bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Influences of gender, need for affect, and tolerance for risk-taking on use of information sources
Authors: Cho Siwon , E. Workman Jane
Published: November 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to examine gender, need for affect and tolerance for risk-taking as influences on consumers’ use of information sources.

Design/methodology/approach

– A survey was conducted using a convenience sample of 171 male and 180 female US college students. Data were analyzed using PASW Statistics 18 and Analysis of Moment Structure (AMOS) 18.

Findings

– Results showed that consumers may be characterized by their use of information sources. First, consumers who use internal information sources are women. Second, consumers who use personal external information sources are women and individuals who enjoy processing feelings. Third, consumers who use impersonal external information sources are women, feeling processors, and risk-takers. Consumers in the third group may find the market-dominant information more useful than the personal opinions of reference groups, indicating that they may tend to be pro-active in exploring and getting what they want rather than allowing their reference groups to suggest ideas to them.

Research limitations/implications

– Results of the current study cannot be generalized to the larger population of other consumer groups. This research affirms and extends the Consumer Decision Process Model (Blackwell et al., 2005) regarding individual difference variables (e.g. gender, need for affect, tolerance for risk-taking) related to consumers’ use of information sources in apparel shopping.

Practical implications

– Results of the study suggest that apparel marketers who provide information through impersonal sources pay special attention to women and risk-takers because they are more likely to be the group of consumers on the other side of the communication link. Marketers may want to focus on promotional strategies that stimulate consumers’ emotions and valence toward products, brands, and/or stores thereby responding to customers’ need for affect. It is also recommended that marketers consider which categories of impersonal sources best fit their target customers.

Originality/value

– This study is the first to investigate the effects of consumers’ gender, need for affect, and tolerance for risk-taking on their preference of using information sources in clothing shopping.
How cosmopolitan are Indian consumers?: a study on fashion clothing involvement
Authors: Khare Arpita
Published: November 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to examine affect of cosmopolitanism and consumers’ susceptibility to interpersonal influence on Indian consumers’ fashion clothing involvement. Moderating effect of demographics was studied.

Design/methodology/approach

– Survey technique through self-administered questionnaire was used for data collection in both metropolitan and non-metropolitan cities in India.

Findings

– Utilitarian, value expressive factors of normative influence and cosmopolitanism influence Indian consumers’ fashion clothing involvement. Type of city, income, and education moderated influence of normative values and cosmopolitanism on fashion clothing involvement.

Research limitations/implications

– One of the major limitations of current research was that it had a large number of respondents in the age group of 18-40 years. Future research can attempt to reduce age biasness.

Practical implications

– The findings can prove helpful to international apparel brands marketing luxury and fashion clothing in India. However, since conformance to social norms was important for Indians, clothing manufacturers should use reference groups, opinion leaders, and celebrities to generate awareness. A blend of global and local lifestyle should be used. International luxury brands can customize their products to combine ethnic tastes.

Originality/value

– Fashion clothing market promises immense growth opportunities in India. There is limited research to examine influence cosmopolitanism on Indian consumers’ consumption behaviour. Knowledge about influence of global lifestyle, brands, mass media, and services on Indian consumers’ behaviour can help in targeting them effectively.
Repurchase loyalty for customer social co-creation e-marketplaces
Authors: M. Kang Ju-Young
Published: November 2014

Purpose

– Social co-creation refers to the process of using social media as a vehicle to carry out customer co-creation engagements. By allowing many customers to contribute to a specific co-creation initiative, social media makes co-creation platforms more efficient. The purpose of this paper is to examine: first, whether usability and information quality, visual appeal and image, interactivity, and web innovativeness, as perceived web site quality dimensions, were related to value equity; second, whether value equity was related to commitment and repurchase loyalty to social co-creation; and third, the moderating effects of aesthetic appreciation and fashion opinion leadership.

Design/methodology/approach

– The conceptual foundation was based on the Quality-Value-Satisfaction model. Data were collected from US online apparel shoppers (n=691) using a consumer panel via an online survey. Structural equation modeling was employed to test the proposed model and research hypotheses.

Findings

– Usability and information quality, visual appeal and image, interactivity, and web innovativeness had indirect influences on commitment and repurchase loyalty, mediated by value equity of social co-creation.

