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To debate some of the commonly;held assumptions about social enterprises.
Abstract
Purpose
To debate some of the commonly;held assumptions about social enterprises.
Design/methodology/approach
The three main assumptions that are commonly applied to the development and characteristics of social enterprises are discussed, namely: that social enterprise must be a collective or democratic pursuit; that social enterprise is institutionally different from earlier mechanisms designed to usher in a “third way”; and that social enterprise is better than doing nothing. Analyses the development of these three assumptions through the framework offered by DiMaggio and Powell (1983) on institutional isomorphism.
Findings
There are indications that the social enterprises sector would benefit from more co‐ops taking an ever‐greater market share in an ever‐increasing range of industries, but that this should be the outcome of decisions freely made by individual, autonomous organizations that are free to choose social enterprises over other available options. Concludes that the practical danger posed by the wrong kind of isomorphic tendencies is to the potential flourishing of alternative organizational forms, alternative business models, and alternative ways of seeing the economic world.
Originality/value
Clarifies some of the commonly‐held views concerning social enterprises.
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Kathryn Marie Hibbert, Lisa Faden-MacDougall, Noureen Huda, Sandra DeLuca, Elizabeth Seabrook and Mark Goldszmidt
This paper aims to trace the relational and material ways in which workplace teams come together (or fail to) in the provision of patient care.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to trace the relational and material ways in which workplace teams come together (or fail to) in the provision of patient care.
Design/methodology/approach
Six interprofessional scholars brought their unique theoretical and disciplinary lenses to understand the contextualized experiences of the patient and the team. Adopting a critical narrative inquiry (CNR) approach, the experiences of 19 participants were documented as they interacted in the care of an elderly patient over a three-week period. Actor network theory constructs enabled the analysis of multiple artefacts implicated in the interactions to learn of their contribution to the enactment of her care.
Findings
The study gives empirical insights about ways in which knowledge circulates amongst the workplace and how systemic structures may impede effective and quality patient care. Various types of knowledge are held by different team members, and both individuals and materials (e.g. technologies) can influence the way those knowledges are shared (or not).
Research limitations/implications
Focusing on a rich data set surrounding one patient documented as theatre serves pedagogical purposes and serves as a shared “boundary-breaking” object to interrogate from multiple stakeholder perspectives. CNR provides for recursive, dynamic learning as readers critically consider experiences within their own contexts.
Practical implications
Despite research that documents competing political, systemic and economic goals, sedimented policies and practices persist in ways that undermine care goals.
Social implications
Tackling the urgent issue of an aging population will require expanding collaboration (for planning, research and so on) to include a broader set of stakeholders, including operational, administrative and post-discharge organizations. Attention to social infrastructure as a means to assemble knowledges and improve relationships in the care process is critical.
Originality/value
Building a boundary-breaking shared object to represent the data offers a unique opportunity for multiple stakeholder groups to enter into dialogue around barriers to workplace interaction and collaboration progress, linking problems to critical perspectives.
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Lucy Yixuan Zhang, Kristen Simonds and June Matthews
This study explored young males' suggestions for food skills education in three domains: food selection and planning, food preparation and food safety and storage. It also…
Abstract
Purpose
This study explored young males' suggestions for food skills education in three domains: food selection and planning, food preparation and food safety and storage. It also solicited young males' perspectives on mandatory food skills education.
Design/methodology/approach
This descriptive qualitative study employed a semi-structured interview guide. A one-page list of food skills was provided to each participant to form a consistent basis for the interviews. Data were analyzed using the constant comparative method.
Findings
Forty-four young men aged 17 to 35 participated in the study. Thirty-seven supported mandatory education for food skills. Gender stereotypes around food skills were identified as a barrier to young males enrolling in elective food skills courses. When asked how food skills should be taught, the two main strategies mentioned were “online” and “hands-on.” Most participants identified skills in the food preparation domain as essential to include in the curriculum, although some recognized the importance of incorporating skills from all three domains.
Practical implications
Understanding important characteristics of effective food skills education for young males may increase their participation in school, virtual and community-based food skills education. Curricular content should consider young males' interests and baseline competencies and emphasize practical hands-on skills. Mandatory food skills education in secondary schools for all genders represents a comprehensive solution.
Originality/value
This study is among the first to report young males' opinions on crucial components of, and methods for, effective food skills education for this population.
