bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Gender, discipline, and scientific productivity: the case of Israeli doctoral students
Authors: Yair Gad
Published: January 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to study gender differentials in scientific productivity while looking at academic discipline and advisor practices. The natural sciences and the liberal arts are shown to constitute two organisational cultures which affect the ability of women to attain excellence on a par with men.

Design/methodology/approach

The empirical study is based on a sample of 660 doctoral students in two universities in Israel. Regression procedures were employed to predict productivity.

Findings

There is a slight gender gap in scientific productivity, but only in single‐authored papers. This suggests that publishing together with an advisor – which is the common practice in the natural sciences – is more conducive to gender parity. Students' reports suggest that their advisors evince little differential treatment of men versus women, thereby ruling out the possibility of overt advisor bias against women. Overall, the natural sciences appear to be more supportive of students' success while the liberal arts seem to challenge students to struggle on their own, putting women in greater jeopardy of suffering family‐work tensions.

Practical implications

Universities need to appreciate the disciplinary differences within them and help students to get greater support in the “natural selection” mechanisms that are often unconsciously employed in higher education.

Originality/value

This paper adds an important angle in appreciating currently dominant approaches to work‐family balances while focusing on unintended exclusionary mechanisms embedded in the standards and culture of different scientific disciplines.
Gender and attitudes to enterprise
Authors: Zalevski Anna , Swiszczowski Laura
Published: January 2009

Purpose

There are few female‐led enterprises in the male‐dominated occupations of science, engineering and technology (SET) and very little research is devoted to this area. The purpose of this paper is to report on a study that investigated differences and similarities in career aspirations, attitudes to enterprise, and experiences/opinions regarding setting up a business, among PhD students in SET disciplines.

Design/methodology/approach

A confidential online survey was distributed via e‐mail to all doctorate students in SET departments in the Yorkshire and Humber region, with an 8.6 per cent return rate.

Findings

The results show that all respondents had a preference for work in academia, but men were also more likely to indicate a preference for work in industry and women for work in the public sector. Gender differences were further pronounced in students' attitudes to and knowledge of enterprise. Women provided more potential advantages of owning a business than men; however, they also reported having less business training and/or experience, being less aware of entrepreneurial possibilities, and being less likely to believe that their business ideas could have commercial potential or to discuss enterprise with their supervisor. The results indicate a lack of information and lack of encouragement by academic staff for female students' potential progression from PhD study into enterprise.

Originality/value

This paper provides an insight into the aspirations of SET doctorate students from a gender perspective. The results of this study should help academic staff and higher education practitioners to improve their strategies for promoting entrepreneurial possibilities to female students.
Women's academic careers in technology: a comparative European perspective
Authors: Godfroy‐Genin Anne‐Sophie
Published: January 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present some outcomes of the PROMETEA research project funded by the European Union under FP6 from 2005 to 2007 (seewww.prometea.info). PROMETEA is a strongly multidisciplinary and collaborative project involving 17 research teams from 13 different countries.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper combines existing knowledge with new in‐depth pilot studies on women academics in engineering and technology, linked to qualitative research work on the experiences of both women and men working in this field, using cross‐comparison as a research strategy.

Findings

The paper identifies different issues for further investigations on women researchers in engineering and technology.

Originality/value

The paper focuses on comparative perspectives between countries, disciplines or research topics, age groups, academic and industrial research career paths, etc. The similarity and diversity of academic settings are discussed with an emphasis on the impact of the changing environment of research, the balance between research, teaching and administrative workload with its influence on career choices and patterns, the interactions between industry and academia, work‐life balance, the proportion of women academics in the field, gender awareness, and so on.
A changing world: new opportunities for women engineers and scientists
Authors: Kugele Kordula
Published: January 2009

Purpose

This conference review aims to address major issues regarding the position of women in science and technology as well as key technical topics in the debate of globalisation with a specific focus on chances and new opportunities for women in a changing world.

Design/methodology/approach

The article is based on a report on the 14th International Conference of Women Engineers and Scientists that was hosted by the Conceil National des Ingénieurs et des Scientifiques de France (CNISF). Organised by an international committee, the conference was held at the Polytech University in Lille, France, 15‐18 July 2008.

Research limitations/implications

The exchanges generated by such an international gathering of (mostly) women experts and scholars from diverse scientific fields were a rich source of learning and inspiration. In view of the fact that the lectures not only addressed the current situation but focused also on the development of an international vision and new opportunities for women in a globalised world, the conference will influence science policies and measures for equal opportunities.

