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1 – 10 of over 34000Raymond Mugwanya, Gary Marsden and Richard Boateng
The purpose of this paper is to report on podcasting experience by faculty and students in a South African higher education institution (HEI), identify issues, limitations and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to report on podcasting experience by faculty and students in a South African higher education institution (HEI), identify issues, limitations and discuss implications for the design of future tools.
Design/methodology/approach
This work consisted of two parts: semi‐structured interviews with lecturers, content/curriculum developers and a student survey.
Findings
Rogers's diffusion of innovations theory provided the framework for this research including determining how new innovations are disseminated, their rate of adoption, the five‐stage decision‐making process for adoption and the characteristics an innovation must possess to be attractive to adopters. The methodology used relied heavily on descriptive and qualitative data analyses in order to determine the current podcasting practices and experiences. Results reveal that by assuming some of the respondents are “innovators” or “early adopters”, they are still in the early stages of the decision‐making process.
Research limitations/implications
Some instructors who are identified as “early adopters” are experimenting with podcasting as an add‐on to existing lecture resources. However, innovations and their subsequent adoption require an understanding of lecturers' and students' perceptions, opportunities and challenges.
Originality/value
Podcasting in developing HEIs and the tools therein to support the process has not been given much attention. The context of this study is the first kind of empirical research in this area. The findings from this exploratory research will be valuable for podcasting users.
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Sophia Charlotte Volk and Ansgar Zerfass
The purpose of this article is to introduce the research field of management tools to communication management scholarship and open up new avenues for the field.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this article is to introduce the research field of management tools to communication management scholarship and open up new avenues for the field.
Design/methodology/approach
The first part examines established knowledge from the strategic management literature about management tools as a means to support and facilitate organizational decision-making. The second part reports on a survey among 125 communication practitioners in corporate communication departments about the use of 32 tools for the analysis, planning, implementation and evaluation of communication.
Findings
The study sheds light on the perceived relevance and benefits of tools, as well as on knowledge and satisfaction and on general patterns of tool use. The findings demonstrate that tools are gaining in importance, but there is a lack of understanding, training and documentation of tools. Tools for planning and implementing communication are most widely spread, reflecting the operational focus of corporate communication.
Practical implications
Practitioners find value in the compilation of the most popular tools and implications on how to reflect about tool usage and outcomes.
Originality/value
The article provides directions for future research and reflects about tools as a means to bridge the divide between theory and practice.
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Yang Zhao, Lin Wang and Yaming Zhang
The paper aims to clarify the importance of the psychological processing of contextual cues in the mining of individual attention resources. In recent years, the research of more…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper aims to clarify the importance of the psychological processing of contextual cues in the mining of individual attention resources. In recent years, the research of more open spatial perspective, such as spatial and scene perception, has gradually turned to the recognition of contextual cues, accumulating rich literature and becoming a hotspot of interdisciplinary research. Nevertheless, besides the fields of psychology and neuroscience, researchers in other fields lack systematic knowledge of contextual cues. The purpose of this study is to expand the research field of contextual cues.
Design/methodology/approach
We retrieved 494 papers on contextual cues from SCI/SSCI core database of the Web of Science in 1992–2019. Then, we used several bibliometric and sophisticated network analysis tools, such as HistCite, CiteSpace, VOSviewe and Pajek, to identify the time-and-space knowledge map, research hotspots, evolution process, emerging trends and primary path of contextual cues.
Findings
The paper found the core scholars, major journals, research institutions, and the popularity of citation to be closely related to the research of contextual cues. In addition, we constructed a co-word network of contextual cues, confirming the concept of behavior implementation intentions and filling in the research gap in the field of behavior science. Then, the quantitative analysis of the burst literature on contextual cues revealed that the research on it that focused more on multi-objective cues. Furthermore, an analysis of the main path helped researchers clearly understand and grasp in the development trend and evolution track of contextual cues.
Originality/value
Given academic research usually lags behind management practice, our systematic review of the literature to a certain extent make a bridge between theory and practice.
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Suchitra Ajgaonkar, Netra Neelam, Abhishek Behl, Le Trung Dao and Le Dang Lang
This research examines the effects of the context on the relationship between work design, learning mechanism and total quality management (TQM). The exploratory study examines…
Abstract
Purpose
This research examines the effects of the context on the relationship between work design, learning mechanism and total quality management (TQM). The exploratory study examines the differential effects in context on how human resources and their activities are strategically managed for achieving TQM. Two theoretical frameworks – activity theory and contextual learning theory – are concurrently used for analysis. Specifically, the manufacturing companies, the authors examine are (1) technology-intensive company which has bought technology from a global foreign establishment (MU1), (2) technology-intensive companies having their own technology (MU2) and (3) labor-intensive units (MU3) of varying organizational sizes.
