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For decades, cost growth in major military weapon system programs has been problematic. The result is a multitude of studies documenting internally focused causes of Department of Defense (DoD) acquisition cost growth and a spawning of acquisition reforms that have provided little relief to the problem. The missing components of these prior analyses are the larger economic and political factors that contribute to cost growth. This study analyzes cost growth in major DoD development and procurement contracts through a holistic political-economy construct including the effect of the political party of the President and Congress, and the liberal-conservative record of the Armed Services Committees. These political-economy constructs in both development contracts and procurement contracts are found to be more robust.

This study aims to investigate two primary objectives. First, this study examines the influence of modified service quality dimensions on Islamic bank customer satisfaction using a compliance, reliability, empathy, assurance, tangible, operational efficiency, responsiveness (CREATOR) model. Second, the study explores the relationship between customer satisfaction, trust, loyalty and word of mouth (WOM) in Islamic banking of Pakistan.

The proposed model was analyzed using PLS-SEM-based approach. A total of 312 usable responses were used for data analysis.

The results indicate that all CREATOR dimensions have a significant positive impact on Islamic banks’ customer satisfaction. Similarly, this study also found a significant positive relationship between customer satisfaction, trust, loyalty and WOM. Overall, this study modified a well-established service quality framework by successfully implementing the CREATOR model in Islamic banking.

This study will provide helpful policy guidelines for Islamic bank managers improve their service quality and strengthen their relationships with existing and new customers. The authors are also sure that their proposed model will add value to the ongoing service quality literature by indicating the role of operational effectiveness in increasing customer satisfaction and promoting positive WOM.

Prototype patterns and pattern diagnostic characteristics have been proposed in a previous article. Simulation results based on the prototypes and the diagnostic characteristics have also been presented as a justification for the study. Outlines a methodology, with three major components, which designates eight processors to identify the unnatural pattern. The working memory (blackboard) characterizes the symbolic structure of the transformed data and stores the intermediate results from each processor. Eight processors are the kernel of the knowledge base used to classify the pattern of the observations. The comparison of intermediate results is executed in the inference engine, which makes the preliminary decision. The implementation of the processors is coded in Turbo C and runs on an IBM PC/XT/AT or compatible PC. The results of the implementation and validation demonstrate that the methodology does a good job for two‐variable pattern recognition.

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between quality management practices as well as their impact on organisational performance in the ASEAN regional context.

A sample of 115 data collected from automotive parts/components manufacturing companies in five ASEAN countries (Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam) was used to test the proposed research hypotheses. A two‐step modelling approach was employed to model the data by using structural equation modelling (SEM).

Leadership of the organisations tend to focus on their external (customers and suppliers) rather than internal (employees) partners. The result of this study also suggests that tier 1 suppliers of the automotive industry in ASEAN considered quality information and supplier relationship instead of people management, as the drivers of process management.

The study was limited to a single industry. The study did not consider some aspects culture in its investigation.

The results of this study clarify differences in how quality is managed in an emerging region when compared to previous studies in developed countries.

This study is the first attempt to explore quality management implementation in a specific sector in the ASEAN region.

This paper aims to review the application of business process management (BPM) in the port sector. Its objective is to understand whether BPM principles are applied in the port sector, the role of the procedural factor in port performance evaluation and whether electronic data interchange systems have been used for process management purposes.

The objective of this research is to conduct a critical review of existing academic literature in the domain of BPM and its application in the ports sector. This paper assessed more than a hundred recent publications, from key journals in the domains of port economics, BPM and information technology. The two principle platforms used are the online databases of the World Bank Group and the University of Antwerp.

Academic literature reviewed reveals a partial application of BPM in the port and maritime sector. BPM related research is conducted via the utilization of modeling algorithms or optimization and simulation tools. There exists evidence that electronic data interchange (EDI) data extracted from EDI platforms can be used to model inter-organizational business processes in several industries. Yet, to the best of the author’s knowledge, no research investigates Port Community System (PCS) or single window (SW) data utilization for BPM purposes, although PCS and SW benefits are well documented. Port performance is largely assessed based on the production theory, and limited number of studies use elements of procedural efficiency as variables for their analysis.

The holistic application of BPM has been researched in numerous industries but in the port sector. This paper constitutes the first section of an original research study to define key components, assumptions and constraints for developing a comprehensive BPM framework in the port sector.

The aim of this paper is to explore the possibility of using the Define-Measure-Analyze-Improve-Control (DMAIC) cycle, process mining (PM) and multi-criteria decision methods in an integrated way so that these three elements combined result in a methodology called the Agile DMAIC cycle, which brings more agility and reliability in the execution of the Six Sigma process.

The approach taken by the authors in this study was to analyze the studies arising from this union of concepts and to focus on using PM tools where appropriate to accelerate the DMAIC cycle by improving the first two steps, and to test using the AHP as a decision-making process, to bring more excellent reliability in the definition of indicators.

It was indicated that there was a gain with acquiring indicators and process maps generated by PM. And through the AHP, there was a greater accuracy in determining the importance of the indicators.

