Search results

The purpose of this paper is to assess the levels of burnout experienced by accounting and finance academics in Ireland.

Data for this cross‐sectional survey study were collected from 100 accounting and finance academics teaching in Irish third level institutions. Independent sample t‐tests, one way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and step‐wise multiple regression analysis were used to analyse the data.

Results indicate that the majority of accounting and finance academics experience low or average burnout with regard to emotional exhaustion and depersonalisation but encounter a high degree of burnout with regard to personal accomplishment. While none of the background or workload variables captured in the study explain variation in the levels of burnout experienced, some aspects of job satisfaction are significant predictors of the three dimensions of burnout.

The cross‐sectional design of this study does not allow causal inferences to be made. Furthermore, since all data were self‐reported, it is possible that common method variance may be an issue. Despite these limitations, results suggest that increasing faculty members’ job satisfaction can be a useful strategy for preventing academic burnout.

This is the first study to examine the issue of burnout among academics in an Irish context. Moreover, it is one of the few studies, which has explored the phenomenon of burnout among university faculty members.

All items listed may be borrowed from the Aslib Library, except those marked, which may be consulted in the Library.

The aim of this study is to better understand service supply chain management by analysing the professional service supply chain in professional service firms (PSFs) and exploring how the high performance work systems (HPWS) influence professional service supply chain performance. In addition, this study seeks to examine the relationship between professional service supply chain performance and the overall organizational performance.

Analysis of PSF suggests a three‐step of professional service supply chain as the clients' requests, partners forming working teams or so‐called team formation and utilization, and delivering of solutions or services to clients. Based on extensive literature review, the authors hypothesize that HPWS have a positive impact on the professional service supply chain performance and the team formation and utilization mediates the link. They also hypothesize the positive link between the professional service supply chain performance and the overall organisational firm performance. Employing survey method, data was collected from 93 accounting firms at two time points. In May 2010 (Time 1), a survey including questions on HPWS, team formation and utilization and professional service supply chain performance were sent out to the managing partners and HR directors in accounting firms based in Ireland. Around one year later (Time 2), another survey measuring firm performance was sent out. This data allowed the authors to establish causal pattern in their results. Hierarchical regression analysis was used to analyse data to test hypotheses.

The results indicate the positive link between HPWS and the professional service supply chain performance. The team formation and utilization mediates the above relationship. In addition, professional service supply chain performance was found to be positively linked to the firm performance.

The present study is limited in terms of sample size, single industry and self‐report data. Future research also needs to examine more mediators or moderators – the mechanisms through which HPWS work on the professional service supply chain.

Firms using higher level of HPWS experience better professional service supply chain performance. Human resource management practices that promote employees' ability, motivation and opportunities which allow teams to be formed more effectively to work with clients enhance organizational performance and higher profit levels. Managers able to effectively adopt and implement these teamwork‐based HR practices and encourage and support employees' collaboration through such practices enhance the firm's professional service supply chain effectiveness and its organisational performance.

The authors' study focuses on the service supply chain management operations within the professional service firms. In doing so, their research answers the call by Ellram et al. for more supply chain management research with respect to the service sector. It addresses a significant research gap identified by Rahman and Wu, namely, “relatively little attention has been given to the service suppliers' perspective”. By linking service supply chain management and human resource management, this study also answers a few calls for more research on the interaction of human resource management and supply chain management, service supply chain and human resource management in professional service firms.

This is one of the few studies to analyse the professional service supply chain management and assess the human resource management and supply chain management link. Moreover, it is the first study which empirically establishes the link between human resource management and professional service supply chain performance in PSFs.

This chapter reports on one faculty member’s experience introducing a service learning component into a sequence of required courses in a College of education at a University in the United Arab Emirates. This study identifies local issues associated with introducing service learning into the curriculum and examines students’ perceptions of self, attitudes toward service to others, and service as leadership and outcomes. Relatively little evidence exists in the Middle East of the actual processes involved in developing and implementing service learning programs and the relevant connections that can be made to Islamic principles for community advocacy and leadership.

This survey is not comprehensive. It is highly selective and intended to keep the reader informed of significant new ideas and developments. All unsigned abstracts are prepared by members of Aslib's staff. We should he grateful to any reader who would notify us of worth‐while articles in the field of documentation from unlikely sources.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how a system of human resource management (HRM) practices, labelled high-performance work systems (HPWS), influences organizational innovation in professional service firms (PSFs). In this study, innovation in PSFs is seen as an indicator of firm performance and is calculated as the revenue per person generated from new clients and new services, respectively.

Quantitative data were collected from 195 managing partners, HR managers or experienced Partners in 120 Irish accounting firms. Hierarchical regression analysis was used to test the hypotheses.

The analysis results indicate strong support for the mediating role of employees’ innovative work behaviours in the relationship between HPWS and two types of PSFs’ innovation performance.

Managers need to effectively adopt and implement innovation-based HRM practices to encourage and support employees’ creative thinking and innovation. Through the adoption and utilization of these practices managers can enhance the firm’s innovation and its performance.

This study contributes to our understanding of the link between HRM and firm innovation by explicating a pathway between these variables. This study also generalizes consistent findings on the HRM-firm innovation relationship to a different context, i.e. PSFs.

The purpose of this essay is to survey the ethical guidelines Red Cross personnel use to determine the appropriate course of action when faced with morally dilemmatic situations, such as whether or not to accept private donations to fund humanitarian operations.

A review of the principles which buttress and guide all Red Cross action is presented along with two case studies – one in which the Solomon Islands Red Cross Society refused money from a controversial mining company, which could have been used to assist flood victims, and the other in which the Nigerian Red Cross Society accepted money from oil companies that have been historically ethically-challenged – which illustrate the necessity of contextual analysis in making these decisions.

The principles upon which all Red Cross actions are based – humanity, impartiality, neutrality, independence – provide the guidelines by which to evaluate whether or not to accept private, corporate donations. The Red Cross principles-based ethics allows for seemingly contradictory decisions to be reached in different countries and contexts, but in manners which are ethically coherent and transparent.

This paper sets the foundation for future research into what guides humanitarian organizations as they carry out their life-sustaining operations. Organizations which use such ethical principles to determine the appropriateness of their actions should benefit from transparently demonstrating this.

Case studies from recent disasters demonstrate the value of using ethical guidelines to evaluate donor suitability. This rigor and transparency benefits not only the Red Cross and other humanitarian organizations, but most importantly those rendered vulnerable by disaster around the world.

The purpose of this paper is to present the knowledge gained from the experiences of community-based, women-led organizations of workers in the informal economy which strengthen food security, enhance livelihoods in peri-urban areas through solidarity economy initiatives, and advance women’s empowerment as they respond to disasters arising from climate change.

This paper is based on case studies of Buklod Tao in San Mateo, Rizal, and the PATAMABA chapter in Sta. Barbara, Iloilo. The study was conducted within the tradition of gender-responsive participatory action research anchored on a human rights-based approach.

Experience of flooding motivated mature organizations of women informal workers to establish community-based peri-urban gardens connected to other solidarity-based sustainable livelihood initiatives to address food security concerns, increase income, and mitigate the impact of similar disasters. Although women have been empowered through these initiatives, much still has to be done to transform gender relations in various spheres.

This research process lends itself toward unearthing gender inequalities which would otherwise remain hidden.

The solidarity-based initiatives documented in these case studies may be adopted by women informal workers’ organizations in similar situations to advocate for and attain food security.

Solidarity-based strategies to attain food security among women informal workers are rarely documented for assessment and knowledge sharing. How they are or can be further empowered by these initiatives is a significant contribution to the literature on gender and disasters.