bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Generalized Wintgen inequality for BI-SLANT submanifolds in conformal Sasakian space form with quarter-symmetric connection
Authors: Aslam Mohd , Siddiqi Mohd Danish , Siddiqui Aliya Naaz
Published: March 2022

Purpose

In 1979, P. Wintgen obtained a basic relationship between the extrinsic normal curvature the intrinsic Gauss curvature, and squared mean curvature of any surface in a Euclidean 4-space with the equality holding if and only if the curvature ellipse is a circle. In 1999, P. J. De Smet, F. Dillen, L. Verstraelen and L. Vrancken gave a conjecture of Wintgen inequality, named as the DDVV-conjecture, for general Riemannian submanifolds in real space forms. Later on, this conjecture was proven to be true by Z. Lu and by Ge and Z. Tang independently. Since then, the study of Wintgen’s inequalities and Wintgen ideal submanifolds has attracted many researchers, and a lot of interesting results have been found during the last 15 years. The main purpose of this paper is to extend this conjecture of Wintgen inequality for bi-slant submanifold in conformal Sasakian space form endowed with a quarter symmetric metric connection.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors used standard technique for obtaining generalized Wintgen inequality for bi-slant submanifold in conformal Sasakian space form endowed with a quarter symmetric metric connection.

Findings

The authors establish the generalized Wintgen inequality for bi-slant submanifold in conformal Sasakian space form endowed with a quarter symmetric metric connection, and also find conditions under which the equality holds. Some particular cases are also stated.

Originality/value

The research may be a challenge for new developments focused on new relationships in terms of various invariants, for different types of submanifolds in that ambient space with several connections.
Examining coaches’ feedback to preservice teacher candidates on a core practice
Authors: Cash Anne Henry , Dack Hilary , Leach William
Published: March 2022

Purpose

For preservice teacher candidates (PSTs), receiving feedback on core practices is an important component in supporting the development of their practice. However, coaches are often underprepared to support PSTs on core practices, and feedback can be infrequent or low quality (Anderson and Stillman, 2013; Clarke et al., 2014). Understanding such variation in the content and process for providing feedback to PSTs is important in evaluating and improving feedback effectiveness for amplifying their learning.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors studied feedback provided by coaches in response to a video of a sample PST’s lesson. The authors examined the extent to which coaches’ feedback targeted the core practice of eliciting student thinking and whether this was associated with their assigned PSTs’ instructional practices during student teaching. The authors also questioned whether this aspect of coach feedback could be changed in response to professional development.

Findings

The results provide preliminary evidence that coaches vary in the extent to which they focus feedback on a particular practice, even when directed to do so. Moreover, when coaches provide focused feedback on a core practice, the PSTs that they coach use the core practice during student teaching. Further, coaches’ feedback can be improved through professional development.

Originality/value

This study contributes to a limited evidence base examining the association between feedback and PSTs’ observed practice. It also establishes that coach feedback can be improved with professional development. The authors discuss these results in the context of documenting and improving teacher preparation.
Assessing the effects of cost, revenue and profit efficiency on bank performance: empirical evidence from Indian banking
Authors: Rakshit Bijoy
Published: March 2022

Purpose

This paper aims to investigate the effects of cost, revenue and profit efficiency on bank profitability in an emerging economy such as India over the period 1997 to 2017. Additionally, this study examines the effect of efficiency on profitability across different ownership groups for a panel of 70 Indian commercial banks.

Design/methodology/approach

In the first stage, using stochastic frontier analysis, we estimate the efficiency scores of cost, revenue and profit over the examined period. In the second stage, this study uses the two-step system generalized-method of moments dynamic panel approach to investigate the impact of several efficiency measures on bank profitability.

Findings

Results estimated through and system generalized-method of moments indicate that a higher level of cost, revenue and efficiency significantly improves India's bank profitability. Regarding ownership groups, this study finds that the public sector banks are most cost-efficient compared to private and foreign banks. Other bank-specific, macroeconomic and institutional variables have played a significant role in determining bank profitability.

Practical implications

The findings of the study extend some important policy implications. In light of the rapid decline in bank profitability, banks should focus on increasing the efficiency of their operations. Improvement in profit, cost and revenue efficiency can ameliorate bank performance significantly. Profit efficiency that takes into account both cost and revenue efficiency should be maintained reasonably to prevent the declining pattern of bank profitability that the industry has witnessed over the years.

