Search results
1 – 10 of over 34000The purpose of this paper is to investigate the willingness of households to pay for academic and deprivation-compensating components of the Contextual Value Added (CVA) indicator…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the willingness of households to pay for academic and deprivation-compensating components of the Contextual Value Added (CVA) indicator of school quality used in England in order to locate themselves in the catchment area of state schools. Deprivation-compensating school performance, defined as the difference in the disadvantaged intake between two schools with the same academic performance.
Design/methodology/approach
The empirical analysis, based on data drawn from three independent UK data sources, used parametric and non-parametric analysis approaches. The analysis conducted separately for primary and secondary schools, because household behaviour can differ between these two levels of education.
Findings
Consumers are willing to pay for houses in the catchment area of primary and secondary schools with high academic achievement, as measured by the mean score; whereas, the component of the CVA indicating deprivation-compensating aspects of school performance is found to have a positive effect only on the price of houses in the catchment area of primary schools in London; its impact on the price of houses elsewhere is mostly negative.
Practical implications
The analysis in this study suggested that the recently adopted practice of using CVA as a measure of school quality in England can encourage government and Local Authorities to pay more attention to raising the deprivation-compensating aspects of school performance of their schools.
Originality/value
This is the first study to explore the value which households attach to deprivation-compensating outcomes, at a given level of academic performance using the CVA indicator.
Details
Keywords
Arif Perdana, Alastair Robb and Fiona Rohde
The purpose of this study is to gain insight into what aspects of eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) data and information quality (DIQ) most interest professionals.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to gain insight into what aspects of eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) data and information quality (DIQ) most interest professionals.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors use text analytics to examine XBRL discourses from professionals working in the domain. They explore the discussion in the three largest LinkedIn XBRL groups. Data collection covered the period 2010-2016.
Findings
Via the text analytics, the authors find the most appropriate XBRL DIQ dimensions. They propose an XBRL DIQ framework containing 18 relevant DIQ dimensions derived from both the accounting and IS fields. The findings of this study are expected to help direct future XBRL research into the DIQ dimensions most worthy of further empirical investigation.
Originality/value
XBRL is the international standard for the digital reporting of financial, performance, risk and compliance information. Although the expectations of XBRL to produce improvements in DIQ via its applications (e.g. standard business reporting, digital data standard and interactive data visualization) are high, they remain unclear. This paper contributes to better understanding of the aspects of XBRL DIQ most relevant to professionals.
Details
Keywords
Pamela Sammons, Susila Davis, Christopher Day and Qing Gu
The purpose of this paper is to discuss the use of mixed methods research in a major three year project and focuses on the contribution of quantitative and qualitative approaches…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to discuss the use of mixed methods research in a major three year project and focuses on the contribution of quantitative and qualitative approaches to study school improvement. It discusses the procedures and multiple data sources used in studying improvement using the example of a recent study of the role of leadership in promoting improvement in primary and secondary schools’ academic results in England. Although the definition of improvement used was based on robust analyses of data on students’ academic outcomes, the mixed methods design enabled a broader perspective to be achieved.
Design/methodology/approach
The study illustrates how the multilevel analysis of students’ national assessment and examination results based on national data sets for primary and secondary schools in England were used to investigate the concept of academic effectiveness based on value-added methodology. Using three successive years of national results a purposive sample of schools were identified that could be classified as both effective and improving over the period 2003-2005. In addition, surveys and interviews were used to gather evidence of the role of stakeholder perceptions in investigating school improvement strategies and processes.
Findings
National student attainment data sets were used for the identification of improving and effective schools and revealed the importance of considering their different starting points in their classification of three distinctive improvement groups. The combination of quantitative survey data from headteachers and key staff with qualitative case study data enabled a range of analysis strategies and the development of statistical models and deeper understanding of the role of leadership.
Research limitations/implications
The limitations of a focus on only academic outcomes and “value-added” measures of student progress are discussed. The challenges and opportunities faced in analysis and integration of the different sources of evidence are briefly explored.
Practical implications
The study contributes to the knowledge base on the identification of school improvement and use of performance data. The findings on strategies and processes that support improvement are of relevance to policy makers and practitioners, especially school leaders.
Originality/value
The mixed methods design adopted in the study enabled the research to combine rigorous quantitative and in-depth qualitative data in new ways to extend and make new claims to knowledge about the role of school leadership in promoting school improvement based on the study of effective and improved schools’ experiences.
Details
Keywords
Maria Conceição A. Silva Portela, Ana Santos Camanho and Diogo Nóvoa Borges
The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the implementation of a web‐based platform integrating benchmarking and data envelopment analysis (DEA) for the Portuguese secondary…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the implementation of a web‐based platform integrating benchmarking and data envelopment analysis (DEA) for the Portuguese secondary schools.
