bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Impact of brand personality and consumer ethnocentrism in China's sportswear market
Authors: Tong Xiao , Li Chunxiao 
Published: June 2013

Purpose
– This study aims to investigate the effect of brand personality and consumer ethnocentrism on perceived quality and purchase intentions in China's sportswear market.

Design/methodology/approach
– In order to examine and compare the effect of brand personality and consumer ethnocentrism on the evaluation of product quality and purchase intention toward domestic and foreign brands, COB (the country with which the brand or firm is associated) and COM (the country in which final production takes place) cues were used in this study. Chinese college students represented the sample of 385 respondents. Structural equation modeling was used to investigate the causal relationships among brand personality, consumer ethnocentrism, perceived quality, and purchase intention.

Findings
– Results revealed that brand personality has a significant effect on Chinese consumers' product quality perceptions and purchase intentions toward both domestic and foreign brands. Furthermore, it is found that Chinese consumers' ethnocentric tendencies have no significant impact on their intentions to buy either domestic or foreign sportswear brands. However, ethnocentric Chinese consumers do positively evaluate the quality of domestic brands when domestic brands are also made domestically and negatively evaluate the quality of foreign brands when foreign brands are also manufactured non-domestically.

Originality/value
– The study contributes theoretically and empirically to research on the effects of brand image and consumer ethnocentrism in emerging markets. The findings from this study will help domestic and international marketers have a better understanding of the role of brand personality and consumer ethnocentric tendencies in influencing young Chinese consumers' product evaluation and purchase intentions. In addition, few studies have simultaneously examined the effects of brand image and consumer ethnocentrism (moderated by COO) on consumers' product evaluations and purchase intentions, which provided new research and managerial implications.
PFI/PPP, private sector perspectives of UK transport and healthcare
Authors: Eadie Robert , Millar Phillip , Grant Rory 
Published: June 2013

PurposePublic private partnerships (PPP) and the private finance initiative (PFI) are defined as a range of practical long‐standing relationships between the public and private sectors. This paper aims to investigate managers’ perceptions of PPP/PFI in two of the three largest sectors for private sector capital‐spend in PPP/PFI schemes, namely transport (highway infrastructure) and healthcare.Design/methodology/approachA web‐based Limesurvey™ questionnaire was used to collect data. A sample of 75 organisations was identified from the Partnerships UK (PUK) online Project Database (Partnerships UK, 2010). Total of 49 responses were received, of which 39 were complete.FindingsResults from each sector relating to PPP/PFI “best value”, advantages and disadvantages, and government preferred procurement routes, are investigated. The majority of organisations did not consider that PPP/PFI provided “best value” but thought it provided more value than the other two UK Government preferred procurement routes, “design and build” and “prime contracting”.Practical implicationsThis questions the UK Government's choice of preferred procurement routes. However, even during a recession and its aftermath, the majority of respondents consider that PPP/PFI remains appropriate to healthcare and transport developments.Originality/valueFirstly, this paper carries out a ranking of common advantages and disadvantages to PFI/PPP followed by an investigation of “best value” as perceived by contractors and consultants subsequent to the construction phase. Then the three preferred UK Government procurement routes are contrasted in terms of “best value” and finally the paper investigates how PPP/PFI schemes are viewed during recessionary times.
Reading strategy and the need of e‐book features
Authors: ChanLin Lih‐Juan 
Published: June 2013

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore college students' use of electronic reading strategies in reading e‐books and the features provided by e‐book systems. Both academic reading and leisure reading are evaluated from students' responses.Design/methodology/approachBoth qualitative and quantitative data are collected. In total, eight college students volunteered for in‐depth interview to express their strategy in reading e‐books. Reading strategies employed by college students are summarized. A set of questionnaire items to assess electronic reading strategies and e‐book features for both academic and leisure reading is used for collecting quantitative data. To determine differences between academic reading and leisure reading, pair‐t is used among 201 respondents.FindingsInterview data reveal that students use various strategies in reading e‐books. These reading strategies are categorized into “Use of prior experiences”, “Comprehension and decision making”, and “Self‐regulation and self‐monitoring”. From 26 questionnaire items for assessing students' need of reading strategies, 16 are found significantly different between academic reading and leisure reading (p<0.05). The necessity level of many e‐book features is significantly higher for academic reading than for leisure reading (p < 0.05).Research limitations/implicationsResearch on students' use of strategies in electronic reading is needed in the rich information world. In this study, the assessment of necessity level of using various electronic reading strategies and features provided by e‐book systems assessed from students' responses might be helpful for design of e‐book systems. However, further research on different reading audiences and specific domains may shed light on more guidelines for implementation and application.Originality/valueIt is hoped that the findings of this study will provide suggestions for the innovation of reading supports embedded in e‐book systems.
Assessing future travel demand: a need to account for non‐transport technologies?
Authors: Hubers Christa , Lyons Glenn 
Published: June 2013

