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Article
Publication date: 30 January 2024

Luke Fletcher, Shaun Pichler and Lakshmi Chandrasekaran

Based on authentic leadership (AL) theory and research on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) workplace experiences, this study proposes that AL explains variance beyond…

Abstract

Purpose

Based on authentic leadership (AL) theory and research on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) workplace experiences, this study proposes that AL explains variance beyond transformational leadership (TL) in attitudinal outcomes for LGBT managers compared to non-LGBT managers. It is further predicted that core self-evaluations (CSEs) bound relationships between AL, LGBT status and outcomes.

Design/methodology/approach

A time-lagged survey of 193 LGBT and 218 non-LGBT (i.e. heterosexual and cisgender) managers was conducted. The first survey assessed respondents' evaluations of their leadership behavior and CSEs whereas the second survey, conducted one month later, assessed role engagement and career satisfaction.

Findings

Regression and moderation analyses revealed support for the hypotheses. AL seems especially relevant for LGBT leaders, particularly at low levels of CSEs.

Practical implications

Leadership development programmes emphasizing AL could be particularly beneficial for LGBT managers, especially those low in CSEs. Harnessing a leader’s sense of identity could help those who have been marginalized.

Originality/value

The current study proposes, explains and demonstrates that relationships between AL and leader outcomes will likely be different between managers with and without stigmatized identities, in this case those who are (not) LGBT.

Details

Journal of Managerial Psychology, vol. 39 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0268-3946

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 11 July 2023

Tom Fletcher

The purpose of this paper is to develop a greater understanding of how a virtual learning environment (VLE) discussion forum can be used as a learning community to enhance…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to develop a greater understanding of how a virtual learning environment (VLE) discussion forum can be used as a learning community to enhance reflective practice in work-based learning (WBL).

Design/methodology/approach

This study adopted a qualitative interpretive approach through the use of VLE [Blackboard (BB)] discussion forums followed by a focus group. Thematic and content analysis was conducted to identify patterns and themes.

Findings

The findings suggest that whilst a VLE can help create a community of practice through discussion forums, individual reflective practice, as opposed to group reflection, was found to be the most common in the communication discourse, with reflection on experience as the main category.

Practical implications

Original views of students have been gathered and can be used to inform future practice.

Originality/value

The findings can be used to better understand and enhance reflective practice of students on WBL placements.

Details

Higher Education, Skills and Work-Based Learning, vol. 13 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2042-3896

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 24 February 2023

Miriam Fahey, Anthea Tinker and James Rupert Fletcher

In lieu of a cure, the idea that dementia might be preventable through risk-factor moderation has latterly gained popularity. Prevention research is an evolving field that will…

Abstract

Purpose

In lieu of a cure, the idea that dementia might be preventable through risk-factor moderation has latterly gained popularity. Prevention research is an evolving field that will likely undergo significant shifts in the near future. This paper aims to engage with that future as it is imagined in the present.

Design/methodology/approach

This study explores the futures envisaged by dementia prevention researchers in the UK, based on interviews with six practitioners at the forefront of the field.

Findings

Participants foresaw a pivot away from “dementia prevention” toward “brain health”, and advocated for blended policy, community and lifestyle interventions. They were excited by the prospects for a lifecourse dementia hypothesis to inform new interventions but uncomfortable with the ethics of early intervention.

Originality/value

These findings complicate simplistic depictions of prevention researchers as pursuing responsibilised lifestyle approaches.

Details

Working with Older People, vol. 27 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1366-3666

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 14 June 2023

Liz Sharples, Judith Fletcher-Brown, Marta Nieto-García, Kokho Sit and Giampaolo Viglia

This paper aims to investigates the use of internal communications to foster workforce resilience in the cruise industry during a crisis. Drawing on the regulatory focus theory…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to investigates the use of internal communications to foster workforce resilience in the cruise industry during a crisis. Drawing on the regulatory focus theory, this study explores how internal communication strategies can build employee resilience particularly at a time of difficulty. The regulatory focus theory explores the employee’s rationale for goal pursuit. Prevention-focused individuals are concerned with safety and responsibility while promotion-focused individuals focus on goal advancement. The authors seek to broaden the existing understanding of the application of the regulatory focus theory as a lens to inform internal communications crisis strategies.

