bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Coaching can be storyselling: creating change through crises of confidence
Authors: Lapp Cheryl A. , Carr Adrian N.
Published: September 2008

Purpose

To show the reader that storytelling can be seen as a form of seduction based on emotional response and thereby preventing a change process within the organisation.

Design/methodology/approach

Case study in relation to a psychoanalytic approach to text as a place for emotional control.

Findings

Storytelling without psychodynamic analysis becomes easily storyselling.

Research limitations/implications

Text is seen as carrier of emotions that can be corrected through psychodynamics which implies that there remains hope for enlightment by the text.

Practical implications

Every form of storytelling is a form of addressing an audience that needs to be made aware of the psychodynamics of the text as part of the author.

Originality/value

The worst stories that are sold are those we sell best to ourselves.
Beyond the hegemonic narrative – a study of managers
Authors: Vickers David
Published: September 2008

Purpose

The aim is to analyse managerial behaviour using narrative analysis to identify stories that are often ignored, silenced or missed by the hegemonic managerialist narrative.

Design/methodology/approach

An ethnographic narrative based on an 18 month period of participant observation where the author was a manager in a business unit acquired by another company for $1 billion.

Findings

Strategy can be diverted or altered by managers lower down the organization in a counter strategy process. This is consistent with Dalton where managers lower down the organization adapt and change strategy to make it work in practice.

Research limitations/implications

Participant observation and ethnomethodological narrative analysis have the potential to go beyond the hegemonic managerialist literature and identify a much more complex picture. However, such research is always open to criticism as being from the author's “own perspective” and appearing to claim “omnipresence.” Other stories have been given voice but it is never possible to say that all stories have been recovered from the silencing processes of the organization.

Practical implications

A clearer understanding of how management operates counter strategies within an organization in practice. This enables organizations to reconsider how they engage managers beyond the hegemonic narrative.

Originality/value

This paper aims to provide an insight into management behaviour beyond the usual treatment of managers as an amorphous mass as is common in most of the hegemonic managerialist narrative. When managers are told the narratives in this paper they can recount their own similar stories yet these are rarely told.
Storytellers and their discursive strategies in a post‐acquisition process
Authors: Steuer Ruth , Wood Thomaz
Published: September 2008

Purpose

The aim is to discuss how storytelling can be used in different ways to enlighten change processes occurring within and after a takeover situation.

Design/methodology/approach

Case study reseach based on in‐depth interviews critically examined as forms of narratives.

Findings

Storytelling gives the organisation the possibility to change its goals.

Research limitations/implications

Through storytelling analysis contradictions and limitations are provoked within the takeover process.

Practical implications

Storytelling is always about various stories, which one needs to read into practice.

Originality/value

The paper illustrates the value of aquisitions as seen through the eyes of the key players.
I am not your hero: change management and culture shocks in a public sector corporation
Authors: Fronda Yannick , Moriceau Jean‐Luc
Published: September 2008

Purpose

A description of the managerial impact on change processes during a takeover with middle management in the telecom industry.

Design/methodology/approach

The approach is to use storytelling as a form of analysis of different positions within an organization, as described in a case study.

Findings

By not including the voice of the middle managers, higher management runs into problems in the implementation of change processes.

Research limitations/implications

By using narratives as a source for analysis, the paper does not try to gain objective insights into change processes.

Practical implications

Resistance to change can prove a safeguard against too optimistic change.

Originality/value

The paper shows that several layers of change that interact with one another as proof of the confrontation between grand narratives and ante‐narratives.
Living among stories: everyday life at a South Western bank
Authors: Linda Musacchio Adorisio Anna
Published: September 2008

Purpose

This paper aims to problematize the idea that organizations can be understood as written text. Most of the work done in narrative analysis for organizational studies (OS) relies on an interpretation of narrative which is anchored to the formalist/structuralist tradition. The aim is to review the exiting literature and propose an alternative understanding of the phenomena. In particular, the paper will argue that text analysis should be complemented with analysis of the experience of the people involved in the studied processes. The reductionist character of structural analysis cannot fit the complexity and uniqueness of the everyday life in organizations.

Design/methodology/approach

The approach is ethnographic research methodology. Data were collected during long unstructured interviews and daily informal conversations. Brochures, newsletter publications from the bank and archival information were also analyzed.

Findings

Storytelling in the bank studied shows a constant movement between two poles: the stabilizing forms of social determinacy and the destabilizing forms of experience.

