bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
New FINRA books and records rules
Authors: Lee Yoon‐Young , Newman Bruce H. , Kubota Kohki M.
Published: October 2011

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explain newly approved Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) books and records rule (Rules 2268, 4511, 4513, 4514, 4515, 5340, and 7440(a)(4)) that will go into effect on December 5, 2011.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper highlights the principal new compliance obligations for FINRA members set forth in these rules, including a default six‐year retention period for books and records; requirements to maintain names of associated persons responsible for accounts, to maintain signatures of persons with discretionary authority, to update account records, to preserve files of written customer complaints, to maintain account information after updating and account closure, to maintain authorization records for negotiable instruments, and to document changes in account names and designations; expansion of the deadline for post‐execution allocation to customer accounts; and disclosure requirements for pre‐dispute arbitration agreements.

Findings

In addition to consolidating and replacing existing requirements of existing NASD and NYSE rules, the new FINRA rules will impose a number of significant additional requirements for FINRA members.

Originality/value

The paper provides practical guidance from experienced financial services lawyers.
Summary of selected FINRA regulatory notices, March‐May 2011
Authors: Davis Henry A.
Published: October 2011

Purpose

The purpose of this summary is to provide excerpts of selected Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) Regulatory Notices and Disciplinary Actions issued in March, April, and May 2011.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper provides excerpts from FINRA Regulatory Notice 11‐15, Low‐Priced Equity Securities; 11‐19, Books and Records; 11‐21, Fidelity Bonds; 11‐24, Customer Order Protection; 11‐26, Financial Responsibility.

Findings

11‐15: Firms are reminded to consider the risks associated with low‐priced equity securities when extending credit in a strategy‐based or portfolio margin account. 11‐19: The new rules require member firms to make and preserve certain books and records to show compliance with applicable securities laws, rules and regulations; in general, the new rules streamline, strengthen and clarify existing requirements. 11‐21: FINRA Rule 4360 requires each member firm that is required to join the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC) to maintain blanket fidelity bond coverage with specified amounts of coverage based on the firm's net capital requirement, with certain exceptions. 11‐24: FINRA Rule 5320 generally provides that a member firm that accepts and holds an order in an equity security from its own customer or a customer of another broker‐dealer without immediately executing the order is prohibited from trading that security on the same side of the market for its own account at a price that would satisfy the customer order, unless it immediately thereafter executes the customer order up to the size and at the same or better price at which it traded for its own account. 11‐26: New FINRA Rules 4150, 4311, 4522 and 4523, in combination with the consolidated financial responsibility rules that the SEC approved in November 2009, enhance FINRA's authority to execute effectively its financial and operational surveillance and examination programs.

Originality/value

These are direct excerpts designed to provide a useful digest for the reader and an indication of regulatory trends. The FINRA staff is aware of this summary but has neither reviewed nor edited it. For further detail as well as other useful information, the reader should visit www.finra.org
The impact of snow scarcity on ski tourism: an analysis of the record warm season 2006/2007 in Tyrol (Austria)
Authors: Steiger Robert
Published: October 2011

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the sensitivity of ski businesses and of the accommodation sector in Tyrol to warm winter seasons and to draw conclusions for climate change vulnerability.

Design/methodology/approach

Operational indicators of ski areas and overnight stays in the destinations were analysed in the record warm winter season 2006/2007. Comparing the climatic anomalies of that season with climate change scenarios, the season can serve as an analogue year for average future winter seasons. By interpreting changes in the analogue year, the potential vulnerability of the winter tourism industry in the study area can be assessed.

Findings

While the impact on ski areas was relatively small on the province level, the analysis on the basis of individual businesses showed a high sensitivity of small to medium and low‐altitude ski areas as well as of ski areas with insufficient snowmaking facilities. Significant differences in the impact on the accommodation sector were found on the district level, with longer‐lasting negative effects on the regional tourism economy in two districts with low‐altitude ski areas. Climate change increases the risk of financial losses for individual ski businesses as well as for tourism‐dependent regional economies, as happened in the 2006/2007 season. As the season represents an extreme event, the long‐term effect of a rising frequency of warm winters on demand cannot be assessed.

Originality/value

The paper presents a valuable and inexpensive approach to assess the impact of warm winter seasons on the supply side as well as on the demand side.
Co‐creating a nation brand “bottom up”
Authors: Hakala Ulla , Lemmetyinen Arja
Published: October 2011

Purpose

The paper aims to apply the co‐creation paradigm to nation branding in order to analyze how the identity and image of a nation brand are inter‐twined in terms of levels and dimensions, respectively.

