a system that allows the highest bidder to win the auction but pay the amount of the second-highest bid.\nPractical implications: Online consumers should be mindful that entering the minimum number of bids not only helps consumers avoid overbidding but also elevates their joy in winning after the auction ends.\nOriginality/value: Prior research on bidding behavior on online auction sites has yet to examine how different bidding dynamics affect consumers' post-auction satisfaction. This research sheds light on the psychological process underlying the robust phenomenon: online auction consumers rely heavily on proxy signals. Bidders appear to use the efficiency heuristic in constructing their affective judgments of their buying experiences.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Authentic leadership for teacher's academic optimism: Moderating effect of training comprehensiveness	[ "Commitment", "Authentic leadership", "Teacher", "Training comprehensiveness", "India", "Academic optimism" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The effectiveness of schools forms the foundation of a nation's socioeconomic development. Many scholars have focused on those factors that affect schools' overall performance (Chin, 2004; Woolley et al., 2011). However, in an era of ambiguity regarding roles and goals in developing nations such as India, schools tend to remain dependent on the efficiency of their teachers to meet their goals. Teachers' roles with respect to their students' achievements are often considered as the primary influencing factor (Varghese, 1996; Kingdon, 2007). In India, schools established under the \"sarva sikhsha abhiyan\" (education for all) and \"district primary education programmes\" have risen dramatically in an attempt to provide additional human capital for the nation (Kingdon and Muzammil, 2013; Sulochana and Raman, 2013). The Indian Government has taken considerable efforts to raise investments to a higher percentage of gross domestic product, yet the efficiency and overall performance of these schools are still far below expectations (Chin, 2004; Priya, 2013; Srivastava and Dhar, 2015a). Higher rates of absenteeism, low teacher commitment and poor motivation to teach are factors that worsen the situation (Glewwe et al., 2010; Rana and Das, 2004). Because the primary school is the fundamental element governing the overall development of educational systems in developing nations, there is a need to identify those ethical and perceptual dilemmas or factors that are hindering teachers from performing with higher efficacy and commitment (Priya, 2013).\nTheoretical foundation: Authentic leadership\nHypotheses formulation: Authentic leadership and affective commitment\nMethod: Sample and procedures\nResults: Confirmatory factor analysis\nHypothesis testing: Next, we conducted HRA to test the hypothesis while controlling variables for age, education tenure and gender differences. The main effect examination revealed that AL has a significant positive effect on AC (B = 0.45, t = 12.42, p < 0.001), supporting H1. Table IV shows the results from the mediation test via the regression model (SPSS PROCESS). As shown, AC directly and significantly influenced AO (B = 0.61, t = 14.54, p < 0.001), supporting H2. AC acted as a significant mediator as AL indirectly affected AO via the mediation of AC. Thus, H3 stands supported. This indirect effect was positive (B = 0.273, p < 0.001). The two-tailed significance tests revealed that the indirect effect was significant. The bootstrap results favoured the significance, with 99 per cent confidence interval (CI) around the indirect effect that contained zero (0.215, 0.332). Therefore, H1, H2 and H3 were supported.\nDiscussion: As a successful scenario in one country might not be successful in another country or region, we targeted Indian primary schools and examined what factors influenced teachers' AO in an Indian context. Our study intended to analyse the impact of AL over AO through the mediating role of AC and perception of TC as a moderator. The mean scores indicated that the teachers' sense of AO in Indian primary schools was low, specifically at the level of collective efficacy (mean = 2.97, s = 0.49). Consistent with the findings of Hoy et al. (2008) and Srivastava and Jaiswal (2015b), it was found that the teaching staff members in schools, specifically in government primary schools, need a push to increase their collective sense of efficacy, trust in students and parents and academic emphasis to attain academic excellency at work. As specified in the SCT, behaviours are the results of the replication of the actions of others; authenticity in leader/principals was hypothesised to inspire optimistic behaviour by their teachers.\nConclusion: To conclude, we would quote a statement by Phillip II of Macedonia, \"An army of deer led by a lion is more feared than an army of lions lead by a deer\". Through this study, we put forth that if the principal is authentic in his or her leadership and stays true to self and others, he or she may lead the whole educational system effectively. An authentic leader can play a vital role towards stimulating AO through employees AC towards their school. Based on the results of regression analysis, we infer that by introducing an AL style in the primary schools of India, teachers can not only attain AO at a higher level but also support the sustainable development of our socioeconomic scenario based on ethics. The study also indicates that an employee's perception for TC can strengthen the commitment of employees and increase AO. This will increase the collective efficacy. Considering the limitations of the study, our study exhibits better prospects when looking at the various aspects of AO and AL.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This study aims to analyse the impact of authentic leadership (AL) on academic optimism (AO) through the mediating role of affective commitment (AC). As this study also examines the moderating role of training comprehensiveness (TC) in strengthening the relation between AC and AO.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Data were collected from school teachers and their immediate principal and were further analysed through confirmatory factor analysis and hierarchical regression analysis.\nFindings: Data analysis provided significant support to the hypotheses presented in the study. AC partially mediated the link between AL and AO, and TC moderated the linkage between AC and AO significantly.\nOriginality/value: This study provides novel basis to improve the overall functioning of schools and teachers' performance. It provides ways to improve the overall AO in Indian schools.