Originality/value

The conference brought together over 500 participants from 60 countries.
MINT: the German national initiative for more women in SET
Authors: Blättel‐Mink Birgit
Published: January 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present an interview with Barbara Schwarze, Coordinator of MINT.

Design/methodology/approach

Presents an overview of MINT: the German national initiative for women in SET.

Findings

The building of a strong national network is crucial but it is also important to establish connections to comparable initiatives in other countries.

Originality/value

The paper offers insights into MINT as an innovative process.
Critiquing the language of strategic management
Authors: French Steven
Published: January 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to review the semantics of the language of management in order to seek clarification of the terminology and how it is used and misused in the strategy literature.

Design/methodology/approach

An extensive review of the literature was undertaken.

Findings

Managerial language has been used to obfuscate and politicise the managerial process, especially the strategic process. In order to develop the ideas of the strategy specialty the use and misuse of the words in the strategy lexicon must be understood. The problem that the lack of consistency creates is, that in trying to assess the strategic process in the literature and in practice, it is often impossible to know exactly what strategic methodology is being expressed.

Practical implications

Rather than concentrate on definitions of strategy it is necessary to seek to understand how the terminology is applied and then allocate the meaning of the terms to the school of strategic ideas that the writer/scholar espouses in each relevant paper that is published.

Originality/value

It is necessary to recognise how the words in the strategy literature have subtle, different meanings and the way to understand the usage is to apply the terminology to a school of thought.
Cogito ergo sum: exploring epistemological options for strategic management
Authors: French Steven
Published: January 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to argue that the epistemology of the strategic literature is dominated by a Modernist (scientific) and Cybernetic system approach and that other epistemological options especially critical management studies and complex self‐adapting systems, might provide greater insight for strategic thinking.

Design/methodology/approach

An extensive review of the literature was undertaken.

Findings

The current dominant way of thinking about management is based on closed system notions of causality in which good enough long‐term prediction is possible. The process PLOC depends totally on this foundation. If a system's long‐term behaviour is unpredictable, then using the PLOC model is questionable. In the current turbulent business environment long‐term prediction may not be possible.

Practical implications

The life expectancy of a firm is only 40 years. Using closed system concepts to drive businesses to the equilibrium of a business plan may be killing the business, because a complex self‐adapting system in equilibrium is dead.

Originality/value

Very little work, especially in strategy has been done outside the Modernist paradigm. This paper explores the possibility of incorporating open system ideas into a strategic methodology.
Exploring the house built on sand!
Authors: French Steven
Published: January 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the strategy literature in order to identify scholars who have developed specific models of strategy.

Design/methodology/approach

An extensive review of the literature was undertaken.

Findings

The paper reveals Modernist ideas of several scholars who have developed methods or concepts for delineating the ideas of strategy. A body of economic theory is mentioned but is beyond the scope of this paper.

Practical implications

The paper suggests that a move away from the eighteenth century economic concepts must happen, especially the equilibrium assumption, if the strategy discipline is to be developed.

Originality/value

Very little work, especially in strategy has been done outside the Modernist paradigm. This paper explores the possibility of incorporating open system ideas into a strategic methodology.
Re‐thinking the foundations of the strategic business process
Authors: French Steven
Published: January 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to develop a coherent model of several schools of strategic ideas while utilising and building on the models extant in the literature, but also considering a change of epistemological and systemic paradigms.

Design/methodology/approach

An extensive review of the literature was undertaken.

Findings

The result of the analysis of the literature is that a seven‐school model is postulated. The seven schools being grouped within three categories. The first category is labelled the Classical Schools and includes the Design School, the Planning School and the Positioning School. The second category is labelled the Neo‐classical Schools and includes the Contingency School and the Resource School. The third category is labelled the Post‐Classical Schools and includes the Learning School and the Emergence School.

Practical implications

The concept of strategic emergence, a characteristic of a complex self‐adapting system, is developed.

Originality/value

Very little work, especially in strategy has been done outside the Modernist paradigm. This paper explores the possibility of incorporating open system ideas into a strategic methodology.
Post‐occupancy evaluation: purpose, benefits and barriers
Authors: Hadjri Karim , Crozier Carl
Published: January 2009

Purpose

This paper explores the historical development of POE in order to provide a contextual backdrop to current discussions.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper attempts to establish what POE is and does, and explores POE methodologies.

