Search results

This study aims to investigate the response by a multi-campus private higher education provider to a major crisis. This study examined what elements of complex adaptive systems (CAS) were activated and/or developed within the organization during the onset of the COVID-19 global pandemic, through a retrospective analysis of organizational responses.

A retrospective qualitative approach has been used. The theory of CAS has been used as the theoretical lens to explore the organizational context, responses and behaviours during the first year of the COVID-19 crisis. A series of semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 senior leaders across the major functions of the organization spread over multiple campuses.

Findings point to coverage of the main CAS characteristics in the organizational responses to the pandemic, however, in varying degrees. There was strong evidence for the application of guiding principles, for self-organizing, for micro-diversity coupled with independent actors and new generative relationships, all brought about by the chaos the pandemic generated. This study concludes that the global pandemic presented this organization with the impetus for rapid and agile responses to what ultimately has become a constructive crisis, paving the way for key elements of CAS theory to be enacted. This study recommend embedding the conscious creation of an adaptive space within ongoing strategic organizational transformation initiatives.

There is scant literature on CAS as applied to crises from organizations in the higher education sector and notably from outside of the health/medical fields. As a result, this study offers a novel and original approach to applying CAS theory during a major crisis. In addition to the findings above, this study also found an emergent characteristic, that of agility, which could be further tested as a potential theoretical addition to CAS theory.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the extent to which the attitudinal loyalty of customers of small and medium apparel businesses is influenced by their perceptions of trust, commitment and satisfaction. In turn, the influence of their attitudinal loyalty on future behavioural loyalty is established.

A quantitative descriptive research approach was employed and questionnaires were administered to customers of three selected small and medium enterprise (SME) brands in the metropolitan city of Gaborone, Botswana. A total of 260 questionnaires were suitable for data analysis. The interrelationship of the constructs was analysed via structural equation modelling. In addition, the measurement and structural models were assessed.

Trust, commitment and satisfaction have a positive and significant influence on the attitudinal loyalty of SME customers, while attitudinal loyalty has a positive and significant influence on their behavioural loyalty.

The tested model confirms the hypothesised relationships between SME customers’ trust, commitment, satisfaction, attitudinal loyalty and behavioural loyalty. Attitudinal loyalty is linked to its three antecedents (trust, commitment and satisfaction) and its outcome, behavioural loyalty.

The findings assist the management of SMEs in understanding how the cultivation of trust, commitment and satisfaction can foster attitudinal loyalty, ultimately leading to improved behavioural loyalty.

The current study contributes to new knowledge on the interrelationship of selected relationship quality dimensions, attitudinal loyalty and behavioural loyalty among SME customers in the apparel industry of Botswana. Few research studies have examined how attitudinal loyalty relates to its antecedents and outcome in Botswana, as an emerging African economy.

The purpose of this paper is twofold: to determine the extent to which companies’™ efforts of sustainable business practices consider stakeholders within their organisations, business networks, the marketplace and society, and to develop and test a stakeholder construct in the context of companies’™ business sustainability efforts within their business networks, the marketplace and society by identifying underlying dimensions and items.

A mixed-method approach was used. First, qualitative research involving a case study approach was followed so as to describe how companies in different industries in Norway implement and manage sustainable business practices. This was followed by a quantitative research phase to empirically measure and test a stakeholder construct in the context of business sustainability efforts, which is reported here.

The results report both an initial factor solution as well as a refined factor solution. The factor analyses confirmed five stakeholder dimensions related to business sustainability in a cross-industry sample of organisations, their business networks, marketplace and society. These include: the focal company, downstream stakeholders, societal stakeholders, market stakeholders and upstream stakeholders. The results indicate satisfactory convergent, discriminant and nomological validity, as well as reliability of each dimension.

The study provides a stakeholder construct in the context of business sustainability efforts in focal companies and their business networks, the marketplace and society, based upon five common dimensions. The multi-dimensional framework may be used in both qualitative and quantitative research in future. It may also be used to assess stakeholders’™ business sustainability efforts.

The multi-dimensional framework is useful for practitioners to obtain an indication of stakeholders’™ business sustainability efforts in relation to focal companies and their business networks, the marketplace and society.

The study provides a general stakeholder construct in the context of business sustainability efforts in business networks, the marketplace and society. The proposed framework can be incorporated in further studies and could be used to assess the general status of stakeholders’™ sustainability efforts in their networks, the marketplace and society.

The purpose of this study is to test a Triple Bottom Line (TBL)-construct as well as to describe the TBL-reasons for implementing sustainable business practices in companies and their business networks. This study explores how linking these seemingly disparate pillars of sustainability may be facilitated through a TBL construct. The notion of sustainable business practices has been evolving and is increasingly understood to encompass considerations of economic viability, as well as environmental sustainability and social responsibility.

The research is quantitative in nature, exploring and analysing how companies in different Norwegian industries implement and manage sustainable business practices based on TBL. The survey results are reported here.

The relevance of TBL to different aspects of sustainable business practices is outlined. The study generally supports the view that a heightened propensity for sustainable business practices ensures that organisations are better equipped for meeting the challenge of integrating TBL in companies and their business networks.

The study tested a construct of TBL in the context of sustainable business practices. It may be incorporated in further research in relation to other constructs. Suggestions for further research are proposed.

Useful for practitioners to get insights into TBL-reasons for implementing business-sustainable practices in companies and their business networks. It may also be valuable to assess the general status of business-sustainable practices in a company and their business networks.

Linking two traditionally separate and encapsulated areas of research, namely, the area of business sustainable practices and the area of TBL. The current study has contributed to a TBL-construct in relation to other constructs in measurement and structural models. It has also contributed to provide insights of priority into the main reasons to implement the elements of TBL within companies and their business networks.

The serious wear problem of heavy-haul freight vehicle wheels affects the safety and economy of vehicle operation. This paper aims to study wheel wear evolution law and the influence of line parameters on wheel wear of heavy-haul freight, and provide the basis for operation and line maintenance.

The wheel wear test data of heavy-haul freight vehicles were analyzed. Then a heavy-haul freight vehicle dynamic model was established. The line parameters influencing wheel wear in heavy-haul freight vehicles were also analyzed by the Jendel wear model, and the effects of rail cant, rail gauge, rail profile and line ramp on wheel wear were analyzed.

A rail cant of 1:40 results in less wheel wear; an increase in the rail gauge can reduce wheel wear; and when matched with the CHN60 rail, the wear depth is relatively small. A decrease of 9.21% in wheel wear depth when matched with the CHN60 rail profile. The ramp of the heavy-haul line is necessary to consider for calculating wheel wear. When the ramp is considered, the wear depth increases by 8.47%. The larger the ramp, the greater the braking force and therefore, the greater of the wheel wear.

This paper first summarizes the wear characteristics of wheels in heavy-haul freight vehicles and then systematically analyzes the effect of line parameters on wheel wear. In particular, this study researched the effects of rail cant, rail gauge, rail profile and line ramp on wheel wear.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/ILT-02-2024-0038/