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1 – 10 of 110Jo Bates, Elli Gerakopoulou and Alessandro Checco
Underlying much recent development in data science and artificial intelligence (AI) is a dependence on the labour of precarious crowdworkers via platforms such as Amazon…
Abstract
Purpose
Underlying much recent development in data science and artificial intelligence (AI) is a dependence on the labour of precarious crowdworkers via platforms such as Amazon Mechanical Turk. These platforms have been widely critiqued for their exploitative labour relations, and over recent years, there have been various efforts by academic researchers to develop interventions aimed at improving labour conditions. The aim of this paper is to explore US-based crowdworkers’ views on two proposed interventions: a browser plugin that detects automated quality control “Gold Question” (GQ) checks and a proposal for a crowdworker co-operative.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors interviewed 20 US-based crowdworkers and undertook a thematic analysis of collected data.
Findings
The findings indicate that US-based crowdworkers tend to have negative and mixed feelings about the GQ detector, but were more enthusiastic about the crowdworker co-operative.
Originality/value
Drawing on theories of precarious labour, this study suggests an explanation for the findings based on US-based workers’ objective and subjective experiences of precarity. The authors argue that for US-based crowdworkers “constructive” interventions such as a crowdworker co-operative have more potential to improve labour conditions.
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Karin Seger, Hans Englund and Malin Härström
The purpose of this paper is to describe and theorize the type of hate-love relationship to performance measurement systems (PMSs) that individual researchers tend to develop in…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to describe and theorize the type of hate-love relationship to performance measurement systems (PMSs) that individual researchers tend to develop in academia. To this end, the paper draws upon Foucault’s writings on neoliberalism to analyse PMSs as neoliberal technologies holding certain qualities that can be expected to elicit such ambivalent views.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is based on a qualitative interview study of researchers from three Swedish universities, who were asked to reflect upon questions related to three overall themes, namely, what it means to be a researcher in contemporary academia, the existence and use of PMSs at their universities and if/how such PMSs affected them and their work as researchers.
Findings
The empirical findings show that the hate-love relationship can be understood in terms of how PMSs are involved in three central moments of governmentality, where each such moment of governmentality tends to elicit feelings of ambivalence among researchers due to how PMSs rely on: a restricted centrifugal mechanism, normalization rather than normation and a view of individual academics as entrepreneurs of themselves.
Originality/value
Existing literature has provided several important insights into how the introduction and use of PMSs in academia tend to result in both negative and positive experiences and reactions. The current paper adds to this literature through theorizing how and why PMSs may be expected to elicit such ambivalent experiences and reactions among individual researchers.
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Rodrigo Werlinger, Kirstie Hawkey and Konstantin Beznosov
The purpose of this study is to determine the main challenges that IT security practitioners face in their organizations, including the interplay among human, organizational, and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to determine the main challenges that IT security practitioners face in their organizations, including the interplay among human, organizational, and technological factors.
Design/methodology/approach
The data set consisted of 36 semi‐structured interviews with IT security practitioners from 17 organizations (academic, government, and private). The interviews were analyzed using qualitative description with constant comparison and inductive analysis of the data to identify the challenges that security practitioners face.
Findings
A total of 18 challenges that can affect IT security management within organizations are indentified and described. This analysis is grounded in related work to build an integrated framework of security challenges. The framework illustrates the interplay among human, organizational, and technological factors.
Practical implications
The framework can help organizations identify potential challenges when implementing security standards, and determine if they are using their security resources effectively to address the challenges. It also provides a way to understand the interplay of the different factors, for example, how the culture of the organization and decentralization of IT security trigger security issues that make security management more difficult. Several opportunities for researchers and developers to improve the technology and processes used to support adoption of security policies and standards within organizations are provided.
Originality/value
A comprehensive list of human, organizational, and technological challenges that security experts have to face within their organizations is presented. In addition, these challenges within a framework that illustrates the interplay between factors and the consequences of this interplay for organizations are integrated.
