bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Predictors of academics' career advancement at Malaysian private universities
Authors: Arokiasamy Lawrence , Ismail Maimunah , Ahmad Aminah , Othman Jamilah
Published: July 2011

Purpose

This paper aims to examine the influence of individual and organizational variables on the career advancement of academics in Malaysian private universities.

Design/methodology/approach

A correlation study was conducted in six private universities. Data were collected using a structured self‐administered questionnaire. The dependent variable was academics' career advancement and the independent variables were individual and organizational factors. Using stratified random sampling, 105 full‐time academics were chosen as the study respondents. They represented sampling criteria such as pure science and social science disciplines, job positions and academic qualifications.

Findings

Regression analysis showed that organizational variables, specifically mentoring, social network and organizational support, were the significant contributors to the career advancement of the academics with 56.1 per cent explanatory power. These results are useful to human resource development (HRD) personnel of the universities as guides for them to plan and implement HRD initiatives.

Practical implications

This study contributes knowledge to career advancement among academics in private universities. These institutions are rapidly expanding in Malaysia to cater to the needs of achieving the entrance of 40 per cent of the population into tertiary education by the year 2020. At the tertiary education level, HRD is important specifically to create better awareness among academics about their career planning and aspirations, the role organizational‐related factors have in their careers and how they should respond to the services given by the institutions.

Originality/value

The paper examines factors (limited to individual and organizational factors) that are of concern to HRD managers in managing the career advancement of academics in rapidly developing private universities.
Cybernetically sound organizational structures I: de Sitter's design theory
Authors: Vriens Dirk , Achterbergh Jan
Published: July 2011

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to use de Sitter's design theory to show how organizational structures can be designed so as to attenuate organizational disturbances and amplify regulatory potential. It is argued that organizational structures with low values on so‐called design‐parameters are themselves no source of disturbances and have the required built‐in regulatory potential.

Design/methodology/approach

Key concepts from de Sitter's design theory are introduced and used to show how structures can attenuate disturbances and amplify regulatory potential.

Findings

The analysis in this paper deepens our understanding of the role of organizational structures for dealing with organizational complexity, and of the design parameters that should be manipulated to achieve structural attenuation and amplification.

Practical implications

Having a structure permitting organizations to attenuate and amplify is a crucial condition for organizational viability. This paper provides guidelines for the design of such structures.

Originality/value

This is one of a limited number of studies that makes apparent how general insights from (management) cybernetic (e.g. viability, attenuation and amplification) may be realized in organizations by their structural design.
Cognitive Centres: technology for designing the future
Authors: Ototsky Peter , Manenkov Sergey
Published: July 2011

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to introduce and conceptualize the topic of Cognitive Centres. It emphasizes the importance of complexity management and cognitive technologies in management practice.

Design/methodology/approach

It elaborates the relevance of different types of models for management: Stafford Beer's operations room, viable system model, subject‐object and subject‐subject management models, expert‐based mathematical modelling and computational experiment, organizational‐activity games theory and cybernetic (Viplan) methodology.

Findings

The paper suggests models and approaches for strategic management. It shows the inadequacy of a subject‐object management model for industrial or regional governance. It integrates a communicative management approach, complexity management methods, the USSR's Gosplan experience of long‐term planning, the Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics experience of modelling extremely complex systems and modern cognitive and information technologies into the concept of a Cognitive Centre.

Practical implications

Cognitive Centres can enhance the adaptation and viability of a large network of small organizations: public enterprises, business and not‐for‐profit regional industries. The paper describes two cases of practical implementation.

Originality/value

The paper contributes to research on management models that integrates cybernetics, cognitive technologies and computational experiments.
A remark on the arms race spiral
Authors: Tsaganea Doru
Published: July 2011

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explain the tendency of escalation of a regular bilateral arms race, or the arms race spiral.

Design/methodology/approach

Inspired by the Richardson‐type models, a system of two differential equations is used for describing a bilateral arms race. But the variation of one adversary's armaments and/or military expenditures is not associated with the amount of the other's armaments and/or military expenditures as it is usually done in this type of model. It is linked instead with their variation, as it practically happens in governments' decision‐making processes.

Findings

The association of the two variations suggests that when one adversary tends to match the increase of the other's armaments and/or military expenditures, these tend to increase to infinity for a given fixed point in time.

