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This research interrogates how the construction of narratives and accounting forecasts contributes to managing the emotional state of actors involved in reporting meetings by promoting discourses of hope in their organization's future, mitigating their anxiety. This study shows how narratives are built from multiple antenarratives and accounting forecasts, which restore and strengthen organizational actors' commitment to their organizations. This study contributes to a better understanding of the role played by narratives and accounting documents in mitigating organizational members' anxiety.

Over eight months, an interventionist research design method gave one of the authors the opportunity to record discussions held during reporting meetings in a business incubator. These recordings captured the production of narratives and forecasts in these meetings.

This study shows how the production of multiple antenarratives and accounting forecasts helps organizational actors who attend reporting meetings mitigate the anxiety triggered by disappointing performance figures and restore collective discourses full of hope for the organization's future. This case highlights how personal antenarratives and successive versions of accounting forecasts contribute to restoring a collective commitment to a failing organization.

This study refines current understanding of the under-explored links between accounting forecasts, narratives and anxiety management. The study provides insight into how accounting practices contribute to the production of narratives that successfully restore organizational members' commitment to working for a failing organization. The study also exemplifies the original insights gained from interventionist research protocols.

Information was obtained in interviews with Richard Nagel in Winter/Spring 2022. This information was supplemented by material from secondary sources. The only information that was disguised were the real names for Bob Crater, Tim Landy, Jane Tolley and Mary Nagel.

The case was classroom tested in Summer 2022. The responses from students helped to shape the writing of the case.

Richard Nagel, the owner of the RE/MAX Elite real estate agency in Monmouth Beach, New Jersey, has just learned that one of his agents, Tim Landy, quit and left the industry. Tim was a young real estate agent and Richard had spent considerable time training him. Tim was motivated and he worked hard to prospect for business, but he showed that he was experiencing difficulty closing on his sales. Richard decided to recommend that Tim work with another agent, Bob Crater, as Bob was an experienced salesman but was not doing the up-front prospecting that Tim was doing. Richard suggested two different strategies to the two agents – a pairing up arrangement and peer-to-peer learning. The outcome that Richard envisioned was that both of the struggling salesmen would benefit from either of these strategies, but Bob refused to collaborate.

Tim’s quitting was characteristic of an ongoing problem with employee retention that Richard had been experiencing as a manager in recent years. This problem caused Richard to think about how he recruited his real estate agents, how he developed them through coaching and how he motivated them so that they would stay happy in their job and not leave. He recognized the importance of thoroughly examining his retention strategy within the next 12 months so that he could better manage the problem and strengthen the productivity of his real estate agency.

The case is intended for an undergraduate course in human resources management, as it deals directly with recruiting, coaching and retaining employees.

Previous research has identified factors that enable lean change to be sustained. What remains unknown is how the interaction effects amongst these factors vary as lean change programmes mature. When are particular factors at their most influential?

Using a data and investigator triangulated qualitative research strategy, this paper tests an a priori model of change sustainability factors. In phase one, the research reveals the influence and significance of the model's change sustainability factors within 13 manufacturers. In phase two, four factors (Leadership, Political, Individual and Managerial) were selected for in-depth case study analyses in three manufacturers.

These point to when in the lean change, certain factors have the most influence on its sustainability. The Leadership factor and political factor are essential at the beginning and remain influential throughout. Employees' individual commitment (Individual factor) is significant in sustaining the change but it is at its most influential in the later stages. The Managerial factor (management approach) is influential in the mature stages of the programme.

Recognising where to put maximum focus during a lean change programme as it matures is crucial for management.

Sustaining lean change has not been studied from the perspective of what factors need to be emphasised at different stages in the programme for successful maturity to occur. Through empirical validation, this study helps address this knowledge gap.

Interesting because – Researchers have found that the majority of lean implementations fail – changes to structures and working practices are made only to see the gains dissipate. Previous research has suggested that multiple factors including leadership, culture and politics influence the change towards a lean organisation. While studies have shown that such factors play a role, what has not been studied is the time, that is, when the factors influence the change process. This study investigated when 11 factors have the most influence on lean implementation. Theoretical value – The study extends the state-of-the-art understanding of implementation of lean in organisations by adding a time element. It is found that in order to have a change that is sustainable, that is, lasting at least 18 months, factors that indicate the importance to the organisation are influential during the entire implementation process. This includes how central the change is to the organisation, the influence of leadership that sets vision and goals, and the implementation methods. Factors that can set things in motion such as the influence of important stakeholders are important at the beginning of the implementation process but then decline in influence over time. While factors that seem to have to do more with how companies operate have less influence at the start but become more influential over time. These include employees' commitment, the managerial style and approach, the organisational policies and structure, and the organisational culture. Practical value – Introducing lean into an organisation and gaining its sustained benefits is often not successful. While factors have previously been identified that influence the success of lean implementation, this study provides additional practical insight. It helps manufacturers be more effective by pinpointing which factors should be focused on during the various stages of the implementation process.

