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Open Access
Article
Publication date: 18 February 2021

Steven Davies, Gareth Reginald Terrence White, Anthony Samuel and Helen Martin

Covid-19 has caused many businesses to rethink their short- and potentially long-term workforce operations. The use of lateral flow serology can provide a clinically convenient…

1212

Abstract

Purpose

Covid-19 has caused many businesses to rethink their short- and potentially long-term workforce operations. The use of lateral flow serology can provide a clinically convenient approach for the assessment of prior infection with Covid-19. However, its widespread adoption in organisations seeking to use it to test for workforce immunity is controversial and confusing. This paper aims to explore the paradoxical dilemmas and dialectics immunity workforce testing creates.

Design/methodology/approach

This study involved capturing the ethnographical participation of a chief executive officer (CEO) dealing with the experience of managing the outcomes of Covid-19 workforce immunity testing. The aim was to take a snapshot in time of the CEO's empirical world, capturing their lived experiences to explore how management actions resulting from Covid-19 immunity testing can played out.

Findings

Providing staff with immunity tests at first glance appears sensible, decent and a caring action to take. Nevertheless, once such knowledge is personalised by employees, they can, through dialectic dialogue, feel disadvantaged and harbour feelings of unfairness. Subsequently, this paper suggests that immunity testing may only serve to raise awareness and deepen the original management dilemma of whether testing is a worthwhile activity.

Originality/value

This paper aims to be amongst the first works to empirically explore the workforce management challenges that arise within small businesses within the service sector following the completion of Covid-19 immunity testing of their staff. It seeks to achieve this via utilising the robust theoretical framework of the paradox theory to examine Covid-19's impact upon small business workforce management thinking and practice.

Details

Journal of Work-Applied Management, vol. 13 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2205-2062

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 16 November 2020

Felix Nana Abaka Sackey and Livingstone Divine Caesar

Despite the criticality of strategic partnerships to the survival and success of professional service firms (PSF) in emerging markets, there is a dearth of research on the subject…

Abstract

Purpose

Despite the criticality of strategic partnerships to the survival and success of professional service firms (PSF) in emerging markets, there is a dearth of research on the subject matter. Specifically, not much is known concerning the dynamics of partnerships among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the professional services sector of the economy. This paper aims to explore the dynamics of the impact of constructs such as attributes of partnership, communication behaviour and collaborative conflict resolution on partnership success.

Design/methodology/approach

A quantitative survey sent to 300 small and medium-sized PSFs achieved a 79% response rate. The data is then analysed using bivariate and multi-variate techniques.

Findings

The results revealed a positive relationship between two of the three constituents of attributes of the partnership (i.e. commitment and coordination) and the success of partnerships. Commitment and coordination emerged as the significant attributes of partners that affect the success of the partnership. Contrary to previous studies, trust and information sharing did not have a positive impact on partnership success.

Practical implications

PSFs in emerging markets need concerted efforts to maintain competitive and sustainable partnerships. To make any significant impact, they must develop contemporary skills in collaborative conflict management.

Originality/value

This paper highlights the need for PSFs and SMEs in other service sectors of emerging markets to harness partnerships as a valuable tool to overcome the policy shortcomings of current regulatory frameworks within their respective markets.

Details

Vilakshan - XIMB Journal of Management, vol. 17 no. 1/2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0973-1954

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 29 June 2021

Stephen M. Brown and Martha J. Crawford

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of a successful model on how to prepare business students to be successful in a new, post-pandemic world that faces enormous…

2759

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of a successful model on how to prepare business students to be successful in a new, post-pandemic world that faces enormous social challenges.

Design/methodology/approach

The article discusses the current business and social movements that suggest the relevance of social entrepreneurship and explain the pedagogical model developed at the Center for Nonprofits at Sacred Heart University.

Findings

The article suggests how this pedagogical model may provide students with the skills, attitudes and values required for successful social entrepreneurship processes.

Research limitations/implications

The article presents the current picture which will undoubtedly change over time. Thus the context is time constrained. The article presents one model to develop leaders’ skills. There are many other models and experiences that should be considered and evaluated.

Practical implications

The case explains a key initiative that can help universities improve pedagogical tools on building students' social entrepreneurship skills and extend this impact to their success in the post-pandemic environment and impact on surrounding communities.

Social implications

There is a growing need for business leaders to have sophisticated business skills and purpose beyond financial profit. The article looks at the dual roles of social entrepreneurs as a model for the leaders and the Nonprofit Center at Sacred Heart University to develop the skills of the future leaders.

Originality/value

The article presents a new vision of the skills necessary for a leader in today's environment. It draws from the literature on social entrepreneurship. It also presents one model that has been successful for 15 years and the pedagogical underpinnings of that model.

Details

New England Journal of Entrepreneurship, vol. 25 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2574-8904

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 10 November 2023

Alessandro Gabrielli and Giulio Greco

Drawing on the resource-based view (RBV), this study investigates how tax planning affects the likelihood of financial default in different stages of the corporate life cycle.

1132

Abstract

Purpose

Drawing on the resource-based view (RBV), this study investigates how tax planning affects the likelihood of financial default in different stages of the corporate life cycle.

Design/methodology/approach

Collecting a large sample of US firms between 1989 and 2016, hypotheses are tested using a hazard model. Several robustness and endogeneity checks corroborate the main findings.

Findings

The results show that tax-planning firms are less likely to default in the introduction and decline stages, while they are more likely to default in the growth and maturity stages. The findings suggest that introductory and declining firms use cash resources obtained from tax planning efficiently to meet their needs and acquire other useful resources. In growing and mature firms, tax aggressiveness generates unnecessary slack resources, weakens managerial discipline and increases reputational risks.

Practical implications

The results shed light on the benefits and costs associated with tax planning throughout firms' life cycle, holding great significance for managers, investors, lenders and other stakeholders.

Originality/value

This study contributes to the literature that examines resource management at different life cycle stages by showing that cash resources from tax planning are managed in distinctive ways in each life cycle stage, having a varied impact on the likelihood of default. The authors shed light on underexplored cash resources. Furthermore, this study shows the potential linkages between the agency theory and RBV.

Details

Management Decision, vol. 61 no. 13
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0025-1747

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 30 March 2022

Deirdre Hogan and Joanne O'Flaherty

Goal 4.7 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) explicitly frames education as an enabler of change and a means to achieve all SDGs. This study aims to explore the nature and…

2644

Abstract

Purpose

Goal 4.7 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) explicitly frames education as an enabler of change and a means to achieve all SDGs. This study aims to explore the nature and culture of science as an academic discipline and its capacity for the integration of education for sustainable development (ESD).

Design/methodology/approach

Drawing upon interviews with academics working in a Life Sciences Department (n = 11), focus groups with students (n = 21) and observations from lectures, laboratory sessions and field trips, the study advances a number of recommendations for the integration of ESD in Science Education programs.

Findings

Findings point to the nature and structure of scientific knowledge and the culture of science as articulated by study participants. The study provides a number of recommendations for the integration of ESD in Science Education programs including a greater emphasis on inquiry-based learning, enhancing ESD themes in science-related modules to teach for sustainability and adopting a department wide strategy that promotes ESD.

Originality/value

This study argues that ESD practitioners need to be cognizant of the nature and culture of the discipline area – as a particular discipline propagates a specific culture – encapsulating ways of being, thinking, acting and communicating, which can have implications for the integration of ESD.

Details

International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, vol. 23 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1467-6370

Keywords

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