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1 – 10 of over 212000Robert L. Bonner, Andrea R. Neely, Christopher B. Stone, Cynthia A. Lengnick-Hall and Mark L. Lengnick-Hall
The purpose of this paper is to provide an overarching framework to guide the understanding of the allocation and deployment of strategic human capital assets within an…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide an overarching framework to guide the understanding of the allocation and deployment of strategic human capital assets within an organization. Using the concept of medical triage with business units analogous to “patients” and their performance to “symptoms or injuries,” the framework suggests a “steal from the poor” perspective that is counter to conventional organizational decline literature.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a conceptual paper proposing that there are five different categories of business unit need for human capital assets: expectant, deceased, immediate, delayed or minimal; all based on the type of environment and holistic performance of the business unit. Based on a business unit’s specific situation, the authors suggest a process model guiding how to conduct a triage analysis to optimize the allocation of strategic human capital assets within an organization.
Findings
The authors argue that current trends in assessing strategic human capital assets which make comparisons across organizations are necessary but insufficient (e.g. comparing a store to other stores in its district or region). Each business unit has its own unique internal capabilities and external constraints that also must be accurately assessed to make an informed organizational-level decision about where and how to deploy strategic human capital assets.
Originality/value
Borrowing from medical science, this paper demonstrates a new conceptual framework with propositions for researchers and guidance for practitioners.
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Riccardo Stacchezzini, Cristina Florio, Alice Francesca Sproviero and Silvano Corbella
This paper aims to explore the reporting challenges and related organisational mechanisms of change associated with disclosing corporate risks within integrated reports.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore the reporting challenges and related organisational mechanisms of change associated with disclosing corporate risks within integrated reports.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper adopts a Latourian performative approach to explore the organisational mechanisms of change in terms of networks of actors, both “human” and “non-human”, involved in the preparation of risk-related disclosure. Empirical evidence is collected by means of in-depth interviews with the preparers of an integrated reporting pioneer company.
Findings
Preparing disclosure on corporate risks in the context of integrated reporting demands close interaction among several actors. When disclosure shifts from listing key risks to providing information on how these risks are managed or connect with corporate strategy and value creation, departments not usually involved in corporate reporting play an active role and external stakeholders offer pertinent insights, benchmarks and feedback. Integrated reporting and risk management frameworks are the “non-human” actors that facilitate the engagement of diverse “human” actors.
Practical implications
Preparers should be aware that risk disclosure within integrated reports requires collaboration among (“human”) actors belonging to different departments and the engagement of external stakeholders. Preparers should consider the frameworks of integrated reporting and risk management as facilitators of cross-departmental discussions and dialogue, rather than mere contributors of guidelines and recommendations.
Originality/value
This study enriches the scant literature on organisational mechanisms of change made in response to integrated reporting challenges, showing subsequent advancements in the organisational process underlying the preparation of risk disclosure.
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Hang Su, Wen Qi, Yunus Schmirander, Salih Ertug Ovur, Shuting Cai and Xiaoming Xiong
The purpose of this paper is to develop a human activity-aware adaptive shared control solution for human–robot interaction in surgical operation. Hands-on control and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to develop a human activity-aware adaptive shared control solution for human–robot interaction in surgical operation. Hands-on control and teleoperation are two main procedures switched frequently in teleoperated minimally invasive surgery (MIS). The detailed human activity in the procedures can be defined and recognized using the sensor information. In this paper, a novel continuous adaptive shared control method is proposed for manipulators with Cartesian impedance control in the surgical scenario.
Design/methodology/approach
A human activity-aware shared control solution by adjusting the weight function is introduced to achieve smooth transition among different human activities, including hands-on control and teleoperation. Instead of introducing various controllers and switching among them during the surgical procedures, the proposed solution integrated all the human activity-based controllers into a single controller and the transition among the procedures is smooth and stable. The effectiveness of the proposed control approach was verified in a lab setup environment. The results prove that the robot behavior is stable and smooth. The algorithm is feasible and can achieve a human activity-aware adaptive shared control solution for human–robot interaction in surgical operation.
Findings
Based on the experiment, the results confirm that the proposed human activity-aware adaptive shared control solution can switch the device behavior automatically using the real-time sensor information. The transition between different activities is smooth and stable.
