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1 – 10 of 634Claire Baldwin, Jose Arturo Garza-Reyes, Vikas Kumar and Luis Rocha-Lona
The academic literature and motivational theory recognise the positive role of motivation on organisational performance and considers personal development as a key motivational…
Abstract
Purpose
The academic literature and motivational theory recognise the positive role of motivation on organisational performance and considers personal development as a key motivational factor. In practice, most organisations employ a personal development review (PDR) process to drive and plan the development of their staff. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the interrelation and impact of the PDR process, and its elements, on staff motivation.
Design/methodology/approach
The study is based on a case study research approach carried out in two large manufacturing-engineering departments of a world-class manufacturing organisation. A survey questionnaire was designed, validated and distributed to the engineering staff and its results were analysed using descriptive statistics.
Findings
The study's results indicate that in most of the cases, a PDR process does not by itself motivate staff. But it argues that a poorly designed and conducted PDR process may make motivation, through personal development, difficult to achieve.
Practical implications
This paper provides manufacturing managers with an opportunity to understand whether a common business process (i.e. PDR), and the elements that comprise it, can be employed as a method to aid in the motivation of their staff.
Originality/value
This research expands the current knowledge on motivational and manufacturing management theory by performing an initial and exploratory study that establishes the impact of the PDR process on staff motivation. It is among the very first investigations that correlate the PDR process and motivation, especially in the manufacturing industry.
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Tri Yumarni and Dilanthi Amaratunga
The purpose of this paper is to discuss policy-relevant findings regarding strategies for mainstreaming gender in achieving sustainable post-disaster reconstruction (PDR).
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to discuss policy-relevant findings regarding strategies for mainstreaming gender in achieving sustainable post-disaster reconstruction (PDR).
Design/methodology/approach
An exploratory case study was used to explore the implementation of gender mainstreaming strategies and the link to sustainable PDR. The Bantul and Sleman regencies of Yogyakarta province provide a unique site for researching PDR as they are located in a region that is more strongly affected by earthquakes than nearly any other in Indonesia. Data were collected through interviews with 17 key stakeholders and 26 beneficiaries who were involved during and after the earthquake. To support the interview findings, surveys involving 50 policy makers and 150 beneficiaries were conducted. Content analysis and t-statistics were used in analyzing the data.
Findings
Gender mainstreaming strategies within sustainable reconstruction should incorporate strategies for protecting against gender vulnerabilities and for promoting gender capacities. Both are fundamental to the achievement of sustainable PDR.
Originality/value
The paper establishes comprehensive strategies for mainstreaming gender under three pillars (i.e. economic, social and environmental) of sustainable development. The findings benefit relevant policy makers by improving the policy performance of gender mainstreaming in the affected communities in enhancing sustainable PDR.
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Sung Lun Tsai, Chiho Ochiai, Min Hui Tseng and Chuan Zhong Deng
The participatory method, a major factor for a successful post-disaster reconstruction (PDR) project, is applied in various stages of the PDR. However, the application of this…
Abstract
Purpose
The participatory method, a major factor for a successful post-disaster reconstruction (PDR) project, is applied in various stages of the PDR. However, the application of this method for PDR involving indigenous populations is underexplored. Therefore, this paper aims to analyze the critical factors that can influence the participatory PDR in the indigenous context.
Design/methodology/approach
Two large-scale, indigenous, post-disaster relocation projects after the 2009 Typhoon Morakot were selected as case studies. The qualitative and quantitative methodology (semi-structured interview and questionnaire) were applied in the research.
Findings
A participation-friendly policy, community organization, the extent of damage, flexibility of nongovernmental organizations, understanding of the participatory concept and mutual trust were found to be essential factors that profoundly influence participation in PDR projects.
Originality/value
This study contributes by providing guidelines for future participatory PDR projects, especially in the indigenous context.
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Lei Huang, Yandong Zhao, Guangxi He, Yangxu Lu, Juanjuan Zhang and Peiyi Wu
The online platform is one of the essential components of the platform economy that is constructed by a large scale of the personal data resource. However, accurate empirical test…
Abstract
Purpose
The online platform is one of the essential components of the platform economy that is constructed by a large scale of the personal data resource. However, accurate empirical test of the competition structure of the data-driven online platform is still less. This research is trying to reveal market allocation structure of the personal data resource of China's car-hailing platforms competition by the empirical data analysis.
Design/methodology/approach
This research is applying the social network analysis by R packages, which include k-core decomposition and multilevel community detection from the data connectedness via the decompilation and the examination of the application programming interface of terminal applications.