Findings

This paper concludes that the fact that this topic is extensively discussed highlights a growing frustration with the lack of progress toward POE becoming a mainstream activity in the process of building procurement. Other findings include POE's exclusion from professional curricula; who pays for POE? And issues with professional liability and its contribution to this lack of use.

Practical implications

The paper presents the benefits accrued by stakeholders in the building procurement process, and the barriers to the adoption of POE that need to be addressed.

Originality/value

This literature review suggests that despite the trials and tribulations, POE has progressed from a one dimensional feedback process to a multidimensional process that, as an integrated element, can help drive the building procurement process forward. The paper presents an objective overview of literary discourse around POE, its potential and limitations.
The missing link which was already there
Authors: Aune Margrethe , Berker Thomas , Bye Robert
Published: January 2009

Purpose

This paper analyses the daily activities of building operators and how they mediate between end‐users and technological systems in order to make “their” buildings energy efficient.

Design/methodology/approach

The empirical data consists of four selected cases of non‐residential buildings of different sizes.

Findings

The paper argues that building operators have the possibility of improving energy efficiency with or without extensive user involvement and with or without advanced technological systems.

Originality/value

Starting from the practitioners' point of view a new perspective on the link between facilities management and energy efficiency emerges, which calls into question approaches which focus on either the behavioral or the technical side of a building's energy consumption.
The characteristics of refurbishment projects in Malaysia
Authors: Shah Ali Azlan , Nizam Kamaruzzaman Syahrul , Salleh Hafez
Published: January 2009

Purpose

The main objectives of this paper are to identify general characteristics of refurbishment projects and problems arise in Malaysian context.

Design/methodology/approach

Quantitative and qualitative approaches using postal questionnaire survey and semi‐structured interviews were used in data collection. A total of 1,552 questionnaire sets sent to professional architects.

Findings

The results show that the majority of refurbishment projects in Malaysia involved residential and office types of building with contract value less than RM500,000.00 (USD 150,000.00). Some of major problem in refurbishment projects are inconsistence in client's needs, refurbishment projects exceed targeted costs and times.

Research limitations/implications

The literature search and survey results showed that systematic studies into the refurbishment were relatively sparse. Therefore, more detail study gear towards refurbishment area is needed for Malaysian construction industry in the future. The findings provide general overview of refurbishment projects in Malaysia, which could help intrested researchers to have indications on the refurbishment activities.

Originality/value

Survey results provided important information about the general profiles of refurbishment projects in Malaysia. This will helps other researchers who are interested to identify focus area that needs further investigation in refurbishment works.
The world wide web in modern marketing's contribution to organisational performance
Authors: Adam Stewart , Vocino Andrea , Bednall David
Published: January 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide a better understanding of the antecedents of organisational performance (OP), both financial and marketing, and the influence of holding a strategic market orientation (MO) where customer‐base volatility is taken into account.

Design/methodology/approach

A sample of 167 marketing organisations in Australia was surveyed to test the hypothesised model. Structural equation modelling was employed in the data analysis.

Findings

Use of the world wide web (Web) reported by organisations in this study indicates that there is still separate use of the Web and that it has yet to be fully integrated into the marketing strategy of many organisations. The study finds that traditional marketing effort mediates the relationship between holding a MO and OP in terms of financial indicators.

Research limitations/implications

A major limitation of this study is that it surveys organisations from many industries rather than selected industries. This tends to mask some of the possible outcomes.

Practical implications

The findings in this study suggest that traditional and online elements of marketing effort each mediate the influence of holding a MO on OP, but differently. Innovation culture is found to influence both marketing practice and marketing performance, directly. A single measure of environmental turbulence – customer‐base turbulence or churn – negatively affects marketing performance, and ultimately financial performance.

Originality/value

A major contribution of this study is the examination of use of the Web in marketing effort and how this usage influences financial and marketing performance.
Engaging the purchase motivations to charm shoppers
Authors: Miranda Mario J.
Published: January 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to give retailers an insight into consumers' capacity for feeling pleasure associated with specific purchase motivations across different product categories.

Design/methodology/approach

A hedonic regression model was estimated from data collected from shoppers in shopping malls that enabled the generation of implicit prices of each constituent purchasing motive.