Originality/value

The mathematical result indicates that the tendency of completely matching the increase of adversary's armaments or military expenditures acts as an accelerator that causes the continuous escalation of the arms race. Therefore, as long as a substantial change in the relationship between the two adversaries – implying a complete change of the model's coefficients – does not happen, the arms race escalates, and the so‐called spiral is observed.
Effects of coupling agents on structure and properties of polyimide/Al2O3 nanocomposite films
Authors: Liu L.Z. , Weng L. , Song Y.X. , Gao L. , Zhao H. , Lei Q.Q.
Published: July 2011

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of coupling agents on the structure and properties of the nanocomposite films and clarify their mechanism. Polyimide (PI)/Al2O3 nanocomposite films were prepared using different coupling agents.

Design/methodology/approach

Poly(amic acid) (PAA) was firstly synthesised from appropriate pyromellitic diannanocomposite and oxydianiline in N‐dimethylacetamide. Calculated amount of nano‐Al2O3 particles modified by different coupling agents (KH550, KH560, KH570 and AE3012) were added to PAA solution by an ultrasonic‐mechanical method and PI/nano‐Al2O3 film was fabricated by heat curing. The microstructure, thermal stability, mechanical properties and electric breakdown strength of the films were characterised.

Findings

The addition of coupling agents could greatly improve the dispersion homogeneity of Al2O3 nano‐particles in PI matrix. Results of corresponding characterisations indicated that both the thermal stability and mechanical properties of PI/Al2O3 nanocomposite film with KH550 were greater/better than others, while AE3012 could improve the electric breakdown strength.

Research limitations/implications

In the present discussion, the effects of different coupling agents, KH550, KH560, KH570 and AE3012, were investigated. Results of this research work would be beneficial to an in‐depth understanding on the relationship between microstructure and properties of PI composites, and further promote the development of the high‐performance PI insulating materials.

Originality/value

The four coupling agents, KH550, KH560, KH570 and AE3012, were firstly used to disperse the nano‐Al2O3 particles in PI matrix. The effects of coupling agents on microstructure and properties of composites were discussed by the authors in detail.
Encouraging consumer searching behavior on healthcare web sites
Authors: Cudmore B. Andrew , Bobrowski Paula E. , Kiguradze Tinatin
Published: July 2011

Purpose

Commercial healthcare and hospital‐based web sites appear to exhibit distinctive formats. This paper aims to compare two award winning medical web sites with two top commercial healthcare web sites in an effort to determine significant predictors of positive attitudes toward the web sites when actively searching for healthcare information.

Design/methodology/approach

Three linear regressions were utilized to test the paper's hypotheses. Subjects entered a computer laboratory and were given search tasks for health information to complete within four web sites (two commercial and two hospital‐based web sites – order randomized).

Findings

The study shows how user perception, attitude and gratification are revealing of the strengths and weaknesses of hospital‐based vs commercial healthcare web sites as a means of providing users with healthcare information. Commercial healthcare web sites are viewed significantly more positively than hospital‐based web sites, revealing that overall web site quality and ease of use to be the dominant predictors of positive attitudes toward the web sites.

Research limitations/implications

The ecological validity of using real web sites presents challenges in terms of controlling for alternative explanations stemming from within web site type. Future research could explore different tasks that can be facilitated by medical web sites and assess the attributes of the web sites accordingly.

Practical implications

The paper can help design and develop better hospital‐based and commercial healthcare web sites.

Originality/value

This research explored actual information search behavior and the resulting web site user perceptions in an effort to bring academic inquiry into practice. Nothing similar to the hypotheses or this methodology has been found within the web site effectiveness literature, neither generally nor specifically within the healthcare industry.
Product‐country fit in the Canadian context
Authors: Ahmed Sadrudin A. , d'Astous Alain , Benmiloud Petersen Halima
Published: July 2011

Purpose

This paper aims to show that the congruency between the source of a product being evaluated and the commonly held perceptions of that product's association with a country of origin (COO) leads to a more positive evaluation of that product.

Design/methodology/approach

This is an experimental study using two congruent product stimulus categories and two non‐congruent product categories, each associated with a Danish and a non‐Danish sounding brand name to elicit evaluation of product profiles from a sample of 187 young consumers.

Findings

Among all the variables included in the analysis of variance (ANOVA) tables, product‐country congruency performed the best. The second strongest main effect is attributed to familiarity with Danish products. The brand‐country congruence variable related only indirectly to the evaluation of products from Denmark through an interaction with product‐country congruence.

Research limitations/implications

Future research should seek to build data sets from a larger number of adult consumers from several countries with more product and brand stimuli associated with multiple countries.

