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Chinese imports' impacts on Brazil's inter-industry wage premium	[ "Trade liberalization", "Wage premium", "Import penetration" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Developing countries that engaged in trade liberalization in the 1980s and 1990s traded considerably more with developed nations and experienced changes in their wage inequality (cf. Robertson, 2000; Goldberg and Pavcnik, 2007). In the 2000s, developing countries underwent another major trade surge, now with a developing country: China. Before the Chinese accession to the World Trade Organization in 2001, China accounted for approximately 3.5 percent of world imports and exports (cf. United Nations, 2003). By 2012, these figures changed to 9.8 and 11.4 percent of world imports and exports, respectively[1].\n2. Literature review and theoretical framework: A large body of literature examining the nexus between globalization and wage inequality emerged in the past three decades (cf. Robertson, 2000; Goldberg and Pavcnik, 2007). Part of the literature focused on the trade-induced changes in relative wages like skill premium (Robertson, 2000, 2004). Another strand of the literature decomposes the effects of international trade on different components of worker wages. Goldberg and Pavcnik (2005) and Frias et al. (2009) posit that a worker's wage can be decomposed into the returns to the worker's skills - like education, which is equally priced across firms and industries - and the wage premium. The latter can be attributed to the industry affiliation as in Goldberg and Pavcnik (2005) and in this paper or to the worker's employer as in Revenga (1997) and in Frias et al. (2009).\n3. Empirical methodology: The first step is to estimate the inter-industry wage premium using worker-level data for manufacturing industries like in Goldberg and Pavcnik (2005). This is achieved by estimating Equation (1) by ordinary least squares for each year of the sample with\n4. Data description: The Brazilian data on output level, imports and exports at Nivel 56 industry classification come from IBGE (2015, 2016). The Brazilian import tariff data are from the Brazilian Ministry of Development[10]. The industry-level effective applied tariffs are the simple average of product-level tariffs plus the Programa de Integracao Social (PIS) and the Contribuicao Social para o Financiamento da Seguridade Social (COFINS) taxes, which have been levied on imports since 2004. The Brazilian real exchange rate series comes from International Monetary Fund (2015). The source of international trade data for countries other than Brazil is the United Nations (2003).\n5. Results: Table IV reports the estimated impacts of the import penetration on the wage premium using Equation (4). The OLS coefficients in Columns (1)-(4) are not statistically significant at the five percent level. The coefficients in Column (2) indicate that a one percent increase in the non-Chinese import penetration reduces the wage premium by 0.18 percent, whereas a similar change in the Chinese import penetration raises the wage premium by 1.1 percent. The specifications including the labor productivity had larger coefficients for the import penetrations.\n6. Conclusions: In the 2000s, the Brazilian manufacturing sector experienced an 11 percent increase in import penetration coupled with a rise in the Chinese share of such imports from 3 to 20 percent. This study assesses the effects of the Chinese and the non-Chinese import penetration on the inter-industry wage premium, if these effects were different for unskilled-labor intensive industries, and whether they were attenuated by the implementation of the NME policy in 2008.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of Chinese and non-Chinese import penetration on the inter-industry wage premium, and how such effects vary according to the unskilled-labor intensity of the industry and to the implementation of the Nova Matriz Economica policy in 2008.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper empirically examines the effects of the Chinese and non-Chinese import penetration on the wage premium using a linear instrumental variables model and data from Brazilian household surveys and censuses.\nFindings: The estimates show the Chinese import penetration positively affecting the wage premium in unskilled-labor intensive. And the implementation of the new macroeconomic policy strengthened this effect.\nOriginality/value: To the best of the author's knowledge, this is the first paper to study the effects of Chinese and non-Chinese import penetration on the inter-industry wage premium.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Ethnocentrism and country of origin effects among immigrant consumers	[ "Ethnocentrism", "Country of origin", "Multicultural", "Empirical", "Immigrant" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: An executive summary for managers and executive readers can be found at the end of this article.\nIntroduction: A basic assumption underlying the extant research on consumer ethnocentrism (CE) and country of origin (COO) is that each consumer identifies with a single country (Zolfagharian and Sun, 2010). Consequently, CE is conceived as the bias toward the meanings and objects of one country at the expense of all other countries; and COO literature ignores the possibility of consumer identification with both the country of origin and the country where the product is sold. These assumptions are becoming increasingly problematic as cultural diversity continues to grow exponentially in more and more countries thanks to immigration and inter-ethnic marriage as well as other social and technological transformations that result in and from globalization (Klein et al., 1998; Mihailovich, 2006). In fact, several researchers have disputed the relevance of existing knowledge given the multicultural mosaic of contemporary society (Maheswaran and Shavitt, 2000; Miller, 1997; Yamada and Singelis, 1999). For example, existing CE scales (Shimp and Sharma, 1987) and COO scales (Martin and Eroglu, 1993) limit the number of countries the respondent can choose to only one, and hence are not germane to most multicultural consumers without major adjustments. More recently, consumer researchers have found traditional ethnic categorizations to be poor indicators of consumer feelings, thoughts and behaviors, and have called for new studies that heed the competitive yet productive cultural forces of home, host and other cultures to reveal the dynamic and multi-faceted nature of ethnic identities (Askegaard et al., 2005; Davies and Fitchett, 2004; Miller, 1997; Penaloza, 1994, 1995; Ustuner and Holt, 2007).\nLiterature review: Consumer ethnocentrism\nMethod and analysis: Due to the heterogeneity across the many immigrant populations around the world, each including several generations, we focus on first-generations of four immigrant populations in the USA and Mexico: German Americans, Mexican Americans, American Mexicans, and Chinese Mexicans, and refer to them as GAs, MAs, AMs, and CMs, respectively, and as immigrants collectively.\nResults: Factor analysis and validation\nDiscussion: The exponential growth in cultural diversity around the world necessitates a more nuanced understanding of familiar constructs in marketing and consumer research (Klein et al., 1998; Maheswaran and Shavitt, 2000; Mihailovich, 2006). For example, consumer researchers have revealed the shortcomings of traditional ethnic categorizations as poor indicators and begun to address the competitive yet productive cultural forces of home, host and other cultures (Askegaard et al., 2005; Miller, 1997; Penaloza, 1994, 1995).The present study takes a step in that direction by extending the extant understanding of the CE and COO effects.\nManagerial implications and limitations: This study resulted in several findings that could assist decision-makers in charge of product and marketing activities in multinational operations or otherwise multicultural settings. It invites mangers to strive for more than what the COO or CE effects can each offer individually, and underscores the insights that can be gained from examining the interplay between these effects. Seven conclusions are in order:\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine how country of origin and consumer ethnocentrism pertain to first-generation immigrants, who often identify with two or more countries.\nDesign/methodology/approach: After a pretest to validate the modified consumer ethnocentrism scale, the main study used a series of scenario-based experiments and compiled data from 419 members of four distinct first-generation immigrant communities.\nFindings: Non-ethnocentric immigrants favor the products of economically advanced countries. Ethnocentric immigrants favor the products of their home and host countries relative to foreign products, regardless of the economic standing of foreign countries. When home and host countries represent significantly different degrees of economic advancement, both ethnocentric and non-ethnocentric immigrants favor the products of the more advanced country.\nResearch limitations/implications: Apart from the individual effects of country of origin and consumer ethnocentrism, the interplay between the two effects can yield important insights. There are other ways to operationalize multicultural identity beyond studying first-generation immigrants. Researchers should go beyond nationality and incorporate other forces of cultural diversity.\nPractical implications: For both ethnocentric and non-ethnocentric immigrants, the product that benefits from both effects is the most preferred, and the product that benefits from neither of the two effects is the least preferred. Where the product benefits from one but not the other effect, the two effects hold roughly equal power for ethnocentric consumers, but COO dominates CE for non-ethnocentric consumers.\nOriginality/value: The paper presents a critical evaluation and extension of the respective literatures investigating familiar constructs in multicultural settings.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Positioning of wine tourism websites across different country winescapes: A lexical analyses and implications	[ "Wines", "Tourism management", "Cluster analysis", "Wine tourism", "Lexical analysis" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Wine and winemaking can be traced back to the dawn of civilisation itself, and the discovery of a pottery jar containing traces of the beverage, shows that Persians were already enjoying wine more than five thousand years ago (Soleas et al., 1997). Wine is much more than just an alcoholic beverage, and throughout the years it has been associated with major social, cultural, religious and economic events. Wine is an experiential and hedonistic product (Bruwer and Alant, 2009) and has a plethora of nuances and unique characteristics (Mills et al., 2011).\nWine tourism: There is no general consensus pertaining to the definition of wine tourism and its conceptualisation has not followed a uniform approach (Getz and Brown, 2006; Gomez et al., 2015). The most widely used definition in the literature is attributed to Hall (2000), who defines it as the \"visitation of vineyards, wineries, wine festivals and wine shows for which grape wine tasting and/or experiencing the attributes of a grape wine region, are the prime motivating factors for visitors\". In similar vein, Getz et al. (1999) describe wine tourism as being an integration of tourist attractions, organised visits to favourite destinations and an opportunity for wine estates to educate their clients and attempt to promote their wine. According to Mitchell et al. (2002), most researchers have looked at supply side issues, from a wine producers' perspective. This led scholars such as Williams and Dossa (2003) to suggest that researchers should focus on attempting to elicit those experiential attributes, that seem to bundle several components of the entire wine tourism experience together (Getz and Brown, 2006). Charters and Ali-Knight (2002) suggest that wine tourism includes lifestyles, experience, education, art, wine and food tasting and actual wine sales. Based on these assumptions, one can conclude that wine tourism is made up of three major dimensions:\nWine tourism websites: Recent advances in information and communication technologies have had a significant impact on tourism to the extent that consumers actively search the Internet before planning their trip (Choi et al., 2007). This development has had a significant impact generally but especially in terms of travel and accommodation choices (Law et al., 2009). The opportunities brought about by information technology developments have provided a new impetus for the hospitality industry, both in terms of marketing possibilities and sales opportunities (Schegg and Scaglione, 2013). Indeed, by 2004, the travel and tourism sector was generating the highest number of online transactions in terms of volume (Werthner and Ricci, 2004).\nPositioning, persuasion and the internet: Positioning is a major challenge for any business that seeks to attract customers. It underlines the need to differentiate a product offering in the market. The long historical roots of wine with production capabilities across many regions and countries over the past centuries have fostered a proliferation of wine brands and wineries, limiting the presence of a dominant market share for any brand. It is therefore especially critical that any offering, whether aimed at attracting customers to visit a vineyard while on tour or to market wine must necessarily adopt a clear positioning. The basic idea behind positioning is based on the seminal work by two advertising practitioners Reis and Trout (1986) who, in 1986, articulated the concept in their book, entitled: Positioning: The battle for your mind. These authors argue that: \"(But) positioning is not what you do to a product. Positioning is what you do to the mind of the prospect. That is, you position the product in the mind of the prospect\" (p. 2). They also point out that: \"If you didn't get into the mind of your prospect first (personally, politically, or corporately), then you have a positioning problem.\" (p. 21).\nResearch focus: Within this context we set out to investigate whether and to what extent do wine tour-operating companies successfully use their websites to communicate persuasive and meaningful differences to their customers in their quest to clearly position their product offering. Specifically, we ask:\nMethodology: The methodology used in this study is predominantly exploratory. Text data consisting of the content in the About Us section in the websites of wine tour-operating firms were collected from each of fifty websites in five webscapes. Subsequently, lexical, regression and hierarchical clustering analyses were undertaken.\nLexical analysis: Lexical analysis, specifically DICTION v. 7 software has been successfully used by scholars to investigate the adopted narrative. DICTION has been used in political campaigns analysis and has proved to be a useful predictor of US presidential election results (Lowry and Naser, 2010). Similarly, Short and Palmer (2007) used DICTION in Strategic Management and report significant differences in word content in mission statements based on organisational characteristics. Behavioural scientists also note DICTION's potential in the study of leadership (Bligh et al., 2004a, 2004b). Accounting researchers have used it to analyse annual reports and found a relationship to corporate profit (Wisniewski and Yekini, 2015). There is however, little evidence pertaining to the use of DICTION within a marketing context. Given that results obtained from DICTION can be used in further statistical analysis it can potentially provide researchers a means to better understand website content.\nResults: Lexical analysis was undertaken using the standard procedures available in the DICTION software that can classify text and also provide scores under five broad master variables: Activity, Optimism, Certainty, Realism and Commonality. The resulting scores were used to answer the research questions proposed:\nKey findings: This study examined the differences in lexical tone used by different websites, in different regions. It is evident that lexical tone differs by region. Findings show that of the five standard DICTION variables, activity and realism do exhibit differences across different winescapes while optimism is very close to being significant. French websites exhibit highest scores on Optimism and lowest on Activity, suggesting a certain level of Deja vu, probably resulting from a large wine market and a reliance on the recognised glory of French wines. Australian websites rank lowest on Realism and Optimism and the second lowest on Activity, suggesting a certain level of complacency. Results for Napa Valley region show the highest score for activity, the second highest level of optimism, but rank mid-way in terms of realism, suggesting dynamism among wine tour-operating firms, that may not be sufficiently tempered by reality. South African websites exhibit strong realism and average scores for activity and optimism, while New Zealand websites rank above average, on all three variables, but do not outshine other regions, on any variable.\nConclusions and implications: Those websites that have detailed information for the About Us sections, as suggested by Graham (2013), specifically information pertaining to companies' background, their story and information about their products, do cluster differently. Indeed, these attributes are found in two Australian websites that make up Clusters 5 and 6. Cluster 5 has the highest scores on realism, certainty and optimism, while Cluster 6 has the second highest score for realism and certainty and the highest score for activity. These two clusters provide most detail in their websites. At 4.95 (sd. 0.03) and 4.80 (sd. 0.06), Clusters 5 and 6 have the highest and third highest TripAdvisor mean scores, respectively. Cluster 4 consists of a single firm that uses a distinctive imperative form of writing. This website obtained the second highest mean review score on TripAdvisor at 4.94. These results provide a clear link between the ability of the firm to clearly position itself using the DICTION variables and TripAdvisor mean score results. Cluster 5 has the highest scores on DICTION variables of realism, certainty and optimism, and obtains the highest mean TripAdvisor scores. The large Cluster 1 that exhibits no real differentiation with average scores for all the DICTION variables obtains the lowest mean TripAdvisor scores.\nLimitations and directions for future research: The research has a number of limitations. First, the methodology pursued is mostly exploratory and qualitative, relying mainly on lexical analysis. However, as DICTION uses a standardised technique it allows for meaningful comparisons across different countries. However, although the software does allow for other variables to be created, it can be argued that DICTION may be too restrictive. In this context, it may be useful to consider the use of other lexical analysis software tools such as Leximancer, which could provide a broader and richer understanding of text. Of course, besides text, many websites make use of videos to visually present their product to potential customers. This perspective was not taken into consideration in this study. Future research could also consider this feature by investigating whether video clips and pictures may be more effective than detailed text, which is synonymous with what has become a mandated in the About Us section on websites. Moreover, TripAdvisor has become a powerful social media tool that can provide testimonials from other customers. A TripAdvisor link to the wine tour-operating firms' websites, provides these operators with the opportunity to write a short feature about the services they offer. Do customers prefer this form of information provided by TripAdvisor? Is this a more efficient way of positioning the wine-tour operators? How satisfied are potential visitors with this form of website? Is there a particular pattern of how potential customers go about undertaking a search? A better understanding of some of these issues would go a long way in helping wine tour-operating firms to better position their offer.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to investigate the extent to which wine tour-operating companies are successfully using their websites to communicate persuasive and meaningful differences to customers in their quest to clearly position their product offering.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Text data are collected from 250 websites that promote wine tourism in five different countries' winescapes. Lexical, regression and hierarchical clustering analyses are used.\nFindings: Lexical analysis using DICTION can distinguish among websites from different countries' winescapes, and French wines obtain the best mean review scores from customers, while US, Napa Valley, websites obtain the lowest scores. DICTION dimensions allow for meaningful clusters and can also predict TripAdvisor's mean review scores.\nPractical implications: There is a need to pay better attention in the development of website content and the critical role that both syntax and semantics can play in facilitating the use of a firm's website, specifically in terms of clear positioning.\nOriginality/value: The study uses lexical analyses of website narratives to understand the current positioning of firms.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Motivations for developing direct trade relationships	[ "Buyer‐seller relationships", "Fresh foods", "Qualitative market research", "Australia" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Buyers and suppliers are increasingly seeking direct relationships with their trade partners; reflecting the increasing trend away from traditional adversarial relationships towards cooperation (Morgan and Hunt, 1994; Palmer, 2002; White, 2000; Wilson, 1995). As the concept of relationship marketing has developed, theorists have had to acknowledge its innate complexity. Despite this, the paradigm shift away from the traditional transaction cost analysis exchange approach to relationships has been acknowledged within both marketing theory and practice (Robicheaux and Coleman, 1994).Notwithstanding interest in the relationship phenomenon, theory has been hindered by a lack of consolidation, resulting in further development based upon theory \"... not yet fully understood or defined\" (Callaghan and Shaw, 2001, p. 1). Gummesson (1996) considers research within this area a \"theory-less stack of fragmented philosophies and observations\" (Egan, 2000, p. 379). Relationship marketing theory has also predominantly been addressed through positivist methodological approaches, with buyer-supplier relationships being considered in terms of their key defining constructs, performance outcomes, antecedents and development processes (Dwyer et al., 1987). Thus, an holistic view of the relationship has often been discounted with academics focussing upon specific defining constructs and causal relationships.It is our intention to examine the core motivations for both buyers and suppliers in developing and maintaining a direct relationship with their trade partner, i.e. those trade partners who strategically avoid the engagement of intermediaries. A qualitative methodological approach is adopted which aims to capture an array of relationship variables. This is clearly delineated from extant literature, which is predominantly quantitative and context specific. We begin by briefly outlining current relationship marketing theory. Then, given the acknowledged importance of context when considering relationships, we give a detailed account of our chosen context, the Australian fresh produce industry. We present the qualitative findings of our research before discussing the implications and limitations and, ultimately, our suggestions for future research.\nDefining relationship constructs: Conceptual and empirical models often focus on different components or aspects of the relationship but use similar key constructs (Lindgreen, 2001; Wilson, 1989). Higher-order constructs include trust (Gulati, 1995; Morgan and Hunt, 1994; Schurr and Ozanne, 1985; Walter, 2003), commitment (Anderson and Weitz, 1992; Dwyer et al., 1987; Perry et al., 2002; Wilson and Moller, 1988), cooperation (Anderson et al., 1994; Palmer, 2002), power (Palmer, 2002; Robson and Rawnsley, 2001), dependence (Batt, 2001; Ganesan, 1994; Hogarth-Scott and Parkinson, 1993) and long-term orientation (Bennett and Gabriel, 2001; Ganesan, 1994; Kalwani and Narayandas, 1995). The confounding nature of these variables poses a significant challenge for academics and practitioners in fully understanding the dynamic nature of the buyer-supplier relationship. Often, the constructs are individually measured as an antecedent and/or performance outcome (Jap et al., 1999; Morgan and Hunt, 1994).Whilst higher level constructs have been given great consideration within the context of buyer-supplier relationships, there are many other variables that impact relationship development and, ultimately, its continuation. In investigating relationship theory limitations, Paun (1997) qualitatively addressed factors that were deemed important in distinguishing \"best\" from \"average\" relationships. Participating organisations conceived that joint planning, regular communication, product customisation and minimal pricing problems were characteristic of more successful relationships. Fontenot and Wilson (1997) suggest that communication is a fundamental consideration with regard to relationships. They cite communication, trust and functional conflict as being imperative to any relationship model.As Fontenot and Wilson (1997, p. 10) suggest, \"no single model is likely to capture all elements relevant to relationship marketing\". A holistic approach to relationship theory has thus been largely neglected. In addition, theory \"has given only limited attention to the effect of contextual variables\" (Heide, 1994, p. 72); with contextual factors playing an important role in those constructs considered the most pertinent. Conflict regarding the most important constructs has been deemed relevant to the specific context within which the relationship exists (Wilson, 1995). Thus, in seeking greater understanding of buyers' and suppliers' motivations for developing direct relationships with their trade partners, this research is specific to the Australian fresh produce industry. The nature of the direct trade relationships is of increased interest within this context due to the absolute level of power held by the two major buyers operating within this industry (Dapiran and Hogarth-Scott, 2003).\nResearch context: In 2002, the gross value of Australian horticulture production was estimated at $3,244 million (Horticulture Australia, 2004). Whilst the majority of product is consumed by the domestic market, export opportunities are steadily growing, especially as Australia takes advantage of its range of climatic zones and increasing reputation as a provider of quality produce to the world (Ausveg, 2005). Within the Australian fresh produce industry, Woolworths and Coles dominate the retail industry with an estimated 40-42 and 30-32 per cent market share, respectively (IBIS, 2004). In 2003-2004, it is estimated that the supermarket and other grocery (except convenience) store industry generated revenue of $52.5 billion, an increase of 3.6 per cent since the previous year. It accounts for 24.3 per cent of total retail trade in Australia, comprising approximately 3,700 retail establishments and employing 242,888 people (IBIS, 2004). It is estimated that the fresh fruit and vegetable segment accounts for 10.1 per cent of the grocery industry (IBIS, 2004). Intensifying competition between major retail organisations within Australia is based on a variety of macro- and micro-environmental factors. These changes have largely mirrored trends witnessed in the UK and US (Parliament of Australia, 2002).In addressing the UK fresh produce industry, Fearne and Hughes (1999, p. 127) state that:... the future is bound to see a steady move away from traditional commodity trading ... with much greater emphasis on value-added and return on investment to all members in the supply chain.Boehlje et al. (1995) highlight ten key changes within the US agriculture sector that are pertinent to all members of the supply chain. These include globalisation, increasing environment regulation and liability, changing size and scope of organisations, increasing need for organisations to pursue niche markets and be adaptable, fewer distribution firms, need for integration, coordination and partnering and the proliferation of boundaryless firms:These changes are driven by changes in consumer needs, wants and attitudes; new technological advances at all levels; increasing government regulation and changes at the farm production level (Boehlje et al., 1995, p. 493).Those most able to adapt quickly will enjoy higher performance levels and, ultimately, derive a more sustainable competitive advantage.Generic drivers for the development of direct relationships include developing supermarket strategies, food safety legislation (Grant, 1995), rationalisation of the supply base (O'Keefe, 2002; Hughes and Merton, 1996; Knox and White, 1991) and innovation (Fearne and Hughes, 1999). Exacerbating the need for direct relationships within this industry is the perishable nature of fresh produce (Hobbs and Young, 2000; Wilson, 1996; Bennett, 1994), and its inherent risk (Hobbs and Young, 2000). Whilst such generic drivers exist, there are also particular motivating factors for buyer and supplier groups. Specifically, buyers recognise the role of the fresh produce category in developing customer loyalty and influencing store choice (White, 2000) and improving gross sales and profitability (Hughes and Merton, 1996). In addition, consumers are placing more emphasis on the quality of fresh produce (Batt, 2003), motivating the buyer to establish closer relationships with suppliers to meet stringent quality and quantity requirements (Knox and White, 1991). Dominance of the two major buyers within the Australian retail market has led to increased discussion regarding their behaviour, particularly related to power.Suppliers also recognise the importance of developing direct relationships with their trade partners. A retail sector report compiled by the Parliament of Australia (2002) confirmed that the three major chains in Australia (Woolworths, Coles and Franklins) typically deal directly with suppliers, whilst independent retailers have retained an intermediary within their supply chain. Vertical coordination allows suppliers year round access to large retailers, heightened security, additional information, programming advice and feedback on variety acceptability and new product development (Hughes and Merton, 1996). Minimised involvement of intermediaries has resulted in suppliers' need to further invest in infrastructure. This relationship-specific investment can be an important consideration in developing and maintaining strategic partnerships (Campbell, 1997). The imbalance of power between suppliers and the two major retail buyers in Australia requires consideration. Industry research indicates that a supply relationship with one of the major supermarkets may constitute up to 70 per cent of some growers' business (Parliament of Australia, 2002). However, the prolific number of smaller retailers present in the market allows, to a limited degree, suppliers to spread their risk.One way in which suppliers could potentially increase their power is through the establishment of cooperatives. However, the \"hard produce\" category within Australia is largely devoid of such cooperative structures. The large number of supply organisations and their focus upon price means that, if a supplier is dropped, others quickly respond by competing fervently to fulfil the retailer's requirements. Where larger \"contracts\" require some degree of cooperation between suppliers, typically an intermediary is engaged. The intermediary may simply procure and distribute product or may provide some level of value adding (for example, washing, grading and packing before redistribution). Given the context specificity of relationship variables, it is proposed that the external environment influences the motivations of both trade partners to initiate and nurture a direct trade relationship.\nMethodology: It is the objective of the research to establish greater insight into the motivation of buyers and suppliers operating within a direct buyer-supplier relationship for developing such a relationship with their trade partner. In the light of current research limitations and the consideration that traditional quantitative bases for knowledge are being challenged (Goulding, 1998); a qualitative research approach was deemed the most appropriate. One predominant factor in this decision was the need to investigate the relationship within its real-life context. \"Enquiry is always context bound and facts should be viewed as both theory laden and value laden\" (Goulding, 1998, p. 53). Wilson (1995) also supports the significance of the context within which the relationship is being conducted. Shaw (1999) demonstrates the need to consider positivist research approaches cautiously:By stripping small firm problems of the context within which they occur naturally, the findings produced by positivist approaches are generalisable only to the extent that the conditions under which data are collected exist in the social world (Shaw, 1999, p. 60).Judgemental sampling was adopted with initial respondents being industry contacts. Subsequent snowball sampling meant that buyers and suppliers within the Australian fresh produce industry, initially contacted, were given the opportunity to recommend other organisations with which they were familiar and deemed appropriate respondents given the research topic. Using a semi-structured interview protocol, eight in-depth interviews were conducted within the buyer group and ten with suppliers. Research was conducted across two Australian states, Victoria (six respondents - three buyers and three suppliers) and Tasmania (12 respondents - five buyers and seven suppliers) (see Tables I and II for respondent characteristics). The unit of analysis was Australian fresh produce buyers and suppliers operating in a direct relationship with their trade partner. All supply respondents were known to supply one of the major retailers. Though differing significantly in size, all suppliers were operating as private companies. Whilst the level of each supplier's total output to a major retailer was not calculated, all suppliers recognised some level of production reliance. That is, suppliers rely upon a certain level of demand from their major trade partner.In discussing motivations, respondents were asked to consider a particular trade partner. This was particularly relevant when the respondents were asked to provide examples. Whilst it is recognised that the consideration of dyads is preferable in qualitative buyer-supplier relationship research, unfortunately, sets of dyads were not always available. As such, some of the buyers and suppliers discussed a trade partner participating in the research, whilst others discussed trade partners who were not included. All interviews were recorded and transcribed. The interviewer also took notes during the interview. Data analysis processes were consistent with Strauss and Corbin's (1998) open, axial and selective coding techniques. At the selective coding stage, secondary data were also considered.\nFindings: Strategic motivation\nResearch limitations and future research directions: Whilst this research has aimed to give a more holistic qualitative approach to direct buyer-supplier relationship theory, the inherent dynamic nature of such theory ensures research limitations. Time constraints prevented interviews with organisations producing the same commodity. Varied product susceptibility to external forces may have affected respondents' answers. Also, there was some inconsistency in the respondents' organisational roles. It is possible that buyers sometimes hide their true perception of supplier requirements (e.g. profit maximisation) in seemingly more acceptable criteria, such as quality (Robson and Rawnsley, 2001). This concern was validated during initial discussions with fresh produce suppliers engaged in direct relationships. As a result, the interviewer emphasised confidentiality to all respondents. In addition, due to limited time and financial resources, not all respondents' trade partners were involved in the research. Thus, the benefits associated with conducting wholly dyadic research were not realised.To address limitations, future investigations of direct buyer-supplier relationships might include considerations of the motivations for developing direct relationships within other contexts. This would allow researchers to determine any common themes. In addition, future criteria should ensure that all respondents buy/supply the same fresh produce to allow limited situation variability.\nConclusions: The good firms are getting better - building relationships, developing systems, improving service levels and management skills - but the challenge to achieve year on year growth remains; margins are squeezed as volume goes up but prices are cut, yet the need to invest is ever present and privately owned firms in a highly competitive market need profitability to fund it (Fearne and Hughes, 1999, p. 123).Whilst Fearne and Hughes (1999) state this with specific reference to the UK fresh produce industry, the statement holds true with regard to its Australian counterpart. This scenario means that, within the Australian fresh produce industry buyers and suppliers must address their motivations for developing direct relationships and ensure that they are, effectively, meeting their own needs, whilst also considering the needs of their trade partner. Despite slight differences in motivations for direct relationship development between buyers and suppliers, what remains clear is that symmetry and reciprocity are vital for relationship success.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This study aims to understand buyer and supplier motives for developing direct relationships with their trade partners.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A total of 18 in-depth interviews were conducted across Victoria and Tasmania (Australia); eight with retail buyers and ten with fresh produce suppliers. Both parties were involved in a direct relationship with their trade partner.\nFindings: - The research reveals a large variety of motivations that influence buyers and suppliers when deciding whether to operate in a direct or non-direct relationship with their trade partner. Motivations for both parties are remarkably similar, with buyers and suppliers ultimately attempting to minimise the inherent risk associated with operating in a volatile environment.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The study may be limited by the fact that buyers and suppliers of different commodities were included in the study. In addition, the varied nature of the respondents' role may have impacted their judgment. The inability to interview dyads in all cases also limits the research.\nPractical implications: - This research has implications for both researchers and practitioners already involved in, or considering becoming involved in, a direct trade relationship. Clarification of motivations for bypassing intermediaries shows how both trade partners can minimise external risk and strengthen competitive advantage by assuming a direct relationship.\nOriginality/value: - Extant research within this literary field is largely quantitatively based with researchers focusing on distinct relationship constructs, the definition of relationship marketing and the process of relationship development. In response to these limitations, this research adopted a qualitative approach in examining the core motivations for developing a direct trade relationship within the fresh produce industry.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The effect of job insecurity on quitting intentions and service recovery performance: Job embeddedness as a mediating factor	[ "Job embeddedness", "Job insecurity", "Quitting intentions", "Frontline hotel employees", "Service recovery performance" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: A major concern across all industries is employee retention. Job embeddedness (JE) represents the influences on an employee's decision to stay on the job. It can be viewed as a strategy to help managers retain their most talented employees and to understand the reasons why they stay with an organization. Job insecurity (JIS) is experienced by employees when they subjectively perceive the threat of job loss and this affects their view of JE and their subsequent intention to stay or leave. Frontline hotel employees (FHEs) deal directly with customers handling requests and complaints and service recovery performance (SRP) relates to how they see their ability to resolve these issues to the satisfaction of the customer. Examining the factors that lead to quitting intentions within this workforce can be considered relevant and significant.\nJob embeddedness theory: Employees can be viewed as individuals with connections between different aspects of their lives. Those who have a number of connections in the community and the organization can be considered to be highly embedded and are more likely to remain in a current job than those who have fewer connections.\nJE as a mediating factor: This study looks at the extent to which JE mediates the influence of JIS on quitting intentions and SRP.\nPractical implications: Four practical implications are suggested:\nCommentary: The review is based on \"The effect of job insecurity on employees' job outcomes: the mediating role of job embeddedness\", by Safavi and Karatepe (2019), published in Journal of Management Development. The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of JIS on quitting intentions and service recovery performance (SRP) with JE as a mediating factor. The results support the mediating effect of JE with JIS related to quitting intentions and SRP indirectly through JE. The greater the level of JIS the lower the JE of FHEs, the greater the level of JE the lower the quitting intentions and the higher the SRP of FHE's and JE completely mediates the impact of JIS on quitting intentions and SRP. Therefore organizations should put steps in to retain to key workers through adherence to the psychological contract, reduce the impact of JIS through providing clear information on career opportunities and progression, invest in high quality training to improve SRP and hire a workforce from the local communities to increase off-the job JE. This paper has contributed to an area where research is scarce with regard to how JIS can be reduced and the structure that links it to employee outcomes.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of JIS on quitting intentions and service recovery performance (SRP) with JE as a mediating factor.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Data was gathered from 313 full time FHEs working in four and five star hotels in Iran. Questionnaires on JIS, JE, and quitting intentions were given in three waves to the FHEs over a two-week period and in addition supervisors provided a rating of SRP.\nFindings: The findings support the mediating effect of JE with JIS related to the outcomes indirectly through JE. The greater the level of JIS the lower the JE of FHEs. The greater the level of JE the lower the quitting intentions and the higher the SRP of FHE's. JE completely mediates the impact of JIS on quitting intentions and SRP.\nPractical implications: Organizations should put steps in to retain key workers through adherence to the psychological contract, reduce the impact of JIS through providing clear information on career opportunities and progression, invest in high quality training to improve SRP and hire a workforce from the local communities to increase off-the job JE\nOriginality/value: This paper has contributed to an area where research is scarce with regard to how JIS can be reduced and the structure that links it to employee outcomes.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Consumer choice of multichannel shopping: The effects of relationship investment and online store preference	[ "Customer-sales associate relationship", "Multichannel customer management", "Multichannel shopping attitude", "Receptiveness to online store shopping" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Consumers display cross-shopping behaviors in the multichannel environment, which includes traditional retail stores and the internet (Alba et al., 1997). Although some consumers tend to use a sole channel to perform all shopping activities, more and more consumers are employing different channels in different shopping stages. For example, consumers may search for product information or try a product at an offline store and then purchase the product via an online store. Consumers utilize multiple channels because different channels have distinct value that can satisfy their shopping needs at different shopping stages (Konus et al., 2008). For this reason, firms are striving to have their marketing channel cover both online and offline services to fulfill their customers' needs (Rangaswamy and van Bruggen, 2005).\n2. Theory and hypotheses: 2.1 Multichannel shopping behavior\n3. Method: 3.1 Research design\n4. Data analysis and results: 4.1 Reliability and validity\n5. Conclusion: The goal of this research was to demonstrate that the customer-sales associate relationship can be either a liability or an asset for multichannel marketer adoption. The effect of the customer-sales associate relationship on the multichannel strategy is not uniformly positive and depends on consumers' receptiveness to online store shopping. To the best of our knowledge, this research is the first empirical demonstration of these associations. These findings advance the understanding of the effect of personal relationships on multichannel customer strategy, including practical and theoretical implications.\n6. Limitation and future studies: Some limitations and suggestions for future study should be noted. First, the object of the present research is premium cosmetics products, which usually require personal service in the physical retailer. If a product requires less involvement and personal service, the influence of the relationship with sales associates on multichannel shopping attitudes might be reduced. Future studies can explore the proposed relationships in different industries to test for generalizability.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Consumers display complex shopping behaviors in the multichannel environment, which includes traditional retail stores and the internet. The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of the customer-sales associate relationship, customers' receptiveness to online store shopping, and their interaction effects on the customer's attitude toward multichannel shopping behavior when the firm decides to establish an online store as the online channel. The authors also examine how customers' multichannel shopping behavior affects their future spending intentions.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Survey data were collected by soliciting 231 customers who purchased cosmetics in department stores within the past three months. Subjects were asked to give their overall evaluation of their offline and online shopping experiences in the last three months.\nFindings: Results show that the customer-sales associate relationship significantly reduces customers' attitude toward searching offline but purchasing online. Receptiveness to online store shopping has significant effects on customers' attitude toward multichannel shopping behaviors regardless of whether they search or purchase via the online channel. The customer-sales associate relationship also moderates the relationship between customers' receptiveness to online store shopping and multichannel shopping behaviors. Finally, unlike other types of online and offline multichannel shoppers who display higher future spending intentions when the physical store decides to open an online store, those who prefer physical stores for both information searching and product purchasing display lower spending intentions.\nOriginality/value: To the best of the authors' knowledge, this paper is the first to use customer-sales associate relationships to investigate consumers' attitude toward multichannel shopping behavior. The findings provide meaningful implications for service providers that use sales associates to increase consumers' value via face-to-face service, but find it challenging to go online.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Exchange rate fluctuations and firm value: impact of global financial crisis	[ "India", "Financial crisis", "Currency derivatives", "Exchange rate exposure" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Financial theory suggests that the cash flows of the firm are sensitive to unanticipated changes in exchange rates (Hekman, 1983, 1985; Shapiro, 1975). The extent to which the value of the firm is affected by unexpected changes in exchange rates is known as exchange rate exposure of a firm (Adler and Dumas, 1984). The examination of exchange exposure is not only important for firms that involve in international transactions, but also for domestic firms (Aggarwal and Harper, 2010). In spite of the extensive research, empirical findings are not able to detect the significant relationship between exchange rate changes and firm value. The weak empirical evidence on the relationship between exchange rates and the value of the firm gives rise to the \"exposure puzzle\" (Bartram and Bodnar, 2007). One of the explanations of this \"puzzle\" provided by empirical studies is the time-varying property of exposure (Al-shboul and Anwar, 2014b, c; Allayannis and Ihrig, 2001; Glaum et al., 2000; Jorion, 1990; Koutmos and Knif, 2002; Williamson, 2001). The exchange rate exposure of firms may change over time due to changes in the level of exports, imports and firms' competitive situation. The changes in the foreign currency denominated assets, liabilities and hedging activities may also change the exposure of firms over time. Depending upon the firms' characteristics and the nature of their cash flows, firms may respond differently to the positive and negative changes in exchange rates which might result in the asymmetric exposure. In addition to the firm-specific factors, exogenous factors such as exchange rate regime, policy switch and financial crisis may also have a significant impact on the level of exposure.\n2. Theoretical background and empirical evidence: Exchange rate exposure refers to the extent to which the value of the firm is affected by unexpected changes in exchange rates (Adler and Dumas, 1984). The exchange rate exposure is theoretically classified into three broad categories (Eun and Resnick, 2014). The first is \"transaction exposure\", which is defined as the sensitivity of \"realised\" domestic currency values of the firm's contractual cash flows denominated in foreign currencies to unexpected exchange rates. The second is \"economic exposure\", which is defined as the extent to which future cash flows are affected by unanticipated changes in exchange rates. The third is \"translation exposure\", which refers to the potential that the firm's consolidated financial statements can be affected by changes in exchange rates. Theoretically all firms, domestic and international, are exposed to exchange rate risk. However, empirical evidence finds mixed results. While some studies report strong evidence of exposure (Bacha et al., 2013; Choi and Prasad, 1995; Kiymaz, 2003), a large number of studies reveal only small number of firms significantly affected by exchange rate changes (Chue and Cook, 2008; Jorion, 1990; Lin, 2011; Muller and Verschoor, 2007). One of the reasons of this inconclusiveness attributed by existing literature is the time-varying property of exposure (Al-shboul and Anwar, 2014b, c). Some studies report that exposure changes over time due to changes in the level of exports, imports and firms' competition situation (Glaum et al., 2000; Williamson, 2001). While other studies attribute this nature of exposure to the effect of exogenous factors like exchange rate regime (Parsley and Popper, 2006), policy switch (Bacha et al., 2013) and financial crisis (Lin, 2011; Verschoor and Muller, 2007; Ye et al., 2014). The evidence of asymmetric exposure, i.e., the response of stock returns to positive and negative exchange rate changes differently, has also presented by few studies (Al-shboul and Anwar, 2014a; Koutmos and Martin, 2003, 2007; Muller and Verschoor, 2006).\n3. Research methodology: 3.1 Measuring foreign exchange exposure\n4. Empirical results and discussion: Table I reports the summary of the exposure estimates from regression equation (1). We can see that the significant exposure to exchange rate risk is exhibited by approximately 77.7 per cent (485/624) of the sample firms. The average value of exchange rate exposure coefficients is 1.645 indicating that a 1 per cent appreciation of Indian rupee causes almost 1.64 per cent gain in the firms' stock returns. These results are similar to those of previous studies on emerging markets which report more than half of their sample firms with significant exposure (Bacha et al., 2013; Kiymaz, 2003; Parsley and Popper, 2006; Tsai et al., 2014; Ye et al., 2014). Table II shows that the exchange rate exposure coefficient estimates are robust to alternative measures of exchange rate index (Real Effective Exchange Rate, i.e., 36 REER) rate and market portfolio index (BSE S&P 500 index).\n5. Conclusion: The relationship between changes in exchange rates and firm value has been well theorized and validated by a plethora of empirical studies. However, the evidence on the reaction of the firm value to the changes in exchange rate during external shocks like crisis is mixed. Also, there is a little research to explore whether the impact of derivatives usage on exposure varies during unexpected events like crisis and if firms respond differently to the positive/negative changes in the exchange rates. To address these issues and to provide further explanation to the exposure puzzle, this study considers the case of Indian firms. There are a few multi-country studies on this topic which include India but no study has examined a detailed comprehensive analysis of Indian firms exclusively. This study examines the exchange rate exposure of Indian firms and its relationship with currency derivatives usage during different sub-periods around the financial crisis of 2008. The study finds strong evidence of exchange rate exposure during the crisis and the post-crisis period as compared to the pre-crisis period. Also, the usage of currency derivatives is not found to be effective in reducing the exposure of the firms since the onset of crisis. These findings have important policy and managerial implications. The firms should be encouraged not to leave their exposure unhedged as these positions might lead to big losses in the period of external shocks. These losses can be avoided if firms hedge both revenue side and cost side cash flows. Firms should not rely completely on the currency derivatives to manage their exposure as derivatives are considered as double edged swords. Rather, firms should implement an integrated risk management system incorporating operating hedges and financial hedges. Future research may explore the effect of operational hedges on exposure along with other determinants during the period of crisis.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the presence of exchange rate exposure and its relationship with currency derivatives usage in the dynamic environment of the global financial crisis of 2008.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Using a sample of 624 Indian firms over the period of April 2001-March 2016, this paper investigates the linear and asymmetric exposure by dividing the full sample period into different sub-periods around the crisis.\nFindings: The evidence presented in the paper suggests that the firms are more exposed to the exchange rate changes since the onset of the financial crisis. However, there is a lack of evidence that the usage of currency derivatives is more effective in reducing exposure during the crisis/post-crisis period as opposed to the pre-crisis period.\nPractical implications: The findings are important to investors and managers for a better understanding of firm behaviours in relation to their risk management policies during the period of external shocks like crisis.\nOriginality/value: There is a paucity of research to explore whether the effect of currency derivatives usage on exchange rate exposure varies during external shocks such as crisis periods. The paper provides novel evidence that the effectiveness of derivatives usage in alleviating exposure becomes less during the dynamic environment of crisis.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The advertising of corporate social responsibility in a Brazilian bank	[ "Brazil", "Banks", "Advertising", "Corporate social responsibility", "Brand awareness", "Consumer behaviour", "Branding", "Brazilian banks", "Bradesco" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The retail bank segment in Brazil is one of the world's most competitive. According to the web site www.febraban.org.br, the Brazilian Federation of Banks (2012), Brazil reached record high activity last year, with 16.6 billion transactions via internet banking. Moreover, the country sells banking technology in the form of automated processes and training for both developing and developed countries.Due to the technical products they market, financial institutions tend to make rational appeals to their customers. Regardless of their size, private banks show few differences from each other (Mylonakis, 2008). Mylonakis further argues that the adoption rate of marketing by banks, as an exchange process, has been minimal in some countries, yet profitable, and that the growth of consumer-oriented actions by banks has resulted in brand loyalty.Generally, banks are not organizations with impeccable images. A study by Gritten (2011) revealed that consumers changed their buying behavior and evaluated their own bank even more critically after the 2008 international financial crisis. In Brazil, banks are negatively perceived by a significant portion of the population (Nepomuceno and Porto, 2010), as the popular understanding is that banks are entities that receive vast amounts of money to create wealth for themselves, yet return little to society. This understanding is reinforced by the financing conditions prevailing in Brazil, where annual interest rates are among the highest in the world. Consequently, brands tend to be assessed unfavorably. One of the most effective ways to minimize negative perceptions is to use corporate social responsibility (CSR) advertising, because it contains aspects of community support, although McDonald and Lai (2011) suggest that consumers strongly prefer personal benefits over advantages for the environment.This study critically analyzes CSR advertising from a retail bank in Brazil, evaluating the campaign's content to examine if there are commercial issues, beyond those specifically related to CSR. By deepening the discourse through CDA, our findings about an organization's communication with their target will additionally inform future studies examining the current research of many authors, which suggests that CSR initiatives strengthen brand reputation.\n2. The CSR advertising in retail banking: Several authors (Bird et al., 2007; Morsing, 2006; O'Louglin and Szmigin, 2005) have concluded that the current understanding of CSR is that it focusses on four main actions: pursuing goals that produce long-term profits, using business power in a responsible manner, integrating societal demands, and contributing to societal well-being. In order to create a favorable image, banks may include issues of social responsibility within its advertising (Peterson and Hermans, 2004).Having a socially responsible reputation can influence consumer preference for a bank's products (McDonald and Lai, 2011; Chang et al., 2009; Enquist et al., 2006). This potential outcome has motivated organizations to employ CSR communication, similar to that which has been growing within US banks (Peterson and Hermans, 2004). For Morsing and Schultz (2006) CSR communication is defined as a set of corporate initiatives that develop and distribute information concerning their CSR practices. For Enderle (2004), CSR and an organization's economic performance are positively linked. Authors such as Bird et al. (2007), Heugens and Dentchev (2007), and Enderle (2004), believe that CSR potentially results in achieving a business advantage over the competition.However, CSR communication is controversial. Publicizing these actions can generate positive reactions from stakeholders (Morsing, 2006; Morsing and Schultz, 2006), but excessive dissemination may generate consumer distrust surrounding corporate conduct (Schlegelmilch and Pollach, 2005).On one hand, according to Morsing and Schultz (2006), many studies show that to legitimize CSR actions selective disclosure to targeted audiences through different messages is required.On the other hand, from a traditional capitalist evaluation, socially responsible actions may not represent the corporation's concern for the welfare of others and the environment (Munilla and Miles, 2005). For these authors, as CSR strategies are often costly to organizations, these investments are only considered worthwhile when they generate the expected results. For Heugens and Dentchev (2007), it can be detrimental to a company's reputation if they ignore the dangers of a poorly developed communications plan. Additionally, the adoption of CSR can increase the risk of public skepticism, especially when organizations fail to communicate the reasons behind the adoption of CSR. For companies which may already be negatively perceived (tobacco and petrochemical, for example) the adoption of CSR does not necessarily equate to developing a better image. In fact, CSR communication may further erode public perception (Heugens and Dentchev, 2007).Advertising by banks is driven by multiple interests, depending on the heterogeneity of its target audience. For Mylonakis (2008) most banks aim advertising at small account holders and promote their products through mass media. Each year retail banks invest millions of dollars in CSR programs with the intention of strengthening their reputation and relationship with stakeholders, particularly consumers (McDonald and Rundle-Thiele, 2008). Also, Souiden et al. (2006) suggest that the corporate image of banks relies on factors, such as CSR.Mylonakis (2008) found that advertising was not identified as an important influencer when consumers were selecting an individual bank. Choosing a bank is based on goods and services offered. According to Mylonakis, the price-product relationship played a more important role than a bank's promotional activities, as was also suggested by Farquhar and Panther (2008). These results are consistent with those obtained by McDonald and Lai (2011), in which Taiwanese bank customers indicated that initiatives aimed at satisfying customers are more important than those of CSR. Such findings show that advertising campaigns highlighting banking goods and services can earn greater brand recognition. Other studies (McDonald and Lai, 2011; Manrai and Manrai, 2007; Chakrabarty, 2004) also demonstrate that initiatives directed to clients bring greater growth for retail banks than CSR initiatives. However, McDonald and Rundle-Thiele (2008) argue that some CSR initiatives would be more positively evaluated, because there is a hierarchy of preferred CSR initiatives, which in turn impacts satisfaction.\n3. Method: Empirical analysis of CSR advertising was performed on a brand that advertises CSR. The Bradesco (2012) brand was chosen because it has achieved recognition as one of the most valuable brands in Brazil in recent years. Bradesco's campaign consists of a series of five advertisements, following an overview of the bank and the analyzing methodology.Bradesco (2012) is a retail bank for every economically active social class and for companies of all sizes. Created in 1943, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, its total assets reach R$761.533 billion, and management investment funds R$316.2 billion, making it the second largest private Brazilian bank, with R$11.028 billion in profits (as of December 2011).Data for this study are related to Bradesco's (2012) \"Bank of the Planet. Investing, supporting and informing\" campaign, which features five advertisements aired in 2008. Bank of the Planet is a slogan created in order to conspicuously connect the message of responsible sustainability to Bradesco Bank.The five advertisements were published in major Brazilian magazines. Following paid distribution, these advertisements were widely and spontaneously republished in web blogs and news sites, mostly supplemented with complimentary comments.In this study critical discourse analysis (Fairclough, 1995) was adopted, using Fairclough's three interdiscursivity steps: textual analysis (data description and metaphors) processual analysis (joint analysis of texts and discursive practice); and social analysis (examining the effects of sociocultural discursive practice). According to Fairclough, the difference between \"discourse analysis\" and \"critical discourse analysis\" is the focus of the latter, which considers not only linguistic production (text), but also distribution and consumption due to changes in social factors. According to Fairclough (2001) these factors can be economic, political, cultural or related to daily life.Later, Fairclough (2001, 2005) suggested that other results could be obtained through intertextuality, originally based Bakhtin (1981): discourse representation, presupposition, negation, metadiscourse and irony.\n4. Results: In this study, textual analysis was based on five double-page advertisements. Then, in the processing step, an investigation of the constitution of the advertising discourse was carried out. In the last phase we presented the social analysis of discourse, and the subsequent discussion of its social consequences.4.1 Textual analysis\n5. Conclusions: The purpose of this study has been to analyze Bradesco Bank's CSR advertising as a contributor to its brand awareness. Critical discourse analysis performed on the ads, specifically in the campaign \"Bank of the Planet. Investing, supporting and informing,\" has shown that CSR advertising can get results without using commercial appeals.For Wagner et al. (2009), consumers have growing influence with regard to social responsibility within organizations, because they are making the purchasing decisions. In this sense, the advertising efforts of Bradesco reflect, in content and form, how brand awareness may be aided by CSR advertising. For several authors (Peterson and Jeong, 2010; Michie, 2009; Aaker and Stayman, 1992; Holbrook and Batra, 1987) emotional constructs obtain high levels of brand recall, and currently this phenomenon is increasingly present. Table I (using the royalty relief method) shows the positive growth of the brand both in the overall assessment and specific evaluation of the banking segment. Part of the assessment is related to CSR initiatives and advertising.Since 2008, Bradesco is considered the most valued brand from Brazil, according to BrandFinance. Another consultancy, Interbrand, places Bradesco in second for the third consecutive year. A list of the top 20 world banks, made by Bloomberg, is dominated by banks from Canada and Singapore. The only Brazilian bank is Bradesco.Although the findings of McDonald and Lai (2011) suggest that CSR is not the most important aspect for the customer, several authors (Cronin et al., 2011; Crittenden et al., 2010; Baker and Sinkula, 2005) have argued that consumers exposed to information on CSR have significantly more positive attitudes toward the advertising brand and have consistently stronger purchasing intentions than those who have not been exposed. Bradesco has done CSR-specific advertising, with no commercial appeal, and has achieved significant brand awareness results.Evidence shows that CSR communication can be more effective when performed without the use of commercial appeals. For several authors (Maon et al., 2009; Bird et al., 2007) the public is more sensitive to the behavior of firms and therefore the reputation of an organization communicating its CSR activities is increasingly more relevant.In this study, evidence indicates that CSR communication initiatives are stimulating brand awareness, and that these initiatives may prescind commercial aspects.5.1 Research implications\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - Organizations achieve brand awareness through marketing efforts. Studies show that advertising plays a central role in garnering results. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the corporate social responsibility (CSR) advertised by a retail bank in Brazil.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Critical discourse analysis (CDA) was adopted, with the three steps proposed by Fairclough: textual analysis, processing analysis, and social analysis. This approach allows in-depth analysis of the CSR discourse present in communications of organizations with their target.\nFindings: - Literature indicates that consumers prefer to obtain personal advantages rather than benefits to the environment in which they live. This could influence organizations' preference towards communication campaigns that demonstrate CSR actions, and that additionally communicate benefits which individuals receive. However, one of the largest banks using advertising limited to CSR-specific aspects achieves impressive brand awareness results.\nOriginality/value: - This study presents evidence that CSR advertising can stimulate brand awareness without using commercial aspects in its content.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
An evaluation of knowledge management tools: Part 2 - managing knowledge flows and enablers	[ "Knowledge-based systems", "Knowledge management", "Knowledge sharing" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Knowledge management (KM) has attracted the interest of practitioners, consultants and researchers around the world. KM's attractiveness is based on the argument that intangible assets, such as knowledge, have replaced tangible assets as the principal driver of economic growth (Boisot, 2002). As interest in KM continues to grow, there is need for empirical evidence regarding which KM tools work, how to implement KM and how to measure its value. The research presented in this paper contributes to this discussion.\nLiterature overview: The KM toolkits examined in this paper most closely fit with the process view of KM (Mentzas et al., 2003), in the sense that knowledge movement is best done by creating organizational systems that enable socialisation (sharing), targeted learning (acquisition) and mentoring (usage). The toolkits do include some aspects of the product view, i.e. knowledge preservation, but there is still a strong focus on using individuals with relevant tacit knowledge to provide accessibility to the captured knowledge (e.g. meta-data). In summary, this paper defines the management of knowledge flows and enablers as connecting those who know (senders) with those who need to know (receivers) (sharing); sharing experience (usage); using external experts to fill competency gaps (acquisition); and capturing collective wisdom and making this accessible (preservation).\nResearch setting: Please refer to the companion paper; An Evaluation of Knowledge Management Tools Part 1: Managing Knowledge Resources, (Massingham and Massingham, 2014).\nThe evaluation framework: Please refer to the companion paper; An Evaluation of Knowledge Management Tools Part 1: Managing Knowledge Resources, (Massingham and Massingham, 2014).\nDiscussion of results: strategy: This section provides an overview of KM toolkits and tools that may be used to manage knowledge flows and enablers. In terms of strategy, it provides useful information on what KM tools were tested, to assist others with their choices.\nDiscussion of results: implementation: In this section, each KM toolkit and its tools are discussed in terms of the main barriers to implementation. The nature of the barriers is summarised in terms of blockages in learning flows identified by Figure 1. Strategic learning explains what are we doing and why? Tactical learning explains why is this useful? Operational learning explains how do we make this work? Activity learning explains how do we improve the process?\nResults: organizational performance: In this section, each KM toolkit and its tools are discussed in terms of the two proxies for organizational performance: LOC and PO. It helps others to examine the KM investment associated with each KM toolkit, i.e. will the toolkit or tool make a positive difference. Table II summarises the LOC impact for each KM toolkit.\nConclusion: The paper aimed to evaluate a range of best practice KM ideas used to manage knowledge flows and enablers. In total, four KM toolkits and 23 KM tools were tested over a five-year period (2008-2013), as part of a large-scale longitudinal change project. Each tool was assessed against a rigorous evaluation framework comprising strategy, implementation and performance. In this way, the tools were tested against the main criticisms of KM: whether knowledge can be managed, implementation barriers may be addressed and improved organizational performance can be demonstrated.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to evaluate a range of best practice knowledge management (KM) ideas used to manage knowledge flows and enablers. In total, four KM toolkits and 23 KM tools were tested over a five-year period (2008-2013), as part of a large-scale longitudinal change project. Each tool was assessed against an evaluative framework designed to test criticisms of KM: strategy, implementation and performance. The results provide empirical evidence about what KM tools work and which do not and why, and outcomes for practitioners, researchers and consultants.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper presents a summary of the findings of a large Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage Project grant in the period of 2008-2013. The case study organisation (CSO) was a large public sector department, which faced the threat of lost capability caused by its ageing workforce and knowledge loss. The project aimed to solve this problem by minimising its impact via achieving learning organisation capacity. The CSO participating in the study was selected because it was a knowledge-intensive organisation, with an ageing workforce. All 150 engineering and technical staff at the CSO were invited to participate, including management and staff. An action research methodology was used.\nFindings: The results provide empirical evidence that KM can be used to manage knowledge flows and enablers. The highest rating toolkit was knowledge preservation, followed by knowledge usage. The most value was created by using KM to provide \"why context\" to structural capital (e.g. reports, databases, policies) (meta-data) and to create opportunities to reflect on experience and share the learning outcomes (peer assists and after action reviews). The results tended to support criticism that KM is difficult to implement and identified the main barriers as participation located at the tactical action research level, i.e. why is this useful? Evidence that KM works was found in progress towards learning organisation capacity and in practical outcomes.\nResearch limitations/implications: The action research cycle and learning flows provide opportunities to examine barriers to KM implementation. The research also presents opportunities for further research to examine the findings in other organisational and industry settings, for example, the relationship between the KM toolkits and organisational change and performance, presents an important area for further research. Researchers might also consider some of the toolkits which rated poorly, e.g. knowledge sharing, and challenge these findings, perhaps selecting different KS tools for testing. The paper has limitations. It is based on a single case study organisation, offset, to some degree, by the longitudinal nature of the empirical evidence. It is ambitious and the findings may be controversial. However, the depth of the study and its findings provide rare longitudinal empirical evidence about KM and the results should be useful for practitioners, researchers and consultants.\nPractical implications: For practitioners, the research findings provide management with an evaluative framework to use when making decisions regarding KM. The findings provide discussion of KM toolkits and tools that may be used to manage knowledge flows and enablers. In addition to the discussion of each tool, there is analysis of what works and what does not and why, barriers to implementation as well as explanation of their impact on organisational change and performance, and a scorecard to guide toolkit choices. This method should allow managers to make sensible decisions about KM.\nOriginality/value: The paper addresses criticisms of KM by examining the KM toolkits within the context of whether knowledge can be managed, implementation barriers may be addressed and improved organisational performance can be demonstrated. This approach allows generalisability of the findings to enable others to apply the research findings in their organisational contexts. The outcome is three sets of guidelines: strategy: which KM tools work; implementation: addressing barriers; and organisational performance: how to measure value. In doing so, the paper provides a systematic framework for evaluating KM tools. It also provides a rare opportunity to present empirical evidence gathered over a five-year longitudinal study.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Strength-based coaching: making the case for its adoption in small businesses	[ "Coaching", "Work-based learning", "Development strategies" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: To secure their economic viability in the highly competitive business environment, small business owner-managers must engage in a persistent quest to improve the individual and collective performance of their staff. However, in their pursuit to improve employee performance, some owner-managers may need practical guidance on managing employee performance that is appropriate for the small business context. Their performance improvement efforts are also often hindered by lack of resources (e.g. funds or replacement staff) necessary to sponsor employee participation in external learning and development opportunities. In this paper, we argue that small businesses should consider employing strength-based coaching as a key element of their performance management and learning and development endeavours because the small business context is potentially well-suited to this type of cost-effective developmental intervention.\nThe nature and challenges of performance management: Performance management encompasses a broad range of activities that managers engage in to enhance the performance of individuals or groups with the ultimate goal of improving organisational performance. Performance management is distinguished from performance appraisal in that the former is an ongoing process, whereas the latter is conducted at discrete time intervals. The provision of ongoing coaching with a view to improving individual performance is a vital element of performance management.\nKey factors in employee performance and strength-based coaching: There is a well-established argument that an individual's performance in any kind of role is a function of the individual's abilities, motivation and opportunity (AMO) to perform in the specific context (Blumberg and Pringle, 1982). While there is no clear-cut description as to what these opportunities are, researchers have tended to emphasise factors such as employee involvement in decision-making and job design. As we explain later, adopting strengths-based coaching has the potential to have positive effects on all three key variables of performance.\nWhy strength-based coaching may be suited to small businesses: Small businesses are characterised by informality in human resource management (HRM) that is reflected in an absence of written HRM policies and procedures. Thus, most small businesses are relatively free of policy and procedural constraints, including tight job descriptions. Such an approach should allow managers greater flexibility when utilising employees' skills and knowledge. This type of workplace environment that is characterised by managerial informality has the potential to foster employee engagement in a wide variety of work activities. Indeed, findings of studies suggest that employees in small businesses are typically assigned to broadly defined roles and that managers commonly provide opportunities for employees to access a wide range of workplace activities (Coetzer, 2006). These findings are consistent with the description of the key characteristics of a small firm that was used by the Bolton Committee (1971) in its highly influential Report on Small Firms that stated:\nPractical implications: The provision of detailed practical guidance is not possible within this paper. However, in a nutshell, such guidance would include the importance of employing a cluster of people management practices that target one or more of the key variables of individual performance (AMO). As argued previously, strength-based coaching is a practice that has the potential to positively influence all three variables. Finally, the guidance would encompass strategies that owner-managers could use to discover their employees' strengths and to find ways of leveraging these strengths so that both the employees and the small businesses benefit. Overall, adopting strength-based coaching has the potential to improve different forms of employee well-being (e.g. job satisfaction, self-esteem and self-efficacy) and ultimately small business performance.\nConclusion: In making the case for using a strength-based approach to employee learning and development in small businesses, we are not suggesting that such an approach is likely to be universally effective. Consistent with the \"best-fit\" perspective of HRM, we contend that adoption of a strength-based approach should be contingent on context. For example, strength-based coaching is more likely to be effective when the owner-manager is willing to assume the developmental role of coaching and when the work system incorporates facilitative features, such as flexible work design, multi-skilling and project assignments. To achieve the best outcomes, these owner-managers need to be willing to invest the time and effort necessary to gain an appreciation of their employees' strengths and weaknesses, and they must be committed to redesigning roles to make the most of employees' strengths. New employees are frequently selected because they have particular strengths, and small business owner-managers are often directly involved in employee selection decisions. These owner-managers would want to ensure that the employee's strengths are leveraged and further developed through ongoing coaching to help the business adapt to the changing business environment. Strength-based coaching is ideally suited for this purpose. However, research is needed to develop a strength-based coaching model that is suitably aligned with the unique characteristics of small businesses. One potentially fruitful avenue for future research would be to develop a conceptual strength-based coaching model that is grounded in academic literature and then test and refine the model in a series of focus groups comprising small business owner-managers.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to make the case that owner-managers of small businesses should consider using strength-based coaching as a key element of their performance management and learning and development endeavours because small businesses are potentially well-suited to this type of developmental intervention.\nDesign/methodology/approach: In making the case, we draw on literature primarily in four areas: performance management, positive psychology, strength-based management and small business management. The case for adopting strength-based coaching is also underpinned by the practical insights of an experienced small business manager.\nFindings: The informal internal organisation found in most small businesses makes the small business context potentially well-suited to strength-based coaching. In particular, the informal characteristic of small businesses promotes close working relationships between owner-managers and employees and broadly defines work roles. Such a work context is conducive to strength-based coaching that involves owner-managers capitalising on the unique abilities of each employee by redefining work roles to fit employees' strengths.\nPractical implications: Using strength-based coaching to align employees' strengths with the work of the small business should have positive effects on the key variables of individual and collective performance and ultimately business results. These variables of performance are employee ability, motivation and opportunity to perform.\nOriginality/value: After database searching, it seems that there is no previous work that has examined the potential efficacy of strength-based coaching in a small business context. The paper has value for small business managers who are seeking practical guidance on how to improve their current approaches to both managing employee performance and fostering the learning and development of the staff.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Service of followers as a leadership competency: a social exchange perspective	[ "Service", "Leader-member exchange (LMX)", "Social exchange theory", "Leadership competencies" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In developing both individual leaders and a collective leadership in organisations (Day, 2000), the use of competency frameworks is prevalent amongst human resource development practitioners, and is a popular approach to conceptualising what leadership attributes should be developed in organisational leaders so as to ensure organisation effectiveness (Boyatzis, 2008, 2009; Brownell, 2006; Burns et al., 2012; Intagliata et al., 2000; Rothwell and Lindholm, 1999). Given the service requirements of organisations today, this body of literature on competencies provides the backdrop for proposing service as a leadership competency, particularly as a competence required in relation to followers.\nService in organisations: The relevance of the concept of service is receiving increased prominence in a range of organisation contexts. In particular, it features in debates about the purpose of business, in the treatment of customers, and in the interactions that occur within the organisation. Each of these aspects of service is briefly presented in this section.\nThe state of competency theory: Research on behavioural competencies received impetus from the seminal work of Boyatzis (1982) and aims to identify those behaviours that underpin effective leadership (Burns et al., 2012). However, leadership competency theory has been criticised for its conceptual ambiguity (Bolden and Gosling, 2006; Grzeda, 2005: Le Deist and Winterton, 2005). First, this is reflected in the debate about competence vs competency. The literature draws a distinction between the terms competence/s and competency/ies, although this has not always been applied consistently (Le Deist and Winterton, 2005; Woodruffe, 1993). Competence/s is a description of work tasks and outputs and is usually treated as a dependent variable, while competency/ies is a description of behaviour and is typically viewed as an independent variable (Bolden and Gosling, 2006; Grzeda, 2005; Vazirani, 2010).\nResearch design: This paper is a conceptual paper in its design, based upon a review of scholarly works and the application of social exchange and LMX theory. While a literature review synthesises and critically evaluates the available research literature to present the published information in one source, to ascertain the state of the research and to identify research gaps, with the intention of defining the research problem; the primary concern of a conceptual paper is to evaluate and build theory (Watts, 2011). According to Balkin (2009, p. 1), a conceptual paper should \"identify a new way of utilizing a theory, concept, or technique that has not been previously explored\" in the literature. A conceptual paper can therefore \"provide new theoretical perspectives or integrate existing theoretical views, address innovative - new or adapted - procedures or techniques, discuss current professional issues or professional development (position papers), or offer well-reasoned reactions or responses to previously published articles\" (Watts, 2011, p. 308). This conceptual paper is informed by the approach adopted by Howard (2006), Malloch (2010) and Wills-Johnson (2008) who draw on existing theoretical frameworks to develop a new one.\nService as a leadership competency: A competency is defined as an individual's ability or capability, which is mobilised with an intent that is performance related, as understood within and qualified by the context of the job demands and organisational environment (Boyatzis, 2008, 2009). Two aspects of the definition of competency need further elaboration, namely, performance and intent.\nSocial exchange and LMX theory: With more than 40 years having passed since its inception, LMX theory has a long history of contributing to the scholarly literature on leadership and continues to attract the attention of researchers (Day and Miscenko, 2015; Epitropaki and Martin, 2015), with the vast majority of research publications having been published in the last ten years (Bauer and Erdogan, 2015). Rooted in social exchange theory (Cropanzano and Mitchell, 2005; Emerson, 1976; Homans, 1958), LMX theory has demonstrated that the quality of vertical dyadic relationships (e.g. the relationship between a supervisor and each of his/her direct subordinates) varies from one relationship to the next, and that these differences in the quality of the relationship have been related to various indicators of job-related attitudes and performance (Gerstner and Day, 1997; Graen and Uhl-Bien, 1995; Janssen and Van Yperen, 2004).\nA social exchange and LMX theory explanation of service competency attributes: These insights from social exchange and LMX theory are now applied to service as a leadership competency, proposing a process through which leaders who display a service competency in their dealings with subordinates are able to nurture the quality of the relationship to ensure that it becomes more social in nature. It is argued that there are at least five interrelated attributes that need to be activated, that are central to service as a competency, and which are premised on a social exchange transaction rather than an economic one. These are individualised consideration, compassion, being motivated to serve rather than be served, humility, and integrative thinking to resolve competing stakeholder interests for the greater good.\nConclusion and recommendations: In the previous sections, service has been defined as a leadership competency, and five interrelated attributes were explored from the perspective of social exchange and LMX theory, to illustrate the social exchanges at work that produce a social relationship between leader and follower. In doing so, this paper has made a contribution to competency theory by proposing a new competency for leaders, and utilising social exchange and LMX theory to explain the process through which a competency may operate.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: It is argued that while service requirements are pervasive in organisational contexts, when leading their followers, service has not typically been expected of leaders. The purpose of this paper is to propose how the service of followers should be constructed as a competency of leaders.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This is a conceptual paper, which evaluates and builds theory in the form of a framework of service as a leadership competency. This framework is based upon the application of social exchange and leadership-member exchange theories and the use of scholarly sources.\nFindings: The paper defines service as a leadership competency and proposes that it has at least five requisite and interconnected attributes, namely, individualised consideration, compassion, a motivation to serve, humility and integrative thinking to resolve competing stakeholder interests for the greater good. It further argues that when leaders exercise this competency and its associated attributes, it creates social relations with followers, rather than economic ones.\nResearch limitations/implications: This conceptual paper contains no empirical data.\nPractical implications: The paper develops service as a leadership competency and proposes that social dyadic relations between leader and follower may be advanced through its development.\nOriginality/value: The paper proposes five attributes which would differentiate service as a competency from other leader competencies. It also provides an explanation of the process through which competencies can realise relational outcomes.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The effect of gamification on motivation and engagement	[ "Gamification", "Game-based learning" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: The game culture spreads among a large proportion of the world population where parents are getting involved in the video game play and the average age of video game players is no longer in the teens. Parallel to that is the increased attention surrounding the use of video game elements in non-game contexts or gamification (Ludgate et al., 2015). Gamification is a newly coined term that reflects a social phenomenon arising with a generation of digitally literate population. Gamification has been defined as the use of \"game-based mechanics, aesthetics, and game thinking to engage people, motivate action, promote learning, and solve problems\" (Kapp, 2012, p. 125). This operational definition, which will be used in this literature review, incorporates important pedagogical components. First, the pedagogical application of gamification to promote learning is emphasized as contrasted to business applications. Second, digital game mechanics, which include, but are not limited to, avatars, badges, points, levels, leaderboard, virtual rewards, and storyline or quests, are highlighted. Third, there is a reference to game dynamics, which are focused on game elements that allow for social interaction between players. In addition, motivation and engagement are included in this definition as possible effects of gamification. The fourth pedagogical component in Kapp's (2012) definition is the emphasis on critical thinking skills, which are essential in learning and could be partially promoted through gamification.\nConceptualizing gamification: There is no consensus on the definition of gamification among researchers, nor is there an agreement on the difference between GBL and gamification. Kapp (2012) discussed the definition of gamification in a pedagogical context contrasting it to GBL. Based on Kapp's view, the instructional strategy is changed to accommodate game elements where, instead of the learning objectives, the teacher in a gamified classroom will present a challenge or quest that the players will need to undertake leading them to the learning experience.\nAdvantages of gamification over GBL: Proponents of gamification propose that it has a lot of advantages over educational games. Before discussing the logic behind this argument, it is important to understand some game terminolgy. GBL is intended solely for education and relies on a learning game that has a beginning and an end. Serious gaming is a broader term used to describe games intended for education, industry, training and stimulation (Connolly et al., 2012).\nTheoretical connections to gamification: The knowledge base connecting gamification to theoretical principles is thin and the empirical research on gamification founded on theoretical principles is scarce. For example, Seaborn and Fels (2015) did a review of peer-reviewed literature on gamification and engagement of 32 studies. Only ten of them were founded on theories (five of which by the same author) and the rest had no connection to theoretical foundations. Furthermore, there is \"a gap between theory and practice - where theory is empirically unexamined [in the context of gamification] and applied work lacks reference to theory - which serves to limit the growth of the field\" (Seaborn and Fels, 2015, p. 27). This highlights the need of research on gamification with strong theoretical links that bridge the gap between theory and practice. In understanding the connection between gamification, motivation, and engagement, the three theories of self-determination, new literacies study (NLS), and behaviorism are proposed.\nMotivation and engagement: Motivation and engagement are two closely related concepts which often overlap in areas of intrinsic motivation and cognitive engagement (Dornyei and Ushioda, 2011; Guthrie et al., 2012). Despite this strong link between motivation and engagement, the two terms are not synonymous and the presence of one does not necessarily dictate the presence of the other one. According to Brooks et al. (2012), motivation is linked to psychological elements that drive behavior and choice-making. Engagement, in the view of Russell et al. (2005), is an \"energy\" linked to different actions and tasks (p. 1). Appleton et al. (2006) highlighted the importance of both motivation and engagement in learning, but emphasized their separation as independent constructs.\nConnecting gamification to motivation and engagement: In many studies, students' levels of engagement increased significantly following the introduction of game elements (Table II). The following inclusion criteria were followed in the summary of literature review on gamification as illustrated in Table II. Literature included articles and conferences proceedings published after 2012. All of the studies selected employed elements of video games and any study that did not employ them was excluded. The studies were obtained through Washington State University library data system and some of them were made available through interlibrary loan network. In addition, some conference proceedings were obtained through GoogleScholar. All the studies were examined carefully for theoretical foundations utilized in the study of gamification, the gamified content, the number and age of the participants, and the results.\nEmotions, fun, and play in gamification: Gamification provides the component of fun that helps in transforming the students' attitudes toward learning. Fun can allow for better learning, a concept that Prensky (2001) explained as he discussed the transformation in the learners' attitude toward learning: \"It appears that the role of fun in the learning process is to create relaxation and motivation. Relaxation enables a learner to take things in more easily, and motivation enables them to put forth effort without resentment\" (p. 111). McGonigal (2011) discussed the essential role of fun historically in the human experience. She refers to the story of the ancient Lydians who managed to live through famine on very limited rations distracting themselves from hunger through elaborate games on a state level.\nPlayers types: Player types\nGamification features: Avatars\nGamification in action: examples and criticism: The Sheldon case study\nImplementation guidelines: Some proponents of gamification suggested using 20 percent of class time for gamification following McLaughlin's (2011) Google model where employees were given 20 percent of work time to do anything they were passionate about (Bruder, 2015). Between full gamification of the classroom and 20 percent quota suggestion, gamification is a tool to aid in achieving learning objectives and not vice versa. Employing game features, or any kind of educational technology, is not the goal at the expense of students' learning.\nConclusion and recommendations: Between the zealots in support of full gamification of the curriculum and the educational system and opponents who think gamification is a distraction from the learning objectives, there remains a need for further exploration of the full impact of gamification on engagement and motivation. Further empirical research need to be conducted to examine the potentials of gamification. In addition to deploying full gamification features to study its impact, longitudinal studies need to be conducted in order to develop a full understanding of the effect of gamification on the learners' engagement and motivation. There is a need to research the most effective components of game elements that could create proper conditions for the birth of intrinsic motivation. Furthermore, the learners' perceptions of the gamification intervention need to be researched using mixed method design to help understand the relationship between gamification, engagement, and motivation in a holistic way.