bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Colonialism
Authors: Kroll-Zeldin Oren
Published: June 2016

Few topics in the discipline of anthropology are as important, and controversial, as colonialism. The historical origins of anthropology are rooted in the colonial enterprise, thus forever linking colonialism and anthropology. As such, colonialism is one of the most widely explored and written about subjects in the history of anthropology. Colonialism can be understood as the establishment of foreign rule over a distant territory and the control of its people. Generally associated with European imperial powers, colonialism and the colonial project include political and legal domination over a subordinate people, the exploitation of human and natural resources and the redistribution of those resources to benefit imperial interests, and the construction of racial and cultural difference that privileged the colonial ruler over the populations they ruled. Colonialism, which started in the late 15th century, is one of the fundamental social, cultural, and political forces that shaped our contemporary world. It is one of the phenomena that have structured modernity with regard to racial and economic hierarchies, which continues to have profound effects on communities worldwide. Though the traditional period of colonialism has ended, anthropological research on colonialism has pointed to the fact that there are lasting impacts of the colonial project worldwide. While anthropologists initially participated in the colonial project and later reproduced colonial relationships in their research projects, contemporary anthropological literature that is critical of the discipline’s historical roots developed alongside decolonial and postcolonial responses and critiques of colonialism and its ongoing legacy. In addition to theoretical and historical contributions to colonialism, anthropological research on colonialism focuses on four main areas. First, anthropologists describe the cultural representation of non-European others and focus on the impacts of colonialism on the communities that were colonized. Second, anthropological research examines the culture of the colonial project itself, focusing on the production of hierarchies and the process of exploiting human and natural resources to serve colonial needs. Third, anthropologists articulate the relationship between the colonizer and the colonized. Fourth, anthropology focuses on resistance to colonialism, highlighting the everyday acts of the colonized in the struggle to overcome colonial rule.
Faking in Personnel Selection
Authors: Converse Patrick D. , Kim Brian H. , Mochinushi Yumiko , Yang Yadi
Published: June 2016

Faking has been defined in several ways but generally refers to intentional distortion of responses on psychological measures. This behavior is a potential concern in personnel selection contexts because applicants who are motivated to obtain a job might consciously distort their responses on selection measures in an attempt to increase their chances of receiving a job offer, especially when perceiving their true ability and qualifications to be inadequate. More specifically, job applicants may exaggerate or completely fabricate positive qualities and downplay or completely deny negative qualities. Although the reasoning underlying concerns regarding faking in personnel selection is fairly easy to understand, the antecedents, nature, and consequences of faking have turned out to be less straightforward. As a result, researchers and practitioners have devoted substantial time and attention to these issues in an attempt to understand faking and address it in practical selection contexts by preventing this behavior or measuring and adjusting assessment processes to account for it. This article focuses on major examples of this work. Much of the empirical research, theoretical development, and practical interventions in this area focus specifically on self-report personality measures, but the psychological processes can often be generalized to other measures in selection such as employment interviews or biographical data inventories. The focus on personality likely stems in part from the potential practical benefits of using these measures in selection (e.g., they are easy to administer and have demonstrated criterion-related validity) and the perception that they are easily faked, as they do not imply a strictly correct answer (in contrast with cognitive tests). Thus, key examples of work on personality measures and other assessments are covered.
Favorable Socioeconomic Status and Recreational Polydrug Use Are Linked With Sexual Hepatitis C Virus Transmission Among Human Immunodeficiency Virus-Infected Men Who Have Sex With Men
Authors: Chen Yun-Chi , Wiberg Kjell J. , Hsieh Yu-Hsiang , Bansal Arun , Bolzan Philipe , Guy Janelle A. , Maina Erastus N. , Cox Andrea L. , Thio Chloe L.
Published: June 2016

Background.  Sexual transmission of hepatitis C virus (HCV) among human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected men who have sex with men (MSM) is an emerging issue. Studies addressing the temporal trends and risk factors associated with incident HCV in HIV-infected MSM in the community-based primary care settings in the United States are scarce.

Methods.  Using a retrospective cohort study design, HCV incidence, defined as HCV antibody seroconversion, was determined in 1147 HIV-infected men receiving care at Chase Brexton Health Care clinics in Baltimore, Maryland between 2004 and 2014. Multivariate regression analyses were used to identify factors associated with incident HCV.

