bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
An amide cyclophane
Authors: Viswanathan Vijayan , Thirunarayanan Ayyavu , Rajakumar Perumal , Velmurugan Devadasan
Published: July 2014

The title compound, 8,18-dithia-2,6-diaza-13(1,4)-piperidina-1(1,2),4(1,3),7(1,2)-tribenzenaoctadecaphane-10,15-diyne-3,6-dione, C32H30N4O2S2, is composed of a relatively planar bis(2-mercaptophenyl)isophthalamide unit linked to a bridging 1,4-di(but-2-yn-1-yl)piperazine unit, forming a macrocycle. The isophthalamide ring is inclined to the outer mercaptophenyl rings by 8.18 (11) and 5.59 (10)°, while these two rings are inclined to one another by 9.10 (12)°. The piperazine ring adopts a chair conformation. There are two intramolecular N—H...S hydrogen bonds generatingS(5) ring motifs. In the crystal, molecules are linkedviaC—H...S and C—H...O hydrogen bonds, forming slabs lying parallel to (001). An O atom in the isophthalamide group is disordered over two positions with an occupancy ratio of 0.41 (6):0.59 (6).
(4bS,8aS)-1-Isopropyl-4b,8,8-trimethyl-4b,5,6,7,8,8a,9,10-octahydrophenanthren-2-yl benzoate
Authors: Oubabi Radouane , Auhmani Aziz , Ait Itto My Youssef , Auhmani Abdelwahed , Daran Jean-Claude
Published: July 2014

The title compound, C27H34O2, was hemisynthesized through direct benzoylation of the naturally occurring meroterpene totarol. The central fused six-membered ring has a half-chair conformation, whereas the terminal six-membered ring displays a chair conformation. The dihedral angle between the fused benzene ring and the benzoyl benzene ring is 73.05 (14)°. TheS,Schirality of the molecule is consistent with the synthetic pathway, and confirmed by the refinement of the Flack parameter.
Risk rationing and the demand for agricultural credit: a comparative investigation of Mexico and China
Authors: J. Verteramo Chiu Leslie , V. Khantachavana Sivalai , G. Turvey Calum
Published: July 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to determine the extent of risk rationing among potential rural borrowers in Mexico and China.

Design/methodology/approach

– Using primary survey data from 730 farm households in the Shaanxi province of China and from 372 farmers in northeastern Mexico, the authors investigate factors associated with risk rationed, price rationed and quantity rationed farmers. The survey was instrumented to self-identify borrower typologies. In addition the authors created within the survey a discrete-choice credit demand build to determine borrower credit demand elasticities. The analysis applies a linear probability which the authors found to be consistent with multinomial and binary logit models.

Findings

– The authors find in China the incidence of risk rationing in farmers to be 6.5, 14 percent for quantity rationed and 80 percent for price rationed. In Mexico, 35 percent of the sample is risk rationed, 10 percent quantity rationed and 55 percent price rationed. The results from China support the hypothesis that the financially poor are more likely to be quantity rationed; in Mexico, however, the level of education is found to be important in determining quantity rationed. In both countries, asset wealthy farmers are less likely to be risk rationed; however, income does not appear to have an impact. The paper provides evidence that the elasticity of demand for credit is different among the three credit rationed groups: risk rationed, price rationed and quantity rationed. Risk aversion and prudence are significantly correlated with risk rationing in China, while only risk aversion is significant in Mexico. The results suggest that efforts to enhance credit access must also deal with risk and risk perceptions.

Practical implications

– Risk rationing is an important concept in the understanding of rural credit markets. The findings that only 6.5 and 35 percent of Chinese and Mexican farmers are in stark contrast to each other. For agricultural economies such as Mexico with a significant number of farmers being risk rationing, more effort should be put into financial education and financial practices, including perhaps the use of risk-contingent credit to remove collateral risk. As property rights in China evolve, and new laws are promulgated to permit borrowing against land use rights, the collateralization issue will become much more important in rural credit markets.

Originality/value

– This paper is the first to investigate risk rationing in China and Mexico and one of the few research studies empirically investigating risk rationing. A comparative analysis of Mexico and China is enlightening because of the structural differences in the respective agricultural economies. The use of a credit demand build and the enumeration of individual credit demand elasticities is an original contribution to this literature.
A multidimensional analysis of Aslib proceedings – using everything but the impact factor
Authors: Haustein Stefanie , Larivière Vincent
Published: July 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to show that the journal impact factor (IF) is not able to reflect the full impact of scholarly journals and provides an overview of alternative and complementary methods in journal evaluation.

