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1 – 10 of over 2000Kaveh Abhari, Michael Pesavento and David Williams
The need for accelerating innovation is exacerbated as organizations struggle to either adapt or perish in this unforgiving condition due to the COVID-19 disruption. To address…
Abstract
Purpose
The need for accelerating innovation is exacerbated as organizations struggle to either adapt or perish in this unforgiving condition due to the COVID-19 disruption. To address this issue, many organizations have embraced employee-driven participatory innovation to survive and thrive albeit the uncertainties. This study aims to investigate the role of enterprise social media (ESM) in supporting and facilitating these efforts.
Design/methodology/approach
This study first identified the underlying mechanisms that allow ESM use to foster and maintain participatory innovation and then reexamined how these mechanisms played out during the COVID-19 lockdown restrictions. The data was collected through a questionnaire in two phases, before and during work-from-home mandates, and the results were analyzed and compared to capture similarities and differences.
Findings
The results revealed that innovation culture and management support mediated the effects of ESM use on three measures of innovation productivity in both conditions. Interestingly, the effect of ESM use was more prominent in driving innovation in the work-from-home condition. This effect was not limited to the direct effect of ESM use on innovation productivity but on innovation culture and management support as well.
Originality/value
The results suggest that ESM offer a potentially useful path to support and enable employees to participate in the innovation processes, especially when they work remotely or in a distributed team. More generally, this paper should be of interest to researchers and practitioners interested in understanding, implementing and evaluating enterprise social software applications and encouraging employee-driven participatory innovation.
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Mostafa Bagherianfar and Aliakbar Dolati
Social participation of university refers to the creation of knowledge and participatory processes with local communities in solving community problems in order to achieve…
Abstract
Purpose
Social participation of university refers to the creation of knowledge and participatory processes with local communities in solving community problems in order to achieve sustainable development. Identifying the university's social participation strategies was the main purpose of the present study.
Design/methodology/approach
In order to achieve this aim, the qualitative method was used. The study area is Semnan province and Semnan University. The statistical sample included two groups of internal beneficiaries of the university (including staff, deputies and faculty members of the university) and external beneficiaries of the university (including managers and experts of local organizations, education, province and municipality). The sampling was purposefully performed based on the theoretical saturation criterion, holding an interview with 29 participants. Data analysis was performed in three stages of open, axial and selective coding.
Findings
The results of the research showed that the university can participate with its local community in developing the university vision according to the needs of the local community, holding workshops and scientific conferences, concluding joint research contracts, expert and researcher exchange, environmental leadership training, participatory management and teamwork, indigenous manpower, institutionalizing regional participation, solving community issues and problems, creating associations and non-governmental companies in the community, mission orientation, directing education and research towards solving problems and meeting the real needs of the province according to land management, supervising research activities, conducting comprehensive studies in the field of mineral potentials, organizing workshops for farmers' awareness, monitoring the employment of graduates, creating and developing new fields according to the needs of the province and region, educating citizens and cultural zing to reduce production and segregate household waste, opening the university's social space for the growth and supply of youth, educating the province's handicrafts to housewives, especially in the deprived areas, sensitizing programs in the field of environmental protection, and reviewing educational content based on the community needs.
Originality/value
Biosocial and economic policy of universities was another result of the present study. The university intends to make citizens aware of social and environmental problems and to provide the necessary education in the fields of air pollution, soil salinity, drinking water supply, cultivation pattern refinement, agricultural mechanization, and waste and waste management. The university should also promote entrepreneurship among students and faculty members and attract economic resources to the university through innovation and commercialization circles, and develop the province's economic infrastructure in various fields of tourism, agriculture, industry and mining.
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Alfonso Echanove-Franco, Leire San-Jose and José Luis Retolaza
This study aims to structure a model for integrating social value into strategic management based on identifying the critical success factors (CSF) for such integration in the…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to structure a model for integrating social value into strategic management based on identifying the critical success factors (CSF) for such integration in the investigated companies.
Design/methodology/approach
This research was based on the actor–network theory. Through a rigorous approach to the case study methodology in a two-stage process lasting 21 months, we carried out this study.
Findings
Companies that use the polyhedral social accounting model in their strategic management processes do so without a reference model. We identified CSF for integrating social value, which was incorporated into a protocol model based on stakeholder theory and the use of social accounting.
Practical implications
Practitioners can use the proposed model to maintain the alignment of strategic performance and purpose. Using social accounting based on indicators and financial proxies allows managers to incorporate social value into strategic management in terms of financial value.
Social implications
The institutional demand for social information is based on the growing sensitivity of companies. Aligning social values with business strategies contributes to social sustainability.
Originality/value
This study focuses on an unresearched emerging phenomenon. Since the first approach to stakeholder theory, the development of a stakeholder-oriented strategy has faced the lack of a stakeholder accounting system. The polyhedral model of social accounting could help overcome this problem as it provides information that allows a novel and innovative method to make a stakeholder-oriented strategy effective.