Results.  There were 42 incident HCV infections during 5242 person-years (PY) of follow up (incidence rate [IR], 8.01/1000 PY). Thirty-seven (88%) of the incident infections were in MSM, of whom 31 (84%) reported no injection-drug use (IDU). The annual IRs for MSM were 13.1–15.8/1000 PY between 2004 and 2007, decreased to 2.7–6.2/1000 PY between 2008 and 2011, and increased to 10.4/1000 PY and 13.3/1000 PY in 2013 and 2014, respectively. Injection-drug use was strongly associated with incident HCV among all MSM (IR ratio [IRR], 14.15; P = .003); however, among MSM without IDU, entering care between 2010 and 2013 (IRR, 3.32; P = .01), being employed (IRR, 3.14; P = .03), and having a history of ulcerative sexually transmitted infections (IRR, 3.70; P = .009) or of polydrug use (IRR, 5.54; P = .01) independently predicted incident HCV.

Conclusions.  In this cohort of HIV-infected men, a re-emerging HCV epidemic was observed from 2011 to 2014 among MSM. In addition to IDU, high-risk sexual behaviors, favorable socioeconomic status, and polydrug use fueled this increase in HCV infections.
Virulence Analysis of Wheat Powdery Mildew (Blumeria graminis f. sp. tritici) and Effective Genes in Middle Delta, Egypt
Authors: El-Shamy Moustafa M. , Emara Hassan M. , Mohamed Mona E.
Published: June 2016

Wheat powdery mildew (Blumeria graminis f. sp. tritici) has increased in Delta Egypt in recent years as a result of growing susceptible cultivars of bread wheat. Fifty-two isolates of B. graminis f. sp. tritici collected in 2013 and 2014 from commercial fields in five provinces were analyzed for virulence, using 21 genes conferring resistance to powdery mildew (Pm genes) as well as 12 local wheat cultivars. First true leaves of 10-day-old wheat differentials were inoculated with isolates derived from a single pustule of B. graminis f. sp. tritici. No virulence to the resistance genes Pm3d, Pm12, Pm16, Pm24, Pm35, Pm36, and Pm37 was detected, indicating that these genes could be used for resistance breeding. Virulence to Pm2, Pm4a, and Pm6 was low, while high virulence to genes Pm1a, Pm3a, Pm3c, Pm3f, Pm5a, Pm7, Pm8, Pm9, and Pm17 was found, indicating that breeders should be very cautious in using these genes. At the adult stage, genes Pm2, Pm3d, Pm3f, Pm4a, Pm6, Pm12, Pm16, Pm17, Pm24, Pm35, Pm36, and Pm37 were completely effective in both years. All the tested Egyptian wheat cultivars were susceptible under natural field conditions. The virulence of B. graminis f. sp. tritici population and resistance Pm genes have been assessed for the first time in Egypt.
Multilocus Sequence Typing of Strains of Bacterial Spot of Lettuce Collected in the United States
Authors: Fayette Joubert , Raid Richard , Roberts Pamela D. , Jones Jeffrey B. , Pernezny Ken , Bull Carolee T. , Goss Erica M.
Published: June 2016

Studies on genetic diversity and recombination in bacterial pathogens are providing a better understanding of the mechanisms shaping bacterial diversity, which can affect disease control. Xanthomonas campestris pv. vitians, causal agent of bacterial leaf spot of lettuce, is a threat to the worldwide lettuce industry. We examined the genetic variation within a sample of 83 strains from California, Florida, and Ohio using multilocus sequence typing of six housekeeping genes, totaling 2.7 kb. Additionally, polymorphism in two virulence-related genes, hrpB2 and a putative glycosyl hydrolase, were examined. Based on housekeeping genes, we found three genetic groups of strains that were all able to induce the disease. These included strains collected from weeds and irrigation water that had haplotypes identical to strains from diseased lettuce. High linkage disequilibrium across the sequenced loci indicates that the pathogen is predominantly clonal but recombination has contributed to the observed sequence variation. Although there was significant genetic variation in X. campestris pv. vitians within and among sampled states, identical haplotypes were observed across all three states. This finding suggests that seedborne inoculum may contribute to the diversity of X. campestris pv. vitians in the United States. Knowledge of the genetic structure of the pathogen may be used for developing resistant lettuce varieties.
Locating the ligand binding Sites for the G-protein coupled estrogen receptor (GPER) using combined information from docking and sequence conservation
Authors: Vidad Ashley R. , Macaspac Stephen , Ng Ho Leung
Published: June 2016

