bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Institutions and firm growth in a transitional and post-conflict economy of Kosovo
Authors: Krasniqi Besnik , Branch David 
Published: October 2018

PurposeThe quality of institutions matters for firm growth. Yet, there is a research gap in controlling for moderating effect of size on institutions and firm growth in transitional context and especially in post-conflict economies. Building on institutional theory, this research aims to explore the influence of different types of institutional variables (taxes, corruption, administrative, finance and other barriers) on the growth of firms in Kosovo, while controlling for the firm size moderating effect.Design/methodology/approachThe research uses linear regression analysis based on a survey with 451 owner-managers of growing small firms in the post-conflict economy of Kosovo.FindingsCorruption and administrative burden are crucial factors that influence firm growth. Corruption is found to have a negative effect, and when moderated by the size of the firm, it becomes positive, suggesting that larger firms make use of informal institutions and create links with public officials to manage institutional deficiencies. This size interaction with administrative barrier variables becomes positive. Other control variables (export status, separation of ownership and control, membership in business association) suggest that managerial-level variables have a positive impact on firm growth. The human capital variable specifically indicates that companies compensate for a deficiency in formal education by providing additional training for employees and their managers.Research limitations/implicationsFuture research based on qualitative research can contribute to a greater understanding of how larger firms use resources to overcome barriers, and to align their business strategies in the weak post-conflict environments.Originality/valueThis research extends current understanding of how institutional variables interact with firm size and impact firm growth. It also provides implications for policymakers and entrepreneurs/managers for improving the growth of SMEs, and for aligning firms with the institutional environment in post-conflict countries.
The effect of ownership composition on earnings management: evidence for the Mexican stock exchange
Authors: San Martin Reyna Juan Manuel 
Published: October 2018

PurposeThis paper aims to examine the relationship between different types of shareholders that command share ownership, family, institutions or external blockholders and earnings management. In addition, it examines the effect of company size on earnings management.Design/methodology/approachThe sample includes 67 companies listed in the Mexican Stock Exchange for the period 2005-2015. The sample composition is quite industry-balanced. A cross-sectional version of the Jones model (1991) is to measure the earnings management. The GMM (generalized method of moments) model is also estimated.FindingsThe results show that family and institutional ownership reduce the earnings management, but the impact is different depending on the company size.Research limitations/implicationsThe results show that there is a clear relationship between increasing participation of family and institutional investors and a reduction in earnings management. This is consistent with the literature that establishes that ownership is an effective regulatory mechanism that limits earnings management through closer supervision and involvement in management.Practical/implicationsFor companies’ corporate governance and regulatory authorities, the results of this study may serve to improve the decision-making.Originality/valueThis study shows that ownership structure can provide corporate governance in Mexican listed companies with different monitoring and control capacities to influence companies’ strategies, particularly in relation to the discretion of earnings management.
Judicial corruption: the case of Nigeria
Authors: Das Vasudev 
Published: October 2018

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to diagnostically explore the phenomenon of judicial corruption in Nigeria, its causative factors and generate strategies such as sonic therapeutic intervention, among others, that would facilitate an amelioration of the situation. The judiciary which is supposed to be last hope of justice for the Nigerian citizenry has been proven beyond reasonable doubt to have been infected with the virus of corruption, and therefore, an urgent call for action to rectify the situation is imperative.

Design/methodology/approach
The study uses a qualitative approach rooted in case study tradition.

Findings
The findings showed that power and testosterone, cheating proclivity, family pressure, qualitative passion and ignorance, low self-control, inordinate kleptocratic desire, unrestrained mind and sensory modalities, phenomenological mindset and identity crisis as endogenous contributive factors of judicial corruption in Nigeria.

Research limitations/implications
The limitation of the study stemmed from the fact that inasmuch as a perception of corruption and corruption are cultural phenomena, the study results cannot be generalizable.

Practical implications
The practical implication of the research is rooted in the fact that the Nigerian judiciary can gain from the study results and recommendation(s) if implemented without fear or favor for the overall renewal of the judiciary and the nation at large.

Social implications
The study is geared toward ameliorating the Nigerian corrupt judiciary or repositioning the judiciary on its pivotal dignity, and hence, its social implication cannot be overemphasized inasmuch as a positive social change would prevail if the study results and recommendation(s) are aligned with and implemented.

