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1 – 5 of 5Oriana Silva and Antónia Correia
The purpose of this study is to analyse facilitators and constraints of Portuguese south‐eastern residents face when making decisions for leisure travel participation.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to analyse facilitators and constraints of Portuguese south‐eastern residents face when making decisions for leisure travel participation.
Design/methodology/approach
The inquiry anchors on a case study research, supported by a theoretical sampling and data triangulation. The main findings result from an interpretative and comparative analysis of 48 long interviews.
Findings
The research findings suggest that the main determinants of leisure traveling decisions of Portuguese south‐eastern residents are motivations, travel companion, time and money. The study finds 35 other factors, most of which classified as structural factors. It also suggests that the decision to take leisure travels derives from the tourist's causal historical wave, and that most of the factors which influence the decision are aggregate ones rather than individual.
Research limitations/implications
The study limitations derive from the geographical and sampling scope of analysis, restricted to 48 Portuguese south‐eastern interviewees; but, it raises some interesting ideas which, if applied to a more extensive sample, may contribute to give insights of the usefulness of the ecological systems theory to explain tourist consumer behavior.
Originality/value
The study is the first to explore the decision for travel leisure participation from an ecological perspective in Portugal.
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Carolyn Webster-Stratton and Tracey Bywater
The purpose of this paper is to explore the utility of an evidence-based suite of programmes, The Incredible Years (IY), to enhance outcomes for children using a parent-teacher…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the utility of an evidence-based suite of programmes, The Incredible Years (IY), to enhance outcomes for children using a parent-teacher partnership model.
Design/methodology/approach
A review of the broad evidence base for the IY parent, teacher and child programmes, uniquely focusing on the inter-relationships between home and school contexts.
Findings
Evidence suggests that it is beneficial to parents, teachers and children to deliver IY programmes applying a multi-modal approach.
Originality/value
This paper, read in conjunction with other contributions in this volume, demonstrates the growing viability of partnership strategies that support children, their families and teachers to enhance school readiness, and promote positive child outcomes.
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This article explains the process of construction and configuration of the Brazilian social imaginary on the global '68 using the daily press as source material.
Abstract
Purpose
This article explains the process of construction and configuration of the Brazilian social imaginary on the global '68 using the daily press as source material.
Design/methodology/approach
It looks at the narratives conveyed by the press about the condition, situation, motivations, aspirations and capacity for action of young university students. The analysis is focused mainly on the usage of totalitarian language and permits an in-depth view of the reality of life in Brazil at the time and the role played by the students in the resistance to the dictatorship. It also includes an analysis of how other students' protests of 1968 – in Poland and Mexico – were portrayed through the media, and how they helped to shape the collective imaginary about Brazilian university students, situating it in a conjuncture of broader dimensions and connections.
Findings
The youth of Brazil, Poland and Mexico were represented as active political and social subjects, capable of defying, and sometimes profoundly upsetting, the established order. Violence and the discourse of violence were constant unifying elements in the narratives created by the daily press. This helped generate an image of university students which portrayed them as a rebellious, revolutionary and/or subversive sector of the population, responsible for one of the most extensive and profound social and political crises which those countries had experienced in decades.
Originality/value
This is the first study of the Brazilian reception of the '68 Polish and Mexican students' protest and its implications for the social narrative of students' resistance in Brazil.
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Abhijat Arun Abhyankar and Harish Kumar Singla
The purpose of this study is to compare the predictive performance of the hedonic multivariate regression model with the probabilistic neural network (PNN)-based general…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to compare the predictive performance of the hedonic multivariate regression model with the probabilistic neural network (PNN)-based general regression neural network (GRNN) model of housing prices in “Pune-India.”
Design/methodology/approach
Data on 211 properties across “Pune city-India” is collected. The price per square feet is considered as a dependent variable whereas distances from important landmarks such as railway station, fort, university, airport, hospital, temple, parks, solid waste site and stadium are considered as independent variables along with a dummy for amenities. The data is analyzed using a hedonic type multivariate regression model and GRNN. The GRNN divides the entire data set into two sets, namely, training set and testing set and establishes a functional relationship between the dependent and target variables based on the probability density function of the training data (Alomair and Garrouch, 2016).