Findings

Hedonic values of consumer motivations vary for different products categories. Convenience items, like bread, allow little scope for self‐congruence, whereas shampoo offers significant scope for pleasurable emotive appeals to boost consumers' status enhancement and social image. This study identified opportunities to create good feelings for the purchase of both bread and shampoos, by engaging shoppers' attention on themes relating to social referents and family values. Shopping items like apparel and specialty items like cosmetics offer prospects of titillating consumer motives of status and self‐image enhancement, respectively, by engaging them with reputable merchandise in reputable settings.

Research limitations/implications

No insight was sought on the hedonic value of consumers' buying motivations of impulse purchases.

Practical implications

Products that are used in public (apparel) or whose consumption outcome is manifest in public (shampoos and cosmetics), have purchase motivations that are susceptible to hedonic appeals. On the other hand, only a few purchase motivations for products like bread, with limited “public face”, have some hedonic value. The results of this study inform retailers on choice of purchase motivations to direct engagement appeals in order to generate emotional excitement. Getting consumers to fantasize on themes relating to relevant purchasing motives could facilitate their purchase choice.

Originality/value

Targeting consumers' preferred urges is an efficient way to stimulate buying intentions.
Assessing relationship quality in four business‐to‐business markets
Authors: Ashnai Bahar , Smirnova Maria , Kouchtch Sergei , Yu Qionglei , Barnes Bradley R. , Naudé Peter
Published: January 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to develop an understanding of what constitutes relationship quality in four different countries. The paper shows which attributes are important in assessing relationship quality and how they vary in importance among countries.

Design/methodology/approach

Conjoint analysis was used to derive how managers trade‐off different attributes of relationship quality. These attributes were: the levels of trust in the relationship, the understanding of each others' needs, the integration of systems between the two companies, the use or abuse of power, and the profit resulting from the interactions. Cluster analysis was used to classify the respondents in order to check if the overall results were indicative of a general consensus among the managers concerned, or alternatively if there were different perspectives on what constituted good quality relationship.

Findings

Whilst the routes to develop relationships may vary between different countries, the attributes which make up relationships are also likely to be valued differently in various places around the world.

Research limitations/implications

Conjoint analysis questions are difficult to answer; making it difficult to have large sample sizes. However, further studies should try to consider increasing the sample size.

Practical implications

The paper shows that there are indeed differences between what it is that managers seek from the relationships that they have to manage: but while noting certain national traits that seem to dominate within particular cultures, there is still variance in the individual datasets, pointing to the fact that managers have to manage their portfolio of relationships in an individual way.

Originality/value

This is the first study that compares the importance of relationship quality within and between four counties.
CRM literature: conceptual and functional insights by keyword analysis
Authors: Kevork Eleni K. , Vrechopoulos Adam P.
Published: January 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to review the literature on customer relationship management (CRM) to obtain a comprehensive framework of mutually exclusive CRM research areas and sub‐areas free of all potentially disruptive factors (plethora of CRM definitions, personal judgments, etc.).

Design/methodology/approach

The keywords reported in 396 CRM articles published during the period 2000‐2006 are used to uncover first a great number of detailed keyword sub‐groups and, by subject summation, the CRM‐related research areas. This classification scheme is considered unbiased, in contrast with any direct classification of articles alone among CRM research areas fixed in advance.

Findings

An up‐to‐date conceptual and functional CRM framework emerges, consisting of a total of nine distinct research areas having their own weights, importance and popularity among the research community. Newly emerging CRM research areas are self‐identified as attracting the interest of the researchers and managers.

Originality/value

Keywords are activated, for a first time, as an added value characteristic reflecting genuinely the authors' beliefs about the subject content fields of their articles, important enough to reveal a self‐supported and self‐weighted unbiased and exhaustive CRM framework, useful to researchers and marketing practitioners. The paper offers strong evidence that e‐CRM is too complex to be comprehensively classified by mere procedures and simple criteria alone.
Marketing perceptions and business performance
Authors: Helgesen Øyvind , Nesset Erik , Voldsund Terje
Published: January 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to analyze associations between practitioners' perception of marketing and business performance, and discuss possible implications for marketing education.

Design/methodology/approach

A survey was conducted in Norwegian companies in the furniture and fishery sectors. The relationship between practitioners' perceptions of marketing and business performance is analysed by combining ordinal regression with cluster analysis. The latter is used to categorize practitioners' views of marketing.

