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1 – 10 of over 11000Prabash Aminda Edirisingha, Jamal Abarashi, Shelagh Ferguson and Rob Aitken
The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the methodological significance and potential of integrating Facebook in ethnographic research. The authors discuss how friendly…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the methodological significance and potential of integrating Facebook in ethnographic research. The authors discuss how friendly relationships with participants could be initiated, fostered and managed by incorporating Facebook in ethnographic data collection and how such relationships deepen ethnographic interpretation.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper focuses on the methodological implications of adopting “friendship as method” during ethnographic research. The discussion is premised upon a longitudinal, multi-method ethnographic research process exploring new family identity formation in Sri Lanka and New Zealand.
Findings
Building on friendship theories, the authors suggest that Facebook engagement helps overcome three challenges inherent to ethnographic research: gaining access and immersion, capturing multiple perspectives, and developing rich and thick interpretations. The findings illustrate that adopting Facebook as a platform to strengthen friendships with research participants expands the researcher’s field by enabling him to follow the ethics and pace of conventional friendship and by inspiring dialogical interaction with participants. Thus, it is suggested that Facebook helps diluting the power hierarchy in the participant–researcher relationship and encourages participants to reveal more subtle details of their mundane lived experiences.
Originality/value
Even though researchers have often used social media interactions in ethnographic research, there is no theoretical foundation to understand how such interactions could better inform the depth and richness of research phenomena. Particularly, considering the emerging significance of social media in personal identity construction, sustenance and enactment, it is import to understand how such mediums enable researchers overcome inherent methodological complexities. Therefore, this paper contributes to literature on conventional ethnography, netnography and friendship theories by presenting a theoretical framework to understand how Facebook interaction contributes to overcome challenges in conducting ethnographic research.
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Elizabeth Mackinlay and Brydie‐Leigh Bartleet
The purpose of this paper is to explore the individual music research projects the authors were working on in Borroloola, Northern Territory of Australia, and the ways in which…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the individual music research projects the authors were working on in Borroloola, Northern Territory of Australia, and the ways in which the lived and inter‐subjective concepts of sisterhood and friendship strengthened the authors’ shared experiences in the field and became the foundations of their method.
Design/methodology/approach
Through an auto‐ethnographic and inter‐subjective narrative approach, the authors consider how the intertwined notions of relationship as research and “friendship as method”, underpinned what was being researched, how the research was enacted, and finally how the authors came to further appreciate and understand the role that music‐making plays in facilitating this process.
Findings
The authors’ independent and shared experiences during this research were stark reminders that it is indeed the quality of field relationships and friendships, rather than clever theoretical ideas or fancy methodological frameworks, which ultimately determine the quality and depth of their musicological and ethnographic research.
Originality/value
This paper presents original, feminist‐based research which places concepts of sisterhood, friendship and relationships at the centre of music research practice in Australia. More specifically, this research highlights the complexities of such research practice across the boundaries of race, with and in collaboration with, Indigenous Australian women.
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Talat Islam and Arooba Chaudhary
Workplace bullying has become a major challenge across the globe as it is associated with negative outcomes. Therefore, this study was designed to assess the impact of workplace…
Abstract
Purpose
Workplace bullying has become a major challenge across the globe as it is associated with negative outcomes. Therefore, this study was designed to assess the impact of workplace bullying on knowledge hiding through emotional exhaustion. The study further investigated the moderating role of workplace friendship to reduce the detrimental effect of workplace bullying on knowledge hiding.
Design/methodology/approach
The study collected data from 358 nurses working in three large cities (Karachi, Islamabad and Lahore) of Pakistan in two lags to tackle the issue of common method bias.
Findings
The study applied structural equation modeling with maximum likelihood method using AMOS to test the hypotheses. The study noted that workplace bullying elevates emotional exhaustion and knowledge hiding among nurses; whereas, workplace friendship was noted as an essential factor to control adverse effects of workplace bullying on knowledge hiding.
Research limitations/implications
The study used a cross-section design that restricts causality. However, the findings of this study add to the conservation of resources theory by providing insights into the role of workplace friendship in reducing the relationship between workplace stressors (bullying) and negative behaviors (knowledge hiding). The study also suggests healthcare administration foster workplace friendship to cope with the negative outcomes of workplace bullying.
