bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Offshore bankers' perception on Islamic banking niche for Labuan: an analysis
Authors: Baba Ricardo , Amin Hanudin 
Published: November 2009

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to detail the findings of a study to determine the viability of Islamic banking as a niche for the Labuan International Offshore Financial Center (IOFC). Labuan was declared an IOFC by the Malaysian Government in 1990, with the goal of developing it as a financial “supermarket” offering a wide range of offshore financial products specializing in Islamic finance.Design/methodology/approachThe paper employs the mail survey method to ensure the anonymity of the respondents and the whole population of banks are used, which enables the researchers to ignore the problems of bias in the sampling. Data collected from the survey are analyzed using descriptive statistics, mean, standard deviation, and frequency counts.FindingsThe results of the survey indicate that Labuan offshore bankers do not have a clear notion of Islamic banking principles and practices. The results also show that most of the offshore banks do not have officers and staff who are conversant with Islamic banking. Nevertheless, conventional offshore banks are willing to train their officers in Islamic banking skills and participate in future Islamic deals. The findings also indicate that Islamic banking is a viable niche for the Labuan IOFC. However, the results also show that Labuan does not have competitive advantages over Bahrain and London, currently the leading Islamic finance centers in the world.Research limitations/implicationsThere are three major limitations of this paper. These limitations are further explained in the conclusion's part.Practical implicationsThere are three major implications of these findings. First, the authorities ought to enhance the knowledge and expertise of the conventional offshore bankers by facilitating training in Islamic banking skills. Acquisition of such knowledge and skills would encourage them to participate in future Islamic banking deals. Second, the industry and the authorities responsible for the IOFC have to be both innovative and creative. In order to convince conventional offshore bankers that Islamic banking is a viable alternative to conventional banking the products and services offered must be seen as value added. A creative tax regime should have a substantial impact in terms of increased profit margin or reduced cost on the part of the offshore banks. Third, improving the physical infrastructure and overcoming the geographical location disadvantage of Labuan should become the priority of the authorities overseeing the development of Labuan as an IOFC.Originality/valueThe paper provides fresh results on the viability of Islamic banking operations in Labuan IOFC.
The influence of controllability on compensation: a view through data of Major League Baseball
Authors: Ou Wei‐Ming , Wang Hong‐Da 
Published: November 2009

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to illustrate the effect of controllability on compensation of Major League Baseball.Design/methodology/approachThe sample consists of Major League Baseball players who have publicly published compensations figures and who have actively played in the Major Leagues. All data used in the study are publicly available. Multiple regression is employed to test the relationship between player's performance and starting salary of the next season.FindingsThe paper proposes that strikeouts, bases on balls, and home runs are relatively controllable for both hitters and pitchers because these performance measures are essentially independent of other teammates' performance.Research limitations/implicationsThe distinctness of professional baseball players by nature may constrain the generalization of this paper. It is recommended that further interpretation of the effects of controllability on compensation for other high‐interdependency organizations should be made with caution.Originality/valueIt is suggested that managers in low‐interdependency organizations should make a stronger linkage between subordinates' controllable performance and their compensation. If the compensation plan is designed to maximize the subordinates' reward for performing a controllable task, they will be motivated to expend greater effort on it.
Intention to leave nursing
Authors: van der Heijden Beatrice I.J.M. , van Dam Karen , Hasselhorn Hans Martin 
Published: November 2009

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine potential predictors of nurses' intention to leave the nursing profession. Specifically, this study investigates whether perceptions of the interpersonal work environment, work‐home interference, and subsequent job satisfaction, would predict occupational turnover intentions beyond the impact of nurses' occupational commitment.Design/methodology/approachA questionnaire is completed twice, with a one‐year interval by 1,187 registered nurses. Data were collected between October 2002 and June 2003.FindingsThe outcomes of structural equation modelling analyses reveal that an unsupportive work environment, low leadership quality, and high work‐to‐home interference results in lower job satisfaction, which, in turn, predicts nurses' intention to leave the profession one year afterwards, when controls for occupational commitment. Work‐to‐home interference shows an additional, direct relationship with occupational turnover intentions.Practical implicationsThe findings have implications for organizational and individual interventions, indicating that nurses' withdrawal from the profession may be prevented by extending nurses' social support at work, helping them to combine work with non‐work, and improving the leadership quality of their supervisors.Originality/valueJob satisfaction and work‐context factors explain additional variance in intention to leave nursing, beyond the effect of occupational commitment. Leadership quality is the strongest predictor of intention to leave nursing. Job satisfaction plays an intervening role in the relationship between work context and intention to leave nursing.
Work‐family culture, work‐family interference and well‐being at work
Authors: Peeters Maria , Wattez Cobi , Demerouti Evangelia , de Regt Wietske 
Published: November 2009