Practical implications
For teleoperated surgical applications, the proposed method integrated different controllers for various human activities into a single controller by recognizing the activities using the real-time sensor information and the transition between different procedures is smooth and stable. It eases the surgical work for the surgeon and enhances the safety during the transition of control modes. The presented scheme provides a general solution to address the switching of working procedures in teleoperated MIS.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first to propose human activity-aware adaptive shared control solution for human–robot interaction in surgical operations.
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Rupjyoti Saha and Santi Gopal Maji
This study aims to examine the impact of board human capital diversity, measured by educational qualification diversity and gender diversity on the financial performance…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the impact of board human capital diversity, measured by educational qualification diversity and gender diversity on the financial performance of Indian firms after controlling corporate governance (CG) and firm-specific variables.
Design/methodology/approach
This study is based on a panel data set of top 100 listed Indian firms for a period of five years. The authors use Blau index and Shannon index to compute qualification diversity. The authors use three-stage least square (3SLS) model to deal with the potential endogeneity issue in the association of human capital diversity variables and other CG variables with firm performance. Further, the authors adopt generalized estimating equation (GEE) model for robustness check.
Findings
The authors find a significant positive impact of board’s educational diversity as well as gender diversity on the financial performance of firms. Additionally, they extricate highly significant positive interaction impact of board’s educational diversity and gender diversity on the financial performance of firms. Further, the results indicate a significant positive impact of board size, board independence, ownership concentration, family ownership and audit committee independence on firm performance, while CEO duality exhibits a significant negative impact on firm performance.
Originality/value
This study fills the existing gap in literature by extending the performance implications of board’s human capital diversity for top listed Indian firms.
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Intellectual Capital (IC) is essential to the success of new technology-based firms. A key component of IC is human capital. Human capital is shown to affect firm…
Abstract
Purpose
Intellectual Capital (IC) is essential to the success of new technology-based firms. A key component of IC is human capital. Human capital is shown to affect firm innovation, growth, and survival positively. This paper investigates the signaling effect of technology-based start-ups’ initial stock of IC on obtaining skilled human capital.
Design/methodology/approach
The researcher employs signaling theory to analyze primary data concerning the firm’s initial stock of IC and subsequently hired human capital from founders of 236 technology-based new ventures in the USA Hypotheses are tested through a set of hierarchical linear regressions.
Findings
This study demonstrates that the firms’ IC, in the form of quantity of founders with doctorates and intellectual property, correlates with the quality (average education level) of subsequently hired technical and business human capital. In addition, the quantity of founders with doctorates is correlated with the quantity of subsequently hired technical human capital.
Originality/value
The paper collects retrospective data from founders of technology-based new ventures. While human capital is important for technology-based firms’ innovation and growth, little research has investigated potential connections between firms’ initial IC and subsequent hiring of top-level human capital. This paper investigates these connections explicitly.
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Paula Dootson, Dominique A. Greer, Kate Letheren and Kate L. Daunt
The purpose of this research is to understand whether service robots can safeguard servicescapes from deviant consumer behaviour. Using routine activity theory, this…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this research is to understand whether service robots can safeguard servicescapes from deviant consumer behaviour. Using routine activity theory, this research examines whether increasing the perceived humanness of service robots reduces customer intentions to commit deviant consumer behaviour and whether this negative relationship is mediated by perceived empathy and perceived risk of being caught.
Design/methodology/approach
Five hundred and fifty-three US residents responded to a hypothetical scenario that manipulated the humanness of a service agent (from self-service technology, to robot, to human employee) across seven conditions and measured the likelihood of deviant consumer behaviour, empathy towards the service robot, perceived risk of being caught and punished and negative attitudes towards robots.
Findings
The results indicate that replacing human service agents with different types of service robots does inadvertently reduce customer perceptions of capable guardianship (i.e. the human element that deters potential offenders from committing crimes) in the servicescape and creates conditions that allow customers to perpetrate more deviant consumer behaviour.
Practical implications
When investing in technology such as service robots, service providers need to consider the unintended cost of customer misbehaviour (specifically deviant consumer behaviour) in their return-on-investment assessments to optimise their asset investment decisions.
Originality/value
Moving beyond research on customer adoption and use, this research examines the unintended consequences that might arise when deploying service robots in a technology-infused service environment. Humanised service robots offer more guardianship than self-service technology but do not replace human employees in preventing deviant consumer behaviour, as they remain more capable of deterring customer misbehaviour.