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Wahyudi Wahyudi, Stevanus Budi Waluya, Hardi Suyitno and Isnarto Isnarto
This study aims to describe how creative thinking ability could be improved through correcting the thinking schemata using cool-critical-creative-meaningful (3CM) learning model.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to describe how creative thinking ability could be improved through correcting the thinking schemata using cool-critical-creative-meaningful (3CM) learning model.
Design/methodology/approach
This study implemented mixed methods with explanatory sequential, which means a study that was conducted by collecting quantitative and qualitative data, consecutively. The creative thinking ability was measured through tests and then triangulated with the student teachers answers in the interviews. The qualitative data consisted of creative thinking schemata that were collected with task analysis and think aloud method. The data were analyzed in two stages. Quantitative data analysis was used to identify the effectiveness of 3CM learning. Qualitative data analysis was conducted using Miles and Huberman’s analysis.
Findings
The findings presented that 3CM learning model is significantly effective to improve the creative thinking ability of pre-service primary teacher; students with formal, content and linguistic schemata that are good and complete will also have good mathematical creative thinking ability; the mathematical creative thinking ability of student is determined by the completeness of their schemata; and a good and complete schemata (formal, content and linguistic) will help the students to produce several problem-solving alternatives.
Research limitations/implications
Because of the chosen research approach, the research results may lack generalizability. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to test the proposed propositions further.
Practical implications
The results of this study suggest lecturers to give their students a great opportunity to develop their creativity in solving mathematical problems. Lecturers could give the students the opportunity to think systematically by beginning by criticizing the interesting contextual problems and ending with meaningful reflection with adequate learning resources.
Originality/value
3CM learning model is a model that is proven to be effective in helping the students in shaping the thinking schemata well and able to improve the creative thinking ability of the students.
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Vassilios Stouraitis, Mior Harris Mior Harun and Markos Kyritsis
A global reach in exporting has been linked to profitability. The purpose of this paper is to answer the influence of EU regulations on exporting decisions of UK manufacturing…
Abstract
Purpose
A global reach in exporting has been linked to profitability. The purpose of this paper is to answer the influence of EU regulations on exporting decisions of UK manufacturing small- and medium-sized firms (SMEs) by investigating the home and host country-based motivators behind SMEs’ choice to export, and export regionally, within the EU.
Design/methodology/approach
Contrasting the Uppsala and resource-based view perspectives (using a sample of UK independent manufacturing SMEs and utilizing a survey, correlation analysis and factor analysis), the paper finds and describes the effect of the most recurrent motivators from the literature on the SMEs’ decision to export within the EU or not.
Findings
The paper finds that SMEs whose latest international market entry was not in the EU scored significantly higher in the factor scorings for the motivators in the external dimension than participants whose latest entry was in the EU. Several motivators show an association with the choice to export per se. The importance of regionalization to export initiation (and EU membership) within the EU is emphasized in the results.
Research limitations/implications
The sample size is limited.
Practical implications
In the current climate, how can SMEs reduce market research costs for managers by relying solely and proactively on home country and internal advantages and motivators and being more aware of their surroundings? Managers and policymakers can direct their strategy, resources and policy more efficiently according to motivators; internal home country motivators (e.g. strengths of prices of products) direct the SME to overcome inter-regional liability of foreignness, while host country motivators (e.g. legal restrictions in the host country) direct them to regional ventures.
Originality/value
The theoretical and empirical work on the topic, until recently, has been fragmented and inconsistent focusing on specific motivators but not necessarily justifying the selection or origin of variables even less on SMEs.
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Kristen L. Sussman, Laura F. Bright and Gary B. Wilcox
The digital environment afforded by social networks has created an opportunity to understand more clearly the impact of social media native advertising on advertising processing…
Abstract
Purpose
The digital environment afforded by social networks has created an opportunity to understand more clearly the impact of social media native advertising on advertising processing outcomes. Thus, the current study integrates native advertising with engagement literature to compare engagement outcomes between feed and banner placements before analyzing engagement outcomes of sponsored social media posts by advertising objective. This work aims to contribute to advertising effectiveness literature arguing for the importance of engagement as a measure of effectiveness.
Design/methodology/approach
Facebook advertising data were collected from a convenience sample of 10 Facebook advertisers that accounted for roughly $414,000 in advertising spend. Panel data, which are also called longitudinal or cross-sectional time-series data, used 26 months of data from the 10 advertisers to measure relationships between native advertising exposure and digital consumer engagement with advertising by advertising objectives of brand awareness, link clicks, conversions, post-engagement and video views.