Originality/value

To incorporate the dimension of experience into narrative research for OS and bringing the phenomenological sensitivity of the studies of everyday life into the management field.
Leading adaptive organizational change: self‐reflexivity and self‐transformation
Authors: Eriksen Matthew
Published: September 2008

Purpose

The aim of this paper is to give an account of a self‐evaluation process in a change programme within the US Coast Guard.

Design/methodology/approach

This is an autoethnographical account as form of reflection on a leadership in position facilitating change within the organization.

Findings

Adaptive organizational change is a human endeavor, not a scientific application of techniques and skills.

Research limitations/implications

The authoethnography points mainly only to a change process of the writer and is therefore hardly an abstract model for others.

Practical implications

Meaningful organizational transformation does not occur without a corresponding self‐transformation, most importantly of the individual leading the change.

Originality/value

Changing oneself by managing change process as a leader, one has to become the change process in order to be successful.
Workplace learning: narrative and professionalization
Authors: Letiche Hugo , v Boeschoten Robert , de Jong Frank
Published: September 2008

Purpose

To show how the stories told by people in organisations need to be reckoned with in order to give change a chance.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper's approach is a case study and analytical approach to storytelling.

Findings

Stories are told from different perspectives, related to what needs to be achieved by the audience.

Research limitations/implications

The scope of the paper is framed by the analytical approach to storytelling which in this case is related to learning modes.

Practical implications

Organisations that are open for change need to give room to individual voice/stories in order to live up to the possibilities of change.

Originality/value

Stories do not always address an audience that is supposed to hear the story; they can get out of control.
Thermal profiling: a reflow process based on the heating factor
Authors: Gang Gao Jin , Ping Wu Yi , Ding Han , Hong Wan Nian
Published: September 2008

Purpose

This paper aims to offer a convenient method to develop an oven recipe for a specific soldering profile in a reflow process. The method is devised to quickly achieve proper profile shape and heating factorQη, a measure of success for high reliability of the solder joints reflowed.

Design/methodology/approach

An in‐depth analysis of the heating mechanism and some experiments of the reflow soldering process are performed to research on how to realize a specific shape reflow profile were conducted.

Findings

Heating mechanism analysis and experiments demonstrate that the combinatorial parameters based method is feasible to do thermal profiling.

Research limitations/implications

The mapping function among a particular configured PCBA, an oven used, a target reflow profile and an optimal range of the heating factor should be further established for fast and reliable production of reflow soldering.

Practical implications

Provides a methodology for designing an oven recipe for reflow soldering production.

Originality/value

An oven recipe can be quickly attained with the approach established in this paper, facilitating the formation of solder joints with high reliability during the reflow soldering process.
Workmanship standards and their application on ESA projects
Authors: Dunn Barrie D.
Published: September 2008

Purpose

This paper aims to describe some of the European Space Agency (ESA) workmanship standards which are based on industrial practices. Coordination with National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Centres on workmanship issues is also to be described.

Design/methodology/approach

The first ESA (then ESRO) workmanship standard was published in 1972. It applied to the hand soldering of electronic assemblies and became a contractual document, either replacing, or supplementing a vast number of company standards that had existed in European manufacturing companies. Since then some 40 standards related to Materials and Processes have been developed by ESA, the majority of which are to be found in the European Cooperation for Space Standardization (ECSS) series of European standards.

Findings

It is shown that, where appropriate, the standards are backed by a number of ESA‐approved skills training schools which provide training courses that result in the certification of operators, inspectors and instructors.

Originality/value

The workmanship standards are periodically revised in order to take into account newly developed technologies, the results of failure analyses (lessons learnt), laboratory and field test results, as well as some particular requests from industry.
Exclusion, inclusion and changing the face of information systems research
Authors: Cushman Mike , McLean Rachel
Published: September 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the issues of social and digital exclusion and inclusion arising from the development of a digitalised society. It aims to highlight the significance of this for the study of information systems by describing the context for this special issue, outlining a number of previously under‐researched areas, giving an overview of the papers chosen for this special issue and describing future directions for research that recognise non‐users and marginal users as important actors in designing and evaluating systems in use.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper sets the scene by discussing the impact of mass involvement in digital culture on the field of information systems and analyses each paper, suggesting ways in which they relate to the chosen themes and drawing conclusions from this discussion.

Findings

The papers chosen address thematic issues, theoretical foundations, methodological issues, empirical studies and reflections on inclusion and exclusion from the digital society.

