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1 – 10 of over 1000This paper considers the utilisation of theatre as a means of exploring management and organising. It focuses upon Shakespeare’s Henry V and explores the alternative readings…
Abstract
This paper considers the utilisation of theatre as a means of exploring management and organising. It focuses upon Shakespeare’s Henry V and explores the alternative readings, performances and interpretations of this central character. In particular, it considers issues of power, leadership, identity, dissemblance and dissimulation.
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In smart cities striving for innovation, development, and prosperity, hydrogen offers a promising path for decarbonization. However, its effective integration into the evolving…
Abstract
In smart cities striving for innovation, development, and prosperity, hydrogen offers a promising path for decarbonization. However, its effective integration into the evolving energy landscape requires understanding regional intricacies and identifying areas for improvement. This chapter examines hydrogen transport from production to utilization, evaluating technologies’ pros, cons, and process equations and using Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) as a Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) tool to assess these technologies based on multiple criteria. It also explores barriers and opportunities in hydrogen transport within the 21st-century energy transition, providing insights for overcoming challenges. Evaluation criteria for hydrogen transport technologies were ranked by relative importance, with energy efficiency topping the list, followed by energy density, infrastructure requirements, cost, range, and flexibility. Safety, technological maturity, scalability, and compatibility with existing infrastructure received lower weights. Hydrogen transport technologies were categorized into three performance levels: low, medium, and high. Hydrogen tube trailers ranked lowest, while chemical hydrides, hydrail, liquid organic hydrogen carriers, hydrogen pipelines, and hydrogen blending exhibited moderate performance. Compressed hydrogen gas, liquid hydrogen, ammonia carriers, and hydrogen fueling stations demonstrated the highest performance. The proposed framework is crucial for next-gen smart cities, cutting emissions, boosting growth, and speeding up development with a strong hydrogen infrastructure. This makes the region a sustainable tech leader, improving air quality and well-being. Aligned with Gulf Region goals, it is key for smart cities. Policymakers, industries, and researchers can use these insights to overcome barriers and seize hydrogen transport tech opportunities.
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Gabija Didžiokaitė, Paula Saukko and Christian Greiffenhagen
The existing literature on fatness has critically discussed meanings and morals associated with body weight and explored people’s experiences of weight loss attempts. However…
Abstract
The existing literature on fatness has critically discussed meanings and morals associated with body weight and explored people’s experiences of weight loss attempts. However, little attention has been paid to the practices of dieting – how it is ‘done’. Based on an interview study involving 31 participants, who shared their self-tracking experience of using the MyFitnessPal calorie counting app, we focus on the practices of ‘doing’ calories. First, we discuss the practices of temporality of logging food, showing that the use of MyFitnessPal not only has to be fitted into daily routines but can also transform them. Then, we look at the practices of precision or users’ various ways of turning the ‘messiness’ of food into precise numbers. Lastly, we explore users’ practices of adjustments – their attitudes to adherence to their daily calorie goal and ways of dealing with going above it. Based on our findings we suggest calorie counting is not a straightforward data collection, but one that involves constant practical strategies and negotiations, and can both influence and be influenced by other everyday practices.
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Eleonora Pantano and Kim Willems
After having drawn lessons from the recent COVID-19 pandemic for retailers in the previous chapters, in this last chapter we provide an outline on retailing over a longer time…
Abstract
After having drawn lessons from the recent COVID-19 pandemic for retailers in the previous chapters, in this last chapter we provide an outline on retailing over a longer time horizon. We start with projections of how the phygitalization trend in retailing will further evolve and what role data plays as a basis for a competitive advantage – on the condition of smart and ethical use. Besides looking at customers (downstream), we address the upstream in the value delivery network, focusing on how to succeed in balancing between efficiency and sustainability in the retail supply chain. Retailers face huge challenges. This chapter contributes to setting the scene for retailers to thrive in the brand-new post-pandemic aftermath.
