bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The future of management education in Australia: challenges and innovations
Authors: Hall Richard , Agarwal Renu , Green Roy
Published: June 2013

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to undertake a survey of the external and internal forces changing the nature of business schools and business education. It aims to investigate how management education responds to increasing productivity, innovation and capability challenges, examine how MBA programs currently meet these demands, and how these courses might redefine their identity and delivery and finally explore how to deepen engagement between business schools and business stakeholders, and to balance the imperatives of relevance and quality.

Design/methodology/approach

This is a survey of business schools and business education in the context of evolving educational and industry policy in Australia in response to an increasingly international and competitive economy. The different potential roles and strategies of business schools are examined, and future strategies identified.

Findings

The paper finds that management education is facing insistent pressure to change internationally, and that business schools need to become more dynamic, innovative and responsive to succeed.

Research limitations/implications

This survey considers the implications of recent policy on business education and relates this to emerging practice. Further research is required on how innovative pedagogical approaches will deliver more integrated and relevant business education.

Practical implications

The paper defines key business school strategies, and outlines significant new approaches to making business education more innovative, responsive, integrated and engaged.

Social implications

The paper considers means to more active stakeholder engagement for business schools.

Originality/value

The paper highlights the weaknesses of traditional business education strategy, and reveals the potential for significant change.
Diversity in the middle
Authors: Anderson Stephen E.
Published: June 2013

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present the author's commentary on the special issue of Journal of Educational Administration entitled “Systemwide reform: examining districts under pressure”.

Design/methodology/approach

The major thesis of this commentary and reflection on the preceding papers is that there is a need to recognize that “school districts” as known in the USA are examples of a more general phenomenon of intermediary organizational entities in education systems in North America and elsewhere in the world and that there is a need to problematize, not take for granted, the form, purpose, and influence of these mediating layers of the school system on the quality and improvement of schools, and on the implementation of government policies that are intended to regulate and support education in schools.

Findings

This issue of the Journal of Educational Administration presents a series of papers that highlight different aspects and contemporary trends in school district practice and research – organizational characteristics associated with district effectiveness (see Trujillo this issue), how districts are responding to political and public demands for accountability (see Hamilton et al., this issue), the invention of school district authorities as portfolio managers of diverse school provider systems (see Marsh et al., this issue), and how social communication networks linking school and district staff interface with the use of evidence to support school improvement (see Finnigan and Daly, as well as Wohlstetter and Smith this issue).

Originality/value

The simple thesis of this commentary is to argue that school districts function as an intermediate level of education governance, management, and support within national and state education systems, and that current research and discussion on the school district role in improving and sustaining the quality of education would be strengthened by broadening the scope of research and discussion to alternative kinds of intermediate level governance and support systems that exist in North America and in other regions of the world.
Dementia‐friendly communities: what the project “Creating a dementia‐friendly York” can tell us
Authors: Crampton Janet , Eley Ruth
Published: June 2013

Purpose

This paper aims to outline the findings from a research and development project to determine how York might become a more dementia‐friendly city and, in drawing out the features, to discuss the benefits for other places.

Design/methodology/approach

The project team worked with existing groups and individuals, including people with dementia and family carers, established a cross sector operational group formed of statutory and non‐statutory sectors, and developed a wider network to share news and ideas.

Findings

York as a city is already responding in many positive ways to the needs of people with dementia and their carers, but there is much more that can be done, there and elsewhere. The project proposes a model – People, Places, Networks and Resources – for analysing the suitability and helpfulness of existing arrangements or features of a place or an organisation in order to realise a more dementia‐friendly community.

Research limitations/implications

The research was commissioned by and restricted to the City of York but there are lessons that can be taken and applied elsewhere. The project was also primarily concerned with the experience of people with dementia, generally post diagnosis, exploring their normal everyday lives as well as the contact they had and interventions from the statutory agencies. Reaching people with dementia who had not yet been diagnosed, or those on the margins of society, especially those living alone, proved hard to achieve.

Practical implications

The numbers of people with dementia are expected to double over the next 30 years, with a shrinking of the working population and a tripling of costs to the NHS and social care. The proposed model can be applied anywhere to support the creation of dementia‐friendly communities that understand how to help.