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Ankita Ray and Sorokhaibam Khaba
The purpose of this study is the identification and analysis of key ethical issues of green procurement (GP) and the potential solutions to mitigate the issues in the Indian…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is the identification and analysis of key ethical issues of green procurement (GP) and the potential solutions to mitigate the issues in the Indian automobile sector.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on the literature review and expert elicitation, 23 ethical issues of GP in the Indian automobile industry and 11 solutions to mitigate these issues were identified. This paper explores the ethical issues based on an integrated method consisting of interpretative structural modelling fuzzy Matrice d'Impacts Croisés-Multiplication Appliquée á un Classement, analytical hierarchy process and the solutions to mitigate these issues using fuzzy VlseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje.
Findings
The findings suggest that ethical issues such as favouritism towards suppliers and failure to fulfil business objectives by top management are identified as the most significant variables with the highest importance weights, while top management commitment for ethical behaviour is identified as the most potent solution for mitigating the issues.
Research limitations/implications
This study is limited to the literature review and experts’ opinions.
Practical implications
The results may help practitioners and researchers to focus on major ethical issues of GP to strategize proactive solutions that may help to mitigate or eliminate the ethical issues.
Originality/value
This paper is an original contribution of the analysis of GP and provides an interesting insight into the Indian automotive industry.
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Sushilawati Ismail, Carol K.H. Hon, Philip Crowther, Martin Skitmore and Fiona Lamari
Malaysia’s industrialised building system (IBS) has been increasingly adopted for sustainable development by the country’s construction industry. However, although it has been…
Abstract
Purpose
Malaysia’s industrialised building system (IBS) has been increasingly adopted for sustainable development by the country’s construction industry. However, although it has been used for commercial building projects, its application to sustainable infrastructure development has been limited to date. This study aims to examine the drivers and challenges involved.
Design/methodology/approach
A preliminary conceptual framework was initially developed based on a systematic literature review. Semi-structured interviews involving 20 participants were undertaken to gain insightful thoughts from the construction practitioners to discover the perception towards IBS application in the construction industry, the applicability of IBS, particularly in infrastructure projects, the strategies of IBS delivery and the sustainable potential of its application. A two-round Delphi study was conducted with 15 experienced and knowledgeable panellists to further identify, verify and prioritise factors developed from the literature review and interview findings. Then, the results were synthesised and triangulated to demonstrate a holistic insight.
Findings
The results show the main drivers to be better productivity, quality, environmental, safety and health, constructability design and cost, policy and requirements, with the main challenges being project planning and cost-related issues, inexperience and industry capacity.
Originality/value
The study’s main contribution is in systematically determining the practical implications involved in applying the IBS to sustainable infrastructure developments in Malaysia and other similar developing countries.
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This compilation of over 500 United States Government bibliographies is the second annual supplement to BIBLIOGRAPHY OF UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT BIBLIOGRAPHIES 1968–1973 (Pierian…
Abstract
This compilation of over 500 United States Government bibliographies is the second annual supplement to BIBLIOGRAPHY OF UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT BIBLIOGRAPHIES 1968–1973 (Pierian Press). Due to the Government Printing Office backlog during 1974, many 1973 and 1974 titles are included in this 1975 Supplement, which should have appeared earlier.
Entrepreneurial Ecosystems (EES) is among the fastest growing entrepreneurship research topics. With even greater vigour, the non-scientific world of economic development…
Abstract
Purpose
Entrepreneurial Ecosystems (EES) is among the fastest growing entrepreneurship research topics. With even greater vigour, the non-scientific world of economic development agencies, administrations and policymakers has adopted the construct and applies it widely “in the field”, often lacking a solid empirical foundation and pursuing sub-optimal approaches. Improving policy instruments for EES development requires a data driven approach to first understand an EES of a specific region before making any attempts to change it. The paper showcases an empirical approach to create empirically rooted EES policy implications, contributing to closing the gap for insight in regional EES data of sub-national regions.
Design/methodology/approach
Exploring a mixed method design, utilising quantitative Global Entrepreneurship Monitor data and combining it with EES stakeholder interviews, focusing on dysfunctions, redundancies, power asymmetries and cut off elements as well as in-layer division and public organisation behaviour.
Findings
One finding is, that regional economic development agencies (EDA), as a main public instrument to foster regional entrepreneurial activity, seem to bring the potential of a negative impact on Entrepreneurial Ecosystems bottom-up development and the ability to become self-sustained if they assume the role of competitors towards private organisations and businesses.
Research limitations/implications
As other work on EES, the approach used in this paper only sub-optimally covers temporal system dynamics.
