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1 – 10 of 528Leslie A. Duram and Laura L. Williams
The purpose of this paper is to examine the evolution of a student organic garden at a large public university, as an example of student initiatives that promote both university…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the evolution of a student organic garden at a large public university, as an example of student initiatives that promote both university sustainability and student-focused sustainability education on campus.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted quantitative and qualitative analysis to document the evolution of the university’s Local Organic Gardening Initiative of Carbondale (LOGIC), which is the student-initiated and -operated organic garden at Southern Illinois University.
Findings
The student organic garden evolved in three stages, each of which had specific goals and accomplishments. Stage I (establishment): students in Geography courses took action to get the garden established; key components included funds from a sustainability scholarship and student-initiated camps Green Fund, dedicated undergraduate students, negotiating campus bureaucracy and motivating broad support. Stage II (evolution): a high tunnel was added to the original raised beds garden, a graduate assistant position was filled to manage the garden, additional funds were secured, a permaculture demonstration site was added, the volunteer base was established and LOGIC began being included in campus and community events. Stage III (future) challenges include: consistent leadership, long-term funding, guarantee of land availability, student graduation/turnover and increasing student involvement.
Originality/value
This paper provides a longitudinal perspective on the evolution of student-led sustainability efforts which require progressive, inclusive action from multiple stakeholders across campus and in the community. Several replicable practices include student leadership in sustainability initiatives, actions for promoting local food in the university structure and methods of negotiating complex institutional settings.
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Laura A. May, Vera Stenhouse and Teri Holbrook
This manuscript describes the findings of an examination of 21 pre-service teachers and one literacy course instructor within the context of a program focused on urban teacher…
Abstract
This manuscript describes the findings of an examination of 21 pre-service teachers and one literacy course instructor within the context of a program focused on urban teacher preparation. Using inductive thematic analysis of multiple data sources, the research team identified three themes. First, general agreement existed amongst the pre-service teachers that Barack Obama’s 2008 election was a critical, important moment in U.S. history with consistent rationales for why they should include information about President Obama’s life and work as part of the curriculum, especially for African American students. This theme comprised three trends: the importance of teaching civics, the historical importance of the first African American president, and the importance of President Obama as a role model. Second, pre-service teachers enacted and responded to barriers to teaching critical literacy about the Obama presidency. This second theme also comprised three trends: a reluctance to detract from President Obama’s positive image, an unease in teaching politics, and the references to developmental issues related to the ages of the kindergarten children they taught. Third, inconsistencies occurred amongst pre-service teachers’ understandings of critical literacy.
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Laura Saunders, Rachel Williams, Genevieve Galarneau and Gianna C. Gifford
The purpose of this study was to get a baseline understanding of the state of reference services in urban public libraries in the United States.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study was to get a baseline understanding of the state of reference services in urban public libraries in the United States.
Design/methodology/approach
The researchers surveyed all members of the Urban Libraries Council, a network of public library systems in urban centers across the country. The survey asked about their reference services, including how reference is offered, volume and types of questions and staff responsibilities. Participants were also asked how reference has changed in the past 5–10 years and what changes they anticipate in the future.
Findings
This study found that the vast majority of urban public libraries still maintain a physical reference desk, but most also offer reference services in other formats as well. Most libraries have seen numbers of reference questions decline. Reference staff members are engaged in instruction, programming and community outreach as well. Looking ahead, some libraries expect reference questions to continue to decline and demand for virtual services to increase.
Practical implications
Directors and reference staff of public libraries, especially those in urban and suburban settings, will find these results useful for benchmarking against their own experiences and for planning for future changes.
Originality/value
While discussions of changes in reference service and volumes of reference questions are plentiful, as are predictions of how these declines will impact reference services, there is little current research on the actual state of those services. This study fills a gap in the literature by providing a baseline overview of the reference services in urban public libraries.