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This commentary seeks to enable service researchers in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) regions and those in other regions to pursue service research that addresses the…
Abstract
Purpose
This commentary seeks to enable service researchers in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) regions and those in other regions to pursue service research that addresses the many difficult service system problems in the MEA.
Design/methodology/approach
This commentary is based on more than 40 years of service research experience and unique insights from a service research pioneer. The commentary addresses what service systems are and why they are important to human progress.
Findings
Three service wisdoms are offered to enable service researchers. Serving Human Needs focuses on the essential role of service because all human economies exist to serve human needs. It also provides the aspirational goal of improving human well-being by transforming service systems. The topic of Designing New Service Rules urges service researchers to design new service systems based on the win-win logic of mutualism. Collaborating With Each Other is the third service wisdom. With more than 7 billion humans living today, mutually beneficial collaborations are one of the best strategies for improving human well-being and the well-being of our crowded planet.
Practical implications
Practical ideas are offered for improving the human condition through collaboratively serving each other’s needs.
Social implications
Because service systems are both nonmonetary and monetary solutions to human needs, their social implications are profound. Human life itself depends on service systems.
Originality/value
This commentary offers service researchers guidance in understanding services, in designing better services, and in pursuing collaborative solutions to service system problems.
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Lei Zhao, Yingyi Zhang and Chengzhi Zhang
To understand the meaning of a sentence, humans can focus on important words in the sentence, which reflects our eyes staying on each word in different gaze time or times…
Abstract
Purpose
To understand the meaning of a sentence, humans can focus on important words in the sentence, which reflects our eyes staying on each word in different gaze time or times. Thus, some studies utilize eye-tracking values to optimize the attention mechanism in deep learning models. But these studies lack to explain the rationality of this approach. Whether the attention mechanism possesses this feature of human reading needs to be explored.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted experiments on a sentiment classification task. Firstly, they obtained eye-tracking values from two open-source eye-tracking corpora to describe the feature of human reading. Then, the machine attention values of each sentence were learned from a sentiment classification model. Finally, a comparison was conducted to analyze machine attention values and eye-tracking values.
Findings
Through experiments, the authors found the attention mechanism can focus on important words, such as adjectives, adverbs and sentiment words, which are valuable for judging the sentiment of sentences on the sentiment classification task. It possesses the feature of human reading, focusing on important words in sentences when reading. Due to the insufficient learning of the attention mechanism, some words are wrongly focused. The eye-tracking values can help the attention mechanism correct this error and improve the model performance.
Originality/value
Our research not only provides a reasonable explanation for the study of using eye-tracking values to optimize the attention mechanism but also provides new inspiration for the interpretability of attention mechanism.
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Adetayo Olugbenga Onososen and Innocent Musonda
Rapid urbanisation and recent shock events have reiterated the need for resilient infrastructure, as seen in the pandemic. Yet, knowledge gaps in construction robotics and…
Abstract
Purpose
Rapid urbanisation and recent shock events have reiterated the need for resilient infrastructure, as seen in the pandemic. Yet, knowledge gaps in construction robotics and human–robot teams (HRTs) research limit maximising these emerging technologies’ potentials. This paper aims to review the state of the art of research in this area to identify future research directions in HRTs able to aid the resilience and responsiveness of the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) sector.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 71 peer-reviewed journal articles centred on robotics and HRTs were reviewed through a quantitative approach using scientometric techniques using Gephi and VOSviewer. Research focus deductions were made through bibliometric analysis and co-occurrence analysis of reviewed publications.
Findings
This study revealed sparse and small research output in this area, indicating immense research potential. Existing clusters signifying the need for further studies are on automation in construction, human–robot teaming, safety in robotics and robotic designs. Key publication outlets and construction robotics contribution towards the built environment’s resilience are discussed.
Practical implications
The identified gaps in the thematic areas illustrate priorities for future research focus. It raises awareness on human factors in collaborative robots and potential design needs for construction resilience.
Originality/value
Rapid urbanisation and recent shock events have reiterated the need for resilient infrastructure, as seen in the pandemic. Yet, knowledge gaps in construction robotics and HRTs research limit maximising these emerging technologies’ potentials. This paper aims to review the state of the art of research in this area to identify future research directions in HRTs able to aid the resilience and responsiveness of the AEC sector.
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