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Open Access
Article
Publication date: 6 March 2023

Gunilla Eklöv Alander

This study aims to understand independence in internal auditing by investigating how internal auditor independence is constructed when analysed in its corporate governance context.

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Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to understand independence in internal auditing by investigating how internal auditor independence is constructed when analysed in its corporate governance context.

Design/methodology/approach

A critical discourse analysis (CDA) of the corporate governance reports of Swedish large stock market listed non-financial companies, for three consecutive years, is undertaken, using a theoretical lens of organisational embeddedness and operational coupling to understand independence as a situated practice.

Findings

The study develops four archetypes of internal auditor independence – autarchic, instrumental, symbiotic and subservient – and discusses each archetype's implications for independence, related to tripartite relations with management and the audit committee, regarding who has the mandate to direct work and how the work is done. It finds that internal auditors always have a capacity to be independent. Although they are not independent in relation to agents in the subservient archetype, they are independent of those down the organisational chain of command, suggesting independence is both situational and relational.

Research limitations/implications

The analysis contributes a novel approach to the literature and develops a conception of independence using the dimensions of embeddedness and coupling. The archetypes offer an analytical framework for future studies on independence.

Practical implications

Internal auditors may understand their practice differently through the archetypes that result from this study.

Social implications

Internal auditors' power relations within corporate governance further an understanding of the pressures on internal auditors and their role.

Originality/value

This study contributes new knowledge on the situatedness of independence by showing how internal auditors are embedded and coupled helps build their independence.

Details

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, vol. 36 no. 9
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-3574

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 14 July 2023

David S. Bedford, Markus Granlund and Kari Lukka

The authors examine how performance measurement systems (PMSs) and academic agency influence the meaning of research quality in practice. The worries are that the notion of…

Abstract

Purpose

The authors examine how performance measurement systems (PMSs) and academic agency influence the meaning of research quality in practice. The worries are that the notion of research quality is becoming too simplistically and narrowly determined by research quality's measurable proxies and that academics, especially manager-academics, do not sufficiently realise this risk. Whilst prior literature has covered the effects of performance measurement in the university sector broadly and how PMSs are mobilised locally, there is only little understanding of whether and how PMSs affect the meaning of research quality in practice.

Design/methodology/approach

The study is designed as a comparative case study of two university faculties in Finland. The role of conceptual analysis plays a notable role in the study, too.

Findings

The authors find that manager-academics of the two examined faculties have rather similar conceptual understandings of research quality. However, there were differences in the degree of slippage between the “espoused-meaning” of research quality and “meaning-in-practice” of research quality. The authors traced these differences to how the local PMS and manager-academics’ agency relate to one another within the context of increasing global and national performance pressures. The authors developed a tentative framework for the various “styles of agency”. This suggests how the relationship between the local PMS and manager-academics’ exerted agency shapes the “degrees of freedom” of the meaning of research quality in practice.

Originality/value

Given that research quality lies at the heart of academic work, the authors' paper indicates that exploring the three matters – performance measurement, the agency of manager-academics and the meaning of research quality in practice – in combination is crucial for the sustainability of the academe. The authors contribute to the literature by detailing the way in which local PMS and manager-academics' agency have material impacts on what research quality means in practice. The authors conclude by highlighting the pressing need for manager-academics to exercise the agency in efforts to safeguard a broad and pluralistic understanding of research quality in practice.

Details

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, vol. 36 no. 9
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-3574

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 10 July 2023

Réka Tamássy, Zsuzsanna Géring, Gábor Király, Réka Plugor and Márton Rakovics

This study aims to investigate how highly ranked business schools portray ideal students in terms of their attributes and their agency. Understanding how these higher education…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to investigate how highly ranked business schools portray ideal students in terms of their attributes and their agency. Understanding how these higher education institutions (HEIs) discursively construct their present and prospective students also shed light on the institutions’ self-representation, the portrayal of the student–institution relationship and eventually the discursive construction of higher education’s (HE) role.