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Thanduxolo Elford Fana and Jane Goudge
In this paper, the authors examine the strategies used to reduce labour costs in three public hospitals in South Africa, which were effective and why. In the democratic era, after…
Abstract
Purpose
In this paper, the authors examine the strategies used to reduce labour costs in three public hospitals in South Africa, which were effective and why. In the democratic era, after the revelations of large-scale corruption, the authors ask whether their case studies provide lessons for how public service institutions might re-make themselves, under circumstances of austerity.
Design/methodology/approach
A comparative qualitative case study approach, collecting data using a combination of interviews with managers, focus group discussions and interviews with shop stewards and staff was used.
Findings
Management in two hospitals relied on their financial power, divisions between unions and employees' loyalty. They lacked the insight to manage different actors, and their efforts to outsource services and draw on the Extended Public Works Program failed. They failed to support staff when working beyond their scope of practice, reducing employees' willingness to take on extra responsibilities. In the remaining hospital, while previous management had been removed due to protests by the unions, the new CEO provided stability and union–management relations were collaborative. Her legitimate power enabled unions and management to agree on appropriate cost cutting strategies.
Originality/value
Finding an appropriate balance between the new reality of reduced financial resources and the needs of staff and patients, requires competent unions and management, transparency and trust to develop legitimate power; managing in an authoritarian manner, without legitimate power, reduces organisational capacity. Ensuring a fair and orderly process to replace ineffective management is key, while South Africa grows cohorts of competent managers and builds managerial experience.
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Muhammad Nouman, Karim Ullah, Shafiullah Jan and Farman Ullah Khan
Islamic banking has undergone significant adaption since its inception. This study aims to investigate why and how Islamic banks adapt their services, using participatory…
Abstract
Purpose
Islamic banking has undergone significant adaption since its inception. This study aims to investigate why and how Islamic banks adapt their services, using participatory financing as evidence.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative study is designed, using working capital financing and commodity operations financing in Pakistan as analytical units. The data for each analytical unit is analyzed using a qualitative content analysis, while the findings are synthesized using a cross-case synthesis method.
Findings
Findings suggest that participatory financing has undergone extensive adaptation in the Islamic banking industry of Pakistan, in the wake of resolving constraints to participatory financing and increasing its viability. Consequently, participatory finance has emerged as an attractive and viable option in Pakistan. These findings suggest that unlike in the past, where Islamic banks used to buffer themselves from the environment and ignore the market demands, they have learned to respond effectively to the market demands and the challenges posed by the environment.
Research limitations/implications
Findings suggest that the adaptation strategy is more effective than the migration strategy, because it enables the financial service systems to reduce the underlying risks by avoiding emergent threats and eradicating the inherent weaknesses.
Originality/value
The extant literature provides a generalized view on the adaptation process that Islamic banks undergo to comply with their environment. However, it is limited in terms of conceptualizing the adaptations and innovations in their products and the underlying structural variations. The present study fills this gap.
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The quest for Africa's desire to achieve innovative and transformative ways in the use of natural resources and the implications this might have on people's lives for the present…
Abstract
Purpose
The quest for Africa's desire to achieve innovative and transformative ways in the use of natural resources and the implications this might have on people's lives for the present and future generations is now more critical than ever. This paper aims that in order to let African countries attain an integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa, driven by its own citizens and representing a dynamic force in the global arena, it is imperative that a coherent policy direction be set between individual countries and continental framework for participatory management of resources in order to address the global challenge of climate change.
Design/methodology/approach
This article employs literature review of various sources, to get a deeper understanding of the situation of management of natural resources for sustainable development within the global and African development agenda.
Findings
The literature review indicates that nearly 1 out of every 9 people on Earth go to bed hungry every night; there is a challenge of having access to safe and affordable drinking water; fossil fuels and greenhouse gas emissions drastically result into climate change; more than half the world's population lives in cities posing a challenge to affordable public housing, upgraded slum settlements and investment in public transport, creation of green spaces; every country in the world is witnessing the drastic effects of climate change; fish stocks are overexploited and oceans are becoming more acidic.
Research limitations/implications
The study is based on findings from literature review, specifically in line with the global development agenda and African agenda on sustainable development. More studies are needed to include findings from Africa and elsewhere so as to get a clearer global perspective about resource exploitation and sustainability.
Practical implications
The work is expected to provide practitioners concerned with environmental conservation and development with the theoretical and policy gaps that need to be addressed when dealing with environmental management for sustainable development.
Originality/value
The review structures extant natural resource management literature and highlights its critical importance in development management research. Topical gaps in the literature are identified as areas for future research.
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Souresh Cornet, Saswat Barpanda, Marc-Antoine Diego Guidi and P.K. Viswanathan
This study aims at understanding how higher education institutions (HEIs) can contribute to sustainable development, by designing their programmes for bringing about a…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims at understanding how higher education institutions (HEIs) can contribute to sustainable development, by designing their programmes for bringing about a transformative impact on communities and students, and also to examine what alternative pedagogical approaches could be used for that. In the past decades, HEIs have increasingly created social innovation (SI) programmes, as a way to achieve United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. These community-oriented and field-based programmes are difficult to ally with conventional classroom education. This study explores how these programmes could integrate the participatory approach and what would be the benefits. It also investigates the effectiveness of the experiential learning approach for teaching sustainability.