High concentrations of estrogenic compounds can overstimulate estrogen receptors and potentially lead to breast, ovarian, and cervical cancers. Recently, a G-protein coupled estrogen receptor (GPER/GPR30) was discovered that has no structural similarity to the well-characterized, classical estrogen receptor ERα. The crystal structure of GPER has not yet been determined, and the ligand binding sites have not yet been experimentally identified. The recent explosion of GPCR crystal structures now allow homology modeling with unprecedented reliability. We create, validate, and describe a homology model for GPER. We describe and apply ConDock, the first hybrid scoring function to use information from protein surface conservation and ligand docking, to predict binding sites on GPER for four ligands, estradiol, G1, G15, and tamoxifen. ConDock is a simple product function of sequence conservation and binding energy scores. ConDock predicts that all four ligands bind to the same location on GPER, centered on L119, H307, and N310; this site is deeper in the receptor cleft than are ligand binding sites predicted by previous studies. We compare the sites predicted by ConDock and traditional methods analyzing surface geometry, surface conservation, and ligand chemical interactions. Incorporating sequence conservation information in ConDock avoids errors resulting from physics-based scoring functions and modeling.
Convergent evidence for the molecular basis of musical traits
Authors: Oikkonen Jaana , Onkamo Päivi , Kravtsov Veronika , Järvelä Irma , Kanduri Chakravarthi
Published: June 2016

To obtain aggregate evidence for the molecular basis of musical abilities and the effects of music, we integrated gene-level data from 101 published studies across multiple species including humans, songbirds and several other animals and used a convergent evidence method to prioritize the top candidate genes. Several of the identified top candidate genes likeEGR1, FOS, ARC, BDNFandDUSP1are known to be activity-dependent immediate early genes that respond to sensory and motor stimuli in the brain. Several other top candidate genes likeMAPK10, SNCA, ARHGAP24, TET2, UBE2D3, FAM13AandNUDT9are located on chromosome 4q21-q24, on the candidate genomic region for music abilities in humans. Functional annotation analyses showed the enrichment of genes involved in functions like cognition, learning, memory, neuronal excitation and apoptosis, long-term potentiation and CDK5 signaling pathway. Interestingly, all these biological functions are known to be essential processes underlying learning and memory that are also fundamental for musical abilities including recognition and production of sound. In summary, our study prioritized top candidate genes related to musical traits that are possibly conserved through evolution, as suggested by shared molecular background with other species.
(4E)-1-Phenyl-4-[(piperidin-1-yl)methylidene]pyrazolidine-3,5-dione
Authors: Mohamed Shaaban K. , Mague Joel T. , Akkurt Mehmet , Ahmed Eman A. , Mohamed Alaa F. , Albayati Mustafa R.
Published: June 2016

In the title compound, C15H17N3O2, the dihedral angle between the planes of the pyrazolidine and phenyl rings is 29.91 (6)°. The piperidine ring adopts a chair conformation. In the crystal, molecules are linked into chains running parallel to thea-axis direction by a combination of N—H...O and C—H...O hydrogen bonds. Furthermore, there exist C—H...π interactions and π–π stacking interactions [centroid-to-centroid distance = 3.5274 (10) Å] between the pyrazolidine rings of adjacent molecules.
Conceptualizing the relative openness of supply chain and its impact on organizational performance
Authors: Fantazy Kamel A. , Tipu Syed Awais Ahmad , Kumar Vinod
Published: June 2016

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to develop a framework conceptualizing the relative openness of a supply chain and its impact on organizational performance.

Design/methodology/approach

– The literature on system theory and the attributes of supply chain management are used to develop a framework describing the relative openness of a supply chain.

Findings

– Different supply chain terminologies – such as adaptive supply chain network, best value supply chain, and open inter-organizational system – partially draw upon the basic premises of an open system. The relative openness of a supply chain and, consequently, the dynamics of different supply chain attributes remain understudied. This supports the idea that an open system perspective of the supply chain is imperative to improve the understanding of the influence of supply chain openness on organizational performance.

Originality/value

– The conceptual framework posits that different supply chain attributes affect the openness of supply chain to a varying degree which ultimately influences the organizational performance. The proposed framework and research propositions will serve as a springboard for conducting future empirical studies.
Benchmarking eco-industrial park development: the case of Devens
Authors: Veleva Vesela , Lowitt Peter , Angus Neil , Neely Dona
Published: June 2016

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to review and update Devens eco-industrial park sustainability indicators and benchmark progress made since 2000 in the seven key areas of its sustainability vision.

Design/methodology/approach

– The authors examined publicly available data for Devens, Massachusetts, and obtained additional data from Devens Enterprise Commission and a survey of 29 local organizations.

Findings

– Of the 43 indicators adopted by Devens eco-industrial park in 2012, 29 demonstrate progress, seven show lack of progress, six point to a potential progress, and for one no information was available in 2000 to evaluate progress. Most progress has been made in the areas of transportation, business and economic sustainability, governance and natural resources.

Research limitations/implications

– For some proposed indicators no data were available to evaluate progress (e.g. waste generation, recycling, compositing, and landfill diversion) yet these are among the key measures for an eco-industrial park.

Practical implications

– Proposed framework, indicators and lessons learned are of value for researchers and practitioners at other eco-industrial parks (EIPs) interested in benchmarking progress toward sustainable local development.

