bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Rediscovering performance management: systems, learning and integration
Authors: Brudan Aurel 
Published: March 2010

PurposeThis paper sets out to explore performance management as a discipline and propose an integrated performance management model.Design/methodology/approachThis conceptual paper aims to clarify what performance management is and how it emerged as a discipline by tracking its evolution at strategic, operational and individual levels. Structured as a review, it enables the rediscovery of performance management and the identification of several key dichotomies, brought together under an integrated performance management model.FindingsThree emerging approaches to performance management are presented as potential catalysts to accelerate the evolution of this discipline: systems thinking, learning and integration. An integrated performance management model is also proposed.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper draws on the consultancy and research experience of the author. The generated model is conceptual in essence and needs to be tested. Further research on the history of performance management as a discipline and the integration approach between organisational levels is needed.Practical implicationsThe paper makes suggestions for improving performance management governance – the introduction of the Performance Management Office. It also suggests a higher emphasis on learning and integration during the implementation and usage of performance management systems.Social implicationsBy outlining the importance of systems thinking in managing organisational performance, this paper highlights the need for encouraging its applicability and implementation through systemic thinking. A higher emphasis on including elements of systems thinking in educational curricula may be a possible step forward.Originality/valueThe paper is relevant to both practitioners and academics, as it clarifies the existing body of knowledge and provides a platform for future research
Strategic planning for management of technology of China's high technology enterprises
Authors: Wu Wei‐wei , Liang Da‐peng , Yu Bo , Yang Ying 
Published: March 2010

PurposeThe objective of this paper is to explore, describe, and explicate the processes which are related to the strategic planning for technology management, and to provide beneficial suggestions for China's high technology enterprises to promote technology management capability.Design/methodology/approachIn this paper, a model for strategic planning for management of technology is developed, which is expected to be used to provide effective processes of articulating strategic planning. The model involves several key points including defining the current situations of technology management, determining the objectives of managing technology, and designing the approaches for the promotion of technology management capability. Capability maturity model (CMM) and fitness landscape theory are applied in this model to construct useful analysis tools. The model is used to make the strategic planning for management of technology of China's high technology enterprises. A survey of 43 high technology companies in China is conducted. Technology management maturity model (TMMM) is employed to assess the technology management maturity level, and fitness landscape of technology management is developed to explore the routines of promoting technology management capability.FindingsThe authors find that there is still much room for China's high technology enterprises to improve their technology management capability, since the average technology management maturity is only in the managed level. And the maturity of quality management is lower than that of organization management and resource management, and so quality management should have more importance attached to it, promoting holistic technology management capability. All such findings imply that our research makes theoretical contributions to technology management and strategy related literature with significant managerial implications.Originality/valueThe paper contributes to technology management literature by constructing the model of strategic planning for technology management, viewing it as the roadmap of the development of technology management, explaining three interrelated points and illustrating three processes. Second, the paper uses fitness landscape and NK model to explore the routines of promoting technology management capability.
A study of the entrepreneurship of Taiwanese youth by the Chinese Entrepreneur Aptitude Scale
Authors: Chen Wan‐Yu , Weng Calvin S. , Hsu Hui‐Ying 
Published: March 2010

PurposeThe purposes are as follows. First, this paper aims to explore the reliability and validity of the Chinese Entrepreneur Aptitude Scale (CEAS) and to establish a normative score among surveyed students. Second, this paper seeks to compare the scaling scores differences between the genders, departments, and classes in the sample. Finally, this paper aims to compare the student sample's CEAS results with models of Taiwanese entrepreneurial youth.Design/methodology/approachCompleted questionnaires from 1,053 students from the Transworld Institute of Technology in Taiwan and the CEAS, constructed by Chen and Wu, formed the basis of the empirical analysis.FindingsThis paper tests the performance of the CEAS for Taiwanese students at a technological institute that puts entrepreneurial education into practice. The results match those of Chen and Wu, which used qualitative methods to conduct a content analysis of the biographies of models of entrepreneurial youth in Taiwan. Both groups rank high in autonomy and self‐discipline, indicating that entrepreneurial models and potential entrepreneurs have a high sense of mission and responsibility to society. And, this paper finds significant differences between the two groups; the entrepreneurial models rate higher overall on CEAS constructs than the institute students. In particular, the sample students score low on social networking, indicating that the undergraduates lack social and networking experience.Originality/valueThe main contribution of this paper has been to test the applicability of the CEAS in Taiwanese Institute of Technology students, including comparisons between genders, grades, and colleges. The results offer insights for institutes and universities seeking to improve their entrepreneurial education offerings. Moreover, the results offer lessons for fostering entrepreneurial abilities and behavioral traits in undergraduates.
Explaining supervisory support to work‐family conflict
Authors: Hsu Bi‐Fen , Chen Wan‐Yu , Wang Mei‐Ling , Lin Yen‐Yu 
Published: March 2010