Originality/value

To the best of the author's knowledge, this study is a fresh piece of research that fulfils an urgent need of investigating the dynamics between bank efficiency and bank profitability in India. In an emerging economy like India, where the banking sector has witnessed substantial structural transformations over the past two decades, such study demands an immediate empirical investigation.
High-performance work systems and organizational citizenship behavior: the role of goal congruence and servant leadership
Authors: Arefin Md. Shamsul , Faroque Omar , Zhang Junwei , Long Lirong
Published: March 2022

Purpose

Aligning employees' goals with organizational goals is an overarching objective of an organization to increase employees' outcomes and, ultimately, the firm's performance. Employees' perceived goal congruence is proposed to be an important mediator of the effect of high-performance work systems (HPWS) on organizational citizenship behaviors (OCB). In this paper, the authors proposed and tested a moderated mediation model that depicted how servant leadership increased or restrained these effects.

Design/methodology/approach

This study used data from 56 managers and 322 employees working in Bangladeshi organizations. The study conducted cross-level analyses using hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) to examine the hypothetical relationships among variables.

Findings

This study revealed that employees' perceived goal congruence mediated the influence of HPWS on OCB. Consistent with the moderated mediation prediction, employee-perceived goal congruence mediated the relationship between HPWS and OCB when servant leadership is high.

Originality/value

This study examined how and when HPWS affects OCB by incorporating perceived goal congruence and servant leadership as mediating and moderating variables, respectively.
Modelling ragpickers’ productivity at the bottom of the pyramid: the use of artificial neural networks (ANNs)
Authors: Johnson Neil , Prasad Sameer , Vahedian Amin , Altay Nezih , Jain Ashish
Published: March 2022

Purpose

In this research, the authors apply artificial neural networks (ANNs) to uncover non-linear relationships among factors that influence the productivity of ragpickers in the Indian context.

Design/methodology/approach

A broad long-term action research program provides a means to shape the research question and posit relevant factors, whereas ANNs capture the true underlying non-linear relationships. ANN models the relationships between four independent variables and three forms of waste value chains without assuming any distributional forms. The authors apply bootstrapping in conjunction with ANNs.

Findings

The authors identify four elements that influence ragpickers’ productivity: receptiveness to non-governmental organizations, literacy, the deployment of proper equipment/technology and group size.

Research limitations/implications

This study provides a unique way to analyze bottom of the pyramid (BoP) operations via ANNs.

Social implications

This study provides a road map to help ragpickers in India raise incomes while simultaneously improving recycling rates.

Originality/value

This research is grounded in the stakeholder resource-based view and the network–individual–resource model. It generalizes these theories to the informal waste value chain at BoP communities.
Quality of smart-work support service, perceived value and intention to continue smart-work: empirical evidence from Korea
Authors: Kim Sang Soo
Published: March 2022

Purpose

Smart-work has been attracting more attention since the COVID-19 outbreak hit the world in 2020. Smart-working practices do not always run smoothly despite the necessary infrastructure being in place. Taking the quality-value-loyalty chain and information system continuance model as the basis, this study aims to identify how “smart-work support service” leads to employees’ continuance intention toward smart-work. In this study, the smart-work support service refers to the infrastructure making smart-work possible and services needed to support smart-work.

Design/methodology/approach

Using data collected from a survey of 406 employees working in Korea, this study verifies the components of smart-work support service quality and dimensions of perceived value through partial least squares analysis and then tests the proposed conceptual model using structural equation modeling.

Findings

The results verified that the quality of smart-work support service consists of eight attributes while dividing the perceived value of smart-work into three dimensions and further revealed that the service quality influences the intention to continue smart-working by way of perceived value and satisfaction.

Originality/value

This study sought to explore the relationship among service quality, perceived value and satisfaction by clearly conceptualizing and measuring them in the context of smart-work, thereby ultimately understanding the impact they have on the intention to continue smart-work.
From care packages to Zoom cookery classes: youth work during the COVID-19 “lockdown”
Authors: Shaw Aileen , Brady Bernadine , Dolan Patrick
Published: March 2022

Purpose

This paper aims to explore the experience of one large Irish youth work organisation, Foróige, to measures introduced during the initial phase of COVID-19 in 2020. In the face of the unprecedented crisis including the closure of schools and curtailment of many youth services, this paper examines how the organisation responded and adapted its service offering.

Design/methodology/approach

Qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 senior managers and youth officers in Foróige to explore their perspectives on the organisation’s response. Participants were purposively sampled from across the operational management functions and also from regional levels and youth workers engaging in work “on the ground”.

Findings

Shifting from a face-to -face, relationship-based to a distanced mode of engagement with young people, colleagues and volunteers required significant adaptation of Foróige’s service model. Innovation took place both in the delivery platform and fundamentally, in its service orientation. The accelerated move to online youth work brought about by the pandemic enabled the organisation to embrace and learn from the challenges and opportunities posed by digital technology. Responding to the immediate and tangible needs of young people in receipt of services, staff found themselves working with families at the more basic levels of intervention.