Originality/value

The paper highlights the growing interest in engagement with the digital culture in the information systems discipline and enables reflection on barriers and opportunities for developing research across boundaries of disciplines, cultures, organizations and accepted topics. It indicates that information systems researchers have an ethical responsibility to consider the impacts of innovations on the least powerful in society as well as the more privileged.
Inequality of what? Social exclusion in the e‐society as capability deprivation
Authors: Zheng Yingqin , Walsham Geoff
Published: September 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to engage with the debate on social exclusion in the e‐society from the human development perspective, which goes beyond inequality in distribution of technological goods and services to emphasise the options, choice and opportunities related to accessing and using information.

Design/methodology/approach

This is an interpretivist study. It draws on Sen's capability approach (CA) to conceptualise social exclusion in the e‐society as capability deprivation, both in well‐being and agency freedom. A framework of the core aspects of the CA is used to analyse two empirical studies in South Africa and China which serve to illustrate social exclusion manifested as capability deprivation in different “spaces”.

Findings

The paper demonstrates the relational features of social exclusion and different types of capability deprivation in e‐society; highlights “unfavourable inclusion” which can be masked by technological diffusion.

Research limitations/implications

This paper is an early attempt to apply the capability approach to social studies of information communication technologies in developing countries.

Practical implications

The paper provides implications for government policies to go beyond technological provision and pay attention to socio‐political, cultural and institutional aspects in ensuring effective utilisation of information and channels of communication, which should serve to enhance people's opportunity to better participate in economic, social and political activities.

Originality/value

The paper is a novel attempt to apply concepts of the CA in information systems, which provides a conceptual lens to address the complexity and multiplicity of social exclusion in the e‐society.
Bringing lost sheep into the fold: questioning the discourse of the digital divide
Authors: Klecun Ela
Published: September 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to critique the discourse of the digital divide and to propose ways of responding to digital inequalities.

Design/methodology/approach

Illustrations of arguments are based on reviews of academic literature, projects reports, policy documents and research findings from the Penceil project, and are informed by critical theory. The research consisted of 47 semi‐structured interviews and action research involving designing an e‐literacy curriculum and running a course based on it.

Findings

A discourse of missed opportunities and “being left behind”, present in policy statements and popular media, leads to objectifying non‐users of information and communication technologies (ICT) as “others”. This discourse is often internalised by non‐users, but it does not necessarily lead to positive actions, leaving some feeling inadequate. So far initiatives seeking to address the digital divide have had moderate success. To respond to digital exclusion we need to oppose the unchecked spread of e‐services, and help non‐users of ICT to become users or (if they choose to) informed “refusniks”. Initiatives aiming to facilitate people's sustainable and meaningful use of ICT ought to draw on individual and community resources. A curriculum should be determined by learners' experiences and their expressions of needs, and go beyond IT skills.

Research limitations/implications

The paper does not offer a comprehensive review of digital exclusion, concentrating instead on chosen problems and arguments. It is based on the UK experience, and thus more relevant to developed rather than developing countries.

Practical implications

The paper raises awareness of different issues related to digital exclusion and ways of addressing them.

Originality/value

The paper calls to question current discourse and initiatives addressing the digital divide, highlighting their limitations. It presents alternative ways of responding to digital exclusion.
Excluded again: implications of integrated e‐government systems for those at the margins
Authors: Letch Nick , Carroll Jennie
Published: September 2008

Purpose

This paper seeks to highlight a poorly‐understood dimension of digital exclusion that is not related to access to information and communication technologies (ICTs), but rather to the reduction in flexibility for providing and administering public services following the implementation of an integrated e‐government system.

Design/methodology/approach

A case study of a project focused on reducing barriers to the delivery of driver licensing services to a remote indigenous community in Australia was undertaken and the data were analysed using Klinget al.'s socio‐technical interaction network (STIN) modelling approach.

Findings

The paper makes four recommendations to improve the licensing situation for the community that are induced from the findings. In particular the paper draws attention to the need to carefully analyse possible negative impacts of any e‐government initiative for those at the margins of society.

Research limitations/implications

The paper aims to analyse the current situation as the foundation for recommending future actions. These can form the basis for subsequent interventions in the licensing situation.

Practical implications

This research provides an outsiders' overview of the licensing situation and recommendations for change that take account of a diversity of viewpoints and interests.

