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1 – 10 of 33Njod Aljabr, Dimitra Petrakaki and Petros Chamakiotis
Existing research on how professionals manage after-hours connectivity to work has been dominated by studies on the strategies/practices individuals develop. In these studies…
Abstract
Purpose
Existing research on how professionals manage after-hours connectivity to work has been dominated by studies on the strategies/practices individuals develop. In these studies, mobile technology is perceived as a tool or an enabler that supports otherwise human-centric connectivity decisions. This view sees technology as separate or external to the organisation, missing out on its nuanced role in shaping connectivity decisions. Our study aims to bring technology back into the sociomaterially imbricated context of connectivity and to unpack its parameters.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on data collected from documents and semi-structured interviews, we adopt the framework of “sociomaterial imbrications” (Leonardi, 2011) to understand the social and material parameters that influence connectivity management practices at two different academic institutions in Saudi Arabia.
Findings
The study identifies a set of social and material parameters (organisational, individual, technological and situational) that imbricate to shape, collectively and not individually, professionals’ connectivity management practices. Connectivity decisions to change practice (such as decisions of where, when or why to connect) or technology (how to connect) are not as distinct as they appear but originate from, and are founded on, imbricated sociomaterial parameters. Our study further suggests that connectivity decisions are shaped by individuals’ perceptions of sociomaterial imbrications, but decisions are not solely idiosyncratic. The context within which connectivity decisions are taken influences the type of decisions made.
Originality/value
Connectivity management emerged from sociomaterial imbrications within a context constitutive of four interacting parameters: organisational, technological, situational and individual. Decisions around the “how” and the “what” of connectivity – i.e. the practice of connectivity and its underpinning technology – originate from how people perceive sociomaterial imbrications as enabling or constraining within a context. Individual perceptions account for changes in practice and in technology, but the context they find themselves in is also important. For instance, we show that professionals may perceive a certain technology as affording, but eventually they may use another technology for communications due to social norms.
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Kay Lynn Stevens, Dara Mojtahedi and Adam Austin
This study aims to examine whether country of residence, sex trafficking attitudes, complainant gender, juror gender and right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) influenced juror…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine whether country of residence, sex trafficking attitudes, complainant gender, juror gender and right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) influenced juror decision-making within a sex trafficking case.
Design/methodology/approach
Jury-eligible participants from the USA and the UK participated in an online juror experiment in which an independent group design was used to manipulate the complainant’s gender. Participants completed the juror decision scale, the sex trafficking attitudes scale and the RWA scale.
Findings
Sex trafficking attitudes predicted the believability of both the defendant and complainant. Greater negative beliefs about victims predicted greater defendant believability and lower complainant believability. US jurors reported greater believability of both the complainant and defendant, and RWA was associated with greater defendant believability. However, none of the other factors, including complainant and juror gender, predicted participants’ verdicts. The findings suggest juror verdicts in sex trafficking cases may be less influenced by extra-legal factors, although further research is needed, especially with a more ambiguous case.
Originality/value
This is one of the few cross-cultural comparison studies in the area of jury decision-making, specifically regarding sex trafficking cases. The findings indicated that US participants held more problematic attitudes about sex trafficking than their UK counterparts, although all participants held problematic attitudes about sex trafficking. However, those attitudes did not affect verdict formation about either a male or female complainant. Participants who were more knowledgeable about sex trafficking reported greater complainant believability, suggesting that educational interventions may provide greater support for victims in court.
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This paper aims to provide a living tribute to the leading autoethnographer, Alec Grant.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to provide a living tribute to the leading autoethnographer, Alec Grant.
Design/methodology/approach
Alec provided Jerome with a list of names of people he might approach to write a tribute on his behalf.
Findings
The accounts describe the influence that Alec has had both as an educator and as a trusted colleague for the people approached.
Research limitations/implications
While this is a living tribute, it is about one man and could, therefore, be described as a case study. Some people wonder what can be learned from a single case study. Read on and find out.
Practical implications
Alec has carved out a path for himself. In many senses, he chose “The Road Less Travelled”. He has never shied away from challenging “The System” and defending the rights of the marginalized and socially excluded. It is not a road for the faint-hearted.
Social implications
For systems to change, radical thinkers need to show the way. “Change keeps us safe” (Stuart Bell).
Originality/value
Alec was a well-known and highly respected cognitive behavioural academic practitioner and the author of key textbooks in the field. He then decided to reinvent himself as an autoethnographer. This has brought him into contact with a much more diverse group of people. It has also brought him home to himself.
