bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Divergent goals in supplier-customer co-development process: an integrated framework
Authors: Oinonen Minna , Jalkala Anne Maarit
Published: April 2015

Purpose

– Innovations in business-to-business markets often result from co-development activities between multiple actors, all of which have their own goals for the collaboration. The purpose of this paper is to study how the actors’ divergent goals reflect on their perceptions of the supplier-customer co-development process.

Design/methodology/approach

– A grounded theory approach is adopted to reveal the actors’ perceptions of eight studied supplier-customer co-development processes, of which, four also involve an expert partner.

Findings

– The findings suggest that because of the supplier’s aim to commercialize the resulting product, a supplier has a wider ranging perception of the co-development process, whereas the customer and expert partner focus on those phases that support their goals to improve the efficiency of the process or to develop new technology.

Practical implications

– As each actor operates according to its own goals and is involved in those phases of the process that facilitates their achievement, the study recommends that managers consider each actor’s goals which are reflected on their perception of the co-development.

Originality/value

– This is among the first studies to focus on the co-development process from multiple perspectives and include data from various actors involved in the process. The paper contributes to the co-development literature both by presenting actors’ divergent perspectives on the process and proposing an empirically grounded dyadic framework of the supplier-customer co-development process.
Business networks along innovation life cycle
Authors: Codini Anna Paola
Published: April 2015

Purpose

– This paper aims to investigate how the relationships among the different actors within the business networks affect the evolution of innovation along the different steps of technology life cycle.

Design/methodology/approach

– The study is supported by a longitudinal case study referred to a mechanical company operating in the knitting machineries industry. A triangulation method integrating multiple data sources in a multiple method design was used to gather data.

Findings

– The longitudinal study supports the idea that interactions among the actors within the business networks heavily influence the technology evolution.

Research limitations/implications

– Although the longitudinal case study reported in this paper refers to a period of time of about 10 years, our findings refer only to a single case study in a specific sector and so they cannot be generalized.

Practical implications

– This paper provides important guidelines on how to manage the relationships emerging within a business network to influence the new technologies development.

Originality/value

– The paper contributes to business networks literature, filling the gaps about how the relationships among the actors involved in a network can evolve over time and influence the evolution of technology in itself.
Actors’ roles in interaction and innovation in local systems: a conceptual taxonomy
Authors: Guercini Simone , Runfola Andrea
Published: April 2015

Purpose

– This paper aims to study the role of the focal firm in local communities. In particular, it aims at analyzing such firms’ contribution to innovation, proposing a classification of the interactions and role systems that contribute to determining the innovational impact of focal firms.

Design/methodology/approach

– This paper presents a concept-based study. The paper starts with a review of the literature to frame the concepts of local network and focal firm. Two key concepts, related to that of interaction, are then discussed: teaching and learning.

Findings

– The paper proposes a taxonomy of the interactions and the roles systems that the focal firm can establish. The status of focal actor for innovation in a network stems, not from an “a priori” central strategic role on which the actor builds its interactions, but “a posteriori”, from the actor’s previously recognized roles in interactions on which network innovation is based. The local system may or may not be present in the interaction set of the business network. The interactions and roles systems define the type of local system.

Research limitations/implications

– Research implications regard three main aspects: the different roles in the interactions; the types of actors in the local system; and the types of local systems involved in the processes of innovation.

Originality/value

– The paper furnishes an original interpretation by focusing on focal firms as leaders in the innovation process, in the attempt to reconcile the “macro” perspective of local systems with the “micro” perspective of the individual firm.
Migration reasons, traits and entrepreneurial motivation of African immigrant entrepreneurs
Authors: Khosa Risimati Maurice , Kalitanyi Vivence
Published: April 2015

Purpose

– This paper aims to investigate migration reasons, traits and entrepreneurial motivation of African immigrant entrepreneurs in Cape Town, South Africa, as there is limited research on immigrant entrepreneurship in South Africa.

Design/methodology/approach

– The empirical research was conducted under mixed methods paradigm where primary data were gathered from a sample of 93 participants using the convenience sampling technique. Data were gathered through a survey of 72 semi-structured personal interviews and 21 self-administered questionnaires and analysed using SPSS version 21.

Findings

– The empirical research unveiled that immigrant entrepreneurs migrate into South Africa for different reasons: political instability and economic reasons were the chief reasons for migration. Immigrants engage into necessity entrepreneurship as a need to survive in the host country and to confront discrimination in the job market. Therefore, immigrant entrepreneurs in Cape Town are pushed, rather than pulled, towards entrepreneurship.

