bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Understanding researchers’ strategic behaviour in knowledge production: a case of social science and nanotechnology researchers
Authors: Zalewska-Kurek Kasia
Published: September 2016

Purpose

This paper seeks to understand the strategic behaviour of researchers when producing knowledge in two scientific fields – nanotechnology and social sciences.

Design/methodology/approach

The author conducted semi-structured interviews with 43 researchers to analyse the needs for strategic interdependence (resource-sharing) and for organisational autonomy (decision-making) in knowledge production. When aligned, these two concepts form three modes of behaviour: mode1, mode2 and mode3.

Findings

The empirical study results show that, besides well-studied differences in various publications, there are large behaviour differences between social science and nanotechnology researchers. While nanotechnology researchers’ behaviours are mostly in mode3 (sharing resources; highly autonomous), social science researchers’ behaviours tend to be in mode1 (highly autonomous; no need to share resources).

Practical implications

This study delivers an understanding of the differences in the strategic behaviours of researchers in different scientific fields. The author proposes managerial interventions for research managers – university and research group leaders.

Originality/value

While most studies that compare scientific fields look at knowledge production outcomes, the author analyses conditions that differentiate these outcomes. To this end, the author compares individual researchers’ behaviours in different fields by analysing the need for collaboration and the need for autonomy.
Shifting the paradigm: reevaluating resistance to organizational change
Authors: Mathews Brandon , Linski Christopher M.
Published: September 2016

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to challenge the existing paradigm of resistance to organizational change by offering a novel, interdisciplinary perspective. More specifically, this paper seeks to detach from traditional formulations of resistance to change and introduce a new paradigm, reevaluating resistance through the Good Lives Model (GLM) and the concept of Primary Human Goods (PHG).

Design/methodology/approach

This conceptual paper uses contemporary literature on resistance to organizational change to make the case that the existing paradigm is one of negativity and deficiency. The authors define resistance, as currently formulated, subsequently offering a new perspective through the GLM. The etiological underpinnings of the model are provided and the concept of PHG is defined to illustrate relevance in reevaluating resistance to change.

Findings

The paper illustrates that resistance behaviors are not individual problems of employees, which must be overcome for successful change. Rather, resistance behaviors are the manifestation of disruptions to the achievement of PHG. Moreover, the paper demonstrates the pursuit of PHG is an innately positive, human activity that change strategies should take into account. The Dialogic Organization Development approach is also integrated as a means to uncover priority goods and disruptions that may impact them.

Originality/value

The paper provides a novel reevaluation of resistance to change through the interdisciplinary application of the GLM and PHG. Further, the paper uses the model to integrate several fundamental theories of human motivation into one cohesive, consistent framework.
Employees’ emotions in change: advancing the sensemaking approach
Authors: Helpap Sevda , Bekmeier-Feuerhahn Sigrid
Published: September 2016

Purpose

Organizational changes are emotionally charged processes, and scholarly research has increasingly emphasized the impact of employee emotions on successful change management. This impact has rarely been considered in light of approaches focussing on employee sensemaking. To address this critical gap, the purpose of this paper is to combine the model of enacted sensemaking with insights from the Affect Infusion Model.

Design/methodology/approach

To test the model, the authors surveyed 261 employees with a vignette study and performed structural equation modeling on the results.

Findings

The findings reveal that emotions significantly affect employees’ level of psychological resources, particularly change commitment, efficacy, and expectations. Furthermore, change commitment and efficacy are significant predictors of resistance intention, which confirms (to an extent) the validity of enacted sensemaking, and these factors mediate the relationship between employees’ emotions and their resistance intentions.

Research limitations/implications

This study focussed on the early stages of a change initiative. Therefore, the authors only considered employee assessment at one point in time.

Practical implications

This model has managerial utility for explaining how employees’ resistance intention regarding change is influenced by employees’ emotions and their psychological resources.

Originality/value

The results broaden the horizons because they suggest a model of “emotionally primed” enacted sensemaking for employees during organizational change by offering a new theoretical framework (enacted sensemaking and substantive processing) and a new methodological approach (quantitative vignette study).
Identity formation and strategy development in overlapping institutional fields
Authors: Hassink Jan , Grin John , Hulsink Willem
Published: September 2016

Purpose

Care farming is an underexplored example of agricultural diversification. In their process of diversification, care farmers are newcomers to the healthcare sector, facing high entry barriers and lacking the skills required to build a solid and legitimate presence in this new domain. Changes in the care regime have provided opportunities for new players, like regional organizations of care farmers, to gain access to care budgets. The purpose of this paper is to describe and analyze how strategies designed to establish regional organizations of care farms with similar access to institutional resources unfold and are translated into entrepreneurial behavior, organizational identity and legitimacy, and help provide access to care budgets.

