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1 – 10 of 158Prabod Dharshana Munasinghe, D.G.K. Dissanayake and Angela Druckman
The process of fashion design varies between market segments, yet these variations have not yet been properly explored. This study aims to examine the fashion design process as…
Abstract
Purpose
The process of fashion design varies between market segments, yet these variations have not yet been properly explored. This study aims to examine the fashion design process as practised at the mass-market level, as this is the most vibrant and the largest market segment in terms of production volumes and sales.
Design/methodology/approach
It is observed that 15 semi-structured interviews were conducted with mass-market fashion designers. Key activities of the mass-market design process were identified and a comparative analysis was conducted with the general design process.
Findings
The mass-market design process is found to prioritise profits rather than aesthetic aspects, with the buyer exercising more power than the designer. This hinders creativity, which, in turn, may impede a move towards more environmentally benign designs.
Originality/value
The clothing industry is responsible for high environmental impacts and many of these impacts arise through decisions made in the design stage. In particular, the mass-market for clothing because of its high volume of sales and fast throughput, accounts for a great deal of the impact. However, little is understood about the design process that is practised in the mass-fashion market. This paper fills the gap by developing a framework that describes the mass-market design process. Understanding the design process will enable progress to be made towards achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 12: Responsible Consumption and Production.
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James Brackley, Penelope Tuck and Mark Exworthy
This paper examines the contested value of healthy life and wellbeing in a context of severe austerity, exploring how the value of “Public Health” is constructed through and with…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper examines the contested value of healthy life and wellbeing in a context of severe austerity, exploring how the value of “Public Health” is constructed through and with material-discursive practices and accounting representations. It seeks to explore the political and ethical implications of constructing the valuable through a shared consensus over the “facts” when addressing complex, multi-agency problems with long time horizons and outcomes that are not always easily quantifiable.
Design/methodology/approach
The theorisation, drawing on science and technology studies (STS) scholars and Karen Barad's (2007) agential realism, opens up the analysis to the performativity of both material and discursive practices in the period following a major re-organisation of activity. The study investigates two case authorities in England and the national regulator through interviews, observations and documentary analysis.
Findings
The paper demonstrates the deeply ethical and political entanglements of accounting representations as objectivity, consensus and collective action are constructed and resisted in practice. It goes on to demonstrate the practical challenges of constructing “alternative accounts” and “intelligent accountabilities” through times of austerity towards a shared sense of public value and suggests austerity measures make such aims both more challenging and all the more essential.
Originality/value
Few studies in the accounting literature have explored the full complexity of valuation practices in non-market settings, particularly in a public sector context; this paper, therefore, extends familiar conceptual vocabulary of STS inspired research to further explore how value(s), ethics and identity all play a crucial role in making things valuable.
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James Harrington and John McCaskill
This study examines the relationship between goal properties, both at the employee and organizational-level, and the perceived fairness of the performance appraisal system by…
Abstract
Purpose
This study examines the relationship between goal properties, both at the employee and organizational-level, and the perceived fairness of the performance appraisal system by federal employees.
Design/methodology/approach
We describe the theoretical framework regarding goals and employee perceptions of performance appraisal fairness. We then develop and test four hypotheses, exploring the relationships among variables using five years of the FEVS data. To strengthen the research design, we created an agency-level dataset, by calculating agency-level averages for all the covariates. Instead of examining 500,000 federal employees each year, we are examining 80 federal agencies. Creating a panel dataset at the agency level allows us to make stronger statements about causality than using cross-sectional data.
Findings
This study finds a significant positive relationship between goal setting factors and employees' perceived fairness of performance appraisals: perceived employee-level goal difficulty and perceived organizational-level goal specificity at the agency level. The study results show that certain control variables, such as intrinsic motivation, play important roles in predicting public employees' perceived fairness of performance appraisals. Federal employees who have a higher level of intrinsic motivation show a more positive perception toward performance appraisal fairness. The appropriate use of extrinsic rewards and intrinsic motivation, combined with effective goal setting strategies in public organizations, may enhance public employees' perceived fairness of performance appraisal systems.
Research limitations/implications
This study used the FEVS, necessitating the reduction of the sample size to agency level averages to create a panel dataset. Also, this study was limited to federal agencies in the United States, so research results may lack generalizability.
Originality/value
This paper fulfills an identified need to avoid cross-sectional research design and leverage longitudinal panel data.
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Matteo Cristofaro, Mario Hayek, Wallace A. Williams, Jr, Christopher Michael Hartt and Joyce T. Heames
Social capital, an important mechanism for the creation and maintenance of healthy organizational life, may be developed through initiatives such as leadership development as…
Abstract
Social capital, an important mechanism for the creation and maintenance of healthy organizational life, may be developed through initiatives such as leadership development as effective leadership development not only enhances individual effectiveness, but serves to build relationships, coordinate actions, and extend and strengthen the social network. An ongoing iterative process which engages all participants such as action learning can facilitate this process. This research supports the connection between leadership development and social capital based on an extended action learning engagement in a healthcare system.