Practical implications

– This paper also suggests further research that will evaluate education levels of immigrant entrepreneurs in South Africa, as there is a controversy about the education levels of immigrant entrepreneurs.

Social implications

– South Africans need to understand that African foreign entrepreneurs are job creators rather than job takers and to be aware of the skills brought into the country by these entrepreneurs. Accordingly, the current study contributes to peaceful cohabitation between South Africans and African foreign entrepreneurs.

Originality/value

– This paper provides an empirical analysis of migration reasons, traits and entrepreneurial motivation of African immigrant entrepreneurs in South Africa and also provides an entrepreneurial migration progression.
Australian indigenous women’s seafood harvesting practices and prospects for integrating aquaculture
Authors: Fleming Ann E. , Petheram Lisa , Stacey Natasha
Published: April 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this study is to explore Australian Indigenous women’s customary use of marine resources and views on aquaculture as a development opportunity. The value participants placed on economic, social and cultural outcomes were explored, as were benefit sharing, governance and business considerations.

Design/methodology/approach

– Using a form of action research, workshops were conducted with a focus group of Indigenous women and interviews with men and women living on a remote island off northern Australia. Multimedia materials and a game were used to elicit a deeper understanding and facilitate discussion.

Findings

– Women preferred aquaculture options respectful of culture and accommodating cultural and family obligations, that engage young adults in meaningful work, improve access to sea country and provide local foods and support economic development. Participants placed significant dependence on their governance body to support businesses and expressed disparate views on profit sharing. Women continue to engage in customary harvesting and fishing but various limitations impact on this.

Research limitations/implications

– Conclusions based on one case study need to be confirmed in other communities. Future research should include a broader representation of youth and strategies to improve people’s understanding of aquaculture operations and business management.

Social implications

– This research improves our understanding of Indigenous women’s preferred economic development pathways and their advocacy role within the community. These findings are relevant for policy-makers, businesses, other Indigenous communities and researchers.

Originality/value

– This paper seeks to recognise and integrate Indigenous women’s economic and cultural aspirations within development policy. Such a place-based, gender-based consultative process is generally lacking in the Australian Indigenous policy arena.
Forecasting of housing stock returns and housing prices
Authors: He Ling T.
Published: April 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to create an endurance index of housing investor sentiment and use it to forecast housing stock returns. This study performs not only in-sample and out-of-sample forecasting, like many previous studies did, but also a true forecasting by using all lag terms of independent variables. In addition, an evaluation procedure is applied to quantify the quality of forecasts.

Design/methodology/approach

– Using a binomial probability distribution model, this paper creates an endurance index of housing investor sentiment. The index reflects the probability of the high or low stock price being the close price for the Philadelphia Stock Exchange Housing Sector Index. This housing investor sentiment endurance index directly uses housing stock price differentials to measure housing investor reactions to all relevant news. Empirical results in this study suggest that the index can not only play a significant role in explaining variations in housing stock returns but also have decent forecasting ability.

Findings

– Results of this study reveal the considerable forecasting ability of the index. Monthly forecasts of housing stock returns have an overall accuracy of 51 per cent, while the overall accuracy of 8-quarter rolling forecasts even reaches 84 per cent. In addition, the index has decent forecasting ability on changes in housing prices as suggested by the strong evidence of one-direction causal relations running from the endurance index to housing prices. However, extreme volatility of housing stock returns may impair the forecasting quality.

Practical implications

– The endurance index of housing investor sentiment is easy to construct and use for forecasting housing stock returns. The demonstrated predictability of the index on housing stock returns in this study can have broad implications on housing-related business practices through providing an effective forecasting tool to investors and analysts of housing stocks, as well as housing policy-makers.

Originality/value

– Despite different investor sentiment proxies suggested in the previous studies, few of them can effectively predict stock returns, due to some embedded limitations. Many increases and decreases inn prices cancel out each other during the trading day, as many unreliable sentiments cancel out each other. This dynamic process reveals not only investor sentiment but also resilience or endurance of sentiment. It is only long-lasting resilient sentiment that can be built in the closing price. It means that the only feasible way to use investor sentiment contained in stock prices to forecast future stock prices is to detach resilient investor sentiment from stock prices and construct an index of endurance of investor sentiment.
Regulatory capital and risk of Indian banks: a simultaneous equation approach
Authors: Maji Santi Gopal , De Utpal Kumar
Published: April 2015

Purpose

– This paper aims to examine the association between regulatory capital and risk of Indian commercial banks and the impacts of other relevant variables on them.