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine whether work‐family (WF) interference functions as an explaining mechanism in the link between work‐family culture and well‐being, hereby distinguishing between a negative and a positive process. The negative, energy depleting process initiates from a hindrance work‐family culture and ends up to burnout through the experience of work‐family conflict. The positive, motivation generating process initiates from a supportive work‐family culture and ends up to work engagement through work‐family enrichment.Design/methodology/approachThe paper employs a quantitative study among employees from three different organizations (n=516).FindingsWork‐family conflict fully mediates the relationship between a hindrance WF‐culture and the exhaustion dimension of burnout and partially mediates the relationship between a hindrance WF‐culture and the cynicism dimension of burnout. With regard to the mediational role of work‐family enrichment the results also confirm the paper's hypothesis. Work‐family enrichment partially mediates the relationship between a supportive WF‐culture and work engagement. Interestingly, analyses of some alternative mediational paths reveal some additional findings. Specifically, a supportive work‐family culture relates to work engagement through the perception of less work‐family conflict. Moreover, a supportive culture is also related to less feelings of burnout through work‐family enrichment.Originality/valueThe study shows that it pays off to invest in a supportive work‐family culture because such a culture contributes to work engagement and in the same time helps to prevent burnout.
Business strategy and property strategy – how strong is the linkage?
Authors: McDonagh John , Nichols Gary 
Published: November 2009

PurposeThe purpose of this research is to investigate the strength of the link between overall business strategy and supporting property strategies in New Zealand organizations.Design/methodology/approachMost organizations develop strategic business plans as a foundation and focus for decision‐making. These business plans ideally take account of the existing and potential operating environment and the strengths and weaknesses of the individual organization. An organization's management of its property assets can be either a strength, or a weakness, but does this aspect figure prominently in many organizations' strategic business plans? This research utilized e‐mail surveys of 313 organisations in New Zealand to determine the strength of the linkage between their overall business strategy and their property strategy.FindingsNearly all organizations surveyed had a clearly defined overall business strategy but many did not put corresponding effort into real estate strategies. Even amongst those organizations with a property strategy, significant weaknesses were found in the linkage between this strategy and overall business strategy.Research limitations/implicationsFurther work can now be undertaken to measure the performance of organisations that have a strong connection between overall strategy and property strategy compared to those that do not. This may determine whether a strong connection does in fact correlate with business performance. If so, both academic and industry attention in New Zealand can then be focused on determining why some organizations' consideration of property as part of their overall business strategy is either non existent or ineffectual.Originality/valueCorporate Real Estate Asset Management (CREAM) research in a New Zealand context is limited. This paper examines relationships that earlier literature has determined are important, in a New Zealand context. It highlights differences in the way New Zealand organizations operated and provides a basis for further research that should lead to improved organizational performance.
Value management: raising CRE strategic relevance
Authors: Fisher Sally A. 
Published: November 2009

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to describe the need to go beyond relationship management to embrace the techniques of value management with details on why and how CRE managers should pursue this as a professional goal.Design/methodology/approachThis article discusses the experiences of the author working across multiple global corporate accounts. The article advances the discussion on how to strategically align and advance the performance of CRE departments to support business change for corporate competitive advantage.FindingsAs CRE managers strive to elevate their strategic relevance to the organization, they are challenged to go beyond relationship management. They are challenged to become value managers, capable of implementing corporate strategy anywhere and with anyone in the organization.Research limitations/implicationsFurther research is warranted into the perspectives of senior management on the contribution of CRE to the business planning process. CRE managers are often viewed as functional experts and may be overlooked as candidates for involvement in corporate management development programs.Practical implicationsCRE managers, in charge of business alignment, must turn a professional corner by focusing more on driving corporate value. A career choice is required to invest in the business and financial acumen needed to sit credibly at the planning table with senior management. The career path of the in‐house CRE manager is one of a general business manager, referred to in this article as a “value manager”.Originality/valueCRE managers are challenged to adopt the behavior, attitude and skill set of general business managers to arrive at solutions to business challenges. These challenges are cross‐functional in nature and often do not start nor end with real estate or, by extension, facilities. Thus, the role of relationship manager needs to evolve into a value manager, who possesses the skills of business planning, business case development, and cross‐functional project management.
Harmony or conflict?
Authors: Peng Jisheng , Zhong Weiguo , Wang Shihong 
Published: November 2009