Social implications

The concept of “dementia‐friendliness” is not the exclusive domain of the health and social care world. On the contrary, the research reveals that it is the daily attrition of everyday life where help is most needed. People with dementia and family carers find routine activities most difficult – shopping, managing finances, using transport, keeping active – causing them to withdraw. There are moral, economic and business reasons why we should support people to live well with their dementia, as well as reasons of health and well‐being.

Originality/value

This project makes a substantial contribution to the literature on what constitutes a dementia‐friendly community and how to achieve it. It highlights the need for a wider information and awareness raising campaign for the general public and for anyone working directly with the public.
Giving kids a break: how surfing has helped young people in Cornwall overcome mental health and social difficulties
Authors: Taylor Joe
Published: June 2013

Purpose

The paper aims to provide a summary of an innovative three‐year project that uses surfing as a health intervention for young people with emotional, social or mental health problems.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper outlines the project which delivers six‐week surfing courses to 100 young people with mental health needs who are experiencing social exclusion. Participants’ levels of self‐confidence, self‐esteem and wellbeing were measured using pre and post wellbeing rating scales, along with feedback from clients and the people around them.

Findings

The intervention had a positive impact on the lives of participants. Average confidence and wellbeing scores rose over the six weeks. Some clients made significant improvements in managing their own behaviour and in achieving improved social inclusion. Examples of this cited in the paper include children at risk of school refusal who re‐engaged with school, and improvements to their behaviour at home or with peers.

Research limitations/implications

Evaluation interviews were undertaken by volunteers, not a professional evaluator.

Social implications

The paper describes opportunities for health trusts and local authorities to explore surfing as a positive intervention for individuals experiencing mental health or social exclusion problems.

Originality/value

The paper highlights a highly innovative approach to re‐engaging young people which could be of value to health or local authority commissioners.
Market segmentation in the cell phone market among adolescents and young adults
Authors: J. Haverila Matti
Published: June 2013

Purpose

– The purpose of this study is to investigate the existence of inter-market market segments in the adolescents' and young adults' cell phone product-market in Finland, United Arab Emirates, Canada, China, and New Zealand. Drawing upon cell phone feature preferences criteria cited by Işıklar and Buyuközkan, the existence of inter-market market segments using these feature preferences as the cluster variate was examined.

Design/methodology/approach

– Using a survey questionnaire, data was gathered from 403 high school and 892 undergraduate students in Finland, UAE, China, Canada and New Zealand.

Findings

– The results of the study suggest the inter-market market segments do exist in the countries of this study, but their existence varies to some degree by country.

Originality/value

– An important implication of the research is the existence of the five inter-market segments among the adolescents and young adults in the five countries was established. Consequently, the inter-market segments extend over the borders. The five inter-market segments exist in all country markets except in New Zealand, which included only four segments. These five segments also appear to be unique and large enough in size, which are the key requirements in terms of successful segmentation, and thus warrant the development of unique products, services and marketing programs for the segments.
Prevention through design
Authors: Lingard Helen , Cooke Tracy , Blismas Nick , Wakefield Ron
Published: June 2013

Purpose

The research aims to explore the interaction between design decisions that reduce occupational health and safety (OHS) risk in the operation stage of a facility's life cycle and the OHS experiences of workers in the construction stage.

Design/methodology/approach

Data was collected from three construction projects in Australia. Design decisions were examined to understand the reasons they were made and the impact that they had on OHS in the construction and operation stages.

Findings

The case examples reveal that design decisions made to reduce OHS risk during the operation of a facility can introduce new hazards in the construction stage. These decisions are often influenced by stakeholders external to the project itself.

Research limitations/implications

The results provide preliminary evidence of challenges inherent in designing for OHS across the lifecycle of a facility. Further research is needed to identify and evaluate methods by which risk reduction across all stages of a facility's life cycle can be optimised.

Practical implications

The research highlights the need to manage tensions between designing for safe construction and operation of a facility.