Social implications

– The case provides insights on integrating sustainability in local economic development.

Originality/value

– The study is paving the way toward development of a standardized set of sustainability indicators for EIPs in the USA.
Supply chain practices
Authors: Gorane S. J. , Kant Ravi
Published: June 2016

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to investigate the current level of supply chain practices (SCPs) in Indian manufacturing organizations.

Design/methodology/approach

– The 15 SCPs are identified based on the literature support and opinion of industry experts and academia, and data were collected from 292 organizations. Data were analyzed using the statistical package for the social science software to see the current level/penetration of SCPs in Indian manufacturing organizations.

Findings

– The practices, namely, organizational culture, customer relationship, information and communication technology, benchmarking and performance measurement, lean manufacturing, agile manufacturing, supplier relationship are highly penetrated practices in Indian manufacturing organizations. The practices, namely, outsourcing, information sharing, just in time manufacturing, green supply chain management are moderately penetrated practices, while the practices, namely, reverse logistics, postponement, vendor managed inventory, radio frequency are least penetrated practices in Indian manufacturing organizations.

Research limitations/implications

– Further study can be extended to see the of penetration practices applicable to service and agriculture sectors.

Practical implications

– The result of this paper will enable the organizations to identify and direct their focus on the areas that requires improvement. Also, the organizations will become more aware of the SCPs that will help in boosting up their performance and competitiveness and indirectly boost the growth and contribute to India’s economic development.

Originality/value

– This is the first kind of study which checked the level of selected SCPs in Indian manufacturing organizations.
A design science research approach to website benchmarking
Authors: Cassidy Leonie , Hamilton John
Published: June 2016

Purpose

– Literature-identified website benchmarking (WB) approaches are generally time consuming, survey based, with little agreement on what and how to measure website components. The purpose of this paper is to establish a theoretical approach to WB. A comprehensive design science research methodology (DSRM) artifact facilitates the evaluation of the website against the universal set of benchmark components. This knowledge allows managers to gauge/reposition their websites.

Design/methodology/approach

– DSRM establishes a website analysis method (WAM) artifact. Across six activities (problem identification, solution objective, artifact design/development, artifact demonstration, artifact evaluation, results communication), the WAM artifact solves the DSRM-identified WB problem.

Findings

– The WAM artifact uses 230 differentiated components, allowing managers to understand in-depth and at-level WB. Typological website components deliver interpretable WB scores. Website comparisons are made at domain (aesthetic, marketing, technical) and/or functional levels.

Research limitations/implications

– New/emergent components (and occasionally new functions) are included (and redundant components removed) as upgrades to the DSRM WAM artifact’s three domains and 28 functions. Such modifications help keep latest benchmarking comparisons (and/or website upgrades) optimized.

Practical implications

– This DSRM study employs a dichotomous present/absent component approach, allowing the WAM artifact’s measures to be software programmed, and merged at three different levels, delivering a useful WB tool for corporates.

Originality/value

– DSRM identifies the benchmarking problem. Rough-cut set-theory and mutual-exclusivity of components allow the causal-summing of typological website components into an objective WAM artifact WB solution. This new, comprehensive, objective-measurement approach to WB thus offers comparative, competitive, and website behavioral implications for corporates.
The development of entrepreneurship at school: the Spanish experience
Authors: Barba-Sánchez Virginia , Atienza-Sahuquillo Carlos
Published: June 2016

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to encourage entrepreneurship and creativity among primary school pupils than they acquire entrepreneurial skills through running a business.

Design/methodology/approach

– A pilot experience has been structured into three large phases: analysis of the starting situation; production of the materials and their application in the classroom; and final evaluation. In order to evaluate this experience, the primary school pupils (8-12-years-old) were interviewed and a questionnaire completed.

Findings

– The overall results have been satisfactory and indicated a positive participant reaction to the project that has improved entrepreneurial competencies and the future potential for business start-up.

Research limitations/implications

– The research respondents were drawn from one region of Spain, and the pilot experience has been carried out in the Rural Schools Grouped Together (in Spanish: “Colegio Rural Agrupado”).

Practical implications

– Recommendations are offered which could help the entrepreneurship education stakeholders increase the effectiveness of entrepreneurship education programmes and actions aimed at promoting firm creation in this area.

Social implications

– As this pilot experience aim to increase entrepreneurship as a start-up activity, the improving of entrepreneurial skills serve these pupils so that, in a few years’ time, they can opt to generate wealth and employment endogenously in the towns they come from and so be able to retain the local population.