Design/methodology/approach

– The study is based on a secondary data set on Indian commercial banks collected from “Capitaline Plus” corporate database and annual reports of the respective banks. Total 41 major Indian banks (21 public and 20 private sector banks) are considered in this study. Here absolute values of capital and risk are used as dependent variables along with some relevant bank specific explanatory variables in a system of a two-equation model. Based on the nature of interrelationship and identifiability of the equations, three-stage least squares (3SLS) technique is used to estimate the relationship.

Findings

– Risk and capital of Indian commercial banks are inversely associated. The influence of profitability on both capital and risk is significantly positive. Moreover, human capital efficiency is negatively associated with the undertaking of risk by the banks. In this respect, Indian private sector banks are found to be more efficient in utilizing human capital for reducing credit risk.

Originality/value

– It is the first comparative study in India examining the relationship between capital and risk of Indian public and private sector commercial banks covering both Basel I and II periods. Further, the role of human resource in managing risk is considered as a relevant variable in this study.
Corporate governance and transparency: evidence from stock return synchronicity
Authors: Ntow-Gyamfi Matthew , Bokpin Godfred Alufar , Gemegah Albert
Published: April 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of the study is to examine the influence of corporate governance on the flow of firm-specific information in an emerging market.

Design/methodology/approach

– Synchronicity is estimated under assumptions of contemporaneous and non-contemporaneous relationship between individual stock returns and the market return. Possible thin-trading effect is also corrected using the Dimson’s Beta approach to estimate synchronicity. In the main empirical model, both the Panel-Corrected Standard Errors and the Generalized Least Square estimations were used to provided robust evidence of governance influencing transparency.

Findings

– Corporate governance was found to broadly influence the release of firm-specific information in a relatively opaque market through the information environment. However, no evidence in support of the “auditor-reputation effects” theory was found. As well, CEO duality does not create an individual powerful enough to reduce the monitoring role of boards. We further document the presence of noise trading on the Ghana Stock Exchange.

Practical implications

– This study suggests that specific corporate mechanism practices have implications for stock selection in a relatively high information asymmetry Capital Market. Investors require transparency; hence, firms with governance mechanisms that elicit such transparency are likely to attract investors.

Originality/value

– This study is the first to examine the relationship between governance and transparency while using stock return synchronicity as a proxy for transparency in an emerging Ghanaian Capital Market.
An additional analysis on operating leverage estimation methods
Authors: Stelk Steven , Park Sang Hyun , Dugan Michael T
Published: April 2015

Purpose

– This paper aims to identify the more accurate method of estimating a firm’s degree of operating leverage (DOL) between two popular DOL estimation techniques: that proposed by Mandelker and Rhee (M&R), and that proposed by O’Brien and Vanderheiden (O&V).

Design/methodology/approach

– O’Brien and Vanderheiden argue that M&R measure growth in operating earnings relative to the growth in sales rather than DOL. The authors estimate the relative growth estimate, RGE, from the O&V technique (operating earnings growth rate/sales growth rate) and compare this with the DOL estimates from the M&R technique to see if they are similar.

Findings

– The authors find that the DOL estimates from the M&R method are indistinguishable from the relative growth estimates from the O&V method, providing the first direct evidence that O&V’s critique is correct. The M&R DOL estimates primarily measure the growth in operating earnings relative to the growth in sales, not DOL.

Originality/value

– A firm’s DOL is a determinant of its common stock’s systematic risk, which determines a firm’s equity cost of capital. The equity cost of capital is a fundamental part of capital budgeting, capital structure and stock price analysis. Accurately estimating a firm’s DOL is important to researchers and corporate financial managers. Existing diversity in DOL estimation techniques raises questions about the validity of various techniques and limits comparability of existing studies. This paper demonstrates why the O&V technique should be used in place of the M&R method.
Facilities management innovation in public-private collaborations
Authors: Nardelli Giulia , Jensen Jesper Ole , Nielsen Susanne Balslev
Published: April 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this article is to investigate how facilities management (FM) units navigate Energy Service Company (ESCO) collaborations, here defined as examples of public collaborative innovation within the context of FM. The driving motivation is to inform and inspire internal FM units of local institutions on how to navigate and manage collaboration of different, intra- and inter-organisational actors throughout ESCO projects.

Design/methodology/approach

– A deductive research methodology was applied based on the first ten ESCO projects in Danish municipalities between 2008 and 2012.