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Understanding perceived casino service difference among casino players	[ "Service quality assurance", "Casinos", "Gambling", "Gender", "Player type", "Chinese people", "Customer services quality", "China", "Consumer behaviour", "Leisure activities" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: To date, despite the rapid development of the Asian gambling market, there has been a noticeable imbalance in the attention given to the study of Chinese consumer behaviors in the casino gaming industry in the Far East, particularly in the service research stream. Who would have imagined a few years ago that a former Asian fishing village would now become the world gambling capital, offering a blend of Asian and Las Vegas style casino experiences (Lam and Vong, 2009, Loi and Kim, 2010)? It all began with the opening of the first Vegas-like casino gaming establishment - Sands casino - in Macau, China (Jalal, 2008). However, the success of Macau's gambling industry remains unclear, as little empirical research has been observed to date in examining Chinese gamblers' perceptions and behaviors in regard to this lucrative high-contact service encounter.The literature has widely acknowledged that the Chinese, especially Chinese men, are fanatic about gambling (Papineau, 2005; Lam, 2007). The Chinese affinity for gambling may be driven by both intrinsic and extrinsic motivations such as belief in luck and instant financial reward (Ozorio and Fong, 2004; Papineau, 2005). However, the literature has largely ignored the importance of casino service elements, such as the built environment, employee service delivery, game service, and food service, particularly in the context of Asia. Sumptuous yet intimately designed service offerings not only fulfill consumers' pleasure-seeking needs (Hashimoto, 2008), they also entice favorable service quality perceptions. As a consequence, well-managed services have been consistently found as a key strategic proposition that leads to customer loyalty (Bitner, 1992; Hightower et al., 2002; Zeithaml and Parasuraman, 2004; Hyun, 2010) and ultimately positive financial outcomes (Rust and Chung, 2006).Another gap in the literature appears since gaming studies have largely assumed that the Chinese at-large (non-VIP) mass market is homogeneous (Fong and Ozorio, 2005; Lam, 2005). Hence existing marketing strategies tend to target this group of consumers with a uniform marketing mix and service offerings. This assumption remains unclear; but evidence from the Macau Statistics and Census Service (2009) indicates that while a great number of Chinese visitors flock to casinos, only 7 percent of them reported that their main travel motive was gambling. These statistics may suggest that a great majority of Chinese are not as fanatic about gambling as the literature notes, or that they may be visiting casinos and putting a small bet on the tables or slots, but do not consider themselves to be engaging in hardcore gambling (Wong and Fong, 2010). Hence the Chinese affinity for gambling may be contingent to bet size, as Cotte (1997) contends. A study on this dichotomy - leisure versus hardcore players - could shed new light on the understanding of gambling behaviors and preferences of casino offerings.In addition, the extant literature has revealed gender differences in regard to gambling interest and behaviors (Lai, 2006; Tang et al., 2007). Much of the attention has been focused on male gamblers because they are more willing to take risk and are more likely to develop pathological gambling habits (Powell and Ansic, 1997; Fong and Ozorio, 2005). However, no research to date has studied gender differences on casino services. Elucidating the role of gender on service perceptions, either as a direct or moderating effect, not only could aid in clarifying the prevalent stigmatized view of a male-dominated Chinese gaming social phenomenon (Chu, 2010), but could also help casino operators to better craft their service propositions and justify their marketing efforts more efficiently.The objective of this article is to bridge the chasms in the literature by examining the roles of gambler type and gender in casino service perceptions in the mass (non-VIP) casino gaming market. The results offer scholars and practitioners empirical evidence on perceptual differences between leisure and hardcore gamblers among Chinese players. The direct and moderating effects of gender are also explored. The results are important to both scholars and service operators as they address several important but unanswered issues in gaming studies. This article begins with a literature review regarding casino services and then proceeds with research methods and results. Managerial and theoretical implications are presented in light of the findings.\nLiterature review: The research context\nMethods: Field interview\nFindings: In order to identify different segments of mass gamblers, a K-means cluster analysis was performed. As discussed above, we used the bet limit as a surrogate to classify the two types of non-VIP casino players. This criterion is appropriate because it is a major attribute that differentiates hardcore from leisure gamblers, as both the literature (Cotte, 1997) and our aforementioned interviews suggest. The results of the cluster analysis revealed that casino patrons could be partitioned into two groups:1. leisure gamblers (n=145); and2. hardcore gamblers (n=93).The cross-tabulation presented in Table II shows a significant association between player type and gender in that more male respondents were classified as hardcore players than female respondents, whereas the opposite was observed for leisure players (kh2=4.64(1), p<0.05).To address the research questions, we examined the proposed model through a 2(gambler type: leisure versus hardcore)x2(gender: male versus female) multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA). The gender main effect was not significant. However, significant difference was found among groups in regard to the player type main effect: Wilk's l=0.87, F(5,189)=5.40, p<0.001; e2=9.13 indicated a medium effect size. In addition, the interaction between the two independent measures was marginally significant despite a smaller effect size: l=.94, F(5,189)=2.18, p<0.10.To gain more insight, a series of two-way analyses of variances (i.e. full-factorial analysis of variance) and independent sample t-tests on each factor were administrated as post hoc tests (see Tables III and IV). The results reveal that, in general, respondents rated casino services and satisfaction slightly above neutral. They were most satisfied with the built environment (M=3.80) but least satisfied with the catering service (M=3.18). In addition, leisure gamblers scored significantly lower on game service (Mleisure=3.46 versus Mhardcore=3.65, t(236)=1.94, p<0.10), employee service delivery (Mleisure=3.24 versus Mhardcore=3.60, t(236)=3.55, p<0.001), and food service (Mleisure=2.97 versus Mhardcore=3.49, t(195)=4.80, p<0.001) than their hardcore counterparts. As a result, leisure players were less gratified with the overall casino service than hardcore players (Mleisure=3.45 versus