bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The impact of cloud computing on the future of academic library practices and services
Authors: Mavodza Judith 
Published: March 2013

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to discuss issues involved in navigating the modern information environment where the relevance of cloud computing is unavoidable. This is a way of shifting from the hardware and software demands of storing and organizing data, to information access concerns. That is because with the exponential growth in information sources and all accompanying complexities, the limited capacity of libraries to host their own in its entirety necessitates opting for alternatives in the cloud.Design/methodology/approachA review of current literature about the topic was performedFindingsLiterature used reveals that currently, libraries are using the cloud for putting together user resources, i.e. using Software as a Service (SaaS), such as in library catalogues, WorldCat, Googledocs, and the aggregated subject gateways like SUMMON, and others; the web Platform as a Service (PaaS) as in the use of GoogleApp Engine; or Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) as in the use of D‐Space, FEDORA, and others. The cloud is confirmed as a facilitator in storing and accessing information in addition to providing a unified web presence with reduced local storage capacity challenges.Originality/valueThe value of these findings is to remind librarians of the shift in focus towards which devices provide the easiest access to data and applications. This is one of the reasons they in many instances are currently having to address issues relating to the use of electronic media tools such as smartphones, iPad, e‐book readers, and other handheld devices. The largely borderless information resources also bring to the forefront considerations about digital rights management, fair use, information security, ownership and control of data, privacy, scholarly publishing, copyright guidance, and licensing that the librarian has to be knowledgeable about. It has become necessary for librarians who make use of commercial cloud services to be conversant with the implications on institutional data. To avert the ever present dangers and risks involving cyber‐security, it is usually practical for institutions to keep policies, procedures, fiscal, and personnel data in private clouds that have carefully crafted access permissions. Being aware of these implications enables thoughtful, adaptive planning strategies for the future of library practice and service.
State aid for innovation clusters in the Republic of Serbia
Authors: Varga Sinisa , Vujisic Dragan , Zdravkovic Marija 
Published: March 2013

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine conditions for and initial results of granting state aid for innovation clusters in the Republic of Serbia.Design/methodology/approachThis paper is based on primary research data and secondary sources of scientific information. Due to interpretation of legal acts, a normative method was adopted.FindingsThere is a legal and institutional framework for granting state aid to innovation clusters in the Republic of Serbia. It is important because state aid distorts competition and may reduce economic growth if it is not controlled and moderate. Serbian state aid for innovation clusters is more than moderate so less than 1 per cent of Serbian businesses are joined within innovation clusters.Research limitations/implicationsThe legality and effects of granted state aid are not explored. Requests for access to agreements signed with and reports submitted by beneficiaries remained unanswered.Originality/valueFew studies examine the topics discussed in this paper; legal issues concerning government intervention's effect on the economy are often neglected. This paper explores legal regulations, procedures, and confinements of state aid for innovation clusters as a measure of economic policy.
Conducting public utilities in Serbia: providing and maintaining services in Kragujevac
Authors: Petrovic Milena 
Published: March 2013

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the conditions and manner in which communal services are performed in Serbia. All public utility companies face significant issues such as unclear ownership, politicized management, insufficient funds for investment, and dominant market positions. These issues are cited as reasons why they are ineffective, chronically illiquid, insufficiently modernized, and unable to offer citizens satisfactory service quality.Design/methodology/approachThe article is based on an analysis of current legislation, especially the Law on Communal Services and the Law on Public Enterprises, and on laws regulating the communal sector. Since this area is in transformation, proposals for new laws are discussed with strategies for restructuring public utility companies and with suggestions from experts on drafts of legislative solutions.FindingsThe article points out major issues related to inefficiency of public utility companies, and the reasons why citizens are provided with low‐quality services.Research limitations/implicationsThere is a dearth of literature, especially critical literature, on this topic in Serbia. This paper fills this gap partially.Practical implicationsThis paper has direct implications for improving performance of communal services in Serbia. Combining all other observations and suggestions, it should intrigue creators of new legislative solutions in this area.Originality/valueThis paper is based on a survey of existing legislation and legislation under review, representing a significant contribution to understanding the issues faced by the communal sector.
Public‐private community partnerships: an isodynamic model in water management
Authors: Sharma Sangeeta , Nayak Sabyasachi 
Published: March 2013