Originality/value

– This proposed model may provide useful insights for apparel e-retailers to use in order to differentiate their e-strategies and develop successful social co-creation web sites. Furthermore, the proposed strategies will enable apparel e-retailers to fulfill customers’ increasing demand for more interactive and online social shopping experiences that utilize the customer's own creativity.
Reputation risk management in financial firms: protecting (some) small investors
Authors: Saleuddin Rasheed
Published: November 2014

Purpose

– This paper aims to provide an explanation and evidence for the recent lack of retail financial product failures in Canada in the face of a (formal) regulatory failure.

Design/methodology/approach

– The paper applies the literature on self-regulation and reputational risk management to a detailed investigation of the marketing of financial products to Canadian retail investors. Internal approval processes for many different players in the retail financial industry were analyzed in detail primarily using interviews.

Findings

– The author was able to identify associations between structures and policies at financial firms and outcomes for retail investors. Knowing that prevention is more effective than mitigation, marketers of financial products would generally welcome increased state intervention in terms of more and better information disclosures.

Research limitations/implications

– The research contributes to our understanding of self-regulation in financial markets, specifically addressing what firm characteristics may be related to positive and negative outcomes for small investors in complex structured financial products.

Practical implications

– Regulators may be able to imply the research findings in selectively allocating scarce resources to policing firms that may be more inclined to participate in riskier behavior. Financial firms may be able to influence the decisions relating to how regulations are designed and implemented and which products are sold to which clients to minimize reputation risk.

Originality/value

– This is the first time, to the author's knowledge, that the reputation risk management channel has been analyzed in terms of influencing outcomes for retail (small) investors.
An overview of humanitarian relief supply chains for victims of perennial flood disasters in Lagos, Nigeria (2010-2012)
Authors: Soneye Alabi
Published: November 2014

Purpose

– Lagos is flooded perennially due to its low-lying coastal location. Empirical studies on the impacts of the disaster and humanitarian relief for the victims are scanty. The purpose of this paper is to assess the causes and severity of the floods, the aids to victims and the supply chains in six flood-prone local government areas (LGAs) of the metropolis comparatively.

Design/methodology/approach

– Data were collected using a questionnaire instrument that was administered to 292 victims and/or residents of 42 flooded neighborhoods in six LGAs of Lagos in the years 2010-2012. The administration was some few weeks after major incidences were reported for the respective years.

Findings

– The results show that floods are recurrent in the areas during every wet season (between May and October), emanate from both natural and human-induced causes and lead to large-scale human displacement and loss of assets. Humanitarian reliefs are from neighbors, spiritual homes and relatives mostly and are supplied directly to victims. These suggest gloomy implications for sustainable disaster management, humanitarian services and supply chains. Areas for further studies are highlighted.

Originality/value

– Studies in humanitarian relief and supply chains are scanty in the part of the world. The paper is original and not been considered for publication elsewhere.
Using containers as storage facilities in humanitarian logistics
Authors: Şahin Ayşenur , Alp Ertem Mustafa , Emür Emel
Published: November 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to investigate the use of freight containers to store relief items instead of operating a permanent warehouse building.

Design/methodology/approach

– A mathematical model is developed to determine the location and quantity of containers as well as the type and amount of relief supplies to store in order to investigate the practicality of using freight containers for storage. The model is tested using earthquake risk data, estimates of population under risk, and the distances between cities. An experimental study is performed using Turkish Prime Ministry Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (abbreviated as AFAD in Turkish) data for total number of relief supplies.

Findings

– Considering the earthquake risk of possible locations, the results of the study indicate the target locations for containers. The idea of using containers as storage facilities helped beneficiaries to be reached within a short distance and in an efficient way.

Research limitations/implications

– The presented model is not implemented in real life disaster relief operations even if it is tested with real earthquake risk, demand and distance data.

Practical implications

– To apply this model in practice, the container locations within cities should be determined and managerial operations such as maintenance, environmental, and security planning have to be considered.

Originality/value

– This study presents the first analysis of three sub-topics’ intersection: warehousing, pre-positioning in disaster relief, and containerization. To the best of authors’ knowledge, containers have not been considered for storage of relief items in humanitarian logistics before.
Leadership in transformation: a longitudinal study in a nursing organization
Authors: Viitala Riitta
Published: November 2014

Purpose

– Not only does leadership produce changes, but those changes produce leadership in organisations. The purpose of this paper is to present a theoretical and empirical analysis of the transformation of leadership at two different historical points in a health care organisation. It leans on the perspective of social constructionism, drawing especially from the ideas of Berger and Luckmann (1966). The paper seeks to improve understanding of how leaders themselves construct leadership in relation to organisational change.