Practical implications

Consumers who are familiar with products made in Denmark should be the prime target market for products congruent with Denmark. Because of their strong association with Denmark, these products may benefit from their association with country of design (COD) Denmark in promotional programs.

Originality/value

Using cognitive‐consistency theory, this paper extends the previous literature on the perceptions of product‐country‐fit by including the effects of brand‐country fit, technological complexity, three dimensional conception of COO, and two separate product evaluation measures, using product‐country familiarity, product involvement and product experience as moderators.
The differential effect of acculturation modes on immigrant consumers' complaining behavior: the case of West African immigrants to Canada
Authors: Souiden Nizar , Ladhari Riadh
Published: July 2011

Purpose

The objectives of this study are: to gain a better understanding of the modes of acculturation of West African immigrants in Canada; to relate these modes of acculturation to consumers' perceived likelihood of successful complaint and complaining behavior; and to compare consumers' complaint attitudes and behavior in their home countries (i.e. original countries) and the host country (Canada).

Design/methodology/approach

An empirical study is conducted among a sample of 218 immigrants from several West African countries now living in Canada. ANOVA and paired samples t‐tests were used to test the research hypotheses.

Findings

The results show that the majority of the surveyed West African immigrants fall into one of two acculturation groups: integrated or separated. Although there are no significant differences between these two groups in terms of their perception that a consumer complaint is more likely to be successful in Canada than in their home countries, there are significant differences in their complaining behaviors in Canada and at home.

Research limitations/implications

Marketers should be aware that not all immigrants are the same and that market segmentation based on the degree of immigrants' acculturation might lead to a sound marketing strategy.

Practical implications

Caution should be exercised in generalizing the research results to the entire population of West African immigrants in Canada.

Originality/value

Most previous studies of the consumption behavior of immigrants have examined their perceptions and behavior mainly in the context of the host country, while overlooking their perceptions and behavior in their home countries. The present study has addressed this gap in the literature by investigating the perceptions and behavior of West African immigrants to Canada in both contexts.
Willingness to pay for socially responsible products: case of cotton apparel
Authors: Ha‐Brookshire Jung E. , Norum Pamela S.
Published: July 2011

Purpose

This study seeks to investigate significant factors influencing consumers' willingness to pay a premium for three different socially responsible products – organic cotton, sustainable cotton, and US‐grown cotton shirts.

Design/methodology/approach

Through random‐digit‐dialing, the study data were collected from 500 respondents nationally via telephone surveys. The survey data were analyzed using stepwise regression and mean comparisons.

Findings

More than half of the respondents indicated that they were willing to pay a premium for organic, sustainable, and US‐grown cotton shirts ($5.00 or more for these cotton shirts at the $30.00 retail value). Consumer attitudes toward socially responsible apparel, attitudes toward environment, age, and gender were found to be significant factors for consumers' willingness to pay a premium. Four apparel product evaluative criteria, brand name, laundering requirements, color, and fit, were also found to be important for consumers' willingness to pay a premium.

Research limitations/implications

Generalization from the study findings must be assumed with care due to the telephone survey mode.

Practical implications

Apparel businesses planning to offer organic, sustainable, or US‐grown cotton apparel products may want to emphasize certain tangible benefits, such as strong brand, reasonable price, easy care, color, and fit, concurrently with intangible benefits, such as feeling good by helping society and environment.

Originality/value

The findings showed relationships among attitudes, product evaluative criteria, demographic characteristics, and willingness to pay a premium for three different options of socially responsible cotton apparel, in order to help close the gap between attitudes and behavior in consumer research.
Promote healthy eating among adolescents: a Hong Kong study
Authors: Chan Kara , Tsang Lennon
Published: July 2011

Purpose

The objective of the study is to use the constructs in the theory of planned behavior and advertising intervention to predict adolescents' intention for healthy eating.

Design/methodology/approach

A convenience sample survey of 570 secondary school students aged 11 to 19 studying in Form 1 (equivalent to Grade 7) to Form 5 (equivalent to Grade 11) was conducted in Hong Kong.

Findings

Perceived behavior control was the most important factor in predicting behavioral intention for healthy eating, followed by attitude toward healthy eating and subjective norms. Perceived behavior control, attitude and subjective norms together explained 45 percent of the variance of behavioral intention. Respondents' attitudes towards advertisement advocating healthy eating had high positive correlation with attitudes toward healthy eating.