Design/methodology/approach

Using entrepreneurship, identity formation and legitimacy building as guiding concepts, the authors interviewed stakeholders and analyzed activities and documents to gain a broad perspective with regard to the organizations, skills and activities.

Findings

The authors identified two types of regional care farm organizations: a cooperative and a corporate type. While the corporate type clearly exhibited entrepreneurial behavior, leading to a trustful and appealing organizational identity, substantial fund-raising and an early manifestation of institutional and innovative legitimacy in the care sector, the cooperative type initially lacked entrepreneurial agency, which in turn led to a lack of legitimacy and a slow development toward a more professional market-oriented organization. Manifesting entrepreneurial behavior and strategically aligning the healthcare and agricultural sectors, and building up both institutional and innovative legitimacy in the care sector proved to be crucial to the successful development of regional organizations of care farms. This study contributes to existing literature by exploring relationships between entrepreneurial and institutional strategies, legitimacy, organizational identity and logics.

Originality/value

This study contributes to the literature by exploring how in times with changes in institutional logics, strategies to establish new organizations unfold. The authors have shown how differences in strategy to establish new organizations with similar access to institutional resources unfold and are translated into diverging organizational identities and degrees of legitimacy. Entrepreneurial behavior is the key to create a trustful and appealing identity and innovative and institutional legitimacy which is important for providing access to an institutionalized sector.
Using strategic communities to foster inter-organizational collaboration
Authors: Audet Madeleine , Roy Mario
Published: September 2016

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is: to report on an experiment in building up inter-organizational collaboration between healthcare organizations; and to identify how structure and some of the components of the strategic community (SC) approach to organizational change can have a long-term impact on inter-organizational collaboration.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper resulted from participative action-research held from 2007 to 2013. A systematic collection of data (field notes, 746 hours of observations, proceedings, 186 interviews, journals, focus groups, discussion forums) was conducted in the various cycles of the action-research.

Findings

Adapted to the healthcare sector, the SC has taken the form of a temporary inter-organizational collaboration structure composed of health professionals, first-level managers, general practitioners, specialized doctors, and non-profit organization representatives. The SC approach appeared to be an efficient strategy for taking action.

Practical implications

The SC approach appeared to be appropriate for cases where the inter-organizational collaboration had clearly declined, where several other attempts had failed, and where the care trajectory involved vulnerable clients who had to travel between different service points for the required care.

Originality/value

This study illustrates how SC helps to significantly improve inter-organizational collaboration in the healthcare sector. It likewise acknowledges the relevance of Thomson and Perry’s (2006) work in analyzing and emphasizing the dimensions required to ensure successful inter-organizational collaboration.
Identification of growth factors for small firms: evidence from hotel companies on an island
Authors: Yazici Senem , Köseoglu Mehmet Ali , Okumus Fevzi
Published: September 2016

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to mainly investigate what factors drive growth for independent hotel firms on an island.

Design/methodology/approach

Two steps were followed. First, to identify hotels demonstrated significant growth; 92 independent hotels in North Cyprus were analyzed via a self-report questionnaire. Second, key growth factors were examined in five hotels showing the growth over years among the independent hotels via in-depth, semi-structured interviews, focus group interviews, and observations.

Findings

The study findings revealed 16 important growth factors for hotels, including active risk taking, education, family history, networks of contacts, other business interests, family investing friends, key employee partners, customer concentration, autonomy, innovativeness, proactiveness, competitive aggressiveness, location, desire to succeed, age of founders, and state support where are strong, weak, and interrelated relationships among these factors. These findings allow factors to be categorized into new groups, namely, strategic and tactical factors. The research findings unveil new factors referred to as “political conflict – pursuing different strategy and opportunities,” importance of second generations affect and entrepreneur’s metacognitive strategies, “informal networking.”

Research limitations/implications

More research should also be undertaken for entrepreneurs or managers who formulate and implement strategies to enter new markets or to tackle turbulent and/or unstable environments.

Practical implications

This study reveals that one factor on its own cannot influence the growth of hotels. Rather, successful growth depends on the entrepreneur’s ability to combine all factors in harmony.