Findings

The results indicate that the cluster to which a firm belongs makes a difference in business performance. Firms that share a common view of marketing, strongly focused on both core marketing and sales, perform better than firms that share a more narrow view of marketing. Thus, both “intrinsic” and “instrumental” aims may be important to any core curriculum for marketing education.

Research limitations/implications

Even though the data set accounts for a large percentage of the two selected sectors in terms of total turnover, the sample itself is small.

Practical implications

Vocational skills such as sales management should be an integrated part of marketing education. Financial accountability and customer profitability analyses should preferably also be included.

Originality/value

This study of the relationships between practitioners' perceptions of marketing and business performance, by combining cluster analysis and ordinal regression, is a new and valuable approach in this context. The findings have also important practical implications for marketing education.
A cross‐cultural comparison of individualism's moderating effect on bonding and commitment in banking relationships
Authors: Dash Satyabhusan , Bruning Ed , Ku Guin Kalyan
Published: January 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to describe a cross‐cultural study which examined individualism's moderating effect on the relationship between bonding and commitment between banks and their corporate clients.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected through surveys completed by corporate customers from 126 Canadian companies and 156 Indian companies. Multiple regression analysis was used to calculate relative effects of structural and social bond on commitment across the two samples. Hierarchical moderated regression analysis was used to examine individualism's moderating effect on the bonding‐commitment relationship.

Findings

The paper's findings indicate that social and structural bonding are both antecedent to commitment, but that social bonding is given higher importance in the low individualism Indian society, while structural bonding is more important in the high individualism Canadian society. Individualism moderates the relationship between both social and structural bonding and commitment.

Practical implications

Bank relationships are dependent upon specific cultural contexts in which buyers and sellers interact. The type of bonding relationship (e.g. social or structural) determines the strength of commitment. Bank managers must understand the proper emphasis to place on developing social connections versus business transactional relationships with clients in individualistic versus collective cultures.

Originality/value

This paper dramatizes the importance of understanding ways in which bonding relates to commitment, particularly when societal values vary and thus alter the relative importance of forms of bonding that generate commitment. Through empirical analyses, the paper demonstrates the moderating effect of individualism on the social bonding‐commitment and structural bonding‐commitment linkages in the context of an important service sector. To date, these relationships have not been explored in either the Indian or Canadian context.
Charities: how important is performance to donors?
Authors: van Iwaarden Jos , van der Wiele Ton , Williams Roger , Moxham Claire
Published: January 2009

Purpose

This paper seeks to develop insights into the charity selection criteria used by individual donors, and the information that charities provide to individual donors.

Design/methodology/approach

Charities are defined as organizations involved in health, international aid, wellbeing, and nature and environment. In this paper the main focus is on one type of charity stakeholder; the individual donor. The research is undertaken through an internet survey among Dutch donors and through interviews at eight case studies of Dutch charities.

Findings

Based on the internet survey it can be concluded that effectiveness is seen as important, but not as the major criterion in the selection of a charity. The case studies show that charities do not have standardized reporting systems in order to inform their donors on their performances

Practical implications

Based on this research it can be concluded that there is a need for management of charities to develop both measures of internal efficiency and of external effectiveness.

Originality/value

The literature review identified a lack of empirical data available on the charity sector; this paper tries to fill that gap.
Impact of TQM on company's performance
Authors: Kumar Vinod , Choisne Franck , de Grosbois Danuta , Kumar Uma
Published: January 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of total quality management (TQM) implementation on different dimensions of company performance.

Design/methodology/approach

The study investigates Canadian finalists (winners and certificates of merit) in the Total Quality category of the Canada Awards for Business Excellence. The data were collected either through in‐depth personal interviews or by mail/telephone using the questionnaire and then analyzed.

Findings

The data analysis confirmed the hypothesized positive impact of TQM on all investigated dimensions of company performance, i.e. employee relations (improved employee participation and morale), operating procedures (improved products and services quality, process and productivity, and reduced errors/defects), customer satisfaction (reduced number of customer complaints), and financial results (increased profitability).

Research limitations/implications

Small sample size limited the scope of statistical analysis. Also, the results of this study are only valid for TQM adopters and give an indication of what performance can be achieved by companies that undertake a successful TQM program.

Practical implications

The study provides useful insights into the performance improvement that can be achieved through TQM.