Design/approach/methodology

This explorative study was conducted among 178 Finnish university students, who were asked to build a program for branding Finland. The students worked in small groups of two or three. In all, 75 reports were handed in, of which those (67) targeted at tourists were taken for analysis. The analysis was conducted in accordance with a model modified from Gnoth.

Findings

Its image is a critical stimulus in motivating tourists to visit a destination. A nation brand is at the crossroads of three levels of identity and a fragmented set of images. The idea is to exploit the right fragments in line with the destination and the target groups.

Research limitations/implications

The empirical analysis was based on data gathered from MBA students. The intention is to extend the sampling to include branding experts, company representatives and delegates of the Finnish Nation Brand Committee in order to build up a more specific picture of a nation's brand identity and image. The examination is restricted to one, rather homogeneous country, Finland. It would be of interest to conduct comparable analyses in other, more heterogeneous countries. Another avenue for future research would be to test the market, in other words to question potential visitors about their perceptions, and thereby to determine whether the nation's brand identity and image coincide.

Originality/value

This paper contributes to the theoretical discussion on the role of branding in the marketing of places, herein called nations. For practitioners, it highlights the importance of managing the brand “bottom up”, in other words starting from the people.
Destination network management: a conceptual analysis
Authors: Meriläinen Kirsi , Lemmetyinen Arja
Published: October 2011

Purpose

This paper aims to focus on managing networks within destinations, or destination network management. The purpose is to provide a conceptual definition of the term.

Design/methodology/approach

Destinations are seen as networks, and networks are approached from a strategic perspective. Reviewing and drawing on the literature on destination management, tourism networks, strategic networks and strategic management the paper proposes a concept that could be of use in analyses of network management.

Findings

It is suggested that managing is a value‐creating activity embedded within a network, and that there are two approaches to network management: strategic management and the coordination of cooperation among the actors involved.

Research limitations/implications

The paper is conceptual in nature. The authors intend to test the developed hypothesis in empirical case studies in the near future.

Originality/value

The paper contributes to the literature on destination management in proposing a novel concept of destination network management, and introducing a dynamic, activity‐oriented approach as opposed to the actor‐focused destination management organization (DMO) view.
Managing emergent knowledge through deferred action design principles
Authors: Patel Nandish V. , Ghoneim Ahmad
Published: October 2011

Purpose

The aim of this paper is to examine empirically the relevance of the theory of deferred action for knowledge management systems (KMS) design in practice.

Design/methodology/approach

The study adopts a case study approach to examine knowledge work and knowledge management in virtual teamwork in a large UK telecommunications company to understand the occurrence of emergent knowledge and how it is managed by virtual team leaders. The section in the company studied is described as a “knowledge intensive organization” dealing with the company's e‐commerce activities.

Findings

The analysis confirms the complex adaptive system hypothesis – a complex system adapts to its environment through self‐organization. The data reveal the behaviour of the virtual team to be self‐organizing and adaptive to its environment. It confirms the knowledge tacitness hypothesis and social embeddedness of knowledge hypothesis as important determinants of knowledge sharing. Specifically, the data reveal the main issues concerning knowledge sharing practices of virtual team workers and the crucial team leader's role in the effectiveness of the teams' capability to develop social links to externalise and share tacit knowledge to accomplish tasks.

Research limitations/implications

In this paper, the authors contribute “emergent knowledge” as a third category of organizational knowledge in addition to the existing tacit and explicit knowledge that needs to be considered when designing KMS. It also derives socio‐technical systems design principles based on the theory of deferred action, and a tentative development process with metrics is then proposed for KMS design that caters for emergent, tacit, and explicit knowledge.

Practical implications

Existing models such as the SECI model do not acknowledge emergent knowledge or its conversion into explicit knowledge. The theory of deferred action is invoked to derive design principles, termed deferred systems design principles, to depict how explicit knowledge, tacit knowledge, and emergent knowledge can be represented to design knowledge management systems for “emergent organizations”.

Originality/value

The study contributes to the limited research and lack of consideration of emergent knowledge as an integral part of organizational knowledge, especially in an era of emergent organizations.
Online grocery systems design through task analysis
Authors: Freeman Mark , Freeman Alison
Published: October 2011

Purpose

Modelling users' interactions online is envisaged to allow developers to increase the usability of online systems and will aid system developers in building better systems to meet users' needs, hereby creating better system design processes. This paper aims to investigate this issue.