This paper aims to investigate the prevalence of corruption in Ghana to understand how and why it has turned public procurement into a mere money-making scheme instead of a means to provide needed public goods and services.

The study focuses on Ghana as a case study and mobilizes the monetization of politics lenses. Data are collected via interviews with key officials across the procurement sector (including the government, donors and civil society), documents, documentaries and news articles.

The findings suggest that the increasing costs of elections and political financing coupled with the costs of vote-buying, which has become informally institutionalized, intensify corruption practices and, consequently, turns public procurement into a mere source of cash for political ends. Political appointments and legalized loopholes facilitate this by helping to nullify the safeguard accounting and other control institutions are designed to provide. Likewise, enduring poverty and rising inequality “force” citizens into a vote-buying culture which distorts democratic premises that may drive out unscrupulous politicians; thus, perpetuating capture schemes. Civil society's efforts to remedy these have had little success, and corruption and inequality remain rife.

The main practical implication of the study lies in the need for a gradual demonetization of elections, and the consideration of the fundamental function of public procurement as a policy instrument embedded in economic, social, cultural and environmental plans. Additionally, given the connectedness of the various corruption issues raised, a comprehensive system-based approach in dealing with them would be more effective than a piecemeal approach targeting each issue/problem in isolation.

While extant literature has examined the issue of endemic corruption in developing countries using state capture, few have attempted to explain why it remains enduring, particularly in public procurement. This study, therefore, contributes to the literature on corruption and state capture theoretically and empirically by drawing on monetization of politics from political science to explain why corruption and state capture endure in certain contexts (with Ghana as an illustrative example) which reduce public procurement to a cash-milking scheme.

Even though trans and nonbinary athletes regularly experience oppression and exclusion in sport, many encounter sport as a site of gendered liberation. Most literature on trans and nonbinary athletes focuses on experiences of oppression; much less examines trans and nonbinary athlete resistance. Centring the voices of trans and nonbinary athletes in sport is essential for attending to the complexity of their experiences in sport. I draw on my own experiences as a nonbinary elite boxer to explore what is at stake in sport and demonstrate how sport can function as a site of joy and resistance for trans and nonbinary athletes. Amid ongoing debates about whether or not it is fair for trans women athletes to compete in sport, Gleaves and Lehrbach (2016) argued that sport does not solely concern who wins but also encompasses the ‘the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves’ in competitive sport. I argue that the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves in competitive sport stay with us for a lifetime. These stories shape how we make sense of ourselves and others. I explore how women, trans, and nonbinary boxers issue a threat to patriarchal cisheteronormative customs in boxing, precisely because we disrupt the assumption that aggression is the male domain and that masculinity equals cisgender maleness. I contribute to the growing body of literature centring trans and nonbinary voices by drawing attention to how trans and nonbinary athletes' experiences of sport are characterized not only by exclusion and oppression but also by joy and resistance.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a conceptual framework that examines the impacts of changing seasons on tourism.

The paper presents a conceptual process model of the impact of seasons on all aspects of in-destination tourist behaviour. The model is developed from the literature and is then tested using Cairns, Australia as a case study.

Seasons influence the actual and perceived range of products/experiences available, which dictate the pull features of a destination, that in turn, influence who comes and why they come. Combined the activity sets and visitor profile define in-destination behaviour and, ultimately, satisfaction.

The study fills a needed research gap in two ways. Firstly, it explains conceptually and then tests empirically how changes in seasons affect the delivery of tourism products and experiences. Secondly, it adds significantly to our understanding of the factors that influence in-destination behaviour.

Managerial implications for destination management organisations are identified.

This paper presents a new conceptual process model for a previously unexamined issue.

本文提出了一个季节影响目的地游客行为的过程的理论模型。该模型基于文献开发而成, 然后以澳大利亚凯恩斯作为案例进行测试。

本文的目的是开发一个研究季节变化影响旅游的理论框架。

研究发现季节会影响实际和感知的产品或体验的范围, 从而决定一个目的地的吸引力特征。他们反过来可以影响谁来旅游以及他们来旅游的原因。 结合活动和旅游者画像来定义其目的地行为。

这项研究从两个方面填补了理论空白。 首先, 它从概念上解释, 然后实证检验了季节的变化如何影响旅游产品和体验的供应。 其次, 它极大地增强了我们对影响目的地行为的因素的理解。

本文指出了对目的地管理的实践意义。

本文针对先前未经考察的问题提出了一种新的理论过程模型。

El artículo presenta un modelo de proceso conceptual del impacto de las estaciones en todos los aspectos del comportamiento en en destino turístico. El modelo se desarrolla a partir de la literatura y luego se pone a prueba usando Cairns, Australia como estudio de caso.

El propósito de este artículo es desarrollar un marco conceptual que examine los impactos de los cambios de estación en el turismo.