Originality/value

The paper contributes to our understanding of the relationship between ICTs and social exclusion in three ways. It provides a rich narrative describing the secondary impacts of integrated e‐government systems, a theoretically grounded analysis of the situation and some recommendations for addressing some of the implications at both the community level as well as calling for more careful evaluation of possible negative consequences about shifting service provision to integrated systems.
Gay men, Gaydar and the commodification of difference
Authors: Light Ben , Fletcher Gordon , Adam Alison
Published: September 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate information communications technologies (ICT)‐mediated inclusion and exclusion in terms of sexuality through a study of a commercial social networking web site for gay men.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper uses an approach based on technological inscription and the commodification of difference to study Gaydar, a commercial social networking site.

Findings

Through the activities, events and interactions offered by Gaydar, the study identifies a series of contrasting identity constructions and market segmentations that are constructed through the cyclic commodification of difference. These are fuelled by a particular series of meanings attached to gay male sexualities which serve to keep gay men positioned as a niche market.

Research limitations/implications

The research centres on the study of one, albeit widely used, web site with a very specific set of purposes. The study offers a model for future research on sexuality and ICTs.

Originality/value

This study places sexuality centre stage in an ICT‐mediated environment and provides insights into the contemporary phenomenon of social networking. As a sexualised object, Gaydar presents a semiosis of politicised messages that question heteronormativity while simultaneously contributing to the definition of an increasingly globalised, commercialised and monolithic form of gay male sexuality defined against ICT.
Identifying and managing bullying in the workplace
Authors: Townend Anni
Published: September 2008

Purpose

The article sheds light on the phenomenon of bullying in the workplace and the need to create truly assertive and inclusive organizations in which business leaders and employees embrace diversity in all they do.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper presents a framework of assertiveness and diversity, of openness, trust and respect, which can benefit everyone in the workplace.

Findings

The reveals that a lack of awareness of self and others, and a fear of difference, is the underlying cause of bullying.

Practical implications

The paper shows that that, by integrating diversity awareness into everything that people do, and valuing people for their “gifts different,” bullying can be tackled.

Originality/value

The author argues that people change their behavior when given support and encouragement to understand the impact of their behavior on others, and that they can be helped to appreciate their differences and thus build bigger relationships in which more and greater business opportunities are realized.
Business acumen: a critical concern of modern leadership development
Authors: Ted Prince E.
Published: September 2008

Purpose

The paper examines why leadership development needs to pay more attention to business acumen.

Design/methodology/approach

The article reveals why traditional leadership‐development approaches, which rely on personality and competency assessments as the scientific core of their approach, are failing. It also highlights how powerful global economic trends such as the economic slowdown, shortages of key commodities, emerging countries that have little or no familiarity with traditional leadership approaches, and environmental cost‐benefit issues are also converging to increase the importance of business acumen in leadership‐development approaches.

Findings

The author contends that research in the area of business acumen will have an increasing impact on the leadership‐development and HR agendas.

Practical implications

The paper demonstrates that leadership‐development, organizational‐development and HR specialists will need rapidly to absorb these new findings and to incorporate them into their leadership development and their executive‐selection and recruitment programs.

Originality/value

The article provides a convincing case for business acumen to play a more significant role in leadership development.
Reasons to be cheerful
Authors: McPherson Blair
Published: September 2008

Purpose

The paper focuses on ways of tackling low staff morale in a large public‐sector organization.

Design/methodology/approach

The author argues that the quality of leadership and the people‐management skills of line managers affect employee morale, yet people can feel positive about the work of their team or service but negative about the organization they work for. The paper reveals that, in addition to factors outside the organization's control, effective communications, a skilled workforce, clarity of roles and responsibilities, and a performance‐orientated culture where success is measured against targets and progress is informed by best practice, can all help to improve staff morale.

Findings

Lancashire County Council, where the author is Director of Community Services, put its efforts into process reengineering – reducing paperwork, streamlining processes and delegating decisions closer to the front line, developing managers' people‐management skills and establishing a safe environment where staff had the opportunity and confidence to say what they were really thinking.

Practical implications

The author advances the view that organizations introducing major change should spend more time and effort explaining why change is necessary and create more opportunities for staff to influence how changes are implemented.

Originality/value

The paper provides an insider's perspective on ways of improving employee morale in a large public‐sector organization.
Investigating antecedents and consequences of brand identification
Authors: Kuenzel Sven , Vaux Halliday Sue
Published: September 2008

Purpose

This study aims to analyse the influences of prestige, satisfaction, and communication on brand identification and to show how brand identification influences word‐of‐mouth and brand repurchase.