Design/methodology/approach

The normative task model that was developed in this paper was created through an expert review of 14 online grocery stores, using a reverse engineering technique to model the features of the stores' ordering process.

Findings

The research identified three main areas of user experience when undertaking the process of adding a product to an online trolley: attempting to retrieve the product, receiving the results of the retrieval attempt, and adding the product to the trolley. These three classifications were used as the basis for an analysis of errors.

Practical implications

The findings present a model that can be used to further understand the processes of customers as they engage in an online grocery shopping visit. The normative task model presented is expected to help in the future design of online grocery stores by identifying the possible errors that users can encounter, and methods to reduce the occurrence of these errors. Errors are one area that traditional task‐modelling processes ignore, due to their focus on successful processes.

Originality/value

This paper presents the innovative process of the development of a normative task model for modelling user interactions when using online grocery stores.
The relationship of different sources of social support and civic participation with self‐rated health
Authors: van Woerden Hugo C. , Poortinga Wouter , Bronstering Karin , Garrib Anupam , Hegazi Aseel
Published: October 2011

Purpose

Social support from different sources is beneficial for health and often helps individuals to cope with stress and illness. The aim of this paper is to simultaneously examine the effects of social support from personal, professional, and community networks and other factors in relation to health.

Design/methodology/approach

A cross sectional postal and web‐based survey was undertaken to examine these relationships in a random sample of 10,000 households in Wandsworth, London. Social support variables were standardized by calculating Z‐scores and the relationship with health was modelled using a series of regression models.

Findings

The response rate was 22.8 per cent. This study found that “social support from family”, “social support from friends”, “social support at work”, and “civic participation” were associated with a lower likelihood of poor self‐rated health, but that social support from neighbours was associated with a higher likelihood of reporting poor health. The results suggest that most of the health effects of social support are supplementary. However, the finding that the health effects of social support from family disappear after controlling for the other social support variables, suggests that it can be compensated for by support from other sources. Socio‐economic variables such as gender, age, being married, employment, and home ownership were also associated with better self‐rated health.

Originality/value

This paper extends previous analyses by demonstrating a range of interactions between self‐rated health, social support (from personal, professional, and community networks), civic participation, and socio‐economic variables. These factors have not previously been studied simultaneously.
There seems no place for place: a gap analysis of the recovery literature
Authors: Yates Ian , Holmes Guy , Priest Helena
Published: October 2011

Purpose

This paper seeks to discuss recent research concerning the subjective experience of recovery from severe mental health difficulties, with the aim of appraising the extent to which this literature has attended to the role of environmental and social conditions.

Design/methodology/approach

Following an overview of research focusing on environmental and social conditions and mental health generally, a focused literature review was undertaken to analyse gaps within the recovery literature, specifically in relation to the importance of environmental or social contexts. Thematic analysis was used to derive salient themes from this literature. Research methodologies are appraised with regards to the extent to which they are congruent with an examination of the context of recovery.

Findings

A total of 11 papers relating to the impact of place or context on recovery were reviewed. Key themes identified were: the relationship between place, social context, and identity; safety and security; social connectedness; and contradictory impacts of the mental health system. The authors argue that recent qualitative research has over emphasised the subjective experience of recovery at the expense of a rich description of the place in which research is conducted. This approach dislocates recovery from its geographical location and the wider political and economic system in which it occurs.

Originality/value

A gap is identified within the current literature concerning recovery from severe mental health difficulties. In order to better understand the environmental factors that contribute to recovery, research needs to include rich descriptions of place, i.e. the physical and social environment as situated within the wider political and economic context.
The case against Lynn's doctrine that population IQ determines levels of socio‐economic development and public health status
Authors: Robinson David , Saggino Aristide , Tommasi Marco
Published: October 2011

Purpose

The aim of this paper is to evaluate the kind of evidence and arguments used to support Richard Lynn's increasingly influential doctrine that genetically determined differences in population IQ are the main cause of differences in regional and national levels of socio‐economic development and public health status.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper's approach is two‐fold. First, new data on the correlation between regional differences in educational achievement of Italian schoolchildren and regional differences in socio‐economic development are presented in order to test the validity of Lynn's report that there is a progressive North‐to‐South reduction of Italian regional IQ that is highly correlated with a corresponding North‐to‐South reduction in the level of socio‐economic development. Second, a thorough and systematic review of the content of Lynn's article is carried out in order to assess the validity of the data, methods, and arguments normally used to support his socio‐economic doctrine.