Design/methodology/approach

– Aslib Proceedings (AP) is exemplarily analyzed with a set of indicators from five dimensions of journal evaluation, i.e. journal output, content, perception and usage, citations and management to accurately reflect its various strengths and weaknesses beyond the IF.

Findings

– AP has become more international in terms of authors and more diverse regarding its topics. Citation impact is generally low and, with the exception of a special issue on blogs, remains world average. However, an evaluation of downloads and Mendeley readers reveals that the journal is an important source of information for professionals and students and certain topics are frequently read but not cited.

Research limitations/implications

– The study is limited to one journal.

Practical implications

– An overview of various indicators and methods is provided that can be applied in the quantitative evaluation of scholarly journals (and also to articles, authors and institutions).

Originality/value

– After a publication history of more than 60 years, this analysis takes stock of AP, highlighting strengths and weaknesses and developments over time. The case study provides an example and overview of the possibilities of multidimensional journal evaluation.
Valuing country of origin and organic claim
Authors: Schröck Rebecca
Published: July 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to identify and quantify the factors determining the prices of organic and conventional cheese. For a market with a high degree of product differentiation, i.e. the German cheese market, price premiums of various cheese attributes are examined. Thereby, special attention is paid to country of origin (CO) effects, geographical indications (GIs) and organic claims.

Design/methodology/approach

– The analysis is based on homescan panel data of 13,000 representative German households provided by the GfK consumer research association. The data set combines actual purchase and demographic data for a five-year sample period from 2004 to 2008. Applying the hedonic technique, the cheese price is modelled as a function of a wide range of consumer, store and product characteristics. Effects are analysed in detail by distinguishing between supply- and demand-side effects and by estimating price regressions not only for the whole sample but also for different shop types.

Findings

– The estimated organic price premiums range between 18 per cent in discount shops and 26 per cent in hypermarkets. The impacts of the CO and GIs are considerably smaller in magnitude and limited to special shopping venues like super- and hypermarkets.

Originality/value

– The German cheese market is currently evolving from a staple product market to a highly differentiated market where increasing attention is paid to quality indicators such as organic claims or GIs. The data are remarkable, both in sample size and information content. Furthermore, the estimation of shop type-specific price premiums offers new and detailed insights in consumer valuation and producer costs of a wide range of cheese attributes.
Exploring the question: who is a librarian?
Authors: H. Kieserman Robert
Published: July 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this article is to explore the reason behind the conflictual relationship between degreed librarians and non-degreed professionals in the library organization.

Design/methodology/approach

– This article takes the form of an opinion piece.

Findings

– The conflicts can be resolved using open communication and collaboration among colleagues.

Originality/value

– Resolving conflicts in the working relationship between degreed librarians and non-degreed professionals eliminates hostilities and jealousies and allows the library organization to serve the library customer with a far more united approach to customer service.
Investigating the HRD cube and explicating extant paradigms of HRD
Authors: C. Hurt Andrew , A. Lynham Susan , N. McLean Gary
Published: July 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this study is to focus on the issue of paradigms in human resource development (HRD) and validate the HRD cube as a synthesized model of HRD praxis and to explicate some of the extant paradigms of HRD.

Design/methodology/approach

– The study was carried out by examining the text of articles published in Academy of Human Resource Development (AHRD)-sponsored journals over a specific period. Sixteen articles published in AHRD-sponsored journals were treated as if they were the representative voice(s) of their author(s). Data units were axially coded and sorted into one of seven pre-determined categories based on the axioms of theory, research and practice. Then, data units were open coded using the constant comparative method, and themes were developed.

Findings

– Axial coding results identified a dominant emphasis on practice. The accumulation of units representing research and theory were comparatively smaller. Evidence of shared perspectives was found that emphasized the practice axiom. Open coding results identified representative themes within each of the axiom-based categories of theory, research and practice. Six themes developed in the theory category, nine themes developed in the research category and six themes developed in the practice category.

Originality/value

– The results support the overall construction of the HRD cube. Given the initial validation and support of the HRD cube and of the components described within the theory, research and practice sides within these 16 articles published in AHRD-sponsored journals, at least 18 prospective paradigms of HRD were identified.
Library resources semantization based on resource ontology
Authors: Yu Fan , Qiu Junping , Lou Wen
Published: July 2014

Purpose

– This paper aims to solve the disadvantages of content-based domain ontology (CBDO) and metadata-based domain ontology (MDO) and improve organization and discovery efficiency of library resources by resource ontology (RO).

