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1 – 10 of 15Fernando F. Padró, Karen Trimmer, Heejin Chang and Jonathan H. Green
The purpose of this study is to investigate the extent to which TQM has influenced the legal system in Australia, an area seldom investigated in the quality or legal literature.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to investigate the extent to which TQM has influenced the legal system in Australia, an area seldom investigated in the quality or legal literature.
Design/methodology/approach
Documentary and policy analysis of legislation, rules and rulemaking documentation based on a partial application of historical-policy analysis (HPA). Textual analysis was based on Dean and Bowen's (1994) definition of TQM and Vinni's (2007) review of new public management and Swiss (1992) “reformed TQM” concepts.
Findings
Australia's Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency Act of 2011 and supporting legal documents such as Guidance Notes include language reflective of TQM principles, providing evidence that present-day administrative law schemes include TQM practices and tools to undergird procedures of regulatory expectations (sometimes in the form of standards), monitoring and general operations. Oftentimes, it is the supporting legal documentation where TQM practices are found and operationalized.
Research limitations/implications
This is a proof-of-concept research study to determine the feasibility to identify TQM concepts within the existing language of legal statutes and supporting regulatory documentation. As such this study worked out the preliminary research challenges in performing this type of analysis.
Practical implications
Understanding TQM's impact on legal systems expands the system's perspective of organizations that do not always factor in the influence government policy has on organizational behaviours and outlooks. More specifically, understanding TQM's influence sheds insight on regulatory requirements imposed on a sector and the normative aspects of regulatory compliance that impact the operations and strategic planning of organizations.
Social implications
The article provides an example of how legal administrative rulemaking influences organizational operational and strategic activities to remain viable in the organization's business or industrial sector.
Originality/value
There are few research papers or literature reviews pertaining to the subject of TQM concepts embedded in laws and regulations, most of which date from the 1980s through early 2000s.
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Hyeonah Jo, Minji Park and Ji Hoon Song
A boundaryless career perspective suggests that career competencies are essential for employees who wish to advance their careers in high uncertainty. This study aims to propose…
Abstract
Purpose
A boundaryless career perspective suggests that career competencies are essential for employees who wish to advance their careers in high uncertainty. This study aims to propose an integrated conceptual model for career competencies to provide insights for employees and organizations by identifying what and how one can prepare and provide support for career development in an uncertain and complex work environment.
Design/methodology/approach
The integrated literature reviewed was adapted to provide a conceptual model for career competencies. All 77 studies were reviewed, guided by the intelligent career theory (ICT) and social cognitive career theory (SCCT).
Findings
The mechanisms of career competency development were examined through the interrelationship between three types of knowing; knowing-why, knowing-whom and knowing-how. Career competencies can be considered a developmental process, therefore, they could develop through various interventions and accumulate over time. Especially the results indicate that learning is an essential component of career competencies, as it increases self-efficacy and promotes a desire to achieve positive career outcomes.
Originality/value
This study provided a conceptual model, explored the mechanisms of career competency development and considered how career competencies influence career outcomes. Furthermore, it identified the context of the construct of career competencies by integrating the SCCT and ICT. Finally, it showed the inadequacy of existing research on negative factors of career competency outcomes and recommended further research to broaden the general context of career competency studies.
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Salahuddin Ahmed, Sapna Singh and Nagaraj Samala
Online brand is becoming a popular and major gateway for consumers for booking various services specifically when they travel for several purposes. The present study aims to…
Abstract
Purpose
Online brand is becoming a popular and major gateway for consumers for booking various services specifically when they travel for several purposes. The present study aims to explore whether exposure to two separate yet similar modes of communication intervene consumer's brand trust and their subsequent loyalty intention toward the brand. The study further aims to investigate whether consumer's price consciousness has any influence on association between brand trust and brand loyalty in the process of decision -making.