Research limitations/implications

First, the sample was not a probability sample. Second, the data were collected through face‐to‐face interviews and respondents may tend to give socially desirable answers to the questions.

Practical implications

Hong Kong adolescents found healthy eating beneficial and desirable, but boring and not‐enjoyable. Future health promotion campaigns should put emphasis on the fun and enjoyable attributes of healthy eating. As perceived norms were sourced from the government and the family, health campaigns should continue to communicate the positive value of healthy eating to the family, and the society.

Originality/value

The current study is the first to adopt the theory of planned behavior and the advertising intervention to predict the effects on healthy eating in a Chinese society.
A study on metadata elements for web‐based reference resources system developed through usability testing
Authors: Noh Younghee
Published: July 2011

Purpose

To propose correct metadata elements, it was deemed necessary to close the gap between the perception of metadata creators and data creators through a user behavior analysis. This study aims to improve metadata elements of web‐based reference resources.

Design/methodology/approach

The study employed three types of surveys: behavior analysis of metadata creators, perception analysis of users, and system satisfaction. For analysis of metadata creators, the study examined data fields where metadata were recorded among metadata elements of reference resources. For user awareness analysis, respondents were asked to answer the necessity of 17 elements after they actually had entered data and to recommend other necessary elements. Finally, system satisfaction survey was followed.

Findings

As a result, first, it was found that the respondents recognized five elements: contributor, source, data, format, and relation as necessary input elements, which in practice had not been well recorded in real operating systems. The usability test also found that users entered the five elements more than other elements. Second, the first survey experience did not impact the second survey response. It was found that previous experience of system use had significantly impacted respondents' recognition of necessary metadata elements. It was also found that data input rate in the data input test had a significant influence on the change in the perception regarding necessary metadata. Third, the most chosen elements when searching for reference resources were found to be title, subject, description, and creator, in order of frequency. Fourth, respondents were surveyed on their satisfaction regarding nine questions after they had used a system (factor analysis). In this analysis, it was found that the users' satisfaction was relatively high in system usefulness, ease of system use, ease of understanding information, and sufficiency of metadata elements.

Originality/value

Since the 1990s, studies on the development of metadata elements for web‐based reference resources have been made and applied to the real world. Ever since, many reference resources web sites have been developed. However, it was found that no standard metadata format was built for web‐based reference resources and each website provided its own item to the minimal degree. The result of this study can provide a standardized and more consistent service for web‐based resource.
Designing a viable scientific communication model: VSM approach
Authors: Khosrowjerdi Mahmood
Published: July 2011

Purpose

This paper aims to design a viable model for a scholarly communication system.

Design/methodology/approach

Stafford Beer's viable system model (VSM) is an exceptionally insightful analysis tool which has been applied in different fields. This paper illustrates the usefulness of Beer's model as a tool for anticipating, planning, and implementing large‐scale development in the scientific communication domain. Following the Beer thinking of organisational structure and the usefulness of VSM in knowledge management stated by some researchers, a viable scientific communication model (VSCM) was designed.

Findings

The paper has developed a viable scientific communication model which relates personal knowledge about a scientific communication system with Beer's viability thinking.

Research limitations/implications

The designed model is fairly conceptual.

Originality/value

Compared with the earlier models, it seems that the suggested model is not dependent on context, time, and scale. This model may be used in many contexts because the functions and the operations of scholarly communication are unique. This model is viable and can update itself over a period of years. New elements of scholarly communication and the Web 2.0 platforms have also been incorporated into the model.
The mythic campus and the professorial life
Authors: Lisa Panayotidis E. , Stortz Paul
Published: July 2011

Purpose

In 1937, a pictorial fine art map of the University of Toronto was designed and painted by artist Alexander Scott Carter. The map was commissioned by Vincent Massey, then High Commissioner for Canada in Britain, and given as a gift to Hart House. As a vibrantly visual rendition of the university's historical lineage, the map depicts the evolution of the university's various colleges along with its founders, contemporary geographical boundaries, and lush and verdant landscapes. The purpose of this paper is to inquire into its cultural and historical importance.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper analyses, and provides a viewpoint on, A. Scott Carter's map.

Findings

Carter's map reveals the discursive and visual interpretive frameworks in which the map was situated and the narratives and myths that it sanctioned. The map performs an important function in authorizing the collective identity of the university and its actual and imagined communities. It provides a cultural expression of shared values, ideals, and particular historical traditions. The university's place in the hierarchy and tradition of Canadian higher education in the British Commonwealth is embodied in the map at a time when such ideas were under scrutiny by professors and intellectuals who were arguing for the extrication of Canada from colonial inheritances.

