bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A DIP‐construct of perceived justice in negative service encounters and complaint handling in the Norwegian tourism industry
Authors: Svari Sander , Svensson Göran , Slåtten Terje , Edvardsson Bo
Published: January 2010

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to describe and test a construct of perceived justice and its DIP‐dimensions (i.e. distributive, interactional, and procedural) in the context of both the consumers' initial negative service experiences' and the following processes of complaint handling. The objective is also to investigate similarities and differences of perceived justice in negative service experiences and complaint handling, and the validity of the constructs over time.

Design/methodology/approach

A triangular approach is used, based upon interviews and a survey in the Norwegian tourism industry. This paper reports on the results from a survey consisting of 3,104 customers. Comparative and confirmatory testing of perceived justice during the initial service encounter and subsequent complaint‐handling process has been performed.

Findings

The DIP‐dimensions of the construct of perceived justice in the service encounters tested have indicated a satisfactory fit, validity, and reliability.

Research limitations/implications

The empirical findings provide a seed for future research to refine and extend corporate endeavors in managing critical incidents of both service encounters and service recovery.

Practical implications

Strategies to manage the perceived justice in negative service encounters and complaint handling should aim at managing the DIP‐dimensions of negative incidents in service encounters.

Originality/value

The DIP‐construct brings together, complements and fortifies existing theory and previous research in the context of justice in service encounters and complaint handling. Addressing both pre‐ and post‐complaint processes provides a complementary contribution to the field in focus.
Service failures in online double deviation scenarios: justice theory approach
Authors: Lee Eun‐Jung , Park JungKun
Published: January 2010

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to identify types of service failures in a double deviation scenario within the contexts of online retailing.

Design/methodology/approach

Critical incident technique; customer complaints to online third parties; and four‐factor justice dimensionality.

Findings

Findings of this paper show distinctive sets of service failures in two separate service failure stages of double deviation (i.e. the initial service failure and recovery failure stages) within online retailing. Initial service failures mainly reflect cognitive issues generated from an online‐specific store atmosphere and threaten distributive or procedural justice perceptions. In comparison with distributive and procedural justice perceptions still being dominant, service failures in the recovery failure stage consist of interpersonal and emotional issues generated from customer‐company interactions, threatening interpersonal justice perceptions.

Originality/value

This paper contributes to broadening the current understanding of the dynamics of online customer dissatisfaction, by first identifying types of service failures that occur in both stages of online double deviation. This paper also introduces customer complaints to online third parties as a useful data resource for the study of service failure/recovery.
Enhancing the assessment of tangible service quality through the creation of a cleanliness measurement scale
Authors: Barber Nelson , Scarcelli Joseph M.
Published: January 2010

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is two‐fold: to enhance the tangible quality construct by considering cleanliness as a customer service quality dimension; and to assess customers' opinions on cleanliness by gender and education.

Design/methodology/approach

The population under study is the general adult population of a Southwestern US city. The subjects voluntarily participate through a link to an anonymous online survey provided on a university's daily electronic news medium. Reliability and factor analyses are used to determine if the 32 criteria will in fact become an effective analysis measurement scale for cleanliness and multivariate analysis is used for the segmentation.

Findings

The results indicate that customers have made decisions to select, stay or return to an establishment based upon cleanliness. The results are meaningful because they suggest a scale that is reliable and valid and can be used to measure customer perceptions of cleanliness in a service organization. The results also confirm that education and gender are significant factors in assessing perceptions of cleanliness.

Research limitations/implications

The sampling method is a limitation to this study, as the sample represents a limited cross‐section of the US population.

Practical implications

The results of this paper provide service establishments that consider loyalty and repeat business key to their financial success, indicators that cleanliness is a critical component of the overall physical environment and influence customers' assessment of the service experience.

Originality/value

This paper examines the dimension of cleanliness in detail through the creation of a measurement scale and considers customers' perceptions and willingness to return.
A bibliometric analysis of service research from Asia
Authors: Chuan Tan Kay , Goudarzlou Atarod , Chakrabarty Ayon
Published: January 2010

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the contribution of Asian researchers towards the literature on service science. In achieving this aim, a review of papers published in five top service research journals is carried out.

Design/methodology/approach

Papers from the following five service research journals are reviewed: International Journal of Service Industry Management, Journal of Services Marketing, Journal of Service Research, Managing Service Quality, and Service Industries Journal. The review considers all papers published in the journals over a 14‐year period from 1995 to 2008. The abstract and main body of the papers are analyzed for content.