Originality/value

– The paper contributes to knowledge by adding to a limited literature examining the impact of entrepreneurship education within the 8-12 primary school age sector.
Commitment to an entrepreneurship training programme for self-employed entrepreneurs, and learning from participation
Authors: Nieminen Lenita , Hytti Ulla
Published: June 2016

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to explore how self-employed entrepreneurs commit themselves to an entrepreneurship training programme and how such commitment relates to their perceptions of learning.

Design/methodology/approach

– The data were collected through qualitative, inductive methods by interviewing and observing six entrepreneurs who took part in an entrepreneurship training programme.

Findings

– The study reveals that entrepreneurial activities and a strong attachment to entrepreneurship may detach entrepreneurs from an entrepreneurship community. Generally, participants appreciated the social aspect of learning, peer support, and confidence-building provided by the programme and the learning community. Nevertheless, the participation was a double-edged sword: it allowed those who were not active in entrepreneurship to explore entrepreneurship, but for those who were active in entrepreneurship and in professional communities, their participation represented a potential liability and a threat to their image as a credible entrepreneur.

Research limitations/implications

– More research is needed on the social aspect related to training programmes particularly focusing on potential adverse outcomes, such as over-embeddedness in the community.

Practical implications

– Training programme organizers could benefit from understanding the social aspects of learning in emphasizing the role of peer support but also of the potential dark sides of socializing.

Originality/value

– The study offers insight into the relationship between commitment and learning in micro firms, and it contributes to a deeper understanding of the way community and social relationships facilitate or impede learning by self-employed entrepreneurs. There is a risk that the social aspect of peer support and the community replaces entrepreneurs’ need to “go out there” and expose themselves to learning from experience.
Assessing the sense of initiative and entrepreneurship in vocational students using the European qualification framework
Authors: Morselli Daniele , Ajello Annamaria
Published: June 2016

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to find a framework for the assessment of the learning outcomes of entrepreneurship education as a cross-curricular subject. The problem is twofold: the first difficulty is the relationship to the general issues regarding competence and its assessment; the second difficulty is the assessment of competencies in cross-curricular education in diverse contexts such as school and work.

Design/methodology/approach

– The European key competence for lifelong learning of the sense of initiative and entrepreneurship and the European qualification framework (EQF) are convenient to benchmark the outcomes of enterprise education. In order to assess and develop competence in vocational students, educators should design real life problem solving situations, which are new for the students and closely related to their vocations.

Findings

– The study describes an assessment process of the learning outcomes in terms of knowledge, skills and competence. While the authors tested knowledge by giving the students open-ended questions, the authors assessed the skills and competence with a practical problem concerning the students’ vocational discipline to be solved in groups.

Research limitations/implications

– The paper calls for a better alignment between work experience, teaching for competence and assessment of key competences – such as the sense of initiative and entrepreneurship – taught as a cross curricular subject.

Originality/value

– The assessment makes use of a theoretically grounded definition of competence, and considers varied forms of evaluation of entrepreneurship education. Educators can use it across Europe as it refers to a common background, the European key competences and the EQF, and it promotes the students’ transitions to work and mobility. It is rigorous, and, at the same time, adaptable to the context. It is meaningful for the various stakeholders at various levels: students, employers, schools, workplaces and institutions.
Awakening students’ entrepreneurial selves: case music in basic education
Authors: Hietanen Lenita , Ruismäki Heikki
Published: June 2016

Purpose

– Entrepreneurship education is recommended for implementation throughout the entire educational path. However, there have been challenges in implementing entrepreneurship education for many kinds of students, especially in non-business education. The purpose of this paper is to ask how 15-year-old students in Finnish basic education are able to find their “entrepreneurial selves” by looking at their musical activities through an “entrepreneurial lens”.

Design/methodology/approach

– This case study examines an intervention carried out among music students in basic education. The music teacher interpreted the enterprise approach as guiding the students to experiment with different styles in singing and playing instruments, to seek various opportunities to sing and play both individually and as a group, and to reflect upon their activities. To awaken their entrepreneurial selves, the students were guided to assess their musical activity using 12 enterprise concepts.

Findings

– The study shows that students in basic education can be encouraged to reflect on their music studies by comparing their musical activities with small-sized entrepreneurs’ attributes and activities. For example, the students pointed out the ability to take initiative and cooperate. One principle in organising the music learning environment was to allow the students to make choices based on their own interests. The alternatives given led students to discover opportunities and to make decisions to experiment. Their reflective practices enabled them to make new decisions and finally own and lead their music learning paths.

Practical implications

– This investigation shows that encouraging students to reflect on their study practices through an entrepreneurial lens may awaken them to their entrepreneurial selves regardless of the subject and context. Despite examining only music studies in basic education, the findings may prompt teachers and educators in other non-business educational contexts and subjects to apply the ideas shared in the current paper.