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Laura M. Oliver and Kae Reynolds
The recent financial crisis has brought business ethics issues to the forefront. While most colleges have formal training in business ethics, a person’s ethical standards have…
Abstract
The recent financial crisis has brought business ethics issues to the forefront. While most colleges have formal training in business ethics, a person’s ethical standards have often developed before college age. This application brief proposes using digital popular media to teach servant-leadership principles to public school adolescents. The purpose is to illustrate the advantage of using secular content from the television series Merlin (Wilkie, 2008) to demonstrate an ethics-based leadership perspective through a medium that is accessible to the virtual/video generation.
Laura Jackman, Laura Galloway, Isla Kapasi, Rebecca Stirzaker and Andreea Mihut
This paper aims to explore experiences of poverty in the enterprise amongst people with a disability or long-term health challenges. This paper departs somewhat from established…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore experiences of poverty in the enterprise amongst people with a disability or long-term health challenges. This paper departs somewhat from established wisdom about economic or financial drivers of enterprise by exploring why a disabled individual would start and continue to operate in a business where that business is providing income-poverty. In so doing, it subscribes to the idea that the enterprise involves reflexive engagement of an agent in context where value(s) of the enterprise other than financial may be prioritised.
Design/methodology/approach
The research draws from a larger qualitative study of self-employment and poverty in which half the sample (21 individuals) identified as experiencing disability or poor health. Semi-structured interviews were conducted these participants and a thematic analysis with specific reference to Theory of Venturing, which proposes that the value of enterprise is reflexively and idiosyncratically understood and morphogenetic, was used to explore itinerant issues, experiences and challenges.
Findings
In line with the theory, findings include that disability and poor health are observed to be both prompters and shapers of an enterprise and that the value of enterprise is not always primarily associated with financial wealth for the participants in the sample. Flexibility and autonomy are attractive features of self-employment for some in the face of an inflexible and sometimes hostile labour market.
Originality/value
This paper demonstrates that engaging in enterprise is motivated by an agent's reflexive evaluation of value(s) and how that enables them to navigate their structural condition(s); this contribution enhances theoretical approaches to enterprise and business creation by illuminating some of its diversity. This paper also contributes some much needed data about a group who are under-represented in the enterprise literature despite being over-represented in practice. There are implications and recommendations for policy and practice in the exposure and analysis of the issues emerging.
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Laura A. Rhodes, Dennis M. Williams, Macary W. Marciniak and David Jay Weber
The purpose of this paper is to describe the history of pharmacist involvement as vaccine providers in the USA and discuss examples of growing interests in other parts of the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to describe the history of pharmacist involvement as vaccine providers in the USA and discuss examples of growing interests in other parts of the world.
Design/methodology/approach
Literature searches were performed in PubMed as well as pharmacy-related journals.
Findings
Pharmacists have been involved with the storage and management of vaccines for more than a century. Based on the unmet needs in meeting national goals for vaccination rates among adults in the USA, efforts led to training and recognizing pharmacists as vaccine providers which is now within the scope of practice for a pharmacist in all US states and territories. Pharmacists complete a comprehensive training program in vaccine sciences, regulatory considerations, as well as demonstration of skills in administering vaccines. Over 300,000 pharmacists have been trained in vaccine delivery and this represents the majority of the pharmacist workforce in the USA. There are examples of the beneficial impact of pharmacist involvement as vaccine providers in community pharmacy settings.
Research limitations/implications
This review is based on a thorough review of the literature but was not conducted in a systematic fashion.
Originality/value
This review provides a historical perspective and evidence of the benefit of pharmacists as vaccine providers.
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Aim of the present monograph is the economic analysis of the role of MNEs regarding globalisation and digital economy and in parallel there is a reference and examination of some…
Abstract
Aim of the present monograph is the economic analysis of the role of MNEs regarding globalisation and digital economy and in parallel there is a reference and examination of some legal aspects concerning MNEs, cyberspace and e‐commerce as the means of expression of the digital economy. The whole effort of the author is focused on the examination of various aspects of MNEs and their impact upon globalisation and vice versa and how and if we are moving towards a global digital economy.
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Delphine Godefroit-Winkel, Marie Schill and Margaret K. Hogg
This paper aims to examine the interplay of emotions and consumption within intergenerational exchanges. It shows how emotions pervade the trajectories of grandmothers’ relational…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine the interplay of emotions and consumption within intergenerational exchanges. It shows how emotions pervade the trajectories of grandmothers’ relational identities with their grandchildren through consumption practices.