Findings

This paper identifies the core contribution of researchers from Asian countries. The top five Asian countries identified are Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Israel, and South Korea. Also identified are patterns and emphases in service research across different countries.

Research limitations/implications

This paper focuses on five top service research journals over a 14‐year period. Patterns of research emphasis in over 280 publications are analyzed. Further studies can include other journals and/or conferences in service science.

Practical implications

Scholars can benefit from insights into the contribution by Asian researchers in services. Specifically, the paper notes the particular emphases of research from different Asian countries while acknowledging the reach and richness of their contributions.

Originality/value

The main value of this paper is its uniqueness in discussing the contribution of researchers specific to Asian countries in top service journals. This paper provides valuable insights into the nature of academic publishing of Asian researchers in this burgeoning area.
Inherent irreversibility and thermal stability for steady flow of variable viscosity liquid film in a cylindrical pipe with convective cooling at the surface
Authors: Makinde O.D. , Maserumule M.
Published: January 2010

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the inherent irreversibility and thermal stability in the flow of a variable viscosity fluid through a cylindrical pipe with convective cooling at the surface.

Design/methodology/approach

The non‐linear momentum and energy equations governing the flow are solved analytically using a perturbation method coupled with a special type of Hermite‐Padé approximation technique implemented numerically on MAPLE.

Findings

Expressions for dimensionless velocity and temperature, thermal criticality conditions and entropy generation number are obtained. A decrease in the fluid viscosity enhances both entropy generation rate and the dominant effect of heat transfer irreversibility near the wall

Originality/value

This paper presents the application of the second law of thermodynamics and a special type of Hermite‐Padé approximation technique to variable viscosity cylindrical pipe flow with convective cooling at the wall.
Spatially modulated thermal convection
Authors: Obé Marianne , Khayat Roger E.
Published: January 2010

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the thermal convection inside a spatially modulated domain.

Design/methodology/approach

The governing equations are mapped onto an infinite strip, allowing Fourier expansion of the flow and temperature in the streamwise direction.

Findings

Similar to Rayleigh‐Benard convection, conduction is lost to convection at a critical Rayleigh number, which depends strongly on both the modulation amplitude and the wavenumber. The effect of modulation is found to be destabilizing (stabilizing) for conduction for relatively large (small) modulation wavelength. Oscillatory convection sets in as the Rayleigh number is increased.

Originality/value

This paper presents novel results.
Multi‐resolution simulation of double‐diffusive convection in porous media
Authors: Peterson J.W. , Murray B.T. , Carey G.F.
Published: January 2010

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to consider double‐diffusive convection in a heated porous medium saturated with a fluid. Of particular interest is the case where the fluid has a stabilizing concentration gradient and small diffusivity.

Design/methodology/approach

A fully‐coupled stabilized finite element scheme and adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) methodology are introduced to solve the resulting coupled multiphysics application and resolve fine scale solution features. The code is written on top of the open source finite element library LibMesh, and is suitable for parallel, high‐performance simulations of large‐scale problems.

Findings

The stabilized adaptive finite element scheme is used to compute steady and unsteady onset of convection in a generalized Horton‐Rogers‐Lapwood problem in both two and three‐dimensional domains. A detailed study confirming the applicability of AMR in obtaining the predicted dependence of solutal Nusselt number on Lewis number is given. A semi‐permeable barrier version of the generalized HRL problem is also studied and is believed to present an interesting benchmark for AMR codes owing to the different boundary and internal layers present in the problem. Finally, some representative adaptive results in a complex 3D heated‐pipe geometry are presented.

Originality/value

This work demonstrates the feasibility of stabilized, adaptive finite element schemes for computing simple double‐diffusive flow models, and it represents an easily‐generalizable starting point for more complex calculations since it is based on a highly‐general finite element library. The complementary nature of h‐adaptivity and stabilized finite element techniques for this class of problem is demonstrated using particularly simple error indicators and stabilization parameters. Finally, an interesting double‐diffusive convection benchmark problem having a semi‐permeable barrier is suggested.
Numerical simulation of heat transfer at the interface of dissimilar materials
Authors: Liao Ningbo , Yang Ping
Published: January 2010

Purpose

The small dimensions of future device designs also imply a stronger effect of material boundary resistance. For nanoscale devices and structures, especially, interface phenomena often dominate their overall thermal behavior. The purpose of this paper is to propose molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to investigate the mechanical and thermal properties at Cu‐Al interface.