PurposeTravel is usually not valued in and of itself, but for the activities it allows people to partake in. Therefore, if change occurs in either the activities people perform, or in the means they use to perform them, the demand for travel is likely to change accordingly. Technologies have the potential to accommodate the activities people need or want to perform and how they perform them. The purpose of this conceptual paper is to increase the understanding of the complex relations between technologies developing outside the transport domain, social practices and travel, and the uncertainties that can result from these linkages. As such it draws attention to the interconnectivity of transport with other domains (e.g. healthcare, retail, leisure).Design/methodology/approachThe relations between non‐transport technologies, social practices and travel are largely unintended and/or unanticipated. This study therefore utilised notions developed elsewhere of the mechanisms through which unintended consequences materialize. With these notions in mind, some selected examples of past, present and possible future technologies expose the possible indirect influences they can have on travel demand, thereby developing the conceptual understanding of these linkages.FindingsIf policies are being developed to limit, change, or reduce people's travel then non‐transport technologies may thwart those policy ambitions in serious ways or be realised in unexpected and surprising forms.Research limitations/implicationsThere appears precious little (quantitative) evidence of data that captures the relations between technologies, social practices and travel.Originality/valueThis study is one of the first to examine the indirect impacts of technological developments occurring outside the transport domain on travel demand.
E‐health futures in Bangladesh
Authors: Sheraz Umar , Inayatullah Sohail , Shah Ali 
Published: June 2013

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to delineate alternative e‐health futures for public health policymaking in Bangladesh.Design/methodology/approachThe methodology used in the paper is the Six Pillars approach to explore alternative and preferred futures for the establishment of a health information system and e‐health provision in Bangladesh.FindingsThere is a great deal of potential for encouraging participatory engagement between various stakeholders in Bangladesh's public health policymaking. The Six Pillars approach is used not only to enhance this participatory approach but also to examine various discourses and different stakeholder voices to create four alternative futures for e‐health delivery in Bangladesh: first, leap‐frog 2025; second, e‐health car 2025; third, health cloud 2025; and fourth, e‐health political party aimed at optimizing the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) on one hand and ensuring widened access and participation on the other.Practical implicationsThe alternative scenarios identify four possible ways of bringing together society, government and business to achieve positive public health outcomes by creating an open, trust‐based and efficient e‐health system, not only in Bangladesh but also in other developing countries. The scenarios challenge health business as usual and used futures.Social implicationsThe paper aims to communicate a humane public approach to the issue of health which envisages using modern ICTs to maximize democratic access to the public health system and reduce health marginalization in Bangladesh.Originality/valueThe paper is a pioneering attempt to use Six Pillars for public health policymaking in Bangladesh. It is based on the first e‐health workshop in Bangladesh.
Using an improved rich pictures approach to improve project situational analysis in complex aid reconstruction development projects
Authors: Walker Derek H.T. , Steinfort Paul 
Published: June 2013

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to describe and explain the use (at the situational analysis project phase) of an innovation to a sensemaking and problem‐solving tool for aid relief and disaster recovery projects, that improves programmes to project management practice.Design/methodology/approachThere are tools that can assist in understanding a project situational context as a pre‐cursor to planning and implementing project plans. One tool, soft system methodology (SSM), is used to visualise messy complex problems to understand this context and effectively plan. The authors used SSM and evolved some improvements reported upon here.FindingsThe rich picture approach in SSM was adapted to add layers of meaning through colour coding and process mapping. This is explained in detail, using examples from a recent study to illustrate this approach that has been subsequently rigorously validated in practice.Research limitations/implicationsThe use of SSM can considerably assist in gaining a deeper understanding of how the project can be planned and monitored in future. The paper is limited to aid relief project examples.Practical implicationsMacro‐level project planning sets the stage for the effective delivery of a realistic program‐to‐project plan. Projects are often characterised by chaos, paradoxes and highly complex choices of action. The SSM tool enhancement and further developments can help practitioners improve their understanding of complex situations when preparing response and project plans.Originality/valueWhile SSM is not new, the way it was adapted for recent research into aid disaster recovery demonstrates a highly innovative development to visualising complex situations and offers some powerful improvements to SSM. The paper advances project management research through its SSM innovation and also illustrates an important adaptation to a standard SSM technique.
A critique of corporate governance in China
Authors: Guo Liang , Smallman Clive , Radford Jack 
Published: June 2013

