bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Innovation with Chinese characteristics: theory and practice
Authors: Li Zheng , Li Jun , Chen Jin , Vinig Tsvi
Published: January 2020

Purpose

This is a special issue of Chinese Management Studies and this study aims to engage with debates on innovation in China and to provide new insights for innovation research in the context of China, seeking to develop a greater understanding of the concept of “innovation with Chinese characteristics”.

Design/methodology/approach

This study reviews the Chinese innovation management literature in general and the selected papers in this special issue in particular and proposes two new directions for future research.

Findings

The nine papers that constitute this special issue present research on important aspects of innovation in China, ranging from the effectiveness of government subsidisation for innovation, the impact of fiscal decentralisation on innovation, the role of management behaviour in promoting (or discouraging) innovation and the effects of differing business models on innovation. These papers shed valuable new light on the theory and practice of innovation in China. The papers are discussed in the context of four primary arguments about innovation management in China identified from the broader literature in the field. These relate to the pattern of China’s innovation performance over time, the reasons for its effectiveness, the role of alliances and influences of indigenous factors. It is also shown that management of the internationalisation of innovation and of efficient internal innovation are two important directions for future research on Chinese innovation in an era of de-globalisation.

Originality/value

The studies presented here provide valuable contributions to theory building in innovation research, as well as some important ideas for directions of future research on innovation in China in the new era of de-globalisation.
A multi-dimensional matrix keyboard interfacing circuit design
Authors: Yu Guangwei , Yao Yuan , Song Zhuoyuan
Published: January 2020

Purpose

This paper presents a novel design method for keyboard circuits. The purpose of this study is to enable a single-board computer with fewer pins to recognize a keyboard system consisting of a large number of switches. Through the study of different kinds of keyboard circuits, a general circuit schematic design method is abstracted. Several experiments are conducted to prove the feasibility of the proposed circuit design method.

Design/methodology/approach

Conventional circuit schematic diagrams are often limited to two-dimensional planes. Through investigating higher dimensional alternatives, this paper proposes to place components in high-dimensional geometry before connecting all components. A multi-pin switch construction method is proposed to allow the switches to be arranged on the vertices of high-dimensional geometry and be connected sequentially to form the keyboard system. This proposed system can allow a keyboard system consisting of a large number of switches to be recognized by a single-board computer with less available pins.

Findings

The design scheme proposed in this paper can read more switch states with limited Input/Output pins. With the increase of the number of Input/Output ports and pins, the number of simultaneously identifiable switches increases exponentially, which is suitable for sensor design of array type.

Research limitations/implications

Compared with the classical keyboard circuits, the circuit designed using the proposed method will lead to a slightly longer recognition time for each key. This can be compensated by a single-board computer with a modestly higher clock speed.

Originality/value

The circuit schematic design method based on high-dimensional geometry is introduced for the first time. The feasibility of the proposed method is verified by the original experiments. The proposed approach is of importance in guiding the design of new analog and digital sensor circuit systems.
Do related party transactions affect earnings quality? Evidence from East Asia
Authors: Rahmat Mohd Mohid , Muniandy Balachandran , Ahmed Kamran
Published: January 2020

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of related party transactions (RPTs) and types of RPTs (complex, simple and loan) on earnings quality in four East Asian countries: Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand.

Design/methodology/approach

RPTs and types of RPTs are measured using two approaches, magnitude and abnormal (magnitude change). Earnings quality is measured using proxies for accrual earnings management and identified as discretionary accruals (DAC) and performance matched discretional accruals (PMDAC).

Findings

The results suggest that firms in these countries experience poor earnings quality when they are engaged in RPT. The effect of RPT-simple on earnings quality is more severe than RPT-complex. However, the presence of higher investor protection and stricter enforcement of regulations in countries like Singapore and Hong Kong reduce the negative impact of RPTs on earnings quality.

Research limitations/implications

The results support the argument that the presence of controlling shareholders in East Asia is likely to lead to engagement with RPTs, which will increase the likelihood of firms’ earnings manipulation via DAC. This study has two limitations. It only focuses on Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand, and the results may not be generalizable to other countries. Second, this study only measures the magnitude and abnormal RPTs based on the disclosures available in annual reports.

Originality/value

This paper contributes to the literature by examining the effect of RPTs and types of RPTs on earnings quality in four selected East Asian countries.
A study of people-centered early warning system in the face of near-field tsunami risk for Indonesian coastal cities
Authors: Rahayu Harkunti Pertiwi , Comfort Louise K. , Haigh Richard , Amaratunga Dilanthi , Khoirunnisa Devina
Published: January 2020

Purpose

This study aims to identify the gaps in current policy and propose a viable framework for policy improvement regarding people-centered tsunami early warning chain in Padang City. The objectives are: to describe the gaps and flaws in the current policy regarding local tsunami early warning chain, to identify potential actors to be involved in the tsunami early warning chain and to assess the roles and capacity of actors, and their potential for involvement in early warning.