Design/methodology/approach

The two‐temperature model (TTM)‐MD model is used to describe the electron‐phonon scattering at interface of different metals. Before the simulation of heat transfer process, a non‐ideal Cu‐Al interface is constructed by simulating diffusion bonding.

Findings

According to the simulation results, in unsteady state, the temperature distribution and the displacements of atoms near the interface tend to generate stress and voids. It reveals the damage mechanics at the interface in heat transfer.

Originality/value

The atomic model proposed in this paper is computationally efficient for interfacial heat transfer problems, and could be used for investigation of other interfacial behaviors of dissimilar materials.
Role of thermally stratified medium on a free convection flow from a rotating sphere
Authors: Saikrishnan P. , Roy Satyajit , Takhar H.S. , Ravindran R.
Published: January 2010

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to study the influence of thermally stratified medium on a free convection flow from a sphere, which is rotating about the vertical axis, immersed in a stably thermally stratified medium.

Design/methodology/approach

An implicit finite‐difference scheme in combination with the quasi‐linearization technique is applied to obtain the steady state non‐similar solutions of the governing boundary layer equations for flow and temperature fields.

Findings

The numerical results indicate that the heat transfer rate at the wall decreases significantly with an increasing thermal stratification parameter, but its effect on the skin friction coefficients is rather minimum. In fact, the presence of thermal stratification of the medium influences the heat transfer at wall to be in opposite direction, that is, from fluids to the wall above a certain height. The heat transfer rate increases but the skin frictions decrease with the increase of Prandtl number. In particular, the effect of buoyancy force is much more sensitive for low Prandtl number fluids (Pr = 0.7, air) than that of high Prandtl number fluids (Pr = 7, water). Also the skin friction in rotating direction is less sensitive to the buoyancy force as the buoyancy force acts in the streamwise direction for the present study of thermally stratified medium.

Research limitations/implications

The ambient temperature T∞∞ is assumed to increase linearly with height $h$. The viscous dissipation term, which is usually small for natural convection flows, has been neglected in the energy equation. The flow is assumed to be axi‐symmetric. The Boussinesq approximation is invoked for the fluid properties to relate density changes to temperature changes, and to couple in this way the temperature field to the flow field.

Practical implications

Free convection in a thermally stratified medium occurs in many environmental processes with temperature stratification, and in industrial applications within a closed chamber with heated walls. Also, free convections associated with heat rejection systems for long‐duration deep ocean powder modules where ocean environment is stratified are examples of such type.

Originality/value

The research presented in this paper investigates the free convection flow on a sphere, which is rotating with a constant angular velocity along its vertical axis in a stably thermally stratified fluid.
The onset of bio‐thermal convection in a suspension of gyrotactic microorganisms in a fluid layer with an inclined temperature gradient
Authors: Avramenko A.A. , Kuznetsov A.V.
Published: January 2010

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate a combined bioconvection and thermal instability problem in a horizontal layer of finite depth with a basic temperature gradient inclined to the vertical. The basic flow, driven by the horizontal component of temperature gradient, is the Hadley circulation, which becomes unstable when the vertical temperature difference and density stratification induced by upswimming of microorganisms that are heavier than water become sufficiently large.

Design/methodology/approach

Linear stability analysis of the basic state is performed; the numerical problem is solved using the collocation method.

Findings

The steady‐state solution of this problem is obtained. Linear stability analysis of this steady‐state solution for the case of three‐dimensional disturbances is performed; the numerical problem is solved using the collocation method. The stability problem is governed by three Rayleigh numbers: the bioconvection Rayleigh number and two thermal Rayleigh numbers characterizing temperature gradients in the vertical and horizontal directions, respectively.

Research limitations/implications

Further research should address the application of weakly non‐linear analysis to this problem.

Practical implications

The dependence of the critical bioconvection Rayleigh number on the two thermal Rayleigh numbers and other relevant parameters is investigated.

Originality/value

This paper presents what is believed to be the first research dealing with the effect of inclined temperature gradient on the stability of bioconvection in a suspension of gyrotactic microorganisms.
Simulation of mixed convection in slender rectangular cavity with lattice Boltzmann method
Authors: Guo Y. , Bennacer R. , Shen S. , Ameziani D.E. , Bouzidi M.
Published: January 2010

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to apply the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) to simulate mixed flow, which combines natural convection for temperature difference and forced convection for lid driven, in a two‐dimensional rectangular cavity over a wide range of aspect ratios (A), Rayleigh numbers (Ra) and Reynolds numbers (Re).

Design/methodology/approach

The LBM is applied to simulate the mixed flow. A multi‐relaxation technique was used successfully. A scale order analysis helped the understanding and predicting the overall heat transfer.