Design/methodology/approach

– The empirical material was gathered in a longitudinal case study in a nursing organisation in two different historical and situational points. It consists of written narratives produced by nurse leaders that are analysed by applying discourse analysis.

Findings

– The empirical study revealed that the constructions of leadership were dramatically different at the two different historical and situational points. Leadership showed up as a complex, fragile and changing phenomenon, which fluctuates along with the other organisational changes. The results signal the importance of agency in leadership and the central role of “significant others”.

Originality/value

– The paper questions the traditional categorisation and labelling of leadership as well as the cross-sectional studies in understanding leadership transformation. Its originality relates to the longitudinal perspective on transformation of leadership in the context of a health care organisation.
People with multimorbidity: forgotten outsiders or dynamic self-managers?
Authors: Hujala Anneli , Rijken Mieke , Laulainen Sanna , Taskinen Helena , Rissanen Sari
Published: November 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to draw attention to the discursive construction of multimorbidity. The study illustrates how the social reality of multimorbidity and the agency of patients are discursively constructed in scientific articles addressing care for people with multiple chronic conditions.

Design/methodology/approach

– The study is based on the postmodern assumptions about the power of talk and language in the construction of reality. Totally 20, scientific articles were analysed by critically oriented discourse analysis. The interpretations of the findings draw on the agency theories and principals of critical management studies.

Findings

– Four discourses were identified: medical, technical, collaborative and individual. The individual discourse challenges patients to become self-managers of their health. It may, however, go too far in the pursuit of patients’ active agency. The potential restrictions and consequences of a “business-like” orientation must be paid careful attention when dealing with patients with multimorbidity.

Research limitations/implications

– The data consisted solely of scientific texts and findings therefore serve as limited illustrations of the discursive construction of multimorbidity. In future, research focusing for example on political documents and practice talk of professionals and patients is needed.

Social implications

– The findings highlight the power of talk and importance of ethical considerations in the development of care for challenging patient groups.

Originality/value

– By identifying the prevailing discourses the study attempts to cast doubt on the taken-for-granted understandings about the agency of patients with multimorbidity.
Understanding integrated working between arts and care settings
Authors: Clark Michael
Published: November 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to discuss integrated working between the arts and those in care settings. Identifying that the field is very broad, with diverse evidence and experience within it, the paper argues that there is a need to find ways in which to be clearer about the purpose of specific arts and care integrated projects. The paper draws on a case study project to develop some insights and a framework to help address this challenge.

Design/methodology/approach

– The paper is a conceptual discussion and development drawing upon insights from relevant literature and a case study analysis of an integration project between a hospice service, an art gallery and an artist.

Findings

– The integrated working case study project between the hospice, art gallery and artist highlights some points about a lack of conceptual frameworks to help locate the purpose of diverse arts and care projects. There is scope for much confusion about the nature and purpose of such integration projects without a clear framework for articulating the aims of individual integration endeavours and their place in relation to other arts and care work. This paper develops a framework and a clear understanding about the different kinds and goals of integrated working between arts and care settings to help with future practical and research projects.

Research limitations/implications

– The paper reports a case study which highlights key themes from which generalisation to other services will require interpretation for particular contexts.

Practical implications

– The ideas present a helpful approach to articulating the goals of individual projects and to better understand the place of projects in relation to other arts and care initiatives.

Social implications

– There is much scope for better integrated working between arts and care settings to achieve better outcomes for users of care services, and the ideas presented here should help to better organise and evaluate such developments.

Originality/value

– This is the first paper to set out the framework presented to help with better integrated working between arts and care settings.
Health and Wellbeing Boards: a new dawn for public health partnerships?
Authors: Perkins Neil , Hunter David James
Published: November 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to consider the effectiveness of partnership working in public health and draws on a systematic review of public health partnerships and original research conducted by the authors. It then considers in the light of research evidence whether the recently established Health and Wellbeing Boards (HWBs) under the 2012 Health and Social Care Act will help agencies to work together more effectively to improve population health or will go the way of previous initiatives and fall short of their original promise.

Design/methodology/approach

– The paper is based on a systematic literature review conducted by the authors and empirical research focusing upon the ability of public health partnerships to reduce health inequalities and improve population health outcomes. It also draws on recent studies evaluating HWBs.