Design/methodology/approach
This case study-based research consists of 27 in-depth interviews with managers and employees of different hierarchies in each manufacturing unit. The authors interviewed them using semi-structured questions that were pre-validated by five senior HR experts from the manufacturing industry. Document analysis, multiple site visits and website content helped triangulation. The data are coded and analyzed using Dedoose software for qualitative research.
Findings
Activity diagrams for each manufacturing unit provides task and interaction analysis. Within and cross-case analysis address complexity and challenges of contextual reality, influences on work design and learning mechanism. HRD executives must recognize that there may be well-differentiated learning behaviors that align with organizational strategy. The learning behaviors may not be well-differentiated and become very dynamic. This dynamism may be characterized by double loop and single-loop learning feeding into each other.
Practical implications
This study provides substantial practical implications for HRD and other managers in the manufacturing sector.
Originality/value
The new theoretical framework adds to organizational behavior studies through multi-level and cross-contextual approach. It informs strategic combinations and interactions between internal and external context, and learning needs implicating work design and TQM.
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The second half of a ‘before and after’ study to evaluate the impact of an online catalogue on subject searching behaviour is reported. A holistic approach is adopted encompassing…
Abstract
The second half of a ‘before and after’ study to evaluate the impact of an online catalogue on subject searching behaviour is reported. A holistic approach is adopted encompassing both catalogue use and browsing at the shelves for catalogue users and non‐users. Verbal and non‐verbal data were elicited from searchers using a combined methodology including talk‐aloud technique, observation and a screen logging facility. An extensive qualitative analysis was carried out correlating expressed topics, search formulation strategies and documents retrieved at the shelves. The online catalogue environment does not appear to have increased the extent of subject searching nor the use of the bibliographic tool. The manual precis index supported a contextual approach for broad and more interactive search formulations whereas the opac encouraged a matching approach and narrow formulations with fewer but user generated formulations. The success rate of the online catalogue was slightly better than that of the manual tools but fewer items were retrieved at the shelves. Non‐users of the bibliographic tools seemed to be just as successful. To improve retrieval effectiveness it is suggested that online catalogues should cater for both matching and contextual approaches to searching. Recent research indicates that a more interactive process could be promoted by providing query expansion through a combination of searching aids for matching, for search formulation assistance and for structured contextual retrieval.
Samia Mazhar, Paul Pao-Yen Wu and Michael Rosemann
A configurable reference model can be used to assist in the development and management of business processes in complex, multi-stakeholder environments. The purpose of this paper…
Abstract
Purpose
A configurable reference model can be used to assist in the development and management of business processes in complex, multi-stakeholder environments. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate a process design in such environments via configurable process reference modelling, using airports as an example.
Design/methodology/approach
Existing reference modelling methods around process modelling, merging and configuration are extended to include contextual and spatial factors using the design science methodology. The approach is empirically based on a set of business process management notation (BPMN) models for international passenger departures, consolidated from five Australian airport case studies via document analysis, interviews and observation.
Findings
The use of contextual factors and operational scenarios, structured using the proposed approach, facilitated efficient cross-organisational comparison for configuring processes to suit the needs of a target organisation. The resulting configurable model integrates the perspectives of organisational stakeholder groups with that of the customer in a transparent and unambiguous graphical representation. It is a reusable tool with low data collection needs for each use.
Research limitations/implications
Future research should include: version management; how to keep the model current; configurability via modelling objects other than gateways; and cross-discipline application (e.g. as a foundation for quantitative decision-making models).
Originality/value
This is the first reported application of configurable reference modelling to airport passenger facilitation. Methodological contributions include the addition of space-sensitive process elements and notation to BPMN; guidelines for systematically deriving contextual factors associated with process variants across similar organisations; and overall normative guidelines for inductively developing a configurable process reference model.
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Observing that people re‐access what they have seen or used in the past is very common in real lives. The purpose of this paper is to review the subject of information re‐finding…
Abstract
Purpose
Observing that people re‐access what they have seen or used in the past is very common in real lives. The purpose of this paper is to review the subject of information re‐finding comprehensively, and introduce to readers the underlying techniques and mechanisms used in information re‐finding.
Design/methodology/approach
After analyzing users' information re‐finding behaviors and their requirements, the paper studies the natural way of re‐finding in human memory, and reviews state‐of‐the‐art techniques and tools developed in the fields of web and personal information management for information re‐finding.