Findings

In the considered lid driven cavity, the Richardson number emerges as a measure of relative importance of natural and forced convection modes on the heat transfer. An expression of the overall heat transfer depending on the cavity slender (A) is deduced. The validity of the obtained expression was checked in mixed convection under the condition of low Richardson number (Ri) and the limitation condition was deduced.

Practical implications

This paper has implications for cooling system optimization and LBM technique development.

Originality/value

This paper presents a new cooling configuration, avoiding critical situation where the opposing effect induce weak heat transfer; and a stable and fast LBM approach allowing complex geometry treatment.
Quality, semantics and the two cultures
Authors: Poole Brian
Published: January 2010

Purpose

The aims of this paper are twofold: first, to engage with the definition of quality as “excellence” and to show why this could be regarded as unhelpful and misleading; and, second, to suggest some factors which contribute to a “cultural divide” between quality assurance specialists in universities and their colleagues who are full‐time academics. In both cases the paper seeks to raise and explore these issues because their resolution may suggest ways forward for quality assurance in higher education.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper is generally based on consideration and critical evaluation of published work relevant to the two issues mentioned previously. However, other forms of evidence are drawn into the argument. Notably, lexical data from the British National Corpus are examined in order to substantiate points about the semantics of the word “quality”.

Findings

The paper finds, on the grounds of both lexical semantics and consideration of scholarly literature on quality assurance in higher education, that it is unhelpful to understand the term “quality” as equivalent to “excellence”. It also identifies possible reasons why a “cultural divide” exists between university lecturers and quality assurance specialists.

Originality/value

The paper should be of interest to both quality assurance specialists and lecturers in universities. It offers logical, language‐based reasons why “quality” should not be regarded as “excellence” and goes on to relate this to the notion of “quality enhancement”. Preliminary suggestions are also made about means through which the “cultural divide” between academics and quality assurance specialists might be narrowed, to the potential benefit of universities seen as both complex entrepreneurial organizations, and academic communities.
Self‐assessment processes: the importance of follow‐up for success
Authors: José Tarí Juan
Published: January 2010

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to review the literature on self‐assessment processes and to identify the difficulties, benefits and success factors of the European Foundation for Quality Management self‐assessment model, analysing the importance of follow‐up.

Design/methodology/approach

First, the paper carries out a literature review on self‐assessment, and then it uses the case study methodology based on ten services provided by a public university in Spain to identify difficulties, benefits and success factors of self‐assessment.

Findings

The findings show, first, what the literature suggests on self‐assessment in general and for higher education, and second, the difficulties, benefits and success factors and the importance of follow‐up for successful self‐assessment.

Originality/value

The paper provides a literature review on self‐assessment and lessons for managers from other universities, or other public sector organisations, who wish to know the difficulties, benefits and success factors, and the characteristics of follow‐up.
Cross‐evaluation of degree programmes in higher education
Authors: Kettunen Juha
Published: January 2010

Purpose

This study seeks to develop and describe the benchmarking approach of enhancement‐led evaluation in higher education and to present a cross‐evaluation process for degree programmes.

Design/methodology/approach

The benchmarking approach produces useful information for the development of degree programmes based on self‐evaluation, evaluation visits and analyses.

Findings

The cross‐evaluation of degree programmes can result in recommendations not only for the improvement of the degree programme, but also for that of the whole institution and the evaluation process.

Originality/value

The results of the study are useful for those who want to improve the quality culture of higher education institutions.
An evaluation of an internal audit on student feedback within a British university
Authors: Reid Ken
Published: January 2010

Purpose

Final year students attending British universities now complete an annual questionnaire to assess their views on their learning experiences of higher education (HE) from a variety of perspectives. They undertake this process as part of the National Student Survey (NSS). These data are then collated and an annual report with associated league tables is produced. Swansea Metropolitan University (SMU) decided to undertake an internal audit to contrast their own results against the national review in order to better understand and improve their own quality enhancement and student feedback processes. The purpose of this study is to examine this issue.

Design/methodology/approach

A three‐tier methodology approach was utilised involving both qualitative and quantitative methods, staff and student involvement and interview and questionnaire techniques.

Findings

The findings are presented by faculty and overall indicate that, while most students are satisfied with existing feedback schemes, some variations in practice occur. Students value some feedback approaches more highly than others.

Practical implications

The SMU internal audit results closely match those obtained by the NSS for both the University and sector‐wide and the implications of these findings and the internal results are discussed and considered. These findings may point the way forward for other fields of future research, especially those involving students within universities.