Mhardcore=3.66, t(236)=2.05, p<0.05). In regard to the gender effect, male and female players, ceteris paribus, showed no clear distinction in regard to their perceptions of the service environment, game service, and food service, except that male players were marginally more satisfied with employees' service delivery (Mmale=3.47 versus Mfemale=3.30, t(236)=1.67, p<0.10) and the overall casino service than female players (Mmale=3.62 versus Mfemale=3.44, t(236)=1.80, p<0.10).Although gender does not seem to play a major role in customer service perceptions, the results indicate significant moderating effect of the player-by-gender interaction term on game service (F(3,234)=2.75, p<0.10), service environment (F(3,234)=3.53, p<0.10), and customer satisfaction (F(3,234)=3.90, p<0.10), as Figure 1 shows. For example, while males perceived game service similarly among both types of players, female leisure players were significantly less satisfied with the games provided by the casino than their hardcore counterparts (Mfemale leisure=3.38 versus Mfemale hardcore=3.73, t(116)=2.63, p<0.01). In regard to both service environment perception (Mmale hardcore=3.95 versus Mfemale hardcore=3.66, t(91)=2.06, p<0.05) and customer satisfaction (Mmale hardcore=3.82 versus Mfemale hardcore=3.42, t(91)=2.55, p <0.05), male hardcore players were significantly more gratified than their female hardcore counterparts.\nDiscussion: The principal objective of this article is to explore the roles of casino player type and gender on casino service quality perceptions. The empirical evidence collated in the current study reveals that men and women are fairly similar in their service evaluations. On the other hand, hardcore players generally perceive higher service quality provided by casinos, and therefore, they are more satisfied with the overall services than leisure players. The result is encouraging because hardcore players are willing to spend more, and are therefore more desirable customers, as the literature suggests (Baloglu, 2002, Zeng and Forrest, 2009). However, this premise is only partially correct, as the findings are contingent on the player-by-gender interaction effect. For example, one may mistakenly conclude that hardcore players are more satisfied with the game services, but this is only true for the female patrons. Equally, one may falsely believe that gamblers evaluate casino service environment similarly, but this only holds true for leisure players. In fact, male hardcore players are significantly more gratified about this service dimension than their female hardcore counterparts.Theoretical implications\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper aims to investigate customers' perceptions of four service quality aspects - service environment, service delivery, game service, and food service - in the casino setting among Chinese players.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The study examined the proposed model through a 2(gambler type: leisure versus hardcore)x2(gender: male versus female) multivariate analysis of variance of the four casino service quality aspects.\nFindings: - Based on a sample of leisure and hardcore casino players, the results show significant differences between the two types of patrons on the four casino service dimensions. In addition, significant gender-by-player interaction is revealed.\nResearch limitations/implications: - This study sheds new light on the understanding of the direct and moderating roles of gender and type of casino players on service evaluation in the literature. The research findings should be interpreted with caution as the results are derived from a Vegas-like casino in Macau among a mass-market Chinese casino clientele.\nPractical implications: - The findings extend service research by illuminating perceptual differences in different casino service quality dimensions in the Asian leisure milieu. Casino operators should take customers' gender and player type into account and design service offerings that are more attractive to female and leisure consumers, as they represent a large potential casino clientele.\nOriginality/value: - The findings extend the customer contact model and further the understanding in regard to the service quality perception in the burgeoning casino gambling industry in the Far East.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Developing a research framework for the green maintainability of buildings	[ "Green facilities management", "Green buildings", "Green maintenance", "Green maintainability", "Building maintainability", "Research framework" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nBackground: The \"green building\" concept first emerged in the 1970s when, in an attempt to incorporate sustainable development principles, the construction industry began to design and construct more sustainable buildings (Mendes Silva and Falorca, 2009; Komurlu et al., 2014). The popularity of green buildings continues to grow with the help of globally regulated building-rating systems (Cole, 2012). However, the sustainable operational benefits from green buildings can only be attained through effective and efficient post-occupancy facility operation and maintenance (Hodges, 2005; Lam, 2007; Lai, 2010; Nilashi et al., 2015). Zainol et al. (2014) conclude that the greatest critical barrier in implementing green building maintenance is the lack of maintainability considerations at the design stage. This leads to the interesting inference that even though conceptually green buildings can propagate sustainable construction, a green building is not necessarily sustainably constructed, due to the oversights at the operation and maintenance stages of the building's construction, resulting in lifelong resource inefficiencies and emissions.\nDefining the green maintainability of buildings: Building maintainability vs Building maintenance\nMethod: This study attempts to confirm the knowledge gap in this area and formulate a research framework for the creation of a green maintainability protocol that ensures green FM. The objectives of this paper are as follows:\nResults and findings: Research on the maintainability of green buildings\nThe conceptual framework proposed for the green maintainability of buildings: To address the need for a green maintainability protocol and to evaluate the effectiveness and sustainability of the current practices, this research framework aims to create important knowledge/information and protocol/assessment techniques that are crucial in the selection, development, design, construction and operation of the green features of buildings. The need to systematically quantify the performance of green features is essential in this study, thereby addressing the following research questions:\nConclusion and further research: Emerging literature on green practices and methods is currently receiving attention from academia as well as building and construction practitioners. This study can valuably contribute to the existing theories, practices and methods concerning building maintainability and facilities management. Over the past ten years, there has been a substantial increase of publications on building maintainability, maintenance information and sustainable building maintenance in general. This paper has reviewed existing key literature which guides the identification of a knowledge gap in the field of facility management and the founding of the green maintainability concept. The limited amount of empirical research on the maintainability of green buildings and green building technologies has been highlighted. In effect, the concept of green maintainability and its research framework has been established in this paper. Incorporating sustainability with FM has led to the campaign and practice of green FM.