Design/methodology/approach

To understand this dynamic interrelationship, this study uses mixed methodological textual analysis first quantitatively identifying different modes of language use and then qualitatively analysing them.

Findings

With this approach, this study identified six language use groups. While the portrayal of the business schools and that of the students are always co-constructed, these groups differ in the extent of student and organisational agency displayed as well as the role and purpose of the institution. Business schools are always active agents in these discourses, but their roles and the students’ agency vary greatly across these six groups.

Practical implications

These findings can help practitioners determine how students are currently portrayed in their organisational texts, how their peers and competitors talk and where they want to position themselves in relation to them.

Originality/value

Previous studies discussed the ideal HE students from the perspective of the students or their educators. Other analyses on HE discourse focused on HEIs’ discursive construction and social role This study, however, unveils how the highly ranked business schools in their external organisational communication discursively construct their ideals and expectations for both their students and the general public.

Details

Journal of International Education in Business, vol. 17 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2046-469X

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 29 January 2024

Etain Kidney, Maura McAdam and Thomas M. Cooney

There is a gap in understanding with regards to the discrimination and prejudice experienced by gay entrepreneurs. To address this, an intersectional perspective is adopted to…

Abstract

Purpose

There is a gap in understanding with regards to the discrimination and prejudice experienced by gay entrepreneurs. To address this, an intersectional perspective is adopted to facilitate a better understanding of how lesbian and gay entrepreneurs may experience heterosexism.

Design/methodology/approach

This qualitative study uses semi-structured interviews to explore the experiences of 14 lesbian and gay entrepreneurs as they navigate homophobia and heterosexism.

Findings

The study contributes novel insights to the field of entrepreneurship, extending the study of lesbian and gay entrepreneurs to include gender and a fine-grained analysis of the experience of heterosexism. Its inclusion of an intersectional perspective of the lesbian-female entrepreneur expands the emerging body of literature examining intersectional identities of minority entrepreneurs.

Originality/value

The authors provide a more nuanced understanding of the impact of heterosexism on LGBT+ entrepreneurial activities. This is facilitated by the authors' adoption of an intersectional perspective which shows how the different axes of identity influenced gender identity performance in relation to the model of perceived neutrality in LGBT+ entrepreneurship. The authors also make an original contribution to minority stress literature through the authors' exploration of one facet of minority entrepreneurship, namely the impact of heterosexism on LGBT+ entrepreneurial activities.

Details

International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1355-2554

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 16 January 2024

Ville Jylhä, Noora Hirvonen and Jutta Haider

This study addresses how algorithmic recommendations and their affordances shape everyday information practices among young people.

Abstract

Purpose

This study addresses how algorithmic recommendations and their affordances shape everyday information practices among young people.

Design/methodology/approach

Thematic interviews were conducted with 20 Finnish young people aged 15–16 years. The material was analysed using qualitative content analysis, with a focus on everyday information practices involving online platforms.

Findings

The key finding of the study is that the current affordances of algorithmic recommendations enable users to engage in more passive practices instead of active search and evaluation practices. Two major themes emerged from the analysis: enabling not searching, inviting high trust, which highlights the how the affordances of algorithmic recommendations enable the delegation of search to a recommender system and, at the same time, invite trust in the system, and constraining finding, discouraging diversity, which focuses on the constraining degree of affordances and breakdowns associated with algorithmic recommendations.

Originality/value

This study contributes new knowledge regarding the ways in which algorithmic recommendations shape the information practices in young people's everyday lives specifically addressing the constraining nature of affordances.

Details

Journal of Documentation, vol. 80 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0022-0418

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 28 February 2023

Andrea Sabatini, Federica Pascucci and Gian Luca Gregori

This paper aims to explore how customer involvement unfolds in the development of a smart product. Smart product development poses new challenges to firms. In particular, the…

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Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to explore how customer involvement unfolds in the development of a smart product. Smart product development poses new challenges to firms. In particular, the buyers’ and users’ involvement has shown novel dynamics in smart product development. These peculiarities are linked with the specific characteristics of the digital technology embedded into the smart products. This study’s rationale is to analyse the frictions arising from potential divergent objectives between the focal firm and its customers when digital technologies are embedded in traditional products.