Design/methodology/approach
A case study method is used to document SI projects initiated by an HEI programme in rural India.
Findings
It was found that the participatory approach contributes to empowering communities and also benefits the students in terms of academic, professional and personal growth. Empirical findings show that experiential learning is an efficient method to teach sustainability. Ultimately, both pedagogical approaches are found to be mutually beneficial.
Originality/value
This study fills a gap in the literature, by providing empirical evidence on how HEI can implement innovative educational strategies such as participatory approach and experiential learning in their programmes towards teaching sustainability. A conceptual model for HEI interested in developing similar programmes is also proposed. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is one of the first studies focusing on the context of Indian HEI.
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María Elena Chuspe Zans, Rosario Barrera, Ernesto Escalante and Israel Aragon
A research-practice team was convened for the Machupicchu World Heritage Site to participate in the Heritage Place Lab (HPL), with the goal of building a practice-informed…
Abstract
Purpose
A research-practice team was convened for the Machupicchu World Heritage Site to participate in the Heritage Place Lab (HPL), with the goal of building a practice-informed research agenda designed to support the management needs of the site.
Design/methodology/approach
The agenda was built based on both the HPL methodology and a complementary one.
Findings
The proposed agenda centres on three research priorities: (1) Ecosystem services and well-being, (2) local sustainable development and cultural heritage, and (3) mixed-heritage research integration for conservation.
Practical implications
These priorities address conflicts between the two agencies that manage the site and a lack of awareness of heritage values in contrast to economic interests.
Originality/value
The article proposes new research-informed strategies for joint working between the managing agencies of a site where conservation needs conflict with public use demands, representing the first such case for Peru.
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Sana Rhoudri and Lotfi Benazzou
The purpose of this study is to examine the factors affecting deposit withdrawal intentions among Moroccan profit-sharing investment account holders.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine the factors affecting deposit withdrawal intentions among Moroccan profit-sharing investment account holders.
Design/methodology/approach
Applying the push-pull-mooring (PPM) theory, a quantitative survey, based on insights brought to light by a previous qualitative study, was developed and administered to 166 depositors from five participatory banks at branches located in Morocco. Structural equation modeling was then used to evaluate the significance of relationships between the various variables under study.
Findings
Empirical findings showed that the PPM model with a second-order construct structure exhibited a better representation of the observed variables as compared to a first-order factor model. The results of the structural analysis indicated a significant direct relationship between withdrawal intention and each of the PPM model constructs: push and pull factors were found to have a positive impact on withdrawal intention, while mooring factors had a significant inverse relationship with withdrawal intention. The results of this study also revealed that the moderating role of the mooring construct was found in both relationships between push and withdrawal intention and between pull and withdrawal intention.
Research limitations/implications
The absence of a longitudinal study measuring the actual withdrawal behavior is the main limitation of this study. Furthermore, withdrawal intention was examined without differentiating between individual and corporate depositors. Finally, despite being insightful, the empirical findings should be generalized with caution, as the sample was purposely chosen by the banks’ management.
Practical implications
This study implied that participatory banks should stress the importance of mooring factors, as they strongly inhibit depositors’ intention to shift their funds to the conventional banking system. Moreover, this study provides great indications to Moroccan regulators and policymakers on a number of issues that can be used to develop policies that could improve the participatory banking system.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study represents the first attempt to confirm the effectiveness of the PPM model in examining depositor-withdrawal intentions. This study is also the first of its kind to address profit-sharing investment depositors’ apprehensions in the Moroccan context, to the best of the authors’ knowledge.
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This paper aims to provide reflective practice insights on the use of the participatory approaches of World Café and Forum Theatre as crime prevention education and research tools…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to provide reflective practice insights on the use of the participatory approaches of World Café and Forum Theatre as crime prevention education and research tools with young people and young adults through a social learning theory lens.
Design/methodology/approach
Four independent case-studies showcase World Café and Forum Theatre methodology. World Café events investigated new psychoactive substances (NPS) awareness with young hostel users and college pupils (N = 22) and race hate crime with school and college pupils (N = 57). Forum Theatre events explored loan shark crime with college and university students (N = 46) and domestic abuse crime with young hostel users and college and university students (N = 28). Anonymous survey data produced qualitative and descriptive statistical data.
Findings
Learning impacts from participatory crime prevention education and research events were evidenced. Participatory approaches were perceived positively, although large group discussion-based methodologies may not suit all young people or all criminological topics.
Originality/value
Participatory approaches of World Café and Forum Theatre are vehicles for social learning and crime prevention with young people and young adults; eliciting crime victimisation data; and generating personal solutions alongside wider policy and practice improvement suggestions. Whilst World Café elicited greater lived experience accounts providing peer-level social learning, Forum Theatre provided crucial visual role modelling for communicating safeguarding messages.
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