Originality/value

Previous research assumes design decisions that reduce OHS risk in one stage of a facility's life cycle automatically translate to a net risk reduction across the life cycle. The research highlights the need to consider the implications of PtD decision‐making focused on one stage of the facility's life cycle for OHS outcomes in other stages.
Use of ANNs in complex risk analysis applications
Authors: De Silva Nayanthara , Ranasinghe Malik , De Silva C.R.
Published: June 2013

Purpose

Artificial neural network (ANN) has been used for risk analysis in various applications such as engineering, financial and facilities management. However, use of a single network has become less accurate when the problem is complex with a large number of variables to be considered. Ensemble neural network (ENN) architecture has proposed to overcome these difficulties of solving a complex problem. ENN consists of many small “expert networks” that learn small parts of the complex problem, which are established by decomposing it into its sub levels. This paper seeks to address these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

ENN model was developed to analyze risks in maintainability of buildings which is known as a complex problem with a large number of risk variables. The model comprised four expert networks to represent building components of roof, façade, internal areas and basement. The accuracy of the model was tested using two error terms such as network error and generalization error.

Findings

The results showed that ENN performed well in solving complex problems by decomposing the problem into its sub levels.

Originality/value

The application of ensemble network would create a new concept of analyzing complex risk analysis problems. The study also provides a useful tool for designers, clients, facilities managers/maintenance managers and users to analyze maintainability risks of buildings at early stages.
The effects of high performance work practices on job outcomes
Authors: Gibbs Tanya , Ashill Nicholas J.
Published: June 2013

Purpose

This study aims to empirically test a model of affective and behavioural job outcomes grounded in Bagozzi's reformulation of attitude theory in the novel context of a retail bank in Russia.

Design/methodology/approach

Frontline employees (FLEs) completed a self‐administered questionnaire on how factors characterizing high performance work practices (HPWPs) affect their job satisfaction and organizational commitment, and how these job attitudes impact their job performance.

Findings

Results suggest there is a significant influence of HPWPs on job attitudes, but only job satisfaction influences job performance.

Practical implications

Job satisfaction is identified as a critical work lever and should receive priority from management relative to actions designed to foster organizational commitment.

Originality/value

Despite the breadth and depth of international research on service quality, to date there has been no study of high performance work practices and their impact on the job performance of service workers in Russia. Retail banks, after operating for years in a highly regulated environment and virtually devoid of competition, now recognize that their very survival depends on the delivery of quality service at the frontline.
Post‐disaster housing and management in Malaysia: a literature review
Authors: Roosli Ruhizal , O'Keefe Phil
Published: June 2013

Purpose

Malaysia is still in the process of reorganising and restructuring disaster management policy, learning from national and international experiences. Argument about the current situation of emergency management and housing in Malaysia can be used by the decision makers, authorities and NGOs to develop strategies and actions that include awareness raising and capacity building for enhancing enforcement of current legislation.

Design/methodology/approach

The work concentrated mostly on academic reports of original investigations rather than reviews. The conclusions in this paper are generalizations based on the authors' interpretation of those original reports.

Findings

Malaysia is not a developed country and also not a developing country but is more in the middle, and follows any direction from the international arena to national situation. Malaysia has a developed country approach in disaster management policy but with the implementation capacity of a developing country. This paper argues that providing post‐disaster housing must accommodate requirements in the national disaster management policy and parallel with the needs from international concern to the rights of disaster victims.

Originality/value

The outcomes from this discussion might give insights into designing and planning the national policy and disaster management framework by restructuring and reorganising the present National Disaster Management Mechanism in terms of enhancing the coordination of responsibility between and within government bodies in the National Disaster Management Mechanism.
Design of energy‐efficient location‐based cloud services using cheap sensors
Authors: Chatterjee Sharmistha , Nurminen Jukka K. , Siekkinen Matti
Published: June 2013

Purpose

Detecting and tracking the position of a mobile user has become one of the important subjects in many mobile applications. Such applications use location based services (LBS) for learning and training user movements in different places (cities, markets, airports, stations) along different modes of transport (bus, car, cycle, walk). To date, GPS is the key solution to all LBS but repeated GPS querying is not economical in terms of the battery life of the mobile phone. The purpose of this paper is to study how cheap and energy‐efficient air pressure sensors measuring the altitude could be used, as a complement to the dominant GPS system. The location detection and route tracking task is then accomplished by matching the collected altitude traces with the altitude curves of stored data to find the best matching routes.

Design/methodology/approach

The cornerstone of the authors' approach is that a huge amount of route data, collected with GPS devices, is available in various cloud services. In order to evaluate the mechanism of matching routes with altitude data, the authors build a prototype system of crowd‐sourced database containing only altitude data of different routes along different modes of transport. How accurately this stored altitude data could be matched with the collected altitude traces is the key question of this study.