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The aim of this paper is to present a research framework for the green maintainability of buildings. This study makes the case for the development of a new concept called \"green maintainability\". The paper also identifies and discusses the knowledge gap concerning green facilities management (FM). As an integral part of green FM, the economic, environmental and social impacts and opportunities of green maintainability throughout the total life cycle of the facility are also highlighted.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The little attention paid to the maintainability of green buildings has resulted in losses of lives due to occupational health and safety hazards as well as high operation and maintenance costs. To address this issue, this study has conducted a literature review to determine the relevant background knowledge and provides a conceptual framework that will aid in conceptualizing the green maintainability of buildings and the development of a research framework for the furtherance of this concept.\nFindings: This paper finds that there is little research on the maintainability of green buildings, and the studies about the maintainability of green features are nonexistent in current research. This study confirms the knowledge gap of this little-researched area and draws from it the formulation of a research framework for the green maintainability of buildings to ensure green FM. Emerging literature on green practices and methods is currently receiving attention from academia, as well as building and construction practitioners, and can valuably contribute to the existing theories, practices and methods concerning building maintainability and facilities management.\nOriginality/value: This study develops the novel concept of green maintainability, which integrates maintainability and green FM at the planning/design stage. The proposed research framework is the first attempt to investigate the green maintainability of different typologies of buildings and especially green building technologies.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
An investigation of magnet effect via overnight returns: the Malaysian case	[ "ASEAN", "Magnet effect", "Circuit breakers", "Price limits", "Bursa Malaysia", "D43", "D47", "D53", "G14", "G41" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Many stock exchanges around the world employ price limits in a bid to ameliorate unwanted (transitory) volatility, prevent illiquidity, and allay panic. Whether limits succeed in achieving this is disputed due to scant and conflicting empirical evidence. Price limits' proponents invoke the \"cooling-off\" hypothesis coined by Ma et al. (1989) arguing limits dissuade speculative overreactions, panic, noise trading, and price manipulation. Their adversaries claim interruptions arising out of price limits signal a disequilibrium; stock-wise or market-wise (Fama, 1989) - likely due to order imbalance or impending news announcement. Aside from evidence of trading interference and volatility persistence, some studies show evidence of limits as a self-fulfilling prophesy, whereby trading activity is sucked toward the limit by its very existence (Tooma, 2011; Wong et al., 2009, 2016). This, phenomenon, pioneered by Subrahmanyam (1994), is known as the magnet effect. Its opposite - the repellant effect - has been documented by Arak and Cook (1997) in US treasury bond futures and Hall and Kofman (2001) in five agricultural futures contracts in Chicago Board of Trade. However, empirical findings from futures markets are not generalizable for equities, since derivatives are known to have close substitute contracts. For equities, Abad and Pascual (2007) and Huang et al. (2001) find evidence against magnet effect in Spanish and Taiwanese stock exchanges, respectively.\n2. Review of literature: 2.1 Historical backdrop\n3. Objectives: Having outlined the limitations of the existing theoretical and empirical works on the subject matter till date, the objectives of this paper are to examine whether the magnet effect hypothesis exists in the Malaysian market, the intensity (amplitude) of such an effect, and possible asymmetry - that is whether the effect shows distinguishably different patterns for upper and lower limit scenarios.\n4. Rationale of the study: Historically, Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange (KLSE - later renamed as Bursa Malaysia) enacted circuit breaker rules first on May 4, 1989. The stock-specific limits at the time were stipulated at 15 percent per trading session for old listings and 500 percent for new listings. This limit was later doubled to 30 percent on December 15, 1989. From Quarter 1 of 2002, KLSE moved to a three-tiered market-wide circuit breaker is a three-tiered mechanism. Simultaneously, KLSE began migrated to a fully automated trading platform and set a 400 percent upper limit and 30 percent down limit for newly listed (IPO) securities priced over RM1. For below RM1 IPO listings, upper limit was set at 400 percent or 30 sen (cents), whichever is achieved first, and lower limit is 30 sen (cents). In November 2013, Bursa Malaysia further fine-tuned its price limits. While the old limit was simply called price limit, it became known as \"static price limit,\" as another intraday limit was rolled out: dynamic price limit. The dynamic price limit is set: for stocks priced RM1 and above at 8 percent, and for stocks priced below RM1 at 8 sen (cents). Bursa Malaysia justifies this practice through claims of internal study of index movements over a period of time including instances of sudden and sustained deceleration of index as well as a comparative study of international best practices (Asmar and Ahmad, 2012). The claims of the exchange and regulators that the employed price limits aid in tempering volatility in the market are beyond the scope of this paper. However, that claim leaves out the matter of magnet effect hypothesis. This matter is more theoretical due to its ex ante nature. As such, if it is triggered by design is of significant import not just to Malaysian regulators but also academics and regulators worldwide. The last empirical attempt in the Malaysian market by Chan et al. (2005) was based on a sample period 1995-1996. Not only was that sample period very short, its findings are nearly obsolete now in practical terms. As such, a fresh study employing a long-range data set promises a deeper insight into answering the magnet effect puzzle.