Design/methodology/approach

– The paper constructed an RO model. Methods of informetrics are utilized to reveal semantic relationships among library resources. Methods of ontology, ontology-relational database mapping (O-R mapping) and relational database modelling are utilized to construct RO. Take author co-occurrence for example, the paper demonstrated the capability of RO model.

Findings

– RO not only revealed the deep-level semantic relationships of metadata of library resources but also realized totally computer-automated processing. RO improved the efficiency of knowledge organization and discovery.

Research limitations/implications

– Semantic relationships revealed by RO are limited to simple metadata, which makes it difficult to reveal fine-grained semantic relationships. Ongoing research focuses on the revelation of semantic relationships based on the title and abstract.

Practical implications

– The paper includes implications for utilizing methods of Informetrics to construct ontology.

Originality/value

– This paper proposed a standardized process of ontology construction in library resources. It may be of potential interest for anyone who needs to effectively organize library resources.
Would you like fries with your borsch?
Authors: J. McGee Kelli
Published: July 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to show how cultural sensitivity plays a role in international social services organizational development. The American author applied an analytic framework to a 20-month change management project in a charity for the homeless in Ukraine; learnings may be useful to any leaders and managers working in a multicultural setting.

Design/methodology/approach

– Using one charity for the homeless as an example, the paper shows leadership and management tactics used to grow an international organization and manoeuvre cultural attributes to better understand and maximize the growth of both the staff and the population they served.

Findings

– Globalization means organizations face an increasing need for collaboration across cultures. It can also mean cultural gaps within nations exist, as individuals are raised or educated in more diverse settings. The analytic framework referenced can help leaders and mangers be more sensitive to the individuals they serve, including both employees and service users.

Originality/value

– This paper uses a first-hand account to illustrate how recognizing and leveraging cultural attributes, informed by anthropological insights, can lead to better collaboration, increased creativity, and sustainable change.
Public perceptions of housing improvement and self-rated health: World Values Survey, 2005-2007
Authors: Shiue Ivy
Published: July 2014

Purpose

– Housing conditions affect occupants continuously, and health interventions have shown the positive association between housing investment and improvement in occupant health. Yet only rarely do we hear of the public's own perception of housing improvement internationally. The purpose of this paper is to explore public views on the importance of housing issues, from a worldwide perspective, in analysis of the global survey.

Design/methodology/approach

– Data were analyzed from the World Values Survey, 2005-2007, the most recent public data sets including demographics, self-rated health status, and beliefs on different social and political issues. Participants were those aged 15 and above. Analyses includedχ2 and logistic regression modeling.

Findings

– Less wealthy countries had the most people who considered housing improvement as top priority. Regions with more than 20,000 residents and lower scale of income levels were linked with higher proportions of people considering housing improvement as top priority. Additionally, people who reported very poor self-rated health tended to view housing improvement as top priority, compared to those who reported very good self-rated health.

Practical implications

– Public consensus is that there is an urgent need for housing improvement globally. Effective housing strategies and interventions optimizing population health, well-being, and quality of life are suggested.

Originality/value

– To the author's knowledge, this is the first study investigating public opinion on the importance of housing issues using a global, cross-sectional, population-based study for international comparison. Understanding the need on housing improvement from the general public would indicate possible policy reform in the coming decades.
Bridging the gap – interpersonal communication orientation to improving customer service
Authors: Sahai Vickram , Kumar Jain Arvind , Bahuguna P.C.
Published: July 2014

Purpose

– Training in interpersonal communication helps in enhancing customer service experience. The Functional Fluency model of transactional analysis provides training inputs by which employees can monitor their response with the customers and thereby improve this customer experience. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

Design/methodology/approach

– The integration of the Functional Fluency model with “Gap 3” of the SERVAQUAL model.

Findings

– The “Gap 3” in the SERVAQUAL model is about service delivery affected due to poor interpersonal communication by employees. Here the Functional Fluency model helps in identifying the dominant response style and the variables emergent for a group of frontline staff. This can help in designing training programs that will assist in employees enhancing their interpersonal communication from positive functioning and being cautious or exercise restraint on the negative functioning of Functional Fluency model.