Originality/value

Carter's map highlights the university and its integral cultural artifacts, spaces, and practices as being replete with contested meanings, experiences, and symbolism. Through dynamic cartography, new approaches in deciphering the official and informal campus emerge to produce a nuanced and multifaceted historical picture of university and academic cultures.
“A long way to go before we win the battle”
Authors: Openshaw Roger
Published: July 2011

Purpose

During the late 1980s New Zealand, in common with a number of other nations, underwent a controversial restructuring of its public sector, including education. The radical nature of education reform was to be epitomised in the documents Administering for Excellence (the Picot report), and the Labour Government's official response, Tomorrow's Schools. The publication of these documents, however, tended to polarize New Zealand's education sector and the public at large into opposite and opposing camps. This paper aims to address these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

In producing a step‐by‐step analysis of the techniques of persuasion employed during a crucial period of New Zealand's educational history, it will be shown how many of the arguments presented during this time have continued to shape the way we view the educational reforms and their impact more than 20 years later.

Findings

It will be demonstrated that the nature and style of propaganda on both sides was highly sophisticated, expressly aimed at building a constituency that was either supportive or hostile to reform.

Originality/value

This paper is perhaps the first to critically examine the nature and role of propaganda in both promoting the educational reforms and in galvanizing resistance to them. In utilising the very considerable amount of hitherto un‐cited documentary material now available, this paper makes a major contribution to education policy research.
Aligning industrial services with strategies and sources of market differentiation
Authors: Raddats Chris
Published: July 2011

Purpose

The purpose of the paper is to investigate how product‐centric businesses (PCBs), operating in a business‐to‐business environment, develop industrial services to align with their services strategies and sources of market differentiation. PCBs are companies whose businesses were historically based on the products, rather than the services, that they sold.

Design/methodology/approach

This was a UK‐based study that included interviews with 40 managers in 25 industrial companies for whom services are a market differentiator.

Findings

The empirical results show that PCBs' industrial services are aligned with their services strategies and sources of market differentiation and can be categorised, i.e. “discrete services”, closely linked to PCB‐supplied products, either their own or those of other suppliers; “product lifecycle services”, concerned with product‐related activities throughout the lifecycle of a PCB's products; “output‐based solutions”, providing solutions to customers' operational issues. Modularity in design means that service categories are often backward compatible, meaning that PCBs supplying output‐based solutions can also supply product lifecycle and discrete services.

Research limitations/implications

The main limitation is the focus on the perspective of suppliers, with customers likely to impact which service offerings PCBs provide.

Practical implications

PCBs should align industrial services with their resources that provide market differentiation, for example related to their products or relationships with other parties. Whilst it can be valuable to increase the range and depth of services provided to customers, creating modular offerings will ensure that customers are able to find an appropriate level of services engagement with their product suppliers.

Originality/value

The study provides a new typology of PCB service categories that are related to services strategies and sources of market differentiation.
The effect of inconsistent word‐of‐mouth during the service encounter
Authors: Wang Xuehua
Published: July 2011

Purpose

This study aims to investigate the effects of inconsistent word‐of‐mouth on service quality perception and purchase intention during the service encounter.

Design/methodology/approach

A pilot study and a subsequent formal experiment with six scenarios were designed to test the inconsistent word‐of‐mouth effect. Participants were recruited from a major university located in Southern China.

Findings

The results revealed that service quality perception and purchase intention were influenced more by the final word‐of‐mouth event than by the initial one and were more favorable with more positive word‐of‐mouth events.

Research limitations/implications

Further research should study more factors such as source effect of word‐of‐mouth and knowledge about the service in investigating the inconsistent word‐of‐mouth effect on service quality perception and purchase intention.

Practical implications

Consumers' service quality judgment and purchase intention seem to be highly driven by the most recent word‐of‐mouth activities. Thus, to stimulate consumption levels, companies can use creative and innovative promotion tools for consumers to talk about their service and elicit consumers' purchase interest. Other tools such as involving consumers in delivering the service and developing referral incentive schemes are also beneficial to establish positive word‐of‐mouth.

Originality/value

This paper adds value to the word‐of‐mouth literature by studying the inconsistent word‐of‐mouth effect on consumers' perceptions of service quality and purchase intention towards the service, which lacks strong conceptual and empirical evidence.
Customers' relationship expectations and costs as segmentation variables: preliminary evidence from banking
Authors: Dimitriadis Sergios
Published: July 2011

Purpose

This paper aims to explore benefits customers expect from a long‐term relationship with their bank and the costs associated with such a relationship; it further tests these relational benefits and costs as segmentation variables.