\n5. Data description and study methodology: 5.1 Sample selection\n6. Results and analysis: Our findings are suggestive of magnet effect in KLSE/BM throughout the three different regimes. A pivotal indicator in identifying the existence of magnet effect, according to our benchmark model, is the coefficient of the overnight returns variable. As shown in Tables II-IV, an increase in the coefficient is observed between the hit and pseudo-hit groups for all three regimes. The rise is most pronounced in Regime 2, and least in Regime 3. This applies to both limit-up and limit-down scenarios. For the upper limit, the coefficient rises from 8.219 to 21.542, from 9.963 to 26.249, and from 5.848 to 15.69 for the three regimes, respectively. For the lower limit, the same effect decreases from -8.319 to -5.667 in Regime 1 and -10.897 to -6.335 for Regime 2, but intensified from -5.157 to -6.392 for Regime 3. The aggression in upper limit coefficient values compared to lower limit could be attributed to constrictions on short selling in KLSE-BM over the sampling period. Short selling was first introduced in 1996 but soon scrapped in 1997 around the Asian financial crisis - corresponding to Regime 1 of our sampling period. It was reintroduced in 2007 (Regime 2 of sampling period) as RSS and is available via securities borrowing and lending mechanism under strict supervision of the exchange's negotiated transactions model. Even then, the privilege of selling short is afforded to institutional investors only. The pool of securities available to short under RSS has been widening gradually since 2013, and the magnitude of overnight returns' coefficients align with the regulatory demands. This is also explainable by the inability of the bears and contrarian contingent of the market to trade (and profit) in tandem with the bearish sentiment.\n7. Managerial implications, limitations, and future research: The findings of this study have implications for portfolio managers, retail and institutional investors, regulators, and policymakers. For investors and managers, the evidence of magnet effect suggests that profitable trading opportunities could be pursued by ganging up on an intraday trade once established following a substantial price swing at a rate near the limit-trigger. Moreover, since short selling is highly restricted, the asymmetric nature of magnet effort suggests a quicker than usual trailing-loss or stop-loss strategy could be beneficial when price pressure is downward. For regulators and policymakers, the evidence of magnet effect finding is unflattering. It suggests that instead of lowering volatility in high-price-change scenarios, the price limits themselves encourage traders to hit the limit price. This is particularly puzzling considering the +-30 percent limit employed in Malaysia is already unusually wide. Widening the limit furthermore would make the practice truly aberrant on a worldwide scale.\n8. Conclusion: Utilizing historical daily dataset of 150 active stocks (1994-2017) in Bursa Malaysia, a liberal exponent of price limits, we employ two benchmark logistic regression models and find statistically significant results suggestive of magnet effect for both upper and lower limits, though the evidence is weaker for lower limits. The findings also are consistent for three separate regimes spanning from 1994 to 2002, 2002 to 2013, and 2013 till now, with the middle period showing greatest conditional likelihood that prices fluctuate by the magnitude of price limit because of its very existence. The findings are consistent with earlier evidence presented by Bildik and Gulay (2006) from Borsa Istanbul; Chan et al. (2005) from KLSE, Cho et al. (2003) from Taiwan, and Xu et al. (2014) from Shanghai. The results suggest that price limits are not the boon as the Malaysian regulators tout them to be, and, in fact, exhibit self-defeating characteristics across all three regimes. The regulators, thus, may want to consider experimenting with other magnitudes of limit or introduce multi-tiered limits based on price, industry, or capitalization, similar to London Stock Exchange.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Magnet effect entails a hypothesis in market microstructure entailing a systemic likelihood of prices being sucked toward the theoretical threshold. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the existence of magnet effect in Bursa Malaysia via overnight returns.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This study investigates the existence of magnet effect via overnight returns in Bursa Malaysia by utilizing historical daily price data from 1994 to 2017 by probabilistic regression approaches. The authors divide the study period into three distinct regimes based on regulatory limit mechanisms.\nFindings: Based on demarcated regimes, the authors find evidence of magnet effect in Bursa Malaysia throughout all regimes, with a heightened magnitude detected between 2002 and 2013. Moreover, upper limit scenarios exhibit a greater propensity for magnet effect. The authors end the paper with implications of the findings for portfolio managers, intraday traders, and policymakers.\nOriginality/value: The research is the first of its kind in attempting to measure the magnet effect in Malaysia via overnight jumps.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Longitudinal evaluation of efficiency in a petrochemical company	[ "Data envelopment analysis", "Malmquist index", "Learning process", "Technological change", "Internal benchmarking", "Petrochemical efficiency" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Companies in the petrochemical industry are constantly seeking to solidify a competitive position due to increased local and global competition. Competition in the industry is a function of petrochemical products presenting low differentiation; consequently, their prices have, in practice, been dictated by the market. Gomes (2011) indicated that the marginal cost is the floor price, determined by the least efficient producer that is able to meet market demands. Accordingly, the results of companies are mainly defined by operating performance.\n2. Literature review: DEA, according to Macedo (2004), is a technique that is spreading rapidly. Charnes et al. (1978) highlighted that DEA is an extension, interpretation, and display of the measure of efficiency proposed by Farrell (1957). Its objective is to compare the efficiency of different units of assessment or analysis, called DMUs. The DMUs are the production elements or units (e.g. restaurant, school, hospital, bank, or industry).