Originality/value

Given that there is limited empirical evidence on the growth of independent hotels on islands, this study made an important attempt to contribute to the entrepreneurship literature in the hospitality management and family business fields via micro-level approaches concerning the factors influencing hotels’ growth on an island. This is one of the first studies presenting and discussing empirical findings on growth factors for small hotels on an island, and brings a new perspective by grouping factors as strategic and tactical factors.
Policy implementation in the public sector
Authors: Ladner Jane
Published: September 2016

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to compare the plausibility and criticality of two methods of evaluating the implementation of a new government policy within a public service organisation, and to examine the power relations revealed in each evaluation and the social realities of the membership.

Design/methodology/approach

Two contrasting approaches to research, based on different theoretical perspectives, were undertaken simultaneously to provide a critical account of an organisation, and its membership, undergoing an externally imposed transformation to improve child protection procedures. The first involved the use of mainly quantitative methods in the form of government sponsored social surveys. Data were triangulated with organisational inspection outcomes. The second method comprised a critical ethnographic evaluation undertaken through discourse analysis in the organisation.

Findings

Bottom-up agency rather than top-down structural change is the main influence on policy implementation in child protection. Critical discourse analysis provides a more plausible and credible analysis of the dynamics of organisational change and power relations than surveys.

Originality/value

This research poses new questions over the value of quantitative surveys as opposed to ethnographic methodologies in representing organisational practices.
After Herzog: blurring fact and fiction in visual organizational ethnography
Authors: Walz Markus , Hoyer Patrizia , Statler Matt
Published: September 2016

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to introduce the unique artistic approach of film-maker Werner Herzog as an inspiration to rethink ethnographic studies in general and the notion of reflexivity in particular.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper reviews the particularities of Werner Herzog’s approach to filmmaking, linking them to the methodological tradition of visual ethnography and especially the debate about the role of reflexivity and performativity in research.

Findings

Herzog’s conceptualization of meaning as “ecstatic truth” offers an avenue for visual organizational ethnographers to rethink reflexivity and performativity, reframe research findings and reorganize research activities. The combination of multiple media and the strong authorial involvement exhibited in Herzog’s work, can inspire and guide the development of “meaningful” organizational ethnographies.

Originality/value

The paper argues that practicing visual organizational ethnography “after Herzog” offers researchers an avenue to engage creatively with their research in novel and highly reflexive ways. It offers a different way to think through some of the challenges often associated with ethnographic research.
An exploration of the emotional impact of organisational ethnography
Authors: Mazzetti Angela Stephanie
Published: September 2016

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the diverse and strong emotions experienced by the researcher when conducting an ethnographic study in an organisational setting.

Design/methodology/approach

In this paper extracts from research diaries written over a three-year organisational ethnography study period are presented to the reader.

Findings

This paper provides an insight into the range of emotions that are experienced throughout the various stages of the research process from securing access, to conducting fieldwork and writing up research for publication.

Research limitations/implications

Although this paper focusses on organisational ethnography, comparisons are drawn with related disciplines and as such, this paper may also be of interest to those conducting ethnographic studies in other fields.

Practical implications

It is hoped that the sharing of emotional experiences will better prepare new organisational researchers for the emotions they may experience in the field.

Originality/value

There is a recognised need for more sharing of emotional experience in organisational studies. It is hoped that this paper goes some way to highlighting these emotional challenges and providing a catalyst for other researchers to do the same.
A Whole Brain® learning approach to an undergraduate auditing initiative – an exploratory study
Authors: Kirstein Marina , Kunz Rolien
Published: September 2016

Purpose

Individual students have different learning styles, and lecturers can no longer afford to ignore this. Lecturers have a responsibility to accommodate students’ different learning styles by including learning style flexibility in the offered learning opportunities. The purpose of this study is to map a teaching case study against the Herrmann Whole Brain® model to determine whether learning style flexibility has been incorporated in the teaching case study.

Design/methodology/approach

A teaching case study was developed and delivered as part of an undergraduate level course at a South African residential university. The case study’s primary intention was to illustrate the practical evaluation of general controls in an information technology environment. The teaching case study was analysed in terms of the Herrmann Whole Brain® model to determine whether learning style flexibility had been accommodated in the learning opportunity.

Findings

Based on an analysis of the teaching case study against the Herrmann Whole Brain® model, it is evident that the teaching case study incorporated activities that addressed all four quadrants of the Whole Brain® model. It can therefore be concluded that the learning opportunity incorporated learning style flexibility.

