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21 – 30 of over 5000Louise Y.S. Law, Allan Walker and Clive Dimmock
This paper describes a grounded theory that emerged from a study of Hong Kong Protestant secondary school principals’ values and their impact on principals’ perceptions and…
Abstract
This paper describes a grounded theory that emerged from a study of Hong Kong Protestant secondary school principals’ values and their impact on principals’ perceptions and management of problems. This substantive theory is labelled the “value‐based congruence theory”. It implies first, that values influence how Hong Kong principals perceive and manage problems in their schools. Second, that particular principal's value orientations correspond with their behaviour in terms of their perceptions, problem‐solving strategies and the outcomes experienced. Principals’ value orientations fall along the following five value dimensions: the relationship, reform, empowerment, client‐focus and rationality dimensions. These correlations result in five principal types – the pacifists, the progressive mentors, the philosopher mentors, the pragmatists and the eclectics. However, other factors, namely, personal and organizational characteristics as well as the value properties of clarity, commitment, consistency, versatility, breadth and focus, are found to moderate the linkages between principals’ values and their concomitant responses.
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DeMond Shondell Miller and Christopher Gonzalez
This paper views the growing popularity of death tourism which directs the confrontation with grief and mortality with the expressed purpose of orchestrating travel that…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper views the growing popularity of death tourism which directs the confrontation with grief and mortality with the expressed purpose of orchestrating travel that culminates in assistance to end one's life. The specific aims of this paper are to describe the emerging phenomenon of death tourism and situate it as a form of dark tourism, to present briefly the social and legal aspects of assisted suicide in conjunction within the tourism industry, and to conclude with how the trend of death tourism is potentially spreading to other countries beyond Europe.
Design/methodology/approach
By employing a variety of primary and secondary resources, from death tourism industry documents, legal statutes, and news reports, this study explores the propositions of this article.
Findings
Whereas much of the contemporary research in dark tourism focuses on sights, experiences, and actual memorialization, death tourism tends to comprise a holistic view of the emerging phenomenon by viewing supply and demand management (and promotion), political interpretation and control. The final component of the paper views societal interpretations of death tourism and its potential for market expansion.
Research limitations/implications
There have been several social movements and legislative attempts to curtail the spread of assisted suicide and death tourism; however, the demand for the services has grown to the point where jurisdictions are considering measures to allow this practice. Such an expansion of legalized assisted suicide will allow those seeking the right to die more options for a death within a diversified tourism industry.
Originality/value
Death tourism, within dark tourism, represents an emerging field with few academic resources. This paper works to conceptualize and clarify the unique place death tourism holds within tourism and dark tourism specifically.
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Mariangela Zanni, Kirti Ruikar and Robby Soetanto
Sustainability considerations are often treated as an add-on to building design, following ad-hoc processes for their implementation. The purpose of this study was to investigate…
Abstract
Purpose
Sustainability considerations are often treated as an add-on to building design, following ad-hoc processes for their implementation. The purpose of this study was to investigate, model and facilitate the early stages of building information modelling (BIM) enabled sustainable building design (SBD) by formalising the ad-hoc working relationships of the best practices in order to standardise the optimal collaboration workflows.
Design/methodology/approach
Four stages of data collection were conducted, including a total of 32 semi-structured interviews with industry experts from 17 organisations. Fourteen “best practice” case studies were identified, and roles and responsibilities, resources, information exchanges, interdependencies, timing and sequence of events and critical decisions were examined.
Findings
The research classified the critical components of SBD into a framework utilising content and thematic analyses. These components were coordinated explicitly into a systematic process, which followed concurrent engineering (CE) principles utilising Integrated DEFinition (IDEF) 3 structured diagramming technique. Then, Green BIM Box (GBB) workflow management prototype tool was developed to analyse communication and delivery of BIM-enabled SBD in a centralised system.
Originality/value
This study represents an improvement to previous attempts to systematically define the BIM-enabled SBD process for the early stages. The results support the idea that a transparent SBD process, which follows specified communication patterns, can assist in achieving sustainability efficiently in terms of time, cost and effort.
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Nghiep Tuan Ha, Mohammadreza Akbari and Bill Au
The main objective of this paper is to provide a systematic literature review (SLR) and structured insight into last mile delivery, ultimately identifying gaps in current…
Abstract
Purpose
The main objective of this paper is to provide a systematic literature review (SLR) and structured insight into last mile delivery, ultimately identifying gaps in current knowledge and proposing a framework for future research direction in terms of sustainability in the area.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper identifies and synthesizes information from academic journals and examines “Journals and Publishing place,” “Geographic location,” “Year of Publication,” “University and Author Affiliation,” “Themes and Sub-themes,” “Theory,” “Research Design, Methods and Area” and “Industry Involvement.” A collection of online databases from 2005 to 2020 were explored, using the keywords “Last mile delivery,” “Last mile logistics,” “Last mile transportation,” “Last mile fulfillment,” “Last mile operations” and “Last mile distribution” in their title and/or abstract and/or keywords. Accordingly, a total of 281 journal articles were found in this discipline area, and data were derived from a succession of variables.