Originality/value

The study provides evidence on how different dimensions of performance are affected by TQM and gives insights into how long does it take to obtain these benefits.
Optimal economic solution for a normal sampling intervals method in quality control
Authors: Rodrigues Dias J.
Published: January 2009

Purpose

The main purpose of this paper is to present an optimal economic solution for a different adaptive sampling method that is highly intuitive in its nature: the normal sampling intervals (NSI) method.

Design/methodology/approach

Considering costs associated with sampling, false alarms and imperfect operation per unit of time, the paper presents a new optimal simple solution that minimizes the expected total cost per cycle. This NSI method involves the density function of the standard normal variable, assuming that the distribution of averages is normal or approximately normal (on the basis of the central limit theorem). It depends on a single scale parameter while other methods depend on various parameters.

Findings

When this expected total cost associated with the new NSI method is compared with the fixed (FSI) and variable sampling intervals (VSI) methods, in identical situations, it may be seen that, in general, it is lower (and may be much lower) and, also, that it is lower for a wider range of changes in terms of quality. This feature is particularly important because, in practice, the degree of change that occurs is not known, so this greater robustness in terms of performance is relevant.

Practical implications

In the practice, the minimization of total expected costs is an important point of view in the life of companies, concerning quality and statistical process control (SPC). The paper holds that this NSI method has a great degree of potential, in particular considering that in industrial processes there is growing recourse to automated systems for the collection and analysis of samples, and thus there are no special additional costs associated with labour, management or administration.

Originality/value

The great advantages of this NSI method are its highly intuitive nature and the fact that it enables generally much better results to be achieved as compared with the use of FSI and VSI methods. An optimal economic solution for this NSI method is presented in this paper.
Dependability modeling and analysis of hybrid redundancy systems
Authors: Chellappan C. , Vijayalakshmi G.
Published: January 2009

Purpose

The aim of this study is to demonstrate that hybrid redundancy systems are superior to the conventionalN‐modular redundancy (NMR) systems.

Design/methodology/approach

The hybrid redundancy system is a synthesis of the NMR system and the standby redundancy. Each module of the NMR has access tokcold spares (k<N) and a repair facility. A semi‐Markov model for the hybrid redundancy system is developed and transient analysis is performed.

Findings

Some dependability measures such as availability, reliability, mean time to failure and steady‐state availability are obtained.

Originality/value

This paper presents the transient analysis of the hybrid redundancy systems. The results obtained will be useful to reliability engineers and reliability practitioners.
Extending zone rules to detect process drift
Authors: Divoky James J. , Anne Rothermel Mary
Published: January 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore and analyze the effectiveness of long period supplementary zone rules that can simultaneously increase chart sensitivity to small process drift and not significantly increase the false alarm rate.

Design/methodology/approach

A stable, on‐target process was simulated and drift induced into the process. The rates of drift varied from 0.03σ to .0003σ per subgroup measurement. A total of 613 different supplementary zone rules were implemented in conjunction with the three‐sigma limiting rule. For each combination, 100,000 observations were simulated and the effect on the false alarm rate and increase in chart sensitivity estimated. An effectiveness measure was developed to relate false alarm rate to chart sensitivity.

Findings

A total of 87 rules were uncovered which effectively detected a wide range of process drifts. When the increase in chart sensitivity is discounted by the false alarm rate, 13 rules increased chart sensitivity by over 10 percent. These rules were based on longer rather than shorter rule length.

Research limitations/implications

The effective rules discovered form a nonlinear pattern in the space the examined rules define. This indicates a direction for future research outside the scope of this study. These rules are also easy to implement in existing Shewhart chart applications where the process drifts at an unknown rate.

Originality/value

While supplementary trend rules have been studied in the past, the extension to zone rules has not been made. This study begins to fill that void and indicates the direction for future efforts in the area.
Challenging experiences: gender differences in task choice
Authors: De Pater Irene E. , Van Vianen Annelies E.M. , Fischer Agneta H. , Van Ginkel Wendy P.
Published: January 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine: gender differences in the choice to perform challenging tasks, gender differences in the actual performance of challenging tasks, and the impact of challenging experiences on supervisors' evaluations of individuals' potential for career advancement.

Design/methodology/approach

In study 1, a sample of 158 students participated in a laboratory study that examined gender differences in choosing to perform challenging tasks in a situation that stressed individual performance. In study 2, a sample of 93 interns completed questionnaires in which the authors measured their challenging job experiences. Interns' supervisors evaluated interns' potential for career advancement.

