bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Fair trade narratives and political dynamics
Authors: Tallontire Anne , Nelson Valerie
Published: June 2013

Purpose

The recent departure of Fair Trade USA (FTUSA) from Fairtrade International is the most seismic event in the fair trade movement in the past decade. This paper aims to analyse recent dynamics between and within multiple fair trade strands and the attendant changes in vision and approach.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors use and develop a framework focusing on the relationship between business and development to analyse the dominant narratives and practices of each different strand of fair trade. To unpack the various fair trade narratives, they have conducted a narrative analysis of policy documents and online debates in the wake of the split in the fair trade movement and they draw on recent impact studies.

Findings

The politicising narrative in fair trade stresses governance and voice based on clear structures of representation within the standards body, and recognizes the value of development inputs that do not focus solely on technical and quality development, but lead to organisational advocacy and representational capacity of producer organisations and the regional networks. In contrast “pragmatism” focuses more on economic empowerment and using the market to drive change, an approach that is gaining greater traction with the split of FTUSA from FLO, the most prominent body within Fairtrade International.

Practical implications

The analysis raises implications with regards to how impact analysis captures both the pragmatic and politicising narratives.

Originality/value

The paper's originality/value lies in its novel use of narrative analysis and its early analysis of the shifting dynamics within fair trade precipitated by the departure of FTUSA.
Fairtrade governance and producer voices: stronger or silent?
Authors: Sutton Shannon
Published: June 2013

Purpose

While recent changes to Fairtrade's governance structures aim to facilitate “stronger voices” for producers, relatively little is known about the impact on individual farmers. This paper aims to consider the nature of participation and representation, assessing the role of Fairtrade International (FLO) in representing the interests of its members through an exploration of collaborative governance.

Design/methodology/approach

The author utilizes Fung and Wright's framework of empowered participatory governance to explore the nature of individual participation in Fairtrade governance.

Findings

This paper finds that, while FLO has demonstrated a commitment to improving producer participation and its governance structures appear to be evolving accordingly, much remains to be done in order to ensure that individual producers are genuinely engaged in decision making and have a voice. The concept of countervailing power may provide a means of achieving this.

Practical implications

This paper highlights gaps in the literature that future research might serve to fill. It also finds that there are practical implications for FLO's structures and policies that aim to encourage individual participation and representation, particularly with regards to capacity building and leadership. In addition, the notion of countervailing power is outlined as a useful concept for further addressing diversity and heterogeneity in Fairtrade participation.

Originality/value

This paper focuses on Fairtrade's emerging agenda related to producer voices, while applying EPG in a novel manner. This theoretical framework allows for an original interpretation of the existing empirical material on Fairtrade, and the introduction of countervailing power as a useful concept within Fairtrade may be of interest to both practitioners and researchers.
Understanding the Food Safety Modernization Act and the role of quality practitioners in the management of food safety and quality systems
Authors: Kheradia Amit , Warriner Keith
Published: June 2013

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the key requirements of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), recently passed by the US Congress to safeguard the nation's food supply, and to ascertain the role of quality professionals in the management of food safety and quality systems for food facilities.

Design/methodology/approach

Since genesis of the Act emanates mainly from the recent upsurge in food disease outbreaks in North America, key lessons learnt from the 2008 Listeriosis outbreak in Canada were reviewed. Thereafter, a case study of developing a food safety and quality management system for a “very low risk facility” – i.e. a third party warehouse – was considered. Finally, potential connections between the sections of the FSMA and roles of various quality practitioners were discussed.

Findings

Recent study at the third party logistics warehouse revealed developing and implementing pre‐requisite programs (PRPs), i.e. mainly operational and physical controls, had a positive impact on the food safety and quality management system (FSQMS). Hence, quality practitioners may focus on PRPs to enhance compliance to FSMA requirements.

Practical implications

Food production, processing, packaging and/or distribution companies that export their products to the USA, as well as enterprises requiring preventive controls to ensure food safety and quality, can greatly benefit from the services of quality practitioners. Other key inputs the practitioners provide to the FSQMS include costs reduction, value addition, defects prevention, process control, maintenance and improvement.

Originality/value

The paper closely studies quality practitioners’ perspectives towards meeting or even exceeding the new food safety regulatory expectations in food‐related institutions.
On improvement story by 5 whys
Authors: Myszewski Jan M.
Published: June 2013

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to establish a procedure to examine an organization's improvement process and its adverse factors.

