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1 – 10 of 20Cardy Moten, Quinn Kennedy, Jonathan Alt and Peter Nesbitt
Current Army doctrine stresses a need for military leaders to have the capability to make flexible and adaptive decisions based on a future unknown environment, location and…
Abstract
Purpose
Current Army doctrine stresses a need for military leaders to have the capability to make flexible and adaptive decisions based on a future unknown environment, location and enemy. To assess a military decision maker’s ability in this context, this paper aims to modify the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test which assesses cognitive flexibility, into a military relevant map task. Thirty-four military officers from all service branches completed the map task.
Design/methodology/approach
The purpose of this study was to modify a current psychological task that measures cognitive flexibility into a military relevant task that includes the challenge of overcoming experiential bias, and understand underlying causes of individual variability in the decision-making and cognitive flexibility behavior of active duty military officers on this task.
Findings
Results indicated that non-perseverative errors were a strong predictor of cognitive flexibility performance on the map task. Decomposition of non-perseverative error into efficient errors and random errors revealed that participants who did not complete the map task changed their sorting strategy too soon within a series, resulting in a high quantity of random errors.
Originality/value
This study serves as the first step in customizing cognitive psychological tests for a military purpose and understanding why some military participants show poor cognitive flexibility.
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Keywords
To provide a broad understanding of knowledge management and how to successfully implement knowledge management.
Abstract
Purpose
To provide a broad understanding of knowledge management and how to successfully implement knowledge management.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a wide range of technical, business and knowledge management‐specific sources to explain the value and importance of knowledge management and the relative simplicity of the concept, the paper is divided into sections providing a definition of KM, how KM relates to technology, an overview of double‐loop learning, six steps to successful KM (plus one), and successful KM examples.
Findings
Provides a thorough overview of KM and its building‐blocks, as well as providing examples that incorporate various degrees of technology.
Originality/value
This paper provides a unique view of knowledge management success by maintaining a totally agnostic approach and focusing on principles that will provide success regardless of technology or budget.
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Meta Sterniša, Sonja Smole Možina, Sonja Levstek, Andreja Kukec, Peter Raspor and Mojca Jevšnik
The purpose of this paper is to investigate Slovenian consumers’ knowledge and self-reported practices in poultry meat handling during purchase, transport, and preparation in home…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate Slovenian consumers’ knowledge and self-reported practices in poultry meat handling during purchase, transport, and preparation in home kitchens and to assess the awareness of the microbiological risk associated with poultry meat, with an emphasis on Campylobacter.
Design/methodology/approach
A cross-sectional study of consumers’ food safety knowledge, self-reported practices, and awareness of the microbiological risk was conducted from March to April 2015 at supermarkets in different parts of Slovenia. A convenience sample of 560 consumers was obtained. Gender and age distribution were controlled by 28 interviewers, each of whom distributed 20 questionnaires. The questionnaire included 33 questions divided into four parts.
Findings
The results revealed consumers awareness of food safety issues. Respondents have some basic knowledge about proper food handling. However, a substantial number of consumers still lacks knowledge of the microbiological risk and has bad habits in domestic poultry meat preparation.
Research limitations/implications
The research did not reflect a representative sample of Slovenian consumers.
Practical implications
The results indicate some gaps in consumers’ food safety knowledge and self-reported practices. Current Campylobacter preventive strategies regarding retail poultry meat contamination are not yet sufficiently successful.
Originality/value
The study provides valuable insight into consumers’ food safety knowledge and self-reported practices in poultry meat handling from shopping to eating. Opportunities for improvement in consumers’ formal and informal education and training should be offered.
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Paula Guimaraes, Ricardo P.C. Leal, Peter Wanke and Matthew Morey
This paper aims to investigate the long-term impact of shareholder activism on Brazilian listed companies.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the long-term impact of shareholder activism on Brazilian listed companies.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses a sample of 194 companies in 2010, 2012 and 2014 and a two-stage data envelopment analysis to generate an efficiency score based on corporate governance, ownership structure and financial characteristics of companies. In the second stage, the study applies a bootstrap truncated regression to identify whether there is a relationship between the efficiency scores and a company-level activism index.
Findings
The results show a negative correlation between the efficiency scores and the activism index, suggesting that activist shareholders tend to target less efficient companies. A time analysis over the period 2010-2014 does not offer evidence of impacts of activism on changes of the efficiency scores.
Practical implications
Activist shareholders target less efficient companies. Shareholder activism increased after regulation that facilitated shareholder voting and required greater company transparency was introduced.
Originality/value
The two-stage nature of the procedure used in the analysis ascertains that this result is not spurious, assuring data separability between productive resources and contextual variables. This study contributes to the scarce literature on activism in emerging markets.
