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1 – 10 of over 7000Niloofar Solhjoo, Maja Krtalić and Anne Goulding
This paper introduces more-than-human perspective in information behaviour and information experience studies. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to understandings of the…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper introduces more-than-human perspective in information behaviour and information experience studies. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to understandings of the concept of multispecies families by exploring their significant dimensions related to information phenomena involving multiple contexts, situations, spaces, actors, species, and activities.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on previous research in human information behaviour and human-animal studies, our ideas around information experience of multispecies families are developed conceptually. The paper builds both on previous empirical findings about human information behaviour and the new domain of information experience.
Findings
The paper proposes a holistic approach both to information phenomena in everyday living with companion animals including embodied, affective, cognitive, social, digital, and objectual information that shapes pet care and management practices, and to the context of study, including work, domestic, and leisure aspects of multispecies family.
Originality/value
This study broadens our understanding of information phenomena in multispecies families, and so contributes to the field of information experience. It also provides insights for animal welfare scientists to help them understand the information behaviour of humans who are responsible for keeping and caring for animals.
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Reading the works of Charles Bukowski is a male, and by extension, masculine activity, and as such it can make a female reader feel as if she is trespassing into some male…
Abstract
Purpose
Reading the works of Charles Bukowski is a male, and by extension, masculine activity, and as such it can make a female reader feel as if she is trespassing into some male preserve. Arguably, in entering many organisations, women experience similar feelings. The purpose of this paper is to offer an account of the process of reading Charles Bukowski's novel Post Office as a woman.
Design/methodology/approach
In order to evoke her response to the text of Post Office and to reclaim her feminine identity in the face of Bukowski's masculinist project, the author adopts a multilayered, art‐based methodological approach using Bukowski's text as well as her own, Bukowski's biographer's, texts of a number of theorists of research methodology, visual illustrations and notes.
Findings
Through the original use of arts‐based methodology, the paper offers insights into the embodied, situated experience of reading Post Office, and gives an account of the author's reflections on organisational sexism, brutality and escape in the novel.
Originality/value
Drawing the attention to the multilayered interweavings of novel, author, organisation, analyst and discipline, the paper moves us beyond a representational reading of Post Office to consider the materiality of the text within the productive assemblage of organisational theory.
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Charles A. Kramer and Stuart A. Allen
Previous literature suggests that exposure to trauma has both positive and negative impacts on leadership and leadership development, although there is a lack of empirical…
Abstract
Previous literature suggests that exposure to trauma has both positive and negative impacts on leadership and leadership development, although there is a lack of empirical research. This exploratory study compared military leaders’ use of transformational leadership styles (TLS) before and after trauma exposure from the followers’ perspective. This study used a retrospective pretest design to survey veteran and active duty military personnel. Significant differences were found between pre- and post-trauma exposure TLS ratings, with a mean decline in the TLS after trauma exposure. The analysis of the open-ended questions indicated a reduction in the use of the TLS after trauma, but identified positive changes in some cases. There was no evidence that changes in the TLS were concentrated in any of the five styles.
DURING much of the Second World War, the affairs of the Library Association were conducted for the Council by an Emergency Committee. The record of its meeting on 10th June 1941…
Abstract
DURING much of the Second World War, the affairs of the Library Association were conducted for the Council by an Emergency Committee. The record of its meeting on 10th June 1941, includes the following: “A resolution having been received suggesting that a committee be formed to consider post‐war reconstruction, it was resolved that by means of a notice in the LIBRARY ASSOCIATION RECORD, Branches and Sections should be invited to formulate suggestions for the consideration of the committee. A draft questionnaire for the purpose of an enquiry into the effects of the war on the public library service was approved”. In July, the Committee reported “further arrangements … for carrying out an exhaustive survey designed to give the necessary data for full and detailed consideration and ultimate recommendation as to the future of public libraries, their administration and their place in the social services”. The promised notice appeared as an editorial in September.