Findings
Exposure to native advertising was a strong predictor of advertising processing and consumption using the three variables of interest: clicks, comments and shares. Ads reaching consumers while natively consuming content in their feed resulted in statistically significant improvements in impressions and clicks when compared to banner ads. Exposure to native ads was significantly related to all engagement outcomes of interest, except for advertisers who chose post-engagement as their advertising objective.
Practical implications
The results suggest that for advertisers seeking clicks, post-engagement objectives should likely be avoided. For this group, impressions were not related to link clicks but were related to comments and shares. Native advertising placements in the feed, however, are generally more effective than banner ads on Facebook for advertisers seeking engagement.
Research limitations/implications
This research is one of few studies to use longitudinal advertising data to explore engagement effects using real-world data collected from a diverse set of Facebook advertisers over a 26-month period. This study shows that interactive marketers using a social media feed to reach consumers can expect positive outcomes in advertising consumption, affective and cognitive processing and advocacy, but those outcomes may vary by advertising objective.
Originality/value
Given the uniqueness of the data set, the findings contribute to native advertising literature and to the literature on digital consumer engagement with advertising in social media. The study also provides empirical support for the efficacy of native advertising.
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The aim of this article is to explore the phenomenon of gifted migrants in vocational training and education. To date, migrant apprentices have been predominantly discussed from a…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this article is to explore the phenomenon of gifted migrants in vocational training and education. To date, migrant apprentices have been predominantly discussed from a deficit perspective. Special attention has been given to competence insufficiency and underperformance, as well as to migrant adolescents’ lack of professional and educational attainment. However, recent research points to a social group of migrants who are successful educational and professional achievers.
Design/methodology/approach
The article at hand discusses five theoretical models commonly applied to explain underachievement among migrant adolescents. It then examines these models’ explanatory power to predict migrants’ educational success. To conclude, the research parameters and theoretical framework of a Swiss longitudinal study designed on the basis of these findings is presented.
Findings
Educational research has increasingly focused on migrants, as well as on vocational education and training. However, what resulted from existing research is a predominantly unfavorable image of migrant apprentices that exclusively portrays them as so called “educational losers” of socio‐economically and culturally disadvantaged backgrounds. Based on theoretical explanatory models, a number of assumptions were extracted to show how educational success among migrants could be explained and whether resilience factors play a role in it. From the resilience perspective, professional success of migrant apprentices is likely to result from a stable, long‐term attachment figure or mentor who served as a role and identification model and was of significant importance in the adolescents’ workplace, for example as professional mentor. Furthermore, it is expected that educational facilities, in particular vocational training institutions, must have excelled in demanding high educational achievement, providing clear organizational and management structures, and high teaching quality as well as good instructor‐learner relationships.
Originality/value
As has been shown, educational research has increasingly focused on migrants, as well as on vocational education and training. However, what resulted from existing research is a predominantly unfavorable image of migrant apprentices that exclusively portrays them as so called “educational losers” of socio‐economically and culturally disadvantaged backgrounds. This implies that educational and professional success is not attainable for youths from disadvantaged families. On the other hand, successful migrant careers have been exemplarily portrayed; systematic research however is scarce and virtually non‐existent in German‐speaking academia. The lack of educational policy debate about successful migrants is probably a result of this research gap.
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The consequences of electronic publishing continue to manifest themselves in the 110 journals scanned for this literature review. Pricing, access, e‐books and e‐journals are…
Abstract
The consequences of electronic publishing continue to manifest themselves in the 110 journals scanned for this literature review. Pricing, access, e‐books and e‐journals are amongst the issues considered in this issue’s literature review. Further criticism of the publishing sector is identified and the potential for micro payments.
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Patricia Watkins and Kathleen Fleming
To share information about the American Society for Engineering Education Engineering (ASEE) Engineering Libraries Division (ELD) Annual Conference on instruction, training and…
Abstract
Purpose
To share information about the American Society for Engineering Education Engineering (ASEE) Engineering Libraries Division (ELD) Annual Conference on instruction, training and support for engineering education. A conference report that touches on disciplines of engineering, technology education and engineering librarianship.
Design/methodology/approach
Conference report.
Originality/value
The paper provided a review of programs and technology presentations by engineering librarians of interest to libraries and information professionals.
Details