Findings

Lynn's study uses regional differences in the performance of Italian secondary school children on Organisation for Economic Co‐operation and Development tests of educational achievement to assess regional IQ differences. However, data on Italian regional differences in educational achievement obtained in a much larger INVALSI study of 2,089,829 Italian schoolchildren provide unequivocal evidence that Lynn's educational achievement measure is not a valid index of IQ differences. More generally, the lengthy literature review in Lynn's article reveals uncritical acceptance of reported correlations between any putative index of IQ and socio‐economic variables. Any measure of cognitive performance that is correlated with IQ is considered a measure of IQ, even if there is only a weak correlation. All correlations between such measures and socio‐economic or public health variables are viewed as evidence of direct causal relationships. In all cases, causality is assumed to be in the direction that supports Lynn's doctrine when it would be equally valid to argue that socio‐economic and public health differences cause differences in the performance of IQ tests. In addition to these fundamental logical and statistical errors the present report records numerous other data processing, methodological, and conceptual errors.

Originality/value

The value of the present article is that it demonstrates the flawed manner in which data are interpreted and analysed in order to support Lynn's thesis. Left unchallenged, this pernicious doctrine would promote a socially damaging conception of critically important socio‐economic and public health issues that would discourage the adoption of national policies designed to increase levels of socio‐economic development and improve public health status.
Into the heart of the dragon
Authors: Johnson William H.A. , Weiss Joseph W.
Published: October 2011

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to introduce the special issue on innovation and education towards innovation in China.

Design/methodology/approach

The Guest Editors discuss the impetus behind the special issue and describe the papers published in it.

Findings

It is evident in the papers presented in this special issue that China is on its way towards becoming world‐class in a number of technological areas.

Originality/value

The paper introduces the special issue on innovation and education towards innovation in China, as well as an agenda for future research in the area.
Toward service innovation
Authors: Chen Rong , Li Zang , Chu Chao‐Hsien
Published: October 2011

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the business potential of mobile video services in China via the case study of M‐Vzone.com. It answers two research questions: what are the important factors that affect the adoption of mobile video services for individuals and enterprises? How much the value was added along the mobile video service chain and how were the benefits are realized?

Design/methodology/approach

Grounded in traditional technology adoption and information diffusion theories, the paper uses an exploratory research approach, including interviews and further analysis from published sources.

Findings

The authors' analysis suggests that three key factors contributed to the success of m‐commerce in the Chinese context: stronger customer relationship management; enhanced video/operation performance; and easier access to resources. From post‐investigation of the results, the authors also found that small‐ to mid‐sized Chinese owners showed a shift from an imitative to an incremental innovative mode of business thinking and practice.

Originality/value

This is the first study that examines mobile video commerce from a business and innovation perspective in China, to the best of the authors' knowledge. The paper investigates opinions from stakeholders directly involved in a mobile video web site and conducts a detailed analysis on the related value chain network. The findings will be of interest to decision makers in the mobile industry, especially those from small‐ to medium‐sized companies searching for an effective way toward service innovation. The paper can serve as a good foundation for future research into mobile service adoption and service innovation topics.
“Hop on board”: the importation and future development of high‐speed rail (HSR) in China
Authors: Chuang Michael Y. , Johnson William H.A.
Published: October 2011

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to describe, as a case study, the recent developments in high‐speed rail (HSR) technological development and economic and business development in China.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors use a descriptive case study design examining the factors behind the importation of foreign HSR technology and its development within the Chinese context. Various secondary sourced data are used to build the case that educational development in transportation technologies and strategic focus at the national level have created the ability to pursue the development and creation of a national strategic competency in HSR technology for the Chinese.

Findings

The authors find that a major factor behind HSR development in China appears to be the result of a need for the Chinese Government to build the competencies of strategic technologies at the national level. Given present usage levels of HSR, the internal development of HSR systems is not justified by the economic rationales of cheaper and more efficient transportation for the Chinese. However, the case does point out the importance of technological leapfrogging (or “hopping” over the competition, to use the analogy in the title). It is apparent in the case that Chinese engineering has advanced in such a way that it is not inconceivable that China may lead advanced technological state‐of‐the‐art designs in the near future. This building of national core competencies appears to be related to the increase in world‐class educational efforts. As such, the authors argue that the Chinese efforts in HSR are now described by fact‐based education and derivational innovation practices as illustrated in the staged model of innovation by Johnson and Weiss.

