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1 – 10 of 23Krista Hoffmeister, Konstantin P. Cigularov, Julie Sampson, John C. Rosecrance and Peter Y. Chen
The present study aims to provide a perspective on effective mentoring in the construction industry by examining key mentor characteristics as perceived by construction…
Abstract
Purpose
The present study aims to provide a perspective on effective mentoring in the construction industry by examining key mentor characteristics as perceived by construction professionals.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 170 union construction workers rated 55 mentor characteristics based on to what extent each was characteristic of a superior, average, or poor mentor.
Findings
To identify the most important mentor characteristics, three criteria were relied on: means of characteristic ratings of a superior mentor; effect sizes of mean differences between ratings of poor and superior mentors; and correlations between characteristic ratings of superior mentors and satisfaction with mentors. Significant mean differences were found between characteristics of poor and average mentors as well as between poor and superior mentors.
Research limitations/implications
Possible future directions include an investigation of the relationship between competent mentors and personal characteristics, and potential health and safety outcomes resulting from effective mentoring in the construction industry.
Originality/value
Although mentoring has been the focus of much research, the mentoring relationship is quite different in the construction industry and little mentoring research has targeted this industry. To develop an effective mentoring program in this industry, one of the initial steps is to identify characteristics of effective mentors in this industry.
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Robert J. Antonio and Alessandro Bonanno
We address here how the U.S. neoliberal policy regime developed and how its reconstructed vision of modernization, which culminated, under the rubric of globalization, was…
Abstract
We address here how the U.S. neoliberal policy regime developed and how its reconstructed vision of modernization, which culminated, under the rubric of globalization, was neutralized by 9/11 and neoconservative geopolitics. We analyze the phases in the rise of neoliberalism, and provide a detailed map of its vision of global modernization at its high tide under Clinton. We also address how the Bush Doctrine's unilateral, preemptive polices and the consequent War on Terror and Iraq War eroded U.S. legitimacy as the globalization system's hegmon and shifted the discourse from globalization to empire. Cold War modernization theorists, neoliberal globalization advocates, and Bush doctrine neoconservatives all drew on an American exceptionalist tradition that portrays the U.S. as modernity's “lead society,” attaches universal significance to its values, policies, and institutions, and urges their worldwide diffusion. All three traditions ignore or diminish the importance of substantive equality and social justice. We suggest that consequent U.S. policy problems might be averted by recovery of a suppressed side of the American tradition that stresses social justice and holds that democracy must start at home and be spread by example rather than by exhortation or force. Overall, we explore the contradictory U.S. role in an emergent post-Cold War world.
Choong‐Ki Lee and Ki‐Joon Back
The purpose of this paper is to overview empirical research on gambling impacts, theories employed to these gambling impact studies and methodology of gambling impacts.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to overview empirical research on gambling impacts, theories employed to these gambling impact studies and methodology of gambling impacts.
Design/methodology/approach
An extensive review of literature on several gaming and tourism journals is presented.
Findings
The paper summarizes theories associated with gaming research, gaming impact variables and methodological perspectives in gaming research.
Practical implications
The overview of residents' perception provides policy makers to take appropriate actions, minimizing negative impact and maximizing positive impact of gaming industry.
Originality/value
The paper is the most comprehensive review of both theories and methodologies of journal articles dealing with residents' perception toward gambling development from early 1980s through 2009.
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Tharindu C. Dodanwala and Djoen San Santoso
The present study examines the mediating role of job stress on the relationship between job satisfaction facets and turnover intention of the construction project professionals in…
Abstract
Purpose
The present study examines the mediating role of job stress on the relationship between job satisfaction facets and turnover intention of the construction project professionals in Sri Lanka.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were gathered from a cross-sectional survey of 274 project-level employees of 10 construction organizations in Sri Lanka. A path analytical model is developed to assess the research hypotheses.
Findings
Results support the mediation model of job stress, in which satisfaction with supervision and job security directly contributed to a reduction in stress levels, which in turn lessened the turnover intention. Full mediation is observed from supervision, and partial mediation is observed from job security. Satisfaction with pay and co-workers directly predicted a decline in turnover intention. Contrary to the authors’ expectations, the authors could not find any significant effect from promotion to job stress and promotion to turnover intention. The results further illustrated that demographic variables, i.e. gender, age and organization tenure play a role in determining employees’ stress levels.
Originality/value
In identifying how job satisfaction facets, job stress and turnover intention are linked together, the present study added the mediating role of job stress to the previous empirical research on the relationship between job satisfaction facets and turnover intention.
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This paper aims to apply the Legitimacy-Based View (LBV) of political risk to the experience of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) in the First World War. The…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to apply the Legitimacy-Based View (LBV) of political risk to the experience of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) in the First World War. The paper shows that HSBC’s ability to survive this conflict was due, in part, to its ability to manage political risk by maintaining legitimacy in the eyes of stakeholders in its home market(s), Hong Kong and the UK.
Design/methodology/approach
This case study is based on the surviving internal correspondence from this period in the HSBC Group archives in London and other primary sources.
Findings
This paper suggests that maintaining legitimacy in the home market is crucial to firm survival and profitability. Managers’ efforts to bolster firm legitimacy should ensure that individuals in all of the relevant government departments continue to regard the multinational enterprise (MNE) as legitimate.
Research limitations/implications
This paper shows that the LBV is a potentially powerful analytical tool, but it also argues that the LBV must be modified so as to incorporate insights from the theoretical literature on ethnic and national identities, particularly the insight that such identities are culturally constructed and malleable.