Design/methodology/approach

Qualitative research using 15-semi structured interviews with cruise industry experts was undertaken during the pandemic. Applying a sensemaking and sense giving approach the researchers thematically analyzed the data in three stages, allowing for new theoretical insights to be uncovered.

Findings

The findings suggest that internal communication strategies should include prevention-focused messages emphasizing the cruise companies’ responsibility to employees, and promotion-focused communications, to include social interaction and individual growth opportunities.

Originality/value

This study’s contribution is three-fold. First, the authors extend the theoretical application of the regulatory focus theory to internal communication and identify a novel concurrent application of both prevention- and promotion-focused messages for developing a resilient workforce. Second, the authors introduce a preliminary conceptualization of an internal crisis communication strategy, emphasizing the concurrent application of prevention- and promotion-focused messages. Finally, the author offer practical suggestions for managing crisis communication strategies.

目的

本文研究了在危机中利用内部沟通来建立邮轮业员工的复原力。借鉴规范方法理论, 本研究探讨了内部沟通策略如何促进员工的复原力, 尤其是在困难时期。规范性关注理论探讨了员工追求目标的原因。注重预防的人关注安全和责任, 而注重晋升的人则关注目标的实现。我们旨在扩展现有的知识, 将规范性焦点理论作为一个镜头, 为危机情况下的内部沟通策略提供参考。

设计/方法/途径

我们对邮轮行业的专家进行了15次半结构化的访谈。 研究人员使用感性认识和感性方法, 分三个阶段对数据进行了主题分析, 发现了新的理论观点。

结论

研究结果表明, 内部沟通策略应该包括以预防为主的信息, 强调邮轮公司对员工的责任, 以及以宣传为主的沟通, 包括社会互动和个人成长的机会。

原创性

本研究的贡献有三点。首先, 我们扩展了监管焦点理论在内部沟通中的理论应用, 并确定了一个新的同时应用预防和宣传为重点的信息来发展一个有弹性的员工队伍。其次, 我们提出了内部危机沟通连续体的初步概念化。最后, 我们为管理危机沟通策略提供了实用建议。

Propósito

Este artículo investiga el uso de las comunicaciones internas para fomentar la resiliencia de los trabajadores del sector de los cruceros durante una crisis. Basándose en la teoría del enfoque normativo, este estudio explora cómo las estrategias de comunicación interna pueden fomentar la resiliencia de los empleados, especialmente en un momento de dificultad. La Teoría del Enfoque Normativo explora las razones del empleado para perseguir un objetivo. Los individuos centrados en la prevención se preocupan por la seguridad y la responsabilidad, mientras que los centrados en la promoción se centran en la consecución de objetivos. Pretendemos ampliar el conocimiento existente sobre la aplicación de la Teoría del Enfoque Normativo como lente para informar las estrategias de comunicación interna en situaciones de crisis.

Diseño/metodología/enfoque

Realizamos 15 entrevistas semiestructuradas con expertos del sector de los cruceros. Aplicando un enfoque de creación y transmisión de sentido, los investigadores analizaron temáticamente los datos en tres fases, lo que permitió descubrir nuevas perspectivas teóricas.

Conclusiones

Los resultados sugieren que las estrategias de comunicación interna deben incluir mensajes centrados en la prevención, que hagan hincapié en la responsabilidad de las compañías de cruceros para con los empleados, y comunicaciones centradas en la promoción, que incluyan la interacción social y las oportunidades de crecimiento individual.

Originalidad

La contribución de este estudio es triple. En primer lugar, ampliamos la aplicación teórica de la Teoría del Enfoque Regulador a la comunicación interna e identificamos una novedosa aplicación concurrente de mensajes centrados tanto en la prevención como en la promoción para desarrollar una plantilla resiliente. En segundo lugar, presentamos una conceptualización preliminar del continuo de la comunicación interna de crisis. Por último, ofrecemos sugerencias prácticas para gestionar las estrategias de comunicación de crisis.