Originality/value
Drawing upon conservation of resources, this study explored the moderating role of workplace friendship between workplace bullying and knowledge hiding.
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Ibeawuchi K. Enwereuzor, Lawrence E. Ugwu and Leonard I. Ugwu
Despite the importance of knowledge sharing (KS), organizations find it difficult to motivate their employees to share their knowledge with co-workers. Based on a combination of…
Abstract
Purpose
Despite the importance of knowledge sharing (KS), organizations find it difficult to motivate their employees to share their knowledge with co-workers. Based on a combination of the group value model and the socialization resources theory (SRT), this study is, therefore, an endeavor to contribute to the understanding of how organizations can develop efficacious tacit knowledge sharing (TKS)-strategies by harnessing insights from the impact of respectful engagement (RE) and workplace friendship (i.e. friendship opportunity and friendship prevalence).
Design/methodology/approach
Group value model and SRT are used to develop a new pathway to TKS which focuses on how RE among employees contributes to the development of workplace friendship which in turn facilitates TKS. Self-reported data were collected online from 593 employees working in various organizational sectors. Hypotheses were tested with structural equation modeling (SEM).
Findings
The results suggest that RE is an essential precursor of TKS, having both direct positive relationship with TKS and partial indirect positive relationship through friendship opportunity and friendship prevalence. RE was also positively related to the two facets of workplace friendship (i.e. friendship opportunity and friendship prevalence). Both friendship opportunity and friendship prevalence were positively related to TKS.
Practical implications
These findings underscore the importance of implementing initiatives that support positive interrelations characterized by respect at work in order to promote TKS.
Originality/value
By linking RE to TKS, this study adds new insight to the relational basis of sharing personal asset/resource as tacit knowledge. The inclusion of mediation path helps in shedding light and opening up a black box of RE-TKS interface.
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Trude Klevan, Bengt Karlsson, Lydia Turner, Nigel Short and Alec Grant
The purpose of this paper is to explore how sharing stories of being a mental health professional and academic, based more broadly on serendipity and searching in life, can serve…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore how sharing stories of being a mental health professional and academic, based more broadly on serendipity and searching in life, can serve as means for bridging and developing cross-cultural understandings and collaborative work.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper is a relational autoethnography based on face-to-face and written conversational dialogue between five mental health academics from the UK and Norway.
Findings
The very practice of writing this paper displays and serves the purpose of bridging people, cultures and understandings, at several levels, in the facilitation of new research and writing projects. Troubling traditional boundaries between “us” and “them, and the “knower” and the “known,” the writing is theoretically underpinned by Friendship as Method, situated in a New Materialist context.
Originality/value
Through its conversational descriptions and explorations the paper shows how doing relational autoethnography can be purposeful in developing cross-cultural understandings and work at both professional and personal levels. It also demonstrates how autoethnography as relational practice can be useful in the sharing of this methodology between people who are more and less familiar with it.
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Arpana Rai and Upasna A. Agarwal
The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between workplace bullying and EVLN outcomes with psychological contract violation as a mediator and workplace friendship…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between workplace bullying and EVLN outcomes with psychological contract violation as a mediator and workplace friendship as a moderator.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected from 835 full-time Indian managerial employees working in different Indian organizations.
Findings
Results revealed that workplace bullying positively related to exit and neglect and negatively related to voice and loyalty. PCV mediated bullying–EVLN outcomes relationship and effects of workplace bullying on proposed outcomes were weaker in the presence of high workplace friendship.
Research limitations/implications
A cross-sectional design and use of self-reported questionnaire data are few limitations of this study.
Originality/value
This study adds to the limited literature examining EVLN typology in response to workplace bullying. This study is one of the rare attempts to examine bullying–outcomes relationships in the Indian context.
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The purpose of this paper is to provide an empirical analysis of factors that affect support networks among retirees in 13 countries.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide an empirical analysis of factors that affect support networks among retirees in 13 countries.
Design/methodology/approach
It examines two propositions drawing from support network theory and the classification of countries by welfare systems. It uses fixed‐effect causal models to examine how retirement and socio‐demographic variables influence kinship and friendship support networks. Data are drawn from the Social Relations and Support Systems module of the International Social Survey Programme 2001.