Design/methodology/approach
The present study follows a different approach to data collection. The data have been retrieved from online brand (Oyo) page on Facebook through Google Form application. In all, 289 useable responses were retrieved from the travelers aged between 18 and 30. Structural equation modeling using SPSS 25.0 and Amos 26.0 has been applied to examine the effects of brand communication and online reviews on brand loyalty through brand trust.
Findings
Empirical evidence supports that even after having strong brand communication, online reviews play a crucial role in consumer's brand loyalty through brand trust. The study further reveals that price consciousness acts as a significant moderator in the relationship between consumer's brand trust and brand loyalty.
Practical implications
The current research contributes to the online brand and marketing knowledge by empirically showing the pertinence of consumer–brand relationship in an online brand context through a parsimonious model by examining how the two distinct mechanisms of communication influences consumer brand trust and loyalty intention.
Originality/value
The parsimonious framework of consumer–brand relationship adds to explicating the dual marketing challenges of communication and to draw a positive consumer response (i.e. consumer brand loyalty). The study attempts to examine the impact of two distinct yet identical modes of communication which facilitate shaping consumer brand trust that reinforce the strategic value of the circumstance and equips it with solid theoretical structure within an endeavor of the strategic significance of online brand managers.
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Abigail Newton, Megan Robson and Darren Johnson
Young offender mentoring programmes aim to support young people’s desistance from offending, but despite the importance, there remains limited exploration into mentor experiences…
Abstract
Purpose
Young offender mentoring programmes aim to support young people’s desistance from offending, but despite the importance, there remains limited exploration into mentor experiences of supporting the young people. This study aims to explore how a community-based mentoring intervention supports desistance in young offenders by understanding the mentor's experiences, with a specific reflective focus on facilitators and barriers to their work.
Design/methodology/approach
Semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven mentors from Northumbria Coalition against Crime, a youth and community service. Interview transcripts were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis, with external auditing conducted by the research supervisor.
Findings
Two superordinate themes resulted: “Factors for engagement” and “Personal experiences”, with participant disclosures reflecting professional reward and a sense of success. This was interwoven with “burnout”, emotional investment and challenges linked to barriers to effectiveness. Challenges included the young people having external negative influences, multiple individuals involved in a person’s care and the barrier of in person activities during the coronavirus pandemic. The clinical importance of mentoring programmes, implications for future working practice and research limitations are considered.
Practical implications
The clinical importance of mentoring programmes, implications for future working practice and research limitations are considered.
Originality/value
These findings contribute to understanding mentors’ experiences of working with young people in the community, offering critical insight into the mentorship and wider service dynamics. Furthermore, it provides an inaugural evaluation of the Northumbria Coalition against Crime services.
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Ahmad Nabeel Siddiquei, Saima Ahmad, Kamal Badar and Fahad Asmi
The present study aims to advance a new framework to spur creativity at individual and team levels in the construction industry by studying a leader's sense of humor. The authors…
Abstract
Purpose
The present study aims to advance a new framework to spur creativity at individual and team levels in the construction industry by studying a leader's sense of humor. The authors develop and test a multi-level model to investigate the direct and indirect effects of leader's humor on creativity within teams working on construction projects. The authors draw on the benign violation theory to hypothesize that a leader's sense of humor influences the acceptability of norm violations in teams, which helps to improve their creativity. The authors also integrate the benign violation theory with the social information processing theory to examine the indirect effects of project leader's sense of humor on individual- and team-level creativity via team psychological safety.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors collected data from 165 members nested in 45 teams working on construction projects in China. The construct's factor structure and discriminant validity were established through confirmatory factor analysis. The authors used multi-level modeling via Mplus to test team-level to the individual-level direct and indirect hypotheses, while team-level direct and indirect hypotheses were tested using ordinary least squares regression.
Findings
The results show that the leader's humor has a dual positive direct effect on individual and team creativity. Furthermore, these effects are partially mediated by team psychological safety. The implications of these findings to improve the construction management theory and practice are discussed in the manuscript.