Design/methodology/approach

This study is an exploratory study using social network analysis (SNA) on regulations and other legal documents, and primary data sources from a focus group discussion and semi-structured interviews.

Findings

The study found that the existed regulation lacks extension nodes to relay warnings to the populations at risk, often referred to as “the last mile.” Moreover, receiving warning information from both formal and informal sources is important to mobilize people evacuation more effectively during an emergency. The study found that mosque communities and disaster preparedness leaders are the potential actors who should be involved in the local early warning chain.

Practical implications

The research findings were presented as a recommendation to Padang City Government and have been legalized as the new tsunami early warning chain procedure in the Padang City Mayor Regulation 19/2018.

Originality/value

This research investigated local tsunami early warning dissemination in Padang City using SNA. The study demonstrates a close collaboration between researchers, practitioners and the community.
Financial action task force and the fight against money laundering and the financing of terrorism
Authors: Pavlidis Georgios
Published: January 2020

Purpose

Thirty years after its creation, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has become a prime example of a norm-building process that transcends the traditional avenues of public international law, while compelling a high level of compliance and assuring quick adaptation to norms and practices that better address money laundering and the financing of terrorism in their evolving form. On the occasion of FATF’s 30th anniversary, this paper aims to revisit the unique characteristics of FATF and the factors behind FATF’s success as standard-setter and as implementation-reviewer in the anti-money laundering (AML)/CFT context.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper draws on primary sources of law, legal scholarship, reports and other open source data to analyse the FATF norm-building process and the factors behind its success.

Findings

Thirty years after its creation, the FATF has established itself as the key standard-setter, implementation-reviewer and force for reform in the AML/CFT context. Though the FATF norm-building process has been very successful, owing to its flexibility, adaptability and expansiveness, significant challenges lay ahead due to the evolving nature of money laundering and financing of terrorism.

Originality/value

This is a comprehensive study examining the achievements, impact, strengths and weaknesses of the FATF norm-building process on the occasion of the organisation’s 30th anniversary.
Development of the university fraud prevention disclosure index
Authors: Joseph Corina , Omar Normah Haji , Janang Jennifer Tunga , Rahmat Mariam , Madi Nero
Published: January 2020

Purpose

This paper aims to explain the development of fraud prevention disclosure index (FPDI) for Malaysian public universities.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper reported a comprehensive review on fraud prevention and control plans of several international policies and of local and international universities.

Findings

The final 8 categories and 100 items under review have been developed in an instrument, the proposed FPDI, to measure the level of commitment of public universities in preventing fraud.

Research limitations/implications

The FPDI will serve as an evaluation tool to measure the level of commitment of public universities toward preventing fraud practices through disclosure practices.

Social implications

The FPDI is hoped to inculcate anti-fraud culture amongst public universities and to promote accountability, widen and strengthen good organization’s ethics, create ethical work place environment and enhance corporate governance framework by instilling a culture of professional conduct that is free from corruption.

Originality/value

This paper is among the first paper that develops the index specifically to measure the universities’ level of commitment to prevent fraud.
Assessing contract management as a strategic tool for achieving quality of work in Ghanaian construction industry
Authors: Coleman Emmanuel , Nooni Isaac Kwesi , Fianko Samuel Korenteng , Dadzie Linka , Neequaye Ebenezer Nickson , Owusu-Agyemang Jasmine , Ansa-Asare Edna Obuo
Published: January 2020

Purpose

This study aims to investigate the attainment of quality in Government of Ghana’s (GoG) infrastructural projects through effective contract management and especially, relating to qualification, competence and experience of supply chain stakeholders.

Design/methodology/approach

A survey questionnaire and field observations were used to collect primary data from staff of the education ministry and construction professionals. Documentary analyses of contract documents were also undertaken.

Findings

The results show that executing agencies’ failure to apply appropriate contract management processes was linked to the gap between stakeholders’ knowledge and actual practice. This was confirmed by Spearman’s rho tests of correlation between overall mean ranks given by professionals and non-professionals, which indicated strong agreement between those groups. Factors such as contractors’ engagement of unqualified supervisory staff, lack of proper projects monitoring and evaluation by executing agencies mainly contribute to the poor quality of work.

Research limitations/implications

Investigations were limited to the Funds and Procurement Management Unit of the Ministry of Education, Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies and local contractors. Nonetheless, the methodology used could be used in future studies to analyse the socio-economic implications on the quality of education infrastructure.

