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Article
Publication date: 17 August 2012

Antonios Kaniadakis

The aim of this paper is to contribute to an understanding of enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementation that goes beyond the restricted time and space limits of a…

1458

Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this paper is to contribute to an understanding of enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementation that goes beyond the restricted time and space limits of a project‐based restructuring effort, and to understanding of it as a broader socio‐economic phenomenon.

Design/methodology/approach

A case study of the adoption and implementation of an ERP in a Greek bank is examined through an extended multi‐level analytical framework based on Pettigrew's “contextualist” and “processual” research model. The metaphor of the ancient Athenian agora is used to theorise the socio‐economic environment around ERP implementation. In‐depth, semi‐structured interviews and documents were used as data.

Findings

Findings suggest that although ERP implementation is seen by the majority of relevant IS literature as happening locally in restricted time‐frame, project‐based efforts, it rather emerges from broader socio‐economic contexts of the agora of techno‐organisational change. Different actors develop bounded understandings (viewpoints) of the agora which they use to navigate and engage it. A viewpoint is also a mechanism to link an actor's local circumstances with broad socio‐economic developments.

Research limitations/implications

The context of financial services/markets offers possibilities for future research around ERP given the ongoing need for integration of legacy systems. Future case studies in financial service organisations could provide a link between frequent financial crises and technological development. Also, future studies of multiple ERP implementations as well as studies focusing on ERP suppliers’ choices, could add a comparative dimension useful to understand alternative agora configurations.

Practical implications

Practitioners should approach ERP implementation as a broad socio‐economic phenomenon instead of a project‐based episode of change.

Originality/value

Originality lies on the development of an extended, multi‐level analytical approach and on the introduction of a new spatial metaphor for understanding the socio‐economic environment around ERP implementation.

Details

Information Technology & People, vol. 25 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0959-3845

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 17 June 2020

Jan Heystek and Raymond Emekako

This paper examines motivational practices and engagements of schools – through strategies developed by principals with the members of the school management team – to improve…

1064

Abstract

Purpose

This paper examines motivational practices and engagements of schools – through strategies developed by principals with the members of the school management team – to improve academic performance.

Design/methodology/approach

The research used an interpretive approach within a qualitative design in which schools were purposefully selected. In each of the sampled schools, individual interviews were conducted with the principal as well as a focus group with the school management team and another focus group was identified teachers.

Findings

The main findings reveal that school labelling (where schools are labelled as underperforming schools) as a public notice was identified as the main push towards intrinsic motivation, especially when positive results in learner performance are eventually achieved. Extra classes, teaching collaboration, monitoring and team building were some of the main strategies used. Efforts appear to focus on performance in Grade 12 examinations. Therefore, the study recommends that attention be spread across all grades as a long-term improvement plan for the education system. Furthermore, since these strategies have worked successfully, the national and the provincial education departments should consider developing plans for academic improvement based on these strategies.

Research limitations/implications

This research contributed to the understanding of school improvement in a specific context of low socio economic and societal context and schools are able to improve in spite of the challenging context. This is specifically in a developing country's context. More research can be conducted about the specific influence of intrinsic motivation and how extrinsic factors can become internalised as intrinsic motivation factors.

Practical implications

The findings from this project can provide leadership at schools with the necessary information and examples of what can be done to get teachers to improve the performance in a challenging context. The use of extrinsic as well as intrinsic motivational actions can provide the leadership with the necessary guidelines to implement in their schools. The appointment of principals with specific characteristics needed attention in policy as well as the practice of the appointment process.

Originality/value

The research is contributed to the knowledge of school improvement from a perspective of a developing country and is using motivational theories within this context. The limited literature which links motivation to the process of school improvement is advanced from ice perspective of low socio economic context in a developing country.

Details

International Journal of Educational Management, vol. 34 no. 9
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-354X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 25 February 2020

S.M. Riad Shams and Rajibul Hasan

Transnationalism and transnational concept are extensively researched in many social science areas; however, transnational management and transnational marketing is relatively a…

Abstract

Purpose

Transnationalism and transnational concept are extensively researched in many social science areas; however, transnational management and transnational marketing is relatively a less explored research domain. Also, knowledge management for transnational education (TNE) marketing is not well-researched. Capacity building is an established research-stream, with a key focus on socio-economic and ecological development; however, prior research on capacity building from the context of TNE’s knowledge management and marketing is scarce. The purpose of this study is to analyse TNE marketing mix, to understand the influence of transnational stakeholders’ causal scope(s) on knowledge management in TNE to uphold their transnatioalisation processes through capacity building in TNEs’ marketing management.