Findings
While comparing the performance of the hedonic multivariate regression model and PNN-based GRNN, the study finds that the output variable (i.e. price) has been accurately predicted by the GRNN model. All the 42 observations of the testing set are correctly classified giving an accuracy rate of 100%. According to Cortez (2015), a value close to 100% indicates that the model can correctly classify the test data set. Further, the root mean square error (RMSE) value for the final testing for the GRNN model is 0.089 compared to 0.146 for the hedonic multivariate regression model. A lesser value of RMSE indicates that the model contains smaller errors and is a better fit. Therefore, it is concluded that GRNN is a better model to predict the housing price functions. The distance from the solid waste site has the highest degree of variable senstivity impact on the housing prices (22.59%) followed by distance from university (17.78%) and fort (17.73%).
Research limitations/implications
The study being a “case” is restricted to a particular geographic location hence, the findings of the study cannot be generalized. Further, as the objective of the study is restricted to just to compare the predictive performance of two models, it is felt appropriate to restrict the scope of work by focusing only on “location specific hedonic factors,” as determinants of housing prices.
Practical implications
The study opens up a new dimension for scholars working in the field of housing prices/valuation. Authors do not rule out the use of traditional statistical techniques such as ordinary least square regression but strongly recommend that it is high time scholars use advanced statistical methods to develop the domain. The application of GRNN, artificial intelligence or other techniques such as auto regressive integrated moving average and vector auto regression modeling helps analyze the data in a much more sophisticated manner and help come up with more robust and conclusive evidence.
Originality/value
To the best of the author’s knowledge, it is the first case study that compares the predictive performance of the hedonic multivariate regression model with the PNN-based GRNN model for housing prices in India.
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Arnaldo Ryngelblum, Nadia Vianna and Luciana Onusic
The purpose of this paper is to examine the conditions that allow the co-existence of alternative logics in an institutional field for an extended period.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the conditions that allow the co-existence of alternative logics in an institutional field for an extended period.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a case study that examined the complaint-handling processes of phone companies based on documentary research, which provided the information that allowed the development of a script to interview organizational actors in this field.
Findings
The explanation for this behavior that does not attempt to deinstitutionalize other institutions’ practices relates to the actors’ need for the other field participants’ collaboration to improve their activities.
Research limitations/implications
The specific characteristics of the Brazilian context can only suggest that alternative logics may coexist, which therefore opens opportunities for future studies to discuss the possible reproduction of these results in other societies. Similarly, because this research was restricted to the complaint field, other studies conducted in fields where actors are faced with alternative possibilities, such as with the judicial system, should examine and expand on these concepts. This study sought to cover the viewpoints of multiple important actors in the field to cover the whys and hows these logics coexist. However, a more comprehensive availability of respondents might have brought still better insights to the study.
Practical implications
One implication of this study is the fact that firms in Brazil must be aware of the alternative redress channels that are available to consumers. The different procedural norms can cause a great deal of annoyance because firms have to be updated with all of them and eventually build specialized teams to address them. The awareness of the existence of multiple logics in this field should orient the Brazilian telephony industry’s regulator in formulating policies that take this fact into consideration. To do this, the regulator should consider a regular consultation forum in which the main consumer protection organizations and government agencies gather to discuss improvements given that there is already informal collaboration. Public policy should also take into consideration the fact that consumers do not complain most of the time for lack of knowledge or disbelief in supporting organizations.
Originality/value
The main contribution is the alternative logics notion in addressing complaints in this field. This is an issue that has not been practically explored in the literature. The difference between an alternative logic and a competing one lies in the fact that the practices, structures and symbols in the first case represent alternative possibilities for actors to achieve a specific objective, whereas in the second case, the weaker logics tend to disappear due to a stronger one.
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