PurposePrevious studies of manufacturing management have ignored a critical theme: the relationship between supervisory support and work‐family conflict. This paper aims to explore the link between interpersonal relationships, guanxi, leader‐member exchange (LMX) theory, emotional intelligence (EI), supervisory support, and work‐family conflict.Design/methodology/approachThe unit of analysis of this research is the dyad; the paper gathered 244 valid questionnaires from workers in traditional industries in Taiwan and China. Multiple regression analyses were used to analyze the data and to test the hypotheses.FindingsThe paper finds that supervisory support for work‐family conflict has faded in traditional industries. And, it finds that leaders with a higher level of LMX and expressive ties to their subordinates tend to offer a higher level of supervisory support, but that leaders with higher level of instrumental ties to their subordinates tend to offer lower levels of support. Finally, the survey results also show that a leader's level of EI is not related to supervisory support.Originality/valueThe research combines Western concepts of relationships with the Eastern concept of guanxi with the goal of clarifying the transfer of management concepts and exploring the explanatory power of guanxi in Chinese society. Although the empirical results of this study do not totally agree with expectations, they treat the benefits of supervisors' EI for organizations from a new point of view.
Relationship between job position, job attributes, and workplace friendship: Taiwan and China
Authors: Lin Chun‐Te 
Published: March 2010

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between job attributes, job position, and workplace friendship. This paper also attempts to expand the ontology of workplace friendship.Design/methodology/approachThe independent variables consisted of five job attributes and a category recorded by anticipant's self‐response. The dependent variable is workplace friendship. The hierarchical polynomial regression is conducted to test the independent variables, dependent variable, and control variables. This paper adopts two‐way analysis of variance which is conducted to test the relationship between job attributes, job position, and workplace friendship to address the two research problems.FindingsThere are two research findings, first, within a particular job attribute, this paper shows that supervisors have better workplace friendship than subordinates. Second, this paper proves that with a particular job attribute, supervisors/subordinates from Taiwan have better workplace friendship than those from Mainland China.Research limitations/implicationsIn this paper, there are two research limitations. The first limitation is that the data are only collected from the eastern coastland of China. This means that the data may not be able to truly reflect the situation of every company in China. The second limitation is that the questionnaire is filled in by self‐reporting participants.Practical implicationsThe development of workplace friendship is mainly based on the requirement of team work in an organization. The higher demand of team work corresponds to better development of workplace friendship. There are differences in workplace friendship in Taiwan and China due to different regional cultures and individual cognitions of job attributes which are eventually affected by individual and organizational elements.Originality/valueThe major contribution of this paper is that it expanded the ontology of workplace friendship. Furthermore, this paper verifies workplace friendship difference in an organization which is affected by different job positions and job attributes and also compares the nature of the relationship in Taiwan and Mainland China.
Combining forecasts for technology forecasting and decision making
Authors: Lin Chen‐Chun , Tang Ying‐Hwa , Shyu Joseph Z. , Li Yi‐Ming 
Published: March 2010

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to propose an approach to achieve better accuracy in technology forecasting (TF) by providing the concepts of the service components and service composition based on the theory of the combining forecasts. Next, it adopts three quantitative analyses as service components to form service composition. This will support the need of more predictable TF, which raises the accuracy of the quantitative analysis and, at the same time, presents the service composition logic in a consistent manner in the form of customized TF.Design/methodology/approachThis paper provides a systematic analysis of the technology forecasts for third‐generation (3G) telecommunication industry. This systematic approach mainly unifies the Bass model, logit model, and least squares analysis forecasting techniques, along with a reasonable assessment of the scope for the normal curve (±1 standard deviation), and attempts to find the maximum possibility frontier of the predictive value.FindingsThrough the integration and comparison of these three techniques, not only can the predicted values of the three forecasting methods be determined, but a preferred solution can also be derived through new methods, and in return, to investigate better accuracy and performances. Such an approach can also integrate the advantages of various methods to provide a prediction interval, as well as objective and realistic projections.Research limitations/implicationsThis envisaged concept of “service component and service composition” is an integration of backing up in TF instruments in selection and reselection, which in return, provide optimization of service composition and accuracy maximization, as well as better performance prediction. A well‐known limitation of this research is that sudden technology breakthroughs are often unforeseeable in the majority of main‐stream quantitative analyses.Originality/valueConstructing a new effective approach as results of “service component and service composition” can be compared to the traditional research methods such as Delphi method or other mathematical algorithms. This method generally produces higher quality forecasts than those attained from a single source.
Fuzzy MCDM approach to R&D project evaluation in Taiwan's public sectors
Authors: Lai Wen‐Hsiang , Chang Pao‐Long , Chou Ying‐Chyi 
Published: March 2010