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Gamification is the application of game features, mainly video game elements, into non-game context for the purpose of promoting motivation and engagement in learning. The application of gamification in a pedagogical context provides some remedy for many students who find themselves alienated by traditional methods of instruction. The use of gamification could provide a partial solution to the decline in learners' motivation and engagement the schooling system is facing today. Specifically, the college environment could benefit a lot from gamifying not only their graduate recruitment strategies, but also the college course content and curricula. This critical analysis of literature on gamification is intended to be part of a sequence on the effect of gamification on motivation and engagement. A proposed methodology in the study of gamification effect on motivation and engagement in addition to an empirical study on three college courses are being finalized to complete this trilogy. The paper aims to discuss these issues.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Themes covered in the literature review include: conceptualizing gamification, advantages of gamification over game-based learning, theoretical connections to gamification, motivation and engagement, connecting gamification to motivation and engagement, emotions and fun in gamification, player types and gamification features, gamification in action, and implementation guidelines.\nFindings: The literature on the effect of gamification on motivation and gamification is still limited on multiple levels. There is a gap between theory and practice in the study of gamification. There is limited literature on the implementation guidelines of the gamified designs.\nPractical implications: This critical analysis of literature is followed by connecting it to future research by the same author as part of a sequence on the effect of gamification on motivation and engagement. The second project, will be proposing a methodology for any successful design to provide a holistic understanding of the topic of gamification. Finally, an empirical study on the effect of gamification on students' motivation and engagement in three college courses will be submitted to complete the trilogy.\nOriginality/value: This paper is a literature review, so there is a strong connection to literature on this topic. However, the synthesis of the themes and ideas are original. The literature review is extensive and covers the different aspects of the topic of gamification and its relationship to motivation and engagement.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Extreme luxury fashion: business model and internationalization process	[ "Luxury", "Fashion", "Internationalization", "Liabilities", "International business", "Business model" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Globalization is a complex and multidimensional phenomenon which, in a broad sense, represents the ways in which markets have converged throughout the world and the ways in which production poles have shifted geographically to satisfy global consumers. The convergence trends identified in markets, products, consumer behavior and society are only one aspect of globalization, the other perspective is one of growing divergence.\nTheoretical background: The business model concept\nResearch method and case background: Given the relatively unexplored nature of the research topic (the ELFBM and its relationships with internationalization), this study adopted an exploratory qualitative research strategy (Yin, 1994). Case research is relevant to generate and test theory (Eisenhardt, 1989) and allow researchers to study an organization and its environment in a natural setting and obtain rich insights into complex processes; it is a methodology commonly used when the units of analysis are organizations and relationships that have a complex structure: authors argue that case research can be more fruitful than other research approaches because of the nature of the phenomena studied (Guercini, 2004; Piekkari et al., 2010). The single case approach has become an increasingly popular methodology within the internationalization literature and has enabled various researchers to provide important new insights into the field (Palmer and Quinn, 2007; Sparks, 2000).\nCase description: a chronology of I-Luxury and its internationalization process: I-Luxury was founded in Florence in 1972 by a Florentine entrepreneur and his wife, and its target audience are high-ranking male customers, with an offer of a full range of products entirely handmade in Italy with valuable raw materials. The activities of the company started with a collection of ties made with precious materials. In 1974, after the participation in the trade show Pitti Uomo in Florence, I-Luxury, on demand of international customers, developed a collection of shirts, matching the collection of ties: this was a significant change for the company, which positioned its offerings on a segment of the textile and clothing market very different from the usual ones where usually the price of the products could not exceed a certain limit. The results of the period were beyond expectations, and it was necessary to organize, in a short time, a continued production activity, although initially small: the B-Luxury Ltd (production of shirts) was founded, fully controlled, through which it became possible to strengthen the product line in the luxury segment, addressed to customers representative of the most affluent upper class in business and politics.\nThe interrelated dimensions of I-Luxury business model: Products offered - full range of products entirely handmade in Italy with valuable raw materials - and the target customer segment - high-ranking male customers - constitute the value proposition of the firm. The I-Luxury menswear collection consists of a wide range of menswear suits, dress shirts, neckties, outerwear, knitwear, casualwear, shoes and leather accessories. These products are in a price range between EUR500 for a tie up to over EUR150,000 for a leather and fur coat. The positioning of the company, in terms of price and product attributes, clearly distinguishes it from the \"accessible luxury.\" The products are 100 percent Made in Italy by highly specialized craftsmanship. The attention to Made in Italy is so strong that it has led to the creation of an academy to hand down workmanship traditions and exclusive know-how to young artisans. One of the main features of I-Luxury is the bespoke tailoring.\nRussia as an emblematic case of internationalization: Among others, Russia is one of the most important countries for luxury brands, especially those from France and Italy: the higher the price of a product, the more attractive the product is for a part of the luxury consumer, because it means that it is more luxurious. To illustrate the potential of the Russian luxury market, an increasing number of major luxury brands are switching from franchising operations to directly operated stores. In the last few years there has been a phenomenon of revival of Italian brands in the Russian market after the crisis in 2008. Italian fashion brands have opened stores in Moscow and St Petersburg, but also in large and middle-tier cities like Ekaterinburg, Novosibirsk and Omsk[3].\nFindings: The case presented in this paper is emblematic of a business model based on \"Made in,\" high product quality and orientation to international markets, which is typical of the luxury sector. What differentiates this business model from those of luxury companies already discussed in the literature on the topic (e.g. Moore and Birtwistle, 2004) is attributable to the following features:\nConclusion: The paper contributes to the literature on business models in several ways. Previous research conceptualizes business model as the way a company delivers and creates value for its customers, a mechanism of generation of value for the market and revenues and profits for the company (Teece, 2010; Richardson, 2008; Zott and Amit, 2010). The data of this study show that not only are value proposition, value delivered to customers and firm's profits the defining characteristics of a business model, but they assume full meaning in their relationship with internationalization. The paper sees internationalization as a constitutive element of a business model, thus expanding previous studies that consider internationalization as a strategy for a business model already defined or a result of business model innovation (Onetti et al., 2012; Rask, 2014). The value transferred to the customer is highly specific to the origin of the product and the characteristics of the production processes strongly linked to the country, as well as to the specific meaning that can be associated with this origin in the countries of destination. In the business model examined, the origin of the product is not considered only as a source of perception, but as an element on which to define the entire business model, pursuing a rigorous consistency in the choice of production and supply in order to deliver to the market a product strongly characterized by craftsmanship and creativity.\nManagerial implications, limits and future research agenda: The findings of this study have practical implications for marketing managers. Companies adopting a business model with features of extreme luxury fashion should consider internationalization as a complete part of the business model itself, because the origin of demand from certain foreign markets, both emerging and advanced ones, and the way luxury is conceived in such markets are preconditions for the existence and sustainability of the business model.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify the defining characteristics of the extreme luxury fashion business model (ELFBM) and the relationship between this business model and the process of firm internationalization. The paper examines the potentially positive outcomes of differences and distances in the internationalization process of extreme luxury fashion companies.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper presents and discusses the data collected during a five-year case analysis of an Italian luxury company. The main characteristics of the business model are identified in terms of products, manufacturing and sourcing, distribution channels, marketing communications and overall characteristics of consumers. The internationalization process is described, with a focus on the Russian market as an emblematic case, highlighting the role of distances - geographic, psychic and cultural - and liabilities, namely foreignness and outsidership in the international expansion of the firm.\nFindings: The findings of this paper highlight the main features and specific traits of the ELFBM characterized by a global and unique approach to the offer. This business model has in its origin the demand from certain foreign markets, and the elements of the country of origin of the firms coexist and are enhanced by the presence of specific characteristics of the destination countries in terms of niche consumers with economic and cultural characteristics and a strong perception of \"Made in\" and luxury goods.\nOriginality/value: The paper contributes to previous studies on the relationships between business models and internationalization. It provides a framework for the \"ELFBM,\" in which internationalization is a constitutive element of a specific business model rather than a strategy for a business model already defined. Examining the positive side of differences and distances in the internationalization process of firms adopting such business model, the paper contributes to the international business theory and practice. It also expands research on luxury fashion defining an international company which is under-investigated, the extreme luxury fashion company, and the elements that constitute its business model.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Towards a formal definition of goal-oriented business process patterns	[ "Business process re‐engineering", "Modelling", "Best practice" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: Much of the work that is being done in the field of business process management has one purpose: to make business processes more effective and efficient, e.g. by cutting costs, and increasing quality of goods and services. One widely accepted approach for improving the performance of processes is to reengineer them based on best practices, which can also include adoption of information systems used in these best practices.Borrowing a best practice from another organization cannot be done literally. We need to abstract from details in order to introduce the best practice in a new environment. Furthermore, before trying to take over somebody else's best practice, we need to be sure that we are borrowing from the process that has the same nature as the one we want to substitute with the best practice. Borrowing based on a wrong (shallow) analogy may lead to catastrophic results as demonstrated in the following example.In the middle of 1990th, the Swedish parliament passed a law that completely changed the state pension system. A new authority was established to handle the pensions, and a new IT system was purchased to support the work of this authority. When choosing the system, the new authority drew a conclusion based on an invalid analogy. They asked: \"Who works with private pensions?\", and got the obvious answer: \"insurance companies\". As the result, one of the most wide spread pension-handling systems was purchased from a well-known vendor who promised to adjust it to fit the needs of the new authority. It turned out that the system could never be adjusted to fit the authority's needs because their business was not similar to the one of insurance companies. An invalid analogy lead to a two year delay in the introduction of the new pension system, and a loss of money paid for the adjustment of the wrong system.Suppose we have built a database with business processes taken from best practices. Assume we have an unsatisfactory functioning process that we want to substitute with a better one from the database. The question arises how we can find a suitable process in the database. If the database is relatively small, we can manually compare all processes with the one we want to substitute. However, when the database grows and becomes large, some formal means to narrow the area of manual comparison is required.To narrow the area of search we need a general way to annotate business processes. The annotating mechanism should be of such nature that it allows establishing whether two processes are similar or not based on comparing their annotations. We believe that for annotating mechanism to be suitable for searching in the best practices database the following criteria should be observed:* The annotation should be formulated in a neutral terminology independent of the language and methodology used in the process descriptions. This neutral terminology would enable searches resulting in a minimization of false hits and a maximization of good hits.* The annotation, in one way or another, should represent the goal of the process, as naturally, the processes we are looking for should have the same goal as the one we want to substitute.* The annotation, as long as possible, should not refer to the order of activities in the process. The process we want to substitute may be unsatisfactory just because it has a \"wrong\" order of activities.* The annotation, as long as possible, should not refer to in what way and by whom the activities are performed in the process. The process we want to substitute may be unsatisfactory just because a \"wrong\" way of performing some activities is used, or/and \"wrong\" actors are assigned to perform some activities.* There should be a way to make annotations and comparison completely formal so that an automated retrieval could be introduced at some stage.We believe that for an annotation to fulfill the criteria listed above, especially the first one, it should represent a kind of a model of the business process to which it refers. Consider detailed process descriptions as being at one extreme of a model scale and business process meta-models at the other. Between these extremes may exist a type of \"language agnostic\" model on a level of details suitable for our task.\"Middle-scale\" models are widespread in many practical fields under the name of patterns, e.g. pattern matching in AI, design patterns in the sense of Gamma et al. (1995), analysis patterns in the sense of Fowler (1997). The ideas of analysis and design patterns have already started to be exploited in connection to business processes, see, for example, Malone et al. (1999) and Aalst et al. (2003). In this paper, we investigate another possible use of business process patterns, namely, as goal-oriented and terminology independent annotations for comparing business processes.The paper suggests one possible procedure of constructing business process patterns that satisfies the above listed criteria and can be used as an annotation mechanism. The patterns are constructed based on the state-oriented approach to business process modeling as described in (Khomyakov and Bider, 2000). In this approach, a business process is viewed not as sequence of activities, but as a trajectory in a specially constructed multidimensional state space. Based on this approach, a pattern is defined as a three component entity: state space, goal, and valid movements in state space.The work presented in this paper is based on the analysis of literature and on our own experience in the field of business process identification and modeling. Our own experience lies in the field of administrative processes, such as bureaucratic decision-making, lobbying (influence decision of others), processing customer feedback, inquiries, funeral arrangements, etc. for example, see Andersson et al. (2002). This kind of processes has not received much attention in the literature where the standard examples concern production, sales, or insurance claims. The main characteristic feature of the administrative processes is their relatively loosely structure as far as the exact order of activities is concerned. Considering both well-structured and loosely-structured processes gave us a relatively broad basis for analysis.The paper is structured in the following way. In Section 2, we present a part of the factual material on which the suggested pattern definition approach is based. In Section 3, we analyze the widespread approaches to business process modeling to see which one suits best for our task. In Section 4, the state-oriented approach to business process modeling is presented and it is demonstrated how it can be used for a formal definition of patterns. In Section 5, possible procedures for constructing and using patterns are described. Section 6 discusses related research. Section 7 summarizes the results achieved and discusses future research plans.\n2 Informal examples: This section informally introduces two examples of business process patterns. The first one has been taken from literature, and it concerns a sales/collection process. The second has been taken from our practice and concerns a decision-making process.2.1 Example: sales/collection\n3 Analyzing approaches to business process modeling: According to the general definition of a business process, see, for example, Hammer and Champy (1993), a business process is a partially ordered set of activities performed to reach a well-defined goal of a kind illustrated in the examples from the previous Section. A process is envisaged to engage a number of participants, which can be divided into two categories: passive and active participants. Passive participants are consumed, produced or changed through the execution of activities, for example, a document being written or an organization being reorganized. Active participants, or agents, are those participants that perform activities aimed at the passive participants.There are many different methods of modeling business processes. Below, the most common ones are grouped in four categories based on the way they reflect the business process dynamics (Bider, 2002):1. Input/output flows. The focus is on passive participants that are being consumed, produced, or changed by the activities. A typical notation to represent this kind of flow is IDEF0 (1993).2. Workflows. The focus is on (partial) time ordering of activities performed by active participants. Typical notations to represents this kind of flow are IDEF3 diagrams (Mayer et al., 1995), Petri nets (Reisig, 1985), and activity diagrams of UML (Rumbaugh et al., 1999).3. Agent-related workflows. The focus is on agent cooperation, i.e. order in which active participants get and perform their part of work. An agent-related workflow adds an agent dimension to the time dimension of an ordinary workflow. A typical notation to represent this kind of flow is role-activity diagrams (Ould, 1995).4. State-flows. The focus is on changes produced by activities executed in the frame of a given process instance. Some changes may concern the state of passive participants, e.g. their form, shape, or physical location. Other changes may concern the state of active participants, e.g. a state of the mind of a human agent trying to find a solution for a complex problem. An example of a state-flow notation is IDEF3 state-transition diagrams (Mayer et al., 1995); these diagrams are complementary to the IDEF 3 workflow diagrams. However, the state-transition diagrams exploit the state-flow view only partially. For a more extensive exploitation of the state flow view see Khomyakov and Bider (2000) and Andersson et al. (2002).Consider which of the above categories is the most appropriate for our task of comparing business processes (see criteria listed in the introduction).The input/output flows focuses on by what means the things are being done, as they require precise specification of what is consumed, produced or changed by each activity. This makes it difficult to compare the processes taking place in different organizations if they choose different means for achieving the same business objectives.The workflow view is based on the idea of ordering activities in time. According to Denna et al. (1995), even for the sales/collection process, which is relatively well structured, the sequence of activities in one organization may be reversed to what is used in another organization. As far as loosely-structured processes, like decision-making, are concerned, a sequence of activities for such processes is difficult, or, sometimes impossible to establish even for one and the same organization. Therefore, we consider the workflow view as not particularly useful for our task.The agent-related workflows, which focus on the agent cooperation, do not easily allow comparisons of, for example, a sales/collection process in a one-man company with the sales/collection process in a large organization. In the first case, all activities are executed by one universal agent, whereas in the second case, different activities are executed by different specialized agents.The state-flow view is focused on changes, which allow us to easier abstract from the means and agents used to produce these changes, and from the order in which they are applied, at least while the order is not dictated by some physical laws. We believe that the state-flow represents a promising for our task view on business processes.\n4 Defining goal-oriented patterns: 4.1 The state-flow view in more details\n5 Constructing and using patterns: 5.1 Constructing patterns\n6 Related research: A literature on patterns is vast; for the lack of space, we consider here only two directions that are most relevant to the research reported in this work.A formal approach to defining patterns for business processes is presented in Aalst et al. (2003). This work is based on the workflow view on business processes. Patterns in Aalst et al. (2003) define various ways of ordering activities in workflow, e.g. task sequencing, split parallelism, join synchronization, and iteration. It is similar to the approach suggested in the paper in that both approaches are language neutral. It differs from our approach in that it focuses on ordering of activities and thus does not satisfy the set of criteria formulated in the introduction. However, this approach can be quite useful for other tasks, like defining analysis and design patterns, or building and evaluating workflow management systems.A practically useful methodology for defining and exploiting business process patterns is presented in Malone et al. (1999). Here, a general process pattern is defined as a number of generalized activities of the type discussed in Section 2. A large collection of general and specialized patterns has been built based on this approach, and it is in use for process improvement purposes, i.e. analysis and synthesis. When synthesis is performed, a general pattern is specialized by specializing each of its generalized activities and ordering them. The main aspect in which this approach differs from that of ours is that it is not totally language neutral. Although our movements in the state space correspond to the abstract activities from Malone et al. (1999), they differ from the latter in two respects. In one respect, state space movements are more abstract as they refer only to the changes in the constructed state space, not to what happens in the real world. In another respect, they are more concrete as they are tied to concrete changes in the position in the state space. Therefore, the results of movements can be measured.\n7 Conclusion: In the introduction, we formulated a task of annotating business processes in a way that the similarity between two business processes could be established based on comparing their annotations. A suggestion has been made that a business process pattern, i.e. a relatively high level business process model, could be used as such an annotation. Further, we analyzed widespread modeling techniques to find out which of them is the most suitable for our task. The analysis showed that the state-flow modeling technique is the most promising direction to take. Based on this technique, first steps towards formal definition of goal-oriented business processes patterns were suggested.The definition of business process pattern is based on the notions of state space, goal, as a surface in the state space, and valid movements towards the goal. The description of valid movements is independent of the activities performed in the real world, e.g. how the activities are named, how they are performed, and in which order. The movements refer only to the changes in the constructed state space. The suggested approach affords a controlled abstraction from many details, without loosing the essential nature of a particular business process, e.g. its goal. The suggested approach can be useful for the task of representing the nature of business processes in order to understand where from one can adopt best practices. So far, the suggested procedure for creating and exploiting patterns is hypothetical; an experiment is required to prove or disprove its validness for practical purposes.We believe that the suggested approach to pattern definition can also be useful for other type of tasks, e.g. analysis, and synthesis (design). For example, synthesis (specialization in terms of Malone et al., 1999) from the goal-oriented pattern can be done by steps in two directions:* Specializing valid movements by adding operational procedures of what should be done in the real world to move the process from one state to another. This corresponds to the external action of activity, discussed in Bider (1997) and Andersson et al. (2002).* Establishing constraints on the permissible trajectories of the process in the state space, i.e. introducing some order in activities. This can be done by rules of dynamic planning discussed in Bider (1997) and Khomyakov and Bider (2000).Investigating possibility of other ways of using goal-oriented patterns is included in our future research plans.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - Organizations of today are becoming ever more focused on their business processes. This has resulted in an increasing interest in using best practices for business process re-engineering. Two problems arise in connection to using best practices: how to find a best practice that suits particular purposes, and how to ensure that the process from the best practice has the same nature as the process under re-engineering. The purpose of this paper is to address these issues.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper suggests using business process patterns, i.e. relatively high level business process models, for making near formal comparison of business processes. The paper analyzes widespread modeling techniques to find out which of them suits the task of building patterns for comparison. Based on this analysis, the state-flow modeling technique is chosen and first steps towards formal definition of business process patterns based on this technique are suggested.\nFindings: - A pattern is defined based on the notions of state space, goal, as a surface in the state space, and valid movements towards the goal. A thinkable procedure of constructing patterns is demonstrated on two real-life examples. A hypothetical procedure for comparing process is suggested but it still needs to be verified in practice.\nOriginality/value: - The originality of the paper is the way the patterns are formulated and the underlying model, the state-flow view of processes, upon which the patterns are founded.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Four stage approach to organisational talent development (part 2)	[ "Employee development", "Human resource management", "Organizational skills" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: In the last article (Industrial and Commercial Training, Vol. 42 No. 6, 2010) we outlined our four-stage process for organisational talent development (OTD). We summarise it again here:\nOur four-stage approach to OTD: The Learning Curve (TLC) - are specialists in organisational talent development. Our people are experienced business leaders who have an expertise in organisational development and behavioural psychology. There are four stages to the way we work with clients:1. assess;2. implement;3. measure; and4. embed.1) Assess\nMeasure - our suggested methodology for stage 3 of an OTD programme: TLC employs the following evaluation framework from the perspective that our interventions work when:* They are used as the right solution to specific development needs.* The participants are open to learning.* Interventions are undertaken by skilled and effective facilitators/coaches who get results.* The organisation is culturally ready.* What is being learned is effectively role modelled and encouraged by leaders and managers.* The learning process is good, accessible and easy to follow.In order to evaluate the business value to clients of our OTD programmes, we recommend using the following evaluation categories:* return on expectation (ROE);* return on investment (ROI);* value of organisational intelligence (OI); and* participant experience of the OTD programme.The above establishes the baseline from which we can measure and evaluate improvements. In our recent work with Catalyst Housing Group (CHG), for whom we are running a management development programme for 60 managers, we are undertaking the following steps to measure success.ROE\nEmbed - our suggested methodology for stage 4 of an OTD programme: A key part of our OTD strategy, there is too little attention being paid in corporate learning & development departments across the globe to the issue of making the learning stick. TLC have used the following to sustain momentum for personal change and keep the learning alive.Corporate projects (CPs)\nSummary: This paper set out to outline the last two stages of our four stages of successful OTD interventions so that learning and development becomes part of our clients' culture. Most of what we have suggested can be achieved with minimal extra resources; the steps have to be planned into the strategy for the OTD programme and negotiated with your programme providers.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to explain a proven systematic approach to organisational talent development (OTD).\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The work of psychology-based consultancy The Learning Curve (TLC), their four-stage process, and two case studies is used as a basis to demonstrate the importance of a sequential plan to develop talent inside an organisation.\nFindings: - Productivity and profit increase in organisations that embrace a systematic approach to talent development.\nPractical implications: - Many of the methods employed by TLC have led to engagement and retention of the best staff among clients, who go on to sustain the talent development in cost-effective ways.\nOriginality/value: - The paper takes a holistic look at the challenge of engaging and retaining good staff, while recognising the importance of budgetary and resource constraints as we slowly come out of recession.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Recruiting business PhDs: US minority motives and concerns	[ "Higher education", "Recruitment", "Graduates", "Business schools", "Ethnic minorities", "Admissions" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Even as US businesses focus increasingly on the importance of diversity for organizational success, schools with business programs in the USA are finding it difficult to meet this challenge with respect to US minority representation in faculty ranks. Many business schools struggle to find academically qualified minority faculty candidates to adequately mirror their student populations (Beta Gamma Sigma International Exchange, 2007), while the under-representation of US minority faculty in academe has been the subject of numerous studies across a wide variety of disciplines (Turner et al., 2008). With respect to business programs, the shortage of doctorally qualified minority faculty is particularly acute. Business schools accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) report smaller percentages of faculty in both black (non-Hispanic) and Hispanic categories than those reported in the federal database for these categories among overall university faculty (AACSB International, 2008, p. 19). In addition, representation of minority faculty in business does not mirror US population statistics. For example, blacks represent 13.1 percent of the overall population (US Census, 2011) while representing 3.9 percent of faculty in the business disciplines.\nDoctoral programs in business: Doctoral programs in business represent the pipeline to business faculty ranks. While business doctoral programs continue to seek out and recruit minority students via established admissions practices, along with related efforts by accrediting bodies and affiliated organizations to support these endeavors, results remain limited. Enrollment of US minority students in domestic undergraduate and Master's-level programs is growing, yet the relatively low number of US minority doctoral students in business is not (US National Center for Education Statistics, 2012). This gap suggests that doctoral programs in business are failing to fully reach or enroll the increasing number of potential minority students. Two reasons for these disappointing results may be the current focus on globalization in business schools and the increased demand by international students for US doctoral education. Taken together, these factors may result in doctoral business programs addressing their diversity goals via international student enrollment.\nMethodology: This exploratory research study was conducted in two parts using qualitative and quantitative methods, a common approach for corroborating, elaborating, or initiating new interpretations from the other method (Rossman and Wilson, 1985). In the first part, structured interviews of 60-90 minutes duration were conducted by the researchers with a convenience sample of 16 doctoral program directors at AACSB-accredited schools in the USA and UK who had responded to a request for participation via the DocNet Network. The number of interviewees represented sufficient coverage of the practices of interest (see Small, 2009 for a discussion of interview sampling) insofar as the interview protocol was designed to develop a broad understanding of the range of recruitment, admissions, curriculum, support, and outcomes present in a range of doctoral programs. The interviews elicited information regarding recruitment and admissions practices, program structure and design, financial support arrangements, and other aspects of current practices. In addition, various recruiting publications and program web sites were reviewed for details regarding marketing (why to get a doctoral degree), admissions requirements, curricular requirements, and job prospects.\nResults: When asked to describe \"the characteristics of their students\" in demographic terms, 11 out of 13 full-time only doctoral program directors noted a significant international student population in their program, but only four mentioned their level of (US) minority student enrollment. Of the four directors who did mention minority students, only one suggested a significant minority population and this was noted as African-American. The same response pattern was true of part-time only doctoral program directors; all four indicated international student populations of varying levels while only one indicated a significant African-American minority population. In addition, the principle forms of outreach and recruitment mentioned by doctoral program directors were e-mail, the program's web site, and professional associations[2], with a number of individuals noting that their institution and/or school were uncoordinated in marketing to prospective doctoral candidates. None of the program directors discussed financial incentives designed specifically for US minority students, with overall access to resources based on faculty research needs or how competitive the environment was for faculty in a particular area or discipline (e.g. accounting). Doctoral program directors also reported faculty resistance to development of part-time doctoral programs based on faculty concerns with program quality and delivery.\nDiscussion: Doctoral programs in business serve as the pipeline for US minority representation within business faculty ranks. Notwithstanding various efforts to recruit minority students, it appears that doctoral programs have made little progress in broadening representation of minorities in their enrolled population. Interviews with doctoral program directors during survey development suggest that minority students may not be actively sought by doctoral programs and the most common avenue for enrolling a diverse student population is to focus on international (non-US) students. This result may be an outcome of increased attention within business programs to \"globalization\" and related factors, as well as an overall majority of international students in US graduate programs in general (Institute of International Education, 2012).\nConclusion: Most respondents, regardless of category (student, considering doctoral programs, those electing not to pursue a doctorate, or graduate) only looked at full-time programs in AACSB International-accredited schools that were ideally located to themselves. However, only for graduates and current students in programs was location both a reason for selecting programs for review and for rejecting programs. Accreditation of a program was of particular concern to respondents in the decision-making stage as this factor acted as both a selection and rejection criteria for this group, as did other factors such as the specific curriculum/research area and reputation of the university. Reasons among all groups for pursuing a doctorate are primarily to become a professor and derive a sense of personal satisfaction and achievement as well as obtain more interesting and challenging work, although groups differed somewhat on other monetary and personal concerns such as time management. In particular, the financial cost of the school and availability of scholarships, grants, or financial aid were both selection and rejection criteria for those electing not to pursue a doctorate, and financial aid packages/opportunities were selection and rejection criteria for those in the decision-making stage. Potentially critical differences existed between groups on the use of a mentor to guide decisions and plans in pursuing a doctorate, with minorities electing not to pursue a doctorate significantly underutilizing the guidance of a mentor in this regard.\nLimitations and future research: We acknowledge a number of limitations to this research project. Subjects were not randomly selected but rather self-selected into the study. This suggests the possibility that those not interested enough to complete the survey might respond differently from those who did respond. In addition, the sample of program directors used to provide a basis for survey design and some of the interpretation of results was also a result of self-selection, with the majority of interviewees responding to an e-mail request to members of an AACSB-accredited doctoral program consortium. In addition, given the overall number of full- and part-time doctoral programs in business in the USA, the sample size of program directors was small. An interesting follow-up study might explore the extent to which the responses documented in this research align with views of doctoral program directors at non-AACSB-accredited programs. In addition, given the AACSB International-accredited program emphasis, another avenue for further research would be to determine if accreditation status affects the proportion of US minority student enrollment. We also have no way of knowing the effect of the global financial crisis on our results. Given the economic downturn immediately preceding the survey period (2009), financial concerns may have been particularly important to those still considering a doctoral program or those who decided not to enroll.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: While institutional efforts have shown modest results, AACSB statistics suggest that current practices are insufficient to increase more substantively the representation of minorities among doctorally qualified business school faculty. The purpose of this paper is to explore antecedents to the faculty representation issue - that is, the motives, concerns, and resources of US minority individuals with respect to business doctoral program entry - as a basis for improving minority faculty representation outcomes.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A small sample of doctoral program directors were interviewed to ascertain their perspective on recruitment, design and delivery of PhD programs in business and from which a survey instrument was developed. A sample of 292 US minority respondents surveyed indicated their top reasons for and concerns about pursuing a doctorate, program selection and rejection criteria, sources of information and financing, and, for those in the decision-making stage, reasons for waiting to apply to a program. The paper compares responses of those who graduated from or are currently enrolled in a doctoral program in business with those who decided not to enroll. The paper also explores factors most salient to individuals currently contemplating enrolling but who have not yet decided to do so.\nFindings: Results suggest that mentorship of promising undergraduate and master's students by business faculty and current doctoral students is critical to US minority enrollments in doctoral programs; however, a school's physical location, required time and energy, and financial considerations also play a role in the decision-making process. The role of international students in diversity efforts by doctoral programs is also salient.\nOriginality/value: Previous studies in multiple disciplines note the under-representation of US minority faculty in academe. In business education, suggestions for overcoming this gap have focussed on recruitment, mentoring, and/or networks and support groups but little is known about antecedents to entry (motives, concerns, and resources of US minority individuals) with respect to business doctoral programs.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Discourse and institutional change in mass retail - the case of an institutional entrepreneur in France: The weblog of Leclerc	[ "Institutional entrepreneur", "Mass retail", "Pragmatics of communication", "Rhetorical strategies", "Weblog", "Methodology of discourse analysis", "Entreprenuerialism", "Organizational change" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The last decade was marked by the development of information and communication technologies within the mass retail sector (Barlow et al., 2004; Grewal and Levy, 2009). The internet not only made online trading possible, but also became an institutional communication tool for distribution groups. Certain distributors understood this and used it as a sounding board. This was the case for Michel-Edouard Leclerc, who developed a weblog in the early 2000s during the Galland Law reform debate. He used this tool both as a platform and as a way to reinforce social interaction on the internet by recreating ties with his clients and more generally with his stakeholders (Barlow et al., 2004).\n2. Institutional entrepreneur and institutional change: literature review: The institutional entrepreneur is a notion that is essential for understanding the process of institutional change. After presenting this notion, we shall address its modes of action by focusing on discourse.\n3. Analysis of Leclerc's discourse: To study MEL's influence on the regulation of relationships between industry and mass retail groups, we analyzed his discourse collected from his weblog, which is dedicated to the Galland Law reform. Before dealing with the actual analysis of his discourse, however, we would like to focus on the evolution and transformations in the mass retail field.\n4. Discussion and conclusion: theoretic, methodological and managerial implications: Research in the field of mass retail has tended to focus on marketing, strategy and logistics. We have anchored our research in the field of strategy and entrepreneurship. This crossing opens up a promising research field that can only contribute to enriching knowledge on management and distribution. Turning to the neo-institutional theory permits us to better understand the power relations in the distribution channel. To analyze these relations, the literature has until now favored the transaction cost theory (John and Reeve, 2010). We show that the neo-institutional sociological approach can also prove to be relevant. This contribution has enabled us to stress the part of the institutional entrepreneur in the transformation of an organizational field. We can see that MEL tried to modify insitutional logic by implementing rhetorical strategies in his blog. The study we have carried out has enabled us to confirm that the rhetorical strategies emphasized by Suddaby and Greenwood (2005) do exist in a different context. Our analysis, which is based on the French works of the pragmatics of communication, shows how his discourse enabled the institutional entrepreneur to play a part in the institutionalization process. Specifically, the analysis of MEL's discourse on his weblog has enabled us to characterize the rhetorical and discursive strategies he adopts to influence the mass retail field. In his weblog, MEL develops an argumentative style: he is committed in his discourse, he is involved and claims his positions. With a teleological strategy appearing predominantly, MEL can actually be considered to be an actor of change and can be qualified, on that account, as an institutional entrepreneur.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Mass retail in France, as an organizational field, experienced an institutional change when the Dutreil Law was promulgated on August 2, 2005. This new text is the result of a long process through which different groups of opposing logics faced one another. Michel-Edouard Leclerc actively took part in the debate launched about the Galland Law reform. His institutional activism has contributed to this change and he can be qualified, on that account, as an institutional entrepreneur. Anchored in neo-institutional theory, this article contributes to understanding the part played by the institutional entrepreneur in the process of institutional change. Design/methodology/approach\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors analyze Michel-Edouard Leclerc's discourse on his weblog to characterize the rhetorical strategies he adopts to legitimize change. The analysis is based on the works of the pragmatics of communication and on a detailed semantic analysis of reference fields (Tropes\nFindings: This contribution has enabled the author to stress the part of the institutional entrepreneur in the transformation of an organizational field. The rhetorical strategies implemented here contribute to modifying institutional logic. From a theoretical point of view, this contribution links the neo-institutional approach with entrepreneurship by proposing to define the institutional entrepreneur as an actor pursuing political opportunities.\nOriginality/value: One important advantage of this work is that the authors have offered a methodological framework for studying the discourse of institutional entrepreneurs. The paper proposes empirical operationalization of rhetorical strategies. This contributes to improving the validity of the research because the identification of rhetorical strategies is no longer exclusively related to the researcher's subjective interpretation. The work also has practical implications for the actors: how can their discourse play a part in the institutionalization process?\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Credit card cue effect: How mere exposure to credit card cues promotes consumers' perceived financial well-being and spending	[ "Consumer behaviour", "Consumer credit", "Debts", "Credit cards" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Credit cards have gained popularity as an alternative payment method to cash during the past few decades (Manning, 2000; Wang and Wolman, 2018). Credit cards give consumers great payment convenience. However, consumers who lack personal financial knowledge and self-control may easily misuse credit cards and accumulate substantial debt (Limbu, 2017; Limbu and Sato, 2019; Shen, 2014; Singh et al., 2018). At the end of 2018, credit card debt in the USA reached $870bn, its record high (Federal Reserve Bank of New York, 2019; Tanzi, 2019). There has been an upward trend for credit card balances to be delinquent for more than 90 days as of 2019 Q1 (Federal Reserve Bank of New York, 2019). Personal credit-card practices such as when to spend on credit and how to repay credit card debt can influence consumers' financial well-being (Bruggen et al., 2017; Vlaev and Elliott, 2014). It seems that the potential harm on consumers caused by credit-card overspending and unmanageable credit card debt can be avoided if consumers' possession and use of credit cards can be better managed. Unfortunately, consumers may overspend even when they are just briefly exposed to credit card cues (Feinberg, 1986; McCall and Belmont, 1996; Shimp and Moody, 2000; Wong and Lynn, 2017).\nConceptual framework and hypotheses development: Credit card cues, financial well-being and consumer spending\nMethod: An experimental study was conducted to test all the hypotheses. Participants were invited to participate in a \"Consumers' Attitudes and Purchase Behaviors on Natural and Man-Made Products Study,\" which was ostensibly conducted to understand consumers' attitudes toward natural vs human-made products. As part of the study, participants were randomly assigned to list their thoughts about either credit cards or cash. They then rated their perceptions of their own financial well-being and their willingness to pay for a total of ten products. Finally, participants completed a measure of individual differences in sensitivity to pain of payment.\nResults: A series of linear regression analyses were conducted to test H1a-H3b. The focal independent variable was Credit Card Cue Manipulation, represented by a dummy variable scored as 0=card condition and 1=cash condition. The moderator variable was Individual's Sensitivity to Pain of Payment, measured by the ST-TW scale with the total score ranging from 4 to 26 (spendthrift and tightwad being the anchor for highest and lowest score, respectively). The product of the two, the interaction effect between the Credit Card Cue Manipulation and Individual's Sensitivity to Pain of Payment was another predictor variable. The age and income of participants were also included as predictor variables. Dependent variables included the ratio of spending- and debt-related thoughts, the measure of perceived financial well-being and the total spending for the ten products. One respondent was excluded from further analysis, because responses for total spending were outliers, more than three standard deviations above mean. As a result, 336 responses were submitted for regression analysis. The means and standard deviations for the ST-TW score, age, income and all the dependent measures appear in Table I.\nDiscussion: Given the ubiquitous nature of credit-card stimuli and their known effects on consumer spending, a better understanding of those effects, their underlying processes and their boundary conditions would benefit consumers, marketers and policy makers alike. The results of this study make several contributions to such an understanding. First, they demonstrate for the first time that credit card cues affect some consumers' perceptions of their own financial well-being and those perceptions of financial well-being partially mediate credit card cue effects on some consumers' spending. Second, they provide evidence for the first time that consumers who are insensitive to the pain of payment (spendthrifts) associate credit cards with spending more and with debt less than do those who are more sensitive to the pain of payment (tightwads). Finally, they indicate that credit card cues enhance self-perceptions of financial well-being and consumer spending more strongly the less senstive consumers are to the pain of payment.\nPractical implications: The findings of this study have several practical implications. Most obviously, they suggest that credit-card logos serve not only for the information purpose of letting consumers know which card is accepted, but also for the spending-stimulating purpose encouraging consumers to spend more. Marketers can enhance sales through the prominent display of credit card cues more when targeting spendthrifts. Indeed, displaying credit card cues to tightwads may even backfire, because we found that credit card cues reduced (though not reliably) perceptions of financial well-being and spending among these latter consumers.\nLimitations: Despite its contributions, the present study had several limitations that should be corrected in future research. First, the credit card cue manipulation in his study not only showed participants a picture of credit cards but also asked them to list their thoughts about credit cards. This heavy-handed manipulation may have strengthened the listed associations and the resulting credit card cue effects. Future researchers should try to replicate our findings using mere exposure to credit-card stimuli alone. Second, the current analyses built on comparisons between the presence of credit card cues and the presence of cash cues. However, cash may also be associated with spending and financial well-being in people's minds, thus reducing the potential size of the credit card cue effects in this study. Future researchers should use different and more neutral control conditions in order to better assess the size and strength of credit card cue effects. Finally, total spending was based on the self-reported amount participants were willing to spend for a total of ten products identified by the researchers and may not reflect participants' actual spending behavior. Future research should ask participants to select items with a price tag from a large pool of products in an actual purchase situation in order to better capture participants' actual spending behavior.\nConclusion: Serving as one of the first research attempts to directly examine the link between an exposure to credit card cues and perceived financial well-being, this study suggested that consumers may need to be well aware of how their perceptions of financial well-being may inflate and overspend unconsciously after being exposed to any credit card cues, especially for spendthrifts. In addition to conceptually replicating our findings using different and improved methodologies, future research could build upon the current contributions and investigate many other potential effects of credit card cues on consumer thinking and behavior.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The extant literature has mixed results regarding the credit card cue effect. Some showed that credit card cues stimulate spending, whereas others were unable to replicate the findings or found that cues discourage consumer spending. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how consumers' sensitivity to the pain of payment affects their mental associations about credit cards and how the differences in credit card associations moderate the credit card cue effect on spending, providing a possible explanation for the mixed results in the literature. Furthermore, this paper examines the role of consumers' perceived financial well-being, measured by their perceptions of current and future wealth and their sense of financial security, in mediating this moderation effect.\nDesign/methodology/approach: An experimental study was conducted with a sample of 337 participants to test the hypothesized model.\nFindings: After being shown credit card cues, spendthrift participants had more spending-related thoughts and less debt-related thoughts, perceived themselves as having better financial well-being and consequently spent more than tightwad participants.\nOriginality/value: To the authors' knowledge, this is the first study to investigate the direct link between an exposure to credit card cues and perceived financial well-being, and one of the few to show evidence of the moderating effect of consumers' sensitivity to the pain of payment on spending when credit card cues are present. This study suggests that marketers may use credit card cues to promote consumer spending, whereas consumers, especially spendthrifts, should be aware of how credit card cues may inflate their perceived financial well-being and stimulate them to spend more.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Universities speak up regarding the implementation of sustainable development challenges: The case of Portugal	[ "Education for sustainable development (ESD)", "Higher education institutions", "Whole institution approach", "Portugal", "Universities" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Since the Brundtland Report (WCED, 1987), much research has been focused on how sustainable development (SD) can be a process for change in which societies improve the quality of life of their people, by achieving a dynamic equilibrium between the economic and social aspects, while protecting and improving the natural environment (Lozano, 2003). Since the United Nations (UN) Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD) (2005-2014) (UNESCO, 2005b), investigation has emphasised the implementation of SD in higher education institutions (HEIs) such as universities (Lozano et al., 2015; Leal Filho et al., 2018; Kapitutcinova et al., 2018).\n2. Methods: 2.1 Nature of the study\n3. Results: 3.1 Recognised university system\n4. Discussion: 4.1 Discussion of findings\n5. Conclusions: This study was carried out to contribute information that had been lacking about how sustainability had been integrated into the policies and strategies of Portuguese public universities. The study was based on a literature review, earlier detailed data treatment and interviews with key personnel at the universities with experience in sustainability decision-making. The study period encompassed the past 15 years, within the framework of the UN DESD 2005-2014 and until 2018. Moreover, the focus was likewise on interviewees' insights for the future.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This study aims to expand knowledge and provide further insights on how education for sustainable development (ESD) has been integrated into programmes at higher education institutions (HEIs) in Portugal.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A questionnaire survey was given to key actors in charge of sustainability implementation at each Portuguese public university. Semi-structured interviews were also conducted with 13 of the survey respondents and the data were analysed.\nFindings: Results showed that Portuguese public universities have their own strategies and policies on ESD, leading them to introduce initiatives arising from their proactiveness rather than governmental edicts. Some universities implemented ESD planning and beneficial \"green\" practices such as waste separation and recycling and ways to reduce energy consumption that can be a result of the improvement after the United Nations Decade 2005-2014. However, these actions seem to have been taken in isolation and not holistically integrated. Universities face many barriers including lack of funding, not properly trained people and inept government policies. They also must overcome challenges in implementing ESD.\nResearch limitations/implications: This research into the implementation of ESD has a national scope; the findings should be interpreted only in a Portuguese university context despite the high number of interviewees.\nPractical implications: The study has increased knowledge, provided further insights on how ESD has been integrated at HEIs and provided examples of integrated practices at Portuguese universities. A Sustainability4U platform was proposed for enhancing awareness of the need for increasing sustainable development.\nOriginality/value: This study contributes to defining a country's profile and how to implement sustainability in HEIs. The importance of obtaining information from key actors in sustainability at Portuguese public universities was highlighted.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Pay-what-you-want with charitable giving positively impacts retailers	[ "Perceptions", "Retail", "Donation" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Over the past three decades, retailers in the USA have partnered with non-profit organizations to successfully raise over $4bn to support charitable causes (The Cause Marketing Forum, 2018). The question arises, though, what is in it for the retailer? For participating retailers, the answer is encouraging, as a well-designed philanthropy program can provide a myriad of benefits. For example, research demonstrates that partnering with a non-profit organization can increase consumers' attitudes toward the partnering for-profit firm (Barone et al., 2007; Chaabane and Parguel, 2016; Hamby, 2016; Lafferty et al., 2004) and intentions to recommend and purchase from the retailer (Barone et al., 2007; Chaabane and Parguel, 2016; De Vries and Duque, 2018; Robinson et al., 2012).\nLiterature review: One way that retailers can enhance their societal contributions is by partnering with a charitable organization and collecting donations on behalf of that charity. Historically, most research has examined the effectiveness of charitable campaigns from the viewpoint of the nonprofit, examining how various strategies impact consumers' willingness to donate (MacDonnell and White, 2015; Savary et al., 2015), amount donated (Charness and Cheung, 2013; Robinson et al., 2012) and purchase intentions toward products that benefit charitable organizations (Das et al., 2016; Zemack-Rugar et al., 2016). These studies investigate how the charitable organization can benefit the most based on the phrasing of the donation request as an exact or abstract amount (Kerr and Das, 2013; Pracejus et al., 2003), variations in the message used to request the charitable contributions (Folse et al., 2010; Hasford et al., 2015) and variations with the product or charity associated with the donation request (Das et al., 2016; Zemack-Rugar et al., 2016).\nOverview of studies and measurement: To determine whether retailers would be better off implementing PWYW with charitable giving or mere donation philanthropy methods, we conduct a pretest and two studies testing our hypotheses. Table I provides an overview of the studies. The pretest uses a student sample to initially test our theorizing and sets the stage for the studies that follow. Study 1 is conducted with an adult sample and establishes that PWYW with charitable giving (as compared with mere donation) creates more positive consumer perceptions of, and intentions toward, the sponsoring retailer. Study 2 then explores, again with an adult sample, the underlying mechanism that produces the more favorable attitudes and intentions and finds that PWYW with charitable giving results in higher perceptions of equity, leading to more positive attitudes and intentions toward the retailer.\nPretest: To test the rigor of our initial hypothesis, a pretest was conducted with 82 student participants (average age = 21 years, 44 per cent male) recruited from marketing courses at a large, East Coast university in exchange for extra credit. An e-mail provided students with an overview of the study and a link to a survey, administered through Qualtrics, which informed students that an on-campus convenience store was collecting donations to help fund scholarships. After reading a scenario, to which they were randomly assigned, describing either a mere donation condition or a condition in which the student could PWYW for a water bottle with all proceeds going to charity, items measuring attitudes toward the store (a = 0.94) and purchase intentions were completed. A one-way multivariate analysis of variance [MANOVA; Wilks' lambda = 0.92; F(2, 79) = 4.03, p < 0.05] found significant differences for donation format for both attitudes [F(1, 80) = 3.72, p = 0.05] and purchase intentions [F(1, 80) = 6.94, p < 0.01]. Participants in the PWYW with charitable giving condition had significantly more positive attitudes toward the store (M = 5.92, SD = 1.08) and higher purchase intentions (M = 5.23, SD = 1.74) than those in the mere donation condition (attitudes: M = 5.49, SD = 0.93; purchase intentions: M = 4.16, SD = 1.91). Given that the pattern of results fit our theorizing, Study1 was undertaken with an adult sample to formally test H1.\nStudy 1: Study 1 uses a between-subjects design, manipulating the independent variable (mere donation, PWYW with charitable giving) and measuring the dependent variables, attitudes toward the retailer and purchase intentions. Study 1 tests H1 and enhances the generalizability of the findings from our pretest by utilizing a broader sample. Participants were recruited through Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk), which is an online marketplace for work. Research supports this sampling frame (Goodman et al., 2012; Kees et al., 2017), and this marketplace is commonly used in experimental research and within the context of services (Mattila et al., 2016; Newman et al., 2018; Schaarschmidt and Hober, 2017; Zhang et al., 2018).\nStudy 2: Study 2 utilizes a between-subjects design and manipulates the independent variable (mere donation, PWYW with charitable giving) and measures the dependent variables, attitudes toward the retailer and purchase intentions, and the mediating variable, perceptions of equity.\nDiscussion and implications: The research presented in this manuscript fills three important gaps in the literature. Specifically, the impact of a charitable campaign is explored from the perspective of the partnering for-profit firm as opposed to the nonprofit organization, a new and underexplored donation collection format (PWYW with charitable giving) is considered and the role of equity in consumers' formulation of attitudes and intentions toward a retailer based on a partnering charitable campaign is delineated.\nLimitations and future research: The studies in this research utilize a single context (a restaurant), a single population (paid adult workers) and a single product (specialty beverage), so care should be taken in generalizing the findings. Although Study 2 eliminates demographic differences related to respondents' age, gender, income and education as alternative explanations for our findings, to further enhance the generalizability of the findings, future research should explore the relationship of the proposed variables in other contexts (e.g. in discount or department stores), with populations other than paid workers, and include a wider array of demographic characteristics (i.e. religious affiliation, socio-economic status) that might impact the effectiveness of PWYW with charitable giving. One particularly fruitful consideration may be to investigate if the findings can be replicated in populations of known donors as opposed to the general population.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate, from the perspective of a retailer, which of two philanthropy programs (pay-what-you-want [PWYW] with charitable giving or mere donation) results in more positive impressions of, and behavioral intentions toward, the retailer sponsoring the program.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Two studies investigate the influence of donation format (PWYW with charitable giving versus mere donation) on attitude and behavioral intentions toward the retailer, the second of which also explores equity as the mediating mechanism that produces the more favorable attitudes and intentions.\nFindings: Results indicate that PWYW with charitable giving is effective at enhancing purchase intentions and attitudes toward the retailer. Specifically, results suggest that the implementation of a PWYW with charitable giving format leads to higher perceptions of equity, ultimately leading to more positive attitudes and higher purchase intentions toward the retailer as compared with a mere donation format. Alternative explanations are examined and ruled out.\nOriginality/value: To date, research predominantly examines PWYW with charitable giving from a pricing perspective and has yet to explore how it compares with other donation campaigns in terms of the impact on consumers' attitudes and intentions toward the sponsoring retailer. This research fills that gap and contributes to the literature by broadening the perspective by which PWYW with charitable giving is examined. Managerially, the research is important, as it suggests that consumers consider the equity of various donation formats and think more favorably of retailers using more equitable donation campaigns.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Strategically optimum maintenance of monitoring-enabled multi-component systems using continuous-time jump deterioration models	[ "Maintenance", "Strategic management", "Continuous production", "Simulation techniques", "Optimization" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Efficient usage of high-tech, long-lived, costly equipment requires not only a good operations schedule, but also a well-designed maintenance schedule. Generally, a maintenance schedule requires a trade-off between costs of inspections, repairs and replacements of parts and costs incurred due to equipment failures. Too many inspections and repairs result in unneeded maintenance, but too infrequent maintenance can result in very costly failures. Today conditioned-based maintenance (CBM) is used to balance this trade-off better. According to Rao (1996), CBM can help a company save over 50-80 percent in maintenance costs and improve profits of a plant by 20-60 percent. The goal of CBM is to perform a real-time assessment of equipment in order to make maintenance decisions, consequently reducing unnecessary maintenance and related costs. Our focus in this article is to strategically analyze maintenance actions for a monitoring-enabled multi-component system in the context of CBM by using continuous-time deterioration models with jumps.With the pace of today's technology, many sophisticated products have sensor-enabled monitoring units embedded in the products. The monitoring units provide real-time condition information for the system (product). Thus, CBM is widely implemented in practice. One example of service which heavily relies on CBM is the delivery of long-term service agreements (LTSAs) by product manufacturers (such as GE, UTC). An LTSA is an agreement between providers and customers, which makes a provider responsible for maintaining and repairing the products for a customer over a specified period of contract duration. A provider sells many such LTSAs and needs to develop maintenance schedules for the portfolio such that maintenance resources are optimally utilized as well as customers' requirements are met with minimum cost. Meeting the customer's requirement implies maintaining product functionality and preventing unexpected breakdowns of the products, which may result in loss of capital and lives.A system deteriorates over time due to aging, fatigue, usage, environmental conditions or extreme events. After undergoing a certain level of deterioration, a system is increasingly likely to fail. In order to model and predict these failures, the condition of a system is assessed and summarized using a quantity that serves as an abstraction to capture the health status or quantified deterioration of a system. With a view toward utilizing a CBM paradigm, the health of a system (and its components) is measured using observable quantities concerning the system's functionality, such as temperature, vibration, pressure, crack length, etc. These data are assumed available to facilitate measurement of the deterioration level of a system. Using the measured deterioration of a system, a decision maker can make a better maintenance decisions for the system, such as, to continue to use, repair, or replace a system or its component(s).In this paper, we identify trigger events corresponding to deterioration levels for a multi-component system and determine optimal maintenance actions for these triggers in order to obtain a strategically optimum maintenance policy. Components may require somewhat different interpretation in different contexts. When a system is very complex, it may have thousands of parts; therefore, capturing all of them as components into our model will be prohibitively hard. As a modeling abstraction, it is critical to decide what level of components or subsystems resolution is kept in a model such that the model is not too complicated, yet good at mimicking the real system. In our context, a component means a module of a system that is essential for the system's functionality whose deterioration affects system performance significantly, and therefore needs to be incorporated into the model. A maintenance action is considered if the deterioration level of the system or its components fall in specified trigger zones. Failure modes and effects analysis (FMEA) is used to derive the interrelation of deterioration level of components and their impact on the system's deterioration. Maintenance actions are analyzed in order to maximize the system's functionality while controlling system's deterioration level that make it susceptible to breakdown.The paper is organized as follows. The related works in the field of CBM and FMEA fs are discussed in section 2. Section 3 describes a single component system, followed by a generalization to a multiple component system. A maintenance model is discussed in section 4. Section 5 describes the simulation method employed to find the deterioration of the system and elucidates the optimal maintenance search procedure. Numerical examples are presented in section 6. The paper is concluded in section 8 after some general discussion on application.\n2. Literature review: 2.1. CBM models\n3. A multi-component deterioration model: We begin this section by discussing the quantification of deterioration of a system captured in a continuous-time deterioration model with jumps. We start with developing the concept of measured deterioration (D) and a model for deterioration of a single-component system.The deterioration model captures the evolution of the measured deterioration of a system over time. This measured deterioration is constructed in terms of information provided by CBM concerning the functionality of the system, such as, temperature, vibration, pressure, crack length, etc. The precise construction is a system-specific effort and is beyond the scope of this paper. We assume that these sensor-measured quantities can be transformed using appropriate representation (F) to depict the health of the system (D) (Gebraeel et al., 2002, 2004)): Equation 1 where Yit are observations from the system (or its components) of quantities, such as, temperature, vibration, crack length, etc., under CBM. Dt is the deterioration level of the system at time, t.3.1. A continuous deterioration model\n4. A multi-component deterioration model with maintenance actions: A failure or malfunction of the system results in disruption of production, reduction in quality of products' output, severe loss of lives and/or capital. Maintenance is performed to retain the system in a good functional state such that losses and unwanted incidents are minimized. In our analysis, maintenance is either a general repair activity or involves a complete replacement of component(s). Therefore, repair of a component means restoring it to a better state, while replacement implies restoring to its original state.4.1. Repair or replace model\n5. Simulation-based optimization problem: This section discusses the simulation method for the deterioration model developed in the earlier sections and presents a search algorithm to find the optimal choice of maintenance actions for the trigger events.Generally, the deterioration measure of a component can be obtained analytically by solving its stochastic differential equation representation. However, in our case a non- decreasing function transformation of the two-stage model and imposing controls over the process due to choice of maintenance actions results in sizable complexity. Thus, obtaining analytical solutions is difficult. As a result, we choose to obtain solutions numerically by using continuous simulation techniques. Among the various numerical simulation techniques available for the continuous deterioration model for the components, we use the Euler scheme (Kloeden et al., 1994), since this scheme is simple, yet provides reasonable accuracy.Figure 1 presents a flow chart of the algorithm for simulation of the deterioration process and its interactions with maintenance actions. First, we develop the problem specification, where we estimate ai(Zi,t-1,t); bi(Zi,t-1, t); rij the arrival rates for the jump process, i, and its intensity Ui; parameters for repair and replacement, ui, and corresponding costs, Cc, Cr and Cn. After a complete specification of the problem, we begin the simulation process to find the deterioration measure of each component i in box 2 of Figure 1 using the Euler scheme. For sudden changes in deterioration, we find when a jump occurs by generating arrivals for the Poisson process. If there is no jump, the jump deterioration term will be zero. After we find Ji,t+1, we can find the deterioration level of a component i by using equation (2.2) in Figure 1.Once we find the deterioration level of all the components, we obtain the deterioration of the system by equation 3 in box 3 of Figure 1. The Jsys,t+1 in this equation can be found by checking whether there is a failed part. If there is a failed part, we generate the Jsys,t+1 from its definition in equation (8).If the deterioration of a component or of the system falls in a trigger zone (box 4 in Figure 1), a maintenance action generated by the maintenance-action generator is performed, and the after-maintenance deterioration levels are determined using the repair or replacement model discussed in section 4.1 (box 5 in Figure 1). The process repeats until reaching the planning horizon, T.For the optimization part, our objective function is to minimize the expected long run cost of maintenance and failures. Each maintenance action, Ak, has its associated cost (C(Ak)) which is constructed using Table I. The failure cost (CF) is a function of the deterioration of a component and the system. It is estimated from several costs, such as, safety cost, an opportunity cost for response time, and a penalty cost of not meeting customer satisfaction. In our model we take the failure cost of a critical or a non-critical component to be equal to the replacement cost of that component, while the failure cost of the system is double the replacement cost of the most costly critical component. Other appropriate constructions of a model for failure costs can be accommodated. The total cost (TC) is as follows: Equation 11 where C(Ak, t) is a cost of maintenance action at time t.5.1. Optimal search algorithm\n6. Numerical example: In this section, results are presented to demonstrate the development of the model and implementation of the simulation and search algorithm. We set up a simple serial system consisting of five components. For simplicity, we assume that the drift and the diffusion terms, a and b, are constant. The component interaction set up is given in Table III.The parameters for each component deterioration model, threshold and criticality are shown in Table IV. Components 1 and 3 are critical components, while Components 2, 4 and 5 are non-critical. The relationship between a failed component and the deterioration of the system is presented in Table V. Maintenance costs and the recovery values are presented in Table VI.We begin our search procedure by assigning class 1, 2, 11, 13, 27 and 46 to trigger 1 to 6, respectively, as shown in Table VII. Initial classes are selected so that more aggressive maintenance class is assigned to more severe trigger, and the initial solution is obtained quickly. Moreover, we have selected the initial classes such that several of our initial choice of classes have only one maintenance action in them. After assigning the initial maintenance class to each trigger, we perform an initial search to find the initial solution for the problem. We use 300 replications to evaluate the objective function. The total expected cost and the corresponding confidence intervals are seen to stabilize in our simulation experiments with 300 or more replications. The search algorithm converges after 34 iterations yielding the optimal solution (OPT) as shown in Table VIII. The optimal solution results in a 25 percent cost reduction from the initial solution.6.1. Analysis of the optimal solution\n7. Discussion: The deterioration model and optimal maintenance action search algorithm developed in this paper can be applied to any system for which a strategic maintenance analysis is needed. There are some challenges in a successful application in terms of handling the complexity of the system and calibration of the models. The deterioration model requires developing an appropriate abstraction of the system, since modeling every single component of the real system will result in unmanageable complexity. As a result, as in every model development effort, a decision maker needs to tradeoff between complexity and accuracy of the model in representing the system. It is critical to decide what level of components or subsystems resolution is kept in a model such that the model is not too complicated, yet good at mimicking the real system.Once the abstraction is created, the next challenge is to calibrate the model. It is assumed that data in the desirable forms are available for accomplishing this task. This involves transforming the data obtained from system (or component) monitoring devices, such as, measures of temperature, vibration, pressure, crack length, etc., to indicators of health status or deterioration level of the system or components (Lin and Makis, 2004). This transformation will need to take advantage of the detailed data analysis conducted at the engineering design and reliability assessment phase of the system (Hasse and Widjajakusuma, 2003; Loutridis, 2004; Yun and Bahng (2000)). This is also desirable since data from the monitoring devices in the system operations phase is affected by the current maintenance actions in use. A careful strategy for using a combination of design phase and operations phase data needs to be developed to calibrate the deterioration model (drift, diffusion, and parameters of the jump process), deterioration thresholds, and maintenance recovery and cost models.Finally, the models developed in this paper can be further enhanced. For instance, we assumed that the deterioration process of the components are independent of each other, and the interconnection of the components is considered only at the system level. However, it is possible in some cases that the deterioration level of the components is more accurately described as being interconnected with other components, i.e. instead of ai and bi, we use aij and aij. For example, if parts A and B are neighbors or functionally connected, the deterioration level of component A is affected by the deterioration level of component B and vice versa. As a result, the deterioration level of component A changes when the deterioration level of component B changes, but again the deterioration level of component B also changes since the deterioration level of component A has changed. The drift (ai) and the diffusion terms (bi) can also taken to be time-dependent, instead of constants, i.e. ai(t) and bi(t). These enhancement, however, have a direct bearing on making the model calibration and parameter estimation effort tougher.\n8. Conclusions: In this paper, we have developed a framework to determine strategically optimal maintenance actions for a multi-component system, where each component of the system degrades continuously with jumps. The status and criticality of the components determines the overall health of the system. Different maintenance actions in response to system condition help improving the status of the system. We solved the model using a Euler scheme-based continuous simulation to find the deterioration level of the components and the system. Strategically optimal maintenance actions that minimize a combination of maintenance and failure costs are found for the system and its components using a search procedure.The framework is applied to a sample configuration of a multi-component system. The optimal solution found recommends making opportunistic maintenance corresponding to every trigger. The optimal maintenance strategy is both cost-effective and performs well in terms of number of times the system falls in the warning zone or average number of component failures. We performed detailed sensitivity analysis for the thresholds that define the warning zones for the system and its components.As pointed out in the discussion of Section 7, much research is still needed in this area, especially for successful model calibration and parameter estimation, as well as further model enhancements. Model enhancements to consider maintenance set-up times and repair times are also important.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This article aims to analyze strategically optimal maintenance actions for a multi-component system whose deterioration is observed through a monitoring system set in place to support condition-based maintenance.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Deterioration of a multi-component system is modeled by a continuous-time jump diffusion model which incorporates interaction between the components of the system. A simulation-based optimization heuristic is developed to obtain strategically optimum maintenance actions. The methodology is applied to an illustrative example.\nFindings: - The article finds that the framework facilitates analyzing at a strategic level the role of degree of response to the deterioration of components for the overall functionality of a multi-component system. The optimal solution for the illustrative example recommends a provider to perform a variety of opportunistic maintenance.\nPractical implications: - In this article, a framework is developed to determine strategically optimal maintenance actions for a multi-component system whose deterioration is observed in real-time through embedded monitoring units set in place to support condition-based maintenance (CBM). The framework facilitates analyzing at a strategic level the role of degree of response to the deterioration of components for the overall functionality of a multi-component system. A strategically optimal maintenance policy can then be enhanced to develop a detailed tactical maintenance strategy. This approach is expected to benefit the management of long-term service agreements, where a service contract is sold bundled with a product, which makes a provider responsible for maintaining the product over a specified contract period.\nOriginality/value: - Besides a tactical approach for performing maintenance, in order to stay profitable in the long-run, a decision maker needs to assess the strategic performance of maintenance strategies adopted. This framework is a first attempt to facilitate this analysis at a strategic level for a monitoring-enabled multi-component system.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Viewing the work of Lillian M. Gilbreth through the lens of critical biography	[ "Management history", "Qualitative research", "Critical biography", "Lillian M. Gilbreth" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: In biography, the context is important where it illuminates the life. In history, the life is important where it illuminates the context. (Russell, 2009, p. 154)\nMethodology: the lens of critical biography: A critical biography is a form of qualitative research which focuses on the natural setting and complexity of the phenomena studied, recognizing that there are many dimensions and layers to the subject being studied (Leedy and Ormrod, 2010). It seeks to reveal the connection between the subject's life episodes and important choices to their contributions to their discipline by integrating social and historical contexts (Jacobs, 2007), as well as political circumstances that may be prevalent (Richetti, 2006).\nBackground, roles and turning points: Gilbreth's background can most easily be discussed via a biographical overview. Her roles can then be extrapolated from the biographical information, and turning points can be examined.\nKey societal forces that influenced Gilbreth's career: Growing interest in scientific management\nGilbreth's key contributions to management theory: Lillian Gilbreth has been called the \"first lady of management\" (Greenwood et al., 1978; Miller and Lemons, 1998, others), the \"mother of Scientific Management\" and the \"World's greatest woman engineer\" (Perloff and Naman, 1996). Much of her fame has been linked to her work with her husband, Frank Gilbreth, in the development of Motion Studies as an extension of scientific management. Her personal contributions, however, have not been as recognized by business practitioners, as they have been by management academics (Wren and Hay, 1977). That said, Lillian's personal contributions to the development of management thought have been profound with lasting effects on the fields of management, operations management and industrial engineering, including TQM, supply chain operations reference (Mousa and Lemak, 2009) and the Toyota Production System (Towill, 2010).\nDiscussion: All significant contributions to any field occur within a context of personal, social, economic and political factors. It is often easier to understand how and why these contributions evolved when looking at the \"big picture\" that critical biography can provide. In the case of Lillian Gilbreth, her contributions to the human side of scientific management, the application of scientific management principles to homemaking and the conceptualization of women as intelligent consumers and workers can be largely attributed to the context of her life. Specifically, we comment on how her life experiences interfaced with her key contributions in each of these areas.\nImplications for practice and research: Before concluding, we would like to further explore implications for practice and research. We do this both in terms of using critical biography as a methodology as well as revisiting the contributions of Lillian Gilbreth and exploring some avenues for future research.\nConclusion: In this study, we sought to examine Lillian Gilbreth's key contributions to management using the lens of critical biography. Throughout her life, Lillian held the roles of caregiver, engineer, faculty member and breadwinner, among others. Societal forces, such as the growing interest in scientific management and the traditional role of the woman, impacted Lillian's performance in each of her life roles. Thus, the present study juxtaposed Lillian's roles with several societal forces that prevailed during Lillian's lifetime. By doing so, we have followed Jacobs' (2007) framework and have created a critical biography that provides Lillian Gilbreth's background, the important work and family roles she held, the influence she had upon management thought and the societal context in which her contributions to management thought were made.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the significant contributions of Lillian M. Gilbreth through the lens of critical biography to put her work in the context of her life events, her key roles, the turning points in her life and the societal context within which her contributions to management thought were made.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Critical biography examines the interaction of a person's life events with the social, economic and political contexts surrounding his or her life and draws inferences as to why the person made specific decisions and contributions.\nFindings: Key contributions to management thought made by Lillian M. Gilbreth are linked to her biographical events, including the multiple roles she played as daughter, student, wife, mother, author, engineer, psychologist, breadwinner, domestic scientist and teacher. Various turning points in her life are identified, including being allowed to go to college, taking her first psychology course, marrying Frank Gilbreth, publishing Fatigue Studies and Frank's death. Key societal factors that influenced Gilbreth's contributions were the growing interest in scientific management, the status of women and the increased interest in domestic science.\nResearch limitations/implications: The qualitative technique of critical biography is demonstrated as a useful methodology for examining individual contributions to management history. The authors acknowledge the limitation of subjective interpretation.\nPractical implications: The reasons behind Lillian Gilbreth's contributions, which were considered a precursor to the human relations era, are extrapolated from this research.\nSocial implications: The influence of social context is examined, as it pertains to the life and work of Lillian Gilbreth.\nOriginality/value: This paper provides a critical biography of Lillian M. Gilbreth and her work within the context of her life and times.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Interdisciplinary HIV care - patient perceptions	[ "Patient satisfaction", "Quality assurance", "Clinical pharmacy service", "Health care surveys", "HIV infections/drug therapy", "Interdisciplinary health team" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Healthcare services for people living with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) face numerous challenges related to HIV care's growing complexity. These include several new antiretroviral therapies with distinctive dosing and administration requirements, prophylactic and treatment regimens for opportunistic infections (Njilele et al., 2012) and managing HIV in chronic comorbidity setting. Further complicating medical management are each patient's unique social and psychological needs (Green and Smith, 2004). Ultimately, in a patient-centerd healthcare model, satisfaction is one deciding factor about whether these challenges are successfully overcome by the provider. Patient satisfaction is believed to be associated with adherence to medical care, service use and improved clinical outcomes (Sullivan et al., 2000). Furthermore, ensuring patient approval is an essential for fostering patient-provider relationships and keeping patients engaged in their health (Sixma et al., 1998). Higher overall patient satisfaction and satisfaction with discharge planning are associated with lower hospital readmission rates for myocardial infarction, heart failure and pneumonia (Boulding et al., 2011). Dissatisfied patients are less likely to adhere to treatment recommendations (Roberts, 2002), which can result in worse outcomes for the individual and also for the healthcare system. Measuring patient satisfaction with healthcare services is recognized in the literature as a priority when aiming to deliver quality care and to maintain viability in the pay-for-performance and consumerism era (Riskind et al., 2011; Fottler et al., 1997). High patient satisfaction and quality outcome is a key competitive edge in healthcare delivery (Urden, 2002). Concerning care for persons living with HIV, healthcare staff need to meet their consumers' approval and providers must capture patient attitudes to deliver excellent service from the patients' perspective.\nMethods: Setting and participants\nResults: One hundred and four completed questionnaires were received (Table I). All respondents completed the questionnaire's quality of care segment, while 100 completed the interdisciplinary care segment. Forty-three females and 40 males were identified from those answering the gender question. The original QUOTE-HIV study had 55 respondents, so we felt a 100 minimum was adequate. Most patients were between 46 and 65 years, black or African-American and over half said the interdisciplinary clinic was the only clinic in which they have received HIV care.\nDiscussion: To our knowledge, this is the first study measuring HIV interdisciplinary care quality from the patient's perspective. We used a modified, previously validated QUOTE-HIV questionnaire to assess users' satisfaction with the clinic's services. Both the survey's overall satisfaction and interdisciplinary care components met face validity and passed the reliability test (Cronbach's a>0.80). Overall satisfaction scores for this particular interdisciplinary HIV clinic were high and represent a positive perception among patients. Choi and Pak (2007) examined several promoters and barriers for successful multidisciplinary teamwork. They noted that multidisciplinary teamwork is not always successful, nor is it always called for. However, multidisciplinary teamwork is successful when cultivated by: carefully selecting team members and leaders, personal commitment, physical proximity, institutional support, a common goal and shared vision, role clarity and communication. The clinic we observed demonstrates several characteristics that contribute toward operating a clinic that provides a positive patient experience.\nConclusion: Those wishing to implement and enhance outpatient services for people living with HIV must continually seek opportunities to keep patients engaged and adherent to medical care. Suboptimal retention increases mortality in HIV infected patients (Giordano et al., 2007). According to Roberts (2002), interviews with HIV-positive patients revealed that high-quality patient-provider relationships support patient adherence to care, while poor relationships can hinder. Guidelines for HIV primary care from the Infectious Diseases Society of America recognize high-quality patient-provider relationships as an exceptionally important factor in a patient's engagement and recommends identifying a primary provider for each patient while using a multidisciplinary model (Aberg et al., 2009). However, patients only somewhat agreed to feeling comfortable having their health discussed in a large group during medical visits. This may identify a hindrance when practicing in teaching hospitals. Patients were highly satisfied with their experiences at the clinic and survey's results support an interdisciplinary model as an acceptable approach to delivering primary care to this population.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to gauge patients' service perceptions of an interdisciplinary human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) clinic, which uses infectious disease physicians, medical residents, clinical pharmacists, nurses, social workers and students in HIV primary-care delivery.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Adult patients coming to the HIV clinic for a return visit to the interdisciplinary team completed a questionnaire based on a previously validated HIV-specific patient satisfaction study (n=104). Fourteen modified items assessing overall care-quality and ten original items assessing interdisciplinary services were included.