Through the results and findings of this study, more organizations can understand the potential of integrating Six Sigma and PM. It was just developed for the first two steps of the DMAIC cycle, and it is also a replicable method for any Six Sigma project where data acquisition through mining is possible.

The authors develop a fully applicable and understandable methodology which can be replicated in other settings and expanded in future research.

The authors propose that angry individuals are much more likely to consider the emotional state of their partner than are neutral individuals. They then apply a lay theory dictating that anger decreases cooperation and react accordingly by lowering their own level of cooperation.

The authors report four experiments involving different samples, manipulations, payment schemes and interfaces. The methodological approach was to capitalize on the positives of experimental research (e.g. establishing causality) while also trying to conceptually replicate the findings in different settings.

The authors found evidence for a lay theory (i.e. expectation) that anger decreases cooperation, but that actual cooperation was lowest when angry individuals were paired with other angry individuals, supporting the hypotheses.

Anger can spill over from unrelated contexts to affect cooperation, and incidental anger by itself is not enough to decrease cooperation. However, the findings are limited to anger and cannot necessarily be used to understand the effects of other emotions.

Before entering into a context that requires cooperation, such as a negotiation, be wary of the emotional state of both yourself and of your partner. This paper suggests that only if both parties are angry, then the likelihood of cooperation is low.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, they are the first researchers to address the question of how incidental anger affects single-round cooperation. By going back to the basics, the authors believe that the findings fill a gap in existing research and offer a building block for future research on anger and cooperation.

This paper aims to provide practitioners with a brief but comprehensive review of the current evidence base for psychological treatment approaches used in the UK that may be useful for stalking therapies.

A rapid evidence assessment was conducted on papers (post the UK Protection from Harassment Act, 1997) that discuss treatments of stalking (with or without a conviction) and associated offences/disorders. Therapies reviewed were Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Cognitive Analytic Therapy, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Dialectical Behaviour Therapy and Schema Therapy. Searches for Mentalization-Based Therapy and Psychodynamic Therapy in relation to stalking were also performed but yielded no results that met inclusion criteria.

There is currently a severely limited evidence base for the efficacy of the psychological treatment of stalking behaviours. Some interventions show promise although a multifaceted, formulation-based approach is likely to be required.

Future research would benefit from robust studies focused on stalking with long-term efficacy follow-ups.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first rapid evidence review of psychological treatments that directly address stalking behaviour.

While social marketing has been utilised to bring about positive social change, ultimately, the decision to engage in prosocial behaviour resides with the individual. The purpose of this paper is to explore the determinants and outcomes of prosocial behaviours.

A web-based self-administered survey was used to collect data from a convenience sample of largely university staff and students. Data obtained were analysed using SEM-based partial least squares methodology.

The results show that individuals who are future oriented and issue involved are more likely to engage in prosocial behaviour. Also, these individuals are more likely to assess fewer negative consequences and experience more positive feelings as a result of their prosocial behaviour.

While the study focuses on two social issues, it does provide some explanation of self-reported behaviour, rather than intention to behave. However, future research could pay attention to a wider array of social issues and undertake post hoc testing to measure the characteristics of the chosen social issues. This may enhance findings, and provide greater support for the generalisability of the model. Also, future research could be directed towards the examining the role of perceived risk and feelings as an outcome of behaviour.

A better understanding of the prosocial individual can assist in designing more effective social marketing campaigns. In particular, focusing on positive feelings as a result of engaging in prosocial behaviour has practical implications.

Little attention has been given in the marketing and consumer behaviour literature to understanding the prosocial individual. To this end, this research empirically tests a model of prosocial behaviour for two social issues that integrates determinants (social responsibility, time orientation and issue involvement) and outcomes (assessment of negative consequences and feelings). Moreover, the results highlight that positive feelings are a significant outcome of prosocial behaviour.

OPTIMISM as to the outlook is shown by the report from Sheffield of a book‐moving day, or perhaps returning‐day would be a better phrase, which involved the return from safe storage to the Central Library of 10,000 books, 5,000 manuscripts and plans, and 10 tons of newspaper files. This probably is the first record of a homeward pilgrimage for hundreds of thousands of volumes of books as well as artistic and other treasures from bomb‐proof concealment. It is, however, yet too early for the districts in southern England to undertake the risk involved in such return. The newspapers are wisely silent about the areas in which there is still risk, but they are quite inarticulate as to the nature of the risk and it is clear that it covers a large area. The recent mobilization of air defences at Edinburgh suggests too that the particular type of attack to which Great Britain is still subject may not be confined to the south of England—from the nature of the weapon there appears to be no reason why it should be. Nevertheless, the risk that we think Sheffield takes is a legitimate one. People have returned in large numbers to their own homes; they need libraries and within reasonable limits they should have them. Our best work cannot be done when the valuable part of our stock is in inaccessible places. This return of books will create in many towns a serious storage problem: we can point to libraries which distributed their stock and which through accessions, gifts from evacuated people and other sources of accession, have filled most of the space occupied by their ordinary stock. Most of us need new buildings and our priority for them must be low. The ingenuity of librarians will be severely taxed in this as in many other matters.