Article
Publication date: 5 September 2023

Andrew Fletcher

Significant funding has been made available in the UK for social, behavioural and design research that aims to improve health and wellbeing for older adults. The growing…

Abstract

Purpose

Significant funding has been made available in the UK for social, behavioural and design research that aims to improve health and wellbeing for older adults. The growing importance and use of participatory and co-creative approaches in this field not only reflects a general turn in social research but also seeks to redress power imbalances between researchers and researched. This paper aims to use Miranda Fricker’s concept of “epistemic injustice” as a lens to describe the author’s experience with one such project, and highlight the cautions and considerations that must be made when navigating, handling and amalgamating “other people’s knowledge”.

Design/methodology/approach

Personal and theoretical reflection. Primary data for this paper consists of first-hand insider observations on how different forms of knowledge were treated in an interdisciplinary, intersectoral participatory research context.

Findings

Some participatory studies are hampered by insufficient consideration for a range of ways of thinking, including between researchers and participants, younger and older adults, different academic disciplines or academia and industry. This can harm project integrity and outcomes, potentially eroding trust in academic research.

Originality/value

By reflecting on a recent participatory study in healthy ageing, this paper outlines a theoretical basis to increase the benefits of working with different stakeholders across health and care, design, business and academia. It concludes by suggesting ways that researchers might address epistemic injustice, and so recognise and properly value the range of knowledge types encountered in participatory research.

Details

Quality in Ageing and Older Adults, vol. 25 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1471-7794

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 29 September 2023

Olivier Fuchs and Craig Robinson

Critical realism is an increasingly popular “lens” through which complex events, entities and phenomena can be studied. Yet detailed operationalisations of critical realism are at…

Abstract

Purpose

Critical realism is an increasingly popular “lens” through which complex events, entities and phenomena can be studied. Yet detailed operationalisations of critical realism are at present relatively scarce. This study's objective here is built on existing debates by developing an open systems model of reality, a basis for designing appropriate, internally consistent methodologies.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors use a qualitative case study examining changing practices for client contact management in professional services firms during restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 crisis to show how the model can be operationalised across all stages of a research study.

Findings

This study contributes to the literature on qualitative applications of critical realism by providing a detailed example of how the research paradigm influenced choices at every stage of the case study process.

Originality/value

More importantly, this model of reality as an open system provides a tool for other researchers to use in their own operationalisation of critical realism in a variety of different settings.

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 7 September 2020

Jaliyyah Bello, Selina Fletcher and Mojtaba Ammari-Allahyari

Higher education institutions provide a vital role in providing education towards solving sustainability issues. Hence, the adoption of development agendas, such as the United…

Abstract

Higher education institutions provide a vital role in providing education towards solving sustainability issues. Hence, the adoption of development agendas, such as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through the SDG Accord, into curriculum. As a signatory of the sector SDG Accord, Coventry University Group has the responsibility of providing an enabling environment to promote the achievement of the Goals. This article introduces a model for embedding the goals into curriculum; with creative teaching practice and enriching student experience at the centre to the approach taken. The approach considers three dimensions: Staff Development, the Goals within Teaching, and Students' Activities.

Details

Emerald Open Research, vol. 1 no. 9
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2631-3952

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 19 February 2024

Olga Gurova

This paper aims to answer the questions of what clothing practices related to sustainable fashion can be observed in young consumers' daily lives in Finland’s capital region and…

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Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to answer the questions of what clothing practices related to sustainable fashion can be observed in young consumers' daily lives in Finland’s capital region and what prevents their further proliferation.

Design/methodology/approach

This is qualitative research that draws from 22 semi-structured interviews with high school students in the capital area of Finland. The data were analyzed with the use of thematic analysis, a flexible method of data analysis that allows for the extraction of categories from both theoretical concepts and data.

Findings

This paper contributes to studies of young people’s consumption with the practice theory approach, putting forward the category of following sustainable fashion as an integrative practice. The three-element model of the practice theory allows answering the question of challenges that prevent the practice from shaping. The paper further advances this approach by identifying a list of context-specific dispersed practices incorporated into sustainable fashion.