Originality/value

The case study is one of the first published in the academic management literature. It demonstrates the process of development of HSR in China and provides preliminary evidence of the importance of the educational and innovation practices in China on the development of an indigenous technological industry in the country.
A study of the evolutionary path of technological innovation modes in the equipment manufacturing industry of China
Authors: Yi‐jun Yuan , Cui‐jie Lv
Published: October 2011

Purpose

The equipment manufacturing industry, as a strategic industry of China, is experiencing a transition from imitative innovation to independent innovation. The achievements of independent innovation have not been as good as could have been expected. Based on evolutionary economics, the purpose of this paper is to explore the evolutionary path of the two innovation modes, respectively, and analyze the internal and external factors that hinder the mutation from imitative innovation routine to independent innovation routine. According to the results of the evolutionary game model, several policy suggestions are proposed to promote the transition from imitative innovation to independent innovation.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper is based on the concepts of evolutionary economics. Routine, mutation, path dependence and selection are included in the analysis of the evolutionary path of the two innovation modes. Especially, the evolutionary game model of innovation modes selection is established to explain how internal and external conditions work in the transition.

Findings

The paper explores the evolutionary path of the transition from imitative innovation to independent innovation in the equipment manufacturing industry of China, and analyses the obstacles and factors (internal path dependence, and the lack of benefit incentive and external mutation conditions such as fiscal support and intellectual property protection) that hinder the mutation from imitative innovation routine to independent innovation routine. The results of the evolutionary game model show that the pursuit of the benefit (innovation return or the profit), as an internal mutation condition, is the most fundamental motivation for independent innovation, while policy incentives, as the external mutation conditions, have a significant impact on the evolutionary transition. According to the results, several policy suggestions are proposed to promote the transition from imitative innovation to independent innovation.

Originality/value

Taking the equipment manufacturing industry as a particular object, this paper tries to explain the evolutionary path and the obstacle factors of the transition from imitative innovation to independent innovation from the perspective of evolutionary economics, involving routine, mutation, path dependence, selection, and so on. The evolutionary game model of innovation modes selection is established to investigate the influence of these factors.
“The first case of scientific time‐study that I ever saw...”
Authors: Tikhomirov Aleksey A.
Published: October 2011

Purpose

This paper aims to investigate the merit of Fred Taylor's claim that he did not conceive the notion of time study on his own. He insisted that he acquired it while a student at Phillips Exeter Academy and identified the particular individual to whom, he claimed, he owed his earliest exposure to time study – George A. “Bull” Wentworth.

Design/methodology/approach

Drawing on archival material, including a recently discovered letter by Taylor, this paper substantiates Taylor's claims regarding his association with Wentworth. By corroborating existing and new evidence of the Wentworth‐Taylor link, it probes into the nature and the scope of the influence of the “Old Bull” of Exeter on the father of scientific management.

Findings

Taylor did not conceive of time study on his own but acquired it early in his life via traceable socialization influences, many of which came from Wentworth. Such influences were both substantive and lasting: the residue of Wentworth's methodology is distinct in Taylor's early and later time study work. Taken together, both internal and external consistency of the evidence has led me to assert that it is plausible that Wentworth had a traceable and lasting socialization impact on Frederick Taylor.

Originality/value

This paper is a rare inquiry into the part of Taylor's life history that precedes his pioneering of the industrial, managerial, and economic applications of time study. It grounds the matter of Taylor's conceiving the time study idea into the context of his early‐in‐life socialization – an important subject left largely unexplored by Taylor's biographers and the historians of the scientific management movement.
What Simon said: the impact of the major management works of Herbert Simon
Authors: Kerr Gerry
Published: October 2011

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to trace the impact of a major management scholar, Herbert Simon.

Design/methodology/approach

A novel approach was employed in identifying the most influential research articles that have made use of Simon's two great management works, Administrative Behavior and Organizations (with James March). The list allowed the close analysis of the nature of the influence wielded by Herbert Simon on management scholarship. The process of analysis was guided by a targeted search. Google Scholar allowed the compilation of a list of top‐cited research articles that made use of the two books. The 25 most‐cited articles associated with each were then categorized by their subject matter and examined for the impact of Simon's research.