Findings
Four main re‐finding support techniques on the Web are: re‐finding tools in Web browsers; history service; re‐finding search engine; and voice‐based re‐finding. Three main re‐finding approaches are used in PIM: browse‐based approaches; content‐based search; and context‐based search.
Practical implications
Following the recalling mechanisms in human memory, the method of recall‐by‐context in both fields of web usage and personal information management can make users feel easy to re‐find information.
Originality/value
The paper gives a comprehensive overview of information re‐finding techniques.
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Mark Ramrattan and Nandish V. Patel
This paper aims to examine the contextual issues relating to the problem of developing web‐based information systems for emergent organisations.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine the contextual issues relating to the problem of developing web‐based information systems for emergent organisations.
Design/methodology/approach
The study employs an action research approach to understand and develop an analytical development tool for web developers. It postulates that existing methods are inadequate in coping with sudden and unexpected changing characteristics within the organisation. The theory of deferred action is used as the basis for the development of an emergent analytical development tool. Many tools for managing change in a continuously changing organisation are susceptible to inadequacy.
Findings
The insights proposed are believed to assist designers in developing functional and relevant approaches within dynamic organisational contexts.
Originality/value
The analytical development matrix assists web developers in emergent organisations to develop web‐based information systems.
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Florence Lunkuse, John C. Munene, Joseph M. Ntayi, Arthur Sserwanga and James Kagaari
This study aims to examine the relationship between tool adoption and information literacy within smallholder farmers (SHFs).
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the relationship between tool adoption and information literacy within smallholder farmers (SHFs).
Design/methodology/approach
A structured questionnaire was used to gather data for this quantitative study from 225 SHFs. Structural equation modelling was done to test the hypotheses.
Findings
The findings established that tool adoption dimensions (Information and communication technologies (ICT) acceptance, language use and information culture) positively and significantly influenced information literacy. Information culture had the strongest impact.
Research limitations/implications
The study enriches the situated learning theory (SLT) literature by introducing tool adoption as a predictor of information literacy in a new context of SHFs. Use of tools as independent variables is a positive deviation from previous studies that have used them as mediating variables. Despite the contributions, the cross-sectional design study undermines the ability to solicit more detailed perspectives from the lived in experience of the respondents.
Practical implications
Managers should promote usage of context-specific tools like local radio stations and mobile phones, but also use language tailored to farmer contexts when disseminating information. Policymakers should leverage on social and cultural settings when designing information interventions.
Social implications
The study highlights critical factors that significantly promote information use for improved productivity for SHFs, cumulatively increasing the country’s gross domestic product (GDP). Socially, findings may reduce on their poverty levels of farmers.
Originality/value
This study offers a novel perspective in information literacy domain by using the SLT to delineate contextual tools that are paramount in predicting of information literacy in an under research informal context of SHFs.
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Miikka Palvalin, Maiju Vuolle, Aki Jääskeläinen, Harri Laihonen and Antti Lönnqvist
New Ways of Working (NewWoW) refers to a novel approach for improving the performance of knowledge work. The purpose of this paper is to seek innovative solutions concerning…
Abstract
Purpose
New Ways of Working (NewWoW) refers to a novel approach for improving the performance of knowledge work. The purpose of this paper is to seek innovative solutions concerning facilities, information technology tools and work practices in order to be able to “work smarter, not harder.” In order to develop work practices toward the NewWoW mode there is a need for an analytical management tool that would help assess the status of the organization’s current work practices and demonstrate the impacts of development initiatives. This paper introduces such a tool.
Design/methodology/approach
Constructive research approach was chosen to guide the development of the Smart ways of working (SmartWoW) tool. The tool was designed on the basis of previous knowledge work performance literature as well as on interviews in two knowledge-intensive organizations. The usefulness of the tool was verified by applying it in four organizations.
Findings
SmartWoW is a compact questionnaire tool for analyzing and measuring knowledge work at the individual level. The questionnaire consists of four areas: work environment, personal work practices, well-being at work and productivity. As SmartWoW is a standardized tool its results are comparable between organizations.
Research limitations/implications
SmartWoW was designed a pragmatic managerial tool. It is considered possible that it can be valuable as a research instrument as well but the current limited amount of collected data does not yet facilitate determining its usefulness from that perspective.
Originality/value
This paper makes a contribution to the existing literature on knowledge work measurement and management by introducing an analytical tool which takes into account the NewWoW perspective.
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