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1 – 10 of over 3000Ashley Brown, Douglas Eadie, Richard Purves, Andrea Mohan and Kate Hunt
This paper aims to explore smokefree prison policy, from the perspective of people in custody in Scotland.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore smokefree prison policy, from the perspective of people in custody in Scotland.
Design/methodology/approach
In total, 77 people in custody in Scotland were interviewed in the period leading up to implementation of a nationwide prison smokefree policy. Data were thematically analysed to identify the diversity of views and experiences.
Findings
Participants described a widespread awareness in prisons of plans to implement a smokefree policy from 30 November 2018. Opinions about smokefree prisons varied among participants based on perceptions of the fairness, and anticipated positive and negative consequences of removing tobacco from prisons. At the time of the interviews, people in custody were responding to the impending smokefree policy, either by proactively preparing for the smokefree rule change or by deploying avoidance strategies. Participants described opportunities and challenges for implementing smokefree policy in prisons across three main themes: the role of smoking in prison, prison smoking cessation services and motivations for quitting smoking among people in custody.
Originality/value
This study exploring smokefree prisons from the perspectives of people in custody has several novel features which extend the evidence base. The findings highlight measures for jurisdictions to consider when planning to prohibit smoking in their prisons in the future. These include the need for evidence-based smoking cessation support in advance of smokefree policy, effective communication campaigns, consideration of broader structural determinants of health in prison and ongoing measures to reduce rates of return to smoking post release.
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Christian Barth and Stefan Koch
In the last years the penetration of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems within small, medium and large organizations increased steadily. Organizations are forced to adapt…
Abstract
Purpose
In the last years the penetration of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems within small, medium and large organizations increased steadily. Organizations are forced to adapt their systems and perform ERP upgrades in order to react to rapidly changing business environments, technological enhancements and rising pressure of competition. The purpose of this paper is to focus on the critical success factors for such projects.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is based on a literature review and qualitative interviews with CEOs, CIOs, ERP consultants and project managers who recently carried out ERP upgrade projects in their respective organizations.
Findings
This paper identifies 14 critical success factors for ERP upgrade projects. Amongst others, effective project management, external support, the composition of the ERP team and the usage of a multiple system landscape play a key role for the success of the ERP upgrade. Furthermore, a comparison to the critical success factors for ERP implementation projects was conducted, and even though there are many similarities between these types of projects, several differences emerged.
Originality/value
ERP upgrade projects have a huge impact on organizations, but their success and antecedents for it are currently under-researched.
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Pietro Previtali and Paola Cerchiello
In recent years, the role of environmental, social and governance (ESG) disclosure has become crucial. The aim of this paper is to study how corporate governance affects one part…
Abstract
Purpose
In recent years, the role of environmental, social and governance (ESG) disclosure has become crucial. The aim of this paper is to study how corporate governance affects one part of ESG disclosure: anti-corruption disclosure.
Design/methodology/approach
This study examined 140 corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports from companies listed on the Italian stock markets and 50 CSR reports from other companies, then this study analysed the adoption of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standard no. 205.
Findings
The results show a low level of disclosure, and that corporate governance issues matter. In particular, the analysis found a positive relationship between the presence of female and outside members, the number of board members and the level of anti-corruption disclosure.
Research limitations/implications
This study acknowledges some limitations. Firstly, the research is based on a one-year sample. Secondly, the research hypotheses are confirmed only when considered in relation to a single section of the GRI standards. Thirdly, this study has a bias towards relatively large enterprises.
Practical implications
It could be worthwhile introducing a soft regulation regarding the composition of the board of directors that requires a certain quantitative and qualitative composition.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is one of the few studies, the first in Italy, that sheds light on anti-corruption disclosure and its determinants.
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Thilagavathy S. and Geetha S.N.
This study aims to systematically review the existing literature and develop an understanding of work-life balance (WLB) and its relationship with other forms of work-related…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to systematically review the existing literature and develop an understanding of work-life balance (WLB) and its relationship with other forms of work-related behavior and unearth research gaps to recommend future research possibilities and priorities.
Design/methodology/approach
The current study attempts to make a detailed survey of the research work done by the pioneers in the domain WLB and its related aspects. A total of 99 research work has been included in this systematic review. The research works have been classified based on the year of publication, geographical distribution, the methodology used and the sector. The various concepts and components that have made significant contributions, factors that influence WLB, importance and implications are discussed.
Findings
The paper points to the research gaps and scope for future research in the area of WLB.
Originality/value
The current study uncovered the research gaps regarding the systematic review and classifications based on demography, year of publication, the research method used and sector being studied.
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Othmar Manfred Lehner, Kim Ittonen, Hanna Silvola, Eva Ström and Alena Wührleitner
This paper aims to identify ethical challenges of using artificial intelligence (AI)-based accounting systems for decision-making and discusses its findings based on Rest's…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to identify ethical challenges of using artificial intelligence (AI)-based accounting systems for decision-making and discusses its findings based on Rest's four-component model of antecedents for ethical decision-making. This study derives implications for accounting and auditing scholars and practitioners.