Findings

Results show that, within a certain level of accuracy, older repeated routes can be detected from newly tracked altitude traces. Further, the level of accuracy varies depending on the length of path traversed, route curvature, speed of travel and sensor used for tracking.

Originality/value

The new contribution in this paper is to propose an alternative route detection mechanism which minimizes the use of GPS query. This concept will help in retrieving the GPS coordinates of already traversed routes stored in a large database by matching them with currently tracked altitude curves.
A scheduling method for heterogeneous clients on media data broadcasting
Authors: Gotoh Yusuke , Yoshihisa Tomoki , Taniguchi Hideo , Kanazawa Masanori
Published: June 2013

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to propose a scheduling method called the “Hierarchical Asynchronous Harmonic Broadcasting (H‐AHB)” method, to reduce the waiting time for heterogeneous clients.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors analyze and evaluate the performance of the proposed H‐AHB method.

Findings

It was confirmed that the proposed method gives shorter average waiting time than the conventional methods.

Research limitations/implications

A future direction of this study will involve making a scheduling method where the server broadcasts multiple videos.

Practical implications

In general broadcasting systems, the server broadcasts the same data repetitively and clients wait until the first portion of the data is broadcast. Although the server can deliver the data to many clients concurrently, clients have to wait until their desired data are broadcast.

Originality/value

The H‐AHB method further reduces waiting time by scheduling an effective broadcast that considers the number of clients' available channels.
Originator and generic medicine: pricing and market share
Authors: van der Merwe Smit Eon , Bredenkamp Jhandré
Published: June 2013

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of generic medicine competition on the market share growth and pricing of originator brand medicine in the South African private pharmaceutical market.

Design/methodology/approach

Regression analysis is applied to market share data of originator brand drugs that have been exposed to competition from generic substitutes, based on an agency model of the prescribing physician, the pharmacist or the medical scheme.

Findings

The results indicate that the price of an originator brand medicine relative to the weighted average price of its generics has a significant negative impact on the change of its market share. Investigations into the prices of the originator brands, in relation to the number of generic equivalents in the market, indicate that the number of generics available in a specific market has a significant positive impact on the relative price of originators, thereby making originators relatively more expensive compared to their generic competitors. At the same time, the results show that the absolute price of the originator brand medicines declines as the number of generic equivalents in the market increases.

Practical implications

The results indicate that, for all modules pooled together, the relative price of the originator product to that of the generic equivalent, is responsible for a significant reduction in the relative change in the market share of the originator medicine. When analysed on the level of anatomical class, or the individual molecule, results are not consistent. For affordable healthcare, the results support the reduction in barriers to entry for generic medicine. Furthermore, the results support education and incentives for doctors, pharmacists and end‐users to develop generic alternatives as trusted brands in their own right.

Originality/value

This study quantitatively assesses the effect that generic medicine competition exerts on the market share of originator medicines in South Africa.
An international regulatory clinical trial comparative
Authors: Fiedler Beth Ann , Bebber Robert J.
Published: June 2013

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to establish historic regulatory conditions and priority national characteristics eliciting outstanding best practices in clinical trial regulatory systems, towards global health objectives through targeted economic development.

Design/methodology/approach

Exploratory review of clinical trial processes of three industrialized nations with similar democratic processes – Japan, the UK and the USA – in order to determine the efficacy of international clinical trials.

Findings

Outstanding best practices in national vaccine clinical trials can guide the international economic development, manufacturing and distribution policy strategies necessary to form the basis of a cross‐cultural global delivery system.

Originality/value

This study's contribution to academic literature is threefold: first, it reviews established fundamental clinical trial processes for Japan, the UK and the USA; second, it distinguishes similarities and differences to determine best practices; and third, it suggests changes in regulatory vaccine clinical trials towards achieving global health objectives.
Effect of financial development on agricultural growth in Pakistan
Authors: Shahbaz Muhammad , Shahbaz Shabbir Muhammad , Sabihuddin Butt Muhammad
Published: June 2013

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between financial development and agriculture growth employing Cobb‐Douglas function by incorporating financial development as an important factor of production over the period 1971‐2011.

Design/methodology/approach

The autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds testing approach to cointegration with structural breaks is applied to examine long run relationship between the variables. The direction of causality is detected by vector error correction method (VECM) Granger causality test and robustness of causality analysis is tested through innovative accounting approach (IAA).