Research limitations/implications

– The research limitation is that since the model provides a pen-picture on the communication response style of a large group of employees on the 54 descriptors of the Functional Fluency model, a broad training program may be designed for the group. Second, a large group is sought for implication to take shape.

Practical implications

– General communication response style may be identified for different groups and based on this a training module or program based on Functional Fluency may be designed specific to each group.

Originality/value

– The importance of the Functional Fluency model in providing an evaluation and resolve on the nature of communication responses, during customer-employee interactions, to enhance service delivery in bridging the Gap 3 of the SERVAQUAL model.
Satisfaction guaranteed? Enhanced impact of trainer competence for autonomous trainees
Authors: Brad Harris T. , Chung Wonjoon , L. Frye Christina , S. Chiaburu Dan
Published: July 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to investigate the interplay between perceptions of instructor competence and trainees’ motivational orientations (autonomy orientation) as predictor of trainee satisfaction.

Design/methodology/approach

– Simulating a realistic training initiative, the paper examines survey responses from a sample (n=132) of students enrolled in an introductory business course at a large US university.

Findings

– Perceptions of instructor competence predict course satisfaction over and above trainees’ motivational orientations. Further, trainee satisfaction is an interactive function of both instructor competence and trainee orientations, with instructor competence being more important for trainees with high autonomy.

Research limitations/implications

– The results of the present study should be considered in the light of the limitations, including limited generalizability, an exclusive focus on trainee satisfaction as outcome, and a test of only one moderator.

Practical implications

– This study confirms the need for instructors to be knowledgeable, organized and prepared, and to establish rapport with their trainees in order to promote high levels of satisfaction with the instruction – even for trainees who are often assumed to naturally thrive in training (i.e. those high in autonomy).

Social implications

– If extended to other contexts and settings, the results point out toward the need to consider multiple venues, including both trainer and trainee-based factors to increase trainees’ course or program satisfaction. In a broader sense, aptitude-treatment (Cronbach, 1957) remains a valid perspective and needs to receive renewed attention.

Originality/value

– The current literature suggests that positive course reactions (e.g. high trainee satisfaction) can enhance learning, learning transfer, and ultimately application of acquired knowledge and skill. This study provides support for the notion that trainee satisfaction is a function of both instructor competence and trainees’ motivational orientations. Training professionals can enhance training outcomes by emphasizing trainer and trainee factors when designing initiatives. Related, trainee motivational orientations should not be viewed as a substitute for highly competent trainers.
Do you know how to achieve sustainable long-term success?
Authors: Tredgold Gordon
Published: July 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to present an approach on how to achieve sustainable success.

Design/methodology/approach

– FAST – focus, accountability, simplicity, and transparency.

Findings

– If you take a FAST approach you can achieve long-term sustainable success.

Originality/value

– This will help people understand an approach to achieving sustainable success.
Strategic action grids: a study in Indian hospitals
Authors: Padma Panchapakesan , Sai Lokachari Prakash , Chandrasekharan Rajendran
Published: July 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to provide strategic recommendations to Indian hospital administrators for improving service quality by analysing performance dimensions and the importance attached to them by patients and attendants.

Design/methodology/approach

– Patient and attendant perceptions were collected using a questionnaire.

Findings

– Patients and attendants have different perceptions. Different customers have different needs of which providers need to be aware to better serve their consumers.

Research limitations/implications

– The study captured only 408 patient and attendants’ perceptions – a 32 per cent response rate.

Practical implications

– Results enable hospital administrators to develop appropriate strategies to improve their structure and function by analysing their strengths and weaknesses regarding their tangible and intangible assets.

Originality/value

– The study included attendants, specifically in an Indian healthcare context.
Universal Health Coverage Scheme impact on well-being in rural Thailand
Authors: Mee-Udon Farung
Published: July 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to investigate the extent to which the Thai Universal Healthcare Insurance Coverage Scheme (UC) has contributed to villagers’ well-being in the northeast of Thailand. Public opinion polls specifically advocate the schemes are used to justify its ongoing political support. However, the question still remains as to whether it has made a difference in the lives of poorer rural people.

Design/methodology/approach

– A multi-methods approach and a well-being focused evaluation (WFE) approach are used to understand villagers’ experiences of having and using the scheme and investigate the villagers’ satisfaction with the scheme and how this satisfaction has contributed to their life as a whole.

Findings

– It is found that the scheme had made a valuable contribution to improving perceived well-being amongst villagers. Apart from the direct benefits of having that healthcare when needed, there is also the indirect benefit of increasing villagers’ sense of security that healthcare will be accessible if required.