Findings

– A model of FM roles in FM public innovation is proposed. The internal FM unit coordinates between clients and end users by acting as translator and demonstrator and collaborates with the ESCO company to implement the energy renovation (FM processor).

Research limitations/implications

– The data were collected from a limited sample of ESCO collaborations in Denmark. Future research should thus investigate collaborative innovation in ESCO (and other forms of private–public) collaborations outside of Denmark.

Practical implications

– Not only should FM units clarify what different stakeholders expect from an ESCO collaboration, but also they should translate stakeholders’ expectations into actual goals and objectives; process them together with the ESCO company; demonstrate their execution to all stakeholders throughout the process, not just when closing the collaboration.

Originality/value

– This paper contributes to FM innovation research by exploring FM innovation in the public sector and by depicting the coordinating role of local governments’ internal FM units engaging in public–private collaborative innovation.
Evaluating key risk factors for PPP water projects in Ghana: a Delphi study
Authors: Ameyaw Ernest Effah , Chan Albert P.C.
Published: April 2015

Purpose

– This paper aims to report on the partial findings of a research project on risk allocation in public–private partnership (PPP) water projects. It identifies risk factors encountered in PPP water infrastructure projects, evaluates their associated risk levels and presents an authoritative risk factor list to assist the sector institutions to understand the important risks associated with such projects in Ghana.

Design/methodology/approach

– A ranking-type Delphi survey was conducted to develop a rank-order list of critical risk factors.

Findings

– Twenty critical risk factors with high impact on water PPPs were established. The top-five risks relate to foreign exchange rate, corruption, water theft, non-payment of bills and political interference.

Originality/value

– Being the pioneering study, it holds implications for practitioners. By prioritising the risks according to their relative impacts on the success of water PPP projects, public and private participants will become more aware of and leverage efforts and scarce resources to address those significant factors with serious consequences on projects objectives. The paper adopts a research approach that can be used by future researchers in similar environments where PPP is novel and experts are hard to find.
Consumer attitudes towards luxury fashion apparel made in sweatshops
Authors: Phau Ian , Teah Min , Chuah Joe
Published: April 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to examine how attitudes towards sweatshops, social norms and perceived behavioural control (PBC) factors influence consumers’ attitudes towards luxury fashion apparel made in sweatshops. It also examines how these variables influence purchase intention and ultimately the willingness to pay more for luxury fashion apparel not made in sweatshops.

Design/methodology/approach

– A self-administered questionnaire was designed using established scales. A survey was conducted through the “mall intercept” method.

Findings

– Underpinned by the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) model, attitudes and PBC were found to have an influence on intention to purchase luxury fashion apparel made in sweatshops. The intention to purchase luxury fashion apparel also significantly influences the willingness to pay more for luxury fashion apparel not made in sweatshops.

Practical implications

– The research findings can be used to formulate strategies for academia, practitioners and, more importantly, policy makers to help curb sweatshop activities.

Originality/value

– This paper focuses exclusively on luxury fashion apparels made in sweatshops. Status consumption is also added as a potential antecedent towards purchase intention.
Effects of store attributes on retail patronage behaviors
Authors: Chang Hyo Jung , Cho Hyeon Jeong , Turner Thomas , Gupta Megha , Watchravesringkan Kittichai
Published: April 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to identify selected store attributes of activewear specialty retailers that impact consumers’ satisfaction, which in turn influence word-of-mouth (WOM) and retail patronage behavior.

Design/methodology/approach

– Using an on-site store intercept, 150 responses were collected to answer hypothesized relationships. An exploratory factor analysis was first performed followed by a confirmatory factor analysis and a structural equation analysis.

Findings

– Results revealed that sales employees and store atmosphere attributes of activewear specialty stores had a positive influence on consumer satisfaction, which in turn had a direct impact on WOM and repatronage intentions for activewear specialty stores. Therefore, in order to satisfy consumers, activewear specialty retailers need to ensure that they provide an attractive and pleasant shopping atmosphere. Furthermore, satisfied consumers are likely to spread positive WOM about the retailer and display their intention to revisit the store in the future. The authors conclude by discussing the results and suggest implications and future research directions.

