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1 – 10 of over 4000The purpose of this paper is to present a new method for evaluation of emergency plans for unconventional emergency events by using the soft fuzzy rough set theory and methodology…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present a new method for evaluation of emergency plans for unconventional emergency events by using the soft fuzzy rough set theory and methodology.
Design/methodology/approach
In response to the problems of insufficient risk identification, incomplete and inaccurate data and different preference of decision makers, a new model for emergency plan evaluation is established by combining soft set theory with classical fuzzy rough set theory. Moreover, by combining the TOPSIS method with soft fuzzy rough set theory, the score value of the soft fuzzy lower and upper approximation is defined for the optimal object and the worst object. Finally, emergency plans are comprehensively evaluated according to the soft close degree of the soft fuzzy rough set theory.
Findings
This paper presents a new perspective on emergency management decision making in unconventional emergency events. Also, the paper provides an effective model for evaluating emergency plans for unconventional events.
Originality/value
The paper contributes to decision making in emergency management of unconventional emergency events. The model is useful for dealing with decision making with uncertain information.
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Tilottama G. Chowdhury and Feisal Murshed
This paper proposes that categorization flexibility, operationalized as the cognitive capacity that cross-categorizes products in multiple situational categories across multiple…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper proposes that categorization flexibility, operationalized as the cognitive capacity that cross-categorizes products in multiple situational categories across multiple domains, might favorably influence a consumer’s evaluation of unconventional options.
Design/methodology/approach
Experimental research design is used to test the theory. An exploratory study first establishes the effect of categorization flexibility in a non-food domain. Study 1 documents the moderating role of decision domain, showing that the effect works only under low- (vs high-) consequence domain. Studies 2A and 2B further refine the notion by showing that individuals can be primed in a relatively higher categorization flexibility frame of mind. Study 3 demonstrates the interactive effect of categorization flexibility and adventure priming in a high-consequence domain. Study 4 integrates the interactive effects of decisions with low- vs high-consequence, adventure priming and categorization flexibility within a single decision domain of high consequence.
Findings
Consumers with higher- (vs lower-) categorization flexibility tend to opt for unconventional choices when the decision domain entails low consequences, whereas such a result does not hold under decision domain of high consequences. The categorization flexibility effects in case of low-consequence decision domain holds true even when consumers are primed to be categorization flexible. Furthermore, with additional adventure priming, consumers show an increased preference for unconventional options even under a decision domain with high consequence.
Research limitations/implications
This study could not examine real purchase behavior as results are based on cross-sectional, behavioral intention data. In addition, it did not examine the underlying reason for presence of cross-domain categorization flexibility index.
Practical implications
The results suggest that stimuli may be tailored to consumers in ways that increase the salience and the perceived attractiveness of unconventional choices. Further, data reinforce the notion of cross-categorical interrelations among different domains, which could be leveraged by marketers.
Originality/value
This study represents the first documentation of the potential ways by which unconventional product choice might be a function of individuals’ categorization flexibility level across different types of decision domains. The findings yield implications that are novel to both categorization and consumer decision-making literature.
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This chapter takes inspiration from Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick’s artistic work and academic writing to attend to some of the under-utilised dimensions of her work to date, that of…
Abstract
This chapter takes inspiration from Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick’s artistic work and academic writing to attend to some of the under-utilised dimensions of her work to date, that of making. Using unconventional methodologies from Sedgewick, I present my own unconventional methodologies to queer CMS. In this way through theory and making, we can queer CMS anew.
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Diego Quer, Laura Rienda, Rosario Andreu and Si Miao
The conventional wisdom suggests that the lack of prior host country-specific experience and a higher institutional distance deter multinational enterprises (MNEs) from entering a…
Abstract
Purpose
The conventional wisdom suggests that the lack of prior host country-specific experience and a higher institutional distance deter multinational enterprises (MNEs) from entering a foreign country. However, past studies report that Chinese MNEs show an unconventional risk-taking behavior choosing foreign locations, where they have no prior experience or there is an increased institutional distance. Drawing on the institutional theory, the purpose of this paper is to argue that Chinese Government official visits to the host country may act as a risk-reduction device, thus providing an explanation for such an unconventional behavior.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors develop two hypotheses regarding how Chinese Government official visits moderate the impact of host country-specific experience and institutional distance on the location choice of Chinese MNEs. The authors test the hypotheses using a sample of investment location decisions by Chinese MNEs in Latin America.