Originality/value

This paper provides new insights into the nature of non-profit service innovation during a time of unprecedented crisis management. It highlights characteristics of organisational agility that can assist organisations in managing crises, while also pointing the way towards a more flexible operating model for youth work service delivery.
Individuals responsible for video games: an exploration of cataloging practice, user need and authorship theory
Authors: Cho Hyerim , Hubbles Chris , Moulaison-Sandy Heather
Published: March 2022

Purpose

Author information is one of the primary metadata elements for information access. While assigning “author(s)” has been relatively straightforward in library systems for textual resources, challenges have emerged in recording creatorship information for collaborative creative works, with surrogates erring on the side of caution and providing little information. This study aims to present improvements to the conceptual understanding of collaborative creatorship and relevant cataloging practice in video games.

Design/methodology/approach

The current study is a theoretical investigation of the authorship role of individuals in collaborative creative works, using video games as a case study. The investigation is based on the literature on video game user needs and authorship theory.

Findings

Reviews of literature present a disconnect between video game information user needs and currently available author information in library systems. Further analysis of the author/creator concept reveals insufficiencies in adopting auteur theory as the theory is applied to film. Exploration of access practices for other large collaborative creative products and an analysis of user tasks show potentially fruitful directions for future studies. This study recommends identifying primary roles that individuals adopt in video game creations and leveraging crowdsourced-creator information in library databases to enhance the visibility of author information for video games.

Originality/value

By incorporating authorship theories and research from various domains such as film studies, intellectual history and library and information science, this study provides interdisciplinary, theoretical considerations as well as practical suggestions to enhance the current cataloging practice.
A principal component analysis of barriers to the implementation of blockchain technology in the South African built environment
Authors: Akinradewo Opeoluwa Israel , Aigbavboa Clinton Ohis , Edwards David John , Oke Ayodeji Emmanuel
Published: March 2022

Purpose

Blockchain technology is one of the emerging innovative technologies making waves globally, and it has been adjudged to have the capability to transform businesses. With the different capabilities of the technology, such as immutability of information and decentralisation of authority attributes, the built environment is slow in its adoption. This study aims to explore the barriers to the implementation of blockchain technology in the construction using a principal component analysis (PCA) approach.

Design/methodology/approach

This research took a post-positivist philosophical stance, which informed a quantitative research approach through a questionnaire survey. From the South African built environment and information technology sector, 79 respondents were drawn through a snowballing sampling technique. The built environment professionals include architect, construction project manager, construction manager, quantity surveyor and engineer. Retrieved data were screened and analysed by adopting the descriptive analysis and PCA while Cronbach alpha evaluated the reliability. Also, Kruskal–Wallis H non-parametric test was used to determine the differences in the opinion of the respondent groups.

Findings

The analysis revealed that all the identified barriers ranked above the average mean with lack of clarity, scalability risks and lack of skills or knowledge ranking top three. PCA clustered the identified barriers into three components: organisational barriers, social barriers and technological barriers.

Research limitations/implications

This study was carried out in the Gauteng province of South Africa, leaving out other provinces due to accessibility, cost and time constraints.

Practical implications

Built environment organisations need to be kept abreast of the capabilities of blockchain technology as the major barrier observed was the lack of clarity of blockchain technology. Also, the technological barriers identified from this study need to be addressed by information technology experts to give consumers the desired value for money in implementing blockchain technology for the built environment.

Originality/value

The blockchain technology capabilities are incomparable to any other invention thus far. Therefore, it is very important that the numerous stakeholders in the built environment be made aware of the blockchain technology capabilities while formulating a solution to the identified barriers. This will aid its implementation in the built environment and help the industry measure up with its counterparts.
Comparative study of disgorgement and disgorgement fund regulations in Indonesia, the USA and the UK
Authors: Kharisma Dona Budi , Hunaifa Afilya
Published: March 2022

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is two-fold: to analyze the legal issues on disgorgement and disgorgement funds in Indonesia, the USA and the UK and to construct the ideal law regarding disgorgement and disgorgement fund.

Design/methodology/approach

The type of legal research in this paper is normative legal research. The research approach used is a comparative approach and a legal approach. The legal materials used are all regulations on the disgorgement law and the disgorgement fund that apply in Indonesia, the USA and the UK. The technique of collecting legal materials is done by using library research techniques.

Findings

The rapid growth of the capital market in Indonesia still faces various legal issues such as various market manipulations, insider trading and illegal investment management activities. Based on the results of a comparative study, Indonesia does not yet have a calculation mechanism regarding the imposition of disgorgement on violators. Unlike Indonesia, the USA has the rules of practice and rules on fair funds and exchange commissions, and the UK has the decision procedure and penalties manual, which regulates the mechanism for calculating the imposition of disgorgement. Indonesia is solely able to use administrative action in imposing disgorgement, while in the USA and the UK, it can be through courts or direct administrative actions. These legal issues have resulted due to the lack of confidence by international investors and the growth of the investment climate in Indonesia itself.

