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1 – 10 of 576Leadership wisdom has been inadequately addressed until now because it has not been well‐defined or easily measured. This article explores the nature of leadership wisdom and its…
Abstract
Leadership wisdom has been inadequately addressed until now because it has not been well‐defined or easily measured. This article explores the nature of leadership wisdom and its incorporation into the Leading Across Boundaries programme run by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain and endorsed by the NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement.It will be argued that leadership wisdom is an essential component of success in a fast‐paced, changing and complex environment and three questions will be answered.1. Why should you be interested in a case study about pharmacists?2. What is leadership wisdom?3. How did we develop leadership wisdom?
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This paper aims to explore the role of institutional and national policies in the design process of educational digital libraries developed collaboratively with key stakeholders…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore the role of institutional and national policies in the design process of educational digital libraries developed collaboratively with key stakeholders within the African higher education context.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative research project based on three case studies of universities in Africa (Uganda, Kenya, Uganda) was carried out; comprising a retrospective review of the design process of ten innovative digital libraries through 38 in‐depth interviews with key design stakeholders. The interviews were conducted between September and December, 2009, while the data were triangulated with observations and documentary evidence from key policies.
Findings
Institutional and national policies were found to have tremendous impact on the design process of digital libraries as well as on their sustainability. Their absence in the design process was found to stifle innovation.
Research limitations/implications
This research was limited to the design process of digital libraries in African higher education. The research findings suggest that policy makers are important design gatekeepers and as such digital library designers should actively review relevant national and institutional policies, incorporate the implications of policies into design processes, and help to develop relevant policies.
Originality/value
The paper provides an understanding of the critical impact policies have with respect to supporting the design of educational digital libraries that are developed collaboratively with stakeholders. The retrospective review of completed digital library design processes carried out offers a different methodological approach for obtaining a high level understanding of the phenomenon under investigation.
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A large number of studies suggest that in experimental rewardallocation scenarios, females tend to underreward themselves vis‐à‐vis similarly situated males. However, theprincipal…
Abstract
A large number of studies suggest that in experimental reward allocation scenarios, females tend to underreward themselves vis‐à‐vis similarly situated males. However, the principal studies date from the 1970s and early 1980s. In the past decade there has been a substantial public policy effort, reflected in employment equity legislation and organization‐level initiatives, targeting direct and systemic gender‐based discriminatory practices. There is some evidence that gender‐based discriminatory employment practices are receding. In this study, involving 127 undergraduate business administration students, the student allocator′s gender was not a significant predictor of reward allocation behaviour. Even more provocative, the results suggest that a reward allocation bias systematically operated in favour of women.
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Mary-Anne McNally and Warren Maroun
The purpose of this paper is to challenge the notion that non-financial reporting is mainly about impression management or is only a superficial response to the hegemonic…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to challenge the notion that non-financial reporting is mainly about impression management or is only a superficial response to the hegemonic challenges posed by the sustainability movement. It focuses on the most recent development in sustainability reporting (integrated reporting) as an example of how accounting for financial and non-financial information has the potential to expand the scope of accounting systems, promote meaningful changes to reporting processes and provide a broader perspective on value creation.
Design/methodology/approach
The research focuses on an African eco-tourism company which has its head office in South Africa. A case study method is used to highlight differences in the presentation of an integrated business model according to the case entity’s integrated reports and how individual preparers interpret the requirement to prepare those reports. Data are collected using detailed interviews with all staff members involved in the preparation process. These are complemented by a review of the minutes of the company’s sustainability workshops and integrated reports.
Findings
A decision by the case organisation to prepare an integrated report gives rise to different forms of resistance which limits the change potential of the integrated reporting initiative. Resistance does not, however, preclude reform. Even when individual preparers are critical of the changes to the corporate reporting environment, accounting for financial and non-financial information expands the scope of the conventional accounting system which facilitates broader management control and promotes a more integrated conception of “value”.
Research limitations/implications
Integrated reporting should not be dismissed as only an exercise in corporate reporting and disclosure; it has a transformative potential which, given time, can enable new ways of managing business processes and articulating value creation.
Originality/value
This study answers the calls for primary evidence on how the requirement or recommendation to prepare an integrated report is being interpreted and applied by individual preparers. The findings add to the limited body of interpretive research on the change potential of new reporting frameworks. In doing so, the research provides theoretical support for developing arguments which challenge the conventional position that integrated reporting is little more than an exercise in impression management.
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Lisette Templeton and Anne Goulding
This paper aims to investigate public library staff engagement and perceptions of video games and video game services.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate public library staff engagement and perceptions of video games and video game services.
Design/methodology/approach
Quantitative and qualitative data on staff video game experiences, perceptions and confidence were collected through an online questionnaire.