Findings
This research has found that the car-hailing platforms, which establish more constant personal data connectedness and connectivity with social media platforms, are taking the competitive market advantage within the sample network. Data access discrimination is a complementary method of market power in China's car-hailing industry.
Research limitations/implications
This research offers a new perspective on the analysis of the multi-sided market from the personal data resource allocation mechanism of the car-hailing platform. However, the measurement of the data connectedness requires more empirical industry data.
Practical implications
This research reveals the competition structure that relies on personal data resource allocation mechanism. It offers empirical evidence for governance, which is considered as the critical issue of big data research, by reviewing the nature of the data network.
Social implications
It also reveals the data convergence process of the social system and the technological system.
Originality/value
This research offers a new research method for the real-time regulation of the car-hailing platform.
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Rizwan Akbar Ali, Sandeeka Mannakkara and Suzanne Wilkinson
This paper aims to describe an in-depth study conducted on transition of recovery into subsequent recovery phases after the 2010 super floods in the Sindh province of Pakistan…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to describe an in-depth study conducted on transition of recovery into subsequent recovery phases after the 2010 super floods in the Sindh province of Pakistan. The objectives of this research were to examine the post-disaster activities after the floods and highlight the critical areas hindering the transition into an effective recovery phase.
Design/methodology/approach
A case study approach based on literature reviews with semi-structured interviews with disaster management stakeholders were applied as the primary source of data.
Findings
The study found that long-term recovery was the most neglected phase of post-disaster recovery (PDR). The factors hindering successful transition following short-term recovery activities are lack of following: community-level involvement, local administration and community capacity, disaster governance, different stakeholders and coordination, information and knowledge management.
Research limitations/implications
This paper examines the long-term disaster recovery after the 2010 super floods in three districts of Sindh. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to investigate the factors in other areas for different types of disasters.
Practical implications
These findings are critical to planning future post-disaster recoveries in the region. It also provides a basis to investigate other types of disasters.
Originality/value
The transition of recovery into long-term phase has never been investigated before. The recovery phase is an opportune time to incorporate strategies for building back better, resilience, mitigation and preparedness. A PDR that does not incorporate these strategies in the long-term leaves affected communities in more vulnerable conditions for future disasters.
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The purpose of this paper is to analyse social and environmental sustainability considerations developed in Lao People's Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) and to identify problems and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyse social and environmental sustainability considerations developed in Lao People's Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) and to identify problems and challenges related to sustainable hydropower planning and development.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is leaning on empirical analysis based on analysing primary and secondary data and information; official government documents and relevant literature, a series of workshops of the Future Resource and Economy Policies in Laos till 2020 Project (FREPLA2020), and interviews with government officials and experts.
Findings
To achieve its socio‐economic objectives, Lao PDR needs to manage its hydropower development to ensure environmental and social sustainability through developing of the legal, institutional and regulatory environment and strengthening of the institutional capacity of the sector, improving knowledge and data management, and developing institutional coordination across the government agencies.
Practical implications
The paper suggests that the Lao government assesses strategically the hydropower development options, prepares capacity building plans, develops risk assessment and management, and learns from past hydropower developments.
Social implications
The paper recommends using hydropower development generated revenues to poverty reduction activities and to strengthen participatory approaches.
Originality/value
The paper can act as a discussion awakener, to help and give some guidance to decision makers and actors in the hydropower sector to integrate sustainable development considerations into hydropower development and planning.
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Jian Chen, Shaojing Song, Yang Gu and Shanxin Zhang
At present, smartphones are embedded with accelerometers, gyroscopes, magnetometers and WiFi sensors. Most researchers have delved into the use of these sensors for localization…
Abstract
Purpose
At present, smartphones are embedded with accelerometers, gyroscopes, magnetometers and WiFi sensors. Most researchers have delved into the use of these sensors for localization. However, there are still many problems in reducing fingerprint mismatching and fusing these positioning data. The purpose of this paper is to improve positioning accuracy by reducing fingerprint mismatching and designing a weighted fusion algorithm.
Design/methodology/approach
For the problem of magnetic mismatching caused by singularity fingerprint, derivative Euclidean distance uses adjacent fingerprints to eliminate the influence of singularity fingerprint. To improve the positioning accuracy and robustness of the indoor navigation system, a weighted extended Kalman filter uses a weighted factor to fuse multisensor data.