Practical implications

The study suggests practical ways of improving clothing consumption based on the practice theory approach and findings from empirical research. Sustainable practices require competences, knowledge and skills that the school, as an institution working closely with high school students, could help develop.

Originality/value

The study contributes to the current studies of sustainability and youth culture of consumption with a practice theory approach and findings, related to a particular context of a country from Northern Europe.

Details

Young Consumers, vol. 25 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1747-3616

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 29 May 2023

Christopher Amaral, Ceren Kolsarici and Mikhail Nediak

The purpose of this study is to understand the profit implications of analytics-driven centralized discriminatory pricing at the headquarter level compared with sales force price…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to understand the profit implications of analytics-driven centralized discriminatory pricing at the headquarter level compared with sales force price delegation in the purchase of an aftermarket good through an indirect retail channel with symmetric information.

Design/methodology/approach

Using individual-level loan application and approval data from a North American financial institution and segment-level customer risk as the price discrimination criterion for the firm, the authors develop a three-stage model that accounts for the salesperson’s price decision within the limits of the latitude provided by the firm; the firm’s decision to approve or not approve a sales application; and the customer’s decision to accept or reject a sales offer conditional on the firm’s approval. Next, the authors compare the profitability of this sales force price delegation model to that of a segment-level centralized pricing model where agent incentives and consumer prices are simultaneously optimized using a quasi-Newton nonlinear optimization algorithm (i.e. Broyden–Fletcher–Goldfarb–Shanno algorithm).

Findings

The results suggest that implementation of analytics-driven centralized discriminatory pricing and optimal sales force incentives leads to double-digit lifts in firm profits. Moreover, the authors find that the high-risk customer segment is less price-sensitive and firms, upon leveraging this segment’s willingness to pay, not only improve their bottom-line but also allow these marginalized customers with traditionally low approval rates access to loans. This points out the important customer welfare implications of the findings.

Originality/value

Substantively, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first to empirically investigate the profitability of analytics-driven segment-level (i.e. discriminatory) centralized pricing compared with sales force price delegation in indirect retail channels (i.e. where agents are external to the firm and have access to competitor products), taking into account the decisions of the three key stakeholders of the process, namely, the consumer, the salesperson and the firm and simultaneously optimizing sales commission and centralized consumer price.

Details

European Journal of Marketing, vol. 57 no. 13
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0309-0566

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 13 October 2023

Bianca Maria van Niekerk, Mornay Roberts-Lombard and Nicole Cunningham

This study aims to explore the impact of store atmospherics on urban bottom-of-the-pyramid consumers’ behavioural intentions to purchase apparel in an emerging African market…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to explore the impact of store atmospherics on urban bottom-of-the-pyramid consumers’ behavioural intentions to purchase apparel in an emerging African market context. This study also considers purchase antecedents to attitude, perceived behavioural control and social norms as determinants of urban bottom-of-the-pyramid consumers’ apparel behavioural intentions.

Design/methodology/approach

Using non-probability sampling, specifically purposive and interlocking sampling, data collection was secured from 881 economically active Namibian urban bottom-of-the-pyramid respondents through interviewer-administered questionnaires. Covariance-based structural equation modelling assessed the significant relationships among all constructs in the conceptual model.

Findings

This study found that for favourable apparel behavioural intentions of urban bottom-of-the-pyramid consumers to occur, apparel retailers should emphasise trust, perceived awareness and self-identity through apparel assortment and groupings, easy-to-read visible signage, together with competent, friendly and respectful sales personnel in their store atmospherics.

Practical implications

The findings of this study may guide apparel retailers in other emerging African markets to develop regional integration, market-based solutions and inclusive economic growth focusing on “non-essential” products, such as apparel, among urban bottom-of-the-pyramid consumers.

Originality/value

This study expands the intellectual boundaries of urban bottom-of-the-pyramid consumers’ behavioural intentions towards “non-essential” products. The theoretical framework supports the integration of both the stimulus-organism-response model and the theory of planned behaviour into one single model for empirical investigation. Additionally, adopting a novel theoretical framework helped identify the impact of store atmospherics from a bottom-of-the-pyramid perspective in an emerging African market context, such as Namibia.

Details

European Business Review, vol. 36 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0955-534X

Keywords

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