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1 – 10 of 270Juncal Goñi-Cervera, María Cristina Martínez Romillo and Irene Polo-Blanco
This paper aims to study the strategies used by ten students diagnosed with autism when solving multiplication and division problems because these operations are rarely studied in…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to study the strategies used by ten students diagnosed with autism when solving multiplication and division problems because these operations are rarely studied in students with this condition.
Design/methodology/approach
This study conducted an exploratory study with ten students diagnosed with autism to explore and describe the strategies used in solving equal group problems. The authors also describe in detail the case of a student whom the authors deem to be representative because of the reasoning the student employed.
Findings
The informal strategies that they used are described, as well as the difficulties observed in the various problems, depending on the operation required to solve them. The strategies used include direct modeling with counting and others that relied on incorrect additive relationships, with strategies based on multiplication and division operations being scarce. Difficulties were observed in several problems, with measurement division being particularly challenging for the study participants.
Practical implications
The detailed description of the strategies used by the students revealed the meanings that they associate with the operations they are executing and brought to light potential difficulties, which can help teachers plan their instruction.
Originality/value
This research supplements other studies focusing on mathematical problem-solving with autistic students.
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John W. Moravec and María Cristina Martínez-Bravo
The purpose of this study is to identify global trends in disruptive technological change and map the social and policy implications, particularly as they relate to the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to identify global trends in disruptive technological change and map the social and policy implications, particularly as they relate to the educational ecosystem and main stakeholders across all levels of education.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted a two-stage meta-analysis of 1,155 scholarly, peer-reviewed articles. The investigation involves a systematized literature review for data identification and collation adhering to defined selection criteria, and a network analysis to scrutinize data, consolidate information and unveil correlations and patterns from the literature review to produce a set of recommendations.
Findings
The study unveiled educational trends related to disruptive technologies and delineated four principal clusters representing how these technologies are transforming the education ecosystem. Additionally, a series of transversal aspects that reveal a societal vulnerability toward future prospects in the realms of ethics, sustainability, resilience, security, and policy were identified.
Practical implications
The findings spotlight an enlarging chasm between industry (and society at large) and conventional education, where many transformations triggered by disruptive technologies remain absent from teaching and learning systems. The study further offers recommendations and envisions potential scenarios, urging stakeholders to respond based on their positions concerning disruptive technologies.
Originality/value
Expanding from the meta-analysis of pertinent literature, this paper offers four collections of curated resources, four mini case studies and four scenarios for policymakers and local communities to consider, enabling them to plot courses for their optimal futures.
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Jose Albors, Jose Luis Hervas, Patricia Marquez and M. Cristina Martinez‐Fernandez
The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the analysis of firms’ innovative activities from the knowledge‐intensive service activities (KISA) point of view and analyse their…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the analysis of firms’ innovative activities from the knowledge‐intensive service activities (KISA) point of view and analyse their relation to the firms’ competitive performance in the case of a mature industry, the Spanish ceramic tile cluster.
Design/methodology/approach
The research is based on a field survey. Through a selection of variables multivariable tests were applied to map the industry from the KISA standpoint and evaluate the impact of certain knowledge intensive service activities on innovation and performance.
Findings
Internal and external knowledge‐intensive service activities were related to their output in terms of innovation, competitive advantages and economic performance.
Research limitations/implications
Further research must consider and segment customers, suppliers, and other firms in the industry as other sources of KIBS.
Practical implications
Understanding how firms access and employ the variety of innovation‐related KISA available to them in different industries, and at different times, will help policy makers to design targeted policies and programs to actively stimulate innovation across them. For firms, KISA offers a strategic choice in their innovation objectives.
Originality/value
The present analysis contribution to KISA validates a mathematical model to simulate the relation between KISA and the competitive advantage of the firm in the case of a mature medium‐tech industry.