Originality/value

– The findings of this research shed light on the managerial implications for activewear specialty retailers with regards to marketing strategies and consumers’ attitudes.
An exploratory study of the perceptions of AACSB International’s 2013 Accreditation Standards
Authors: Miles Morgan P. , Franklin Geralyn McClure , Grimmer Martin , Heriot Kirl C.
Published: April 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to report on the findings of an exploratory survey designed to measure AACSB member deans’ perceptions about the recently revised 2013 Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) Accreditation Standards. In April of 2013, AACSB International released a major revision of its accreditation standards to better reflect the increased globalization of management education.

Design/methodology/approach

– The present study surveyed AACSB member school deans via e-mail using SurveyMonkey during October and early November of 2013. A total of 1,131 valid e-mail addresses were found for the deans/heads of member schools (accredited and non-accredited). In total, 259 surveys were completed, resulting in a 23 per cent response rate for member schools with valid e-mails (n = 1,131).

Findings

– The present study found that the AACSB membership largely perceives that AACSB accreditation is a basic requirement to be a credible and competitive business school, is an indicator of a quality education and is linked to enhancing a business school’s ability to be effective in faculty recruitment and student placement. Even business school’s holding association of MBA (AMBA) and the European Foundation for Management Development’s International Accreditation Program (EQUIS) accreditation seemed to think that AACSB accreditation is a basic requirement to be a competitive business school. The most notable finding of this study is that most deans indicated that they will be able to meet the 2013 standards.

Originality/value

– Although at the time of the survey no business school had been subject to review under the new standards, member deans largely felt that the guiding principles and values and the accreditation standards themselves are achievable. In addition, there was widespread agreement that AACSB accreditation is valuable, meaningful and essential in today’s globally competitive environment.
Undergraduate accounting students: prepared for the workplace?
Authors: Towers-Clark Jane
Published: April 2015

Purpose

– This paper aims to explore and investigate student perceptions as to what generic skills they considered were important for accountants and to what extent these skills were developed by their programme of study.

Design/methodology/approach

– Data gathered from 357 UK undergraduate accounting degree graduates were used to develop insights into perceived relevance of current skills development and provided a basis for developments of the programme to better meet student skills development in preparation for them being accountants.

Findings

– Areas determined as requiring further development within the programme to better meet perceived required skills of accountants are those of team working, oral communication, interpersonal and career planning and interviewing skills.

Research limitations/implications

– Conclusions drawn are only from a student perspective and do not reflect wider stakeholder perspective.

Practical implications

– This study sought to understand what skills students perceive could benefit from development within the programme.

Social implications

– The motivation for this study was to respond to criticism that students on graduation were not achieving desired level of skills that would be important to their chosen field.

Originality/value

– Further skills including leadership, entrepreneurship and conflict management were skills perceived by students as important for their current employment.
Learning about translators from library catalog records: implications for readers’ advisory
Authors: Dali Keren , Alsabbagh Lana
Published: April 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this article is to make public librarians aware of the wealth of information about translators that is contained in bibliographic records of their own library catalogs so they could use this information for the benefit of readers’ advisory (RA) work involving translated titles.

Design/methodology/approach

– The article uses the method of bibliographic data analysis based on 350 selected translated fiction titles (and 2,100 corresponding catalog records) from six large Canadian public libraries.

Findings

– As the results demonstrate, enhanced bibliographic catalog records deliver a wide spectrum of information about translators, which can be used by public libraries to provide more informed and insightful reading advice and to make more sensible purchasing decisions with regard to translated fiction.

Practical implications

– The study shows how the most readily available tool – a library catalog with its enhanced bibliographic records – can be utilized by public librarians for improving RA practices. It focuses on the rarely discussed translated fiction, demonstrates a sample methodological approach and makes suggestions for implementing this approach by busy public librarians in real-life situations.

Originality/value

– No recent studies that have investigated enhanced catalog records have dealt with translated fiction. Moreover, while authors/writers are often in the focus of RA studies, translators are often left behind the scenes, despite their crucial role in bringing international fiction to English-speaking readers.
Interdependence between Nordic stock markets and financial cooperation
Authors: Dengjun Zhang
Published: April 2015

Purpose

– This study aims to link the financial cooperation in the Nordic region and the interdependence between the stock markets in this area. The main emphasis is placed on the evolution of this interdependence as the financial integration was proceeding.

Design/methodology/approach

– Johansen’s cointegration technique and the exponential generalized autoregressive conditionally heteroskedastic model are applied to test the long-run and short-run interdependences, respectively, among Nordic stock markets. In particular, the recursive estimation approach is used to reveal the evolution of the interdependence between those markets.