Design/methodology/approach
The benchmarking platform is designed around a set of key performance indicators that are displayed using benchmarking graphs. These indicators are also aggregated through the methodology of DEA to provide a summary measure of performance.
Findings
The benchmarking platform developed enables schools to perform internal and external evaluation through a standard model that is based on indicators of school activities. It encourages schools' efforts of continuous improvement and increases society awareness regarding schools' context and results obtained.
Practical implications
The benchmarking platform can be useful for schools and general public. For the general public, there is a tool that allows the construction of user‐defined rankings online and benchmarking tools that allow the comparison of performance of a specific school with others. In addition to these features, schools have in the BESP platform a repository of historical data, and the possibility to see a set of graphs that show for some indicators their evolution over time.
Originality/value
This paper describes a breakthrough in the Portuguese education context. The BESP platform is the first in this context to combine DEA and benchmarking tools in a web‐based environment, designed to enable real‐time performance assessments.
Details
Keywords
Mehwish Waheed, Kiran Kaur and Atika Qazi
– The purpose of this paper is to identify the unique d
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify the unique d
i
mensions associated with knowledge quality (KQ) based on students’ perception in an educational institution.
Design/methodology/approach
Purposive sampling was used to select students who were active users of the electronic-Learning (eLearning) system at two faculties in a single university. The qualitative data gathering employed an unstructured open-ended questionnaire distributed to the 52 selected participants.
Findings
The qualitative findings unearth the students’ perspective about quality of knowledge gained from content used in online courses. In total, 34 underlying sub-dimensions of KQ emerged, which were categorized into five KQ dimensions: intrinsic KQ, contextual KQ, representational KQ, accessible KQ, and actionable KQ.
Research limitations/implications
The findings provide an insight to educators to consider KQ dimensions in providing quality knowledge to students in an eLearning environment.
Originality/value
Previous studies have used information quality dimensions to measure KQ because of a lack of conceptualization of KQ that leads to difficulties in operationalizing this construct. In this study, a conceptual and operational definition of KQ, in the context of eLearning, is proposed based on grounded data from students participating in an online learning environment.
Details
Keywords
Deepanjana Varshney and Nirbhay Krishna Varshney
Organizations in today's changing environment face significant challenges, requiring continual innovation. Understanding oneself from the employee's perspective is paramount…
Abstract
Purpose
Organizations in today's changing environment face significant challenges, requiring continual innovation. Understanding oneself from the employee's perspective is paramount, especially in organizations and businesses, transforming all levels, accommodating new work paradigms and adapting to the post-pandemic business world. The authors examine the employees' critical dimensions, self-concept and resilience through self-reported studies to ascertain the impact on their performance in the organization. Self-concept, a multidimensional knowledge structure, implies the individual's description and examination, including psychological characteristics, attributes and skills. On the other hand, resilience is adapting appropriately to adversity, challenges and stressful situations and emerging unscathed. Resilience additionally leads to profound personal growth and acceptance of reality. It also endows the individual's sense of identity over time. It provides insights into work behavior and outcomes and fosters a positive psychological perspective to improve performance. Job performance is an observable individual performance that adds value and enables organizational goal achievement. To sum job performance is an achievement-related behavior. The research study examines the relationship between employee self-concept, resilience and performance elements (task, contextual and counterproductive work behavior).
Design/methodology/approach
Cross-sectional data were collected from 224 employees from the retail sector to test the hypotheses among self-concept, employee performance elements and resilience. SPSS 21.0 was used, and the authors conducted reliability, correlation and regression analysis using statistical tools to analyze the mediating effect.
Findings
Self-concept and employee performance elements have significant relationships. The mediating effect of resilience on the relationship between self-concept and counterproductive work behavior and self-concept and contextual performance is significant. In contrast, resilience does not impact the relationship between self-concept and task performance.
Originality/value
The authors examined a framework of untested variables, namely self-concept and the different factors of performance (task, contextual and counterproductive behavior). The authors investigated the mediating effect of resilience in the model, which was not previously explored.