Practical implications

Construction is booming in Ghana but the capacity to improve the work quality through effective contract management is limited. However, with the effort of stakeholder and statutory bodies’ support in capacity building initiatives, GoG projects could offer some novel solutions to improve quality of work.

Social implications

Construction industry professionals and students’ knowledge and perception on construction industry and contract management is significantly improved.

Originality/value

This study provides information on respondents’ knowledge on contract management process, which, if not properly understood, can lead to poor quality of work and loss of money.
Shariah compliance and information transmission: evidence from an emerging market
Authors: Farooq Omar , Pashayev Zakir
Published: January 2020

Purpose

This paper aims to document the information transmission capacity of Shariah-compliant firms.

Design/methodology/approach

The vector auto-regression (VAR) model is used to test the information transmission capacity of Shariah-compliant firms in India during the period between 2010 and 2015.

Findings

The findings show that the returns of non-Shariah-compliant firms lead the returns of Shariah-compliant firms. It is argued that non-Shariah-compliant firms possess certain financial characteristics (higher leverage, higher accounts receivable and higher cash holdings) that make their information environment better than information environment of Shariah-compliant firms. The authors argue that superior information environment leads to timely incorporation of market-wide information, thereby causing the returns of non-Shariah-compliant firms to lead the returns of Shariah-compliant firms. It is also shown that the result holds in various market conditions.

Originality/value

It is believed that prior literature does not adequately address the information transmission capacity of the stock prices of Shariah-compliant firms. The gap is filled by documenting that stock prices of Shariah-compliant firms that are more informative than stock prices of non-Shariah-compliant firms.
Pricing efficiency of Saudi exchange traded funds (ETFs)
Authors: Almudhaf Fahad , Alhashel Bader
Published: January 2020

Purpose

This paper aims to investigate the pricing efficiency of Saudi Sharia-compliant (i.e. Islamic) exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

Design/methodology/approach

The paper adheres to a positivist research philosophy with a deductive research approach where data is collected, analyzed and interpreted to examine a hypothesis. Ordinary least squares (OLS) regressions are applied to investigate pricing efficiency and persistence.

Findings

The results show that Saudi ETFs do not currently offer proper diversification for investors, possibly due to their low trading volumes and the delays of market prices in reflecting net asset value (NAV). On average, ETFs trade at a premium to their NAVs. Moreover, the authors find that the deviations of ETF prices from their NAVs (i.e. premiums or discounts) do not disappear in one day. The results reveal a significant positive relationship between the trading volume of Saudi ETFs and volatility, a significant positive correlation between ETF returns and contemporaneous deviations and a significant negative relationship between returns and lagged deviations. These findings can be interpreted as evidence against the market efficiency of Saudi ETFs.

Practical implications

Individual and institutional investors can use Saudi ETFs, especially as their efficiency improves with increased trading volume (liquidity). Saudi regulators must increase their efforts to educate market participants and expand the availability of information to enhance transparency and awareness of the benefits of investing in ETFs, which will positively affect liquidity and pricing efficiency in the future.

Originality/value

This paper is the first to perform empirical tests on Saudi ETFs. Saudi Arabia deserves further attention because it is the most significant stock market in the Gulf Cooperation Council and only recently allowed foreigners to participate.
The role of related party transactions on sukuk financing
Authors: Abd Majid Norakma , Mohamad Ariff Akmalia , Mohamad Nor Raihan
Published: January 2020

Purpose

The Islamic bond, known as sukuk, is an ethical financing avenue driven by religious and profit motives. This study aims to analyze the relation between related party transactions and Sukuk. Companies with high related parties transactions are deemed to be committed toward social capital that they are more likely to choose sukuk for their debt financing.

Design/methodology/approach

Logistic regression analyses were conducted using data from 122 listed companies in Malaysia. Related party transactions proxy for companies’ commitment to social capital, while the likelihood to choose sukuk represents ethical financing.

Findings

This study documents a positive relationship between related party borrowings and sukuk, suggesting that close ties through related parties have created an ethical sense that is associated with the uptake of sukuk.

Research limitations/implications

Future research can opt other measures of related party transactions, such as by identifying the different categories of transactions and related parties. Future research may also extend the sample size by using samples from several countries to enable analysis involving institutional environment variables of the countries.

Practical implications

Findings of this study highlight sukuk uniqueness by supporting its role as ethical financing avenue through commitment toward social capital.

