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The introduction of information technology (IT) in port operations has been a tremendous contributor to transformation in world trade. This study was carried out to examine the influence of IT on the efficiency of seaport operations.

The study is quantitative in nature, and it relied on a closed-ended self-administered questionnaire to collect primary data. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test the theoretical model and hypothesis.

The results indicate that IT has a positive direct effect on port operational efficiency (OE) and an indirect effect on port OE through organizational culture (OC). The mediating role of OC is statistically insignificant.

This is among the first few attempts in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) that provides researchers with a contemporary view of IT and seaport operations.

The purpose of this paper is to focus on ethical and judicial themes related to technology and the older adults.

Different consecutive phases in technology design and allocation will be discussed from a range of perspectives.

Longevity is one of the greatest achievements of contemporary science and a result of development of social relations. Currently, various non-communicable diseases affect older adults and impose the greatest burden on global health. There is a great emphasis across Europe on caring for the older person in their own homes. Technology has a mediating role in determining the possibilities for good quality of life (QOL). The concept of assisting the older adult through the use of technology so as to access healthcare services has enormous potential. Although the potential of technology in healthcare is widely recognised, technology use can have its downsides. Professionals need to be aware of the risks, namely, those related to the privacy of the older person, which may accompany technology use.

By 2050, there will be more people aged over 65 than there are children. This phenomenon of global ageing constitutes a massive challenge in the area of health protection.

Professionals need to be aware of the risks, for example, related to the privacy of the older person, that may accompany technology use.

There is a great emphasis across Europe on caring for the older person in their own homes. Technology has a mediating role in determining the possibilities for QOL.

The concept of assisting the older adult through the use of technology to avail of healthcare has enormous potential. Assistive technology, social media use and augmentative and alternative communication can have a positive effect on the QOL of older people, as long as they are supported enough in use of these technologies. However, ethical and juridical considerations are at stake as well.

This paper aims to present new evidence from the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development (CSDD) showing the extent to which obstetric (e.g. abnormal birth weight, confinement at birth, severe abnormality of pregnancy, etc.) and early childhood and family factors (illegitimate child, unwanted conception, family overcrowding, etc.) have predictive effects on psychopathic traits measured later in life at age 48 years.

Data collected in the CSDD are analysed. This is a prospective longitudinal study of 411 London men from age 8 to age 61 years.

The results suggest that none of the obstetric problems were predictive of adult psychopathy. However, some other early childhood factors were significant. Unwanted conception (by the mother) was significantly associated with high psychopathy. The likelihood of being an unwanted child was higher when the mother was younger (19 years or less), and when the child was illegitimate. The poor health of the mother and living in an overcrowded family were also significant in predicting psychopathy in adulthood, as well as both psychopathic personality (F1) and psychopathic behaviour (F2).

These findings suggest the influence of very early emotional tensions and problematic social background in predicting psychopathic traits in adulthood (at age 48 years). They also emphasise the importance of investigating further the very early roots of psychopathic traits.

This paper aims to explore how tensions and alignments between different actors’ needs in a transformative services network affect balanced centricity, which is an indicator of well-being. Balanced centricity describes a situation in which all network actors’ interests and needs are fulfilled simultaneously. In such cases, all actors are better off, which increases both individual actors’ and overall actor-network well-being.

The empirical study takes place in nursing homes in which in-bed baths represent co-created service encounters that affect the well-being of focal actors (i.e. patients), frontline service employees (i.e. nurses) and transformative service mediators (i.e. family members), who have potentially competing needs. Using a qualitative, phenomenological approach, the study inductively explores and deductively categorizes actors’ personal experiences to gain deep, holistic insights into the service network and its complex web of actor interdependencies.

The resulting conceptual model of balanced centricity identifies actors’ lower-order needs as different manifestations of the psychological needs for autonomy, competence and relatedness. If actors’ needs are aligned, their psychological needs can be satisfied, which facilitates balanced centricity. If actors exhibit competing needs though, balanced centricity is impeded.