Findings

– The paper finds that, hitherto, public health partnerships have had limited impact on improving population health and reducing health inequalities and that there is a danger that HWBs will follow the same path-dependent manner of previous partnership initiatives with limited impact in improving population health outcomes and reducing health inequalities.

Research limitations/implications

– The research draws on a systematic literature review and further scoping review of public health partnerships, in addition to empirical research conducted by the authors. It also reviews the current evidence base on HWBs. It is recognised that HWBs are in their early stages and have not as yet had the time to fulfil their role in service collaboration and integration.

Practical implications

– The paper gives an overview of how and why public health partnerships in the past have not lived up to the expectations placed upon them. It then offers practical steps that HWBs need to take to take to ensure the mistakes of the past are not replicated in the future.

Social implications

– The research outlines how public health partnerships can operate in a more effective manner, to ensure a more seamless provision for service users. The paper then gives pointers as to how this can benefit HWBs and the wider community they serve.

Originality/value

– The paper draws on a comprehensive research study of the effectiveness of public health partnerships on improving health outcomes and a systematic literature review. In addition, it also draws upon the current evidence base evaluating HWBs, to inform the discussion on their future prospects, in regard to partnership working in public health and promoting service integration.
Making a reality of integration: less science, more craft and graft
Authors: Dickinson Helen
Published: November 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to explore the study of integration and two perspectives that are found within the literature: the science of integration; and integration as craft and graft. These different perspectives are analysed for their inherent strengths and weaknesses and suggestions for the future research of integration are set out.

Design/methodology/approach

– This paper is a commentary of the broad approaches that have been taken in studying integration.

Findings

– The scientific perspective of integration has tended to dominate the literature and the industry that has developed around integration to date. However, the craft and graft perspective is one that is receiving increasing attention in recent times and which has much to offer in terms of better understanding issues of integration.

Originality/value

– This paper is concerned with approaches to research into integration and also draws in newly emerging insights from the broader field of governance. It suggests that the author may wish to reconsider how the author research and practice integration in the context of health and social care.
An observatory note on tests for normality assumptions
Authors: F. Siddiqi Ahmed
Published: November 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to discuss how numerous tests that are available in statistical literature to assess normality of a given set of observations perform in normal and near-normal situations. Not all these tests are suitable for all situations but each test has an exclusive area of application.

Design/methodology/approach

– These tests are assessed for their power at varying degrees of skewness, kurtosis and sample size on the basis of simulated experiments.

Findings

– It is observed that almost all these tests are indifferent for smaller values of skewness and kurtosis. Further, the power of accepting normality reduces with increasing sample size.

Originality/value

– The article gives guidelines to researchers to apply normality assessing tests in different situations.
The emotional dimensions of metaphors of change
Authors: K. Smollan Roy
Published: November 2014

Purpose

– Participants in organizational change use metaphors in discourse as a means of sense making, since they provide insight into ways of thinking and feeling about organizational change that are not as easily or as graphically captured by more conventional language. Although change is often emotional the affective elements of metaphors of change have been under-studied. Thus the purpose of this paper is to examine the emotional content of metaphors that participants use to describe their experiences in various change contexts.

Design/methodology/approach

– In total, 24 people in different industries, organizations, functional departments and hierarchical levels were interviewed on their experiences of change and their affective reactions. Evidence was sought of the use of metaphors to portray emotional responses.

Findings

– Participants used many metaphors of which the most prevalent were those relating to the rollercoaster and grief cycle. Other categories emerged from the meanings that underlay the metaphors and revealed a spectrum of emotions experienced during change.

Research limitations/implications

– As figures of speech it is axiomatic that metaphors cannot be taken literally. Further research needs to discover what actors believe their metaphors mean and to take account of cultural differences.

Practical implications

– Exploring the emotional meanings embedded in metaphors used by change actors will enable managers to create effective messages and to understand others’ responses to change.

Originality/value

– Since most empirical articles on affective metaphors of change investigate single organizations or industries, this paper contributes to the literature by reporting on change experiences in different organizational contexts and by identifying categories of metaphorical expressions.
Gender role beliefs and fathers’ work-family conflict
Authors: Hergatt Huffman Ann , J. Olson Kristine , C. O’Gara Jr Thomas , B. King Eden
Published: November 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to investigate the part that gender roles play in fathers’ work-family experiences. The authors compared two models (gender role as a correlate and as a moderator) and hypothesized that gender role beliefs play an important factor related to fathers’ experiences of work-family conflict.

