bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Mechanisms of labour exploitation: the case of Pakistan
Authors: Arslan Muhammad 
Published: March 2020

PurposeThe issue of exploitative labour practices has been a persistent and recurring problem in the textile and garment industry. Despite increased media, policy and practitioners attention the evidence base remains unexplored. The International Labour Organization (ILO) has acknowledged the presence of labour exploitation in global supply chains because of private sectors’ employment practices. The purpose of this study is to apprehend views of multilevel stakeholders to explore the nature and driving mechanisms of exploitation.Design/methodology/approachSemi-structured interviews were conducted with 76 respondents from 25 factories from 3 cities of Pakistan i.e. Faisalabad, Lahore and Gujranwala. Convenient and snowball sampling techniques were used because of the complexity of research settings. Transcribed data was analysed with the help of NVivo.FindingsDrawing on qualitative evidence, the study reveals that workers experience a range of exploitation at the workplace, which is unlikely to fall within the scope of severe exploitation. The findings reveal that three types of exploitation exist in Pakistan’s textile and garment industry such as financial, physiological and psychological. Power inequality is the foundation and a fundamental cause of the endurance of exploitation. The study found three mechanisms that facilitate the endurance of exploitation, i.e. distance, profit and oppression.Research limitations/implicationsThe study contributes to supply chain literature by exemplifying power inequality. It is crucial for the government to step up efforts to stipulate a minimum wage rate in the textile and garment industry to alleviate labour exploitation. The findings provide motivation for policy and decision-makers to implement incremental changes to global supply chains to protect the rights and welfare of workers, according to the standards of social accountability 8000, the ILO and other world trade stakeholders.Originality/valueThis study argues that the international and local instruments do not specifically address the severe labour exploitation in Pakistan textile and garment industry. Therefore, the need arises to develop a specific instrument to address the problem. In the absence of such an instrument, there is a piecemeal approach by international and local bodies towards the regulation of labour exploitation.
Transformational leadership and service quality in e-commerce businesses
Authors: Mahdikhani Mehri , Yazdani Bita 
Published: March 2020

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the transformational leadership and service quality in the businesses active in the field of e-commerce with the mediating role of trust and team performance.Design/methodology/approachSurvey questionnaires were administered on a 384-subject sample of the employees of the teams working in electronic businesses in Iran. The structural equation modeling and partial least square techniques were used to analyze the data.FindingsThe results showed that transformational leadership has a positive impact on service quality and improves team performance. The effect of transformational leadership on the interpersonal trust and the trust on the team performance are also positive and significant. In summary, the improved performance also has a positive impact on service quality.Research limitations/implicationsThe main limitation is the assessment by questionnaire because the questionnaires measure the attitudes of individuals, not the facts as they are, and the attitudes of individuals usually involve personal judgments and prejudices in the research. Also, examining the research model in different cultural domains may provide different results because of being influenced by different cultures. Hence, the authors recommend that the findings should be examined in other communities with different cultures.Originality/valueEvaluating the impact of the transformational leadership on service quality (SERVPERF scale) by a survey of team trust and performance in e-business is an innovation in the influence assessment of these variables. The present research is considered applicable to the management science as new findings in organizational behavior studies and recognition of transformational leaders, as well as the positive impacts of the characteristics of them on individuals and followers.
Confucianism culture and corporate cash holdings
Authors: Chen Shihua , Ye Yan , Jebran Khalil , Majeed Muhammad Ansar 
Published: March 2020

PurposeThis study examines how Confucianism, as an informal system, alleviates manager–shareholder conflicts and thus decreases managerial behavior of keeping higher levels of cash reserves. This study also investigates whether formal governance mechanisms (state ownership and institutional investors) moderate the relationship between Confucianism and cash holdings.Design/methodology/approachThis study opts a sample of Chinese listed firms over the period of 2004–2015. The geographical-proximity-based method was followed to measure Confucianism, which is the distance between a firm's registered address and the national Confucianism centers.FindingsThe results indicate that Confucianism adversely influences cash holdings. The authors’ findings illustrate that Confucian culture promotes ethical behavior, and therefore, firms in a strong Confucianism environment keep a lower level of cash reserves. The authors further document that the effect of Confucianism on cash holding is weaker for state-owned firms but stronger for firms with low institutional ownership.Practical implicationsThe findings provide implications for policymakers, academicians, and corporations. The results suggest that culture can reduce cash holdings. Especially, in emerging markets, such as China, where formal mechanisms are relatively less effective, informal institutions can serve an alternative system for alleviating adverse effects of agency conflicts.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the literature in two ways. First, this study contributes to cash holdings literature by showing that culture (Confucianism) is negatively associated with cash holdings. Second, this study extends the incumbent literature that seeks to explore how Confucian culture influences corporate behavior. To the best of the authors knowledge, this is the first study that identifies that Confucianism is associated with cash holdings.
Unveiling knowledge quality, researcher satisfaction, learning, and loyalty
Authors: Waheed Mehwish , Klobas Jane E , Ain NoorUl 
Published: March 2020