\nFindings: Respondents reported high satisfaction levels with the clinic's services. The mean score for the care-quality items was 3.79 (possible 4). The interdisciplinary care items mean score was 3.69 (possible 4). For non-physician disciplines, respondents indicated that nurses, pharmacists and social workers played important roles in their clinic care.\nResearch limitations/implications: Bias associated with patient selection and survey methods limit the generalizability. The study has implications for measuring interdisciplinary care provided at HIV clinics.\nOriginality/value: This HIV outpatient care interdisciplinary model is not widely in use. Results are important for those involved in HIV service development and improvement. Findings support integrating non-physician providers into routine outpatient HIV medical visits.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The role of organizational learning in soft regulation of workplace gender equality	[ "Equal opportunities", "Benchmarking", "Longitudinal case study", "Government agency", "Male-dominated industry", "Regulatory effects" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Government regulation of gender equality issues is commonly done either through \"hard\" law, designed to prohibit discriminatory behaviour and which applies sanctions to transgressors, or \"soft\" regulation, designed to promote certain behaviour by encouraging employers to address gender inequalities in their organizations. The latter is often called affirmative action regulation, literally meaning to take positive, or affirmative, action to promote gender equality in organizations. Frequent evaluations suggest that this kind of soft regulation does not really work, with many critics attributing its failure to the absence of hard sanctions to apply to the targeted organizations. In this paper we focus on the learning objectives inherent in affirmative action regulation - to improve employer understanding of the issues and to increase knowledge of good practice, and thereby to change attitudes and behaviour. We investigate whether the central mechanism of much affirmative action regulation - periodic public reporting of plans, activities and outcomes - provides evidence that the desired learning takes place. In doing so, we draw on themes from the growing literature on soft regulation of employment relations (ER) and relate these to organizational learning. In contrast to previous studies, we suggest that the failure of affirmative action regulation to generate change may be understood as a failure to facilitate organizational learning, as much as the result of an absence of hard sanctions.\nSoft regulation, organizational learning, and workplace gender equality: Soft regulation is defined here as rules or orders to guide or control behaviour, but that are not binding at law (Garcia-Munoz Alhambra et al., 2011; Kuruvilla and Verma, 2006; Sisson and Marginson, 2001). These rules or orders may come in many forms, for example, prizes or awards, accreditation, codes of conduct, certification, framework agreements, and procurement guidelines (Stuart et al., 2011; van der Vleuten and Verloo, 2012). Soft, or \"light touch\", regulation is expected to educate about or reward desired behaviour, but only occasionally and with weak sanctions to punish its absence.\nMethodology: The research question informing this paper is:\nFindings: Changes in overall workforce profile\nDiscussion: If governments continue to use soft regulation as the primary mechanism by which to redress gender inequality in organizations, then it is important to understand more about how that regulation works, and what might improve its efficacy. Specifically, this research sought to investigate whether soft regulation of gender equality supports organizational learning. It was proposed that if soft regulation could support organizational learning at SteelCo, an organization where significant factors militated against its success, then soft regulation would have a good chance of supporting organizational learning in other organizations.\nConclusion: In this paper, we have examined the effects of a particular kind of soft regulation, that is, affirmative action legislation, on organizational learning. Many researchers have been understandably skeptical about the value of soft regulation, arguing that it does not work, because it does not take account of the inherently gendered nature of work and organizations, because it is not been effective public policy, and, not least, because the absence of hard sanctions means target organizations do not take it seriously.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explain progress, or the lack of it, in achieving workplace gender equality goals prescribed by affirmative action regulation by using concepts from soft regulation and organizational learning.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The research design is a longitudinal study (2002-2012) of a critical case, that of a single large organization in the male-dominated steel manufacturing, distribution and mining industries. The case focusses on the evidence about organizational learning to be found in that organization's reports to government on its activities to promote workplace gender equality.\nFindings: While other factors play a role, the apparent failure of the soft regulation to generate a significant shift in gender equality outcomes may also be attributed to ineffective organizational learning, demonstrated by the absence of systematic reflection within the organization on how to improve workplace gender equality, and the lack of firm targets and external benchmarking.\nResearch limitations/implications: Self-reported data may be overstated or incomplete. More research is needed to confirm the nature of the specific learning processes occurring within organizations.\nPractical implications: Absent the advent of hard sanctions in workplace gender equality regulation, the responsible government agencies may find it valuable to focus on ways to encourage target organizations to develop competence in organizational learning.\nSocial implications: More effective gender equality regulation may change organizational policy and practice and improve work opportunities for women.\nOriginality/value: Rather than concluding that the only alternative, when soft regulation is unsuccessful, is hard regulation, this paper shifts the focus to ways that soft regulatory processes might be improved to strengthen their effect.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The tragedy of the private: transaction cost considerations	[ "Economic theory", "Developing countries", "Citizenship", "Marxist economics" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Standard economic theory teaches of the advantages of private property over public and textbooks give ample examples of those advantages to students of economics. Beginning students study in their introductory economics course that private property is superior to public and some of the arguments given are:\n2. The \"tragedy of the private\" from the perspective of new institutional economics: It is today clear that transaction costs are positive in the real world. Most economists, new institutionalists in the lead, agree that transaction costs are positive and, therefore, can be sizable in some economic sectors or societies. Coase (1937, 1988, p. 174) introduces the concept of transaction costs and argues that positive, rather than zero, transaction costs should receive attention in the academic world. Williamson (1979) claims that there are and always will be transaction costs. According to Williamson (1989, p. 227) not only do all transactions incur some transaction costs but also the different forms of organization can be associated with different levels of transaction costs, which makes the choice of economic institutions vital. Arrow (1969, p. 513), when discussing market vs non-market allocation, suggests that transaction costs are attached to any market and indeed to any mode of resource allocation:\n3. Some examples from Bulgaria: An example of market failure in a transitional economy such as Bulgaria is the sector of public utilities and natural monopolies. It clearly illustrates a non-market society in which private bargaining is costly. Through privatization the section of the state-owned National Electrical Company supplying electricity has been transformed from a state monopoly into private. The monopoly is said to be broken down by splitting the formerly state-owned firm into three private firms distributing electricity. However, on a regional level each firm is a monopolist, serving one of the three regions in the country. As a guaranteed monopoly, the company has millions of individual customers, households and firms. It is too costly for the customers to form a coalition so that to undertake collective action against the electrical company in cases of non-compliance or in relation to monopoly rents, to file law suits, to lead negotiations and bargain with the firm on private terms. State control over private monopolies in non-market societies turns out to be more difficult than control over state-owned monopolies. Thus, a state-owned monopoly might be socially and economically preferable to the market and private monopoly in non-market, transitional economies. The difference with the west is that such problems could be more easily resolved through the market in western economies.\n4. Conclusion: We conclude that public property has obvious transaction cost advantages over private in societies and economic spheres where those costs are significant. Quite contrary to what mainstream economic literature dictates, private property is not always the preferred form of ownership or most efficient way of allocating economic resources. In non-market, high-transaction cost societies such as transition countries and emerging markets sizable transaction costs do not allow private assets to be traded freely, privately owned resources to be allocated efficiently and private property rights to be redistributed optimally. Therefore, the state through its public ownership can achieve transaction cost economies. The role of the state and public property is strongest in areas such as market failure, the provision of public goods, natural monopolies, as well as competitive industries facing insurmountable transaction costs.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to weigh the benefits and costs of public property, as opposed to private, from the transaction cost perspective. In the absence of transaction costs, private property has clear advantages over public. However, when the true costs of running an economic system are taken into account, the advantages of private property are not so evident and public property may turn out to be the preferred form of ownership. The paper shows that in high-transaction cost sectors and economies such as the newly emerging markets in Eastern Europe, public property is a cheaper way of organizing economic activities, as it can save on transaction costs. The paper demonstrates these virtues of public ownership in relation to market failure, the provision of public goods, natural monopolies and competitive industries with a high degree of market uncertainty, opportunism and asset specificity.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A qualitative paper discussing the advantages of public over private property in the presence of high-transaction costs.\nFindings: Studying different types of market failure the paper finds that public property is advantageous to private in high-transaction cost systems.\nOriginality/value: Since most of the standard literature emphasizes the advantages of private property, the paper gives an economic explanation to those of public property taking on a new institutional approach and conducting a transaction cost analysis.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The story so far-digital preservation in institutional repositories: The case of academic libraries in Ghana	[ "Institutional repositories", "Universities", "Digital preservation", "Academic libraries", "Ghana", "Educational systems" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction/background: Over the past 20 years, significant efforts have been made to provide open access to research publications, and more recently to research data. The emergence of digital technologies has however brought with it new technological innovations in the information environment, leading to an alteration in the creation, accessing and distribution of scholarship. Indeed, with the advances of technology, an increasing number of higher education institutions are implementing various strategies aimed at helping the institutions to develop coherent and coordinated approaches to capture, identify, store and retrieve intellectual assets such as datasets, course material and research papers (Moseti, 2016). Academic libraries and the library profession have not been left out the drive to deploy such innovations that mirror an organizations intellectual production, and provide access to scholarly materials in a faster and easier way. Essentially, with the emergence of digitization and the open access movement, academic libraries have transformed into digital variants leading to the establishment and growth of institutional repositories (IRs).\nLiterature review: Implications/challenges of digital preservation in institutional repositories\nResearch objectives: find out what preservation policies exist in the IRs;\nMethodology: The study was qualitative. Eight academic libraries who fall among the top ten university ranking in Ghana (Ranking of Universities in Ghana, 2018) and who have established IRs at the time when this study was conducted in January, 2018 were selected a cases for the study. These comprised of five public universities and three private universities spread across the regions in Ghana.\nFindings and discussions: The findings of this study are expected to point out various measures that can be adopted to strengthen digital preservation as a critical component in scaling up institutional repositories in Ghanaian academic libraries. The study will also provide an insight into the importance of digital preservation in general, and as a result assist management of IRs to plan and make decisions concerning preservation of their IRs. Furthermore, it is intended to draw the attention of policy makers' in the universities within which the libraries are situated to the importance of digital preservation and to consider long term preservation as a pre-requisite in achieving IRs objectives. Data obtained from interviews have been analyzed using qualitative approaches. Where necessary, tables, line graphs and histograms have being used to document and support the interpretation of data obtained. The researchers present and discuss the findings under the following themes:\nConclusions/recommendations: Research has shown that the development of policies that are approval and acceptance by management is fundamental to gaining management support, defining digital preservation strategies, and acquiring resources such as staff, and infrastructure for the IR (Corletey, 2011; Li and Banach, 2011; da Silva and Manuel Borges, 2017). Digital preservation is a complex process and there are many unsolved organizational, managerial and technical issues that make digital preservation a challenging task for those managing institutional repositories in Ghana. With digital content increasing exponentially in the current information age, careful consideration must be given to the preservation needs of materials to be archived within an institutional repository. It is evident therefore that institutional repositories in Ghana and especially in the academic libraries studied should have a long-term and future-oriented preservation perspective. Ghanaian academic libraries developing institutional repositories must hence come to realize the importance of digital preservation. Indeed, as advised by Wheatley (2010), long-term preservation should be regarded as an important function and be addressed by institutional repositories from the start. Nevertheless, as shown in the responses of the respondents interviewed digital preservation seem not be embedded as an integral part of the IRs 'workflow in academic libraries in Ghana, with neither much experience nor commonly agreed best practice as to how digital preservation is best performed. As such, in finding out how the content in the repositories are preserved as well as challenges facing the long-term preservation of such content, this study demonstrates that although academic libraries in Ghana understand the essence of digital preservation in IRs, there are some still some concerns when it comes to development of policies, staffing, funding, and support from management. Despite these challenges, it is very encouraging to see efforts made in ensuring the implementation of digital preservation strategies for the IRs. Amidst all these, the following recommendations and strategies have being suggested to be useful in strengthening and improving long-term digital preservation in IRs in academic libraries in Ghana\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the standards, strategies, support and challenges of digital preservation in institutional repositories in academic libraries in Ghana.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The research was qualitative. Data used for analysis were drawn from interviews with respondents selected purposively from eight Ghanaian academic libraries.\nFindings: A key finding of the study was that although the academic libraries had operational directions for digital preservation activities in the institutional repositories, available standards and practices for ensuring long-term preservation seem to be unsuitable.\nResearch limitations/implications: Recommendations based on findings included development of comprehensive digital preservation policies to provide mandate and direction to preservation of the libraries digital collections, development of disaster plans, adequate funding, staff development and support from management.\nOriginality/value: The study has demonstrated the need for academic libraries in Ghana to have and develop good digital preservation standards for sustaining the institutional repositories to help in realizing its benefits.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Understanding how managers institutionalise sustainability reporting: Evidence from Australia and New Zealand	[ "Institutional work", "Sustainability reporting", "Materiality assessment", "Social and environmental reporting" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Sustainability reporting has grown in popularity in recent years (KPMG, 2017). This new accounting technology can assist in embedding sustainability within organisations. The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) describes sustainability reporting as the voluntary disclosure of information on the economic, social and environmental impact of organisational operations[1] (GRI, 2015). Researchers have explored who the reporters are, why they report, what is reported, and how organisations prepare sustainability reports[2].\n2. Literature review: Reporters adopt a range of different approaches to preparing sustainability reports. For example, Adams (2002) noted that some reporters take an informal approach to sustainability reporting while others adopt a more structured formal reporting process, attributing the variations to organisations' size, culture and country of origin. Some companies adopt a more participative approach, however SRMs often complain a lack of participation, with the sustainability report sometimes prepared by the SRM with little input from others (Bellringer et al., 2011).\n3. Institutional work: Institutional theory argues that the behaviour of social actors (individuals and organisations) is influenced by their surrounding institutions. These institutions include socially acceptable and expected ways of doing things (Venter and De Villiers, 2013); taken-for-granted assumptions (Burns and Scapens, 2000); and rationalised myths (Greenwood and Suddaby, 2006). These institutions exert pressures that cause organisations to adopt similar patterns of behaviour (De Villiers and Alexander, 2014; De Villiers et al., 2014; DiMaggio and Powell, 1983). However, social actors are not simply passive recipients of institutional pressure. Knowledgeable and skilled social actors can work towards creating, maintaining, and disrupting institutions (Lawrence, et al., 2011; Lounsbury, 2008). Reviewing the literature on institutional theory, Lawrence and Suddaby (2006) offered a typology of forms of institutional work that social actors might undertake to achieve their interests. These forms of institutional work can be grouped into three main categories: creating, maintaining and disrupting institutions (Table I). This typology provides a useful tool with which to analyse the SRMs' work and understand how they attempt to establish/create and ultimately embed/institutionalise the practice of sustainability reporting within organisations.\n4. Methodology and method: This study is interpretivist in nature (Bryman, 2012; Denzin and Lincoln, 2013) and relies on 35 semi-structured interviews (Silverman, 2013) with SRMS based in Australia and New Zealand. Purposeful sampling (Patton, 2002) was used to restrict interview participants to SRMs (i.e. managers responsible for preparing sustainability reports).\n5. Findings and analysis: The findings and analysis is divided into three parts. Section 5.1 explores the institutional work undertaken by SRMs, including the mechanisms used to achieve this institutional work. Section 5.2 discusses the challenges SRMs face in their role. Section 5.3 examines the reasons why reporters fail to disclose all material issues within their sustainability reports.\n6. Contribution to institutional work theory and research: According to Lawrence et al. (2013), there is a need to further develop understanding of the relationship between different forms of institutional work. This study contributes to this call through the following four observations:\n7. Conclusion: SRMs play a key role in institutionalising sustainability reporting within organisations by performing institutional work. This work can be categorised into four phases. Each phase highlights the different approaches organisations adopt to preparing their sustainability report (including how they undertake materiality assessments and stakeholder engagement). As an organisation transitions from phase one to four, this reflects a higher level of maturity, more complexity and sophistication, and deeper embedding and routinisation of sustainability reporting.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore how sustainability reporting managers (SRMs) institutionalise sustainability reporting within organisations.\nDesign/methodology/approach: In total, 35 semi-structured interviews with SRMs in Australia and New Zealand were analysed using an institutional work perspective.\nFindings: SRMs' institutional work can be categorised into four phases with each phase representing a different approach to sustainability reporting. Organisations transition from phase one to four as they achieve a higher level of maturity and a deeper embedding and routinisation of sustainability reporting. These include educating and advocacy work undertaken by engaging with managers (phase one), transitioning to a decentralised sustainability reporting process (phase two), transitioning to leaner, focussed, materiality driven sustainability reporting (phase three), and using sustainability key performance indicators and materiality assessment reports for planning, decision-making, goal setting, performance appraisal, and incentives (phase four). However, SRMs face challenges including their inexperience, limited time and resources, lack of management commitment to sustainability reporting and low external interest in sustainability reporting. The study identifies ten reasons why material issues are not always (adequately) disclosed.\nPractical implications: This study recommends more training and development for SRMs, and that regulation be considered to mandate the disclosure of the materiality assessments in sustainability reports.\nOriginality/value: This research extends the existing literature examining how sustainability reports are prepared and sheds further light on how a materiality assessment is undertaken. The study identifies ten reasons for the non-disclosure of material matters, including but not limited to, legitimacy motives. Researchers can use these reasons to refine their methods for evaluating published sustainability reports. At a theoretical level, the study provides four observations that institutional researchers should consider when examining forms of institutional work.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
When feature-based production capabilities challenge operations: Drivers, moderators, and performance	[ "Servitization", "Customization", "Structural equation modelling", "Competition", "Supply chain collaboration", "Feature-based production capability" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Today's firms can propose unique customization solutions to consumers by offering an extensive range of features (Wu et al., 2014). Features are defined as prominent and distinctive user-visible characteristics of a system that increase product effectiveness and attractiveness (Li et al., 2013; De Angelis, 2008). Within this framework, Rust et al. (2006) explore the challenges of the feature fatigue effect; this term refers to firms' dynamic capability to attract consumers through new and unique features, which are generally purchased with great enthusiasm and excitement. However, those feelings may convert to negative emotions and frustration during the use phase if the features make the product complex or difficult to use (De Giovanni, 2019a). Accordingly, we use the resource-based view (Barney, 1991) as well as dynamic capability theory (Teece et al., 1997) to define firms' feature-based production capabilities (FBPC) as the capacity to add features to the product core, be fully customizable, embed the latest available technologies, and allow for numerous and appealing functionalities. However, the current challenge for firms is to assess the operational implications and economic convenience of acquiring FBPC, as well as the benefits that service-operations strategies can provide.\n2. Literature review and conceptual framework: Although the benefits obtainable from customization are well documented in the literature (Thompson et al., 2005), the current trends inspired by the Industry 4.0 revolution require firms to propose a high number of high-tech features, which can lead to product complexity and difficulty in use. In this framework, dynamic capabilities theory can properly support firms' actions and behavior. A dynamic capability is defined as the ability to integrate, build, and reconfigure internal and external competencies to address rapidly changing environments, with the purpose of acquiring a short-term competitive position and transforming it into a long-term competitive advantage (Teece et al., 1997). Accordingly, we develop the concept of FBPC as firms' ability to propose new features to the market considering both rapid technological changes and consumer habits (Hassanzadeh et al., 2019). In this sense, the FBPC link to the marketing-operations literature.\n3. Hypotheses development and research model: Firms' willingness and capacity to offer a large range of features derives from strategic motivations and competitive options (Wu et al., 2014, 2015). Consumers are highly demanding and look in the market for customization possibilities (Sousa and da Silveira, 2019). Firms can acquire FBPC to allow consumers to customize their products, embed features that consumers may not have in mind, and create an appealing bundle (De Giovanni, 2019a). In this sense, features represent a true chance to satisfy a large part of the market by absorbing the market heterogeneity (Shi et al., 2013). While firms can obtain clear advantages from features, acquiring feature-based production capabilities can entail new competitive threats (Rahman and Manzur Rahman, 2009); competitors can also find FBPC highly appealing, with firms' strategies being significantly influenced. The literature is silent on the effects of competition on firms' FBPC, while mainly focusing on SC frameworks, a single decision-making setting (e.g. Hassanzadeh et al., 2019), or design quality and product innovation strategies (De Giovanni and Zaccour, 2019) that fully disregard both feature fatigue effects and competition. When a competitor dominates the market through FBPC, firms must move in the same direction by acquiring FBPC as a tool for competing rather than purely as a market opportunity option (Rezapour et al., 2017). Accordingly, we hypothesize that:\n4. Methodology: 4.1 Survey design and sample\n5. Discussion and managerial implications: 5.1 Discussion of results\n6. Impact of certain moderators: In this section, we seek to further analyze the previous relationships and to improve operational performance by analyzing certain moderating effects. We focus our investigation on five moderators: VMI, APS, TQM, RL and DRP. Each was measured through a dummy variable taking the value of 1 if the firm adopts a certain practice/system and 0 otherwise. Therefore, we follow the process explained in Duhaylongsod and De Giovanni (2019) to verify the existence of a moderating effect. Table VI displays only the significant moderating effects within the overall network of relationships.\n7. Conclusions: This research examines the operational and economic implications of acquiring feature-based production capabilities. These capabilities have key connections with the feature-based orientation of both competitors and SC partners, affect consumers' purchasing decisions, necessitate service-operations tools like servitization, and influence both the operational and the economic performance. We investigate whether firms can develop their FBPC autonomously or should instead consider forces like competitors' and SC partners' feature-based attitudes. Because FBPC require multiple interfaces between marketing and operations, we also check whether firms' FBPC lead consumers to demand more features, the related needs for servitization, as well as the operational and economic challenges. The overall implications for performance determine the convenience of pursuing FBPC and shed light on the possible implications for operations.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the influence that competitors and supply chain (SC) partners have on firms' feature-based production capabilities (FBPC). Also, it analyzes the consumers' customization options, the operational challenges and the need for servitization as a service-operations strategy to bypass the product complexity created through features. The author assesses the impact of FBPC on performance and uses some moderators to explore the operational implications in depth.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The author tests research hypotheses through structural equation modeling using a sample of 172 manufacturing firms. The author analyzes the links existing among constructs and tests the influence of certain operational moderators within the network of relationships.\nFindings: FBPC are highly dictated by competitors' and SC partners' decisions, while servitization is a vital prerequisite to guarantee a valuable customization option. Although operational performance is highly challenged by FBPC, only good consumer experiences with features enhance economic performance. The analysis of moderators reveals that advanced planning systems, vendor managed inventory and distribution requirement planning enable firms to better exploit their operations. Total quality management helps firms to offer higher levels of servitization while reverse logistics needs careful evaluation to balance the trade-offs between higher operational performance and supply structure changes.\nOriginality/value: This research empirically tests the influence of both competitors and suppliers when firms acquire FBPC. The author investigates consumers' requests for features and the benefits that servitization can supply when goods become too complex. The author tests how FBPC affect operations as well as the implications for economic performance. Finally, the author searches for moderators to assess the overall economic benefits of FBPC and better appreciate the operational implications.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The influence of ethical leadership to deviant workplace behavior mediated by ethical climate and organizational commitment	[ "Organizational commitment", "Ethical leadership", "Deviant behavior in the workplace", "Ethical climate" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Today, the issue of ethics in organizations is an interesting topic to be discussed especially for the issue of unethical or deviant behavior. Therefore, this issue becomes a major concern in an organization and business field. Unethical or deviant behavior will produce a negative implication on individuals, groups and organization in which it encourages practitioners and academicians to give more attention to the ethical management (Brown et al., 2005).\n2. Empirical study: Several studies have addressed the relationship between ethical leadership and diverse forms of unethical behavior which includes organizational employee, employee misconduct and bullying (Avey et al., 2010; Mayer et al., 2009; Mayer et al., 2011; Stouten et al., 2010). The results of this study showed that if the leader applied an appropriate normative and ethical behavior in its business function, the workers will feel happier to be involved in the work and will reduce the intention to behave unethically or counterproductive. In the past decade, some researchers that discussed the relationship between ethical leadership and deviant behavior have revealed diverse results. Some researchers claimed that ethical leadership is able to affect deviant behavior directly and significantly (Avey et al., 2010; Borchet, 2011; Erkutlu and Cafra, 2014; Mayer et al., 2012; Mayer et al., 2009), otherwise, Detert et al. (2007) found that there is no significant relationship between ethical leadership with counterproductive behavior, Goodenough (2008) also believed that ethical leadership had no significant effect on interpersonal and organizational deviant behavior. Furthermore, there was a research that reported if ethical leadership has no direct influence on deviant behavior as in the case of ethical leadership with employee misconduct mediated by ethical climate (Mayer et al., 2011); the effect of ethical leadership toward antisocial behavior mediated by ethical climate (Elci et al., 2013).\n3. Literature and hypotheses: The concept of deviant behavior was expressed by Robinson and Bennett (1995) who argued that deviant behavior arose because of a lack of motivation to conform to organizational rules so as to be motivated to violate the rule. The concept was then developed by Robinson and Bennett (1995) in his research on deviant behavior which focused on the \"right\" or \"wrong\" behavior established in the form of justice, law or other social guidelines that determine morality. Then, Robinson and Bennett (1995) added the argument of deviant behavior in the workplace with a more comprehensive concept that the behavior which violates the norms and interferes the survival of the organization is shared on the multi-dimensional scale of both interpersonal and organizational.\n4. Methods: The study was conducted in Malang Regency Government with Civil Servant as the research object. The population of this study was the Civil Servant in Local Government Agency (Satuan Kerja Perangkat Daerah or SKPD) which consists of general functional groups and structural groups, except the chairman, as many as 3,274 people. The sample was selected by using Slovin formula with a percentage of allowance and inaccuracy because of the error rates that were still tolerated or accepted by 10 per cent. By that, the result of the calculation was by 97.1. To keep the risk from happening (the answers are still incomplete and inconclusive), then, the amount of the sample was added by 20 per cent so that it is rounded up to 120 people.\n5. Result and discussion: 5.1 Descriptive findings\n6. Conclusion: The results of this study indicate that ethical leadership, either directly or indirectly, has affected deviant behavior in the workplace. Increasingly, leader's ethical behavior could reduce deviant behavior. In this case, ethical leadership is a manifestation of honesty and credibility, concern, doing the right thing, openness of communication, personal life based on morality standards, being fair in decision-making, values and ethics communicating, punishment and reward application, ethics, role modeling.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this study is to analyze and explain the influence of ethical leadership, ethical climate and organizational commitment toward employee deviance in a workplace.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This study was conducted in Malang Regency Government by using a sample of 120 respondents and Generalized Structured Component Analysis (GeSCA).\nFindings: From the study, it is found that ethical leadership could influence the formation of ethical climate in an organization which in turn will negatively affect the deviant behavior in the workplace. The results also indicate that the effect of ethical leadership is either direct or indirect toward the deviant behavior in the workplace. The indirect impact of this ethical leadership includes the sharpened perception of ethical climate which eventually will reduce the deviant behavior in the workplace.\nOriginality/value: It is interesting that ethical leadership has no significant effect on organizational commitment but on ethical climate and in the end, it will influence the improvement of organizational commitment.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Does knowledge management produce practical outcomes?	[ "Knowledge Management", "Experience", "Return on investment", "Investment appraisal", "Investment in knowledge management", "Knowledge management value" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: This paper examines ways that Knowledge Management (KM) can demonstrate practical value for organisations. KM has attracted considerable interest amongst practitioners and researchers. It has been estimated that 80 per cent of companies have some KM efforts happening (Hackett, 2002, p. 725). The consequences of ineffective KM are significant; research has estimated that US Fortune 500 companies lose at least $31.5 billion a year by failing to share knowledge (Babcock, 2004). US companies annually spend $73 billion on knowledge management software alone, and this is expected to increase by 16 per cent per annum (AMR Research, 2008). Managers are increasingly faced with the decision whether to invest in KM. In order to make sensible decisions about the evaluation, approval, and monitoring of investments in KM, managers require an understanding of its value proposition (Zyngier, 2006). The value proposition explains to stakeholders the benefits of KM and how the risks of implementation will be managed (Zyngier, 2006). However, empirical evidence of the benefits of KM has been inconclusive (Zack et al., 2009).\nKnowledge Management's claims: Knowledge Management (KM) makes several claims. These are discussed briefly.\nInvestment decision criteria: Managers tend to ask \"So what do I get in return?\" when asked to invest. Investment criterion is usually divided into hard, i.e. financial, and soft, non-financial indicators (Tiwana, 2001). Research has found that managers do not always demand solid business cases for KM investments but they do have trouble making decisions based on \"soft\" gains or benefits alone (Tiwana, 2001). Therefore, a range of financial and non-financial criteria are proposed to assess the KM value proposition against the seven practical outcomes.\nResearch setting: The sample was 118 respondents, mainly engineering and technical workers. A total of 150 respondents were invited to participate in the study which involved an annual survey and attendance at regular training workshops and related activities, with a participation rate of 79 per cent. The Project had three stages:\nTheoretical development: This paper has argued that investment decisions regarding KM may benefit from focusing on significant and on-going organisational problems, which will connect KM with firm performance and demonstrate financial and non-financial impact. These impacts are described in terms of a set of criterion to evaluate the KM investment decision; more specifically lead and lag indicators. Seven methods were identified by this research for measuring practical outcomes from Knowledge Management:\nThe learning curve: The Learning Curve (LC) describes the productivity increases resulting from learning (Schenkel and Teigland, 2008). In simple terms, the LC follows the adage \"practice makes perfect\". In a work context, it argues the more you do something, the better you get at it. The usefulness of this model, is that it tries to quantify the value of learning to the organisation; primarily in terms of reduced cost. From a strategic management perspective, firms that are able to achieve a dominant position on the LC have achieved superior performance. Therefore, LC dominance is seen as a source of competitive advantage. The dominant position is attained by accelerating down the LC quicker than rivals, i.e. accumulating necessary learning faster.\nThe experience curve: Experience Curve (EC) explains that value-added costs, net of inflation, decline systematically with increases in cumulative volume (Day and Montgomery, 1983). The cumulative volume is based on the notion that the more units produced, the less cost per unit, as a proportion of the first unit, and this reduced cost is derived by the experienced gained in producing more units. This means that the costs per work unit will decrease as experience increases (BCG, 1972, p. 12).\nStrategic alignment: The theoretical lens for Strategic Alignment (SA) is workforce planning theory. SA is most commonly discussed in the literature as a tool to formulate and implement a corporate strategy. Tools such as Activity Based Costing (ABC) and the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) (Kaplan and Norton (1996, 2001, and 2006) are proposed as effective management control systems that enable strategy implementation, (Chapman, 2005, pp. 3-4). Strategic alignment tools provide information to implement managerial control systems thereby monitoring whether the company is on track towards achieving its strategic goals (Senshu and Souissi, 2012). From an organisation-wide perspective, the main practical outcome of strategic alignment is synergy. Synergy is created by business units combining to produce more value for the organisation than the sum of their individual parts, i.e. 1+1=more than 2. Alignment ensures there is minimal waste, duplication, and also organisational learning benefits.\nConnectivity: The theoretical lens for Connectivity is labour productivity theory. This topic is covered at both the macro and micro levels. At the macro level, researchers claim that diverse informal localised linkages and knowledge flows (e.g. spillovers) are often cited as core components of a dynamic and productive knowledge economy (Martinus, 2010). At the micro-level, connectivity generates value through social relationships, which creates social capital. The value of social capital is measured by the ability to draw on social status and reputation to access remote, rare, and valuable knowledge resources.\nRisk management: The theoretical lens for risk management (RM) is classical decision theory. Organisational risk management has typically considered risk at a macro level; reflecting variation in the distribution of possible outcomes, their likelihoods, and their subjective values (March and Shapira, 1987). This approach is based on determining what the risk actually is, predicting the probability and the consequence and outcomes of that risk, deciding what path to take to either avoid or take the risk, and finally, developing and implementing strategies to respond to the risk (De Zoysa and Russell, 2003). However, some researchers argue that the normative approach of decision trees is ineffective due to environmental complexity and individuals\nValue management: The theoretical lens for the Value Management construct is drawn from strategic management\nDiscussion of results: Learning curve\nEvaluating the seven practical outcomes: This section examines the seven practical outcomes against the criterion developed to assess KM\nConclusion: While KM makes several important claims, empirical evidence of its impact on firm performance has been inconclusive. The research presented in this paper has argued that investment decisions regarding KM may benefit from focusing on significant and on-going organisational problems, which will connect KM with firm performance and demonstrate financial and non-financial impact. Table I summarises the findings and provides a checklist for measuring KM\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The paper examines ways that Knowledge Management (KM) can demonstrate practical value for organizations. It begins by reviewing the claims made about KM, i.e. the benefits KM can provide to organizations. These claims are compared with traditional firm performance metrics to derive a criterion to measure the value of KM. Seven practical outcomes of KM are then presented as methods to persuade managers to invest in KM. These practical outcomes are then evaluated against the value criterion. The paper is based on empirical evidence from a five year longitudinal study.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper is based on a longitudinal change project for a large Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage Project grant in the period 2008-2013. The Project was a transformational change program which aimed to help make the partner organisation a learning organisation. The partner organisation was a large Australian Government Department, which faced the threat of knowledge loss caused by its ageing workforce. The sample was 118 respondents, mainly engineering and technical workers. A total of 150 respondents were invited to participate in the study which involved an annual survey and attendance at regular training workshops and related activities, with a participation rate of 79 per cent.\nFindings: This paper provides a checklist from which to evaluate KM in terms of financial and non-financial measures and seven practical outcomes from which to identify the organisational problem which may be addressed by KM. Lead and lag indicators - what needs to be done and what will result - are also provided. Managers may use this framework to identify the value proposition in any KM investment.\nResearch limitations/implications: The research is based on a single case study in a public sector organization. While the longitudinal nature of the study and the rich data collected offsets this issue, it also presents good opportunities for researchers and practitioners to test the ideas presented in this paper in other industry contexts. The seven practical outcomes also vary in the maturity of the empirical evidence supporting KM\nPractical implications: This paper argues that investment decisions regarding KM may benefit from focusing on significant and on-going organisational problems, which will connect KM with firm performance and demonstrate financial and non-financial impact. The seven practical outcomes were evaluated against measurement criteria and against KM\nOriginality/value: The decision whether to invest in KM begins with methods used to evaluate any organisational project. Managers must determine first whether necessary funds are available; and then whether the project is worthwhile. The standard method for evaluating a project\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Evaluating competing theories of informal entrepreneurship: some lessons from Ukraine	[ "Entrepreneurship", "Enterprise culture", "Informal sector", "Underground economy", "Economic development", "Ukraine", "Post‐socialist societies", "Entrepreneurialism" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Over the past decade, a small but growing stream of literature has begun to show not only how many early-stage entrepreneurs trade partially or wholly off-the-books, but also that many continue to trade off-the-books once they become more established (Antonopoulos and Mitra, 2009; Jones and Spicer, 2009; Llanes and Barbour, 2007; Rehn and Taalas, 2004; Minard, 2009; Small Business Council, 2004; Venkatesh, 2006; Volkov, 2002; Webb et al., 2009; Williams, 2004-2007; Williams and Round, 2009). To explain this entrepreneurship in the informal sector, various competing theories have been propagated. Until now, however, few have sought to document these competing theories and even fewer to evaluate critically the validity of these theorisations. The aim of this paper is to begin to fill that gap by reviewing the competing theorisations of informal entrepreneurship and evaluating critically their validity in the context of post-socialist Ukraine.To do this, the first section identifies and reviews the various competing theorisations of the nature of informal entrepreneurship. The second section then evaluates critically the validity of these contrasting theories with reference to Ukraine. Reporting a 2005/2006 survey of 298 informal entrepreneurs, this will reveal that although each theory is relevant in relation to particular types of informal entrepreneurship, no single unique logic underpins informal entrepreneurship in this post-Soviet society. The final section therefore calls for a move beyond the current simplistic singular explanations by proposing a typology of informal entrepreneurship that joins together the contrasting theorisations to achieve a finer-grained understanding of the varieties of informal entrepreneurship in contemporary societies and then briefly explores the policy implications of these findings.Before commencing, however, informal entrepreneurship needs to be defined. Given that entrepreneurship has long proven a problematic and elusive concept and, as Anderson and Starnawska (2008, p. 222) state, \"entrepreneurship means different things to different people\", a working definition is here adopted appropriate to the task at hand. Defining an entrepreneur as somebody actively involved in starting a business or is the owner/manager of a business <42 months old (Harding et al., 2006; Reynolds et al., 2002), and informal work as monetary transactions not declared to the state for tax and/or benefit purposes when they should be declared but which are legal in all other respects (e.g. European Commission, 2007; Evans et al., 2006; Williams, 2006; Williams and Renooy, 2009), informal entrepreneurship here refers to those starting a business or are the owner/manager of a business <42 months old participating in monetary transactions not declared to the state for tax and/or benefit purposes when they should be declared but which are legal in all other respects.\nTheorisations of informal entrepreneurship: Following a review of the conventional but now largely refuted modernisation theory that depicts informal entrepreneurship as a pre-modern activity that is disappearing with economic advancement, the emergent recognition that informal entrepreneurship is extensive and growing in contemporary societies will be shown to have led to the emergence of three rival theories, namely structuralist, neo-liberal and post-structuralist perspectives.Modernisation theory\nExplaining informal entrepreneurship in Ukraine: Methodology\nDiscussion and conclusions: The aim of this paper has been to evaluate critically the competing theories of informal entrepreneurship that variously represent this activity as a residue from a previous mode of accumulation (modernisation theory), a direct by-product of contemporary capitalism and survival strategy for those marginalised from the circuits of the modern economy (structuralism), an endeavour voluntarily pursued due to over-regulation in the formal economy (neo-liberalism) or a practice chosen for social, redistributive, political or identity reasons (post-structuralism). To evaluate these competing theories, a 2005/2006 survey involving face-to-face interviews with 298 informal entrepreneurs in Ukraine has been analysed.The finding is that no single theorisation is universally applicable to all 298 Ukrainian informal entrepreneurs surveyed. Instead, and as Figure 1 displays, each is more valid for some groups of informal entrepreneurs than others. As such, it is only by combining them that a more accurate and finer-grained explanation of the complex and heterogeneous nature of informal entrepreneurship in Ukraine can be achieved. Rather than depict these as competing theorisations of informal entrepreneurship, therefore, the argument is that they should be combined in order to achieve a fuller understanding of the heterogeneous nature of informal entrepreneurship. In any population, moreover, the balance between different kinds of entrepreneurship will vary, so accordingly, the weighting that needs to be given to the various explanations will differ. When evaluating informal entrepreneurship in disadvantaged populations, it is the structuralist reading that such endeavour is an inherent aspect of a new emergent form of capitalism and conducted out of necessity that is more dominant in explanations. Analysing informal entrepreneurship in more affluent populations, however, it is more the neo-liberal and post-structuralist accounts that require greater emphasis.Adopting this more integrative approach to explaining informal entrepreneurship helps stop the currently futile debates between those portraying these different representations as competing theories, despite each talking about very different kinds of informal entrepreneurship. It also enables a more nuanced policy approach towards tackling informal entrepreneurship, helping identify those kinds of informal entrepreneurship that might be eradicated (e.g. low-paid sweatshop-like informal entrepreneurship), those that might be helped to make the transition into formal entrepreneurship (voluntarily chosen self-employment) and those that might be tacitly condoned (e.g. small-scale identity or lifestyle forms of informal entrepreneurship), rather than adopting a \"one size fits all\" approach which treats all varieties in the same manner. If this paper consequently helps engender this unravelling of the heterogeneous nature of informal entrepreneurship both within and across various populations and the different ways in which public policy needs to respond to these multifarious configurations of informal entrepreneurship, then it will have achieved its objective.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to evaluate critically the competing theories of informal entrepreneurship that variously represent such endeavour as a residue from a previous mode of accumulation (modernisation theory), a direct by-product of contemporary capitalism and survival strategy for those marginalised from the circuits of the modern economy (structuralism), an endeavour voluntarily pursued due to over-regulation in the formal economy (neo-liberalism) or a practice chosen for social, redistributive, political or identity reasons (post-structuralism).\nDesign/methodology/approach: - To evaluate these competing theories, a 2005/2006 survey involving face-to-face interviews with 298 informal entrepreneurs in Ukraine is analysed.\nFindings: - Contrary to previous studies which assert that one single theorisation is universally applicable, this study finds that each theory is valid for different types of informal entrepreneurship, and therefore proposes a typology of informal entrepreneurship that joins together the contrasting theorisations in order to achieve a more accurate and finer-grained explanation of the complex and heterogeneous configuration of informal entrepreneurship in contemporary Ukraine.\nResearch limitations/implications: - This paper reveals the need to move beyond treating the competing explanations as mutually exclusive by outlining a typology that combines the contrasting theorisations in order to more fully understand the heterogeneity of informal entrepreneurship.\nPractical implications: - By unravelling the heterogeneity of informal entrepreneurship, a more nuanced policy approach is shown to be required which does not seek to simply either eradicate such endeavour, pursue a laissez-faire approach or harness such entrepreneurship but instead pursues all these approaches to varying extents in relation to different kinds of informal entrepreneur.\nOriginality/value: - This is one of the first papers to identify and empirically evaluate the competing theories of informal entrepreneurship.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Validating a triple bottom line construct and reasons for implementing sustainable business practices in companies and their business networks	[ "Spain", "Sustainability", "Triple bottom line", "Corporate governance" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Sustainability is often regarded as the \"right thing to do\", and companies claim to internalize this in their values and objectives (White, 2009). However, it is not only companies that engage in business sustainability practices but also governments and other organizations (Aras and Crowther, 2015).\nLiterature review: The notion of sustainability can be traced back over many decades (Carson, 1962). According to Hassini et al. (2012), despite this fact, numerous companies are not keen on implementing business practices that are sustainable, and they doubt whether implementing them is of any real benefit to them specifically.\nMethodology: This section reports on a validation study, in a Spanish context, of a study originally conducted in Norway by Hogevold et al. (2015), which serves as the foundation for the current study.\nEmpirical findings: The corporate sample characteristics of this study are summarized in Table I. The nature of business extends across industries and sectors of Spanish companies deemed representative of a broad spectrum of Spanish businesses.\nResearch implications: The findings in the field of business sustainability are still mostly descriptive, such as conceptual frameworks, case studies and descriptive surveys. Constructs are rarely developed and tested in empirical settings.\nManagerial implications: Business sustainability efforts vary between companies and industries. It may therefore not be appropriate to compare different companies and industries, as their abilities and actions have to be differently oriented. For example, some companies or industries may focus on energy consumption, while others on raw materials. A universal formula of TBL to explore business sustainability efforts may potentially be impossible, or at least not very practical or viable.\nConclusions, research limitations and suggestions: Business sustainability efforts have been evolving over time to increasingly consider economic viability as well as environmental sustainability and social responsibility. This study contributes to demonstrating how these elements of TBL are interrelated with respect to business sustainability.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to validate a triple bottom line (TBL) construct, as well as to describe the TBL reasons for implementing sustainable business practices in companies and their business networks.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This study reports on the validation of a TBL construct, in a Spanish context, of a study originally conducted in Norway. In this validation study, 230 companies were selected for participation. A total of 89 usable questionnaires were returned, generating a response rate of 38.5 per cent.\nFindings: The empirical findings indicate major similarities and minor differences between organizations in Spain and Norway across two studies. By extension, the empirical findings appear to be valid and reliable across contexts and through time.\nResearch limitations/implications: This study explains the structural properties of the main reasons for business sustainability (economic, social and environmental) and business sustainability efforts in companies and the supply chains or business networks.\nPractical implications: Business sustainability efforts need to be assessed in a systematic manner, and the validated TBL construct offers a foundation for doing this, though it needs to be complemented with other elements and details in connection with business sustainability.\nOriginality/value: Business sustainability efforts have been evolving over time and are increasingly seen to consider economic viability, as well as environmental sustainability and social responsibility. This study deals with how these elements of TBL are interrelated with respect to business sustainability.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Explaining the relationship between job insecurity and creativity: A test of cognitive and affective mediators	[ "Job insecurity", "Creativity", "Affective well-being", "Cognitive failures" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Shifting workforce demographics, the globalized nature of the marketplace, and changing governmental policies regarding labor relations and the nature of work, coupled with intermittent economic recessions (most recently, the Great Recession of 2007-2009) have resulted in increasingly high levels of job insecurity among workers today. Indeed, Kalleberg (2013) documented steady labor market trends since the 1970s moving away from offering secure employment systems in favor of increasing reliance on precarious forms of employment that offer little to no long-term security. Thus, compared to earlier generations of workers, today's workforce faces a significantly different landscape with respect to job security as a result of these fundamental changes in the nature of work.\nJob insecurity and creative job performance: Definitions and measurement of creative job performance\nExplanatory mechanisms for the job insecurity-creativity relationship: While there clearly appears to be a relationship between job insecurity and creative job performance, we still know little regarding why this relationship exists. A recent study by Niesen et al. (2018) suggests that psychological contract breach mediates the relationship between both forms of job insecurity and idea generation. More recently, utilizing threat-rigidity theory, Van Hootegem et al. (2019) found evidence that the relationship between job insecurity and innovative generation/implementation is mediated through employee irritation and concentration. In the current study, based on Staw et al.'s (1981) threat-rigidity theory and Fredrickson's (2004) broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions, we propose two additional pathways by which job insecurity may have adverse effects on employee creativity: via increases in employee cognitive failures, and via decreases in employee job-related positive affective well-being.\nMethod: We utilized a two-country two-wave cross-lagged research design to examine our hypotheses. Specifically, employee participants in Sample 1 were recruited from the USA via Amazon's Mechanical Turk (MTurk), an online human subjects' crowdsourcing platform; similarly, employee participants in Sample 2 were recruited from China via Sojiang.com, a Chinese-based online survey platform. As recommended by Peer et al. (2014), we only recruited \"high reputation\" participants who had an established track record of providing high-quality data to previous crowd-sourced tasks. Moreover, to avoid any potential self-selection based on potential participants' current perceptions of job insecurity or the other focal topics, we only indicated that participants needed to be currently employed and would be completing a survey about their \"work environment.\" Finally, in order to alleviate concerns about common method biases (Podsakoff et al., 2012), quantitative and qualitative forms of job insecurity and the mediators of cognitive failure and affective well-being were measured at Time 1 while creative performance was measured one month later at Time 2. Participants in the USA were paid $4 for completing the initial survey and $5 (to minimize attrition) for the follow-up survey. In China, participants were similarly paid RMB19 at Time 1 and RMB23 at Time 2. Due to the anonymity of the data and low risk to participants, the study was classified as exempt by the first author's Institutional Review Board (Protocol No. 15967).\nResults: Measurement invariance\nDiscussion: The purpose of the current study was to extend prior research on the relationship between job insecurity and creativity by: considering both quantitative and qualitative forms of job insecurity, examining their relationships with both self- and other-rated assessments of creative job performance, and testing two potential mediating mechanisms explaining these relationships. Our results supported prior research demonstrating that job insecurity can have a negative impact on employee creativity. Moreover, our study expanded this extant literature by showing that these negative effects hold true for both quantitative and qualitative forms of job insecurity. Further, findings were generally consistent across two very different cultural settings (the USA and China), providing further support for the broader generalizability of these effects.\nConclusion: In the first study to directly test and demonstrate a negative association between job insecurity and employee creativity, Probst et al. (2007) concluded by acknowledging that \"the mechanisms for these observed effects may not be fully understood\" (p. 494). While subsequent research (e.g. Jiang, 2018; Zhou and Long, 2011) provided insights into boundary conditions under which job insecurity might lead to such effects, the current study offers new understanding of how and why job insecurity can adversely affect self- and other-assessed creative job performance. Specifically, using a two-country cross-lagged design, we found support for both cognitive and affective explanatory mechanisms. Whereas job-related affective well-being appeared to mediate the effects between job insecurity and self-perceived creativity, the experience of employee cognitive failures better explained job insecurity's relationship with the number of ideas produced in an idea generation task. While intriguing and offering theoretical and practical implications for organizations and researchers, these results suggest we may yet not fully understand the complex relationship between job insecurity and this important job performance outcome.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Despite a large body of literature on the negative consequences of job insecurity, one outcome - job creativity - has received relatively scant attention. While initial studies established a relationship between job insecurity and creativity, the explanatory mechanisms for this relationship have yet to be fully explored. The paper aims to discuss this issue.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Using threat-rigidity theory and broaden-and-build theory as a conceptual foundation, the authors implemented a two-country temporally lagged research design (the USA (n = 390); China (n = 346)) to test two potential mediating mechanisms - cognitive failures and positive job-related affect - as explanatory variables between quantitative and qualitative forms of job insecurity and self- and other-rated measures of creative performance.\nFindings: Results from both countries suggest that job-related affective well-being and employee cognitive failures both explained the relationship between job insecurity and creative performance. However, affective well-being was a better explanatory variable for the relation between job insecurity and self-rated creative performance, whereas cognitive failures better accounted for the relationship between job insecurity and performance on an idea generation task.\nResearch limitations/implications: The authors discuss the implications of these findings from measurement, theoretical and practical perspectives.\nOriginality/value: The authors extend prior research on the relationship between job insecurity and creativity by: considering both quantitative and qualitative job insecurity, examining their relationships with both self- and other-rated assessments of creative job performance, and testing cognitive and affective mediating mechanisms explaining these relationships.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Consumption values and physical activities: consumers' healthy eating choices	[ "Consumption values", "Healthy food", "Eating choice", "Physical activities" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The prevalence of obesity is growing worldwide, and it has almost tripled in the last four decades. Similar trends are being observed for a number of non-communicable diseases including heart disease, stroke and diabetes. They are in part related to obesity and the absence of physical activities. In this sense, the World Health Organisation and the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations have stated that supportive policies lead to changes in dietary and lifestyle patterns, like regular physical activities, which are crucial to reduce risk factors (WHO, 2015a, b, 2017).\n2. Previous studies and conceptual framework: 2.1 Consumption values\n3. Methodology: 3.1 Sample and data collection\n4. Results: We tested the hypothesised relationships performing SEM to demonstrate the relationship between response items and their underlying latent dimensions.\n5. Discussion: The main purpose of this study was to examine consumption values and the moderation effect of physical activities on consumers' eating choices. In the following paragraphs, we will discuss the relevance of each value in the food domain and the impact of exercising on the choice behaviour. Implications of these findings for the food industry will be presented last.\n6. Conclusions: This study adds rigorous empirical evidence to the CPV literature and provides a series of implications concerning the consumption of healthy foods and physical activity practices. It can be concluded that consumers, in general, consume healthy products for epistemic and emotional reasons. Consumers feel good consuming and in a way, pleasure, adding up the search for different food experiences. However, when considering financial or conditional situations, these factors are negatively associated with the consumption of healthy foods, making it difficult.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the extent to which consumption values and physical activities influence consumers' healthy eating choices.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A survey with 292 participants was analysed by means of bilateral factor analysis and structural equation modelling to study the consumers' healthy eating choices based on consumption values and moderation effect of physical activities.\nFindings: Consumers' healthy eating choices are strongly linked to epistemic and emotional values. Physical activities act as a moderator of the emotional value and functional value price.\nOriginality/value: This paper adds to the literature on consumption values and raises new insights of value for the health and wellness food industry.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Whistleblowing policy disclosure: evidence from an Indian emerging market	[ "Corporate governance", "Corporate ethics" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Whistleblowing is an effective mechanism for exposing unethical activities in firms. Corporate fraud in India is on the rise. Examples include the Satyam scam, more commonly known as the \"Indian Enron\" collapse (Economist, 2009), and the fraudulent acts unearthed in Ranbaxy, a highly reputed Indian pharmaceutical company. These instances highlight the need for effective whistleblowing policy disclosure. India, despite being a significant emerging economy, has a weak institutional environment, resulting in poor legal control mechanisms (Khanna and Palepu, 2000). Despite this weakness, some firms disclose whistleblowing policies extensively, while others prefer to shy away from such policy disclosure (Barman, 2011). Given that fraudulent activities have risen by 45 per cent in India in the past two years (Economic Times, 2015), it has become vital to explore whether Indian firms invest in whistleblowing policies and how they differ in their whistleblowing policy disclosure behavior. Hence, as an important area of concern, whistleblowing deserves both theoretical and empirical attention.\n2. Background and theory: Although whistleblowing has been defined in literature in many ways (Jubb, 1999), the most commonly accepted definition is \"the disclosure by organization members (former or current) of illegal, immoral, or illegitimate practices under the control of their employers, to persons or organizations that may be able to effect action\" (Near and Miceli, 1985, p. 4). If implemented appropriately, whistleblowing policy can help in timely detection of fraud, correcting the wrongdoing before it gets too late and, furthermore, minimizing the losses and costs incurred due to fraud (Chung et al., 2004).\n3. Hypotheses: 3.1 High promoter shareholding\n4. Research design: 4.1 Data and methods\n5. Results: To gauge the effectiveness of whistleblowing policy disclosure, we first show the results from a qualitative survey of whistleblowing policy items disclosed by Indian firms. Table I presents policy disclosure measures and percentage of firms adopting those disclosure policies. The table shows that the most commonly adopted policy is protection of whistleblowers against termination (Item number 3), with 76.8 per cent of the firms adopting such a policy. This indicates that most firms encourage employees to raise their voice against fraudulent activities without threat of job loss. This was closely followed by Item number 5, with 74.3 per cent of the firms affirming that disclosure of protection of whistleblowers should form a part of their corporate governance or annual reports. The next most frequently formulated whistleblowing policy was related to approachability of audit committee members, as indicated in Item number 1. However, compared to the above two mentioned policies, very few companies (59 per cent) formulated this policy. This was followed by Item number 2, with only 34.6 per cent of the companies communicating the approachability of the audit committee to employees through written communication such as internal circulars. Furthermore, a drastic decline was noticed in formulation of whistleblowing policy against senior management, with only 24 per cent of the firms encouraging accessibility of the audit committee chairman when top management is involved in fraud (refer to Item number 6). The least favored whistleblowing policy was related to periodic review of such policies, with only 18.05 per cent of the firms having policies in this regard, as per the last item, i.e. Item number 7, in the paper.\n6. Discussions and conclusion: The key objective of this paper was to investigate why Indian firms differ in their whistleblowing policy disclosure behavior. India, though an emerging market, is characterized by a weak institutional environment. Consequently, firms are not subject to strong law enforcement and lack strict governance; hence, whistleblowing practices are unlike those in developed markets, (Klapper and Love, 2004). This results in turbulence and non-transparency in the Indian business environment such that not all firms emphasize whistleblowing policies (Doh et al., 2003). Given rising corporate fraud in India, it is vital to investigate why some firms in India promote transparent practices of whistleblowing policy disclosure while others discourage it. Even in developed markets, this issue has been investigated to a much lesser extent (Lee and Fargher, 2013). Furthermore, no study explains this phenomenon in an emerging market context to the best of our knowledge. Thus, this is the first paper which explores firm characteristics associated with whistleblowing policies in emerging markets.\n7. Limitations of and directions for future research: For this study, we have taken a sample of listed firms only. Thus, the determinants of whistleblowing policy disclosure cannot be generalized to private and unlisted firms. Furthermore, the results cannot be generalized to developed countries or emerging markets as well. This is because, first, the depth of recommendations made by the SEC and other such authorities is vast compared to the depth of such recommendations by authorities in emerging markets like that of India. For example, in Australia, legislation requires companies to disclose whistleblowing policy on 18 aspects, whereas in the case of India, disclosure is required on only 7 aspects. Thus, the strength of the relationship may differ. Furthermore, we use the unweighted index approach, thus giving equal importance to all parameters, where some parameters could be a subset of other. Second, although family businesses are also present in developed countries, the extent of their dominant shareholding is far less as compared to that in India, so again it may not turn out to be a significant predictor of whistleblowing policy. Furthermore, our determinants only highlight effective formulation of the policy and not its implementation. This aspect could be better gauged through exploratory studies based on interviews and questionnaires. Though mere clarity of statements does not automatically ensure effective implementation of the policy, nonetheless it is a precursor of the same (Barnett et al., 1993). Thus, compliance programs like whistleblowing do not necessarily generate positive behavior among employees (Collier and Esteban, 2007); however, they are definitely a stepping stone in the direction of building ethical organizations.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to investigate factors which drive firms to disclose whistleblowing policies in one of the emerging markets, i.e. India.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A sample of 200 Bombay Stock Exchange-listed Indian firms is analyzed using Tobit regression.\nFindings: Promoter shareholding, proportion of independent directors and specific positions like chief ethical officer influence disclosure of whistleblowing policies.\nOriginality/value: This paper presents the first empirical study where principal-principal conflict theory is extended to explain drivers of whistleblowing policy disclosure and, hence, brings new insights to the literature on whistleblowing policy disclosure.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Impression management tactics and affective context: influence on sales performance appraisal	[ "Sales force", "Performance appraisal", "Interpersonal skills", "Performance management" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Organisational research has highlighted the fact that human resource decisions are embedded in a complex and dynamic social context. Ferris and Judge (1991) pointed out that in order to develop an informed understanding of decisions such as performance evaluation, promotions, and salary increases; we must embrace the dynamic aspects of the context, and realise that participants are active players in shaping reality and influencing.Despite the considerable existing literature about the social context of the performance evaluation process in organisational settings, little is known about the situational, social and affective elements that participate in the salesperson performance appraisal. An issue of special concern is the role of the salesperson's influence behaviours. Despite the recognition that the subordinate's influence is a particularly noteworthy feature of the social context, with considerable potential to affect the performance evaluation process, there are almost no studies that consider this influence in a selling context. The purpose of the present study is to address these needs by formulating and testing a model of the sales performance evaluation process which incorporates social, situational, affective elements and highlights the potential role of the salesperson's influence. In addition to this, this research takes place in a geographically and culturally different area to the one used by most of previous studies, what contributes to value the importance of the social and cultural context in the performance appraisal.\nTheoretical background: Impression management tactics\nMethodology: Sample\nMeasures: Supervisor's liking\nResults: Before testing the proposed model, we performed a CFA[2] using AMOS software. Table I presents the standardised solution of this CFA, where all the indicators loaded significantly (p<0.001) and substantially (factor loadings greater than 0.5) on their respective constructs, what demonstrates the existence of convergent validity (X2/d.f.=1.49; GFI=0.81; CFI=0.91; RMSEA=0.07; TLI=0.90). For the analysis of the discriminant validity of the constructs we calculated the confidence intervals for the correlations between pairs of constructs. As none of these intervals included the value one, discriminant validity between constructs was assumed.Structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to test the hypothesised relationships among impression management tactics, physical attractiveness, perceived interpersonal abilities, supervisor liking, and supervisor ratings of sales agent's performance. SEM is useful here because it allows for several hypothesised relationships to be tested simultaneously, provides an indication of the fit between the hypothesised model and the actual data and allows for the evaluation of alternative models. Given the number of variables in our model and the relatively small sample size here (n=122), however, we were unable to meet the minimum recommended sample size necessary to conduct our tests at the latent-variable level. Therefore, the analyses reported here were conducted at the manifest-variable level (i.e. using observed variables). The maximum likelihood structural estimates of the hypothesised model are presented in Figure 2. The model fits the data very well (kh2=3.12; d.f.=8; kh2/df=0.93; RMSEA=0.00; GFI=0.99; AGFI=0.97; TLI=1.07; CFI=1.00). The R2 for the ratings of the subordinate's performance was 0.42; for liking was 0.19; and for perceived interpersonal skills was 0.36.As depicted here, six of the seven predicted links were statistically significant (Figure 2). Specifically, findings supported H1: the parameter estimate for the relationship between supervisor-focused tactics and liking was significant. However, H2 was not supported; work-focused tactics were not significantly related to supervisor liking. The significant parameter estimate for the relationship between liking and performance rating and between liking and perceived interpersonal skills indicated support for H4 and H5. For the relationship between perceived interpersonal skills and performance evaluation, the parameter estimate was positive and significant, providing support for H3. Finally, physical attractiveness exerted a significant effect on liking and on perceived interpersonal skills, giving support to H6 and H7.Considering that the influence of physical attractiveness on performance appraisal might be as well a direct one (Ahearne et al., 1999; McElroy and DeCarlo, 1999), we tested an alternative model adding this link to the original one. In the resulting model, the link was not significant and the fit indexes had lower values than those for the hypothesised model. Accordingly, these data suggest that the influence of physical attractiveness on the sales person's performance appraisal is mediated by supervisor's liking of the subordinate.Concerning a possible direct effect of impression management tactics on sales performance rating, modification indexes did not recommend the introduction of this direct link. This result supports the idea that the effect of impression management behaviours on sales performance appraisal is not a direct but an indirect one, through the impact of these tactics on the supervisors' liking of the salesperson.\nDiscussion and managerial implications: Overall, the results of this study provide strong support for the hypothesised model, and confirm that salespeople, far from having a passive role in their sales performance appraisal, play a significant active role in this process.In particular, supervisor-focused impression management was positively related to a supervisor's liking of the salesperson. A supervisor who feels liked and admired by a subordinate will be more attracted to that subordinate. However, work-focused tactics of impression management were negatively, but not significantly, related to liking. In the context of sales performance evaluation it seems that supervisor-focused behaviours are considered more situational appropriate and effective than others. In other words, supervisors seem to be eager to accept being praised by their subordinates and their conformity with the supervisor's ideas or opinions, but they are not willing to accept the sales agents' use of self-promotion and self-enhancement behaviours, exaggerating the importance and the nature of the work they are conducting. These differences could be explained as well using the \"ulterior motive rule\" (Kraut, 1978). This rule prescribes that an actor's behaviour is discounted as an indicator of his disposition to the degree that the actor stands to be rewarded in the short term for that behaviour. Thus, behaviour that is perceived as obviously self-serving will be susceptible to greater scepticism that behaviour that is not. The differing effects of these two types of impression management behaviours have been explored with similar results in an organisational context (e.g. Ferris et al., 1994; Kacmar et al., 1992; Wayne and Liden, 1995).Consistent as well with prior research in organisational settings (e.g. Ferris et al., 1994; Tsui and Barry, 1986; Wayne and Ferris, 1990) is the positive influence of supervisor affect toward salesperson on the supervisor's ratings of salesperson performance, both directly and indirectly, through the effect on the salesperson's perceived interpersonal skills. If a manager likes a sales agent, then he or she is likely to categorise information about that sales agent in a favourable manner and subsequently evaluate the sales agent's interpersonal skills favourably. This finding gives empirical support to the proposition that affect plays a critical role in the type of exchange that develops between supervisor and subordinate (Liden et al., 1993; Wayne and Ferris, 1990). DeNisi and Williams (1988) suggested that affect influences the processing of performance information, and Isen and Baron (1991) shed light on this suggestion proposing that positive affect helps the recall of information stored in the memory which possesses a positive affective tone. Therefore, positive affect towards a sales agent should result in the supervisor recalling more positive performance-related behaviours and evaluative impressions, which should lead to the supervisor rating the sales agent's performance highly.The salesperson's physical attractiveness demonstrated significant positive effects on performance ratings, through the influence on supervisor's liking of the sales agent and the salesperson's perceived interpersonal skills. This result fits in with the findings of a recent meta-analytic review of experimental studies concerned with the biasing effect of physical attractiveness on a variety of job-related outcomes, as hiring recommendations, predicted job success or compensation levels (Hosoda et al., 2003). As Langlois et al. (2000) have concluded, following actual interaction with others, perceivers judge attractive individuals more positively (e.g. in terms of interpersonal competence, occupational competence, social appeal, adjustment) and treat them more favourable than less attractive individuals.The findings obtained in this study suggest that \"what is beautiful is good\" stereotype has a significant effect on judgement and behaviour and, in particular, in the sales performance evaluation process. As Jackson et al. (1995) pointed out, a bias for attractive individuals should be a concern insofar as it results in liabilities for the less attractive individuals. Sales managers should be aware of such a bias and should implement strategies that lessen or avert the influence of this bias.The goal of a performance evaluation system is to accurately identify and reward good performance. It is important that sales managers regularly test for biases in performance ratings and adjust for them as necessary. Managers require direct feedback and extensive training to prevent and alleviate the biases to which they are susceptible (Fishhoff, 1982). As it has been suggested for remote workers (Barsness et al., 2005), sales managers should require subordinates to overlap regularly with them in a common work location. Regularly scheduled opportunities for a sales manager to observe and mentor salespeople are likely to lessen subordinates' visibility concerns and facilitate the supervisor's ability to accurately and fairly evaluate the salespeople's performance.Sales managers are exhorted to be objective in their performance appraisals (Gentry et al., 1991). Results of this study confirm that, yet, realistically, a crowd of subjective factors influence these appraisals. Considering that traditional programs for improving appraisal processes focus on removing affect as a source of bias (Cardy and Dobbins, 1986), a possible solution would be to try with various methods of improving performance evaluations, as the use of role-playing scenarios and videotaped sessions to help identify evaluation errors (Latham and Wexley, 1977); training in the use of rating scales; use of field notes to provide concrete behavioural indicators (Bernadin and Walter, 1977); and development of historical territory and personal data files (DeCarlo and Leigh, 1996).Impression management seems to be widespread in organisations. It is driven by the basic desire to be liked and by particular needs to look good in the eyes of others. Supervisors should be aware that employees might be using impression management tactics and that the use of these behaviours might influence the way that they evaluate their employees' performance. Being aware of the potential problems involved in decision-making should lead sales managers to take action that reduces the need for opportunistic behaviour.Concerning physical attractiveness stereotype, managers must remain vigilant to the potential for intended or unintended biases based on physical appearance in hiring and supervising sales agents.Overall, we consider that this study contributed to the existing body of the literature in several ways. Firstly, it enhanced the understanding of the importance of social and affective elements to sales performance evaluation decisions. Although the relevance of impression management tactics in the sales context has been suggested already (e.g. King and Booze, 1986), the present study means a first attempt to empirically demonstrate the relationship between these type of influence behaviours and several important labour results. Secondly, taking into consideration that most of the literature about impression management is US-centred, the fact that data was gathered in Spain might provide an insight as to generalisation of these behaviours and job attitudes to other countries and cultures. Thirdly, the use of multiple-source information should allow more confidence to be placed in the validity of our interpretations of results.\nLimitations and future research directions: The present study is not without limitations. First, while the response rate was fairly high, we were unable to determinate if the respondents in our study differed from those who did not respond. Second, impression management tactics were assessed based on subordinate self-reports, which potentially can introduce distortion through self-serving bias. Future research is needed that assesses influence tactics from independent sources such as peers. A third limitation of this study is that causality could not be determined due to the cross-sectional nature of the data. Longitudinal research is needed in order to examine the causal linkages proposed in the model.Though this study does not pretend to provide a conclusive model of the sales performance appraisal model, it should have been better as well to control the salesperson's ability or inability to meet quota for this study. Future studies should take notice of this and consider, for example, the possibility that the sales agent's physical attractiveness could positively affect his or her ability to meet quota, which could in turn affect the supervisor's evaluation. Finally, although data were collected from both sales agents and their superiors, some of the paths (e.g. supervisor liking to performance) involved variables based on manager reports. Thus, the stronger relationships among variables assessed from the same source suggest that common method variance may be a problem.The findings here highlight some potential avenues for future research. One useful direction would be to examine potential moderators and mediators to the basic model outlined in this study. For instance, it would be interesting to assess the proposition that the attractiveness effect will diminish as the length of the relationship between supervisor and sales agent, confirming then its greatest effect on supervisors' initial impressions. Further research is needed to investigate how impression management tactics affect other types of human resources decisions besides the sales performance evaluation process, as promotion or training decisions. In addition to this, there are other social and contextual variables that have been addressed by the organisational literature and that might be interesting to analyse by the sales literature, as for instance the perceived similarity between the supervisor and the sales agent or the supervisor's opportunity to observe the sales agent's job performance (Wayne and Liden, 1995). It would be useful as well to examine these relationships using more diverse samples of sales agents, what will yield findings that are more generalised to different countries and cultures.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - Despite the recognition that the subordinate's influence is a particularly noteworthy feature of the social context with considerable potential to affect the performance evaluation process, there are almost no studies that consider this influence in a selling context. Attempting to contribute to address these needs, the model presented here depicts a number of social and situational factors influencing supervisor's rating of salesperson's performance, primarily operating through affective processes.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Data were collected from 122 salespeople and their immediate managers from 35 firms pertaining to nine different industries.\nFindings: - SEM results indicated that supervisor-focused impression management was positively related to the supervisor's liking of the salesperson. Consistent as well with prior research is the positive influence of supervisor's affect towards salesperson on the supervisor's ratings of sales performance, both directly and indirectly, through the effect on salesperson's perceived interpersonal skills. Finally, a salesperson's physical attractiveness demonstrated significant positive effects on performance ratings, through the influence on supervisor's liking and salesperson's interpersonal skills.\nPractical implications: - These results have important managerial implications: sales managers should be aware that salespeople might be using impression management tactics and that the use of these behaviours might influence the way that they evaluate their employee's performance. Managers should also remain vigilant to the potential bias based on physical appearance in hiring and supervising salespeople.\nOriginality/value: - This study contributes to the knowledge of the social and affective variables that influence the sales performance appraisal process, an area of research that is almost unexplored.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Food storage and disposal: consumer practices and knowledge	[ "Food safety", "Storage", "Consumer behaviour" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The annual number of cases of food borne diseases in The Netherlands is estimated at a quarter of a million up to one million. The fact that patients usually omit to go to their physicians for this complaint leads to an underestimation of the actual number of cases of the disease, which makes this assessment of the prevalence of food-borne disease highly inaccurate (Becht and Ridderbos, 1998).A food-borne disease may occur as a result of the consumption of food that had been handled unhygienically due to contamination with, and possible growth of pathogens. Frequently consumers may be unaware of this and any resulting illness attributed to other causes. Food-borne diseases can sometimes have serious longer-term health consequences (Adak et al., 2002; Mead et al., 1999; Todd, 1997). Not everyone runs the same risk with notably young children, the elderly and people with reduced immune systems more prone to illness. The consequences may not only be detrimental to the victims' health, but result in increased sickness absence and health care requirements. This can also have financial consequences for governments and employers.According to van Klinken (2001) the causes of food-borne diseases have never been thoroughly investigated. Basically, all the links in the production/consumption chain (producer of primary products, supplier of raw materials, producer/manufacturer, distributor, retailer and consumer) can impact on food safety (van Klinken, 2001). A great deal is known about the production and distribution of foodstuffs during process and retailing. Less is known about events after purchase by the consumer, i.e. the storing, preparing and consuming of the food in the home (Meredith et al., 2001; Terpstra, 1998; Altekruse et al., 1995; Marklinder et al., 2004). With regard to food safety consumers are increasingly considered the weakest link in the chain. However, legislation controlling the domestic phase of food handling is impractical.Socio-economic variables and age affect the perception of the \"risk of illness following consumption of foods\". Research by Verhoeven (2000) into consumers' perceptions of risks with respect to food safety showed that as people grow older their perceived chance of being ill was assessed to be lower. The size of a household and the composition of a household affect the sense of risks. The more people in a family, the fewer the worries about health. The reason for this could be that a sick family member is less vulnerable and can be looked after by another member of the family. If there are young children in the family, however, the worries about health risks tend to be greater (Verhoeven, 2000).Research by Staffleu in 1996 demonstrated that women, older people and people with limited education, lower incomes and a higher awareness of health are relatively more seriously worried about food safety. In addition consumers show a certain form of optimism with respect to their own health risks as compared to those of others. It seems that people estimate a risk lower when they have influence over it themselves. Another result of this research indicates that people do not always possess sufficient knowledge to reduce the risks (Staffleu, 1996).Incorrect storage and preparation of food products and failing to get rid of these products in time may increase the chances of food poisoning. Figure 1 shows a diagram of the route followed by food after its purchase by the consumer. The chain of subsequent processes is represented, including the risk involved in the various processes (curved lines). These risk situations can lead to food borne diseases. This research is aimed at the four hatched processes, i.e. \"storage unopened/fresh\", \"storage opened/partly cut\", \"storage of prepared product\" and \"getting rid\" of food products.As there are indications that the way consumers handle foodstuffs in their home environments may have a major impact on the prevalence of food borne diseases (Jay et al., 1999a; Redmond and Griffith, 2003), research (Engelen et al., 2003), to clarify this situation in The Netherlands, was conducted in 2003. In this research the consumers' behaviour, the motives for their behaviour as well as their knowledge in the field of the storage and disposal of perishable food products were investigated.