Practical implications
This paper contributes to future EES support policies being rooted in an empirical foundation.
Originality/value
This paper not only progresses the empirical basis for research on regional EES but also lays the foundation for specific policy implications for a sub-national level entrepreneurial ecosystem.
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Jill Frances Solomon and Aris Solomon
The purpose of this paper is to determine the extent to which social, ethical and environmental (SEE) disclosure is being integrated into institutional investment. The aim is also…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to determine the extent to which social, ethical and environmental (SEE) disclosure is being integrated into institutional investment. The aim is also to investigate the interplay between private and public SEE disclosure.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper uses a grounded theory methodology involving interviews with 21 members of the UK institutional adjustment community.
Findings
The paper found that institutional investors did not consider that public SEE disclosure was adequate for their portfolio investment decisions, suggesting that SEE disclosure was decision‐useful. Consequently, this perceived market failure in public SEE disclosure has been supplemented by the development of sophisticated private SEE disclosure channels. Further, the interviews indicated that this private SEE disclosure process was becoming dialogic in nature, since not only were institutional investors initiating the engagement process with companies but also companies were starting to request information on the SEE disclosure required by institutional investors. This finding contrasts with previous work which found that the private disclosure process in financial reporting was essentially user‐oriented and uni‐directional.
Originality/value
This paper highlights the importance of SEE disclosure to a crucial user group, institutional investors. The research contributes to the SEE disclosure literature by revealing details of the evolving private SEE disclosure process for the first time.
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Emilie Hennequin, Bérangère Condomines and Nouchka Wielhorski
Employment transitions are an integral part of an individual’s career path. However, not every individual can cope with these changes. Some may not know how to mobilise their…
Abstract
Purpose
Employment transitions are an integral part of an individual’s career path. However, not every individual can cope with these changes. Some may not know how to mobilise their capacities in order to return to work. Consequently, various countries have devised policies aimed at supporting the unemployed, in programmes that are led by consultants. The purpose of this paper is to present a case study of career transition consultants who work for a private consulting firm. It examines how consultants perceive their role and how these perceptions influence the support they provide to beneficiaries.
Design/methodology/approach
In total, 20 French career transition consultants took part in the interviews. Qualitative data were gathered through semi-structured interviews.
Findings
Ideal types of career consultants were drawn up, based on the distinction between the agent model and the community model. Depending on their perceived role, consultants set up different career transition strategies and develop different capacities among their beneficiaries.
Research limitations/implications
Consultants advocate for flexible support for people seeking employment. This research aims to question the policy of distributing beneficiaries among consultants’ portfolios. In France, the approach is made without considering the beneficiary’s profile. A better approach would be to find common ground between the consultant’s profile and the beneficiary’s expectations (e.g. help with business start-up, a career plan, or psychological support). Further, the differentiation of profiles and practices opens up other research opportunities (in corporate coaching, tutoring, and vocational guidance).
Practical implications
From a managerial point of view, this research questions the policy of distribution of the beneficiaries in consultants’ portfolios. Indeed, in France, the approach is made a priori (without exact knowledge of the beneficiary’s profile). Yet, it seems that the approach would be more effective if consulting firms looked for common ground between the consultant’s profile and the beneficiary’s specific expectation (e.g. help with a new business start-up, the creation of a career plan, or a specific need for psychological support).
Originality/value
This research investigates a little known and important fact in career transition management: the heterogeneous nature of consultancy service and the capacities consultants highlight as being helpful to beneficiaries in career transition.
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Roberta A. Scull and Barbara S. Kavanaugh
Bobbie Scull's bibliography of federal government bibliographies was begun in 1971 as an annual informational publication primarily intended for the faculty at Louisiana State…
Abstract
Bobbie Scull's bibliography of federal government bibliographies was begun in 1971 as an annual informational publication primarily intended for the faculty at Louisiana State University. Later she distributed it to libraries all over the state of Louisiana. In 1973 RSR began to publish these lists on an annual basis. This is the fourth such appearance. In the meantime these bibliographies were cumulated and published in two volumes: Bibliography of U.S. Government Bibliographies 1968–73 and 1974–76. (Pierian Press, 1975, 1979). RSR is proud to continue the annual supplements which are now computer produced at LSU. Although this supplement appears in Volume 8:1 (1980) in the future they will appear in the final issue of the year.