PurposeExamines how perceived knowledge quality influences researchers' satisfaction with academic social media (ASM) site use, perceived learning from use, and loyalty toward the site.Design/methodology/approachBuilt upon the theoretical grounding of the information system success framework, it was hypothesized that satisfaction, perceived learning, and loyal behavior toward an ASM site are all functions of the perceived quality of knowledge obtained. Data were collected by online survey from 348 researchers registered on ResearchGate and subjected to SmartPLS structural equation modeling, bootstrapping, and blindfolding.FindingsThe hypothesized relationships were supported. Perceived knowledge quality significantly influences researchers' satisfaction with ASM site use, and satisfaction affects perceived learning and researchers' loyalty with the ASM site.Research limitations/implicationsIdentification of the relationship between perceived knowledge quality and ASM site success extends the study of ASM sites from description of usage patterns to understanding the effect of content quality on important outcomes of use.Practical implicationsASM sites rely on the quality of knowledge contributed by their members for satisfaction, loyalty, and perceptions of value. The ongoing success of an ASM requires directed attention to quality knowledge provision.Originality/valueThis paper contributes a simplified DeLone & McLean information system success framework for studies of content quality. It also provides fresh insights into ASM site usage through a focus on the role of perceived knowledge quality in forming satisfaction, learning, and loyalty.
Earnings management as an ethical issue in view of Kohlberg’s theory of moral reasoning
Authors: Belgasem-Hussain Abdulfatah Ali , Hussaien Yousof Ibrahim 
Published: March 2020

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to shed light on and introduce the ethics of earnings management (EM) to researchers and students in the academic community in light of Kohlberg’s theory.

Design/methodology/approach
The paper contextualises and analyses the relevant literature to provide insights around the key concepts of the issue of ethics of EM. Therefore, theoretical approach has been adopted by reviewing the literature using a descriptive method. The study suggests relevance of the theory of moral development and reasoning by Kohlberg (1969) as an approach in the process of exploring the background and the reasons behind ethics of managers regarding EM. This theory helps to explain how individuals demonstrate and justify a sense of right or wrong. Thus, the paper is a literature review concluded with a proposed conceptual framework.

Findings
The paper provides conceptual insights about the ethics of EM, and it proposes a link between manager’s ethics regarding the phenomenon of EM and the framework of moral reasoning theory by Kohlberg (1969).

Originality/value
The importance and implications of Kohlberg’s theory, in terms of EM, resides within the fact that the theory is concerned with questions about how one ought to act – being as it acknowledges the well-known ethical theories. The work of Kohlberg can be classified as a descriptive analysis to the extent that it attempts to describe individuals’ moral development. This integration of normative and descriptive ethics, in turn, enables the theory to be used to explore managers’ moral reasoning in a more helpful way.
Customer engagement and eWOM in tourism
Authors: Kanje Patrokil , Charles Goodluck , Tumsifu Elly , Mossberg Lena , Andersson Tommy 
Published: March 2020

PurposeThe purpose of this article is to examine the role of customer engagement (CE) on electronic word of mouth (eWOM) behavior among vacationers in Tanzania. The article disaggregates CE into cognitive process, affection and behavior and integrates eWOM passing into the eWOM concept.Design/methodology/approachA sample of 278 vacationers who had used social media before and/or during their trip in Tanzania was used. They were drawn at three major airports in Tanzania when exiting the destination. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test the proposed relationships.FindingsIt is revealed that both the affective CE and behavioral CE positively relate to vacationers' eWOM seeking, giving and passing behaviors in tourism-related sites. On the other hand the cognitive CE relates positively only with eWOM passing behaviors.Research limitations/implicationsThe varied relationship of the three CE dimensions (cognitive, affective and behavioral) with eWOM behaviors further confirms the multi-dimensionality of CE and the enduring psychological connection of individuals beyond participation in activities.Practical implicationsCE is multifaceted and enduring and thus managers should take a long-term, enduring and multidimensional perspective in facilitating CE development. Different content appeals are needed in facilitating CE in online platforms as CE dimensions relate variedly with eWOM behaviorsOriginality/valueThe study links CE and eWOM in a novel way by disaggregating CE and integrating the eWOM passing component into the eWOM concept in tourism-related social media sites.
Between suspicion, nicknames, and trust—renegotiating ethnographic access with Swedish border police
Authors: Borrelli Lisa Marie 
Published: March 2020