\nMethodology: The objective of the research was to investigate the behaviour, the motives and the knowledge with regard to storing and disposal of perishable food products and form part of a larger study including the microbiological examination of foods. With this aim in mind interviews were held at the homes of consumers who purchased relevant foodstuffs.The interview consisted of open and closed questions to determine the category of the household as well as demographic background information, and open questions on the respondent's storage behaviour, the criteria applied for disposing of the products and their knowledge concerning product storage.In the interview questions were asked concerning products belonging to several categories of perishable products. These product categories had been determined on the basis of Dutch guidelines for the storage of food (Dom, 2002; Stichting Voedingscentrum, 2002a, b). Based on these criteria the following categories of perishable products were selected: meat, sliced cold meats, vegetables, fruit juices, leftovers, cheese and dairy. Although fish and soft fruit are perishable as well, and were included in the research, they are not reported on because of the limited degree in which they were found in respondents' refrigerators.The interviews were held on the basis of the products in these categories found in the refrigerators of the respondents. Prerequisites for these products were that they had to be fresh, contained in opened packaging, been partly cut or that they were leftovers. If a respondent had several products belonging to one product category in the house, the most perishable product was selected as the basis for the questions. Two products were selected for the product group of vegetables. Prior to use the interview format was piloted in two households.In addition the temperature of consumers' refrigerators was measured using a calibrated glass thermometer, and the fridge contents noted. The temperature in the refrigerator was determined by measuring the temperature of water in a plastic bottle that had been kept in the door of the refrigerator (in the bottle rack) for 24 hours. It was decided to measure the temperature in the door because perishable products (dairy, produce, fruit juice) are often stored here.The research was conducted in three types of households: families with children of four years old or under, adults between 25-59 without children or with children over five years old, and over-60s. These types of households had been selected because of their different sensitivities to food borne diseases of the family members. In case of households with young children and households with elderly people the sensitivity to food borne diseases is greater than with households consisting of adults without children or with children over five years old. The respondents lived in a medium-sized town (10,000 inhabitants) in The Netherlands. The age structure of this town is comparable to that of the Dutch population (CBS, 2003). The interviews were held in June 2003.The samples for the three categories were drawn at random from lists of residents. Owing to the limited scope of the sample survey (n=33) the present findings are considered as exploratory research and the results cannot be extrapolated to the whole Dutch population. What the results can do is provide insight into the different motives, behaviours and knowledge with respect to storing and disposal of perishable food products.The guidelines provided by the Dutch Food Institution (Stichting Voedingscentrum, The Hague) were taken as reference for the proper storage duration and the correct storage method of food products.\nResults: Respondents\nDiscussion and conclusion: Consumers claim to be careful with the storage of meat, sliced cold meats and dairy products. Other perishable products such as vegetables, fruit juices, leftovers and cheese are treated less carefully and are often kept too long.It is remarkable that respondents indicated more than once that the of use by/best before dates are adhered to as the basis for the storage time, although this date no longer applies after opening. Usually the consumers' knowledge of food storage did not correspond with their actual storage behaviour. Most respondents think that perishable products can be stored longer than the recommended guidelines, especially knowledge of storing leftovers, fruit juices and cheese. In practice, however, most products are not kept too long. Exceptions to this are fruit juices and cheese. The research shows that parents of young children read the information on the packing more often than older people do. Older people, on the other hand, often act on the basis of previous experience based on habit and has not been adjusted for new products and storage methods. Consumers therefore lack important knowledge about the storage and handling of food.The findings from The Netherlands agreed with those of other researchers (Jay et al., 1999b). In two thirds of the cases the temperatures of consumers' refrigerators was higher than the guideline of 7degC. For over-60s the temperature of four-fifths of the respondents refrigerators was higher than recommended. This increases the chance of decay of food products and potential pathogen growth. The over-60s are more aware of what they buy and throw fewer food products away. A possible reason may be that experience has taught these respondents how much will be eaten or may have had greater experience of food shortages/scarity.Families with children living at home buy lavishly and have an irregular style of living, frequently causing products to be left too long and to be thrown away. One- or two-person households have a better perception of how much food is needed and consequently less is thrown away. The results also indicate the economic and environmental implications of food wastage. Recent UK findings have suggested approximately 33 per cent of food grown for human consumption in the UK is thrown away (BBC, 2005). Therefore knowledge of food storage times and temperatures has economic as well as health implications.The expiry date on the product is often mentioned as the motive to get rid of a food product. Many people do not know that the use before date ceases to apply when the product has been opened. In particular parents of young children pay attention to the quality of food. In case of any doubt about the quality of a food product the children are prevented from eating the product, although parents are less strict for themselves. Most products are thrown away on the basis of outward features such as the observation of mould or discoloration. Dairy and fruit juices are judged by their smell and taste. However, while these are useful as indications of food quality they are not a reliable indication of food safety.The results of this research demonstrate that the elderly handle food differently than younger people do. For the future this means that there will be a new kind of older consumer are on their way, elderly who have not experienced food scarcity and therefore handle food differently with respect to storage and disposal.As there is evidence from this research that the limited knowledge of food handling and disposal may lead to an added health risk there is a need to extend the existing consumer information programmes in this area.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - Consumer food handling behaviour is important in preventing food borne disease and this paper proposes examining consumer behaviour and knowledge concerning food storage and disposal.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Interviews and observations were used to investigate the storage methods and the storage durations of various categories of food products as well as the consumers' motives when they decide to throw away food products. The temperature of their refrigerators was also measured.\nFindings: - The results demonstrate that consumers deal with meat and dairy products relatively hygienically, but the storage of products in other categories is more likely to lead to risks; especially because of high storage temperatures. The study also shows that the elderly handle food differently from younger people.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Knowledge of the recommended storage methods and the consequences of consuming out-of-date foodstuffs have not been investigated. This could be dealt with in a supplemental research.\nPractical implications: - The elderly have a different purchasing policy. The older consumer of the future is likely to act differently to the present day elderly with respect to the disposal of food products.\nOriginality/value: - Reveals that consumer education about food safety, in particular food storage and food handling is recommended.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Influence of shelf life labelling on the sensory acceptability of potato snacks	[ "Consumer behaviour", "Quality", "Labelling", "Acceptability", "Shelf life", "Snacks" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Shelf life of food is the time during which the product remains safe and retains the desired properties, including sensory, chemical, physical and microbiological characteristics and the declared nutritional value (IFST, 1993). The EU law regulations on shelf-life labelling are aimed at protecting consumers' interests, thus the declaration of a product's durability should be a warranty of good quality and safety. Most foods are required to carry a durability indication either by a minimum durability or a \"use by\" date, as outlined, respectively, in Articles 9 and 10 of Directive, 2000/13/EC. The date of minimum durability should be preceded by the words \"best before\" and should indicate the time period until which the food will retain its specific properties if properly stored. For foodstuffs, which are, from the microbiological point of view, highly perishable and are therefore likely after a short period to constitute an immediate danger to human health, the date of minimum durability should be replaced by the \"use by\" date. The decision as to whether a foodstuff should be assigned the \"use by\" date rests with the food business operators and should be made on the basis of a best practice approach.\n2. Materials and methods: 2.1. Samples\n3. Results and discussion: Potato snacks contained 43.3 +- 0.3 per cent of crude fat. The samples after production contained 0.7 +- 0.1 per cent moisture and hydroperoxides at a level of 1.1 +- 0.2 meq O2/kg. The samples after the two-month storage period contained 2.4 +- 0.1 per cent moisture, and hydroperoxides at a level of 9.6 +- 0.2 meq O2/kg.\n4. Conclusions: Shelf-life labelling of potato snacks has an influence on the perception of sensory attributes which are important for organoleptic quality assessment and which affect consumer acceptability. Crispness and the oxidative flavour were rated less favourably when the label suggested post-expiration. A consequence of this can be consumer rejection, which then affects the manufacturer if the shelf life is underestimated. Consumers are more cautious when they have no dating information or they notice deteriorative changes - then they are willing to trust their own senses more than the labelling. Such an attitude is preferred, but only when quality depletion is accompanied by a deterioration of sensory attributes. Otherwise, this situation poses a threat to a consumer's health, even when the foodstuff is microbiologically stable. Date legislation is necessary but it may be insufficient without consumer education.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to assess how shelf-life labelling affects the sensory acceptability of potato snacks.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The panel of assessors determined the key sensory attributes. Subsequently, affective sensory consumer testing was conducted. The samples of potato snacks with labels suggesting valid and false shelf life or without dating information were presented to 110 students. They rated the degree of colour intensity, oxidised flavour and crispness liking with the use of hedonic scale and accepted or rejected the sample. The testing was carried out in a sensory laboratory.\nFindings: Shelf-life labelling affects the overall acceptability of potato snacks, perception of crispness and oxidative flavour. These attributes were rated less favourably when the label suggested post-expiration. The influence of shelf-life labelling decreased with storage time period. Consumers are more willing to trust their own perception than labelling.\nPractical implications: The product may be rejected not only because of quality depletion when the shelf life is overestimated, but also as a result of denigration when the shelf life is underestimated.\nSocial implications: Date legislation is necessary but it may be not sufficient without consumer education on food labelling and safety.\nOriginality/value: Research on the influence of shelf-life labelling on the sensory acceptability of food is scarce. Understanding how consumers are affected by shelf-life information has important implications for both public policy as well as food manufacturers.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Transformational leadership and employee efficiency: knowledge sharing as mediator	[ "Employee efficiency", "Knowledge sharing", "Team performance", "Transformational leadership" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Organizations need to be contemporary to perform and sustain with the fast changing business environment. In order to gain the competitive advantage, an organization is highly dependent on its capability to create and deploy latest knowledge solutions among its members (Grant, 1996). Employees and the organization, both should equally understand their responsibility for implementing the win-win philosophy. To triumph the competition, organizations are required to lend a hand to its employees, to boost up their competency, whereas at the same time, employees are also required to perform optimally. Building and maintaining sustainable business requires the leaders of the organizations to have better clarity of their role in guiding the employees and maintaining their efficiency. Studies have shown that leadership style plays a crucial role in shaping up employee's talent and projecting it in the right direction. Knowledge sharing by top management promotes innovation, which in turn increases the performance of the organization (Singh et al., 2019b). However, knowledge hiding adversely influences the performance of the employees and creates negative work culture in the organization (Singh 2019a). Knowledge sharing and knowledge helping have also been found to enhance learning and leadership skills among the team (Singh et al., 2019c).Leadership is the ability of an individual or group of individuals to influence and guide the team or other members of the organization and make them work in a defined direction. Over the past year, variety of leadership styles has been identified and studied, which mainly includes transactional leadership, transformational leadership, participative leadership, autocratic leadership and laissez-faire leadership. Each of these styles has got some advantages, on the other hand, some disadvantages as well and each tends to be more successful in some situation than in others; for example in military organization, autocratic leadership style is proven to be more successful, whereas the same will not work well in educational institutions. Similarly, for advertisement of a new product, participative leadership may generate more ideas than by following other style of leadership. Thus, it can be said that, all the styles of leadership tend to motivate people; they only differ in the process of achieving it. However, among most of the leadership styles, transformational leadership is considered to be positively influencing the employee efficiency and enabling the team to deliver outstanding level of outcomes (Khan et al., 2014).Transformational leadership is an act of making sound decision and inspiring others to perform well. This leadership style tries to create an emotional connect among its team members and inspire them to build higher values. Transformational leadership inspires and motivates followers majorly through communication, knowledge dissemination, promoting employees' creativity and intelligence (Garcia et al., 2012). Also, the method of leveraging the knowledge resource is one of the critical factors to sustain competitive advantage (Kim and Lee, 2013). Therefore, organizations must manage and use the knowledge base in effective way (Bock and Kim, 2002).In logistics firms, efficiency is a critical factor as it ensures the even flow of goods and services in an intricate supply chain system (Dubey et al., 2015). Therefore, it is important for leaders to inspire their team to perform well by aligning their thoughts with each other. But due to lack of human resource development process and standards in the logistics organization, leaders find it difficult to understand the strategy they need to implement to drive the efficiency out of the team. Also, the researches on linkage of transformational leadership with employee efficiency with an effort of knowledge sharing, particularly in logistics firms are limited or yet to be explored. Therefore, the researcher aims at examining the theoretical and empirical relationship among independent variable (transformational leadership), depended variable (employee efficiency) and mediator (knowledge sharing), which was found unexplored in Indian logistics firms. The views and results about the study are presented in the following sections.\n2. Literature review and hypothesis: 2.1 Transformational leadership and employee efficiency\n3. Research methodology: 3.1 Data collection and analysis\n4. Discussion: The result shows that there is positive and significant relationship between transformational leadership and employee efficiency. That is transformational leaders plays a crucial role in increasing the efficiency of its team members (Campbell, 2018). However, the most significant finding was that the effect of transformational leadership on the employee efficiency is fully mediated by knowledge sharing. Acar (2012) has also suggested that individualized consideration and intellectual simulation are frequently used methods of transformational logistics leaders to elevate followers and transform them into much higher performer. Thus it can be said that with the structured and continuous knowledge sharing with the employees, the relationship becomes much stronger. The process involves the leader to set an example by transmitting their outspoken vision and experiences, apprehensions about the project, individual beliefs and learnings with the team, as well as facilitating the opportunities for the team to share (Lee et al., 2010).Further, various other constructs may play important role in the way transformational leadership influences employees efficiency. Bass (1985) recommended that organizational environments that were more human friendly, challenging or require rapid modification may facilitate transformational leadership and its emergence. Though, he has also suggested that the task itself may impact transformational leadership effectiveness. But still the coaching style of the leader offers logistics firm a theoretical reasoning for implementing a more people-oriented methodology to supervision that may prove beneficial to the growth, development and effectiveness of the workers (Ellinger et al., 2005).Due to monotonous routine followed by most of the employees working in logistics firms, it can be assumed that they do not have the zeal to bring the change in the working process which leads to efficiency. In this regard, leaders of the firms are required to inspire and direct the members of the firm, through their experience and knowledge sharing. Logistics sector need transformational leadership to improve the efficiency of the employees which in turn improves the overall efficiency of the organization. The effect can further be enhanced with the combined effect of knowledge sharing among leaders and team members. As per previous studies, improvement in efficiency can help in improving: cost-efficiency, productivity, quality of product and delivery service, inventory management, values and so on (Bakos, 1998; Wymbs, 2000; Garicano, L. and Kaplan, S.N., 2001; Hackbarth, G. and Kettinger, W.J., 2000).\n5. Theoretical implications: The finding of the study reveals the extent of association among transformational leadership, employee efficiency and knowledge sharing in logistics industry. The study contributes several findings for the theoretical development in the field of logistics.First, the study identifies the importance of leadership style to be followed by the organization, as it may decide the alignment of the team objectives. Second, the study has validated the role of knowledge sharing as mediator between transformational leadership and employee efficiency which can be useful in future researches. The finding also helps in extending the literature on transformational leadership and employee efficiency.Thirdly, as supported by the study, transformational leadership style is proven to improve the employee efficiency many times if there is a continuous flow of knowledge between the leader and the team members (Xiao et al., 2017). Finally, this study helps in identifying the different variables for Transformational Leadership, Efficiency and methods of knowledge sharing, which may be vary as per industry needs.\n6. Practical implications: The present study highlights the role of transformational leader in increasing the team efficiency through knowledge sharing. The study suggests that knowledge exchange programs should be regularly practiced within the organization in order to build a cohesive and intellectual team.The research has additionally contributed to the practices in the field of logistics in North India. Finding of the study will help the top management of the organizations to formulate strategies to enhance its senior-subordinate relationship through knowledge sharing (Li et al., 2013). The study also suggests that regular dissemination of knowledge among the team improves the efficiency of the team members and hence the performance of the organization.Finally the study will help the top management in making a framework or model for enhancing the employee efficiency, by studying the other performance enhancer apart from knowledge sharing method (such as work process; training and development; organizational identification; work life balance; empowerment) and leadership style followed in their organization (Walumbwa, et al., 2004; Humphrey, 2012; Hammond et al., 2015; Saleem et al., 2019). Though the study has been conducted in logistics firm of north region in India, but it can be said that aim of most of the organizations is to make employee and organization efficient and effective, irrespective of their location and business profile. Thus the finding can be used in enhancing working procedures and techniques in different sectors of different countries.\n7. Limitations and direction for the future research: The study is conducted in logistics sector which is considered as highly unorganized and somewhat unskilled sector, so the chances of aligning the thoughts of a team leader with his team are very rare. Type of study considered can be another constraint, as the perception of the followers towards the leaders may change with longitudinal study. Since transformational leadership is a two way relationship that is between leader and an individual follower, so the results cannot be generalized for all the leader-follower relationships.It has been observed in previous studies that very few or no such researches has been conducted in logistics firms of North India, so the result of this study can further be used as reference to explore the area. This study can be replicated in the logistics firms of other regions also.In this model, researcher has tested the role of knowledge sharing as a mediator between transformational leadership and employee efficiency. A further study can be conducted to explore the methods of knowledge sharing which can further strengthen the relationship among the constructs.\n8. Conclusion: The complex and rapidly changing business environment faced by the organizations underlines the significance of the role a transformational leader can play in improving the efficiency and working ability of its team. Burns (1978) has also suggested that transformational leadership plays a vital role in uplifting followers and provides them the direction of working. This improvement can further address the efficiency and performance issues of the organizations. The study concluded that the transformational leadership had direct effect on employee efficiency but with the introduction of knowledge sharing as mediator, the relationship between the constructs becomes insignificant while the whole direct effect is transmitted through knowledge sharing. This study provides the evidence of mediating effect of knowledge sharing and the existence of causal relationship among transformational leadership, employee efficiency and knowledge sharing. This evidence can be further used and elaborated to have better understanding of the roles that a leader can play in making their team efficient.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This research aims to examine the influence of transformational leadership on employee efficiency. The research also examines the role of knowledge sharing as a mediator between transformational leadership and employee efficiency.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The research is based on the survey conducted among 200 employees of logistics firms. Exploratory Factor analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) approaches are used for the evaluation.\nFindings: The study found that transformational leadership has positive and significant influence on employee efficiency. The research also demonstrates that after introducing knowledge sharing, it fully mediated the influence of transformational leadership on employee efficiency. The study suggests that, if leaders share their knowledge and expertise among the team, employees have a propensity to be highly effective and efficient than without knowledge sharing.\nResearch limitations/implications: Blue collar staff and unskilled labors of the firms are not included in the study. So, the study is limited to white collar staff only which can further be expanded by considering other ground staff. Also few or no such researches have been conducted in logistics firms, particularly in Indian logistics firms. So, the result of this study can be used as reference to explore the area. This study can be replicated in the logistics firms of other regions also.\nPractical implications: The finding of the study will help the top management of the organizations to formulate strategies to enhance its senior-subordinate relationship through knowledge sharing. The study also suggests that regular dissemination of knowledge among the team improves the efficiency of the team members and hence the performance of the organization.\nOriginality/value: This research examines the degree to which knowledge sharing acts as a mediator between transformational leadership and employee efficiency, which has not been found in previous studies.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The structural fragility of financial systems: Analysis and modeling implications for early warning systems	[ "Financial market vulnerability", "Systemic risk", "Systemic risk capital", "Financial markets", "Banks" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Structural fragility as an element of systemic risk: Up until now, early warning systems (EWSs) for systemic financial crises have concentrated primarily on external shocks from macroeconomic conditions and their transmission within financial markets (Borio and Drehmann, 2009)[1]. The EWSs literature discusses the structure of the financial system and its capacity to absorb or amplify exogenous shocks, but scarcely considers it as a risk determinant in itself[2]. However, the recent crisis showed the vulnerability of banks that results from their connectivity with other banks and as well as the amplification mechanisms caused by co-movements in the system. Thus, there is evidence that intrinsic weakness (structural fragility) may itself be a risk factor and can contribute to problems arising from exogenous effects, making the system even less resilient and shock-absorbent.Emphasizing the strengths and weaknesses of systemic structures is not only a major concern for financial supervisory authorities. Since a significant aspect of a financial firm's risk comes from outside the firm, an institution that is trying to manage its own exposure should understand and monitor the structural aspects of the various risk networks it is in. As the European Central Bank (ECB, 2009, p. 127) points out, systemic risk management must assess, mitigate, and control risk on a macrofinancial level. In this regard, the banking system at the center of financial markets may be thought of as a portfolio of financial firms, managed by banking regulators (Lehar, 2005). At a given point in time, the stability of the portfolio is conditioned by the resilience of single firms and the robustness of the relationships among them. However, individual firms' resilience and inter-relationships can be highly dynamic, particularly under uncertain market conditions. Thus, the supervisory approach to structural stability focuses on two objectives: first, the stability of the portfolio through the resilience of single firms and the robustness of their inter-relationships; and second, on the system's dynamic properties, for example, its reactions to worsening conditions and its capacity for structural innovation.As the most recent crisis shows, supervisory risk/return management of bank portfolios should concentrate more on ex ante actions and crisis prevention. Once a crisis has emerged, it is much more difficult to restore the system's stability and to limit the negative impact of the crisis. Regarding structural stability, ex ante supervisory risk management must focus on building stable systemic structures and reducing the risk of internal weaknesses. At the same time, the system must also be resilient with regard to external macroeconomic factors and able to absorb shocks from outside without spillover of these factors into the real economy. Given the dynamics of financial markets and transformations within the system, it is, particularly desirable that macroprudential oversight include both the awareness of upcoming structural changes and the ability to assess their impact on systemic stability.Against this background, the purpose of the paper is to provide an extended framework for assessing and modeling structural aspects of financial markets. Regarding the theoretical precedent of this extension, the critical questions are:Q1. What elements of financial market structure contribute to systemic risk and how can they be incorporated into a structural fragility framework?Q2. In the light of structural characteristics and current transformations in financial markets, what are the requirements for modeling structural fragility? What particular requirements come from policymakers' objectives and regulatory needs?Q3. How do existing models respond to these requirements, and what directions should future modeling research take?In answering the above questions, we develop the outline of an extended model for assessing structural fragility in the financial system. The results are important for the construction of an EWSs and for a regulatory policy that is better adjusted for including changes in systemic structures. The results may also serve to guide supervisory policies at the onset - and in the course - of financial crises.\n2 Financial market structure and stability: 2.1 Systemic financial risk\n3 Modeling structural fragility in financial systems: 3.1 Modeling framework\n4 Implications: A financial system in transition points out the need for emphasizing systemic structures as a driver of systemic risk. Particularly, structural fragility may be related to the institutional (profile) and dynamic (process) aspects of the system. It is mainly driven by institutions' connectivity as well as the degree of concentration and correlation in financial relationships. Markets' heightened sensitivity to changing risk factors and greater speed in reacting to these factors further increase systemic fragility. This paper suggests a framework for identification and theoretical organization of structural factors that may serve as a basis for further theoretical discussion and for empirically testing the relevance of different indicators and models of structural fragility.As has become evident, different variables may be used for assessing structural fragility and may be modeled in various ways. To this end, the elements must be tested in isolation and in various combinations. This also applies to further development and testing of various quantitative approaches for structural fragility, particularly the joint use of selected functional and statistical models. As a part of an overall EWSs, a sub-index of structural fragility as a set of weighted, single structural factors may be developed. As financial markets move further away from relationship-based banking systems toward transaction-based capital market systems, the influence of psychological aspects on market prices and reactions to changing market indicators are expected to grow[22]. These effects may also include elements of exaggeration and irrationality. Hence, supervisory policy and EWSs must carefully consider the increasing weight of behavioral factors.Because indicators of structural fragility must be included into an EWSs for systemic risk, a researcher must certainly not fail to include the elements that have emerged in the advent of recent financial crises. To some extent, increasing parallelism and leverage in financial markets may point to upcoming stress. The need to keep the EWSs transparent for its users may necessitate a concentration on a few meaningful elements, such as major financial institutions as key players in concentrated markets. As a principal result of the analysis, the highly complex, dynamic structure of today's financial markets increases the need for preventive supervisory policy. The critical importance of structural considerations for crisis management emphasizes the basic need for EWSs. It also highlights the need for possible direct regulatory responses to recognized structural weaknesses.These responses may concentrate on the systemwide organization of financial markets and may transcend the traditional supervisory challenges of regulating single participating financial institutions. They aim to forestall and limit spillover effects between institutions and to reduce the propagation of instability. Those responses may include establishing structural \"fire walls\" to secure interbank trading; assessing risk interconnections on a systemic level to reduce the risk that institutions might become too interconnected to fail (IMF, 2009a, p. 74); limiting exposure to individual lenders; and enabling a clearing house for over-the-counter derivatives[23]. Responses intended to limit the impact of major institutions and their network must be considered less with regard to asset size than with regard to risk volume and risk concentrations. As has been shown, some structural factors, such as effects from accounting or behavioral finance, may not be directly influenced by supervision and so may need a different approach.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - Lessons from the most recent financial crisis show specific vulnerabilities of financial markets due to weaknesses in the structure of the financial system (structural fragility). As the literature points out, the impact of systemic risk can be closely related to issues of concentration (\"too big to fail\") and dependency (\"too connected to fail\"). However, different structural variables are emphasized in various ways, and most authors analyze each variable separately. This raises the questions of how structural fragility, as a cause of systemic distress, can be assessed more comprehensively and consistently, and what the implications are for modeling it within an integrated systemic risk framework. This paper seeks to address these issues.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - On the basis of theoretical considerations and in the light of current transformations in financial markets, this paper explores elements of structural fragility and the requirements for modeling them.\nFindings: - The paper suggests an extended approach for conceptualizing structural fragility, evaluates directions for quantifying structural issues in early warning systems (EWSs) for systemic crises, and lays a theoretical groundwork for further empirical studies.\nOriginality/value: - The need for supervisory actions to prevent crises is urgent, as is the need for integrating structural aspects into EWSs for systemic financial crises. Since a significant aspect of a financial firm's risk comes from outside the firm, individual institutions should understand and monitor the structural aspects of the various risk networks they are in.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Social reporting by Islamic banks: does social justice matter?	[ "Islam", "Banks", "Accounting", "Finance", "Social justice", "Islamic banks", "Islamic accounting and reporting", "Poverty eradication", "Immanent critique", "Content analysis" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Issues of social justice, poverty and wealth redistribution are matters of great concern to the world (Ahmed, 1991; Thakur, 1996). Reasons for poverty in society are complex and historical (Khan, 1994) with a significant dimension of these reasons being that many of the poor, who have the potential to save, do not have the channels to mobilize their savings into productive usage (Khan, 1994). Furthermore, those who need finance cannot obtain it due to the absence of developed financial institutions in rural areas or due to the reluctance of commercial banks to channel money to micro-entrepreneurs and the cash poor (Khan, 1994; Moore, 2001; Richards, 2006). Thus, the banking system, as a financial intermediary, has a significant influence on wealth distribution in society, issues of poverty elimination and social justice. Furthermore, recently the financial crisis has drawn significant attention to the socio-economic dimensions in finance and banking and their wider implications on the distribution of wealth in society (Hopwood, 2009; Sikka, 2009).\nCritical theory, immanent critique, social reporting rhetoric and Islamic banks: Despite the spread of Islamic banking globally, efforts to restructure the entire economy according to Islamic criteria have been limited to a handful of countries including Iran, Pakistan and Sudan (Kuran, 2006). Even in these countries efforts to pursue welfare policies are hindered because of globalisation and capitalism. Held and McGrew (2007) state that nation states have to accommodate the interest-based capital system where international institutions of global economic governance such as the World Trade Organisation (WTO), International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank are acting as promoters of policies extending the hold of global market forces on national economies. Critical theorisation in accounting and finance questions the \"allocative\" efficiency of the market and emphasises how accounting and finance are implicated in the transfer of wealth between social classes in society (Arnold, 2009, p. 805). In critical accounting literature a number of studies have highlighted how globalisation is informed and advocates narrow capitalistic and hegemonic notions. Such notions may hinder the emergence or enhancement of local accounting and financial initiatives that counter capitalism and work for the interest of the less advantaged segments in society (Annisette, 2000, 2004; Arnold, 2005, 2009; Arnold and Sikka, 2001; Bakre, 2004, 2005, 2007; Caramanis, 2002; Gallhofer and Haslam, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007). Gallhofer et al. (2011) elaborate how a Western style accountancy profession and market economy is creeping into the Arab and Islamic world and replacing possible radical and emancipatory local initiatives. Capitalism and globalisation are playing a role in hindering Islamic emancipatory alternatives and initiatives in accounting and finance mindful of social justice and care for the environment (Kamla, 2009; Kamla et al., 2006)1.\nSocial justice as a core principle in Islam: For Thakur (1996) religion can play a significant role in advancing the cause of social justice through its emphasis on morality and spiritual visions necessary for attaining social justice in society. Many religions such as Christianity and Islam make claims that the main purpose of their message and teaching is to advance social justice in societies (El-Gamal, 2006).3 Thus religion is well poised to challenge the view that getting rich and richer is in itself a virtue as no religion has ever taken this position (Thakur, 1996).\nIslamic banks, social justice and eradication of poverty: Among the conditions exacerbating poverty is lack of access to finance (Burgess and Pande, 2004). Richards (2006) explains that 90 per cent of the world\nResearch methodology: This study examines reporting by 19 Islamic banks regarding their social justice role in the societies they operate in. For this purpose, the study uses content analysis to explore if certain themes related to social justice are present (or absent) from Islamic banks\nFindings: Here we introduce our findings under the five categories. Under the first category we elaborate on the banks\nAnalysis of findings: Our research indicates that Islamic banks are keen to link their activities to Sharia principles, with all the banks in our study disclosing that their activities follow Sharia rulings. Some banks went further and declared that adherence to Sharia distinguishes their bank from conventional banks in its emphasis on ethics, fairness and justice for all. However, these claims were not supported by significant disclosures reflecting actual practices (Laine, 2009). Most of the annual reports examined are signified by omissions regarding schemes privileging socially and/or environmentally viable projects, or financial inclusion of the disadvantaged. There was little evidence in the disclosures to support any claims that the banks were making any extra efforts to operate in poorer or rural areas that would allow more contact with poorer segments in society. For instance, disclosures did not indicate schemes to train staff to deal with microfinancing issues or to gain experience in funding and managing projects in rural areas. The findings also do not indicate a special emphasis by Islamic banks on mudarabah or schemes that depart from conventional banks\nConclusion, implications and limitations of the study: Our theoretical analysis indicated that social justice is a core value in Sharia and Islamic teachings. Indeed, the Islamic finance and economics literatures are dominated by ideas advocating that the role of Islamic finance should constitute much broader social objectives and is meant to challenge injustice and inequalities created as a result of prevailing capitalist (or even socialist) ideals. Our empirics show that the annual reports and web sites of Islamic banks disclose how Sharia implies broader social and ethical consequences to their activities. However, the disclosures do not indicate that the banks have serious schemes targeting poverty elimination or enhancing equitable redistribution of wealth in society. Despite operating in Muslim societies that to a great extent are economically underdeveloped, the findings of our study do not indicate that Islamic banks have mobilized their position for improving the conditions of disadvantaged people.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This study examines social reporting by Islamic banks with special emphasis on themes related to social justice. By using critical theory and \"immanent critique\", the study attempts to explain and delineate reasons for disclosures and silences in Islamic banks\nDesign/methodology/approach: The approach taken was a content analysis of annual reports and web sites of 19 Islamic banks.\nFindings: Islamic banks\nResearch limitations/implications: Limitations associated with content analysis of annual reports and internet web sites apply. This study focuses on Islamic banks\nPractical implications: Drawing attention of Islamic banks and other stakeholders to the gap between the rhetorical religious and ethical claims of Islamic banks and their activities (as depicted through their disclosures) opens up the possibility of a positive change in Islamic banks\nOriginality/value: The study fills a gap in both social accounting and Islamic accounting literatures with its emphasis on social justice and poverty eradication. The study contributes to the very scarce literature linking religion (especially Islam), critical theory, social accounting and Islamic accounting. It goes beyond previous research in Islamic accounting literature by exposing contradictions in the Islamic banking industry\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
How exceptional managers use everyday psychology to develop their people	[ "Talent management", "Leadership", "Managerial coaching", "Talent development" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Talent development has become a perennial issue for most companies. This year, a study by PwC showed an alarming concern among CEOs about the availability of key skills - 63 percent of those surveyed indicated concern, the highest level in years. This perceived failure to keep pace with required skills is part of an ongoing trend. The \"Conference Board's CEO challenge 2013\" (Mitchell et al., 2013) indicated that human capital - how best to develop, engage, manage, and retain talent - led the list of the top ten global challenges; with greatest attention to the need to develop talent internally. How can it be, that with roughly $300 billion being spent on talent development tools and education worldwide, we are not uncovering approaches to developing talent that more quickly turn the tides?\nA starting place for applying everyday psychology: Every single employee, every manager, in fact ALL of us, has a sort of operating system in our minds, called our psyches. Developed over many, many years, that operating system is multi-layered and fairly embedded. In fact, much about our psyches is hidden not only to others, but also to ourselves. While it does not control us, it does screen others' efforts to influence and develop us. As managers, thinking about dabbling in this unknown is scary, but there ways to navigate successfully as demonstrated by the EDMs who do it every day. Astute developmental managers can adapt a style of interacting that works well with their people by considering each employee's behavior patterns (i.e. the visible signs of their psyche), and tuning into those employee behaviors which may be holding back their performance. Though EDMs do not need to know every corner of their employees' psyches, what they do know is how to build a safe and supportive relationship. This type of relationship opens employees to the rigors of feedback and psychologically bolsters them to embrace new work experiences, even when daunting.\nOne manager's efforts to use everyday psychology: Here's an example of how psychological principles can be practically used by managers to catapult employee development in the job. Andrew, a director of institutional investment responded when Aaron, an eager investment analyst, asked for a big leap in responsibility, taking over a faltering client relationship. Andrew felt cautious about Aaron jumping into the role, wondering if he was ready. Yet, Andrew decided to move ahead and took steps over the course of nine or ten weeks that helped Aaron have tremendous professional growth. Here is a synopsis:\nFinal thoughts: Heavy reliance on company-driven workshops, tools and high-potential programs, while under valuing the manager's role in talent development, is worth re-assessing. Growing talent in the job where employees can take big leaps to acquire new skills and then immediately perfect those skills with the support of their managers has enormous, often unearthed, potential. To get the full benefit of this targeted experiential learning, managers must go beyond typical management approaches to the more refined skill of applying everyday psychology. Managers are in the right spot, close to employees, and can increase their employees' awareness, and bolster them to take the risks associated with more complex tasks. In the end, insights and accomplishments gained by employees who venture into the unknown, backed by managers who apply everyday psychology, will be the ones that lead to significant development.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify an important and often overlooked approach to talent development: managers who apply everyday psychology with their people to drive significant growth.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper is based upon: years of consulting with managers, indentifying how to grow people in significant ways; original research of the practices of Exceptional Development Managers; and expert recommended approaches.\nFindings: Companies undervalue the important role managers can play in talent development. Managers are well positioned to significantly develop people, yet most do not. This paper describes the five actions managers can take using everyday psychology to help drive employees' development.\nPractical implications: While every company strives for a fully skilled workforce, for the majority, this is far from reality. With greater investments being made to companywide talent development, it is wise to also invest in equipping managers to turn everyday work into everyday development for their employees. Because the development breakthroughs can be daunting, managers who know how to practically apply everyday psychology have a significant edge. HR departments, company leadership, and individual managers can benefit greatly from leveraging these practices.\nOriginality/value: Manager's involvement in employee development is not new, this just has not gone far enough. Frequently employee development is viewed as needing to be a sideline to getting results. Further, companies are often not relying on the development driven by managers to make a significant impact on their talent development objectives. Yet, managers are key to developing people, and making psychological principles readily adaptable by managers unlocks their path forward.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Benchmarking of purchasing practices using Kraljic approach	[ "Benchmarking", "Supply chain management", "Buyer-supplier relationships", "Kraljic portfolio model" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: In recent years, supply chain management (SCM) is gaining higher popularity because of the enhancing challenge from competition, growing pressure from dynamic economic environment and increasing demand from stakeholders. With the growing importance of SCM, the supply side of companies received increasing attentions and assumed more strategic importance. Purchasing has evolved from the traditional clerical function to a strategic imperative. Companies strive to find ways to improve the performance of purchasing in order to strengthen companies competitive advantage. On the issue of how purchasing could be used as a strategic weapon, previous literature noted different solutions. One perspective supports for execution of purchasing exercises, instruments and methods.\n2. Literature review: SCM is an important function in advancing the competition in an industry (Gunasekaran, 2004). SCM strategy is to blending buyers and suppliers to improve liability and flexibility in firms supply processes (Gunasekaran, 2004). Technological and competitive factors are growing increasingly which makes it difficult and less profit for companies to produce required parts. Alternatively, outsourcing has become a major strategy for corporations. In a meanwhile, increasing worldwide integration and customer satisfaction has led to the sensitivity of logistic issues in planning of supply chain. Such issues form a SCM approach (Gunasekaran et al., 2001). For a long time purchasing is a part of companies supply chain business and has become important with purchasing costs rising to around 50 percent for the whole industry sector and even up to 70-80 percent in some sectors (Gadde et al., 2010).\n3. Methodology: There are two types of research methods used in the collection of data; quantitative and qualitative methods. A combination of qualitative and quantitative approach will be more suitable in order to fulfill the purpose of this research, since this study is investigating purchasing behavior of an organization which takes into account recognitions, point of views, thoughts and judgments that are difficult to measure only in a quantitative way. A five-step Kraljic approach is used to systematically complete the Kraljic matrix and to identify the strategic recommendations, as shown in Figure 2.\n4. Kraljic five-step approach: Proposed KPM approach consists of five steps is tested and evaluated to develop appropriate purchasing strategies in boiler industry for ball valve assembly of boiler. All five steps are implemented during case study and discussed below in detail.\n5. Purchasing strategic implementation: Appropriate purchasing strategies are formed and implemented to reduce impact on profit and complexity in supplying \"Body\" part. While implementing strategies, priority is given to reduce the supply risk and improve its negotiating position against the suppliers. Because of improved negotiating position, industry may reduce the purchasing cost that will finally reduce its impact on profit.\n6. Result: In this case study the purchasing portfolio analysis was carried out for a total of 35 parts of ball valve assembly. The positioning of parts in the Kraljic matrix resulted in four major clusters in, respectively, the \"non-critical,\" \"leverage,\" \"bottleneck\" and the \"strategic quadrant.\" The \"Body\" was the strategic part identified for defining/designing purchasing strategies as it holds the highest \"impact on profit,\" i.e., 79 and \"supply risk,\" i.e., 79 as shown in Figure 4. The focus of the methodology of case study was to reduce the \"supply risk\" and the cost affecting \"impact on profit\" of the product, i.e., \"Body.\" After implementing the methodology and adopting appropriate purchasing strategies in the case study, position of \"Body\" is shifted from \"strategic quadrant\" to \"non-critical quadrant.\" The improved position of \"Body\" after implementation of purchasing strategies for the \"Body\" is shown in Figure 10.\n7. Conclusion: Supplier strategy selection and empowerment can become a competitive advantage in portfolio of projects. A model is developed as a supplier management framework for project-based companies, with similar type of requirements for multiple projects. The proposed model is applied to an actual case of boiler industry, helped to identify the strategic parts and focus on strategic suppliers, which are fewer in number but having larger impact on profit and supply risk. The model will be extended for evaluating and selecting of suppliers strategy for each part of this group.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to reduce impact on profit and supply risk, for strategic part by defining appropriate purchasing strategies using Kraljic portfolio model (KPM) approach.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A five-step approach of KPM is used to identify strategic parts. The attributes affecting impact on profit and supply risk are then identified. A structured questionnaire is prepared for each attribute. Likert scale having weights from 1 to 5 is used to select method of measurement for each response. The overall score of attributes for dimensions \"supply risk\" and \"impact on profit\" interpret the position of the part, i.e., \"strategic part,\" \"leverage part,\" \"bottleneck part\" or \"non-critical part\" in the Kraljic matrix. The part having highest impact on profit and supply risk is to be considered as strategic part for defining the purchasing strategies.\nFindings: This paper outlines a practical solution to the problem of designing/defining purchasing strategies for development of supplier. Impact on profit is reduced by cost reduction and quality improvement whereas supply risk reduced by improving delivery time and suppliers profile.\nResearch limitations/implications: The proposed methodology is applied to a boiler industry to identify the strategic parts and focus on strategic suppliers, which are fewer in number but having larger impact on profit and supply risk. The \"Body\" part of ball valve assembly of the boiler is considered for the study. However, it can be extended for selecting and evaluating of suppliers strategy for other parts of the boiler. Not only boiler industry sector but also other companies also benefit from the results of this study by implementing the purchasing strategies as formulated in the KPM.\nOriginality/value: The Kraljic matrix has been largely used in many different industries like automobile, manufacturing, construction, oil and gas, etc., as an efficient tool for developing differentiated purchasing strategies. However, its application on parts procured by boiler industry is unknown, as well as the lack of systematical approach on criteria prioritization which is one of the key issues of the methodology. This work explores the output usefulness and its applicability on ball valve assembly projects.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Prioritising the enablers for the successful implementation of Kaizen in China: A fuzzy AHP study	[ "China", "Kaizen", "AHP", "Decision support", "Fuzzy", "Improvement methods" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Kaizen (Imai, 1986) is one of the foundations to support the implementation of many lean production tools and processes (Womack et al., 1990). However, like other Japanese production management systems, Kaizen is complex, inter-related and context dependent (Garcia et al., 2014; Taylor and Taylor, 2008). Many existing studies have agreed that adopting and implementing Kaizen is not always straightforward (Aoki, 2008; Brunet and New, 2003; Caffyn, 1999) and particularly hard to sustain for the long term (Bessant et al., 1994). In addition, Kaizen is thought to be underpinned by the unique Japanese culture (Hong, Snell and Easterby-Smith, 2006; Liker and Hoseus, 2008; Recht and Wilderom, 1998), and thus companies outside Japan could face difficulties when selecting the appropriate supporting tools and techniques (Bessant et al., 1994) and would need more time to adopt and implement this improvement method (Hines et al., 2004). More recently, two other improvement methods are becoming more popular: Kaizen Blitz (or Kaizen events) and Kaikaku (radical changes) (Bicheno, 2001; Browning and Heath, 2009; Done et al., 2011; Glover et al., 2013, 2014b; Radnor et al., 2012). These methods differ in terms of the time scale for implementation and whether the improvement is continuous or one-off, and have different enablers for their implementation (Fryer et al., 2007; Garcia et al., 2014).\n2. Literature review: 2.1 The three improvement methods: Kaizen, Kaikaku and Kaizen Blitz\n3. Methodology: 3.1 The fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (FAHP)\n4. Results: The level 1 success factors: hardware, software and personnel on improvement method selections are compared in Table III.\n5. Conclusion and contributions: In attempt to prioritise the key enablers for successfully implementing Kaizen activities in China, this study compared the adoption and implementation of the three types of improvement methods: Kaizen, Kaikaku and Kaizen Blitz from 28 experts working in Sino-Japanese joint ventures in China. The results show that the top critical enabler is personnel, including all levels of staff from top managers, to line managers and shop floor employees, followed by software which includes job training, incentives and shop floor management. The factor of experts/consultants (1.4) as a hardware enabler is not weighted as important. This may also indicate that the number of the employees is not critical for improvement, where the skills and abilities of the employees may be more important. Culture (2.5) for improvement is weighted very low. This might imply that improvement methods are transferable from one organisation to another, or between countries. Job training (2.1), incentives (2.3) and shop floor management (2.8) are the three highest score enablers under software factor, where the rest are scored low and less important therefore. Organisations should pay more attentions to these enablers for improvement implementations. Top managers, line managers and shop floor personnel are the three important personnel for improvement implementations. Kaizen is the highest rank improvement method, whilst Kaikaku and Kaizen Blitz have the same ranking scores.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to develop a better understanding of how Sino-Japanese joint ventures implemented the three Japanese improvement methods, i.e. Kaizen, Kaikaku and Kaizen Blitz. The specific objectives of this study are to identify the key enablers for the three improvement methods; and to identify the most selected improvement method.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This study employs a fuzzy analytic hierarchy process to pairwise-compare the three improvement methods. Data are collected from 28 industry experts from Sino-Japanese joint ventures. The study then adopts extent analysis approach for pairwise comparisons and extent analysis to obtain synthetic extent values for priority weights.\nFindings: The results of the study indicate that personnel (humanware) factor enablers are the most important factor for Kaizen, whilst software factor enablers (essential rules, policies and institutional arrangements) weight second and hardware factor enablers (physical, measurable hard facts or resources) weight last. The study also reviews that Kaizen is the most selected improvement method among the three.\nResearch limitations/implications: The sample of this study is limited to Sino-Japanese ventures in Guangzhou, China. This study only identifies the key improvement enablers based on interviews with shop floor managers and improvement experts.\nPractical implications: Practical implications are threefold: the improvement implementations should be based on factors such as regular training, incentives for motivations and shop floor management; improvement methods are transferable and standard operations may only have small effects on collecting improvement ideas; and Kaizen is the appropriate method to support long-term and process-oriented improvements.\nOriginality/value: This study is the first to specifically pairwise-compare the three Japanese improvement methods and to identify priorities of their key enablers in Sino-Japanese joint ventures.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Assessment of online discussion in work-integrated learning	[ "Internet", "Workplace learning", "Students" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The assessment of workplace learning presents a substantial challenge to universities (Zegwaard and Coll, 2003). It is generally acknowledged that assessment is the fundamental driver of student learning (Boud and Falchikov, 2007) and therefore it is essential that assessment activities drive intended learning outcomes. The ability to take responsibility for one's own learning is generally a goal of workplace learning and accordingly it is important that assessment is learner centred, that is, that it encourages students to reflect on the process of learning itself. Students do not necessarily know how to engage in the reflective practice required in workplace learning and accordingly the ability to think and write reflectively must be taught (McNamara and Field, 2007).One method of teaching reflective practice is to scaffold reflection through online interaction (Rose and Devonshire, 2004). This paper will review the literature regarding the use of assessable online discussion to create learning communities that facilitate student interaction and reflection in work placement subjects. First we discuss the benefits of using assessable online discussion to promote collaborative learning and reflection in work placement subjects. Second we consider issues relevant to the design of an assessable online discussion forum for a work placement subject in law and identify some issues that need to be addressed in such design. Third we discuss the assessment of online discussion forums. Finally we will use a case study of an online discussion forum in a work placement subject in QUT's undergraduate law program to evaluate whether assessable online discussion is an appropriate way to promote collaborative learning and reflection in work placement subjects. We will conclude that while online discussion forums are a valuable learning tool for work placements, they need to be carefully planned, moderated and assessed in order to facilitate effective learning.\n2. The benefits of online discussion to promote collaborative learning and reflection in workplace learning: Collaborative learning and reflective practice are both essential aspects of workplace learning. The importance of reflective practice in workplace learning has been well documented (Elkins, 1985; Hinett, 2002; Brodie and Irving, 2007). The role of collaborative learning in workplace learning has not been so explicitly stated, however, in the authors' view, the link between collaborative learning and the ability to learn from work is clear. According to Moller (1998) a collaborative learning process is necessary to promote the kind of learning necessary for present and future work preparation. Collier and McManus (2005) suggest that \"learning partnerships and related strategies appear to be successful in bridging the gap between 'off the job training' and workplace learning\" (p. 16). Further, the value of learning communities is supported by powerful learning theories; an active learning community and a sense of connectedness to others are critical to real learning (LaPointe and Reisetter, 2008). Collaborative learning in legal work placement subjects allows students to demonstrate to their peers what they have learned during their placement (Merrill, 2002), make connections between their own experiences and those of students in different placements, share experiences (both positive and negative) and gain an overall picture of the various roles undertaken by lawyers.In order to enable effective workplace learning, the design of appropriate and effective reflective assessment tasks is essential. The use of an assessable online discussion forum is suggested as a means of encouraging reflective thinking and practice thus enhancing the learning experience (Williamson and Nodder, 2005). Online discussion is also valuable as formative assessment because it enables intrinsic feedback to be provided to students on their learning and the quality of their reflection. Cox and Cox (2008) argue that collaborative and reflective learning is effective regardless of whether facilitated by classroom or online activities and accordingly, online discussion is a feasible means of facilitating collaborative learning and encouraging reflective practice between students where face to face contact is not possible.The use of an online forum can encourage deeper reflection than is likely working alone or in a face-to-face situation with other students. This is because students have time to carefully consider their own and other students' responses leading to deeper discussion and also because the results of the discussion \"are available for revisiting and reconsidering in a way that cannot happen with more transient verbal conversation. It is possible to 'rewind' a conversation, to pick out threads and make very direct links between different messages\" (Salmon, 2002). Students may also benefit from discussions initiated by other students, seek clarification from other students, and build a sense of a scholarly community (Brown, 1997; Laurillard, 2002). According to Revill and Terrell (2005), online community discussion forums have been well received by students and result in discussions that are engaging, vibrant and active.\n3. Designing an online discussion forum: While the potential benefits of online discussion is clear, Brooks and Jeong (2006) point to research that suggests that online discussions often lack coherence and depth, with students often responding to what other students have said. In order to create the \"engaging, vibrant and active\" discussions noted by Revill and Terrell (2005), discussion forums must be appropriately planned and moderated. Students cannot simply be \"given\" an online forum and told to use it. Such an approach is likely to result in little collaboration and learning, even when the forum is assessable.Three factors should be considered in planning an online discussion, the organisation of the forum, the motivation of students to participate and the ability of students to participate effectively. Vonderwell et al. (2007) found that the structure of the discussion forum is essential for successful learning and assessment. Brooks and Jeong (2006) suggest that online discussions should be organised into topics and that within each topic there should be pre-established threads within which arguments are clustered. It is suggested that pre-structuring threads in this way may be an effective method of facilitating critical discussion. Where discussions are not threaded, discussion may become repetitive, thereby discouraging student participation (Vonderwell et al., 2007).In relation to motivation of students, Klemm (2000) suggests that the goals and purpose of the forum should be stated and clearly explained, feedback should be provided and students should know that the forum is monitored by people of significance. In addition, input should be rewarded, negative feedback should be avoided and communities should be developed in order to avoid lurking.The third consideration in planning online discussions is the ability of students to actively participate in the discussion at the required level. Salmon (2002) argues that a scaffolded approach needs to be taken to the facilitation of online activities so that students move through five stages of learning. The five stages are: access and motivation, online socialisation, information exchange, knowledge construction and development. For the purposes of the assessable component of an online discussion forum used to facilitate collaborative learning and reflection in a work placement subject, students need to be at the development stage, where they are responsible for their own learning and are more critical and self-reflective. Adopting the approach suggested by Salmon, it is therefore necessary to scaffold student participation so that they are able to contribute at the level required by the discussion.\n4. Assessment of online discussion forums: Assessment is a fundamental driver of what and how students learn (Ross et al., 2006). Accordingly, for online discussion to be effective in facilitating collaborative learning in workplace learning it must be assessed appropriately. This means that the purpose of the assessment, the criteria for assessment, and the intended outcomes must be established (Gaytan and McEwen, 2007). The main purposes of an assessable online discussion forum in workplace learning are to enable students to demonstrate their learning, to enhance student's reflective practice and to promote collaborative learning by student interaction.Vonderwell et al. (2007) suggest that the use of a variety of assessment methods and strategies can increase student interest and engagement in discussion. The assessment of an online discussion forum could be varied by using different assessment techniques, such as a reflective summary, an online survey, peer or self assessment tasks (Vonderwell et al., 2007) web quests, concept maps and problem solving scenarios (Klecker, 2005). Lee (2004) suggests that peer assessment by use of a peer rating system is one way in which the workload associated with grading an online discussion forum can be minimised while at the same time increasing student engagement.Regardless of the type of assessment technique employed, a key issue in the design of online discussion forums is that assessment should be fair and reliable. Hulkari and Mahlamauml-Kultanen (2008) suggest that a truly objective tool to measure learning evidenced by web discussion has not yet been developed. Salmon (2002) suggests that assessment of online activities should be aligned with and should flow directly from the online tasks and that criteria should be established that indicate the level of acceptable performance.The use of criterion referenced assessment for online discussions is particularly important because it encourages cooperative learning and the sharing of ideas (Klecker, 2005). Vonderwell et al. (2007) suggest that detailed assessment criteria are essential in guiding student participation and contribution to the discussion and enabling fair assessment of student contributions. Further, the criteria should be specific to topics rather than general across all discussion topics. Suggested criteria for assessment of online discussion forum in the workplace learning context are the quality of reflections, the extent of collaboration with other students, evidence of links to professional practice and written expression. In some disciplines it may be argued that written expression is not an appropriate criterion for an online forum; however Vonderwell et al. (2007) note the importance of writing skills in online assessment. For law students, this is particularly so because of the high level of written expression skills that will be required of them as lawyers.\n5. Case study: To determine whether assessable online discussion is an appropriate way to facilitate collaborative learning and scaffold reflection in a work placement subject, the design and assessment principles outlined in this paper were applied to a case study subject, LWB421 Learning in Professional Practice. LWB421 is a work placement subject in the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) undergraduate law course. QUT is one of five Australian universities that are part of the Australian Technology Network (ATN). One of the aims of the ATN is to \"educate graduates who are ready to enter their chosen profession, dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge and eager to claim a stake in building sustainable societies of the future\" (ATN, 2004). Consistent with this aim, QUT's Learning and Teaching Plan (2007-2011) includes as one of its objectives to \"provide opportunities for work-integrated learning that facilitate student transition to professional practice\" (QUT, 2007).LWB421 was offered for the first time in semester two 2008 and again in summer 2008. Face to face classes are not feasible in LWB421 for a number of reasons. Firstly, students may complete their placements at different times during the semester. Secondly, face-to-face classes would not be available to external students who are encouraged to enrol in the subject. Because of these impediments to scheduling face-to-face classes, an online discussion forum was developed in LWB421 as an alternative means of enabling the learning, which would otherwise take place in classes.The requirements of the forum were that students were to submit posts of approximately 350 words each to six topics on the online forum. Students were required to contribute to minimum of six topics, meaning there was approximately two weeks to contribute to each topic over the 13-week semester. The topics for the forum in semester two were: introduction and welcome; expectations and placement plan activities; the orientation to workplace; career pathways; application of legal knowledge in the placement; professional conduct, self knowledge and awareness, career choices and interpersonal dynamics. In summer the topics were introduction and welcome; expectations and placement plan activities; application of legal knowledge in the placement; self-knowledge and awareness, career pathways. Students were able to submit to as many topics as they wish throughout the semester but were only required to submit their best three (in addition to the first three topics which were compulsory) for assessment. The forum was designed so that students would be scaffolded through Salmon's five stages of learning.The objectives of the online discussion forum were to facilitate collaborative learning by sharing workplace experiences and to scaffold student reflection. To evaluate the effectiveness of the online discussion forum in achieving these objectives, contributions made by students to the forum were analysed to determine whether students actively participated at the required stages of learning. In addition, the contributions were analysed to determine whether critical discussion was facilitated by pre-structuring of threads, and also whether feedback provided by means of tutor contributions to the threads motivated students to participate.The use of online discussion forums was also evaluated by several student surveys to determine their overall satisfaction with the assessable online discussion forum. Student perceptions where elicited by an electronic survey available to all students via the subject's Blackboard site, the LEX survey (which is the QUT's student evaluation tool, also delivered online) and a focus group of students who completed the subject in summer 2008 (see Tables I and II).The analysis suggests that students in both cohorts contributed to the discussion on a regular basis, with most students contributing four to five times on each two-week topic. The analysis also indicates that students were more motivated to participate when the tutor also contributed more frequently to the discussion. Accordingly, consistent with the approach suggested by Salmon (2002), it is necessary to better scaffold student participation in the discussion forum by increasing tutor participation for example by providing early feedback on performance and placing more emphasis on responding to and emphasising valuable contributions.5.1 Analysis of student satisfaction and perceptions\n6. Conclusion: This paper has considered the literature relating to assessment by the use of asynchronous online discussions, particularly in the context of workplace learning. It has been demonstrated by a case study of a discussion forum in a work placement subject that online discussion can be a valuable way of assessing for learning in order to facilitate collaborative learning and to scaffold student reflection. However, discussion forums need to be carefully structured and managed to ensure that they result in the deep level of collaborative reflection and active student learning that is desired.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to examine how online discussion can be used in work-integrated learning as a vehicle for students to demonstrate their learning in the workplace and to facilitate collaborative learning where face-to-face classes are not feasible.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper evaluates the use of assessable online discussion in facilitating collaborative learning and scaffolding reflection in work placement subjects. It reviews the literature regarding the use of online discussion, particularly for work placement subjects, and evaluates the use of an online discussion forum in a case study subject in the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) undergraduate law course.\nFindings: - The paper suggests that assessable online discussion forums are appropriate to facilitate student collaboration and collaborative learning in work placement subjects.\nOriginality/value: - The paper is original in its examination of the assessment of online discussion in a work-integrated learning context.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
International students in Kazakhstan: A narrative inquiry of human agency in the process of adaptation	[ "Social cognitive theory", "Internationalization", "International students", "Adaptation process", "Human agency" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The improvement of academic mobility of international students has long become a major component of educational policies of many countries in the world, including Kazakhstan. It is considered imperative for all its stakeholders. For students, academic mobility is beneficial in terms of professional and personal growth and as a way to enhance their labor market competitiveness (Souto-Otero et al., 2013). For higher education institutions, academic mobility is a chance to improve the quality of their teaching and research, earn income, as well as build a worldwide reputation (de Wit, 2015; Liu and Winder, 2014). At the country level, incoming academic mobility of international students is important as a source of revenue, an opportunity to become more competitive worldwide and support multiculturalism, and as a way to replace the shrinking labor market capacity by skilled migrants among former international students (Andrade, 2006a; Wei, 2013).\nAdaptation of international students in academic literature: In the academic literature, experiences of international students were considered through three main conceptual approaches: adaptation of international students to host countries and universities, adaptation of host countries and universities to the needs of international students, and mutual adaptation of international students and host countries and universities.\nResearch theory: In order to provide the theoretical clarity about how international students exercise their agency while adapting to the academic and socio-cultural life in the host country, I used Albert Bandura's social cognitive theory. According to this theory, adaptation is not a mechanical response of the human mind to the external influences, but a process of \"exploring, manipulating, and influencing the environment\" (Bandura, 2001, p. 4). Human agency in the social cognitive theory is defined as the capacity of people to control their own thought process and behavior, to learn from their environment, and to change themselves and change their environment (Bandura, 1989).\nMethodology: Within the context of qualitative methodology, narrative inquiry was most suited for my study. Clandinin and Connelly (2000) wrote that \"narrative is the best way of representing and understanding experience [...] because narrative thinking is a key form of experience and a key way of writing and thinking about it\" (p. 18). What Clandinin and Connelly (2000) meant is that people interpret and make meaning of their experiences through stories, and narrative inquiry is the best way to examine these stories. In a similar vein, Webster and Mertova (2007) argued that narrative inquiry \"is set in human stories of experience\" (p. 1) and therefore it allows researchers \"to present experience holistically in all its complexity and richness\" (p. 10). Because my aim was to research international students' positive and negative experiences in Kazakhstan holistically, considering each international student as a unique individual, I decided to conduct a narrative inquiry.\nFindings and discussion: RQ1. What challenges do international students studying in Kazakhstan face in their academic and social lives and how do they respond to these challenges?\nInterpretation of findings within the social cognitive theory: The findings of the cross-account analysis show that the international students in this study responded to the negative and positive encounters during their adaptation process to the life in Kazakhstan by exercising their human agency as follows.\nConclusion: Interpreting the study findings from the position of the social cognitive theory (Bandura, 2001), I learned how the participants exercised their human agency while adapting to the life in Kazakhstan. They exercised their human agency when selecting Kazakhstan as their study destination, while dealing with challenges they had to face in their everyday academic and socio-cultural lives, and whilst encountering positive aspects of studying and living abroad. They did not passively adjust to the host countries' academic and socio-cultural environment and transformed themselves to fit in the host society; instead, they actively negotiated their adaptation process by learning about Kazakhstan and its people, developing their own understanding of positive and negative factors, changing their plans and changing themselves when they felt the need to do so, and transforming their surroundings to fit their own benefits and goals. Even when they did not receive any assistance from their host universities, they found ways to survive in the foreign country, become comfortable in their surroundings, and live and study, not as they were expected to do, but as they wanted and saw right.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Kazakhstan has taken considerable steps to improve the incoming mobility of international students; however, despite these measures, the number of international students studying in Kazakhstan is still very low. Research indicates that in order to attract and retain international students it is necessary to build a thorough understanding of their experiences in the host country. The purpose of this paper is to gain a better understanding of international students' experiences in Kazakhstan by exploring how they exercise their human agency while adapting to the academic and socio-cultural life in Kazakhstan.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The author used a purposeful criterion sampling to select six international students from Afghanistan, Great Britain, Russia, South Korea, Ukraine and the USA studying at Kazakhstani universities to participate in this research. The primary data collection was semi-structured in-depth interviews. Supportive methods included a demographic questionnaire and a researcher journal.\nFindings: The study revealed that the international students actively employed their human agency to negotiate their studying and to adapt to their life in Kazakhstan. They did not simply adjust to the host environment, but also learned from it and attempted to transform it according to their circumstances and goals.\nResearch limitations/implications: The implication is that Kazakhstani universities and any other higher education institutions that seek to increase the number of their international students should consider not only how to attract these students, but also how to adapt their institution's practices and regulations to create an inclusive learning environment for their diverse student population. It is also very important for higher education institutions to provide international students with the necessary conditions to exercise their human agency because as it was revealed by this study, international students' human agency is a very powerful mechanism helping them live and learn comfortably in their host country.\nOriginality/value: Taking into consideration the reviewed previous research, this was the first attempt to use Albert Bandura's social cognitive theory for the purpose of building an understanding about how international students exercise their agency while adapting to the academic and socio-cultural life in the host country. The social cognitive theory allows investigating international students as active and self-sufficient agents of their own adaptation process who can and do change themselves, and have the potential to navigate and alter their host environment to achieve their own goals. This study encourages researchers and practitioners to think about international students outside the dimension of internationalization as a means of improving country's economic capital.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Social capital and integrated reporting: Losing legitimacy when reporting talk is not supported by actions	[ "Australia", "Reputation", "Banking", "Integrated reporting", "Impression management", "Social capital" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: This paper presents the continuation of a case study by Beck et al. (2017) on an Australian bank during the period 2004-2013. Referred to as CBD to preserve anonymity, both studies examine how a bank rocked by a major scandal in 2004 has attempted to repair its legitimacy through integrated reporting <IR>. Beck et al.'s (2017) study focused on the reasons why CBD began its journey towards <IR> and how it developed, finding that the need for cultural change was the impetus behind the shift in its reporting practices. However, since incorporating <IR> into its reporting strategy, CBD has become embroiled in even more scandals and has been openly criticised in the findings of an investigation into misconduct by the Australian banking, superannuation and finance industries. Hence, this study explores the period since 2013 and presents the latest findings regarding the impact of <IR> on information transparency for the providers of financial capital. We analyse how CBD opportunistically discloses or withholds information, which raises questions about the overall role of intellectual capital and <IR> in cultivating trust and reputation.\n2. Literature review: An integrated report based on the <IR> framework represents a \"concise communication about how an organization's strategy, governance, performance and prospects, in the context of its external environment, lead to the creation of value in the short, medium and long-term\" (IIRC, 2013b, p. 1). This section outlines the relationship between <IR> and IC by examining the IC-<IR> nexus (Guthrie et al., 2012; de Villiers and Hsiao, 2018). <IR> critiques found in contemporary accounting literature are also considered (Flower, 2015; Thomson, 2015). Last, we highlight the role that corporate image or reputation plays in disclosures as an important component of relational capital (Dumay and Guthrie, 2017; Dumay et al., 2019).\n3. Context: Our research is part of a longitudinal study that analyses corporate social responsibility reporting in a major Australian bank (CBD) stretching from 2004 to 2013 (Beck et al., 2017). Thus, this paper continues to observe past and further events relevant to the case, as the bank continues its journey towards developing <IR>. What is interesting and novel is that CBD and other Australian banks have their reputations under threat as a result of a Royal Commission into misconduct by the banking, finance and superannuation industries. Given these circumstances, the Royal Commission's (2018) findings have shaken trust in the banking system and all Australian banks have suffered damage to their reputations. In this paper, we examine bank disclosures for the period 2011-2018 to help us understand how the bank uses <IR> to enhance its reputation, while also choosing not to disclose key issues that may have damaged CBD's reputation.\n4. Methodology and IM theory: This section covers the methodology and theory used to support the analysis and its limitations.\n5. Findings: This section presents our case study findings on coverage of some of the major scandals that affected CBD between 2012 and 2017 in comparison to the disclosures the bank made in its own reports. To further validate our results, we extended the analysis to involuntary disclosures in the news up until July 2018. A summary of the findings follows in Table II.\n6. Discussion and conclusion: Our analysis into RQ1 began with Beck et al. (2017), where we explored how CBD had begun to restore their legitimacy by rebuilding \"trust\" through reporting. The results of this study show that CBD, along with all the other major players, has constantly been stricken by scandals since 2012 (Table I).\n7. Implications for future research: Understanding the nexus between IC and <IR> is important because IC reporting as a legitimate management practice has already failed (Dumay, 2016). Likewise, <IR> is under the same threat if it does not show that it adds value to companies and other stakeholders, not just managers, Directors and shareholders. If all <IR> does is to reinforce information asymmetry, rather than reduce it, then it too will fall by the wayside as just another management fashion, as did IC reporting.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: To present the continuation of a case study by Beck et al. (2017) on an Australian bank (CBD) during the period 2004-2013 by examining whether integrated reporting affects relational capital and helps to repair an organisations' reputation. Both studies examine how a bank rocked by a major scandal in 2004 has attempted to repair its legitimacy through integrated reporting (<IR>). The paper aims to discuss these issue.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This study is a post facto analysis based on the original research from Beck et al. (2017). The research process involved a case study approach with an analysis framed by impression management theory to investigate whether the information in CBD's integrated reports is consistent with other information available to investors.\nFindings: The authors find there is a gap between what CBD discloses in its integrated reports and what is publicly available in other media. CBD's talk and actions are not aligned, and that asymmetry translates into a decline of trust in CBD. The bank's integrated reports reveal how management discloses or withholds information to protect their own interests and at their own discretion. These conclusions indicate that the integrated reporting paradigm is being co-opted by IM strategies to improve legitimacy through trust, reputation and social capital.\nResearch limitations/implications: Future research needs to reach beyond the organisational boundaries and understand if <IR> adds value for society, or is just a new form of multicapitalism, being an ideology to help the rich become richer? The answers are important if we ever hope to see misconduct disappear from our corporations and for company reports to become documents bearing truth and not espouse rhetoric based on organisational hypocrisy.\nOriginality/value: The paper adds to the growing body of research investigating <IR> in practice to understand the impact of <IR> and whether it is a new and useful reporting tool or just another management fashion.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