Design/methodology/approach

The objectives were to find a way to represent content of a specific improvement process and analyse reliability of improvement processes conducted at operational, tactical and strategic levels. Inspirations of the text were various heuristic schemes used in a process of problem solving: to stimulate transfer of data by formulation of questions (5W or 5Why); to control the flow of the process (QC Story or 8D etc.); and to document results of operation (Ishikawa, fault‐tree diagram, and others). The outcomes are: a questioning scheme on Improvement Story by 5 Whys, which provides guidance, through a study of an organization's improvement processes related to containment, corrective and preventive type; and diagrams of the Prevention State Transitions and the Improvement Snail, which facilitate navigation through the above processes.

Findings

There is a finite sequence of Why‐questions, which can be used to analyse basic characteristics of systems of improvement processes in organizations. This scheme has a direct graphical representation in the Improvement Snail and the Prevention States Transition diagrams.

Practical implications

The scheme has a wide scope of applications: it can be used retrospectively or in parallel to a running process of problem solving. A context of the analysis may be auditing an improvement process or monitoring a particular improvement project.

Originality/value

The scheme combines various aspects of improving the effectiveness of an organization's functions. It can represent, in a systematic way, information concerning risk issues related to: the problems and their mechanisms; the effectiveness of improvement processes that are related to various levels of organization: operational, tactical and strategic and their coordination. The scheme is flexible, as it can be combined with various analytical techniques such as fault tree diagram etc. and it can be adjusted to any specific purpose, by modifying the structure and content of questions set.
Gender effects on entrepreneurial intention: a meta‐analytical structural equation model
Authors: Haus Inga , Steinmetz Holger , Isidor Rodrigo , Kabst Rüdiger
Published: June 2013

Purpose

Although the percentage of female entrepreneurs has increased over the past several years, it is far below the level of males. Drawing on the theory of planned behaviour and role congruity theory, the purpose of this paper is to specify a model in which the relationship between gender and entrepreneurial intention (EI) is mediated by three essential motivational constructs (i.e. attitude toward starting a business, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control (PBC)).

Design/methodology/approach

The study specifies and tests a meta‐analytical structural equation model. The study aggregates the results of 30 studies (n=52,367).

Findings

The study reveals a higher average EI for men compared to women. However, although significant, the gender differences in EI and the motivational constructs were small and cannot sufficiently explain the substantial differences in actually starting a business. Furthermore, moderator analyses show differences in the gender‐EI relationship between Europe and the US and between students and non‐students.

Research limitations/implications

Differences between men and women seem to be a consequence of differences in turning intentions into implementation. Researchers are called upon to investigate gender differences in hindrances as a potential explanation for different implementations and when and why women give up their entrepreneurial plans. Moreover, future research should investigate further motivational processes beyond those suggested by the theory of planned behavior.

Originality/value

The study analyses the relationship between gender and EI and the results show a weak relationship which indicates that the higher number of male entrepreneurs cannot solely be explained by differences in motivation.
Exploring the financing gap between native born women‐ and immigrant women‐owned firms at the start‐up stage
Authors: Abbasian Saeid , Yazdanfar Darush
Published: June 2013

Purpose

The main purpose of this study is to provide empirical evidence which identifies the impact of ethnicity and other relevant variables on external capital acquisition among Swedish women‐owned businesses at start‐up.

Design/methodology/approach

Several methods have been employed to analyze the sample including a binary logistic regression model. The sample consists of 836 women‐owned businesses in southeast Sweden; 97 immigrant‐owned, 739 native born‐owned.

Findings

The results indicate that there are partly significant differences between native women‐owned firms and immigrant woman‐owned businesses at start‐up. Unlike the native‐owned firms, the immigrant woman‐owned businesses rely more on loans from family members and less on bank loans.

Practical implications

The results reveal that age has a positive impact on loans from family members, while the additional job outside one's own business, the amount of the owner's personal start‐up capital and firm size positively influenced access to capital from banks. The owners' level of education, previous business experience, the legal form taken by the firm and the industry affiliation conversely played no significant role in explaining the women owners' attitudes toward loans from either friends or the bank.

