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1 – 10 of 75Chiara Pastore, Nigel Rice and Andrew M. Jones
We explore the effect of selective schooling, where students are assigned to different schools by ability, on adult health, well-being and labour market outcomes. We exploit the…
Abstract
We explore the effect of selective schooling, where students are assigned to different schools by ability, on adult health, well-being and labour market outcomes. We exploit the 1960s transition from a selective to a non-selective secondary schooling system in England and Wales. The introductio3n of mixed-ability schools decreased average school quality and peer ability for high-ability pupils, while it increased them for low-ability pupils. We therefore distinguish between two treatment effects: that of high-quality school attendance for high-ability pupils and that of lower-quality school attendance for low-ability pupils, with mixed-ability schools as the alternative. We address selection bias by balancing individual pre-treatment characteristics via entropy balancing, followed by ordinary least squares (OLS) regression. Selective schooling does not affect long-term health and well-being, while it marginally raises hourly wages, compared to a mixed-ability system, and school aspirations for high-ability pupils. Cognitive and non-cognitive abilities measured prior to secondary school are significantly and positively associated with all adult outcomes.
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Lynn McAlpine, Andrew Gibson and Søren Smedegaard Bengtsen
Increasingly governmental policy around PhD education has resulted in greater university oversight of programs and student experience – often through creating central PhD Schools…
Abstract
Purpose
Increasingly governmental policy around PhD education has resulted in greater university oversight of programs and student experience – often through creating central PhD Schools. While student experience is well researched, the experiences of Heads of these units, who are responsible for creating student experience, have been invisible. This exploratory Danish case study begins such a conversation: its purpose to examine the perceptions of five Heads of PhD Humanities Schools, each responsible for steering institutional decisions within Danish PhD policy landscapes.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative approach integrated three distinct analyses: a review of Danish PhD education policies and university procedures, each university’s job specifications for the Heads of the Schools and the Heads’ views on their responsibilities.
Findings
The Heads differentiated between their own and today’s PhD student experience. They had held prior leadership roles and fully supported institutional regulations. They cared deeply for the students under their charge and were working to achieve personal goals to enhance PhD experience. Their leadership perspective was relational: enhancing individual student learning through engaging with multiple PhD actors (e.g. program leaders) – when possible at a personal level – to improve PhD practices.
Originality/value
This study contributes an expanded perspective on how PhD School Heads constitute their roles by empirically linking: macro-national policies and institutional regulations and individuals’ biographies to their support of the PhD regimes – with implications for academic leadership generally. The authors argue research into PhD School leadership is essential, as it is such individuals who create the organisational settings that students experience.
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Mai Nguyen, Alia Alshamari and Debbie Wills
This study aims to examine the impact of stakeholder engagement on accountability, within nonprofit organizations (NPOs). Given the pivotal role NPOs play in disaster management…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the impact of stakeholder engagement on accountability, within nonprofit organizations (NPOs). Given the pivotal role NPOs play in disaster management and community welfare, it is crucial to gain an understanding of the obligations of NPOs, in terms of their disaster responses and accountability.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a case-study approach, the investigation features a content analysis of social media comments regarding the Australian Red Cross’ (ARC) funds’ allocation during the 2019/2020 bushfires, followed by a similar analysis of ARC's reports. Inspired by Carnegie et al.'s (2021) definition of accounting as a social science, this study uses dialogic theory and a transformative participatory framework, to evaluate how interactive stakeholder engagement influenced accountability strategies used by the NPO, to ensure its sustainable development.
Findings
The findings reveal that there was a significant increase in stakeholder engagement on social media, following negative media coverage, with participants voicing concerns over ARC’s method of funds’ allocation, delays in funds distribution and seemingly excessive administrative costs. ARC addressed these concerns by issuing Bushfire Reports, and conducting online Q&A sessions, in a bid to establish transparency. This study emphasizes how dialogic accounting can challenge accounting's limited scope – one that often overlooks ecological concerns and social justice.
Originality/value
This study uses the perspective of dialogic accounting theory to explore the relationship between stakeholder engagement on social media, and NPO accountability. It demonstrates how robust stakeholder engagement can challenge NPOs to establish accountability, thereby bridging the information gap between themselves and the public. The use of dialogic accounting theory allows the study to shift from the traditional focus of accounting research, which is the financial objectives of powerful entities, to the voices of the marginalized, the stakeholders, who are impacted by NPO decisions, and, in doing so, it highlights the potential for NPOs to foster accountability, and so advance sustainable development initiatives.