Research limitations/implications

– There are still pertinent issues for policy consideration; for example, almost 31 per cent of the villagers with the card have never used it. Approximately 22 per cent of people using the card reported dissatisfactions. Although healthcare direct-costs were now more affordable, a range of opportunity costs, geographic, social, cultural and other factors still need to be factored into further policy and service development to make the scheme more equitable and effective.

Originality/value

– The study proposes “WFE”, a new evaluation approach. WFE may also be applied to other forms of social policy particularly concerning the impact of its policy on people's well-being.
Stakeholders, reward expectations and firms’ use of the ISO14001 management standard
Authors: Simpson Dayna , Sroufe Robert
Published: July 2014

Purpose

– An ongoing challenge for managers is to define and benefit from their firm's environmental management practices. Firms that seek stakeholder recognition of their practices, or face stakeholder pressure for evidence of improvement, increasingly use management standards such as ISO14001. Such standards, however, may encourage firms to use more reportable rather than embedded environmental management practices. Why some firms use environmental management standards to improve practices relative to firms that use them to deflect attention, is an important research question. As paper proposes, stakeholder pressure on firms for improved practices can interact with firms’ expectations of related rewards to influence environmental management outcomes. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

– The intention was to identify significant differences in stakeholder focus and each firm's environmental management practices, between ISO14001 certified and non-certified firms. The paper explored the propositions with a sample of US manufacturers. The paper used a PLS modeling approach.

Findings

– The paper identified links between firms with a greater regulative stakeholder focus, to greater use of reportable practices (pollution reduction). Firms with a greater normative stakeholder focus were linked to greater use of embedded practices (policies and pollution prevention).

Originality/value

– This study is one of the first to assess differences that distinguish between both stakeholder type and choice of environmental management practices. Further, the paper grouped firms’ practices according to their emphasis on either rewards of stakeholder recognition or internal operational benefit. As other studies have identified, firms do not necessarily adopt environmental management standards for their goals of practice improvement. The study contributes to use of stakeholder theories to understand firm level adoption of and benefit from environmental management practices.
Anticipation of new technologies: supply chain antecedents and competitive performance
Authors: Beheregarai Finger Andrew , B. Flynn Barbara , Laureanos Paiva Ely
Published: July 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to propose and empirically validates a measure of the anticipation of new technologies (ANT) construct, first suggested by Hayes and Wheelwright (1984). ANT allows establishment of a sustained competitive advantage through acquiring new technologies and the capability to use them, in advance of actual need. The theoretical foundation for ANT is developed using the literature on absorptive capacity. Several elements of supply chain management are proposed as antecedents to ANT.

Design/methodology/approach

– Perceptual survey data from 317 manufacturing plants in ten countries was used to test the hypotheses using structural equation modeling and confirmatory factor analysis.

Findings

– The key supply chain antecedents of ANT are supply chain planning, internal integration and supplier integration. ANT was related to both operational and cost performance.

Research limitations/implications

– Potential limitations include the use of an existing database, the plant as the unit of analysis and the need to include customer integration, as well as supplier integration. The results demonstrate the competitive importance of the ANT construct and the key role that relationships with suppliers play in its development.

Practical implications

– This research sheds new light on a construct whose roots are inherently practical. Suppliers and their extended networks are an important source of external knowledge about technology and future customer needs, thus, supply chain relationships are an important contributor to ANT.

Originality/value

– Although the role of technology in establishing a competitive advantage has been thoroughly studied, the effectiveness of developing technologies that are expected to be important in the future has not, although this concept was first introduced almost 30 years ago. The authors use absorptive capacity to develop the role of supply chain relationships in building an organization's ANT capability, contributing to the operations strategy literature by grounding a practical construct in the theoretical literature and demonstrating its importance.
High dynamic range photography without a tripod
Authors: Barazzetti Luigi
Published: July 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to present a new multi-image registration methodology that is able to align a set of hand-held bracketed shots.

Design/methodology/approach

– The procedure is a two-step algorithm where corresponding multi-image points are automatically extracted from the bracketed image sequence and a least squares adjustment recovers transformation parameters.

Findings

– The images can be processed with high dynamic range algorithms to combine multiple low dynamic range pictures into a single mosaic with a superior radiometric quality.

