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1 – 10 of over 83000Paul L. Gronewoller, Janet McLeod and Lawrence C. Rose
This study evaluates the practicability of style analysis in evaluating the risk‐adjusted performance of New Zealand's retail equity trusts. The size of the New Zealand market and…
Abstract
This study evaluates the practicability of style analysis in evaluating the risk‐adjusted performance of New Zealand's retail equity trusts. The size of the New Zealand market and the short history of data available generate doubts concerning the usefulness of style analysis under these conditions. Style analysis provides useful insight when applied to the New Zealand retail equity unit trust sector. Two prevalent styles are identified, a large cap style and a mid‐cap‐value/small cap style. Little variation in style was detected for the group of trusts that tracked the large‐cap equity index but substantial variation was indicated in relative performance versus a passive investment in their style benchmarks. Significant variation was detected, both in terms of style and relative performance of trusts that tracked a mid‐cap‐value/small‐cap index. A small number of New Zealand equity managers were able to maintain a consistent style, while meeting or beating the performance of their style benchmarks.
Daniel Parker, Michael Taylor, Julio Romero Johnson and Keith Robert Thomas
The purpose of this paper is to analyse data from routine quality control samples of beer over a ten year period to provide comparisons with a previous study in 2006 and apply…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyse data from routine quality control samples of beer over a ten year period to provide comparisons with a previous study in 2006 and apply interpretations to the contemporary beer market.
Design/methodology/approach
Data from laboratory analysis of 1,469 beers submitted for due diligence quality assurance from commercial microbreweries were analysed. Additional commercial samples were taken for analysis of sour beers and cask conditioned beers as examples of niche product areas.
Findings
Style characteristics were summarized as a reference for industry evaluation and as a basis for comparisons. Differences were noted between the characteristics found and those of a similar study in 2006. Average alcohol by volume increased by 1.2 per cent, bitterness levels increased by 6.1 per cent while colour decreased by 22 per cent. These differences suggest that standard UK beers are undergoing change. A study of sour beers indicated specific features in this recently popular style and confirmed the use of a different microbiology. Analysis of cask ales indicated some variability in quality suggesting the need for greater quality control.
Research limitations/implications
The comparison with the previous study has limitations as the samples were not individually comparable but were from major established microbreweries and so representative of the industry. The work analysed UK beers only but will act as a base line for comparison to other markets. Moreover, the data may be relevant to other forms of market analysis seeking to identify factors associated to consumer preferences.
Practical implications
The data presented have relevance to breweries looking to develop their portfolios and product descriptions, to the drinking public and to regulatory bodies in providing a benchmark for comparisons and for assisting in defining the recently promoted term “craft beer”.
Social implications
The findings are relevant to beverage development and consumer education of alcoholic beverages by allowing discrimination between styles with different characteristics affecting consumer choice and when assessing styles for industrial, legislative and health research. Beers today appear to be more varied than in past decades but show lower colour and higher bitterness characteristics. As these features particularly relate to ingredients they may have implications in their contributions to diet and health.
Originality/value
The work has value in replicating the previous study to illustrate changes and trends. It presents novel data on recently popular sour beers and assesses traditional cask beer with implications for product quality.
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The purpose of this article is to survey and analyse the characteristics of cask ale beers in the UK.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this article is to survey and analyse the characteristics of cask ale beers in the UK.
Design/methodology/approach
Retail sampling and laboratory analysis of 453 beers from 190 breweries allowed beer styles to be defined and described. Analysis of the styles allowed comparisons to be made and trends established.
Findings
A total of 12 distinct beer styles were identified and described. Comparison with the largest selling keg beers indicated that cask beers have a wider variety of character. Cask ales produced by smaller microbreweries did not differ significantly from those produced by more established traditional breweries. Changes were seen in selected beers analysed over a five‐year period.
Research limitations/implications
A wider range of analysed parameters such as malt, hop and yeast derived flavours may provide a more exact view of common features between and, particularly, within styles. A more detailed timed series of analyses would help show how trends in styles change. Beers with unspecified styles could be further analysed.
Practical implications
The data presented could act as a benchmark for style definitions and be relevant to the brewing industry, to consumer groups and to trading standards considerations. Defined styles may assist academic and clinical investigations into how different beers may affect health and disease.
Originality/value
This paper provides a broad and comprehensive overview of UK beers and assesses how contemporary beers have developed in comparison to traditional products. It conducts some novel comparisons and will be of value to the brewing industry, consumer groups, trading standards authorities and to academics.
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Abdul Halim Busari, Yasir Hayat Mughal, Sajjad Nawaz Khan, Shahid Rasool and Asif Ayub Kiyani
This paper argues that teachers’ promotion should also have an impact on turnover intention. The purpose of this paper is to determine the relationship between promotion and…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper argues that teachers’ promotion should also have an impact on turnover intention. The purpose of this paper is to determine the relationship between promotion and turnover intention of advance learning institutions of the Khyber Pakhtoon Khwa Province of Pakistan and the moderating effect of the analytical cognitive style.
