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1 – 10 of over 31000
Article
Publication date: 1 April 2008

D.B. van der Schyf

There is increasing academic pressure on Departments of Accounting in South Africa whose academic programmes are accredited with the South African Institute of Chartered…

Abstract

There is increasing academic pressure on Departments of Accounting in South Africa whose academic programmes are accredited with the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA). The reason for this that the academic training of potential chartered accountants has long been their main academic focus, and they often fail to do justice to their real academic mission of scholarly activity in accounting (the pursuit of science as an endeavour), which is central to the essence of a university. The quality of such departments’ research is not yet an important criterion for their prestige. However, only Departments of Accounting that develop Accounting as a social science in scholarly activity in accounting deserve international recognition. This empirical study attempts to convince Departments of Accounting, particularly those whose academic programmes are accredited by SAICA, to embark on scholarly activity in accounting as soon as possible.

Article
Publication date: 18 December 2018

Seyedeh Khatereh Daneshjoovash and Mirza Hassan Hosseini

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the impact of Entrepreneurship Education Programs (EEPs) from students’ and educators’ viewpoint to improve the quality of EEPs.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the impact of Entrepreneurship Education Programs (EEPs) from students’ and educators’ viewpoint to improve the quality of EEPs.

Design/methodology/approach

This research applies a qualitative-quantitative methodology. Its sample is included 291 students were selected randomly and 35 educators were chosen by convenience technique from universities of Applied Science and Technology of Iran.

Findings

The results revealed that essence of EEPs had a positive direct effect on objectives and content of EEPs; objectives and content of EEPs had a positive direct effect on methods of EEPs; essence of EEPs had a positive direct effect on impact of EEPs; and essence of EEPs had a positive indirect effect on methods through objectives and content based on students’ and educators’ perspective. Moreover, as opposed to educators’, students believed that methods of EEPs have not a positive direct effect on impact, while educators were opponent to students approach about the positive direct effect of essence of EEPs on methods.

Research limitations/implications

The study was limited to Applied Science and Technology universities were selected by convenience sampling method. Similar studies in other universities are needed to be conducted by simple random sampling to evaluate EEPs.

Practical implications

The study recommends policy-makers to be aware of students’ needs of EEPs’ methods, as well inform educators about effective and initiative methods.

Originality/value

Evaluating impact of EEPs based on demand and supply-side viewpoint is the first study conducted in Applied Science and Technology universities of Iran.

Details

Education + Training, vol. 61 no. 7/8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0040-0912

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 October 2005

Liz Matykiewicz and Dave Ashton

The purpose of this paper is to introduce Essence of Care, a benchmarking tool for health care practitioners and an integral part of the UK National Health Service (NHS) Clinical…

2309

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to introduce Essence of Care, a benchmarking tool for health care practitioners and an integral part of the UK National Health Service (NHS) Clinical Governance agenda. It focuses on how one NHS Community Health Trust has attempted to introduce organisation‐wide benchmarking by using a workshop programme to raise awareness and act as a catalyst to initiate implementation. An evaluation of progress made six months after the workshops were delivered is described.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper outlines the case study approach taken and describes the qualitative methods used in the small scale evaluation, namely interviews and focus groups with the decision makers and implementers of Essence of Care across the case study site.

Findings

The evaluation highlights that whilst raising awareness is relatively straightforward, putting Essence of Care into practice is more difficult to achieve, especially when happening at a time of significant organisational change. The discussion considers the need for a receptive context for change when implementing benchmarking for service improvement and reviews whether Essence of Care benchmarking could be a practical framework for developing an improvement culture within an organisation.

Originality/value

The empirical findings from this research will contribute to the knowledge and understanding of using benchmarking for service improvement within the NHS.