Originality/value
Inquiry on judicial corruption through the lens of qualitative research with Nigeria as a case study is highly understudied, and hence, this research fills the gap in the financial crime literature.
Viewing organised crime and terrorist organisations through the financial threats they pose to society
Authors: Ren Thomas 
Published: October 2018

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine whether there is a meaningful difference, viewed from a financial perspective, in distinguishing between organised crime and terrorist organisations, with regard to the control and mitigation of the threats that they pose to society.Design/methodology/approachThe paper uses conceptual models obtained from enterprise theory and economics, as well as criminology, and makes use of case studies through the application of these models.FindingsThe paper finds that when viewed from a financial perspective, there is no meaningful difference in distinguishing between the groups because many have undergone processes of convergence and transformation, such that they assume each other’s operational and motivational characteristics. However, the answer also depends on how precisely one defines each type of illicit group as well as the transitions they undergo.Originality/valueThe value of this paper is that it applies two separate models on interactions between organised crime and terrorist organisations, the terror–crime continuum and interaction spectrum, to real life situations. After assessing their validity for more recent examples of such illicit groups, it then provides a balanced argument as to distinguishing between organised crime and terrorism. One limitation towards the paper’s originality, however, is that it draws mainly from pre-existing literature.
The prevalence of mental health difficulties in a sample of prisoners in Trinidadian prisons referred for anger management
Authors: Rose John , Hutchinson Gerard , Willner Paul , Bastick Tony 
Published: October 2018

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the prevalence of mental health disorder symptoms in a sample of prisoners in Trinidadian prisons who volunteered to attend anger management groups.

Design/methodology/approach
A survey was conducted using the 90-item Symptom Check-List revised (SCL-90-R) which was administered to prisoners in groups within the prison system. In total 132 prisoners (about 9 per cent of the prison population) completed the measure. The effect sizes of prisoners’ similarities to a psychiatric inpatient group and their differences from a non-patient group were used to identify symptoms most indicative of pathology in these prisoners.

Findings
The results on the SCL-90-R indicate that this group of prisoners (77.3 per cent male) had scores of psychiatric symptomatology that were much closer to a psychiatric inpatient population rather than to a general community population.

Practical implications
These results suggest there may be unmet psychiatric need among the population served by the prison services in Trinidad. It is not known how this sample differs from the general prison population. However, the unmet psychiatric need in this specific population suggests that a greater mental health focus in health services within prisons is to be considered to meet these needs.

Originality/value
These data suggest that there are significant mental health issues for some prisoners in Trinidad and possibly more generally in similar prison systems within the Caribbean and this may have significant implications for the treatment of prisoners and the delivery of mental health services in these prisons.
Social competencies and the sociomoral reflectiveness of imprisoned fraudsters
Authors: Krokoszinski Lars , Westenberger Adrian , Hosser Daniela 
Published: October 2018

Purpose
Although fraud is widespread, little remains known about the specific psychological characteristics of fraudsters that can be used in prevention or treatment. The purpose of this paper is therefore to examine the socio-emotional competencies and moral judgement abilities of convicted fraudsters in comparison with other groups of offenders.

Design/methodology/approach
The investigation included imprisoned face-to-face fraudsters (n=11), imprisoned violent offenders (n=10) and non-offenders who had completed the Emotional Competence Questionnaire and the Sociomoral Reflection Measure.

Findings
Fraudsters displayed a significantly higher capacity to recognise emotions in others compared with the other two groups. In addition, there were no differences in socio-emotional skills between the groups. In terms of moral judgement ability, fraudsters and non-offenders demonstrated a level of a mature moral judgement. The moral judgement abilities of the violent offenders were significantly lower.

Practical implications
Therapeutic work with fraudsters should focus on the awareness and sense of responsibility for fellow human beings having regard to their specific self-image and justification schemes. For prevention, an adoption of a structural orientation of work processes, that is, geared more towards teamwork is recommended. Moreover, a positive impact of unethical management on the risk of fraud offenses is pointed out.