Originality/value

– Music as a subject and basic education as an educational level have not been examined in depth as enterprise learning environments. Only a few previous studies have focused mainly on non-business students’ enterprise activities without training in business skills.
New horizons in entrepreneurship education: from teacher-led to student-centered learning
Authors: Robinson Sarah , Neergaard Helle , Tanggaard Lene , Krueger Norris F.
Published: June 2016

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the discussion about the complexity and heterogeneity of entrepreneurship education. In order to achieve this objective, this paper combines educational psychology with perspectives from entrepreneurship education research to make explicit educators tacit assumptions in order to understand how these assumptions guide teaching.

Design/methodology/approach

– Using ethnographic analysis, the paper reports data from the continuous development and implementation of a single course over a period of ten years bringing in the educator’s and the students perspectives on their achievements and course content.

Findings

– The authors find that it is sometimes advantageous to invoke and combine different learning theories and approaches in order to promote entrepreneurial awareness and mindset. It is also necessary to move away from entrepreneurship education as being teacher led to being more student-centred and focused on experiential and existential lifelong learning practices.

Practical implications

– Practically, the authors make suggestions for the design and delivery of a course that demonstrates how four diverse learning theories can be combined to consolidate entrepreneurial learning in students invoking experiential and curiosity-based learning strategies.

Originality/value

– There are very few examples of concrete course designs that have been researched longitudinally in-depth using ethnographic methods. Moreover, most courses focus on the post-foundation period, whereas this paper presents a course that is a primer to the entrepreneurial process and exclusively centred on the pre-foundation phase. Rather than building on a single perspective, it combines a range of theories and approaches to create interplay and progression.
Influence of early exposure to family business experience on developing entrepreneurs
Authors: Tarling Cath , Jones Paul , Murphy Lyndon
Published: June 2016

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to consider the influences of family business and exposure to family business ideas upon students and graduates during their transition from higher education (HE) towards career identification of entrepreneurship. It explores influences, values and experiences actively impacting on business start-up following exposure to family business or business ideas.

Design/methodology/approach

– A grounded theory approach was adopted to investigate the wider student/graduate transition between HE and business start-up support provision. The aim of the interviews undertaken was to investigate those influences actively impacting on business start-up provision and reflect upon the complexities within the student journey through transition towards business start-up. The researchers investigated stories, experiences and insights of nascent and practicing entrepreneurs acquiring rich qualitative evidence.

Findings

– This study evaluates the influences impacting upon practicing entrepreneurs following exposure to family business and awareness of business ideas arising from immediate or extended family prior to undertaking a business start-up. The findings inform discussions about family role models and contribute to the development of enterprise education pedagogy. It is found that individuals attachment to business and family business values are strongly formed concepts that motivate and steer entrepreneurial direction.

Practical implications

– This paper contributes to development of enterprise and entrepreneurship educator pedagogy and explores use of entrepreneurial role models and positive learning experiences gained through personal exposure to family business and ideas.

Originality/value

– This study contributes to a fuller understanding of the potential for positive influence through exposure to familial businesses, growing up around businesses and awareness of business ideas arising from immediate or extended family. Integration of learning opportunities with development of pedagogy will be of interest to the enterprise education community.
Entrepreneurship education by design
Authors: Lahn Leif Christian , Erikson Truls
Published: June 2016

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to outline a theoretical platform for a design-based approach to entrepreneurship education grounded in the ideas of the Russian psychologist and linguist Lev S. Vygotsky by reconceptualising the development of entrepreneurial expertise as artefact-mediated activity. This model is elaborated into some core pedagogical principles and contrasted with other approaches to entrepreneurial education. It also describes the piloting of this design perspective in a Master of Science programme in entrepreneurship. Students working as interns in high-tech start-up companies reflected on their practice and learned to learn using a number of artefacts as “scaffolds”.

Design/methodology/approach

– The empirical base of this paper is an instrumental case study of the pilot programme where the material is subject to documentary and narrative analysis. The master’s theses of the students participating in the new start-up programme were compared with those of students in the regular programme using thematic analysis.

Findings

– The authors call for a more systematic examination of the model derived from Vygotsky in the field of entrepreneurship education. The exploratory study indicates that the emphasis on artefact-mediated action may strengthen systematic self-reflection and learning to learn among master’s students in practice-based programmes. However, Vygotsky’s focus on “distributed agency” should be complemented by a more personalized mentoring scheme.

Originality/value

– This is a pioneering study examining the pedagogy of artefact mediation in entrepreneurship education.
Entrepreneurship education programs in Malaysian polytechnics
Authors: Othman Norasmah , Nasrudin Norfadhilah
Published: June 2016

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to evaluate students’ views on the on-the-campus entrepreneurship programs in Malaysian polytechnics. Participation in the entrepreneurship programs is able to stimulate an interest in entrepreneurship, and improve the knowledge, skills, and entrepreneurial experience of its students.