Design/methodology/approach

– Participants completed an online survey that consisted of questions related to work and family experiences. The final sample consisted of 264 employed, married fathers.

Findings

– Results showed a relationship between traditional gender role beliefs and number of hours spent at work and at home. Additionally, number of work hours was related to time-based work-to-family conflict, but not strain-based work-to-family conflict. The results supported the expectation that work hours mediate the relationship between a father's traditional gender role beliefs and time-based work-to-family conflict.

Research limitations/implications

– Limitations of this study include the use cross-sectional and self-report data. Future research might want to expand the theoretical model to be more inclusive of fathers of more diverse demographic backgrounds, and assess the model with a longitudinal design.

Practical implications

– A key theoretical implication gleaned from the study is that work-family researchers should include the socially constructed variable of gender roles in their work-family research. Findings provide support for the contention that organizations need to ensure that mothers’ and fathers’ unique needs are being met through family-friendly programs. The authors provide suggestions for specific workplace strategies.

Originality/value

– This is one of the first studies that focussed on fathers’ experiences of the work-family interface. The results clarify that traditional gender role beliefs give rise to fathers’ gendered behaviors and ultimately work-family conflict.
Dispositional correlates of perceived work entitlement
Authors: K. Miller Brian , Konopaske Robert
Published: November 2014

Purpose

– Drawing on an equity theory framework, the purpose of this paper is to examine the degree to which dispositional correlates – Machiavellianism and Protestant work ethic (PWE) – predict perceived work entitlement in employed persons.

Design/methodology/approach

– In two independent samples (n=270 andn=214), currently employed participants completed self-report surveys. Multiple regression analyses were used to test the hypotheses and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to assess common method variance and provide evidence of construct validity.

Findings

– In Study 1, a general measure of Machiavellianism was positively related to perceived work entitlement, but PWE was not significantly related to the criterion. In Study 2, three sub-scales of Machiavellianism, as well as a different measure of the PWE, were positively related to perceived work entitlement. However, the fourth sub-scale of Machiavellianism was negatively related and therefore in the opposite direction of that which was hypothesized.

Research limitations/implications

– The primary limitations of the research are the cross-sectional research design and minor risk of common method bias. However, numerous a priori andpost hocprocedures were incorporated in an attempt to minimize this risk.

Practical implications

– Managers need to understand how certain dispositional factors influence the degree to which employees perceive that they are entitled to rewards that at times are inconsistent with their contribution to the organization.

Social implications

– As the workforce ages and older employees are replaced, understanding the dispositional influences on perceived work entitlement helps explain why some, often times younger, workers feel more entitled to organizational rewards than do others.

Originality/value

– This paper is one of the first to examine relevant dispositional correlates of perceived work entitlement, which is a construct developed from equity theory.
Cutting dark matter. Professional capacity and organizational change
Authors: Steenhuisen Bauke
Published: November 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to discuss the impact of organizational change on the competence of controllers in rail infrastructure operations. Controllers are a critical link in providing rail services. They guide train traffic 7/24 in real time from within control rooms by daily responding to a multitude of disturbances. Market reforms have radically changed their work conditions by unbundling and re-bundling control rooms.

Design/methodology/approach

– Ethnographically inspired research has been performed at the work stations of controllers in both unbundled and re-bundled, both Dutch and British control rooms between 2007 and 2011. The author observed how controllers deal with moderate disturbances and discusses the nature of their underlying professional capacities, what guides their decision making in discretion. Implications are discussed how organizational change affects these capacities in case of unbundling and re-bundling control rooms.

Findings

– The paper shows how to gain a more explicit understanding of what controllers, as professionals, essentially think and do. An open-interactive account of professional capacity emerges, in contrast to the private-cognitive view widespread in literature. Both conceptualizations of professional capacities have radically different implications for their susceptibility to organizational change.

Originality/value

– This paper reveals an urgent perspective on the impact of market reforms, through the accompanying organizational change, on professional capacity at the operational level of providing public rail services.
“Being with” while retaining and asserting professional midwifery power and authority in home birth
Authors: O'Boyle Colm
Published: November 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to describe what it is like to be a midwife in the professionally isolated and marginalised arena of home birth in Ireland and to explore whether the organisation of home birth services and professional discourse might be undermining the autonomy of home birth midwives.