Findings
The scenes of the teaching building, study room and office building are selected to collect data to test the algorithm’s performance. Experiments show that the average positioning accuracies of the teaching building, study room and office building are 1.41 m, 1.17 m, and 1.77 m, respectively.
Originality/value
The algorithm proposed in this paper effectively reduces fingerprint mismatching and improve positioning accuracy by adding a weighted factor. It provides a feasible solution for indoor positioning.
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Hanvedes Daovisan and Thanapauge Chamaratana
The purpose of this paper is to understand the sources of financing accumulation that women entrepreneurs of family businesses use for start-up capital in the garment sector of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to understand the sources of financing accumulation that women entrepreneurs of family businesses use for start-up capital in the garment sector of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR).
Design/methodology/approach
This study presents insights gleaned from a qualitative case study into the ways in which women in Lao PDR finance their family businesses in the start-up phase. The authors conducted 36 in-depth interviews – the study used this purposive sample in each of its five rounds of data collection. The data were collected between December 2018 and April 2019 and were analysed by conducting a content analysis assisted by the software programme ATLAS.ti.
Findings
The results, though highly case specific, show Lao women’s ability to: accrue their experience, apply their knowledge, engage in self-employment, support their families and aspire to become entrepreneurs. The findings clearly illustrate that women are opportunity and necessity driven, can accumulate income, possess savings behaviour, can manage working capital, investment and accounting and have access to finance (loan and debt) and thus have the potential to become successful entrepreneurs.
Originality/value
By contextualizing women’s entrepreneurial practices, the paper contributes to an understanding of the sources of financing accumulation used for start-up capital in Vientiane, Lao PDR. Theoretically, the paper extends the knowledge of women entrepreneurs seeking the optimal stock of finance which has the potential to drive family business success.
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Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to relate to the real-time navigation and tracking of pedestrians in a closed environment. To restrain accumulated error of low-cost microelectromechanical system inertial navigation system and adapt to the real-time navigation of pedestrians at different speeds, the authors proposed an improved inertial navigation system (INS)/pedestrian dead reckoning (PDR)/ultra wideband (UWB) integrated positioning method for indoor foot-mounted pedestrians.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper proposes a self-adaptive integrated positioning algorithm that can recognize multi-gait and realize a high accurate pedestrian multi-gait indoor positioning. First, the corresponding gait method is used to detect different gaits of pedestrians at different velocities; second, the INS/PDR/UWB integrated system is used to get the positioning information. Thus, the INS/UWB integrated system is used when the pedestrian moves at normal speed; the PDR/UWB integrated system is used when the pedestrian moves at rapid speed. Finally, the adaptive Kalman filter correction method is adopted to modify system errors and improve the positioning performance of integrated system.
Findings
The algorithm presented in this paper improves performance of indoor pedestrian integrated positioning system from three aspects: in the view of different pedestrian gaits at different speeds, the zero velocity detection and stride frequency detection are adopted on the integrated positioning system. Further, the accuracy of inertial positioning systems can be improved; the attitude fusion filter is used to obtain the optimal quaternion and improve the accuracy of INS positioning system and PDR positioning system; because of the errors of adaptive integrated positioning system, the adaptive filter is proposed to correct errors and improve integrated positioning accuracy and stability. The adaptive filtering algorithm can effectively restrain the divergence problem caused by outliers. Compared to the KF algorithm, AKF algorithm can better improve the fault tolerance and precision of integrated positioning system.
Originality/value
The INS/PDR/UWB integrated system is built to track pedestrian position and attitude. Finally, an adaptive Kalman filter is used to improve the accuracy and stability of integrated positioning system.
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Muhammad Ashraf Sharif and Khalid Mahmood
Selected volumes of the Pakistan Development Review (PDR) and the Pakistan Economic and Social Review (PESR) were analysed to find the citation pattern of their articles. Eight…
Abstract
Selected volumes of the Pakistan Development Review (PDR) and the Pakistan Economic and Social Review (PESR) were analysed to find the citation pattern of their articles. Eight volumes of each journal were selected, two volumes representing a decade. The results revealed that the PDR has been the most cited journal. The mean score of citations per article remained insignificantly different in the two core journals. More than 50 per cent of the citations from both journals were single‐authored. More than 50 per cent of the citations were from non‐journal sources, mainly books. Although citations from online sources were seen, it was a negligible number. About 47 per cent of the total citations of the PDR were up to five years old compared with the citations of the PESR, where only 25 per cent fell into this category. Most of the authors used foreign books as citations. There is a significant similarity in the top most cited journals in both cases. Most of the frequently cited journals were from the USA.
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