PurposeThis article contributes the following: First, it argues along previous works that rites of passage include continuous testing, which needs to be passed in order to gain a certain level of acceptance within the research field. Here besides the emotional effort, researchers have to position themselves and are confronted with questions of trust. Second, it is argued that the collected and analysed data on the rites of passage enable us to make sense of street-level bureaucrats' work and functioning of state institutions, especially in a police context. Reflections on research negotiations drew the author's attention to how mistrust towards the “other”, here defined as migrant other, prevails the migration regime. This mistrust is later transferred onto the researcher, whose stay is deemed questionable and eventually intrusive.Design/methodology/approachThe collected data include semi-structured interviews, as well as several months of participant observation with street-level officers and superordinate staff, deepening previous discussions on research access and entrance. It further allows understanding street-level narratives, especially when it comes to the culture of suspicion embedded in police work, connecting the experienced tests with the everyday knowledge of police officers and case workers.FindingsThe analysis of rites of passage enable us to make sense of street-level bureaucrats' work, especially in a police context, since we find a specific way of suspicion directed towards the researcher. It is based on a general mistrust towards the “other”, here defined as migrant other, whose stay is deemed illegal and thus intruding. In this context, the positionality of the researcher becomes crucial and needs strategical planning.Research limitations/implicationsAccessing and being able to enter the “field” is of crucial relevance to researchers, interested in studying, e.g. sense-making and decision-making of the respective interlocutors. Yet, ethnographic accounts often disclose only partially, which hurdles, limiting or contesting their aspirations to conduct fieldwork, were encountered.Originality/valueThe personal role of researchers, their background and emotions are often neglected when describing ethnographic research. Struggles and what these can say about the studied field are thus left behind, although they contribute to a richer understanding of the functioning of the chosen fields. This work will examine how passing the test and going through rituals of “becoming a member” can tell us more about the functioning of a government agency, here a Swedish border police unit.
Customer contact in a digital world
Authors: Sampson Scott E. , Chase Richard B. 
Published: March 2020

PurposeThe customer contact approach to service has been at the core of service theory since the 1970s. It suggests that the potential operating efficiency of a service is inversely related to the extent of customer contact with the provider's operations and that various service design issues are dictated by the presence or absence of customer contact. The purpose of this article is to reevaluate the customer contact approach in light of advanced digital technologies.Design/methodology/approachThe authors review the origins and history of the customer contact approach and show ways it has been refined in research literature. From that they demonstrate how the refined approach can be applied to contemporary conditions.FindingsRecent advances in digital technologies have indeed required us to revise our conceptualization of customer contact. There is now a blurring between front-office and back-office operations. Emerging technologies are allowing customers to have high-contact experiences with low-contact efficiencies.Research limitations/implicationsGoing forward, conceptualizations of customer contact are becoming increasingly complex and requiring increasingly complex models. Armed with self-service technologies, customers are able to permeate the “buffered core” of service businesses. Artificial intelligence and anthropomorphic devices have further blurred the distinction between front-office and back-office operations. Research will need to consider new forms of technology-enabled customer contact.Practical implicationsCustomer contact is no longer limited to interpersonal interactions and the relationships between service providers and customers are increasingly complex. Customers may interact with automated service providers, or service providers may interact with customer technologies. New forms of customer contact may not involve humans at all, but instead involve technologies interacting with technologies.Originality/valueThe customer contact approach to service was one of the original models of service design. By revisiting and revising the model we bring it in-line with the realities of the contemporary service economy.
Place branding and local food souvenirs: the ethical attributes of national parks’ brands
Authors: Pizzichini Lucia , Temperini Valerio , Gregori Gian Luca 
Published: March 2020

PurposeThis paper aims to identify what ethical attributes tourists associate with national parks’ brands shown on food souvenir labels and the influence of such attributes on purchase motivations.Design/methodology/approachAn exploratory study was carried out involving a total of 102 Italian tourists, who were interviewed at two different souvenir shops in Italy. Respondents were first asked to describe what images and values they were associating with the visited Italian National Park. The second level of questions related to the association of food products with national parks and the purchase motivations of food products branded with the national park’s label. The ethical attributes associated with the national parks’ brands and their relevance in purchase motivations were detected and analyzed through content analysis.FindingsThe analysis of the national park brand allows highlighting the food souvenir role in communicating ethical values that influence the perceived quality of food as well as tourists’ purchase motivations. The analysis reveals interesting implications for the enhancement of local productions in tourist destinations, more specifically, how the place brand can act as a valuable communication tool. Particular attention is given to the crucial role that national parks’ brands play in strengthening the value proposition of small businesses located within parks. This vision must be implemented from the perspective of mutual promotion of local food and tourism in these parks.Originality/valueThe results of this paper contributed to the literature by filling the gap regarding the role of place brands in promoting food souvenirs.
A systematic investigation on the research publications that have used the medical expenditure panel survey (MEPS) data through a bibliometrics approach
Authors: Liu Jiacheng , Yu Fei , Song Lixin 
Published: March 2020