Originality/value

This study is the first to use the social capital perspective of related party transactions in identifying ethical financing choice that the authors believe is relevant in the institutional context of developing Muslim countries.
Text mining analysis roadmap (TMAR) for service research
Authors: Zaki Mohamed , McColl-Kennedy Janet R.
Published: January 2020

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to offer a step-by-step text mining analysis roadmap (TMAR) for service researchers. The paper provides guidance on how to choose between alternative tools, using illustrative examples from a range of business contexts.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors provide a six-stage TMAR on how to use text mining methods in practice. At each stage, the authors provide a guiding question, articulate the aim, identify a range of methods and demonstrate how machine learning and linguistic techniques can be used in practice with illustrative examples drawn from business, from an array of data types, services and contexts.

Findings

At each of the six stages, this paper demonstrates useful insights that result from the text mining techniques to provide an in-depth understanding of the phenomenon and actionable insights for research and practice.

Originality/value

There is little research to guide scholars and practitioners on how to gain insights from the extensive “big data” that arises from the different data sources. In a first, this paper addresses this important gap highlighting the advantages of using text mining to gain useful insights for theory testing and practice in different service contexts.
Does firm efficiency matter in the hospitality industry?
Authors: Phucharoen Chayanon , Sangkaew Nichapat
Published: January 2020

Purpose

A leading characteristic of international tourists at every tourist destination is their role as foreign–income disseminator, and a large number of papers have been dedicated to exploring their behavior. In contrast, this paper aims to shed light on the supply-side of tourism through the study of a hotels’ ability to internationalize their businesses.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on each hotel’s input data, its efficiency was estimated by a data envelopment analysis approach. Then, the hotel’s intensity of demand from foreign guests was regressed against hotel efficiency along with firm’ control variables.

Findings

Results from Heckman correction model indicate that ordinary least squares regression would be subject to selection bias, and the results from the correction model strongly indicate a positive linkage between the hotel’s efficiency level and its foreign to total guest ratio, especially in the sub-sample of hotels located in non-tourist destinations. In addition, the results also reveal that the availability of certain services and facilities at hotels are positively related to the number of foreign guests, namely, a spa service and swimming pools.

Originality/value

Therefore, the main implications from this study are twofold. First, if a hotel’s target market is international travelers, a swimming pool and the availability of a spa service are essential features for hotels in Thailand. Second, policies to improve productivity in hotels should be simultaneously implemented along with tourist-destination-promotion campaigns to optimize the economic impact of international tourist arrivals.
Leader behaviours of family and non-family executives in family firms
Authors: Neffe Carolin , Wilderom Celeste P.M. , Lattuch Frank
Published: January 2020

Purpose

Several studies of family firm failures have pointed to non-family members in leading positions as a reason. However, non-family members have often played a key role in family-firm longevity, while non-family executives’ involvement in family firms is increasing. These non-family executives who (co-)run family firms are thought to require an almost impossible set of behavioural qualities. The aim of this exploratory study is to find out how specific leader behaviours of effective family executives and non-family executives may differ.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on Dulewicz and Higgs’ (2005) broad leadership frame, the authors draw attention to a large range of behaviours of family-firm executives. In-depth interviews were conducted with successful German executives, both family and non-family ones. Their answers had to contain specific behavioural examples.

Findings

More behavioural similarities than differences are shown between family- and non-family-based executives. Yet, the self-reflective communicative behavioural qualities of the non-family executives could balance a lack of such qualities among the family-based executives. Based on the three major differences – decision-making style, communication versatility and self-awareness – specific new research propositions are distilled about effective family firm leadership.

Originality/value

Practical suggestions for recruiting non-family executives are offered. Future quantitative longitudinal research on how to pair specific behavioural qualities of family and non-family based executives that optimise family-firm longevity is urgently needed.
Brand recall of skippable vs non-skippable ads in YouTube
Authors: Belanche Daniel , Flavián Carlos , Pérez-Rueda Alfredo
Published: January 2020

Purpose

By integrating the evidence of various audience theories, a comparison is made of viewers’ information processing of new interactive video advertising formats (skippable video ads) with traditional, non-skippable formats. The purpose of this paper is to focus on how exposure to a brand name at different moments during online video advertisements influences viewers’ recall.

Design/methodology/approach

A neuroscientific pre-test supported the selection of an arousing video, and a subsequent pre-test confirmed the scenario validity. Using a broader sample, the main study applied a 3×2 experimental design of different ad designs and formats.

Findings

Distinctions should be made between formats and audiences that lead to different information processing methods. Users exposed to skippable ads (active audiences) exert a higher control over advertising and tend to process the information presented in the initial part of an ad. In turn, users viewing non-skippable ads (passive audiences) should be exposed to the high arousal stimulus before presentation of the key information that the advertiser wants them to remember.