Findings

The empirical analysis confirmed that the series are cointegrated for long run relationship between agriculture growth, financial development, capital and labor. The results indicated that financial development has positive effect on agricultural growth. This implies that financial development plays a significant role in stemming agricultural production and hence agricultural growth. Both capital and labour in the agriculture sector also add to agricultural growth. The Granger causality analysis revealed bidirectional causality between agricultural growth and financial development. The robustness of these results is confirmed by innovative accounting approach (IAA).

Practical implications

This study has important policy implications for policy‐making authorities to stimulate agricultural growth by improving the efficiency of the financial sector.

Originality/value

This paper convincingly argues that there is a need for case‐by‐case study on such a project in view of each country's unique characteristics.
Governance and enterprise restructuring in Southeast Europe
Authors: Apostolov Mico
Published: June 2013

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is examine governance and enterprise restructuring in Southeast Europe (SEE) (Western Balkans) transition economies. International organizations classify the following countries in SEE (Western Balkans): Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia.

Design/methodology/approach

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has governance and enterprise restructuring as a basic indicator of economic transition and defines it as effective corporate governance and corporate control exercised through domestic financial institutions and markets, fostering market‐driven restructuring. The corporate governance is most often defined in terms of the roles, responsibilities, and interactions of top management and the board of directors. Using data of SEE economies, the interrelationships between governance and enterprise restructuring and set of policies that influence the governance patterns will be examined.

Findings

Due to the analysis of the first assumption where a relation was made between governance and enterprise restructuring and imposed set of policies, the results have shown that there are mixed outcomes. The second hypothesis analyzed the importance and progress of corporate governance and enterprise restructuring.

Originality/value

The paper shows that the overall outcome of SEE countries is mixed, as there are significant improvements in some countries and noteworthy lags in others. Indeed, needed considerable improvement is needed in corporate governance, institution‐building controlling agency problems and in imposing already adopted regulation; as well as adopting new ways of enterprise restructuring policies within existing policies of overall transition economy restructuring.
The impact of wine franchise laws on consumer choice and pricing
Authors: Thach Liz , Cuellar Steve , Olsen Janeen , Atkin Tom
Published: June 2013

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to compare and contrast wine sales in neighboring franchise law and non‐franchise law states in order to determine impact on wine price, consumer choice, consumer satisfaction, and stakeholder perception.

Design/methodology/approach

The study used qualitative interviews with 14 wineries, distributors, and retailers, statistical analysis of Nielsen Scantrack data, and an online survey of 401 wine consumers in Georgia and Florida, USA.

Findings

Results show statistical proof that Florida offers more wine selection and lower wine prices on matching brands than Georgia. Qualitative interviews indicate wineries, distributors, and retailers perceive differences in wine choice, price, and overall operating costs in these two states. However, there was no statistical difference between a sample of 401 consumers from Georgia and Florida when asked about their satisfaction level with wine choice and pricing within their state.

Research limitations/implications

For practical purposes, the research was limited to only two US states. It would be useful to duplicate this study in other states.

Practical implications

Practical implications include the need for new wineries desiring to enter franchise law states to carefully research regulations and distributors before making a commitment, as well as the social issue of less wine choice and higher prices for consumers in Georgia versus Florida.

Originality/value

This is the first empirical study in the USA to focus on the impact of wine franchise laws on consumer choice and wine price. It yields useful information that contributes to the body of knowledge for wine and policy research.
Facility management teams
Authors: Fraser Kym , Gunawan Janti , Goh Mark
Published: June 2013

Purpose

Teams and teamworking has now become a common form of work structure in most organisations, including facilities management. The human interactions which occur when people work together in groups is still problematic. In this study human factors are identified and the purpose of this paper is to establish the level of importance of each factor involving specialised teams within a manufacturing environment.

Design/methodology/approach

A quantitative study was undertaken at a number of manufacturing plants which were using the process: team‐based cellular manufacturing. Managers, team leaders, and operators involved with manufacturing cells were targeted to evaluate the various human related factors associated with these teams.

Findings

From the nine human factors evaluated, three factors: “communication”, “teamwork”, and “training” were identified as being key to the day‐to‐day success of team‐based cellular manufacturing. Some notable differences were observed when comparing the data between countries.

Research limitations/implications

This study adds to the limited research which has been conducted on the human aspects of socio‐technical processes. Further work is required to enhance understanding of key human factors.