Findings

As measured by citations, Herbert Simon's influence on management scholarship has been immense. Administrative Behavior and Organizations have incurred huge numbers of citations, more than 7,000 each. Moreover, not one of the 50 papers populating the two lists has generated fewer than 1,000 citations. Both works contributed heavily to research on theories of the firm, organizational learning and knowledge, and on organizational coordination and decision‐making, among other topics.

Originality/value

An emerging research tool, Google Scholar, was engaged, allowing an empirically based analysis of Herbert Simon's contribution to management scholarship. The results mark, with unusual clarity, the direction and nature of Simon's enormous influence.
Barnard's model of decision making: a historical predecessor of image theory
Authors: Novicevic Milorad M. , Clayton Russell W. , Williams Wallace A.
Published: October 2011

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine Chester Barnard's decisional model utilizing the lens of image theory. The main claim is that the individual decision‐making model proposed by Barnard in his Notes on the Significance of Decisive Behavior can be evaluated within the framework of image theory.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper performed a comparative analysis of Barnard's and image theory's models of decision making to outline congruence and incongruence between Barnard's early conceptualization of individual decision making and the contemporary understanding of image theory.

Findings

The findings provide support to the claim that image theory is an appropriate framework to describe Barnard's model.

Originality/value

The unique contribution of this study is that it provides the first theoretical analysis of Barnard's model of individual decision making. Barnard's model of individual decision making is little known because it was posthumously published in his Notes on the Significance of Decisive Behavior 35 years after Barnard's death.
Environmental regulation, green R&D and the Porter hypothesis
Authors: Roy Chowdhury Indrani , Das Sandwip K.
Published: October 2011

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of environmental regulation on green R&D, as well as to characterize the conditions under which the Porter hypothesis, both the weak as well as the strict version, may or may not hold.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors use a simple two‐stage model with environmental R&D and endogenously determined abatement costs to address these issues.

Findings

In a monopoly framework, the authors identify a channel arising out of the replacement effect that may increase R&D incentives following stricter regulation. It was found that the Porter hypothesis, both the weak as well as the strong version, is likely to hold if the new technology is relatively efficient in production, but not otherwise.

Originality/value

The paper makes a contribution towards the debate on the relationship between environmental regulation and green R&D, in particular the extremely influential Porter hypothesis.
Employees' satisfaction with employer‐sponsored elder‐care programs
Authors: Dembe Allard E. , Partridge Jamie S. , Dugan Elizabeth , Piktialis Diane S.
Published: October 2011

Purpose

This study aims to evaluate whether employees consider employer‐sponsored elder‐care programs to benefit aging family members and whether those programs help employees with caregiving needs, stay productively employed.

Design/methodology/approach

A nationwide internet‐based survey was conducted between December 2008 and May 2009, eliciting information from 447 users of employer‐sponsored elder‐care services. Survey participants were employed individuals who had requested assistance from one of five national elder‐care service provider organizations (SPOs) during the preceding two years.

Findings

A majority of respondents reported that the services helped them to keep working productively (74.0 percent), avoid job absences (65.5 percent), stay employed (58.0 percent), and maintain a good family life at home (72.1 percent). Respondents were generally satisfied with the services provided by SPOs. However, most respondents did not feel that the services help minimize caregiving expenses.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first US study evaluating the usefulness of employer elder‐care programs, based on the perspectives of employees who have used the programs.
Determining the applicability of feminist theories by examining the mediation and moderation effects on non‐economic performance in Lao micro, small, and medium‐sized enterprises
Authors: Inmyxai Sengaloun , Takahashi Yoshi
Published: October 2011

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the applicability of social feminist theory (SFT) and liberal feminist theory (LFT) to Lao micro, small, and medium‐sized enterprises (MSMEs) based on the results of mediation and moderation effects of the gender of entrepreneurs.

Design/methodology/approach

The sample consisted of 200 MSMEs. Analysis is based, first, on factor analysis to extract important factors and, second, multiple linear regression is used to empirically validate the feminist theories by examining the mediation effects and moderation effects regarding gender of entrepreneurs.

Findings

The findings showed that not all feminist‐related factors mediate the relationship between gender and non‐economic performance whereas the gender of entrepreneurs moderates personal, social network, and skills factors and non‐economic performance but not family factor. Lastly, the compilation of the mediation and moderation results revealed that SFT is more applicable than LFT to Lao MSMEs.