Originality/value

The paper has two clear benefits. First, it shows the clear relationship between the NSS results in the UK with those undertaken independently. Second, it provides one of the most comprehensive analyses of student feedback. The paper is particularly relevant for all those engaged in quality assurance and enhancement processes.
Quality assurance in post‐secondary education
Authors: Chung Sea Law Dennis
Published: January 2010

Purpose

The common approaches to quality assurance (QA), as practiced by most post‐secondary education institutions for internal quality monitoring and most QA authorities for external quality monitoring (EQM), have been considered by many researchers as having largely failed to address the essence of educational quality. The purpose of this paper, although not meant to be exhaustive, is to review some of these approaches.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper reviews the relevant issues concerning total quality management, performance indicators and EQM, the three common approaches to the QA of post‐secondary education have been reviewed.

Findings

While from a pragmatic perspective these approaches have their respective reasons for existence, they can all be criticized as lacking rigorous theoretical foundations and being mainly driven by demands of satisfying external agendas (e.g. to enforce institutional accountability or compliance) instead of academic considerations (e.g. to facilitate student learning). As a result, a mismatch between the rhetoric and reality of educational quality has become a common experience of most practitioners, not only in western contexts from which these approaches were originated, but also in other cultural contexts that have adopted them uncritically. It is undeniable that the overall quality culture within most post‐secondary education systems worldwide, as currently manifested, tends to favor the institutional aspects rather than the student aspects of the quality issues, and tends to lean more on the accountability‐led view rather than the improvement‐led view of quality assurance.

Originality/value

The paper sheds some light on the quality debate in post‐secondary education.
Dimensionality of business ethics in China
Authors: Sardy Marc , Munoz J. Mark , Jianmin Sun James , Alon Ilan
Published: January 2010

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the ethical dimensions in China. It reviews the extant business ethics literature on China, collects data on ethical conduct from a large Chinese university, and analyzes the data to examine emerging trends.

Design/methodology/approach

Factor analysis and multidimensional scaling (MDS) are applied to an established survey instrument after reliability is confirmed.

Findings

Principal‐components factor analysis uncovers six main factors. MDS further reduces the explanatory variables into four ethical dimensions, while increasing the number of useable observations. These four dimensions are then correlated with some demographic and psychographic variables. Results reveal four quadrants with different characteristics: Quadrant I “Unsympathetic, ethically challenged, self centered” have lower grade‐point index (GPA); Quadrant II “Ethically challenged, other directed” have higher GPA, watch more TV, and are more likely to be female; Quadrant III “Community orientation, ethically centered” are more likely to be female with higher class ranking and Quadrant IV “Challenge avoidance, controlling, religious” are more likely to have a lower GPA and lower level of religiosity.

Research limitations/implications

Inferences from this paper may be limited to the sample group. Further expansion of the paper may suggest additional insights.

Originality/value

Ethics is often ignored in China's business education. While well researched in the USA, this topic is rarely studied in China. This is of concern to businesses looking for managers in the Chinese market and for individuals and researchers who want a framework to better understand ethical dimensions of Chinese management.
The application of the standardized IT deployment strategy
Authors: Bin Ahmad Alserhan Bakr
Published: January 2010

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the extent to which the standardized IT deployment strategy is employed within the manufacturing‐exporting firms in Jordan.

Design/methodology/approach

A total of 500 self‐administered questionnaires are delivered to a random sample selected from a sample frame comprising the Jordanian manufacturing‐exporting firms. A research assistant is hired and trained to handle questionnaire distribution and collection as well as answer basic inquiries. The researcher deals with the more difficult inquiries.

Findings

The study concludes that there is greater reliance on standardization and less acknowledgement of users and that IT deployment decisions remain technical and functional; only system requirements and functionality are taken into consideration; other factors including users are largely discarded.

Research limitations/implications

This study is explorative in nature and therefore its focus is broad; subsector differences of the manufacturing/exporting firms are not studied.

Practical implications

To maximize deployment outcome, firms need to place more emphasis on users, provide better training, and localize training materials. User feedback and participation should be encouraged and incorporated in all IT‐related decisions.

Originality/value

This study reports results of the last of a series of several studies investigating deployment in Jordan, a country in the Middle East with a steep IT deployment learning curve, virtually no previous studies, and an academic field of IT deployment that remains largely unexplored.
A trade dispute between the USA and Canada
Authors: Abboushi Suhail
Published: January 2010

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to identify the issues in the US‐Canada trade dispute over lumber trade, to analyze the US and Canada's claims and positions in this dispute, and make projections of future possibilities regarding this dispute.