Findings

– The existence of two cointegrations over the sample period indicates that the markets depend on each other to some extent. The recursive estimation of Johansen’s model further reveals that the interdependence had been greatly improving until late 2008. The interdependence between those markets is also confirmed convincingly by the short-term dynamics, noting that the spillover effects between most pairs of stock volatilities are witnessed in the empirical results.

Practical implications

– The findings show the dynamics of the long-run correlations between the Nordic stock markets, which imply the intrinsic response to the process of financial market reforms, the 2008 global financial crisis and the period after the crisis. The evidenced information about determinants of the interdependence between Nordic stock markets is sending strong signals to investors to enhance their investment strategies.

Originality/value

– Most of the existing studies have been restricted to the static long-run and/or short-run interdependence among those markets. However, this study contributes to the literature by investigating the dynamics of interdependence among the Nordic stock markets over time; moreover, the evolution of the market interdependence is sketched closely to the process of the regional financial market reforms.
Volatility, distress risk, and the cross-section of portfolio returns
Authors: Sabbaghi Omid
Published: April 2015

Purpose

– This paper aims to examine the nexus between the pricing of market-wide volatility risk and distress risk in the cross-section of portfolio returns for the 1990-2011 time period. The author expands upon prior research by constructing an ex post factor that mimics aggregate volatility risk based on the new VIX index of the Chicago Board Options Exchange, termed FVIX, as well as focuses on volatility risk in crisis versus non-crisis time periods.

Design/methodology/approach

– The author investigates the relationship between volatility and distress risk using several techniques in the empirical finance literature. Specifically, the author investigates the behavior of correlations between risk factors as well as the correlations between factor loadings when using the Fama and French research portfolios as our test assets for different time periods. Additionally, the author examines the variation in the volatility factor loadings across the size- and value-sorted portfolios and assesses whether augmenting conventional pricing models with a volatility factor leads to a higher goodness-of-fit in pricing the 25 size- and value-sorted portfolios.

Findings

– The author’s results suggest that factor volatilities are high during periods of market turmoil. In addition, the author presents evidence indicating that a factor mimicking innovation in volatility (based on the new VIX) is correlated with the market and momentum factors, while exhibiting the uncorrelated behavior with respect to the size, value and liquidity factors when using data from 1990 through 2011. In this paper, the author finds that the aggregate volatility factor’s correlation with the market and momentum factors increases during crisis periods. In periods of relative market tranquility, correlations decrease significantly. In examining multivariate factor loadings for the test assets, the results provide no clear pattern with regard to the variation of the volatility loadings across the book-to-market and size dimensions. Furthermore, the author finds that conventional pricing models are comparable to FVIX-augmented pricing models, in terms of goodness-of-fit, when pricing the 25 Fama-French size- and value-sorted portfolios. Additionally, when using the FVIX volatility factor to proxy for aggregate volatility risk, the coefficients are never significant statistically, thus revealing that innovations in aggregate volatility based on the new VIX index do not constitute a priced risk factor in the cross-section of returns.

Originality/value

– The author’ finding indicates an absence of strong variation of the volatility factor loadings across the Fama-French research portfolios. In particular, the asset pricing results cast doubt on whether a factor mimicking innovations in aggregate volatility based on the new VIX index is priced. In agreement with prior research, the author believes that the inseparability of volatility and jump risk in the VIX can be a possible explanation of the current findings in this paper.
Fighting, winning, promotions, and attendance in the ECHL
Authors: Paul Rodney J. , Weinbach Andrew P. , Robbins Daniel
Published: April 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of fighting (in addition to other variables) as it relates to attendance at minor league hockey games (ECHL).

Design/methodology/approach

– Building upon previous research on hockey attendance, a regression model is specified with attendance as the dependent variable and fighting (measured as a running average of fights-per-game) as an independent variable. The sign and statistical significance of fighting is tested through the regression model.

Findings

– Despite recent tragedies in the hockey world and public outcries against fighting, fighting is found to have a positive and significant effect on attendance at ECHL games.

Practical implications

– Findings suggest that if fighting is removed from hockey in North America that teams will suffer attendance wise and it will hurt the overall profitability of teams and leagues. Teams in the ECHL that do not fight often may wish to have more “enforcers” on the team which would increase the number of fights and increase attendance.

Social implications

– Despite calls for its outright ban, fighting is popular with hockey fans. Even in a world where many game-day promotions are aimed at families, fighting appears to have a place in the game and is a desired attribute of this sport in terms of its entertainment value to fans.