This study establishes actors’ psychological needs as the origin of tensions/alignments in multi-actor networks that impede/contribute to balanced centricity. Transformative service providers should try to address all actors’ psychological needs when co-creating services to achieve network well-being.

This study adopts a novel, multi-actor perspective and thereby presents a conceptual model that contributes to the understanding of balanced centricity. Future research could test this model in other transformative service settings.

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the rationale, technical framework, content creation workflow and evaluation for a multilingual massive open online course (MOOC) to facilitate information literacy (IL) considering cultural aspects.

A good practice analysis built the basis for the technical and content framework. The evaluation approach consisted of three phases: first, the students were asked to fill out a short self-assessment questionnaire and a shortened adapted version of a standardized IL test. Second, they completed the full version of the IL MOOC. Third, they were asked to fill out the full version of a standardized IL test and a user experience questionnaire.

The results show that first the designed workflow was suitable in practice and led to the implementation of a full-grown MOOC. Second, the implementation itself provides implications for future projects developing multilingual educational resources. Third, the evaluation results show that participants achieved significantly higher results in a standardized IL test after attending the MOOC as mandatory coursework. Variations between the different student groups in the participating countries were observed. Fourth, self-motivation to complete the MOOC showed to be a challenge for students asked to attend the MOOC as nonmandatory out-of-classroom task. It seems that multilingual facilitation alone is not sufficient to increase active MOOC participation.

This paper presents an innovative approach of developing multilingual IL teaching resources and is one of the first works to evaluate the impact of an IL MOOC on learners' experience and learning outcomes in an international evaluation study.

This study explores how a small minority of social entrepreneurs break free from third sector constraints to conceive, create and grow non-profit organisations that generate social value at scale in new and innovative ways.

Six narrative case histories of innovative social enterprises were developed based on documents and semi-structured interviews with founders and long serving executives. Data were coded “chrono-processually”, which involves locating thoughts, events and actions in distinct time periods (temporal bracketing) and identifying the processes at work in establishing new social ventures.

This study presents two core findings. First, the paper demonstrates how successful social entrepreneurs draw on their lived experiences, private and professional, in driving the development and implementation of social innovations, which are realised through application of their capabilities as analysts, strategists and resources mobilisers. These capabilities are bolstered by personal legitimacy and by their abilities as storytellers and rhetoricians. Second, the study unravels the complex processes of social entrepreneurship by revealing how sensemaking, theorising, strategizing and sensegiving underpin the core processes of problem specification, the formulation of theories of change, development of new business models and the implementation of social innovations.

The study demonstrates how social entrepreneurs use sensemaking and sensegiving strategies to understand and address complex social problems, revealing how successful social entrepreneurs devise and disseminate social innovations that substantially add value to society and bring about beneficial social change. A novel process-outcome model of social innovation is presented illustrating the interconnections between entrepreneurial cognition and strategic action.

This study aims to explore the experiences of non-offending partners (NOPs) of men who perpetrated contact and non-contact sexual offences.

In-depth semi-structured interviews were carried out with eight women and analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis.

Findings yielded two superordinate themes, eight subordinate themes and an overarching theme. The first superordinate theme “Paying for their Husband’s Transgressions” captured many ways in which the women’s lives were impacted by their husbands offending. The second superordinate theme “Navigating the Darkness” encompassed the women’s experiences of trying to adapt to their new lives. The overarching theme “A Contaminated Life” pertained to the shared experiences of the women who all described encountering instant and profound consequences. This research highlighted the need for immediate signposting to support services for NOPs. The value of a humanistic counselling approach paired with forensic expertise was also identified. Future research with cross-cultural samples and same sex-couples would enrich the current understanding of this experience.

This research highlighted the need for immediate signposting to support services for NOPs. The value of a humanistic counselling approach paired with forensic expertise was also identified.

Qualitative research on the experiences of NOPs of men who perpetrated sexual offences is sparse. Furthermore, existing research focuses on the experiences of women who’s own children were abused, with the partners of men who have perpetrated extra-familial or non-contact offenses remaining largely neglected.