Design/methodology/approach

An inductive constructivist method is followed.

Findings

Organisational learning from the context of transnational market and socio-economic competitive factors, based on analysing the transnational stakeholders’ causal scope(s) is imperative for proactive knowledge management capacity in TNE marketing. Following the analysis of transnational stakeholders’ causal scope(s) to learn about the cause and consequence of the transnational stakeholders’ relationships and interactions, an initial conceptual framework of knowledge management for TNE marketing is proposed. Practical insights from different TNE markets are developed in support of this novel knowledge management capacity building framework of TNE, and its generalisation perspectives and future research areas are discussed.

Practical implications

These insights will be useful for TNE administrators to better align their knowledge management perspectives and propositions with their transnational stakeholders to underpin TNE marketing. Academics will be able to use these insights as a basis for future research.

Originality/value

This study proposes a novel conceptual stakeholder-centred capacity building framework for TNE’s knowledge management to uphold TNE marketing and supports the framework, based on practical insights from three different transnational markets.

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 28 July 2023

Jeremias De Klerk and Bernard Swart

Background: Amid increasing leadership failures in the global business context, the mining industry is one of the industries with many adverse incidents, affecting employee…

Abstract

Background: Amid increasing leadership failures in the global business context, the mining industry is one of the industries with many adverse incidents, affecting employee safety, the environment, and surrounding communities. Emerging economies tend to have unique socio-economic challenges and greater relative economic dependence on mining, presenting unique challenges to leaders. The purpose of this research was to study the realities of responsible leadership in the mining industry in an emerging economy.

Methods: A qualitative research study, consisting of semi-structured interviews was conducted. Nine senior mine managers were selected to represent perspectives from different operations and mining houses. Data was gathered from August to October 2020 in South Africa, an emerging economy with significant mining operations. A thematic analysis of interview transcripts was conducted through the use of software, rendering five themes, with 12 sub-themes.

Results: The research found that requirements on mining leaders in emerging economies demand consistent balancing of a complex set of competing risks, whilst attending to paradoxical requirements among operations, and internal and external stakeholders. Leaders face several competing requirements from stakeholders, the environment, mining practices, and time frames. Responsible leaders must navigate a paradoxical maze of needs and time horizons, with several conflicting forces and dilemmas, and dichotomous relationships. Responsible leadership in the mining industry of an emerging economy is a proverbial minefield of paradoxes and dilemmas between responsible intentions and practical realities. These paradoxes and dilemmas are specifically acute in the context of emerging economies due to the dire socio-economic situations. A total of 10 competencies emerged as essential responsible leadership requirements in this context.

Conclusions: The study provides an in-depth understanding of the intricacies of responsible leadership in the mining industry of an emerging economy. This understanding will contribute to capacitating leaders in the mining industries of emerging economies to act responsibly.

Details

Emerald Open Research, vol. 1 no. 11
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2631-3952

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 14 August 2017

Nizar Mohammad Alsharari

The purpose of this paper is to explore the development of accounting education and practice as influenced by the socio-economic transformation in Jordan.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the development of accounting education and practice as influenced by the socio-economic transformation in Jordan.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper presents an explanatory study of how accounting education and practice has developed in relation to socio-economic change in Jordan, using the institutional economic theory-based constructivist approach, in which knowledge is constructed by compiling data from different sources, including historical and statistical analyses, documents, and archival records.

Findings

The study finds that accounting education in Jordan cannot be effectively studied without reference to how accounting practice affects, and is affected by the social, economic, political and cultural dimensions of its operating environment. The study finds that accounting change has been driven by the Jordanian Government’s response to the macroeconomic challenges that had historically restricted economic growth, including the scarcity of natural resources, budget deficits, soaring debt, and structural unemployment. The ongoing program of privatization has been a significant contributor to economic, accounting, and legal change. Since accountancy is accepted as a social practice, culture plays a significant role in accounting research, and cultural factors bearing on accounting education and practice in Jordan include the historical imposition of western accounting paradigms in developing countries, Jordan’s cultural values, the quality of its education system, and the disparity between the private sector’s and public management’s embrace of technology and applications for management accounting. The study finds that accounting education in Jordan cannot be effectively studied without reference to how accounting affects, and is affected by the social, economic, political and cultural dimensions of its operating environment.

Research limitations/implications

This paper describes the development of accounting education in an environment of socio-economic change, which has potential implications for accounting practitioners, academics, and policy makers in developing countries. The study’s constructivist approach selected with the aim of constructing a picture of the change environment, and thus, present new knowledge in a compilation of data limits, however, the generalizability of the findings.

