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1 – 10 of over 99000Fevzi Okumus and Nigel Hemmington
The aims of this paper are to investigate the barriers and the sources of resistance to change in hotel firms and to evaluate the change in strategies adopted in seeking to…
Abstract
The aims of this paper are to investigate the barriers and the sources of resistance to change in hotel firms and to evaluate the change in strategies adopted in seeking to overcome these barriers. Primary data were gathered through in‐depth semi‐structured interviews in nine hotels in the UK. The findings indicate that the cost of change, financial difficulties and the pressure of other priorities are the main barriers to change in hotel firms. The findings also indicate that hotel companies use multiple change strategies in overcoming barriers to change. Finally, the limitations of the research are discussed and opportunities for further research are identified.
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Anders Vennström and Per Erik Eriksson
The purpose of this paper is to identify client‐perceived barriers to a change towards increased client influence on the end result of the construction process. Additionally, the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify client‐perceived barriers to a change towards increased client influence on the end result of the construction process. Additionally, the variables of size of clients' markets and the extent of external project management are investigated in order to see how they influence the perceptions concerning important barriers to change.
Design/methodology/approach
Empirical data were collected through a survey responded to by 87 Swedish construction clients.
Findings
Identified barriers are divided into three types: attitudinal, industrial and institutional. Attitudinal barriers (adversarial attitudes, lack of ethics and morality, focus on projects instead of processes and a short‐term focus) and industrial barriers (traditional organization of the construction process, conservative industry culture, industry structure and traditional production processes) are perceived to be important, whereas institutional barriers (standard contracts, laws and traditional procurement procedures) are not perceived to be critical. Each different type of barrier is tested against the use of internal or external project management and the sphere of activity of the client. Attitudinal barriers are perceived as being more critical by clients using external project management. “Nearness” in terms of the sphere of activity (e.g. how large is the client's market?) also has an effect on how clients perceive the barriers. Locally, active clients do not consider attitudinal barriers to be as influential on the end result of the construction process as nationally active clients.
Research limitations/implications
Since the empirical results are based on data collected only from Swedish clients, international generalizations should be made with caution.
Practical implications
Clients wishing to act as change agents need to be aware that their use of internal versus external project management affects their chances to influence the other construction actors and implement change and innovation. Large national and international client organizations, which due to their size have significant opportunities to influence the industry, rely heavily on external project management, which may hamper their change agent role. Hence, such clients should make careful and purposeful selections of project management companies. Another more influential alternative is to strengthen their organisation and rely less on external project management.
Originality/value
This paper presents a unique investigation of the connections between the use of internal/external project management and perceived barriers to change.
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Miyami Dasandara, Bingunath Ingirige, Udayangani Kulatunga and Terrence Fernando
Climate change mitigation and adaptation play an important role in overcoming the climate change challenges facing Sri Lanka today. Many initiatives have been undertaken to…
Abstract
Purpose
Climate change mitigation and adaptation play an important role in overcoming the climate change challenges facing Sri Lanka today. Many initiatives have been undertaken to implement different policies and plans in this regard, which require considerable mobilisation of national and international financing. In acquiring climate finance, many barriers can be identified. This paper aims to investigate such barriers to climate financing in Sri Lanka and proposes strategies to address them.
Design/methodology/approach
The qualitative research approach was undertaken in this study by conducting ten semi-structured interviews with experts who are involved in climate change policy implementation activities in Sri Lanka. The collected data were analysed using the content analysis method via Nvivo software.
Findings
The empirical findings unveil six key barriers and the corresponding root causes to climate financing in Sri Lanka. Inadequate domestic funding for climate actions was captured as the dominant barrier in this direction. This study also revealed that barriers and their root causes are interconnected, leading to many financial limitations in implementing climate actions. The importance of playing a leading role by the government and enabling an integrated approach between the private and public sector organisations were identified as key strategies to combat climate finance barriers.
Originality/value
Despite there being studies focusing on climate change and related policies, limited research has been carried out with regard to climate financing. Within this context, this study makes an original contribution in the area of climate financing with particular reference to a developing country like Sri Lanka. Further, the identification of barriers to climate financing, their root causes and strategies to address them also provides an original contribution to theory and practice.