Details

Benchmarking: An International Journal, vol. 12 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1463-5771

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 13 September 2019

Juliana Ventura Amaral and Reinaldo Guerreiro

Empirical studies have found that cost-based pricing remains dominant in pricing practice and suggest that practice conflicts with marketing theory, which recommends value-based…

3431

Abstract

Purpose

Empirical studies have found that cost-based pricing remains dominant in pricing practice and suggest that practice conflicts with marketing theory, which recommends value-based prices. However, empirical studies have yet to examine whether cost-plus formulas represent the pricing approach or essence.

Design/methodology/approach

This study aims to address the factors that explain price setting whereby the cost-plus formula is not just the pricing approach but also the pricing essence. This examination is grounded in a survey conducted on 380 Brazilian industrial companies.

Findings

The results show that, for price-makers, the cost-based pricing essence is positively associated with four factors (two obstacles to deploying value-based pricing, company size and differentiation), but it is negatively related to one factor (premium pricing strategy). For price-takers, the cost-based pricing essence is positively associated with four factors (two obstacles to deploying value-based pricing, coercive isomorphism and use of full costs), but it is negatively related to five factors (one obstacle to deploying value-based pricing, company size, competitors’ ability to copy, normative isomorphism and experience).

Originality/value

The key contribution of this paper is demonstrating that cost-plus formulas do not go against the incorporation of competitors and value information. This study reveals that it is possible to set prices based on either value or competitors’ prices while simultaneously preserving the simplicity of the cost-plus formulas. Via the margin, firms may connect costs to information about competition and value. The authors also demonstrate the drawbacks of not segregating companies into price-makers and price-takers and an excessive focus on the pricing approach at the expense of pricing essence.

Details

Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, vol. 34 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0885-8624

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 March 1992

John Conway O'Brien

A collection of essays by a social economist seeking to balanceeconomics as a science of means with the values deemed necessary toman′s finding the good life and society enduring…

1134

Abstract

A collection of essays by a social economist seeking to balance economics as a science of means with the values deemed necessary to man′s finding the good life and society enduring as a civilized instrumentality. Looks for authority to great men of the past and to today′s moral philosopher: man is an ethical animal. The 13 essays are: 1. Evolutionary Economics: The End of It All? which challenges the view that Darwinism destroyed belief in a universe of purpose and design; 2. Schmoller′s Political Economy: Its Psychic, Moral and Legal Foundations, which centres on the belief that time‐honoured ethical values prevail in an economy formed by ties of common sentiment, ideas, customs and laws; 3. Adam Smith by Gustav von Schmoller – Schmoller rejects Smith′s natural law and sees him as simply spreading the message of Calvinism; 4. Pierre‐Joseph Proudhon, Socialist – Karl Marx, Communist: A Comparison; 5. Marxism and the Instauration of Man, which raises the question for Marx: is the flowering of the new man in Communist society the ultimate end to the dialectical movement of history?; 6. Ethical Progress and Economic Growth in Western Civilization; 7. Ethical Principles in American Society: An Appraisal; 8. The Ugent Need for a Consensus on Moral Values, which focuses on the real dangers inherent in there being no consensus on moral values; 9. Human Resources and the Good Society – man is not to be treated as an economic resource; man′s moral and material wellbeing is the goal; 10. The Social Economist on the Modern Dilemma: Ethical Dwarfs and Nuclear Giants, which argues that it is imperative to distinguish good from evil and to act accordingly: existentialism, situation ethics and evolutionary ethics savour of nihilism; 11. Ethical Principles: The Economist′s Quandary, which is the difficulty of balancing the claims of disinterested science and of the urge to better the human condition; 12. The Role of Government in the Advancement of Cultural Values, which discusses censorship and the funding of art against the background of the US Helms Amendment; 13. Man at the Crossroads draws earlier themes together; the author makes the case for rejecting determinism and the “operant conditioning” of the Skinner school in favour of the moral progress of autonomous man through adherence to traditional ethical values.

