Search results

In this paper, the dominant techno-rational view of studying delays in projects is challenged. In so doing, the purpose of this paper is to urge for more attention paid to studying the intentionalities of the planners involved in planning the schedule for projects.

In this paper, the authors take a critical approach to review a range of literatures related to the concept of project delays. Through this review, the authors render the relative absence of acknowledging intentionality in the study of delays problematic. Therefore, the authors inject fresh insights into how intentionality can play a crucial role in advancing the understanding of project delays.

Prevailing research tends to assume the primacy of the project plan and conceptualise delays as a consequence of flawed execution. The review offers three possibilities for reconceptualising delays as a consequence of flawed plans. In so doing, the authors refocus the attention on how intentionality could play a crucial role in shaping “inaccurate” plans, which in turn could lead to the creation of delays.

As a consequence of this review paper, the authors invite scholarship into project delays to move away from finding “cause-and-effect” mechanisms to attend more closely to the role intentionality plays in creating delays, whether intended, unintended, or imagined.

This paper brings intentionality to the fore to challenge the assumptions over the nature of delays. In so doing, the review expands the understanding of project delays by incorporating unintended, intended, and imaginary perspectives.

As an emerging field of financing, impact investing is under-institutionalised and is in a legitimacy building phase. In an attempt to unpack how impact investing is deployed in global markets, the key elements of its definition (intentionality, returns and measurement) are examined through a review of academic and practitioner literature. A refined definition is developed which emphasises the key elements of intentionality and measurement as separating impact investment from the established field of socially responsible investment (SRI).

Funds and products from a publicly available database are systematically analysed against the refined definition to determine the rigour with which intentionality and measurement are applied by self-identified market participants. These elements are used as a proxy to determine “purpose-washing” – a process where funds are presented as impact investments but do not satisfy a tightly applied definition. Purpose-washing enables the possibility of “retrofitting”, where funds originally defined as other products (e.g. SRI) retrospectively claim to be impact investments.

Having found evidence of purpose-washing but not retrofitting, actions are identified to enhance impact investment’s integrity, focussing on intentionality, measurement and transparency. Clarity of definition and purpose are important for a field in the market-building phase, as a lack of clarity could have negative implications for integrity and growth. The authors postulate that purpose-washing may be attributed to twin but distinctive motivations by market participants: interest in fee-generation among fund managers and attempts to bolster field legitimacy by demonstrating sector growth among impact investing proponents.

This paper represents a unique analysis of impact investments against a robust and refined definition. By doing so, it offers a systematic appraisal of impact investments and an overall assessment of market integrity in its field-building phase.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the effects of attributions on the efficacy of service recovery strategies in preventing customer defection following a service failure.

The empirical investigation is carried out on the retail banking industry with a final sample of 448 real cases of customer retention or defection after a service failure.

The results of the study not only highlight the relevance of intentionality as an additional factor in explaining customer defection, but also show the effects of some attributional dimensions (intentionality and controllability) on the efficacy of some recovery strategies (redress, apology and explanation) applied by companies to prevent post-complaint customer defection.

The efficacy of the recovery strategies depends on the causal attributions that the customer makes about the service failure.

This study analyzes not only the effects of traditional dimensions of attribution (stability and controllability), but also the additional effect that intentionality attributions may have on actual customer defection (not intentions). Moreover, it analyzes their effects on the effectiveness of recovery strategies in preventing customer defection. Most of these effects have never been empirically analyzed in the literature.

This paper aims to determine whether intentionality attributions have an effect on the customer’s complaint and switching behavior after a service failure, after accounting for the effects of the traditional dimensions of attribution (stability and controllability), and to examine whether intentionality attributions give rise to humiliation and to what degree this negative emotion enables us to understand the customer’s complaint and switching behavior after a service failure.

A contribution of this investigation is that it studies real complaint and switching behaviors, as the few studies that focus on understanding customers’ complaint and defection behaviors mostly analyze customers’ intentions.

The results of the study indicate that intentionality attributions have an effect on the customer’s switching behavior after a service failure, in addition to the impact of the traditional dimensions of attribution. The findings also show that humiliation is the emotion that mediates the relationship between intentionality attributions and switching behavior, opposite to other emotions that may also be related to attributions. Finally, the results also support that the effect of attribution of intentionality on complaint behavior is indirect; it only exists because attribution of intentionality influences negative emotions like humiliation, which in turn influences complaint behavior.