Findings

In an achievement situation, women chose to perform fewer challenging tasks than men (study 1). During their internships, females had fewer challenging job experiences than males (study 2). Having challenging experiences was positively related to supervisors' evaluations of interns' potential for career advancement (study 2).

Research limitations/implications

The use of student samples may be considered a limitation of these studies. However, the nature of the research questions justifies an initial examination among students. Moreover, small gender differences in experiences at the start of individuals' careers may ultimately lead to increasing discrepancies between men's and women's careers.

Originality/value

The study is the first to examine individuals' own impact on the extent to which they experience job challenge. Moreover, it is the first that empirically examines the relationship between job challenge and evaluations of career potential.
Organizational justice and managerial commitment in corporate mergers
Authors: Klendauer Ruth , Deller Jürgen
Published: January 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether perceptions of distributive, procedural and interactional justice can explain the frequently reported low organizational commitment of managers in corporate mergers. Specifically, it aims to examine whether each of the justice dimensions is significantly and uniquely related to affective commitment, which of the justice dimensions has the strongest relationship with the criterion, and whether instrumental evaluations or trust might function as a mediator.

Design/methodology/approach

A total of 128 managers from 37 companies completed a questionnaire. They had been involved in domestic or European mergers or acquisitions, which varied in the application of fairness rules.

Findings

Although each fairness dimension correlated positively with affective commitment, only interactional justice showed a unique relationship with it. Results indicate that both instrumental evaluations and trust can function as a mediator.

Research limitations/implications

Because of the cross‐sectional design, conclusions about the causal order of the variables cannot be drawn.

Practical implications

The authors recommend that top managers should pay extra attention to timely, candid and specific internal communication with thorough and reasonable explanation of decisions, as well as the respectful treatment of managers. Moreover, the results indicate that managers reacted positively to fairness because it conveys positive relational signals, and because one can gain personal advantages through fair outcomes and processes.

Originality/value

The organizational justice approach has not yet been applied, to the authors' knowledge, in quantitative field studies of mergers. Furthermore, this paper offers a contribution to the literature on fairness heuristic theory.
Revisiting the social construction of family in the context of work
Authors: Alexandra Beauregard T. , Ozbilgin Mustafa , Bell Myrtle P.
Published: January 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how traditional definitions of family, in the context of employment, have not kept pace with actual family formation in the USA and much of the rest of the world, and how this disadvantages individuals from atypical (i.e. non‐nuclear), but increasingly common, families.

Design/methodology/approach

A wide range of literature from disciplines spanning industrial relations, gerontology, management, and family studies is invoked to illustrate how employers' definitions of “family” are often incompatible with actual contemporary family structures, and how this poses difficulties for employed individuals in non‐traditional families.

Findings

Many family structures are not accounted for by employment legislation and thus organizational work‐family policies. These include same‐sex couples, multi‐generational and extended families (e.g. including parents or other elders; members from outside the bloodline or with grandparents providing primary care for grandchildren) and virtual families.

Practical implications

The authors discuss a number of problems associated with current provision of work‐family policy and practice among organizations, and recommend that governments and organizations expand upon the traditional definition of “family” to better enable employees in a variety of familial configurations to successfully balance their work and family demands.

Originality/value

This paper identifies current failings in employment legislation and suggests improvements so that both governments and organizations can better facilitate employees' work‐life balance. As such, it will be of use researchers, practitioners, and policy makers interested in the interface between work and family.
The relationship between emotional intelligence and psychological wellbeing
Authors: Carmeli Abraham , Yitzhak‐Halevy Meyrav , Weisberg Jacob
Published: January 2009

Purpose

Theory suggests that highly emotionally intelligent individuals are likely to experience psychological wellbeing at a higher level than individuals who are low in emotional intelligence. This study aims to examine the relationship between emotional intelligence and four aspects of psychological wellbeing (self‐acceptance, life satisfaction, somatic complaints and self‐esteem).

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected from employees through two different structured surveys administered at two points in time.

Findings

The results of four hierarchical regression models provide, in general, support for the positive association between emotional intelligence and psychological wellbeing components – self‐esteem, life satisfaction, and self‐acceptance. Only marginal significant support was found for the negative relationship between emotional intelligence and somatic complaints.

