bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
HRM practices and knowledge sharing: an empirical study
Authors: Fong Chee‐Yang , Ooi Keng‐Boon , Tan Boon‐In , Lee Voon‐Hsien , Yee‐Loong Chong Alain 
Published: September 2011

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the association between human resource management (HRM) practices and knowledge sharing from the Malaysian industry context.Design/methodology/approachThe method of exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis were employed to evaluate the reliability and validity of the measurement model. The structural equation modeling (SEM) method was applied to examine the theoretical framework.FindingsThe results indicate that recruitment and selection, teamwork, training and development, and performance appraisal, showed a positive relationship with knowledge sharing, as perceived by the managers in the Malaysian manufacturing and service organizations.Research limitations/implicationsThe research design in this study was cross‐sectional rather than longitudinal. Hence, even though the SEM method was adopted, the interpretations of the cause‐effect‐relationship among the variables could not be determined. In this case, longitudinal research designs serve to be more constructive as compared with cross‐sectional designs in providing causation evidence between HRM practices and knowledge sharing.Practical implicationsFindings from this study should be beneficial for HRM managers in developing countries such as Malaysia, who plan to develop competitive knowledge sharing competencies through the adoption of HRM practices.Originality/valueThe contribution of this study is the construction of a measurement system of HRM practices and knowledge sharing that could facilitate future research on human resource management, as well as highlighting important implications for HR managers in developing countries.
Growing up in divided societies: confronting continuity and change
Authors: Leonard Madeleine , McKnight Martina , Spyrou Spyros 
Published: September 2011

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the six main articles which represent the special issue on “Growing up in divided societies” and to locate the articles within a framework of children's experiences of divided societies.Design/methodology/approachThe article reviews the main methodologies employed by authors of the six articles and evaluates how these methodologies contribute to debates on researching children and young people's everyday lives.FindingsThe paper presents the core findings of the six articles and discusses these in relation to core themes, methodologies and policy implications.Originality/valueThe authors argue that there is a dearth of research on children and young people's everyday lives in politically contested societies and the special issue responds to this vacuum.
Children's educational engagement with nationalism in divided Cyprus
Authors: Spyrou Spyros 
Published: September 2011

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to provide a situated, theoretically informed account of national identity construction by exploring children's engagement with nationalism in the context of the classroom in divided Cyprus. The paper aims to illustrate how children enter and participate in the cultural world of nationalism in the classroom by accepting, resisting, and negotiating the ideological meanings they encounter there.Design/methodology/approachThe research on which the paper draws used an ethnographic approach. The paper draws primarily on teacher‐student exchanges during class lessons and, to a lesser extent, on interviews with children.FindingsThe paper suggests that the process of engagement between children, teachers, and nationalism often produces powerful senses of belonging which are, however, always limited and unstable both because of ideological contradictions and ambiguities and because of children's access to alternative knowledge.Research limitations/implicationsThough the ethnographic evidence suggests that nationalism in educational contexts produces powerful senses of belonging among children, more research is necessary to document the processes by which children consume nationalistic ideologies.Originality/valueThe paper is original because it offers a dynamic explanation of national identity construction through the application of practice theory to ethnographic data which takes into account both the powerful institutional constraints imposed on children at school as well as their agency and ability to impact their worlds.
Senses of place in flux: a generational approach
Authors: Hammad Suzanne H. 
Published: September 2011

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore and illuminate the various ways in which different generations experience and interpret their home and land in one divided Palestinian village in the West Bank.Design/methodology/approachThe study is based on mental maps, walk‐alongs and semi‐structured interviews.FindingsThe paper explores the intergenerational geographies of adults and children from one household located in the village of Bilin and outlines the dynamics of continuity and change in their attitudes to and experiences of contested place and space.Originality/valueThe paper suggests that generational perspectives are essential for acquiring a holistic, meaningful understanding of the complexities and subtleties of contested places.
“Keep going despite everything”: legacies of genocide for Rwanda's children and youth
Authors: Pells Kirrily 
Published: September 2011