Design/methodology/approach

– This paper is drawn from auto-ethnographic field work, with 18 of the 21 self-employed community midwives (SECMs) offering home birth support to women in Ireland from 2006 to 2009. The data presented are derived from field notes of participant observations and from interviews digitally recorded in the field.

Findings

– Home birth midwives must navigate isolated professional practice and negotiate when and how to interface with mainstream hospital services. The midwives talk of the dilemma of competing discourses about birth. Decisions to transfer to hospital in labour is fraught with concerns about the woman's and the midwife's autonomy. Hospital transfers crystallise midwives’ sense of professional vulnerability.

Practical implications

– Maternity services organisation in Ireland commits virtually no resources to community midwifery. Home birth is almost entirely dependent upon a small number of SECMs. Although there is a “national home birth service”, it is not universally and equitably available, even to those deemed eligible. Furthermore, restrictions to the professional indemnification of home birth midwives, effectively criminalises midwives who would attend certain women. Home birth, already a marginal practice, is at real risk of becoming regulated out of existence.

Originality/value

– This paper brings new insight into the experiences of midwives practicing at the contested boundaries of contemporary maternity services. It reveals the inappropriateness of a narrowly professional paradigm for midwifery. Disciplinary control of individuals by professions may countermand claimed “service” ideologies.
Resistance to financialization
Authors: Forsberg Per , Stockenstrand Anna-Karin
Published: November 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to contribute with knowledge about how resistance to the neo-liberal agenda is made possible, especially through renewal and reproduction of collective communities.

Design/methodology/approach

– Using two ethnographical studies, one of a chamber orchestra and one of a shipping company for illustrating resistance.

Findings

– It is resistance through distancing and creation of a “hidden script” that prevents the collective community from be broken down by individualization. However, resistance through distancing needs to be combined with resistance through persistence in order to become intelligent.

Originality/value

– The paper makes use of ethnographic studies to investigate possibilities of resistance. The study has also found it fruitful to combine James Scott's (1990) notion of collectively created hidden scripts with Collinson's (1992, 1994) notion of resistance through distancing and persistence.
Stranger and stranger: creating theory through ethnographic distance and authority
Authors: Alan Fine Gary , Hallett Tim
Published: November 2014

Purpose

– Classical ethnographic research begins with the recognition that the observer starts as a stranger to the group being studied, a recognition as evident in the analysis of formal organizations as of gangs or tribes. From this position of difference the researcher must learn the themes and dynamics of a setting of otherness. The researcher begins as an outsider, a stance that creates initial challenges, yet permits the transmittal of novel information to external audiences. This is particularly true while studying organizational worlds that explicitly focus on occupational socialization. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

– This conceptual paper relies on the close reading and analysis of three major ethnographies of occupational socialization.

Findings

– The reality that (many) ethnographers begin as strangers permits them to understand socialization processes while observing how group cultures change. The authors defines this as the “stranger paradigm.” This otherness is joined by the perspective of the scholar's discipline and awareness of comparable research that permits understanding of forces that are unrecognized by participants, but which can be profitably scrutinized by disciplinary colleagues within their own occupational worlds. The authors term this “ethnographic authority.”

Originality value

– To support the claim that distance and authority support the formulation of theoretical insights, the paper examines organizational ethnographies that examine the occupational socialization of doctors, morticians, and ministers.
New rules regarding research analyst’s perceived conflicts of interest: an ever‐evolving landscape
Authors: Hensley Dennis C. , Strouse Jeffrey W.
Published: November 2014

On May 10, 2002, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) approved certain rule changes filed by the National Association of Securities Dealers, Inc. (the “NASD”) and the New York Stock Exchange, Inc. (the “NYSE”) relating to research analysts’ perceived conflicts of interest. In proposing such rule changes, the SROs noted that these new rules were intended “to improve the objectivity of research and provide investors with more useful and reliable information when making investment decisions” and “to reinforce the integrity of the process and help rebuild investors’ faith in research and in the equities market as a whole”. To that end, NASD Rule 2711 and NYSE Rule 472 (the “rules”) restrict and prohibit certain activities of firms and their research analysts. This article sets forth a summary of the rules and the guidance relating thereto. It also provides a brief description of the recently proposed Regulation AC, which effectively will impose additional requirements on firms and their analysts. By integrating these sources into one, this article intends to survey the existing landscape as it relates to the rules governing research analysts, and, more important, to serve as a guidepost around which this landscape continues to evolve.
Anti‐money laundering (AML) requirements for investment companies emerge as compliance deadlines approach
Authors: Abel Alan
Published: November 2014