What is accounting? The "being" and "be-ings" of the accounting phenomenon and its critical appreciation	[ "Accounting", "Heidegger" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: [Phenomenology] is as painstaking as the works of Balzac, Proust, Valery or Cezanne - by reason of the same kind of attentiveness and wonder, the same demand for awareness, the same will to seize the meaning of the world or of history as that meaning comes into being.(Maurice Merleau-Ponty, 1999, Foreword, p. XVI)\nIntroduction: Buddhist philosophy has compared the perspectives and opinions of an age, historically laid down and shored up sediment-like, to a full cup of tea: people have to empty the cup, as it were, to see things anew or differently, to appreciate the light of wisdom. How, indeed, can new ideas emerge if your mind is full of the power of conventions, effectively translated into certainties of being and taken-for-granted? How can you make your life a journey if no room is left for what experience and new ways of seeing can bring to you? To put it in terms derived from Heidegger, how can you understand \"being,\" if you are confined in a narrow appreciation of it, one \"be-ing\"? If we cannot totally break from the burden of tradition - and, indeed, we constantly risk being consumed by ways of seeing that might be considered a kind of clutter of the conventional and taken-for-granted - we should preserve the faculty of questioning, to keep open the possibility of going beyond conventions, the taken-for-granted, developed prejudices and the weight of tradition. Following a reading of Heidegger, appreciation of our contingent and situated state and trajectory can encourage us to question and perhaps re-work words, concepts and constructs.\nKey displacement of the researcher in accounting research: One dimension that may be referenced in categorizing research (see Laughlin, 1995) is the degree of prior theorization. A relatively closed, tightly defined, theoretical position confines the researcher to a way of seeing the phenomenon. A relatively open, loosely defined, perspective encourages greater reliance on the perceptual powers of the researcher as observer (and, in the double hermeneutic, through the perceptual powers of the observed). Yet both these approaches in practice can sometimes appear to share the assumption that the observer is largely irrelevant in the research process in that \"facts\" are seen to emerge by themselves (Laughlin, 1995). Classical science approaches, where research projects are built upon a realist ontology and positivist epistemology, haunt accounting research in this regard (Tinker et al., 1982; Manicas, 1993; Clarke et al., 1999). While considering reality as socially constructed, some interpretive researchers appear to call paradoxically for minimal prompting or predisposition - one wonders at times if they are here being rhetorical, trying to match the rhetoric of more positivistic research (see Gallhofer and Haslam, 2017). Interpretive researchers sometimes appear to want to input into their research analytical categories and invariant properties that ostensibly facilitate empirical testing and argumentation that can be tested in terms of falsifiability. They thus move somewhat away from that differentiating them from the more positivistic researchers, potentially displacing original and legitimate work.\nThe \"being\" (Das Sein), \"Be-Ings\" (Das Seiende) and the role of Dasein in acounting research: Heidegger's (1986) Sein und Zeit can be read as suggesting a key insight: in recognizing and coming to an understanding of a particular \"thing\" we do not exhaust the possibilities of that \"thing.\" There are always other possibilities in \"being\" and in \"be-ings\". This is consistent with a concern to question or challenge current delineations of phenomena or with openness to such questioning.\nPhenomenology and \"being\": In Heidegger, phenomenology, embracing a concern to be open to learning from the object, is an ontological turn consistent with going back to the point of origin (supra):[Phenomenology expresses a] [...] maxim which can be formulated as \"To the things themselves!\" It is opposed to all free-floating constructions and accidental findings; it is opposed to taking over any conceptions which only seem to have been demonstrated; it is opposed to those pseudo-questions which parade themselves as \"problems\", often for generations at a time. Yet this maxim, one may rejoin, is abundantly self-evident, and it expresses, moreover, the underlying principle of any scientific knowledge whatsoever.(Heidegger, 1986, p. 54).\nImplications for accounting research: a summary: To mobilize truth as a disruptive endeavour, it is crucial to find mechanisms preventing new discoveries from becoming \"sedimented habitus\". Heidegger's philosophy of the \"being,\" the \"phenomenology of dasein\" and truth as \"aletheia\" indicates how to liberate research from the conventional appreciation or \"be-ing\" of accounting as neutral but not to take over-confident refuge in any other established \"be-ing\" at the risk of that becoming another \"sedimented habitus\".\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to reflect a critical perspective drawing from phenomenology, especially informed by a reading of Heidegger, to enhance and extend appreciation of the need to question accounting's meaning or delineation and how research might be undertaken into the accounting phenomenon and related areas.\nDesign/methodology/approach: To illustrate and clarify argumentation in terms of accounting mobilization and the domain of accounting research, the mainstream and strongly positivistic accounting perspective adopted in the USA is critically assessed. At the same time, the authors elaborate how much of interpretive research (including much of that labeled critical) is also lacking in terms of the perspective articulated here.\nFindings: The paper stresses the case for questioning the taken-for-granted and conventional. It promotes reflexivity, cautious pragmatism, attentiveness to the value of the existing, responsibility to difference and otherness and openness to new possibilities as part of a deeper critical orientation.\nOriginality/value: The paper draws from phenomenology, especially in Heideggerian terms to open-up new conversational domain to debate accounting.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Factors affecting service recovery performance and customer service employees: A study of Malaysian life insurance industry	[ "Service quality", "Customer service" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Malaysia has poised to become a developed nation by 2020 and one of the ways to measure the status of a developed nation is by looking at the percentage of the service sector's contribution toward the country's gross domestic product (GDP) (Sandhu and Fredericks, 2005; Zailani et al., 2006). The share of this sector including the insurance industry has expanded from 44.9 percent of GDP in 1997 to 58.3 percent in 2011 (Lindsay, 2012).\nLiterature review: SRP\nMethodology: Research design\nAnalysis and results: The Statistical Package for the Social Science and a method employed by Ardahan (2006) was used to analyze the data. The author had used multiple regression and simple regression to analyze the independent variables and result factor variables. The sample consisted of 350 respondents from the life insurance companies in the Northern region of Malaysia, This region was chosen because the majority of life insurance companies registered with the LIAM have business facilities in this region. Moreover this region is a center for trade and industry activities (Kheng et al., 2010), consequently required more customer service employees to provide services to the customers. Therefore, the result can be considered to illustrate the customer service employees' views in the Malaysia life insurance sector.\nDiscussion: The findings from this study provide important views regarding the influences of organizational variables (customer service orientation), human resource management factors (rewards, training and empowerment) and personal factors (affective organizational commitment, role stressors and emotional exhaustion) on the SRP of customer service employees. The result of our study also showed the effect of SRP on job satisfaction and intention to resigns.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Service recovery is very important to the insurance industry; it helps to maintain clients, it is a crucial competitive advantage for business survival and it adds value for the organization's continued future. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the factors influencing service recovery performance (SRP) of customer service employees in the life insurance industry from three dimensions; organizational (customer service orientation and top management commitment), human resource management (rewards, training, teamwork and empowerment) and personal (affective organizational commitment, role ambiguity, role conflict and emotional exhaustion). This study also investigated job satisfaction and the intent to resign.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Data were gathered through self-administered questionnaires from 350 customer service staff employed by life insurance companies in the Northern region of Peninsular Malaysia by using a convenience sampling technique. Data were analyzed using multiple regressions.\nFindings: The findings indicated that customer service orientation, training, empowerment, affective organizational commitment, role stressors and emotional exhaustion influenced staff's SRP. The findings also showed that SRP influenced job satisfaction and intention to resign.\nPractical implications: The research advances understanding of the influence of organizational, personal and human resource management factors on SRP and result constructs, namely, turnover intentions and job satisfaction. The researchers in Malaysia can use this model for future research in a service sector fields such as banking, retailing and hospitality to replicate and compare this finding. For practitioners especially the managers in insurance services providers can take actions and formulate proper strategies for customer service employees to deliver high level of performance in order to satisfied customer and continue stay in the organizations.\nOriginality/value: Very little attention has been given to examine the impact of human resource, personal and organizational factors on SRP and the influence of SRP on result constructs, namely, job satisfaction and intention to resign in the life insurances area. Furthermore applying equity theory especially in the SRP area was not given fully attention.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Reexamining the link between employee satisfaction and store performance in a retail environment	[ "Employee involvement", "Service operations", "Profit", "Customer service management", "Service climate" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: A wealth of thought over the years has developed as evidence of our pursuit of the service imperative aimed at successfully identifying and fulfilling customer needs: total quality management (Deming, 1986), SERVQUAL (Parasuraman et al., 1988), return on quality (Rust et al., 1994), and the service profit chain (SPC) (Heskett et al., 1994, 1997). The SPC has been of particular interest among managers, as it proposes a virtuous chain of effects from employee satisfaction to customer satisfaction to business results. Its application to retailing has been of particular interest to help retailers monitor customer satisfaction and thereby justify their investments in service improvement. As noted by Kamakura et al. (2002, p. 298), however:... systematic empirical evidence of the SPC have emerged only recently ... (and) most studies have been done within the last two to three years.Of those studies that have been conducted, findings regarding a link between employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction (referred to as the \"satisfaction-mirror\") and a link between employee satisfaction and business outcomes are mixed. In an extensive study of the retail banking industry in Brazil, Kamakura et al. (2002) were unable to support the proposed satisfaction-mirror effect proposed by the SPC. Similarly, Loveman (1998) in a study of a Mid-western US retail bank, found the links between employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction to be very weak. A similar finding was reported in a recent study by Gelade and Young (2005) using data from the retail banking sector. In an examination of a UK grocery \"superstore\" retailer, Silvestro and Cross (2000) and Silvestro (2002) found the link between employee satisfaction and business performance (as measured by store-level profitability) actually to be negative. In a later study using data from 75 stores of a UK home improvement store chain, Pritchard and Silvestro (2005) found little support for the proposed linkages.Other studies have found a positive link between employee measures and customer satisfaction or performance. In one of the first published tests of the SPC, Rucci et al. (1998) found that as employee satisfaction increased by 4 percent, customer satisfaction also increased by 4 percent resulting in an extrapolated potential increase in revenues of $200 million. Schneider et al. (1980, 1998) showed a similar finding where aggregated employee perceptions of the \"climate for service\" were significantly related to customer experiences in banks.With regard to employee attitudes and business outcomes, in an extensive study of 35 companies over eight years, Schneider et al. (2003) found that employee attitude data were linked to more than one measure of bottom line performance, including hard financial measures (return on assets, or \"ROA\") and market performance measures (earnings per share, or \"EPS\"). In addition, Harter et al. (2002) present compelling meta-analytic evidence that employee attitudes positively lead to organizational performance.\nA critical reexamination: The research by Silvestro (2002) and Silvestro and Cross (2000) present findings that seem to refute some of the findings with regard to the proposed positive link between employee satisfaction and financial performance (hereafter the two papers will be referred to as S&SC). The findings were reported in two leading scientific journals: first in the International Journal of Service Industry Management and later in the International Journal of Operations & Production Management.Closer inspection of the data itself, however, calls into question the generalizability of S&SC's findings. The sample in the study involved a large UK grocery \"superstore\" retailer which, according to S&SC:... was particularly appropriate for the study because its senior management had, apparently, fully bought into the management philosophy that employee satisfaction is a driver of business success (Silvestro, 2002, p. 34).The data, however, were limited to only 15 branches from a single region, while time and budget constraints imposed further limitations on the final design. There was no employee satisfaction data with which to work. As a result, the research team optimized its resources by fielding a small survey among 20-30 employees sampled from six of the original 15 test stores. Therefore, this attempt to assess the SPC was largely based on a research design that yielded only six aggregate store data points, comprised of a total of 120-180 interviews with employees.This study attempts to test the generalizability of S&SC's findings regarding employee satisfaction and business performance using a much larger dataset with a large retailer in the same industry located on the same continent. In line with the primary objectives of the S&SC papers, the goal of this paper is to conduct a replication study rather than to conduct a direct test of the SPC.\nMethodology: The data\nAnalysis: The first step of the analysis was to compare the findings of the relationship between employee satisfaction and the \"hard\" measures that were common across both Silvestro's (2002) paper and the current data set. Table I compares the two data sets with regard to the relationship between employee satisfaction and \"employee loyalty\" measures (staff turnover, length of service, and willingness to recommend store as a place to work) and employee satisfaction and store performance.An examination of Table I would seem to show distinctly different results for the two data sets, as the differences in correlations for \"staff turnover\" and \"length of service\" were 0.397 and 0.336, respectively. When comparing the correlations for the employee loyalty measures using Fisher's r-to-z transformation (Cohen and Cohen, 1984), however, none of the correlations were significantly different between the two data sets for their corresponding variables. This demonstrates the inherently large error rates associated with sample sizes of six; note, that had S&SC's sample size been as low as 25 stores, the difference in correlations between the two data sets for \"staff turnover\" and \"length of service\" would have been statistically significant.The differences in correlations between employee satisfaction and profit, however, was statistically significant at the p=0.05 level. Instead of a strong negative correlation, as found by S&SC, our analysis found no significant correlation. Table II shows the results of OLS regressions for the two data sets showing the relationship between employee satisfaction and store performance (store profit). Note that S&SC's dataset explains an extraordinarily high (71 percent) percent of the variance (based on adjusted R2 adjusted) for the relationship between employee satisfaction and store profitability. For the European retailer, however, this figure is 0 percent.A closer examination of the scatterplot between employee satisfaction and profit in the S&SC papers (Figure 1), however, reveals that four of the data points are clustered closely together, while the remaining two seem to be detached and sprawled out from the cluster. The data may possibly represent two distinct clusters of stores given differences in environmental and operational variables. As a result, fit of the regression line could very easily be the result of outliers in the data or existence of clusters of stores, not representative of the true underlying relationship.S&SC propose the strong negative correlation between employee satisfaction and profits that they observed could have resulted from differences in store size. In particular, Silvestro and Cross (2000, p. 263), note, \"store size may account for the inverse relationship between employee satisfaction and profitability.\" Silvestro (2002, p. 41) explains:... larger stores employ hundreds of staff so that it is more difficult to cultivate team spirit ... store size, then, seems to be a critical variable which needs to be taken into account when considering the relationships between employee satisfaction and loyalty, productivity and profit in this industry.S&SC were unable to test this proposition given the small size of their sample. Our data set, however, contained the number of employees per store location. Table III shows the results of an OLS regression for the data sets showing the relationship between employee satisfaction and profit when controlling for the number of employees per store.The findings clearly support S&SC's proposition. When controlling for store size, employee satisfaction is significantly and positively associated with store profitability. The variance explained by the model (based on adjusted R2) is 32 percent. (It is important to note that store size and employee satisfaction were weakly and negatively correlated to one another: r=-0.30.)\nDiscussion and implications: The purpose of this paper was to test the generalizability of Silvestro's (2002) and Silvestro and Cross's (2000) findings that asserted a negative relationship between employee satisfaction measures and store profitability. This was done using a much larger dataset, using a retailer located in the same category and on the same continent.Our conclusions differ substantially from those of S&SC. While S&SC find a strong negative correlation between employee satisfaction and store profitability, we find that employee satisfaction has no relationship to store profitability. When controlling for size of store, however, we find a positive relationship.Our research puts into question the generalizability of S&SC's conclusions, even within the same retail sector that S&SC examined. We hypothesize that the strong correlations found by S&SC could be the result of the very small sample sizes used or the existence of different clusters of stores that have different descriptive profiles. In particular, and in line with S&SC's own proposition, differences in store size may mask the true relationship between employee satisfaction and profitability. These findings suggest the imperative to measure and control for store size in studies aimed at assessing the impact of employee satisfaction on store performance.It is important to note the limitations of this study. In particular, the results are based upon cross-sectional employee satisfaction data. Therefore, inferences regarding causality cannot be made. Second, when considering the ultimate impact that employee satisfaction has on profits, the SPC (Heskett et al., 1997) posits several mediator variables that constitute a chain of effects. These mediation links in the SPC model were not tested in this study. Given that the main objective of this research was to assess generalizability of prior research, using the same procedure employed was necessary and hence testing of mediation effects was considered beyond the scope of this paper.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This research seeks to examine the generalizability/robustness of the findings in an exploratory study of the service-profit chain using data from another Western European retailer operating in the same business sector.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This study applies correlation and regression analyses on data gathered from 38,513 employee surveys from 107 grocery \"superstore\" locations to explore the link between employee satisfaction and business performance.\nFindings: - The findings differ significantly from those of the exploratory study. When looking at the relationship between employee satisfaction and store profitability, the correlation is found to be effectively zero. When controlling for the size of store, however, the relationship is found to be positive.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The results are based on cross-sectional employee satisfaction data.\nOriginality/value: - The original findings have received considerable exposure, being published first in the International Journal of Service Industry Management and later in the International Journal of Operations & Production Management. The results of this examination call into question the generalizability of the conclusions of the exploratory study using a larger data set in the same business sector and continent.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Inside-out and outside-in mental models: a top executive perspective	[ "Mental model", "Strategy", "Customer value", "Customer value proposition", "Top executive" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The main responsibility of an executive is to identify and build sustainable competitive advantages and guide the organisation towards achieving them (Oliver, 1997). These advantages lie at the intersection of three domains, areas that:\nTheoretical background: Mental models\nMethodology: Qualitative approaches excel in situations where the goal is generating a new theory about complex problems. What makes them powerful is their reception of novel ideas, ability to cope with complexity and use of nuanced contextual understanding to analyse hard-to-measure constructs (Eisenhardt et al., 2016). As such, a qualitative methodology was adopted to capture how executives think about and discuss their decisions as those responsible for defining their organisation's business model and their CVPs (Zott and Amit, 2010) - that is, to uncover their mental models. The research perspective undertaken herein was therefore exploratory in nature, and focus was placed on exploring phenomena rather than explaining them. Moreover, qualitative approaches are relevant when investigating senior executives' points of view (Granot et al., 2012), as they generate faithful and authentic representations of how executives perceive their organisations and circumstances (Gioia et al., 2013). They consider the personas, complexity and context of both researchers and participants with an emphasis on participants' experience, intuition and common sense, as well as their interpretations of phenomena (Alvesson, 2003; Gummesson, 2006). Qualitative research thereby allows for an enriched understanding of top executives' mental models in relation to their work and does not obscure corporate contexts. In other words, qualitative research can generate contextualised and concrete findings, and all these aspects combined make qualitative research a compelling choice when studying executives' mental models.\nResults: At the end of the day, the firm's success is decided on the customer front. Competitive advantage can be reduced to how well you do that. Competitive advantage arises from the management of customer relationships, understanding them and working on the relationships. - CEO and Chairman of the Board, retailing and various industries\nDiscussion: Top executives' mental models, the ways in which executives make choices, policies and investments (Birshan et al., 2014; Day and Nedungadi, 1994; Narayanan et al., 2011; Strandvik et al., 2014), characterise how businesses are managed. To answer the call for more research into executives' mental models of strategic issues (Choi and Thoeni, 2016; Holmlund et al., 2017; Strandvik et al., 2014), this study aimed at identifying executives' mental models and characterising them according to their inside-out (firm-oriented) or outside-in (market-oriented) orientations. As a result, the study extends prior research into mental models by identifying and discussing four archetypes along two dimensions:\nConclusion: A key challenge for any organisation is deciding how to evolve in line with the changes in the market. In adapting to change, executive mental models are essential, as they filter decision makers' attention, guide their decisions and engage their beliefs and assumptions. All mental models carry inherent biases, and there is always the danger that executive mental models do not evolve with changes in the market. A mental model can be either an asset or a hindrance to this process of adaptation. Therefore, identifying and understanding the critical role and potential of mental models in managing companies is an important, though unexplored, area of business research (Holmlund et al., 2017).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify and characterise executives' inside-out (firm-oriented) and outside-in (market-oriented) mental models. As these two orientations are vital for strategic decision-making, yet potentially contradictory, it is important to understand the role of inside-out and outside-in thinking in executives' agendas.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Qualitative, semi-structured interviews of 15 senior executives were used to capture insights into executives' mental models. Data analysis was conducted following the principles of abstraction, theory emerging from data and constant comparison.\nFindings: Four archetypes of executive mental models are identified and characterised along two dimensions (inside-out or outside-in orientation and focus on rational or emotional aspects).\nPractical implications: The study introduces a tentative framework for practitioners to identify and deploy the potential of the mental models that guide executive decision-making.\nOriginality/value: The study extends prior research on mental models by combining this approach with inside-out and outside-in orientations and customer value propositions. In addition, it introduces four archetypes that illustrate the distinct potential of different mental models.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Measuring the effect of gender on computer attitudes among pre-service teachers: A multiple indicators, multiple causes (MIMIC) modeling	[ "Computers", "Teachers", "Gender" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Computer attitudes refer to the degree at which potential users are willing to use the computer. Research has found that computer attitudes are associated with the liking of computers, enjoying the use of computers, belief about the usefulness, and ease of computer use (Teo, 2006). Furthermore, computer attitude is a critical factor that enhances the acceptance of computers as well as understanding current user behavior and shaping future behavior, such as computer usage (Teo, 2010). Computer attitude is found to be a multidimensional construct that is explained by different variables. Some example from recent research include perceived usefulness (PU), computer confidence (Rovai and Childress, 2002), training (Tsitouridou and Vryzas, 2003), gender (Sadik, 2006), computer anxiety and liking (Teo, 2007; Yildirim, 2000), and computer experience (Potosky and Bobko, 2001). Many of these factors interact with one another to make an impact on attitude towards computers.Many studies have found that males and females respond to computers in different ways (Jackson et al., 2001; Kadijevich, 2000; Liaw, 2002). For example, Suri (2003) reported that female teachers had less interest in computers and placed lesser importance on computers in the teaching and learning process. On the other hand, their male counterparts had more interest in computers and higher self-confidence in their ability to use such tools. Zarrett and Malanchuk (2005) found that females tended to perceive themselves as having lower abilities in advance computer skills than males, and the former lack interests in computer-related tasks because the computing world is seen as more masculine. For this reason, Anderson et al. (2008) posited that females are unlikely to choose a computer technology-related professional career path although there are available career opportunities for both genders in the computing industry.These studies supported previous research which found computers to be portrayed as more appropriate for males than females (Whitely, 1997). Some factors that have shaped such perceptions and beliefs were how computer games and software were designed (Kiesler et al., 1985) and the idea that computers were often linked to traditionally \"masculine\" subjects such as science and mathematics (Hawkins, 1985). For example, educational software has always been found to have a male bias. This gender bias influences children's interest in playing electronic games: boys play more than girls and prefer more realistic and violent games (Funk and Buchman, 1996). Research has shown that, in the primary and middle school level, it is more socially acceptable for boys to play computer games, and those boys who play computer games are perceived as more popular than girls who do so. Broos (2005) suggested that when males discover a new medium such the internet, they reacted more enthusiastically, leading them to develop more a positive attitude towards the computer. Females, on the other hand, tended to take a longer time to appreciate a new technology and consequently needed a longer to time to become more positive. In addition, Nachmias et al. (2000) found that males used the internet more extensively and spent longer hours surfing the internet compared to females.The success of any initiatives to integrate technology in teaching and learning depends strongly on the support from and attitudes of the teachers involved. Teachers possess the powers to transmit and shape the beliefs and values of their students hence it is important to examine teachers' computer attitudes in order to understand the impact of computers in education (Shapka and Ferrari, 2003). According to Yushau (2006), studies have found an association between the use of computers and teachers' attitude towards technology, suggesting that teachers' computer attitudes are central to the successful use of computers in instruction. In turn, how teachers engage computers in their teaching affects the way students view the importance of computers in learning (Teo, 2006). From another perspective, the degree to which computers are used for teaching and learning is a function of the teachers' attitude (Huang and Liaw, 2005).In this study, pre-service teachers' computer attitudes will be studied. Pre-service teachers were future teachers and it was important to understand their attitudes towards computers in order to predict future computer use. Yildirim (2000) found that teachers who possessed positive computer attitudes tended to continue the use of the computers in the near future, such as their daily teaching tasks and the conduct of activities that required computers to play a major role. The research questions for this study are:RQ1. Do the study data support for computer attitude as a multidimensional construct?RQ2. Are there significant gender effects on the constructs in computer attitude?\nLiterature review: Perceived usefulness\nMethodology: Participants and procedure\nResults: Descriptive statistics\nDiscussion and conclusion: This study aims to examine gender differences in computer attitudes by studying participants' responses to four constructs: PU, PEU, SN, and FC. Three findings emerged from this study. First, although males gave a higher mean score on three constructs (PU, PEU, and SN), no significant differences between males and females were found in all four constructs. In addition, the differences in mean scores between males and females in this study were trivial and of small effects.The findings in this do not support past research that found significant differences in computer attitudes by gender (Liaw, 2002). It is possible that as computers become a mainstay in education, differences in the use between male and female have been diminished and narrowed. Consistent with research that revealed changing attitudes among female computer users, females may have been socialized differently in today's computer generation with a view that they should be more comfortable with computers and have equal access to opportunities for training (Ray et al., 1999; Whitely, 1997). According to North and Noyes (2002), the bridging of this gap between genders could be due to the increase use of computer for teaching and learning in schools that might have overcome the gender differences as reported in previous research. With more computers being used within and outside schools, it is likely that female students have ample opportunities to experience and be exposed as that of the male students. The lack of statistical significance in this study lends support to the idea that gender differences in computer attitudes may be diminishing (Teo, 2006). To a large extent, the lack of significant gender difference in this study may be attributed to the success of a government initiative which that ensured the accessibility of all teachers (including pre-service teachers) to computers for teaching and learning. Called the Masterplan for IT in education, its goals were to provide the infrastructure and training for teacher and students to engage technology for professional growth and active learning, respectively (Ho, 2006). As such, it is reasonable to expect this initiative to be instrumental in bridging the gap between the male and female pre-service in this study through the provision of greater opportunities to experience the computer and related technologies, e.g. internet. This finding is consistent with Wong and Hanafi (2007) who found no significant difference by gender in computer attitudes when males and females are given equal exposure to computers.A contribution of this study is the use of the MIMIC model as the technique to assess the effect of gender on computer attitude. Relative to conventional techniques (e.g. t-test, ANOVA) which can only be applied to observed indicators, MIMIC modeling presents an alternative way to estimate group differences on latent variables by regressing on one or more dichotomous cause indicators that represent group membership. In this study, computer attitude is explained by four latent constructs (PU, PEU, SN, and FC). MIMIC model has the added advantage of not requiring more than one sample compared to the multiple-sample SEM techniques in which a much larger sample would be required for analysis.From the literature, the issue of gender differences in computing continues to be hotly debated. It is hoped that the findings of this study will provide additional insights to an emerging picture of equal opportunities for males and females to engage the computer in their quest for learning and personal growth, within and outside the educational environment. Future studies may include the study effect of gender on attitudes towards different technologies (e.g. internet, mobile technology), in different user populations (e.g. grade level, subject majors), and in different cultures (e.g. Asian, European). Methodologically, researchers could consider the use of more advanced statistical techniques such as SEM and multilevel analysis to study the relationships among latent and observed variables with data at one or more (nested) level, respectively.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of gender on pre-service teachers' computer attitudes.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A total of 157 pre-service teachers completed a survey questionnaire measuring their responses to four constructs which explain computer attitude. These were administered during the teaching term where participants were attending a technology course. Structural equation modeling, in particular, confirmatory factor analysis and multiple indicators, multiple causes (MIMIC) modeling were used for data analysis.\nFindings: - No statistical significance is found for gender in the four constructs of computer attitude. However, the mean scores for males are higher for three of the constructs. Overall, the data in this study provides evidence to support the notion that computer attitude is a multidimensional construct.\nOriginality/value: - This study contributes to the continuing interests among researchers to study the effect of gender towards the computer. The results of this study did not support others which found significant differences in computer attitudes by gender. This may be due to heavy reliance of computers in many educational institutions for teaching and learning which consequently granted equal access to male and female users. Methodologically, this study had employed MIMIC model as the technique to assess the effect of gender on computer attitude. MIMIC modeling is superior to conventional techniques (e.g. t-test, ANOVA) because it is capable of analyzing latent and observed indicators.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A framework to navigate sustainability in business networks: The transformative business sustainability (TBS) model	[ "Transformative", "Sustainability", "Business model", "Stakeholder", "Sources", "Economic", "Environment", "Social", "Node", "Residual." ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: This article describes the process and findings towards developing a business sustainability model to understand the interaction between stakeholders (i.e. actors) and sources (i.e. resources and activities). When assessing companies' efforts aimed at business sustainability and the application of best business practices, we call it a transformative business sustainability (TBS) model. Taking into consideration a company's sustainable business practices, it encourages systematised planning, implementation and assessment of stakeholders and their resources. In addition, it helps managers to assess the impact of such in the marketplace and society in general.\nSetting the scene: theoretical background: The study and practice of sustainability issues in the marketplace and society is maturing (Collins et al., 2010). There is an increasing expectation on the part of consumers and stakeholders that companies should be responsible not only for their business operations but also for demonstrating good environmental and ethical behaviour (Andersson et al., 2002; Ashby et al., 2010). In this respect, planet Earth, its life and ecosystems should be at the core of the sustainable activity in every business.\nMethod and research design: The objective is to describe a TBS model of stakeholders and sources in sustainable business practices, with an interface and exchange node of residuals (i.e. surplus or deficit). The descriptive case studies inform the development of the TBS model, which is this study's main contribution. To repeat, the underlying research question is \"How do organizations plan, implement and assess efforts aimed at business sustainability and the application of sustainable practices in the marketplace and society?\"\nCase contexts of sustainability: Company A (Svensson and Wagner, 2012b) is a regional producer of dairy products in Sweden. The company has been working to establish a \"sustainable business cycle\". It operates a vertically integrated supply chain and applies 100 per cent \"in-house sourcing\" or \"home-sourcing\" as termed by the general manager. The company attempts to control all stages of the supply chain to establish and maintain a genuinely sustainable business cycle.\nImplications in relation to the TBS model: As previously described, a framework of planning, implementing and assessing efforts of business sustainability and applications of sustainable business practices in the marketplace and society has evolved using data from four case studies (Figure 1). This consists of the following sources: raw material and energy, transport and storage, procurement, production and assembly, and distribution. The right half contains components termed sources between (ii) to (viii) derived from both activities (e.g. business functions and operations) that impact on the environment and natural resources (e.g. raw material and energy). The left half contains the components between (ix) to (xiv) and termed as stakeholders, namely, producer and supplier, organisation and employee, wholesaler/retailer, customer/end user and market and society. The TBS model addresses which actors are involved, which resources are used, which activities are performed and how they are interconnected.\nGraphical summaries of case study framework: Figures 2 and 3 overlay data from two case studies (i.e. Companies B and C - for Companies A and D see further details Svensson and Wagner, 2011b; Hogevold and Svensson, 2012), apply the TBS model and present a sustainability map, demonstrating how the model can act as a framework to navigate efforts of business sustainability and applications of sustainable business practices in the marketplace and society. These highlight the complexity of change and the multitude of activities required to operationalise sustainable business models.\nConclusions: Based on case studies used and referenced in this study, it seems clear that corporate efforts towards business sustainability and applications of sustainable business practices are not only able to be implemented but very possible even without governmental subsidies or support. They demonstrate that business sustainability involves complex interactions and can achieve economic, environmental and social goals and objectives. In the case studies in focus, not only have the companies maintained corporate profitability but this has even increased in recent years as a result of business sustainability (Carter and Roger, 2008; Seuring and Muller, 2008). Our study yields several insights.\nLimitations and future research: A core aspect of the TBS model for future research, in relation to introduced element of \"interface and exchange node\", refers to the interfaces and interactions taking place between involved stakeholders (i.e. actors) and sources used (i.e. resources and activities). We argue that stakeholders and sources should be seen as intertwined, where resources used in activities by one actor in a business network causing resource residuals (i.e. surplus or deficit) may be recovered and used or reused (i.e. transformed) by other actors' activities. We should explore how to operationalise this interface and how companies develop a shared critical interpretation of current and future requirements. This could lead to a deeper understanding of how capabilities may be transformed into dynamic capabilities, from the abstract to tangible to create long-term value. Such activities take time, and the temporal dimensions of strategic renewal relating to efforts of sustainability in business networks, where companies must reconfigure to maintain, align and fit with changing external conditions is under-researched. The ability to reconfigure, combine and leverage resources should be explored further.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe a transformative business sustainability (TBS) model of stakeholders and sources in sustainable business practices with an interface and exchange node of resource residuals.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The research is based upon a grounded methodology drawn from four in-depth case studies, spanning over six years in different countries and industries. Data were gathered from multiple sources, and interview transcriptions were returned to interviewees for clarification, accuracy, final proofreading and approval.\nFindings: The TBS model complements existing research by emphasising the importance of commitment to an overarching vision through corporate leadership assigning areas of strategic priority that respond to current and future environmental regulation and social needs.\nResearch implications/limitations: Efforts aimed towards business sustainability and application of sustainable business practices in business networks include interfaces and interactions between involved stakeholders and sources. We argue that stakeholders and sources should be recognised as intertwined, where resources used in activities in a business network causing resource residuals may be recovered and reused by other actors in the business network.\nPractice implications: The TBS model can be used by managers to plan, implement and assess practices to provide a holistic view of sustainable business activities that supports the development of a company and its network. It may also be used to map and navigate interactions between elements within and external to the company.\nOriginality/value: The principal contribution of the current research is twofold, a TBS model and a tool to map and navigate corporate sustainability efforts.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Are we educating engineers for sustainability? Comparison between obtained competences and Swedish industry's needs	[ "Sweden", "Universities", "Curricula", "Higher education", "Sustainable development", "Competences", "Engineering education", "Swedish industry" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: The concept of sustainable development (SD), and the demands that this puts on individuals and professionals, is constantly evolving. It is therefore vital that educational institutions are flexible regarding the competences related to SD that they aim at providing to their students. Previous research focuses on the design, learning outcomes and general competences of education for sustainable development (ESD), as well as the quality of present ESD (Hanning and Priem Abelsson, 2010). Svanstrom et al. (2008), for example, discuss learning outcomes for ESD and emphasize the importance of skilfulness in a discipline as well as systemic thinking competences and an understanding for the complex frame of reference when dealing with SD. Moody and Hartel (2007) looks into what is known as environmental literacy requirements (ELR) and shows that, when implemented in education, this increases the students' knowledge on and concern for environmental issues. They state that the best outcome is achieved when the entire university curriculum is infused with relevant education in relation to ELR. This also avoids environmental courses becoming another add-on to the curriculum (Moody and Hartel, 2007). Fokkema et al. (2005) mention that SD is a transdisciplinary playing field in which engineers cooperate with other disciplines, thus making it important for engineers to be able to communicate with other disciplines and stakeholders, while at the same time safe-guarding disciplinary quality. Abdul-Wahab (2003) concludes that all engineers can expect to come into contact with environmental problems during their career, hence engineering curricula should include environmental components.However, there has been little focus on studying industry's need of competences for SD amongst engineers (Hanning and Priem Abelsson, 2010). The role and responsibility of engineering universities in societal change processes can be discussed. However, it is reasonable to assume that the competences of the engineers that are delivered to the job market will potentially have a large impact on society and that technical universities therefore may play an important part in societal change towards sustainability. The research presented in this paper is part of an effort to critically review the activities, visions and plans of an engineering university in terms of competences for SD in education and to benchmark that against what society needs in the short and in the long-term. In the exploratory case study presented in this paper, course contents, and statements from students, alumni and company representatives are used as indicators of competences obtained by engineering students, and statements by alumni, company representatives and representatives of different organizations are used as indicators of industry's need of competences in SD.The aim of this study is to contribute to the quality improvement and long-term strategic development of ESD in engineering education curricula. The assessment focuses on three main research questions:RQ1. What competences do the students obtain in the educational programmes?RQ2. What competences do the companies need?RQ3. What is the gap between what is obtained and what is needed?1.1 Education for SD at Chalmers University of Technology\n2 Method: Three main methods have been used to answer the research questions; an analysis of course content using course document text analysis in 70 courses at Chalmers, semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions with 16 Swedish-based (both domestic and international) companies and five different organizations (The Natural Step, the Swedish Defence Research Agency, the Swedish National Agency for Higher Education, the Association of Swedish Engineering Industries, and the Swedish Association of Graduate Engineers), and two surveys in the form of questionnaires sent to Chalmers' students and alumni. By using different methods, each method providing answers to more than one of the research questions, triangulation of the results has been possible in order to reveal commonalities and differences between results obtained from different methods. In this study, the triangulation of methods mixes qualitative and quantitative methods which make the study more comprehensive (Neuman, 2011).In this paper, the word \"competences\" is used for learning outcomes that the students should possess (and be able to show) when they have passed a course or a whole educational programme. These competences are of different character and can sometimes be very difficult to evaluate or even discuss. Since very few of the individuals approached in this study have any kind of education in pedagogy, the communication around competences has been hampered by a lack of understanding of actual competences or learning outcomes. Therefore, competences often had to be discussed in terms of specific course content or abilities to use different tools. In the Swedish degree ordinance, competences are divided into knowledge and understanding, skills and abilities, and values and attitudes (Swedish National Agency for Higher Education, 2011). In general, competences from the first two groups are generally considered easier to evaluate than competences from the last group. In the present study, only indirect indicators of competences have been studied. It has been assumed that the content of courses, analysed from course document texts has a strong relationship to achieved competences after the course, which is probably a strong exaggeration of the efficiency of the teaching and learning in the courses. Indicators of learning outcomes in terms of knowledge and understanding can be, for example, the theoretical content in courses while indicators of skills and abilities can be tools and methods that are practiced in the courses. Indicators of learning in terms of values and attitudes can be opportunities for reflection on sustainability impacts of technology in courses. The reasoning behind what educational element that leads to what competences is in this study based on the authors' judgements, and hence highly subjective. No descriptions have been found in literature on how this can be done.2.1 Methods used for studying obtained competences\n3 Results: In this section, an excerpt of the results is shown with the aim to illustrate how the method has been used to answer the research questions. More results can be found in Hanning and Priem Abelsson (2010).In some results' presentations, the four educational programmes of engineering physics, chemical engineering, mechanical engineering and computer science and engineering are used as examples. These were selected because they are examples of educational programmes with very different curricula and syllabi in relation to ESD. The chemical engineering and the mechanical engineering programmes both have several courses (five courses) in the curriculum in which SD is integrated to different levels, whereas the engineering physics and the computer science and engineering programmes offer only one course in environment and SD to their students. The response rates of students at these four programmes was also particularly high (ranging from around 45-65 per cent in comparison to the average of 26.6 per cent for all programmes).3.1 Obtained competences\n4 Discussion: 4.1 Methodological issues\n5 Conclusion: The three questions posed, what competences do the students obtain in the educational programmes, what competences do the companies need, and what is the gap between what is obtained and what is needed, revealed the presence of a gap between competences obtained and competences needed in the exploratory case study performed for Chalmers University of Technology in relation to some Swedish companies. The education at Chalmers has a strong focus on environmental issues, and less on economic and social issues. The alumni identify a need for more competences related to economic issues, sustainable business management, social issues and green technologies, than what they were provided in their education. The quantity of teaching on these topics and the level of integration into different courses in a programme seem to influence the results. Students that have been subjected to an extensive course in SD at Chalmers claim to have a good understanding of the topic of SD. Students who have been subjected to SD in several courses claim to have an understanding of the relevance for SD to their profession and to why they should study the topic. Other findings were that competences that relate to communication across disciplines regarding SD issues are normally not addressed in the courses, and competence areas dealing with values, inter-generational justice, and ethical considerations are also insufficient in comparison to the guidelines for ESD at Chalmers. Other insufficient areas, brought up by company interviewees, are economic and management issues related to SD, an area that company interviewees see as important knowledge for SD.The companies ask for engineers with a higher general competence level relating to SD, and a thorough understanding of how SD affects their daily work.This leads to the general conclusion that universities should provide ESD to all their engineering students in order to meet the needs of industry. According to the results from the Swedish case study, the course(s) should have an emphasis on environmental issues, but must have a reasonable emphasis also on economic issues, sustainable business management, social issues, and green technologies, in order to meet alumni and industry needs. The universities should also encourage the integration of SD into more courses, where relevant, in order to increase the relevance of the topic and make clear the connections to different knowledge areas to students, in order to introduce SD as an integral part of the work of an engineer.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The aim of this study is to contribute to the quality improvement and long-term strategic development of education for sustainable development (ESD) in engineering education curricula.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The content in 70 courses in environment and SD were characterized and quantified using course document text analysis. Additionally, two questionnaires were sent to students and alumni at Chalmers, and interviews and focus group discussions were conducted with representatives from 16 Swedish companies and five organizations.\nFindings: - It was found that industry demands a broader range of competences in SD amongst engineers in general than what is currently provided. In total, 35 per cent of alumni claim they encounter sustainability issues from sometimes to daily in their work. However, only half of them believe they possess enough competences to make decisions from a sustainability perspective. Quantity, coverage and the level of integration in the educational programme all appear to be important for the students' perceived competences on SD and for the importance that they put on achieving SD.\nOriginality/value: - Earlier research has reported on how to further develop the idea and design of ESD and on competence needs in general. Few attempts have been made to assess industry's needs of competences in SD. This paper sheds light on how engineering universities educate for SD and benchmarks this to industry's needs in an exploratory case study, using Chalmers as an example.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Certified in public health program: credentialing public health leaders	[ "Certification", "Leadership", "Accreditation", "Public health practitioners", "NBPHE", "Public health education" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In 2008, the National Board of Public Health Examiners (NBPHE) credentialed its first cohort of 577 public health professionals as Certified in Public Health (CPH). Although celebrated as an accomplishment in public health, credentialing in public health was long overdue among health care professions. This paper outlines the history and rationale for developing public health workforce certification, how it is affecting public health education and practice, and plans for the future.\nDistinguishing public health professionals from other allied health professionals: The World Health Organization defines public health as all organized efforts to prevent disease, promote health, and prolong life among the population as a whole. Its activities aim to provide conditions in which people can be healthy and focus on entire populations rather than on individual patients or diseases. Thus, public health is concerned with the total system and not only the eradication of a particular disease (World Health Organization, 2015).\nRationale for CPH credential: In contrast with licensure by a government entity, professional credentialing is typically established by an independent body that governs eligibility, a standardized examination, and continuing education requirements. Professional credentialing is distinct from academic degrees and educational certificate programs linked to the completion of coursework. Credentialing provides public assurance that the certified individuals are competent to work in a given profession. Among the most common rationale for a credential are:\nEligibility and profile of CPHs: The NBPHE Board's first endeavor was to select a testing vendor and begin developing the CPH examination. Nearly three years later, in August 2008, the first cohort sat for the CPH examination.\nDistribution of CPH and why CEPH accreditation is a major factor in distribution of CPH credentialing: Although the CPH credential was primarily intended for practitioners in the USA, international students earn degrees in US institutions prior to returning to their home nations. Some of these international graduates have chosen to pursue the CPH designation as a value-added credential in their careers, possibly in the absence of an equivalent credential in their home nation. At present, fewer than 100 CPH-accredited professionals are living outside the USA (see Table I). The market for non-US applicants is limited due to the fact that there are only seven CEPH-accredited schools and programs of public health in countries outside the USA (in Canada, Grenada, Lebanon, and Mexico). Non-US students attending CEPH-accredited schools and programs of public health are eligible to sit for the examination, but they comprise a relatively small percentage (13 percent) of the eligible applicant pool.\nCPH examination: The CPH examination covers the five core areas of knowledge (epidemiology, biostatistics, health policy and management, social and behavioral sciences, and environmental health) offered in CEPH-accredited schools and programs of public health weighted as 75 percent of the examination. The remaining 25 percent of the examination reflects cross-cutting areas relevant to contemporary public health (i.e. general principles, communication and informatics, diversity and culture, leadership, public health biology, professionalism, and systems thinking). The examination is crafted to assess a person's knowledge of these competencies, regardless of his or her academic concentration. Candidates have four hours to answer 200 multiple-choice, single, best-answer questions.\nRecertification process and outcomes: One of the standard elements of a certification program is the need for continuing education and professional development. Individuals holding the CPH credential are required to report 50 recertification hours every two years to maintain active CPH status. All recertification activities must relate to the domain areas of the examination. Types of activities that are accepted include:\nAcademic/employer response and CPH trends: After the NBPHE Board established eligibility for current students, CEPH-accredited schools and programs of public health began to realize that the CPH examination could be a useful tool in curriculum assessment and improvement and for CEPH accreditation requirements. In a confidential manner, each school and program of public health receives an aggregate comparison of its student/alumni examination results as compared with the entire pool of candidates. While the school or program of public health is not required to modify its curricula based on the performance of its students and alumni on the CPH examination, several schools and programs have used this information to evaluate their curricula. CEPH-accredited schools and programs of public health can also use their student and alumni scores to satisfy several components of the CEPH accreditation process. Furthermore, many schools and programs of public health that had been administering their own culminating examinations could choose to use the CPH examination instead. Perhaps the reason most often cited is the belief that a public health credential is necessary to professionalize public health. For these reasons, seven schools and programs of public health have begun to require all graduating students to take the CPH examination. The number of schools and programs instituting this requirement is expected to increase by at least two a year.\nJob task analysis (JTA): In 2014, the NBPHE embarked on a JTA to validate the knowledge tested by the CPH examination. A JTA is a carefully constructed survey used to determine the body of knowledge that a segment of a profession's workforce needs to know to competently perform their jobs. Typically, a JTA is the basis for developing a credentialing examination. Although the NBPHE did not perform a JTA earlier in its history, the current Board agreed that such an analysis was critical in assuring the CPH examination was relevant to the practice of public health.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Unlike other health professions, there has historically been no licensing, registration, or certification of public health practitioners to demonstrate their qualification to the public and employers. The purpose of this paper is to outline the rationale for developing public health workforce certification, describes the certification process developed by the National Board of Public Health Examiners (NBPHE), and explains how it is affecting public health education and practice.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper is a narrative review from records of NBPHE.\nFindings: The Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health commissioned a formal study of health worker credentialing in 1989 and created a task force in 1999 to determine the need for public health credentialing. Based on input from public health leaders and stakeholders, the NBPHE was formed in 2005 to offer the Certified in Public Health (CPH) examination. The first CPH examination was administered in 2008. Uptake of the CPH was strong the first year (693 examinees), dropped by nearly half (369 examinees) in the second year, and then increased each year through 2015. Part of the increase may be due to eligibility revisions for taking the CPH examination. Eligibility for taking the CPH examination was revised in 2010 to include graduate students in public health and in 2015 to include candidates with a bachelor degree from any field and at least five years of work experience in public health. The NBPHE is piloting open professional eligibility for candidates with no formal education in public health and at least five year's public health work experience. Schools and programs of public health accredited by the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH) view the CPH examination as a useful tool in curriculum assessment and improvement and for maintaining CEPH accreditation. Several schools and programs of public health have begun requiring all graduate students to take the CPH examination. The CPH credential is also increasingly being used as a hiring factor among employers.\nOriginality/value: NBPHE's CPH credential is unique in the world. Foreign students graduating with American public health degrees have been taking the exam before returning to leadership roles in their own country. The CPH program described can serve as a model for other nations.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Gender and image sharing on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and WhatsApp in the UK: Hobbying alone or filtering for friends?	[ "Facebook", "Twitter", "Instagram", "Snapchat", "WhatsApp", "Image sharing" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Visual communication through image sharing is an important modern phenomenon. Exchanging or publishing photographs is quick, simple and usually cheap or free with a smartphone and appropriate apps. In the US and UK, most internet users were posting photos online by 2013 (Duggan, 2013; Dutton et al., 2013). In 2016, a quarter of all US adults used image-oriented sites Instagram (28 per cent) or Pinterest (26 per cent), with similar numbers using Twitter (24 per cent), and two thirds (68 per cent) of USA adults using Facebook (Greenwood et al., 2016). Posting photos is a common activity on the last two sites, even though this was not their original purpose. Despite the frequency of image sharing, relatively little is known about its core attributes: the types of images shared and the types of interactions that they spawn. Moreover, despite evidence of gender differences in social web use (discussed below) and the perceived importance of the visual, little is known about the role of gender within social media image sharing. This is an important omission for social researchers seeking to understand modern communication styles, for marketers seeking to generate successful online campaigns or communication strategies, as well as for medical and other professionals assessing the influence of social media strategies on mental health or general well-being.\n2. Background: This section discusses insights into social web image sharing from multiple perspectives and then focusses on the main analysis themes to lead into the research questions. As additional background information about the two image-specific platforms, in 2013, similar numbers of female (10 per cent) and male (9 per cent) mobile phone owners in the US used Snapchat. More female (20 per cent) than male mobile phone owners in the US (16 per cent) used Instagram in 2013 (Duggan, 2013), a difference that continued between online US females (38 per cent) and males (26 per cent) in 2016 (Greenwood et al., 2016). Facebook users in the USA are more likely to be female (83 per cent of online women) than male (75 per cent of online women) (Greenwood et al., 2016). There is little difference for Twitter, however (females: 25 per cent of those online in the US; males: 24 per cent) (Greenwood et al., 2016). In contrast, male US smartphone users (31 per cent) are more likely to have a messaging app like WhatsApp than are females (28 per cent) (Greenwood et al., 2016). In the UK, and perhaps elsewhere, posting photographs to the social web associates with high general social web use rather than being a separate phenomenon (Dutton et al., 2013).\n3. Research questions: The research questions are descriptive and exploratory rather than theory driven. Previous findings about images and gender in the social web, as reviewed above, motivate some of the questions but their purpose is to frame a discussion of the results rather than to test theory-based predictions. This is appropriate because this study seeks differences between types of social website overall rather than in any specific detail:\n4. Methods: The overall research design was to generate a large sample of people in the UK that are active social media image sharers, ask them a range of questions about their platforms of choice, and use statistical hypothesis testing for evidence of gender differences.\n5. Results: The results are described for each research question separately. Each discussion starts with general queries asked of all survey participants and then discusses platform-specific issues.\n6. Discussion: The results are subject to a number of limitations. The sample only covers the UK and use patterns are likely to vary substantially by country. The sampling method is biased towards people that sign up for loyalty cards and are willing to complete a survey for a small reward. Given this incentive, it is possible that the respondents did not answer the questions carefully, although the existence of platform and gender differences for a number of tests is evidence that this was not universal, even though it may have occurred to some extent. Related to this, the survey answers are self-reported and subjective rather than objective measures of the phenomena investigated. The survey requirement to use two platforms also biases the survey towards broader social media users. The age-balanced sample allows overall comparisons between genders and platforms but there are also likely to be substantial age differences. The statistical results are likely to include some false conclusions due to the large number of statistical tests conducted and the lack of a Bonferroni family wise correction. The hypothesis testing approach used to help organise the results is misleading to some extent because in some cases statistically significant gender differences were found for some platforms but not others because similar test statistics fell on either side of the critical value. Finally, the study quantitative methodology is not capable of giving insights into how social media image sharing relates to wider communication strategies or the specific function of image sharing for typical users.\n7. Conclusions: The results show that there are gender differences in aspects of image sharing and these vary by platform. Males and females therefore adjust their communication styles to platforms, but in different ways. Thus, people designing social media communication strategies and seeking to take advantage of the visual for enhanced effect should consider customising their message for both platform and gender. For example, messages targeting women may need to be more interactive and use filters whereas males may be more susceptible to informational or hobby-based images.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Despite the on going shift from text-based to image-based communication in the social web, supported by the affordances of smartphones, little is known about the new image sharing practices. Both gender and platform type seem likely to be important, but it is unclear how. The paper aims to discuss these issues.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper surveys an age-balanced sample of UK Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and WhatsApp image sharers with a range of exploratory questions about platform use, privacy, interactions, technology use and profile pictures.\nFindings: Females shared photos more often overall and shared images more frequently on Snapchat, but males shared more images on Twitter, particularly for hobbies. Females also tended to have more privacy-related concerns but were more willing, in principle, to share pictures of their children. Females also interacted more through others' images by liking and commenting on them. Both genders used supporting apps but in different ways: females applied filters and posted to albums whereas males retouched photos and used photo organising apps. Finally, males were more likely to be alone in their profile pictures.\nPractical implications: Those designing visual social web communication strategies to reach out to users should consider the different ways in which platforms are used by males and females to optimise their message for their target audience.\nSocial implications: There are clear gender and platform differences in visual communication strategies. Overall, males may tend to have more informational and females more relationship-based, skills or needs.\nOriginality/value: This is the first detailed survey of electronic image sharing practices and the first to systematically compare the current generation of platforms.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Quality improvements in hospital flow may lead to a reduction in mortality	[ "Quality improvement", "Hospitals", "Patients" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Much emphasis is placed on improving patient flow, to reduce length of stay, increase hospital efficiency and productivity, to help meet the performance agenda particularly to promote access and ensure financial stability. However there are only a few publications (Cameron, 2006; Classen et al., 1997; Pittet et al., 1994; Richardson, 2006; Spirulus et al., 2006) on improving flow through a clinical focus that will deliver more responsive and safer care with the ultimate outcome of reducing avoidable hospital mortality.The \"Improvement Partnership for Hospitals\" programme, co-ordinated through the Modernisation Agency (MA), using the strap line \"better care without delay\" went some way towards endorsing the link between flow and an enhanced patient experience.Over recent years, acute hospitals have witnessed an increase in attendances to Accident & Emergency Departments and emergency admissions, particularly in Medicine. In recognition of this, one of the performance targets set by the Department of Health, has been to reduce the number of emergency bed days utilised. Many suggestions are given as contributory factors to the rise in emergency bed days such as poor primary care infrastructure and increasing longevity with associated co-morbidities.The early response to increasing numbers of patients presenting to secondary care was to increase the number of beds available, but this is not sustainable. When demand exceeds capacity the solution commonly employed has been to transfer patients out from a speciality bed pool, to another area. The flow which dominates for the hospitals in Blackburn has been, and remains, medical patients into surgical bed capacity - medical outliers. The relentless influx of medical patients across into surgical wards is the antithesis of right patient, right place, and right time. It obviously interferes with the elective surgical flow and is an impediment to high quality clinical care.In 2003 the Trust was sponsored by the MA to join the Institute of Healthcare Improvement's (IHI) Impact Collaborative which consisted of five work streams, one of which was \"Flow through acute care settings\". The Trust was the only UK member of the flow group. The IHI also advocated quality review based on a mortality audit. To facilitate flow through acute care the agreed aim was to eliminate medical outliers and optimise bed management.\nSetting: East Lancashire Hospitals Trust encompasses the two towns of Blackburn and Burnley. This work was initiated in Blackburn prior to the non clinical merger of the two local hospital trusts in April 2003. Blackburn at that time served a population of approximately 270,000. Blackburn's 650 beds were situated across two hospital sites, with all emergency assessment facilities, theatres and critical care beds being located on one site, and general medical beds being located at the other, one-and-a-half miles up the hill.Medical outliers were seen daily by the \"outlier physician of the week\". The \"outlier physician of the week\" was a change brought in two years earlier to ensure regular review and continuity of care by a senior member of the medical team.The number of medical outliers averaged 30 a day and had peaked at 80. The constant pressure on hospital beds had previously resulted in the commissioning of 30 nursing home beds by the Trust and for which the Trust provided additional services allowing them to function as intermediate care beds.\nMethod: The initial step taken on return from the first learning session with the IHI collaborative was to establish a small team made up of enthusiastic clinicians, nurses and managers who met weekly. The aim was to improve flow by reducing unnecessary delays and waste. This was achieved by \"tests of change\" which were developed by having a better understanding of the steps in the patient journey, minimising batching and queuing and generating \"pull\". To generate pull it was necessary to unblock the end of the process i.e. facilitate discharge and not to aggravate the situation by pushing from the front end, the admission process.In addition to the flow work the collaborative offered an optional project - a case note audit of 50 consecutive deaths using a trigger tool to examine failures in clinical care. We implemented this work in parallel with the flow work. This was to ensure that the quality of care was maintained alongside any improvements in flow.The measures used to quantify the outcomes of the changes introduced were the daily number of medical outliers and average length of stay by ward and across medicine as a whole. The monthly average bed turns across the hospital were measured but this became progressively more difficult as the bed base fluctuated. As a quality control measure readmission rates were monitored and statistical process control (SPC) run charts used to track weekly raw mortality.\nAnalysis: A significant shift in the process control chart of mortality was detected using Shewhart's rules (sometimes referred to as the \"Western Electric Zone Tests\") (Wheeler and Chambers, 1992). The change process involved the \"plan, do, study, act\" (PDSA) cycle. SPC run charts were produced using BPChart.xls version 4.0 developed by 3M running on Microsoft Excel. Concurrent work with a Community of Practice studying hospital mortality set up by the MA, encouraged the use of \"hospital standardised mortality rate\" (HSMR) and a cumulative sum control chart (CUSUM) as additional monitoring tools, as both take account of patient case mix and expected outcomes.\nChange strategies: The changes made concentrated on three key themes - physicians practice, facilitating discharge and bed managementPhysician practice\nResults: In May 2004 the physicians, in response to their intense dislike of the outlier physician of the week rota, agreed to daily senior medical ward visits in exchange for the removal of this rota, resulting in the remarkable achievement of medical outliers being eliminated in two weeks (Figure 1). When the average length of stay for the 12 months prior to this change was compared to the subsequent six months a drop from an average of 4.99 days to 3.27 days was found, a reduction of 1.72 days.By December 2004 the \"intermediate care\" nursing home beds had been withdrawn. In total 42 beds had been removed from Medicine's bed pool of 290 beds over an eight month period. During the winter months outliers did return but in much smaller numbers than previously experienced.The IHI mortality audit of 50 consecutive deaths was adapted for UK use (Gilligan and Shouls, 2004) and highlighted a number of issues, around both acute care and end of life care. Common to both were communication issues such as when a patient's clinical record is held in several places at once, i.e. medical notes, nursing notes and therapists' own records. Adverse events were also included in the audit and found to be nearly 50 per cent in the \"intention to treat\" group. They could not be categorised as to the degree of harm as all the patients had died and the audit was not designed for this. It did however serve its purpose identifying issues with acute care including defects with both recognition and management of the patient who was deteriorating.Monitoring the weekly mortality numbers showed us that a drop occurred, from an average of 22.9 to 17.8 patients per week. This change coincided with the period when the outliers reduced to zero or single figures, and was sustained over the same period. This drop was exclusively seen in the patients admitted as emergencies (Figure 2). No change was observed in mortality for elective admissions but the numbers per week were much smaller. This change also coincided with the gradual introduction of early warning scoring across the acute part of the hospital at approximately one ward per month, with those deemed to be most in need being first.To ensure that mortality had not merely shifted to the community, the total community mortality for the previous and corresponding period was also monitored which showed an overall reduction during the \"outlier elimination phase\". There was therefore a reduction in deaths for patients admitted as emergencies. This reduction in crude mortality was validated by the HSMR and CUSUM distributions for our hospital mortality (Figures 3 and 4).The readmission rate of medical patients returning to medicine with the same diagnosis was the other quality control measure and in fact did show an increase from a median of 5.5 per week to 7.5.\nDiscussion: The flow objective was to optimise bed management; to do this it became essential to eliminate medical outliers. Three options were suggested; reduce emergency admissions, increase the number of medical beds or reduce the length of stay.The collaborative focussed on flow so our primary objective was to reduce the length of stay. The changes made were multi-factorial which makes it impossible to attribute an individual change to a particular outcome. Process changes were being made at many levels - increasing the frequency of senior medical review, geographically locating the sick patients more appropriately, improving the recording and interpretation of basic physiological measurements.The one change that had an immediate impact which was both measurable and observable was the daily senior medical review of the patients in Medicine. This action not only removed the need for medical patients to be accommodated in Surgery, it also permitted a reduction in the overall bed numbers.Although the impact of the other changes is much less quantifiable their effect is nevertheless important. Locating the sickest medical patients into one well staffed area, close to diagnostics, theatre and critical care facilities was logical, and analogous to a level 1 facility as defined by the Intensive Care Society's Levels of Care (Goldhill, 2002). The aspect of care provided which is most difficult to quantify is the rapidity of review and decision making by consultant staff and the opportunity for joint multi-speciality assessment.The development of critical care outreach including early warning scoring and ALERT training also contributed to the improvements but again were unquantifiable. However, by comparing the baseline physiological measurement audit carried out prior to the introduction of early warning scoring with the follow-up audit six months after its introduction, it was possible to demonstrate that basic observations were being recorded and assessed more competently. The case note audit of 50 consecutive hospital deaths also served to reinforce the need for improvement in recognition and management of patients who were deteriorating.Leadership within the workforce was another key to the success of the changes, in all staff groups, but primarily the doctor and nursing teams. However it was necessary to overcome the resistance to some of the initiatives, particularly planning for discharge and provisional discharge dates.The failure of the discharge facilitator was surprising given that the initial PDSA had been so successful. The reasons for this were perhaps that the first test of change had been conducted by a very senior nurse, and also the six month appointment conveyed the importance of the message, resulting in wards taking, arguably, appropriate responsibility for their patients' discharge.The unstoppable PDSA of \"no change\" discharge prescriptions for patients in for less than 48 hours was not only a pleasant surprise but served to demonstrate some of the unnecessary bureaucracy inherent in the system.Quality control of the changes included monitoring of readmissions and SPC charts to track weekly mortality. Although the readmission rate in medicine increased, this must be considered in the context of the average of 30 acute admissions per day and is therefore less than 1 per cent of the weekly emergency admissions for medicine. It is nevertheless something that requires further work. The SPC run charts were not expected to demonstrate improvement but rather to ensure that any changes in flow did not have an adverse effect on clinical outcome, or if an adverse effect were to occur then an investigation could be conducted. The actual mortality reduction was not seen to be significant for many months after the changes because of the SPC rules that are applicable. However the confirmation that the change in crude mortality data was valid was demonstrated by both the HSMR (Figure 3) and CUSUM charts (Figure 4) produced for the team by Professor Sir Brian Jarman.Spirulus et al. (2006) and Richardson (2006) show that there is an association between overcrowding and an increased hospital mortality, particularly when hospital occupancy exceeded 90 per cent. The need for medical outliers is an indication that overcrowding is occurring. Spirulus postulated that reducing overcrowding may improve outcomes for patients requiring emergency hospital admission. A reduction in mortality was achieved at the same time that medical outliers were reduced. In an editorial Cameron (2006, p. 203) concludes that, \"an overcrowded hospital should now be regarded as an unsafe hospital\", but does also make the point that there is no controlled intervention study. Although neither a study nor controlled, the interventions leading to reduced overcrowding coincided with a reduction in hospital mortality. As so often in quality improvement, it is wise to be cautious about ascribing a causal relationship, and the change in mortality could be uniquely related to the local healthcare setup, so further study is advocated.\nConclusion: Some of the changes made were intended to address the problems occurring because it was a split site hospital, others were more general. The fundamental theme connecting many of the changes with the contemporaneous reduction in hospital mortality is timeliness. Improvements in timeliness of acute patient review, timeliness of recognition and management of deterioration and finally timeliness of discharge, not only resulted in the right patient being in the right place at the right time, but led to a more reliable health care system. Quality improvement projects are essential to help reduce avoidable hospital mortality.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of ths paper is to report that timely interventions to facilitate medical patient flow and reduce medical outliers may be associated with a reduction in hospital mortality.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Interventions to improve the flow of medical patients were used to unblock and facilitate the discharge process allowing a reduction in medical outliers. SPC run charts of mortality were used to quality control the changes.\nFindings: - Timeliness in daily senior medical review and discharge planning, a level 1 medical ward, and outreach including ALERT training and early warning scoring allowed a rationalisation in medical beds and a reduction in mortality for emergency medical admissions, reflected in a lower hospital standarised mortality rate (HSMR).\nPractical implications: - Interventions to improve flow can also lead to a reduction in mortality.\nOriginality/value: - This paper emphasises how quantitative flow improvements can also generate qualitative improvements.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Procurement performance and manufacturer-supplier relationships: a multivariate analysis in Kuwaiti manufacturing companies	[ "Kuwait", "Buyer-supplier relationships", "Supplier selection", "Gulf states", "Manufacturer-supplier relationships", "Procurement performance" ]	[ { "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 last decade has witnessed a growing interest in the management of supplier relationships and supply chain integration as a key issue within the field of logistics and supply chain management (Patterson et al., 1999; Gadde and Snehota, 2000; Hoyt and Huq, 2000; Humphreys et al., 2001; Szwejczewski et al., 2005; Terpend et al., 2008; Hansen, 2009; Sohail et al., 2009; So and Sun, 2010; Lockstrom et al., 2010; Vivek et al., 2011; Danese and Romano, 2011). This is supported, in part, by the postulated benefits of a strong buyer-supplier relationship.\nLiterature review and research hypotheses: Many empirical investigations have addressed the impact of buyer-supplier relationships on firm performance.\nResearch methodology: Sampling and data collection\nResults: Verification of the procurement-performance scale\nConclusions and discussions: The current study provides a reliable and valid four-item scale for measuring procurement performance in the developing Kuwaiti manufacturing industry. The scale consists of time, quantity, price and quality performance. The scale was utilized, and a survey of plant managers from 62 different plants in two different manufacturing sectors (food processing and refractors) was conducted. Results indicate that the two industries do not differ significantly (p < 0.05) in achieving these four performance dimensions of the procurement function. The same result held for both supplier selection and supplier relationship.\nManagerial implications and future research: Our findings suggest several managerial implications for Kuwaiti manufacturers. The continuous improvement of supplier relationships and the practices of a careful selection of local and/or international suppliers seem to be essential practices for the enhancement of the procurement performance of the manufacturing unit. Kuwaiti manufacturers should seek all avenues to implement effectively these two practices in every systematic and institutional system. Seeking quality assurance certifications, such as ISO 9000 and quality awards, represent some possible recommendations in this direction. Enhancing supplier relationship is usually one of the major criteria of these awards.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this study is to report and contrast manufacturer-supplier relationships, supplier selection and procurement performance of two manufacturing sectors in Kuwait. The effect of supplier relationship and selection on the performance of the procurement function was also investigated.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Surveys of supplier selection, supplier relationship and procurement performance are taken from 62 plants operating in 2 competitive manufacturing sectors in Kuwait (foods industry and refractors industry). The study utilizes multivariate and multi-regression analyses in understanding the effect of supplier relationship and selection on the performance of the procurement function.\nFindings: Findings indicate a significant effect of supplier relationship and supplier selection on a plant's procurement performance. However, variance in plant size and/or industrial sector was found to not affect this relationship.\nOriginality/value: Despite the significance of the Gulf states and the growing importance of the manufacturing sector in these countries, relatively little is known about how buyers and suppliers within this sector interact. This study is the first to document supplier relationships and selection processes in this area of the world. The study also provides a reliable and valid scale for measuring the performance of the procurement function in the Kuwaiti manufacturing sector. Furthermore, the postulated impact of supplier-buyer relationships on the performance of the procurement functions was investigated in a newly emerging economy in the Gulf.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