Research limitations/implications

This research had some limitations such as the lack of empirical literature supporting non‐economic performance indicators. Therefore, the findings should not be generalized.

Practical implications

This research provided implications for policymakers, implementers, and academics. The results showed that it is necessary to support female entrepreneurs in terms of the use of personal, social, and skills factors to improve non‐economic performance. However, it is not necessary to support family factor in improving endowments and changing their use. Governments must mitigate the gender gap at macro levels through the elimination of gender discrimination, such as in education, banking practice, and the workplace, to increase the long‐term confidence of females in society.

Originality/value

The unique contribution of the study is to prove the applicability of SFT and LFT by quantitative analytical methodologies with focusing on non‐economic firm performance.
Audit committee gender differences and earnings management
Authors: Thiruvadi Sheela , Huang Hua‐Wei
Published: October 2011

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether gender diversity of audit committees has a significant impact on the firm's earnings management.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper uses a performance‐adjusted discretionary accrual model to examine the association between gender variables and the firm's earnings management. Regression analysis is applied using 320 firms from the S&P Small Cap 600.

Findings

The authors find consistent evidence to show that the presence of a female director on the audit committee constrains earnings management by increasing negative (income‐decreasing) discretionary accruals.

Research limitations/implications

Future research can explore the behavior of female managers by applying the gender theory. Furthermore, the paper's evidence has implications for regulators and policy makers, since the presence of a female director in the audit committee may affect management decisions and audit quality in a positive way. Therefore, gender diversity on the board should be more strongly emphasized. Moreover, the presence of female members on the board may further enhance public confidence.

Originality/value

This research contributes to the existing literature on gender in four aspects. First, this research provides new evidence to reinforce the existing gender literature that women are more risk averse, cautious and ethical than men. Second, the findings showcase that gender theory can be applied into the research of management behavior. Third, the findings are significantly important in contemporary corporate governance discussions over the SOX enactment and audit committee characteristics Fourth, this study sheds further light on the importance of having women on corporate boards and the positive outcomes that are associated with it, thereby serving as an encouraging force against the existence of the glass ceiling effect.
CEO succession, gender and risk taking
Authors: Elsaid Eahab , Ursel Nancy D.
Published: October 2011

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine, within a succession framework, the impact of the gender composition of boards of directors on the gender of the CEOs they appoint, and to assess the impact of newly appointed CEOs' gender on risk taking by the firm.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors estimate a two‐stage least squares regression using data on 679 CEO successions in North American firms.

Findings

The results show that successor CEOs are more likely to be female the greater the percentage of females on the board, regardless of other succession characteristics such as whether the new CEO is from inside or outside the firm. Furthermore, a change in CEO from male to female is associated with a decrease in several measures of firm risk taking.

Research limitations/implications

The sample is restricted to relatively large, exchange‐traded North American firms and may not generalize to other groups.

Practical implications

The findings suggest that women aspiring to CEO positions and firms wishing to promote women should monitor board composition to ensure female representation. Other steps that the firm may take to promote women to this position (such as looking outside the firm) have an insignificant impact when board composition is taken into account.

Originality/value

The findings are novel and inform CEO succession research by demonstrating which succession process characteristics work to increase females' chances and which have no effect. Female CEOs are likely to provide leadership that reduces the risk profile of the firm.
Investigating the gravity well algorithm to help in pointing in electronic interfaces by motor‐impaired users
Authors: Biswas Pradipta , Langdon Pat
Published: October 2011

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to design an adaptation algorithm to facilitate pointing in electronic interfaces by users with motor impairment.

Design/methodology/approach

First, the algorithm was optimized using a simulator, then the algorithm was validated through a user study involving seven motor‐impaired and six able‐bodied users and three different pointing devices.

Findings

The algorithm significantly reduces pointing time overall and most participants pointed quicker with the gravity well than without it.

Originality/value

The adaptation algorithm can significantly reduce pointing time for both motor and situational impairment.
Practical issues in the selection and use of GPS tracking and location technologies to support vulnerable people at risk of becoming lost or threatened
Authors: Williams Gareth , King Peter , Doughty Kevin
Published: October 2011

Purpose

This paper is aimed at telecare service providers and individuals who are aiming to manage the risks to a vulnerable person, who may be prone to becoming lost away from their own home. It aims to help them identify the issues that may be relevant in specifying the most appropriate GPS location device from the many models now on the market.