Design/methodology/approach

A theoretical model is developed and tested with a sample of car owners in the UK of two global car brands. Structural equation modelling was used with LISREL 8.54 and the maximum likelihood (ML) method.

Findings

This paper draws mainly on the theory of social identity to provide a comprehensive understanding of conditions under which brand owners are likely to identify with their brand and the bases and consequences of such identification. It was shown that prestige, satisfaction, and communication effect brand identification. The study confirms that consumers' development of relationships via brand identification results in word of mouth about the brand and intentions to repurchase the brand. Furthermore, it was found that brand identification fully mediates the influences of prestige, satisfaction, and communication on word of mouth and brand repurchase.

Research limitations/implications

The focus was on one country and one industry.

Practical implications

Managers are provided with strategies that enhance the identification of their customers with their brand so that they can strengthen the customers' brand identification. Areas for future research are suggested. For instance, it could be interesting to test the model in a different industry and/or cultural context.

Originality/value

Very few previous studies have looked at brand identification which is surprising considering it is such an important variable to influence word‐of‐mouth and brand repurchase. The study tests three antecedents to brand identification and two outcomes that have not been investigated previously. Overall, the study adds knowledge in this somewhat neglected area.
Global brand equity model: combining customer‐based with product‐market outcome approaches
Authors: Wang Haizhong , Wei Yujie , Yu Chunling
Published: September 2008

Purpose

There is a growing interest in brand formation and brand valuation among global firms today, but global marketers typically ignore one of the key factors of brand building – corporation ability association (CAA). This paper aims to explore the structural relationship between CAA and consumer‐based brand equity variables and its product‐market outcomes.

Design/methodology/approach

Utilizing Aaker and Keller's theoretical framework of brand equity, this paper develops a brand equity model combining customer‐based brand equity with product‐market outcome approaches. A set of scales are developed and tested on a national sample of Chinese consumers.

Findings

The data provide support for ten of the 12 hypotheses. The results indicate that CAA is an important factor in building and preserving brand equity. CAA and brand awareness have impact on quality perception, which has positive impact on brand resonance, brand extensibility, and price flexibility. Brand resonance has positive influence on brand extensibility and the intention to repurchase.

Practical implications

For global marketers operating in China, brand equity is a cultural market‐based asset and global companies must focus on building corporation ability association in China in order to enjoy the substantial competitive and economic advantages provided by brand equity. Theoretically, the proposed brand equity model is an extension of the model proposed by Keller.

Originality/value

For the first time, CAA is integrated into fhe brand equity model. This may provide a theoretical base for further research in the endorsement role of company ability in brand equity building.
The dirt on bikes: an illustration of CART models for brand differentiation
Authors: Lu Jiang , Kadane Joseph B. , Boatwright Peter
Published: September 2008

Purpose – The primary purpose of this study is to illustrate a statistical method to identify product attributes that differentiate branded products from those of competitors. Design/methodology/approach – The authors use classification and regression tree (CART) models in an analysis of observable characteristics of a mature category of relatively complex products, dirt bikes. Findings – The authors show how the CART model can be used as a tool for identifying brand differences and to summarize product categories in terms of these key differences. Research limitations/implications – The work focuses on physical specifications of the products at one point in time. An important area for future extensions will be to incorporate consumer utility into the analysis. Practical implications – The approach will offer value to brand managers and product managers who have a goal of maintaining the alignment of the brand with the underlying observable differentiation of the branded products. The approach can also serve as the basis for a product/brand performance report (similar to consumer reports) by identifying a select set of product characteristics that differ across brands. Originality/value – Products serve as influential sources of information about a brand's identity. To the extent that observable product characteristics do not match brand claims, consumers may question the brand's authenticity. Although for some products it may be a reasonably simple task to identify the set of observable product attributes that have implications for the brand identity, the task can be challenging for many products. The authors employ an analysis technique to reveal product characteristics that are consistent within brand product lines but that differ across brands.
Causal path modeling of grocery shopping in hypermarkets
Authors: Shannon Randall , Mandhachitara Rujirutana
Published: September 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine attitudinal and behavioral shopping patterns related to hypermarket shopping in an Asian market, which has undergone a revolutionary transition from traditional to modern trade food retailing in the past decade. The first class includes shopping enjoyment, risk aversion, price signaling, innovativeness, trust and future purchase intentions. The second group of behavioral shopping patterns includes advocacy, time, and money spent shopping.