Originality/value

To the authors' knowledge, this study is the first empirical investigation addressing this issue in the Swedish context.
Factors that influence Iranian students’ decision to choose accounting major
Authors: Dalcı İlhan , Araslı Huseyin , Tümer Mustafa , Baradarani Sarvnaz
Published: June 2013

Purpose

The aim of this study is to explore whether there are statistically significant differences in the influence that various career‐choice factors may have on a decision to choose accounting and non‐accounting majors in Iran. The findings derived from this study could assist accounting educators and professional accounting bodies to understand the reasons why students may want to choose an accounting major. In this regard, the findings could help accounting academics and the policy makers in the accounting sector in Iran and in other similar countries develop appropriate strategies to attract proper students into the accounting programs and to recruit bright accounting graduates into the accounting profession.

Design/methodology/approach

At the univariate level, t‐tests of significant differences were performed in order to investigate the similarities and differences between the accounting and non‐accounting students with respect to the importance placed on the career‐choice factors. At the multivariate level, discriminant analysis was conducted in order to find out the important determinants of the choice of an accounting major. Moreover, t‐test and ANOVA statistics were employed in order to explore whether differences in gender, age, and university affect each factor.

Findings

The results reveal that the accounting students attach profound importance to financial and job‐market factors and opinions of referents. Intrinsic factors, aptitude for and genuine interest in the subject, perception of the accounting course, and perception of the accounting profession are not found to have significant influence on students’ decision to major in accounting.

Originality/value

This study is unique in that it is the first empirical paper which explores Iranian students’ perceptions of the career‐choice factors in pursuing an accounting major.
Reinventing teaching in mathematics classrooms
Authors: Yuen Law Huk
Published: June 2013

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the way of how teaching in general and teaching of mathematics in particular can be reinvented by drawing on the perspective of pragmatism. Drawing on long‐standing traditions of John Dewey’s “laboratory model” of learning to teach and Charles Peirce’s semiotic view of scientific inquiry, the design of the lesson study can be reframed or extended through the methodological orientation to reinvention.

Design/methodology/approach

The theoretical framework of reinvention for lesson study, following a pragmatic approach, might offer a methodological orientation for mathematics teachers to foster increased self‐awareness in improving their own practices. The conceptualisation of such an orientation, which leads to the reinventing of teaching in mathematics classrooms, begins with an examination of two pragmatic theories: Dewey's concept ofexperienceand Peirce's concept ofpractical belief and judgement. The methodological orientation for reinvention grounded on these concepts will then be outlined and elaborated.

Findings

Reinvention is a productive “triad of change” through which new possibilities of facilitating the student's learning can be created. Teachers will experience such change by experimenting with their students. In the context of teaching mathematics, reinventing teaching involves the action of an agent carrying out the conversions of mechanisms which bring forth achangeof language, thetransformationof gaze, and the moulding (themetamorphosis) of the individual who does the act of teaching.

Originality/value

The paper offers a theoretical framework of reinvention for lesson study through which teachers’ self‐awareness can be enhanced by improving their own practices. Through the undertaking of pedagogical experiments, teachers are becoming more aware of the need to learn from the learners in order to teach more effectively through the reinvention and unlearning of their own teaching.
Comparison of International Baccalaureate (IB) chemistry students’ preferred vs actual experience with a constructivist style of learning in a Moodle e‐learning environment
Authors: Jordan Carol
Published: June 2013

Purpose

Constructivism is a way of knowing where learners collaborate, reflect and use their own experiences to construct new knowledge. This paper aims to evaluate whether an open source Moodle e‐learning can deliver an instructional model using constructivist learning theories in an International Baccalaureate chemistry class.

Design/methodology/approach

A review of the literature shows that students’ learning outcomes online are likely to be better when their actual learning environment closely matches their preferred or ideal learning environment. An online learning survey was administered to the students towards the end of their two‐year course and the Wilcoxon signed rank test used to measure the difference between the student's actual and preferred experiences with the online activities that used constructivist theories.

Findings

The findings showed that the activities provided by Moodle do foster a constructivist approach to learning and can provide students with the types of learning experiences they desire. However, their effectiveness is to a large extent dependent on the teacher's role in designing and directing the online learning experience. This is significant because it implies that for an online learning environment to be successful, a strong pedagogical strategy that emphasizes a constructivist approach needs to be consistently emphasized and practiced; having the technology tools available does not guarantee this.