PurposeThis study aimed to examine how Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) data have been used to support scientific discoveries in biomedical and health sciences, and provide insight to researchers who are interested in using MEPS regarding collaborations and dissemination of research output.Design/methodology/approachA bibliometric approach was used to systematically examine the publications that used MEPS data and were indexed by PubMed and Web of Science (WoS). Microsoft Excel and bibliometric tools (WoS and VOSviewer) were utilized for quantitative and bibliometric network analysis. The measures were investigated on the total number of publications by year, research categories, source journals, other datasets/databases co-used with MEPS, funding sources, collaboration patterns, and research topics.FindingsA total of 1,953 eligible publications were included in this study with the numbers growing significantly over time. MEPS data were primarily used in healthcare services, public environmental and occupational health research. The journals that published the most papers using MEPS were all in the healthcare research area. Twenty-four other databases were found to be used along with MEPS. Over 3,200 researchers from 1,074 institutions in 25 countries have contributed to the publications. Research funding was supported from federal, private, local, and international agencies. Three clusters of research topics were identified among 235 key terms extracted from titles and abstracts.Originality/valueOur results illustrated the broad landscape of the research efforts that MEPS data have supported and substantiated the value of AHRQ's effort of providing MEPS to the public.
Workaholism and workplace incivility: the role of work–family enrichment
Authors: Taheri Fatemeh , Asarian Mohammad , Shahhosseini Pooyan 
Published: March 2020

PurposeThis paper investigated the relationships among workaholism, work–family enrichment (work–life enrichment), and workplace incivility.Design/methodology/approachData on workaholism, incivility, and work–family enrichment were collected through the administration of a survey on 414 employees of a public bank in Iran.FindingsWorkaholism and life–work enrichment were positively and negatively related to uncivil behaviors, respectively, and workaholism was positively associated with work–family enrichment. Overall, work–family enrichment did not act as a mediator variable between workaholism and uncivil behaviors.Research limitations/implicationsFuture researchers should consider public or private organizations and assess the different instigators of incivility considering the mediator or moderating role of gender.Practical implicationsManagers should focus on reducing workaholism and developing life–work enrichment in order to decrease uncivil behaviors.Social implicationsGiven the hard economic and complex political conditions in Iran and increasing likelihood of uncivil behaviors, the results of the present study offer ways to minimize workplace incivility in employees.Originality/valueThe study contributes to the research on uncivil behavior by improving the understanding of organizational and personal factors (workaholism and work–life enrichment) that can influence workplace incivility among employees working in public organizations. It also addresses the usefulness of examining work–life enrichment disposition in understanding the relationship between workaholism and workplace incivility.
Building theory of green supply chain management for the chemical industry
Authors: Shohan Shohanuzzaman , Ali Syed Mithun , Kabir Golam , Ahmed S.K. Kafi , Haque Tasmiah , Suhi Saima Ahmed 
Published: March 2020

PurposeIn Bangladesh, the chemical industry is one of the expanding industries based on current statistical data analysis. Green supply chain management (GSCM) is pivotal in order to compete with the global competition. This paper main aim is to discuss a systematic approach to build a structural outline. The purpose of the proposed structural outline is to predict the constructive implementation of GSCM especially on chemical industry in Bangladesh.Design/methodology/approachThis proposed structural framework evaluates the suitable interrelationship next to the barriers of GSCM in the Bangladesh's chemical industry. Here, on the basis of literature review and survey from expert opinions by the use of the Delphi methodology in total eight barriers were concluded. Here additionally, MICMAC analyses were applied to determine the driving and dependence power. Furthermore, the frameworks outline for the barriers were included by means of total interpretive structural modeling (TISM) method.FindingsBased on the analysis, the most significant barriers were found lack of supporting laws and guidance from the government and cost of disposal of hazardous products.Research limitations/implicationsThe TISM technique only has implemented to develop the framework, whereas other tools or structural equation modeling (SEM) technique can be used to develop and validate the frameworks for barriers.Originality/valueIn this research, Delphi method questionnaire generated based on the GSCM in the Bangladesh chemical sector. This study will assist the industrial managers to assess and evaluate the crucial sectors, whereas they should give priority to apply the GSCM in the Bangladesh chemical industry.