Originality/value

This paper contributes to the literature in accounting education by focusing on learning style flexibility specifically using the Herrmann Whole Brain® model, as it appears that limited examples of the use of this model in accounting education have yet been published. Although this paper discusses the use of an auditing case study, the results may be of interest to lecturers in other subject areas across the academic spectrum.
Sustainability reporting – more global than local?
Authors: Abeydeera Sashika , Tregidga Helen , Kearins Kate
Published: September 2016

Purpose

In recognition of the potential for Buddhism to advance sustainability, this paper aims to investigate whether Buddhism appears to be informing the sustainability practices of corporations within a particular national context. Corporate sustainability reports are used as a site of analysis.

Design/methodology/approach

Sixteen corporate sustainability reports from a set of sustainability award-winning corporations in Sri Lanka, a country with a strong Buddhist presence, are analysed. Evidence of Buddhist principles and values related to sustainability is sought to ascertain the extent to which Buddhism is evident in disclosures within the reports. The influence of global institutions is also considered.

Findings

Analysis reveals surprisingly little evidence of Buddhist principles and values in the corporate sustainability reports of these award-winning corporations. Sustainability reporting practices are revealed to be highly institutionalised by global influences, with the majority of the reports examined explicitly embracing global standardisation. The standardisation of corporate sustainability reporting through the pursuit of globally accepted reporting frameworks is argued to have caused a disconnect between Buddhism as a prevalent institutional force in the local culture and context and the corporate representations evident in such reporting. Potential consequences of this disconnect in relation to the ability for Buddhism to inform sustainability practices at the organisational level are considered.

Originality/value

The paper contributes to the literature on corporate sustainability reporting through considering whether local cultural context is represented within such reports and possible reasons and consequences.
Spillovers of international interest rate swap markets and stock market volatility
Authors: Lee Hsiu-Chuan , Hsu Chih-Hsiang , Chien Cheng-Yi
Published: September 2016

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate volatility spillovers across the interest rate swap markets of the G7 economies, and then the authors investigate whether spillovers of swap markets contain useful information to explain subsequent stock price movements.

Design/methodology/approach

This study uses the short- and long-term swap spread volatility of the G7 countries to explore the spillover effects of international swap markets, and then investigates the relationship between swap and stock markets. The authors use the generalized VAR approach suggested by Diebold and Yilmaz (2012) to study spillovers of international swap markets. The Granger-causality tests are employed to examine the linkage of interest rate swap and stock markets.

Findings

This paper shows that a moderate spillover effect exists for the short- and long-term swap markets. Moreover, the results show that the short- and long-term swap markets of France and Germany have a larger impact on other countries’ swap markets than that of other countries’ swap markets on the French and German swap markets. Finally, the results indicate that the total volatility spillovers for the long-term swap markets have a larger influence on the total volatility spillover index of stock markets and the global stock market volatility than that of the short-term swap markets.

Originality/value

Prior literature has used impulse response and variance decomposition analyses to investigate international swap markets linkages. However, the results depend on the ordering of variables. This study uses the framework of Diebold and Yilmaz (2012) to overcome the ordering issue, and thus the authors can compute directional spillovers. This paper is the first study to explore the linkage of the total volatility spillover of swap markets and the stock markets.
Social media in medical and health care: opportunities and challenges
Authors: Lim Weng Marc
Published: September 2016

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to outline and discuss the opportunities and challenges of using social media in medical and health care.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper is predicated on practical rationality and adopts a commentary approach from a professional standpoint that is supported by informed findings from the extant literature and publicly accessible sources of information (e.g. daily news and governmental reports) to deliver the objective of this paper.

Findings

The paper presents three prospects that social media can offer to medical and health care practices, namely, enhancement in participatory medicine, quality of care, and emergency management and preparedness. Several challenges and risks of social media use in medical and health care are also put forth, including defamation, privacy, accuracy of information, and blurring of professional boundaries.

Originality/value

The identified benefits should propel an increase in social media adoption to improve the delivery of medical and health care while the highlighted pitfalls can help practitioners to avoid inappropriate use of social media in medical and health care.
Deforming mirrors converting GMOs into smog
Authors: Defez Roberto
Published: September 2016

Purpose

The debate around the use and study of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) is so complex that frequently people miss that the outcome of some political/social/economic decisions are taken in such a way that the legal/agricultural/medical coherence is lost. The purpose of this text is to underline the contradictions in the European approach to GMOs, when for the past 20 years the European Union (EU) has been using and importing GMOs but rejecting its study or cultivation.

