bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Online induction programme with webinar: a case study
Authors: Warren Sharon , Black Patricia , Mills Elizabeth 
Published: March 2015

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to describe the introduction of an online induction programme including an interactive webinar on a distance learning course and to present student feedback on the programme. It focuses on lessons learnt and implications for others implementing similar induction programmes.

Design/methodology/approach
– A self-completion questionnaire was sent to all students enroled on the programme, including those who did not attend the webinar or participate in the online induction programme. This was followed up with a semi-structured interview. The analysis focused on the student experience of the induction programme.

Findings
– Overall, students reported to be satisfied with the online programme. The webinar encouraged engagement with some elements of the online workshop and was felt to complement the other learning opportunities available online. The webinar was particularly valued for providing a “face” to the course, facilitating interactivity among tutors and students and helping the students to feel part of the University. Students also reported that the webinar had the advantage of allowing a social interaction between them.

Practical implications
– A number of key changes related to multiple offerings of the webinar and the timing of activities in the online workshop were highlighted to encourage participation. Greater clarity on what is required in the induction and how long it would take would also encourage participation.

Originality/value
– This case study is one of the few to evaluate the inclusion of webinar technology within an online induction programme and, therefore, has value in this context.
Correlation between the homestay experience and brand equity
Authors: Shen Ching-Cheng , Liu Der-Jen 
Published: March 2015

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to investigate the correlation between customer experience and brand equity for a homestay establishment in Eastern Taiwan.

Design/methodology/approach
– Visitors staying at Yuehetang Rural Residence (YRR) during the month of January 2013 were surveyed, and the data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, reliability analysis and typical correlation.

Findings
– Visitors demonstrated a very high level of overall satisfaction with their homestay experience (4.43-4.84), especially in terms of YRR’s ability to evoke feelings of being moved or touched, and of pleasure, excitement and satisfaction. Similarly, YRR’s brand equity was rated very high (3.98-4.67). Responders particularly felt that YRR’s image of prioritizing environmental protection and the quality of its lodgings were unique sources of added value and, therefore, factors in creating its healthy brand equity, despite the fact that it was rated low in terms of visibility to homestay-hunting customers. The correlation coefficient between experience and brand equity was 0.742, indicating a high degree of positive correlation. The correlation between customer loyalty and brand equity was also quite high, followed by, in decreasing order of strength, the correlations between brand equity and the environment-friendly image, the quality of lodging, organic farming and visibility.

Practical implications
– YRR’s core business value is environmental protection, a factor which, in today’s increasingly environment-conscious world, has unsurprisingly contributed heavily to its brand equity and customer loyalty. YRR and other homestay operators can utilize the findings of this paper to enhance visitor experience and their own brand equity.

Originality/value
– This paper is one of the first articles in the homestay experience field that offers content that environmental protection is an important factor to brand equity. It also offers numerous theoretical and practical implications.
When organizational complexity helps corporation improve its performance
Authors: Liu Hong , Ma Lu , Huang Panpan 
Published: March 2015

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to test the assertion that the relationship between corporation performance and organizational complexity follows an inverted U-shape curve, and a corporation gains the best performance when its organizational complexity fits its environmental complexity.

Design/methodology/approach
– This research did not directly measure environmental complexity to verify the relationship between corporation performance and complex environment, but measured organizational complexity to subtly display the effect of the organizational complexity on the corporation performance while controlled the environmental complexity. To do so, a set of corporations that shared the similar environment was selected, and then these corporations’ performance and organizational complexity were calculated, the related hypotheses were tested empirically.

Findings
– The paper proved the inverted U-shape relationship between organizational complexity and corporation performance, and also found that different corporation chooses different complex adaptive way, so the inverted U-shape relationship displays hierarchy.

Research limitations/implications
– Future research should search out to calculate corporation’s environment complexity the fitness of organizational complexity for testing hypotheses.

Practical implications
– The regularity of relationship between organizational complexity and corporation performance is helpful for managers to understand that a way to improve a corporation’s performance is to enhance the fitness of organizational complexity and environmental complexity.

Social implications
– Organizational complexity may be competitive advantage, but excessive growth of it will be harmful.