Design/methodology/approach
This research is rooted in the hermeneutics tradition of interpretative accounting research, in which the reader and the texts engage in a form of dialogue. To substantiate this dialogue, the authors conduct a theoretically informed, narrative (semi-systematic) literature review spanning the years 2015–2020. This review's narrative is driven by the depicted contexts and the accounting/auditing practices found in selected articles are used as sample instead of the research or methods.
Findings
In the thematic coding of the selected papers the authors identify five major ethical challenges of AI-based decision-making in accounting: objectivity, privacy, transparency, accountability and trustworthiness. Using Rest's component model of antecedents for ethical decision-making as a stable framework for our structure, the authors critically discuss the challenges and their relevance for a future human–machine collaboration within varying agency between humans and AI.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to the literature on accounting as a subjectivising as well as mediating practice in a socio-material context. It does so by providing a solid base of arguments that AI alone, despite its enabling and mediating role in accounting, cannot make ethical accounting decisions because it lacks the necessary preconditions in terms of Rest's model of antecedents. What is more, as AI is bound to pre-set goals and subjected to human made conditions despite its autonomous learning and adaptive practices, it lacks true agency. As a consequence, accountability needs to be shared between humans and AI. The authors suggest that related governance as well as internal and external auditing processes need to be adapted in terms of skills and awareness to ensure an ethical AI-based decision-making.
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John F. Hulpke and Michael P. Fronmueller
A topic currently receiving significant academic and practitioner attention is called evidence-based management. The purpose of this paper is to suggest that this approach is…
Abstract
Purpose
A topic currently receiving significant academic and practitioner attention is called evidence-based management. The purpose of this paper is to suggest that this approach is sometimes over-sold and may be a fad. Additionally, evidence-based management fails to fully recognize the importance of tacit knowledge, what Kahneman calls system 1. Evidence-based management does provide tools to better use what Kahneman calls system 2, rationality. Decision-makers need to take advantage of both rational and beyond rational processes.
Design/methodology/approach
This is an essay, it is not a report of a study. At this point in time, this paper needs thinking, reflection, pondering, more than a data-based study.
Findings
Advocates promote evidence-based management in part to help avoid fads, yet evidence-based management itself has many of the characteristics of a fad. Evidence-based management is based on an objective rational view of the world and suggests highly rational methods of decision-making. However, a rational fact-based might not give sufficient credit to instinct and feelings. Decision-makers should take into account facts, evidence, when making decisions, but not ignore intuition, hunches and feelings. This study is learning that decisions use a galaxy of approaches, with both cognitive and affective flexibility.
Research limitations/implications
As with any opinion-based paper, this lacks empirical support. Proponents ask us to believe in evidence-based management. Neither we, the authors of this paper, nor the proponents of evidence-based management can empirically support the ideas offered. An additional limitation is that the paper is written in one language, English. Translation into another language might yield different meanings.
Practical implications
There are advantages for scholars and practitioners to look at the best available evidence. There can be disadvantages in overlooking non-quantifiable factors.
Social implications
Those who use evidence-based management should also take into account feelings, ethics, aesthetics, creativity, for the betterment of society. To solve wicked problems one needs more than facts and rational analysis.
Originality/value
The overwhelming majority of those writing about evidence-based management are supporters. This study offers a different view. This paper brings new ideas and new thinking to both the extensive fad literature and the huge evidence-based management literature. Evidence-based management is discussed widely. Google Scholar lists more than two million papers in 2019, 2020 and 2021 on evidence-based management. Readers of this journal should critically evaluate this popular set of ideas.
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Adele Breen-Franklin and Tore Bonsaksen
Previous studies on the associations between approaches to studying and outcomes have been conducted largely in Europe, where participants have been largely undergraduate-level…
Abstract
Purpose
Previous studies on the associations between approaches to studying and outcomes have been conducted largely in Europe, where participants have been largely undergraduate-level students. The purpose of this study is to examine the associations between study approaches and academic outcomes of graduate occupational therapy students in the USA.
Design/methodology/approach
In this study, 120 masters- and doctoral-level occupational therapy students in their first and second study year in a large metropolitan city completed the short version of the Approaches and Study Skills Inventory for Students (ASSIST). A total of 18 items from the full 52-items version comprise the short version of the ASSIST, with 6 items belonging to each of the deep, strategic and surface scales. Associations between the study approach scales and exam grades were analyzed with single and multiple logistic regression analyses.
Findings
There was a direct association between the use of strategic studying and higher grade point average. Thus, students who want to perform well academically are encouraged to use study behaviours comprised by the strategic approach to studying.
Originality/value
This study appears to be the first to examine associations between study approaches and academic performance among occupational therapy students in the US context. More research on the study approaches of US American students is warranted.
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