Practical implications

Advertising managers and content creators can use these results to improve the design of their online videos, and to achieve greater effectiveness in terms of information recall.

Originality/value

Skippable online videos have become a commonly used advertising format, but research into their effects is scarce. This study offers the first comparison of viewers’ reactions towards skippable vs non-skippable formats, in terms of brand recall and economic performance. Further research might extend this underdeveloped field of study and enhance the knowledge of video format processing in social media.
Author(ing) from post-colonial context: challenges and jugaad fixes
Authors: Jammulamadaka Nimruji Prasad
Published: January 2020

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine some of the challenges authors from post-colonial contexts face in writing and doing research in management and organisation studies.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper is based on a self-reflection and also draws upon concepts from post and decolonial conceptual approaches.

Findings

It identifies three challenges namely, limitations or research question as what is feasible; translation and truth production; poor writing and weak theoretical contribution. It suggests three jugaad fixes to deal with these challenges namely, innovation and flexibility in method use with argumentation; translate, but late with theorising in the vernacular, and incorporating context into problematisation.

Research limitations/implications

It draws attention to the different needs of authors from post-colonial contexts.

Practical implications

It could possibly help authors from post-colonial contexts and reviewers better navigate academic publishing and research.

Social implications

It could help in authors from post-colonial contexts attempt more publishing.

Originality/value

This paper draws attention to the different constraints and limitations faced by authors from post-colonial contexts in pursuing academic writing.
Individual customization strategy accomplished by developing prototype of a laparoscopic forceps handle using additive manufacturing
Authors: M.P. Sreekanth , Ranganathan Rajesh , Pugalendhi Arivazhagan
Published: January 2020

Purpose

Laparoscopic surgeons suffer because of discomfited body posture while performing surgery and experience discomfort owing to lack of customized surgical instruments. Accordingly, this paper aims to recommend an individual customization strategy by developing an ergonomically designed laparoscopic forceps handle and thereby increase the comfort of surgeons.

Design/methodology/approach

Hand anthropometric parameters of 282 south Indian male subjects are used to customize the handle. uPrint and Objet260 Connex, which works based on fused deposition modeling and PolyJet, respectively, are used to fabricate the prototype of the handle. Design modifications include a pistol-type grip, the increased contact area between the hand and handle, and neutral wrist posture.

Findings

Ergonomic evaluation parameters such as grip, functionality, comfort and wrist posture using subjective ratings from laparoscopic surgeons were recorded and obtained average values of 4.1, 3.6, 4.1 and 4.1, respectively, based on a five-point ordinal scale. Additionally, stress analysis also confirms the safety of the handle based on von Mises stress criteria.

Research limitations/implications

Anthropometric data are limited to 282 subjects and subjective evaluation is conducted using a prototype, not the end-use product.

Originality/value

Evaluation using subjective rating confirms the ascendancy of a modified handle over the existing handle in terms of assessed parameters. The proposed individual customization strategy can be applied for other industrial hand tools to enhance comfort.
Instruction through virtual reference: mapping the ACRL framework
Authors: Renirie Rebecca Hill
Published: January 2020

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to examine teaching intent of information literacy threshold concepts via asynchronous reference transactions. Instructional content in academic librarians’ replies to research requests are analyzed for and mapped to threshold concepts contained in the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) framework.

Design/methodology/approach

The author mapped the instructional content of a research request reply template to the content of the ACRL framework, then took a random sample of research requests using the template during the calendar year 2016. Additional instructional content provided in the sample replies was also mapped to the framework.

Findings

In providing written instruction for students to create searches from keywords and search subject-specific databases, every frame is at least partially addressed in the template except Scholarship as Conversation. However, individual librarians adapt the template to teach as needed and there are examples in this case study of teaching aspects of all six frames asynchronously.

Practical implications

This study provides support for librarians to teach the threshold concepts of the ACRL framework asynchronously at the point of need during virtual reference, and the effective use of a research reply template to accomplish this instruction.

Originality/value

Few recent studies examine instructional intent in asynchronous/email reference. This study examines teaching the ACRL framework via reference rather than instructional sessions. A portion of this research was presented as a poster at the 2017 ACRL Conference in Baltimore, Maryland.
Entropy generation in magneto nanofluid flow with Joule heating and thermal radiation
Authors: Almakki Mohamed , Mondal Hiranmoy , Sibanda Precious
Published: January 2020

Purpose

This paper aims to investigate entropy generation in an incompressible magneto-micropolar nanofluid flow over a nonlinear stretching sheet. The flow is subjected to thermal radiation and viscous dissipation. The energy equation is extended by considering the impact of the Joule heating term because of an imposed magnetic field.