Findings
There has been significant growth in published articles concerning last mile delivery over the last 15 years (2005–2020). An in-depth review of the literature shows five dimensions of the last mile: last mile delivery, transportation, operations, distribution and logistics. Each of these dimensions is interrelated and possess clustered characteristics. For instance, last mile operations, last mile transportation and last mile delivery are operational, whereas last mile distribution is tactical, and last mile logistics possess strategic characteristics. The findings also indicate that even though the sustainability concept can be incorporated into all levels of the last mile, the current literature landscape mainly concentrates on the operational level.
Research limitations/implications
This review is limited to academic sources available from Emerald Insight, Science Direct, Taylor and Francis, Springer, MDPI and IEEE containing the mentioned keywords in the title and/or abstract/or keywords. Furthermore, only papers from high-quality, peer-reviewed journals were evaluated. Other sources such as books and conference papers were not included.
Practical implications
This study dissects last mile delivery to produce a framework that captures and presents its complex characteristics and its interconnectedness with various related components. By analyzing last mile delivery in its entirety, the framework also helps practitioners pinpoint which levels of last mile delivery (operation, tactical or strategic) they can incorporate the concept of sustainability.
Originality/value
The research findings enrich the contemporary literature landscape and future work by providing a conceptual framework that incorporates the “economic,” “environmental” and “social” pillars of sustainability in all dimensions of the last mile delivery.
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Sue Kilminster and Miriam Zukas
The purpose of this paper is to explore specific instances of junior doctors' responsibility. Learning is often understood to be a prerequisite for managing responsibility and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore specific instances of junior doctors' responsibility. Learning is often understood to be a prerequisite for managing responsibility and risk but this paper aims to argue that this is insufficient because learning is integral to the management of responsibility and risk.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a “collective” case study of doctors designed to focus on the interrelationships between individual professionals and complex work settings. The authors focussed on two key points of transition: the transition to beginning clinical practice which is the move from medical student to foundation training (F1) and the transition from generalist to specialist clinical practice.
Findings
Responsibility in clinical settings is immediate, concrete, demands response and (in) action has an effect. Responsibility is learnt and is not always apparent; it shifts depending on time of day/night and who else is present. Responsibility does not necessarily increase incrementally and can decrease; it can be perceived differently by different actors. Responsibility is experienced as personal although it is distributed.
Originality/value
This detailed examination of practice has enabled the authors to foreground the particularities, urgency and fluidity of everyday clinical practice. It recasts their understandings of responsibility – and managing risk – as involving learning in practice. This is a critical insight because it suggests that the theoretical basis for the current approach to managing risk and responsibility is insufficient. This has significant implications for policy, employment, education and practice of new doctors and for the management of responsibility and risk.
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Matthew M. Schmidt and Noah Glaser
The purpose of this paper is to present evaluation findings from a proof-of-concept virtual reality adaptive skills intervention called Virtuoso, designed for adults with autism…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present evaluation findings from a proof-of-concept virtual reality adaptive skills intervention called Virtuoso, designed for adults with autism spectrum disorders.
Design/methodology/approach
A user-centric usage test was conducted to investigate the acceptability, feasibility, ease-of-use and relevance of Virtuoso to the unique needs of participants, as well as the nature of participants’ user experiences. Findings are presented from the perspectives of expert testers and participant testers with autism.
Findings
This paper offers findings that suggest Virtuoso is feasible and relevant to the unique needs of the target population, and that user experience was largely positive. Anecdotal evidence of skills transfer is also discussed.
Research limitations/implications
The research was conducted in limited settings and with a small number of participants. Multiple VR hardware systems were used, and some experienced instability. This could be accounted for in future research by deploying across multiple settings and with a larger number of participants. Some evidence of cybersickness was observed. Future research must carefully consider the trade-offs between VR-based training and cybersickness for this vulnerable population.
Originality/value
This paper reports on cutting-edge design and development in areas that are under-represented and poorly understood in the literature on virtual reality for individuals with autism.
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The Howard Shuttering Contractors case throws considerable light on the importance which the tribunals attach to warnings before dismissing an employee. In this case the tribunal…
Abstract
The Howard Shuttering Contractors case throws considerable light on the importance which the tribunals attach to warnings before dismissing an employee. In this case the tribunal took great pains to interpret the intention of the parties to the different site agreements, and it came to the conclusion that the agreed procedure was not followed. One other matter, which must be particularly noted by employers, is that where a final warning is required, this final warning must be “a warning”, and not the actual dismissal. So that where, for example, three warnings are to be given, the third must be a “warning”. It is after the employee has misconducted himself thereafter that the employer may dismiss.