Design/methodology/approach

A qualitative study based on three focus groups was designed to provide initial input on different types of expected relational benefits and costs. Then, quantitative data were collected from a survey of 209 real bank customers.

Findings

Analysis reveals five types of expected benefits and two types of costs. Four clusters were formed out of these seven expected benefits/costs. These clusters are also different on demographic, behavioral and psychographic variables and present clear and consistent relational profiles.

Research limitations/implications

Scales developed from the focus groups need further validation. Also, findings should be considered as sector and context specific. This work brings additional insight into the nature of expected relational benefits and costs, supports their usefulness for customer segmentation and offers opportunities for studying relational benefits and costs in an integrated way.

Practical implications

Findings provide managers with a better understanding of what customers value in the relationship with their bank and what keeps customers back from having a “close” relationship. Also, relational benefits/costs segmentation is suggested as a powerful tool for targeting and positioning.

Originality/value

The study identifies new types of relational benefits and costs. It is the first time expected relational benefits and costs are studied together and confirmed as meaningful segmentation variables.
Do switching barriers in the retail banking industry influence bank customers in different age groups differently?
Authors: Tesfom Goitom , Birch Nancy J.
Published: July 2011

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine whether switching barriers in the retail banking industry affect different age groups differently.

Design/methodology/approach

Questionnaires were administered to 188 bank customers of different age groups, measuring their perception of variables related to relational benefits, switching costs, availability and attractiveness of alternatives, service recovery and retention.

Findings

Results from independent two‐sample t‐tests and logistic regression support all five hypotheses, confirming that young and older bank customers differ significantly in their perception of switching barriers: relational benefits, switching costs, availability and attractiveness of alternatives, service recovery and the duration of time they intend to end their relationship with their banks.

Research limitations/implications

This study was conducted among employees of two higher education institutions. Thus, further research needs to test the research results in a diverse population.

Practical implications

Since younger customers are more likely to change their banks easily, if retail banks want to retain younger customers they need to offer more meaningful incentives to younger customers than they offer to older customers. In terms of practice the findings in this research highlight the need for managers to design different switching barrier packages for each customer age group.

Originality/value

Researchers in the past have found a close association between customer age and bank product usage and have shown that switching barriers play an important role in binding the customer to the service organization. However this research not only validates the switching barrier variables that affect different age groups differently but also elevates the role of age in banks switching barrier design.
Effects of organizational ethical culture on the ethical decisions of tax practitioners in mainland China
Authors: Shafer William E. , Simmons Richard S.
Published: July 2011

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of organizational ethical culture on the ethical decisions of tax practitioners in mainland China.

Design/methodology/approach

The study is based on a field survey of practicing public accountants.

Findings

As hypothesized, certain dimensions of ethical culture had highly significant effects on intentions to engage in aggressive tax minimization strategies. Cultures characterized by strong ethical norms and incentives for ethical behavior significantly reduced the reported likelihood of engaging in unethical behavior in a high moral intensity case. In a low moral intensity case, intentions to engage in questionable behavior were significantly higher when participants felt that top managers in their firm were unethical and rewarded unethical behavior. Relativism judgments (judgments of what is traditionally or culturally acceptable or acceptable to one's family) emerged as the strongest determinant of behavioral intentions across both cases. Participants also appeared highly sensitive to questions regarding what is traditionally or culturally acceptable in Chinese tax practice.

Originality/value

This is the first study of ethical decision making among tax practitioners in mainland China, and the findings add to a growing body of literature documenting the significant effects of organizational ethical context on public accountants' decision making processes. This has important implications for CPA firms, suggesting that proactive steps should be taken to promote supportive ethical contexts. The findings for the effects of relativism judgments raise concerns regarding the ethical decisions of Chinese tax practitioners, implying they are likely to engage in unethical behavior if they feel such behavior is common in their cultural environment.
Writing masters and accountants in England
Authors: R. Edwards John , Anderson Malcolm
Published: July 2011

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to address the lack of knowledge of the accounting occupational group in England prior to the formation of professional accounting bodies. It aims to do so by focusing on attempts made by writing masters and accountants to establish a recognisable persona in the public domain, in England, during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and to enhance that identity by behaving in a manner designed to persuade the public of the professionalism associated with themselves and their work.