Originality/value

The paper is a one of very few research studies in the accounting literature to present evidence from the Middle East of how accounting education and practice has developed in response to socio-economic transformation, and has itself contributed to socio-economic growth in Jordan. The significance of cultural factors in these developments provides further understanding of the dynamics of developing accounting education and practice in the era of globalization.

Details

International Journal of Educational Management, vol. 31 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-354X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 26 May 2023

Duncan Philip Connors

The purpose of this paper is to identify how the socio-economic trends caused by the economic deregulation of the last four decades have led to a high-net-worth strata of…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to identify how the socio-economic trends caused by the economic deregulation of the last four decades have led to a high-net-worth strata of individuals and families that conspicuously consumes luxury items and are the main customers in the luxury yacht market.

Design/methodology/approach

A selected cross-section review and discussion of relevant publications and theories within the field of tourism, social sciences, business and economic history are synthesised with relevant data to outline the factors leading to socio-economic change and conspicuous consumption.

Findings

This paper advocates for the synthesis of scholarly techniques found within the discipline of Business History to illuminate the development of a luxury yachting industry over the past four decades. Using the varieties of capitalism approach this paper demonstrates that the local characteristics of the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) in combination with the international globalisation and trade deregulation since 1980 has led to a new super wealthy class that engages in conspicuous consumption. Using a schema based on critical juncture theory, light has been shed on the specific factors underpinning the demand for luxury yachts as part of this conspicuous consumption.

Originality/value

This paper adds a new set of methodologies and theoretical tools to the student of luxury tourism that embed the practice within the context of socio-economic changes brought forth by economic globalisation since 1979, opening up new avenues of research.

Details

Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Themes, vol. 15 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1755-4217

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 14 September 2012

Rania Kamla, Sonja Gallhofer and Jim Haslam

This paper adds to a focus of the social accounting literature (on perceptions and attitudes to social accounting) by seeking to offer insights into Syrian accountants' attitudes…

14276

Abstract

Purpose

This paper adds to a focus of the social accounting literature (on perceptions and attitudes to social accounting) by seeking to offer insights into Syrian accountants' attitudes towards, and perceptions of, social accounting in Syria in the first decade of the twenty‐first century, with particular attention to its role, future development and implementation.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper takes the form of an analysis of interviews of Syrian accountants; contextual analysis (and an appreciation of the prior literature).

Findings

Syrian accountants' perceptions are shaped by developments in Syria's socio‐political and economic context, encompassing imperialism/colonialism, globalisation and cultural specificities, including Islam. Interviewees perceived a significant role for a social accounting – that would parallel the Western form of social accounting – in enhancing well‐being in the dynamic context. At the same time, they were reluctant to see the development and implementation of this accounting in Syria as an urgent issue, so that this social accounting might be left initially at least with an even more marginal part to play than in the West. The study suggests that a combination of forces – global developments, Western imperialism and Syria's colonial history – have had a substantively repressive rather than progressive impact on the development of social accounting in Syria vis‐à‐vis its more positive potential.

Research limitations/implications

All limitations of interview research apply. This study focuses on Syria in a context when economic transition was a major issue. Further studies of economies in transition would be of interest.

Practical implications

An awareness of how the local and the global interact in debates over social accounting can provide insights for policy makers concerned with accounting regulation.

Originality/value

The focus on Syria, a non‐Western country, enriches the social accounting literature, which focuses mainly on Western developments.

Details

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, vol. 25 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-3574

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 12 May 2022

Francesca Costanza

The purpose of this paper is to adopt a learning-based approach to portray the impact of Covid-19 on state school services in Italy, with a specific focus on the role of…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to adopt a learning-based approach to portray the impact of Covid-19 on state school services in Italy, with a specific focus on the role of street-level bureaucrats and the triggering of co-creative processes.

Design/methodology/approach

The study proposes a qualitative system dynamics (or SD) approach describing the implementation of Covid-related educational policies in Italy. An insight model, made of causal loop diagrams, integrates the selected multi-disciplinary literature and institutional sources, secondary data from national and local reports (about Palermo, the fifth largest metropolitan city in Italy) and insights from a panel of school street–level bureaucrats.

Findings

The study provides an insight into the impacts of governmental decisions (school closures and the subsequent need to activate distance learning during the first wave of Covid-19) at a local level. Specifically, it portrays the influences of managerial and professional discretion, infrastructural equipment and socio-economic factors favouring/deterring co-creative educational processes.