Design/methodology/approach

The flow, heat and mass transfer model are solved numerically using the spectral quasilinearization method. An analysis of the performance of this method is given.

Findings

It is found that the method is robust, converges fast and gives good accuracy. In terms of the physically significant results, the authors show that the irreversibility caused by the thermal diffusion the dominants other sources of entropy generation and the surface contributes significantly to the total irreversibility.

Originality/value

The flow is subjected to a combination of a buoyancy force, viscous dissipation, Joule heating and thermal radiation. The flow equations are solved numerically using the spectral quasiliearization method. The impact of a range of physical and chemical parameters on entropy generation, velocity, angular velocity, temperature and concentration profiles are determined. The current results may help in industrial applicants. The present problem has not been considered elsewhere.
Work‐related post‐traumatic stress symptoms in obstetricians and gynaecologists: findings from INDIGO, a mixed‐methods study with a cross‐sectional survey and in‐depth interviews
Authors: Slade P , Balling K , Sheen K , Goodfellow L , Rymer J , Spiby H , Weeks A
Published: January 2020

Objectives

To explore obstetricians’ and gynaecologists’ experiences of work‐related traumatic events, to measure the prevalence and predictors of post‐traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), any impacts on personal and professional lives, and any support needs.

Design

Mixed methods: cross‐sectional survey and in‐depth interviews.

Sample and setting

Fellows, members and trainees of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG).

Methods

A survey was sent to 6300 fellows, members and trainees of RCOG. 1095 people responded. Then 43 in‐depth interviews with trauma‐exposed participants were completed and analysed by template analysis.

Main outcome measures

Exposure to traumatic work‐related events and PTSD, personal and professional impacts, and whether there was any need for support. Interviews explored the impact of trauma, what helped or hindered psychological recovery, and any assistance wanted.

Results

Two‐thirds reported exposure to traumatic work‐related events. Of these, 18% of both consultants and trainees reported clinically significant PTSD symptoms. Staff of black or minority ethnicity were at increased risk of PTSD. Clinically significant PTSD symptoms were associated with lower job satisfaction, emotional exhaustion and depersonalisation. Organisational impacts included sick leave, and ‘seriously considering leaving the profession’. 91% wanted a system of care. The culture in obstetrics and gynaecology was identified as a barrier to trauma support. A strategy to manage the impact of work‐place trauma is proposed.

Conclusions

Exposure to work‐related trauma is a feature of the experience of obstetricians and gynaecologists. Some will suffer PTSD with high personal, professional and organisational impacts. A system of care is needed.

Tweetable abstract

18% of obstetrics and gynaecology doctors experience post‐traumatic stress disorder after traumatic events at work.
A Case of Mistaken Identity? Measuring Rates of Improved Seed Adoption in Tanzania Using DNA Fingerprinting
Authors: Wineman Ayala , Njagi Timothy , Anderson C. Leigh , Reynolds Travis W. , Alia Didier Yélognissè , Wainaina Priscilla , Njue Eric , Biscaye Pierre , Ayieko Miltone W.
Published: January 2020

Studies of improved seed adoption in developing countries are almost always based on household surveys and are premised on the assumption that farmers can accurately self‐report their use of improved seed varieties. However, recent studies suggest that farmers’ reports of seed varieties planted, or even whether the seed is local or improved, are sometimes inconsistent with the DNA fingerprinting results of those crops. We use household survey data from Tanzania to test the alignment between farmer‐reported and DNA‐identified maize seed types planted. In the sample, 70% of maize seed observations are correctly reported as local or improved, while 16% are type I errors (falsely reported as improved) and 14% are type II errors (falsely reported as local). Type I errors are more likely to have been sourced from other farmers, rather than formal channels. An analysis of input use, including seed, fertiliser, and labour allocations, reveals that farmers tend to treat improved maize differently, depending on whether they correctly perceive it as improved. This suggests that errors in farmers’ seed type awareness may translate into suboptimal management practices. The average yield of seed that is correctly identified as improved is almost 700 kg per hectare greater than that of type I errors. This indicates that investments in farmers’ access to information, seed labelling, and seed system oversight are needed to complement investments in seed variety development.
Socially Informed Policy and Planning for Autonomous Mobility
Authors: FISHER KATE
Published: January 2020

Autonomous vehicles as a mode of public transportation offer the potential to grow public and private sector partnerships, improve mobility, strengthen the economy, reduce negative environmental impacts, and benefit the health and well‐being of citizens. But these advantages will only materialize if technology is designed with the right foresight, aligned around public awareness and sentiment, and is planned with communities.