Money laundering is not a new issue for investment companies. Funds have been subject to currency transaction reporting for years, and many fund complexes were already taking additional steps to protect themselves against money laundering prior to the events of September 11, 2001. The enactment of the USA PATRIOT Act in October 2001 has resulted in new compliance requirements for fund complexes.
Slipping back to business as usual
Authors: Berk Steven N. , Mehri Cyrus
Published: November 2014

When it passed in the summer of 2002, the Sarbanes‐Oxley Act was hailed as the most significant reform legislation of the markets since the Great Depression. An initial flurry of activity, including several high profile arrests, suggested that the accounting profession and Corporate America generally were in for a heightened level of scrutiny and enforcement. But politics and missteps by the White House and SEC have cooled the enforcement climate considerably and a return to historically low levels of investor confidence may just be around the corner. Given the current environment, it is incumbent on shareholders, particularly institutional investors, to assert leadership for restoring confidence to the markets. They have the resources and Sarbanes‐Oxley provides the tools for them to pick up the slack and take on a more aggressive private enforcement role.
The keys to effective mediation advocacy
Authors: Masucci Deborah
Published: November 2014

Most lawsuits are never tried. In fact, more than 90 per cent of the cases filed in the United States federal district courts are resolved by motion or settlement. In its 2001 Annual Report of the Director, the Administrative Office of the United States Courts reported that of the 247,592 cases that were terminated during the 12‐month period ending September 30, 2001, only 5,401 cases, or 2.2 per cent, actually reached trial. Nearly 90 per cent of the cases were terminated either without court action or before pre‐trial. The other 7.8 per cent were terminated during or after the pre‐trial.
Market discounts and shareholder benefits
Authors: Ratcliffe Christopher , Dimovski Bill
Published: November 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to examine the impacts of private placement announcements by Australian Real Estate Investment Trusts (A-REITs) on existing shareholders. The study examines 96 A-REIT private placements from January 2000 to December 2012.

Design/methodology/approach

– Utilising event study methodology the authors examine the impact on existing shareholders wealth by measuring the abnormal returns (AR) around the placement announcement. The authors extend the analysis to model the A-REITs ARs against a number of explanatory variables to investigate the possible drivers for the observed event study results.

Findings

– The results support the information signalling hypothesis, in that existing investors in A-REITs earn negative and significant cumulative ARs of −1.3 per cent over the three-day event window [−1, +1]. This result is in contrast to prior studies conducted on industrial firms, for example; Hertzel and Smith (1993), Krishnamurthy et al. (2005) and Wruck and Wu (2009).

Practical implications

– Regression analysis shows A-REITs trading at a premium to net tangible assets and A-REITs that use placement funds for their core business have a positive impact on announcement ARs.

Originality/value

– This paper adds to the existing literature surrounding private placements and is the first paper, to the authors’ knowledge, to examine the impact of Australian REITs.
Competencies associated with growth of women-led SMEs
Authors: Mitchelmore Siwan , Rowley Jennifer , Shiu Edward
Published: November 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to identify the entrepreneurial competencies that women SME owners perceive to be important to the success of their business, and the competencies that women with high turnover growth rate deem important, and makes a comparison between the two sets of competencies.

Design/methodology/approach

– A questionnaire-based survey of female entrepreneurs in England and Wales collected data on those entrepreneurial competencies that women perceived to be important for their business, alongside key business performance measures, such as turnover growth rate. A ranking of the top ten competencies that women thought were important for success was generated; this ranking was compared with a list of four competencies identified as being important by those women whose businesses exhibited high business growth.

Findings

– All of the competencies perceived by the whole group to be important to the success of their business were personal and relational competencies. This is in stark contrast to the findings from logistic regression, which shows that high-growth businesses can be differentiated from low-growth businesses regarding the importance assigned to the following four competencies by their owners: pro-activeness, strategic planning and implementation for opportunities, acquiring finance, and risk-taking.