To understand what makes customers complain after a service failure or switch service providers without giving them first the possibility of recovering the failure may help managers reduce the damage caused by the failure and increase the company’s profits.

This study will try to contribute to the service failure research by analyzing the role of two variables that have not been analyzed before in this context: intentionality attribution and humiliation.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the characteristics of actors that allow them to relate to others actors in the system through shared intentionality (orientation) and the nature of the A4A relationship and the results that such interactions bring to the emergent system based on this shared purpose (finality).

The topic is approached by theoretical analysis and conceptual development of three integrative frameworks: the sociological perspective, service-dominant logic and a particular perspective of system thinking: the viable system approach (vSa).

The A4A relationships involve value co-creation based on actors integrating their resources and acting with intentionality to obtain value by providing benefits to other parties and by belonging to the emergent viable system; actor acts for other actors directly involved in the relationship generating positive effects for the whole system in which it is contextualized.

Future empirical research might better support findings.

Many social implications deriving from an augmented role of actors engaged within social relationships in co-creation exchanges. From the title of the paper A4A over on the manuscript describes numerous social inferences of actors in co-creation.

A4A is a relationship formed by actors that interact for the benefit of the whole system in which are involved. They find own benefit from the benefit created for the system in which they live and act. In A4A relationships the value of the single actor comes from the participation to the viability of the whole system.

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the globality and intentionality aspects of consumer boycotts among the Muslim dominant markets around the world through the consumer animosity perspective, to provide better understanding of the issues. Some applied and potential solutions for marketers and policy makers in dealing with the issues are also discussed.

The analytical definition of consumer boycotts through the consumer animosity perspective is proposed and the relevance of the discussion is considered. The relationships between the globality and intentionality attributions with animosity and consumer boycotts are assessed before strategies to deal with the issues are diagnosed. Seminal works of classic and current consumer boycotts and animosity literature are reviewed in developing the conceptual background of the paper. Further conceptual reflections are stated based on the depicted current events in the market around the world.

The conceptual discussion revealed that consumer boycotts in the Muslim dominant market and animosity are two related issues worthy being explored. The issues are of the global concern and occurred unintentionally, therefore they could stimulate unexpected outcomes for the marketers and policy makers alike. Nonetheless, several strategies in dealing with the issues are found to be effective in preventing the issues from getting worse. However, the strategies would not work for all entities in all situations. Understanding the root of the issues would be the best solution.

The discussion is limited to conceptual background of the aspects discussed. Further empirical studies would enhance the applicability of the discussions presented.

In order to find strategies to deal with consumer boycotts in the Muslim dominant markets, marketers need to understand the real reason for the events to occur and demonstrate sincere understanding towards the issues. By doing so, consumer boycotts would not obstruct the progress and growth of the international business in general. Looking at the issues from the animosity perspective is a prolific attempt to understand the events.

The paper reveals the relationship between consumer boycotts and animosity in the Muslim dominant markets and offers understanding of the specific events occurrence. The discussion is extended to describe the events' globality and intentionality attribution assessment.

This paper aims to present findings from a qualitative case study which investigated how workers engage in workplace learning for safe work in a precarious workplace. The findings from this research suggest that learning to work safely is firmly embedded within the social cultural fabric of workplaces, and is intentionally driven to maintain coherence in ideologies, values and practices for effective praxis.

This study was conducted in a petrochemical plant in Singapore. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews with 20 site operators who held positions as engineers, plant workers and maintenance technicians. These site operators were directly involved in working with dangerous chemicals and high-risk equipment and processes; their conversations elicited an in-depth understanding of individuals’ experiences, providing an account of how participants learnt safe work practices in a precarious work setting. All interviews were digitally recorded and transcribed. Data were coded and analysed using an inductive analytical approach to identify key themes about workers’ learning in the workplace.