Las estaciones influyen en la gama, real y percibida, de productos/experiencias disponibles que condicionan las características de atracción de un destino. Las estaciones, a su vez, influyen en quién viene y por qué viene. Los conjuntos de actividades combinadas y el perfil del visitante definen el comportamiento en el destino.

El estudio llena un vacío de investigación necesario de dos maneras. Primero, explica conceptualmente y luego demuestra empíricamente cómo los cambios en las estaciones afectan la oferta de productos y experiencias turísticas. En segundo lugar, contribuye significativamente a la comprensión de los factores que influyen en el comportamiento en el destino.

Se identifican las implicaciones de gestión para las organizaciones de gestión de destinos.

Este artículo presenta un nuevo modelo de proceso conceptual para un tema no examinado previamente.

Agricultural and food systems in the Mekong Region are undergoing transformations because of increasing engagement in international trade, alongside economic growth, dietary change and urbanisation. Food systems approaches are often used to understand these kinds of transformation processes, with particular strengths in linking social, economic and environmental dimensions of food at multiple scales. We argue that while the food systems approach strives to provide a comprehensive understanding of food production, consumption and environmental drivers, it is less well equipped to shed light on the role of actors, knowledge and power in transformation processes and on the divergent impacts and outcomes of these processes for different actors. We suggest that an approach that uses food systems as heuristics but complements it with attention to actors, knowledge and power improves our understanding of transformations such as those underway in the Mekong Region. The key transformations in the region include the emergence of regional food markets and vertically integrated supply chains that control increasing share of the market, increase in contract farming particularly in the peripheries of the region, replacement of crops cultivated for human consumption with corn grown for animal feed. These transformations are increasingly marginalising small-scale farmers, while at the same time, many other farmers increasingly pursue non-agricultural livelihoods. Food consumption is also changing, with integrated supply chains controlling substantial part of the mass market. Our analysis highlights that theoretical innovations grounded in political economy, agrarian change, development studies and rural livelihoods can help to increase theoretical depth of inquiries to accommodate the increasingly global dimensions of food. As a result, we map out a future research agenda to unpack the dynamic food system interactions and to unveil the social, economic and environmental impacts of these rapid transformations. We identify policy and managerial implications coupled with sustainable pathways for change.

This study aims to examine the process of tourism gentrification from China tourists, a major source market, in two neighbourhoods in Hong Kong: one that has been long exposed to tourism and one that is just being discovered by tourists. Through a series of in-depth interviews with local residents and community leaders, complemented by non-participant observation, the paper tracks the commercial, social and cultural changes that have occurred or are occurring in these two places.

This study evaluates the process of place change through tourism gentrification in two neighbourhoods in Hong Kong that are at different stages of the process. An ontological approach is adopted using an interpretivist paradigm involving in-depth interviews and on-site observations, supplemented by secondary data. These data were complemented by non-participant observation.

Both the places have been transformed due to the influx of mainland Chinese tourists. Some impacts felt by both communities have much in common, such as congestion and shop dislocation, while others are more location specific. Even though the degree of tourism gentrification is different, locals from both locations tend to hold negative perceptions towards tourists, although of different strengths. All have also noted the traditional social cohesion is not as strong as before.

The paper argues that tourism gentrification exists on a continuum as neighbourhoods move seemingly inextricably from local-centric nodes to tourist-centric nodes. Apart from enlightening the theory of tourism gentrification, it provides insights to the local leaders on proper tourism development by balancing the social and economic benefits.

Background: Evidence suggests that people living in poverty often experience inadequate nutrition with short and long-term health consequences. Whilst the diets of low-income households have been subject to scrutiny, there is limited evidence in the UK on the diet quality and food practices of households reporting food insecurity and food bank use. We explore lived experiences of food insecurity and underlying drivers of diet quality among low-income families, drawing upon two years of participatory research with families of primary school age children.

Methods: We report on a mixed-methods study of the relationship between low income, food bank use, food practices and consumption from a survey of 612 participants, including 136 free text responses and four focus groups with 22 participants. The research followed a parallel mixed-methods design: qualitative and quantitative data were collected separately, although both were informed by participatory work. Quantitative data were analysed using binary and multinomial logistic regression modelling; qualitative data were analysed thematically.

Results: Lower income households and those living with food insecurity struggle to afford a level of fruit and vegetable consumption that approaches public health guidance for maintaining a healthy diet, despite high awareness of the constituents of a healthy diet. Participants used multiple strategies to ensure as much fruit, vegetable and protein consumption as possible within financial constraints. The quantitative data suggested a relationship between higher processed food consumption and having used a food bank, independent of income and food security status.

Conclusions: The findings suggest that individualised, behavioural accounts of food practices on a low-income misrepresent the reality for people living with poverty. Behavioural or educational interventions are therefore likely to be less effective in tackling food insecurity and poor nutrition among people on a low income; policies focusing on structural drivers, including poverty and geographical access to food, are needed.