Originality/value

– First study of the ECHL (AA-equivalent minor league for professional hockey) on a game-by-game basis. This paper examines the role of fighting and violence in the world of professional sports. The regression model also includes highly detailed data on game day promotions used by all of the teams. The value of the paper lies in the public debate about fighting in hockey. The findings and implications of this paper are also of value to team and league management as it relates to fighting in hockey.
An exploratory study of women club members’ experiences with an NFL franchise brand extension
Authors: Williams Antonio , Rhenwrick Isabell , Agyemang Kwame J. A. , Pantaleoni Alexandria
Published: April 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to arrive at a better understanding of the experiences of the women who comprise a distinct National Football League (NFL) women’s only fan club.

Design/methodology/approach

– A semi-structured focus group interview was conducted and analyzed using margin coding for a NFL fan club. The focus group data were triangulated with secondary sources such as participant observation, field notes, and documents (e.g. web site and written documents from fan club).

Findings

– The data analysis revealed the following eight themes: philanthropy, team affiliation, events, social media, brand elements, fan identity, apparel, perks.

Research limitations/implications

– The paper examines the experiences of women fan club members, which could potentially provide the franchise with insights on how to enhance the member experience. While the present study represents only one case, the researchers believe there are key factors to call attention to for NFL marketers considering a brand extension aimed at women.

Practical implications

– The results provide marketers with useful information to enhance the experience of current women only fan club brand extension and potential future women only fan club brand extensions. Given the increase in NFL fandom among this segment of the population, it will be crucial for NFL marketers to increase their efforts to leverage their respective sport team brands with female fans.

Originality/value

– The paper is the first to explore the experiences of women fan club members in professional sports.
Identifying the success factors of Communities of Practice (CoPs)
Authors: Akhavan Peyman , Marzieh Babaeianpour , Mirjafari Masoumeh
Published: April 2015

Purpose

– This paper aims to identify the success factors of communities of practice (CoPs) that will improve knowledge creation (KC) in educational organizations. Today, educational organizations are faced with constant changes in their environment. These changes have forced organizations to view their human capital as knowledge capital to survive and thrive. CoPs can be one of the most important factors to achieve these goals, and it should be considered by educational organizations.

Design/methodology/approach

– The present paper tries to identify the success factors of CoPs and examine the impact of the success factors of CoPs in KC. The research method is descriptive. The population of the research consists of students of Payame Noor University as a case study. A questionnaire based on experts’ opinion was designed and more than 35 articles were reviewed. Factor analysis was used to categorize and examine the correlation between success factors of CoPs and KC and, finally, the regression equation based on correlation’ result was formed.

Findings

– The results showed six success factors: “organization”, “optimizing interactions”, “infrastructure”, “supporting tools”, “strategy and goals” and “organizational support”. These factors reflect the effective factors in educational organizations attempting to progress in KC should focus. Among these success factors, “strategy and goals” and “organization” have the highest effect on CoPs in this case.

Research limitations/implications

– The paper discusses how the success factors of CoPs improve KC in universities as educational organization and how an organization will benefit from these factors. It can help the development of guidelines for educational organizations to increase their community knowledge information. They can also apply the findings of this research to promote the scientific level of their related organizations through reinforcement of CoP practices. In this paper, the authors faced some problems to collect expert’s opinion and also gather the questionnaires.

Originality/value

– This paper may have great value to researchers, as well as practitioners involved in knowledge-creation programs in organizations about CoPs and the knowledge-creation field. This research can establish guidelines for Payame Noor University Tehran-North as a case study using the right policies and make changes to the traditional structures of the university, improve and develop the knowledge-creation process and the formation of CoPs. This study can guide managers and, especially, the university managers to provide suitable base to shape COPs, help them emerge and enhance them effectively.
Knowledge retention and transfer: how libraries manage employees leaving and joining
Authors: Agarwal Naresh Kumar , Islam Md Anwarul
Published: April 2015

Purpose

– This paper aims to investigate how libraries prevent the loss of knowledge with people leaving or resigning, and the strategies they adopt to retain this knowledge and to transfer organizational knowledge to new employees.

Design/methodology/approach

– Data were gathered from 101 academic librarians from 35 countries in 6 continents who provided qualitative answers to two open-ended questions in a survey questionnaire.

Findings

– Documentation, training and digital repositories were found to be the primary strategies used. A number of respondents admitted to retention and transfer being done poorly. Very few libraries had a formal knowledge management (KM) process. The study proposes a theoretical framework for knowledge retention and transfer in libraries.