\n3. Research method: This research consists of a case study that uses a quantitative approach with descriptive objectives. The research process consisted of four phases: the development of conceptual model, the construction of mathematical model, the application of model to the case, and the analysis of the results. The first procedure consisted of identifying information relating to projects implemented in the plant under study, which changed the technical characteristics of the process. Data were then collected with the date of implementation of the modifications, and this information was used to separate the analysis periods.\n4. Analysis of the results: The results were evaluated by analysis period. Each analysis period used the results of the calculated pure technical efficiency (VRS), inverted efficiency, compound efficiency and efficiency of scale. Because the efficiency calculations by DEA are the result of a relationship, the efficiency values are always between 0 and 1, where a higher value corresponds to greater efficiency.\n5. Final considerations: The use of DEA associated with the Malmquist index proved to be viable for analyzing a single company and identifying efficiency upgrades, as well as the impacts of implementing projects. The statistical techniques did not indicate significant variations, but for capital-intensive industries such as the petrochemical industry, small variations may nonetheless represent significant impacts. This impact can be represented in the form of costs or environmental aspects because most of the industry's raw materials are from non-renewable sources.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to longitudinally assess the technical efficiency and productivity, considering investment projects and technological change, in a second-generation petrochemical company.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study uses data envelopment analysis (DEA) together with the Malmquist index to measure efficiency during the analysis periods. The working method consists of four main phases, namely development of the conceptual model, construction of the mathematical model, application of model to the case, and analysis of the results. The study utilizes a quantitative approach with descriptive goals seeking to evaluate the impacts of technical changes on the operational efficiency and productivity of the production process.\nFindings: The use of DEA associated with the Malmquist index proved to be viable for analyzing a single company and identifying efficiency improvements, as well as the impacts of the learning process and the implementation of improvement projects. However, the results of the improvement projects and learning process were not representative and had no statistical significance on the actual change in efficiency of the company during the periods analyzed. For the case in question, the learning process and continuous improvement were not observed during all study periods.\nPractical implications: The proposition that the improvement projects and investments implemented increased the efficiency of the company was rejected. Hence, with this work, it was possible to determine that the company unnecessarily invested resources in projects to increase efficiency. Furthermore, the company could have explored more internal resources before making significant investments in increased efficiency.\nOriginality/value: As for the value of this research in the theoretical and academic scope, this paper advances knowledge on the application of DEA because it proposes to establish an internal reference benchmarking for comparison. The literature contains few studies that analyze organizations using continuous processes, such as petrochemical processes, in longitudinal studies as a function of time, especially with the use of DEA.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Developing and managing photovoltaic facilities based on third-party ownership business models in buildings	[ "Buildings", "Business development", "Facilities", "Case studies", "Energy", "Equipment" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The building sector accounts for more than one-third of the global energy consumption and is a major source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions believed to be causing climate change (IEA, 2013). With the development of renewable energy technology (RET), the application of renewables alongside other energy efficiency improvements has become a mainstream in the building sector to reduce GHG emissions. For the solar energy sector, roof-mounted solar panels and building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) applications are increasingly popular. Its global capacity is projected to increase to 11,392 MW by 2015 at the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 56 per cent, in which BIPV will become the largest segment accounting for 3,197 MW with a CAGR of 51 per cent (BCC Research, 2011). On one hand, the building sector provides an opportunity for future growth of the RET industry (Lotfabadi, 2015). On the other hand, the fruitful market would intensify the competition for revenue due to an increasing number of new comers to the solar industry. Cucchiella and D'Adamo (2013) highlighted the importance of sustainable supply chain management in improving the profitability of these companies venturing in the renewable sector. By adopting a feasible business model (BM), the RET industry may achieve a financially sustainable operating condition to survive in the competition.\n2. Concepts of \"business model\": Teece (2010) suggested that the essence of a BM is to define \"the manner by which the enterprise delivers value to customers, entices customers to pay for value, and converts those payments to profit\". Demil and Lecocq (2010) identified two approaches of BM as the \"static approach\" and the \"transformational approach\", which are complementary. The former aims to demonstrate the relationship between different configurations of BM components and their performance, whereas the latter focuses on the evolution of the BM in an organization. Zott et al. (2011) summarized that a BM is a mechanism connecting a company's technology to customer needs and/or to other companies' resources.