Design/methodology/approach

This study adopted an explorative and qualitative approach to investigate new emerging dynamics of customer involvement during technological development. A coffee machine producer is selected as a case study to uncover new insights and a novel perspective on the phenomenon of customer involvement in smart product development. Data analysis followed an abductive approach that allowed to identify the dimensions of friction emerging during the technological development process.

Findings

The case study analysis depicts that smart product development presents novel customer involvement dynamics. In particular, this study abductively identifies dimensions of friction emerging between the focal firm and buyers/users. Friction arises in the technological interface between the actors involved. These dimensions of friction address the complexities of developing technology in terms of smart products with customer involvement. This study suggests that embedding of technology into an existing product might change how customers are involved.

Originality/value

Even though customer involvement in product innovation has been extensively studied in management literature, this paper focused on a new type of innovation, smart products. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no previous studies have yet empirically explored customers’ involvement while embedding digital technologies into existing products to create smart products. In particular, this study sheds light on the dimensions of friction emerging between the focal firm and the actors of the business network. This study unfolds novel contributions to the Industrial Marketing and Purchasing literature on technological development.

Details

Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, vol. 38 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0885-8624

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 22 August 2023

Mahesh Babu Purushothaman and Kasun Moolika Gedara

This pragmatic research paper aims to unravel the smart vision-based method (SVBM), an AI program to correlate the computer vision (recorded and live videos using mobile and…

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Abstract

Purpose

This pragmatic research paper aims to unravel the smart vision-based method (SVBM), an AI program to correlate the computer vision (recorded and live videos using mobile and embedded cameras) that aids in manual lifting human pose deduction, analysis and training in the construction sector.

Design/methodology/approach

Using a pragmatic approach combined with the literature review, this study discusses the SVBM. The research method includes a literature review followed by a pragmatic approach and lab validation of the acquired data. Adopting the practical approach, the authors of this article developed an SVBM, an AI program to correlate computer vision (recorded and live videos using mobile and embedded cameras).

Findings

Results show that SVBM observes the relevant events without additional attachments to the human body and compares them with the standard axis to identify abnormal postures using mobile and other cameras. Angles of critical nodal points are projected through human pose detection and calculating body part movement angles using a novel software program and mobile application. The SVBM demonstrates its ability to data capture and analysis in real-time and offline using videos recorded earlier and is validated for program coding and results repeatability.

Research limitations/implications

Literature review methodology limitations include not keeping in phase with the most updated field knowledge. This limitation is offset by choosing the range for literature review within the last two decades. This literature review may not have captured all published articles because the restriction of database access and search was based only on English. Also, the authors may have omitted fruitful articles hiding in a less popular journal. These limitations are acknowledged. The critical limitation is that the trust, privacy and psychological issues are not addressed in SVBM, which is recognised. However, the benefits of SVBM naturally offset this limitation to being adopted practically.

Practical implications

The theoretical and practical implications include customised and individualistic prediction and preventing most posture-related hazardous behaviours before a critical injury happens. The theoretical implications include mimicking the human pose and lab-based analysis without attaching sensors that naturally alter the working poses. SVBM would help researchers develop more accurate data and theoretical models close to actuals.

Social implications

By using SVBM, the possibility of early deduction and prevention of musculoskeletal disorders is high; the social implications include the benefits of being a healthier society and health concerned construction sector.

Originality/value

Human pose detection, especially joint angle calculation in a work environment, is crucial to early deduction of muscoloskeletal disorders. Conventional digital technology-based methods to detect pose flaws focus on location information from wearables and laboratory-controlled motion sensors. For the first time, this paper presents novel computer vision (recorded and live videos using mobile and embedded cameras) and digital image-related deep learning methods without attachment to the human body for manual handling pose deduction and analysis of angles, neckline and torso line in an actual construction work environment.