Originality/value
– Usually organizational complexity is thought of as a negative factor to corporation performance and tends to be constrained, but this research explored the role of organizational complexity to corporation performance and the findings helps managers to understand when to enhance organizational complexity and when to weaken it. The methodology of calculating the fitness of organizational complexity and environmental complexity by fixing environment is a contribution to complexity theory research.
Toward an understanding of brand sexual associations
Authors: Azar Salim L. 
Published: March 2015

Purpose– This paper aims to explore brand sexual associations and to understand the antecedents of these associations by drawing from an anthropomorphic view of consumption and a socio-psychological perspective.Design/methodology/approach– An exploratory qualitative analysis based on 18 semi-structured interviews was conducted. Following symbolic interactionism and inter-subjectively reflective approaches, three main methods were used: interviews, projective drawings and a pen-and-paper exercise.Findings– The results of this paper strongly confirm that a brand is perceived by consumers as having a sex, a gender and a sexual orientation. These findings point toward a crucial distinction between these three constructs. Construct conceptualizations are developed and definitions are suggested. Nine antecedents for brand sexual associations are studied.Research limitations/implications– French subjects constitute the sample. Future studies might investigate the transferability of our results to other cultures. The three constructs broadens the existing brand-as-a-person metaphor and brand gender literature.Practical implications– Managers need to consider the construction of their brands’ sexual identities, namely, the sexual associations that brand strategists desire to create and maintain. The study of the antecedents of brand sexual associations provides brand managers the opportunity to manage actively those specific types of associations.Originality/value– This research contributes to the brand-as-a-person metaphor and to the brand gender literature with new insights about the nature and structure of brand sexual associations. This paper moves the conceptualization of these constructs forward.
Towards a unified theory of brand equity: conceptualizations, taxonomy and avenues for future research
Authors: Davcik Nebojsa S. , Vinhas da Silva Rui , Hair Joe F. 
Published: March 2015

Purpose– This paper aims to look into contemporary thinking within the brand equity paradigm, with a view to establishing avenues for further research on the drivers of brand equity formation, enabling a more in-depth understanding of the antecedents of brand equity and its determinants, as well as the development of an improved instrument to measure brand equity. The brand equity paradigm and its importance for marketing theory have been in the research focus for more than two decades. There is no agreement in the literature how to develop a unique measure of brand equity, neither what are the sources, drivers or determinants.Design/methodology/approach– The authors develop the relating conceptual study through the differentiation and integration as specific conceptual goals. The authors present a taxonomic framework of brand equity grounded on a synthesis of contemporary approaches to the theme.Findings– The authors identify gaps in the brand equity literature. The analysis and development of the conceptual study in this paper shall serve as beacons for future research and provide valuable theoretical insights on the determinants of brand equity formation and the development of better brand equity measurement tools.Originality/value– The authors synthesized contemporary approaches in the field, identified research gaps and proposed open questions that should be tackled, as well as provided avenues for future research. The authors argue that creation of a unifying brand equity theory should be based on three pillars: stakeholder value, marketing assets and brand financial performance outputs.
Leader’s intention to support followers’ self-worth
Authors: van Dierendonck Dirk , Driehuizen Sabrine 
Published: March 2015

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to focus on the role of the followers’ competence, will to achieve, and self-determination on a leader’s intention to support a followers’ sense of self-worth.Design/methodology/approach– Using an experimental scenario study design with a sample of 316 managers, a mediated three-way moderation model was investigated that tested the extent to which a new subordinate’s competence, self-determination, and will to achieve would influence the manager’s positive expectations of them and their willingness to support this subordinate’s sense of self-worth.Findings– The results showed that a subordinate’s competence plays a key role and that a subordinate’s will to achieve and self-determination played an additional role that was mediated by positive expectations of the leader.Practical implications– The key findings emphasize that leaders can benefit from understanding how dyadic relationships form and are influenced by the earliest phases of the development of such relationships.Originality/value– By taking the perspective of the leader, the paper provides empirical evidence of key determinants of the leader-follower relationship.
Information asymmetry in process consultation
Authors: Lalonde Carole , Adler Chloé 
Published: March 2015

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to revisit Schein’s proposed process-consultation approach as a general framework for management consulting in the light of some premises of the agency theory, namely the behavior induced by the asymmetry of information between the principal (leader-client) and the agent (consultant).

Design/methodology/approach
– Empirical research consisted of an in-depth, qualitative and phenomenological analysis of 13 cases of organizational intervention based on the practice of four senior consultants in a Canadian management consulting firm whose philosophy is based on organizational development principles and practices. All the cases chosen are characterized by a situation of strategic change as a result of governmental reforms in the healthcare sector between 2005 and 2008.