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore how, as a multiple‐stakeholder partnership, public‐private community partnerships emerge as a holistic solution to address issues of water management.Design/methodology/approachA pilot study was conducted to gain insight into the dimensions pertinent to implementing a public‐private community partnership water project in Rajasthan, India.FindingsPublic‐private community partnerships are effective in ensuring the availability and management of water at the grassroots level. The approach introduces isodynamics, incorporating sustainability, technology, innovation and accountability.Research limitations/implicationsLimited literature is available concerning water resource management incorporating a public‐private community partnership, making future research a must for further insights into this method of solving water issues.Practical implicationsThe model proposed provides a framework that takes a broad view of public‐private community partnerships for wider replication in accord with local conditions to ensure water security for various stakeholders.Originality/valueThe model proposed is based on research that should be explored further to address the issue of water management holistically.
Cross‐sector collaboration: management decision and change model
Authors: Erakovich Rod , Anderson Trisha 
Published: March 2013

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine critically private (for profit), public and not‐for‐profit sector management strategies with a focus to assess and enhance organizational capacity building through cross‐sector collaboration. This topic is considered from both a contemporary and an evolutionary perspective.Design/methodology/approachThis paper is based on research from secondary sources.FindingsThis paper identifies barriers to collaboration and measures for effectively creating organizational change to build cross‐sector capacity.Research limitations/implicationsWhile considerable literature exists on organizational change, none includes the need for cross‐sector collaboration to increase management capability to move beyond current economic, social and market development capacity. This study addresses this gap.Practical implicationsThe adoption of management practices to understand values across sectors will improve effectiveness of organizations across sectors. These recommendations will also facilitate economic development reform efforts of policy makers.Originality/valueThe paper, based on original research, makes a significant contribution to the ability to understand managing in a cross‐sector collaborative manner.
Business research in virtual worlds: possibilities and practicalities
Authors: MacKenzie Kim , Buckby Sherrena , Irvine Helen 
Published: March 2013

PurposeIt is predicted that virtual business and related research possibilities will expand significantly. In this context, the aim of this paper is to use insights from a virtual research project to present a theoretically‐informed toolbox of practical suggestions to guide the conduct of virtual world business research.Design/methodology/approachArchival evidence is presented, and data from a study conducted in Second Life® in 2007 is interpreted through Llewellyn's framework (physical, structural, agential, cultural and mental dimensions).FindingsWith the burgeoning of virtual business applications, appropriate systems that encompass the dynamics of both the real and the virtual will need to be developed by and for accountants, auditors and business professionals. Researchers of virtual business activities will need to adapt to the physical, structural, agential, cultural and mental dimensions unique to virtual worlds.Research limitations/implicationsWhile based on reflections from a single study in Second Life, this paper identifies possibilities for future virtual research on issues of accountability and accounting relating to virtual worlds.Practical implicationsThe practical toolbox will assist virtual researchers to deal with the possibilities and practicalities of conducting research in virtual worlds.Originality/valueDespite the proliferation of virtual worlds, predictions of virtual business applications, and consequent accountability and accounting implications, there is a paucity of academic literature on conducting business research in virtual settings. This prescient paper develops a conceptual framework to guide the conduct of research in virtual worlds, and identifies the unique opportunities and challenges they present.
Sexuality and sexual symbolism as processes of gendered identity formation
Authors: Haynes Kathryn 
Published: March 2013

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to critically evaluate sexuality and sexual symbolism within the organisational culture of an accounting firm to explore how it is implicated in processes of gendering identities of employees within the firm.Design/methodology/approachThe paper uses a reflexive autoethnographical approach, including short vignettes, to analyse the inter‐relationships between gender, sexuality and power.FindingsBy exploring the symbolic role of artefacts, images, language, behaviours and buildings in creating and maintaining gendered relations, male sexual cultures and female sexual countercultures, the paper finds that sexual symbolism in this accounting firm entwines gendered power and domination, practice and resistance, in complex cultural codes and behaviours. It draws out implications for organisations and accounting research.Originality/valueThe paper extends current conceptualisation of gendered constructs in accounting to include sexuality; applies organisational and feminist theory to autoethnographical experience in accounting; and contributes a seldom‐seen insight into the organisational symbolism and culture of a small accounting firm, rather than the oft‐seen focus on large firms.
Descriptive, instrumental and strategic approaches to corporate social responsibility
Authors: Boesso Giacomo , Kumar Kamalesh , Michelon Giovanna 
Published: March 2013