PurposeThis paper aims to offer a critique of corporate governance in China.Design/methodology/approachThe critique is based upon a literature review and secondary data sources.FindingsThe Chinese Government has made efforts to strengthen the effectiveness of corporate governance in state‐owned enterprises. However, existing research shows that some governance mechanisms that are effective in Western countries have no significant or negative impacts on firm performance in China. An apparent reason for this is the strong relationship between state‐owned enterprises and the government.Originality/valuePolicy implications are offered as a means to improve corporate governance in China.
The determinants of brain drain in developing countries
Authors: Lawan Ngoma Abubakar , Wana Ismail Normaz 
Published: June 2013

PurposeSkilled migrant workers move relatively in unidirectional form (from developing to developed countries) in response to many factors. The purpose of this paper is to examine some factors that influence skilled migration to such preferred locations among skilled workers.Design/methodology/approachBoth conceptual discussion and analytical approach are used.FindingsThe authors' econometric model identified an inverted U‐shaped relationship between skilled migration rates, wage differentials and income convergence with destination countries. Other factors found to be significantly related to brain drain are population size, domestic political instability and distance to destination countries.Originality/valueThis paper presents insights on factors influencing migration decisions among skilled migrants and why skilled workers' migration from developing countries remains on the increase over the years, despite the urgent need for highly skilled personnel in most of these countries.
Nussbaum's political liberalism: justice and the capability threshold
Authors: Roberts Peri 
Published: June 2013

PurposeCentral to Martha Nussbaum's development of the capability approach into a theory of social and global justice is her addition of the notion of a capability threshold below which no dignified human life can be lived. This capability threshold identifies a standard for distributive justice that any decent political order must secure for all citizens. It is this threshold that is the intended focus of this paper.Design/methodology/approachExamining her most recent statement of the capability approach, Nussbaum's arguments that the threshold should be locally set by each nation in accordance with their history and traditions, and that all nations currently fail to satisfy the threshold condition, are assessed.FindingsThis paper shows that if Nussbaum's arguments are accepted, then the central function of a threshold as a tool of discrimination is undermined. If all nations fail to meet their locally set threshold, then there is no clear basis for the global redistribution that Nussbaum regards as necessary. Indeed, what basis there is could even justify counter‐intuitive redistribution from poorer to richer nations.Originality/valueThis paper concludes that if the capability approach is to be developed into a theory of social justice, then, rather than being set locally at different levels, the capability threshold may need to be a genuinely global one. Only then can the threshold discriminate between unjust political orders and those that are at least minimally just.
Measuring sense of belonging among employees working at a corporate campus
Authors: Jaitli Ruchika , Hua Ying 
Published: June 2013

PurposeThis study aims to explore the association between employees' sense of belonging and their perception of workplace physical attributes at a corporate campus, and the workplace planning and management strategies to support employee sense of belonging for the long‐term competitiveness and performance of organizations.Design/methodology/approachThe research site for this study is the corporate campus of a large information technology firm, Wipro Technologies, located in India. A workplace questionnaire designed by the International Workplace Studies Program (IWSP) at Cornell University was used. A total of 267 employees working at Wipro participated in this study.FindingsFactor analysis of the survey items identified five underlying factors that are related to workplace physical environment. Statistically significant correlations were identified among employees' sense of belonging and these factors about work environment. A statistically significant model comprising four of the factors was developed to predict employees' sense of belonging.Originality/valueThe paper presents a new model to link sense of belonging to perception of workplace physical environment. Workplace planning and management implications were discussed for organizations to incorporate physical and spatial measures in their workplace to effectively enhance employees' sense of belonging.
External reactive detection v. internal proactive prevention
Authors: Dyer Robin 
Published: June 2013