Design/methodology/approach

The reported study is based on a comparison of six commercial devices with three different form characteristics. Technical measures of performance were undertaken in an objective manner for each device. These were considered along with the subjective views of a panel of stake‐holders looking at issues such as usability, wearability and aesthetics in determining value for money and the optimum device for individual users.

Findings

The work concluded that battery management was of vital importance, and that the use of geo‐fencing for alarm purposes was often limited by the minimum practical size of the fence and by the way that it could be established.

Originality/value

It is recommended that service providers employ a range of GPS devices within their inventories, so that they are not limited to one or two different devices when prescribing telecare services to people who are at risk of wandering, especially at night. The variation in cost between the most expensive and the cheapest can be justified in terms of service support and other options. These devices are most likely to be of benefit when used within a telecare service that can offer 24‐hour monitoring and links to a dedicated emergency response team.
How personalised technology can play an important role in supporting people with learning disabilities as they age and face the onset of dementia
Authors: Nichols Emma
Published: October 2011

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how personalised technology can be used to support people with learning disabilities as they age and face the onset of dementia.

Design/methodology/approach

National learning disability charity, Hft, focuses on its Gloucestershire service at Old Quarries, using individual case studies of adults with dementia who are using personalised technology on a daily basis to illustrate how personalised technology has made a difference to their lives.

Findings

In all the case studies featured the individuals concerned were able to use personalised technology to empower them to live more independently and safely and to remain at a location where they have lived for many years rather than being moved into alternative, unfamiliar accommodation. Personalised technology has enabled them to make important life choices.

Originality/value

Hft believes that people with learning disabilities should be supported to live their lives in the way that they want and that creative solutions can be found to enable individuals to do this.
Teaching ideas for generating critical and constructive insights into well‐functioning multidisciplinary mental health teams
Authors: McAllister Margaret , Morrissey Shirley , McAuliffe Donna , Davidson Graham , McConnell Harry , Reddy Prasuna
Published: October 2011

Purpose

It is now common place for mental health services to operate using multidisciplinary teams (MDTs) where several health professionals simultaneously maintain their disciplinary distinctiveness and assume complementary professional roles. This requires awareness of other team members' disciplines and good team‐work skills. Yet in Australia, the preparation of health professionals continues to occur primarily in single‐discipline programs, where interaction with other disciplines often only occurs in an ad hoc, time‐limited way during clinical placement. This paper seeks to provide serious reflection on preparing students for the multidisciplinary practice within the mental health system.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors introduce a student placement preparation learning package that was developed and trialled with a range of health professional students at two Australian universities. Transformative learning principles underpinned the development of the education materials and related activities, which were designed to sensitise students to the potential problems that arise within MDTs and to equip them with communication strategies for use in their university placement experiences, as well as in their future professional practice.

Findings

The very large majority of student placement preparation workshop participants rated the workshop activities as extremely helpful. After participating in the activities, the very large majority of participants strongly endorsed the workshop learning objectives of understanding the different roles of MDTs members, skills required for working in MDTs, principles of collaborative team‐work and respectful, positive attitudes to MDTs members.

Originality/value

The transformative learning approaches to education of health professionals which are described in this paper help students to examine ways to think more critically and constructively about MDTs.
Working with carers in educational settings: developing innovations in practice
Authors: Lloyd Marjorie , Lefroy Liz , Yorke Stephen , Mottershead Richard
Published: October 2011

Purpose

It is generally agreed that carers in mental health care play a vital role in helping people to maintain their place in the community and reducing the time clients spend in hospital or residential settings. The purpose of this paper is to develop a conceptual approach to involving carers in higher education by acknowledging their contribution to improving practice and identify the impact upon student learning in mental health and social care professions.

Design/methodology/approach

A brief review of the policy and literature on involving carers in mental health services and education explored the historical and current influences upon practice. This was then applied to the experience of the authors when teaching nursing and social work students in a higher educational setting and evaluated as developing outcomes in carer involvement practice.

Findings

Relationships between carers and students in health and social care may be created in higher education settings that can develop supportive, informative and recovery‐focused care in practice. Creating such relationships in the higher educational setting helps students to prepare for developing relationships with carers in practice.

Originality/value

Involving carers in education may improve outcomes in recovery for the client and carer experience and the development of professional and self awareness skills in students. Developing involvement practices in higher education begins the process early in the experience of health and social care students, providing a safe environment in which to master such skills.