Practical implications

For practitioners involved with manufacturing cells, the study provides an understanding of the key areas towards which attention and resources can be channelled.

Originality/value

While the study provides valuable insights into a socio‐technical process in manufacturing, the findings are also very useful to management practitioners who are attempting to manage and improve the effectiveness of teams and teamwork.
Upward defiance in organizations: management lessons from the Battle of Blair Mountain
Authors: Humphreys John H. , Gibson Jane W. , Oyler Jennifer D.
Published: June 2013

Purpose

Based upon an analysis of 30 historic narrative accounts of mutinies, Coye, Murphy, and Spencer recently extended voice theory to clarify the ontological status of the concept of upward defiance. The purpose of this article is to extend the framework of Coye et al. and illustrate the process of escalation towards hostility to offer practicing managers guidance on appropriate steps to interrupt the extreme escalation of member resistance.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors examined the significant historical insurrection within the 1921 Battle of Blair Mountain. With the case of the Blair Mountain War, the historical record provides ample narrative data for a textual, interpretive, pseudo‐ethnographical analysis.

Findings

The examination of the Battle of Blair Mountain provides additional support for the upward organizational defiance framework proposed by Coye, Murphy, and Spencer. In addition, the authors have extended the theoretical upward defiance framework to account for the escalation of constructive to destructive forms of voice towards mutiny to reveal managerial actions and attitudes to mitigate follower defiance.

Research limitations/implications

The common limitation to any historic case study is one of generalizability, although it often useful to accept the trade‐off between limited generalizability and the potential discernment associated with the methodology.

Originality/value

The paper investigates a mutiny outside of a maritime setting to offer support for Coye et al.’s conceptual framework, extend that framework in a manner more consistent with organizational practice, and offer guidance to practitioners.
The exploitation of offshore financial centres
Authors: Young Mary Alice
Published: June 2013

Purpose

The paper aims to highlight the relationship between money laundering and banking confidentiality in offshore financial centres – particularly following the recent publicity and BBC expose surrounding the criminal use of offshore financial centres. It proposes that there has long been concern over the illegitimate uses of offshore financial centres and that the continuing exploitation of them by criminals is, in part, attributed to the West's use of these financial hotspots. The paper outlines the previous attempts by global regulatory bodies to curb money laundering in offshore financial centres and explores some of the reasons for the continuation of money laundering in offshore financial centres.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper was compiled by accessing and analysing primary and secondary data which is publicly available. The analysed data were complemented by the author's new theory of the West's collusion with offshore financial centres as a possible reason for the superficial commitment to anti‐money laundering laws and guidelines.

Findings

The findings in the paper conclude that even though there have been global efforts to combat money laundering in offshore financial centres, there is little commitment from the offshore financial centres themselves, and the West, to effectively implement anti‐money laundering regulations.

Originality/value

This paper fulfils a gap in the literature by exploring the relationship between the West and offshore financial centres – more specifically the West's continued use of these centres acts as an incentive to avoid relaxing tight banking confidentiality laws. Further research in this area is needed to assess the full impact of the West's relationship with offshore financial centres.
Modelling the effect of deception on investigations using open source intelligence (OSINT)
Authors: Watters Paul A.
Published: June 2013

Purpose

A key problem in money laundering investigations based on open source intelligence gathering is the performance (efficiency and accuracy) of people in the team, where suspects will typically try to conceal incriminating evidence or deliberately deceive investigators to avoid prosecution. If we are able to develop a suitable psychological model of deception for web‐based investigations, it should be possible to develop training programmes to improve investigators' ability to “see beyond” deliberate concealment. The purpose of this paper is to empirically test a model based on non‐linear system identification using a well‐known psychological phenomenon (the Stroop effect), where conflicting colour and text information is presented to subjects which they are instructed to process in a certain way.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper uses an experimental approach.

Findings

The results indicate that strategies for improving investigator information processing performance can benefit from models that incorporate both linear and non‐linear components.