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Tan Yigitcanlar, Koray Velibeyoglu and Cristina Martinez‐Fernandez
The paper seeks to investigate the changing and challenging spatial nature of the rising knowledge cities' knowledge precincts.
Abstract
Purpose
The paper seeks to investigate the changing and challenging spatial nature of the rising knowledge cities' knowledge precincts.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper reviews the literature on recent knowledge precinct developments within the frame of innovation and urban economic competitiveness. The methodology develops a typological investigation and searches for useful insights for better understanding the fundamentals of knowledge precincts. The study exemplifies cases from Australia as well as other global best practices.
Findings
The paper sheds light on the contemporary knowledge production of rising knowledge cities, and points out the changing spatial agglomeration of knowledge‐intensive industries and the formation of new types of knowledge precincts as the spatial core of knowledge‐based urban development.
Originality/value
The paper provides an in‐depth discussion on the changing spatial concepts of knowledge precincts and their vital role for the knowledge‐based urban development of cities.
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Tamim Elbasha and Yehuda Baruch
This study aims to understand the career path to the pinnacle of professional life. What does it take for an entrepreneur to become a global celebrity in one’s profession? The…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to understand the career path to the pinnacle of professional life. What does it take for an entrepreneur to become a global celebrity in one’s profession? The authors explore the career motivation, trajectory and outcomes of a niche population who made it to the top of their careers.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative method was applied, using publicly available, prerecorded interviews of a documentary series on a unique sample of 30 top global chefs who gain Michelin-stars or equivalent. The authors used a qualitative approach to analyze the data alternating data and theory.
Findings
The authors identify a unique pattern, which the authors label as the “two-steps” trajectory, where these successful chefs went through a dual-hurdle process: first, delving into formal training and establishing themselves; then moving to a top chef status through innovation inspired by their history, chance events and treating their work as an artistic oeuvre and an experience.
Practical implications
The authors provide an observed pattern for what is required to be a top global chef.
Originality/value
This study advances career theory and entrepreneurship studies via integrating the two perspectives. The authors offer a theoretical contribution by identifying the relevance and importance of “new careers” for entrepreneurs, recognizing critical success factors and reinstating the balance between the agency of the entrepreneur and their context.
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Paula Martínez-Sanchis, Cristina Aragón-Amonarriz and Cristina Iturrioz-Landart
This paper aims to explore how territory impacts on entrepreneurial families’ (EFs) embeddedness to unveil the role that territories play on the continuity and development of EFs.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore how territory impacts on entrepreneurial families’ (EFs) embeddedness to unveil the role that territories play on the continuity and development of EFs.
Design/methodology/approach
To study complex contexts where subjective realities are analyzed, a constructivist qualitative approach is recommended. Given that, this paper develops a qualitative methodology in which 25 semi-structured interviews were carried out and analyzed based upon the use of ATLAS.ti, following an open-coding approach.
Findings
This paper found out that the territory can condition EFs’ embeddedness in different ways. First, through the cultural embeddedness, the shared territorial understanding of values and norms inherited by the history of the territory. Second, by the political embeddedness, i.e. the power exercised by territorial economic actors and non-market institutions. Third, through the structural embeddedness generated by the territorial social networks and the generation of close relationships and finally, through the so-called cognitive embeddedness, the territorial actors’ representations, interpretations and meanings. These four modes of territorial embeddedness are unfolded in a set of 16 territorial factors that impact on EFs’ embeddedness. Most of the identified factors, 14 out of the 16, are acting mainly over one of the embeddedness modes studied (cultural, political, structural and cognitive), while two of them, because they are operating simultaneously on various modes of embeddedness, have been considered transversal factors.
Originality/value
EFs have, to a great extent, been recognized as major generators of positive externalities in the territories in which they are located, and to date, the literature has focused on the impact that firms and family firms have on regional development. However, how the territory conditions the embeddedness of these families, especially how it impacts on the EFs’ territorial embeddedness, remains unexplored. This paper proposes a framework of 16 factors that help to understand the embeddedness dynamics between EFs and territories, serving as a starting point for future research avenues. Additionally, regional policy makers may use it as a guidance to build policy mix that considers these territorial factors to boost EFs’ embeddedness.