Design/methodology/approach

– The study is based principally on the contents of early accounting treatises and secondary sources drawn from beyond the accounting literature. Notions of identity, credentialism and jurisdiction are employed to help understand and evaluate the occupational history of the writing master and accountant occupational group.

Findings

– Writing masters and accountants emerged as specialist pedagogues providing the expert business knowledge required in the counting houses of entities that flourished as the result of rapid commercial expansion during the early modern period. Their demise as an occupational group may be attributed to a range of factors, amongst which an emphasis on personal identity, the neglect of group identity and derogation of the writing craft were most important.

Research limitations/implications

– The paper highlights Early English Books Online (available at: http://eebo.chadwyck.com/home), Eighteenth Century Collections Online (available at: www.gale.cengage.com/DigitalCollections/products/ecco/index.htm) and the seventeenth and eighteenth century Burney Collection Newspapers as first class electronic resources now available for studying accounting history from the sixteenth century through to the eighteenth century.

Originality/value

– The paper advances knowledge of accounting history by: profiling commercial educators active in England in the early modern period; studying the devices they employed to achieve upward social and economic trajectory; explaining the failure of an embryonic professionalisation initiative; and demonstrating the contingent nature of the professionalisation process.
Re‐engineering pre‐employment check‐up systems: a model for improving health services
Authors: Abdel Hakim Rateb Said , Abdel Razek El Nouman Azza , Abdel Hakim Rateb Moshira , Naguib Asar Mohamed , Mohammed El Amin Ayman , abdel Aziz Gad Saad , Salah Eldin Mohamed Mohamed
Published: July 2011

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to develop a model for improving health services provided by the pre‐employment medical fitness check‐up system affiliated to Egypt's Health Insurance Organization (HIO).

Design/methodology/approach

Operations research, notably system re‐engineering, is used in six randomly selected centers and findings before and after re‐engineering are compared. The re‐engineering model follows a systems approach, focusing on three areas: structure, process and outcome. The model is based on six main components: electronic booking, standardized check‐up processes, protected medical documents, advanced archiving through an electronic content management (ECM) system, infrastructure development, and capacity building. The model originates mainly from customer needs and expectations.

Findings

The centers' monthly customer flow increased significantly after re‐engineering. The mean time spent per customer cycle improved after re‐engineering – 18.3±5.5 minutes as compared to 48.8±14.5 minutes before. Appointment delay was also significantly decreased from an average 18 to 6.2 days. Both beneficiaries and service providers were significantly more satisfied with the services after re‐engineering. The model proves that re‐engineering program costs are exceeded by increased revenue.

Research limitations/implications

Re‐engineering in this study involved multiple structure and process elements. The literature review did not reveal similar re‐engineering healthcare packages. Therefore, each element was compared separately.

Practical implications

This model is highly recommended for improving service effectiveness and efficiency.

Originality/value

This research is the first in Egypt to apply the re‐engineering approach to public health systems. Developing user‐friendly models for service improvement is an added value.
Homegrown process improvement employing a change message model
Authors: Hammond Gregory D. , Gresch Eric B. , Vitale Dean C.
Published: July 2011

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide a framework for the employee‐led development of a planned organizational change.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors, as action researchers, aid a large public sector organization through the diagnosis and planning of an organizational change. The data were collected via mixed method web‐based surveys, while the change development and implementation planning leveraged change‐cynical opinion leaders from within the organization to develop the focal change.

Findings

Communication and participation transformed the cynics into change agents. Furthermore, the described technique can help organizations develop a sense of self‐reliance with regards to problem‐solving capabilities.

Originality/value

While the importance of communication is well‐known, this effort used change communication as an a priori tool in the development of a planned change. This method enabled team members to focus on helping their peers accept the change in addition to meeting operational requirements. Furthermore, using change cynics as the principal participants in the change development enabled the organization to garner support from its toughest critics.
Interfacial reaction and dissolution behavior of Cu substrate in molten Sn‐3.8Ag‐0.7Cu in the presence of Mo nanoparticles
Authors: Arafat M.M. , Haseeb A.S.M.A. , Rafie Johan Mohd
Published: July 2011

Purpose

In electronic packaging, when solid copper comes in contact with liquid solder alloy, the former dissolves and intermetallic compounds (IMCs) form at the solid‐liquid interface. The purpose of this paper is to study the effect of the presence of molybdenum nanoparticles on the dissolution of copper and the formation of interfacial IMC.