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Georgia Warren-Myers, Anna Hurlimann and Judy Bush
To identify barriers to climate change adaptation in the Australian property industry.
Abstract
Purpose
To identify barriers to climate change adaptation in the Australian property industry.
Design/methodology/approach
Semi-structured interviews with twenty-four stakeholders from a diverse cross-section of the Australian property industry were undertaken in 2018 and 2019.
Findings
A range of barriers to action on climate change were identified. These barriers centre around (1) information: lack of clear, reliable, and trusted sources of climate change information; (2) cost: competing economic demands, and the perceived threat that investing in climate change action poses to competitiveness; and (3) regulation: the inaction of governments thus failing to provide a regulatory environment to address climate change.
Research limitations/implications
The qualitative research provides perspectives from actors in different sectors of the Australian property industry. While it provides an in-depth understanding of the barriers to addressing climate change adaptation, it is not necessarily a nationally representative sample.
Practical implications
The study identifies barriers to climate change adaptation, and establishes practical ways in which the Australian property industry can address these barriers and the role that government regulation could have in generating industry-wide change.
Social implications
Climate change poses significant challenges to society. Built environments are significant contributors to climate change, and thus the property industry is well-placed to make positive contributions to this global challenge.
Originality/value
Limited research has examined barriers to climate change action in the property industry. This research provides novel insights from the perspective of key actors across a diverse range of property industry sectors. This new knowledge fills an important gap in understanding how to address climate change in Australia and broader contexts.
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Jongbum Kim, Jeonghun Seo, Hangjung Zo and Hwansoo Lee
Electronic books (e-books) have been in the market for decades but have been unable to replace paper books. Previous studies on e-books have failed to identify significant factors…
Abstract
Purpose
Electronic books (e-books) have been in the market for decades but have been unable to replace paper books. Previous studies on e-books have failed to identify significant factors affecting the adoption and diffusion of e-books. This study develops a theoretical framework to explain the adoption behavior of e-books from the perspective of user resistance.
Design/methodology/approach
After a pilot test with 50 e-book users, the research model is validated using a partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) technique. A web-based survey method is used to collect data from a sample of 350 people – selected from Korean e-book users and nonusers – during a week in March 2017. This study tests the reliability and validity of the integrated model of planned behavior and resistance theory and tests the hypotheses with bootstrapping resampling.
Findings
The results show that four barriers – usage, value, risk and image – cause resistance to change and users with higher resistance have lower intention to use. The moderating effect of self-efficacy between resistance to change and intention to use is confirmed. Self-efficacy interacts not only with the encouraging factors but also with resistance.
Originality/value
This study expands the understanding of users' adoption behavior of e-books by examining inhibiting factors using a novel integrated model. The findings of this research provide insights for digital product providers, especially e-book publishers, to understand why digital products have not been successful in the marketplace.
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Aung Tun Oo, Ame Cho, Saw Yan Naing and Giovanni Marin
Climate change is an undeniable reality that threatens people’s livelihoods. Flooding and saltwater intrusion, along with the rising sea levels, are affecting agricultural and…
Abstract
Purpose
Climate change is an undeniable reality that threatens people’s livelihoods. Flooding and saltwater intrusion, along with the rising sea levels, are affecting agricultural and aquaculture livelihoods in Myanmar’s coastal areas. Although climate change adaptation is gaining popularity as a resilience strategy to cope with the negative effects of climate change, both agriculture- and aquaculture-farmers are more often deterred from implementing climate change adaptation strategies due to practical availability and socioeconomic barriers to adaptation. This study aims to evaluate the barriers and factors that influence farm household’ choice of climate change adaptation measures.
Design/methodology/approach
This study was conducted with 599 farm households (484 rice-farmers and 115 fish farmers) based in the coastal areas of Myanmar during 2021–2022 to explore the farmer’s choice of climate change adaptation measures and the determining factors. The multinomial logit regression (MLR) model was used to examine the factors influencing the farmers’ choice of climate change adaptation strategies.