Originality/value
This paper follows an innovative methodological approach by examining the socio-emotional competencies and moral judgement abilities of convicted fraudsters and has implications for risk management both therapeutically and organisationally.
Framework for enhancing online working-together relations
Authors: Abu Kashef Mousa , Ginige Athula , Hol Ana 
Published: October 2018

PurposeThe purpose of this paper was to develop a framework of working-together relations and investigate ways to enhance working-together relations among people, organisations, communities and neighbourhoods using working-together applications. Today, people in communities, neighbourhoods and constituencies often work together in a coalition of public, private and non-profit institutions. The technology used today has enabled new forms of communications and collaboration. The rapid growth of mobile technologies and interactive, collaborative applications based on Web technologies has enabled the development of new approaches to derive and share organisational and local knowledge. Not all of these applications have succeeded; after a certain time, users tend to stop using online applications that do not assist them in developing collaborative practices with their team members.Design/methodology/approachTo better understand the essential characteristics of a successful online application that effectively supports people to work together, the authors undertook an inductive analysis of related literature and existing social media application.FindingsBy combining and categorising the findings, it was possible to articulate the characteristics associated with four identified categories of working-together relations: networking, coordination, cooperation and collaboration. The study also identified essential activities that are performed in each working-together category and the factors that enable successful working-together relations: trust, risk and rewards.Research limitations/implicationsFuture studies will look into how applications could be further enhanced, so that, for example, an application that is currently classified as “coordination” could be improved and the required characteristics of “collaboration” could be met.Practical implicationsIt is expected that the framework derived will assist in the design of successful online applications to support different categories of working-together relations.Originality/valueThe main contribution of this study is a new framework that can now be used to identify how effective an existing application can be in assisting the working-together relations.
Tourists’ views on Islamic spiritual tours (case study: Yazd, Iran)
Authors: Bahadori Seyed Reza , Torabi Farsani Neda , Shafiei Zahed 
Published: October 2018

Purpose
Spiritual tourism is a niche tourism studied under cultural tourism. Religious events play an important role in attracting spiritual tourists. This paper aims to highlight the introduction of Yazd city (Iran) as a new spiritual tourism destination with emphasis on Shiite religious events and rituals. This research has the following three major purposes to assess the motivation of international tourists for participating in spiritual tours, examine the attitude of tourists towards spiritual tourism activities and investigate the effect on international tourists’ perceptions and views of spiritual tours organized in the Muharram and Ashura events.

Design/methodology/approach
This study was conducted in Yazd, Iran. Data for this study were collected through a questionnaire which was distributed in organized spiritual tours during the Muharram and Ashura events. A quantitative method was used and the data were analyzed using SPSS tools.

Findings
On the basis of the results of this study, it can be concluded that international tourists are interested in spiritual tourism activities and attractions in Yazd city, and spiritual tours can be a strategy against Islamophobia.

Originality/value
This research paper investigated the attitude of tourists to spiritual tourism activities and the effect on international tourists’ perceptions and views of spiritual tours organized in the Muharram and Ashura as the most important events in Shiite culture.
Scientific collaboration networks in Pakistan and their impact on institutional research performance
Authors: Sabah Fahad , Hassan Saeed-Ul , Muazzam Amina , Iqbal Sehrish , Soroya Saira Hanif , Sarwar Raheem 
Published: October 2018

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the scientific collaboration of institutions and its impact on institutional research performance in terms of productivity and quality. The researchers examined the local and international collaborations that have a great impact on institutional performance.

Design/methodology/approach
Collaboration dependence measure was used to investigate the impact of an institution on external information. Based on this information, the authors used “index of gain in impact through collaboration” to find the impact of collaborated publications in institutional research performance. Bibliographic data between 1996 and 2010 retrieved from Scopus were used to conduct current study. The authors carried out the case study of top institutes of Pakistan in terms of publication count to elaborate the difference between high performing institutions and those who gain disproportionally in terms of perceived quality of their output because of local or international collaboration.

Findings
The results showed that the collaboration of developing countries institutes on international level had a great impact on institutional performance and they gain more benefit than local collaboration. Altogether, the scientific collaboration has a positive impact on institutional performance as measured by the cumulative source normalized impact per paper of their publications. The findings could also help researchers to find out appropriate collaboration partners.

Originality/value
This study has revealed some salient characteristics of collaboration in academic research. It becomes apparent that collaboration intensity is not uniform, but in general, the average quality of scientific production is the variable that most often correlates positively with the collaboration intensity of universities.
How organizational constraints affect nurses’ decision in triage assessment performances
Authors: Cannavacciuolo Lorella , Ippolito Adelaide , Ponsiglione Cristina , Rossi Gaetano , Zollo Giuseppe 
Published: October 2018