\n3. The roles of ESCOs in building-related PV market: 3.1 ESCOs' scope of business\n4. Case studies: The case study approach is adopted as the appropriate research method in this study, due to its usefulness in investigating contemporary occurrences within a real-life context, particularly when boundaries between phenomenon and context are not apparent (Yin, 2009). In choosing the targets of case study, considerations were made to the energy demand and intensity level, which allow a wide application of effective BMs. Differences in policy backgrounds also highlight the adaptability of BMs. Finally, the choice lies in the need to demonstrate the current stages of development of the solar energy market. With these criteria in mind, the energy markets of the USA and, more recently, China have been closely observed in many studies (Committee on USA-China Cooperation on Electricity from Renewable Resources, 2010; Lin and Ouyang, 2014). Policies integrating efficient energy use and emissions reduction seem more mature in the USA, whereas in China, a more coherent institutional framework is still in progress (Li and Colombier, 2009). In terms of developmental stage, the USA has been using solar power in diverse types of buildings, while the ongoing industrial boom in China makes rooftops of factory buildings a particularly abundant asset for solar energy utilization. Hence, the two countries are focused upon in the following case studies.\n5. Lessons learnt from the cases: 5.1 Customer segments\n6. Conclusions: As the demand for RE rises, new BMs are being developed for ensuring the sustainability of its use. Sustainability can be viewed in terms of the financeability, cash flow position, provider-customer relationship of the RE systems, etc. In the case of PV, recent efforts have been made in overcoming the barriers of EPC arrangements through TPO. Through the sale of RE or the leasing of equipment, ESCOs or RE developers may obtain a stable revenue stream, while retaining ownership of the solar equipment until the initial capital outlays are recouped, after which the building owners are given the option to purchase the systems. This often creates a win-win situation for the stakeholders involved in the transaction and results in externalities such as fulfilment of obligations of carbon emission reduction. Suitable policies and incentives may add to the attractiveness of the BMs, as depicted in the case studies in this paper. As demonstrated, TPO is better suited to the smaller-scale distributed generation of solar power using PV, whereas larger buildings may benefit more from user ownership of solar equipment.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the growing trend of developing and managing photovoltaic facilities owned by third parties in buildings, as a possible alternative to energy performance contracting.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Based on an established business model template, analysis is carried out on the framework of using third-party finance in the provision of photovoltaic facilities in buildings. Case studies in the USA and China enable comparison of policy tools enabling this approach.\nFindings: While barriers exist in the common energy performance contracting approach for renewable installations owned by the building owner, vesting photovoltaic equipment with a third party for a certain period has become a viable business alternative as long as revenue is generated through a power purchase agreement or lease arrangement with the building owner.\nResearch limitations/implications: The third-party ownership business model works better if sufficient policy incentives exist alongside the revenue brought about by renewable energy. Hence, governments have to create the right environment.\nOriginality/value: Win-win situations have been identified through case studies in countries with burgeoning renewable energy use in buildings, notably the USA and China, giving new insights on facilities management.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The career impact of management education from an average-ranked university: Human capital perspective	[ "Change management", "Careers", "Career development", "Management education", "MBA", "Human capital", "Education", "Added value" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Management education - both business management undergraduate (UG) and MBA studies - and its possible benefits to graduates and their employers has been hotly debated in recent years. Some have criticized the MBA for its questionable value and relevance (Bennis and O'Toole, 2005; Mangum and Wruck, 2011; Navarro, 2008; Pfeffer and Fong, 2002), as well as its outcomes (Vaara and Fay, 2011). Others have suggested it offers clear added value (Baruch, 2009; Baruch and Peiperl, 2000; Kelan and Jones, 2009; Mihail and Kloutsiniotis, 2014) for a profession of management, which struggles to gain recognition (Brocklehurst et al., 2010). MBA programs are increasingly offered by institutions whose reputations and capabilities differ from those studied in the past (Navarro, 2008). Prestige and reputation are reflected by various ranking systems that are globally available (Pusser and Marginson, 2013) and give students the ability to judge the prestige of most global institutions. As a result, there is also a need to examine if, and if so, how provision from less prestigious institutions adds value to graduates. The added value can be reflected in both financial \"return on investment\" and intangible gains for the human capital of the graduate. In particular, it is crucial to study the impact of the educational experience in a robust manner, in order to integrate the increasingly diverse range of opportunities, resulting in new lessons on the value of management education.\nTheory and hypotheses development: We developed a model that is based on two theories: first, the theory of human capital (Becker, 1965), which associates competencies acquired by individuals with their impact, and second, career theory, exploring novel career attitudes for their power to explain work-related outcomes (Arthur et al., 1989). The integration of these theories suggests that investment in human capital will result is a positive impact on career success, either objectively (e.g. hierarchy progress or income) or subjectively (e.g. career satisfaction) (Ng et al., 2005).\nMethod: The context\nMeasures: Measures and analysis\nResults: Table I lists the correlation matrix, average and standard deviations for our constructs, based on the survey data.\nDiscussion and conclusions: This study examined the impact of management education on the career of graduates and the moderating role of chance event in the process. Understanding whether higher education is worth pursuing proves to be an important question. Additionally, we analyzed the role of human capital gains in the relationships between career attitudes as well as other constructs, and work-related outcomes. Empirical studies on the \"new career\" are scarce, in particular regarding the protean career (Hall, 2004), and the few that exist tend to be based on anecdotal evidence or to rely on qualitative data (e.g. Arthur et al., 1999; Crowley-Henry, 2007).