Originality/value

Although the Stroop effect is well known, no other papers have investigated how it may be used to evaluate and monitor the performance of investigators. The real value of this study will emerge when tools are developed to better train investigators to identify concealment within conflicting input data.
Advance fee frauds messages – non‐declining trend
Authors: Dobovšek Bojan , Lamberger Igor , Slak Boštjan
Published: June 2013

Purpose

This paper aims to present some intake on advance fee frauds. Frauds of which frequency of occurrence, despite being long present and people are globally aware of them, still present great danger. Several quantitative and qualitative analyses were done in order to find out how and why these messages actually work.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper is based on a literature review, quantitative analysis (using SPSS) and qualitative analysis (using MAXQDA). Databases ware composed from messages accumulated in two periods, 1998‐2005 (547 messages) and Jan‐Sept 2012 (59 messages).

Findings

Advance fee frauds are not declining in occurrence. They are constantly developing and use both bulk sending and narrower targeting. The latter present more dangers as the messages are more adapted to the interest of the message receiver. There also seems to be a severe resemblance and connection to other types of fraud, especially cybernetic frauds (like pilfering, phishing, or e‐mail spoofing). These types of frauds are global and no country is immune, nor can any country be excluded, from hosting the perpetrators.

Research limitations/implications

Though the authors' quantitative research database was big enough, there are some minor problems connected with it. Part of a database is a product of Slovenian police, which intended to analyze the content of messages, therefore because of police confidentiality issues, the database lacks some traceability. One would maybe argue that the methodology used by the police is not always the same as scientific usage of research methods, but in this case the database possesses all other necessary empirical attributes. The second database was composed from messages received by the authors, therefore they cannot say that it's totally globally representative.

Originality/value

Though there are several qualitative and quantitative studies of advance fee messages done almost daily, only a limited number are done in academic settings. However, some academic studies would benefit from non‐academic and vice versa. So the authors present some input to both kinds of studies.
Peer influence on adolescent snacking
Authors: Kümpel Nørgaard Maria , Nørgaard Hansen Kathrine , Grunert Klaus G.
Published: June 2013

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore peer influence and the social and symbolic meaning that adolescents (10 to 16 years) attach to snacks; to investigate the relative influence of peer influence compared to personal factors in explaining perceived importance of snack attributes; and to investigate age and gender differences in the peer influence process.

Design/methodology/approach

A web‐based survey distributed via e‐mail was combined with follow‐up focus groups including adolescents aged 10 to 16 years in Denmark.

Findings

The survey results show that the youngest adolescents and the girls perceived the highest influence from peers, and that peer social influence has more effect on what adolescents perceive as important snack attributes as compared to more personal factors. The focus group results show that adolescents purchase and consume snacks that support their self‐image when socializing with other peers.

Research limitations/implications

Future research should measure other aspects of peer influence and related social aspects regarding consumption settings.

Practical implications

The results in this paper may be useful to marketers developing social marketing campaigns aiming at reducing bullying among adolescents or promoting healthy snacking.

Social implications

Moreover, the results may help generate societal emphasis on the importance of social and self‐image aspects in consumption settings when it comes to adolescent snacking behaviour, healthy food choices and social development.

Originality/value

The originality lies in the emphasis on social and self‐image aspects.
Justice, trust and employee reactions: an empirical examination of the HRM system
Authors: Katou Anastasia A.
Published: June 2013

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of an integrated HRM system (content, process and climate) on employee reactions (motivation, commitment, work engagement, and organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB)), through the mediating role of organizational justice (distributive, procedural and interactional) and organizational trust (integrity, competence and dependability), which has not been fully studied in the past.

Design/methodology/approach

The study is based on a national sample of 133 organizations from the public and private sectors in Greece and on data obtained from 1,061 employees. The statistical method employed is structural equation modelling.

Findings

The findings of the study suggest that the HRM process has a higher impact on employee reactions than HRM content. Additionally, the findings support the idea that procedural and distributive justice are related more to trust dependability and integrity, and that procedural justice is a better predictor of employee reactions than distributive justice.

Research limitations/implications

The study does not allow for dynamic causal inferences because the data was collected using a questionnaire at a single point in time. Furthermore, the findings of the study may not generalize across borders, because the study was applied in the Greek context, which has different labour relations with respect to other countries.

Practical implications

The study has clear implications for both managers and decision makers, because it suggests that employees are more committed and satisfied when the HRM system is more consistent and distinctive, more rewarding and provides opportunities for training.