Details

International Journal of Social Economics, vol. 19 no. 3/4/5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0306-8293

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 21 May 2021

Mark Francis, Ron Fisher and Malin Song

To consider how quality should be conceptualized to improve understanding for researchers and practitioners, some researchers have discussed quality in terms of an essence or…

Abstract

Purpose

To consider how quality should be conceptualized to improve understanding for researchers and practitioners, some researchers have discussed quality in terms of an essence or necessary condition. Others have regarded quality as individual and experiential, based on differences in actors’ conceptions of quality. This paper aims to resolve the tension caused by these competing views and propose an appropriate method for future research in the area of quality.

Design/methodology/approach

In many studies, researchers have attempted to understand quality in terms of necessary conditions or through a dualistic ontology. At the same time, an increasing number of researchers have emphasized its experiential nature while discussing quality in conjunction with meeting customers’ expectations. This study investigates how quality can be understood using a conceptual framework based on family resemblances.

Findings

There is no necessary condition or essence by which quality may be conceptualized or defined. This finding resolves the tension that has arisen from the simultaneous search for a common feature and the assertion that quality is experientially created by individuals. The research also highlights that the nature of quality may differ between people, time and place, or some aspects of it may be the same. Regarding quality in terms of family resemblances accommodates actors’ different conceptions of quality. Phenomenography is proposed as an appropriate research approach with its focus on the qualitatively different ways in which actors make sense of phenomena in their lifeworld.

Research limitations/implications

Understanding quality as a family of attributes, and using phenomenography as method, provides methodological clarity to long-standing research issues. Using the approaches outlined in this study will enable empirical studies of quality, in any context, to be conducted soundly and relatively quickly. It will also provide a more inclusive and holistic set of meanings based on the experiences of individuals.

Practical implications

The research provides important insights for researchers and practitioners through clearer conceptions of quality. These include the ability to plan and deliver business outcomes that are more closely aligned with customers’ expectations. Understanding the conceptions of quality, as experienced and determined through family resemblances, has clear implications for researchers and practitioners.

Originality/value

Understanding actors’ conceptions of quality through the lens of family resemblances resolves long-standing research issues. Using phenomenography as method is innovative, as it is an emerging research approach in the business domain.

Details

International Journal of Quality and Service Sciences, vol. 13 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1756-669X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 6 February 2019

Joanne Emma Robinson and Leam Craig

The purpose of this paper is to adapt a social climate measure for use within a forensic intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) service and examine perceptions of…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to adapt a social climate measure for use within a forensic intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) service and examine perceptions of social climate and the links with patient aggression across three levels of security.

Design/methodology/approach

Four staff participated in a focus group to discuss how the Essen Climate Evaluation Schema (EssenCES) could be adapted for IDD patients. Subsequently, a pilot study with three patients highlighted some difficulties in administering the adapted measure. Alterations in the administration of the measure were implemented with a further ten patients residing across three levels of security. The EssenCES was adapted to include more visual prompts to assist in the patients’ completion of the measure. The frequency of aggressive incidents in each of the three settings was also collated.

Findings

Statistical analysis revealed a non-significant trend where positive social climate ratings increased as the security level decreased. There was a significant difference in the frequency of aggressive incidents across the three levels of security; however, there were no significant relationships found between the questionnaire ratings and the frequency of incidents.

Research limitations/implications

The results lacked statistical power due to the low number of participants. Further studies with adapted social climate measures need to be conducted to assess the implications of social climate on individuals with IDD in secure forensic services.

Originality/value

The study adapted and piloted a social climate measure for individuals in a forensic IDD service.