Design/methodology/approach
A quantitative approach is used predominantly. A questionnaire survey research design is used to collect the data from the entire province and 502 completed questionnaires were collected from the respondents. The questionnaire included the Job Descriptive Index consisting of seven items on job satisfaction, the turnover intention questionnaire consisting of three items and a five-point Likert scale used to determine cognitive style index (CSI); the CSI was used. The fourth section included an open-ended questionnaire and the fifth section included demographic variables. Hierarchical multiple regressions were used to check how much variance promotion occurs upon turnover intention and it also determined how much variance analysis cognitive style occurs upon promotion and turnover intention of advance learning institutions of the KPK province of Pakistan. The correlation results from a bivariate Pearson correlation showed significant results, which were later strengthened by the regression results.
Findings
The findings suggested that a negative relationship was found between promotion and turnover intention, whereas a weak correlation was found between promotion and analytical. Moderating results show that analytical cognitive style does act as a moderator between the promotion and turnover intention.
Research limitations/implications
This research was only carried out on advance learning institutions; thus, the findings can only be generalized to higher education institutions in the Khyber Pakhtoon Khwa state.
Practical implications
This extended model of job satisfaction will be useful to lead to changes in job satisfaction and turnover intention of academicians of the Khyber Pakhtoon Khwa province of Pakistan. The findings of this study could be used to guide the management of advance learning institutions and professional academicians to build targeted learning activities around key components of the academician’s promotion, determine where individuals are in their journey, set personalized goals and provide feedback to the management in the process of the development of policies for academicians of advance learning institutions.
Social implications
The findings of this study will help the higher education commission of Pakistan to make policies that will enable higher education institutions to formulate flexible promotion policies for teachers in order to retain them.
Originality/value
The findings of this study are a valuable extension of the relevant research as this is the first empirical study to examine the effects of cognitive style on promotion policies and turnover intention in advance learning institutions of Pakistan. In the context of an efficient and effective educational policy, a greater understanding of an academician’s promotion could facilitate the development of a more effective policy practice that would increase not only the job satisfaction of the academicians but decrease the turnover intention of the academicians.
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Praveen K. Das and S.P. Uma Rao
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the performance of socially responsible funds by closely examining funds' investment styles.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the performance of socially responsible funds by closely examining funds' investment styles.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors apply William Sharpe's method of style analysis to evaluate the performance of 94 US socially responsible mutual funds. By using the fund style as a benchmark, the authors are able to separate the performance attributed to style and selection.
Findings
The authors observe that underperformance of socially responsible funds is more pronounced and common than identified in the previous literature. Proponents of socially responsible investing argue that screening process provides an opportunity to fund managers to identify best companies in terms of future financial performance. The paper finds that active management of mutual funds is an important determinant of their performance in socially responsible investing industry. This paper provides evidence supporting that active management of socially responsible funds add value.
Originality/value
This study will help investors in allocating their portfolios among many of the available SR funds. The result – actively managed SR funds outperform their passive counterparts – will be valuable for those investors who are willing to invest in socially responsible funds but are concerned about the financial performance.
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ChienHsing Wu, Shu-Chen Kao and Chia-Hung Shih
This paper aims to examine the role of the creation task–technology fit (CTTF) in the knowledge creation performance (KCP). The creation task features represented by goal-driven…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine the role of the creation task–technology fit (CTTF) in the knowledge creation performance (KCP). The creation task features represented by goal-driven, goal-free and goal-frame modes (GDM, GFM and GRM) and information and communication technology (ICT) supportive features are considered. The moderation effect of cognitive style represented by analytical and intuitive styles is explored. Contributions and implications are addressed.
Design/methodology/approach
The literature review on creation task, ICT, cognitive behavior and fit theory, and the research gap with respect to the antecedents of KCP are presented. The research arguments are then hypothesized and the research model developed to describe that the proposed role is examined empirically.
Findings
Research findings are obtained on the basis of the data analysis of 258 valid subjects from research institutes as well as manufacturing and service industries. The effect of CTTF on creation outcomes is significantly confirmed. The ICT supportive functions are unlikely significantly related to CTTF for the analysis-styled group, but the intuition-styled group shows a likely significance because of the different means of dealing with information and knowledge processing. The analysis-styled group disagrees with the significant link of the GDM with CTTF, whereas the intuition-styled group presents the significant effects of GDM, GFM and GRM on CTTF.
Originality/value
The unique features of knowledge creation differentiate it from other tasks. With respect to whether the knowledge creation task presented by goal is defined or not, and how ICT better suits the creation task features to benefit the creation outcomes are yet to be discussed. The individual cognitive style is confirmed to alternate the effect of ICT and GDM on CTTF in the proposed model. The research findings are particularly obvious because a transition gap, less covered by the literature, might exist with regard to the perception connection of knowledge creation service providers, agencies, consultants and context creators.