Design/methodology/approach

A sample of 244 shoppers was interviewed across Bangkok using a structured questionnaire through face‐to‐face personal interviews.

Findings

The study finds that grocery shoppers tend to be more risk averse when time pressured, but less risk averse if they are innovative. Bangkok Thais score high on innovativeness and shopping enjoyment and are more frequent patrons of hypermarkets than other grocery store formats. While a particular aspect of hypermarket grocery shopping behavior is found to relate to advocacy and future loyalty intentions, it does not contribute to enhanced store trust.

Research limitations/implications

While Thailand is part of Southeast Asia, not all countries share the same cultures or consumer behavior. Similarly, as Bangkok is a mega city, it cannot be said to represent rural parts of the country.

Practical implications

As the majority of modern retailers are owned and managed by western countries, the format is relatively new in most Asian markets. Their growth has not evolved naturally and may result in cross‐cultural consumer behavior conflicts, thus findings help extant or new retailers better understand consumer behavior. Because of high risk aversion, private label brands may require that stores develop greater trust among consumers, perhaps through sampling or building awareness of the concept behind private label. Thai hypermarket shoppers appear driven more by convenience than by time pressure. Because they tend to shop in groups and enjoy this experience, retailers may want to consider more of the experiential or social aspects involved in shopping, rather than purely functional offerings.

Originality/value

By applying predominantly western theories to a developing Asian market, their generalizability can be tested.
Studying Chinese generation Y consumers' involvement in fashion clothing and perceived brand status
Authors: O'Cass Aron , Choy Eric
Published: September 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this article is to examine Chinese generation Y consumers' fashion clothing involvement effects on specific brand related consumer responses including brand status, brand attitude and willingness to pay a premium for a specific brand.

Design/methodology/approach

A self‐completion questionnaire survey was administered in China to university students aged between 18 and 25.

Findings

A consumer's level of involvement was found to have positive effect on brand related responses such as perception of brand status and brand attitude. Further brand status and brand attitude were found to have positive impacts on consumer's willingness to pay a premium for a specific brand.

Research limitations/implications

First, based on the student sample used for study it may not be possible to generalize the effects found to non‐students. Second, the findings from this study focusing on fashion clothing brands are perhaps limited in their generalisability to other product categories.

Practical implications

An important finding that is beneficial to marketing practitioners in China, especially for those in the fashion industry, is the findings that maintaining the status of a brand would be more effective with highly involved consumers leading to an overall more positive attitude. Marketing initiatives with status building objectives are therefore essential for enabling brands to command higher prices.

Originality/value

This paper expands understanding of consumer behaviour related to Chinese generation Y consumer behaviour, fashion clothing involvement and status branding.
Price fairness
Authors: Diller Herman
Published: September 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this article is to integrate the various strands of fair price research into a concise conceptual model.

Design/methodology/approach

The proposed price fairness model is based on a review of the fair pricing literature, incorporating research reported in not only English but also German.

Findings

The proposed fair price model depicts seven components of a fair price: distributive fairness, consistent behaviour, personal respect and regard for the partner, fair dealing, price honesty, price reliability, and influence/right of co‐determination.

Practical implications

Since buyers' purchase decisions are influenced by their subjective perception of price fairness, sellers need to understand what constitutes a fair price.

Originality/value

This model provides a concise representation of the multi‐dimensional concept of price fairness. It identifies aspects of a fair price which have hitherto received little research; for example, the need for personal respect for the partner and the right of co‐determination.
The effect of buyer's gender, risk‐proneness, and time remaining in an internet auction on the decision to bid or buy‐it‐now
Authors: Shehryar Omar
Published: September 2008

Purpose

This paper aims to study how buyers' gender and risk proclivity, and the time remaining in an internet auction, influence whether buyers buy at fixed prices or bid.

Design/methodology/approach

The study is based on a simulated internet auction. Participants choose between bidding in an auction and buying at a fixed price. Data are analyzed using a logistic regression model. The results from the laboratory study are validated with data from eBay.com.

Findings

Female participants’ odds of choosing the buy‐it‐now (BIN) option are higher than their odds of bidding in an auction (BID) when less time is remaining in an auction. Contrarily, for males, when less time is remaining, BID is preferred over BIN. Unexpectedly, when substantial time is remaining, males have greater odds of choosing BIN over BID except when they are high risk‐seekers. Simulation results correspond closely with eBay data.