Originality/value
The current study contributes to the literature by understanding the significance of leader humor in predicting individual-level and team-level creativity within the construction sector. It expands the literature by examining team psychological safety as the underlying mechanism in the relationship between leader humor and creativity.
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Corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance is critical to address construction activities’ environmental and social impacts. This study aims to evaluate the level of CSR…
Abstract
Purpose
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance is critical to address construction activities’ environmental and social impacts. This study aims to evaluate the level of CSR implementation across various categories within the context of the Vietnamese construction industry.
Design/methodology/approach
The literature review and semi-structured interviews were conducted to determine Vietnamese construction organizations’ most commonly implemented CSR activities. A total of 252 valid responses were then obtained through a questionnaire survey. In addition, the fuzzy synthetic evaluation (FSE) method was used to evaluate the extent to which CSR categories have been implemented in construction companies.
Findings
The findings revealed 31 commonly implemented CSR activities of the Vietnamese construction firms, which were grouped into four categories. Of the four categories, the FSE analysis showed that stakeholder CSR was the most critical category, followed by ethical CSR, philanthropic CSR and environmental CSR.
Originality/value
This research provides valuable CSR activities to construction companies that intend to develop sustainably. Moreover, the proposed prioritization methodology offers practitioners a reliable and easy-to-use evaluation tool that clearly understands CSR performance within their organizations.
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Maria Vincenza Ciasullo, Raffaella Montera and Rocco Palumbo
The article investigates different types of strategies for managing user-generated content (UGC) and provides some insights into their implications.
Abstract
Purpose
The article investigates different types of strategies for managing user-generated content (UGC) and provides some insights into their implications.
Design/methodology/approach
A unique sample of Italian hotels with current and prospective customers in the digital environment is investigated. A taxonomy of user-provider interactions mediated by UGC is developed. A mixed approach was designed to meet the study aims. Firstly, an exploratory factor analysis was performed in order to illuminate different strategies of UGC and electronic word-of-mouth (E-WOM) management. Secondly, a cluster analysis was implemented in order to explain hoteliers' behavior toward users' contents.
Findings
The study results suggested the existence of three clusters, which reflected three different types of interactions between hotels and customers in the digital domain. Interestingly, most of Italian hotels were found to adopt a reductionist approach to UGC and E-WOM management, turning out to be ineffective to exploit them for the purpose of quality improvement and hospitality service excellence.
Research limitations/implications
Hotels were found to be largely unaware of the importance of UGC and web-based communication with customers to improve their digital business strategy. Tailored management approaches are needed to realize the full potential of hotels' online content responsiveness for the purpose of value co-creation and service co-production.
Originality/value
This is one of the first studies investigating the strategic and management perspectives embraced by hotels to handle their interactions with customers in the digital arena.
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Mehri Yasami, Kullada Phetvaroon, Mayukh Dewan and Kristina Stosic
The onset of a health crisis has substantially crippled the hotel industry, causing employees' fears of an imminent job loss. This study investigates how hotel employees'…
Abstract
Purpose
The onset of a health crisis has substantially crippled the hotel industry, causing employees' fears of an imminent job loss. This study investigates how hotel employees' perceived job insecurity affects work engagement and psychological withdrawal behavior. Additionally, it explores the mediating role of work engagement between job insecurity and psychological withdrawal behavior, along with examining the moderating effects of employee resilience on the links between job insecurity, work engagement and psychological withdrawal behavior.
Design/methodology/approach
Adopting simple random sampling, a total of 357 completed questionnaires by Thai frontline hotel employees in 36 four- and five-star international hotel chains in Phuket, Thailand, were analyzed. Data analyses were undertaken by SPSS version 25.0 and partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) version 4.0.9.1.
Findings
Results indicate that perceived job insecurity diminishes work engagement and leads to psychological withdrawal behavior. Work engagement is found to partially mediate the connection between job insecurity and psychological withdrawal behavior. Furthermore, employee resilience lessens the impact of job insecurity on work engagement while reinforcing the link between work engagement and psychological withdrawal behavior.