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Umer Zaman, Laura Florez-Perez, Mahwish Anjam, Muddasar Ghani Khwaja and Noor Ul-Huda
Failures in both followership and leadership become inevitable as mega construction projects are directed and controlled by toxic leaders. Consequently, team member's desire for…
Abstract
Purpose
Failures in both followership and leadership become inevitable as mega construction projects are directed and controlled by toxic leaders. Consequently, team member's desire for knowledge hoarding silence is triggered and goal alignment between the leader and team members suddenly fades away to realize success in mega projects. Considering the growing importance of these rarely examined constructs and fragmented literature on toxic leadership (TL), team silence and mega project success (PS) in the global construction industry, the present study aimed to examine the effects of TL and project team member's silence (PTMS) on the success of mega construction projects. Moreover, the mediating influence of PTMS to link TL and mega construction PS has also been explored.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on survey data of 326 project professionals directly associated with mega construction projects worth US$62bn under the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), the conceptual model was tested with covariance-based structural equation modeling (CB-SEM) using Mplus program. Scales were adapted from previous research to measure TL (with its five-dimensions including abusive supervision, authoritarian leadership, self-promotion, narcissism and unpredictability), PS (with its three-dimensions including project management success, project ownership success and project investment success) and project team members' silence. Reflective–formative second order assessments were specifically applied to measure the multi-dimensional nature of TL and PS, respectively.
Findings
Mplus estimations revealed that TL negatively influences PS, besides forcing a culture of silence among project team members. Interestingly, the relationship between TL and PS is also negatively mediated by the PTMS.
Research limitations/implications
The present study's findings are derived from data of project professionals (NÂ =Â 326) to examine success in megaprojects under the CPEC. Hence, these findings may be re-validated through future studies on similar megaprojects (e.g. China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) worth US$8tn) that may also be predicated by TL tendencies, silent cultures and high-stakes involved to seize PS.
Practical implications
Policymakers, construction practitioners and other key stakeholders (e.g. departmental heads/supervisors) can take advantage of this new evidence to better interpret the success paradox in mega projects, and to reduce the spread and long-term damage of TL on team members and eventually create opportunities for PS.
Originality/value
The present study's novelty is manifested within this first empirical evidence on TL that breeds team silence in underperforming mega projects. Notably, present study offers alarming evidence on mega projects that can be easily derailed from success, as they continue to suffer from team silence and TL.
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Yuebin Zhang, Xin Yi, Shuangshuang Li and Hui Qiu
This study aims to reduce the construction safety accidents of prefabricated building (PB) projects, improve the efficiency and effectiveness of safety supervision by government…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to reduce the construction safety accidents of prefabricated building (PB) projects, improve the efficiency and effectiveness of safety supervision by government departments, and provide theoretical reference for improving the safety supervision system of PB construction.
Design/methodology/approach
Considering the information asymmetry between government supervision departments and construction contractors and the interactive relationship between the two parties under bounded rationality, we propose an evolutionary game model for the construction safety dynamic supervision of PBs and analyze the evolutionary strategy of the game. The system dynamics (SD) method is used to simulate and analyze the evolutionary game process under a dynamic supervision strategy and the adjustment of external variables.
Findings
The cost difference between the government's strong and weak supervision, the construction contractor's additional expenditure for strengthening safety management, and other factors affect system stability. The government can dynamically adjust the penalties based on the construction contractor's subjective willingness to ignore safety management and further adjust their rate of change based on the completion of the supervision goals to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of construction safety supervision.
Originality/value
This study makes contributions in two areas. Through a combination of SD and an evolutionary game, it provides new insights into the strategic choice of the main body related to PB construction safety. Additionally, considering the nonlinear characteristics of construction safety supervision, it provides useful universal suggestions for PB construction safety.
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The purpose of this paper is to review interventions/methods for engaging older adults in meaningful digital public service design by enabling them to engage critically and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to review interventions/methods for engaging older adults in meaningful digital public service design by enabling them to engage critically and productively with open data and civic tech.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper evaluates data walks as a method for engaging non-tech-savvy citizens in co-design work. These were evaluated along a framework considering how such interventions allow for sharing control (e.g. over design decisions), sharing expertise and enabling change.
Findings
Within a co-creation project, different types of data walks may be conducted, including ideation walks, data co-creation walks or user test walks. These complement each other with respect to how they facilitate the sharing of control and expertise, and enable change for a variety of older citizens.
Practical implications
Data walks are a method with a low-threshold, potentially enabling a variety of citizens to engage in co-design activities relating to open government and civic tech.
Social implications
Such methods address the digital divide and further social participation of non-tech-savvy citizens. They value the resources and expertise of older adults as co-designers and partners, and counter stereotypical ideas about age and ageing.
Originality/value
This pilot study demonstrates how data walks can be incorporated into larger co-creation projects.