Design/methodology/approach

The approach follows the distance among public declarations against GMOs from most of the political representatives, followed by decision on our health, nutrition and economic development going exactly in the opposite direction. The arrival of the new genome-edited plants cannot solve all requirements, as in many cases an entire new function should be added and, at present, this will be again a GMO irrespective to the technique used to add a new gene. The delay in taking these decisions are now posing a hazard on the cultural and economic development of the EU.

Findings

The laws (directives) on GMOs in the EU are far too restrictive and suffer from an over-regulation that prevent any attempt to come to a science-based approach on genetically modified (GM) plants. The basis for the definition and the restrictions is on the technology and not on the final product. However, on the other hand, the GMOs are the only product where the safety analysis is on the final product (which is not the case for organics productions). The paradox is that all restrictions are concentrated on GM plants to be cultivated in Europe, as if the main hazard would be on the environmental impact of local cultivation. Meanwhile, the EU has no concern if the same environmental damage happens abroad and EU is the final user of the technology as 68 different GMOs are imported and used even for human consumption in Europe.

Originality/value

Fighting against the EU over-regulation would appear to be a position supporting multinational seed companies (none of them based in the EU), described as polluters. The proposed approach is the opposite, asking for a more restrictive regulation to show to the consumers that: most local EU high quality food products are derived from GM-fed animals; GM cotton is potentially far more risky than any GM food; and reducing GM plants cultivated in Europe increases the pesticide sold by chemical companies (mostly based in the EU).
A quality improvement project to improve the accuracy in reporting hospital acquired infections in post cesarean section patients in a district hospital in Rwanda
Authors: Nyiratuza Adeline , Wong Rex , Adomako Eva , Habagusenga Jean D’Amour , Nadew Kidest , Hitayezu Florien , Nirere Fabienne , Murekezi Emmanuel , Nzayirambaho Manassé
Published: September 2016

Purpose

Hospitals are responsible for protecting the well-being of their patients and staff. To do so, accurate information is needed for the hospital to make appropriate decisions and allocate resources efficiently. This study aims to describe the implementation process of a surveillance system to reduce hospital-acquired infection (HAI) reporting errors in the maternity unit of a district hospital in Rwanda.

Design/methodology/approach

The team adapted an evidence-based tool to identify and report HAI, provided training to staff and distributed reporting responsibilities equally between the maternity staff to improve accuracy in HAI reporting.

Findings

The intervention successfully reduced the reporting discrepancy of HAI from 6.5 to 1.9 per cent: p < 0.05.

Practical implications

This case study described the implementation process of a surveillance system using strategic problem solving to reduce HAI reporting errors. The results can inform hospitals in similar settings of the steps to follow to implement a cost-neutral HAI surveillance system to reduce reporting errors. The accurate data will enable the hospital to take corrective measures to address HAI in the future.

Originality/value

The results will inform hospitals in similar settings of steps to follow to implement a cost-neutral HAI surveillance system using the SPS approach to reduce reporting errors.
Reducing post-cesarean wound infection at Muhororo Hospital by increasing hand hygiene practice
Authors: Nibamureke Adelphine , Kayonga Ntagungira Egide , Adomako Eva , Pawelzik Victor , Wong Rex
Published: September 2016

Purpose

Post-cesarean wound infection (PCWI) is a common post-operative complication that can negatively affect patients and health systems. Poor hand hygiene practice of health care professionals is a common cause of PCWI. This case study aims to describe how strategic problem solving was used to introduce an alcohol-based hand rub in a district hospital in Rwanda to improve hand hygiene compliance among health care workers and reduce PCWI.

Design/methodology/approach

Pre- and post-intervention study design was used to address the poor hand hygiene compliance in the maternity unit. The hospital availed an alcohol-based hand rub and the team provided training on the importance of hand hygiene. A chart audit was conducted to assess the PCWI, and an observational study was used to assess hand hygiene compliance.

Findings

The intervention successfully increased hand hygiene compliance of health care workers from 38.2 to 89.7 per cent, p < 0.001, and was associated with reduced hospital-acquired infection rates from 6.2 to 2.5 per cent, p = 0.083.

Practical implications

This case study describes the implementation process of a quality improvement project using the eight steps of strategic problem solving to introduce an alcohol-based hand rub in a district hospital in Rwanda. The intervention improved hand hygiene compliance among health care workers and reduced PCWI using available resources and effective leadership skills.