PurposeBringing together anthropological and sociological conceptions of “the everyday” with the new social studies of childhood, this paper seeks to challenge the predominance of the trauma paradigm in understanding the impact of the 1994 Rwandan genocide upon children and youth.Design/methodology/approachIn focus group and ethnographic research conducted with Rwandan children and young people aged between 12 and 25, the challenges identified were primarily within their everyday lives, relationships and environments.FindingsBuilding on the assertion that “we have great resilience to keep going” the resiliency and agency of children and young people in negotiating an ongoing nexus between violence and peace is emphasized.Research limitations/implicationsThis is not to deny the horrendous nature of the genocide, or that there are some children with enduring severe psychological problems. However, the trauma paradigm is only one way of capturing the legacies of the genocide and can give rise to a misplaced emphasis on passivity and vulnerability. The framework of the everyday provides a holistic paradigm for policies and programmes addressing the situation of children and young people post‐conflict and builds upon their resources and competencies.Originality/valueThis paper offers a more complex and nuanced understanding of trauma, resilience and the legacies of genocide for children and young people.
Analyzing the efficiency of Russian firms
Authors: Linz Susan J. , Rakhovsky Ilya 
Published: September 2011

PurposeDid the Soviet development strategy of according high priority to firms in heavy industry give these firms an advantage during Russia's transition to a market‐oriented economy? This paper seeks to answer this question.Design/methodology/approachTo document industry variation in efficiency between priority and non‐priority sectors, the paper uses firm‐level data collected in 1992 and 1995 to estimate a stochastic frontier production function for 11 industries. It then aims to investigate which firm characteristics contributed to variation in technical efficiency between 1992 and 1995.FindingsFirms in low‐priority sectors exhibited higher efficiency in 1992 than firms in high‐priority sectors; by 1995, efficiency differences diminish. Efficiency gains were relatively higher in industries which experienced the largest percentage output declines. Non‐state ownership tends to improve efficiency, but the ownership effect varies by industry and over time. The paper rejects the hypothesis that export experience increases efficiency, and this result is especially strong in 1995. Location in Moscow proved to be a positive factor, and the benefit grew over time.Research limitations/implicationsPanel data were not used because near‐hyper‐inflationary conditions and changes in capital valuation methods make it impossible to accurately adjust output and capital values between 1992 and 1995; and because firms that divided into multiple units or changed industry classification between 1992 and 1995 would need to be dropped, reducing sample size considerably and making industry‐level analysis impossible.Practical implicationsThe paper provides a baseline for analyzing the impact of the transition on the performance of Russian manufacturing firms. It evaluates the influence of location (capital city effect) on firm performance, and demonstrates that privatization alone is not sufficient to improve efficiency.Originality/valueThis is the first study to examine the initial impact of transition on the efficiency of Russian firms across 11 industries, with focus on differences between former priority and non‐priority sectors. The results underscore the magnitude of structural dislocation caused by planners' preferences in the former Soviet economy.
Economic growth with space and fiscal policies with housing and public goods
Authors: Zhang Wei‐Bin 
Published: September 2011

PurposeThis study aims to examine dynamic interactions among economic growth, geography and the housing market with public goods financed by the government. A general dynamic equilibrium model of an isolated economy with economic geography, local public goods and capital accumulation is to be constructed. The economy has three sectors, supplying industrial goods, housing, and local public goods. The model synthesizes the main ideas in neoclassical growth theory, the Alonso urban model, and the Muth housing model in an alternative framework to the traditional growth theory.Design/methodology/approachThe model is based on the neoclassical growth theory with an alternative approach to household behavior. The paper shows how to solve the dynamics of the economic system and simulate the model to demonstrate dynamic interactions among economic growth, housing market, residential distribution and public goods over time and space.FindingsThe paper simulates equilibrium and motion of the spatial economy with Cobb‐Douglas production and utility functions. The simulation demonstrates, for example, that, as the tax rate on the land income is increased, the total capital stocks and the stocks employed by the three sectors are increased, the rate of interest falls and the output of the industrial sector and the wage rate are increased, the land devoted to local public goods falls and the land rent and housing rent rise over space, the consumption level of the industrial goods and the total expenditures on the public goods are increased.Practical implicationsThe paper provides some possible implications of the model for complicated consequences of government policy over time and space. In particular, the paper shows that a change in government policy not only has a macroeconomic impact over time, but also affects the economic geography of the national economy.Originality/valueThe paper offers insights into the linkage among growth, national public policies and economic geography.
An analysis of the costs of resilient reinstatement of flood affected properties
Authors: Joseph Rotimi , Proverbs David , Lamond Jessica , Wassell Peter 
Published: September 2011