Heidi C. Gonzalez, E-Ling Hsiao, Dianne C. Dees, Sherri R. Noviello and Brian L. Gerber
The lack of critical thinking in new graduates has been a concern to the nursing profession. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of an innovative…
Abstract
Purpose
The lack of critical thinking in new graduates has been a concern to the nursing profession. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of an innovative, evidence-based skills fair intervention on nursing students' achievements and perceptions of critical thinking skills development.
Design/methodology/approach
The explanatory sequential mixed-methods design was employed for this study.
Findings
The findings indicated participants perceived the intervention as a strategy for developing critical thinking.
Originality/value
The study provides educators helpful information in planning their own teaching practice in educating students.
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The International Leadership Association’s Guiding Questions: Guidelines for Leadership Education Programs (Ritch & Mengel, 2009) provides a framework to attend to leadership…
Abstract
The International Leadership Association’s Guiding Questions: Guidelines for Leadership Education Programs (Ritch & Mengel, 2009) provides a framework to attend to leadership program development, redesign, evaluation, organized program review, questions concerning academic legitimacy and developing common program benchmarks. This article provides a critique of the Guiding Questions: Guidelines for Leadership Education Programs and, in particular, the five major categories: Conceptual Framework, Context, Content, Teaching and Learning, and Outcomes/Assessment. The article also draws upon scholarly research within the field to provide both breadth and depth to the different Guiding Questions categories. Finally, the goal of this article is to encourage a collaborative dialogue which will ultimately increase the effectiveness of the Guiding Questions.
Umar Farooq, Mosab I. Tabash, Ahmed Abousamak and Samar Habib
Corporate firms often follow their peer firms to articulate multiple financial decisions. Among the others, trade credit policy is a vital financial decision that can impart its…
Abstract
Purpose
Corporate firms often follow their peer firms to articulate multiple financial decisions. Among the others, trade credit policy is a vital financial decision that can impart its dynamic role in achieving financial efficiency. Therefore, the current analysis aims to assess the role of herding behavior in determining the trade credit policies of corporate firms and its relevant effect on corporate financial performance.
Design/methodology/approach
For this purpose, the financial data of 13089 nonfinancial sector firms from 50 countries are employed and the dynamic generalized method of moments (GMM) model to estimate the regression is applied.
Findings
The empirical findings first reveal that corporate firms actively mimic their peer firms regarding trade credit policies. However, this mimicking behavior hampers the financial performance due to noncompatibility with peers’ trade credit policies. Peer firms often develop such trade credit policies that are not applicable to corporate firms.
Practical implications
Mainly, the findings of the study suggest two implications. First, it highlights the peer effect in terms of trade credit patterns. Second, it elaborates an adverse effect regarding financial performance due to herding of peers’ trade credit policies.
Originality/value
This study adds new thoughts regarding herding behavior in terms of trade credit policy and its possible consequences for corporate financial performance. No study explores such a relationship.
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Francesco James Mazzocchini and Caterina Lucarelli
This paper aims to provide a multidisciplinary framework that allows an integrated understanding of reasons of success or failure in equity crowdfunding (ECF), a Fintech digital…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to provide a multidisciplinary framework that allows an integrated understanding of reasons of success or failure in equity crowdfunding (ECF), a Fintech digital innovation of the traditional entrepreneurial finance, defining a future research agenda.
Design/methodology/approach
A systematic literature review (SLR) has been conducted on 127 documents extracted from two multidisciplinary repositories (Elsevier’s Scopus and Clarivate Analytics Web of Science) for the period between 2015 and early 2022. After a systematized series of inclusion and exclusion criteria, in line with the objectives and conceptual boundaries, a final list of 32 peer-reviewed articles written in English was analyzed by the authors through a meta-synthesis and thematic analysis to identify the key themes and dominant concepts.
Findings
Results show that the body of literature is recent and fast growing. The proposed integrative framework of existing research indicates that the outcome of an ECF campaign is related to signals conveyed by entrepreneurs in the form of hard information (firm characteristics, financial information, business characteristics and project description) and soft information (intellectual capital, human capital, social capital and social media network), catalyzed by digital media that facilitate also personal interactions between entrepreneurs and investors. Similarly, external factors (investors and campaign characteristics, with the fundamental role of ECF platform managers in building trust between entrepreneurs and investors) allow for the alleviation of information asymmetries. The present study sheds light on which signal mechanisms are decisive in improving the outcome, taking into consideration various disciplines which follow different but complementary perspectives.
Practical implications
Entrepreneurs should adapt to the transition toward the digital era, exploiting alternative financial instruments and learning effective signaling strategies, within a large variety of skills requested. Platform managers can obtain more focused information on selected entrepreneurial projects more efficiently.
Originality/value
Although it is fast-growing, the field of research is very recent, still fragmented and limited to the perspective/discipline followed. This SLR is, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, the first multidisciplinary and integrative analysis of reasons that motivates success, or failure, of an equity-based crowdfunding campaign. The digital nature of ECF encourages future research to move toward more pioneering and unconventional theories and research methods. Hence, the authors add to the existing literature by proposing future patterns of research based on an integration of highly technological skills and behavioral/psychological approaches.
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