PurposeAll members of staff up to the Chairman of the Board now get daily briefings of the serious issues within the financial sector. Headlines are commonly quoting regulatory fines, once in the thousands and now in the millions. Errors or poor working practice have resulted in fundamental issues which need to be addressed; however, pressure often results in immediate solutions being required to address those visible problems without setting in place necessary changes to business developments and working practice. This paper aims to suggest that, through excessive external pressure, the solutions are less effective if not integrated with existing procedures and therefore failing to embrace the whole business model and its operations.Design/methodology/approachThe study uses case analysis and field work.FindingsInternal business controls are fundamentally important to the process of risk mitigation and established over many years. Any changes made to address deficiencies must be integral to both existing policies and procedures and IT systems to ensure permanent and positive improvement rather than potential ebb and flow associated with isolated reactive solutions.Research limitations/implicationsInformation regarding the case study information comes only from public sources, mainly written media reports, and is not confirmed by any confidential data known to the author.Originality/valueUsing case analysis and field work, this paper suggests that any changes made to address deficiencies in a company are less effective if not integrated with existing procedures and therefore failing to embrace the whole business model and its operations.
FM Servicebarometer: monitoring customer perception of service performance
Authors: Coenen Christian , Waldburger Doris , von Felten Daniel 
Published: June 2013

PurposeIn the past, FM performance was mostly monitored by technical and cost‐related KPIs, whereas the measurement of perceived internal service quality was widely neglected. Thus, the purpose of this paper is two‐fold: first, to develop an adequate model to capture the relationships between internal service quality, internal customer satisfaction and internal customer retention; and second, provide an instrument for the identification of areas of improvement for customer orientation in FM.Design/methodology/approachThis research gives an insight into the relevance of customer orientation in FM. Following this, it introduces the concept of a FM Servicebarometer, highlighting an application of this model by presenting the results of an extensive quantitative survey that was conducted within a healthcare setting. Based on this model, various indices are calculated for the internal service quality, customer satisfaction and customer retention, resulting in the FM Quality Index.FindingsDetailed analyses show insights into the interdependencies between various aspects of internal customer orientation in FM. In addition, driving forces of internal service quality, internal customer satisfaction and internal customer retention are presented.Practical implicationsThe FM Quality Index (FMQI) allows both a longitudinal research and cross‐sectional comparison within FM. Thus, the FMQI may be applied as a tool for monitoring and managing internal customer orientation in FM.Originality/valueFM Servicebarometer is a unique application of the service barometer approach within FM. Thus, it presents an innovative attempt to measure and control perceived service quality, customer satisfaction, and customer retention.
Money laundering, new technologies, FATF and Spanish penal reform
Authors: Abel Souto Miguel 
Published: June 2013

PurposeThis paper attempts to examine new technologies, typologies, FATF recommendations and the last Spanish penal reform on money laundering.Design/methodology/approachThe paper describes the potential provided via internet and electronic transfers, prepaid cards and payment services with mobile phones for executing money laundering, and comments on the Spanish penal reform on this crime.FindingsThe study finds that the new payment systems facilitate money launderers’ criminal activity. However, the development of technologies, including the internet, has unquestionable advantages involved, and even provides verification of identity or other duty of surveillance for the prevention of money laundering. Also, this paper analyzes the amendments made recently in the Spanish Criminal Code regarding money laundering.Originality/valueThis paper would be beneficial to the legislature. Future development of measures for the prevention of money laundering should take into account all potential threats that arise from the use of new technologies. Moreover, the long list of modifications on laundering undermines the legal certainty and the consideration of criminal law as ultima ratio, within the framework of a globalized crime policy.
Homo economicusand social marketing: questioning traditional models of behavior
Authors: Coimbra Carvalho Hamilton , Afonso Mazzon José 
Published: June 2013

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to bring forth the limitations of some important models of cognition and behavior adopted by social marketers and present important findings from recent lines of research that contribute to a fine‐grained understanding of human behavior.Design/methodology/approachThis is a conceptual paper that presents a review of several theoretical approaches to human cognition and behavior and their implications regarding social marketing campaigns.FindingsIt is concluded that the assumptions underlying traditional models of behavior need to be revised, especially the assumption that human beings are rational decision makers – the prototypicalhomo economicus. Behavioral science has revealed that people are far from being rational and are prone to be influenced by myriad factors, some deemed irrelevant under rational models. Social marketing interventions have greater probability of success when they rely on more realistic assumptions of human behavior.Research limitations/implicationsSocial marketing needs to embrace the contributions of the several disciplines and lines of research centered on the study of all facets of human behavior, such as behavioral economics and dual‐system framework.Practical implicationsThe main implications are: the recommendation to assume people are running on their System 1 when they are in contact with social marketing campaigns, the need to consider the interplay of systems and selves over time, the recommended emphasis on place strategies, and the need to avoid cash incentives and silver bullets.Originality/valueThe value of this paper is in contrasting the assumptions of traditional models of cognition and behavior widely used in social marketing with the evidence from several lines of research portraying influences in human behavior not accounted by those models.