Research limitations/implications

This study examines the regulation of disgorgement and disgorgement funds in Indonesia, the USA and the UK. However, the focus of research in this paper is limited to legal issues that occurred in Indonesia.

Practical implications

The results of this study may help to construct the ideal regulations on disgorgement and disgorgement funds in various countries and protect the capital market of the investors.

Social implications

The results of this study are expected to be helpful for the investment climate in various countries, especially developing countries.

Originality/value

The ideal legal construction regarding disgorgement, namely, parties to the mechanism for imposing disgorgement; disgorgement filing mechanism; sanctions in disgorgement; disgorgement fund sources; provider of fundholding accounts; mechanism for calculating disgorgement imposition; disgorgement fund distribution mechanism.
Impact of customer experience on attitude and utilization intention of a restaurant-menu curation chatbot service
Authors: Yoon Jiyoung , Yu Hyunji
Published: March 2022

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to assess the possibility of introducing a restaurant-menu curation (RMC) chatbot service to help consumers quickly and effectively decide on their restaurant or menu choices. To this end, it measures the characteristics of consumer chatbot experiences and analyzes their impact on future acceptance intentions through their attitudes toward the RMC chatbot service.

Design/methodology/approach

This study consists of three parts: developing a RMC chatbot prototype, testing the chatbot prototype and a customer survey based on experience. A convenience sample method was used to collect data from 368 adults who tried the RMC chatbot service before answering a self-administered questionnaire. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to test the proposed structural model.

Findings

The results showed that all experience characteristics, except usable facets, had a significant positive impact on attitudes toward the chatbot. Three experience characteristics, “usable,” “usefulness” and “valuable,” revealed a significant positive effect on utilization intention. Attitudes toward chatbot services also significantly affected utilization intention.

Research limitations/implications

The results of this study can offer practical and academic implications for establishing curation services in the restaurant industry that can increase customer acceptance and utilization intentions. Follow-up studies are required to explore and verify the various personal and psychological factors related to the intention to accept RMC chatbot services.

Originality/value

This study is meaningful because it makes it possible to evaluate the introduction of curation chatbot services in the restaurant sector, by developing and testing the dining-out curation service protocol to help customers’ smart choices in the information technology environment.
Religious affiliation and religiosity: do Islamic appeals in advertising lead to higher purchase intentions among Muslim consumers in Dubai?
Authors: Nickerson Catherine , Georgiadou Effrosyni , Nandialath Anup Menon
Published: March 2022

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether including an Islamic appeal in a culture-neutral product advertisement has a positive effect on consumer attitudes to the advertisement leading to higher purchase intentions while considering religious affiliation and religiosity as moderating factors of the relationship.

Design/methodology/approach

Conditional process analysis was applied to examine the mediation of the relationship between ad version and purchase intention through attitude to the advertisement as well as the moderating role of religious affiliation and religiosity among 819 consumers within the Dubai market.

Findings

The analysis in this paper revealed that including an Islamic appeal in an advertisement does not have a positive effect on attitude to the advertisement or purchase intention, neither for Muslim consumers in general nor for Muslim consumers with high levels of religiosity. Conversely, including an Islamic appeal has a significant negative effect on the purchase intentions of Christian consumers within the Dubai market, as well as on those consumers who did not state their religious affiliation.

Research limitations/implications

Marketers should reconsider the use of Islamic appeals in product advertising, especially in relation to the promotion of culture-free products within diverse expatriate populations such as that represented by the Emirate of Dubai.

Originality/value

This study sheds light on the underexplored role of religious affiliation and religiosity in relationship to consumer behavior within the field of Islamic marketing in a major retail hub in the Middle East.
Implementing workload control through lean-based project in MTO-MTS environment
Authors: Kundu Kaustav , Rossini Matteo , Costa Federica
Published: March 2022

Purpose

Due to high customization, companies, which used to follow the make-to-stock (MTS) strategy, are now adopting the make-to-order (MTO) strategy along with MTS in order to cope with high variability in customer demand. Although lean is quite popular in general, its advantage in MTO-MTS environment is quite rare. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to show the benefits of lean techniques in this environment.

Design/methodology/approach

A popular furniture company in Italy is selected for the longitudinal action research and as a part of the lean project, workload control (WLC) is deployed in the selected company. Data were collected through on-site interviews, potential areas of improvement were identified and then suitable countermeasures were proposed and adopted.