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Reviews the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoints practical implications from cutting‐edge research and case studies.
Abstract
Purpose
Reviews the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoints practical implications from cutting‐edge research and case studies.
Design/methodology/approach
This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.
Findings
Knowledge management (KM) has become a buzz‐word in big business with over 90 percent of companies considering it crucial to their success. However, the problem is that few businesses seem to have a good understanding of what KM actually is. A variety of definitions abound, with many firms interpreting KM as simply a technological fix. In fact, so many KM initiatives fail that some companies have tried re‐branding it under the guise of “best practice” or “benchmarking”. Dean Call provides a clear explanation of KM and describes the six steps to KM success using examples from the commercial and business sectors.
Practical implications
Provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world's leading organizations.
Originality/value
The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy‐to‐digest format.
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Dean Stroud and Peter Fairbrother
The purpose of this paper is to open up discussion about the relationship between trade unions and workplace learning.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to open up discussion about the relationship between trade unions and workplace learning.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is based on an analysis of a series of case‐studies of restructuring in the European steel industry, incorporating interviews, observation and documentary analysis.
Findings
The paper argues that trade unions often fail to address the significance of workplace learning for members, because they address workplace learning as a service. This approach fails to exploit opportunities and possibilities to extend workplace‐learning provisions, and thereby meet the wider learning and employability enhancing needs of members. The outcome is that trade union involvement in skill formation and workplace learning is marginal, and contributes to the perpetuation of traditional sector practices and regressive learning provisions.
Research limitations/implications
The paper focuses on a discussion of trade union involvement in workplace learning in the European steel industry. The implications for workplace learning practices more generally, are limited to industries where trade unions (and companies/industry) organise in relation to training and learning agendas in similar ways – and in relation to industries undergoing similar process of restructuring and “modernisation”.
Practical implications
The paper provides a critique of trade union service approaches to learning agendas and highlights for policy‐makers gaps in current learning provisions within industry.
Originality/value
This paper makes an original contribution to debates concerned with trade union involvement and participation in workplace learning. It focuses on workplace inequities in training provision, and the implications for the future of unions and the employability prospects of workforces within the European steel industry.
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AS ALWAYS, at this the beginning of a New Year, we are incurably optimistic. Our credo can be summed up in one word: chiliasm, a belief that times will get better.
Ismail Adelopo, Kumba Jallow and Peter Scott
The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of multiple large ownership structure (MLS) and audit committee activity (ACA) on audit pricing for a sample of UK listed…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of multiple large ownership structure (MLS) and audit committee activity (ACA) on audit pricing for a sample of UK listed companies.
Design/methodology/approach
One way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and cross sectional multiple regression analysis of a sample of UK listed companies showed statistically significant differences in the audit fees, firm size and audit committee activities of these firms when they are categorised based on the number of MLS.
Findings
The study finds a significant negative relationship between audit fees and number of MLS, but a surprising positive relationship with ACA. The findings confirm the beneficial effects of more active institutional investors’ monitoring, but also show that increasing monitoring by audit committees is associated with increase in audit fees.
Research limitations/implications
The results reported in this research are based on cross sectional data. It is likely that the result may be different if the issue is examined over a relatively longer period.
Practical implications
The study showed that monitoring intensity of the large shareholders can be captured through their number and not simply through their shareholding. It also confirms the suggestion in previous studies that audit committees’ members protect themselves from depletion in human capital, litigation and reputational risk by buying more audit related services from their auditors.
Originality/value
The study empirically examined the impact of multiple large ownership structure on audit pricing and thereby extends the practical and theoretical understanding on the monitoring roles of large shareholders as well as the audit committees.
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Volker Kuppelwieser and Philipp Klaus
In aging societies all over the world, an increased understanding of age and age-related insights is critical to theory development, generalizations, model adaptations and…
Abstract
Purpose
In aging societies all over the world, an increased understanding of age and age-related insights is critical to theory development, generalizations, model adaptations and managerial insights. Researchers and managers mostly rely on chronological age for adapting their approaches; they assume chronological age as a customers’ characteristic and neglect differing behaviors between individuals of the same age. When motivations enter the fray, chronological age as an individual’s attribute becomes indiscriminate. Consequently, findings adopting this age concept differ widely.
Design/methodology/approach
This special issue of the Journal of Services Marketing consists of ten articles that focus on different aspects of aging.
Findings
The articles change perspectives on age when describing ageing from an individual’s perspective. The articles also comment on social needs and discuss well-being in later life stages.
Originality/value
The authors offer a broad view on age and ageing to promote age-related research.
Details