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1 – 10 of 20Stephanie Gabrielle Moffett, Laura Bradley, Alison Hampton and Pauric McGowan
This research aims to better understand the Zillennial Generation within the workplace, specifically using the perspectives of Business Stakeholders within the context of Northern…
Abstract
Purpose
This research aims to better understand the Zillennial Generation within the workplace, specifically using the perspectives of Business Stakeholders within the context of Northern Ireland. Understanding the perceptions of Zillennials in the workplace is important due to their growing numbers and subsequent impact on the future of work.
Design/Methodology/Approach
A case study approach is used to gain a deeper understanding of stakeholder opinions and experiences of Zillennials. The authors draw on extant research and use semi-structured interviews to explore the experiences and views of stakeholders within three case firms employing Zillennials.
Findings
The study concludes that discrepancies can be seen between Zillennial performance and behaviour, compared with Business Stakeholder workplace expectations. Findings suggest that according to Business Stakeholders observations, Zillennials display some, but not all, attributes of Generation Z and Millennials. Business Stakeholders observations also reveal that Zillennials demonstrate some, but not all, entrepreneurial behaviours and competencies.
Originality/Value
While many studies focus on both Generation Z and Millennials, research focused on unique cusp generations is limited. No research has been conducted that investigates the perception of Zillennials within the context of Northern Ireland.
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Alison Hampton, Pauric McGowan and Sarah Cooper
Despite recognition of the value of networking, there has been little research into the networks of female entrepreneurial practitioners, particularly in the science, engineering…
Abstract
Purpose
Despite recognition of the value of networking, there has been little research into the networks of female entrepreneurial practitioners, particularly in the science, engineering and technology (SET) sectors, viewed traditionally as male‐dominated. This paper aims to provide greater insights into the dynamics and quality of female entrepreneurial networks.
Design/methodology/approach
Insights were derived through a qualitative, in‐depth, interview‐based study of 18 female entrepreneurs operating SET‐based ventures in Northern Ireland. The use of Nvivo as the data analysis tool imposed a discipline and structure which facilitated the extraction of core insights.
Findings
Aspects investigated include network type and composition; nature and frequency of engagement; and changes in network composition and networking activities through the business lifecycle. The results focus on implications of the findings for issues of quality in networks and their impact on the value of female networks.
Practical implications
An understanding of these issues offers opportunities to shape government interventions to assist female entrepreneurs embarking on a venturing pathway in SET‐based ventures, or those already operating in business, to be more effective in building, utilising and enhancing the quality of their networking activities.
Originality/value
In exploring networking and issues of quality for female entrepreneurs operating in SET‐based sectors, traditionally viewed as male‐dominated, the paper considers an under‐researched area of the female entrepreneurship literature.
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The call for more women to start up and grow businesses as a vehicle for economic vibrancy is a prevailing discourse in the UK. There have been calls for greater co-ordination…
Abstract
Purpose
The call for more women to start up and grow businesses as a vehicle for economic vibrancy is a prevailing discourse in the UK. There have been calls for greater co-ordination between research, policy and practice to create collaborative spaces whose focus is to influence and shape structures and processes beyond the individual or community level to a macro level of enterprise policy. However, calls have not specifically focussed on the issues of gender or other categories of social difference. This study aims to understand how such co-ordinations can be established to enable progress within the women’s entrepreneurship space through the development of collaborative spaces fusing research, policy and practice and how they should be structured to ensure inclusion through the process as well as enabling greater inclusion as part of the collaborative space outcome.
Design/methodology/approach
Taking a critical feminist perspective, the study draws from extant literature on women and minority networks research from the women in leadership, diversity and inclusion fields as a lens through which to frame the analysis of women’s enterprise policy in the UK, research and practice.
Findings
The study highlights the importance of collective feminist action drawing upon post-feminist sensibilities and an Engaged–Activist Scholarship approach. Such collective feminist action appreciates the importance of the micro as an enabler to progressive action at the macro level to enact structural and system change within the entrepreneurial ecosystem. A framework for inclusive and collaborative entrepreneuring space development is offered.
Practical implications
This paper offers policymakers, researchers and practitioners a framework as a practical way forward to ensure efforts are progressive and enable structural and systemic change.
Originality/value
The paper offers a framework for developing inclusive and collaborative entrepreneuring spaces to ensure progression by lifting the focus to a macro level of change to enable inclusion as part of the process and outcome of such collaborative spaces.
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This study aims to examine an alternative use of accounting information and technology (forensic audit) for resolving conflicts between two government agents and consequently…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine an alternative use of accounting information and technology (forensic audit) for resolving conflicts between two government agents and consequently enhancing accountability in Nigeria.
Design/methodology/approach
The study adopts contextualised explanation of case study theorising. Data for the study were gathered from two primary documents: the forensic audit report of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and the report of the Senate Committee on Finance and Appropriation. The theory of mediation is used to illuminate the mediation process and its implication for accountability.