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to analyze the coordination of Chinese technology policy and assess its contribution to technology progress and economy development.Design/methodology/approachA method was developed to assess the coordination and its tendency of technology policy based on technology policy quantification. In addition, econometric models were built to estimate performance of technology policy coordination.FindingsChinese technology policy coordination shows significant characteristics in different periods; the level of policy coordination is promoted rapidly because the institutional path‐dependence and the competition of benefits among departments have aggravated an already unbalanced emphasis on the wording of the technology policy during the process of economic and political reform. The coordination among departments, coordination of policy goals and coordination of policy means play different roles in technology progress and economy development.Research limitations/implicationsBecause of the limitation of data and time, the paper cannot assess the coordination among policy goals and policy means. Also, it is necessary to study the interaction of different principals and agencies during technology policy formulation and execution.Practical implicationsThe methods in the paper can easily be used by decision makers evaluating the situation of technology policy coordination, and optimize policy based on the relationship of different policy targets and policy implements, especially the interaction of different principals and agencies.Originality/valueThe paper develops a method to assess technology policy coordination based on technology policy quantification and builds econometric models to assess its contribution to technology progress and economy development.
Knowing the child consumer: historical and conceptual insights on qualitative children's consumer research
Authors: Cook Daniel Thomas 
Published: November 2009

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to offer a selective and necessarily truncated history of the place and use of qualitative approaches in the study of children's consumption in order to provide some depth of understanding regarding differences between and commonalities of approaches employed by academic market researchers, social science researchers and, to a lesser extent, market practitioners.Design/methodology/approachThe paper examines key research statements about children's consumption beginning in the 1930s to ascertain the underlying conception of the child informing the work.FindingsIt is argued that there has been a displacement of psychologically oriented, developmental conceptions of the child with sociological and anthropological conceptions resulting in an acceptance of the child as a more or less knowing, competent consumer. This shift has become manifest in a rise and acceptance of qualitative research on children's consumer behaviour by social science and marketing academics as well as by market practitioners such as market researchers.Research limitations/implicationsMethods – here qualitative methods – must be seen as enactments of theories about conceptions of the person, rather than simply as neutral tools that uncover extant truths.Practical implicationsAttending to how one “constructs” the child may usefully inform debates about the harmfulness or usefulness of goods and messages directed to children.Originality/valueThis paper helps in understanding the long history of children as consumers, how they have been understood and approached by market and academic researchers interested in consumption and various ways conceptions of ‘the child’ can be used.
Ambiguities and paradoxes in children's talk about marketing breakfast cereals with toys
Authors: Sparrman Anna 
Published: November 2009

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to understand, from children's perspectives, the commercial marketing strategy of selling breakfast cereals with “insert toys” targeted at children.Design/methodology/approachThe study is based on four focus group interviews conducted with 16 children (8‐9 years of age) concerning 18 different breakfast cereal packages. The theoretical framework integrates childhood sociology, critical discourse analysis and talk‐in‐interaction. This theoretical and methodological combination is used to show how children, in local micro settings of talk, make use of the discourses that are available to them to produce and reproduce social and cultural values about marketing with “insert toys”.FindingsThe present findings suggest that, from children's perspectives, “insert toys” are constituted by cultural and social patterns extending far beyond the “insert toy” itself. For example, the analysis shows that it is not biological age that defines what and how consumption is understood.Research limitations/implicationsThe focus group material provides understandings of marketing strategies and consumption practices from children's perspectives. When the children talk about children and adults, hybrid agents of the “child‐adult”, the “adult‐child” and the “childish child” are constructed. These hybrids contradict research that dichotomizes children and adults likewise children's understandings of consumption based on age stages. Accordingly, age is rationalized into an empirically investigated category rather than being used as a preset category set out to explain children's behaviours.Originality/valueAnalysis of the focus group interactions shows that the way the market and marketing as well as children and adults are talked about is crucial to understanding children's and parents' actions as consumers.
What makes me cool? Estonian tweens' interpretative repertoires
Authors: Keller Margit , Kalmus Veronika 
Published: November 2009

