Search results
11 – 20 of 78
The finding by the Institute of Economic and Social Research that big factories are more strike‐prone than small ones is likely to meet with the response: So, what's new?
John Smallwood and Chris Allen
Historically, a range of health and safety (H&S) challenges continue to be experienced. A two-day construction Industry 4.0 oriented H&S summit presented an opportunity to survey…
Abstract
Purpose
Historically, a range of health and safety (H&S) challenges continue to be experienced. A two-day construction Industry 4.0 oriented H&S summit presented an opportunity to survey the delegates. The purpose of the study was to determine their perceptions, whether the presentations had an impact on their understanding and appreciation of the H&S challenges and the potential of Industry 4.0 technologies to improve H&S.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper reports on the findings emanating from a quantitative study that entailed the completion of a self-administered questionnaire survey conducted among delegates at the inception and closure of a two-day construction H&S summit.
Findings
The findings indicate that a range of H&S challenges are experienced in construction, Industry 4.0 technologies can contribute to addressing the H&S challenges and the presentations had an impact on their understanding and appreciation of the H&S challenges.
Research limitations/implications
The findings are primarily based upon perceptions in terms of the potential of Industry 4.0 technologies to contribute to addressing the H&S challenges.
Originality/value
This study reports on findings from one of a limited number of Industry 4.0 studies conducted in construction in South Africa. The findings indicate the level of awareness with respect to Industry 4.0 and the likelihood of the implementation of such technologies, as initially practitioners are likely to act based upon perceptions.
Details
Keywords
Hana Krskova and Chris Baumann
The purpose of this paper is to combine seemingly unrelated factors to explain global competitiveness. The study argues that school discipline and education investment affect…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to combine seemingly unrelated factors to explain global competitiveness. The study argues that school discipline and education investment affect competitiveness with the association being mediated by educational performance. Crucially, diachronic effects of discipline on performance are tested to demonstrate effects over time.
Design/methodology/approach
Partial least square (PLS) modelling is used to analyse the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) data. The study further draws from World Bank data on Government Expenditure and World Economic Forum data on competitiveness. Five PISA dimensions of school discipline (students listening well, noise levels, teacher waiting time, students working well, class start time) are hypothesised to affect academic performance in reading, math and science, and to ultimately impact competitiveness.
Findings
Findings confirm the relative importance of school discipline (88 per cent) in comparison to education investment (12 per cent) on educational performance, with both variables also being found to be significantly associated with competitiveness directly.
Originality/value
This study demonstrates the time effects of discipline, more specifically that discipline dimensions (students listen well in 2003 and students work well in 2009) are associated with competitiveness in 2012. Implications for school policy and further research are discussed.
Details
Keywords
Frederick Ng, Julie A. Harrison and Chris Akroyd
The purpose of this paper is to develop a framework for the systematic examination of management accounting practices in small businesses using a revenue management perspective…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to develop a framework for the systematic examination of management accounting practices in small businesses using a revenue management perspective. This highlights the multi-faceted nature of size as a contextual factor and emphasises the role of management accounting in supporting profit-oriented decision-making, rather than its traditional role of co-ordination, control, and accountability.
Design/methodology/approach
The framework is theoretically derived from the management accounting, revenue management, and small business literature. An illustrative case study of a small fast-food business is presented to demonstrate the applicability of this framework to practice.
Findings
The paper identifies that various dimensions of business size have different and sometimes opposing effects on management accounting practices. Given heterogeneity is a common feature of small businesses, the framework considers alternative specifications of the size contingency variable.
Research limitations/implications
The synthesis of small business characteristics and revenue management perspective offers a more incisive understanding of what has traditionally been considered a simple practice. The case study illustrates some of the influences of small business characteristics identified in the framework. Given its narrow scope, the findings are used for theorisation rather than offering generalisable results. Further cross-sectional comparisons of small businesses are needed to confirm size influences.
Practical implications
The framework can assist practitioners to gauge the strengths and weaknesses of their management accounting practices and can help assess the value of adopting more sophisticated management accounting practices, given their particular business environment. A synthesis of these small business attributes can help practitioners identify key barriers to implementation.
Originality/value
The revenue management perspective and the inclusion of key characteristics of small businesses provide a new approach to evaluating management accounting practices in small businesses.
Details
Keywords
Hyeouk Chris Hahm, Stephanie Tzu-Han Chang, Hui Qi Tong, Michelle Ann Meneses, Rojda Filiz Yuzbasioglu and Denise Hien
The purpose of this paper is to provide a review of the current literature uncovering specific factors associated with self-harm and suicidality among young Asian-American women…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide a review of the current literature uncovering specific factors associated with self-harm and suicidality among young Asian-American women, as well as to present the Fractured Identity Model as a framework for understanding these factors. This paper offers concrete suggestions for the development of culturally competent interventions to target suicidality, substance abuse, and mental illness among young Asian-American women.