Design/methodology/approach

The research method is to review published studies dealing with this dispute and gather public and private data pertaining to issues involved in this dispute.

Findings

The paper finds that the US lumber industry's claims of unfair trade by Canada's lumber industry are not supported. Canada is in compliance with World Trade Organization policies and North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)'s agreement. US antidumping and countervailing tariffs on imported Canadian lumber violate NAFTA's rules. Past and current resolutions to this dispute are temporary.

Originality/value

This paper explores the real reasons behind the dispute and evaluates the merits of the interim solutions.
Assessing the use of Bourdieu's key concepts in the strategy‐as‐practice field
Authors: Hurtado Pedro S.
Published: January 2010

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the elucidation of key concepts in the new field of strategy‐as‐practice, in order to clarify the proper object of inquiry/unit of analysis. It does so by evaluating the degree of incorporation of Pierre Bourdieu's “theory of practice” in the literature. Bourdieu is one of the pioneers of the “practice turn” in sociology.

Design/methodology/approach

A summary and graphical framework of the key concepts of Bourdieu's “theory of practice” are developed. A small “theoretical sample” (in the sense used in “grounded theory” methodology) of representative authors and articles in the new field of strategy‐as‐practice is analyzed vis‐à‐vis the developed framework to probe and evaluate the degree of inclusion of Bourdieu's key concepts in the literature.

Findings

The incorporation of Bourdieu's key concepts is very limited and sometimes misinterpreted. His concept of “habitus” is generally cited, but its collective implications are not emphasized and neither is its connection to social structures and power. There is significant debate around the proper unit of analysis for the new field of strategy‐as‐practice, as well as issues of the relation between micro and macro approaches to strategy.

Originality/value

The paper opens up new conceptual possibilities for the understanding and possible application of Bourdieu's “theory of practice.”
The green MBA: a competing values matrix
Authors: Page Robert A. , Collins Kirsten A.
Published: January 2010

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to review and categorize the different strategies Master of Business Administration (MBA) programs have adopted towards incorporating environmental sustainability into business administration.

Design/methodology/approach

Through extensive internet research looking at colleges and universities, data are collected from primary source web sites and administrative school contacts. There are 35 institutions whose MBA programs address sustainability in some way. Each of these institutions is then organized by location, tuition cost, enrollment, year founded, accreditation, and curriculum.

Findings

Green educational strategies differentiate themselves by the size and maturity of the program. Larger, established institutions typically opt for the green major, or a dual degree, and tend to leave systematic integration of sustainability to the individual student. Newer and smaller entrants tend to either dabble in green with a few sustainability courses, or completely embrace and systemically integrate sustainability throughout the program.

Research limitations/implications

The sample focuses on US institutions and treats sustainability as an externally validated curricular choice when it may merely be an educational fad. The sample excludes potential green MBA programs that lack a strong internet presence.

Practical implications

Four archetypes are identified: dual degree, all‐green, green major, and green coursework. Institutions can analyze their performances and see where they fall on the two major continua – integration and maturity/size.

Originality/value

Green MBA programs are relatively new on the academic landscape, and this research paper is one of the first to systematically analyze and categorize them.
Comparative ethical analysis of educational competition in academia
Authors: Dean Parhizgar Kamal
Published: January 2010

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the validity of equitable, equal, and merit equity of social and economic privileges for both gifted intellectual people and laypeople in higher educational systems.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper is a conceptual comparative analysis of mass education and elitist education within the context of academic justice and academic ethical fairness. This paper is based on a review of the literature pertinent to justice and fairness in designing and implementing higher educational systems.

Findings

The research undertaken reveals that there are significant fundamental differences between academic justice and academic fairness. An analysis of perceptual similarities and differences, however, reveals that more variable perceptions exist between mass education and elitist educational systems. Although both sets of models consistently place great emphasis on the issue of competitive meritocracy among students, academic justice is based on a conventional idealistic system in terms of equality, whereas academic fairness is founded on a type of holistic judgment free from bias, prejudice, dishonesty, or illegitimacy that pursues ethical and moral considerations in regards to decisions and actions. Academic massification, however, shows tendencies to emphasize bureaucratic cost‐benefits in order to implement justice for all, while academic elitism places more emphasis on meritocratic cost‐effectiveness analysis.