PurposeEstablishing a performance‐oriented evaluation in public sectors is the key to successful administrations. However, because of lacking relative comparable measuring standards, it is difficult to measure the relative performance of one unit while comparing to other units with regard to the multiple criteria decision making (MCDM) of performance evaluation. This paper aims to focus on the performance ranking of research and development (R&D) projects in Taiwan's public sectors.Design/methodology/approachThe algorithm in this paper is based on the concept of fuzzy set theory and the hierarchical structure analysis. The analyzing method adopts the methods of standard normal distribution, linear transformation, and fuzzy MCDM, carrying on the analysis of multiple criteria of the performance evaluation.FindingsThis paper constructs linguistic values to the subjective judgments and analyzes the ranking results of the performance evaluation with respect to 45 R&D projects of one of Taiwan's electric power companies. Thus, the paper demonstrates a successful way of evaluating R&D projects in the public sector.Originality/valueIn this paper, a decision algorithm based on the fuzzy set theory is proposed to solve the performance evaluation of R&D projects in public sectors. In order to solve the difficulties of measuring one unit of the relative performance of quantitative criteria comparing to the other units, the method of standard normal distribution is adopted while measuring the quantitative criteria. The concept of linguistic values and fuzzy numbers are used in this paper since they could easily be used to describe the subjective measurement of the appropriateness of alternatives and the importance weightings of criteria.
Applying lead user theory to young adults
Authors: Oosterloo N. , Kratzer J. , Achterkamp M.C. 
Published: March 2010

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to identify lead users within social networks of young adults between 14 and 17 years of age.Design/methodology/approachA questionnaire and the SAGS‐method were used to collect data within seven high schools in the north of The Netherlands. These data were used to empirically test five hypotheses using the variables which could enable the identification of lead users. A multiple regression analysis was used to test the predictive value of the variables. The analysis was complemented with a qualitative analysis of the collected data.FindingsThe main characteristics which identify lead users among adults can also be used with young adults. Those young adults who are more likely to be a lead user, are more ahead of a trend and have a higher amount of expected benefit. They also display more expertise than other young adults.Research limitations/implicationsThe variable of perceived information benefits could complement the variables used for identifying lead users among young adults, but further research is necessary. Because the focus is on only one specific product, the generalizability of the results from this research is limited. Further research should include different products or services in different domains of interest. The variables of perceived information benefits and efficiency did not have a significant positive relation with lead userness, but further research is needed.Practical implicationsThe identification of lead users could be valuable to organizations that focus on young adults in the age range 14 to 17 years and could lead to significant commercial benefits. Young adults are a large potential market and the identification of lead users within this target group could help organizationsOriginality/valueResearch on lead user theory is mainly focused on adults or organizations. This article tries to fill this research gap by focusing on young adults. It is an extension of the research of Kratzer and Lettl, Kunst and Kratzer and Molenmaker et al. who focused on children from 8 to 12 years old.
“Bend it like Beckham”: the influence of sports celebrities on young adult consumers
Authors: Dix Steve , Phau Ian , Pougnet Sonia 
Published: March 2010

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate how sports celebrities can be perceived as role models and influence young adult consumers' purchase and behavioural intentions. Further, it also seeks to examine whether this influence differs between males and females.Design/methodology/approachA self‐administered questionnaire was designed using established scales. A convenience sample was drawn from students in a large university in Western Australia.FindingsAthlete role model endorsers have a positive influence on young adults' product switching behaviour, complaint behaviour, positive word‐of‐mouth behaviour and brand loyalty. This confirms the assumption that sports celebrities are important socialisation agents and can have significant impact on purchase intentions and behaviours.Practical implicationsThis research provides useful insight into the influence of athlete endorsers on young adults and suggests athletes have a positive influence on young adults' behavioural intentions in switching products, generating word‐of‐mouth and establishing brand loyalty. More importantly, this study is a significant step towards providing useful information about how young consumers respond to the use of sports celebrities in advertising.Originality/valuePrevious studies indicate that this potential influence and impact of sports star endorsers would be at its peak amongst the youth market. This paper extends previous studies by focusing on one specific market – young adults in Australia.
Young Kazakhstan consumers: catch them if you can
Authors: Mouly Potluri Rajasekhara , Pool George R. , Madibaeva Tatinbekovna Saule 
Published: March 2010