Details
Keywords
The first decades of the 21st century have witnessed unprecedented global political cooperation directed toward school teachers and the importance of quality education. This…
Abstract
The first decades of the 21st century have witnessed unprecedented global political cooperation directed toward school teachers and the importance of quality education. This chapter discusses the current developments in the global educational policy field with a particular focus on teacher policy and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) program Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS). In adopting a critical realist approach and based on a literature review, this chapter provides a synthesis of the governance mechanisms, contexts, and outcomes of TALIS. TALIS is treated as an observable outcome resulting from the actions of an underlying mechanism – information-processing policy instruments – and two contextual conditions. The first contextual condition suggests that there is a predominance of the knowledge-based economy paradigm in the political discourse, linking school teachers to economic growth and competitiveness. The second condition is provided by the consensus that education, notwithstanding technological developments, in the foreseeable future will remain a labor-intensive sector requiring a teacher workforce, as reflected in the representation of diverse interests in the TALIS programme and their commitment to find compromises on teacher policy. We will be able to assess in future decades the extent to which the mechanism will be triggered with regard to TALIS. However, in giving voice to teachers working in different settings, TALIS findings are not easy to reconcile with human capital theory or translate into “best practice” recommendations for teacher policies that can help drive knowledge-based economies.
Details
Keywords
The purpose of this paper is to discuss some key aspects of quality in education in the light of over 30 years practical experience of doing quality assurance (QA).
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to discuss some key aspects of quality in education in the light of over 30 years practical experience of doing quality assurance (QA).
Design/methodology/approach
Reflection on three concepts, which are still the subject of debate, namely: “quality”; “total quality management (TQM)”; and “autonomy”.
Findings
As this is not a research paper, it presents no findings. There are some research implications, if only to deter researchers from digging up old ground. More research into the diversity of and interactions between cultures in academia might prove useful.
Practical implications
There are lessons to be learnt from the past. Doing quality improves quality. Talking about it or trying to impose it does not. Managers and leaders need to reflect more carefully than is their wont on the purposes and procedures of QA in education.
Originality/value
This paper makes a contribution to the debate about quality in education in universities and schools and suggests that a clearer understanding across the education system of the scope and purpose of QA, the nature of TQM and the limitations of autonomy might lead to better embedded and more effective continuous improvement.
Details
Keywords
Arthur Kearney, Denis Harrington and Felicity Kelliher
This paper aims to develop a framework of executive capability for innovation in the Irish seaport context.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to develop a framework of executive capability for innovation in the Irish seaport context.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper uses an approach based on a critical review of literature. The paper takes the form of a critical review of academic literature, focussed by dynamic managerial capabilities theory. Specifically, the work of Lawson and Samson (2001) is drawn on to frame executive capability for innovation.
Findings
The framework proposes that the executive capability for innovation in the Irish seaport sector emerges as a dynamic managerial capability. The framework is dynamic in nature with environmental feedback loops inhibiting and enabling executive capability development. Supply chain innovation emerges from the framework based on an interpretation of executive capability emerging from Lawson and Samson (2001).
Research limitations/implications
The paper is entirely conceptual in nature. Future empirical research taking a qualitative approach is necessary. Further, an alternative theoretical perspective to that of dynamic managerial capabilities would offer new conceptual insight.
Practical implications
The paper contributes to executive practice through providing a framework of executive capability for innovation facilitating dialogue between executive practitioners and academic theory. Policymakers are challenged to contemplate the framework as a means of transforming competitiveness in an industry identified as foundational to Irish economic development.
Originality/value
The paper contributes to an emerging area of interest in the academic literature in the area of executive capability for innovation. Specifically, the paper argues the unique contextual nature of executive capability for innovation in the context of the seaport industry.
Details
Keywords
Teresa Pereira Heath, Caroline Tynan and Christine Ennew
The purpose of this paper is to provide a contextualized view of participants’ accounts of self-gift consumer behaviour (SGCB) throughout the consumption cycle, from the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide a contextualized view of participants’ accounts of self-gift consumer behaviour (SGCB) throughout the consumption cycle, from the motivations to the emotions that follow.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper uses an interpretive approach, focused on participants’ constructions of meanings, using 99 critical incident technique interviews, which followed 16 in-depth interviews.
Findings
This paper identifies the following self-gift motivations: To Reward Myself (and Others); To celebrate; To remember or get closer; To forget or part; To feel loved or cheered up; and To enjoy life. It also uncovers a compensatory/therapeutic dimension in most self-gifts. The authors identify changes in emotional responses to SGCB over time, and suggest a relationship between these emotions and the contexts that drive self-gifts. Self-gifts are conceptualized as pleasure-oriented, symbolic and special consumption experiences, which are self-directed, or both self- and others-directed; perceived by the consumer to be justified by the contexts in which they occur; and driven and followed by context-dependent emotions.
Originality/value
This manuscript offers novel insights into participants’ uses of both SGCB and the act of labelling purchases “self-gifts”. It uncovers how consumers are concerned with accounting for indulgent spending and how this problematizes the concept of “self-gift”. It challenges the idea of a single context for SGCB, showing how interacting motivations explain it. It also introduces a temporal dimension to self-gift theory by considering emotional responses at different times. Finally, it offers a new conceptualization of and theoretical framework for SGCB.
Details