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Jan A. Pfister, David Otley, Thomas Ahrens, Claire Dambrin, Solomon Darwin, Markus Granlund, Sarah L. Jack, Erkki M. Lassila, Yuval Millo, Peeter Peda, Zachary Sherman and David Sloan Wilson
The purpose of this multi-voiced paper is to propose a prosocial paradigm for the field of performance management and management control systems. This new paradigm suggests…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this multi-voiced paper is to propose a prosocial paradigm for the field of performance management and management control systems. This new paradigm suggests cultivating prosocial behaviour and prosocial groups in organizations to simultaneously achieve the objectives of economic performance and sustainability.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors share a common concern about the future of humanity and nature. They challenge the influential assumption of economic man from neoclassical economic theory and build on evolutionary science and the core design principles of prosocial groups to develop a prosocial paradigm.
Findings
Findings are based on the premise of the prosocial paradigm that self-interested behaviour may outperform prosocial behaviour within a group but that prosocial groups outperform groups dominated by self-interest. The authors explore various dimensions of performance management from the prosocial perspective in the private and public sectors.
Research limitations/implications
The authors call for theoretical, conceptual and empirical research that explores the prosocial paradigm. They invite any approach, including positivist, interpretive and critical research, as well as those using qualitative, quantitative and interventionist methods.
Practical implications
This paper offers implications from the prosocial paradigm for practitioners, particularly for executives and managers, policymakers and educators.
Originality/value
Adoption of the prosocial paradigm in research and practice shapes what the authors call the prosocial market economy. This is an aspired cultural evolution that functions with market competition yet systematically strengthens prosociality as a cultural norm in organizations, markets and society at large.
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Christopher Andrew Hartwell and Dominique Ursprung
This study, a perspective piece, aims to argue that one particular slice of political institutional operations – the conduct of international relations – offers a clue to the…
Abstract
Purpose
This study, a perspective piece, aims to argue that one particular slice of political institutional operations – the conduct of international relations – offers a clue to the possible risks that businesses face from geopolitics.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors examine the various facets of international relations and diplomacy, including the processes and arenas, to show the relevance of statecraft for firms looking to minimize political risk.
Findings
By understanding the role of diplomacy and statecraft as a process, firms can better prepare themselves for events that have far-reaching ramifications. This is very different than minimizing risk from inherent geopolitical tensions and allows for a more flexible approach to understanding risk levels in the global arena.
Originality/value
International business scholarship has focused on institutions and their effects on firms and has recently begun to re-examine the role of geopolitics and political risk on firm performance and decisions. However, the current literature continues to have a superficial understanding of institutional processes and their impact on business, especially when it comes to the daily workings of political institutions.
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Nguyen Thi Ngoc Ha, Nina Van Dyke, Michael Spittle, Anthony Watt and Andrew Smallridge
This study explores the perceptions of Australian employers regarding the benefits and challenges of micro-credentials within higher education and enablers of their effectiveness.
Abstract
Purpose
This study explores the perceptions of Australian employers regarding the benefits and challenges of micro-credentials within higher education and enablers of their effectiveness.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative approach that included 11 semi-structured interviews with employers affiliated with an Australian university was used. A deductive thematic approach was employed to analyse the data.
Findings
Micro-credentials were generally seen to be beneficial for an array of people, including employees, employers, customers and communities – stakeholders in all environmental layers of micro-credentials’ ecological system. Findings also indicated that both challenges of micro-credentials and enablers of their effectiveness depended heavily on attributes of learners, employers and higher education providers. The conclusion is that, based on the evidence of this study, micro-credentials within higher education are worth trialling.
Originality/value
Although research interest in micro-credentials is growing, few empirical studies have investigated micro-credentials’ benefits, challenges and enablers of effectiveness, especially from the perspective of employers. The study carries practical and policy implications for those involved with micro-credential research and development.