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine and evaluate the spending patterns and buying behaviors of two different age groups of young Kazakhstan consumers. In addition, this research seeks to analyze the importance Kazakh parents give to their children's opinion on purchasing different products.Design/methodology/approachAfter a thorough revision of related literature on young consumers, the researchers used two types of questionnaires, and in‐depth personal interviews with 400 young Kazakhstan consumers in the 10‐14 and 15‐18 age groups and 100 Kazakh parents. The collected data were summarized, coded, and controlled by using SPSS 13.0 and Microsoft Excel software packages and analyzed by using frequency distribution.FindingsSixty‐one percent of the 10‐14 and 84 percent of the 15‐18 age groups of young Kazakhstan consumers receive weekly pocket money of below 250 Kazakh tenge and above 1,000 tenge, respectively, from parents. Related to spending patterns, 78 percent of 10‐14 age group children spend 74 percent of their pocket money for entertainment and food as against 50 percent in the 15‐18 age groups. The study found that 90 percent of parents in both the age groups took into account the opinions of their children when purchasing different household products and services.Research limitations/implicationsThe city (Almaty) selected for this study is highly developed culturally, socially and economically when compared with the remaining parts of Kazakhstan.Practical implicationsThe current study sheds light on the buying behavior of young Kazakh consumers along with parents' opinions and provides useful information for the corporate world when targeting and communicating with young people.Originality/valueThe paper offers insights about the complex patterns of youth attitudes in a former Soviet Socialist country which is changing its nature toward a market oriented economy. This is a pioneer work on the buying behaviors of young Kazakh consumers which is additionally useful to the academic world.
Marketing to children and teens on Australian food company web sites
Authors: Jones Sandra C. , Reid Amanda 
Published: March 2010

PurposeGiven the role that food marketing plays in influencing dietary patterns in children, the aim of this article is to explore the internet‐based marketing tactics employed by eight leading Australian food companies that produce and distribute foods that are predominantly consumed by children.Design/methodology/approachThe marketing policies and child‐targeted internet marketing practices of eight major Australian food companies were examined.FindingsSeven of the eight food companies have web sites or sections of sites that are devoted to children and/or teenagers; with downloadable materials and extensive direct marketing. Of most concern was the collection of detailed personal information from children and/or teenagers, which was evident on the web sites of five of the seven food companies that have such sites.Research limitations/implicationsThis study examined only eight Australia food companies, so the findings cannot be generalized to other companies, or companies in other countries. The study was conducted at a specific point in time and, given rapid changes in internet marketing, it is likely that new strategies and messages will have emerged since data collection.Originality/valueThe article provides a unique snapshot of internet marketing practices of a sample of Australian food companies targeting children and adolescents, and raises important issues for discussion regarding the appropriateness and ethics of some of these practices.
An ethnography of the transfer of food learning within the family
Authors: Ayadi Kafia , Bree Joël 
Published: March 2010

PurposeThis paper aims to describe an ethnographic research study conducted within French families in order to examine the transfer of food learning between parents and children.Design/methodology/approachAn ethnographic study in the respondents' home was conducted. Semi‐directive interviews with children and parents and observation were carried out in heterogeneous families.FindingsResults indicate that food meal time is a way of socializing family members in consumption skills related to food. Food learning took place in two ways: from parents to children and from children to parents. Through different socialization factors, children will discover new food products or food practices and will be able to bring them to the home. By sharing these new experiences, children teach (directly or indirectly) parents new consumption skills related to the food domain. The food environment (e.g: familial atmosphere, interactions around the meal), more than the act of eating itself allows for a better understanding of food transmission within the family.Research limitations/implicationsThese findings would be of benefit to public policy as well as to investors and food manufacturers by integrating the reverse socialization aspect. Limits and research perspectives are discussed after the presentation of the results.Originality/valueThe paper investigates interactions between parents and children within their natural setting: their home.