Findings
– Overall, the study shows that the relationship between leaders-clients and consultants varies from one stage to another throughout the consultation process and that the information asymmetry does not always benefit the agent as stated in the agency theory. The consultants are required to play diverse roles, either in combination or alternation, during the consultation process; the facilitator’s role, stated as the more efficient role in Schein’s perspective and the more altruistic from the point of view of the agency theory, is not necessarily the role preferred by managers. Moreover, results highlight the idiosyncrasies of healthcare organizations, namely the phenomenon of escalating indecision that comes into play during the implementation phase of change, worth taking into account in the practice and theories of management consulting.

Practical implications
– This analysis raises a number of questions about the general understanding and applicability of the process consultation as defined by Schein. Perhaps the four consultants have not perfectly mastered the interpersonal skills that Schein’s model presupposes. One may also conclude that the model does not always respond to the expectations and needs of leaders and managers and that, for many consultants, it is difficult to adopt only one role model throughout the consulting process. One may also question its realism in a context of interventions in public organizations, with a plurality of interest groups and ambiguity of goals, where governmental reforms are pressuring managers to control costs.

Originality/value
– According to Eisenhardt (1989) and Hendry (2002), the agency theory offers promising avenues if combined with other theoretical anchors such as the field of organizational behavior. This study scrutinizes the leader-consultant relationship, and more specifically the type of assistance requested by healthcare leaders as they experienced strategic change and how consultants responded to these requests.
Observing organisational transformation of the public sector in the e-government era
Authors: Nograšek Janja , Vintar Mirko 
Published: March 2015

Purpose– The purpose of this study is to develop a more comprehensive framework that would provide better insight into the characteristics of organisational transformation (OT) of the public sector organisations in the e-government era. Despite the widespread opinion that successful implementation of information communication technology (ICT) is strongly correlated with the appropriate OT of the public sector, a critical analysis of the available literature within the field indicates that this important dimension of e-government development has been dealt with only partially. Accordingly, the paper attempts the following: to develop a more comprehensive framework for observing OT, to empirically explain the framework through analysis of three Slovenian e-government projects and to develop some general characteristics of ICT-induced OT in the public sector.Design/methodology/approach– The development of the framework is based on an analysis of the available literature, whereas the explanation of such is based on a multiple-case study approach.Findings– The paper contributes to a clearer understanding of what the main characteristics of OT in the e-government era are and how they should be observed.Research limitations/implications– The findings can help researchers to more accurately focus their attention on the most critical aspects of OT. The identified attributes can provide an important basis for future research, particularly from the methodological perspective.Practical implications– The framework can help public managers to focus their attention on the most important attributes of ICT-induced OT to exploit ICT potentials more efficiently.Originality/value– The paper attempts to demystify the concept of OT in the e-government field and place it in a more solid theoretical and empirically explained framework.
Knowledge management 2.0: the proposal for Commipedia
Authors: Cozzani Franco 
Published: March 2015

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to present an innovative in-house knowledge management system of core know-how for European Commission (EC) officials. It shows how the quality of the work of officials could be improved and how talent growth and recognition could be better fostered within the EC, taken as target for the proposal, as well as example for other large, multi-disciplinary organisations that might wish to implement a similar system.

Design/methodology/approach
– The study considered what the key issues for better knowledge management in the EC are, and what could be learnt from the successful implementation of Diplopedia, the knowledge wiki of the US Department of State, and from previous studies of author rank, quality and stability of individual entries in the public Wikipedia. The less known Citizendium wiki was also considered. Adopting a design science approach, a first conceptual design for a EC-wide in-house knowledge wiki was developed and validated through two successive iterations using a simplified Delphi approach. A final conceptual design of this wiki was then prepared.

Findings
– The study found that a system aiming at high quality of entries, allowing for a healthy breadth of substance-based opinions, covering a vast scope of subjects and offering security of operation can be designed. It is argued that visible authorship, allowing room for dissenting opinions, opting for non-public access of the entries and setting up a bibliometrics method to reward high-quality contribution to the system are essential elements to ensure its adoption and ultimate success.