Originality/value

– This study suggests that women business owners’ prioritisation of the key competencies for their business may impact on business growth, and raises the question as to whether women business owners are able to identify the competencies that will drive the growth of their business. The particular contribution of this study is this gap, which poses challenges for policy makers, practitioners, and researchers.
Factors that hinder quality improvement programs’ implementation in SME
Authors: Mendes Luís , Lourenço Luís
Published: November 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to focus on the following purposes: first, to identify/analyze the main factors that hinder quality improvement programs’ implementation in SMEs, and second, to test if the level of importance attributed to those factors differ according to firms’ dimension.

Design/methodology/approach

– A survey was mailed to 600 Portuguese SME randomly selected. Out of the sample, a total of 95 questionnaires were completed and returned, performing a final response rate around 16 per cent.

Findings

– Findings reached from this research, highlighted seven different factors affecting quality programs: top management's education/training level and priorities, costs and actual performance, lack of support from external agents, human resources’ overload, aversion to change, lack of resources, and culture and training. Furthermore, results suggest that these factors assume greater importance in medium-sized firms, compared to smaller ones.

Research limitations/implications

– The research focused specifically on the Portuguese manufacturing sector; thus, particular attention should be paid in attempting to generalize results. Moreover it is recognized that further researches may consider exploring longitudinal research designs in order to gain additional insights into the dynamic nature of problems faced.

Practical implications

– Understanding the main problems that hinder quality improvement programs’ implementation in SME may allow practitioners to plan more effectively their quality management system, especially faced with scarce resources.

Originality/value

– Quality management issues focus essentially on larger organizations. This paper is the first attempt to systematize the main factors that hinder quality improvement programs’ implementation in small and medium sized firms.
I meant to do that! Manipulating entrepreneurial intentions through the power of simple plans
Authors: E. Armstrong Craig
Published: November 2014

Purpose

– Intentions capture the motivational factors that influence a given behavior and indicate how hard a person is willing to try in order to perform the behavior. An individual's entrepreneurial intentions are a function of the perceived feasibility and desirability of engaging in a particular entrepreneurial behavior. Because they are perceptual factors, the processes of assessing feasibility and desirability of entrepreneurial behaviors tends to be limited to the cognitive abilities of the specific individual. The purpose of this paper is to use an experimental manipulation to illustrate to students how the simple act of planning can dramatically influence entrepreneurial intentions.

Design/methodology/approach

– This paper draws from two sections of undergraduate study-abroad students who developed a severe craving for American foods they missed. Both sections assessed the desirability and feasibility of a particular entrepreneurial behavior (organizing an event to get the missed food), but one section was provided with a half-hour of classroom time to plan for the event.

Findings

– The group of students who engaged in planning activities was significantly more likely to view the behavior as feasible and, in turn, had significantly higher intentions to engage in the behavior. This experiment provided a simple but powerful demonstration to students of how important a role planning plays in shaping entrepreneurial intentions.

Originality/value

– This study offers a pedagogy that uses students both as participants and the primary audience of a manipulation of perceived feasibility and entrepreneurial intentions. Conducting this simple experiment and sharing the results with students provides dramatic evidence of the power of simple planning.
Creating communities: the use of technology in craft and DIY communities of practice
Authors: Holmes Kate , Greenhill Anita , McLean Rachel
Published: November 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this study is to gain insight into craft and do-it-yourself (DIY) communities of practice (COPs) and how the use of technology provides ways for participants to connect, share and create. Gaining deeper insights into the practices of these communities may provide new opportunities to utilise within this flourishing domain.

Design/methodology/approach

– Qualitative methods were adopted to collect data and analysed through an interpretivist lens. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with members of craft and DIY COPs to gain a deep understanding of the broader ethnographic study. Existing theoretical perspectives surrounding COPs have been applied to further current perspectives.

Findings

– Findings from this study suggest that being part of a COP allows participants to connect to others, build creative enterprise and learn or enhance skills. Insights gained from this study indicate some of the detailed ways in which the application of technology redefines craft and DIY COPs.

Research limitations/implications

– This study provides a succinct exploration of a vast and fluid domain; if presented with more time and wider resources, the research would include further exploration of virtual COPs.

Originality/value

– The investigation provides a rich insight into the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) within craft and DIY COPs. The application of theoretical perspectives from the area of Information Systems (IS) and Technology Management to this domain is regarded as an original research and furthers knowledge in these areas.

Originality/value

– The investigation provides a rich insight into the use of ICTs within craft and DIY COPs. The application of theoretical perspectives from the area of IS to the domain of craft and DIY culture is original research and extends existing concepts to include skills sharing as a previously unexplored domain.