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Royon, previously energy and mining minister for Salta province, replaces Dario Martinez, a close ally of Vice-President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner (CFK) and a member of the…
Tessa Withorn, Joanna Messer Kimmitt, Carolyn Caffrey, Anthony Andora, Cristina Springfield, Dana Ospina, Maggie Clarke, George Martinez, Amalia Castañeda, Aric Haas and Wendolyn Vermeer
This paper aims to present recently published resources on library instruction and information literacy, providing an introductory overview and a selected annotated bibliography…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to present recently published resources on library instruction and information literacy, providing an introductory overview and a selected annotated bibliography of publications covering various library types, study populations and research contexts.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper introduces and annotates English-language periodical articles, monographs, dissertations, reports and other materials on library instruction and information literacy published in 2019.
Findings
The paper provides a brief description of all 370 sources and highlights sources that contain unique or significant scholarly contributions.
Originality/value
The information may be used by librarians, researchers and anyone interested as a quick and comprehensive reference to literature on library instruction and information literacy.
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Isabel-María García-Sánchez, Beatriz Aibar-Guzmán and Cristina Aibar-Guzmán
The purpose of this study is to analyse the role played by institutional investors in a firm’s decision to hire sustainability assurance services and to determine the benefits of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to analyse the role played by institutional investors in a firm’s decision to hire sustainability assurance services and to determine the benefits of sustainability assurance for the functioning of the capital market. This analysis is complemented by examining the quality of the sustainability assurance service that institutional investors demand.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors selected a sample of 1,564 multinational firms from 2002 to 2017. Panel data logit and generalised method of moments (GMM) regressions were estimated to consider decisions about hiring sustainability assurance services or not, and the assurance quality indexes constructed by a checklist based on the academic literature, respectively.
Findings
Institutional pressures associated with the environmental and social impacts of a firm’s activities lead to the convergence of institutional investor attitudes towards corporate sustainability, so that, regardless of their investment horizon, they promote the hiring of sustainability assurance services by corporate boards, which favours analyst precision and a reduction in the cost of capital. Long-term (LT) institutional investors exert influence through a selection mechanism, whereas short-term (ST) institutional investors exert influence through their presence on the board. Once the company has decided to provide assurance about its sustainability report, both types of institutional investors promote a higher quality of such service, although this is not well valued by the stock market.
Research limitations/implications
This paper extends research on the monitoring role of institutional investors into the sustainability assurance context. Researchers may benefit from this paper’s findings when they examine the factors that drive the hiring of sustainability assurance services and their characteristics. This paper also shows that sustainability assurance services are a significant weakness due to the lack of standardisation in comparison with financial auditing, which complicates the assessment of their quality by stock market participants, thereby penalising those companies that provide more complete sustainability assurance reports.
Practical implications
Considering this paper’s findings, it seems advisable that regulators establish a normative framework to standardise sustainability assurance processes. The results can also be used as an orientation for both companies, to design their sustainability disclosure policies and regulators, to improve the running of the capital market.
Social implications
Sustainability assurance services have a positive effect on the running of the capital market and improve external stakeholder decision-making by providing more reliable information, which, in turn, will favour the implementation of more sustainable actions that contribute to the attainment of sustainable development goals.
Originality/value
This is one of the first papers to analyse the effect of institutional ownership on a firm’s decision to hire sustainability assurance services and consider the effect of the institutional investors’ investment horizon – LT versus ST – and the channel – selection methods and/or active engagement – used by them to exert their influence. The authors also propose several measures of sustainability assurance quality to demonstrate the relevance of the contents of the assurance statement for the capital market in general and the institutional investors in particular.
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