Research limitations/implications
– The main limitation of the study is that the new system, yet to be accepted within the EC, is untested in a real situation. The paper should, therefore, be seen as an example of “design science” rather than an analysis of an already implemented system. It is surmised that more research is needed on preservation and growth of quality in wiki entries, and how ranking editors can contribute to that aim.

Practical implications
– The Commipedia system proposed in the present paper will have practical positive implications in the EC discharge of its duties, which have constantly increased over the years at each revision of the EU treaties. A similar system can address similar needs of in-house knowledge management and talent management in large public and private organisations.

Originality/value
– This paper fulfils the need to provide the EC with a way to cope with mobility and retirement of experienced officials, to retain their knowledge, distribute across its different departments, update and improve it and, additionally, reward expertise and talent of officials, increasing in turn their wish to contribute to Commipedia. Neither the EC nor other large multi-disciplinary organisations have such a general system at their disposal.
Isomaltooligosaccharide increases the Lactobacillus rhamnosus viable count in Cheddar cheese
Authors: Liu Lu , Li Xiaodong , Bi Weiwei , Zhang Ling , Ma Liyuan , Ren Hongjing , Li Minghao 
Published: March 2015

Five batches of Cheddar cheese were manufactured containing different levels of isomaltooligosaccharide (IMO) and a probiotic strain of Lactobacillus rhamnosus to study the effect of IMO on the survival of starter lactococci and probiotic micro‐organisms, on proteolytic patterns, cheese composition and sensory properties. The cheese was exposed to conditions simulating those found in the gastrointestinal tract to evaluate the survival of Lb. rhamnosus. Results demonstrated that the addition of Lb. rhamnosus and IMO did not affect the main compositional variables of Cheddar cheese. The counts of starter culture and probiotic organisms increased in cheese which contained Isomaltooligosaccharide (Batches 3, 4 and 5) more than in the control (Batches 1 and 2) during the fermentation. The probiotic counts in fresh cheese (B‐4) was 9.23 log10 cfu/g which was more than one log cycle greater than in the control (B‐2). The probiotic counts remained above 8 log10 cfu/g at the end of the manufacturing process. Primary proteolysis was not affected by the addition of probiotic bacteria and IMO, but the level of secondary proteolysis was slightly higher compared with the control group. The addition of IMO improved the texture and sensory quality of the cheese and the probiotic bacterium had the same effect. Under conditions that simulated the gastrointestinal tract, the probiotic bacteria in cheese (B‐4) exhibited good survival and remained above the recommended 6–7 log10 cfu/g.
Reappraisal of endometrial thickness for the detection of endometrial cancer in postmenopausal bleeding: a retrospective cohort study
Authors: Wong AS‐W , Lao TT‐H , Cheung CW , Yeung SW , Fan HL , Ng PS , Yuen PM , Sahota DS 
Published: March 2015

ObjectiveTo estimate the accuracy of transvaginal ultrasound (TVS) measurement of endometrial thickness (ET) in diagnosing endometrial cancer in postmenopausal women with vaginal bleeding (PMB).DesignRetrospective cohort study.SettingOne‐stop PMB clinic in a Hong Kong teaching hospital.PopulationA cohort of 4383 women with PMB.MethodsTransvaginal ultrasonic measurement of ET and endometrial biopsies were obtained in women presenting with PMB between 2002 and 2013. Endometrial histology was used as the reference standard to calculate accuracy estimates.Main outcome measuresAccuracy data for TVS ET presented as sensitivity, specificity, and area under the receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve.ResultsEndometrial cancer was diagnosed in 3.8% of women. The median ET in those with endometrial cancer was significantly higher than those with benign conditions (15.7 versus 3.2 mm, P < 0.001). The area under the ROC curve was 0.92 (95% CI 0.89–0.94). The sensitivity for the detection of endometrial cancer at 3‐, 4‐, and 5‐mm cut‐offs were 97.0% (95% CI 94.5–99.6%), 94.1% (95% CI 90.5–97.6%), and 93.5% (95% CI 89.7–97.2%), respectively. The corresponding estimates of specificity at these thresholds were 45.3% (95% CI 43.8–46.8%), 66.8% (65.4–68.2%), and 74.0% (72.7–75.4%).ConclusionsTransvaginal ultrasound using a 3‐mm cut‐off has high sensitivity for detecting endometrial cancer and can identify women with PMB who are highly unlikely to have endometrial cancer, thereby avoiding more invasive endometrial biopsy.