Design/methodology/approach

– This study adopted a survey method designed in the form of an objective-oriented program evaluation. Questionnaires were used to identify the students’ level of assessments of the instructional dimensions. This study explored the differences in evaluation based on gender, specializations, and courses attended.

Findings

– The results showed moderately high level of evaluation. The analysis of gender differences shows that gender did not affect students’ views on the instructional dimension. However, students’ specialization and courses attended are associated with significant differences in the level of evaluation.

Research limitations/implications

– This research is limited to only five Malaysian polytechnics. The study was looking into the instructional dimension of the entrepreneurship programs. Further research should include the assessment of the institutional side of the programs.

Practical implications

– The evaluation results provide important recommendations to improve some practical aspects of the entrepreneurial activities. The polytechnics’ departments can focus on the actual content as well as on the learning experience to implement conducive, positive, and supportive practices that could lead to a maximum participation rate among students.

Social implications

– Increase the number of students involved in entrepreneurship.

Originality/value

– There have been no discussions or evaluation of the entrepreneurship programs conducted in Malaysian polytechnics in terms of objective-oriented evaluation. This paper attempts to fill the current gap.
Marketized employment services
Authors: Gallet Wilma
Published: June 2016

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to examine the challenges confronting Christian-based organisations operating in the employment services quasi-market in Australia. It focuses on the tensions that arise for these organisations as they endeavour to deliver services that reflect their distinctive mission and values, while remaining competitive in an environment characterised by the typical market values of commercialism, competition and compliance.

Design/methodology/approach

– The data on which this paper is based has been derived from 48 semi-structured interviews with church leaders, senior managers and frontline staff in four Christian-based organisations.

Findings

– The paper demonstrates that the Christian-based organisations under consideration are constrained in their ability to deliver a distinctive and holistic mission. The pressure to survive has resulted in these organisations emulating the business practices of others considered to be more successful in the field.

Research limitations/implications

– This paper draws attention to the commercialisation that has occurred within Christian-based organisations delivering privatised employment services. As markets are formed in other welfare areas, further research opportunities will present to examine how Christian-based organisations respond to the pressures that arise in these fields.

Practical implications

– The findings from this study raise significant questions for Christian-based organisations. The particular dilemma being whether they should accept government funding in circumstances where their mission is likely to be compromised.

Originality/value

– This paper serves to highlight, that despite their intentions to deliver a distinctive mission, Christian-based organisations are indistinguishable from other organisations delivering privatised employment services.
Improving recommender systems’ performance on cold-start users and controversial items by a new similarity model
Authors: Mansoury Masoud , Shajari Mehdi
Published: June 2016

Purpose

This paper aims to improve the recommendations performance for cold-start users and controversial items. Collaborative filtering (CF) generates recommendations on the basis of similarity between users. It uses the opinions of similar users to generate the recommendation for an active user. As a similarity model or a neighbor selection function is the key element for effectiveness of CF, many variations of CF are proposed. However, these methods are not very effective, especially for users who provide few ratings (i.e. cold-start users).

Design/methodology/approach

A new user similarity model is proposed that focuses on improving recommendations performance for cold-start users and controversial items. To show the validity of the authors’ similarity model, they conducted some experiments and showed the effectiveness of this model in calculating similarity values between users even when only few ratings are available. In addition, the authors applied their user similarity model to a recommender system and analyzed its results.

Findings

Experiments on two real-world data sets are implemented and compared with some other CF techniques. The results show that the authors’ approach outperforms previous CF techniques in coverage metric while preserves accuracy for cold-start users and controversial items.

Originality/value

In the proposed approach, the conditions in which CF is unable to generate accurate recommendations are addressed. These conditions affect CF performance adversely, especially in the cold-start users’ condition. The authors show that their similarity model overcomes CF weaknesses effectively and improve its performance even in the cold users’ condition.
A QoS-aware approach for runtime discovery, selection and composition of semantic web services
Authors: Garg Sanjay , Modi Kirit , Chaudhary Sanjay
Published: June 2016

Purpose

Web services play vital role in the development of emerging technologies such as Cloud computing and Internet of Things. Although, there is a close relationship among the discovery, selection and composition tasks of Web services, research community has treated these challenges at individual level rather to focus on them collectively for developing efficient solution, which is the purpose of this work. This paper aims to propose an approach to integrate the service discovery, selection and composition of Semantic Web services on runtime basis.

Design/methodology/approach

The proposed approach defined as a quality of service (QoS)-aware approach is based on QoS model to perform discovery, selection and composition tasks at runtime to enhance the user satisfaction and quality guarantee by incorporating non-functional parameters such as response time and throughput with the Web services and user request. In this paper, the proposed approach is based on ontology for semantic description of Web services, which provides interoperability and automation in the Web services tasks.