Design/methodology/approach

Cu wire having a diameter of 250 μm is immersed in liquid composite solders at 250°C up to 15 min. Composite solder was prepared by adding various amount of Mo nanoparticles into the Sn‐3.8Ag‐0.7Cu (SAC) solder paste. The dissolution behavior of Cu substrate is studied for SAC and Mo nanoparticles added SAC solders. The IMCs and its microstructure between the solder and substrate are analyzed by using conventional scanning electron microscope (SEM) and field emission SEM. The elemental analysis was done by using energy‐dispersive X‐ray spectroscopy.

Findings

Generally, the dissolution of the substrate increases with increasing immersion time but decreases with the increase of the content of Mo nanoparticles in the solder. The IMC thickness increases with increasing the reaction time but Mo nanoparticles can hinder the growth of IMC layer. The presence of Mo nanoparticle is found to be effective in reducing the dissolution of copper into SAC solder.

Originality/value

The paper shows that molybdenum nanoparticles in liquid SAC solders have a prominent effect on the substrate dissolution rate and the interfacial IMC between the SAC solder and copper substrate.
Records management in English local government: the effect of freedom of information
Authors: Shepherd Elizabeth , Stevenson Alice , Flinn Andrew
Published: July 2011

Purpose

University College London (UCL) ran a research project over 12 months in 2008‐2009, funded by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council, which examined what the impact of the UK Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 2000 had been on records management services in local government. This paper aims to report on some of the findings of the study, with a focus on the practical records management issues.

Design/methodology/approach

The research considered the three perspectives of records managers: institutional FOI; policy managers; and FOI requestors and user communities. Following an extensive literature review, qualitative research methods were used to gather data, specifically semi‐structured interviewing of 27 individuals from 19 different institutions in London and the South East of England and with 11 requestors.

Findings

The findings reported in this paper focus on records services in local government, in particular their organisational location and status, and aspects of the management of current and non‐current records, including those in digital formats.

Research limitations/implications

This paper is one of the outputs of a grant‐funded project, which documents the results of research in FOI from a records management perspective and makes a contribution to the wider debate about access to information. It attempts to survey user responses, which has been an overlooked aspect of other FOI and records management research.

Practical implications

There are some implications for good practice in records management policy and systems and in the location of records functions in local government.

Originality/value

Local government is an under‐researched field in respect of information management and FOI, when compared with other parts of the public sector, and this is therefore a significant contribution to knowledge in this field.
Retail promotions and information sharing in the supply chain: a controlled experiment
Authors: Tokar Travis , Aloysius John A. , Waller Matthew A. , Williams Brent D.
Published: July 2011

Purpose

Communication between supply chain partners is critical for replenishment decision making. Decision support systems still require significant human decision making with regard to replenishment when promotions are involved. The purpose of this paper is to study the impact of the sharing of information about the magnitude and timing of retail promotions on cost efficiency in the supply chain. The authors compare performance against theoretical benchmarks and draw conclusions significant to managers.

Design/methodology/approach

The subjects in Study 1, 30 undergraduate students at a large, US university, completed the experiment in a single session lasting approximately 60 minutes. The experiment involved a simple, multi‐period replenishment task, played as individuals, that was somewhat like the newsvendor game. Subjects in the experiment employed in Study 2 were senior‐level members of multiple departments from a large consumer products manufacturer in the USA. Participating departments included sales, operations, and supply chain. Self‐reported questionnaires revealed that the average subject had 15 years of experience with supply chain issues and seven years of experience with replenishment. The study was conducted in a single session, lasting approximately two hours, at the corporate headquarters of the participating company. In this experiment, 76 unique subjects participated.

Findings

Results from the single‐echelon study reveal the cost‐reducing effect of knowing the magnitude and timing of demand generated by a promotion. However, the poor performance, compared with the theoretical benchmarks, by respondents in the multi‐echelon study, even when the lead time per node is half that of the single‐echelon case and the subjects were experienced managers, highlights the complexity of the task that results from a lack of coordination.

Practical implications

Billions of dollars are spent on retail promotions each year. The management of the forecasting and replenishment of inventory for such promotions is difficult to automate and requires significant human decision making. The paper explores some key issues that are important in the replenishment decision‐making scenario when a promotion is involved.

Originality/value

Although the most obvious managerial recommendation for reducing the coordination and planning problems associated with promotions is simply to communicate more, the authors' research also suggests it may not be enough to alter performance. The results suggest that while communication is helpful, coordination may represent a more serious challenge.