An appraisal of paradigm shifts required of competence of the Nigerian quantity surveyors	[ "Training", "Nigeria", "Appraisal", "Paradigm shift", "Quantity surveyor", "Required competencies" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The term \"competence\" is used to define particular knowledge or observable characteristics (Prahalad and Hamel, 1990). The Project Management Institute (PMI) (2002) defined it as \"a cluster of related knowledge, attitudes, skills, and other personal characteristics that affects a major part of one's job, correlates with performance on the job, can be measured against well accepted standards, can be improved via training and development and can be broken down into dimensions of competencies.\" Babalola (2009) while relating this to quantity surveying profession viewed a competent quantity surveyor as a person who is expected to possess a range of skills, knowledge and understanding and be able to apply these skills and knowledge in a range of context and organization.\nTheoretical background: The PMI (2002) defined competence as \"a cluster of related knowledge, attitudes, skills, and other personal characteristics that affects a major part of one's job, correlates with performance on the job, can be measured against well accepted standards, can be improved via training and development and can be broken down into dimensions of competencies.\" The major components of competencies were identified by Holmes and Joyce (1993) as the following: abilities, attitudes, behavior, knowledge, personality, and skills. Freidson (1973) linked competence to professionalism. He defined it as \"a process by which an organised occupation obtain the exclusive right to perform a particular kind of work, controls training for and access to it and controls the right of determining and evaluating the way the work is performed.\" From a semantics perspective, the term \"competence\" is used to define particular knowledge or observable characteristics (Prahalad and Hamel, 1990), whereas skills are an amalgamation of human expertise and facilities, blended together by the organization, processes, systems and culture (Klein et al., 1998).\nSets of quantity surveyor's competencies: The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (1998) sets out the requirements and competencies for assessment of professional competence by listing the skills/competencies required of quantity surveyors in three categories: basic, core and optional competencies. The basic skills are common to all construction professionals under RICS structure; the core skills are uniquely required of quantity surveyors, while the optional competencies reflect areas of specialization or future career diversification (Nkado and Meyer, 2001).\nA review of previous studies on quantity surveyor's competence: According to Leveson (1996), quantity surveying competencies lie in the financial and contractual control of the building project as well as the development of soft skills. The basic skills form the platform from which a competent quantity surveyor can develop and these are integral part of the various units of competence. Nkado and Meyer (2001) carried out a survey of quantity surveyors' professional practice in South Africa and provided a relative importance of skills and competencies required for quantity surveying services. The results from the study presented a long list of 23 competence areas. Githaiga (2004) grouped the experience of the services that quantity surveyors render into budgeting and estimating. The author further highlighted new areas of diversification where we have opportunity and challenges as the following: development appraisal, pre-contract cost control, taxation planning, contract administration, disputes, litigation and arbitration, technical auditing, valuation for fire insurance, fire loss adjustment, maintenance management schedule of condition and dilapidation, project management, research and development and overseas works.\nAn overview of the Nigerian quantity surveyors' competence: There have been calls for the improvement of the current quantity surveying program in Nigeria in order to meet up with the present challenges of the industry. Ogunsemi (2004) advocated for pragmatic overhaul and review of the current curricula that form the basis for quantity surveyors' training in Nigeria. In Nigeria, the National University Commission (NUC) specifies the minimum academic standards for undergraduates program in the universities, whereas the National Board for Technical Education stipulates the minimum standards for all diploma programs in polytechnics. A cursory look at the specified current standards, relating to admission requirements, requirements for award of degree as well as program curriculum, reflect some lapses which need to be addressed.\nResearch methodology: This research investigated the required new competence areas for quantity surveyors in Nigeria. Survey method was used in eliciting necessary data for the study. Secondary data were obtained through a literature review of relevant publications. Two sets of structured questionnaire were prepared; one was used for the construction professionals and the other for the clients. The first part of the questionnaire elicited general information about the respondents, including respondents' designation, years of experience, academic and professional qualifications, and their organizations. Other parts dealt with issues relating to the competency of Quantity Surveyors in Nigeria. The respondents' choices of answers ranged on a five-point Likert scale from least significant to most significant. The study population within the context of the study is a database of relevant stakeholders in the Nigerian construction industry. The first group was the professional quantity surveyors. The second group comprised the allied professionals and for this group, the views of architects, structural engineers and builders, who were found to have direct dealings with quantity surveyors on construction projects, were obtained. The last group was the client organizations who benefits mostly from the services of quantity surveyors. Stratified and random sampling techniques were adopted in the selection of the respondents. In order to determine a suitable sample size for the professionals (quantity surveyors, architects, engineers and builders), the total population was obtained from the list of registered professionals published by the respective professional bodies. In selecting appropriate sample sizes from the lists, Mendenhall et al.'s (1971) formula for calculating sample size was used. For the client organizations, there is no published list that can be employed. Thus, it was not possible to have an exact sampling frame. As such, purposive sampling method was used in obtaining a sample size of public and private client organizations. In all, a total number of 1,023 questionnaires were sent out to the respondents and, out of this, 445 completely filled (appropriate for analysis) questionnaire were returned. This represents 43.5 percent of the total number of questionnaire administered. This was considered adequate considering the submission of Moser and Kalton (1979) that the result of a survey would be taken as biased and of little value if the return rate was lower than 30-40 percent. Akintoye and Macleod (1997) also supported the view.\nResults and discussions: Competencies required of the Nigerian quantity surveyors\nConclusions: Competencies are actions which are observable in the execution of one's work. It has been described as applied skills and knowledge that enable people to perform work. A review of the existing competencies of quantity surveyors in Nigeria revealed shortcomings in some areas in comparison with what was obtained globally. These are as follows: procurement management, value management, risk management, social and communication skill, entrepreneurship, expert witness/alternative dispute resolution, quality management/assurance, and marketing. In total, 4 of the 13 areas considered necessary are as follows: procurement management studies, value management, risk management and social, and communication skill. This does not mean that the other competence areas identified are not necessary but going by the present prevailing situations in the Nigerian construction environment, these four areas are of high importance. As the vision of quantity surveying is encapsulated in definition of a profession for total cost and procurement management. The emergent of new procurement systems such as PPP with its myriads of variants therefore constitutes a challenge to quantity surveying profession and as such calls for intensifying effort in embracing the new \"thinking\" and methodologies.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the competence of Nigerian quantity surveyors with a view to identify and assess required areas of interest.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A structured questionnaire was administered among relevant groups of respondent (quantity surveyors, architects, engineers, builders and clients) in Nigeria. The respondents were asked to give rating, on a five-point Likert scale, on the required competencies (variables) expected of Nigerian quantity surveyors. A mean item score statistical analysis was used to rank the variables and compare them within the different groups. The analysis was undertaken using the Statistical Packages for Social Science tool. In exploring the underlying relationship among the competence requirement, factor analysis statistical technique was used to categorize them into key components.\nFindings: The results of the study identified required competencies and factorized them into three components. These are as follows: procurement and value management; commercial management; and communication and entrepreneurship.\nOriginality/value: The findings provide insight into the competencies needed to be incorporated and/or intensified in the training of quantity surveyors in Nigeria.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Explaining user experience in mobile gaming applications: an fsQCA approach	[ "Gender", "Emotions", "Experience", "FsQCA", "Content quality", "Price value" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Electronic games are constantly evolving and they provide a big diversity regarding their content, their pricing strategies and platform availability, all critical factors in influencing users' future behavior (Seo et al., 2015). Furthermore, mobile applications have greatly improved the past 10 years, and the majority of consumption is performed through mobile applications, with application usage making up for 52 percent of the total digital media engagement (Lella and Lipsman, 2014). Users' download patterns become dynamic as they gain experience and develop different needs (Son, 2017). Video game industry, including mobile games (e.g. smartphone and tablet), has grown considerably in revenues leading to increased value creation for both the industry and the gamers (Marchand and Hennig-Thurau, 2013). In 2016, 19.2B downloads were made on Apple's \"App Store\" and Google's \"Google Play\" (SensorTower, 2017a). Also in 2016, iPhone users spent on average $40 per device on premium applications, more than they did in 2015, with mobile games dominating consumer spending (SensorTower, 2017b). It is thus critical to understand how to better design mobile games to satisfy the targeted users and increase value creation.\nBackground and research propositions: Perceived value\nMethodology: Sampling\nFindings: First, we ran an analysis of necessity. For the presence of intention to download mobile games consistency values range between 0.25 and 0.73, for both the presence and absence (i.e. negation) of the causal conditions. None of the causal conditions exceeds 0.9 (Schneider and Wagemann, 2010), that is, the threshold for a condition to be considered as a superset of the outcome of interest, thus, none of them can be considered necessary for high intention to download mobile games. Since none of the conditions is indispensable (necessary) to the outcome, we proceeded with the fuzzy-set analysis, the main analysis of this study, to identify sufficient combinations of the causal conditions that explain high intention to download mobile games. Table II presents the outcomes of the fuzzy-set analysis for high intention to download mobile games. Black circles (*) represent the presence of a condition, crossed-out circles ([?]) its absence (Fiss, 2011) and blank spaces indicate a \"do not care\" situation (i.e. a causal condition may be either present or absent). Large circles symbolize core elements of a configuration, and small circles peripheral ones. Table II includes set-theoretic consistency values for each configuration as well as for the overall solution, with all values being above the threshold (>0.75). Consistency measures the degree that a subset relationship has been approximated, and coverage assesses the empirical relevance of a consistent subset (Ragin, 2008).\nDiscussion, implications and future work: The present work suggests that for the adoption of mobile game applications combinations of users' perceptions of price value and game content quality, their positive and negative emotions, the time they spend playing mobile games and their gender, form configurations that explain high intention to download mobile games. Drawing from complexity theory and configuration theory, we build a conceptual model serving as the basis for identifying the aforementioned configurations. The findings identify ten configurations explaining high intention to download mobile games, and show how the same antecedents can be more or less important for different types of users.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: In the complex ecosystem of mobile applications multiple factors have been used to explain users' behavior, without though focusing on how different combinations of variables may affect user behavior. The purpose of this paper is to show how price value, game content quality, positive and negative emotions, gender and gameplay time interact with each other to predict high intention to download mobile games.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Building on complexity theory, the authors present a conceptual model followed by research propositions. The propositions are empirically validated through configurational analysis, employing fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) on 531 active users of mobile games.\nFindings: Findings identify ten solutions that explain high intention to download mobile games. Alternative paths are identified depending on the gender and the time users spend playing mobiles games. The authors highlight the role of price value and game content quality, as well as that of positive emotions, which are always core factors when present.\nOriginality/value: To identify complex interactions among the variables of interest, fsQCA is employed, differentiating from traditional studies using variance-based methods, leading to multiple solutions explaining the same outcome. None of the variables explains the intention to download on its own, but only when they combine with each other. The authors extend existing knowledge on how price value, game content quality, emotions, gender and gameplay time combine to lead to high intention to download mobile games; and present a methodology for how to bridge complexity theory with fsQCA, improving our understanding of intention to adopt mobile applications.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Managing corporate social responsibility: lessons from the oil industry	[ "Corporate social responsibility", "Communication management", "Stakeholder analysis", "Channel relationships", "Oil industry" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is rapidly gaining importance for businesses all over the world. The concept is crucial for any company or organization as a prerequisite for brand value and business growth. This is apparent when the firm makes long-term investments to maintain its relations with society. However, CSR is also relevant when it comes to tackling sudden incidents, where society may seriously question the company's social responsibility and thereby challenge the corporate reputation (Sacconi, 2004).Consequently, CSR has relevance for businesses in two ways. First, a main challenge for corporations is to connect with society in such a way that the positive public image of the company is maintained and enforced. Most companies have a certain track record when it comes to CSR as perceived by stakeholders and society through past history and actions. Since the company is dependent on the society (where its customers and other stakeholders are), this track record should be protected and to the extent possible enhanced. Activities and actions directed at this objective can be labeled CSR enforcement.Second, whereas building and enforcing the level of CSR is a continuous long-term activity, the CSR reputation of the company can be severely affected by sudden critical events (i.e. CSR critical incidents). A critical incident is defined as \"any observable human activity that is sufficiently complete in itself to permit inferences and predictions to be made about the persons performing the act\" (Flannagan, 1954). This implies that the incident must occur in a situation where the purpose or intent of the act seems fairly clear to the observer and where consequences are sufficiently definite to leave little doubt concerning its effect. In a CSR context such events can be handled through CSR recovery.CSR enforcement and CSR recovery are in general interdependent processes. Extensive experience from day-to-day CSR enforcement is likely to make the company more resistant to attacks from sudden, unforeseen and negative incidents, which may threaten the company reputation (Vaaland and Heide, 2005). However, if a CSR critical incident is not handled properly from the stakeholder point of view, it may jeopardize and could ultimately cause serious harm to the reputation of the firm (Vaaland and Heide, 2005). And in the opposite case, if the critical incident is handled skillfully, the potential loss of company reputation could be minimized and possibly recovered after short time. Thus, it can be argued that CSR should be managed along two dimensions: CSR enforcement and CSR recovery (Vaaland and Heide, 2005; Whiteman et al., 2005). These dimensions also reflect the dynamic properties of CSR, where a negative incident affects and is affected by the initial level of CSR.The aim of this paper is to identify and suggest solutions to two challenges that companies frequently face in relation to CSR management. First, since CSR implies developing and maintaining relationships with society, CSR should be managed as interplay between actors, activities and resources. Second, since the significance of critical incidents is dependent on prevailing level of CSR, management of CSR requires capability to handle both the unexpected incident and long-term reductions of gaps between stakeholders' expectations and company performance. The paper is organized in the following sections. We start with a discussion of the conceptual meaning and basic elements of CSR and continue with the methodology and case description. The subsequent section includes analysis and findings. Based on a discussion of main findings we outline a conceptual model for understanding and managing CSR before concluding the paper with managerial implications, and concluding remarks.\nThe concept and meaning of CSR: The concept of CSR is blurred and fuzzy (Lantos, 2001). The definition and dimensions of CSR vary and consequently that is no clear consensus on what is meant by CSR (Carrigan and Attalla, 2001). The different conceptual entities restrict comparison and integration of definitions. Whereas some scholars focus on businesses as general, others apply the individual firm or the decision maker as unit of analysis. Some are normative while others hold an instrumental perspective focusing on benefits (Maignan and Ferrell, 2004).The CSR construct embraces two dimensions of decision making, responsible and irresponsible acts. The seminal work of Armstrong (1977) introduces \"social irresponsibility\" as a more useful mode of addressing \"social responsibility\". The vast majority of studies, however, apply CSR in addressing both responsibility and its negation. The CSR construct includes at least three thematic areas regarding the relationship between the company and the society: how the conduct of business reflects ethical considerations, how the business operations affect the environment, and finally, the extent to which the operations interfere with established social and human rights (Vaaland and Heide, 2005).One of the main issues behind CSR is to handle the company's relationships with society in such a way that the positive public image of the company is maintained or enforced. Ackerman (1975) argues that three features characterize a socially responsive firm:1. capacity to monitor and assess environmental conditions;2. capability to attend to the many demands of numerous stakeholders; and3. competence in design and implementation of plans and policies to respond to changing conditions.By inspecting the variety of CSR definitions we observe emphasis on; first, corporate benefit (Lantos, 2002), second, stakeholders (Donaldson and Preston, 1995; Jones, 1995; Wood and Jones, 1995), third, concern for both responsible and irresponsible acts (Armstrong, 1977), fourth, ethical, environmental and social phenomena (Vaaland and Heide, 2005). Based on these characteristics, we will apply the following definition: \"Corporate social responsibility is management of stakeholder concern for responsible and irresponsible acts related to environmental, ethical and social phenomena in a way that creates corporate benefit\" (Vaaland et al., n.d.).\nThe basic elements of CSR: CSR critical incidents\nMethodology: Data collection\nAnalysis and findings: In the following the case will be analyzed in relation to the basic elements of CSR, which were discussed above. The elements will be empirically grounded and expanded by means of the case. Furthermore, we will specifically address the interrelatedness of the elements.CSR critical incident\nDiscussion: The Statoil Horton-case demonstrates strong interrelatedness between actors, activities and resources (Hakansson and Snehota, 1995). The case also illustrates that this interrelatedness is not always fully understood and acted upon, even in large and professional oil companies. By failing to identify all relevant stakeholders (actors) and take their concerns into account, an incident that was completely manageable in the start, soon spiraled out of control. The initial failure to tackle the issue properly triggered the interest of an ever-increasing number of stakeholder groups, which became involved in the case and created further difficulties for the company. The demands of the stakeholders could ultimately only be met through company action such as termination of the dubious agreement, dismissal of senior management and resignation of the chairman of the board (activities). The resource dimension is also crucial for understanding the dynamics of the case. Without the prior existence of ethical guidelines and policies (resources) the ability of the company to reduce the significance of the incident would be limited. Significant investments in CSR (e.g. ethical rules of conduct, inspection schemes, reporting routines, management training, etc.) take time to develop and implement, and there can be substantial time lags before these investments start paying-off (i.e. in terms of improved CSR Enforcement). Thus, in this respect there are clear similarities between safety preparedness and CSR management. The capacity to prevent and respond to incidents regarding safety is built in quiet times, not during a disaster. Similarly, with CSR it is too late to think about CSR responsiveness after the CSR critical incident has occurred. Without company activities, the gap between stakeholders' expectations and the company operations will increase and weaken the perceptions of that company's social responsibility (Lantos, 2001). But activities presuppose resources, and lack of resources can reduce the ability to actually carry out and implement activities, such as new ethical standards, management training programs, sustainability reports, etc. Furthermore, an inadequate understanding of the actors (i.e. the most significant stakeholders) can easily result in the company selecting the \"wrong type\" of activities, i.e. actions that only have a marginal effect on CSR. Summing up, the case clearly indicates that managing CSR requires that activities, actors and resources should be considered interdependently, whether related to enforcing existing CSR or handling a specific and sudden incident.The Statoil case was triggered by one specific incident. This incident quickly emerged as a sudden direct threat to the company, but also became an indirect threat to the existing level of CSR of the firm. On the other hand, the relatively good initial reputation of Statoil among stakeholders also functioned as a damper to the incident, and thus helped reduce the significance. The incident thus affected the existing level of CSR, which again affected the actor's perception of the incident. The company reputation can be enforced so that it indirectly affects the significance of current and future incidents. In the Statoil case, the CEO and chairman of the board were removed (which also had been done on two occasions years earlier, after stakeholders had seriously questioned the behavior of top management and board). The historical pattern of behavior and sensitivity to society when facing a crisis represents a reputational reserve for Statoil, which made it easier to handle the new incident (i.e. the Horton case) and recover from it. The way an incident is handled also affects the company's reputation, either by enforcing or by reducing the present state of CSR. The described interrelatedness further implies that the company faces two sets of challenges in terms of sustaining CSR: first, to handle the incident and diminishing the negative effect (i.e. the short-term perspective), and second, to enforce CSR, and thereby the company reputation (i.e. the long-term perspective).This interrelatedness between:* actors, activities and resources; and* the interrelatedness of the incident (handled through critical incident recovery), and existing level of CSR (handled through CSR enforcement) can be conceptualized in the model shown in Figure 1.The model suggests that regardless of whether CSR is approached as a short-term or a long-term challenge, a thorough understanding of actors, activities and resources is necessary. Furthermore, recovery and enforcement can be considered two sides of the same coin.\nManagerial implications: Based on the findings we will highlight seven managerial implications. First, when potentially critical incidents arise, always allow the internal tools to function as intended. In the Statoil case the internal tools discovered the irregularities and both the CEO and the chairman of the board were warned. Had only one of them responded, the critical incident would have been averted. However, the double failure to respond, allowed the episode to develop into a major critical incident.Second, ensure that confidential information channels exist to ensure that crucial information reaches the top. In the Horton-case, the problem was mainly related to the inaction of top-management rather than lack of information. However, in other cases confidential information channels will make available a way for concerned staff-members inform top-management in confidence and thereby provide an alternative to leaking the information to the public media.Third, be aware that even the smallest ethical firecracker has the potential to develop into a corporate reputational bomb. Statoil's initial strategy to downplay the seriousness of the case backfired and triggered the interest of the media instead. Consequently, a CSR incident of manageable proportions was magnified by the critical press and spun out of control.Fourth, when it is unavoidable that the incident will appear in the public domain, be selective when you decide on who should break the story. The company's media department may collaborate with certain members of the press to ensure early publication of the story in a less hostile manner than would be the case if a more critical newspaper uncovered the story at a later stage. Such a proactive media strategy may be beneficial to defuse the impact of a potentially damaging incident.Fifth, CSR management requires a system for identifying the most significant stakeholders (actors) and their expectations. The company needs to be able to distinguish and critically assess the strategic importance and realism of the stakeholder expectations. In this context, one should keep in mind that not all stakeholders have legitimate goals.Sixth, resources, such as sustainability reports, ethical guidelines and management control systems, should be developed based on input from significant stakeholders (including whistleblowers) and as learning benefits from past CSR incidents.Seventh, investments to enforce CSR require attention to both the long-term building of company reputation (i.e. CSR fundament) and the ability to handle unexpected CSR incidents in a systematic and professional manner.\nConcluding remarks: Case studies such ours have two essential drawbacks (Ghauri et al., 1995). Most of the evidence is based on qualitative data derived from secondary data sources, which implies that some relevant data for the study may not be included in the analysis. In our study, we have tried to compensate for this limitation by supplementing and validating the data from secondary sources with input from key-informants. The second drawback is that by focusing on one sector only, the findings are strictly speaking only valid for that specific sector and cannot automatically be generalized beyond the oil industry.CSR critical incidents tend to be traumatic for those who are directly involved and are not particularly pleasant for the rest of society either. However, it is important to keep in mind that even negative incidents may have positive consequences in the form of self-examination, system improvements and not least learning. The important question is whether companies can learn from the mistake of others, improve their own organizations and develop internal tools that can prevent and if needed disarm CSR incidents before they develop into reputational catastrophes.Based on the findings in the Horton case in Statoil, we have argued that management of the relationship between the company and society requires awareness of the interplay between actors (i.e. stakeholders), activities (to reduce company-stakeholder gaps) and resources (e.g. internal rules, monitoring and reporting systems, etc.). The three elements are interrelated and must be systematically developed and managed. Furthermore, managing CSR implies that incident recovery and long-term enforcement of CSR are interrelated processes that should never be treated separately.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to improve the understanding of the manner in which companies deal with key stakeholders in relation to corporate social responsibility (CSR), focusing in particular on how companies can handle critical incidents related to CSR and utilize these experiences in enforcing their regular social responsibility.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper is based on a case study methodology.\nFindings: - CSR should be managed by a combination of handling unexpected episodes that threaten existing social responsibility (incident recovery) and the long-term reduction of gaps between stakeholder expectations and the company performance (CSR enforcement). Furthermore, CSR implies building and maintaining relationships with society through interplay between actors, resources and activities.\nPractical implications: - The study contributes to managerial decision making by identifying seven types of implications and activities necessary to actively manage key aspects of social responsibility.\nOriginality/value: - The paper integrates long-term social responsibility enforcement with short-term social responsibility recovery by means of a recent corporate case from the oil industry.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Emotional predictors of consumer's satisfaction with healthcare public services	[ "Customer satisfaction", "Public health", "Individual perception", "Health services" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Since Cardoso's (1965) work, satisfaction has been considered important in consumer behaviour, post-consumption decisions, and in attitudes (Oliver and Swan, 1988). Despite vast research, the construct of consumer satisfaction is still far from being consensual. This lack of consensus also occurs when discussing the cognitive and/or emotional nature of satisfaction. In this work we assume that satisfaction is a complex response with both emotional and cognitive features that follow a consumption experience, i.e. consumer satisfaction as a response to an assessment process of consumption experience. As suggested by Wu et al. (2006), the impact of potential predictors on satisfaction may differ according with the features of the service, the service experience or the consumer characteristics. Following this assumption, we propose a framework as to analyse the way in which emotions determine the patient's satisfaction with public healthcare services and the mediated effect of perceived justice.\nTheoretical framework: Satisfaction in the consumption process\nExploratory study for psychometric validation of the measures: Methodology\nResults: Satisfaction measure\nEmpirical study to evaluate causal relations: Methodology\nDiscussion of results and conclusions: This study allowed assessing and validating the perception of justice scale. However, regarding the theoretical model, the distributive justice dimension disappears. This dimension is present in many studies that refer to perceived justice in a consumer situation, but it doesn't seem to be relevant in this type of services, probably because they are public services and do not present the component spend/receive that is associated with it. The dimensions of processual justice involve issues that have a more organizational character regarding the health service's procedures. Relational justice on the other hand involves issues concerning the doctor-patient relationship. Intending to integrate the cognitive and emotional effect on satisfaction, we assessed the joint effect of the processual and relational perception and the positive and negative emotions. Together, these four latent variables and the estimated mediator effects influence satisfaction explaining 70 per cent of the variance.However, negative emotions have no significant direct or indirect effect on satisfaction since they do not influence processual or relational justice.Contrarily, positive emotions are completely mediated by perception of processual and relational justice. Apart from that, positive emotions contribute to explaining 66 per cent of the processual justice variance and 60 per cent of the relational justice variance.Based on these results we verify, that the more a patient feels interested and joyful, the better his appreciation of justice in doctor-patient relationship and the healthcare centre processes. Accordingly the greater will be the satisfaction with the whole service and the appointment it self.Patients consider themselves globally less satisfied with the health service (avr=3.40) and with the service render by the doctor (avr=4.00) or with the nursing staff (avr=3.74). In other words, patients were more satisfied with health professionals, evidencing the relevance of this relation on satisfaction. Processual and organizational features seem to be the ones that receive the worse assessment, including administrative and auxiliary professionals, highly identified with communication and use of norms and regulations of the services.Patients consider negative emotions, being aversion and shame the least frequent (avr=1.89 and 1.95, respectively). However, distress (negative emotion) and joy (positive emotion) seem to have similar frequencies (avr=2.59 and 2.63, respectively). Positive emotions vary with age, younger (less than 20 years old) and older individuals (more than 65 years old) feel more frequently positive emotions throughout their visit to the health centre. They also vary with gender and frequency of use. Patients that have weekly appointments or monthly appointments more frequently feel positive emotions than the other groups.Interest is the positive emotion that is most frequently felt by the majority of the patients (avr=3.35). This aspect is particularly important, because this emotion is very relevant together with the cognitive structures as a guide of perception, cognition and action. It is also important due to its role in motivation and as a stimulating element in interpersonal relations (Izard, 1977), which are considered core in this type of service. On the other hand, the joy that these patients referred to occurred with moderate frequency, according to the same author, they can emerge due to a reduction of a stimulus of an indistinct stressful situation or to states of negative emotion. These situations are somewhat frequent in health services and situations of illness prior to a doctor's appointment. In this perspective, joy can increase tolerance to frustration and promote confidence and courage in the individual. This seems to be an aspect that needs further study in order to evaluate the possible existence of an emotion sequence (e.g. between distress - happiness) and interrelations that establish sequences in different emotions and to what extent this has an effect on positive emotions (e.g. increasing tolerance to frustration in individuals).The fact that credential service is technically inaccessible to the majority of the patients due to the fragility induced by a state of illness stresses the importance of relational aspects that compose healthcare services. We highlight in particular the dimensions of the quality of the service regarding satisfaction and perceived and relational justice. For many patients it is fundamental that the healthcare professionals (especially their doctors) have the ability to listen, understand and establish a relationship based on empathy.Results showed just how important positive emotions and processual and relational justice are on the satisfaction of patients. And so besides performance, it is important that procedures and organizational norms (health centre) be clear and perceived as fair. It is also important to establish a positive relationship between the patient and the doctor, in which the patient sees that the doctor treats him/her with consideration and in an appropriate manner since that this relationship allows empathy between them, therefore favouring the emergence of positive emotions.Results confirm that satisfaction results from a complex process of mechanisms that are both cognitive and affective. Apart from the theoretical implications that have been referred, the results obtained have a fundamental importance at two levels:1. from the management perspective of organizations, health centres that need to clarify norms and adopt procedures that consider the patients' interests and needs; and2. from a competences of health professionals perspective, doctors especially should consider their profession beyond technical procedure.\"General and Family Medicine (General Clinician/Family Medicine) is an academic and scientific discipline, as well as a clinical speciality orientated to primary care with its own educational contents, research, scientific evidence and clinical activities\" [...] and the doctor \"deals with health problems in all their dimensions: physical, psychological, social, cultural and existential\" (Wonca, 2002).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The aim of this paper is to test empirically a framework that contributes to the understanding of patients' satisfaction by estimating the relationships between the satisfaction of particular types of customers with their emotions and perceived justice.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The study was developed in two segments. First, an exploratory analysis was conducted to find a factor structure and to test the psychometric properties of satisfaction and perceived justice scales. After that the hypothesized model was tested through an empirical study, with a sample of 520 patients from six Portuguese public healthcare services, using structural equation modelling.\nFindings: - The results show that the scales are psychometrically sound and confirm that satisfaction results from a complex cognitive and affective mechanism, thus highlighting the interactive characteristics of the services.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Further research is needed to confirm these findings and to find if there is any possible conditioning factors that would interfere with these variables and change their effects on satisfaction.\nPractical implications: - Patients' satisfaction is an important issue for improving the provided healthcare services.\nOriginality/value: - The paper offers empirical evidence about the complementary effect of emotions and perceived justice on the satisfaction with healthcare services. Findings also provide a model of analysis with valid and reliable measures.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Self-disclosure in social networking sites: The role of perceived cost, perceived benefits and social influence	[ "Facebook", "Social exchange theory", "Social influence", "Social networking sites", "Self-disclosure" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Social networking sites have grown tremendously in popularity over the past few years. Being one of the most popular social networking sites, Facebook alone has about 1.11 billion monthly active users (Facebook, 2013). More than half of the Facebook users log in every day. Each user has about 130 friends on average, a figure which is expected to increase in the future. With respect to time consumption, statistics reports revealed that people spend much more time in social networking sites than other online activities (Gartner, 2013). Social networking, soundly trouncing e-mail, news, and shopping, has become the most popular online activity.\n2. Literature review: 2.1. Self-disclosure and online self-disclosure\n3. Research model and hypotheses: In this study, we built on the model of self-disclosure in social networking sites (Krasnova et al., 2010) and examined how the perceived benefits and perceived cost affected online self-disclosure in social networking sites (i.e. Facebook). In addition, we considered the role of social influence in self-disclosure in social networking sites. The research model is depicted in Figure 1.\n4. Methodology: In this study, we focus on Facebook users' self-disclosure behaviors. Facebook provides users with virtual spaces to build their profile, connect with others, and share information with existing and new friends. Because of the richness of the personal information users provide, as well as the highly diversified users group, Facebook is an ideal platform for the current investigation of self-disclosure in social networking sites. In addition, Facebook was chosen due to the surge in its global popularity since its introduction. Facebook is now the most popular social networking sites, having around 800 million unique monthly visitors and far outweighing all other alternatives (eBiz, 2014). Facebook is therefore a representative example of the new generation of social networking sites featuring social and interactive elements, and is the most appropriate site for the current study. We collected our data from university students, which is believed to be an appropriate and representative sample of social networking sites users. According to a recent global research, 67 percent of internet users reported that they use Facebook, and 83 percent of them aged between 18 and 29 (Brenner, 2013). Comparing Facebook usage across populations, Hong Kong has outweighed USA, India, Brazil, UK and other major countries and cities with 57.98 percent of the citizens using Facebook for the purpose of social networking (Socialbakers, 2013). We believe that university students in Hong Kong represents a group of frequent and heavy social networking sites users, and the highly diversified sample (with students coming from different districts of Hong Kong) also provides a rich profile of respondents. In this section, we will describe the details of measure, and data collection procedure, as well as the demographic profile of the respondents.\n5. Data analysis and results: We performed the statistical analysis with the partial least squares (PLS) method. The PLS approach provides a better explanation for complex relationships (Fornell and Larcker, 1981), and is widely adopted by IS researchers (Chin, 1998). Following the two-step analytical approach (Hair et al., 2006), we first conducted a psychometric assessment of the measurement scales, and then evaluated the structural model. Using the two-step analytical approach, we had more confidence in concluding that a structural relationship could be drawn from a set of measurement instruments with desirable psychometric properties.\n6. Discussion and conclusion: In this study, we attempted to understand why users reveal personal information in social networking sites from an integrative point of view. The measurement model was confirmed with satisfactory convergent and discriminant validity, and the structural model explained 49 percent of variance in self-disclosure in social networking sites.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the relative impacts of perceived cost, perceived benefits, and social influence on self-disclosure behaviors in social networking sites under an integrated theoretical framework.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Building upon social exchange theory and privacy calculus theory, an integrated model was developed. The model was tested empirically using a sample of 405 social networking site's users. Users were required to complete a survey regarding self-disclosure behaviors in Facebook.\nFindings: The results indicate that social influence is the factor which exhibits the strongest effect on self-disclosure in social networking sites, followed by perceived benefits. Surprisingly, perceived privacy risk does not have any significant impact on self-disclosure.\nResearch limitations/implications: The results inform researchers about the importance to incorporate social influence factors and cultural factors into future online self-disclosure study.\nPractical implications: The results suggest that users focus on the benefits as well as social influence when they decide to reveal personal information in social networking sites, but pay less attention to the potential privacy risks. Educators are advised to launch educational programs to raise students' awareness to the potential risks of self-disclosure in social networking sites. Service providers of social networking sites are encouraged to provide intuitive privacy indices showing users the levels of privacy protection.\nOriginality/value: This paper is one of the first to develop and empirically tests an integrated model of self-disclosure in social networking sites.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Normative measurement of job satisfaction in the US	[ "Validation", "Norms", "Job attitudes", "Job satisfaction", "Representative sample", "Statistical norms" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Statistical norms are used for interpreting scores on a wide variety of psychological and organizational measures, ranging from anxiety to intelligence to organizational culture. In order to draw correct inferences and make valid decisions based on scores from psychological tests or measures, raw scores must be interpreted in relation to some standard (Nunnally and Bernstein, 1994). In norm-referenced testing, raw scores are interpreted alongside statistical norms that have been developed from a reference group intended to represent a given population of interest (e.g. full-time employees). The reference group may be a relevant subgroup (e.g. managers) or an overall sample intended to represent a larger population. The choice of which comparison to use is determined by a theoretical or practical question of interest. Ultimately, the goal is to aid interpretation of raw scores by converting them into normative scores, thereby providing a useful metric for interpreting individual scores and making thoughtful comparisons across users and domains measured.\nMethod: Sample\nResults: Psychometric validity evidence\nDiscussion: We provide updated norms for the JDI and JIG and make the revised measurement system available for use in research and practice. Importantly, the current paper provides the only US nationally representative overall norms for these measures. We found meaningful subgroup differences for some demographics, so subgroup norms are provided for these groups. Psychometric validity evidence is supportive of descriptive inferences regarding job satisfaction scores, and the norms facilitate interpretation of scores relative to a larger population and across facets of the JDI. This strengthens the inferences that can be made on the basis of job satisfaction scores and creates \"energy for action\" (Macey and Eldridge, 2006, p. 354).\nConclusion: We provide the first job satisfaction measurement system containing US subgroup and overall norms, which are particularly representative with respect to industry. Our contribution intersects research, practice, and society due to the science-practice foundations of the JDI/JIG and the humanitarian value of job satisfaction. Considering the adage \"what gets measured gets done,\" we empower individuals and organizations to measure employee satisfaction and draw valid inferences for prioritizing areas for improvement.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to discuss the importance of norms and inference, while providing national overall and subgroup norms for the updated Job Descriptive Index and Job in General measures of job satisfaction.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A stratified random sample was drawn from an online panel to represent the US working population on key variables. Validity evidence is provided. Determination of subgroup norms was based on practical significance.\nFindings: The revised measures fit the theorized model and patterns of results are consistent with the literature. Practical subgroup differences were found for some stratification variables. Subgroup norms are made available; the first US overall norms are provided.\nResearch limitations/implications: An updated job satisfaction measurement system is made available, complete with nationally representative overall and subgroup norms. A major limitation and direction for future research is the lack of norms for other nations.\nPractical implications: The revised measurement system is available for use in practice. National overall norms improve decision-makers' ability to infer respondents' relative standing and make comparisons across facets and employees. The JDI is useful for dimensional diagnostics and development efforts; the JIG is useful for evaluating overall job satisfaction levels.\nSocial implications: By facilitating valid inferences of job satisfaction scores, the revised measurement system serves to enhance the quality of life at work.\nOriginality/value: The authors provide the only publicly available job satisfaction measurement system that has US national overall norms.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Developing a BPI framework and PAM for SMEs	[ "Business process re‐engineering", "Small to medium‐sized enterprises", "World class manufacturing", "Lean production", "Continuous improvement" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: The last decade has seen an increase in literature both political and academic relating to the importance of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). SMEs make a major contribution to the economy; accounting for the majority of businesses and around three in five workers (Raymond and Croteau, 2006; Chou and Hsu, 2005; Wickramasinghe and Schaffer, 2006; Wickramasinghe et al., 2004; Wickramasinghe and Sharma, 2004). The general methods used by SMEs to develop staff to meet their business needs are critical for both company performance and national prosperity (Deloitte and Touche, 2002; DTI, 2004). At a global level, increased competition means that workplace reforms will have to be continually implemented if domestic industries are to remain viable (Chapman and Sloan, 1999; DTI, 2004).The large original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are concentrating increasingly on their core competencies. For example, the majority of motor vehicle manufacturers are now subcontracting out virtually all non-core work to subcontractors. Even issues such as design and development are being contracted out (Lajara and Lillo, 2004; Corswant and Fredricksson, 2002), in the majority these contractors are SMEs therefore there is an excellent potential and an urgency for SMEs to tender for lucrative business, but SMEs will only win new contracts if they can prove to be competitive. SMEs are being asked not only to guarantee quality, cost and delivery (QCD) criteria but also to continually and systematically improve their QCD.To compete, firms must improve performance by decreasing costs while increasing quality and delivery performance (Bane, 2002; Gulbro et al., 2000). The theme of this paper is timely and very important considering the concerns that have been voiced over the competitiveness of UK SMEs, the lack of world-class SMEs and the ever increasing change and the need for successful and sustained and process improvement. Companies need not only to develop strategies to compete in multiple markets, but also these strategies need to be developed to deliver a source of sustained competitive advantage. There is an urgent need for companies to attain world class manufacturing (WCM) status, this being highlighted by a study of world class companies in Europe which highlighted the fact that only 2 per cent of UK-based companies analysed and reached the world class standard, but there was positive feedback from this study in that it identified 50 per cent of these sites were potentially world class (London Business School and IBM Consulting Group, 1994). The DTI (2004) identified an urgent and systematic need for organisations to implement \"best practices\" such as Lean Manufacturing and other world-class methodologies, other official agencies such as the Aerospace Initiative Growth Team (AeIGT), Lean Aerospace Initiative (LAI) and The Society of British Aerospace Companies (SBAC) all promulgate the implementation of WCM and best practice methodologies to improve competitiveness. The Engineering Employers Federation (EEF, 2004) identified UK SMEs as still trailing behind French and German SMEs. The paper will, therefore, investigate WCM methodologies, best practice, training and their implementation in SMEs.\n2 World class manufacturing: The term WCM was first used by Hayes and Wheelwright (1984) to describe companies that achieved competitive advantage by systematically improving their manufacturing facility - the ability to \"make it better\". Todd (1995) cites WCM as being the best in your field in the world. This view is complemented by Schonberger (1982) defining WCM as \"continually and rapidly improvement in the eyes of the customer\". There are various aspects or philosophies that make up WCM, while many academics may argue over the importance of some aspects of WCM, the following is a synthesis of the concepts that Schonberger and Todd initially formulated:* total quality management (TQM) (Leonard et al., 2002; Svensson and Wood, 2005; Sharma et al., 2006);* lean practices (LP) (Arnheiter and Maleyeff, 2005; Hines et al., 2004);* just-in-time (JIT) (Amoako-Gyampah and Gargeya, 2001; Ahmad, et al., 2004; Mistry, 2005; Kros et al., 2006);* continuous improvement (CI), (kaizen) (Brunet and New, 2003; Luiz et al., 2000);* total productive maintenance (TPM) (Hansson et al., 2003; Ferrari et al., 2002);* teamwork approach (Rabey, 2003; Adebanjo and Kehoe, 2001);* supplier partnerships (Lajara and Lillo, 2004; Lemke et al., 2003);* business process re-engineering (BPR) (Maull et al., 2003; Crowe et al., 2002);* performance measurement (Robson, 2005; Rodney and Galloway, 2005; Bruijn, 2002); and* self assessment and quality models (Burgess et al., 2005; Biazzo and Bernardi, 2003).\n3 Creating continuous change through kaizen and training: Imai (1986, 1990) introduced the use of kaizen or CI as a philosophy for process improvement to the west in the book \"Kaizen: The key to Japan's competitive success\". Kaizen is a never-ending process and the one that puts emphasis on communication and trust between workers and management (Kumar and Harms, 2004), Kofoed et al. (2002) provide support \"for the claim that changes initiated during the radical change process were at least partially integrated through the implementation of CI\" in their case study. Kaizen creates a culture that allows employee creativity and ideas to flourish, the result is that SMEs will be able to react quickly to change and react better or differently across major company functions (McAdam et al., 2000). Teamwork, empowerment and training are key elements of kaizen and these concepts can aid in the change process (Hyland et al., 1998). Kaizen does offer the potential to launch a company transformation towards TQM by aligning the employee's and management's goals (Gondhalekar et al., 1995). Brunet and New (2003) suggest from their findings that kaizen creates a modern mindset/culture where change and new technology are easily accepted. These views are in agreement with the Japanese view of kaizen where it is viewed as an umbrella concept with different methodologies, such as TQM represented within it.The Japanese view of kaizen as the umbrella concept is the opposite stream of thought to the Western interpretation of TQM being the umbrella concept (Imai, 1986; Svensson, 2000), with kaizen represented under the TQM banner. Hence, many Western companies try to implement TQM without first having a successful CI philosophy in place, which as mentioned earlier will serve as an entry point into TQM. The purpose of kaizen can be lost; it is more than a suggestion system. Imai (1990) describes how foreign businessmen travelled to Japan to see quality circles in operation and were impressed, upon returning to their countries these people started their own quality circles but ran into problems. Imai continues to say that the entire context of kaizen must be considered, not just the quality circle. Taking this view, the kaizen process can be viewed as a metaphor for the key elements Jidoka, JIT and human-based improvement initiatives.The Japanese have found that by making CI a never-ending process, the many thousand of kaizen improvements made over time have made their Japanese companies what they are, and they claim this as the reason behind Japanese manufacturing success (Pomlett, 1994). BPR is a methodology that is used by many industries in the West instead of kaizen because it (BPR) is considered to bring about radical improvements (Gonzalez-Benito et al., 1999) in retrospect to kaizen improvement which represents a stepped gradual improvement process, but many re-engineering efforts lead to a cynical, alienated and fearful workforce as well as heavy financial burdens (Taylor, 1998). Because of scarce manual and financial resources in SMEs, kaizen is a philosophy that is tailor made for smaller companies wishing to make incremental improvements at low cost (Kinni, 1995), instead of taking the re-engineering route which can require large capital outlay (Radharamanan et al., 1996). Use of kaizen tools can lead to improved efficiencies and profitability (Kumar and Harms, 2004).\n4 Training in SMEs: Training is a form of organisational change, allowing employees to learn and demonstrate new concepts, build skills, solve problems, become multi-skilled and develop interpersonal relationships (Rusaw, 2000). The achievement of WCM status is dependent upon the quality of people working within an organisation to achieve excellence (Eastgate, 2000). The benefits of education and training are broad, not only will workers gain new skills and knowledge but also in terms of flexibility they become more adaptable and responsive (Lange et al., 2000), hence improving the competitiveness of a company.Tate points out that:Training is an important lever to bring about change if anchored sensibly to a sound business agenda, but it is just one lever among many and a weak one if pulled on its own. Training will only help if organisations learn to be wise in how they use individual's capability, marrying talent with healthy cultures, systems and processes, serving well-conceived business goals (Tate, 1997).There is much training that is wasted, simply because of the training that is provided is not used immediately in the work place, and hence any benefits, the training may have provided are lost (Idhammar, 1997). It is noted that most successful SMEs provide much more training than average (DTI, 1996).4.1 Soft skills training\n5 Methodology: The framework (Figure 3) was developed by using a triangulation of methodologies:1. literature review;2. survey; and3. follow up semi-structured interviews with 20 companies.The survey/interview analysis are the subject of a separate paper in review stage as is the paper on the implementation process of the BPI framework (case study).From the analysis it was concluded that a BPI framework is needed to overcome the limitations of current frameworks, which are either academic or large company orientated and should have the following seven main outcomes:1. show quick initial results;2. takes into consideration the resource implications for SMEs;3. must utilise SME strengths;4. can be implemented at a pace that suits the user;5. implementation of the framework will eventually lead to the SME becoming world-class;6. will create a culture of continuous change and hence make CI a norm; and7. the framework must be simple and practical and not overtly academic due to concerns shown by management of collaborating companies.5.1 Stage 1: vision\n6 Analysis and significance of framework: The framework developed so far has been formulated as such that it can be followed easily as an instruction manual would be.The framework was evolved from work carried out within SMEs and is designed to take account of SME strengths and weaknesses. The framework initially gives SMEs a set of instructions to follow in implementing BPI and then also starts a kaizen programme from basic principles that will yield quick results. The concepts will encourage employee and staff training that is relatively inexpensive and easy to carry out. The initial concepts under the kaizen umbrella are also very hands-on orientated therefore getting maximum interaction from the employees.The framework encourages soft skills training that will be pre-requisite to the success of any BPI initiative. The framework will aid the company in only using the concepts that are relevant to them while keeping costs down and employee motivation high.The initial concepts will form a base from which the SME can start its CI journey to becoming a WCM company. The initial phase of the framework will also build a company culture of CI, from which the other remaining concepts under the kaizen umbrella can be implemented at a gradual pace.The initial concepts that are used in the framework are those that have been identified as being most urgently required in the collaborating organisations. The collaborating organisations also required concepts that would be relatively cost effective to implement and also give quick results. They also wanted measures that would involve all employees and also act as culture-changing tools.\n7 Conclusions: Recognising the strategic imperative for SMEs to adopt WCM techniques we have developed an appropriate methodology for them to do so. Specifically, by using a triangulation methodology consisting of a literature review, analysis of a 150 company survey and semi-structured interviews we developed a business process improvement (BPI framework and PAM. The incorporation of these two components by any SME irrespective of industry will ensure CI and the attainment of superior operations and performance. The power of our framework and methodology is its universal appeal. Moreover, it is not just suitable for SMEs in the UK but SMEs globally which still to often struggle to realise a sustainable competitive advantage.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The last decade has seen much interest in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from successive UK Governments highlighting the importance of this sector to the wealth-creating process of the UK economy. World-class manufacturing (WCM) is a set of methodologies that are used by organisations to compete globally and continuously improve their competitiveness. Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are now competing at a global level and many are world-class. The majority of the companies that make up the OEM's supply chains are SMEs. It is, therefore, imperative that SMEs also improve their competitiveness to a world-class level. This paper aims to address these issues.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper uses a triangulation methodology consisting of a literature review, analysis of a 150-company survey and semi-structured interviews in the development of the business process improvement (BPI) framework and performance assessment methodology (PAM) tool.\nFindings: - This study advocates a planned and integrated approach for the gradual achievement of WCM in SMEs by a strategy of BPI through continuous improvement and structured training.\nPractical implications: - The work is of value to SMEs since the study encapsulates the requirements of SME management into the BPI framework and considers their critique of present frameworks; hence a practical framework that is honed for SME application.\nOriginality/value: - This paper fulfils an identified need for SMEs to achieve WCM status and offers a novel/practical framework and PAM tool which are timely because the DTI is promulgating the need for SMEs to become world-class.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The leader as coach	[ "Leadership", "Development" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nHow did leadership and coaching get separated in the first place?: Many, if not most of us, would include coaching as an integral part of an effective leader's kit bag. When recalling \"the best leader I ever worked for\" a majority of people will tell you that they remembered their choice as being someone who was a good coach to them. Yet, the absence of coaching capability in many whom we already categorise as \"leaders\" is quite evident. How can this be? To answer that question, we can look at the environment that most of us refer to when looking at leadership. That environment is business. Even if your organisation is not a business per se, the adoption of business models by functions can have a significant impact on how your organisation views leadership. I would suggest that while we use the term \"leadership\" in an unqualified way, we often are guided by a more specific phrase which is \"business leadership\". The business context has put a particular slant on what we expect of our leaders. The first priority is that they deliver business results. When push comes to shove, what often gets shoved out in the service of business results are the less tangible things like learning, coaching and development. As the business environment has become more and more competitive and good business results increasingly more difficult to obtain, it is not surprising that leadership has followed suit. Delivering on a merger, acquisition or financial turn-around is more likely to land you in the c-suite than having a reputation for developing your successors. What seems to be recognised more and more, however, is that the balance may have swung too far in the results-only direction. This does not mean that businesses underestimated the need for learning and development. It does get at how things like learning and development get addressed. Peter Senge, in his now landmark book, The Fifth Discipline, identifies an archetype called \"Shifting the burden\". The definition he gives is as follows:An underlying problem generates symptoms that demand attention. But the underlying problem is difficult for people to address, either because it is obscure or costly to confront. So people \"shift the burden\" of their problem to other solutions - well-intentioned, easy fixes which seem extremely efficient. Unfortunately, the easier \"solutions\" only ameliorate the symptoms; they leave the underlying problem unaltered. The underlying problem grows worse, unnoticed because the symptoms apparently clear up, and the system loses whatever abilities it had to solve the underlying problem.I think we can look to this archetype to help understand why we find such a need for coaching capabilities in leaders today. Developing staff, addressing performance issues and facilitating learning were challenges or \"burdens\" that were shifted HR and HRD functions. Even under ideal business conditions, learning and development are considered by many business managers as soft and obscure issues, not easy for them to address. So, let us give this responsibility to those who \"understand this stuff\". Not only does this not resolve the underlying issue - continuous organisational learning - it is rather expensive and inefficient. The mantra of HR in past years, and rightly so, is \"put responsibility for development and learning back in the line\". The need for speed and agility resulting from increasing competition and the need for efficiency resulting from tighter margins have led us to re-examine how learning best takes place. Off-line solutions, once mainstream, are becoming auxiliary and in-line, on-the-job learning are now where the real action is. This takes us to one of the principle reasons why coaching is now so critical for leaders. Coaching is one of the core tools for supporting in-line learning. If the leader does not provide it to his/her reports, then who does? The answer could be external coaches. This answer, however, leads to another concern related to Senge's archetype. The boom in the external coaching market could be telling us that the burden is shifting from HR and HRD to external providers. That provides both an opportunity and a threat to organisational learning. The threat is found in the last sentence of Senge's definition: \"The underlying problem grows worse, unnoticed because the symptoms apparently clear up, and the system loses whatever abilities it had to solve the underlying problem.\" It is the rare organisation that learns systemically from an \"outsourced\" solution. This is not a problem for non-core activities. Few of us, however, would consider good, strong leadership as non-core. The opportunity we have is in using the growing acceptance by leaders of executive coaching for developing the coaching skills of those leaders themselves thus, breaking the cycle.\nWhy a one-to-one approach to developing leaders as coaches?: So, how do we best go about developing leaders as coaches? We have already said that off-line training is not the optimal learning solution in most cases and should be auxiliary to in-line learning. In addition, we said that coaching itself was integral to the in-line, on-the-job learning process. We can add the assumption that leaders are not likely to find lots of coaching from their bosses who are basically in the same boat. In terms of context, we said that the first priority of business leaders is to deliver \"business\" results. This is not likely to change. Middle and senior leaders are under formidable pressures in terms of both performance and time. With all that, what approach can fit in, get results and not interfere with ongoing, day-to-day business activity? I would suggest that a one-to-one, executive coaching approach, designed from the onset to transfer and develop coaching skills on the part of the leader is prudent and effective way forward and one that does not perpetuate the \"shifting the burden\" archetype.A one-to-one approach allows for flexibility and can assure that the coaching process is fully geared to the leader's individual needs and circumstances. While that is good, there are some deeper reasons why a one-to-one process can have high impact. Let me put some assumptions in place to help frame this. While these will not be true all the time, they are the assumptions this article and approach are based on:Many of the target leaders are likely to be reasonably mature and already in senior positions.If these leaders were naturally pre-disposed to coaching, they would likely be doing it regularly and not looking for development in the coaching area.From a skills and knowledge perspective, they will likely need exposure to some frameworks, concepts and techniques.Leaders learning to coach are likely, like any executive coach, to benefit from one-to-one or small group supervision that is based on real coaching experience.*Successful leaders are unlikely to get excited about exposing their shortcomings in a group context, at least at first.Let us link each of these assumptions to an executive coaching approach for developing leadership coaching skills.Assumption one. The target leaders are likely to be reasonably mature and already in senior positions\nHow would a one-to-one process be structured?: While most executive coaching arrangements last a year or more, developing the leader as a coach can be catalysed in a six month process. We know that developing deeper coaching capability and really getting it in the muscle can take much longer. What I am suggesting here is a focussed six month process to get the leader up to speed with their coaching skills and attitudes. Part of this process entails understanding who the leader is and how this will show up in his/her own personal coaching style. As we said earlier, another aspect is learning about tools and frameworks. Clearly the core of the process is identifying opportunities to apply coaching tools and conversations and then review these experiences for immediate learning. Over a six month process, following a well thought out structure, an executive can move a long way in developing their own coaching capability. Continuing that development could entail a range of options, one of which might include further support from an external coach on a less intensive level.\nAnd the future?: Most of us want our leaders to be able to coach us when the need is there. The phrase \"leader as coach\" seems to imply that they can be separated. If coaching is separated from leadership, I can assure you it is also separate from the organisation's culture. Cultures, with coaching as integral to how they operate and learn, cultivate leaders who coach as just part of who they are. Perhaps, with the right efforts, we will be able to do away with the phrase altogether.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - While this paper proposes a methodology, its purpose is not simply to put forward a technique for addressing a problem. Its aim is also to press the question: Why does this \"problem\" exist? Without addressing this question, one is likely to address the wrong problem, and miss the deeper, long-term solutions. The author proposes that, by developing these (coaching) skills through a one-to-one relationship with an experienced coach, deeper development issues can be addressed.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The article first poses a question, or set of questions, and follows these questions with propositional answers. The article then supports a particular methodology for working with leaders to build coaching capability and builds on a set of five assumptions to justify that methodology.\nFindings: - This article has significant implications for how development of leaders, in their coaching roles, is undertaken. The implications for organisation cultures is significant as well. If the presenting problem is not addressed in an in-depth manner, the cultures which led to the problem will merely continue unchanged.\nOriginality/value: - The tendency in addressing development issues, even with leaders, is to jump to competence solutions. The author's point of view argues that one needs to look deeper, while providing needed individual development. It also argues that, while there is a competence issue involved, it is first a cultural one.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Do we measure what we expect to measure? Some issues in the measurement of culture in consumer research	[ "Review", "Culture", "Consumer research", "Culture measuring" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Culture profoundly influences all aspects of human behavior (Kirkman et al., 2006; Taras et al., 2010a; Tsui et al., 2007), including consumption (Craig and Douglas, 2006; Yaprak, 2008). The accelerating globalization of business means that few marketing researchers or practitioners can afford to ignore cultural differences in consumer psychology and behavior. Consequently, the number of studies exploring the interaction between cultural variables and consumer behavior has grown exponentially in recent decades. Some even maintain that culture has become a central focus in consumer research (Shavitt et al., 2008).\n2. Conceptualizing culture: Culture is considered the most elusive term in the social sciences (Jahoda, 1984) and is difficult to define. Initially, it was mainly studied by anthropologists. Tylor (1871, p. 1) defines culture as the \"complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society.\" This definition embodies the question of whether culture should be regarded as intangible abstractions such as norms, beliefs and values, or as concrete activities and behaviors, including material artifacts (Segall, 1984). These two clusters of definitions coexist in anthropology (Kashima, 2000).\n3. Measuring culture: Since the 1950s culture measurement techniques have improved dramatically. Researchers in disciplines such as psychology, management and marketing have developed hundreds of instruments to quantify cultural variables. The most widely used in consumer research are the Hofstede (1980, 1991, 1994) value survey, the Schwartz (1992, 1994) value survey and individual-level individualism-collectivism (Singelis, 1994; Singelis et al., 1995; Triandis and Gelfand, 1998; Triandis et al., 1985). This section discusses the two issues in culture measuring - conceptual ambiguity and approach inconsistency - with reference to these commonly used scales.\n4. Conclusion and future research: Conceptualizing and operationalizing culture is important because the concept has become a central focus of research in consumer psychology and behavior. Although hundreds of culture measures have been developed, significant problems have been ignored, especially in consumer research.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to highlight the problems in the measurement of culture in consumer studies and offers suggestions for remedies.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Drawing on literature from related fields, the paper discusses some general issues in the measurement of culture and draws consumer researchers' attention to the flaws in the common cultural measures in consumer research. Implications for future research are also provided.\nFindings: The paper highlights two main shortcomings of commonly used culture instruments which are seldom taken into account by consumer researchers. Specifically, the commonly used culture dimensions in consumer studies do not have clear conceptual boundaries. Moreover, important differences between the different approaches to culture measuring (self- vs group-referenced and values vs practices) are always overlooked. The paper suggests that consumer research needs more focussed and refined measures and discusses which approach is better in which context.\nOriginality/value: This paper explores the issues of conceptual ambiguity and approach inconsistency in order to draw consumer researchers' attention to the flaws in common measures of culture. Only when one measures what one expects to measure will the relationship that one observe between these cultural dimensions and consumer behavior be valid.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Social values and health priority setting in Germany	[ "Germany", "Health care", "Social values", "Health priority setting", "IQWiG", "Health technology assessment" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: This paper aims to provide a reflection on how and which social values may influence health priority setting in Germany. Discussions of social values in health priority setting need to take into account the political and institutional context within which decisions are made. The relationship between values and institutions is complex and values rooted in the political and national traditions of a country affect the organisational form that institutions take (Hall, 1989); vice versa social values and ideas may be subject to gradual change as institutions develop (ibid.). This is why, in order to achieve its aims, this paper gives an overview of the health priority setting structures in Germany and how they operate within the German Statutory Health Insurance (SHI) system. In doing so, the paper takes the view that the establishment of the Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) in 2004 can be seen as an effort by policy-makers to integrate evidence-based decision-making in the form of health technology assessments (HTA) into the German system. The uniqueness of Germany's methodological and structural choices, which will be outlined within the paper, serves to highlight some of the challenges involved when introducing centralised HTA structures to a self-governing SHI system. The following discussion of social values and health priority setting in Germany can thus be seen as an illustration of the challenges involved when considering social values against the backdrop of the institutional specifics of a given country, thereby contributing to an understanding of the different forms that HTA can take and what social values these forms might embody.Health priority setting decisions in SHI systems such as the German one can be difficult to disentangle as self-governing bodies of health insurers and providers choose how to provide the level and quality of health care that is mandated by the given legislative framework (Giaimo and Manow, 1999, p. 976). As long as the statutory level and quality of care are provided by the self-governing institutions in SHI systems, questions of transparency of decision-making processes and accountability of decision-makers to the general public seem to be secondary in these systems, especially when compared with tax-based systems in which the state is both the payer and the provider of health care. Investigating the role of social values adds an additional layer of complexity to the question of how health priority setting is carried out in SHI systems as there is frequently little to resort to other than the principles laid out in the legislative framework. While this a worthwhile starting point for an empirical investigation it does not suffice if one is interested in what drives health priority setting in SHI systems; this necessitates a closer look at the procedures of and publications by the main health care decision-making bodies in Germany.The situation in Germany is further complicated by the fact that it is a federal, and as such a de-centralised political system. The nature of a federal system which is based on a frequently contested division of responsibilities between the federal, regional and local governments implies that the introduction of centralised decision-making procedures and institutions is likely to be met with considerable resistance by self-governing bodies. The health care self-governing bodies consisting of the statutory sickness funds and the provider associations (general practitioners, physicians, dentists and hospitals) do not just function on a federal level, but also on a regional level in every \"Bundesland\" to negotiate the provision and pricing of health care services with each other and with third parties such as pharmaceutical manufacturers (Simon, 2010). It is therefore likely that health priority setting takes place in a variety of different ways and at multiple levels of the German health care state. However, the last decade has witnessed a number of legislative developments that have introduced more formalised structures to govern health care decision-making - and by extension health priority setting - in Germany. Specifically, the creation of IQWiG under the Statutory Health Insurance Modernisation Act 2004 represents an attempt by policy-makers to establish HTA as a more integrated feature of decision-making in health care in Germany.Despite the establishment of an HTA organisation policy-makers and practitioners have divergent views on whether health priority setting is already or indeed should be a part of the German health care system. In what has become a landmark speech on the issues of priority setting and rationing in Germany, the late President of the Federal Association of Physicians, Prof. Dr Joerg-Dietrich Hoppe, called for an honest and public debate on health care prioritisation in Germany (Hoppe, 2009). Such calls have been met with an apparent reluctance by German policy-makers to address issues of health priority setting, a common view being that stability in the financing of and efficiency improvements within the German health care system can make debates on rationing and prioritisation unnecessary (Aerzteblatt.de, 2011). Tensions between reports of over-supply in some areas (Lisac et al., 2010), i.e. in the provision of hospital beds, and under-supply leading to implicit rationing in others (Marckmann, 2010) exacerbate the challenge of assessing the status of the health priority setting debate in Germany. Whilst recognising that the discussion over health priority setting in Germany remains controversial, the establishment of IQWiG can be seen as a conscious effort by policy-makers to introduce evidence-based decision-making in the form of a HTA institution to the German health care system; \"[...] the use of evidence to improve policy making is on the rise\" (Pfaff, 2009, p. 99). As HTA is considered a technique for determining priorities (Coulter and Ham, 2000), it is appropriate to examine IQWiG's tasks and functions in order to assess how and indeed which social values underlie health care decisions in Germany.\nThe Institute of Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG): IQWiG was established under the SHI Modernisation Act in 2004 and it is financed through a levy on SHI contributions (IQWiG, 2012); its tasks and functions are laid out in the Social Code Book V, especially SS 139 a-c and SS 35 a-b (Sozialgesetzbuch V - SGB V, 2012). It currently produces 6 types of evaluations and assessments: reports, rapid reports, dossier assessments, addendums, health information and working papers (IQWiG, 2011). For the purpose of this paper the reports, rapid reports and dossier assessments are especially relevant as they are produced to aid decision-making in the main decision-making body of the SHI system in Germany, the Federal Joint Committee (FJC).Clark's (2010) framework divides health priority setting into two dimensions, namely the processes of decision-making (institutional setting, rules of decision-making, accountability for decisions, participation in decision making) on the one hand and the content of decision-making (cost and clinical effectiveness, social values judgements, cost-sharing) on the other.\nDimension 1: the processes of decision-making: A. Institutional setting\nDimension 2: content of decision-making: A. Cost and clinical effectiveness\nConclusion: The above discussion has highlighted that it is comparatively more difficult to analyse how health priority setting decisions are influenced by a given set of social values in SHI systems. This is a direct result of what Giaimo and Manow (1999) label the autonomy in decision-making that the state grants the self-governing institutions in SHI systems as long as they implement the standards of provision that are laid out in the legislative framework. While the nature of a self-governing SHI system might be seen to present certain challenges to the implementation of health priority setting mechanisms based on social values, developments in Germany have shown that it is possible to integrate health priority setting organisations to improve the standing of evidence-based policy-making in health care (Pfaff, 2009). Evidence-based policy-making, however, is viewed as a tool to provide the best and most efficient quality of care to every patient in Germany; as such it overrides considerations of cost effectiveness. A slight caveat is, however, in order: these observations are based on the information that is made available to the public by IQWiG and the FJC. Both the transparency of and participation in health priority setting decisions in Germany are somewhat lagging behind other national contexts such as England (Landwehr, 2009). The improvement of both transparency and participation as envisaged by the SHI Provision-Structure Act might in future unveil considerations that guide health priority setting which have not been discussed in this paper.To what extent the establishment of IQWiG as an advisory body to the FJC will lead to health priority setting in the sense that it provides the FJC with opportunities to prioritise certain interventions over others remains uncertain. Especially the emphasis on the principle of solidarity and its interpretation as an individualistic rather than an utilitarian value decreases the chances that medical interventions will be weighed against each other in Germany. However, as this paper has highlighted, that is not to say that social values do not underpin decision-making in health care in Germany; on the contrary social values such as the principle of solidarity and a trust in the self-governing structures form the guiding principles of the health care system and currently present a barrier to health priority setting as it is understood in other national settings.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of health priority setting structures in Germany. It reflects on how and which social values may influence decision making, and in particular investigates the role of the Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) in integrating evidence-based decision making into the German system.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper applies Clark and Weale's framework of analysis for Social Values and Health Priority Setting to the German context. Placing German health care decision making into Clark and Weale's framework allows for an analysis of the role and content of social values in different dimensions of decision making.\nFindings: - Germany has witnessed significant changes in its health care decision-making procedures in recent decades. The establishment of the Institute of Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) represents an effort to introduce health technology assessment (HTA) as a formal element of decision making in health care. In doing so, Germany has made unique methodological and structural choices that reflect the social values and institutional traditions that underpin its self-governing statutory health insurance (SHI) system. The empirical evidence suggests that the principle of solidarity is upheld as a core value in health priority setting in Germany.\nOriginality/value: - The German case of health priority setting highlights some of the challenges involved when introducing centralised HTA structures to a self-governing SHI system. As such, this paper contributes to an understanding of the different forms that HTA can take, what social values they embody and how they can affect health priority setting in different ways.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A multilevel investigation of relationships between Australian teachers' career stages and locus of control	[ "Teachers", "Career development", "Australia", "Schools" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Super's career stage model (Super, 1957, 1990) has been influential in the vocational literature for over 40 years (Aryee et al., 1994; Salomone, 1996; Smart and Peterson, 1997). The Super (1990) model essentially posits four identifiable stages in a worker's career, namely, exploration, establishment, maintenance and disengagement. Although related to sequential life cycle theories (see, for example, Erikson, 1964), Super and others have emphasized strongly that individuals do not proceed or cycle through the stages in a linear manner. Not only is there considerable inter-individual variation in the timing of the stages, individuals can miss stages, revert to \"earlier\" stages or remain at a single stage during a career (Aryee et al., 1994; Huberman, 1989; Salomone, 1996; Smart and Peterson, 1997; Super, 1957, 1990). It follows that the term \"stage\" may not be consistent with recent theoretical conceptualizations, but is now entrenched in the vocabulary of the career concept.The exploration phase generally occurs early in the career, but may almost be considered pre-career as the individual in this phase may be characterized as a beginner, exploring her individual interests and capabilities, who has not yet committed to the career. In the establishment stage an individual identifies with his career, grows in capability, and there is a degree of stabilization. The maintenance stage is about consolidation rather than growth. The final disengagement stage generally occurs when the individual is concerned with finishing her career and moving on to the next phase of life, typically some form of retirement.\nTeachers' career stages: Integrating Super's (1957) model with his own and others' research and writing (see, for example, Levinson, 1978), Huberman (1989) cautiously argued for a career stage model specifically for teachers' professional work. He proposed career entry, stabilization, diversification and change, stocktaking and interrogations at mid-career, serenity and affective distance, conservatism and disengagement.Career entry is characterized as a stage when the beginning teacher focuses very much on surviving the early classroom experiences, whilst exploring the new experience of being a real teacher rather than a trainee. At the career entry stage, the neophyte teacher typically does not yet have control over a number of aspects of his work. Stabilization involves a commitment to teaching as a career. As Huberman (1989, p. 350) articulated: \"One is now a teacher, both in one's own eyes and in the eyes of others - not necessarily forever, but for a good block of time\". In this phase, teachers become more comfortable with their professional self-concepts. They are no longer considered beginners and expectations are now greater. Diversification and change is a stage in which having mastered their classrooms, that is having exerted control over their work within their domain, teachers are inclined to experiment and be more active professionally. The stocktaking and interrogations at mid-career stage has some characteristics of the \"mid-life crisis\" that is common to many life and career stage models. This is aptly described by one teacher: \"I wondered if I was doomed to die in front of a blackboard with a piece of chalk in my hand\" (Huberman, 1989, p. 352). This is a stage in which self-doubts could lead to a sense of lack of control. Serenity and affective distance describes a time when teachers have come to terms with their occupational lot and have considerable control over their work, with an economical expenditure of effort. The \"distance\" referred to here is distance from the students. Generally, there is now a clear generation gap between teacher and students. Conservatism is related to convictions that there has been a decline in standards, standards of student behaviour and standards of behaviour of younger teachers, and conservative views of teaching practices. Finally, disengagement, consistent with other models, describes a period in which teachers begin cognitive and behavioural withdrawal from the work of teaching. It is clear that Huberman's conceptualization contextualizes Super's (1990) well-established model to the career of teaching, but still remains consistent with the latter. Again, there is an important caveat that the model is not linear.Importantly for the study reported here, one may argue that Huberman (1989) largely characterized the proposed career stages in terms of teachers' individual behaviours and beliefs, the latter not only about themselves and their work, but about students, other teachers and work environments.\nLocus of control: Locus of control has been one of the most studied measures of individual differences (Rotter, 1990). It is an individual's generalized belief (expectancy) about the extent to which personal outcomes are contingent upon her personal characteristics or behaviours, or external factors. Typically, a person with a high internal locus of control has generalized expectancy beliefs about being capable of controlling his personal outcomes. On the other hand, a person with a high external locus of control typically believes that personal outcomes are contingent upon the environment. That is, \"... the reinforcement or outcome is a function of chance, luck, or fate, is under the control of powerful others, or is simply unpredictable\" (Rotter, 1990, p. 489). A number of writers have been critical of locus of control measures' capacity to genuinely measure a global orientation and argued for more domain specific measures (see, for example, Bandura, 1997; Leone and Burns, 2000; Marshall, 1991). Notwithstanding, the argument that human beings do generalize expectancies from more specific domains does have validity (Marshall, 1991; Rotter, 1990).Rotter's (1990) original conceptualization of external locus of control was two-dimensional and did not differentiate between chance, luck and powerful others as external explanations of control beyond the individual. Levenson (1981) developed I (Internal), P (Powerful others), and C (Chance) scales to address this issue. The separation of powerful others from chance is important conceptually, but also in terms of applicability of the scales to some real world contexts. In particular, the hierarchical structures in many organizations are likely to limit personal control in many instances. Or alternatively, only allow mediated personal control through powerful others (Levenson, 1981). In addition, Levenson's scales are deliberately worded to be specific to the person completing the scales, rather than relating to people generally.Locus of control has proved to be worthwhile in investigations of organizational phenomena. For example, external locus of control has been found to be associated with lower job satisfaction (Kirkcaldy et al., 1999, 2002; McCormick and Solman, 1992), and greater work stress (Glazer et al., 2004; McCormick and Solman, 1992), Moreover, in some organizational contexts, internals have been found to have better mental health outcomes than externals (Hahn, 2000; Kirkcaldy et al., 1999). Importantly, relationships between locus of control and demographic variables have consistently been found (Klein and Wasserstein-Warnet, 2000; Levenson, 1981).\nTheoretical framework and hypotheses: Locus of control is a relatively stable, but certainly not immutable measure of individuals' generalized expectancies for control, which has been used in studies of life cycle changes (Levenson, 1981). The study reported here is based on the proposition that teachers' locus of control will be related to career stages of teachers. It is proposed that the relationships are likely to be dynamic and bi-directional. Generalized expectancy beliefs may be expected to play a role in shaping perceptions and beliefs about work experiences, given the considerable time that most individuals spend in work activities. At the same time, consistent work experiences may be expected to contribute to generalized expectancy beliefs, either by reinforcing or altering pre-existing beliefs.There is likely to be considerable uncertainty and a lack of understanding of structures and processes within schools for beginning teachers. This lack of understanding could mean that many could interpret their experiences as \"random\" occurrences. At the same time, in this early developmental stage, they are likely to be dependent to some degree on others, more expert and with greater personal and organizational authority than them. In a new, relatively unfamiliar environment, they are likely to have a diminished sense of personal control.H1. Career entry beliefs will be positively related to C locus of control.H2. Career entry beliefs will be positively related to P locus of control.H3. Career entry beliefs will be negatively related to I locus of control.The later career stages are likely to be characterized by teachers having a relatively higher sense of personal control because of increased professional experience, confidence and responsibilities. It follows from the same argument that the later career stages are likely to be negatively associated with C and P loci of control. However, there is likely to be an exception for the stocktaking stage, when self-doubts may be predicted to be related to a lower sense of personal control.H4. Stabilization, diversification and change, serenity and affective distance, and conservatism and disengagement beliefs will be positively related to I locus of control.H5. Stabilization, diversification and change, serenity and affective distance, and conservatism and disengagement beliefs will be negatively related to C locus of control.H6. Stocktaking will be positively related to C locus of control.H7 Stocktaking will be negatively related to I locus of control.Although locus of control and career stages are clearly individual level phenomena, they are conceptually very much related to environmental phenomena. Career stage, in particular, may be predicted to vary according to different work environments of schools. For example, one could reasonably predict that schools that are conservative and not attuned to experimentation and change would generally not be conducive to the diversification and change stage, and more likely to be associated with conservatism and disengagement. In the same vein, ways in which power is distributed and enacted in schools are likely to vary considerably (Edwards et al., 2002). One school could be organized along the lines of participative decision-making and distributed leadership, whilst another school could be \"ruled\" by a small elite. Consequently, one could reasonably expect considerable variation of P locus of control across different schools.H8. Career stage beliefs will vary between schools.H9. P locus of control will vary between schools.Finally, given that biographical differences of teachers have been found to be significant predictors in earlier research (see, for example, McCormick, 1997), a more general research question was posited:To what extent may teachers' career stages be predicted by gender, age and number of years working as a teacher?\nMethod: Sample\nAnalysis and discussion: Measurement models\nConclusions: The study reported here investigated relationships between teachers' career stages and locus of control measures with a sample of Australian teachers in 40 randomly selected high schools. The study does have some limitations in terms of the self-report nature of the data. Also, a new instrument was introduced that may be more effective with subsequent development.Measurement models consistent with career stage theory (Huberman, 1989; Super, 1990) and locus of control theory (Levenson, 1981) demonstrated the required structure of the data. However, the theoretical career stages diversification and change and serenity and affective distance did not emerge as distinct stages, possibly reflecting the work experiences of these teachers. Subsequently, latent variable scores were generated and used in multilevel regression analyses.The hypotheses that career stages and powerful other locus of control scores would vary between schools were supported, albeit with small effect sizes. Analyses also provided evidence that gender and number of years experience as a teacher were predictors of some career stages.These results have significance for schools and educational bureaucracies. It seems reasonable to suggest that the lack of a relationship between career entry and years of teaching is a matter of concern. Ideally, a teacher would be in this stage for the first few years of teaching and progress to the stabilization stage. Arguably, for teachers to be in this stage after working for several years is likely to have negative consequences for the teachers, their students and the schools. The paradox may be that provision of support to the latter may be counterproductive. These results suggest that a more appropriate approach may be to engender greater internal locus of control rather than dependence on powerful others, perhaps reinforcing personal authority and responsibilities.From both organizational and individual perspectives, stabilization is likely to be the most positive of the career stages investigated in this study. Hence, it would be desirable for teachers to move to this growth phase as quickly as possible and to continue to grow for as long as possible, preferably maintaining this until retirement. This stage is consistent with nurturing a sense of teacher professionalism.Stocktaking is not by definition negative. Indeed, if teachers are in this stage, then perhaps what are important are the period of time through which the stage extends, and the stage that follows. For example, one teacher could spend a short time taking stock, whilst another spends years. Another might return to the professional growth characterized by stabilization, whilst another could move to conservatism or disengagement.Whilst it may seem \"natural\" for teachers to become more conservative in their teaching over time, this stage may not be desirable if it is associated with a diminished expectancy of personal control. Although one cannot infer causal directions with these analyses, it is worth noting that there is a difference between continuing to employ the same classroom practices because they are perceived to be efficacious, and doing so because of a perceived lack of personal agency.Perhaps the most important outcome from this study is the possibility that school environments may make some contribution to teachers' locus of control and career stage. These results suggest that schools and school systems should deliberately engender work environments that nurture teachers' sense that they are in control of what happens. These environments are likely to be more effective for schools and the teachers who work in them.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper was to posit and test hypotheses concerned with relationships between teachers' demographics, locus of control and career stages.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A sample consisting of 416 Australian non-executive high school teachers was gathered from 40 randomly selected high schools. Multilevel regression analysis reflecting the nested nature of the sample of teachers within schools, and allowing for testing for school effects, was employed.\nFindings: - The paper finds that significant gender and years of teaching experience differences were identified for a number of career stages. There were positive relationships between years of teaching experience and later career stages. A number of multilevel models relating locus of control and demographic variables to career stage were developed and are reported.\nOriginality/value: - The paper shows that teachers' generalized beliefs about personal control may be related to career stages and school practices should nurture beliefs in personal control, rather than dependence on powerful others in the school setting.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A frontier-based hierarchical clustering for airport efficiency benchmarking	[ "Airport benchmarking", "Hierarchical clustering", "Variable weighting" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: In recent years, airport efficiency benchmarking has gained significant attention in both academic and practitioner circles. Airport operators are using performance benchmarking internally and against other airports to gain insight into their operations to improve efficiency (Graham, 2005). The same applies to public authorities, which, in many cases, rely on comparative studies to regulate airport charges or set new standards for service quality. In that regard, like-to-like comparisons are required in order to set realistic targets for improvement (Jessop, 2012), especially when a large, heterogeneous sample of airports has been analyzed. However, the significant complexity of airport operations makes the search for appropriate \"peers\" anything but straightforward. Even when a simple performance indicator is analyzed, e.g. on-time performance, a fully effective comparative analysis would involve classifying sample airports according to multiple variables (depending on the final objective of the study), such as traffic, congestion, or aircraft size. More complex performance indicators (e.g. output or cost efficiencies), typically involve a much larger number of variables, which adds to the challenge of multi-dimensional classification.\n2 Literature review: 2.1 Airport clustering\n3 Clustering methodology: We now describe our airport clustering procedure. For quick reference, Table II provides a summary of all methodological decisions, from the selection of variables to cluster determination. A detailed account of all items is provided in the following sections.\n4 Airport clusters and efficiency benchmarks: The airport dendrogram allows for a more precise identification of efficiency benchmarks, which are now characterized by a vector of cophenetic distances to their \"peers\". These distances may serve as indicators for, e.g. additional investments required to meet the different efficiency targets. This information effectively adds another dimension to the comparative analysis and helps in setting sharper targets for improvement. However, the use of multi-dimensional scaling also leads to a more complex characterization of clusters, which may difficult the generalizability of results to out-of-sample airports. The existence of this trade-off becomes evident when comparing the proposed method to the passenger-based typologies found in other benchmarking studies. When clusters are characterized just by passenger traffic, it is easy for an out-of-sample airport to be clustered and get a broad efficiency target for long-run planning.\n5 Summary and conclusions: This paper presents a HC of the airport industry, with the objective to improve the identification of efficiency benchmarks, which has been typically based on very broad, often unidimensional airport typologies. We argue that, in order to provide a consistent analysis, airports should be clustered using the very same variables that explain efficiency. From a technical perspective, we aimed to improve the existing literature by developing an airport clustering method that incorporates multiple dimensions with optimal weightings; it is suitable for large datasets; and is also not dependent on performance, rather on technology (e.g. a cost frontier).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: When large samples are used to estimate airport efficiency, clustering is a necessary step before carrying out any benchmarking analysis. However, the existing literature has paid little attention to developing a robust methodology for airport classification, instead relying on ad hoc techniques. In order to address this issue, this paper aims to develop a new airport clustering procedure.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A frontier-based hierarchical clustering procedure is developed. An application to cost-efficiency benchmarking is presented using the cost function parameters available in the literature. A cross-section of worldwide airports is clustered according to the relevant outputs and input prices, with cost elasticities and factor shares serving as optimal variable weights.\nFindings: The authors found 17 distinct airport clusters without any ad hoc input. Factors like the use of larger aircraft or the dominance of low-cost carriers are shown to improve cost performance in the airport industry.\nPractical implications: The proposed method allows for a more precise identification of the efficiency benchmarks, which are characterized by a set of cophenetic distances to their \"peers\". Furthermore, the resulting classification can also be used to benchmark other indicators linked to airport costs, such as aeronautical charges or service quality.\nOriginality/value: This paper contributed to airport clustering by providing the first discussion and application of optimal variable weighting. In regard to efficiency benchmarking, the paper aims to overcome the limitations of previous papers by defining a method that is not dependent on performance, but on technology, and that can be easily adapted to large airport datasets.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The significance of culinary cultures to diet	[ "Cooking", "Obesity", "Food", "Eating", "Meal", "Qualitative", "Comparative research" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Since the Second World War a sophisticated and increasingly global agri-food industry has developed resulting in unprecedented change in relation to food supply and energy availability. In turn this has influenced diets and cooking practices in many parts of the developed world and has often been accompanied by rising rates of obesity and other diet-related non-communicable diseases. The causes of such diseases are multi-factorial and certainly no causal link has been established between cooking practices and obesity; however, a review of the limited academic literature on domestic cooking reveals that cooking at home can have a positive influence on diet and health (Chenhall, 2010b; Simmons and Chapman, 2012). For example, it has been suggested that domestic cooking skills can help promote an understanding of what constitutes a healthy diet and that if people lack the ability or confidence to cook, their food choices are more limited (Chen et al., 2012; Lang and Caraher, 2001; Rees et al., 2012). After all, the ability to cook, as well as the confidence to use a wider variety of raw or basic ingredients is important if the individual is not to depend upon highly processed foods, many of which are high in fat, sugar and salt and thus require people to understand food labelling if they wish to control their diet (Gatley et al., 2014; Stitt et al., 1996). Simmons and Chapman's (2012) research in British Columbia, Canada, found that adults believed that cooking at home not only helped prepare teenage members to take responsibility for cooking their own meals but also gave parents greater control over family food intake which can positively influence health and nutrition. Further research in the USA found that those aged 18-23 years who reported cooking frequently, were also more likely to satisfy dietary recommendations in relation to the consumption of fruit, vegetables and calcium (Larson et al., 2006). Further evidence suggests that courses in cookery have had some impact upon people's willingness and confidence to cook, including from raw ingredients, has increased their consumption of fruit and vegetables and helped individuals make informed decisions about their food choices, their diet and their capacity to follow advice on healthy eating (Caraher and Lang, 1999; Chenhall, 2010a; Daniels et al., 2012; Wrieden et al., 2007).