Originality/value

This paper's findings show that constructivism as a learning theory can be translated into practice, and used to design and deliver online learning experiences that provide students with a style of learning they prefer. However, the extent to which this is successful depends on the teacher's role in designing and directing the online learning experience. This is significant because to be successful a strong instructional strategy shaped by the beliefs of the teacher emphasizing a constructivist approach needs to be consistently emphasized.
Effects of benevolence, integrity, and ability on trust‐in‐supervisor
Authors: Poon June M.L.
Published: June 2013

Purpose

This study aimed to examine the predictive effects of trustworthiness attributes (i.e. benevolence, integrity, and ability) on trust‐in‐supervisor.

Design/methodology/approach

A field survey using a structured questionnaire was used to gather data from 107 white‐collar employees from diverse organizations in Malaysia. The data were analysed using hierarchical multiple regression analysis.

Findings

The results showed that perceptions of supervisor benevolence, integrity, and ability predicted trust‐in‐supervisor both directly and interactively. Further analysis revealed that integrity and ability interacted in a compensatory manner to predict trust‐in‐supervisor when benevolence was high but not when it was low.

Research limitations/implications

Study limitations include the use of self‐report cross‐sectional data. The findings underscore the importance of looking beyond statistical models that test only for main and two‐way interaction effects in research examining trustworthiness attributes. Researchers should consider examining three‐way interaction effects or run the risk of having a misspecified model. Also, research to determine the relative importance of trustworthiness attributes and the conditions under which one attribute is given more weight than another is needed.

Practical implications

Supervisors should be made aware of the importance of treating their subordinates with benevolence. Nevertheless, because benevolence is a necessary but insufficient condition for fostering trust, employers must ensure that their supervisors have high integrity and ability or, at the very least, one of these attributes.

Originality/value

This study highlighted the importance of examining higher order effects in research examining trustworthiness attributes and provides what is perhaps the first empirical test of how benevolence, integrity, and ability interact to predict trust‐in‐supervisor.
Branding employment related public policies: evidence from a non‐western context
Authors: Alserhan Baker Ahmad
Published: June 2013

Purpose

While the legislative side of workforce nationalization as a key target area for public policies has been extensively studied and scrutinized, the marketing side has not. It remains mostly overlooked, leaving both researchers and practitioners with little or no information to begin with. This “marketing” information gap represents the focus of this paper and it is exactly what the author aims to bridge.

Design/methodology/approach

A thorough analysis of how nationalization policy has been perceived by the UAE workforce was carried out and the results of that analysis were used to identify the core components of a balanced strategy that aims at enhancing the image of Emiratisation as a public brand, or a public offering, and hence improving the implementation of the policy i.e. increase the employability of citizens and, at the same time, retain the much‐needed expatriate workforce.

Findings

The study, which consisted of 180 interviews collected in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), revealed that workforce nationalization as a government offering has been inadequately branded by stakeholders and the government did not engage the branding process at any level. The branding part of the policy was not addressed at all. In effect, the policy was left on its own in that regard. As a result, “brand Emiratisation” now stands for mutual private‐public distrust, implementation difficulties, and serious misgivings about the nature of the policy.

Originality/value

This is the first study internationally to address labor nationalization policies from a marketing perspective. As such the results and discussions therein have wide implications for the employment decisions in organizations, particularly as the number of countries imposing restrictions on the employment of foreign workers continues to rise.
Evaluation of Malaysian mutual funds in the maximum drawdown risk measure framework
Authors: Reza Tavakoli Baghdadabad Mohammad , Glabadanidis Paskalis
Published: June 2013

Purpose

This paper aims to evaluate the risk‐adjusted performance of the management styles of Malaysian mutual funds using nine modified performance evaluation measures generated by the maximum drawdown risk measure (M‐DRM) based on the modern portfolio theory. The purpose is to report the findings in a manner which is realizable by the average investors and portfolio managers.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper evaluates the performance of more than 400 Malaysian mutual funds using risk‐adjusted returns over the two sub‐periods of 2000‐2005 and 2006‐2011. The M‐DRM, as a different measure from downside risk, is applied to improve nine risk‐adjusted performance measures of Sortino, Treynor, M‐squared, Jensen's alpha, information ratio (IR), MSR, upside partial ration (UPR), FPI, and leverage factor. It proposes a new single‐factor model to test the maximum drawdown beta and alpha in the M‐DRM framework.

Findings

The evidence clearly indicates that the replacement framework in terms of MDB, the maximum drawdown beta, and the maximum drawdown CAPM can be replaced by the conventional frameworks in terms of MVB, beta, and the CAPM and also MSB, downside beta, and D‐CAPM for modifying nine performance evaluation measures from the management styles of Malaysian mutual funds.