Findings

This study reveals that the implementation of lean techniques including WLC in a furniture company reduces the throughput time and improves the inventory turnover.

Research limitations/implications

This research is based on a single company. Additional empirical studies can help to refine our proposition.

Practical implications

The paper shows the practical implementation of WLC as a part of the lean project in MTO-MTS environment. It provides the practitioners and consultants with the way of implementing lean techniques in companies that are planning to adopt MTO-MTS hybrid strategy.

Originality/value

This is the first paper that aims to assess the efficiency of the adaption of WLC based on lean principles in a company using MTO-MTS hybrid strategy. Hence, the results are highly valuable for similar companies, especially when are facing transition situations (e.g. from MTS to MTO-MTS).
COVID-19 and tourism stakeholders: experience, behaviour and transformation
Authors: Dileep M.R. , Ajoon Joshu , Nair Bipithalal Balakrishnan
Published: March 2022

Purpose

The tourism sector’s fragility lends significance to mental health and wellbeing, especially amongst workers in the hotel and tourism sectors. However, stakeholders’ subjective wellbeing and mental health in these sectors due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic remain under-researched, especially for destinations with unique selling propositions (USPs). Thus, this study investigates the effects of the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic on various stakeholders in Kerala, India. In particular, the authors assess the mental health and welfare of those involved in the tourism sector with an eye on how the COVID-19 pandemic has influenced the field’s psychological and technical developments.

Design/methodology/approach

This study employs an ethnographic approach to understanding the idiosyncratic experiences of stakeholders using in-depth interviews (n = 68), focus group interviews (n = 3) and participant observation for 14 months. Reflexive thematic analysis was used to analyse the data.

Findings

The findings reveal the shifting perceptions in the tourism sector’s workforce by detailing various societal, technical and physical transformations, especially amongst the younger generations. The resultant psychological mapping generates a framework of the emotional perspectives of stakeholders during each stage of the pandemic. This study also highlights the urgency of crisis-management training for the workforce.

Originality/value

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected all spheres of global business, resulting in unprecedented challenges in both personal and professional life. The sector’s fragility lends significance to mental health and wellbeing, especially amongst workers in the hotel and tourism sectors. However, the subjective wellbeing and mental health of stakeholders in these sectors due to the COVID-19 pandemic remain under-researched, especially for the developing destinations with USPs.
Explicating intrinsic motivation's impact on job performance: employee creativity as a mediator
Authors: K Jnaneswar , Ranjit Gayathri
Published: March 2022

Purpose

Eliciting superior job performance from the employees is a major challenge confronting the organizational leaders in today's hyper-competitive business environment. Though few studies established the influence of intrinsic motivation on job performance, the role of mediators like employee creativity in this relationship is not adequately researched. The purpose of the paper is to explore the mediating role of employee creativity in the relationship between intrinsic motivation and job performance.

Design/methodology/approach

The cross-sectional research design was adopted, and data were collected from 346 full-time employees working in the retail industry in India through an online survey. Analysis of a Moment Structures (AMOS) software was used to test the validity of the hypothesized model, and PROCESS macro was used to test the mediation of employee creativity.

Findings

The findings showed that intrinsic motivation impacted both job performance and employee creativity. Furthermore, employee creativity impacted the employees' job performance. The key finding of the study is the partial mediation of employee creativity in the intrinsic motivation–job performance relationship.

Originality/value

Grounded on self-determination theory (SDT) and componential theory of creativity, the paper enriches the literature by evincing the mediation mechanism in the effect of intrinsic motivation on job performance. Moreover, the current paper is one of the primary studies that explore the mediating role of employee creativity in the relationship between intrinsic motivation and job performance.
How and when does job crafting contribute to franchised restaurant managers' service performance? The moderation of headquarter control systems
Authors: Hur Won-Moo , Shin Yuhyung , Hwang Hansol
Published: March 2022

Purpose

This study aims to explore how and when managers' job crafting contributes to their service performance. The first objective of the research was to assess the mediating relationship between franchised restaurant managers' job crafting, work engagement and service performance. Its second objective was to examine the moderating effect of organizational control systems on the job crafting–work engagement relationship.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors administered paper-and-pencil surveys to 235 franchised restaurant managers in South Korea. The authors tested their hypotheses via Process 3.5 macro and bootstrapping.

Findings

The results confirmed the mediating effect of work engagement on the relationship between job crafting and work engagement. Furthermore, this relationship was more pronounced when the headquarters used a high level of outcome-based control systems and a low level of behavior-based control systems.