Findings
The study finds that the mediator (PwC) was able to resolve the dispute using different problem-solving techniques (data gathering and fact finding) of accounting and provide guidance on the necessary steps to be taken to enhance accountability. Whilst the disputants agreed to the audit firm’s findings, further actions to hold relevant parties accountable were not taken by the government. Accounting aids in realising accountability, but it is not the ultimate tool, as it operates within a host of other accountability infrastructures that subvert its impact.
Research limitations/implications
This study uses a single case to understand the role of accounting in conflicts resolution. Therefore, as a general limitation of a case study design, we do not generalize beyond the case examined in this study.
Practical implications
The study has implications for accounting practice in developing countries. Firstly, the paper finds that accounting is held in high esteem as having the ability to unravel mysteries through its problem-solving techniques. Secondly, professional accounting firms need to maintain a high level of competence and integrity to sustain this position. Thirdly, accounting can help answer the question “Who should be held accountable?”
Originality/value
The study examines a novel case of how accounting is used in resolving conflicts in a rare setting and in ensuring accountability over public funds.
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Abigail Powell, Barbara M. Bagilhole and Andrew R.J. Dainty
It has been suggested that organisations with a better balance, or critical mass, of women would be more tolerant of difference and foster the inclusion of other women. This paper…
Abstract
Purpose
It has been suggested that organisations with a better balance, or critical mass, of women would be more tolerant of difference and foster the inclusion of other women. This paper seeks to investigate whether a strategy of critical mass can really work in the engineering sector.
Design/methodology/approach
The data are based on research funded by the ESRC, and problematise critical mass theory through semi‐structured qualitative interviews and focus groups with female students from a range of engineering disciplines.
Findings
The findings demonstrate that women engineering students accept gender discrimination, view the industry positively, value their “novelty” status, and are critical of other women.
Research limitations/implications
While these attitudes may be a result of women's assimilation into the existing engineering culture, they do little to further women's cause in engineering. Furthermore, it points to both the necessity, and difficulties, of transforming the engineering culture to ensure that the engineering professions are a place where women can not only survive but also thrive.
Originality/value
While previous research has addressed the critical mass of women in science, engineering and technology, this research critiques critical mass theory, not only because women continue to remain isolated within the sector, despite increasing numbers, but also because many women engineers reinforce the masculine culture within engineering.
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Annemaree Lloyd and Alison Hicks
The purpose of this second study into information literacy practice during the COVID-19 pandemic is to identify the conditions that influence the emergence of information literacy…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this second study into information literacy practice during the COVID-19 pandemic is to identify the conditions that influence the emergence of information literacy as a safeguarding practice.
Design/methodology/approach
The qualitative research design comprised one to one in-depth interviews conducted virtually during the UK's second and third lockdown phase between November 2020 and February 2021. Data were coded and analysed by the researchers using constant comparative techniques.
Findings
Continual exposure to information creates the “noisy” conditions that lead to saturation and the potential for “information pathologies” to act as a form of resistance. Participants alter their information practices by actively avoiding and resisting formal and informal sources of information. These reactive activities have implications for standard information literacy empowerment discourses.
Research limitations/implications
The paper is limited to the UK context.
Practical implications
Findings will be useful for librarians and researchers who are interested in the theorisation of information literacy as well as public health and information professionals tasked with designing long-term health promotion strategies.
Social implications
This paper contributes to our understandings of the role that information literacy practices play within ongoing and long-term crises.
Originality/value
This paper develops research into the role of information literacy practice in times of crises and extends understanding related to the concept of empowerment, which forms a central idea within information literacy discourse.
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Stephen Linstead, Joanna Brewis and Alison Linstead
To provide a critical review of existing contributions to gender and change management and in doing so highlight how organizational change needs to be read more readily from a…
Abstract
Purpose
To provide a critical review of existing contributions to gender and change management and in doing so highlight how organizational change needs to be read more readily from a gendered perspective.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper argues that gender has received little attention regarding the change management side of managerial practice and reviews recent contributions to gender and change to demonstrate this. The paper then questions how men and women both cope with and drive change and whether the identified differences are more than superficial. The concept of gender is then read into management theory in order to understand how gender affects the way managers think and act, and the gendering of management is discussed. The paper concludes by outlining future research areas – change agents, entrepreneurs, female innovators, psychoanalytic treatments of change and gender experiences.
Findings
The paper finds that traditional and dominant conceptions of masculine and feminine values that rely on static conceptions of gender to argue that more attention to be paid to the dynamic and the genderful approaches.
Research limitations/implications
The paper concludes by outlining future research areas – change agents, entrepreneurs, female innovators, psychoanalytic treatments of change and gender experiences.
Practical implications
Draws much needed attention to the neglect of gender in change theory and practice and suggests some ways forward.
Originality/value
Offers a unique introduction to an important but complex literature that needs to be integrated into change management practice.
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A glossary of terms and definitions relating to the fields of quality and customer care, exemplified by reference to health care.
Abstract
A glossary of terms and definitions relating to the fields of quality and customer care, exemplified by reference to health care.
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