Originality/value

– Simulated and real examples are illustrated to prove the effectiveness of the developed affine-based procedure.
A study of the application of automatic healthcare tracking and monitoring system in Saudi Arabia
Authors: Alharbe Nawaf , S. Atkins Anthony
Published: July 2014

Purpose

– This paper aims to outline the results of a study of the potential use of sensor technology such as radio frequency identification (RFID) and/or ZigBee technology in providing real-time tracking and tracing of patients and equipment in hospitals. The government of Saudi Arabia has given high priority to providing the best practice in patients’ care. However, the growing requirement of the healthcare industry to obtain real-time information and data from various applications that can improve the performance and accuracy of management systems has not been addressed seriously in Saudi Arabia.

Design/methodology/approach

– ZigBee and RFID are both emerging technologies and have become important topics in recent years. RFID technology is a non-contact identification technology that does not require direct eyesight to the target object. It is cheap and reliable, but its coverage zone is limited. ZigBee is another communication technology, which has a larger coverage and can also be used as an automatic identification technology with the benefits of lower power consumption.

Findings

– This paper proposes a smart hospital management system that can be used to detect, locate and monitor patients and track assets and equipment using modern sensor technologies in a real-time environment for e-health systems in Saudi Arabia.

Originality/value

– A novel management information system/knowledge management system framework based on sensor technologies for supporting and speeding up development of healthcare systems.
Transforming hospital management à la francaise
Authors: Vinot Didier
Published: July 2014

Purpose

– The perpose of this paper is to analyse recent changes in the management of French public hospitals, following a reform enacted in 2009 and aimed at bolstering the managerial roles of doctors.

Design/methodology/approach

– The paper is exploratory and is based on both the analysis of French literature dealing with the results of the 2009 reform, and ten semi-directed interviews with clinical managers and top leaders in the public hospital sector.

Findings

– The author reports on the major hospital management reforms of 2009 and analyse the implications for the medical profession and management. The author shows that the involvement of the classical clinical leaders has become less regulated as the units no longer have a clear legal basis. The governance of the newly introduced “medical poles” appears to be shaped by various factors: there is high correlation between centrality, prestige and “clan involvement”, which suggests that professionals holding new responsibilities obtain power and legitimacy by consolidating pre-existing networks. While it is often argued that high-quality clinical leadership is a key factor of organisational success, the findings suggest that the performance of clinical managers relies on this network and legitimacy acquired from it.

Originality/value

– Drawing on the “sociology of translation” and actor-network theory (Callon and Latour, 1991), this paper provides a new conceptual framework for the analysis of the transformation of the role of clinical leaders, arguing that this transformation depends highly on their abilities to build and use networks. The findings challenge the French tradition of public management that presupposes a clear division of power between doctors and administrative staff.
Medical management: hostage to its own history? The case of Italian clinical directors
Authors: Sartirana Marco , Prenestini Anna , Lega Federico
Published: July 2014

Purpose

– As a consequence of new public management reforms, leading professionals in public service organizations have increasingly been involved in management roles. The phenomenon of clinical directors in the healthcare sector is particularly representative of this, as this medical manager role has been adopted in many countries around the world. However, professionals’ managerial role taking still falls quite short of expectations. While most research has searched for the causes of this gap at the individual level by exploring the clash between management and professionalism, the purpose of the paper is to argue that a contextualized understanding of the antecedents at the organizational level, and particularly the existing medical management roles, provides a more thorough picture of the reality.

Design/methodology/approach

– The paper adopts an institutional perspective to study the development of existing medical management roles and the rise of new ones (clinical directors). The analysis focuses on the case of Italy, a country with a tradition in medical management where, following the example of other countries, clinical director roles were introduced by law; yet they were not incisive. The paper is based on a review of the existing literature and extensive field research on Italian clinical directorates.

Findings

– The paper shows how in contexts in which doctors in management roles exist and are provided with legitimacy deriving from legal norms, historical settlements between professions and taken for granted arrangements, medical management becomes institutionalized, stability prevails and change towards new doctor-in-management roles is seriously hampered.

Originality/value

– The paper contributes to existing knowledge on professionals’ managerial role taking, underlining the relevance of contextual and nation-specific factors on this process. It provides implications for research and for policy making in healthcare and other professional public services.
A contingency framework on partnership risk
Authors: Krause Tobias
Published: July 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to analyze and compare the specific contingencies of partnership risk in shared equity public-private partnerships (PPPs) with the contingencies of privately held, loose related PPPs.

Design/methodology/approach

– Drawing on instrumental and relational accountability perspectives, the author formulates theoretical propositions on partnership risk.