Findings

This work proposed an integrated framework of Web service discovery, selection and composition which supports end user to search, select and compose the Web services at runtime using semantic description and non-functional requirements. The proposed approach is evaluated by various data sets from the Web Service Challenge 2009 (WSC-2009) to show the efficiency of this work. A use case scenario of Healthcare Information System is implemented using proposed work to demonstrate the usability and requirement the proposed approach.

Originality/value

The main contribution of this paper is to develop an integrated approach of Semantic Web services discovery, selection and composition by using the non-functional requirements.
A mindful leader with persistence
Authors: Ke Jie
Published: June 2016

Purpose

This article aims to report the second part of the interview with Dr Bor-Shiuan Cheng on his insights into Chinese indigenous management research, including challenges and future directions.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper is based on a recent interview with Dr Bor-Shiuan Cheng.

Findings

The biggest challenge for current Chinese management research is the administrative system and restrictive publication policy. Under the current system, it is best for researchers to consider a dual approach to research. That is, research must be relevant to local issues and significant to the international community.

Research limitations/implications

The system that might sabotage academic system needs to be changed. And future leadership studies should be focused on developing mindful and moral leaders.

Originality/value

The interview provides an insightful view on the current challenges of Chinese management research and valuable advice from Dr Cheng, who also showed the future direction of leadership studies.
Cultural profiling and a Chinese experience
Authors: Gallego-Toledo Juan-Maria
Published: June 2016

Purpose

This paper aims to analyze the effectiveness of cultural profiling tools in predicting and identifying potential cultural pitfalls and challenges that the executive could encounter during an interaction with an individual or group from a different national culture. The initial analysis is based on the author’s experience in China. Over a two-year period and as part of the wider strategy to implement account management principles within the local sales teams across China, the strategy and sales development team (composed of two Chinese nationals lead by a Spanish/USA experienced expatriate/author) engaged senior members of the sales team through a series of workshops.

Design/methodology/approach

Despite the top management support and the alignment of the program with the organizational culture of the company, the coaching program had limited success. Using a past experience in China and as part of a preliminary study on cultural profiling models available to executives, professors and students exposed to global environments, the author reviewed three popular cultural models to potentially identify sources of conflict, cultural gaps and misalignments between individual culture and the national cultures.

Findings

The paper found that culture profiling tools could have a guiding value for executives and other individuals visiting a different culture, as it identified potential sources of conflict and pitfalls to avoid.

Originality/value

The paper offered a fresh look at proliferating culture profiling tools.
Leadership and organizational ambidexterity
Authors: Baškarada Saša , Watson Jamie , Cromarty Jason
Published: June 2016

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to answer calls for more research on how leaders may promote organizational ambidexterity (i.e. exploitation and exploration), and how such behaviors relate to transactional and transformational leadership styles.

Design/methodology/approach

– The findings presented in this paper are based on semi-structured interviews with 11 senior leaders in Australian Defence.

Findings

– This paper identifies three organizational mechanisms that leaders rely on to promote exploitation, and five behaviors that leaders rely on to promote exploration. These mechanisms and behaviors closely match transactional and transformational leadership styles, respectively.

Originality/value

– This paper provides support for the leadership ambidexterity construct, and for the thesis that transformational leadership is appropriate in the context of exploratory innovation, while transactional leadership is appropriate in the context of exploitative innovation.
Factors fostering students’ spin-off firm formation
Authors: Markuerkiaga Leire , Caiazza Rosa , Igartua Juan Ignacio , Errasti Nekane
Published: June 2016

Purpose

– The university is an institution with a long history and, over the course of the centuries, it has gone through several stages in its development. While initially conceived as an institution with a teaching “mission,” the university later adopted a knowledge generation function (research). In recent years, the idea has emerged that the university is assuming a “third mission”: contributing to society and economic development more directly; turning the university into an Entrepreneurial University. What, however, constitutes this Entrepreneurial University? Are all Entrepreneurial Universities composed of the same factors? The purpose of this paper is to answer these significant questions, through an empirical analysis performed on a sample of 59 Northern and Southern European universities.

Design/methodology/approach

– Empirical analysis performed on a sample of 59 Northern and Southern European universities.

Findings

– The findings show that students’ spin-off firm formation is the only different result for an Entrepreneurial University between Northern and Southern European universities and that the core internal entrepreneurship support factors are different for both geographical locations.

Originality/value

– Besides, regarding external entrepreneurship support factors, results show that a supportive institutional context is a core element for promoting internal entrepreneurship support factors and in turn for increasing students’ spin-off firm formation in both Northern and Southern universities.