Originality/value

Distinct from studies that have examined service employees' job crafting, this study uncovers the role of managerial job crafting in service performance. The findings contribute to service theory and practice by providing novel insights into the interplay between managerial job crafting and organizational control systems.
Stakeholders' engagement in the process of adapting to climate change impacts. A case of central Tanzania
Authors: Mkonda Msafiri Yusuph
Published: March 2022

Purpose

It is imperative to intensively engage stakeholders in the process of adapting to climate change impacts because stakeholders are important components in adaptation process and policy formulation. However, there is slight empirical evidence that has been established to indicate whether the stakeholders are significantly involved in developing various adaptations plans.

Design/methodology/approach

As a way of bridging that gap, this study adopted both primary and secondary data and assumed various techniques. In-depth, semi-structured interview was the major approach and most interviews were conducted between June and August 2020. Here, 20 stakeholders were involved in this kind of participatory process. To make results more rigorous, the data from interviews were enriched with data from documentary reviews. Generally, the data were analyzed through theme content analysis.

Findings

The results exhibit that there has been little engagement of stakeholders in undertaking various researches especially in marginalized areas. In some instances, several stakeholders have been included; however, the most important ones have been excluded in the process, thus affecting the provision of data. The inconsistences affect the whole adaptation process and bring numerous controversies with the existing realities which recognize stakeholders as important entity in the adaptation process. Subsequently, this has widely affected even the set ups of decision-making organs and the policy formulation processes at large.

Originality/value

Explicitly, the results of this study are essential to climate scientists and practitioners, as the results reveal the real situation in the field. Similarly, the results inform how various sustainable projects, plans and policies related to climate change adaptations can be developed. Conclusions are therefore drawn to strengthen sustainable adaptation to climate change impacts through increased stakeholder involvement.
A diary and experience sampling method of performance pressure and service performance in service industry
Authors: Ren Yingwei , Zhang Biqian , Zhao Lei , Bu Yinwei
Published: March 2022

Purpose

Performance pressure is unavoidable in the career of any frontline employee in the service industry, yet the authors have little understanding of the dualistic nature of performance pressure. This study aims to distinguish between challenge performance pressures and hindrance performance pressure and to investigate the effect of challenge/hindrance performance pressure on in-role/extra-role service performance through distinct emotional-labor-strategy mechanisms.

Design/methodology/approach

Study 1 conducted exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses and developed a performance pressure scale. To test the predictive validity of this scale, Study 2 used data from 178 frontline employees based on diary and experience sampling spanning 18 consecutive calendar days.

Findings

Findings revealed that surface/deep acting mediated the relationship between hindrance/challenge performance pressure and in-role/extra-role service performance. Calling moderated the relationship between emotional labor and service performance. The relationship between surface acting and in-role service performance was weaker in the higher calling condition, whereas the relationship between deep acting and extra-role service performance was weaker in the higher calling condition.

Practical implications

Service organizations should motivate employees to preserve more challenge performance pressure rather than hindrance performance pressure through establishing a reasonable performance target system. Furthermore, organizations can encourage employees to provide more extra-role services for customers through establishing an emotional support system, so as to enhance customer satisfaction.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is a pioneering effort to develop a dualistic performance pressure scale and explore the impact mechanism and boundary conditions of performance pressure on service performance in the presence of emotional labor.
Large African herbivore diversity is essential in transformed landscapes for conserving dung beetle diversity
Authors: Pryke James S. , Roets Francois , Samways Michael J.
Published: March 2022

Mammals are globally in decline, with habitat loss a primary driver. There are also human–wildlife conflicts, such as elephants destroying crops, which results in the ranges of many large mammal species being fenced off. Yet, how this activity affects functional associations of insects with large mammals has received little attention. Previous work suggests a generalised association with large mammals, as well as a strong response to landscape transformation.

Here we assess how well dung beetle diversity tracks large African mammal herbivore diversity across a forestry plantation land use gradient by assessing how dung beetle taxonomic, phylogenetic and functional richness compares to large mammal diversity. We also determine how land use intensity affects dung beetle‐to‐mammal interaction networks.

Dung beetles responded more intensively to an array of large mammals than to differences in land use intensity. Beetles also showed a strong preference for specific mammalian dung, with elephant dung being the most important factor for maintaining local dung beetle diversity.

Large mammal abundance, functional diversity, dung beetle phylogenetic richness and number of realised mammal‐to‐dung beetle interactions were highest in the protected area. Land use intensity categories had distinct mammal and dung beetle assemblages. Transformed areas also have conservation value but provided that there is functional connectivity between remnant vegetation within the modified landscapes.