Originality/value

The results will inform hospitals with similar settings of steps to create an environment that enables hand hygiene practice, and in turn reduces PCWI, using available resources and strategic problem solving.
Psychosocial benefits from participating in an adventure expedition race
Authors: Mykletun Reidar J. , Mazza Laura
Published: September 2016

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to identify psychosocial benefits that the race participants gained from participating in an adventure race (AR). The sample studied were participants of the Patagonian Expedition Race (PER), a multi-day AR that takes place in Chilean Patagonia.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected in the 2012 prior to, during, and after the event. Observations and semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven four-member teams. Video material and open-ended questionnaires from 2010 to 2012 editions of the event were analysed for validating the findings from the 2012 race study. Interview and observation data were analysed in four steps, including preparation phase (transcription of interviews), exploration phase (searching for themes), reduction phase, and interpretation. Notes from observations and other sources were added to the data during phase 2.

Findings

Six different types of psychosocial benefits of the PER participants emerged from the data analysis: the “flow” experience including immersion into the nature; the play state and changes between telic and para-telic meta-motivational states; exploration and tourist aspects; the creation of “communitas”, friendships, trust, and other social aspects; felt self-change; and the transferability of the benefits acquired to daily life.

Research limitations/implications

The conclusions are limited by the sample size and the case study design. Hence, the study should be repeated in other adventure and expedition race settings and contrasted to studies in shorter ARs as well as in other types of small team sports.

Practical implications

The ARs gives opportunities for unique experiences of coping with nature in extreme conditions, thus developing personal insight and outdoor survival skills. The skills and personal development were applicable to everyday life. Moreover, similar races may be organized in different settings to provide varied options for athletes to participate in such races.

Social implications

The benefits gained by the participants are considered useful for coping with demands in working life. This applied especially to enhanced self-insights, attitudes towards hindrances and obstacles, and teamwork skills. The race might be used as parts of training for leaders in organizations of all kinds.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first research paper applying the concept of psychosocial benefits when exploring the outcomes that athletes gain from their AR participation.
Professional football clubs retail branding strategies
Authors: Szymoszowskyj Adam , Winand Mathieu , Kolyperas Dimitrios , Sparks Leigh
Published: September 2016

Purpose

While some football clubs are recognised as popular brands, little is known about the way they leverage their brand in their merchandise retailing. To address this gap the purpose of this paper is to investigate retail branding strategies used by professional football clubs through brand equity and supply chain management. In particular, it analyses the type of product merchandised, the reasons for selling certain products and the ways through which football clubs merchandise, including their partners in distribution channels.

Design/methodology/approach

A qualitative approach was undertaken involving content analysis of 22 Scottish professional football clubs’ websites and annual reports, and semi-structured interviews with seven football clubs retail managers and four supply chain partners. Transcribed data were coded and thematically organised through an inductive process using the qualitative data analysis software NVivo 10.

Findings

Three types of merchandise have been identified: basic, fashion and short season. Building brand equity is considered the main motive for retailing merchandise. Some football clubs use intermediaries or outsourcers to respond to sudden consumer demands and to ensure high levels of service, whereas others have an integrated supply chain which allows for greater control.

Research limitations/implications

This paper contributes to the discussion on the role of retailing in football club brand equity. It suggests initiating intermediaries in the distribution channels to build brand equity thus enabling clubs to become more responsive to consumer demand.

Originality/value

This is the first paper to look at retail branding strategies of professional football clubs.
Cosmopolitanism and transnational elite entrepreneurial practices
Authors: Nicolopoulou Katerina , Kakabadse Nada K. , Nikolopoulos Kanellos Panagiotis , Alcaraz Jose M. , Sakellariou Konstantina
Published: September 2016

Purpose

The paper aims to focus on the role that cosmopolitanism and, in particular, “the cosmopolitan disposition” (Woodwardet al., 2008) plays in the process of entrepreneurial business by transnational business elites in Dubai.

Design/methodology/approach

Adopting a relational perspective based on Bourdieu and Wacquant’s (1992)Reflexive Sociology, as well as an inductive design, the authors conducted 30 semi-structured interviews focusing on both expatriates and Emiratis (locals/nationals) who displayed key features of a transnational business elite.

Findings

The findings indicate that the cosmopolitan disposition is an asset for transnational business elites when they venture in the context of Dubai.

Research limitations/implications

The findings would have to be further replicated in similar contexts, i.e. other major cities displaying similar cosmopolitan features with Dubai. A theoretical framework that calls for further study of transnational entrepreneurship via the lens of cosmopolitan disposition and Bourdieuan “habitus” is proposed.