Starting in Spring 2019, the first national public AV shuttle pilot was implemented in Providence through the Rhode Island Department of Transit along the Woonasquatucket Corridor to fill a critical transportation gap in the city. The gallery presents insights from the multidisciplinary research, including ethnographic methods, featuring the participatory design tools used throughout Providence. The research objectives are to A) inform Rhode Island's planning and regulation related to transportation innovations, B) help improve the shuttle's user experience and service delivery, and C) contribute to a broader policy and scholarly discussion of how residents, businesses, and regulators interaction with new transportation technologies.

3×3 helps civic organizations collaborate with their stakeholders, apply insights from applied research to design initiatives, and produce outputs that unlock social value.
Office Humour: Diegetic Explorations of Negotiated Algorithmic and Human Agency
Authors: O'NEILL JAMES , HEIN FRAUKE
Published: January 2020

Office Humour is a speculative design piece that explores the culture that might emerge when data points like laughter function as a performance metric. The piece raises questions about agency at multiple levels. Humans can adapt their culture to algorithmic motoring. But is that ok? Do we allow humans and machines the agency to develop their culture together, or should one always be subject to the other? Who has agency in this situation? The humans who create the laughter, or the algorithm who instigates it?

The piece functions on the basis of a neural network to take live measurements of laughter from its environment and places them within the narrative of a satirical productivity product. Participants are invited to interact with the product. As they do, they experience how laughter—a very natural and personal sound—can be turned into a data point and used to police and monitor their performance in an inhuman way.

The piece tells a story that encourages participants to reflect on the sorts of data they gather in their work and the purposes to which any data may be put in the future.
What Are Memories Made of?: A Migrant Community's Experience of Agency in 18th Century Hyderabad, India
Authors: WAGHRAY HEMA MALINI
Published: January 2020

This gallery exhibit is a slice of micro history of the Brahma Kshatriya Community of Hyderabad‐ a migrant Hindu community that moved into a Muslim dominated city in mid‐1700s, with Urdu as the state language until 1948. At one level, agency is constituted by creating this archive with data gathered through ethnographic in‐depth interviews, collecting photographs, videos, maps, artifacts and diaries. Agency at another level is where this diverse community constituted itself as a group with shared set of rules and institutions related to cooperation, interdependence, a way of life that was culturally syncretic, supporting education, providing financial support to members, setting up social and religious reforms to enable a progressive outlook and lay a foundation for stable growth.
Density Done Right: Co‐Designing Walkable, Sustainable, and Equitable Communities through Digital and Analog Mediums of Public Engagement
Authors: BUCK BECKY , SIERRALTA KARLA , STRAWN BRIAN , WEINSTEIN ALISA
Published: January 2020

By 2025, Hawai'i needs approximately 65,000, affordable housing units. Geographic location, scarcity of land, astronomic construction costs, and speculative investment have led to an unattainable market. Housing is Hawai'i's most pressing issue.

This exhibit shares the “Hawai'i Housing Lab” concept developed by the University of Hawai'i Community Design Center, a public interest design practice led by faculty, researchers, professionals, and students, for the Hawai'i Public Housing Authority, the state's primary housing agency.

This project was led by two principal investigators with graduate and undergraduate student researchers, in collaboration with an ethnographer and design strategist, the team at KPF Urban Interface, and Alisson Arieff, design and architecture writer at the New York Times, who assisted with framing the conversation for the general public.

Thirty in‐home interviews were conducted at 17 public housing properties on five islands, Kaua'i, O'ahu, Moloka'i, Maui and Hawai'i. The findings that emerged from the analysis of these contextual interviews, together with secondary research, informed the development of a community engagement process, a design framework, three co‐creation tools and a mobile research lab.
Ethnography's Role in Seeing the AI's Blind Spots: Living amongst AI: Agency of the Household
Authors: HO LAIYEE
Published: January 2020

Home automation has made big promises for utilizing intelligent technology to help the lives of everyday people, but the potential of the technology can only be as good as our understanding of the world we are trying to improve. In this PECHAKUCHA, I share insights from my years of conducting ethnography in homes where families have lived alongside AI and automated technology. Our initial tries at intelligent technology in the home were modeled after our own assumptions, but it failed to account for the full variables of the ‘household’, which had an agency of its own. When technology has the potential to disrupt not only our workflows, but relationships between people in the home, it's the responsibility of technologists and ethnographers to provide the critical human perspective necessary for technology to live in harmony with people.
Change Agent: Lessons on Power and Failure from Eight Years of Systems Research & Policy Design
Authors: MAULDIN CHELSEA
Published: January 2020

Drawing on nearly a decade of research and design engagements with U.S. federal and municipal governments, I'll describe a gap between intended outcomes of government policies and the lived experience of people affected by those policies. I'll discuss how that gap arises from variances in the decision‐making agency of policymakers and members of the public.