Practical implications
Warfare tends to increase the degree to which a MNE’s stakeholders feel emotional bonds to their respective nations. HSBC’s experience in the First World War suggests that continued profitability in wartime may depend on the firm’s ability to shed its peacetime “world citizen” identity in favour of one that is more closely aligned with that of its home nation. Preserving political capital in wartime may require the ruthless termination of relationships with clients and employees who are associated with the enemy nation. Another lesson that MNE managers can derive from this paper is that preserving legitimacy in the home country may require the head office to exert more control over overseas managers, than would be the case in peace. A MNE in wartime that is concerned about the loss of legitimacy in the home country should consider adopting an organizational architecture that temporarily reduces subsidiary autonomy.
Originality/value
Buckley (2009) called for the re-integration of business history in International Business research. This paper is part of the ongoing historic turn in International Business and other management disciplines. This paper also argues that International Business scholars need to consider the impact of past wars on contemporary multinationals as we may witness the re-emergence of Great Power rivalries similar to those that led to the First World War. This paper proceeds on the assumption the probabilities of a war between two major capitalist economies are non-trivial and that additional investigation of the impact of major interstate warfare on MNEs is therefore merited. Historical research can help us to think about what a war between capitalist countries would mean for today’s MNEs.
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Concerned with the need to scrutinize the rhetoric of currentblueprints for schooling reform to ensure that in their implementationthere results a power redistribution which is in…
Abstract
Concerned with the need to scrutinize the rhetoric of current blueprints for schooling reform to ensure that in their implementation there results a power redistribution which is in the interests of improved educational outcomes for more students, particularly for those who are currently the least advantaged. It is argued that with the implementation of decentralization and devolution policies for public education, there is a need to ensure that the principle of equity is maintained as an end to be achieved through democratic and efficient means which are in harmony with the spirit of public schooling in a liberal democracy. Questions related to the motives for reform and who benefits are pivotal.
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Purpose – This chapter presents a case for reframing medical sociology to focus on diagnosis as a pivotal category of analysis via an extended literature review of the diagnosis…
Abstract
Purpose – This chapter presents a case for reframing medical sociology to focus on diagnosis as a pivotal category of analysis via an extended literature review of the diagnosis as a tool of medicine.
Methodology/approach – Conceptual overview.
Practical implications – By reviewing the range of social functions served by diagnosis, and the similarly wide assortment of social forces that shape diagnostic categories, this chapter pushes social scientists and theorists to consider diagnosis as a cornerstone to the understanding of health, illness, and disease.
Originality/value of paper – Building on Brown's earlier call for a sociology of diagnosis, this chapter sets forth potential parameters for this field. It defines how the study of diagnosis is dissipated across myriad areas of scholarship, including medicalization, disease theory, ethics, classification theory, and history of medicine. Extirpating diagnosis and revealing it for specific discussion provides an opportunity to study topics such as illness experiences, health social movements, and disease recognition from a different and rich perspective.
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Saheed O. Ajayi, Natasha Lister, Jamiu Adetayo Dauda, Adekunle Oyegoke and Hafiz Alaka
Health and safety is an important issue in workplaces, and despite safety procedures becoming more strict, serious accidents are still happening within the UK construction sector…
Abstract
Purpose
Health and safety is an important issue in workplaces, and despite safety procedures becoming more strict, serious accidents are still happening within the UK construction sector. This demonstrates poor performance in the implementation of safety procedures on construction sites. One of the key challenges is the unwillingness of the site workforce, especially the subcontracted operatives, to adhere to safety provisions on construction sites. As such, this study investigates the strategies for enhancing safe behaviour amongst subcontracted operatives in the UK construction industry.
Design/methodology/approach
The study used exploratory sequential mixed method research, involving interviews and questionnaires as means of data collection, and thematic analysis, reliability analysis and exploratory factor analysis as methods of data analysis.
Findings
The study suggests that various carrot and stick measures are expected to be put in place as part of the strategies for enhancing safe behaviour amongst subcontracted operatives. These include adequate enforcement of safety practices by the management, operative engagement and motivation, commendation and rewards, site safety targets, leadership style and motivation.
Originality/value
Application of the suggested measures could enhance safety on construction sites, as it provides practical measures and solutions for inculcating safety behaviours amongst the site operatives who are most likely to be the victims of site accidents.
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This paper aims to distill from both the Asian “miracle” and the “meltdown” since the Asian crisis, a generic East Asian business model which is changing in the context of…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to distill from both the Asian “miracle” and the “meltdown” since the Asian crisis, a generic East Asian business model which is changing in the context of globalisation, information communication technology, knowledge‐based economy, deregulation and emerging new competition.
Design/methodology/approach
The generic business model considers the creative and innovative nature of intellectual capital in a qualitative macroeconomic development model rather than a quantitative or econometric micro‐level business modeling for the firm or industry. Diverse and heterogeneous both within the whole of East Asia and distinguished as Northeast and Southeast Asia, the putative generic business model is further differentiated in terms of customised idiosyncratic models in more mature Northeast developmental states in Japan, Korea and Taiwan contrasted with Southeast “captured” developmental states as in Indonesia and Malaysia entrapped by ethnic politics.
Findings
City‐states Hong Kong and Singapore are exceptional because of their size and resultant globalised states. To each its own may be the conclusion in terms of customised national systems and models, but East Asian ethical and moral dimensions of integrity may generally offer a version moral capitalism of which is suited to global capitalism not of the brute Darwinist kind. In the final analysis, East Asia is increasingly exposed to the global marketplace, competition and globalisation backlash, such that some common denominator comes from DFI and MNCs from multicultural political economy dimensions.
Originality/value
The paper presents a putative East Asian business models.
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