Findings
The authors find that government official visits mitigate the lack of firm’s prior host country experience. However, only high-level government visits reduce institutional distance.
Originality/value
The authors contribute to the international business literature by analyzing how home country government diplomatic activities may pave the way of host country institutional environment for foreign MNEs from that home country. In addition, the authors provide an additional explanation for the unconventional risk-taking behavior of Chinese MNEs. Finally, the authors also contribute to a better understanding of the decision-making process of emerging-market MNEs entering other emerging economies.
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This editorial seeks to address the importance of intuition and metaphor in the construction of logical systems of thought.
Abstract
Purpose
This editorial seeks to address the importance of intuition and metaphor in the construction of logical systems of thought.
Design/methodology/approach
Two unconventional approaches to probability theory are considered, one based upon the non‐intuitive law of the excluded middle, and one based upon the notion of surprise.
Findings
It is argued that formal systems based upon non‐intuitive assumptions/axioms are generally less likely to be accepted by researchers. Nevertheless, it sometimes is possible to identify unconventional systems with greater intuitive appeal than their more orthodox counterparts.
Originality/value
The editorial emphasizes an aspect of formal mathematical systems – intuition – that is often overlooked.
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This paper aims to present an interview with management guru Richard Pascale, author of The Power of Positive Deviance, outlining the basic steps executives should follow to…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to present an interview with management guru Richard Pascale, author of The Power of Positive Deviance, outlining the basic steps executives should follow to successfully implement positive deviance, an unconventional change methodology.
Design/methodology/approach
The interview examines the positive deviance approach, which derives from a deceptively simple idea. Faced with a seemingly intractable or impossible problem or situation, a few people having the same resources as their peers manage to succeed against all odds.
Findings
The PD process entails identifying these unusually effective individuals – the positive deviants – and adopting their practices.
Practical implications
The author explains that only when the community takes ownership of the problem and validates the need to change will “something else happen different from what has already happened.”
Originality/value
Richard Pascale explains how a technique that was invented to solve intractable social problems can work in a corporate setting.
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Giacomo Manetti, Marco Bellucci and Stefania Oliva
This article aims to contribute to the critical accounting literature by reviewing how previous studies have addressed the topic of dialogic accounting (DA), examining the main…
Abstract
Purpose
This article aims to contribute to the critical accounting literature by reviewing how previous studies have addressed the topic of dialogic accounting (DA), examining the main themes investigated and discussing potential further developments of the DA research agenda.
Design/methodology/approach
The present study builds on a systematic literature review of 186 research products indexed on Scopus, Web of Science and Google Scholar that were published between 2004 and 2019 in 55 accounting or non-accounting scientific journals and 14 books.
Findings
First, a content analysis of each contribution informs a classification in terms of research design, methodology, geographical setting and sector of analysis. Second, a bibliometric analysis provides several visual representations of the network of research products included in our review using bibliographic coupling, cooccurrence and coauthorship analyses. Third, and most importantly, the main narrative review discusses the development of the research strand on DA from the seminal works that introduced the topic, through the core of critical contributions inspired by the struggle between democracy and agonism, to the most recent contributions, in which new topics emerge and innovative methodologies are applied to the study of DA.
Originality/value
The main contribution of this manuscript is twofold. In addition to providing a systematic, bibliometric and narrative review of the evolution of nearly two decades of literature on DA, the present study is intended to collect ideas for further research and to discuss how the advent of new technologies and the peculiarities of various institutional contexts can shape the future research agenda on this critical form of accounting.
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Tachia Chin, T.C.E. Cheng, Chenhao Wang and Lei Huang
Aiming to resolve cross-cultural paradoxes in combining artificial intelligence (AI) with human intelligence (HI) for international humanitarian logistics, this paper aims to…
Abstract
Purpose
Aiming to resolve cross-cultural paradoxes in combining artificial intelligence (AI) with human intelligence (HI) for international humanitarian logistics, this paper aims to adopt an unorthodox Yin–Yang dialectic approach to address how AI–HI interactions can be interpreted as a sophisticated cross-cultural knowledge creation (KC) system that enables more effective decision-making for providing humanitarian relief across borders.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper is conceptual and pragmatic in nature, whereas its structure design follows the requirements of a real impact study.