\nMethodology: Qualitative, comparative research\nDiscussion of findings: The significance of cooking in the home\nConclusion: This research confirms and refines the notion that while many people in both countries now cook with a mix of raw/fresh foods and pre-prepared and/or convenience foods fairly interchangeably, more French respondents make greater use of raw ingredients from which they more regularly prepare \"traditional\" French meals. As a result it appears they have retained more confidence and pride in relation to cooking, demonstrate greater willingness to cook and as such are in a better position to make choices about diet and health. However the decision as to whether to cook appears not to operate in isolation of other influences and the cultural attitudes of a society clearly plays an important role in relation to cooking habits and diet.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the routine, everyday experiences and attitudes people bring to cooking and eating and aims to compare the significance of such culinary cultures to diets in France and Britain.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The initial phase of this qualitative, comparative research involved in-depth interviews with 13 French and 14 British citizens who were each asked to reflect upon foods eaten in the home, preparation methods and issues surrounding dietary practices and culinary cultures. The next phase of the research asked \"experts\" working within the field to reflect and elaborate upon the initial findings and in total ten French and nine British \"experts\" were interviewed.\nFindings: The results reveal how to a greater extent French respondents relied upon raw ingredients from which they more regularly prepared \"traditional\", structured and commensal meal occasions. Such a food model remains a significant part of everyday life and culinary cultures in France support the consumption of a relatively healthy diet unlike in Britain.\nResearch limitations/implications: This is a small exploratory study based on a limited number of respondents. Further research would benefit from observing what people actually do rather than relying on what people say they do.\nPractical implications: Those responsible for promoting healthier diets need to further prioritise the significance of culinary cultures to cooking practices and diet.\nOriginality/value: While the influence of domestic cooking practices on food intake has received some scholarly attention, this paper presents a more holistic insight into how culinary cultures can play a significant mediating role on diets more generally.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Untangling search task complexity and difficulty in the context of interactive information retrieval studies	[ "Measurement", "Experimental methods", "Interactive information retrieval", "Search task complexity", "Search task difficulty" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In studies of interactive information retrieval (IIR), a sample of users typically completes a set of assigned search tasks while interacting with an information source. This study design is used to address a range of research objectives such as assessing the system or the interface, understanding various patterns of user actions, or testing the effect of selected individual differences or situational effects on that pattern of user actions. The tasks may be artificial (i.e. researcher-constructed) or naturalistic ones provided by study participants. Regardless of which type is used, the nature of the search tasks and the manner in which they are described and presented to the participants may affect the results of the study. A significant research challenge is developing tasks and task descriptions, such that the task itself can be systematically manipulated as part of the research design and does not become a confounding variable.\nMethods: The current study analyzes definitions and operationalizations of search task complexity and difficulty in the published research literature. It is a qualitative meta-analysis of papers included in the publicly available Repository of Assigned Search Tasks (RePAST) (http://ils.unc.edu.pitt.idm.oclc.org/searchtasks/search.html). This repository has been developed through systematic scans of the literature by a team of researchers (Wildemuth and Freund, 2009; Freund and Wildemuth, 2014) and, as of the end of 2013, contains records for 750 journal articles or conference papers, including studies of searching and conceptual papers relating to search tasks. Each record in RePAST was created through manual analysis of the full text of each article and includes:\nResults: attributes of task complexity: Six task attributes have been used to define and operationalize search task complexity:\nResults: attributes of task difficulty: In contrast to task complexity, search task difficulty is primarily treated as a subjective construct, based on effort expended or required. Its definition is most often related to the interactions between the task attributes and the attributes of the searcher and the searcher's situation. Diverse approaches to the conceptualization of task difficulty can be seen in the literature, stemming from two related notions of difficulty: the amount of skill and effort required to complete a task, and the likelihood of success. Our analysis identified four dominant approaches, each of which is described briefly below:\nDiscussion: Prior IIR experiments have not used consistent definitions of search task complexity and search task difficulty. In this paper, we analyzed their use in prior studies in order to untangle their meanings and identify the dimensions that can be observed and measured in each. Like many other concepts that have no manifestation in the real world except one that is socially constructed, neither complexity nor difficulty has a directly observable set of dimensions. Thus we ascribe to them dimensions and, for the sake of clarity and comparison, some agreement needs to be reached about those dimensions.\nConclusion: Our analysis was based on a careful examination of 106 IIR research studies collected in the RepAST. We identified multiple dimensions of two constructs, task complexity and task difficulty, and several ways that each dimension has been operationalized. In addition, the dimensions are often used in combination. Given the large number of studies, few of which were focussed on task effects, this state of affairs should not be surprising. We emphasize the point that future research using either of these constructs should clarify its definition and explain how it is operationalized. Ideally we need consistency from study to study, but at the very least, we should be able to distinguish between different operationalizations of the same construct. From our analysis, we propose the following starting points for future investigations of these two constructs.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: One core element of interactive information retrieval (IIR) experiments is the assignment of search tasks. The purpose of this paper is to provide an analytical review of current practice in developing those search tasks to test, observe or control task complexity and difficulty.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Over 100 prior studies of IIR were examined in terms of how each defined task complexity and/or difficulty (or related concepts) and subsequently interpreted those concepts in the development of the assigned search tasks.\nFindings: Search task complexity is found to include three dimensions: multiplicity of subtasks or steps, multiplicity of facets, and indeterminability. Search task difficulty is based on an interaction between the search task and the attributes of the searcher or the attributes of the search situation. The paper highlights the anomalies in our use of these two concepts, concluding with suggestions for future methodological research related to search task complexity and difficulty.\nOriginality/value: By analyzing and synthesizing current practices, this paper provides guidance for future experiments in IIR that involve these two constructs.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Employer demands from business graduates	[ "Employment", "Students", "Skills", "Employability", "Employers", "Graduate" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The employability of graduates is becoming an increasingly important topic within higher education. The 2008 recession had an impact on graduates' concerns over employment and on higher education institutes in an increasingly competitive environment. Graduate prospects are also a key determination of university league ranking.\n2. Graduate skills in general: Analysis of 1,000 job advertisements aimed at recent graduates in four occupational categories (finance, general management, HRM, marketing), found that the most common skills demanded of graduate job entrants were: communication (420), IT (320), organisation (280), team working (270), interpersonal (240) and motivation (230) (Bennett, 2002).\n3. Method: To identify the sample of employers to be contacted for their views of business graduates, a request was made to student and academic services within Edinburgh Napier University for the \"Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education\" (DLHE) database. The DLHE database provides information on the activities of students gaining a qualification from Edinburgh Napier University after graduation. Data are collected through a survey carried out approximately six months after the student has left the university with a first degree from the business school. The DLHE database follows a standardised format devised by the Higher Education Statistics Agency and provides a robust and reliable measure of student post-graduation activity (see HEFCE, 2011b).\n4. Research findings: Impact of the recession\n5. Discussion: The results of the research indicate suggest that the higher education sector should continue to ensure that the employability of graduates is given serious consideration throughout their university education. Our research findings suggest that employers are placing considerable importance on the capacity of graduates to demonstrate that they possess a wide range of skills.\n6. Conclusions: A key theme emerging from the research was the fact that many graduates appear to be lacking in some relevant skills to obtain employment. This may emanate partly from an expectation that getting a degree is enough and simply do not take into account the effort required in creating excellent CV's and application forms, of researching a potential employer fully, of understanding their value to an employer and having the skills and confidence to demonstrate these at an interview and/or selection centre.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to report on research carried out with employers to determine demand for business and management skills in the Scottish workforce.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The research used a questionnaire in which employers were interviewed (either telephone or face to face), completed themselves and returned by e-mail, or completed an online survey. In total, 71 employers took part in the study.\nFindings: The research found that the factors which are most important to employers when recruiting graduates were; personal attitude, employability skills, relevant work experience and degree result. The most important transferable skills to employers when recruiting graduates were; trustworthiness, reliability, motivation, communication skills and a willingness to learn.\nSocial implications: The paper shows the importance of graduates developing excellent job searching skills, high-quality work experience and developing business courses to enhance students' employability and better meet employers' wants.\nOriginality/value: The paper is timely given the introduction of Key Information Sets. The provision of such information will drive HEI to further develop students' employability to obtain graduate-level jobs.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Interoperability and Open Travel Alliance standards: strategic perspectives	[ "Travel", "Communication technologies", "Distribution channels and markets" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: The process of travel distribution has traditionally been a linear process as evident from Figure 1(a). In a linear or sequential model such as this, each actor can access/interact only with the next/precedent actor (Kabbaj, 2003). Add to this is the proprietary nature of systems within actors that restrict the ability of systems to interact with one another through custom built interfaces only (O'Connor and Frew, 2002; Kabbaj, 2003; Nayar and Beldona, 2006).However, an emerging technology called web services is showing the potential to enable multiple disparate systems to share a common language of communication and information exchange. Web services are solutions that can be delivered as discrete services remotely over the web, using a common means of understanding what each service does and how to integrate with it (Kabbaj, 2003). The phrase \"common understanding\" is critical here because it is the ontology or universal language of communication between disparate systems. Rather than depend on proprietary interfaces to connect with partner systems, firms in the travel distribution space can use a range of services served along a common gateway to distribute and sell inventory. Figure 1(b) shows the concept underlying this potentially multi-dimensional approach to travel distribution. Put differently, the organization of interorganizational processes has the potential of transformation, wherein vertically integrated, hierarchically organized processes are likely to gradually give way to more flexible forms of both internal organization and industrial structure (Brynjolfsson and Mendelson, 1993). In fact, many of the best known, most competitively advantageous information systems are those that link a company to its suppliers, distributors or customers (Johnston and Vitale, 1988).In the travel industry, one major initiative in the development of a universal language (or standards) is the Open Travel Alliance (OTA, 2005). The OTA is a consortium of travel players that seeks to develop uniform standards of messaging and communication between channel partners in the travel industry. The larger purpose of this initiative is to improve interoperability between disparate systems across and within organizations using standards that can be integrated into all known types of hospitality systems. OTA messages enable communication between the different systems in the travel distribution space such as the global distribution systems (GDSs), internet distribution systems (IDSs), central reservation systems (CRSs), property management system (PMS), sales and catering (S&C) systems, etc. Each distribution message is central to a process such as searching for hotels, checking hotel availability, booking hotel rooms, etc. Put differently, the combined effect of these messaging standards represents a language that systems can use to exchange information, enable transactions and subsequently widen the potential for travel distribution.The purpose of this study is to examine the strategic implications of OTA messaging standards on travel distribution as seen from both suppliers and intermediaries. Suppliers in this context meaning hotels, airlines and car rentals and intermediaries include online travel agencies and GDSs. Practical and research implications are discussed.\n2. Conceptual background: 2.1 Evolution in travel distribution\n3. Data and methodology: A multiple case study approach was undertaken. A multiple case study involves the combined analysis of multiple cases using a relatively open, yet structured approach (Yin, 2003). In case study research, data are typically collected using interviews, summaries and related note taking by researchers (Houser, 2009).Key decision makers and influencers from constituent organizations of the OTA were interviewed individually for 35-40 minutes during an OTA advisory forum in Los Angeles, CA, from April 25 to 27, 2006. The interviews were tape-recorded and later transcribed. The interviews were conducted based on a priori themes based on a synthesis of domain knowledge and academic underpinnings. Conceptual underpinnings are discussed in Table II. Applied industry perspectives identified so as to enable the flow of the interview and to later act as the basis for analysis of the interview and are addressed in Section 4.0 and in Table III.The mode of selection for interviews was based on segment representation, participation in OTA workgroups, and seniority in the member organization (decision maker or influencer in the adoption process) and if they served on the OTA board. The representative organizations comprised three hotel companies, two global distribution companies, one car rental company, one internet distribution company and one IT services vendor. Responses of the IT services vendor were removed from the analysis because of the lack of brevity and detail.It is important to note that the sample is restricted to key members of the OTA, who are typically large companies. Therefore, the findings need to be kept within this perspective. OTA specifications have often come under criticism for not serving the needs of smaller operators in the travel market (Lambe, 2009). Also, the costs associated with OTA implementations have been on the higher side, which typically are more feasible for larger firms because of the larger economies of scale that they operate under. Having said this, the opinions of this study's population are nonetheless valuable given the wider influence they wield in the marketplace.\n4. Findings and discussion: In qualitative case study research, the boundaries and units of analysis such that it is open, but yet not undefined (Stake, 2000). Pertinent to this study, two levels of analysis were conducted. The first stage comprises an analysis of responses based on theoretical concepts as shown in Figure 2. The summary of these findings are presented in Table II. Subsequently, an applied approach was undertaken that addressed the industry-specific themes, the summary of which is presented in Table III.For both levels of analysis, the responses was recorded and transcribed. The transcripts were then analyzed by both the researchers independently. Subsequently, a synthesis for each response was arrived at using structured deliberations between the researchers. The objective of such an approach was to limit the potential for subjective biases that may prevail based on each researcher's perceptions of the domain. For the most part, the responses to the theoretical constructs were straightforward and therefore, relatively simple in synthesis. For industry-specific themes, the responses were relatively broader and subsequently required rigorous deliberation of each theme.4.1 Level I analysis: conceptual perspective\n5. Implications and limitations: Findings indicate the divergent interests and points of leverage over OTA messaging initiatives between suppliers and intermediaries. The need for greater control over rates and inventory among suppliers combined with the potential for packaging and value aggregation by intermediaries highlights the potential impact of OTA messaging initiatives on the travel distribution landscape. This study cannot determine the scope of this impact, but it nonetheless encourages future research in this direction. What is the actual impact of OTA messaging specifications on travel distribution as a whole? To what extent has interoperability diminished the relevance of opaque blocks and the merchant model in travel distribution?Note that this study included only the larger players, albeit in a qualitative format that comprised in-depth interviews. Given the criticism of OTA's impact on smaller players in the travel space, one would be interested to see the context of opinions from this segment of the market. Additionally, a framework of interoperability is required that clearly defines best practices across key supplier and intermediary domains. Interoperability of systems across property operations and distribution domains in the hotel sector can be benchmarked based on an ideal scenario of seamless interoperability and thereafter examined at periodic intervals for progress. Importantly, the travel and hospitality domains have had a rich legacy of information fragmentation, legacy systems and disparate platforms. Studies in this domain will further enrich our understanding of how interoperable technologies are changing the landscape of operations, distribution and the like.The importance of packaging and value addition partaken by intermediaries needs to be further examined under the umbrella of interoperability. Future research should investigate specific advances in dynamic packaging and the improvements brought about by OTA messaging standards at the operational level. For example, which messages are making the largest impact on interoperability? What the interorganizational dynamics for specific groups of messaging standards? What is seamless interoperability and what could be the best practices in this context?The evolution towards the trip centric model raises the question as to who will own the guest? Understandably, findings suggest that there were divergent opinions on this issue. With the GDS and IDS mentioning that in a case where the initial point of contact with the guest is with them, then the guest belongs to them and the supplier predictably agreed to disagree to this contention. They felt that it was their imperative to own the guest as the intermediary could not rectify a service flaw or defect and at the end of the day they were responsible for the service fulfillment irrespective of the channel that the booking came through. Note that the service guarantees now prevail even at the intermediary level as of now. Interesting times are ahead for the industry as the competition between intermediaries and suppliers moves into the next stage comprising customer ownership. Intermediaries have been offering loyalty management programs for some time now. We believe there is more to know about guest ownership and how suppliers and intermediaries are dealing with this at a competitive level. Future research in this direction is highly encouraged to examine how the dynamics of interoperability impacts these competing initiatives.When it comes to inventory control and rates, hotels despite not having attained single image of inventory have used OTA messages to better integrate their PMS to CRS connectivity. Some even have a single screen user interface (similar to airlines and car rentals) that are used to block and release room and rates. They have also built-in features and functionality that enable yield management systems to constantly poll the CRS/PMS. Additionally, hurdles can be automatically set up to close availability and rates based on past history and peak volume demand indicators that they have been put in as business rules into the yield management system.It is the authors' submission that further exploration needs be done to understand the differences between the various industry sub-segments in perception of OTA standards and to understand the challenges faced pertinent to implementation outside the USA. A combined HTNG/OTA study might reveal the significant factors that may lead to the use of OTA messages for functional and enterprise architecture.\n6. Conclusion: The purpose of this study was to examine the strategic implications of OTA messaging on travel distribution and to determine the relative importance of factors in the adoption of OTA messaging standards. Findings indicate that suppliers will leverage OTA messages to improve control of inventory distribution. Also, the importance of dynamic packaging and its potential through OTA is realistic and that one can see more changes in this direction in the coming years. Intermediaries also plan to enhance value addition, while all firms plan to improve operational efficiencies through interoperability enabled by OTA messages. Overall, both suppliers and intermediaries have sought to leverage OTA standards within their own strategic realms. Put differently, OTA messaging specifications do not seem to work in favor of one and the detriment of another.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - Since the advent of non-proprietary technologies fostered by the internet, the travel distribution model has been subjected to significant changes. One of the primary changes has been the expanding potential of interoperability between systems brought about the advent of extended markup language-based specifications developed and published by the Open Travel Alliance (OTA). The potential impact of the underlying technology (web services) in use for developing these standards is significant. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate strategic perspectives from key industry players over the potential of this technology and examine the factors pertaining to their adoption.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Data for this came from a series of 30-45-minute interviews with senior executives of four major travel suppliers (included three major hotel chains and one leading car rental company) as well as three major intermediaries (comprised two global distribution system companies and one major online travel agency). Interviews were guided using two types of signposts - conceptual and industry-level phenomena.\nFindings: - Findings indicate that suppliers and intermediaries see distinctive levers of advantage from OTA messaging specifications. While suppliers seek to build flexibility to add/delete channels and subsequently leverage greater control over inventory distribution, intermediaries seek to consolidate on their aggregation capabilities through wider content and enhance dynamic packaging as value for end-customers.\nResearch limitations/implications: - This is a qualitative study comprising in-depth interviews with a selected few respondents that limit the generalizability of the results. Additionally, the perspective is limited to the larger players in the travel distribution space.\nOriginality/value: - The study is the first in hospitality/travel marketing literature to examine the issues of interoperability specific to a major initiative such as the OTA.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Business customers' readiness to adopt manufacturer's new services	[ "Servitization", "B2B", "Technology readiness", "Service acceptance", "Service adoption process", "Service readiness" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: As part of servitization, manufacturers expand their service mix and develop new advanced services that complement their goods (e.g., maintenance contracts and more advanced availability and capability contracts) (Baines and Lightfoot, 2013; Oliva and Kallenberg, 2003; Vandermerwe and Rada, 1988; Gremyr et al., 2010). Manufacturers' motivations to broaden their business to include more services stem typically from competition-oriented benefits, such as using services to differentiate offerings from those of competitors; economic or financial benefits, such as growing revenue streams; and market- or demand-based benefits, such as extending customer relationships (Baines et al., 2009; Brax, 2005; Fang et al., 2008; Oliva and Kallenberg, 2003). However, what is not yet clear is how business customers respond to changes in service offerings and how ready they are to adopt new services that may be more advanced than those to which they are accustomed. Therefore, this study assesses the perceptions of three process industry customer companies about a manufacturer's advanced new service ideas and their readiness to adopt these new services.\n2. Theoretical background: 2.1 Servitization\n3. Methods: 3.1 Methodology and case selection\n4. Results: 4.1 Customer companies' readiness to accept goods-related services\n5. Discussion and implications: 5.1 Theoretical implications on service readiness in the organizational context\n6. Conclusions: 6.1 Contributions\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: For successful servitization, manufacturing firms must understand how their customers adopt new services. The purpose of this paper is to explore customers' readiness for a manufacturer's new services to complement its goods. The goal is to increase knowledge of the aspects that manufacturers should consider when bringing new kinds of services to market.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A qualitative case study design is used to analyze readiness for services and interest in service adoption in three customer firms of a manufacturer. The interview data were collected from 14 persons at customer sites and were content analyzed.\nFindings: The results show that readiness - a concept that is often used in the field of technology - is relevant also for the service adoption process. In a business-to-business context, readiness for service adoption concerns the individual and organizational levels, and hence a new dimension of organizational culture and habits had to be added to the concept that originally focuses on individuals. People consider different factors when making consecutive decisions during the service adoption process and these factors can vary even within a company. The cornerstone for new service adoption is the customer firm's actual need for the service.\nOriginality/value: The results offer new knowledge about service adoption in a business-to-business context by taking a customer firm's perspective. They, thus, complement previous studies on the supplier perspective of servitization and service adoption in consumer business. The contributions help manufacturers focus their efforts when bringing new services to market.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Learning by example: Benchmarking organizational culture in hospitality, tourism and leisure SMEs	[ "Benchmarking", "Organizational culture", "Hospitality management", "Tourism management", "Small to medium‐sized enterprises" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: As part of the UK government's industrial policy and following on from their competitiveness White Paper, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has funded a number of best practice initiatives in a range of industries, including the automotive sector, food manufacturing and the tourism sector (see www.fitforthefuture.org.uk), to investigate the key issues facing small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the future. The DTI has recognized the importance of SMEs for their contribution to the economy and as a source of innovative management strategies and practices. As part of their initiative, they commissioned from the \"industry forum adaptation program\" (IFAP) a competitiveness initiative seeking to devise and employ a strategic agenda for action for the tourism and hospitality industry, to tackle and solve some of its deep-rooted competitiveness issues. Within this context, the measurement of human capital and bridging the gap between the rhetoric and reality of \"people are our most important asset\" has stepped firmly into the spotlight (Guest, 2000; Scarbrough and Elias, 2002) necessitating further exploration of how the hospitality industry accounts for human capital. A total of 89 SMEs employing between 20 and 200 people cooperated in the research. Here we discuss the findings relating to organizational culture which can be an area causing tension and even undermine the viability, performance and stability of an enterprise.The importance of SMEs has finally been recognized. There is a need to reapply, with due modification, techniques which are taken for granted in larger firms (Vinten et al., 1996). The prediction that they would decline was overturned in the 1980s by a period of rapid growth. The SME sector contributes to the UK economy:* High levels of employment - companies with under 200 people are responsible for 58 percent of non-government employment.* Job creation - while SMEs in general, do not create large numbers of sustainable new jobs, significant job creation does occur in a proportion of highly successful firms.* Rapid response to new markets - a small proportion of firms expand their markets rapidly, in tradable areas, and are disproportionately highly important to the economy.In spite of its importance, there has been a relative neglect of people management issues in this sector. Little is known about core personnel systems, such as staff retention, training, development, performance management, internal communication channels and organizational culture on which we concentrate here. The DTI, in recognition of the importance of this sector, commissioned research to inform the debate on creating the right environment for enterprise to flourish.\nBenchmarking organizational culture: The major interest behind benchmarking culture lies in the belief that the intangible character of culture conceptualized as the shared values, attitudes, commitments, beliefs, and overall patterns of thinking, socially constructed among members of an organization, has a tremendous influence on its long-term effectiveness and performance (Dennison, 1984; Wilkins and Ouchi, 1983). However, the question remains whether benchmarking culture actually makes sense since culture, as the unique amalgam of a company's shared values, behavior patterns, mores, symbols, attitudes and normative ways of conducting business (Marcoulides and Heck, 1993; Tunstall, 1986) differentiates it from all other companies and provides an advantage that cannot be easily imitated. Benchmarking on the other hand, which is defined here as the continuous measurement and examination of practices against those organizations regarded as practice leaders (Bamberger and Feigenbaum, 1996; Goldwasser, 1995) embodies the idea that intangible standards could be revealed, established and transferred.Institutional theory maintains that organizational imitation serves the purpose of gaining legitimacy (DiMaggio and Powell, 1983; Meyer and Rowan, 1977). Although Greenwood and Hinings (1996) argued that institutional theory does not explain why some organizations innovate whereas others do not, in spite of facing similar pressures, imitation may be more common in areas where standards are intangible and ambiguous (e.g. organizational culture). Given the standards of tangible standards to judge the quality of organizations in such areas, institutional theory predicts that decision makers will funnel resources to those areas whose practices resemble industry standards.In contrast to institutional theory, the strategic view of HR planning implies that the imitation of organizational cultures, perceived as organizational values and associated practices (Butler et al., 1991; Marcoulides and Heck, 1993; Wright and McMahan, 1992) may not be effective because they should respond to environmental contingencies rather than institutional pressures. However, determining the exact contingencies that call for specific values and practices has not been revealed as an easy job (Napier and Smith, 1987). The difficulties inherent in determining the strategic contingencies that lead companies to develop certain organizational cultures has led some to argue for the existence of a universal set of best practices that facilitate organizational performance across situations (Becker and Gerhart, 1996; Pfeffer, 1994). Because the positive effects of these best practices are considered generalizable, the practicing organizations are likely to become reference points for other organizations. It follows that imitating organizational cultures may be a means to not only attain institutional legitimacy but also remain competitive.The successful comparison and imitation of organizational cultures however, is based on two main assumptions for which there is contradictory evidence in the literature (Delaney and Huselid, 1996), limiting the evolution of an integrative model and synthesis of the cultural variables which impact the implementation of effective strategies in SMEs. The first one refers to the conceptualization of culture since in order to compare and contrast, evaluate, predict and change, it is clearly important that one is first able to understand and classify organizational cultures. The second assumption refers to the link between culture and organizational effectiveness (Banker et al., 1996). In order for benchmarking to make sense, corporate culture should also actually relate to performance, although many argue that there is no compelling evidence for a clear direct link between culture and performance.Organizational culture is not a particularly easy concept to address. A survey of the literature indicates that there are several definitions for culture but these varied definitions principally represent two broad categories, those which describe culture in an overt fashion and those which treat it as an underlying force. The first group views culture as how an organization sets strategy, develops goals, measures progress, and defines products and markets. Culture is considered as a mechanism for governing rational behavior, a system of broad rules for appropriate action under specified contingencies (Camerer and Vepsalainen, 1988). Those who hold this view tend to use a practitioner's perspective and often seem to regard culture as at least partially changeable and thus amenable to managerial intervention.The second group focuses on underlying systems of assumptions and beliefs which are shared by members of an organization (Schein, 1990) and expressed via symbols, ceremonies and myths (Ouchi, 1981). Most researchers supporting this view agree that an organization's value system is a key element to the definition of culture (Arogyaswamy and Byles, 1987; Deal and Kennedy, 1982; Peters and Waterman, 1982; Wiener, 1988). In this paper, we view culture as a set of values and assumptions shared by organizational members and yet as a phenomenon to be useful from an organizational development perspective that can be affected and observed within a short-term period of time. In this way, the two conceptualizations of culture are not mutually exclusive but are complementary, enabling their measurement, examination and imitation.Trying to understand culture has led to an investigation of the relationship of organizational culture to other organizational-level variables. Organizational effectiveness, arguably the most important variable at this level, has been examined. Qualitative analysis led Camerer and Vepsalainen (1988) to predict that firms would be effective if their cultures solved the management problem of governing economic activity efficiently. Within Wiener's (1988) \"shared values\" framework, the functional-traditional cultural style was considered the most likely to contribute to the development of \"proper\" values and, consequently, to organizational effectiveness.Dennison (1984) using concrete performance indicators and a quantitative measurement methodology, reported that a participative culture affected companies' bottom-line performance much more than less efficient cultures. However, the existence of a positive link between culture and performance has not gained unanimous acceptance. According to Saffold (1988), the link between culture and performance is not a straightforward one. Reynolds (1986) concluded that there was little evidence of an association between organizational performance and certain elements of organizational culture.The purpose of the present study therefore was to explore in a qualitative way the relationship between organizational performance and culture, in our effort to identify categories and dimensions of culture in successful SMEs around which rituals develop and stories evolve. We explored whether best performer operations in the hospitality, tourism and leisure industry shared certain values, assumptions and beliefs critical for their functioning and effectiveness in order to inform the debate on creating the right environment for enterprise to flourish.\nMethod: Industry context\nResults: Figure 1 summarizes the key values and beliefs found at the center of most organizational cultures of our case study best-performing operations. Our results indicate that best performers are committed to the enactment of an organizational culture that strongly supports employee involvement and cooperation towards achieving the company's objectives and planning for the future, attention to organizational and individual learning, and commitment to sharing information at all levels.Collaborative setting of missions and strategies\nConclusion: The results indicate that the best performing SME operations in the hospitality, tourism and leisure industry share certain elements of their culture rendering meaningful any efforts for linking culture and organizational performance and benchmarking organizational cultures. Most best-practice operations share cultures that support values such as building the future together, cooperative setting of missions and strategies, development of teamwork and organizational learning. Moreover, such values and practices as helping others, sharing of information and resources, and working as a team seem to enhance performance in the aggregate for this sample of organizations.The qualitative and inductive research design used in this work provides strong evidence that organizational performance may be influenced by its culture, so it may be appropriate for managers in the organization to foster a culture that will facilitate effective organizational performance. While the current analysis indicated that a culture which encourages the above values may be beneficial in the hospitality and tourism industry, one important implication may be that short-term benchmarking of culture and cultural change may facilitate the identification of particular elements of culture which most significantly influence performance. As a consequence, managers can concentrate efforts to achieve changes which maximize performance.Owing to the size however of most SMEs, management and employees agree on the importance of teambuilding and collaboration at all levels and all functions and tasks. However, there comes a point, as the business grows in size and complexity that more formalized channels need to be developed and utilized with the danger of introducing increased amounts of bureaucracy into the business. Being loyal though and trying to reinforce the above values irrespectively of the size, scope and complexity of the operation may contribute to overcoming any potential problems that may arise.Implications for practice\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - To provide positive benchmarking examples of hospitality, tourism and leisure small management enterprises in the area of organizational culture.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Extreme case sampling was used; locating information-rich key informants or critical cases. A total of 89 small businesses were researched including hotels (and guest houses), restaurants, pubs, visitor attractions and leisure opportunities.\nFindings: - Semi-structured interviews were analysed using an iterative approach based on the assumptions of Argumentation Theory. Results suggest that best-performing small to medium-sized (SME) operations in the hospitality, tourism and leisure industry share certain elements of culture including: supporting values such as building the future together, cooperative setting of missions and strategies, development of teamwork and organizational learning.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The research completed is illustrative of positive benchmarking elements of organizational culture. Further research, however, could also look at negative features which may hinder the success of hospitality, tourism and leisure industry SMEs.\nPractical implications: - The work provides clear suggestions for hospitality, tourism and leisure industry SMEs to improve managerial practice, focusing on five main cultural dimensions: organizational performance, teamwork, building the future together, building the ability to learn, and collaborative setting of strategies.\nOriginality/value: - This paper begins to fill the gap of a very under-researched area: benchmarking organizational culture in hospitality, tourism and leisure industry SMEs. Both academics and practitioners will find it very illuminating.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
An empirical taxonomy of purchasing functions	[ "Cluster analysis", "Strategic management", "Supply chain management" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: Over the past decade there has been a growing realisation of the important contribution that purchasing and supply management can have on firm performance. Many organisations have shifted their view of the purchasing function from one of tactical support and toward being a strategic capability (Ellram and Carr, 1994). Whilst both academics and practitioners agree that efficient and effective supply chain management can lead to sustainable competitive advantage, there appears to have been little empirically based research on what might be the optimal design configuration and level of maturity of purchasing to achieve these benefits.Researchers have produced a range of models and typologies which attempt to identify the various developmental stages of purchasing. These models tend to be conceptual and to lack empirical underpinning; nevertheless they provide a useful background to this study. One of the earliest typologies examining purchasing function configurations was Reck and Long's (1988) four stages of development, consisting of purchasing configurations ranging from passive, independent, supportive and integrative. Freeman and Cavinato (1990) identified five stages of strategic purchasing: buying, purchasing, procurement, supply acquisition and facilitating networks. Other practitioner-based models include Cammish and Keough (1991) who proposed four stages being: serve the factory, lowest unit cost, co-ordinated purchasing and strategic procurement. This was later followed by Burt and Doyle (1994) whose four stage model was comprised of reactive, mechanical, proactive, and strategic supply management. More recently, Monczka, et al. (2002) discussed the purchasing configurations of manufacturing support, price buying, consolidation and integrated strategic sourcing and supply chain management.Despite this considerable attention, there is little empirical evidence showing the current situation of purchasing function development within organisations. Thus, the objective of this study is to empirically investigate whether there exist different configurations of purchasing functions, and if so, what characteristics each configuration possesses, and how they relate to various supplier and organisational performance outcomes. We use a survey questionnaire to collect detailed data concerning purchasing and supply management practices, and supplier organisational performance outcomes from 151 UK firms provided through the membership database of the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply (CIPS). A cluster analysis of the data identified four distinct patterns of purchasing function configuration. They are named as strategic, celebrity, undeveloped and capable, according to the characteristics of each.Our study helps shed light on the various configurations of a purchasing function within today's organisations. The identification of this taxonomy should also facilitate the study of the evolution of purchasing functions. We find that the development of purchasing functions corroborates much of the previous work on purchasing typologies, such as Reck and Long (1988). The findings are also useful for practitioners seeking to improve the performance and standing of the purchasing function through identification of the characteristics and potential limitations faced at each phase.The remainder of the paper is structured as follows. The next section reviews the relevant literature focused on the development of the purchasing function, and develops hypotheses for:* different configurations of purchasing functions based on four purchasing characteristics; and* difference in performance outcomes resulting from these different configurations.The research methodology is discussed, specifically the research design and the use of cluster analysis to analyse the data. The results are subsequently presented, and each type of purchasing function identified, interpreted and validated. Theoretical contributions and implications of this study for practitioners and academics are then discussed, before the paper concludes with a review of limitations, future directions and key conclusions.\n2 Literature review: 2.1 The evolution of purchasing\n3 Research method: 3.1 Sample characteristics\n4 Results: A principal component factor analysis with oblimin rotation in SPSS 11.5 was used to assess the uni-dimensionality of the purchasing function characteristics and performance outcomes. Oblimin rotation, rather than the more common orthogonal rotation, was used to allow for correlated factors (Conway and Huffcutt, 2003). Oblique rotations are more appropriate where the goal is to obtain several meaningful factors, as in the current study, rather than item reduction (Hair et al., 1998). Items with low loadings of less than 0.45, or loadings on multiple items, with difference between weights of less than 0.10, were deleted from the analysis. The internal consistency of the scales was also assessed using Cronbach's a coefficients.The as for each scale, reported in Appendix, ranged from 0.92 for financial performance to 0.71 for strategic purchasing. These levels are above the lower limits of acceptability of 0.70 outlined by Nunnally (1978). The factor loadings, eigen values and variance explained for each purchasing characteristic scale are shown in Table II. The reliabilities of the measures of performance outcomes were supplier integration (0.79), supplier relationship outcomes (0.81), production performance (0.88) and financial performance (0.92). The factor loadings, eigen values and variance explained for each purchasing characteristic scale are shown in Table III.The data was analysed in two stages. The first stage was designed to cluster the firms (n=151) according to strategic orientation based on four constructs: strategic planning, purchasing status, internal integration, and the level of knowledge and skills. The second stage compared the identified clusters across four performance measures.4.1 Stage 1: cluster analysis\n5 Discussion: This study has developed an empirically-based taxonomy of purchasing configurations based on their levels of strategic planning, status, internal integration and skills. The analysis of the resultant four groups showed that each adopted different configurations of resources. Our taxonomy is roughly consistent with the strategic typology proposed by Reck and Long (1988). Strategic purchasers would parallel the \"integrative\" group where the purchasing function is highly regarded, tightly integrated with the business and heavily involved in strategic decision making. Capable purchasers reflect the \"supportive\" phase where the function is contributing to strategy, though not as integrated internally nor held in the same esteem as strategic purchasers. Undeveloped purchasers are akin to \"independent\" phase were they are a professional function, but reactive and responding to the needs of the business. Celebrity purchasers represent an interesting group, outside of current classification systems.The largest group, strategic purchasers, representing 32 per cent of the sample, are reflective of a mature and proactive purchasing function. They are heavily involved in planning about strategic issues affecting the firm, such as make-or-buy decisions, and strategic sourcing. Strategic purchasers are closely aligned with the internal business needs, highly regarded by top management and possess high skill levels and knowledge. Strategic purchasers are focused more on supply chain management issues, rather than managing contracts, as shown by the high levels of integration with suppliers in communication channels and information technology. Strategic purchasers also achieve significantly higher outcomes (such as quality, product and process design and lead time reduction) from their supplier relationships than all other groups. Effective management of supplier relationships is central to a competitive advantage (Dyer and Singh, 1998). Although financial performance is not statistically higher than other clusters (apart from capable purchasers), Strategic purchasers attained the highest mean, indicating that at least some of these gains are flowing through to the firm's bottom line.Capable purchasers, representing 31 per cent of the sample, are consistent with a professional, but not proactive or dynamic, purchasing function. The function is highly skilled, but has not fully been able to translate these skills into the rest of the business. Capable purchasers have moderate levels of status, internal integration and involvement in strategic matters. Members of this cluster are making progress toward actualising their potential contribution to the organisation, and over time, are likely to build on their skills to evolve toward strategic purchasers. The performance achieved by this function reflect their strong capabilities in supplier-related dimensions (supplier integration and supplier relationship outcomes), though does not flow through to broader operational and financial performance of the firm.Celebrity purchasers, 26 per cent of the sample, are an interesting configuration. Notable characteristics of this function are high levels of status in the eyes of top managers, yet statistically lower knowledge and skill levels than any other cluster. They also have low involvement in strategic planning and low-to-moderate integration with the rest of the business. Potential reasons for this finding may be due the presence of an enigmatic leader who is able to sell the purchasing function to top management, but at the end of the day, is an \"emperor without clothes\". Alternatively, the configuration may reflect a purchasing function which concentrates on hard negotiations with many suppliers and is assessed based on the price savings achieved. The low skill level of buyers is due to a focus on \"hands-on\" operational issues, rather than higher-level strategic thinking. Thus, the function may be seen as valuable, though within a role limited to cost saving activities. Although their status was high within the firm, they had done little in terms of developing the capabilities of the purchasing function to build on their reputation. This contributed to their poor performance outcomes. Celebrity purchasers had significantly lower levels of integration with suppliers, lower production performance, and achieved fewer benefits from supplier relationships than both strategic and capable purchasers, though not statistically different to undeveloped purchasers.Undeveloped purchasers, 19 per cent of the sample, are the laggards of the sample. We call the group undeveloped, as despite having the second highest mean skill levels (though not statistically different from strategic or capable purchasers), they have the lowest means for all other purchasing characteristics relating to strategic planning, status and internal integration. Indeed, they are significantly lower than all other groups on status and internal integration dimensions. Although purchasing possess the skills to contribute to the success of the firm, the function is of little concern to top management, does not engage with other areas of the business, and has only limited involvement in strategic planning. Surprisingly, the high skill levels of the undeveloped purchasers help offset their limitations in other characteristics. Their performance across all four outcomes examined was not significantly different to the capable purchasers, and had higher means than celebrity purchasers. Importantly, undeveloped purchasers were also not statistically different from strategic purchasers, with the exception of supplier relationship outcomes. Undeveloped purchasers appear to represent the nascent form of purchasing - it possesses a solid base, but has not yet been able to project its influence into the firm's strategic dialogue, engage with other functions of the business to any substantive extent, and perhaps consequently, is not recognised by top management as being important to the firm.The four groups identified via cluster analysis reflect the evolutionary process of development in purchasing. Celebrity purchasers are a unique case - high status yet expected indicators of purchasing development are not present. For the remaining groups, purchasing development appears to follow identifiable and additive phases, moving from undeveloped, to capable, to strategic. At the undeveloped stage, purchasing has high skill levels, but has not yet engaged with areas outside of the function. Interestingly, their performance outcomes are not statistically different from capable purchasers indicating a powerful role for skills in driving performance. Evolving to the capable stage, the function is starting to project its influence into the rest of the organisation, gaining respect and status in the process. Finally, a strategic purchaser is developed initially by building skills, then engaging with the rest of the organisation, and ultimately integrating both these aspects. Only a strategic purchaser is able to gain full benefit for the organisation from its supplier relationships.\n6 Limitations and future directions: This research project is not without its limitations. First, as the study is based on cross-sectional survey search, it provides limited longitudinal insight toward our understanding of the evolution between purchasing function configurations. Qualitative research, such as case studies, could provide such rich insights into the evolution of purchasing functions. Our data was also based on the perceptions of purchasing managers within the firms. Even though steps were taken to control common method variance, its existence cannot be completely ruled out. However, as a broad range of organisations was surveyed, we do have some generalisability to the broader population of firms.Additionally, the relationships between different types of purchasing function and organisational performance have not been widely explored. Future research could examine the driving forces behind each configuration. It may be that particular customer pressures, environmental pressures or the impact of organisational strategies drive the development of different purchasing functions. For example, within retailers or automotive organisations, the purchasing function is likely to play a higher profile role in the company's success, as compared to a financial institution.The nature of the groups identified in this study also raises a number of questions with regard to the process of evolution within the purchasing function. Does development between groups occur smoothly or as a discontinuous shift? Do all groups follow the stages or can they skip between them? What strategies underlie the development of purchasing functions? What outside factors influence the barriers and opportunities for purchasing development? These important questions warrant further research.\n7 Conclusions: A cluster analysis of survey results from 151 UK organisations results in the identification of four purchasing function configurations. These configurations were termed strategic, capable, celebrity and undeveloped, according to the characteristics they possess. Significant differences in supplier- and organisational-related performance outcomes were found across these four types of purchasing functions. The taxonomy developed in this study provides useful insights for both practitioners and researchers seeking to uncover different purchasing function configurations, and their differential performance outcomes. Interestingly, we also found the existence of a celebrity purchasing configuration, with high status, and low levels of other purchasing characteristics, which previous research had not identified. Our study also largely corroborates previous frameworks, such as Reck and Long (1988), helping to improve our understanding of the evolution of purchasing. Differences among the clusters show that purchasing functions make greater contributions to performance as they \"mature\" moving from undeveloped to capable to strategic configurations. Purchasing skills were also shown to be a precondition for purchasing to exert influence within the organisation. Our study provides evidence that exhortations to improve the capability of the purchasing function toward becoming \"strategic\" are indeed justified.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to investigate the different patterns of purchasing function configuration, and the relationship between such patterns and organisational performance.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Despite considerable attention, there is little evidence showing the current situation toward the development of purchasing functions within organisations. Through quantitative data collected from 151 UK purchasing executives, cluster analysis is used to uncover and characterize four purchasing function configurations.\nFindings: - Four configurations, termed strategic, capable, celebrity, and undeveloped, were identified according to the characteristics they possess. Significant differences in supplier- and organisational-related performance outcomes were found across these four purchasing function configurations. Purchasing skills were also shown to be a precondition for purchasing to exert influence within the organisation.\nResearch limitations/implications: - A cross-sectional survey provides limited longitudinal insight into the evolution of purchasing functions. Future research could examine how firms move between purchasing configurations. This study does, however, improve understanding of the different types of purchasing functions, their performance outcomes, and makes recommendations for potential strategies to be adopted for purchasing function improvement.\nPractical implications: - The findings are useful for practitioners seeking to improve the performance and standing of the purchasing function through identification of the characteristics and potential limitations faced at each phase.\nOriginality/value: - This paper is one of few studies to provide an empirical test of purchasing function configuration, and the implications for organisational performance.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The impact of institutional trading on liquidity and volatility during the financial crisis	[ "Financial crisis", "Market quality" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The collapse of the US subprime mortgage market and the reversal of the housing boom in USA had wide-ranging effects around the world. In addition, other weaknesses in the global financial system surfaced at that time. Some financial products and instruments had become so complex that as things started to unravel, the trust in the whole system started to fail. For example on September 15, 2008: Citigroup Inc. stocks declined 15 percent in value; Lehman Brothers socks plummeted from a high of $65 in January 2008 to a low of less than $4. On September 12, 2008: American Express Co. fell 8.9 percent. On September 15, 2008: Goldman Sachs fell 12 percent and Morgan Stanley 14 percent. The extent of these price falls were largely a result of short selling. On September 15, 2008 (see Bloomberg, September 16, 2008), President Bush signed a $100 billion bailout package.\n2. Literature review: This literature review explores research into institutional investors' contribution to liquidity and market efficiency in spot and futures markets. It also considers research on regulation that may affect market quality, particularly liquidity, volatility and market efficiency. Empirical work on market quality portrays short selling, a specific area of interest in this study, in both a positive and negative light.\n3. Methodology: 3.1. Measures of market quality\n4. Data: The sample in this study includes all constituent common stock in the Standard and Poor's 500 (S\n5. Results: 5.1. Descriptive statistics\n6. Summary and conclusions: Analyzing US S\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of institutional trading on the market quality during the financial crisis and short sale ban.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The following methods was applied to discuss the total impact on market quality and efficiency of short sale ban in USA from 2001 to 2010. The author examined institutional ownership and breadth of ownership while performing a mean variance tests for changes in efficiency as well as multivariate analysis.\nFindings: Analyzing USA, Standard and Poor's 500 stocks the author find increase high-low volatility, realized volatility, effective spread and relative quoted spread during January 1, 2007 to December 31, 2010. Realized volatility increases for both small and large quantile stocks. High-low volatility increases for small quantile stocks and relative quoted spread increases for large quantile stocks. Comparing the percentage change between pre and climax period we find that large quantile stocks have a negative association between breadth of institutional ownership and returns and a positive relation high-low volatility, realized effective spread and quoted spread to returns.\nOriginality/value: The present paper is the first to discuss the total impact on market quality and efficiency of short sale ban in USA from 2001 to 2010. The author find a remarkable improvement in market efficiency (variance ratios) after the crisis period for small and non-financial stocks, while the price efficiency lost during the crisis period is more persistent for large and financial stocks.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Improving US real estate returns with cost segregation	[ "Taxation", "Asset valuation", "Real estate", "Property valuation", "Cost segregation", "Investor returns" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Real estate generates positive or negative returns for investors through annual cash flow, adjusted net worth and price change. Investors should strive to optimize the benefits while reducing the risk of investing in an illiquid asset. Real estate also increases the diversification of typical portfolios. Patrick and Conway (1988) found that real estate investments have a low correlation to stocks and bonds, concluding that real estate provides a positive risk/return trade-off. MacKinnon and Al Zaman (2009) determined the optimal investment portfolio should include a 17 percent or higher allocation to real estate. They also found the benefits of real estate increase with investment horizon and direct real estate investment is preferable to real estate investment trusts.\n2. Real estate return metrics: The capitalization rate and the cash-on-cash return are two popular methods to evaluate real estate investments. The capitalization rate divides net operating income by the cost of the property:\n3. Passive losses: In the USA, losses on real estate investment are considered passive losses for tax purposes. Passive losses may be used to offset passive income, such as gains on other real estate investments. However, they typically cannot be deducted from employment income (active income) or financial market investments (investment income). An investor with multiple properties combines the income or loss from each property to determine the net amount of passive income for the year. Therefore, investors that have an offset for passive losses may be more likely to use more debt and invest in properties with negative cash flow. Passive losses that cannot be used are carried forward to offset future passive income.\n4. Classification of property: The cash-on-cash return and the capitalization rate ignore taxes and the effect of depreciation on taxes. The after-tax cash-on-cash return and the overall return on investment use after-tax cash flows, which captures depreciation and tax effects. The classification of property significantly affects the depreciation rate and after-tax returns.\n5. Projections: The following examples demonstrate the benefits of increased or accelerated depreciation through accurate property classification. The projections use common initial classification methods, different investment sizes, and various levels of debt. The range of examples shows that accurate property classification improves returns for a variety of potential real estate investments.\n6. Other considerations: In all of the projections, rent and expenses are assumed to remain constant for the life of the investment. The after-tax cash flows rise if an annual increase in rent and expenses is assumed but the returns and net present value difference remain the same. Similarly, rising property value increases the return to the investor but is not affected by property classification and depreciation amounts.\n7. Conclusion: Investing in real estate can generate positive cash flows and increase net worth but it involves significant risk. The risk can be limited and returns increased by:\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: US taxing authorities allow property investment to be separated into components. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how the classification of property affects the amount and timing of depreciation. Increased and accelerated depreciation increases after-tax cash flows and investor returns.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper explains traditional methods to analyze real estate investments and introduces modified methods that include the effect of taxes to improve the estimate of the potential return to the investor. Commonly used property classification methods are evaluated and projections are used to demonstrate the impact on investor returns.\nFindings: Modified methods may improve return estimates and appropriately classifying property improves investor returns.\nPractical implications: After-tax cash flows should be used to analyze potential real estate investments and properties should be accurately classified to maximize returns.\nOriginality/value: This paper demonstrates how to analyze real estate investments and maximize returns.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Self-efficacy, social support, and quality of life among primary family-member caregivers of patients with cancer in Thailand	[ "Self-efficacy", "Social support", "Quality of life", "Primary family-member caregiver", "Cancer patient" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Cancer is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality. It accounted for 8,800,000 deaths worldwide in 2015[1]. The International Agency for Research on Cancer has also reported that the incidence of cancer-related death will continue to increase[2]. In 2012, 14.1 million new cancer cases were reported worldwide and 32,600,000 people within five years of their diagnosis were living with cancer. In Thailand, cancer is a national public health issue because of behavioral and lifestyle factors including environmental pollution[3]. Cancer-related morbidity and mortality rates have steadily increased in Thailand from a morbidity rate of 134.2/100,000 people and a mortality rate of 87.6/100,000 people in 2008 to 154.5/100,000 and 98.5/100,000 in 2012, respectively[4]. The Hospital-based Cancer Registry Annual Report 2013[5] by the National Cancer Institute of Thailand revealed that there were 3,925 new cancer cases in 2012. Among men, the leading cancers are trachea, bronchus, and lung cancer (18.4 percent), followed by liver and intrahepatic bile ducts cancer (15.6 percent). The leading cancers among women are breast cancer (39.3 percent) and cervical cancer (15.1 percent).\nMethods: Research design and sample\nResults: Among the 200 caregivers who were invited to participate, 178 primary family-member caregivers fulfilled the inclusion criteria and completed the questionnaire. Approximately 78.1 percent of the 178 patients were male. The mean patient age was 51.1 years (range: 15-86), 68.5 percent were living with their spouse, 60.7 percent had an education level of secondary school or higher, and 60.7 percent were working. Medical expenses were paid using the universal health care coverage scheme (UCS) or other health cards in 90.4 percent of the cases. The patients generally had solid tumor cancers (61.8 percent), early-stage disease (50.6 percent), one previous treatment (50.6 percent), and 3-24 months of treatment after their diagnosis (83.7 percent). Approximately 40.4 percent of patients had at least one comorbidity (Table I).\nDiscussion: The study revealed that just over half the primary family-member caregivers (52.8 percent) had a good QoL. The high proportion of good QoL among primary caregivers in this study may be related to filial piety and \"obligatory care\" as motivations for caregiving in Thai society which is similar to other Asian countries [31, 32]. Generally, most Thai people believe that families must provide care for sick family members (e.g. patients with cancer), and that this support should be both shared and committed. Family-member caregivers are generally a spouse or parent [28], and the Thai belief is that families can provide the best possible care for sick family members, based on their close relationship, understanding, and affection. Although some caregivers provide support willingly, other caregivers may provide it out of a sense of obligation or social pressures from friends and neighbors [22, 28].\nConclusion and recommendations: In conclusion, approximately one-half of primary family-member caregivers reported having a good QoL. The primary family-member caregivers who provided care for male cancer patients and were co-responsible for covering the patient's cost of care, had a lower level of perceived self-efficacy, and perceived social support reported having poorer QoL. As primary family-member caregivers play an important role in caring for patients with cancer, and have significant effects on their health and well-being, healthcare professionals should incorporate the self-efficacy concept to help enhance caregiver self-efficacy and QoL, especially for individuals who are caring for male patients with cancer. For example, healthcare providers could discuss the social support experience and needs of family-member caregivers, and provide counseling regarding ways to obtain the necessary social and financial support. Few studies have used specific tools to measure the QoL of family primary caregivers of Thai patients with cancer, and further studies are needed with larger samples to confirm the findings of this study.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: In Thailand, most patients with cancer primarily receive in-home care from their family members. However, information regarding the quality of life (QoL) of the primary family-member caregivers is scarce. The purpose of this paper is to assess primary family-member caregivers' QoL and its association with self-efficacy and social support using a Thai version of the Caregiver Quality of Life Index-Cancer (CQOLC).\nDesign/methodology/approach: This hospital-based cross-sectional study was performed at a teaching hospital in Bangkok. Questionnaires were administered to 178 primary family-member caregivers of patients with cancer between June 2015 and July 2016, and their QoL was measured using a Thai translation of the CQOLC made by the research team. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were performed using SPSS software (version 18).\nFindings: Approximately 79.8 percent of primary family-member caregivers were female, 86.0 percent were 18-51 years old. In total, 52.8 percent reported having a good QoL, 60.1 percent reported a moderate level of perceived self-efficacy, and 56.7 percent reported a high level of perceived social support for providing care. Primary family-member caregivers, who provided care for male cancer patients and were co-responsible for covering the patient's cost of care, had a lower level of perceived self-efficacy and perceived social support. They also reported having poorer QoL. The patients' characteristics were more strongly associated with the family-member caregivers' QoL, than the family-member caregivers' characteristics, perceived self-efficacy, and perceived social support.\nOriginality/value: Approximately 50 percent of primary family-member caregivers reported having a good QoL. Healthcare providers should incorporate the self-efficacy concept to help improve primary family caregiver's self-efficacy to provide care to patients with cancer, especially for individuals who are caring for male patients, and provide counseling for primary family-member caregivers regarding ways to obtain the necessary social and financial support to improve their QoL.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Senior citizens' acceptance of connected health technologies in their homes	[ "TAM", "Trust", "Smart homes", "Social presence", "Connected health technologies", "Degree of intrusiveness" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Life expectancy is increasing worldwide. According to the World Health Organization (2011), this trend shows no sign of slowing in the coming years. Due to chronic health problems that arise with increased life expectancy, improving the quality of life of elderly people represents a major challenge for today's society. Faced with an exploding elderly population and longer life expectancies, seniors increasingly need care and new healthcare technologies that can be useful in improving their quality of life at home. Indeed, we have to rethink the way in which services are provided to the elderly.\n2. Theoretical background and hypotheses: According to TAM, the ease of use of a new technology will influence its perceived usefulness (Davis, 1989). Ease of use is a key factor to promote the usage of new technologies among older adults. Research points out several reasons for that. The ageing population is believed to have more diverse needs in relation to new technologies than younger populations given the lower level of IT literacy (when compared with younger populations) and the physical and cognitive limitations that may arise with ageing. These factors may affect the capability of seniors' to use different technologies (Lorenz and Oppermann, 2009). Thus, poor design of new technologies can render the adoption of new technologies difficult by elderly people (Fischer et al., 2014). This assumption is also supported by Coughlin et al. (2007). McEvoy et al. (2006) also suggested that new health technologies need to be user-friendly to optimize their uptake with older adults. The difficulty in understanding the functioning of new technologies could negatively influence elders' perceived usefulness regarding their own use of a technology. Therefore, we propose the following hypothesis:\n3. Methodology: 3.1 Measures\n4. Results: 4.1 Descriptive analysis\n5. Conclusion: The aim of the study was to get a better understanding of how our seniors perceive connected health technologies in order to enhance their quality of life. The results regarding the positive influence of the feeling of social presence on the perceived usefulness, degree of intrusiveness and the feeling of trust are particularly interesting. If the feeling of social presence heavily influences perceived intrusiveness and degree of trust, its moderate influence on perceived usefulness is also noteworthy. Indeed, this result is important as it indicates that the ability to generate a feeling of social presence can also be a key factor. Another interesting finding regarding the impact of social presence is that, the older the respondents are the more they perceive a social presence through these technologies. This raises the question of ascertaining what triggers this perception. For example, is this based on the type of technology used by this category of elders or simply a different relation to the technology while ageing? Further research is needed to explore the influence of age in the perception of these technologies.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The objective of this paper is to focus on seniors' acceptance of the usage of connected healthcare technologies in their homes. The authors integrated into technology acceptance model (TAM) several latent variables such as social presence, trust and degree of intrusiveness perceived with the use of connected health technologies.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors distributed the survey by post to 605 seniors. The authors targeted elderly people using connected health technologies (assistive alarm, telecare, sensors, etc.) at home and/or receiving healthcare at home. The authors received 213 questionnaires back. As The authors had several latent variables, the authors used partial least squares (PLS), a variance-based structural equation modeling method.\nFindings: The results show that the level of trust in these technologies impacts significantly the perception of usefulness and the degree of intrusiveness. In parallel, the degree of usefulness of these technologies impacts positively elderly people's intention to accept their usage. Finally, one can claim that the perception of the social presence with the use of these technologies impacts positively the degree of perceived usefulness, trust and intrusiveness.\nResearch limitations/implications: The sample covers a population benefiting from similar connected health technologies. It was difficult to distinguish and interpret the added value of each technology separately. As more and more elderly people use or are least familiarizing themselves with a range of connected technologies it would be interesting to identify which sets of connected technologies contribute the most to a positive feeling of social presence.\nSocial implications: These results are particularly relevant to stakeholders in the health industry in their quest to improve their products/services. A better understanding of the relation that the elderly have with connected health technologies is an essential prerequisite to supporting the development of new solutions capable of meeting the specific needs of our seniors.\nOriginality/value: The authors want to apply the TAM to connected health technologies designed for elderly people and the authors also want to extend it by integrating the social presence, trust and degree of intrusiveness variables to our research model.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Why clinicians involved with adverse events need much better support	[ "Clinical governance", "Patient safety", "Organizational learning", "Clinical leadership and culture", "Health professions", "Adverse events or outcomes" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Adverse events and the impact on patients have been a major issue of concern for health professionals, and patients and their families, and have received significant media attention over the last three decades. An extensive amount of research has been conducted in the USA, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Singapore, Denmark and by the World Health Organisation in developing countries that has confirmed that this is a global problem with an overall rate of about 10 per cent (Hamilton et al., 2014; Brennan et al., 1991; Wilson et al., 1995; Vincent et al., 1999). Consequently, many organisations and programs have been established to address the quality and safety of health care delivery and to prevent the occurrence of adverse events (Spigelman and Rendalls, 2015).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to draw attention to the problem of second victims involved in adverse events and their need for adequate support.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The impact on second victims involved in adverse events and implications for organisational support were determined from previous studies and relevant publications about this problem.\nFindings: The impact of adverse events on health professionals who are involved in them can be profound. These second victims can suffer extreme emotional distress, anxiety regarding perceptions of their competence and professional isolation, and may endure long-term professional and personal consequences. Some of the more severe outcomes include leaving the profession, symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and suicide. Many studies report a substantial lack of organisational support for second victims. Key strategies have been recommended for organisations to implement to support second victims.\nOriginality/value: The authors note that recently published studies continue to report that organisational support is inadequate for second victims. Improved mechanisms of support would prevent the loss of second victims from the workforce, and ameliorate the severity and duration of the impact on second victims.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Investor perceptions of the benefits of political connections: Evidence from China's A-share premiums	[ "Political connections", "A-share premium", "B-share discount", "Chinese stocks", "State ownership" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Traditional asset pricing theory maintains that stock prices are determined by fundamentals: expected future cash flows and appropriate discount rates. Meanwhile, numerous empirical findings show that stock prices can be affected by other factors, such as control rights (Lease et al., 1983, 1984; Zingales, 1994; Nenova, 2003), ownership restriction (Stulz and Wasserfallen, 1995; Bailey et al., 1999), and country-specific sentiment shocks (Froot and Dabora, 1999). In particular, empirical studies on asset pricing in markets with investment restrictions report that stocks restricted to foreign investors sell at a premium over stocks for domestic investors due to capital flight (Stulz and Wasserfallen, 1995). However, this cannot explain the existence of systematic domestic investor premiums, known as A-share premiums in the Chinese equity market, which are observed even after the ownership restriction was partially relaxed in 2001[1]. We investigate this puzzle by considering potentially different views held by domestic and foreign investors on the merits of political connections of majority shareholders.\n2. Political connections and A-share premiums: 2.1 Institutional background on political connections\n3. Data, variables, and related literature: 3.1 Data and sample\n4. Empirical models, multiple regressions, and analysis: We hypothesize that domestic investors are more optimistic than foreign investors regarding the net benefits from political connection. Therefore we expect a positive relation between PRMM and (S/A) for the following regression over each period:\n5. Conclusions: We hypothesize that differing expectations about the net benefits of political connections between foreign and domestic Chinese investors drives the A-share premium observed in Chinese markets prior to partial A-share integration on July 10, 2003. Using the partial B-share integration event of February 20, 2001 to further test this hypothesis, we observe that the degree of political connections as measured by the proportion of state ownership is a significant factor in explaining the cross-sectional variation of A-share premiums in both before- and after-event periods. Political connection explains 31 percent (46 percent) of the variation on a univariate basis in the before-event period (after-event period). After controlling for other factors that may affect A-share premiums, political connections is still statistically and economically significantly positive in explaining the cross-sectional A-share premiums. Unlike Chan et al. (2008), we do not find A-share premiums to be related to A-share informational advantage. We do confirm the findings of Chen et al. (2001) and Mei et al. (2009) that liquidity, particularly B-share trading volume, is related to A-share premiums.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate how foreign and domestic investors differ in their beliefs about the relative merits of a firm's political connections.\nDesign/methodology/approach: These differences are employed to explain cross-sectional variation in the previously documented premium in A-share prices relative to otherwise equivalent foreign currency denominated B-shares for Chinese firms.\nFindings: Chinese domestic individual investors were excluded from owning B-shares of Chinese firms prior to February 20, 2001. The authors find that firms with more political connections have higher premiums and a smaller reduction in premiums associated with this event.\nResearch limitations/implications: This is consistent with domestic block holders deriving additional benefits from politically connected firms.\nPractical implications: The findings also have important policy implications by showing that government can have a strong effect on the economy even without applying macro-policy tools.\nSocial implications: Government ownership in listed companies can result in discrepancies among classes of investors with respect to their valuations. Furthermore, the prohibition of short sales prevents arbitrage from correcting this bias, and eventually the role of the market in allocating resources efficiently is undermined.\nOriginality/value: The authors investigate the role of political connections as implied by the proportion of state ownership in explaining the A-share premium. Unlike previous studies that associate state ownership with political risk, the paper relates state ownership to political connections that are particularly beneficial to domestic large block shareholders. This interpretation is consistent with the findings and with previous literature on state ownership and political connections of Chinese firms.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Enacting technology: Accounting for the interplay between mHealth solutions and existing paper-based data reporting practices	[ "Health information systems/medical record systems/care delivery", "Mobile communications", "Implementation", "IT artefact", "Mobility", "Affordances", "Theory building" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The implementation of ICTs to support healthcare delivery and management in sub-Saharan Africa has often been hampered by poor communication and electricity infrastructure, lack of resources, and insufficient political commitment and support (Bukachi and Pakenham-Walsh, 2007). At the same time, the need for effective communication infrastructure to support generally under-served rural populations is getting even stronger. Although negotiation of the above-mentioned challenges requires a combination of approaches, mobile telephony seems better suited to overcoming challenges pertaining to poor telecommunications and electricity infrastructure (Bukachi and Pakenham-Walsh, 2007; Shozi et al., 2012). Based on these qualities and its ubiquity, mobile telephony, provides an imperative to re-envision health data collection and communication in rural areas (Chigona et al., 2012; Sanner et al., 2012; Shozi et al., 2012; Asangansi et al., 2013).\nRelated literature: In this section, we review literature on mobility, technological affordances, and technology enactment.\nMethodology: This paper is based on a case study of two related pilots exploring the possibility of using mobile phone solutions to support routine health data reporting, between primary health facilities and a DHO, in Malawi. The formal healthcare setup is a three-tier system, comprising primary, secondary and tertiary levels of care. The primary level comprises primary health facilities and community-based preventive and curative health services delivery. In this setup, community level services are provided under the supervision of health facilities. Health facilities report to DHOs, which in turn report to zone health offices and the Ministry of Health (MoH) headquarters. Reporting frequencies range from weekly to quarterly, depending on health programme specifications. Data reporting between health facilities and DHOs has traditionally been paper-based. Previous efforts to implement digital health management information systems mainly targeted the district level and up. The study reported herein, was conducted under the Lilongwe DHO, across 17 health facilities, which fall under two health area offices. Health area offices are an administrative level between DHOs and health facilities and are unique to Lilongwe. One of the participating health areas had all its health facilities located in rural areas, where roads are unpaved and prone to poor mobility during the rainy season. The other health area had a rural-urban blend, in the distribution of health facilities.\nFindings: The HMIS-15 report captures data on multiple aspects of health service delivery and management (see Figure 2), including: family planning, child health, tuberculosis, medical supplies, finance, physical facilities, management and supervision, admissions, inpatient deaths, community health activities, and human resources at work. These services are spread across service departments.\nDiscussion: In this section, we draw upon studies on organizational change and the following concepts to elucidate empirical findings: technology enactment (Gasser, 1986; Fountain, 2001; Rose and Jones, 2005; Dunford et al., 2007), affordance (Gibson, 1986), and mobility (Luff and Heath, 1998; Kristoffersen and Ljungberg, 1999; Weilenmann, 2003). The discussion responds to the question: how do mobile phone solutions interplay with existing paper-centric tools and practices in routine health data reporting? The discussion is organised around various stages of data reporting: compilation, transportation, digitization, and delivery of feedback, in that order. We reflect on the demands of these activities and how implemented mobile phone solutions shape and are shaped by the existing socio-technical setup. At the end, we tie together our reflections in relation to related studies.\nConclusion: The paper responds to the question: how do mobile phone solutions interplay with existing paper-centric tools and practices in routine health data reporting? Available evidence suggests that organizations will continue to change with continued evolution of ICTs. In line with this, the application of ICTs such as mobile phones and related solutions offer significant transformative opportunities to enhance healthcare management, by extending the reach of digital health information systems (HMIS) to rural areas. In extending the reach of HMIS, mobile phone solutions allow for remote data communication and data validation checks, thereby addressing challenges concerning transportation and digitization of paper-forms.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to discuss implications of human-technology interaction in organizational change, especially where mobile phones are introduced to replace paper-based reporting.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper employs a case study approach, focusing on implementation of mobile technology for health (mHealth) solutions to support remote data communication, between health facilities and a district health office (DHO), in Malawi.\nFindings: The findings suggest that mobile phones are relevant to parts of multi-stage tasks such as data reporting, which comprise compilation, transportation, and digitization of data, and delivery of feedback. Consequently, innovation due to the introduction of mobile phones, is found in their interaction with other artefacts (paper, desktop computers, etc.), and existing paper-centric and emerging work practices.\nResearch limitations/implications: Although lessons from this study could be transported across contexts, practitioners, and researchers should pay particular attention to contextual differences.\nPractical implications: In accounting for the mutual shaping between technology and context/work practices the paper demonstrates that mHealth innovation demands significant practical work.\nOriginality/value: mHealth research is often preoccupied with capabilities of mobile devices. First, the authors account for interaction between artefacts, existing, and emerging use contexts, and the use process, at multiple levels of organization. Through this, the authors argue for a need to seriously consider idiosyncrasies of artefacts and tasks at hand, as well as distributed affordances across artefacts, in mHealth implementations. Second, the authors argue that contrary to the general focus on mobile phones as tools for supporting people on the move, their relevance might actually be found in reducing people's mobility.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Transforming First Nations' health governance in British Columbia	[ "Health policy", "Health governance", "Partnerships", "First nations", "Federal governments", "Provincial governments", "Health inequities", "British Columbia", "Truth and Reconciliation Commission", "Reconciliation initiative" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: First Nations[1] in British Columbia (BC) have a rich history of health and wellness, underpinned by a philosophy of the interconnectedness of physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual aspects of life. As with many other indigenous populations throughout the world, colonial acts of assimilation including residential schools disrupted the holistic health and wellness perspectives that First Nations people have traditionally known and followed (Lavoie et al., 2008; Adelson, 2005). First Nations' perspectives on health were absent from the design and delivery of First Nations' health services, which were guided by the Indian Act and controlled by distant federal government offices with little or no insight into the health needs of the communities they served (Abele and Prince, 2006; Lavoie et al., 2010). Over the last decade, a transformation process has been underway to reincorporate First Nations perspectives and decision making into the design and delivery of health services (Lavoie et al., 2015). A hallmark of this journey of transformation, and the focus of this paper, is the creation of partnerships for change within the broader health system.\n2. Purpose and significance of the research: The subject of this study is the new First Nations health governance structure in BC, which operates in partnership with the federal, provincial, and regional health systems to share decision making for First Nations health improvement, informed by the voices and interests of First Nations in BC - through the \"co-creation of solutions\", a term to describe these partnerships used at the policy roundtable organized as part of this study.\n3. Methods: The current study was a joint initiative between Simon Fraser University (SFU) and the FNHA. Ethical approval was obtained from SFU as well as the BC Ethics Harmonization Initiative which included: Vancouver Coastal Health Authority, Fraser Health Authority, Vancouver Island Health Authority, Interior Health Authority, and Northern Health Authority. Ethical approval was also obtained from the University of Northern BC.\n4. Results: 4.1 Governance and reciprocal accountability[3]\n5. Discussion: This study has documented significant transformational changes that have taken place in the relationships between and among First Nations organizations and communities with other levels of health system authority in BC, Canada, within the short span of two years following the creation of the FNHA. Further, we have highlighted some significant system and service changes that are occurring as a result of these relationship changes. We suggest that the transformation in relationships occurring in BC exemplifies the relationship-building recommendations of the TRC report of 2015, which outlines a number of principles and calls to action to set an agenda for Canada to transform the historical inequities of the relationship between Indigenous peoples and the state. In this final section we will link our findings back to some of the key recommendations in the TRC report (Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, 2012, 2015).\n6. Conclusion: The creation of the new First Nations health governance structure in BC, including the creation of the FNHA in 2013, represents an historical transformation in the approach to First Nations involvement in the delivery of health services. It represents nearly a decade of systematic work by all partners - federal and provincial governments and First Nations political organizations and communities to transform the historic colonial system and restore health governance to First Nations peoples. Although the initiative pre-dates the release of the TRC's final report, the motivation for both processes are embedded in the need to address the legacy of colonization and the impact of residential schooling in Canada. The transformational changes that are occurring in the relationship among First Nations, provincial and federal partners are changes that exemplify the call for action from the TRC. Further research to document these changes, and their impact on health outcomes, over the long term is required. The experience in BC may serve as an example for other indigenous communities in Canada and worldwide in the ongoing struggle for transformation of health governance and self-determination.