The purpose of this article is to determine the factors in the context of entrepreneurship that are evident in Ecuador, a country that has the highest rate of female entrepreneurship worldwide with 34% according to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) (2019).

A qualitative study was carried out with 39 cases, applying in-depth personal interviews and focus groups to selected cases in the main cities of Ecuador.

The results suggest that “mumpreneurship”, copreneurship and sustainable thinking arise in response to the environment. Deepening then in the perspective of the 5M proposes by Brush et al. (2009) that give us a framework of the macroenvironment of women entrepreneurship and offers a holistic understanding of women's entrepreneurship, adding a sixth “M” which is “Environmental Thinking” or the environmental thinking that is present in the current context.

This article is one of the first to analyse the context of female entrepreneurship in Ecuador and determine the context factors that influence the identification of opportunities and the exploitation of entrepreneurial opportunities. It also presents the expectations and challenges of the women who shape the authors’ case studies and give voice to Ecuadorian women. Consequently, this research will support the configuration of policies that supports each of the stages of women's entrepreneurial processes.

Este artículo pretende determinar los factores del contexto del emprendimiento que se evidencian en el Ecuador, país que ostenta la tasa más alta de emprendimiento femenino a nivel mundial con un 34% de acuerdo al GEM (2019).

Se realizó un estudio cualitativo con 39 casos, aplicando entrevistas personales a profundidad y grupos focales a casos seleccionados en las principales ciudades del Ecuador.

Los resultados sugieren que el “mumpreneurship”, el copreneurship y el pensamiento sostenible surgen como respuesta al entorno. Profundizando entonces en la perspectiva de las 5Ms propuesta por Brush et al. (2009) que ofrece una comprensión holística del emprendimiento de mujeres, añadiendo una sexta “M” que es el “Medioambiental Thinking” o el pensamiento ambiental que está presente en el contexto estudiado.

Este artículo es uno de los primeros en analizar el contexto del emprendimiento femenino en Ecuador y determinar los factores del contexto que influyen en la identificación y en la explotación de oportunidades emprendedoras. Además presenta las expectativas y retos de las mujeres que configuran nuestros casos de estudio y dan voz a las mujeres ecuatorianas. En consecuencia nuestra investigación servirá de apoyo para la configuración de políticas que apoyen cada una de las etapas del proceso emprendedor de las mujeres.

The purpose of this paper is to apply pragmatism – a philosophy of science on the interplay of human actions and meaning – as a perspective for studying service research and practice, emphasizing the need to deal with dynamics and diversity to cope with service marketplace disruptions. This work focuses on customers (individuals or groups of individuals) as key marketplace stakeholders.

Pragmatism provides a foundation for theorizing about change by connecting human actors’ cognitive belief structures and their actions through a continuous learning process. This paper outlines how the key principles of pragmatism can advance service research and practice.

Adopting the key principles of pragmatism in service management directs attention to service market dynamics. Understanding customers’ everyday lives as the interplay of experiencing, knowing and acting reveals insights about the role of service in dynamic markets for the benefit of service research and practice.

The paper is a viewpoint to stimulate researchers’ reflections on often hidden core assumptions about service. Pragmatism provides a perspective on actors’ practical rationality and problem solving in dynamic settings. Along with its emphasis on a holistic understanding of customers’ lives, this perspective provides direction for future service research and practice. Further, conceptual development and empirical substantiation are encouraged.

By focusing on marketplace changes, this paper addresses management concerns for commercial and non-commercial organizations. Pragmatism encourages critical reflections on what companies are doing and why (the connection between actions and beliefs), revealing underlying beliefs and institutionalized industry practices that require modifications.

Pragmatism is an approach to service research and practice, irrespective of aggregation level and sector. Therefore, it can help stimulate societal welfare.

Pragmatism advances service research by delineating a holistic perspective on customers’ lives and providing a perspective for exploring and understanding dynamics and diversity in service markets.