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1 – 9 of 9Glyn Mather, Leanne Denby, Leigh N. Wood and Bronwen Harrison
The purpose of this paper is to review research and strategies in Australian business education that aim to foster graduate capabilities in sustainability concepts and practices…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to review research and strategies in Australian business education that aim to foster graduate capabilities in sustainability concepts and practices, also to present a case study of teaching practice along with ideas for future development.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors report on a research project by seven Australian universities, with financial support from the Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC), on how to develop and grade graduate capabilities with sustainability identified as a core graduate skill. An example is presented from the Faculty of Business and Economics of a strategy in action – the use of a case study (centred on sustainability practices at the university) to enhance the skills of merit scholars.
Findings
Corporate social responsibility is a well‐established concept in business management theory, with sustainability principles emerging as a core feature. In the higher education sector, the spirit may be willing, but training in the application of these principles has been implemented as an add‐on rather than an embedded part of the curriculum. Although efforts are being made to find ways of nurturing graduate capabilities in sustainability practice, a significant obstacle is the lack of teaching models and materials. The authors offer findings from the ALTC graduate skills project as well as a case study of implementation.
Originality/value
The authors report on practical innovations in fostering business graduate skills in implementing sustainability principles, assess the utility of current education practice and present some suggestions for future learning and teaching strategies.
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Andrew J. Hobson, Linda J. Searby, Lorraine Harrison and Pam Firth
Pawan Budhwar, Andy Crane, Annette Davies, Rick Delbridge, Tim Edwards, Mahmoud Ezzamel, Lloyd Harris, Emmanuel Ogbonna and Robyn Thomas
Wonders whether companies actually have employees best interests at heart across physical, mental and spiritual spheres. Posits that most organizations ignore their workforce …
Abstract
Wonders whether companies actually have employees best interests at heart across physical, mental and spiritual spheres. Posits that most organizations ignore their workforce – not even, in many cases, describing workers as assets! Describes many studies to back up this claim in theis work based on the 2002 Employment Research Unit Annual Conference, in Cardiff, Wales.
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Jo Barraket, Heather Douglas, Robyn Eversole, Chris Mason, Joanne McNeill and Bronwen Morgan
This paper aims to document the nature of social enterprise models in Australia, their evolution and institutional drivers.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to document the nature of social enterprise models in Australia, their evolution and institutional drivers.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper draws on secondary analysis of source materials and the existing literature on social enterprise in Australia. Analysis was verified through consultation with key actors in the social enterprise ecosystem.
Findings
With its historical roots in an enterprising non-profit sector and the presence of cooperative and mutual businesses, the practice of social enterprise in Australia is relatively mature. Yet, the language of social enterprise and social entrepreneurship remains marginal and contested. The nature of social enterprise activity in Australia reflects the role of an internally diverse civil society within an economically privileged society and in response to an increasingly residualised welfare state. Australia’s geography and demography have also played determining roles in the function and presence of social enterprise, particularly in rural and remote communities.
Originality/value
The paper contributes to comparative understandings of social enterprise and provides the first detailed account of social enterprise development in Australia.
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Chiara Alzetta, Felice Dell'Orletta, Alessio Miaschi, Elena Prat and Giulia Venturi
The authors’ goal is to investigate variations in the writing style of book reviews published on different social reading platforms and referring to books of different genres…
Abstract
Purpose
The authors’ goal is to investigate variations in the writing style of book reviews published on different social reading platforms and referring to books of different genres, which enables acquiring insights into communication strategies adopted by readers to share their reading experiences.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors propose a corpus-based study focused on the analysis of A Good Review, a novel corpus of online book reviews written in Italian, posted on Amazon and Goodreads, and covering six literary fiction genres. The authors rely on stylometric analysis to explore the linguistic properties and lexicon of reviews and the authors conducted automatic classification experiments using multiple approaches and feature configurations to predict either the review's platform or the literary genre.
Findings
The analysis of user-generated reviews demonstrates that language is a quite variable dimension across reading platforms, but not as much across book genres. The classification experiments revealed that features modelling the syntactic structure of the sentence are reliable proxies for discerning Amazon and Goodreads reviews, whereas lexical information showed a higher predictive role for automatically discriminating the genre.
Originality/value
The high availability of cultural products makes information services necessary to help users navigate these resources and acquire information from unstructured data. This study contributes to a better understanding of the linguistic characteristics of user-generated book reviews, which can support the development of linguistically-informed recommendation services. Additionally, the authors release a novel corpus of online book reviews meant to support the reproducibility and advancements of the research.
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THE whole agenda of the recent Conference had as its focus the motion for a reconstruction of the authority side of library service which formed the central and most exciting item…
Abstract
THE whole agenda of the recent Conference had as its focus the motion for a reconstruction of the authority side of library service which formed the central and most exciting item of the Annual General Meeting. It is admitted that a new Libraries Act is needed and that such an act will be concerned with public libraries; but it should, we think, have some reference to the whole pattern of libraries, publicly owned, and not only to those of municipalities and counties. A conference in which all were represented could therefore appropriately deal with every branch of our work and did so, excepting only the commercial subscription lending library although distinguished representatives of these listened to the discussions.
The purpose of this paper is to examine the findings from longitudinal study conducted with women leaders in tech cities to understand the cultural and discursive burden affecting…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the findings from longitudinal study conducted with women leaders in tech cities to understand the cultural and discursive burden affecting their professional experiences and the dominant cultural boundaries they regularly have to cross to legitimise their knowledge and expertise.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper draws on research from the Gender in Tech City project that included serial interviews with 50 senior women leaders over three years at three different tech city sites.
Findings
The paper illustrates the differing spatialities that women continue to face within tech culture and how terms such as “women in tech” are problematic.
Research limitations/implications
This study adds to the conceptualisation of tech culture and gendered constructions within a spatial context; there is a need to strengthen this path of investigation beyond gender as a lone issue.
Originality/value
The study contributes to the literature on spatial context, examining a new micro-context within tech culture that amplifies hidden biases and restricts the movement of women professionals.
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