Practical implications

The research evidence reported in this paper can be applied as input in the process of decision making by small and average investors and portfolio managers who are seeking the possibility of participating in the global stock market through mutual funds.

Originality/value

This paper is the first study to estimate a new regression model in the M‐DRM framework to evaluate the performance of Malaysian mutual funds. In addition, it proposes nine modified performance evaluation measures in the M‐DRM framework for the first time.
Perceived justice in South African airline and hospital industries: measurement model
Authors: De Meyer Christine F. , Petzer Daniel J. , Svari Sander , Svensson Göran
Published: June 2013

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to describe and test a construct of perceived justice from an airline and hospital industry perspective. Furthermore, the similarities and differences of perceived justice in negative service encounters within the airline and hospital setting, and the validity of the constructs in the two different contexts is investigated.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper reports on the results obtained from a South African survey on respondents who experienced a negative service incident in the last year in the airline and hospital industries. The two service settings being used purposely to reveal possible differences in the constructs in settings where life and health are at risk compared to a more hedonistic service. Comparative and confirmatory testing of perceived justice during service encounters in a hospital and airline setting was performed.

Findings

Three dimensions of the perceived justice construct tested in the airline and hospital service encounters presented a satisfactory fit and were found to be valid and reliable. The three dimensions are distributive, interactional and procedural justice.

Research limitations/implications

The main research limitations of this paper include that the construct has only been tested on a sample consisting of specific customer‐firm service encounters in airlines and hospitals in South Africa, which may indicate less applicability in other contexts. Yet, the empirical findings provide a basis for future research to refine and extend corporate endeavors in managing negative incidents in both the health care and tourism industries.

Practical implications

The findings indicate that the notion of perceived justice is the same regardless of service industry. However, the average perception of justice is lower within hospital than in the airline industry. The similarities within these two industries imply that cross‐industry strategies can be developed to understand and manage the perceived justice in negative service encounters based on three justice dimensions.

Originality/value

The paper adds value by complementing and fortifying current theory and research on the justice construct from a service encounter and complaint handling perspective. By comparing the justice hospital and airline industries, this paper contributes to and complements the overall field of study by identifying similarities and the applicability of the justice concept across service industries.
Examining technological innovation of Apple using patent analysis
Authors: Jun Sunghae , Sung Park Sang
Published: June 2013

Purpose

Apple is a representative company of technological innovation (TI) and management. It has launched new and innovative products since 1977, and many companies and business schools around the world have attempted to learn about the success story of Apple's innovation. However, most previous research works on Apple's innovation have been based on qualitative approaches such as experts' opinions. Such studies offer a subjective point of view. By contrast, in this paper the authors aim to study the TI and forecasting of Apple by analyzing its patent applications, which is an objective approach to examining the innovation of Apple from a technological perspective.

Design/methodology/approach

TI is an important issue concerning technology management for companies and governments. To examine Apple's TI, the authors analyze all applied patents and construct analytical models according to three approaches. First, they build statistical models using the time series regression and multiple linear regression methods to create a technology map. Second, they cluster all Apple's patents to find its vacant technology domain. Lastly, they use social network analysis to search for technologies central to Apple's future.

Findings

The authors' study shows the technological trends and relations between Apple's technologies. This research finds vacant technology areas and central technologies for Apple's TI.

Practical implications

Using statistical and machine learning methods, the authors analyze all Apple's patents in order to predict the firm's future technologies. This research contributes to examining the TI of Apple. Therefore, the results of the patent analysis can highlight the technological opportunities for Apple's TI.

Originality/value

Traditional TI models have been based on qualitative methods. Previous investigations of Apple's TI have also relied on traditional analytical approaches. In this paper, however, the authors develop a quantitative and objective approach for examining Apple's TI.
Application of agent technology for recycling‐oriented product assessment
Authors: Dostatni Ewa , Diakun Jacek , Hamrol Adam , Mazur Waldemar
Published: June 2013

Purpose

The paper aims to describe ideas and implementation of the computer tool for computer‐aided and recycling‐oriented design. Currently, there is a strong tendency to take into account the impact of a product on the natural environment. The authors concentrated on the issue of the recycling process of the product, taking into account the phase of its design. The purpose, structure, technology and example results are presented in this paper.