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Carol Evans and Michael Waring
The purpose of this paper is to compare the cognitive styles of trainee teachers with their notions of differentiation and perceptions of its place/location within their teaching…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to compare the cognitive styles of trainee teachers with their notions of differentiation and perceptions of its place/location within their teaching and learning during a PGCE programme of ITE.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 80 trainee teachers completed the Cognitive Style Index (CSI) at the beginning and at the end of their course. After completing the CSI measure trainees received instruction on cognitive styles. To assess their initial understanding and prior knowledge of differentiation, all trainees completed a questionnaire at the beginning and at the end of their course.
Findings
At the outset rudimentary understandings of differentiation were found to be held by the trainees, as well as stylistic differences between the four style groupings. Gains in understanding of differentiation and the use of cognitive style in school were evident in all trainees. Moderate changes in style were evident, with all trainees becoming more intuitive over the course of the programme.
Research limitations/implications
The sample size may be seen as a limitation in terms of generalisability.
Practical implications
The predominant direction of cognitive style movement was from analytic to intuitive. The suggestion that cognitive style, while relatively fixed, is also something that can be developed is a feature which should offer encouragement to those developing university courses through interventions such as this.
Originality/value
Teaching sessions on how cognitive styles can be used in the classroom were used to enhance trainee understandings of individual learning differences and increase awareness of one's own style to facilitate understanding of differentiation.
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The study is an attempt to provide empirical elaboration, in the context of business and management education, for the “onion” and cognitive control models of cognitive style…
Abstract
The study is an attempt to provide empirical elaboration, in the context of business and management education, for the “onion” and cognitive control models of cognitive style. Using a sample of 226 business and management undergraduates the research explored the relationship between cognitive style (measured using the cognitive style index and learning preference. Using principal components analysis, three categories of learning preference were discerned (active, reflective and individual). Correlational analysis and one way analysis of variance revealed statistically significant relationships between preferences for reflective and individual methods and cognitive style. The results provide some support for the “onion” and cognitive control models; the implications for business and management education, training and development are discussed.
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The purpose of this paper is to introduce an analytical framework to define and interpret heterogenous risk behaviour within communities facing natural hazard. By employing a…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to introduce an analytical framework to define and interpret heterogenous risk behaviour within communities facing natural hazard. By employing a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods, the paper presents a categorization of “risk-styles” that are commonly used by Jakartan riverbank settlers facing recurrent risk. Unlike the more common concept of “flood-coping strategies”, the notion of risk-styles extends the analysis of responses directly related to floods and involves a broader set of risk and poverty practices. The proposed analytical framework is likely to be useful for future research on the topic of understanding heterogenous risk behaviour, particularly for systemic comparisons of human responses to natural hazard in other parts of the world.
Design/methodology/approach
The data underlying this paper were obtained during a year of extensive anthropological fieldwork in 2010 and 2011, in one of the most flood-prone riverbank settlements in Jakarta, Indonesia. A combination of qualitative and quantitative methods were used to obtain data in the field, while the analyses of risk-styles was based on quantitative and qualitative analyses of the survey results and narratives of the respondents of the study.
Findings
This paper defines and analyses four risk-handling styles that are commonly used by inhabitants of a flood-prone riverbank settlement in Jakarta (called Bantaran Kali in this paper) to handle recurrent flood risk. These risk-styles are not completely fixed over time; in particular circumstances, people may and do change their risk-style. However, they should not be considered random or ad hoc. Instead, the study shows how these risk-styles reflect practices that gradually develop during people’s lives in a highly uncertain living environment (characterized by flood risk and poverty-related risks), and are more or less consistently used over longer periods of time and in relation to different types of risk and uncertainty. The paper argues that the four risk-styles described are influenced by factors that may seem unrelated to flood risk at first sight, such as trust in other actors and the government, networks and socializing skills, and the opportunities and limitations that are shaped by the economic and political structures in which riverbank settlers live.
Originality/value
This paper takes a bottom-up perspective and sheds light on the perceptions of a group of marginalized riverbank settlers on the risk of floods. By introducing the notion of risk-styles, it adds nuanced and empirical data that were obtained during extensive fieldwork to the debate on understanding heterogeneous risk behaviour. The originality of the paper lies in the combined use of qualitative and quantitative tools that were used to categorize common risk-styles as well as in the proposed analyses for defining and understanding heterogeneous risk behaviour.
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Reports on project work in six further education colleges in central England, supported by funding from the Further Educational Development Agency as part of its inclusive…
Abstract
Reports on project work in six further education colleges in central England, supported by funding from the Further Educational Development Agency as part of its inclusive learning initiative. The project team investigated a range of materials for student analysis of learning styles, carried out a trial of chosen materials with class groups across a range of vocational subjects, and evaluated the usefulness of the materials to both students and lecturers. The outcomes of the project are analysed and set within the context of current developments in post‐16 education. A follow‐up study at one of the colleges is presented, and the implications of the project as a whole for college management are considered.
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