Findings
The results indicate an overall positive perception of video games in public libraries, with 87% of the respondents supporting video games in public libraries. Video game players appear to think more positively about video games and have more general knowledge about them than non-players. They also appeared to be more confident in delivering related services and were more likely to be running gaming-related events. It was concluded that staff attitudes towards video games are not a barrier to their inclusion in public libraries, as found in previous research.
Practical implications
Encouraging staff engagement with video games may improve their knowledge and confidence in delivering video game services, although further research is required to confirm this. There is a potentially underserved population of those aged 46–84 years, nearly half of whom play video games. Evaluation of this potentially underserved population is an interesting topic for future research.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this was the first survey of public library staff views towards video games in Aotearoa New Zealand, and it updates previous research in light of developments in gaming, gaming technology and the increased focus on public libraries as providers of digital technology and sites of community engagement.
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Muhammad Nadeem, Tracy-Anne De Silva, Christopher Gan and Rashid Zaman
This paper aims to investigate the relationship between boardroom gender diversity and intellectual capital (IC) efficiency in China – while the previous literature focuses only…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the relationship between boardroom gender diversity and intellectual capital (IC) efficiency in China – while the previous literature focuses only on traditional accounting-based performance measures such as return on assets or Tobin’s Q.
Design/methodology/approach
A well-developed Arrelano–Bond generalised method of moment (GMM) is applied to account for endogeneity – mainly because of simultaneity and unobserved heterogeneity. Moreover, this study uses an adjusted-value added intellectual coefficient (VAIC) model to measure the IC efficiency of 906 Chinese listed firms for 2010-2014.
Findings
The empirical analysis shows a significant relationship between gender diversity and IC efficiency, in static ordinary least square estimation, but this disappears when endogeneity is accounted for using dynamic GMM. This insignificant relationship remains consistent, even when two alternative proxies of gender diversity, i.e. the Blau index and the women dummy, are used.
Practical implications
This study provides some useful insights into the traditional Chinese corporate structure where females cannot use their powers to bring corporate changes in firms. The findings show that gender-related stereotypical attitudes continue to exist in China. The regulators, therefore, should look into strengthening gender related regulations – which are currently non-existent in China.
Originality/value
This is the first study of its kind to investigate the relationship between gender diversity and IC efficiency in China using the A-VAIC model and GMM to mitigate endogeneity.
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This chapter describes how ambitious, educated, professional women engage with a range of reproductive technologies across their lifetime in an attempt to achieve the much-lauded…
Abstract
This chapter describes how ambitious, educated, professional women engage with a range of reproductive technologies across their lifetime in an attempt to achieve the much-lauded post-feminist ideal of the perfect ‘work-life balance’ and ‘having it all’. Drawing on interviews, this chapter shares women's experiences of using several reproductive technologies over a 15-year period and how their configurations of bodies, technologies and responsibilities change. In our initial conversations, bodies were seen as a source of disruption to well-laid plans; bodies bled, throbbed, conceived, aborted and were often incompatible with the many social expectations and demands on young women's lives to balance their professional and private lives. At this time, women were attempting to control and direct their malleable bodies using different technologies, a tool, that were accompanied with new gendered responsibilities to make the right choices about if and when to menstruate, to get pregnant, to become a mother and to be intimate. Over time these technologies proved to be imperfect and often failed to deliver the promised future and a counter-narrative emerges in which bodies are not so malleable and technologies are less of tool and more of an additional burden. By looking at interactions of several reproductive technologies over time, experiences of bodies, of technologies and of responsibilities change; they are not static but more cumulative.
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Ammad Ahmed, Helen Higgs, Chew Ng and Deborah Anne Delaney
This paper aims to investigate the determinants of women representation on Australian corporate boards under the ASX’s “if not, why not” corporate governance framework. It further…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the determinants of women representation on Australian corporate boards under the ASX’s “if not, why not” corporate governance framework. It further aims to improve the study of Geiger and Marlin (2012) by using a theoretically sound two-limit Tobit model to examine the determinants.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses the two-limit Tobit model to examine the determinants of women representation on ASX 500 boards. This approach is used due to the censored nature of the dependent variable.
Findings
This study finds that the two-limit Tobit model is an appropriate methodology to accommodate the censored dependent variable. It further finds that firm size, women as chair of boards, corporate governance index, Global Reporting Initiative signatory, debt ratio, average board age, BIG4 auditors, chief executive officer tenure and shareholder concentration are major determinants of women on boards.
Research limitations/implications
The use of only ASX 500 companies and the sample years (2011-2014) may limit the generalisation of the findings.
Originality/value
This is the first extensive longitudinal Australian study to examine the drivers of women representation on corporate boards. It is also the first of its kind to use the two-limit Tobit model to consider these determinants.
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