PurposeThis paper aims to investigate the performances of decision-making process of emergency department’s nurses involved in the triage level assessment.Design/methodology/approachThe authors developed a case study in two public hospitals in the South of Italy. The authors administered 25 clinical cases to nurses responsible of priority code assignment in the triage station. The authors simulated the attribution of the priority levels, and through a semi-structured questionnaire, the authors collected data and information about the cognitive process adopted for the final choice.FindingsThe quantitative and qualitative data allowed the authors to verify that there is an impact of the organizational context on heuristics used in the decision-making process.Research limitations/implicationsThe research limitations are that empirical data have been collected only in two emergency departments.Practical implicationsThe practical implications of this paper are that organizations for improving business performances must consider the judgements are often the results of heuristics embedded in a specific structure of social and physical environment, according with the “ecological view” of rationality.Originality/valueThe authors’ methodological approach contributes to analyze the performances of the triage process, verifying if the eventual errors are linked to individual or organizational factors, but above all how organizational constraints influence decision-making processes in organizations and, consequently, business performances.
Adequacy of dairy product intake among children in Kuwait using a short dietary assessment questionnaire
Authors: Alkazemi Dalal Usamah Zaid , Saleh Asma 
Published: October 2018

PurposeThis paper aims to assess the consumption of dairy products in Kuwaiti children, and develop and validate a semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire to measure dairy product consumption.Design/methodology/approachThis cross-sectional study was based on a sample of child–parent dyads (n= 150). A dietary assessment questionnaire on local dairy products consumed by preschool and preadolescent children was developed. Serving and portion sizes were evaluated on the basis of the guidelines of the United States Department of Agriculture and the American Academy of Pediatrics to calculate median intake levels of three age groups (3-5, 6-8 and 9-11 years).FindingsAll children met or exceeded the recommended daily servings of dairy products for their age and sex. Dairy product intake was often from processed dairy including milk-based desserts, flavored milk and cheese. Compared to boys, girls consumed more yogurt (15.5 per cent vs 14.2 per cent,p= 0.001) and milk-based desserts (15.5 vs 14.3,p= 0.001). In boys, flavored milk contributed more to the total dairy intake than in girls, especially in 6-8-year-olds (21.8 per cent vs 18.9 per cent,p= 0.021). Weight status was not associated with dairy product intake in either sex.Originality/valueThis is the first study that quantifies dairy product consumption in Kuwaiti children and provides insight into sex-specific trends in dairy product selection. The findings of this study may help in investigating relationships between dairy product consumption in children and disease risk factors, and are important for the development of local dietary guidelines for children.
On the mechanical response of multilayered pentamode lattices equipped with hinged and rigid nodes
Authors: Amendola Ada , Mascolo Ida , Benzoni Gianmario 
Published: October 2018

Purpose
This paper aims to review recent literature results on the mechanical response of confined pentamode structures behaving either in the stretching-dominated or the bending-dominated regimes.

Design/methodology/approach
The analyzed structures consist of multilayer systems formed by pentamode lattices alternated with stiffening plates and are equipped with rigid or hinged connections.

Findings
It is shown that such structures are able to carry unidirectional compressive loads with sufficiently high stiffness, while showing markedly low stiffness against shear loads. In particular, their shear stiffness may approach zero in the stretching-dominated regime.

Originality/value
The presented results highlight the high engineering potential of laminated pentamode metamaterials as novel isolation devices to be used for the protection of buildings against shear waves.
Housing conditions and non-communicable diseases among older adults in Ireland
Authors: Gibney Sarah , Ward Mark , Shannon Sinead 
Published: October 2018

Purpose
Housing quality across the life course is an important health determinant. The purpose of this paper is to profile the current housing conditions of older adults in Ireland, and to investigate the association between housing conditions and heating problems and two types of non-communicable diseases: respiratory health problems and bone and joint conditions.

Design/methodology/approach
Data are from the Healthy and Positive Ageing Initiative Age-friendly Cities and Counties Survey, a random-sample, population representative survey of 10,540 adults aged 55 and older collected in 2015–2016. Mixed-effects logistic regression analysis was used to investigate the association between poor housing (leaks, rot and damp) and poor heating (unable to keep the home adequately warm) and the likelihood of having a respiratory health problem or a bone or joint condition. Results are reported as odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals.

Findings
Overall, 10.2 per cent had poor housing and 10.4 per cent had poor heating. Poor housing and poor heating were strongly associated with respiratory health problems and there was a strong association between poor housing and bone and joint conditions. These associations were not explained by health behaviours or socio-demographic characteristics.

Originality/value
Despite a number of publicly funded schemes available to assist in upgrading and maintaining housing, a considerable number of adults aged 55 years and older continue to report problems which are associated with an increased likelihood of respiratory health problem and bone and joint conditions and present a considerable threat to healthy ageing in place.