PurposeRecently, the focus of UK and European flood risk management policy has been towards promoting the uptake of property level flood adaptation measures. Despite this focus, the take‐up of property level flood adaptation measures (both resilient and resistant) remains very low. One of the apparent barriers to uptake is the cost of installing such measures. This study aims to investigate the cost of adopting resilient reinstatement measures by considering a small number of actual properties that were flooded in Cockermouth during 2009.Design/methodology/approachSecondary data obtained from a loss adjusting company provides the basis for analysis. The data take into consideration the cost benefit of resilient repair, assuming the same properties were flooded again. The traditional reinstatement costs were established as the actual cost of putting the properties back in a like‐for‐like manner while resilient reinstatement costs were established by creating new resilient repair schedules based on recommended good practice.FindingsThe results of the study show that the percentage extra cost for resilient reinstatement over traditional repair cost ranged from 23 to 58 per cent with a mean of 34 per cent depending on the house type. However, while resilient repairs were found to be more expensive than traditional (i.e. like‐for‐like) methods, they were found to significantly reduce the repair costs assuming a subsequent flood were to take place. Resilient flood mitigation measures seem most promising and, given repeat flooding, will help in limiting the cost of repairs up to as much as 73 per cent for properties with a 20 per cent annual chance of flooding, which indicates that the up‐front investment would be recovered following a single subsequent flood event.Originality/valueThe uptake of resilient reinstatement among the floodplain property owners in the UK is very low and one of the reasons for the low uptake is lack of understanding of the cost and benefit of adopting such measures. While there have been previous studies towards investigating the costs of resilient reinstatement, it is believed that this is the first to use real claims data and information to analyse the tangible costs/benefits of resilient reinstatement.
No‐fines concrete in the UK social housing stock: 50 years on
Authors: Sommerville James , Craig Nigel , Charles Antoinette 
Published: September 2011

PurposeNo‐fines concrete (NFC) is an open textured cellular concrete obtained by eliminating either fines or sand from the normal concrete mix. Research in the 1950s showed this material to be capable of energy and cement savings and worthy of being seen as a material that would revolutionise the way affordable homes could be built. In today's context, it may be argued that homes built using this material suffer from fuel poverty as a result of their thermal performance characteristics. This paper seeks to discuss the performance characteristics of NFC in social housing by identifying the nature of the material and the influence of pore structure on heat loss through the fabric of the building.Design/methodology/approachExploratory work was carried out to determine the build and performance characteristics of NFC as used in a range of social housing units. The work includes both laboratory tests and site investigations to identify the physical, thermal, visual and quality characteristics of NFC in cores taken from existing housing units in Irvine, Scotland and units cast in the lab.FindingsThe findings from the tests are used to discuss the actual characteristics of NFC and highlight the nature of pores in NFC and, their influence on heat loss through the external fabric.Practical implicationsIdentifying the nature of pores in NFC helps provide approaches towards optimising solutions aimed at improving the thermal performance of the building.Originality/valueThis paper is the first to discuss the on‐site build and performance characteristics of NFC and the nature and influence of pores on the thermal performance of NFC.
Evaluation of structural irregularities based on architectural design considerations in Turkey
Authors: İnan Tugba , Korkmaz Koray 
Published: September 2011

PurposeThe purpose of this research is to show significant points which can be used in the architectural design process by investigating the basic principles of earthquake resistant design (ERD) in a deductive format and to contribute to the architectural perception in ERD.Design/methodology/approachFirst, the structural irregularity types are examined depending on the rules defined in the Turkish Earthquake Code, 2007 (TEC). Then, architectural design failures related to earthquake resistance of buildings under earthquake loading are visualized and solution suggestions in literature are described in detail by supported drawings.FindingsThe problems causing structural irregularities are investigated deeply with given solutions in literature. It is obtained that the significant factors affecting the earthquake performance of structures are: architectural form, structural configuration, slenderness ratio, the location and rate of floor openings, projection rates and symmetry, rigidity and strength differences between floors, short columns, pounding effect. Social implications – The practical design decision rules can contribute to the phenomena of earthquake resistant architectural design and can encourage adoption of these rules in building industry.Originality/valueThis study aims to gain an understanding of the problems in projects in terms of structural irregularities, and then manage to solve the problems using problem‐oriented approaches. The suggested solutions can be adopted and applied to future projects for designing earthquake resistant buildings.
Assessment of factors influencing the development and implementation of the architectural program
Authors: Juaim Mohammed N. , Hassanain Mohammad A. 
Published: September 2011