Design/methodology/approach
This study analyses qualitative data gathered via 28 long interviews with French grandmothers and 27 semi-structured interviews with their grandchildren. This study draws on attachment theory to interpret the voices of both grandmothers and their grandchildren within these dyads.
Findings
This study uncovers distinct relational identities of grandmothers linked to emotions and the age of the grandchild, as embedded in consumption. It identifies the defining characteristics of the trajectory of social/relational identities and finds these to be linked to grandchildren’s ages.
Research limitations/implications
This study elicits the emotion profiles, which influence grandmothers’ patterns of consumption in their relationships with their grandchildren. It further uncovers distinct attachment styles (embedded in emotions) between grandmothers and grandchildren in the context of their consumption experiences. Finally, it provides evidence that emotions occur at the interpersonal level. This observation is an addition to existing literature in consumer research, which has often conceived of consumer emotions as being only a private matter and as an intrapersonal phenomenon.
Practical implications
The findings offer avenues for the development of strategies for intergenerational marketing, particularly promotion campaigns which link either the reinforcement or the suppression of emotion profiles in advertising messages with the consumption of products or services by different generations.
Social implications
This study suggests that public institutions might multiply opportunities for family and consumer experiences to combat specific societal issues related to elderly people’s isolation.
Originality/value
In contrast to earlier work, which has examined emotions within the ebb and flow of individual and multiple social identities, this study examines how emotions and consumption play out in social/relational identity trajectories.
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J. Clay Hurdle and Laura L. Greenhaw
Film has been used to teach leadership in recent decades, but a review of the literature indicates much of this work is prescriptive rather than empirical. This study sought to…
Abstract
Film has been used to teach leadership in recent decades, but a review of the literature indicates much of this work is prescriptive rather than empirical. This study sought to understand the effectiveness of film in an undergraduate leadership class by determining learner perceptions of a film analysis assignment and exploring learner ability to identify the stages of group development. A mixed-method approach was undertaken. Learners were surveyed to elicit their perceptions of an essay assignment where they analyzed the stages of group development in the film Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. In addition, their essays were subject to a content analysis to determine if learners could successfully identify the stages of group development. The survey indicated that learners enjoyed the assignment and preferred film analysis as an assessment of their understanding of group development. The content analysis indicated that learners could identify the stages of group development throughout the movie. However, there was variation in which scenes were representative of the different stages. Future research should explore the distinction between inductive and deductive approaches to content instruction and learner outcomes. Film familiarity and its impact on learner outcomes should also be investigated.
Bryan L. Rogers, Laura T. Madden, Leah K. Grubb and Joy H. Karriker
The purpose of this study is to extend the current understanding of virtual team (VT) workers’ willingness to continue working in VTs and the forces driving their affective…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to extend the current understanding of virtual team (VT) workers’ willingness to continue working in VTs and the forces driving their affective reactions to teamwork. Specifically, this paper applies the input-mediator-output-input (IMOI) literature to investigate the influence of workers’ perceptions of their peers’ skills and peers’ interactions on perceptions of the teamwork process and subsequent affective reactions.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper draws on a sample of 997 virtual and face-to-face (FtF) students embedded in 242 project teams to test the hypotheses using multi-group comparisons in structural equation modeling (SEM).
Findings
Results support the assertion that team processes are essential in translating team skills and interactions into satisfaction with the team. Further, this paper finds that skills are more influential on teammate satisfaction for FtFs than they are for VTs; and, conversely, that VTs’ interactions are more pivotal regarding teammate satisfaction through VT processes than they are in FtFs.
Research limitations/implications
The effort contributes to the IMOI literature by showing how teams overcome virtuality to perform effectively and how team-embedded members react differently across VT and FtF contexts.
Originality/value
These findings are particularly notable given that prior research has suggested VT performance may not be contingent on social bonds within the team. Although this is possibly true for performance, the findings suggest that social interactions are, in fact, crucial to teams’ affective reactions.
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