Details

Smart and Sustainable Built Environment, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2046-6099

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 11 July 2023

Aline Simonetti and Enrique Bigne

The purpose of this study is to investigate how much visual attention is given to banner ads embedded in Web page content dependent on whether the user’s task is goal- or not…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to investigate how much visual attention is given to banner ads embedded in Web page content dependent on whether the user’s task is goal- or not goal-oriented, as well as the interplay between attention, banner location, banner click and banner recognition.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors used a within-subjects design where 100 participants performed two tasks – reading a news and finding where to click next – on a Web page containing three banner ads embedded into the website content. The authors gathered behavioral and eye-tracking data.

Findings

Consumers disregard banner ads when they are performing a focused task (reading news). Visual attention paid to the banners while reading – but not while free browsing – and banner location do not impact ad clicking. In addition, it is not necessary to pay full attention to a banner ad to be able to recognize it afterward.

Practical implications

The strategy of embedding banners in the main content of a Web page leads to higher visual attention when consumers are browsing a Web page compared to a focused task (e.g. reading). It also increases ad recognition over time compared to benchmark levels for ads placed in traditional positions.

Originality/value

Previous studies mainly assessed effectiveness of banners located at the top or lateral of a Web page. The authors used eye tracking as an objective measure of visual attention to banner ads embedded in Web page content and behavioral metrics to assess ad interest and measured ad recognition over time.

Objetivo

Investigar cuánta atención visual se presta a los banners publicitarios incrustados en el contenido de una página Web en función de si la tarea del usuario está orientada a un objetivo o no, así como la interacción entre la atención, la ubicación del banner, el clic en el banner y el reconocimiento del banner.

Diseño/metodología/enfoque

Se utilizó un diseño entre sujetos en el que 100 participantes realizaban dos tareas – leer una noticia y encontrar dónde hacer clic a continuación – en una página Web que contenía tres banners publicitarios incrustados en el contenido del sitio Web. Se recogieron datos conductuales y de seguimiento ocular.

Conclusiones

Los consumidores no prestan atención a los banners publicitarios cuando están realizando una tarea concentrada (leer noticias). La atención visual prestada a los banners durante la lectura – pero no durante la navegación libre – y la ubicación de los banners no influyen en el hecho de hacer clic en los anuncios. Además, no es necesario prestar toda la atención a un banner publicitario para poder reconocerlo después.

Originalidad

Los estudios anteriores evaluaban principalmente la eficacia de los banners situados en la parte superior o lateral de una página Web. Nosotros utilizamos el seguimiento ocular como medida objetiva de la atención visual a los banners incrustados en el contenido de la página Web y métricas de comportamiento para evaluar el interés por el anuncio, y medimos el reconocimiento del anuncio a lo largo del tiempo.

Implicaciones prácticas

La estrategia de incrustar banners en el contenido principal de una página Web aumenta la atención visual de los consumidores cuando navegan por una página Web en comparación con una tarea específica (por ejemplo, leer). También aumenta el reconocimiento del anuncio a lo largo del tiempo en comparación con los niveles de referencia de los anuncios colocados en posiciones tradicionales.

目的

研究用户对嵌入在网页内容中的横幅广告的视觉注意程度, 取决于用户的任务是否以目标为导向, 以及注意、横幅位置、横幅点击和横幅识别之间的相互作用。

设计/方法/途径

我们采用了主体内设计, 100名参与者在一个含有三个嵌入网站内容的横幅广告的网页上执行两项任务–阅读新闻和寻找下一步的点击位置。我们收集了行为和眼球追踪数据。

研究结果

消费者在执行重点任务(阅读新闻)时忽略了横幅广告。阅读时对横幅广告的视觉关注–而不是自由浏览时–以及横幅广告的位置并不影响广告点击。此外, 不一定要完全注意横幅广告才能在事后认出它。