Design/methodology/approach

It was assumed that analysis will be performed based on a set of measures of a product. These measures (developed by the authors), describing the product from the recycling point of view, are calculated automatically, according to the changes (variants) in the product's model. The presented tool is based on agent technology. The structure of the system – the agents, its roles and communication between them – has been described.

Findings

The main achievement of the work presented in this paper is the method supporting eco‐design based on agent technology. Based on the analysis of the process of recycling‐oriented eco‐design, the authors designed and then implemented the tool that aids designers' activities in the area of eco‐design. The drawn‐up method supports decision making concerning designing environmental‐friendly products. Thanks to agent technology, the design process can be conducted in the distributed design environment.

Research limitations/implications

The usage of the presented computer‐aided and recycling‐oriented system during the design process requires the duplication of some of the engineer's work. The analysis is performed within the presented tool, outside the typical contemporary design environment, such as CAD 3D systems. As a consequence, there is a need to enter the product structure into the described system, which can be inconvenient. The further work of the authors assumes implementation of this concept into a CAD 3D system.

Originality/value

There has been a limited amount of research work regarding application agent technology in the field of end‐of‐life oriented design. The structure of the system, the measurements and idea of extension of product structure are the original results of the work. The results could be implemented into commercial computer‐aided design systems, especially into its PLM (product lifecycle management) group, due to the weak representation of end‐of‐life phases in these tools.
Productivity management: integrating the intellectual capital
Authors: Phusavat Kongkiti , Comepa Narongsak , Sitko‐Lutek Agnieszka , Ooi Keng‐Boon
Published: June 2013

Purpose

The intangible assets are important today as knowledge and innovation are the key drivers to long‐term business competitiveness. In other words, this competitiveness requires the productive use of the intangible assets. Thus, measuring productivity should underline their importance within an organization. Therefore, the study aims to examine whether the intellectual capital or IC can be used to support productivity measurement.

Design/methodology/approach

The research methodology consists of two stages, derived from the management process which deals with measurement and analysis. The first stage tests the interrelationships between productivity (namely value‐added labor productivity) and the IC. This test is based on a company's financial reports and the IC survey. The second stage focuses on better understanding on how IC can be analyzed. Altogether ten leading manufacturers, with 270 executives and managers, have participated in the survey. Important statistical techniques such as Pearson Correlation are integrated. Moreover, the consideration into the validity of the survey items (e.g. the non‐respondent bias analysis) is illustrated.

Findings

Because of the significant relationships between the IC and value‐added productivity, measuring the IC can strengthen ongoing productivity measurement efforts on a firm's intangible assets. In other words, the IC can become a surrogate for productivity measurement. To assist the IC analysis further, the IC is positively influenced by innovation, learning organization, knowledge management, and self‐directed learning, respectively. In other words, the innovation appears to have the highest impact on the IC level while the ability of an organization to learn and to apply knowledge also has considerable influences.

Originality/value

The emerging use of the term value‐added highlights the importance of IC within the context of productivity measurement. Past studies have focused on relating some the IC components such as innovation and quality of work life to the productivity level. This study attempts to look at the IC in a more comprehensive manner.
Process quality and collaboration quality on B2B e‐commerce
Authors: Victor Chen Jengchung , Chen Yawen , Paolo S. Capistrano Erik
Published: June 2013

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to propose two additions to the existing IS success model to influence usefulness and satisfaction, and ultimately customer loyalty. This study posits that process quality and collaboration quality will significantly influence perceptions on satisfaction, since both considerations are expected to improve interactions between the organization and its customers.

Design/methodology/approach

The developed research model was tested in the context of B2B e‐commerce users, employing structural equation modelling‐partial least square to analyze and test the research hypotheses.

Findings

Results show that adding process and collaboration quality to the model affects the way system, information, and service quality influences usefulness and satisfaction, suggesting a shift in perspectives and priorities when it comes to B2B e‐commerce transactions. Furthermore, results show that process and collaboration quality have significant effects on usefulness and satisfaction, reinforcing the objective of using B2B e‐commerce systems across supply chain members.

Practical implications

This highlights the importance of improving business processes and enhancing collaboration activities, implying that managers should focus their efforts into enhancing customer service on top of system functionalities and features via B2B to better work with their supply chain partners. However, this study is limited in the context of a Taiwanese supply chain, suggesting that further research consider its applicability in different contexts, culturally and geographically, especially given the fact that B2B e‐commerce enables cross‐border business operations.