Practical implications

The paper shows that not only do gender differences manifest themselves in ways that are to be expected, such as females being more risk‐averse than males, but that competitiveness among males may lead to an uncharacteristic choice to buy at fixed prices if substantial time is remaining in an auction. Furthermore, the latent competitive nature of females is revealed by secondary research. Finally, the research validates laboratory results with field data to practice methodological triangulation.

Originality/value

A comparison of determinants of bidding versus buying at fixed prices is missing from the extant literature. The present study fills this gap.
Assisting Bulgarian special educators with competency development online
Authors: Peterson Rob , Herrington Jan , Konza Deslea , Tzvetkova‐Arsova Mira , Stefanov Krassen
Published: September 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to discuss an expansion of the Special Education Bulgaria (SEB) internet community that is required to pilot software created by the European Union's (EU's) Sixth Framework integrated project, TENCompetence.

Design/methodology/approach

SEB is the product of a two‐year research project designed to create a sustainable nation‐wide community of practice (CoP) for special education in Bulgaria via the internet. This paper discusses the SEB features consistent with TENCompetence concepts of competency development, lifelong learning, and professional networking. It then describes the additional features needed to prepare a SEB pilot.

Findings

SEB was developed throughout three phases of research, which included a needs assessment, formative evaluation, and effectiveness evaluation. Effectiveness evaluation results indicated that though a CoP has begun to coalesce, it remains unclear to what extent SEB helps special educators do their jobs better. In response to this finding, the implementation and testing of e‐portfolios and online courses is proposed. The implementation would employ Moodle for course management, Elgg or Mahara for e‐portfolios, and TENCompetence open‐source software for defining and organizing competencies.

Research limitations/implications

Research outcomes regarding online communities and lifelong competency development may also apply to the professional development of special educators in neighbouring Balkan countries, especially those new to or soon to enter the EU.

Originality/value

Internet‐based competency development and lifelong learning for special educators in Bulgaria, one of the EU's newest member countries, is investigated.
From an e‐portfolio model to e‐portfolio practices: some guidelines
Authors: Giuseppe Rossi Pier , Magnoler Patrizia , Giannandrea Lorella
Published: September 2008

Purpose

An e‐portfolio is a useful tool to increase reflection and awareness in teachers and students. However, benefits of e‐portfolio use are weakened by difficulties due to the lack of motivation, the heavy weight of creation and revision of the e‐portfolios, the rigid tool structure. The paper aims to answer these emerging issues, showing how to cope with the above‐mentioned questions, by proposing a structure for an e‐portfolio able to fulfil the users' needs and to be perceived as an extremely usable and motivating tool.

Design/methodology/approach

In the paper three types of e‐portfolios are described. A brief survey of how the students used them with related data is provided. The research is based upon qualitative (students' posts) and quantitative (log tracement) data.

Findings

After five years of experimentation and over 200 e‐portfolios analysed, the paper describes lessons learned and suggests some guidelines that might be useful to plan the introduction and the implementation of an e‐portfolio in post degree courses and for adult and in‐service learning.

Originality/value

In the paper some guidelines for designing formative portfolios are shown. These guidelines might be used to design and build feasible e‐portfolios in different kinds of courses. The new perspective is about the use of formative e‐portfolios in different learning paths. The paper shows how, starting from the same structure, the model is able to fit various needs, proposing technological and pedagogical devices in order to foster reflection and to promote formal and informal recording of learning activities.
A model for new linkages for prior learning assessment
Authors: Kalz Marco , van Bruggen Jan , Giesbers Bas , Waterink Wim , Eshuis Jannes , Koper Rob
Published: September 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is twofold: first the paper aims to sketch the theoretical basis for the use of electronic portfolios for prior learning assessment; second it endeavours to introduce latent semantic analysis (LSA) as a powerful method for the computation of semantic similarity between texts and a basis for a new observation link for prior learning assessment.

Design/methodology/approach

A short literature review about e‐assessment was conducted with the result that none of the reviews included new and innovative methods for the assessment of open responses and narrative of learners. On a theoretical basis the connection between e‐portfolio research and research about prior learning assessment is explained based on existing literature. After that, LSA is introduced and several examples from similar educational applications are provided. A model for prior learning assessment on the basis of LSA is presented. A case study at the Open University of The Netherlands is presented and preliminary results are discussed.

Findings

A first inspection of the results shows that the similarity measurement that is produced by the system can differentiate between learners who sent in different material and between the learning activities and chapters.