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Raimondo Maria Pavarin, Francesca Emiliani, Stefano Passini, Consuelo Mameli and Laura Palareti
The purpose of this paper is to describe the relationship between migratory status, the use of legal and illegal psychoactive substances and psychological disorders perceived in a…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to describe the relationship between migratory status, the use of legal and illegal psychoactive substances and psychological disorders perceived in a sample of minors.
Design/methodology/approach
A transversal multicentre study was carried out with interviews with young people aged 13-16 years recruited from middle and high schools in Italy.
Findings
The results show the implementation of a process of normalization in terms of the presence of legal and illegal psychoactive substances in the living contexts of the minors, of their widespread early use and of a substantial indifferentiation in the reasons for use (e.g. pleasure, curiosity, fun). Youths born in Italy with at least one non-native parent are noteworthy for an elevated prevalence of perceived psychological disorders and for particular lifestyles linked to the use of marijuana, alcohol abuse and the intensive consumption of tobacco. Second-generation minors show symptoms of psychological malaise, anxiety and depression before which the use of substances appears to realize a particular form of self-cure.
Research limitations/implications
This study presents some objective limits that indicate prudence in generalizing the results: only those who obtained consent from their parents were interviewed and the information communicated in the interviews could have been influenced by various factors, including the situation and the location. The authors used a standard definition of binge-drinking (Valencia-MartÃn et al., 2008). Actually, different criteria (i.e. number of drinks, time of consumption, etc.) and formulations of the question are used in different surveys, showing that there is as yet no consensus definition of binge-drinking. Nevertheless, the term has become somewhat confusing as it is often used as a synonym of drunkenness, making cross-cultural comparisons difficult (Beccaria et al., 2014). These are aspects that limit the generalizability of the results to the interviews alone and do not allow for prevalence estimates. Nevertheless, the results offer useful indications for future prevention projects specifically oriented to early adolescence.
Practical implications
The results of the study, on the one hand, document the growing use of legal and illegal proactive substances among minors and the relative cultural trend in this particular age band, testified to by the high number of those who have been present in situations of consumption to whom the substances were offered; on the other, they evidence a subpopulation of youths born in Italy with at least one non-native parent (i.e. second generation of immigrants). These youths stand out for an elevated prevalence of perceived psychological disorders and for their particular lifestyles connected to the use of marijuana, alcohol abuse and the intensive consumption of alcohol. This is also the group with the highest percentage of mothers alone in the family.
Social implications
A group of adolescents living in a monoparental family, that is, with the mother alone emerges, and as the literature has shown, family structure and poverty are linked (Landale et al., 2011; Svensson and Hagquist, 2009). In fact, such mothers, even those with a high level of education, are mostly unemployed. Adolescents with a single parent often not only face resource deficits but also other risk factors, such as high family stress, inadequate supervision, multiple family transitions and frequent residential moves. Specifically, these second-generation adolescents are female and they manifest sensation-seeking behaviours, but without drug abuse.
Originality/value
The results of the study show new and little-known aspects of the multicultural Italian society that is changing profoundly that should be explored in more detail by targeted research that also focussed on structural factors relatable to specific social positions. In this framework, a particular subgroup, i.e. the second-generation minors, shows symptoms of psychic malaise, anxiety and depression in terms of which substance use seems to realize a form of self-cure.
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Andrea Dubber, Constant Van Graan and Andre Groenewald
Previous research has indicated that trusts are used to commit various economic crimes, but limited studies examine the exact method of how trusts are abused. This paper aims to…
Abstract
Purpose
Previous research has indicated that trusts are used to commit various economic crimes, but limited studies examine the exact method of how trusts are abused. This paper aims to determine how trusts are abused to conceal assets in insolvency and divorce proceedings. Apart from discussing how fraudulent trusts are evaluated by South African courts, two court cases will also be analysed to determine how trusts have been abused in the past to conceal assets in insolvency and divorce proceedings.
Design/methodology/approach
The methodology used is a literature study, predominantly using court cases and relevant statutes as the primary sources of information. The difference between a sham and alter ego trust is discussed, whereafter two court cases are dissected to identify how trusts have been abused to conceal assets.
Findings
The study found that trusts can be abused in different ways to conceal assets in insolvency and divorce proceedings. This can vary from the way the trust is established to the way the trust is used. But trusts are particularly susceptible to abuse when there is no separation between the ownership and enjoyment of trust assets, and the trust lacks independent trustees.
Originality/value
The research finding can be used to better understand how trusts are abused in divorce and insolvency proceedings.
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