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Larry W. Isaac, Daniel B. Cornfield and Dennis C. Dickerson
Knowledge of how social movements move, diffuse, and expand collective action events is central to movement scholarship and activist practice. Our purpose is to extend…
Abstract
Knowledge of how social movements move, diffuse, and expand collective action events is central to movement scholarship and activist practice. Our purpose is to extend sociological knowledge about how movements (sometimes) diffuse and amplify insurgent actions, that is, how movements move. We extend movement diffusion theory by drawing a conceptual analogue with military theory and practice applied to the case of the organized and highly disciplined nonviolent Nashville civil rights movement in the late 1950s and early 1960s. We emphasize emplacement in a base-mission extension model whereby a movement base is built in a community establishing a social movement school for inculcating discipline and performative training in cadre who engage in insurgent operations extended from that base to outlying events and campaigns. Our data are drawn from secondary sources and semi-structured interviews conducted with participants of the Nashville civil rights movement. The analytic strategy employs a variant of the “extended case method,” where extension is constituted by movement agents following paths from base to outlying campaigns or events. Evidence shows that the Nashville movement established an exemplary local movement base that led to important changes in that city but also spawned traveling movement cadre who moved movement actions in an extensive series of pathways linking the Nashville base to events and campaigns across the southern theater of the civil rights movement. We conclude with theoretical and practical implications.
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Ryan Stack, Storm Gould and Bertrand Malsch
This case was developed using a mixture of publicly available documents created by the partner community, general information from public sources like the First Nations Finance…
Abstract
Research methodology
This case was developed using a mixture of publicly available documents created by the partner community, general information from public sources like the First Nations Finance Authority (FNFA) website and Government of Canada websites, and personal and first-hand experience of the indigenous coauthor, Storm Gould.
Case overview/synopsis
Wisikk is a Mi’kmaq sovereign reserve territory located in Mi’kmaq’ki in the place that settler governments call Nova Scotia. The community has existed in its location since time immemorial and has been recognized by the settler government since the early 19th century. An opportunity for community-run business has arisen for Wisikk based on the legalization of cannabis throughout Canada in 2018. This case’s protagonist is the community’s Vice-President for Business Development, Andrew Googoo, as he considers bringing a proposal for a cannabis retailing venture to the Chief and Council. Cannabis legalization in Canada left sales policies to the provinces and was silent as to the rules governing cannabis sales by indigenous communities on their sovereign territory. Considering both potential negative impacts to the community, as well as the potential financial benefits from a successful reserve-based cannabis dispensary, Andrew must soon present his initial findings to the Chief and Council for their deliberation and decision. Any venture undertaken by the reserve would require a loan from the FNFA, so Andrew must also consider the projections and reports that the FNFA would require to support their lending decision.
Complexity academic level
The case is appropriate for mid-level or capstone undergraduate and graduate business courses, especially those focused on entrepreneurship, business ownership or indigenous ownership. The case was originally developed for the accounting division of an international undergraduate case competition. In addition to accounting concepts like pro forma/budgeted income statements and decision analysis, it is intended to showcase some legal and cultural features of community-led indigenous business ventures. The idea is for students to explore concepts of sovereignty, community involvement and broader stakeholder impact, as well as more technical accounting and financial concepts.
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Elanor Webb, Benedetta Lupattelli Gencarelli, Grace Keaveney and Deborah Morris
The prevalence of exposure to adversity is elevated in autistic populations, compared to neurotypical peers. Despite this, the frequency and nature of early adverse experiences…
Abstract
Purpose
The prevalence of exposure to adversity is elevated in autistic populations, compared to neurotypical peers. Despite this, the frequency and nature of early adverse experiences are not well understood in autistic adults, with several underlying methodological limitations in the available literature. The purpose of this study is to systematically synthesise and analyse the prevalence of childhood adversity in this marginalised population, in accordance with the adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) framework.
Design/methodology/approach
Peer-reviewed empirical research articles were systematically searched for from electronic databases and screened against established inclusion criteria. Pooled prevalence rates for individual ACE types were calculated.
Findings
Four papers were included (N = 732), all of which used a predominantly or exclusively female sample. Only sexual abuse was reported in all papers, with a pooled prevalence rate of 38%. Physical abuse and emotional abuse were less frequently explored, with two papers reporting on these ACEs, though obtained comparable and higher pooled prevalence rates (39% and 49%, respectively). Pooled prevalence rates could be calculated for neither neglect nor “household” ACEs because of insufficient data. The limited state of the evidence, in conjunction with high levels of heterogeneity and poor sample representativeness found, positions the ACEs of autistic adults as a critical research priority.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to systematically synthesise the prevalence of early childhood adversities, as conceptualised in accordance with the ACEs framework, in adults with autistic traits.
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