Originality/value

The paper is original because it combines research from natural language processing with very practical educational problems in higher education and technology‐enhanced learning. For faculty members the presented model and technology can help them in the assessment phase in an APL procedure. In addition, the presented model offers a dynamic method for reasoning about prior knowledge in adaptive e‐learning systems.
Layering networked and symphonic selves
Authors: Cambridge Darren
Published: September 2008

Purpose

E‐portfolios, which document and facilitate learning and performance, have recently attracted interest in the USA, UK, and Europe as means to increase employability and support lifelong learning. This article aims to critically examine these objectives in order to guide the future e‐portfolio practice.

Design/methodology/approach

Social theory, drawing on the work of Foucault, suggests that the discourse of employability and lifelong learning shapes individuals into means to fulfill economic objectives. This theory is applied to show that many e‐portfolio projects participate in this discourse. In the USA, the discourse around integrative learning suggests an alternative.

Findings

Integrative learning has two different styles, which correspond with two different types of self, the network and symphonic. The network self suggests ways for e‐portfolios to promote employability, while representing the symphonic in e‐portfolios creates space for a broader conception of what is important in life that pushes back against an entirely economic conception of citizenship. e‐portfolio projects have made progress cultivating both kinds of selves, and two, the Nedcar project in The Netherlands, and the eFolio Minnesota project in the USA, are examined. These selves need to be woven together, layering the networked and symphonic, to create e‐portfolios that promote employability while asserting the value of their authors as whole human beings. The idea of “good work” developed to describe the professions may serve as a model for this integration.

Originality/value

Much current work developing e‐portfolio software, services, and policies uncritically embraces the problematic conceptions of employability and lifelong learning discussed. The alternative model proposed in the paper can inform future work.
Obstacles to an integrated, joint forces approach to organized crime enforcement
Authors: Schneider Stephen , Hurst Christine
Published: September 2008

Purpose

This paper aims to explore some of the problems that arise in the execution of a joint force operation (JFO) involving various law enforcement agencies. Particular emphasis is placed on examining factors that impede inter‐agency cooperation and coordination in the context of a JFO targeting serious and major crimes.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper is informed by primary research that assessed the level of satisfaction of enforcement agencies involved in a Canadian‐based multi‐agency task force mandated to combat organized crime. Research for this study entailed a questionnaire survey of, and semi‐structured interviews with, operational and supervisory personnel assigned to the JFO, as well senior management within agencies participating in the JFO.

Findings

The research uncovered significant differences in the level of satisfaction with the execution of the JFO concept between members from the lead (federal) enforcement agency and those of other participating (municipal and provincial) agencies. The majority of survey participants overwhelmingly believe that the integrated, multi‐agency approach is an essential ingredient in the effectiveness of this JFO. However, among respondents from participating agencies there was a high rate of dissatisfaction with intelligence dissemination and sharing by the JFO, communication between the JFO and member agencies, and the contribution the JFO makes to the priorities and outputs of participating agencies in their own jurisdictions.

Practical implications

These problems strike at the very heart of a multi‐agency approach to major crimes enforcement and can be generalized to other jurisdictions and countries. Indeed, impediments to the timely sharing of criminal intelligence continue to constitute one of the most significant obstacles to inter‐agency cooperation and coordination, and, by extension, the optimal enforcement of organized crime and terrorism. The problems addressed in this study should be of concern to any manager of a multi‐agency task force, and similar research is recommended to unearth problems that may undermine inter‐agency cooperation and plague the effectiveness of a JFO.

Originality/value

Despite the increased prevalence and importance of multi‐agency operations in combating major and serious crimes, little research has been conducted into the issues and problems that obstruct inter‐agency cooperation within this context. This paper represents one attempt to fill this void.
Pricing police services: theory and practice
Authors: Talaga James , Tucci Louis A.
Published: September 2008

Purpose

The purpose of the paper is to present and test a particular theory of pricing of police services.

Design/methodology/approach

A theory of police pricing was developed, then tested using data collected from a mail survey of Chiefs of Police in Pennsylvania.

Findings

Pricing practices vary considerably among police departments. There appears to be no underlying theory in the practice of pricing of police services.

Research limitations/implications

Research was limited to one state in the USA and for a limited number of police services.

Practical implications

In setting prices, police departments ought to consider how the price charged is consistent or inconsistent with achieving their overall departmental goals.

Originality/value

No previous empirical studies on how police departments charge for their services have been found. This research may lead to a more complete understanding of policing operations.