Jenna Jacobson, Adriana Gomes Rinaldi and Janice Rudkowski
The paper aims to examine how employees influence their employer’s brand by applying Taylor’s (1999) six segment message strategy wheel in an employee influencer context.
Abstract
Purpose
The paper aims to examine how employees influence their employer’s brand by applying Taylor’s (1999) six segment message strategy wheel in an employee influencer context.
Design/methodology/approach
The research uses a content analysis of employees’ public social media posts – including captions and images – to analyze the message strategies employees use to promote their employers.
Findings
While ego and social were popular message strategies in both the images and captions, the findings evidence the varying message strategies employees use in text-based versus image-based messages. Four “imagined audiences” of employee influencers are identified: current customers, prospective customers, current employees and prospective employees.
Research limitations/implications
The research provides insight into how employees act as influencers in building their employer brand on social media.
Practical implications
A unique measurement tool is developed that can be used by companies and future researchers to decode employees’ online communications.
Originality/value
This research contributes to theory and practice in the following important ways. First, the research provides a modernization of an existing framework from an offline setting to an applied industry context in an online setting. Second, this research focuses on a subtype of social media influencer, the employee influencer, which is an underdeveloped area of research. Third, a unique measurement tool to analyze text-based and image-based social media data is developed that can be used by companies and future researchers to decode employees’ online communications.
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Tom M. Amonde, Ibrahim Ajagunna and Ngozi Fidelia Iyare
Growth of the tourism sector and the relative importance of the last mile have been studied in independent literature, but theorists formally linking the two phenomena are…
Abstract
Purpose
Growth of the tourism sector and the relative importance of the last mile have been studied in independent literature, but theorists formally linking the two phenomena are limited. This paper aims to develop a theoretical framework for the understanding of the relationships between the last mile concept and the growth of the tourism sector.
Design/methodology/approach
Using 16 Caribbean countries’ tourism destinations, the study designs the last mile response to tourists’ demand based on the following categories: homogenous high-end tourists; homogenous low-end tourists; non-homogenous high-end tourists; non-homogenous low-end tourists; homogenous and non-homogenous high-end tourists; and homogenous and non-homogeneous low-end tourists. Destination networks were ranked relative to each other in terms of six different performance dimensions. A ranking of 1 indicates the best performance along a given dimension and the relative performance worsens, as the ranking gets higher.
Findings
First, it is the case that the Caribbean has a tourism environment with three types of destinations differentiated by their last mile standard levels (high standard LML, low standard LML and a combination of high and low standard LML). Second, tourists can choose from destinations that have high, low and combination of high and low last mile standard levels. Third, the relative number of tourists and relative profit of destination will depend on the last mile level. Fourth, while empirical evidence of the integration strategies for market differentiation is scarce, this paper points to the effect of cooperation on marketing destinations or integration strategies for marketing destinations.
Originality/value
The grouping of countries into high standard LML, low standard LML and a combination of high and low standard LML represents an advance on the traditional grouping based on proximity, colonial affiliation, language and cultural association. Identifying destination networks that are best suited for a variety of tourists, investors and marketers is of great value to regional tourism planners.
Anthony S. Humphrey, G. Don Taylor, John S. Usher and Gary L. Whicker
The purpose of this paper is to examine whether or not driver life, carrier performance, and customer service can be improved as a result of the use of a technique called…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine whether or not driver life, carrier performance, and customer service can be improved as a result of the use of a technique called yard‐stacking in the truckload trucking industry. The technique seeks to find ways to provide level freight availability during normal weekly cycles in an effort to seek improvement relative to all constituencies.
Design/methodology/approach
Simulation is used to examine the use of yard‐stacking on Fridays to provide additional freight on weekends, which is generally much less available than on weekdays. In this technique, before being dispatched on Friday for a long‐haul, a driver initially picks up a load to make a short “dray” move from the customer site to the carrier's closest terminal yard. During the weekend, another driver picks up the drayed load. In this research, we evaluate the potential of weekend yard‐stacking under a variety of scenarios.
Findings
The paper shows that a carrier's adaptation of weekend freight leveling can be beneficial to both trucking companies and their customers, while remaining relatively neutral to drivers.
Research limitations/implications
Carriers may be able to utilize Friday yard‐stacking to improve their cost efficiency, driver satisfaction and customer performance.
Originality/value
This research extends the knowledge base of truckload freight imbalance problems. It was industrially motivated by J.B. Hunt Transport, Inc., one of the world's largest truckload carriers, who provided freight data and conceptual guidance.
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