Practical implications

The research outlines cosmopolitan skills for a transnational business elite which are required when entrepreneurial ventures are developed in the context of a city like Dubai.

Social implications

Cosmopolitanism and transnational entrepreneurship change cities like Dubai around the world constantly. Therefore, this study aims at achieving a better understanding of these changes and the ways in which they occur.

Originality/value

Studies on transnational entrepreneurship have already adopted Bourdieu’s theory (1977/1986), but this is the first time the cosmopolitan perspective and disposition is researched using this approach.
Exploring cosmopolitanism through the perspective of reluctant cosmopolites
Authors: Bazin Yoann , Martin Virginie
Published: September 2016

Purpose

Studies on cosmopolites often focus on expatriates or entrepreneurs. Although intentional cosmopolites do exist, and surely represent an important part of those individuals who define themselves as citizens of the world, the author suggests that a les-explored and darker variant also exists: reluctant cosmopolites.

Design/methodology/approach

The author reviews Olivier Geai’s book “La parole est aux migrants”, which presents first-person narratives of migrants from their childhoods to the point of their intentions of migrating, their journeys and their arrivals in France. Following the established logic of reviews in the society and business review, the author will place this book in tension with the academic literature on cosmopolitanism, mostly through the excellent “The Cosmopolitan Ideal” edited by Sybille de la Rosa and Darren O’Byrne.

Findings

Exploring cosmopolitanism through the perspective of reluctant cosmopolites leads to understanding the phenomenon as a process (cosmopolitanization) rather than a state, and to engage with the idea of cities of refuge.

Originality/value

Developing the notion of cities of refuge, which are not utopias or ideals – but revolutionary – radical inspirations to rethink a world that cannot be constructed tomorrow based on the yesterday’s blueprints.
Cosmopolitanism or globalization: the Anthropocene turn
Authors: Alcaraz Jose M. , Sugars Katherine , Nicolopoulou Katerina , Tirado Francisco
Published: September 2016

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to advance the debate on “cosmopolitanism or globalization” by approaching this rich literature from cultural, ethical and governance angles, and by introducing key notions from the work that has taken place in the natural sciences, around the Anthropocene.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper is based on analytical tactics that draw on a literature review and thematic analysis.

Findings

The composite analytical “lens” is introduced here (crafted around cultural, ethical and governance angles) to approach the debate on “cosmopolitanism or globalization” plus the engagement with the literature on the Anthropocene, allow us to engage with current understandings of the global and the “planetary” that are at the heart of cosmopolitanism.

Research limitations/implications

The paper deals with and merges two complex streams of literature (“cosmopolitanism or globalization” and the Anthropocene), and as such, needs to be seen as part of an initial, exploratory scholarly effort.

Practical implications

The analytical “lens” described here shall be of further use to develop current trends re-claiming cosmopolitanism for the study of organizations.

Social implications

This work can help nurture a cosmopolitan sensitivity which celebrates difference, highlights expanded concerns for the “distant other” and fosters involvement in new forms of governance.

Originality/value

The approaches introduced here bring new angles to continue thinking about the planet as the “cosmos” of cosmopolitanism, and to explore new understandings around organizations and (global) responsibility.
Migrant entrepreneurs as cosmopolitan change agents
Authors: Figueira Catarina , Caselli Giorgio , Theodorakopoulos Nicholas
Published: September 2016

Purpose

The aim of this paper is to provide novel insights into how the cosmopolitan mind-set can be fostered at a time of globalization by considering a group of social actors that has received scant attention in the literature on institutional change, notably migrant entrepreneurs.

Design/methodology/approach

This is a conceptual study that draws on Bourdieu’s theory of capital to develop a set of testable propositions as to how the economic, cultural, social and symbolic capital endowments of migrant entrepreneurs shape their agency in bringing about cosmopolitan transformation.

Findings

Together, migrant entrepreneurs endowed with higher levels of capital may act as institution reformers and promote the cosmopolitan mind-set by influencing the beliefs, incentives and behaviors of those embedded in more entrenched traditional institutions.

Research limitations/implications

This conceptual framework deals with only one of the many agents that may help bring about cosmopolitan change and is particularly well suited to a Western European context.

Practical implications

This conceptual paper provides a number of testable propositions that can be central to an empirical investigation into how the levels of capital possessed by migrant entrepreneurs affect their engagement in cosmopolitan change.