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to reveal how “cool” as a concept is constructed by urban tweens in the post‐socialist country Estonia.Design/methodology/approachThe data consist of 42 essays written by 12‐year‐old schoolchildren of a secondary school in Tallinn in 2007. Discourse analysis was used to discover interpretative repertoires, subject positions and ideological dilemmas in the essays.Findings“Cool” is primarily constructed within three interpretative repertoires: cool as appearance, cool as leisure and cool as sports and hobbies. The main subject positions are young expert consumer, fun‐lover/pleasure‐seeker, achiever and creator. The main ideological dilemma is between individual distinction and fitting and merging into the group.Research limitations/implicationsThe essays are rather brief and normative statements of what qualifies as “cool”. However, a certain degree of social desirability constitutes the value of these texts, revealing what Estonian tweens consider to be norms and shared beliefs.Practical implicationsThe paper addresses the prominent place consumerism occupies in tweens' everyday life. It opens up the world of meaning‐making of “cool” by tweens, offering an insight into which repertoires responsible marketers could use to empower young consumers.Originality/valueThe paper sheds light on tweens' complicated symbolic and material worlds in a post‐socialist context, providing a continuum of meanings of “cool” and its relationships with the consumer and peer culture.
How fairness garners loyalty in the pharmaceutical supply chain
Authors: Jambulingam Thani , Kathuria Ravi , Nevin John R. 
Published: November 2009

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to understand how fairness garners loyalty by breeding trust in the pharmaceutical wholesaler‐pharmacy relationship. Specifically, the paper seeks to understand if the two dimensions of fairness – procedural and distributive – contribute differently in fostering the two types of trust – credibility and benevolence. The paper further aims to examine how the two dimensions of trust mediate the fairness‐loyalty relationship.Design/methodology/approachData from 156 retail pharmacies on their relationship with the pharmaceutical wholesalers are used to test the hypotheses. The mediation models are tested using the Barron and Kenny procedure.FindingsThe findings of this paper show the importance of both procedural and distributive aspects of fairness on the part of pharmaceutical wholesalers as perceived by the pharmacies. Each aspect of fairness plays a more prominent role for fostering a particular type of trust, which, in turn, leads to loyalty.Research limitations/implicationsFuture research may investigate the antecedents to fairness to unearth additional insights as to how organizations can manage their customers' perceptions of fairness and thereby enhance their trust and loyalty.Practical implicationsPharmaceutical wholesale is a competitive business to retain pharmacies by building loyalty thus balancing pharmacies' dependence on the more powerful pharmaceutical manufacturers in the pharmaceutical supply chain. Given the intense competition, the wholesaler that does a superior job in creating a competitive advantage leveraging fairness to engender trust will get to benefit in recruiting and retaining more pharmacies.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to the fairness‐trust‐loyalty stream of literature by examining the mediation effects at the sub‐dimension level of the fairness and trust constructs. The paper also has practical implications, especially given the low gross margins for pharmaceutical wholesalers and the growing threat of direct distribution of pharmaceuticals or disintermediation by the manufacturers using third party logistics companies, such as united parcel service. The paper shows how wholesalers may be able to build loyalty with the pharmacies by signaling fairness and fostering trust.
The relevance of marketing activities in the Swiss prescription drugs market
Authors: Stros Michael , Hari Juerg , Marriott John 
Published: November 2009

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to identify the most relevant marketing factors and examine existing theories and to provide guidance for planning future studies. Since drug markets are very complex, this paper will focus on a particular market/country to reduce some of this complexity.Design/methodology/approachA serial research study is undertaken to examine the essential marketing success factors by means of two qualitative studies applying Focus group and Delphi survey techniques. Swiss healthcare professionals in middle and senior management positions (Focus group n=5, Delphi group n=11) are asked to voice their personal opinion regarding the importance of various factors that might influence the turnover of prescription drugs. The fundamental findings derived from the Focus group interview are used for the Delphi group survey set‐up. To reach a consensus within the Delphi group, a three‐step interactive procedure is applied. For the evaluation of the Focus group results, a content analysis is performed. The results of the Delphi study are investigated, using descriptive statistics.FindingsThe paper ultimately yields a ranking of 29 instruments perceived to be important in the marketing of pharmaceuticals in Switzerland. With this paper, the proposed model and its propositions could be supported.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper investigates their relevance based upon practical experience of Swiss health care professionals and is therefore somewhat limited to the Swiss market.Practical implicationsIn the Swiss market, successful marketing has to consider appropriate product properties including issues such as efficacy and safety plus a promotion policy that emphasizes relationship with opinion leaders and personal selling. Additionally, it is vital that the product is also distributed via sales channels such as hospitals and physicians and that the product will be reimbursed by health insurance.Originality/valueThese findings will enable pharmaceutical companies to improve their sales success. The proposed model can be extended to other markets and countries.