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present a study of the transformation of First Nations' health governance, describing the development of partnerships between First Nations and provincial and federal governments for co-creating solutions to address First Nations' health inequities in British Columbia (BC). The paper frames this transformation in the context of a Canada-wide reconciliation initiative stimulated by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This qualitative case study was a joint initiative between Simon Fraser University and the BC First Nations Health Authority (FNHA), involving interviews with senior leaders within the BC health system, FNHA and First Nations communities. In addition, a policy roundtable was held in February 2015 which gathered 60 participants for further dialogue on the process.\nFindings: Key themes included: partnership and relationships, governance and reciprocal accountability, First Nations perspectives on health and wellness, and quality and cultural safety. Findings indicate that significant transformational changes have happened in the relationship between First Nations and the mainstream health system. The creation of the FNHA has led to more representation for First Nations people at all levels of governance and health service planning, which will ultimately lead to more culturally safe health services that incorporate a First Nations perspective of wellness.\nSocial implications: The transformation of First Nations health governance in BC can serve as an example in other indigenous health settings both within Canada and internationally.\nOriginality/value: This paper describes a transformative health governance process in First Nations communities that is an historical first in Canada.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Board independence and managerial authority	[ "CEO compensation", "Sarbanes-Oxley Act", "Duality", "Board structure", "Entrenchment", "G38", "G30" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The early 2000s witnessed several accounting scandals that, consequently, led to the fall of one of the leading accounting firms (Arthur Andersen) along with several US firms (Enron, Tyco, Telecom, etc.). These firms adopted aggressive and manipulative accounting techniques to misrepresent their financial statements and inflate their performance. Accordingly, the Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) Act was enacted by the US Congress in 2002 in an attempt to improve the firms' corporate governance structure and control manipulative accounting. One of the main consequences of SOX, and subsequently the NYSE/NASDAQ regulations, is the increase in the percentage of independent directors serving on the board (Kay Lee et al., 2016).\n2. Literature review: In the early 2000s, accounting scandals induced the Congress to enact the SOX Act, which aimed at minimizing information misrepresentation and fraud through an enhancement of monitoring activities. Subsequently, NYSE and NASDAQ introduced a new listing requirement whereby a listed firm has to have a majority of independent directors serving on its board (Chhaochharia and Grinstein, 2009). This escalated the participation of independent directors serving on the boards of US firms right after the passage of the new legislations (Linck et al., 2008).\n3. Data and methodology: We obtain data over the period 1996-2006 for board independence, CEO entrenchment, CEO duality, managerial compensation, and various control variables through several databases: COMPUSTAT for accounting and financial information; ExecuComp for data regarding top executives' characteristics and compensation; RiskMetrics for information on managerial entrenchment and board composition. Data are divided into two periods, pre-SOX (1996-2001) and post-SOX (2002-2006), in order to study the effect of SOX on the association between board independence and our three measures of managerial power and control: CEO duality, entrenchment, and compensation. We focus on the sub-group of firms who were mainly affected by the legislation's independence requirement. That is, firms which were not in compliance with the board independence requirement prior to SOX and became complying afterwards. We refer to these firms as non-compliant firms. A firm is said to be in compliance with the board structure legislations if at least 50 percent of its directors are independent in a given year. Thus, non-compliant firms are those with less than 50 percent board independence during 2001 and greater than 50 percent board independence in the couple of years after the passage of SOX[2].\n4. Results discussion: Independent directors are said to improve the firm's internal monitoring environment since they are assumed to be more objective and non-influenced board members. Accordingly, the increased presence of independent directors on the board is expected to diminish the manager's control and authority over the firm. On the other hand, the CEO may have an influence over the appointment of independent directors and, thus, he/she might take advantage of the imposed board independence regulations to reap self-centered benefits.\n5. Conclusion: This paper studies the effect of SOX board structure implications on the efficacy of board monitoring and managerial entrenchment. We suggest that the imposed board independence requirements have a converse influence on corporate governance as it deviates the firm's board composition away from its endogenously determined equilibrium level.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The imposition of the Sarbanes Oxley (SOX) Act and the NYSE/NASDAQ regulations boosted the proportion of independent directors serving on corporate boards. For certain firms, increasing the number of independent directors may impose costs that exceed the benefits. The purpose of this paper is to examine the implications of increased independence following SOX, relative to the pre-SOX board independence benchmark, on managerial authority and entrenchment within the firm.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Data are collected from COMPUSTAT, ExecuComp, and RiskMetrics. Data are divided into two periods, pre-SOX (1996-2001) and post-SOX (2002-2006). The focus is on the sub-group of firms who were not complying with the board independence requirement prior to SOX and became compliant afterwards. Various regressions are employed to assess the implications of increased independence following SOX on managerial authority and entrenchment.\nFindings: The appreciation in board independence post-SOX significantly inflates both managerial compensation and the likelihood of CEO duality. Also, there is a positive association between board independence and managerial entrenchment during both the pre- and post-SOX periods. Imposed board composition requirements diminished board monitoring efficiency and boosted the CEO dominance and control over the firm.\nOriginality/value: This research adds to the extant literature investigating the implications of SOX on internal monitoring and governance. The results are based on an off-equilibrium phenomenon in which companies were obliged to alter their endogenously determined board structure. Thus, regulations to improve governance could backfire as the CEO might abuse them to extract private benefits.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The challenges facing corporate universities in dealing with open innovation	[ "Innovation", "Strategic management", "Workplace training", "Corporate universities", "Knowledge processes", "Workplace learning" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: One of the most evident consequences of the emergence of a knowledge economy is the critical role of learning and knowledge in the growth and survival of organizations (McKinsey, 2002). This evolution has driven organizations to manage knowledge in a more systematic and deliberate fashion. Thus, many innovations have been developed in at least three areas of knowledge management:\n2. What is a CU?: There are approximately 4,000 CUs in the world (Global CCU, 2010), a number which effectively doubled over the past decade. This popularity is not just a fad, as there are real trends and strategic issues underlying this growth. The sharp growth of CU can be explained by the need to improve competencies for better competition, the desire to tailor training, the need to update knowledge and competencies, the movement toward downsizing, the shift from a manufacturing economy to a service economy and the retention of employees (Meister et al., 1998). CU are an important way to appropriate the optimal transfer of knowledge and to develop competitive advantages. Renaud-Coulon (2002) proposes the term \"globalization of intelligence\", as information and knowledge become the only real sources of competitive advantages in the long term. CU can be real political instruments used to help manage complexity and disruptions, and to build up the identity and soul of a corporation, and thereby operationalize corporate strategy.\n3. What is the rationale for a CU?: According to Nixon and Helms (2002), the main objective of a CU is to demonstrate to employees the value of ongoing learning and to provide them access to such learning. It exists mainly to transfer knowledge needed to stimulate, support and develop the business model (Meister et al., 1998). Five main contextual factors can help explain the recent popularity of CU:\n4. What are the strategic issues related to CU?: The strategic rationale underlying a CU can be expressed across three main dimensions:\n5. What models for CU?: Dealtry (2001) identifies three phases of development to categorize a CU: operational, tactical and strategic (Appendix 2). These steps are linked with the place of knowledge within the corporate strategy:\n6. Advantages and disadvantages of CU: The advantages of the implementation of CU include the possibilities of creating synergies in training by opening up registration to non-competitive firms, customers and suppliers. This results in a diversity of participants, internal or external, in order to enrich training.\n7. Conclusion: This article had three main objectives:\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to illustrate the quick rise in the popularity of corporate universities since the 1990s. Because knowledge management is becoming imperative to the survival and growth of firms in most industries, better management of corporate universities is becoming more and more critical. The purpose of this paper is to analyze three objectives: Why invest in corporate universities? Which model to adopt? and What are the key challenges facing corporate universities in dealing with the adoption of an open innovation approach?\nDesign/methodology/approach: The article provides a general review of corporate universities dealing with open innovation by using a creative synthesis.\nFindings: This paper analyzes the challenges involved in the development of corporate universities and examines how they can deal with open innovation. While few corporate universities have a real strategic role, several initiatives have failed or have been seriously compromised. To create competitive advantages through a corporate university, upper management must dedicate significant resources and have a plan for building the corporate curriculum in order to deal with innovation management.\nResearch limitations/implications: Due to the lack of scientific articles on the topic, most of the published articles made by practitioners was used. Further studies are needed to test the recommendations and models.\nPractical implications: This paper identifies some development models and growth avenues for corporate universities. It helps provide an understanding of the challenges associated with open innovation as well as their limits.\nOriginality/value: It is among the first papers to link the development of corporate universities with the open innovation approach. It also provides practical advice for managers and academics.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Combining optimisation and simulation for steel production scheduling	[ "Production scheduling", "Simulation", "Production metallurgy", "Finland" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In capital-intensive industries such as steel making, keeping a high utilisation rate is a key success factor (Hill, 1994). Meanwhile, the scheduling problem in steel plants is known to be among the most difficult of several industrial scheduling problems (Lee and Murthy, 1996). The difficulty lies in the need to synchronise several processes to create a flow through the plant. There are a large number of constraints and very little work in process is allowed (Park et al., 2002). Nonetheless, improved scheduling has a great economical potential. As Lee and Murthy (1996) put it: \"In an industry where a single new manufacturing unit, such as a continuous caster, can cost more than $250 million, and where the annual production of the unit is measured in hundreds of millions of dollars, an expenditure in software development to improve production even by a few percent is worthwhile.\"There are several published algorithms for scheduling for steel plants. Box and Herbe (1988) and Diaz et al. (1991) present heuristic solutions. The algorithm of Assaf et al. (1997) is based on enumeration. Park et al. (2002) present an efficient algorithm for scheduling minimills. As the complexity of scheduling algorithms is magnified by the constraints that must be met (Sellers, 1996), the algorithms for scheduling steel plants are rather complex. There is a trade-off between modelling effort, computer time and quality of the schedule.The objective of our research is to create an approach that reduces the complexity of the scheduling algorithm, yet provides schedules that are both detailed and trustworthy. The approach combines classical optimisation with discrete-event simulation. A software application based on the approach is currently in use at a steel plant in Northern Finland.The paper is structured as follows: the literature review presents the scheduling problem and how optimisation and simulation can be applied for solving it. We then describe how steel is made at the steel plant of our case company and the operational scheduling environment in detail. The next sections present our scheduling approach that combines optimisation with simulation, its implementation as software and the operational impact of using it. The final section draws conclusions.\nScheduling: The scheduling problem\nCase description: The steel company\nSchedule validation via simulation: Figure 3 shows the workflow of the application that was developed. It includes our approach of verifying the schedule using discrete-event simulation before executing it at the plant:1. Gather data. Retrieve current situation at the factory floor (work in process, state of machines) and charges to be scheduled (sequence number, due date, routing and processing times).2. Set up run. Prioritise or delay orders, schedule preventive maintenance and select optimisation parameters.3. Optimise. Produce an optimal schedule for the next 2-48 hours. A usual timeframe is 10 hours, that is, for the next shift plus two hours.4. Evaluate. The user can accept the schedule directly, verify it using simulation or reject it.5. Simulate. Verify the schedule using discrete-event simulation.6. Evaluate. Based on the more detailed information provided by the simulation, accept or reject the schedule.7. Upload to production. Upload the optimised and verified schedule into the ERP for production.The user can repeat steps 2-6 until satisfied with the result. It is possible to upload the schedule without verifying it.Generating the schedule\nCase results: The software was installed at the steel plant in August 2001. Before installation, production volumes were measured for ten weeks, giving a reference level of 62.0 castings per day. During an 11-week test period, the application was used for two shifts a day, excluding weekends. The application was taken into operational, full time use in the last week of October 2001.Results show that production volumes have increased by 4.8 per cent to 65.0 castings per day (Figure 6). Only days when raw iron has been available during at least 23 hours are included into the comparison; otherwise, problems with the blast furnaces would bias the results. The daily production volumes for days when raw iron was available were compared using two-sample t-test (one-tail, assuming equal variances). The improvement from reference period (weeks 22-32/2001; N=48) to operational use (weeks 44-50/2001; N=24) is statistically significant (p<0.001). The improvement from test period (weeks 33-43/2001; N=40) to operational use is also statistically significant (p<0.01) while the improvement from reference period to test period is not statistically significant. All periods include runs with both two and three converters. The output measured as tonnes per day increased correspondingly from 7,318 tonnes for reference period to 7,401 tonnes for test period and 7,610 tonnes for operational use.The delivery accuracy of the steel plant remained stable, averaging 89.1 per cent for test period versus 89.2 per cent for the reference period. In the period of operational use, the slab cutting machines were being replaced, causing delays in deliveries. Therefore, it was not possible to measure the delivery accuracy for the period of operational use.In the first months of using the software, deviations between optimisation and simulation were reported to the software developer Delfoi Ltd. The reports were used for improving both the optimisation algorithm and the simulation model. According to development engineer Sipola (2003), the optimised schedule converged with the simulated one towards the end of the test period. After two years of production use and further software development, the simulation almost always verifies the schedule. Therefore, the production scheduler usually accepts or rejects the optimisation result without simulating (Sipola, 2003).\nConclusions: Algorithms for scheduling in steel plants tend to be rather complex. We have presented an approach where only the main constraints are included into the scheduling algorithm. To validate the schedule, it is executed on a discrete-event simulation model before executing it at the plant. The simulation model is more detailed than the scheduling algorithm. The approach thereby combines the power of optimisation algorithms with the detail of simulation models.The case implementation was a success that provided increased production without making trade-offs with other production goals. In fact, Vice President Pisila from Rautaruukki estimates the productivity increase directly caused by the project to be worth EUR2,500,000 annually (Pisila, 2001).Compared with a pure, monolithic optimisation approach our combined approach has the following benefits:* the optimisation can be kept simpler while further details are included in the simulation model without compromising the exactness of the scheduled task start and end times;* validation with simulation model increases the credibility and accuracy of the resulting schedule; and* during software development and testing, the simulation model offered a testing environment for the optimisation algorithm.The drawbacks of the combined approach are that a human scheduler will still be needed to solve the conflicts that arise in the case when simulation shows that the optimised schedule in not valid; and he must have the appropriate tools for that. Building the simulation model also requires extra work that may not directly benefit software testing. However, in addition to schedule validation, the simulation model - a virtual factory - can be also used for other purposes. In spring 2002, the case company used their simulation model for evaluating the effects of a new production investment.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - Scheduling problems in steel plants tend to be difficult and require complex algorithms due to many constraints. An approach is presented where only the main constraints are included in the scheduling algorithm. The schedule is validated using a discrete-event simulation model that includes additional detail.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The combined approach is utilised for production scheduling in a steel mill in Finland. Operational performance of the steel mill is measured before and after software installation. The paper presents the scheduling environment, the software application and the resulting increase of production.\nFindings: - Case experiences indicate that combining optimisation techniques with simulation is beneficial. The optimisation can be kept simpler as validation with a simulation model increases the credibility and accuracy of the resulting schedule. During software development and testing, the simulation model offered a testing environment for the optimisation algorithm.\nPractical implications: - The case implementation was a success that increased production without making trade-offs with other production goals. Company management estimate the productivity increase directly caused by the project to be worth EUR2,500,000 annually.\nOriginality/value: - The paper presents a successful application of simulation for schedule validation in a complex and demanding environment.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The role of social media in managing supplier attractiveness: An investigation of business-to-business markets	[ "Social media", "Supplier selection", "Buyer–supplier relationships", "Supplier attractiveness" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Suppliers delivering to business markets are under increasing pressure to catch up with the considerably more sophisticated social media (SM) management practices of their Business-to-Consumer (B2C) counterparts (McKinsey and Partners, 2016). Although several SM platforms were designed with individual users in mind, SM has been widely applied in Business-to-Business (B2B) contexts, including operations and supply chain management (Lam et al., 2016). It is acknowledged that SM influences inter-organizational decision-making processes (Sashi, 2012; Rapp et al., 2013; Cui et al., 2018) and that buyer-supplier dynamics differ considerably from consumer interaction (Trainor et al., 2014). However, researchers have paid considerably less attention to addressing the role of SM in buyer-supplier relationships, one critical issue of which is the management of supplier attractiveness. In particular, there is a scarcity of guidance on whether suppliers should just follow B2C SM approaches or whether they should go their own way in managing SM to improve their attractiveness. This is vital for resource allocation purposes, as well as for the efficient management of buyer-supplier relationships in a digitally enhanced business environment.\n2. Literature: 2.1 Supplier attractiveness in digitalized environments\n3. Methodology: Considering the exploratory nature of the study and RQ, a case study methodology drawing on qualitative data was selected. Case studies are appropriate for exploratory investigations, where a more in-depth understanding on the phenomena of interest is required (Voss, 2010), and researchers are seeking to find answers for \"how?\" and \"why?\" questions (Yin, 2009). An abductive approach, systematic combining (Dubois and Gadde, 2002) was applied, and the initial theoretical underpinnings of the study were further developed through matching the empirical evidence to relevant literature. In order to capture potentially different patterns pertaining to attractiveness and to deepen contextual understanding (Yin, 2009), multiple firms both on the buyer and the supplier side were approached. Another reason why a multiple-case study approach was chosen in comparison to a single-case study is that multiple-case studies are normally considered more robust (Yin, 2009). For the data collection phase, a two-step sampling procedure was implemented by first using firmographics (i.e. type of industry and firm size), and second, identifying key informants within the chosen firms (i.e. based on relevant experience, influence and position). In applying these sampling criteria, we followed a common practice for the study of buyer-supplier relationships (e.g. Cheng and Musaphir, 1996; Thomas-Seale et al., 2018). We then identified buyers of the selected organizations and followed the same sampling procedures.\n4. Analysis and results: 4.1 The supplier's perspective: supporting supplier attractiveness by using social media\n5. Discussion and implications: This section reflects on how the findings can inform ongoing academic discussions on the role of SM in supplier attractiveness. As part of this, with future research directions in mind, a set of propositions is offered on how SM can influence supplier attractiveness and thus competitive advantage. Three key themes are identified: \"being too social\" on SM, increased transparency through SM, and misalignment between suppliers' assumptions and buyers' practices pertaining to the purposes for which suppliers' SM is utilized. As for managerial implications, we then consolidate several SM management aspects, which emerged from the interviews, and categorize them relevant to business growth and supply chain development.\n6. Conclusions: By means of a case study methodology, our study captured both the supplier and buyer side and explored the role of SM in managing supplier attractiveness in B2B contexts. As per our RQ, we aimed to understand how suppliers' SM activities influence their attractiveness. A set of clear findings have emerged from the analysis in the form of propositions that highlight different perspectives on the implications of engaging in SM for suppliers and buyers. The study revealed that \"SM intensity\" needs to be carefully managed to ensure appropriate levels of attractiveness, namely avoid the state of being perceived by the buyers as being \"too social\" on SM. In addition, our study revealed that while increased transparency through SM is positively received by suppliers, it is not always positively perceived by buyers and has variable impacts on supplier attractiveness. Our study also revealed that suppliers' SM engagement is more influential in their pre-selection phase. Finally, the study identified the specific results from the interplay between attractiveness drivers and management impact areas, which are essential for organizations to assess the impact of strategic SM management on competitive advantage.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Managing attractiveness is a constant challenge to mobilize relationship-specific investments, especially in a business environment increasingly enhanced by social media (SM) activities. There is limited knowledge on how SM activities contribute to supplier attractiveness, so decisions about strategizing with SM and consequent resource allocations become highly uncertain. The purpose of this paper is to examine how suppliers' SM activities influence supplier attractiveness.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Altogether, 57 senior managers were interviewed: 32 semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with senior managers in strategic decision-making roles regarding SM on the supplier side, along with 20 senior managers responsible for purchasing or looking after supplier development; one-to-one interviews were complemented by a focus group with 5 senior managers on the buyer side.\nFindings: The study reveals an inverse U-shaped relationship between the intensity of the supplier's SM activity and its attractiveness and offers a set of propositions about the influence of SM on supplier attractiveness, with special regard to the perceived risks of increased transparency and becoming \"too social\" on SM.\nPractical implications: The study highlights SM management results for supplier attractiveness and their impact areas on business growth and supply chain development.\nOriginality/value: This paper provides in-depth insights into the role of SM in managing supplier attractiveness. Various effects of SM activities are identified that aim to contribute to the body of literature on supplier attractiveness as well as SM management in buyer-supplier relationships.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Organizational culture and knowledge sharing: critical success factors	[ "Knowledge sharing", "Trust", "Communications", "Organizational structures", "Organizational culture" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Background\nReview of the literature: Knowledge\nMethodology: Procedure\nResults: Demographic characteristics of the research sample\nDiscussion: The results of the study are discussed in two sections. The first section discusses generally the results of the frequency tests, while the second explains the results of the ANOVA test and hypotheses testing.Frequency analysis\nRecommendations: The results of this study have many implications for staff and managers in organizations. The relationship that proved to exist between knowledge sharing and trust, communication, information systems, reward system and organization structure indicates the importance of such factors as prerequisites for the success of knowledge sharing. Such factors must be strongly emphasized in organizational cultures. The survey respondents suggested several ways to achieve this.* Reinforcing trust between coworkers through arranging social events and outdoor discussions occasionally. Such events could play an important role in helping staff overcome work stress through building informal friendships.* Improving office design in some organizations to allow for higher interaction and communication between staff. According to an interviewee: \"Open disk policy is effective in simplifying communication between staff, especially because generally people in Bahrain don't prefer to move a lot [between separate offices] while working.\"* Practicing job rotation to facilitate knowledge transfer and movement throughout the organization and increase motivation.* Accomplishing a strong relationship between top management and employees along with expressing the importance of knowledge sharing for the success of the organization as a whole.* Providing sufficient information systems to share knowledge in order to facilitate knowledge diffusion among departments.* Providing effective rewards to reinforce knowledge sharing behaviors bearing in mind the variations in employees' needs and objectives.* Increasing the level of participation in decision making and reducing the boundaries between organizational levels to enable easier information flow vertically. According to an interviewee: \"Hierarchal structures hinder timely communication and decelerate knowledge sharing. Flat structure is the best facility for knowledge sharing\"Managers must not limit their attention to the above factors only. It is highly recommended that managers bear in mind the existence of factors outside the scope of this study such as ethics and loyalty, which may impact knowledge sharing.Also, it is important to recognize the uniqueness of every organization's culture in removing obstacles to knowledge sharing. Hence, the best option for a given organization would be to investigate potential problems that may exist in its own culture and accordingly suggest the proper solution.Limitations and further research\nConclusion: This research focused on the role of certain factors in organizational culture in the success of knowledge sharing between staff.The study was conducted in three different phases: the first phase was concerned with identifying the major aspects of knowledge sharing in organizations and the fundamental organizational culture factors that impacted knowledge sharing.During the second phase, the researchers used the knowledge extracted from the literature to formulate the research instruments: surveys and semi-structured interviews. The instruments were exploited to gather necessary data, which was analyzed to reach the research findings.In the third phase, the findings were discussed to arrive at relevant implications concerning knowledge sharing in organizations. A final confirmatory test was conducted by presenting the data to an expert in the field of statistics and quantity management.In order to enhance the validity and reliability of the research, two different research methods were used to collect data. Quantitative survey was used to gather basic data while qualitative approach was also used in the form of semi-structured interpretive interviews and a confirmatory interview to collect supporting data.Trust, communication, reward system and organization structure all received strong literature support. However, information systems/technology received mixed support. Therefore obviously further research is required in order to validate the findings of this study.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This research aims at investigating the role of certain factors in organizational culture in the success of knowledge sharing. Such factors as interpersonal trust, communication between staff, information systems, rewards and organization structure play an important role in defining the relationships between staff and in turn, providing possibilities to break obstacles to knowledge sharing. This research is intended to contribute in helping businesses understand the essential role of organizational culture in nourishing knowledge and spreading it in order to become leaders in utilizing their know-how and enjoying prosperity thereafter.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The conclusions of this study are based on interpreting the results of a survey and a number of interviews with staff from various organizations in Bahrain from the public and private sectors.\nFindings: - The research findings indicate that trust, communication, information systems, rewards and organization structure are positively related to knowledge sharing in organizations.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The authors believe that further research is required to address governmental sector institutions, where organizational politics dominate a role in hoarding knowledge, through such methods as case studies and observation.\nOriginality/value: - Previous research indicated that the Bahraini society is influenced by traditions of household, tribe, and especially religion of the Arab and Islamic world. These factors define people's beliefs and behaviours, and thus exercise strong influence in the performance of business organizations. This study is motivated by the desire to explore the role of the national organizational culture on knowledge sharing, which may be different from previous studies conducted abroad.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The third stage of IC: towards a new IC future and beyond	[ "IC third stage", "IC fourth stage", "IC missionaries", "IC research", "IC practice", "IC education", "Intellectual capital", "Research" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Two previous special editions of the Journal of Intellectual Capital (JIC) inspired me to suggest this special edition. The first, called \"IC at the crossroads - theory and research\" (JIC, 2004, Vol. 4 No. 2) claimed \"that awareness of the importance of IC has been created\" and \"now the role of researchers as well as practitioners [was] to move to the next level (Marr and Chatzkel, 2004, p. 224)\". The IC literature identifies these levels as distinct stages of developing knowledge about IC. The first stage was \"raising awareness\" and the second stage was to make IC visible through the \"creation of guidelines and standards\" (Petty and Guthrie, 2000, p. 162).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the overall contribution made by the papers presented in this special edition of the Journal of Intellectual Capital.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This article is an editorial based on the author's reflections of the papers presented in this special edition.\nFindings: - Intellectual capital (IC) has a future, based not only on the third stage of IC research, which strengthens IC practices inside organisations, but also on a complementary fourth stage which develops IC eco-systems.\nOriginality/value: - the papers presented ground the third stage of IC research as a legitimate research undertaking, while at the same time recognising that we need to extend our IC missionary work beyond the boundaries of the organisation, and into the environment where organisations exist.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Workplace spirituality: a new imperative in Indian manufacturing sector	[ "Spirituality", "Mindfulness", "Transcendence" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The Indian manufacturing sector is growing rapidly and is expected to contribute more to the Indian GDP. In a bid to push and support this sector, the government has launched several programs such as \"Make in India,\" \"Skill India,\" and \"Startup India\" to achieve the desired goals. This sector is known for its hardcore production-oriented approach. Employees encounter stringent work conditions, tight work schedules, and shift work and have to work with heavy machinery. In addition, the repetitive nature of mechanical work reduces employees' creativity and intensifies their level of agitation (Petchsawang and Duchon, 2012).\nWPS - need of the hour: Petchsawang and Duchon (2012) defined WPS as showing compassion toward people and experiencing a mindful state in the pursuit of meaningful work to achieve transcendence (Figure 1).\nStrategies to promote WPS: Team-building activities to encourage compassion\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to illustrate the need for workplace spirituality (WPS) through the planned implementation of strategies in the Indian manufacturing sector.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper is a viewpoint based on literature review.\nFindings: WPS is useful for reducing employee turnover as well as increasing satisfaction, commitment, and engagement among employees. Employees feel empowered if they get ample opportunities and challenging tasks to grow in a positive environment.\nOriginality/value: The latest prevalent issues of industry have been addressed, and the strategies to overcome these problems are suggested.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Relationship between human resource management practices and informal workplace learning: An empirical study	[ "Informal workplace learning", "Human resource management practices", "Private commercial banks", "Bangladesh" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: At present we are living in a global competitive environment that is characterized by market proliferation, higher complexity and frequent changes that lead to creating the need for greater flexibility and differentiation in business and organization. To achieve the advantages in the competitive environment, informal learning in workplace is important (Caudill, 2015; Lopez et al., 2006; Pantouvakis and Bouranta, 2013; Ulrich et al., 1993) because it improves the working capacity and performance of employees, as well as assists them in adapting with environmental changes (Crouse et al., 2011; Kyndt and Baert, 2013).\nReview of literature: Human resource management practices and informal workplace learning\nResearch methodology: The study has been conducted in Bangladesh with the aim to understand influence of HRM practices on informal workplace learning in private commercial banks. The study used the quantitative research technique and used the structured questionnaire as the research instrument. The target population of the current study is the employees working as heads of department in branches of private commercial banks operating in Dhaka division of Bangladesh. There are 1,681 branches of 39 private commercial banks operating in Dhaka division (Bangladesh Bank, 2015). As each branch has four heads of department, the total population for this study becomes (1,681*4) 6,724.\nFindings: Data analysis process was started with checking the common method bias. The study used SPSS (Version 22) to detect common method bias. The results revealed that first factor accounted for 18.93 per cent of the variance, which suggested that common method variance did not seem to be a problem for this study. The subsequent analysis applied structural equation modeling (SEM) by Smart PLS 3.0 (Hair et al., 2014). The reason is that its non-parametric characteristics make it appropriate for analysing comparatively small data set with non-normally distributed variables (Chin, 1998).\nAssessment of measurement model: According to the suggestion of Hair et al. (2011), the superiority of measurement model is assessed by testing the internal consistency reliability (composite reliability), convergent validity (the AVE), indicator reliability (individual loading, cross loading) and discriminant validity.\nAssessment of the structural model: The relationships between latent variables hypothesized in the research model are represented by structural model (Duarte and Raposo, 2010). When the suitability of the measures is confirmed, it is necessary to provide evidence supportive to the theoretical model as demonstrated by the structural portion of the model (Chin, 2010). R2 measures and the level of significance of the path coefficients are the main evaluation criteria for structural model, which enunciated endogenous latent variables variance (Hair et al., 2011).\nRelationships between variables: The assessment of the structural model enables to test the hypotheses that describe the relationships between independent and dependent variables. The main objective of the study is to explore the effect of human resources management practices (selective hiring, extensive training, performance appraisal, compensation practices, employment security, promotion opportunity, empowerment and information sharing) on informal workplace learning of employees working in private commercial banks. Based on this objective, the study developed ten hypotheses and tested the relationships between independent and dependent variables.\nDiscussion and implications: In today's learning is needed for all professions. Because studies on factors influencing employees outcomes indicate that organizational factors, more particularly HRM practices, greatly influence employee outcomes, the study focused on the impact of HRM practices on informal workplace learning. Because, very few research studies have been conducted by linking HRM practices and learning in a single frame and research by targeting, especially informal learning is still limited. Moreover, theory of situated learning suggests that learning is situated in workplace and the organizational support theory recommend that organizational factor, namely, HRM practices effects informal workplace learning, the study examined the relationship between HRM practices and informal workplace learning. In the quest to achieve this objective, a model is proposed that tests the direct relationship between HRM practices (selective hiring, extensive training, performance appraisal, compensation practices, employment security, promotion opportunity, empowerment and information sharing) and informal workplace learning. The rationale for performing such analysis is to determine how HRM practices enhance informal workplace learning which is necessary for achieving competitive advantage in the global competitive environment.\nImplications for practice: The current study depicts that the everyday practices of banking professionals and how their work is organized offers various opportunities for learning. In banks, employees are usually working in teams and these opportunities for communication and cooperation are helpful for obtaining job-specific knowledge and skills such as emerging technology application, automation, compliance, payment and retail services. Moreover, learning from errors and job rotation largely takes place in banks, and employee learns a lot through these ways. Generally, it is assumed that job-related knowledge and skills are acquired before doing, but the current study showed that job-specific skill and knowledge not acquired by only doing but also acquired by cooperation and discussion with colleagues that specially contributes to the learning process. Moreover, through cooperation, communication and problem-solving, skills are also acquired by employees. In fact, learning through cooperation and discussion, informal meetings and reflection of daily practices is the main focus of this study through which employees of banks are acquiring knowledge. Based on the result of the study, it can be said that banks should continuously provide the opportunities to the employees for cooperation and discussion with colleagues and reflection of regular practices which contributes to the learning process. In essence, as this study shows that continuous on-the-job interactions, by the support and feedback from the supervisors or colleagues, completion of work, interpersonal interface, recognizes culture of organization, trial-and error investigation are the most important contributing ways to learn in the workplace, it is suggested that head of the department of branches should actively involve in such types of activities and provides opportunities to other employees and their fellows to engage such types of activities for learning and acquiring skills.\nLimitations, future directions and conclusion: The findings of the study should be interpreted carefully, considering the limitations related with the study. First of all, self-reported data are used in this study which are susceptible biases related with common method variance. Common method biases are highly problematic in testing the relationships among attitudinal or psychological data gathered from a single respondent at one time (Avolio et al., 1991). Although the current study did not face such problem, the researcher considers this issue a possible limitation of the study.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This study aims to examine the relationship between human resource management (HRM) practices and informal workplace learning.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Data were collected from a sample of 381 employees working as heads of the department of branches in private commercial banks of Bangladesh. Hypotheses were tested by using structural equation modelling-partial least square.\nFindings: Findings of the study revealed that HRM practices such as selective hiring, extensive training, performance appraisal, compensation practices, empowerment and information-sharing, significantly positively related with informal workplace learning.\nOriginality/value: Based on the situated learning and organizational support theory, this study is empirically testing how HRM practices influence informal workplace learning.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Stakeholders influence on voluntary disclosure practices by listed companies in Nigeria: An investigation of managers' perception	[ "Nigeria", "Voluntary disclosure", "Developing country", "Managers’ perception", "Stakeholders’ attributes", "Stock exchange" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: This study investigates stakeholders influence on voluntary disclosure. Specifically, the study seeks to determine managers' perception of which stakeholder groups matter in their voluntary disclosure decisions. This is particularly essential in the context of developing countries like Nigeria with weak observance of the code of corporate governance leading to lack of transparency in corporate disclosure (World Bank, 2011). Transparency through corporate disclosure is regarded as one of the essential pillars of corporate governance principles (Qu and Leung, 2006; OECD, 2003). Therefore, in a bid to improve transparency in corporate governance, companies are seen to be providing information in such areas as strategic forecast, the company's relationship with key stakeholders, environmental and ethical issues which are considered voluntary from capital market perspective (Schuster and O'Connell, 2006). Even though they are voluntary in nature, these informations are critical for understanding sustainability of current earnings, proper functioning of capital markets and encouraging better flow of Foreign Direct Investments into a country (Qu et al., 2013; Qu and Leung, 2006). In the Nigerian context, disclosure practice of publicly listed companies in the country has been adjudged to be weak and inadequate overtime (Damagun and Chima, 2013*; World Bank, 2011, 2004).\nTheoretical framework: The study is anchored in stakeholders' theory. Since the publication of Freeman (1984), there has been a growing recognition of the importance of stakeholders in many strategic decision of the firm. Freeman (1984) defines stakeholders as \"any group or individual who can affect or is affected by the achievement of the organization's objectives\". The theoretical debate among scholars is whether firms should pay attention to all stakeholders equally as a moral duty or focus on some group of stakeholders? This debate has led to the emergence of two branches of stakeholders' theory (normative or ethical and managerial or positive branch).\nLiterature review: Regulatory framework for corporate disclosure practice in Nigeria\nMethodology: Research design, population and sample size\nResults: In this study, it was essential to understand the demographic characteristics of the respondents and background information of the firms. Gender distribution showed a fair spread between males and females with 53.3 per cent being males and 46.7 per cent females. This indicates listed firms in Nigeria are gender sensitive in their recruitment policy. Most respondents (30.8 per cent) are accountants, 27.2 per cent are internal auditors and 25 per cent are public relation officers, while 29.2 per cent are marketing officers and others. In terms of professional qualification, the accounting professional qualification dominates with 49.2 per cent. This is an indication that most of the respondents have adequate know of the subject matter under investigation. The frequency distribution of the respondent's educational qualification showed that most of the respondents 58.5 per cent have either a bachelor's degree or its equivalent (higher national diploma) with few 5 per cent having ordinary national diploma/certificate of education constitute. This suggests that most of the respondents have the ability to read and understand the questions and provide an appropriate response.\nDiscussion: The study investigated managers' perception of the three dimensions of stakeholder attributes (power, urgency and legitimacy) on the extent of voluntary disclosure by listed firms in Nigeria. The result showed that stakeholder power and voluntary disclosure are positively and significantly associated. This means that the level of information voluntarily disclosed in annual reports of listed companies is associated with managers' perception of stakeholder power. This implies that stakeholders who control financial resources needed by the firm are perceived to be critical for companies' survival. As such managers are inclined to satisfy the information needs of such stakeholders such as providers of finance, labour consumers and government.\nTheoretical implication: This study employs stakeholder salience theory to explain voluntary disclosure practices by listed firms in Nigeria. The study finds support for two dimensions of the theory: power and urgency. This suggests that judging by the manager's perception, the demand of a stakeholder group does not necessarily persuade them to disclose information voluntarily, except if such perception of appropriateness is also accompanied by power or urgency of needs.\nPractical implication: When key stakeholders such as shareholders, creditors and customers increasingly put pressure on firms to improve transparency through disclosure of information in their annual report, voluntary disclosure in Nigeria will be promoted. Moreover, it is clear that if regulatory bodies such as the Nigerian FRC should provide a policy guidelines for companies to disclose information such as ethical issues, environmental impact and social disclosure, managers are likely to comply with such policy. This will in turn promote transparency through voluntary disclosure.\nLimitations of the study: Despite the contribution of this paper to academic debate in providing insights into management's perception of stakeholders that matter in voluntary disclosure in the context of a developing country, the study has some limitations. The use of survey questionnaire to measure perception of managers is subject to self-reporting bias. However, this was overcome by measuring the dependent variable using data from companies' annual reports. Also, the study is cross-sectional in nature which may not capture change in the perception of managers' overtime. Further studies may use a longitudinal approach to investigate voluntary disclosure.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate stakeholders influence on voluntary disclosure practices of listed firms in Nigeria from the perspective of managers.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study used a cross-sectional research design. Data were collected using a survey questionnaire for the constructs of power, legitimacy and urgency. The data for the voluntary disclosure practices were obtained from financial reports of 92 listed companies. The data were analysed using partial least squares.\nFindings: The results indicate that managers' perception of stakeholders' power and urgency are associated with voluntary disclosure. Legitimacy, firm size and industrial category are not significant predictors of voluntary disclosure. It was concluded that stakeholders who are in control of critical resources such as the financial community, customers and creditors should put more pressure on companies to disclose information to meet various stakeholder needs. This will complement the efforts of regulatory agencies in promoting transparency in voluntary disclosure.\nResearch limitations/implications: The cross-sectional nature of the study means that it does not capture changes in perceptions of managers overtime. Future research may consider a longitudinal study. The study is not industry-specific as such and may capture industry differences. However, in this study, the authors controlled for industry category.\nPractical implications: The result has implications for a number of interested parties such as shareholders, regulatory bodies, labour union, academics and mangers.\nOriginality/value: The study has contributed to the authors' understanding of managers' perception of stakeholder attributes that matter in voluntary disclosure decision from the perspective of a developing country like Nigeria.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Drivers for voluntary intellectual capital reporting based on agency theory	[ "Content analysis", "Narrative reporting", "Voluntary disclosure", "Intellectual capital value", "Management report", "Mispricing" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The aim of this study is to investigate drivers for voluntary intellectual capital (IC) reporting based on agency theory. IC has been characterised to constitute a competitive advantage, consisting of efficient internal structures, beneficial relations to primary stakeholders and human resources (e.g. Stewart, 1997; Bruggen et al., 2009). These features are widely categorised as structural, relational and human capital (e.g. Beattie and Thomson, 2007; Wee and Chua, 2016). Structural capital supports the company in running as going concern and creating innovations (e.g. Guthrie et al., 2007; Dzenopoljac et al., 2017). Relational capital constitutes favourable relations to important stakeholders, such as suppliers, customers, business partners and investors (e.g. Guthrie and Petty, 2000; Catalfo and Wulf, 2016). Human capital represents people working for the company, their skills and development (e.g. Bukh et al., 2005; Li et al., 2012). These intangible aspects may lead to information asymmetries. An agency theory approach suggests that companies report voluntarily on IC to reduce the information asymmetry between managers and owners. Based on this argument, IC reporting is expected to increase with ownership diffusion, leverage, IC value and company mispricing in order to reduce the information gap.\n2. Literature review: 2.1 IC reporting research\n3. Hypothesis development: 3.1 IC reporting to reduce information asymmetry towards owners and debtors\n4. Research design: 4.1 Sample of German companies\n5. Results: 5.1 Reporting scores for voluntary IC reporting\n6. Conclusion: The aim of this study is to investigate the drivers of corporate voluntary IC reporting based on the concepts of agency theory. This study accepts the challenge to statistically test hypotheses on IC reporting, thereby contributing to IC research. Germany offers a unique research setting to test the ideas of agency theory for voluntary IC reporting as the German management reporting regulation has the declared aim to reduce the information gap between managers and owners and to focus on sustainable value creation (GASC, 2010a). This study distinguishes voluntary IC reporting given the requirements and recommendations in the management reporting regulation. The results of a software-aided coding content analysis on voluntary IC reporting in German management reports offers a rich data set for hypothesis testing. The content analysis is utilised to investigate the drivers for voluntary IC reporting in a regression analysis and an additional propensity score matching approach.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the drivers for voluntary intellectual capital (IC) reporting based on agency theory. This study responds to calls for critical investigations of IC reporting utilising Goebel's (2015a) IC measuring approach to investigate the role of IC value and mispricing for IC reporting.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A mandatory management report offers a unique research setting in Germany. The content analysis results of 428 German management reports are used in a regression analysis with leverage, ownership diffusion, IC value and mispricing. Additionally, a propensity score matching approach examines the relationship between IC reporting and IC value.\nFindings: The regression results show that companies use voluntary IC reporting to encounter mispricing. IC reporting is negatively associated with leverage, whereas ownership diffusion and IC value show no significant results. The propensity score matching approach is also not significant.\nResearch limitations/implications: This study contributes to strengthening and testing agency theory for IC reporting. As mispricing is identified to play an important role for IC reporting, IC research should account for mispricing.\nPractical implications: The findings suggest to reopen a discussion on the declared aims of the German management report and the international integrated reporting model to provide information on value creation, as IC value shows no link to IC reporting.\nOriginality/value: This study innovatively links IC reporting to IC value and mispricing to investigate drivers for voluntary IC reporting.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Customer perceptions of the value of new packaging technologies	[ "Value", "Packaging", "Packaging industry", "Business-to-business marketing", "Customer relations", "Digital printing" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: An executive summary for managers and executive readers can be found at the end of this article.\n1. Introduction: During the development of new packaging technologies and the launch of new packaging methods based on those technologies to markets, it is advantageous to employ a business-process and customer-centered way of thinking. A strict emphasis on technical development is not sufficient for the implementation of new technology in markets. Understanding how and what type of value the new technology can offer to different actors requires the examination of these benefits and values from the viewpoint of the business process of customers. Unsuccessful launches often originate from an insufficient understanding of customer-driven value. The ways in which the different parties of the supply chain define the value of packaging technologies are important to discern.\n2. Customer value in business markets: Customer-perceived value has recently been one of the most significant concepts discussed among marketing academics (Khalifa, 2004). The creation of superior customer value is a key element of organizational success in any operating field (Higgins, 1998; Huber et al., 2001; Porter, 1996; Woodruff, 1997), and it may offer a great source of competitive advantage (Lai, 1995). The definition of customer value is not unambiguous. Utility, quality, worth, and benefits are examples of concepts that are insufficiently used as synonyms for value (Parasuraman, 1997; Woodruff, 1997). Despite the diverse definitions, a common viewpoint emphasizes the customer's role in value perception. Value is perceived by customers; it is not objectively established by sellers or other stakeholders (Wang et al., 2004; Woodruff, 1997). Organizations can maintain strong relationships with their customers and ensure that they are able to perceive the type of value that they desire by offering value propositions (Huber et al., 2001; Vargo and Lusch, 2004). The focus of marketing is value creation rather than value distribution (Gronroos, 2000). In addition, the majority of researchers agree that value is a trade-off between the versatile get (benefits) and give (sacrifices) components and that value is distinguished from simple price-quality trade-offs (Day and Crask, 2000). Hence, customer-perceived value can be defined as a trade-off between the positive benefits and the negative sacrifices perceived by customers regarding their expectations (Lapierre, 2000; Ulaga, 2001; Ulaga and Chacour, 2001; Wang et al., 2004; Woodruff, 1997; Zeithaml, 1988), and enhanced either by increasing the customer-perceived benefits or by reducing the sacrifices (Ravald and Gronroos, 1996).\n3. Methodology: 3.1 Data collection\n4. Findings: In this section, the findings of the data gathered through the qualitative study are presented. The value conceptualizations often vary according to a study's context (Babin et al., 1994; Bolton and Drew, 1991; Dodds et al., 1991), product type, and customer segment (Sinha and DeSarbo, 1998). Similarly, the background and professional state of the interviewees are likely to influence the perceived value (Hunt and Morgan, 1995; Sharma and Lambert, 1994; Ulaga and Chacour, 2001). Thus, the data deserved to be analyzed in accordance with both the supply level and the professional field of the interviewees. As mentioned in the previous chapter, the findings are presented on the basis of three themes. Table III represents the value drivers for each level, which are further divided into benefits and sacrifices. Each driver will be discussed in detail in the following sub-sections.\n5. Discussion and implications: 5.1 Theoretical implications\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the value formation and value perceptions of brand owners and retailers in the new digital packaging technology context. The focus of this study concerns the potential of new packaging technologies to offer new value dimensions compared with those offered by current technologies.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The data were gathered via group interviews conducted in 11 organizations at the brand owner and retail levels. The interviewees consisted of marketing and packaging professionals. A grand tour method and a customer value determination (CVD) method were used as analysis tools.\nFindings: This study suggests a value category in the business-to-business context classifying the value drivers of packaging technologies at the product-, service-, and relationship-related levels. Value consists of sub-elements of both positive benefits and negative sacrifices.\nPractical implications: This article provides practical implications for organizations both to increase the benefits received through packaging technologies and decrease unavoidable sacrifices.\nOriginality/value: This study extends the rather scarce knowledge pertaining to value creation and perception in the novel technology context. The value categorization offers a necessary complement to the existing literature concerning value in the business-to-business field.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Wald's maximin model: a treasure in disguise!	[ "Decision making", "Uncertainty management", "Game theory", "Information modelling", "Mathematical modelling" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: Consider the classic maximin paradigm (Wald, 1945, 1950): Equation 1 where D is some set; S(d)[?]S, [?]d[?]D for some set S; and f is a real-valued function on DxS.This model represents a game played by a decision maker against antagonistic nature. The ingredients of this model are construed as follows:* D represents the decision space pertaining to the decision maker;* S represents the state space pertaining to nature;* S(d) represents the set of feasible states associated with decision d; and* f represents the payoff (reward) function.The game consists of three stages:* Act 1. The decision maker selects a decision d[?]D.* Act 2. In response, nature selects the worst state in S(d) related to the decision d selected by the decision maker. Call this state s^(d).* Act 3. The payoff f(d,s^(d)) is awarded to the decision maker.Clearly, the situation outlined by this model depicts a conflict: the decision maker is striving to maximize her payoff while nature is endeavoring to minimize it.For our purposes it suffices to note that this simple model is the foremost paradigm used in classical decision theory (Resnik, 1987; French, 1988) and affiliated fields such as robust optimization (Kouvelis and Yu, 1997; Ben-Tal et al., 2006). It is a specialversion of the maximin paradigm of game theory (von Neumann and Morgenstern, 1944) where nature is assigned the role of one of the players.\n2 The art of mathematical modeling: For all its prominence and widespread use in decision theory, the maximin paradigm presents the modeler/analyst with a considerable challenge. This is due to the paradigm's austere simplicity. The maximin's lean structure requires that the analyst/modeller make the most of the model's components, which means making the most of the possibilities that are latent in its structure. To this end, the analyst/modeller can fall back on concepts, techniques, etc. from optimization theory that are commonly used for the purpose of mathematical modeling.For one thing, it is often convenient to rewrite equation (1) as follows: Equation 2 Equation 3 This manipulation would yield two different but equivalent representations of the maximin paradigm, namely equation (1) and equations (2) and (3), thereby enabling the analyst/modeller to use the equivalence relation as a platform in the analysis.We elaborate this point via two examples.2.1 Example 1\nTheorem: The robustness model (7) is an instance of Wald's maximin model.ProofLet R+ denote the non-negative section of the real line and consider the following instance of Wald's maximin model that is specified as follows: Equation 13 Equation 14 Equation 15 This particular instance of the general maximin model is then as follows: Equation 16 Equation 17 Equation 18 Equation 19 Equation 20 Hence, the robustness model (7) is an instance of Wald's maximin model (1), namely it is the instance specified by equations (13)-(15).\nCorollary: Equation 21 That is, equation (7) and its equivalent maximin representation yield the same optimal decisions.It should be noted that the somewhat simpler parametric maximin model: Equation 22 is also related to the robustness model (7), but not as strongly. That is, for a[?]=a^(rc) any optimal solution to this maximin model is also an optimal solution to the robustness model (7), and vice versa.\n3 Discussion: It is common practice in decision theory and optimization theory to mathematically describe a given problem via different equivalent models. Given the stark simplicity of the maximin model it is important to appreciate that models that on the face of it may not \"look like\" a maximin model, e.g. Info-Gap's robustness model, on closer scrutiny turn out to be simple maximin models ... in disguise.We have illustrated that to formulate a problem in accordance with the \"standard\" maximin format may require the use of subtle mathematical modeling tools.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the expressive power of Wald's maximin model and the mathematical modeling effort requisite in its application in decision under severe uncertainty.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Decision making under severe uncertainty is art as well as science. This fact is manifested in the insight and ingenuity that the modeller/analyst is required to inject into the mathematical modeling of decision problems subject to severe uncertainty. The paper elucidates this point in a brief discussion on the mathematical modeling of Wald's maximin paradigm.\nFindings: - The apparent simplicity of the maximin paradigm implies that modeling it successfully requires a considerable mathematical modeling effort.\nPractical implications: - The paper illustrates the importance of mastering the art of mathematical modeling especially in the application of Wald's maximin model.\nOriginality/value: - This paper sheds new light on some of the modeling aspects of Wald's maximin paradigm.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Diffusion factors	[ "Serials", "Generation and dissemination of information", "Publications" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The journal diffusion factor was introduced by Rowlands (2002) as a measure of the transdisciplinary reception of a journal, a way of summarising the breadth of a journal's influence across the literature. He defined the journal diffusion factor as a standardised average number of citing journals per source item within a given time window. As such its mathematical form is similar to, and was indeed modelled on, that of the classical journal impact factor.Rowlands likened the publication of new ideas to pebbles being thrown into a pond. The diffusion factor may be understood metaphorically as a measure of the extent of the resulting ripples (citations) as new publications enter the literature (the pond). Classical journal indicators such as the impact factor and the median citation age do not measure the breadth of the reception of a particular journal (nor journal issue) in the marketplace for research ideas. It is here that a diffusion factor plays a useful complementary role.In this contribution we focus on precise mathematical definitions of different forms of diffusion factors. This approach closely follows the description of different forms of journal impact factor given in Ingwersen et al. (2001) or, more recently, in Frandsen and Rousseau (2005). We will also present some worked examples of these different forms and conclude by suggesting some broader research questions that derive from the notion of measured journal diffusion.The publication-citation matrix\nRelative diffusion factors: Diachronous version\nJournal diffusion factors: Recently, Frandsen (2004) proposed a journal diffusion factor (actually a whole set) where instead of dividing by the number of citations, one divides by the number of publications instead. Denoting this new diffusion factor (n-year diachronous version) for the year Y as DIn(Y), yields the following mathematical formulation: Equation 13 Empirically, Rowlands' relative diffusion factor is heavily correlated with the total number of citations (Rowlands, 2002). Frandsen's alternative diffusion factor above, on the other hand, is heavily correlated with journal impact. It is not bounded. For single articles the Frandsen diffusion factor coincides with the total number of different journals citing this article over a specified period of time.Similarly a synchronous diffusion factor is defined as: Equation 14 The next calculation reveals the precise relation between these two diffusion factors and the (diachronous) Garfield impact factor.If we consider the diachronous relative diffusion factor RDI and multiply it with the diachronous (unshifted) impact factor then the result is the (diachronous) diffusion factor DI.Indeed: Equation 15 This relation shows that the diachronous journal diffusion factor is larger than the diachronous relative diffusion factor if, and only if, the diachronous impact factor (calculated for the same citation period) is larger than one.\nSome worked examples: In the examples that follow, we hope to illustrate the usefulness of diffusion factors.Two library and information science journals\nConclusion and suggestions for further research: This paper has offered a more formal and comprehensive description of diffusion factors than previously attempted by the authors. It is programmatic in the sense that we would like to encourage the bibliometrics community to engage with our ideas, improve them further and test their utility by engaging with meaningful research questions: at this early stage, it is not entirely clear which of our proposals best catches the notion of diffusion. Indeed, we would also like to encourage others to develop new kinds of summary bibliometric indicator and to see what new light these can throw on our understanding of scholarly communication. One important research question we would like to explore is how maps of knowledge flows might be derived from this new approach to understanding citation data.We have focused here mainly on the diffusion characteristics of journals, but there is no reason in principle why these techniques could not be applied to other units of research production: from individual articles through authors and research groups to specialties, disciplines and even to national outputs. The logistics of data collection might become rather daunting at these higher levels of aggregation but the research rewards might well be significant. It would be interesting to study the diffusion characteristics of different types of papers (reviews, articles, letters, etc.) and to see whether there are differences, for example, between papers reporting basic or applied research, or between methodological contributions and papers presenting research findings. At the policy level, such investigations might provide answers to the question of whether diffusion is \"speeding up\" or \"slowing down\" in various contexts (is diffusion - in general terms - the same now as it was 20 years ago?). The concept of diffusion is also interesting in a policy context because it addresses the question of research utility and \"quality\" from a different angle than the iconic Garfield impact factor.Finally, the essential ideas here could be extended beyond the journal literature into other domains. For example, they could be used to measure the diffusion of web sites by monitoring links at regular times, or by using the Web Archive, or they could summarise the relative influence of individuals in social network analysis.Since this article was submitted for publication, Egghe (2005) has further studied the relation between diffusion factors and impact factors, while the study of Fairthorne's \"Empirical hyperbolic distributions (Bradford-Zipf-Mandelbrot) for bibliometric description and prediction\" in (Rousseau, 2005) provides another example of a calculated diffusion factor, and the introduction of the notion of diffusion speed.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to clarify earlier work on journal diffusion metrics. Classical journal indicators such as the Garfield impact factor do not measure the breadth of influence across the literature of a particular journal title. As a new approach to measuring research influence, the study complements these existing metrics with a series of formally described diffusion factors.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Using a publication-citation matrix as an organising construct, the paper develops formal descriptions of two forms of diffusion metric: \"relative diffusion factors\" and \"journal diffusion factors\" in both their synchronous and diachronous forms. It also provides worked examples for selected library and information science and economics journals, plus a sample of health information papers to illustrate their construction and use.\nFindings: - Diffusion factors capture different aspects of the citation reception process than existing bibliometric measures. The paper shows that diffusion factors can be applied at the whole journal level or for sets of articles and that they provide a richer evidence base for citation analyses than traditional measures alone.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The focus of this paper is on clarifying the concepts underlying diffusion factors and there is unlimited scope for further work to apply these metrics to much larger and more comprehensive data sets than has been attempted here.\nPractical implications: - These new tools extend the range of tools available for bibliometric, and possibly webometric, analysis. Diffusion factors might find particular application in studies where the research questions focus on the dynamic aspects of innovation and knowledge transfer.\nOriginality/value: - This paper will be of interest to those with theoretical interests in informetric distributions as well as those interested in science policy and innovation studies.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Transforming school culture through inquiry-driven learning and iPads	[ "Professional learning", "Collaboration", "Professional capital", "Whole system transformation", "Technology innovation", "Inquiry-based learning", "Pedagogical innovation" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Recent educational literature asserts that traditional forms of education designed to meet late twentieth century purposes are no longer adequate to the opportunities and challenges facing twenty-first century learners - particularly in relation to changing practices in the domains of communication, work, citizenship, and cultural participation (Cope and Kalantzis, 2009; Fullan and Donnelly, 2013). Threads linking this literature include descriptions of dramatically-transformed sociotechnical landscapes that require schools to adapt to a wide array of digital tools, and to respond strategically to changing forms of literacy and learning today, as well as respond to the increasing cultural and linguistic diversity characterizing contemporary societies (Lotherington and Jenson, 2011). Terms like \"knowledge economy\" and \"creative economy\" (Peters and Araya, 2010) are frequently invoked to identify not simply new forms of economic value, but emerging knowledge-making practices and new forms of collaborative, creative cultural design: these are the powerful dispositions and competencies required for learners to flourish in the twenty-first century. At the same time, social justice matters are interwoven within these changing landscapes, as twenty-first century literacies are becoming, increasingly, new axes of inequality and social differentiation. And while powerful twenty-first century competences are central to individual and collective success in globalized economies, they are also the very tools for critiquing and transforming the structures and systems that students may find themselves within (Cope and Kalantzis, 2009). As other theorists (Luke et al., 2017; Thumlert, 2015) remind us, ecological, social justice, and ethical exigencies, today, require us to rethink education not as a developmental system that gradually \"prepares\" student for later life, but as a dynamic vehicle for situating learners in agentive roles in the present, where students are (re)understood as actors capable of engaging real-world controversies and critical learning adventures using authentic tools in real-world contexts.\nPositioning our study: transformative ecologies: Scholars working in area of technology and education have, over the past decades, pointed out that technology-based reform initiatives often position digital technologies as \"additive\" resources or \"objective,\" \"neutral\" tools that can accelerate and enhance instructional practices (de Castell et al., 2002; Dawson and Heinecke, 2004). The logic of enhancement informing such initiatives may thus take for granted extant curricular suppositions, teaching roles, and the very \"technologies of practice\" that script how actual material tools/technologies are used, and to what ends (Nordkvelle, 2004; Thumlert et al., 2015). As Christensen et al. (2008) have popularized this discussion, digital innovations are frequently incorporated as \"sustaining technologies\" which are organizationally adapted to streamline prevailing methods without challenging inherited aims and routines, standardized role-functions among actors, or governing assessment models. Such technology-based reform innovations may, paradoxically, contribute to reproducing traditional educational forms.\nStudy context and research questions: It is in these shifting contexts that we situate our study, conducted during the second half of the 2015-2016 school year. This paper provides an analysis of the first phases of a five-year initiative, one with the ambitious goal of transforming learning across the district by integrating new pedagogical practices (IBL) with innovative technology use, including 1:1 iPad distribution. The focus of our research was a family of seven pilot schools which were in the second full year of initiative implementation (grades 4 through 8). The schools were located in an urban area of the district characterized by low average incomes, a high percentage of single-parent families, high unemployment levels, a high proportion of residents with low educational levels, and relatively low home ownership rates. Our goals were to examine early impacts of the initiative on transforming teaching practices and deepening student learning through inquiry-driven practices organically interwoven with digital tool use and twenty-first century competences (AP). While 1:1 iPad mobilization and technology infrastructure played a central part in the initiative action plan, it was clear that pedagogical transformation was the cornerstone of the initiative, informed by the view that significant innovation can only happen when new structures are holistically established (AP; Canuel, 2013).\nResearch questions: We developed a research model based on the board's theory of action (AP). Our research model focused on the relationship between five enablers of change, including: support for professional learning/development and culture change, professional support for administrators, digital hardware and software for classrooms, technical support for schools and teachers, and funding from the board and Ontario Ministry of Education actors. Specific research questions focused on if, how, and to what extent the implementation of the action plan, IBL and the infusion of technology through 1:1 iPad distribution was effective in enacting initiative goals.\nResearch methodology: We investigated our research questions using case study methodology. This approach to inquiry addresses both descriptive and explanatory questions, and the rich data it generates makes possible a detailed, nuanced, and well-contextualized understanding of how and why a program works in a particular setting (Yin, 2006). Multiple data sources were chosen to provide converging lines of evidence that triangulate in order to make our findings as robust as possible (Patton, 1990). These sources included teacher and key informant interviews, student focus groups, teacher and student surveys, publicly-available policy and planning documents, and student work products and artifacts. Our data collection was integrated with that undertaken by the school district as part of their own ongoing research and monitoring of the initiative. This had a significant impact on the extent and types of data we were able to collect. The impact is discussed next in the description of the procedures followed for each group of participants.\nFindings: enacting ecological transformations: We begin with findings relating to professional learning and transformations in school culture. We then explore findings on the initiative's impacts on transforming pedagogy/technology and assessment practices; on new learning partnerships, student engagement, and twenty-first century competences; following this we address how 1:1 iPads and pedagogical innovations supported a culture of inclusivity and participation.\nDiscussion: opportunities and challenges: Research has shown that one condition for sustainable system change is eventuated when professional development/learning is embodied \"as a holistic, ongoing formative feedback cycle with continuous collaboration at its center\" (Fullan and Langworthy, 2014, p. 57). Based on our findings, we suggest, further, that pedagogical innovation and inquiry-driven work in classrooms - real changes in the practice of teaching and learning - can promulgate wider collaborative cultures, at every level of professional action. The very attributes of the pedagogical innovation, here, can become drivers of wider cultural shifts and transformed professional learning practices, led by inquiry-driven professional learning. In short, innovative pedagogies model dynamic forms of professional capital building (human, social, and decisional) which in turn, recursively, refine and extend opportunities for transformed classroom practices. If teachers reported that inquiry-driven technology/pedagogy practices, with knowledge-making at its core, fostered increased engagement, persistence, agency, and self-efficacy at the student level, then professional learning should be energized by the same supports and affordances.\nConclusion: sustaining and scaling transformative initiatives: If the drivers of system reproduction are ecological, embodied and encultured, then so must be the affordances of system transformation, if innovations are to be sustained. Indeed, as many researchers assert, today, schooling systems will likely reproduce themselves as long as teaching conforms to standardized forms of content instruction and assessment, and students remain mere reproducers of static knowledge and compartmentalized skills. Owston (2007) adds that, for innovations to take hold, teachers need to not only adopt new practices, they also must \"unlearn\" legacy beliefs about teaching and learning (p. 70). In the twenty-first century, this means creating pedagogical conditions, supported by technology tools, that position learners as capable and connected makers of knowledge and culture - in new learning partnerships with teachers.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of a commissioned research study that analyzed a schooling initiative with the ambitious goal of transforming learning environments across the district by advancing innovative, inquiry-driven pedagogical practices combined with 1:1 iPad distribution. The paper explores impacts of the initiative on pedagogical innovation, twenty-first century learning, and related impacts on professional learning, collaboration, and culture change in the pilot schools analyzed in the study.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A multi-dimensional case study approach was used to analyze how the initiative was implemented, and to what extent teaching, learning, and professional cultures were transformed, based on action plan inputs and \"change drivers\". Research methods included structured, open-ended interviews conducted with randomly selected teachers and key informants in leadership roles, focus groups held with students, as well as analysis of policy documents, student work samples, and other data sources.\nFindings: The authors found evidence of a synergistic relationship between innovations in inquiry-driven pedagogy and professional learning cultures, with evidence of increased collaboration, deepened engagement and persistence, and a climate of collegiality and risk-taking at both classroom and organizational levels. Based on initiative inputs, the authors found that innovations in collaborative technology/pedagogy practices in classrooms paralleled similar innovations and transformations in professional learning cultures and capacity-building networks.\nPractical implications: This initiative analyzed in this paper provides a case study in large-scale system change, offering a compelling model for transformative policies and initiatives where interwoven innovations in pedagogy and technology mobilization are supported by multiple drivers for formal and informal professional learning/development and networked collaboration. Challenges and recommendations are highlighted in the concluding discussion.\nOriginality/value: The transformative initiative analyzed in this paper provides a very timely case-model for innovations in twenty-first century learning and, specifically, for enacting and sustaining large-scale system change where inquiry-driven learning and technology tools are being mobilized to support \"deep learning\", \"new learning partnerships\", and multilevel transformations in professional learning (Fullan and Donnelly, 2013). This research advances scholarly work in the areas of twenty-first century learning, identifying relationships between technology/pedagogy innovation and professional capital building (Hargreaves and Fullan, 2012).\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A holistic framework with user-centred facilities performance attributes for evaluating higher education buildings	[ "Facilities performance attributes", "Higher education buildings", "Learning spaces", "Post-occupancy evaluation", "User-centred", "User satisfaction" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Higher education institutions (HEIs) play an important role in the economic development of any society through their knowledge generation and dissemination to promote human capital advancement (Asteriou and Agiomirgianakis, 2001) and innovation (Mowery, 2004). Higher education buildings are constructed facilities to accommodate and support academic-related functions, such as teaching, learning and research. These buildings usually accommodate diverse faculties with different specialisations. Furthermore, they have a variety of spaces, including offices, classrooms, lecture theatres, open spaces, cafeterias, libraries, studios, workshops and laboratories. According to Oblinger (2005), these spaces reflect the pedagogy image of HEIs. The effectiveness of these spaces influences the productivity, health and behaviour of the staff and students (Leung and Fung, 2005; Abisuga et al., 2015; Vafaeenasab et al., 2015; Abisuga et al., 2016). As such, it is paramount for HEIs to provide adequate facilities and spaces that meet the requirements of their users (students and staff) (Kok et al., 2011; Kwun et al., 2013; Wang and Zamri, 2013).\nResearch approach: According to Li et al. (2000), a systematic examination of knowledge provides insights into how to extend it. In this paper, a systematic review of the literature (Brereton et al., 2007; Kosonen and Kim, 2017) was conducted to develop a comprehensive understanding of previous research on user-centred requirements of facilities performance attributes. According to Tsai and Lydia Wen (2005), to accomplish a comprehensive review of existing studies and frameworks in a particular field, a precise assessment of publications in academic journals is essential. This review is consisted of the following three stages:\nExisting post-occupancy evaluation frameworks for evaluating higher education buildings: There are various POE frameworks for evaluating building performance. Li et al. (2018) compared POE frameworks that have been used in literature to evaluate different types of buildings, including Post-Occupancy Review of Engineering (PROBE), CBE Building Performance Evaluation (BPE) toolkit, Cost-effective Open-Plan Environments (COPE), Health Optimisation Protocol for Energy-efficient Building (HOPE), National Environmental Assessment Toolkit (NEAT), Whole Building Cost and Performance Measurement, Eco Smart, Performance Measurement Protocol (PMP), Creative Energy Homes (CEH), Building Occupants Survey System Australia (BOSSA), National Research Council Canada (NRC), Tsinghua Protocol, International Institute for a Sustainable Built Environment (IISBE) Protocol, Diagnostic POE Model for Emergency Department and POE framework for higher education residence halls. However, only PROBE, BPE and IISBE were considered appropriate to evaluate higher education buildings (Li et al., 2018). Similarly, Riley et al. (2010) studied six existing POE methods, including Post Occupancy Review of Buildings and their Engineering (PROBE), Higher Education Design Quality Forum (HEDQF), Soft Landing, Guide to POE Report and Toolkit, Overall Liking Score, Construction Industry Council Design Quality Indicators (CIC DQI), and Building Use Studies (BUS) Occupancy Survey. Riley et al. (2010) concluded that the HEDQF is the only one specifically designed for evaluating higher education buildings. In another study, HEDQF, Pedagogy-Space-Technology (PST) Framework, Comprehensive Learning Space Evaluation Model and Effective Models and Practices for Technology Supported Physical Learning Spaces (JELS) were identified as POE frameworks suitable for higher education buildings (Cleveland and Fisher, 2014). Still another evaluation tool identified as appropriate for the higher education context is Learning Space Rating System (LSRS) (Brown et al., 2014).\nUser satisfaction and facilities performance attributes: According to Eley (2001), POE is a process to capture the lessons learned from the users about the performance of facilities to improve the existing facilities and inform future design and construction. POE can be used to capture feedback on energy performance, indoor environment quality, user satisfaction and so on. These lessons learned are drawn from the perceived satisfaction of facility users. Satisfaction here means the comparison of what is expected from the performance of a facility to the attainable performance experienced by the users (Baird and Dykes, 2012; David Jiboye, 2012). In this case, the satisfaction with an education space reflects the degree to which the users perceive how the space's facilities performance attributes facilitate their academic activities and well-being. Satisfaction can also be the absence of user complaints (Seshadhri and Paul, 2017), making satisfaction the complimentary approval of contentment from end-users. In its application, user satisfaction is mostly measured with an occupant survey (Cleveland and Fisher, 2014; Li et al., 2018). This has been reflected often in previous studies, where occupant surveys were used extensively to assess higher education buildings performance attributes (Adewunmi et al., 2011; Alborz and Berardi, 2015; Asmar et al., 2014; Hassanain and Mudhei, 2006; Kim et al., 2018; McGrath and Horton, 2011; Sanni-Anibire and Hassanain, 2016; Sawyerr and Yusof, 2013).\nFacilities performance attributes of higher education buildings: Literature search on higher education building performance evaluation indicates that only a few have identified user satisfaction requirements in this context, which is in contrast to studies focusing on other types of buildings, such as residential, commercial and office (Li et al., 2018). These few studies cover various buildings within higher education environment, such as student accommodation (Alborz and Berardi, 2015), classrooms (Hughes, 2002), library (Hassanain and Mudhei, 2006), department buildings (Mustafa, 2017) and so on. The performance attributes used are also different depending on the type of building evaluated. As stated earlier, user requirements may change overtime (Price et al., 2003) and are different depending on the functions of the buildings. This has led to the attempt by some researchers to evaluate specific buildings in higher education as discussed below.\nUser-centred facilities performance attributes: POE is seen as a feedback loop of a logical process, where lessons learned from the experiences of building occupants are used to inform future design and promote continuous improvement (Zimmerman and Martin, 2001). Nevertheless, POEs for different types of buildings are often very different in terms of both their aim and methodology (Li et al., 2018). Often the existing POE frameworks may not be comprehensive enough to cover essential user requirement attributes in higher education buildings (Cleveland and Fisher, 2014). A holistic POE framework indicates in detail what attributes may affect the viability and performance of a specific building. According to Sanni-Anibire et al. (2016), different POE attributes from previous studies can be consolidated to achieve a holistic post-occupancy user requirements. In addition, Li et al. (2018) stated that POEs of higher education buildings are varied based on the functions of the buildings. As such, they could be similar to either office or residential buildings' user requirements.\nHolistic post-occupancy evaluation framework in practice: illustration and discussion: The use of generic evaluation tools is inadequate for evaluating the learning spaces in higher education because of the diverse designs and functions of these spaces and their cultural settings (Cleveland and Fisher, 2014). Accurately measuring the POE of these spaces is valuable for facilities managers, providing data that show the trend of user requirements in a specific learning space overtime. These data give an insightful and in-depth analysis of critical issues per learning space rather than a list of issues in the whole building influenced by the aggregate responses and perceptions of users on various spaces. This approach encourages the planning and improvement of individual learning spaces based on the fund available, rather than expecting a huge amount of fund to improve the whole building. Furthermore, since there is evidence that individual spaces exhibit different levels of user satisfaction, the use of one POE survey tool to evaluate a whole building may not capture and reveal specific requirements of users. Nevertheless, the process may need a more proactive means of capturing the individual space data by the users, for example, by using mobile application or integrating it with other technologies such as building information modelling (BIM) and geographical information system (GIS) (Gocer et al., 2015; Abisuga et al., 2017; Abisuga et al., 2019). To facilitate this approach, various higher education facilities performance attributes (objective and subjective) have been extracted from the literature to form a POE framework that can be developed further to target higher education buildings. For an effective decision-making, feedback from users' needs to be summarised to find the TESS. The total satisfaction score reflects the total building performance effectiveness of the spaces as perceived by the end-users.\nConclusion: This study contributes to the body of knowledge on facilities management, particularly on extracting and consolidating findings of previous studies on POE for higher education buildings. The study has identified 36 performance attributes that can be classified into four categories, namely, ambience, spatial, technology and building support and services-related requirements. The identified facilities performance attributes have been measured in POE of education buildings, and they are objective and subjective in nature. The indicators were extracted from different educational building types, such as classroom, cafeteria, library, residential, workshop/laboratory and office. A higher education building comprises some of these educational spaces within its envelope. Hence, the study proposes a holistic performance attributes based on user requirements for evaluating higher education buildings. The classified attributes can assist researchers, facilities managers, consultants, design and construction team and education administrators to be conversant with the user requirements. It can also be used to develop guidelines for facilities performance management based on the feedback from end-users.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to identify user-centred facilities performance attributes of higher education buildings and how they can be used to evaluate individual learning spaces. These attributes are then consolidated for developing a post-occupancy evaluation (POE) framework in this context.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A systematic review of the literature on the POE of higher education buildings is conducted.\nFindings: This study identifies 36 facility performance attributes in higher education buildings, which can be categorised into four dimensions: ambient; spatial; technology; and building support and services requirements. These facility performance attributes need to meet user requirements to achieve satisfactory feedback. It is also important to note that user requirements differ from one learning space to another; thus, it is essential to consider the characteristics of individual learning spaces.\nResearch limitations/implications: The proposed evaluation framework is context-based and may not be suitable to evaluate other types of buildings. It may be further extended and enhanced to meet other facility management evaluation needs.\nPractical implications: The POE framework developed in this research can be used to generate facilities management analytic to inform future design and improve existing higher education facilities.\nOriginality/value: This research has developed a holistic POE framework tool to meet user requirements in higher education buildings.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]

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