Synthesis and applications. The loss of any native large mammal, especially African elephants, from transformed landscapes is likely to lead to a decline in biodiversity. This suggests that protected areas are essential for the conservation of native biodiversity and its interactions, while well‐designed and managed transformed areas can have additional conservation value. African conservation managers and landowners should be encouraged to maintain a diversity of large mammals on their properties to maintain functional diversity and ultimately ecological resilience.
Idea paper: Effects of gonad type and body mass on the time required for sex change in fishes
Authors: Tokunaga Soma , Kadota Tatsuru , Watanabe Yuuki Y. , Kuwamura Tetsuo , Kawabata Yuuki
Published: March 2022

Sex change is a well‐known phenomenon in teleost fishes, and it takes several days to a few months depending on the species and direction of sex change. However, the underlying factors influencing the time required for sex change (TS) remain unclear. Given that the time for producing a new gonad largely determines TS, the gonad type (i.e., whether fish retain the gonad of opposite sex or not [delimited or non‐delimited]) and metabolic rate may affect TS. This study sought to test two hypotheses: (1) the delimited gonad shortens TS and (2) TS scales with mass0.1−0.2, because the metabolic scaling exponent (β) in fishes is 0.8–0.9 and biological times scale with mass1−β in general. We compiled data on TS for 12 female‐to‐male and 14 male‐to‐female sex‐changing species from the literature. Results of individual examinations of the effects of gonad type and mass were consistent with our hypotheses. However, upon simultaneous examination of the effects of gonad type and mass, these effects became unclear because of their strong multicollinearity. The compiled data for delimited and non‐delimited gonads were biased toward the smaller and larger species, respectively, precluding us from being able to statistically distinguish between these effects. Small species with non‐delimited gonads and large species with delimited gonads exist; however, their TS has not been measured with high temporal resolution thus far. Therefore, additional experiments on these species are required to statistically distinguish between, as well as to better understand, the effects of gonad type and mass on TS.
New Names for the Old Sacristy of the Siena Hospital: Pseudo‐Scripts, Hidden Signatures, and the Ludic Self
Authors: Dalvit Giulio
Published: March 2022

While working on the scaffolding of Vecchietta's frescoes in the sacristy at the Santissima Annunziata, Siena (1446–49), thirteen‐year‐old Benvenuto di Giovanni and another garzone, Guasparre d'Agostino, signed together their names in Greek letters hidden among pseudo‐scripts on the hem of the cloak of a seemingly unimportant figure painted about three metres high up on a wall. Previously ignored, this signature is important in that, combined with unpublished documents, it sheds light on Benvenuto di Giovanni's youthful career and, more broadly, the first steps of a garzone on their way to becoming a master. The first known signature in Greek ever to appear in fifteenth‐century Italian painting, but enmeshed among pseudo‐scripts, Guasparre and Benvenuto's marks are not proof of antiquarian culture. Instead, this signature begs for a historicized concept of both linguistic knowledge and artistic authorship. Hidden, it betrays an interest in the signature as a locus of playful negotiation of identity, suspended between concealment and revelation.
Superlative Morphology from Syntax: SlavicNai‐/Naj‐ and Internal Definiteness Marking in Old Lithuanian
Authors: Wandl Florian
Published: March 2022

Abstract

It has long been noticed that the Slavic superlative prefixnai‐/naj‐ comprises two components: *na+ *i. The former can be identified with the preposition Slna‘on(to)’ which developed an intensifying meaning when used as a prefix. The origin of the second component, on the other hand, has not been determined satisfactorily so far. This paper argues that it can be identified with the Slavic definiteness marker. Drawing upon a typologically common pattern, it is supposed that at a pre‐stage of Slavic superlative was derived from the comparative with the aid of a definiteness marker. Definiteness of a noun phrase in earlier Slavic and its neighbouring branch Baltic was denoted by adding a definiteness marker of pronominal origin to the right edge of the adjective. As data from Old Lithuanian show, this morpheme was originally not bound to the position following the adjective. When an adjective/participle was preceded by a prefix/preverb, it could be placed between these two elements. I argue that this state of affairs is also reflected in the Slavic superlative prefixnaj‐/nai‐. Based on the proposed scenario, the article discusses certain general issues related to the externalization of trapped inflectional morphology and the phenomenon of endoclisis.
Acidification behavior of mixtures of pork meat and wet texturized plant proteins in a minced model system
Authors: Ebert Sandra , Michel Wiebke , Gotzmann Lisa , Baune Marie‐Christin , Terjung Nino , Gibis Monika , Weiss Jochen
Published: March 2022