The findings suggest that learning to work safely is a socially constructed and facilitated process – leading to intentionalising what is learnt. The participants’ experiences suggest that safe work practices materialise through collective action, shared knowledge and responsibility to generally seek sameness for recursive practice. The significance of inter-subjectivity and intentionality are discussed with respect to how they intersect within the social cultural context of precarious work sites, where learning and praxis are seamlessly commingled to achieve effective praxis in workplace safety. A combination of contributions at organisation, individual and group levels supports the social cultural environment. The study concludes that a combination of mutually bound learning space, relational agency and dialogic interactions provides communicative spaces and mediates learning that nurtures inter-subjectivity and intentionality to work safely.

As the study is situated in a particular case context, replication of this research with different occupational groups in other precarious workplaces is needed for further insights on social construction of learning spaces for safety practice.

This paper concludes that deliberate and cautious efforts are necessary to create contextual conditions for learning and to promote greater inter-subjectivity and intentionality for effective praxis. Group interactions and partnerships at work are advocated to generate mindful learning and a common frame of reference that the work community recognises, values and shares. These social processes provide necessary communicative spaces for clarification and validation of what is learnt and what is being interpreted by individuals. The quality and legitimacy of guidance are also emphasised to validate the expertise of those providing guidance, effective mentorship and intervention for the distribution of knowledge. Furthermore, strong and committed leadership is necessary to sustain the social cultural architectures that will support learning and praxis for safety.

This study offers insight about pedagogical contributions to learning about safe work practices in distinct circumstances of work.

This study aims to point out and try to describe the (missing) link between “responsible practises” (e.g. CSR – corporate social responsibility) and social ontology. This critical gap in the literature may conceivably be a stumbling block to responsible business/political/societal action and its theoretical/empirical understanding and effectiveness; therefore, we can legitimately ask ourselves whether a social ontology-focused approach can be considered relevant to this field of study.

As the role of social ontology has presumably been under-explored despite its foundational importance, a set of germane and adjoining themes has been identified, which can be possibly included in future research projects. An overview of relevant literature is provided, and further analysis and desk research can be drawn from the key notions identified.

It is argued that social ontology – especially the underlying debate in terms of shared agency, collective responsibility and collective intentionality – can be an innovative and promising perspective within business ethics studies. Potentially, CSR management and/or similar responsible practices can re-appraised in similar terms.

This study specifically focuses on some selected key aspects related to the ontological status of social collectives (e.g. groups and organisations), trying to recall the main trajectories/directions of the relevant arguments and debates. More empirical research/pilot case studies validating the approach presented here will be required.

Building on the findings of this study, new emergent research methodologies/theoretical tools will make it possible to explore not so much the ways “responsible” practises are defined (indeed, there seems to be a broad consensus about it), but rather how they are socially constructed, implemented and carried out.

This theoretical work can potentially facilitate a comprehensive inter-/multi-/pluri-disciplinary understanding of the novel links explored, namely, between responsibility, social ontology and the underlying longstanding philosophical issues.

The novel thematic approach outlined in this study can challenge and widen the mainstream approaches about CSR management, e.g. stakeholder management and engagement, social accounting and reporting, SRI (socially responsible investment).

The aim of this article is to present a viewpoint from learning as individual and group cognition for the benefit of organization learning scholarship.

Conceptual viewpoint of the author.

The results demonstrate that perspective of intentionality is important for understanding how learning as cognition develops into organizational learning.

Organizations that recognize perspective as the agency by which learning as cognition develops organizational learning have a better opportunity to remain competitive.

This paper provides a basis to advance understanding on how perspective influences learning as cognition as a developmental process for organizational learning.

The purpose of this study is to examine student perspectives about the principal from an intentionalist perspective. The following claims are made: One, that student mentality appears as a knowledge construction and reified mode of consciousness out of which students perceive and interpret principals’ practices. This mental mode is composed of unconscious and conscious negative images and representations that are shared as general background knowledge to students’ collective intentionality about the principal. Two, that through metaphor we can discover this phenomenon in the reification of consciousness ‐ the objectification of the principal and self‐objectification of students in the relationship based on an information fetishism in the communicative form of gossip. And three, furthermore, that student mentality is supported and reproduced in the traditional hierarchical organization of schools, institutionalized routine practices of principals, and extended through social knowledge networks that students share with other members of the school. Provides a metaphorical analysis of this mental configuration, identifies the social networks and school contexts that contribute to and sustain its construction and suggests that leadership needs to become better informed and sensitively aware in their reflective practices of intentional leadership.