Findings
The study found out that farm households use a variety of adaptation methods at the farm level, with building embankment strategy (23.4%) in agriculture and net-fencing measure (33.9%) in fish farming being the most popular adaptation strategies. Farmers’ decisions to adopt climate change adaptation strategies are influenced by factors such as distance to market, education level of the household head, remittance income and the availability of early warning information, among others. The study also discovered that COVID-19 has had an impact on the employment opportunities of household members and the income from farming as well had a consequential effect on the adoption of climate change adaptation measures. Furthermore, lack of credit (42.4%), labor shortage (52.8%), pest and disease infestation (58.9%), high input costs (81%) and lower agricultural product prices (73%) were identified as major barriers to the adoption of climate change adaptation measures by both agriculture and aquaculture farm households.
Originality/value
This study demonstrates that the COVID-19 pandemic and farm-level barriers are the major factors influencing farm households’ choice of climate change adaptation measures, and that removing practical farm-level barriers and encouraging the adoption of adaptation techniques as potential COVID-19 recovery actions are required. This study also highlighted that the adaptive capacity of agriculture and aquaculture farm households should be strengthened through formal and informal training programs, awareness raising, the exchange of early warning information and the development of proper credit scheme programs.
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James E. Post and Barbara W. Altma
Organizations face formidable obstacles to the institutionalization ofenvironmental management programmes. Longitudinal studies show thatcompanies face two major types of barriers…
Abstract
Organizations face formidable obstacles to the institutionalization of environmental management programmes. Longitudinal studies show that companies face two major types of barriers to change: industry‐specific barriers, which affect all organizations in a line of business; and organizational barriers, which are not specific to environmental problems, but may impede a company′s capacity to deal with any form of change. Evidence shows that these barriers can be overcome through effective environmental management programmes. Argues that by overcoming these barriers, organizations can move along an environmental performance curve, consisting of phases involving adjustment to regulatory and market realities; adaptation and anticipation of emerging issues; and innovation in achieving economically and environmentally sustainable performance through change programmes involving internal and external elements.
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Howard Thomas, Michelle Lee, Lynne Thomas and Alexander Wilson
The field of organization development is fragmented and lacks a coherent and integrated theory and method for developing an effective organization. A 20-year action research…
Abstract
The field of organization development is fragmented and lacks a coherent and integrated theory and method for developing an effective organization. A 20-year action research program led to the development and evaluation of the Strategic Fitness Process (SFP) – a platform by which senior leaders, with the help of consultants, can have an honest, collective, and public conversation about their organization's alignment with espoused strategy and values. The research has identified a syndrome of six silent barriers to effectiveness and a dynamic theory of organizational effectiveness. Empirical evidence from the 20-year study demonstrates that SFP always enables truth to speak to power safely, and in a majority of cases enables senior teams to transform silent barriers into strengths, realign their organization's design and strategic management process with strategy and values, and in a few cases employ SFP as an ongoing learning and governance process. Implications for organization and leadership development and corporate governance are discussed.
Gareth Veal and Stefanos Mouzas
This paper seeks to give empirical examples of the processes whereby networks learn to collaborate. Specifically, the authors aim to examine efforts to learn to collaborate in…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper seeks to give empirical examples of the processes whereby networks learn to collaborate. Specifically, the authors aim to examine efforts to learn to collaborate in response to the challenge of climate change.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper uses case study research methods to examine concepts previously developed in the literature and propose a conceptual framework of barriers to learning to collaborate.
Findings
Existing research on collaboration over environmental issues highlights the prevalence of cognitive deficiencies, an abundance of conflicts and disputes and the ignorance of exchange opportunities among interdependent actors. Based on a theoretical review and an empirical case study, the authors put forward a framework that involves three stages. The paper proposes that networks learning to collaborate undergo a process of: framing the problem; negotiating; and achieving wise trades.
Practical implications
At all three of the stages given above, there are significant cognitive biases, which can lead to failure to learn to collaborate. The paper gives examples that should help businesses and regulators to understand and avoid in‐built barriers that could lead to a failure of the network to learn to collaborate.
Originality/value
The paper reviews a number of research disciplines linked to collaboration and gives an empirical case study that explores their links. The authors then propose a conceptual framework of barriers to learning to collaborate, which can be used to help guide practitioners. Failure to learn to collaborate can be found in the many contemporary cases of conflicts and disputes; such as in the areas of intellectual property rights, international trade, inter‐firm alliances and vertical marketing systems.
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