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to investigate whether the descriptive, instrumental, and strategic approaches to corporate social responsibility (CSR) are related to corporate performance (CP) and to determine the nature of this relationship, if any.Design/methodology/approachUsing data collected by KLD Research Analytics and Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), the study examines the association between companies' choice of approaches to the CSR and CSR‐CP relationship.FindingsResults of this study indicate that each of the three approaches to CSR – descriptive, instrumental, and strategic – are associated with CP, but in different ways. While the instrumental approach to CSR has a positive association with short‐term measures of CP, the strategic approach is associated with short‐term and medium‐term measures of CP, and the descriptive approach has no definite association with CP at all.Originality/valueThis study integrates the prevailing justifications for CSR with the taxonomy of approaches to CSR – instrumental, descriptive and strategic – suggested in the literature. It has been argued that these frameworks influence managers' conception of what constitutes effective stakeholder management and make a difference in how decision makers in an organization think and act in crafting the company's social initiatives and in deciding what the company aims to achieve through these initiatives. By examining the association between companies' approaches to CSR and stakeholder management of the CSR‐CP relationship, the study offers another perspective of the ongoing debate in the social accounting literature about the accountability relationships between business and society.
Accounting ambiguity and structural change
Authors: Englund Hans , Gerdin Jonas , Abrahamsson Gun 
Published: March 2013

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to present an emergent model showing the change potential inherent in the mirroring of time‐space bound metrics and numbers in management accounting (MA) and other cognitive frames.Design/methodology/approachAn observation‐based qualitative field study of a change project in a large manufacturing company is used as the basis for the analysis.FindingsThe empirical study shows that as actors recurrently mirror time‐space bound metrics/numbers in MA and other cognitive frames, three forms of ambiguity may occur. Definitional ambiguities occur as actors' extant MA frame cannot fully account for the metric as such, while representational ambiguities occur as actors perceive uncertainties as to what a particular number stands for “in reality”. Operational ambiguities, finally, occur as actors perceive uncertainties as to how time‐space bound numbers can be “causally” explained. In the emergent model, the paper shows how these different forms of ambiguity constitute important sources of critical and collective reflection of, and subsequent change in, both metrics and MA and other cognitive frames.Originality/valueThrough identifying and elaborating on the change potential inherent in the interplay between cognitive frames and time‐space bound metrics and numbers, the study adds a partial, yet previously largely unexplored answer to the paradox of embedded agency in a MA context (i.e. how actors may change existing cognitive (MA) frames when their interpretations and actions are largely constrained and shaped by these very frames). Also, the study shows that it may not necessarily be the content of MA information per se that triggers critical reflection and structural MA change, but also the perceived ambiguities that such information use may engender.
Cost‐effectiveness of a quality improvement collaborative for obstetric and newborn care in Niger
Authors: Broughton Edward , Saley Zakari , Boucar Maina , Alagane Dondi , Hill Kathleen , Marafa Aicha , Asma Yaroh , Sani Karimou 
Published: March 2013

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to describe a quality improvement collaborative conducted in 33 Nigerian facilities to improve maternal and newborn care outcomes by increasing compliance with high‐impact, evidence‐based care standards. Intervention costs and cost‐effectiveness were examined and costs to the Niger Health Ministry (MoH) were estimated if they were to scale‐up the intervention to additional sites.Design/methodology/approachFacility‐based maternal care outcomes and costs from pre‐quality improvement collaborative baseline monitoring data in participating facilities from January to May 2006 were compared with outcomes and costs from the same facilities from June 2008 to September 2008. Cost data were collected from project accounting records. The MoH costs were determined from interviews with clinic managers and quality improvement teams. Effectiveness data were obtained from facilities' records.FindingsThe average delivery‐cost decreased from $35 before to $28 after the collaborative. The USAID/HCI project's incremental cost was $2.43/delivery. The collaborative incremental cost‐effectiveness was $147/disability‐adjusted life year averted. If the MoH spread the intervention to other facilities, substantive cost‐savings and improved health outcomes can be predicted.Practical implicationsThe intervention achieved significant positive health benefits for a low cost. The Niger MoH can expect approximately 50 per cent return on its investment if it implements the collaborative in new facilities. The improvement collaborative approach can improve health and save health care resources.Originality/valueThis is one of the first studies known to examine collaborative quality improvement and economic efficiency in a developing country.
Large‐eddy simulation of a compressible free jet flow on unstructured elements
Authors: Tajallipour Nima , Kumar Vimal , Paraschivoiu Marius 
Published: March 2013