Practical implications
The study findings offer valuable practical implications, illustrating how Thai hospitality firms can cultivate effective talent management practices to develop and enhance employees' skills, engagement and enthusiasm in their work. These practices can assist employees in coping with and managing their perceptions of job insecurity during turbulent times and uncontrollable crises.
Originality/value
This study creates a compelling framework to elucidate the connections among COVID-19-intensified job insecurity, work-related outcomes and personal factors. It introduces a previously underexamined perspective that enriches the authors' theoretical comprehension of how personal resources, like employee resilience, serve as protective factors, shaping employee behavior and performance amidst job insecurity. Moreover, the study advocates for a synthesizing approach, emphasizing the integration of various theoretical perspectives and past literature, particularly when research gaps cannot be sufficiently addressed by a single theory.
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Paula H. Jensen, Jennifer Cross and Diego A. Polanco-Lahoz
Lean is a continuous improvement methodology that has succeeded in eliminating waste in a variety of industries. Yet, there is a need for more research on Lean implementation in…
Abstract
Purpose
Lean is a continuous improvement methodology that has succeeded in eliminating waste in a variety of industries. Yet, there is a need for more research on Lean implementation in several under-studied contexts, including crisis situations such as those created by the recent COVID-19 pandemic. This research investigates how Lean programs were impacted by COVID-19, while previous research has primarily explored how Lean was used to solve problems created by the pandemic.
Design/methodology/approach
A mixed-method research approach was used to analyze employee feedback on how COVID-19 impacted the Lean programs using data from various levels of four energy-based utilities in the United States. First, an online questionnaire collected qualitative and quantitative data from a broad sample of participants. Then, a follow-up semi-structured interview allowed the elaboration of perceptions related to the research question using a smaller sample of participants.
Findings
Out of the 194 responses from the four companies, only 41% of the respondents at least somewhat agreed that COVID-19 impacted the Lean program at their company; of the remaining 59%, 35% indicated they were neutral, while 24% disagreed. The themes from the qualitative portion indicated that, while employees believed their companies had successfully found a new way to do Lean within the constraints of not always being in person, the collaboration and engagement were more challenging to sustain, and COVID-19 also otherwise made it more difficult to implement Lean. Meanwhile, some believed there was no impact on the Lean program.
Originality/value
The COVID-19 and Lean peer-reviewed literature published from 2020 to September 2023 focused primarily on using Lean to address problems created by the COVID-19 pandemic vs studying the pandemic's impact on Lean programs. This research partially fills this literature gap in understanding the impact COVID-19 had on Lean initiatives.
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Richard John Boulton, Lia Louise Boulton and Michael John Boulton
High levels of interior water vapour lead to condensation and black mould that in turn represent significant risks to residential properties and their occupants. Beliefs about…
Abstract
Purpose
High levels of interior water vapour lead to condensation and black mould that in turn represent significant risks to residential properties and their occupants. Beliefs about window opening are good predictors of the degree to which householders will actually open windows to purge their homes of water vapour, including water vapour that they themselves generate. The present study tested if a short information-giving intervention could enhance householders’ beliefs that foster window opening as purge ventilation and, in turn, lead to greater window opening.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected from 242 UK householders with robust psychometrically sound measures embedded in an online self-report survey that also presented the intervention information.
Findings
The intervention led participants, and males in particular, to have significantly greater concerns about condensation and mould and significantly less concerns about heat loss costs arising from opening windows, and these altered beliefs in turn predicted a greater intention to open windows in the future.
Practical implications
By sharing simple information, surveyors and other building professionals can help householders take the simple step of opening their windows and so reduce the threats that condensation and mould present to themselves and their homes.
Originality/value
This is the first study to test (1) a time-based model that predicted the intervention would have a positive effect on specific window opening attitudes and that those new attitudes would in turn affect window opening intentions, and (2) if the intervention had different effects on men and women.
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