Originality/value

The theoretical significance of the study is important, because it suggests that both the content and the process of HR practices, as perceived by employees, strongly influence employees' reactions, such as motivation, commitment, work engagement and organizational citizenship behaviour OCB.
Customer participation and value creation: a systematic review and research implications
Authors: Mustak Mekhail , Jaakkola Elina , Halinen Aino
Published: June 2013

Purpose

Customer participation in the creation of offerings has become a key focus in marketing literature. This paper synthesizes extant research on the topic to enhance understanding of the conceptualization and value outcomes of customer participation in the creation of offerings.

Design/methodology/approach

The study is based on an extensive, systematic literature review covering 163 articles on customer participation published over the last four decades. Selected publications were analyzed according to the topics studied, study context, research approach, and findings.

Findings

The review demonstrates how the conceptualization of customer participation has evolved in terms of the nature and range of customer contributions, their temporal scope, and the outcomes considered. It also synthesizes the hypothesized and empirically scrutinized value outcomes of customer participation for both sellers and customers.

Research limitations/implications

The review reveals important gaps in the existing knowledge on customer participation, and identifies relevant areas for future research. The literature review may have missed some relevant papers that use different terminologies.

Practical implications

Managers should consider the strategic significance of customer participation in their businesses, promote the potential benefits to their customers, and institute necessary changes in their organization to facilitate participation.

Originality/value

This paper provides a structured overview of the empirical and conceptual research addressing customer participation and brings forth evidences regarding its value outcomes, thereby contributing to extant knowledge on value creation.
Predicting soil properties from floristic composition in western Amazonian rain forests: performance of k‐nearest neighbour estimation and weighted averaging calibration
Authors: Suominen Lassi , Ruokolainen Kalle , Tuomisto Hanna , Llerena Nelly , Higgins Mark. A.
Published: June 2013

Soil quality is an important determinant of primary productivity and species occurrence patterns. Therefore, plant species composition can be used as an indicator of soil quality when direct sampling of soils is impractical.

 We test how well the species composition of the plant family Melastomataceae can predict soil properties in western Amazonian rain forests. We examine nine soil variables: pH; loss‐on‐ignition; the concentrations of Al and P; and the concentrations of Ca, K, Mg, Na and the sum of these base cations. We compare two commonly used prediction techniques, k‐nearest neighbour (k‐NN) estimation and weighted averaging calibration via species indicator values. The Melastomataceae and soil data come from 311 localities widely distributed in western Amazonia. We use two different sets of Melastomataceae: a full set including all 283 observed species and an easy set containing 58 species that are both abundant in the data set and relatively easy to identify in the field.

 Weighted averaging calibration and k‐NN performed approximately equally well. Both were found to be useful techniques to convert information on Melastomataceae species composition to estimates of soil cation concentration, especially magnesium and calcium, and to a lesser degree potassium. In nearly all cases, the full set of Melastomataceae species gave more accurate predictions than the easy set, but the differences were relatively small.

 Synthesis and applications. Our results show that Melastomataceae can be used as an indicator group that facilitates the field estimation of soil cation concentration and hence the assessment and mapping of soil variation over large areas. This provides important background information for all types of land‐use planning, including systematic conservation planning that aims at representativeness of conservation area networks.
Qiagen's Investigator™ Quantiplex Kit as a Predictor of STR Amplification Success from Low‐Yield DNA Samples,
Authors: Thomas Jacqueline T. , Berlin Rebecca M. , Barker Jessica M. , Dawson Cruz Tracey
Published: June 2013

Qiagen's Investigator™ Quantiplex kit, a total human DNA quantitation kit, has a 200‐base pair internal control, fast cycling time, and scorpion molecules containing a covalently linked primer, probe, fluorophore, and quencher. The Investigator™ Quantiplex kit was evaluated to investigate a value under which complete short tandem repeat (STR) failure was consistently obtained. Buccal swabs were extracted using the Qiagen QIAamp® DNA Blood Mini Kit, quantified with the Investigator™ Quantiplex kit using a tested half‐volume reaction, amplified with the ABI AmpFlSTR® Identifiler kit, separated on the 3100Avant Genetic Analyzer, and data analyzed with GeneMapper® ID v.3.2. While undetected samples were unlikely to produce sufficient data for statistical calculations or CODIS upload (2.00 alleles and 0.82 complete loci on average), data may be useful for exclusionary purposes. Thus, the Investigator™ Quantiplex kit may be useful for predicting STR success. These findings are comparable with previously reported data from the Quantifiler™ Human kit.