Design/methodology/approach
Empirical studies and theory-based papers featured in peer-reviewed journals between 1990 and 2014 were identified through scholarly databases, such as PubMed, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, JSTOR, and Google Scholar. Of an original 32 articles, 12 were chosen for in-depth empirical review due to relevance to the topics at hand, quality of research, and significance of findings.
Findings
The paper identified several factors associated with suicidality among young Asian-American women: family dynamics, or having lived in a household where parents practice “disempowering parenting styles,” substance use/abuse, and untreated mental illness(es), which are exacerbated by the stigma and shame attached to seeking out mental health services. The Fractured Identity Model by Hahm et al. (2014) is presented as a proposed causal pathway from disempowering parenting to suicidal and self-harm behaviors among this population, with substance abuse playing a significant mediating role.
Research limitations/implications
The review focussed on Asian-American women, substance use among Asian-Americans, and mental health among Asian-Americans. Literature that focused on Asians living in Asia or elsewhere outside of the USA was excluded from this review; the review was limited to research conducted in the USA and written in the English language.
Practical implications
The complex interplay among Asian-American culture, family dynamics, gender roles/expectations, and mental health justifies the development of a suicide and substance abuse intervention that is tailored to the culture- and gender-specific needs of Asian Pacific Islander young women. It is imperative for professionals in the fields of public health, mental health, medicine, and substance abuse to proactively combat the “model minority” myth and to design and implement interventions targeting family dynamics, coping with immigration/acculturative stresses, mental illnesses, suicidal behaviors, and substance abuse among Asian-American populations across the developmental lifespan.
Originality/value
This paper provides specific suggestions for interventions to adequately respond to the mental health needs of young Asian-American women. These include addressing the cultural stigma and shame of seeking help, underlying family origin issues, and excessive alcohol and drug use as unsafe coping, as well as incorporating empowerment-based and mind-body components to foster an intervention targeting suicidality among Asian-American women in early adulthood.
Details
Keywords
Susan Addison and Frank Mueller
The purpose of this paper is to discuss the rhetorical framings that can be discerned by applying discourse analysis to a publicly available transcript of a Public Accounts…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to discuss the rhetorical framings that can be discerned by applying discourse analysis to a publicly available transcript of a Public Accounts Committee (PAC) inquiry in the UK.
Design/methodology/approach
In particular, the authors examine the discursive tactics used during the 2013 investigation by the House of Commons PAC, “Tax Avoidance: The Role of Large Accountancy Firms”.
Findings
Two opposing rhetorical framings of “tax avoidance” are analysed which the authors see developing incrementally and directly opposing each other. Metaphors are used by the PAC to exemplify the dark side of professions, including potentially transgressing the boundaries of what constitutes “tax avoidance”. This is counteracted by the Big Four portraying an alternative market-oriented/neo-liberal view of professions pursuing a societal good through dedication to promoting market competition.
Originality/value
Whilst one rhetorical framing is predicated on being able to draw a clear distinction between tax evasion and tax avoidance, the alternative rhetorical framing contests this distinction and contributes to an existing cultural account that paints the dark side of some of the professions. Extending the work of Creed et al. (2002) and Alexander (2011), the authors demonstrate the bridging between micro-level discursive acts and broader cultural accounts, at the macro level. As such the authors discuss the pertinence of this multi-level discursive contest, within post-inquiry sensemaking, for understanding the “dark side” of professions.
Details
Keywords
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) states in 2018 that safeguarding “civil liberties is critical” to their official duties. The Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties…
Abstract
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) states in 2018 that safeguarding “civil liberties is critical” to their official duties. The Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties within DHS, as its website explains,
reviews and assesses complaints from the public in areas such as: physical or other abuse; discrimination based on race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or disability; inappropriate conditions of confinement; infringements of free speech; violation of right to due process … and any other civil rights or civil liberties violation related to a Department program or activity.
My chapter tracks the centrality of deportability in shaping the civil liberties and rights that DHS is tasked with enforcing. Over the course of the twentieth century, people on US soil saw an expanding list of civil liberties and civil rights. Important scholarship concentrates on the role of the courts, state and federal governments, advocacy groups, social movements, and foreign policy driving these constitutional and cultural changes. For instance, the scholarship illustrates that coming out of World War I, the US Supreme Court ruled that the First Amendment did not protect something the Justices labeled “irresponsible speech.” The Supreme Court soon changed course, opening up an era ever since of more robust First Amendment rights. What has not been undertaken in the literature is an examination of the relationship of deportability to the sweep of civil liberties and civil rights. Starting in the second decade of the twentieth century, federal immigration policymakers began multiplying types of immigration statuses. A century later, among many others, there is the H2A status for temporary low-wage workers, the H2B for skilled labor, and permanent residents with green cards. The deportability of each status constrains access to certain liberties and rights. Thus, in 2016, when people from the Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties within DHS act, they are not enforcing a uniform body of rights and liberties that applies equally to citizens and immigrants, or even within the large category of immigrants. Instead, they do so within a complicated matrix of liberties and rights attenuated by deportability, which has been shaped by the history of the twentieth century.
Details