Findings
Based on experimental information and logical reasoning, the authors first identify three critical cross-cultural challenges in AI–HI collaboration: paradoxes of building a cross-cultural KC system, paradoxes of integrative AI and HI in moral judgement and paradoxes of processing moral-related information with emotions in AI–HI collaboration. Then applying the Yin–Yang dialectic to interpret Klir’s epistemological frame (1993), the authors propose an unconventional stratified system of cross-cultural KC for understanding integrative AI–HI decision-making for humanitarian logistics across cultures.
Practical implications
This paper aids not only in deeply understanding complex issues stemming from human emotions and cultural cognitions in the context of cross-border humanitarian logistics, but also equips culturally-diverse stakeholders to effectively navigate these challenges and their potential ramifications. It enhances the decision-making process and optimizes the synergy between AI and HI for cross-cultural humanitarian logistics.
Originality/value
The originality lies in the use of a cognitive methodology of the Yin–Yang dialectic to metaphorize the dynamic genesis of integrative AI-HI KC for international humanitarian logistics. Based on system science and knowledge management, this paper applies game theory, multi-objective optimization and Markov decision process to operationalize the conceptual framework in the context of cross-cultural humanitarian logistics.
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Evert Gummesson, Hannu Kuusela and Elina Närvänen
– The purpose of this paper is to propose that the recasting of supplier and customer roles reconfigures the role of marketing.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to propose that the recasting of supplier and customer roles reconfigures the role of marketing.
Design/methodology/approach
A conceptual paper that suggests the need to rethink the role of marketing in the strategic decision making of companies. The study accesses recent theories of marketing, service and value and provides illustrative case examples.
Findings
Consumers are progressively more active and the traditional supplier role of controlling consumers is less viable. The case examples show the variety of ways in which companies may adopt a new role in relation to customers and the market. The paper argues that adapting to this role change needs to take place at the highest level in the company and is the way to reinvent marketing strategy. This also necessitates marketing employing unconventional methodologies and relevant theory to address the complexity and ambiguity of current markets.
Research limitations/implications
The paper is a conceptual paper restricted to supplier and customer roles, albeit set in a broader context of stakeholders.
Practical implications
The marketing-oriented supplier of the future can design service systems and exert a certain control at the same time adapting to and supporting consumer initiatives through interaction in networks of stakeholder relationships.
Originality/value
Stressing the new roles of consumers and suppliers; reinventing the role of marketing, breaking with conventional marketing research methodology.
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Only few festival studies in the Philippines attempted to examine the capability of festivals as folk media to communicate development. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the…
Abstract
Purpose
Only few festival studies in the Philippines attempted to examine the capability of festivals as folk media to communicate development. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the development-oriented activities and messages in the San Isidro Pahiyas Festival in Lucban, Quezon.
Design/methodology/approach
The researcher conducted participant observation, ethnographic photography, key informant interview and record review. A historical analysis of the festival’s background, thematic analysis of its list of programs, visual analysis of the photographs guided by Barthes’ (1964) semiology and hermeneutics were employed.
Findings
Formerly a native ritual before the Hispanic rule in the country, the San Isidro Pahiyas Festival is currently held by the Local Government of Lucban, Quezon, primarily for touristic purposes. The festival’s activities in 2015 reflected the municipality’s dependence on agriculture and the residents’ religiosity, skills and creativity. The adornments during the said celebration likewise gave a glimpse of the residents’ social status, livelihood sources and reverence to Saint Isidore. Through hermeneutics, the researcher also found issues on the residents’ idolatry and their motivation to display their produce during the festival.
Research limitations/implications
The findings of this study can only hold true for the 2015 celebration of the San Isidro Pahiyas Festival. Despite this, the study finds hermeneutics and Barthes’ (1964) semiology useful for festival studies. It also appeals to folk media studies and postcolonial theories.
Originality/value
This research provides an unconventional methodology for festival studies, which contributes to the very limited hermeneutic tourism studies abroad and folk media studies in the Philippines.
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