Charles Jebarajakirthy and Paramaporn Thaichon
The leading multinational companies tend to expand their marketing activities to bottom of pyramid (BOP) market. The BOP market comprises many segments, however, little is known…
Abstract
Purpose
The leading multinational companies tend to expand their marketing activities to bottom of pyramid (BOP) market. The BOP market comprises many segments, however, little is known about the purchase behaviour of BOP market or segments therein. Microcredit provides credit access to customers in BOP market. The purpose of this paper is to investigate youth’s intentions of obtaining microcredit in the post-war era, which could be a segment of BOP market.
Design/methodology/approach
The sample comprised 1,250 youth aged 18-27 selected from the Northern Province of Sri Lanka. Surveys were administered for data collection. After testing measurement model, two structural models – full model and non-mediated model (direct effects model) were run to test hypotheses.
Findings
Positive affect, subjective norms, entrepreneurial desire and self-identity enhanced intentions of obtaining microcredit, whereas perceived deterrents reduced those intentions. Additionally, self-identity mediated the association between positive affect, entrepreneurial desire, perceived behavioural control and knowledge of microcredit, and intentions of obtaining microcredit.
Research limitations/implications
This study was conducted amongst youth in one country. Also, the data were cross-sectional. Hence, the model needs testing with youth and adults in other post-war contexts and with longitudinal data.
Practical implications
The findings of this study inform how effectively microcredit can be marketed to youth in post-war contexts and to the other segments of BOP market.
Originality/value
A unique purchase behavioural model is suggested with the mediating role of self-identity, to enhance intentions of obtaining microcredit in BOP markets, such as youth in post-war contexts. This study contributes to literature relating to purchase behaviour and self-identity, with particular reference to BOP market.
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Packeted, ready‐to‐eat breakfast foods, instant no‐work nourishment before you start the day, are such a part of the modern way of life that it's hard to believe they are now…
Abstract
Packeted, ready‐to‐eat breakfast foods, instant no‐work nourishment before you start the day, are such a part of the modern way of life that it's hard to believe they are now nearly 100 years old. And it all started with the so‐aptly‐named Mr Perky.
The purpose of this paper is to address the ideological narratives which came to comprise a new welfare consensus in the USA and subsequently a welfare state which was more…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to address the ideological narratives which came to comprise a new welfare consensus in the USA and subsequently a welfare state which was more fiscally austere, demeaning, and coercive. It also explores the role of the political and financial restructuring which facilitated the implementation of retrogressive reforms.
Design/methodology/approach
Macro-level historical forces are investigated through various texts such as policy statements, journal articles, press releases, political addresses, congressional transcripts and testimony, archived papers, newspaper articles, and occasional sound bites and popular culture references pertaining to welfare and which have come to construct the common understanding of it.
Findings
The formation of this consensus was due in part to three factors: first, the growth of and increased influence of an elite policy planning network; second, welfare program administration and financing had been decentralized which allowed greater autonomy of state and local governments to implement their own retrogressive reforms; and third, there emerged an overarching discourse and paradigm for structuring policy and explaining the causes of poverty which emphasized individual behavior.
Originality/value
This paper focusses on the materialization of the contemporary welfare consensus during the 1980s and 1990s in terms of its ideological and political history and on its persistence which has affected the ensuing policy culture and which continues to constrain anti-poverty policy discourse as well as what can be accomplished legislatively. The paper is of value for for readers, fields, courses with work that encompasses an examination of political and social theory, ideology, social policy, power/hegemony, poverty, inequality, families, gender, race, and meaning making institutions.
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Zahid Iqbal, Zia-ur-Rehman Rao and Hassan Ahmad
To improve the loan repayment performance (LRP) of microfinance banks (MFBs) in Pakistan, this study aims to look at the direct impact of multiple borrowing (MB) on LRP and…
Abstract
Purpose
To improve the loan repayment performance (LRP) of microfinance banks (MFBs) in Pakistan, this study aims to look at the direct impact of multiple borrowing (MB) on LRP and client-business performance (CBP), as well as the direct impact of CBP on LRP. The moderating function of pandemic factors in the relationship between MB and CBP, as well as the mediating effect of CBP in the association between MB and LRP, was also investigated in this study.