Findings

– The author conclude that loose related PPPs are characterized by high expertise and a higher risk of contract incompleteness by reason of opportunism. Shared ownership PPPs are characterized by lower opportunism but stronger goal ambiguities and role conflicts. These relationships are threatened by political micromanagement, agency capture and bailout problems.

Research limitations/implications

– The study offers an analytical frame of propositions and provides avenues for further research on partnership risk.

Practical implications

– The author suggest risk mitigation strategies for tight and loose related PPPs.

Originality/value

– Identifying crucial contingencies from both an instrumental and a relational perspective, the study makes a contribution to cooperation research in PPPs.
Where social enterprise practitioners draw the line
Authors: Seanor Pam , Bull Michael , Baines Susan , Purcell Martin
Published: July 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to offer new reflection upon the contested interaction of social enterprises with the public sector. It does this by fore fronting the notions of boundaries, boundary work and boundary objects.

Design/methodology/approach

– The paper reports qualitative research with social enterprise practitioners (from social enterprises and support agencies) in the north of England. Accounts elicited through interviews are combined with visual data in the form of pencil drawings made by practitioners when the authors invited them to respond to and rework diagrammatic models from the literature about the social and economic dimensions of social enterprise.

Findings

– Participants explained in words and images how normative images of social enterprise depicting linear and static boundaries inadequately represent the complexity of ideas and interactions in their world. Rather, they perceived an iterative process of crossing and re-crossing boundaries, with identities and practices which appeared to shift over time in relation to different priorities.

Research limitations/implications

– Through participant generated visual data in which social enterprise practitioners literally redrew models from the literature, the paper open space to show movement, transgression and change.

Originality/value

– This paper is timely as social enterprises are becoming increasingly prominent in the welfare mix. The authors make novel use of conversations and drawings in order to better understand the dynamic and everyday practices of social enterprise within public services. In doing this, the authors also potentially contribute to richer methodological resources for researching the movement of services between sectors.
Management in hospitals
Authors: Nordstrand Berg Laila , Byrkjeflot Haldor
Published: July 2014

Purpose

– The hospital sector has expanded in Norway with reforms and a strong demand for better management. The purpose of this paper is to examine: first, how this has affected physicians and nurses in management; second, how management roles in hospitals are changing; and third, how these two professions are tackling their new roles.

Design/methodology/approach

– The paper presents a review of the secondary literature and a case study undertaken in the spring, 2012.

Findings

– In Norway, two reforms have been introduced aimed at creating stronger management positions with less professional influence. The leader has full responsibility for a particular unit, which means that the jurisdiction of managers has expanded and that management has become more time consuming. Physicians – traditionally those in charge of hospitals – are facing competition from other professions, especially nursing, which has gained representation in top management positions, particularly at middle management level.

Originality/value

– The originality of this paper is the comparison of the evolvement of management among physicians and nurses since the reforms. While the medical profession was critical of management to begin with, i.e. viewing management positions as a trap, it is gradually adapting to the new ideas. Physicians are facing competition from nurses, who readily adjust to the new conditions, and perceive management as a new career track.
Localization and tracking control for mobile welding robot
Authors: Tang Qing
Published: July 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to design the localization and tracking algorithms for our mobile welding robot to carry out the large steel structure welding operations in industrial environment.

Design/methodology/approach

– Extended Kalman filter, considering the bicycle-modeled robot, is adopted in the localization algorithm. The position and orientation of our mobile welding robot is estimated using the feedback of the laser sensor and the robot motion commands history. A backstepping variable is involved in the tracking algorithm. By introducing a specifically selected Lyapunov function, we proved the tracking algorithm using Barbalat Lemma, which leads the errors of estimated robot states to converge to zero.

Findings

– The experiments show that the proposed localization method is fast and accurate and the tracking algorithm is robust to track straight lines, circles and other typical industrial curve shapes. The proposed localization and tracking algorithm could be used, but not limited to the mobile welding.

Originality/value

– Localization problem which is neglected in previous research is very important in mobile welding. The proposed localization algorithm could estimate the robot states timely and accurately, and no additional sensors are needed. Furthermore, using the estimated robot states, we proposed and proved a tracking algorithm for bicycle-modeled mobile robots which could be used in welding as well as other industrial operation scenarios.
Internet financial reporting in an emerging economy: evidence from Jordan
Authors: T. Momany Munther , N. Al-Malkawi Husam-Aldin , A. Mahdy Ebrahim
Published: July 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to examine the status of financial reporting on the internet by companies operating in an emerging economy, namely Jordan.