Research limitations/implications

Since this paper is based on an ethical conceptual deductive analysis of two major systems of higher education, it has pros and cons concerning each system. Ethics is a relative conceptual reasoning; therefore, there could be other types of reasoning that could be followed by other researchers.

Originality/value

This paper opens arguments concerning how to respond to the needs of students with a consideration of cost‐benefit analysis and cost‐effectiveness analysis.
A study of hoarding behavior and attachment to material possessions
Authors: Cherrier Hélène , Ponnor Tresa
Published: January 2010

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate consumers' motivation to accumulate obsolete items and their reluctance to dispose of material possessions.

Design/methodology/approach

The role of attachment to material possession in the construction of consumer identity provides a conceptual framework for the research. A video‐ethnography with eight individuals, who classify themselves as functional hoarders, individuals who accumulate objects privately and are unable to dispose without clear conscious motivation or control, constitute the primary data for this paper.

Findings

In investigating the underlying reasons for accumulating objects and resisting dispossession, informants show evidence of being reflective consumers who perceive throwing away as a threat to memory, to security, and to historical and ecological preservation. First, this paper confirms current literature regarding the role of possessions as symbols of interpersonal ties with others and as a cue to past experiences. Second, the paper supports that possessions provide a sense of security to the owner. Finally, this paper reinforces that preserving material objects cultivate a vision for the future. Ultimately, informants' motivations to accumulate, to keep, and to not‐dispose of objects reflects a desire to reassemble the fragments of their temporal experience into a unique space where memories, present, and life projects join together.

Originality/value

The accompanying film gives an opportunity for audience members to personally evaluate hoarding practices and to draw their own conclusion on the dynamic nature of material attachment and consumer identity in terms of past experiences, present orientation, and responsibility for the future.
“Behind Closed Doors”: opportunity identification through observational research
Authors: Webster Cynthia M. , Seymour Richard , Daellenbach Kate
Published: January 2010

Purpose

To thrive in today's competitive marketplace, businesses constantly need to search for opportunities to develop and be tuned into consumers as innovators. With this in mind, the purpose of this paper is to further understandings of the ways in which consumers transform ordinary products to serve their everyday needs; and broaden appreciation of the role observational research plays in opportunity identification.

Design/methodology/approach

A hermeneutic approach to observational research is adopted, incorporating both subjective personal introspection (SPI) and videography to discover one family's unusual usage behaviours.

Findings

Analysis, following Holbrook's typology of consumer value, reveals examples of innovative behaviours for the four active consumer value types of efficiency, status, play and ethics, while identification of the reactive value types of aesthetics, esteem, excellence and spirituality proves more difficult.

Research limitations/implications

This research suggests alternative approaches for future research into opportunity identification, making use of videography and SPI. Moreover, the current work emphasises that innovation and the creative require consideration of the relational rather than just self‐seeking behaviours, needs or events.

Originality/value

This paper illustrates two research methods infrequently used, SPI and videography, positioning both as valuable tools for opportunity identification.
Naturalistic group interviewing in China
Authors: Eckhardt Giana M. , Bengtsson Anders
Published: January 2010

Purpose

This paper and accompanying film demonstrate the techniques of using scenarios, breaching expectations, and using naturalistic groups as being especially appropriate for conducting qualitative marketing research in China.

Design/methodology/approach

This study is used to investigate the social construction of brands in China and to demonstrate how to create naturalistic group interviews in China, and why it is beneficial to do so. A film footage of the various groups discussing the scenarios presented to them is presented so the viewer can observe the interactions between the group members.

Findings

In this paper, it is argued that only certain qualitative methods are appropriate in a Chinese context, due to various aspects of Chinese culture which de‐emphasize expressing one's thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and values openly. In the accompanying film, it is demonstrated how: presenting Chinese consumers with scenarios that they can relate to stimulates meaningful discussion; breaching people's expecations is what allows people to articulate underlying meaning systems; and conducting interviews in existing, naturally formed social groups, all lead to naturalistic discussions.

Originality/value

As marketing and consumer research becomes more global, the field of qualitative research needs to take a critical approach to the effectiveness of varying methodologies in varying cultural contexts. A first step in this direction is taken by outlining how and why particular qualitative methods are effective in China. Naturalistic group interviews can also be used in a wide variety of countries and cultural contexts when the construct of interest is the social dynamics of a consumption activity.
Cross‐border shopping: family narratives
Authors: Castaño Raquel , Perez María Eugenia , Quintanilla Claudia
Published: January 2010

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide a framework on the experience of cross‐border shopping. This experience is constructed on narratives, rituals, and intergenerational transfers that move beyond the simple description of experienced events to provide explanatory frameworks of family identity construction.