The increasing use of wet texturized plant proteins as meat substitutes requires a characterization of their functional properties, especially in terms of pH‐behavior when being mixed with meat proteins to create so‐called hybrid products. In this study, a minced model system containing pork meat, curing salt, and various amounts (0–100 wt%) of wet extruded proteins from pea (Pea I, II), pumpkin (Pumpkin I, II, III), and sunflower was used to evaluate the effect of mixing on pH and time‐dependent pH‐changes upon the addition of glucono‐delta‐lactone (GDL). Increasing concentrations of plant extrudates resulted in a linear increase of the initial (pH0h), intermediate (pH6h), and final pH48h for all samples and higher slopes at higher native pH of extrudates were found. Acidification kinetics of all samples were similar with a distinct pH‐drop by 0.3 to 0.8 pH‐units per wt% GDL in the first 6 h, followed by a plateau where pH remained constant. At extrudate concentrations of 5 wt% (Pea I, II, Pumpkin I, II) or 15 wt% (Pumpkin III, Sunflower), a sufficient acidification with typically used GDL‐amounts ( = 1 wt%) could be achieved, while higher plant protein contents required higher GDL‐concentrations in order to reach a pH value of 5.0; a common target value in dry‐cured sausages. A mathematical model was proposed to correlate pH, time, acidifier, extrudate concentration, and plant protein origin, to aid in the adjustment of dry‐cured hybrid meat formulations, and to describe thresholds of the feasible extrudate and acidifier concentrations.

Practical Application

Despite the increasing relevance of texturized plant proteins as meat mimetics, little is known about their functional and process‐related properties. This study shows that plant protein origin, the level of meat replacement, and the amount of acidifier are linked to the time‐dependent pH‐value on the basis of a mathematical model. This brings food developers one step closer in creating tailored formulations and estimating the effects of these novel ingredients in the final product characteristics of hybrid meats and analogues.
The Accuracy and Informativeness of Management Earnings Forecasts: A Review and Unifying Framework*
Authors: Preussner Nicolai A. , Aschauer Ewald
Published: March 2022

This paper synthesizes the literature on management earnings forecasts (MFs) and adaption mechanisms, combines existing theories into a unifying framework, and discusses the primary determinants of MF accuracy and informativeness. The proposed model refines existing theories by emphasizing the dynamics and multiperiod interactions among firm management, financial analysts, and investors, thereby simplifying the assessment of the complex relations within the forecast cycle. Furthermore, we analyze when and to what extent financial analysts and investors anticipate bias and misleading information. Overall, the literature review provides strong support for a positive correlation between the extent and credibility of MFs, on the one hand, and stock returns, share liquidity, and analyst coverage, on the other hand. Earnings forecasts tend to be optimistically biased, with a positive correlation with forecast uncertainty, earnings flexibility, financial distress, investor sentiment, and the share price dependency of managers' remuneration. Firm growth, legal liability, and litigation risk are significantly associated with forecast pessimism. We also find that MF accuracy increases with previous forecast accuracy, firm size, analyst coverage, analyst agreement, management qualifications, and corporate governance level. Moreover, investors do not anticipate the full extent of predictable forecast bias, leading to systematic share price drifts after the announcement of earnings forecasts and actual earnings. The study's results have substantial implications for researchers, firm managers, investors, financial analysts, and regulators. Although managers may enhance their forecasts' credibility by providing precise, bundled, and disaggregated forecasts, external stakeholders should carefully analyze forecast antecedents and characteristics to assess the direction and magnitude of expected MF bias.
Optimizing stable isotope sampling design in terrestrial movement ecology research
Authors: Contina Andrea , Magozzi Sarah , Vander Zanden Hannah B. , Bowen Gabriel J. , Wunder Michael B.
Published: March 2022

The recognition of adequate sampling designs is an interdisciplinary topic that has gained popularity over the last decades. In ecology, many research questions involve sampling across extensive and complex environmental gradients. This is the case for stable isotope analyses, which are widely used to characterize large‐scale movement patterns and dietary preferences of organisms across taxa. Because natural‐abundance stable isotope variation in the environment is incorporated into inert animal tissues, such as feathers or hair, it is possible to draw inferences about the type of food and water resources that individuals consumed and the locations where tissues were synthesized. However, modern stable isotope research can benefit from the implementation of robust statistical analyses and well‐designed sampling approaches to improve geographic assignment interpretation.

We employed hydrogen stable isotope simulations to study inferences regarding the probability of origin of migratory individuals and reveal gaps in sampling efforts while highlighting uncertainties of assignment model extrapolations. We present an integrative approach that explores multiple sampling strategies across species with different geographic ranges to understand advantages and limitations of animal movement inferences based on stable isotope data.

We show the characteristics of different sampling strategies through geographic and isotopic gradients and establish a set of diagnostic tools that uncover the attributes of these gradients and evaluate uncertainties of model results.

Our analysis demonstrates that sampling regimes should be evaluated in relation to specific research questions and study constraints, and that adopting a single method across species ranges can lead to a costly but less effective sampling strategy.