Details

Journal of Intellectual Disabilities and Offending Behaviour, vol. 10 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2050-8824

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 March 1985

Tomas Riha

Nobody concerned with political economy can neglect the history of economic doctrines. Structural changes in the economy and society influence economic thinking and, conversely…

2554

Abstract

Nobody concerned with political economy can neglect the history of economic doctrines. Structural changes in the economy and society influence economic thinking and, conversely, innovative thought structures and attitudes have almost always forced economic institutions and modes of behaviour to adjust. We learn from the history of economic doctrines how a particular theory emerged and whether, and in which environment, it could take root. We can see how a school evolves out of a common methodological perception and similar techniques of analysis, and how it has to establish itself. The interaction between unresolved problems on the one hand, and the search for better solutions or explanations on the other, leads to a change in paradigma and to the formation of new lines of reasoning. As long as the real world is subject to progress and change scientific search for explanation must out of necessity continue.

Details

International Journal of Social Economics, vol. 12 no. 3/4/5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0306-8293

Article
Publication date: 10 April 2009

Xiaoxia Li, He Lin and Yongli Li

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the order relation of existing in computer science, define and analyze macroscopical‐order and semi‐partial order in pansystems theory, and…

364

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the order relation of existing in computer science, define and analyze macroscopical‐order and semi‐partial order in pansystems theory, and explored the relationship between macroscopical‐order and semi‐partial order. It is an attempt to analyze problems in computer science by using pansystem's philosophy with mathematics and technology (PMT)‐combination.

Design/methodology/approach

Sorting is an important operation in computer science. The main task of the sorting operation is to rearrange the random serial of records into an ordered serial of records according to some keywords. The authors know that there are many sorting methods in computer science. The authors discussed the essence of semi‐partial order and macroscopical‐order and the transformation between semi‐partial order and macroscopical‐order from the point of panscale's view; the essence of this transformation is revealed. By combining the PMT (PMT‐combination), it is easy for the authors to get a deep understanding of the technology in computer science.

Findings

The need for application of the order relation, the authors explored the relationship between macroscopical‐order and semi‐partial order. Combined with PanScale, the authors analyzed the essence of the transformation between macroscopical‐order and semi‐partial order. And applied it to the computer science.

Research limitations/implications

The order relation is an important problem in computer science, as well as existing in our daily life, at the same time this problem has a scale concept in it, the authors need to further research and study.

Practical implications

A very useful method for research of the order relation in computer science.

Originality/value

To explore the relationship between macroscopical‐order and semi‐partial order. Combined with PanScale, the authors analyzed the essence of the transformation between macroscopical‐order and semi‐partial order. And applied macroscopical‐order and semi‐partial order to the computer science.

Details

Kybernetes, vol. 38 no. 3/4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0368-492X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 28 October 2020

Gary Pan, Poh-Sun Seow, Venky Shankararaman and Kevin Koh

Although it is clear that there are many benefits of academic–industry partnership through project-based learning (PBL) courses offered by universities, however, there are…

Abstract

Purpose

Although it is clear that there are many benefits of academic–industry partnership through project-based learning (PBL) courses offered by universities, however, there are challenges in establishing such partnerships that if not addressed, may result in either failure of such collaboration or an unpleasant experience for parties involved. Accordingly, this study aims to address this knowledge gap in the PBL literature by identifying the essence of partnership management and offering insights to managing such partnerships effectively.

Design/methodology/approach

This study aims to develop a framework that highlights the essence of partnership management in a PBL setting and validate the framework by conducting a focus group study on a university in Singapore (UNIS)’s PBL programmes called UNIS-X and UNIS-XO.

Findings

The results suggest that the key features of partnership management include a value proposition, depth of collaboration, knowledge creation and exchange and continuous feedback. In addition, the findings offer useful insights to managing effective partnerships when engaging industry partners in a PBL programme.

Originality/value

For researchers, this paper contributes to the PBL literature by identifying and validating the key features of effective partnerships in PBL. This serves as one of the first exploratory and validation studies in examining key features of partnership in the PBL literature. For educators, this study offers useful insights to understanding effective partnership management when engaging industry partners in a PBL course. With the knowledge, educators can devise useful actions to ensure these features of a partnership are established and maintained throughout the project.

Details

Journal of International Education in Business, vol. 14 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2046-469X

Keywords

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