Findings
The results show that retirees' friendship‐based support networks are almost one‐third smaller than those of working persons. Furthermore, this difference is greater in welfare systems that spend more on social well‐being.
Research limitations/implications
However, the relationship between informal support networks and welfare systems is complex, which indicates a need to further the debate on the co‐existence of formal and informal aid systems.
Originality/value
This study's main sociological confirmation is that the relationship between the size of support networks and the type of welfare system is irregular and complex. The results make a significant contribution to the debate on the relationship between formal and informal care among a group of people during a critical life‐cycle phase, such as retirement.
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Audrey J. Murrell and Thomas J. Zagenczyk
The purpose of this paper is to understand better the gendered nature of role model status within organizations. The paper aims to argue that women require organizational…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to understand better the gendered nature of role model status within organizations. The paper aims to argue that women require organizational legitimacy to be perceived as a role model, whereas men rely primarily on the strength of social ties within their friendship networks.
Design/methodology/approach
An empirical study of admissions department employees at a large eastern university within the USA was conducted. Using a social network approach, participants were asked to identify advice, friendship and role model relationships and provide information about awards and recognition received from the organization.
Findings
The results showed that, in order to be perceived as a role model, females needed to give (but not ask for) advice, earn organizational rewards, hold leadership positions in the organization, and maintain strong ties with other employees. Males only had to have a number of friendship or advice ties to be seen as a role model.
Research limitations/implications
The findings are consistent with the idea that females need to establish formal organizational status or legitimacy (e.g. leadership roles, rewards) in order to be perceived as a role model. In addition, balancing advice‐giving versus advice‐seeking is more important for female compared with male role models.
Originality/value
This paper examines the concept of role modeling using a social network analysis, thus providing new insight about the impact of advice and friendship network centrality on role model status in organizations.
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Arminda Almeida-Santana, Sergio Moreno-Gil and Tommy D. Andersson
The main research questions addressed by this study focus on Subjective Well-Being (SWB) and to what extent the individual's SWB relates to the individual's need for personal…
Abstract
Purpose
The main research questions addressed by this study focus on Subjective Well-Being (SWB) and to what extent the individual's SWB relates to the individual's need for personal growth. Specific interest is devoted to the effects of intentions (to have personal goals) and behavior (to achieve personal goals).
Design/methodology/approach
Can SWB and happiness research help to explain the tremendous growth in demanding amateur sport event participation? Most research on SWB and events has, so far been undertaken on cultural events leaving a gap related to sport events, especially obstacle running events. Bestial is an obstacle race event held in Arucas on Canary Islands, Spain. Apart from competitiveness, the race also contains elements of altruism as many competitors do help each other at various obstacles along the route, in groups (mainly) teams. A sample of 700 participants answered questions about behavior, attitudes and SWB.
Findings
The results show significant relations between SWB and both intentions and behavior but also that intentions and behavior are not correlated.
Research limitations/implications
The “Bestial” is different from an average running event in some respects. It is a rather local event for Gran Canaria without international participation. For some participants it is more challenging and enduring but for others it is a team sport where one helps other team members to complete the race. In this study, these two types of participation have not been separated. The test of whether the SWB of participants is higher than the SWB of the average citizen is not satisfactory. Data for the average of SWB in Spain had to depend on a study from another year and where standard deviation was not available.
Practical implications
The results of this work are useful for event managers to improve their design and develop the most appropriate marketing messages.
Social implications
The study aims for an explanation to why demanding physical activities, such as obstacle races, are so popular. In this study of obstacle race participation, hedonia is regarded as less relevant and focus is on eudaimonia and an assumption that participants in an obstacle race have a high SWB since they can feel that they make progress towards goals. One intended contribution of this study is to distinguish between “to have a goal” and “to progress towards a goal”. Thus, the model proposed is based on hypotheses that SWB is influenced by both. Two types of goals are studied: first a mainly individualistic goal of becoming physically fit and second a more altruistic goal of “becoming a better person”.
Originality/value
In the conclusions, the importance for a happy life of simply having goals for personal growth and the value of anticipation for happiness is discussed.
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