原创性

以前的研究主要评估位于网页顶部或侧面的横幅广告的效果。我们用眼动仪作为对嵌入网页内容的横幅广告的视觉注意力的客观测量, 用行为指标来评估广告的兴趣, 并测量了广告在一段时间内的识别度。

实际意义

在网页的主要内容中嵌入横幅广告的策略导致消费者在浏览网页时, 与重点任务(如阅读)相比, 视觉注意力更高。与放置在传统位置的广告的基准水平相比, 它也会随着时间的推移增加广告识别度。

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 3 October 2022

Igor Perko

Artificial intelligence (AI) reasoning is fuelled by high-quality, detailed behavioural data. These can usually be obtained by the biometrical sensors embedded in smart devices…

Abstract

Purpose

Artificial intelligence (AI) reasoning is fuelled by high-quality, detailed behavioural data. These can usually be obtained by the biometrical sensors embedded in smart devices. The currently used data collecting approach, where data ownership and property rights are taken by the data scientists, designers of a device or a related application, delivers multiple ethical, sociological and governance concerns. In this paper, the author is opening a systemic examination of a data sharing concept in which data producers execute their data property rights.

Design/methodology/approach

Since data sharing concept delivers a substantially different alternative, it needs to be thoroughly examined from multiple perspectives, among them: the ethical, social and feasibility. At this stage, theoretical examination modes in the form of literature analysis and mental model development are being performed.

Findings

Data sharing concepts, framework, mechanisms and swift viability are examined. The author determined that data sharing could lead to virtuous data science by augmenting data producers' capacity to govern their data and regulators' capacity to interact in the process. Truly interdisciplinary research is proposed to follow up on this research.

Research limitations/implications

Since the research proposal is theoretical, the proposal may not provide direct applicative value but is largely focussed on fuelling the research directions.

Practical implications

For the researchers, data sharing concepts will provide an alternative approach and help resolve multiple ethical considerations related to the internet of things (IoT) data collecting approach. For the practitioners in data science, it will provide numerous new challenges, such as distributed data storing, distributed data analysis and intelligent data sharing protocols.

Social implications

Data sharing may post significant implications in research and development. Since ethical, legislative moral and trust-related issues are managed in the negotiation process, data can be shared freely, which in a practical sense expands the data pool for virtuous research in social sciences.

Originality/value

The paper opens new research directions of data sharing concepts and space for a new field of research.

Details

Kybernetes, vol. 52 no. 9
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0368-492X

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 26 February 2024

Helleke Heikkinen

An increasing number of last mile deliveries (LMDs) pose many sustainability challenges that retailers and logistics service providers (LSPs) can address. Using cognitive frames…

Abstract

Purpose

An increasing number of last mile deliveries (LMDs) pose many sustainability challenges that retailers and logistics service providers (LSPs) can address. Using cognitive frames (CFs) as a lens, this study explored how retail and LSP managers make sense of sustainable LMDs.

Design/methodology/approach

The methodological approach used is a multiple embedded case study. The data were obtained from interviews with retailers and LSPs, supplemented with secondary data for triangulation.

Findings

The findings present the operational aspects of LMDs that managers associate with sustainability and indicate that retail and LSP managers frame sustainability primarily as emission reduction. Managers indicate an externalization of responsibility and a compartmentalization of the supply chain, in which social sustainability is not associated with the last mile. Most managers indicate hierarchical CFs regarding sustainability, in which sustainability is an important topic but is subordinate to economic interests.

Practical implications

Collaboration between retailers, LSPs and other stakeholders is viewed as challenging but could alleviate some of the sustainability shortcomings and aid in the paradoxical framing and inclusion of social issues.

Originality/value

A conceptualization of managerial CFs for sustainable LMDs, together with empirical frame indicators and three propositions, is presented, providing novel insights into how paradoxical CFs could make LMDs more sustainable. This approach illuminates the possibilities for how to untangle the operational manifestations of managerial framing and adds to the empirical exploration of CFs in supply chain management.

Details

International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, vol. 54 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0960-0035

Keywords

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