Originality/value

This study also extends the IS success model, especially in the context of B2B e‐commerce, by emphasizing behavioural considerations on top of the functional issues present in any information systems.
Forecasting diffusion of innovative technology at pre‐launch
Authors: Kim Taegu , Hong Jungsik , Koo Hoonyoung
Published: June 2013

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to propose a systematic method for the diffusion of forecasting technology in the pre‐launch stage.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors designed survey question items that are familiar to interviewees as well as algebraically transformable into the parameters of a logistic diffusion model. In addition, they developed a procedure that reduces inconsistency in interviewee responses, removes outliers, and verifies conformability, in order to reduce the error and yield robust estimation results.

Findings

The results show that the authors' method performed better in the empirical cases of digital media broadcasting and internet protocol television in terms of sum of squared error compared with an existing survey‐based method, a regression method, and the guessing‐by‐analogy method. Specifically, the authors' method can reduce the error by using the conformability and outlier tests, while the consistency factor contributes to determining the final estimate with personal estimates.

Research limitations/implications

The procedure proposed in this study is confined to the presented logistic model. Future research should aim to extend its application to other representative diffusion models such as the Bass model and the Gompertz model.

Practical implications

The authors' method provides a better quality of forecasting for innovative new products and services compared with the guessing‐by‐analogy method, and it contributes to managerial decisions such as those in production planning.

Originality/value

The authors introduce the concepts of conformability and consistency in order to reduce the error from personal biases and mistakes. Based on these concepts, they develop a procedure to yield robust estimation results with less error.
Impact of banking regulation on risk and efficiency in Islamic banking
Authors: Alam Nafis
Published: June 2013

Purpose

This paper aims to examine whether bank regulation, supervision and monitoring enhance or impede technical efficiency and risk‐taking behaviour of Islamic banks across the globe.

Design/methodology/approach

Technical efficiency scores are calculated using the data envelopment analysis (DEA) model while simultaneity between banks' supervision and regulation on risk and efficiency estimates are calculated using the seemingly unrelated regression (SUR) approach.

Findings

The author's results suggest that regulations and strict monitoring of banking operation, and higher supervisory power of the authorities, increase the technical efficiency for Islamic banks. The opposite effect is observed in the case of risk‐taking behaviour of Islamic banks, with higher restrictions resulting in a reduction in risk taking of Islamic banks.

Research limitations/implications

The Basel II & Basel III guidelines suggested that stricter regulations and supervision could hamper banking efficiency. The existence of a powerful supervisory body could also lead to the inefficiency of banks. The DEA scores from this paper suggest that this may not necessarily be the case, especially as Islamic banks appear to be technically efficient in stricter regulatory conditions.

Originality/value

A message that emerges from this analysis is that there is a strong link between Islamic bank technical efficiency and risk‐taking behaviour with the Central Bank regulatory and supervisory policies. It is also conclusive that the Islamic banking system works well within a stricter regulatory environment.
Efficiency of Islamic and conventional banks in Malaysia
Authors: Ismail Farhana , Shabri Abd. Majid M. , Rahim Rossazana Ab.
Published: June 2013

Purpose

The main purpose of this paper is to examine cost efficiencies of the selected Islamic and conventional commercial banks over the period of 2006 to 2009 in Malaysia.

Design/methodology/approach

Data envelopment analysis (DEA) was initially used, to investigate the cost efficiency of the Malaysian banking sector and followed by Tobit regression analysis determine factors influencing the efficiency of Islamic and conventional banks in Malaysia.

Findings

The DEA results reveal technical efficiency as the main contributor of cost efficiency for conventional commercial banks and allocative efficiency as the main contributor for cost efficiency of Islamic commercial banks. This indicates conventional commercial banks have been efficient in utilizing information technology and electronics. Islamic commercial banks conversely have been efficient in allocating and utilizing their resources. Additionally, scale efficiency is found to be the main source of technical efficiency for both Islamic and conventional commercial banks, denoting that size is important in improving bank efficiency. The results of Tobit regression analysis are twofold. First, it documents capitalization and bank sizes are positively and significantly associated to efficiency. Secondly, loan quality is found to be negatively and significantly associated to efficiency.