Next, I'll discuss how human‐centered researchers and designers attempt to equalize government/public agency though interventions in the policy decision‐making cycle. Then I'll suggest criticisms and shortfalls of current human‐centered approaches to improving policy and service‐delivery systems, including researchers and designers' tendencies to amplify complexity, to extract value from the public, and to accept status quo inequality.

Finally I'll propose that, when using research and design as tools for positive policy and systems change and increased agency for marginalized peoples, we must: seek to design new, adjacent policy systems, rather than to continue to renovate broken policies; recognize the primacy and requirements of the human body, as mechanism through which people engage with and are effected by policy systems; and more consciously identify and address imbalances in agency and power in the systems in which we intercede.
Adapting to the Lack of Agency: Research in Prisons
Authors: HUIDOBRO RUBEN PEREZ
Published: January 2020

How can a researcher adapt to the lack of agency in secure environments?

HM Inspectorate of Prisons in the UK published in 2012 a thematic report about the use of the “person escort record” (PER) with detainees at risk of self‐harm, highlighting the high number of deaths in custody. The PER was used during the transport of people under custody, and informed about their security and safety issues.

As a result of this report, my team had the mandate to improve how security and safety risks were communicated. I needed to identify the needs and pain points of the people working on prison and court services, and I did so throughout multiple contextual research sessions.

Due to the lack of agency in secured environments, I had the constant need to adapt and identify opportunities to bring to the team the information they needed.
Hearing Through Their Ears: Developing Inclusive Research Methods to Co‐Create with Blind Participants
Authors: WEINSTEIN GREGORY
Published: January 2020

This paper recounts research into the orientation and mobility experiences of people who are blind or visually impaired, and describes the novel sonic research method I developed for this purpose. “Participant Phonography,” as I call the method, aims to empower research participants with low or no vision through the self‐guided creation of sound recordings that represent their experiences of the world in a first‐person perspective. More broadly, the paper highlights the inadequate efforts of ethnographers in industry to tackle challenges of disability and reflects on the ethical challenges that face researchers who want to include disabled people in research. Inclusive methods like participant phonography have great potential to break down traditional power structures that have rendered non‐normative groups marginal in user research, but these methods also come with substantial barriers to their implementation in a corporate context.
The Adaptation of Everyday Work in an Age of Automation
Authors: MOELLENBERG TAMARA , RAMSEY‐ELLIOT MORGAN , STRATY CLAIRE
Published: January 2020

Recent debates around the future of work have largely focused on how automated technologies are contributing to job loss or decline. However, in this paper, we draw from original ethnographic research with four types of automation‐affected workers – insurance agents, pharmaceutical representatives, medical device salespeople, and medical device technicians – to argue that, rather than being replaced by machines, many workers are in fact adapting how they define and perform their work to survive in a more digital age. Uncovering such adaption tactics is crucial for recognizing the human agency that is present in, even definitive of increasing encounters with machine‐driven technologies and can help large organizations solve some of their toughest challenges, including how to predict future trends in the labor market, define the added value of human labor, build and train a better workforce, and develop and evolve existing digital tools.
Designing for Dynamics of Agency in NYC Homeless Shelters
Authors: RADYWYL NATALIA
Published: January 2020

Public sector innovation (PSI) is an emerging multidisciplinary field that is attracting practitioners from a wide range of sectors and industries, with a correspondingly broad set of skills and experience. PSI aims to significantly improve the services that a government has the responsibility to provide by taking a user‐centered, partnership‐based approach, from service content development through to methods of service provision (OECD 2012). Yet the work is complex and not without risk, if undertaken without appropriate foresight, thoughtfulness, and rigor. In particular, when it comes to pursuing PSI in the design of social service policy and its provision, some of the more substantial risks lie hidden in systemic power imbalances that can easily be exacerbated, despite practitioners' best intentions. This article uses a case study about homeless service provision in New York City (NYC) to offer a candid portrayal of undertaking research and design work in PSI. It highlights common challenges and risks, as well as best practices for mitigating them. The issue of power is examined through the lens of agency, as it's a productive framework for helping to identify and work with the power dynamics that circulate between everyone involved in PSI design projects: the project team, research and design participants, intended end users, and the government client. In the spirit of making a pragmatic contribution to a burgeoning field, this article ultimately advocates for a reflexive practice. Working reflexively means inhabiting a mindset of self‐awareness, reflection, and never ‘turning off’ as a researcher. This reflexivity enables practitioners to navigate the complexities of PSI design work, and ultimately, to better support their government agency client and those that the agency is aiming to serve.