Design/methodology/approach

– The paper surveys 127 companies listed in the first market of Amman Stock Exchange (ASE) for the year ended 2008/2009. The primary sources of the data used in this study are the global and the Jordanian electronic web sites. The paper employs descriptive statistics and nonparametric tests to explore the internet financial reporting (IFR) practices among Jordanian companies.

Findings

– The results show that 87 Jordanian companies (69 percent) possess web sites with about 51 percent (44 of the 87) include financial reports and 32 out of 44 companies (about 73 percent) disseminate all their financial information on their web sites. The paper also finds that the extent of disclosure of the corporate financial and nonfinancial information on the ASE web site is statistically different form the companies’ web sites. Furthermore, the current paper reveals that some firm-specific characteristics such as firm size; financial leverage, age, and ownership concentration may distinguish those companies who engage in IFR from their counterparts. Finally, the results suggest that the financial sector is more advanced in terms of using the internet to disseminate information when compared to the industrial and services sectors.

Originality/value

– In the context of Jordan, there is limited number of studies attempted to address corporate financial reporting on the internet. Therefore, the present study makes significant contribution to the existing body of knowledge by shedding more light on the status of financial disclosure on the internet by companies operating in an emerging economy like Jordan. Also, the current paper explores the extent of corporate information disclosed on both the official web site of ASE and companies’ web sites.
Health in pregnancy and post-birth: contribution to improved child outcomes
Authors: Gray Ron , Bick Debra , Chang Yan-Shing
Published: July 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to describe the major factors affecting health during pregnancy, birth and the postnatal period and outline the evidence for interventions to improve outcomes in women and their children.

Design/methodology/approach

– Selective review of the literature. A number of electronic bibliographic databases were searched, including the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, PubMed and PsycINFO, for relevant studies published since 1990. Papers were restricted to those published in English which presented data from studies conducted in high-income countries, with priority given to systematic reviews, randomised controlled trials and other quantitative studies which present a higher level of evidence.

Findings

– Many factors may affect maternal and infant health during and after pregnancy. Potentially modifiable factors with an evidence base to support intervention include improving diet, and the avoidance of smoking, alcohol and illicit drugs. Good clinical management of underlying illness is also important, along with attempts to engage women in improving health prior to conception and postnatally rather than once pregnancy is established.

Research limitations/implications

– The evidence base for interventions on some potentially modifiable risk factors is incomplete. There is good evidence of benefit from some health behaviours such as smoking cessation and uptake of breastfeeding and accumulating evidence of the benefit of some models of maternity care.

Practical implications

– Good maternal health during and after pregnancy plays a key role in giving the child a better start in life. Improved health behaviours are vital but often these are heavily dependent on social context and hence working to tackle social inequality and provide maternity care tailored to individual need is likely to be just as important as trying to directly alter behaviour.

Originality/value

– Pregnancy and the postnatal period present an opportunity to improve maternal health and have a positive effect on future child health. Greater investment is required in this antenatal period of life.
The relationship between transformational leadership, perceived leader effectiveness and teachers’ job satisfaction
Authors: Eliophotou Menon Maria
Published: July 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to investigate the link between transformational/transactional/passive-avoidant leadership behaviors, teachers’ perceptions of leader effectiveness and teachers’ job satisfaction. In this context, the paper also examines the conceptual model underlying the scales of the most widely used instrument in research on transformational leadership, the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ). The theoretical framework for this investigation is that of the full range model of leadership.

Design/methodology/approach

– An adapted version of the MLQ was administered to a sample of 438 secondary school teachers in the Republic of Cyprus. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling were used in the analysis of the data.

Findings

– The results provide support for a three-factor structure model consisting of transformational, transactional and passive-avoidant forms of leadership, representing three distinct components of leadership behavior. Teachers’ perceptions of leader effectiveness and teachers’ overall job satisfaction were found to be significantly linked to the leadership behaviors included in the full range model of leadership.

Research limitations/implications

– The findings are cross-sectional and based on the subjective perceptions of teachers. The analysis of the data suggests that transformational leadership may not be a sufficient condition for (perceived) headteacher effectiveness.

Originality/value

– The link between transformational leadership, perceived leader effectiveness and teachers’ overall job satisfaction has not been investigated in many studies. The present study attempts to address this gap.