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This paper aims to elucidate responsible leadership as a construct with strong moral and ethical underpinnings, as well as a focus on multiple stakeholders and the triple bottom…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to elucidate responsible leadership as a construct with strong moral and ethical underpinnings, as well as a focus on multiple stakeholders and the triple bottom line. This paper also highlights the interdependence of the economic, social and environmental dimensions of a business to achieve corporate sustainability.
Design/methodology/approach
This conceptual paper is the outcome of analysing and synthesizing the findings of the literature review on three main constructs: responsible leadership, triple bottom line and corporate sustainability. This review enabled the development of logical associations among these constructs.
Findings
The literature revealed logical associations between responsible leadership, the triple bottom line and corporate sustainability. All three constructs embody the three dimensions of economic, social and environmental sustainability, which form the basis of the associations.
Practical implications
Responsible leadership, grounded in stakeholder theory, goes beyond the traditional dyadic leader–follower relationship to influence multiple stakeholders within and outside the organization and achieve positive outcomes for both the organization and society. Multiple levels of outcomes and higher levels of organizational performance for businesses are the hallmarks of responsible leadership.
Originality/value
This paper highlights the importance of responsible leadership and triple bottom-line performance for corporate sustainability. Responsible leadership has the potential to create significant impact on business and society, to achieve long-term corporate sustainability. A conceptual model of responsible leadership is also proposed to show the association between responsible leadership, the triple bottom line and corporate sustainability.
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Bin Liang, David Moltow and Stephanie Richey
The aim of this article is two-fold. First, it offers a unique account of San Min, the prototype of the current Chinese educational principle proposed by Yan Fu (1854–1921) that…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this article is two-fold. First, it offers a unique account of San Min, the prototype of the current Chinese educational principle proposed by Yan Fu (1854–1921) that aimed at improving people’s physical, intellectual and moral capacities. This system of educational thinking has received only marginal attention in Anglophone research literature. Second, given the influence of Yan Fu’s interpretation and promulgation of Herbert Spencer’s educational philosophy during that period, it investigates the extent to which San Min is derived from Spencer’s educational thought (the “Spencerian Triad”). This article focusses on how Yan Fu adapted the ideas of San Min from Spencer’s account.
Design/methodology/approach
This article considers Yan Fu’s principle of San Min in relation to Spencer’s educational triad through a close reading and comparison of key primary texts (including Yan Fu’s original writing). It explores the similarities and differences between each account of education’s goals and its proposed means of attainment.
Findings
Yan Fu’s principle of San Min is shown to have been adapted from the Spencerian Triad. However, using the theory of Social Organism, Yan Fu re-interpreted Spencer’s individual liberty as liberty for the nation. While Spencer’s goal was to empower individuals, Yan Fu aimed to serve collective independence, wealth and power.
Originality/value
This article addresses oversights concerning San Min’s Western origins in the Spencerian Triad and its influence on Chinese education under Yan Fu’s sway. It is significant because San Min is still at the core of the current Chinese educational policy.
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Naman Dubey, Semsang Dolma Bomzon, Ashutosh Bishnu Murti and Basav Roychoudhury
The purpose of this paper spans twofold. Firstly, to investigate Human Resource Management practices (HRMP) adopted by organisations during the pandemic. Secondly, to bundle…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper spans twofold. Firstly, to investigate Human Resource Management practices (HRMP) adopted by organisations during the pandemic. Secondly, to bundle similar HRMP into Human Resource Management (HRM) bundles that provided unhindered organisational support to employees during the crisis.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted 39 in-depth interviews across industries using a semi-structured interview schedule. Thereafter, the authors transcribed the interviews verbatim and analysed them thematically using MAXQDA 2021.
Findings
The study identifies effective practices during times of uncertainty and how soft HRM practices helped organisations survive during a crisis. When bundled together, these practices enabled organisations to continue operations during the pandemic, keeping their employees engaged and motivated.
Practical implications
Based on the learnings from the COVID-19 pandemic, the study provides a toolkit of HRMP bundles that organisations can adopt for future crisis management, enhancing the organisations’ absorptive capacity.
Originality/value
The study investigates the practices incorporated during COVID-19, leading to the identification of soft HRM bundles. The study adds value to the existing domain of HRM by including a unique set of soft HRMP bundles that have not been discussed in earlier studies and could be of high utility to organisations during the crisis.