Originality/value

The present study contributes to a growing body of literature seeking to determine the role of emotional intelligence in explaining individuals' wellbeing at work. In addition, the study indicates that employees who experience a psychological state of wellbeing may function better than employees who experience emotional deficit.
An attention‐based view on service orientation in the business strategy of manufacturing companies
Authors: Gebauer Heiko
Published: January 2009

Purpose

This article seeks to answer the following research question: How does the focus of attention and situated attention contribute to the formulation and implementation of the service orientation in the business strategy?

Design/methodology/approach

Structural equation modelling is used as a research methodology.

Findings

The paper suggests that the formation and implementation of service orientation in the business strategy is influenced strongly by managerial attention.

Research limitations/implications

The results suggest that a survey is suitable for investigating managerial cognition and attention, but future research should benefit from obtaining data on managerial attention through interviews or secondary data such as company documents.

Practical implications

The main effect on strategy implementation and the moderating role of situated attention suggest that managers should be aware of the potential inertia by implementing a service‐oriented business strategy. The main effects for strategy formulation suggest that the formulation of a service‐oriented business strategy is triggered through decreasing product margins in the case of product‐oriented companies, whereas it is triggered by increasing customer expectations for service‐oriented companies.

Originality/value

The study examines the moderating effects of focus of managerial attention and situated management attention on the service orientation of business strategy.
The future of the external audit function
Authors: Fraser Ian , Pong Chris
Published: January 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the challenges and opportunities currently facing external auditors at a time of economic and financial crisis.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper has a particular focus on the other contributions to this special issue of Managerial Auditing Journal and provides a reflective synthesis of these while making reference to other relevant literature as appropriate.

Findings

The paper puts forward various suggestions for future academic research that might improve auditing practice. Also, the principal aim of this special issue has been to spotlight differing perspectives on some of the perennial problems which have plagued auditing for generations and to suggest possible ways forward.

Practical implications

Various suggestions for future academic research that might improve auditing practice are put forward in the paper.

Originality/value

Major contemporary issues facing the auditing profession (or industry) are summarized. The paper highlights the diversity of value stances that exists in the audit academy and may (together with the other papers forming part of this special issue) be useful for introducing university students studying auditing at intermediate or advanced levels to a variety of current auditing issues and debates.
Crunch time for bank audits? Questions of practice and the scope for dialogue
Authors: Woods Margaret , Humphrey Christopher , Dowd Kevin , Liu Yu‐Lin
Published: January 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to review the way in which auditing issues have been raised and addressed during the credit crunch and developing global financial crisis.

Design/methodology/approach

Analysis is based on a review of the academic auditing literature, regulatory and audit reports, together with papers from the financial press.

Findings

After highlighting the relative lack of media attention devoted to the external auditing function in the light of major corporate collapses, the paper considers what, contrastingly, is an active and ongoing series of responses to the current crisis on the part of auditing firms and the profession more generally. Through such analysis the paper explores a number of implications of the credit crunch for both auditing practice and research.

Research limitations/implications

The paper is constrained in part by the rapidly unfolding nature of events, with important policy developments arising almost on a daily basis. The paper draws primarily on events up to the beginning of October 2008.

Practical implications

The paper has important messages for audit practice and research, including the technical capacities of external audits in the banking sector, the contributions of standard setting bodies and regulatory oversight, and the scope for enhanced dialogue between such parties and audit researchers.

Originality/value

The paper serves both to focus and stimulate analysis of the credit crunch on the audit profession. It demonstrates the complexity of contemporary practice and highlights the importance, especially from an educational perspective, of developing understanding of banking audit practice and associated regulatory interactions – including the presented possibilities both for research and enhanced academic‐practitioner dialogue.
The audit crunch: reforming auditing
Authors: Sikka Prem , Filling Steven , Liew Pik
Published: January 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to stimulate debates about contemporary auditing practices.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper builds a generalised theory of auditing to pose some questions about the basic auditing model, notions of audit quality and the possibility that some transactions cannot be audited in the traditional way.

Findings

It is argued that the basic auditing model is flawed since it makes auditors financially dependent on companies. The conventional approach to “audit quality” is also incomplete as it pays little attention to the organisational and social context of auditing. It also argues that as companies have diversified into new forms of investment and complex financial instruments, some transactions may be not be capable of being audited in the traditional way.

Research limitations/implications

The paper does not offer a comprehensive critique of contemporary auditing issues. Rather it is a focus on some selected issues.

Practical implications

The paper encourages reflections on contemporary practices and offers some suggestions for reforms.

Originality/value

The paper is a combination of theory, evidence and speculation on contemporary issues.