Social implications

The findings help identify those individuals who are more likely to endorse the cosmopolitan movement. This implication may be of particular interest to policymakers concerned with conceiving ways of counteracting some of the negative effects caused by globalization, as they need to identify and understand the social agents who can take on the role of catalyzers of public reforms.

Originality/value

The novelty of this paper lies in the development of a set of propositions that shows how divergent change toward a cosmopolitan vision might be engendered by spatially dispersed actors endowed with varying degrees of economic, cultural, social and symbolic capital.
Evaluating the costs and cost-effectiveness of interventions for people with learning disabilities and behaviour that challenges: the need to improve the evidence base
Authors: Hunter Rachael
Published: September 2016

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide a commentary on the challenges associated with evaluating the costs and cost-effectiveness of interventions for people with learning disabilities and behaviour that challenges.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper is a commentary on a range of evidence relating to the findings of “Positive behavioural support for children and adolescents with learning disabilities: an initial exploration of service and costs”. Specific attention is paid to gaps in the literature and the evidence base for the cost of care for people with learning disabilities and behaviour that challenges.

Findings

Recommendations for person-centred support and increased use of behavioural and psychological interventions for people with learning disabilities and behaviour that challenges are based on limited evidence. The literature is particularly sparse in relation to the cost implications for service providers or informal carers of implementing such interventions and the question of whether they reduce costs through preventing residential placements and long-term inpatient admissions.

Originality/value

More high-quality research is required in the area of behavioural and psychological interventions for people with learning disabilities and behaviour that challenges. Trials in this area should include high-quality economic evaluations including budget impact analysis to provide information on the cost implications for different government agencies and cost-effectiveness analysis incorporating impact on quality of life.
Resource and dynamic capabilities in business excellence models to enhance competitiveness
Authors: Zapata-Cantu Laura , Cantu Delgado Jose Humberto , Gonzalez Fernando R.
Published: September 2016

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to identify those resources and capabilities that enable national award-winning organizations to generate value to their stakeholders and provide evidence to institutions holding business excellence model (BEM)-based programs of how dynamic capabilities theory can enhance excellence models.

Design/methodology/approach

Qualitative research based on systematic review and content analysis.

Findings

Empirical evidence supports that BEMs should consider the resource-based view and dynamic capabilities perspective as a basis for their continuous improvement. These theoretical perspectives consider resources and capabilities for the successful execution of the strategic plan and for a faster response to environmental changes through dynamic capabilities.

Research limitations/implications

The study is based on a systematic review and content analysis of evidence submitted by three national quality awards from Europe, Singapore and Mexico. This research should be extended to other national quality award companies, and their customers’ and suppliers’ insights should be considered.

Practical implications

Regardless of corporate sector, organizations must recognize that visionary leadership is vital to their management models; a strategic plan and competent staff to execute the model are also of great importance. In addition, institutions holding BEM-based programs should evaluate incorporating dimensions related to dynamic capabilities and emphasize those strongly related to national culture.

Originality/value

Few studies in the BEMs literature have conducted resources and capabilities analysis from a multi-country perspective.
Using HCAHPS data to improve hospital care quality
Authors: Carter John C. , Silverman Fred N.
Published: September 2016

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is twofold: to enable hospital administrators to increase reimbursement rates under value-based purchasing (VBP) by understanding the process by which the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) calculate and use performance scores from the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems survey of patient experience; to apply statistical methods to determine what dimensions of patient care have the greatest impact on overall satisfaction scores and thus reimbursement.

Design/methodology/approach

The expository purpose was met by locating, analyzing and interpreting published CMS documentation related to VBP to explain the complex methods used to convert raw survey data to total patient satisfaction scores on seven dimensions. The raw data on 2,984 hospitals were cleaned and correlation and regression analysis used to measure the relationship between raw survey scores and overall patient satisfaction scores. Finally, Pareto analysis was used to show the relative influence of each dimension on satisfaction performance scores.

Findings

Nursing communications accounted for 75 percent of the variance in the patient satisfaction domain score in a stepwise regression.

Research limitations/implications

This research focusses only on the patient satisfaction component of VBP, over which hospital administrators have significant control. Future research could explore how hospital management can improve scores on clinical outcomes, process and efficiency.

Practical implications

Shows hospital management the most influential methods for improving their patient satisfaction scores and reimbursement under VBP.

Originality/value

Offers a managerially focussed explanation of how patient satisfaction scores are computed from raw survey data and how statistical analysis of the data can be used to improve quality.