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate a large‐eddy simulation, using low order numerical discretization and upwinding schemes on unstructured grids, for a turbulent free jet at Mach number 0.95. The accuracy and stability performance is discussed for the finite element/volume upwinding numerical code used.Design/methodology/approachThis code is equipped with a self‐adaptive upwinding method which has been previously developed to reduce the numerical dissipation of applied low order flux calculation on unstructured elements using Roe's scheme. Herein, this method is used to numerically investigate a high Reynolds, compressible turbulent free jet and compare the results with a recently published set of experimental data. The effect of grid size is also investigated. A reasonable good agreement with the experimental measurements is obtained.FindingsBased on the results, it is concluded that the developed self‐adaptive upwinding scheme provides a considerably better emulation of the flow regime in comparison to the full‐upwinding scheme. Different case studies have been carried out to assess the performance of self‐adaptive upwinding method and the effect of the subgrid model.Originality/valueThis paper presents an original research on self‐adaptive upwinding scheme and the effect of the subgrid model on a compressible turbulent free jet.
Developing a decision model for brand naming using Delphi method and analytic hierarchy process
Authors: Hsu Pi‐Fang , Lin Fang‐Lei 
Published: March 2013

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to design a model for selecting brand names on the basis of the perceptions of enterprises.Design/methodology/approachFirst, the proposed model adopts the modified Delphi method to identify suitable criteria for evaluating a brand name. Next, the model applies the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) to determine the relative weights of evaluation criteria, then ranks the alternatives and selects the brand name. Finally, the model adopts sensitivity analysis to examine how other evaluative criteria would change with any changes in the weightings of the evaluation criteria.FindingsThe analytical results indicated that enterprises rank criteria in terms of importance as follows: emotional appeal, linguistics appeal, marketing appeal and legal appeal. In addition, the example of a renowned Taiwanese beverage company is used to demonstrate the process of brand name selection based on this model.Originality/valueThe proposed model helps enterprises effectively select a brand name, making it highly applicable in academia and commerce.
Measuring shopping values of Malaysian retail consumers
Authors: Abdul Karim Jeannot , Kumar Mukesh , Abd Rahman Sofiah 
Published: March 2013

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to verify the measurement scale of shopping values in the Malaysian context. Both hedonic as well as utilitarian shopping value measurement scales were tested for their reliability and validity. Further, a series of hypotheses was developed to test the differences in the shopping values across the market segments based on demographic characteristics of the consumers. Finally, the discriminant analysis was used to determine the relative importance of each variable measuring shopping value in discriminating between the groups of interest.Design/methodology/approachThe scale developed by Babinet al.for measuring shopping values has been put on test with modifications on selected questions to fit the local content. A convenient sampling technique was used to obtain information on hedonic and utilitarian values on a seven‐point Likert scale from a sample of 200 consumers from major shopping centres in Klang Valley, the most developed region in Malaysia. Statistical tools such as Cronbach's Alpha test, confirmatory factor analysis and discriminant analysis were used to analyze the data.FindingsThe findings reveal that hedonic shopping value measurement scale is a reliable and valid scale to be used for Malaysian consumers. However, the same could not be ascertained on the utilitarian shopping value measurement scale. The results further reveal that there are significant differences in the shopping values across the groups of interest. The sense of joy and escape are the most important variables discriminating between the groups based on gender, age and marital status.Originality/valueThe research in the area of shopping motivation is very limited in Asian countries, including Malaysia. This study undertakes an empirical examination of consumer value that encompasses the entire consumer shopping experience associated with the context.