\nConclusions: The findings make a unique contribution, adding value to the literature by identifying the ways in which graduates perceive the social and human capital that is gained from their studies. The findings continue the line of progress achieved by earlier works (Boyatzis and Renio, 1989; Trieschmann et al., 2000; Sturges et al., 2003) as well as specific MBA-related studies (Baruch, 2009; Baruch and Peiperl, 2000; Steiner-Lavi and Segal, 2004). Gaining further knowledge is of crucial importance in light of the wave of criticism and self-inflicting damage manifested against the MBA by certain scholars (e.g. Bennis and O'Toole, 2005; Pfeffer and Fong, 2002) or who question the relevance of management education in general (Augier and March, 2007; Ghoshal, 2005; Thomas et al., 2013). These critics suggest that there is a major gap between what business schools aspire to provide for their graduates via higher education in management, and what they actually gain.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to extend the understanding of the added value of management studies, as the current state of research in the field has focused principally on studies undertaken at prestigious institutions. In addition, this study tests the extent to which career-related attitudes and chance events have influenced career success.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors used data provided by 1,228 graduates from an average-ranked academic institution.\nFindings: The findings suggest that such management education can result in significant tangible and intangible outcomes for graduates' careers and their employing organizations. Both intellectual ability and career attitudes influenced the career success outcomes to differing levels. The contribution to the literature is both to theory and to managerial practice, in response to the recent critique of management education as well as the growing need for new cadres of managers, which cannot be supplied by high-prestige, leading business schools alone.\nOriginality/value: Testing career impact of MBA from an average-ranked university, and the impact of chance event - both understudied.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Implicit preference of sweets over fruit as a predictor of their actual consumption	[ "Predictive validity", "Diary measure", "Implicit attitudes", "Unhealthy eating" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Nutrition research demonstrates that people make around 200 food-related decisions per day, but are able to report on average 14.4 (Wansink and Sobal, 2007). This suggests that apart from deliberate food choices, we often eat impulsively, driven by environmental cues and/or internal automatic evaluations. Due to the lack of awareness and control over these processes, the latter is more likely to result in unhealthy food consumption. An unhealthy diet is one of the most common preventable causes of a list of chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease or diabetes (Taylor, 2003). There is a wide scientific consensus that a high intake of fruit and vegetables and lower intake of sugar is an essential part of a healthy diet (e.g. Epstein et al., 2001; Hung et al., 2004; Malik et al., 2006; Maynard et al., 2003; World Health Organization, 2003).\nStudy 1: The purpose of the first study was to investigate the relationships between implicit and explicit measures of attitudes toward eating sweets and the actual consumption of sweets in a laboratory setting. More specifically, we tested the incremental validity of implicit measures over and beyond explicit ones in predicting the amount of consumed candies in an ostensible \"taste and rate\" task.\nStudy 2: Complementing the results of study one that used a laboratory measure of the consumption of sweets, we developed a highly structured diary measure of real-life food intake. By prompting participants with automatic messages to immediately enter their food intake we hoped to ensure real-time data record and to build on previous studies employing diary measures (i.e. Ayres et al., 2012; Conner et al., 2007; Perugini, 2005). Additionally, to provide a better parallel of attitude measures that were calculated as the relative preference of fruit over sweets, the respondents were instructed to record both sweets and fruit consumption. The goal of this study was to explore the relationship of this refined diary measure to both implicit and explicit attitudes, but more importantly to further test the incremental power of implicit attitudes to predict food consumption over and above explicit attitude measures.\nGeneral discussion: We conducted two studies to explore the predictive and incremental validity of different attitudinal measures in the field of food consumption. Both studies demonstrated that implicit attitude measures were better predictors of food behavior than explicit ones. When we employed laboratory candy consumption (Study 1) as a measure of behavior, only implicit preferences were significant predictors, while explicit attitudinal measures showed no predictive power. Implicit measures were better predictors of the diary food intake measure (Study 2).\nLimitations and future research: Because our study is primarily based on the behavior of young women, future research could benefit from larger and more diverse samples. It can be expanded to include the behavior of both men and women and different age groups. Additionally, our methodology could be used to provide further insights into the food consumption of clinical populations, especially those prone to eating disorders.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to test if our eating behavior is determined not only by conscious evaluations of certain foods (explicit attitudes), but also by their automatic evaluations (implicit attitudes).\nDesign/methodology/approach: In two studies, the authors examined the predictive and incremental validity of these two types of attitudinal measures of eating behavior. Implicit attitudes were assessed with a standard implicit attitude test procedure (target categories were \"sweets\" and \"fruit,\" and attribute categories were \"good\" and \"bad\"); two explicit attitude measures were assessed: an explicit measure of preference for sweets over fruit and a semantic differential measure. The behavioral measure in Study 1 was the quantity of sweets consumed; in Study 2, it was a relative measure of sweets vs fruit consumption registered through a three-day diary.\nFindings: The relatively low correlation between implicit and explicit attitude measures indicated that these measures at least partially tap into different processes. Implicit attitudes proved to be superior over explicit attitudes in predicting food consumption, especially for consumption registered via diary. This fact suggests that implicit attitudes are powerful drivers of long-term behavior.\nPractical implications: The findings could be useful in tailoring interventions to promote healthier eating habits.\nOriginality/value: The research tested predictive power of implicit food-related attitudes. It compared the food consumption in laboratory and real-life settings. A new measure for daily food consumption was developed and it was calculated relative to recommended serving size.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]

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