Design/methodology/approach

Nine in‐depth interviews are conducted with three generations of North Mexican women from three families who shop frequently across the border.

Findings

The findings highlight different processes associated with the experience of cross‐border shopping. First, each family works throughout the years to construct its own identity using the tales of their shared experiences. Second, an intergenerational transfer of knowledge going from grandmothers to mothers to granddaughters in each family occurs as result of the experiences lived together. Third, common knowledge is developed both by Mexican consumers and North American retailers that translates into particular commercial practices. Finally, all our contributors are immersed in a national culture, the North Mexican, sharing and transmitting values like thriftiness, malinchismo, and the relevance of family ties. These values affect their shopping patterns, generating important consequences for both the Mexican and North American economies.

Originality/value

The authors' intent is to contribute to the understanding of the process of family identity construction through consumption. This consumption occurs in a particular context; cross‐border shopping. The experience is singular in the sense that families spend considerable amount of time together while traveling and establishing their shopping routines. This work depicts the shopping rituals passed down from generation‐to‐generation and the derived construction of meaning within the family.
Whose street is it anyway? Visual ethnography and self‐reflection
Authors: Rabikowska Marta
Published: January 2010

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to apply a self‐reflexive interpretive method of writing as a method of analysis of findings from a critical research based on videography documenting the relationship between ethnicity, consumption, and place.

Design/methodology/approach

An innovative theoretical approach employed is interpretativist ethnography inspired by creative writing. This methodological approach allows the researcher to move beyond the rigidness of academic discourse and consequently enables a more intimate connection with the object of research.

Findings

The main outcome of this paper is realization that the presence of the researcher and her own autobiography affects the results of research and that articulation as much as execution of research is always subjective. A significant implication of this kind of approach is uncertainty and unreliability which questions the positivist objectivism dominating in both consumer studies and marketing. A subsequent limitation is a free reading which evades possibility of definite conclusions.

Originality/value

By providing a film and a commentary to it in one publication, this paper overcomes the traditional separation between the visual and the textual and contributes to the multisensory model of academic practice. It is particularly important for ethnography and visual studies where the application of the senses has both a theoretical and a practical value.
Constructing audio‐visual representations of consumer archetypes
Authors: Caldwell Marylouise , Henry Paul , Alman Ariell
Published: January 2010

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explain how audio‐visual archetypal representations likely to engender emotional identification and consumer‐inquisitiveness by marketing professionals can be constructed.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper employs video‐ethnography involving the following steps: development of a typology of consumer archetypes based on a priori theory, screening for and identifying informants to exemplify each archetype, filming interviews in and around their homes, developing realistic audio‐visual representations of each archetype and assessing marketing practitioners reactions to the audio‐visual representations.

Findings

In response to the audio‐visual archetypal representations, marketing practitioners displayed a high degree of interest and emotional relatedness. The interest generated in the screenings motivated animated discussion and often a desire to better understand the consumers represented by each archetype. These heightened reactions contrast strongly with the relatively emotionally flat responses to traditional marketing research reports.

Originality/value

The paper demonstrates that carefully crafted audio‐visual representations of consumer archetypes are likely to engender a consumer orientation in marketing professionals and hence associate with improved marketing decision‐making. It explains that this situation is likely explained by audio‐visual media's superior capacity to foster experiential, emotional knowledge of others, and, the origins of consumer archetypes in the collective un/consciousness and/or widespread strongly embedded cultural beliefs, norms, and values.
Trends and developments within corporate communication: an analysis of ten years of CCIJ
Authors: Elving Wim J.L.
Published: January 2010

Purpose

This paper aims to analyse the trends in the papers which have been published in Corporate Communications: An International Journal (CCIJ) over the past ten years. The analysis will focus on the region of the world the (first) authors come from and on the topics of the paper.

Design/methodology/approach

All papers published in Volumes 5 to 14 of CCIJ have been listed and analysed on the country where the first author comes from and the subjects of the paper.

Findings

In the first part of the last ten years, authors predominantly come from the Anglo‐Saxon world (UK, USA and Australia); whereas, in the last period 45 per cent of the papers come from authors from continental Europe. The subjects of the papers show a bigger interest in corporate identity, reputations and corporate social responsibility in the last period, whereas internal communication and change communication remain important over the whole last ten years.

Originality/value

This overview is the first of its kind to be published in CCIJ. It shows the growing importance of the journal in the last ten years and the development of the journal into an important journal in the study of corporate communications.