Design/methodology/approach
A questionnaire was used to obtain data from 531 lower-level workers of microfinance institutions (MFIs) for the study. The respondents were chosen using stratified sampling, which divided the target population into four influential groups: lending officers in agriculture, lending officers in businesses, lending officers in gold loans and lending officers in salary loans. In this study, a two-stage structural equation modeling approach was used, including a measurement model (outer model) and a structural model (inner model). The validity and reliability of the questionnaire were investigated using the measurement model (outer model), whereas PLS-SEM bootstrapping was performed to test the hypothesis and find the relationship among different underpinning constructs by using the structural model (inner model).
Findings
The outcomes of this study demonstrate that MB has a direct impact on CBP, and that CBP has a direct impact on LRP. MB, on the contrary, had no direct and significant impact on LRP in this study. The idea that CBP mediates the relationship between MB and LRP, as well as the moderating effect of pandemic factors on the relationship between MB and CBP, is supported by this research.
Originality/value
Until now, the influence of MB on LRP via the mediating role of CBP and the moderating role of a pandemic factor in the setting of Pakistani MFBs has received little attention. During the COVID-19 pandemic, this research also aids MFBs in better understanding MB and its impact on LRP. Furthermore, based on the findings of this study, Pakistani MFIs can enhance their LRP by implementing new lending regulations, particularly with reference to MB and the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Roger Brooksbank and Sam Fullerton
In revisiting Festinger's theory of cognitive dissonance, this paper seeks to go beyond traditional business-to-consumer (B2C) research parameters and explore the full extent of…
Abstract
Purpose
In revisiting Festinger's theory of cognitive dissonance, this paper seeks to go beyond traditional business-to-consumer (B2C) research parameters and explore the full extent of its potential application within a New Zealand business-to-business (B2B) purchasing context.
Design/methodology/approach
The study's core findings are based on four separate focus group discussions with B2B salespeople. Responses were recorded and analysed according to the manifest content of the discussions. These focus groups were preceded by, and followed up with, two other enquiries that sought the perspectives of B2B buyers.
Findings
Intended for use as a learning tool for aspiring B2B salespeople and their instructors, a new typology of four generic potential post-decision ‘cognitive states’ is proposed, which, depending on the scenario at hand, will likely reflect the buyer's mindset.
Research limitations/implications
The generalisation of findings may be somewhat limited because the focus groups were drawn from a convenience sample totalling just 20 practitioners. Some participants might also have felt slightly constrained, leading to opinions that are subject to bias.
Practical implications
Examples of differing buying scenarios are profiled and explained from the perspective of their implications for salespeople. Suggestions as to how sellers can best accommodate the post-decision cognitive states experienced by their buyers are delineated.
Originality/value
Conventional wisdom suggests that post-purchase cognitive dissonance is the sole ‘cognitive state’ towards which a B2B salesperson needs to be attuned to for the purpose of taking some form of accommodating action. However, this study indicates that three other states relating to the aftermath of a buyer's decision, whether a purchase is made or not, also merit attention.
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The article draws on a mixed method study of US airline pilots in order to examine the impact of corporate downsizing on pilots' trust, morale, and organizational commitment. The…
Abstract
Purpose
The article draws on a mixed method study of US airline pilots in order to examine the impact of corporate downsizing on pilots' trust, morale, and organizational commitment. The aim of the paper is to review current literature on downsizing and high‐risk teams and to identify gaps in the understanding of how external influences like downsizing can impact high‐risk team's operational performance through an increase in mistakes, distraction, and stress.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were obtained from 127 in depth pilot survey responses from captains and first officers from major US airlines and 43 semi‐structured interviews of one to two hours in length.
Findings
Commercial pilots working in downsized airlines reported increased stress, distraction, and suspicion with a corresponding reduction in trust, morale, and organizational commitment.
Research limitations/implications
The article contributes to the literature in corporate downsizing and high‐risk team performance. Insights from these areas provide a lens by which to evaluate post‐9/11 managerial decision‐making in one high‐risk field, aviation, with implications for leadership in other fields of risky work.
Originality/value
Although research examining leadership and teamwork in high‐risk fields has been growing, few studies consider managerial decisions and the resultant organizational climate within which these teams must operate, particularly in the post‐9/11 period. Findings suggest that this is a unique, emerging area that warrants further research.
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