PurposeThe objective of this paper is to present an assessment of the factors that influence the process of developing and implementing the architectural program (design brief) for buildings projects.Design/methodology/approachPublished literature has been analyzed and interviews with a group of design professionals and owner's representatives were conducted for the purpose of identifying the factors that influence the process of developing and implementing the architectural program for building projects. This resulted in the identification of 28 factors, which were classified into several groups. A questionnaire was developed that included the identified factors to assess their level of importance. Responses to the survey were received from 50 Architectural/Engineering (A/E) design firms and three major owners of building projects. These 53 respondents were distributed throughout the Eastern Province, Riyadh and Jeddah in Saudi Arabia.FindingsThe research has confirmed the importance of all the identified factors, and identified the most influential factors in each of the factor groups. The survey findings indicate that the respondents recognize the significance of the factors that relate to the architectural programmer, the role of communication throughout the programming process, the program data, the management and control of the architectural programming process, the allocated time and budget, and the owner and their representatives, in descending order, respectively when endeavoring on the development and implementation of the architectural program for building projects.Originality/valueThis paper provides a practical value to architectural programmers, design professionals, facility managers, and building owners endeavoring on planning, designing, constructing, and operating new building projects.
Impact of the CFO's affiliation on auditor independence
Authors: Martinov‐Bennie Nonna , Cohen Jeffrey , Simnett Roger 
Published: September 2011

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the potential impact of two affiliation factors, as encapsulated by the chief financial officer's (CFO) prior organizational (alumnus vs non‐alumnus) and professional background (audit vs non‐audit ex‐partner), on auditor independence in post‐Enron and post‐HIH era.Design/methodology/approachThe study is a 2×2 factorial between subjects experimental design with 52 audit partners and managers as participants. The two manipulated independent variables are client CFO prior firm affiliation (alumni vs non‐alumni) and professional background (audit partner vs non‐audit partner providing taxation, accounting and other non‐audit services).FindingsThe results of the study do not appear to signal loss of independence and professional skepticism in auditors' judgment when dealing with an alumni or ex‐auditor CFO. On average, auditors' endorsement of the client's preferred aggressive accounting treatment is low and the audit adjustment is material and significantly greater than the client's proposed adjustment.Originality/valueThe 2001 corporate collapses of Enron in the USA and HIH in Australia have reshaped the auditing profession. HIH, the most publicized corporate fraud in Australia resulting in estimated losses of $5 billion, was partly blamed on Arthur Andersen yielding to management's aggressive accounting policies and failure to display independence as a result of close relationships between the former partners and the audit team. As distinct from a number of prior studies conducted pre‐Enron and pre‐HIH, the results of this study, conducted with experienced audit professionals in Australia, do not support a loss of independence and professional skepticism by auditors in the current post‐Enron and post‐HIH environment and are consistent with the findings of the only other recent experimental study by Kerler III and Killough examining the closeness of the auditor‐client relationship. The results are also consistent with results of recent archival studies which find a decline in earnings management behavior, either because of reduced management incentives or reduced auditor willingness to consent. The evidence of this study lends supports to the latter explanation.
Corporate environmental responsibility and audit risk
Authors: Mindak Mary , Heltzer Wendy 
Published: September 2011

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between and corporate environmental responsibility (CER) and audit risk.Design/methodology/approachA survey participation request was mailed to 5,008 US auditors at random. The request provided a link to an electronic survey. The final sample consists of anonymous responses from 163 auditors.FindingsThe authors find that auditors, on average, do not perceive a significant relationship between corporate environmental strengths and audit risk; however, they do perceive an increase in audit risk among firms with corporate environmental concerns. Use of CER in the risk assessment process also varies across types of CER: 15 per cent of auditors use corporate environmental strengths to assess audit risk, while 43 per cent of auditors use corporate environmental concerns to assess audit risk. Perception of the CER/audit risk relationship is a significant determinant of CER use. Finally, both types of CER are found to have average usefulness in the risk assessment process.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings are limited to US auditors; results may not be transferable to other countries.Originality/valueStudies involving the impact of CER on earnings generally involve archival data. By examining the impact of CER on audit risk, using a unique dataset, the authors present a different and timely setting to study the CER/earnings relationship. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first paper to document the relationship between CER and audit risk.