Originality/value

This paper contributes to the body of knowledge through its literature discussions on the efficiency of both Islamic and conventional banks and the effect of banks' specific characteristics on their efficiency.
A probabilistic evolutionary learning model with epistemological meaning in Islamic economics and finance
Authors: Alam Choudhury Masudul , Hossain Mostaq M.
Published: June 2013

Purpose

Learning field of events is characterized by the occurrenceof random and uncertain phenomena, all of which have probabilistic distributions. The meaning of learning is exchange by interdependence between interacting agents. Such agents are both the human entities and the non‐human ones. Thus, in a learning field of probabilistic events there are complex forms of interaction between the domains of mind (human cognition) and matter (world‐system). The purpose of this paper is to formalize and study such interactions by the epistemology of unity of being and becoming of relations between given variables in analytical perspective.

Design/methodology/approach

The critical argumentation and search in this paper leads to the premise of the episteme of unity of knowledge. It is found singularly in the doctrine of the paired universe of the Quran. The episteme of oneness of the monotheistic law and its consequential forms establish the axiomatic basis of the criterion function representing the phenomenon of probabilistic learning field. The authors refer to this criterion as wellbeing. It conceptualizes and measures the degree of unity of being and becoming that exists between the variables of a specific problem under investigation.

Findings

The results of this study formalize the probabilistic model of learning. The simulated evaluation of the probabilistic form of the wellbeing function brings out the synonymous results between unity of knowledge and its impact on the unity of the world‐system induced by the knowledge‐flows. Such a transformation of a world‐system presents the meaning of endogenous (or systemically self‐regenerated) ethics and morality in such broader fields of choices involving embedded learning systems.

Originality/value

The dynamics of pervasive complementarities arising from learning by unity of knowledge, and considerations of ethics and morality remain exogenous factors in economic theory. This paper, instead, has formalized ethical endogeneity in models of decision‐making with probabilistic learning fields that remain embedded in complementarities by interaction and integration across economic, social and ethical systems.
The PhD program: between conformity and reflexivity
Authors: Raineri Nicolas
Published: June 2013

Purpose

This paper seeks to contribute to a better understanding of the impact on doctoral education attributable to performativity pressures in academia, by exploring the practices associated with the production of academic knowledge within the doctoral process.

Design/methodology/approach

An (auto)ethnographic inquiry was conducted over a period of ten months within the business school of a major Canadian university in order to examine socialisation practices and discourses from a given PhD program. Empirical observations from direct participation, local documents, and two interviews were analysed using a theoretical framework derived from Bourdieu's structural social constructivism and from Foucault's concepts of disciplinary techniques and technologies of the self.

Findings

The study shows how the doctoral program can be likened to a rite of passage, altering and shaping the cognitive structures and interpretive schemes of lay students – their subjective “selves”, their habitus. By means of a set of meticulous discourses and practices, the doctoral program changes novice researchers into disciplined and self‐disciplined academic performers, over time, to comply with the performativity rules of academia, while reflexivity can only be achieved through criticism and self‐criticism.

Originality/value

This paper focuses upon doctoral training vis‐à‐vis improve(ment) of economic and academic performance in a “knowledge society”. It mobilises and develops the notions of rite of passage, performativity, habitus, disciplinary techniques and technologies of the self to examine the conditions within which doctoral students somatise the ways and customs through their engagement in academia.
Ragged edges in the fractured future: a co‐authored organizational autoethnography
Authors: Herrmann Andrew F. , Barnhill Julia A. , Catherine Poole Mary
Published: June 2013

Purpose

This article aims to represent three ethnographers researching an organizational event within academia: the Second International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry. It explores the divergent viewpoints of their ethnographic experiences as well as reflecting upon their relationships with each other as they attempted to understand each others’ viewpoints.

Design/methodology/approach

This ethnographic project involved participant observation, full participation, and narrative interviews. However, as the project continued, it evolved to reflexively examining the authors’ own viewpoints and relationships challenges.

Findings

This paper contributes to understanding ethnographic research of organizational events in several ways. First, it is an exemplar of how three ethnographers examining the same organizational event view it through differing lenses. Secondly, it shows how the authors worked together through the research, struggling to understand each others’ varied political and personal lenses through dialogue.

Research limitations/implications

The research examined only one organizational event, therefore the findings are specific to this site and the same results may not necessarily be found in other organizations.

Originality/value

This paper is unique in that three ethnographers from different generations and different political worldviews can come together for the purposes of research, examine an organizational event and learn to cooperate with and appreciate each others’ viewpoints.