Practical implications

The SD model highlights vicious/virtuous circles in policy implementation and suggests new managerial paths for education, more routed towards public value creation and less attached to bureaucratic procedures and the unquestioning application of performance culture.

Originality/value

The paper proposes an original and holistic approach to dealing with policy making in education and its managerial features. The research findings are considered important, not only to face the current emergency, but also to pro-actively think about the post-Covid era.

Details

International Journal of Public Sector Management, vol. 35 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-3558

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 12 November 2020

Zografia Bika and Peter Rosa

Previous studies have largely examined interregional variations of small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) rather than family firm concentrations. This paper aims to address this…

Abstract

Purpose

Previous studies have largely examined interregional variations of small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) rather than family firm concentrations. This paper aims to address this gap through an analysis of firm type indicators across Europe from the Eurostat database, using social, economic and demographic statistics at the NUTS 2 regional level to ascertain the nature, prevalence and regional contexts of family firm concentrations.

Design/methodology/approach

Hierarchical clustering is performed to map the regional distribution of the European family business.

Findings

Results show that the co-existence of family SMEs with large firms is negatively related to regional economic performance, and this variation has implications for the understanding of the survival and strategic behaviour of family firms.

Originality/value

The study promotes a new family business “in context” than “by context” point of view and paves the way for further empirical work with interregional family business data at various spatial levels.

Details

Journal of Enterprising Communities: People and Places in the Global Economy, vol. 16 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1750-6204

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 10 October 2023

Luena Collini and Pierre Hausemer

The aim of this paper is to understand how systemic change agents influence the twin digital and green transitions. The authors build on agency-based theories to argue that…

Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this paper is to understand how systemic change agents influence the twin digital and green transitions. The authors build on agency-based theories to argue that transition pathways are influenced by a combination of place-based characteristics, the mobilisation and preferences of systemic change agents (such as local clusters), and the institutional and economic context. The conceptual framework defines the different steps of the twin transition, and it identifies how systemic change agents and geographic characteristics determine the direction and speed of the transition pathway.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper starts with a literature review to identify the different schools of thoughts on transition pathways and the twin transition, before developing a conceptual framework and deriving policy implications.

Findings

First, this paper argues that each transition involves three steps: framing, piloting and scaling. Each of these steps is driven by systemic change agents who engage local actors in trust-based collaboration, pool resources, create network effects and exchange information to source solutions for industry-level challenges. Second, the combination of place-based characteristics and the actions of local systemic change agents define the path of the transition and the new (post-transition) equilibrium. Finally, this paper sets out implications for policymakers who are interested in using systemic change agents to shape transition pathways in their local area.

Research limitations/implications

Further research is needed to provide robust empirical evidence from a range of territorial realities for the hypotheses in this paper. Specifically, the role of systemic change agents, such as trade associations, regional organisations, clusters or research groupings, needs to be investigated more closely. These agents can play a key role in progressing the transition because they already focus on sourcing solutions to joint challenges and opportunities by exchanging information, engaging local actors in trust-based collaboration, pooling resources and fostering network effects and critical mass. Future research should investigate how policymakers can best leverage on these crucial actors to progress or steer transitions and how this varies depending on place-based characteristics. This could include, for instance, training activities, networking and collaboration (e.g. through the European Cluster Collaboration Platform) or clearer sign-posting the key next steps required for the transition.

Practical implications

This paper identifies specific ways in which local actors can influence the direction and speed of transitions at each stage of the transition: at the framing stage, political entrepreneurship can be fostered through collaboration and smooth information flows between different levels of governance, at the piloting stage, commercial and social entrepreneurship require effective knowledge sharing and a wide and open search for solutions which, in turn, may require capacity building at the local level and coordination across stakeholder groups and levels of governance and effective scaling up can be fostered through network effects, joint commitment from a broad range of stakeholders and pooling of resources to achieve economies of scale.

Social implications

An important implication of the framework is that, if several places are undergoing a parallel or joint transition, the result may not be convergence between these places. Instead, different places may choose different end points and they may proceed at different speeds. For instance, in the context of the European Union’s green and digital transitions, it is unlikely that every region will transition to a similar level of digitisation or make steps in the same direction when it comes to sustainability.

Originality/value

This paper plugs a gap in understanding how systemic transitions unfold and how their speed and direction are influenced by different stakeholder groups. This paper develops a conceptual framework to define twin transition pathways and it analyses prominent place-based factors affecting these pathways.

Details

Competitiveness Review: An International Business Journal , vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1059-5422

Keywords

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