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There is a lot of talk about the electric car today, but these vehicles are not new. Indeed, thebeginning of the 20th century saw electricity and the automobile take hold in North…
Abstract
Purpose
There is a lot of talk about the electric car today, but these vehicles are not new. Indeed, thebeginning of the 20th century saw electricity and the automobile take hold in North American society, so that by 1910, the electric car was everywhere. Until the turn of the 1920s, a new era dawned for transportation in the USA, but without the electric car. The purpose of this study is to question Why did it happen.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper develops such a comparison, not of the cars themselves, through a detailed engineering analysis, but rather of the marketing of electric vehicles in the USA in 1910 and 2010, as it appeared in the marketing strategies of the manufacturers.
Findings
There are many technical and economic reasons for this, but not only; there are also commercial strategy reasons. The position of manufacturers, especially through advertising and the press, can tell us about this golden age of the electric car, what precipitated its fall, and its reappearance a century later.
Originality/value
It is a comparison of images, of how electric vehicles had been and are proposed to the public, through the exploration of mainly promotional material and newspaper articles.
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This study aims to identify the political alignment and political activity of the 11 Presidents of Britain’s most important scientific organisation, the Royal Society of London…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to identify the political alignment and political activity of the 11 Presidents of Britain’s most important scientific organisation, the Royal Society of London, in its early years 1662–1703, to determine whether or not the institution was politically aligned.
Design/methodology/approach
There is almost no information addressing the political alignment of the Royal Society or its Presidents available in the institution’s archives, or in the writings of historians specialising in its administration. Even reliable biographical sources, such as the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography provide very limited information. However, as 10 Presidents were elected Member of Parliament (MP), The History of Parliament: British Political, Social and Local History provides a wealth of accurate, in-depth data, revealing the alignment of both.
Findings
All Presidents held senior government offices, the first was a Royalist aristocrat; of the remaining 10, 8 were Royalist or Tory MPs, 2 of whom were falsely imprisoned by the House of Commons, 2 were Whig MPs, while 4 were elevated to the Lords. The institution was Royalist aligned 1662–1680, Tory aligned 1680–1695 and Whig aligned 1695–1703, which reflects changes in Parliament and State.
Originality/value
This study establishes that the early Royal Society was not an apolitical institution and that the political alignment of Presidents and institution continued in later eras. Furthermore, it demonstrates how the election or appointment of an organisation’s most senior officer can be used to signal its political alignment with government and other organisations to serve various ends.
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Sotiroula Liasidou, Georgios Afxentiou, Elena Malkawi and George Antoniades
The aim of this paper is to investigate and define employees' professionalism in the hotel industry. A professional employee has specific core competencies and personal attributes…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to investigate and define employees' professionalism in the hotel industry. A professional employee has specific core competencies and personal attributes that improve the quality of service by resolving guest complaints, ensuring guest satisfaction and gaining a competitive advantage. In the hospitality industry, interaction with customers necessitates providing services of high standards that are characterised by professionalism.
Design/methodology/approach
This research deployed a quantitative methodology with self-administering questionnaires to hotel managers of 4-star and 5-star hotels.
Findings
The results of the study suggest that employees' professionalism in hotels includes skills combined with personality characteristics along with a passion for the profession. Thus, to attest to professionalism, managers must ensure that skills are adjusted to subject-specific knowledge and expertise while incorporating “social consciousness” as a constituent dimension of professionalism.
Originality/value
This study investigates the concept of professionalism as the main prerequisite for the delivery of exceptional hotel services and introduces the notion of “social consciousness” as an additional dimension of professionalism.
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Sonia Kashyap and Lakhwinder Singh Kang
Drawing on the social identity theory (SIT), this study investigates the relationship between internal branding (IB), organizational identity (OI) and brand performance while…
Abstract
Purpose
Drawing on the social identity theory (SIT), this study investigates the relationship between internal branding (IB), organizational identity (OI) and brand performance while considering OI as the linking apparatus of internal branding and brand performance. It also explores the moderating role of co-worker support in the relationship between OI and brand performance.
Design/methodology/approach
A sample of 919 frontline employees working in private banks in India was collected by using multi-stage sampling. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was utilized to examine the hypothesized relations. PROCESS macro for SPSS was used to test mediation and moderation effects.
Findings
The results reveal that all IB dimensions (internal brand communication, brand-oriented transformational leadership and brand-oriented HR activities) directly affect OI and indirectly affect brand performance. Additionally, no moderating effect of co-worker support is found.
Research limitations/implications
The current study contributes to the existing literature by portraying IB as identity strengthening phenomenon and brand performance as identity-congruent behavior. It also reveals how social context influences brand performance and assists them in socially categorizing themselves.
Originality/value
The present study portrays a complete understanding of the dynamics between internal branding, organizational identity, and brand performance. The study also emphasizes the empirical examination of the potential mediation effect of organizational identity and the moderation effect of co-worker support.
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