Practical implications

– Libraries will be able to learn of retention and transfer strategies, and identify gaps in their KM process based on the mapping of a specific strategy to knowledge dimension or phase of the KM cycle.

Originality/value

– This is the first empirical study in the area of knowledge retention in libraries. The study brings together the perspectives of libraries across the world. The primary research contribution is the theoretical framework which can be used to further research on knowledge retention and transfer in the context of libraries.
Bacterial biogeography in the coastal waters of northern Zhejiang, East China Sea is highly controlled by spatially structured environmental gradients
Authors: Wang Kai , Ye Xiansen , Chen Heping , Zhao Qunfen , Hu Changju , He Jiaying , Qian Yunxia , Xiong Jinbo , Zhu Jianlin , Zhang Demin
Published: April 2015

The underlying mechanisms of microbial community assembly in connective coastal environments are unclear. The coastal water area of northern Zhejiang, East China Sea, is a complex marine ecosystem with multiple environmental gradients, where the distributions and determinants of bacterioplankton communities remain unclear. We collected surface water samples from 95 sites across eight zones in this area for investigating bacterial community with 16S rRNA gene high‐throughput sequencing. Bacterial alpha‐diversity exhibits strong associations with water chemical parameters and latitude, with 75.5% of variation explained by suspended particle. The composition of dominant phyla can group the sampling sites into four bacterial provinces, and most key discriminant phyla and families/genera of each province strongly associate with specific environmental features, suggesting that local environmental conditions shape the biogeographic provincialism of bacterial taxa. At a broader and finer phylogenetic scale, bacterial beta‐diversity is dominantly explained by the shared variation of environmental and spatial factors (63.3%); meanwhile, the environmental determinants of bacterial β‐diversity generally exhibit spatially structured patterns, suggesting that bacterial assembly in surface water is highly controlled by spatially structured environmental gradients in this area. This study provides evidence for the unique biogeographic pattern of bacterioplankton communities at an entire scale of this marine ecosystem.
The Trouble With Flag Wars: Rethinking Sexuality in Critical Urban Theory
Authors: Seitz David K.
Published: April 2015

Critical urban theory (CUT) provides intellectual support for a politics of the right to the city. However, CUT has rarely engaged with the rich scholarship on sexuality and the urban, much of which directly addresses questions of social justice. CUT has most often treated sexuality as an attribute, rather than a diffuse discourse of subject‐producing power intimately connected with race, class and gender. This article highlights two strands in contemporary queer studies––queer subjectless critique and queer temporality––that can enrich understandings of the key concepts of alienation, deprivation and resistance in the city. I illustrate the salience of queer thinking for CUT through a close reading of Flag Wars (2003), a documentary film recognized for its engagement with gentrification and the politics of difference in the United States. While the film ostensibly explores the problem of gay gentrification in a working‐class black neighborhood, a queer subjectless approach asks how discourses on sexuality produce residents at risk of displacement as deviant, immoral and queer––regardless of sexual orientation. I argue that recognizing the wide range of ways in which narratives about sexuality can deprive and alienate urban subjects could generate additional alternative bases for solidarity in the struggle for a just city.
The Multiple Streams Framework and the problem broker
Authors: Knaggård Åsa
Published: April 2015

John Kingdon's Multiple Streams Framework (MSF) constitutes a powerful tool for understanding the policy process, and more specifically, agenda‐setting, through three separate streams: problems, policies and politics. This article argues that the MSF would benefit from further development of the problem stream. It introduces a clearer conception of agency into the problem stream by suggesting the inclusion of the problem broker. The problem broker is a role in which actors frame conditions as public problems and work to make policy makers accept these frames. The problem broker makes use of knowledge, values and emotions in the framing of problems. The use of these three elements is seen as a prerequisite for successful problem brokering – that is, for establishing a frame in the policy sphere. Other important factors are: persistence, access to policy makers, credibility and willingness. Problem brokers also need to know who to talk to, how and when in order to make an impact. The context, in terms of, for example, audience and national mood, is also crucial. The inclusion of the problem broker into the MSF strengthens the analytical separation between streams. According to Kingdon, policies can be developed independently from problems. The MSF, therefore, enables a study of policy generation. The inclusion of the problem broker, in the same sense, makes it possible to investigate problem framing as a separate process and enables a study of actors that frame problems without making policy suggestions. The MSF is, in its current form, not able to capture what these actors do. The main argument of this article is that it is crucial to study these actors as problem framing affects the work of policy entrepreneurs and, thereby, agenda‐setting and decision making.