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Article
Publication date: 4 January 2021

A visual and rhetorical perspective on management control systems

Carina Söderlund and Magnus Hansson

The purpose of this paper is to explore the role and function of visuals, visual communication and information design as they relate to management control systems and…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the role and function of visuals, visual communication and information design as they relate to management control systems and visual management (VM) in lean-inspired organisations. This paper helps expand knowledge on how visual and design studies can contribute to research on VM as part of a management control system.

Design/methodology/approach

A study is outlined, which was conducted at a multinational manufacturing company to investigate employees’ perceptions and use of visual devices on the shop floor, including their related reactions and behaviour. The study is delimited to operation management, lean manufacturing and lean boards (i.e. daily management boards and performance measurement boards).

Findings

The findings point out the persuasive purpose of lean boards, as well as the metaphoric and persuasive functions of the visuals and information design in management control systems.

Originality/value

Visual research and design research are rare within studies of management control systems. There is a need to perform research that takes into account the role and function of visual communication and information design in VM. The proposed areas for future research can provide design principles, as well as insights into the complexity of visual communication and information design in VM and management control studies.

Details

International Journal of Lean Six Sigma, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJLSS-03-2020-0033
ISSN: 2040-4166

Keywords

  • Management control
  • Visual management
  • Visual rhetoric
  • Management system
  • Visual communication
  • Information design

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Article
Publication date: 7 December 2015

Looking back: ten years of visual qualitative research

Jane Davison, Christine McLean and Samantha Warren

The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the development of visual qualitative research in organizations and management over the past ten years, the experience of…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the development of visual qualitative research in organizations and management over the past ten years, the experience of editing a special issue of Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management entitled “Exploring the visual in organizations and management”, and the potential contributions this journal could make to the advancement of this significant area of research.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper provides an overview and critical reflections on visual qualitative research in the study of organizations and management.

Findings

The authors note that organization studies have been slow to develop visual research compared to other disciplines, especially the humanities and branches of the social sciences. However, development has been rapid over the past decade, and the authors comment on the diverse visual empirical material and the range of conceptual approaches.

Research limitations/implications

The paper is a condensed reflection. It predicts a “mainstreaming” of visual research in future years and an increased integration of the visual into the study of management processes and organizations.

Practical implications

This piece provides useful directions and references for researchers new to the field and different ways of thinking the visual and visual methodologies.

Originality/value

The paper provides a rapid overview of the state of visual research in organizations and management studies.

Details

Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management: An International Journal, vol. 10 no. 4
Type: Research Article
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/QROM-07-2015-1311
ISSN: 1746-5648

Keywords

  • Qualitative
  • Review
  • Interdisciplinary
  • Visual

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Article
Publication date: 4 November 2020

The role of need for cognition in consumers' mental imagery: a study of retail brand's Instagram

Ran Huang and Sejin Ha

Drawn from the concepts of processing fluency and mental imagery, the present study aims to fill the void by developing the mechanism underlying consumers' cognitive…

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Abstract

Purpose

Drawn from the concepts of processing fluency and mental imagery, the present study aims to fill the void by developing the mechanism underlying consumers' cognitive processing of visually appealing digital content in social media (i.e. Instagram) of retail brands.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were gathered using a web-based survey method with consumers residing in the USA (N = 328). Structural equation modelling (SEM) was employed to investigate the proposed hypotheses. In addition, measurement invariance and multigroup analyses were conducted to test the moderation effect of need for cognition (NFC).

Findings

The results supported the pivotal role of mental imagery when consumers process visual messages in the context of a retail brand's Instagram. Both comprehension fluency and imagery fluency positively influence mental imagery, which in turn cultivates positive attitude towards the brand. The mediating role of mental imagery is confirmed. Furthermore, individuals' NFC interacts with imagery fluency but not with comprehension fluency such that high NFC strengthens the effect of imagery fluency on mental imagery. That is, when high-NFC consumers process information on Instagram, their perceptions of ease of generating imagery likely evoke visual representation of the brand's messages on Instagram in their minds.

Practical implications

This research provides feasible ways for brands to increase the effectiveness of digital marketing communications in social media (e.g. optimising of the contextual features of visual information and employing interactive features such as filters of social media to enhance processing fluency).

Originality/value

Within the context of digital retailing, this study provides a new perspective of consumers' imagery processing to investigate the effectiveness of visual-focussed messages.

Details

International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJRDM-04-2020-0146
ISSN: 0959-0552

Keywords

  • Visual social media
  • Information processing
  • Mental imagery
  • Need for cognition
  • Retail brand

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Article
Publication date: 31 August 2020

Consumer visual attention and behaviour of online clothing

Xiaohong Mo, Enle Sun and Xian Yang

The purpose of this paper is to study online clothing consumers' behaviour and their visual attention mechanism to provide objective and quantitative evidences for the…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to study online clothing consumers' behaviour and their visual attention mechanism to provide objective and quantitative evidences for the display and sales of online clothing.

Design/methodology/approach

Firstly, this paper conducted a Focus Group Methodology and questionnaire survey to obtain concern factors of online clothing. Secondly, the online clothing's bottom-up visual stimulation and consumer's top-down expectations were analysed, and proposed the hypotheses about significant stimulus of clothing and consumer's emotional experience. Thirdly, the online clothing consumer's visual attention rules and related qualitative results were discussed, and proposed visual attention law for online clothing. Finally, took the company's 84th quarter clothing design practices as research projects, all the hypotheses were demonstrated through eye movement physiology experiments, online clothing trial release and node sales data.

Findings

Online clothing has unique visual display ways compared with other online products such as online advertising, brands and food packaging. Clothing patterns of unfamiliar (fresh) font shapes are more attractive than the patterns of familiar fonts. The cause of the bottom-up visual attention bias is the contrast between clothing features, not the absolute stimulus intensity of the features themselves. Clothing factors can change their emotional experience from no difference to significant difference under the influence of other clothing factors.

Originality/value

Put forward hypotheses of online clothing consumer behaviour and its visual attention mechanism, provided objective and quantitative evidences through eye tracker.

Details

International Journal of Clothing Science and Technology, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCST-02-2020-0029
ISSN: 0955-6222

Keywords

  • Visual attention
  • Clothing display
  • Consumer behaviour
  • Eye tracking

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Article
Publication date: 31 August 2020

Visual literacy in consumption: consumers, brand aesthetics and the curated self

Leonie Lynch, Maurice Patterson and Caoilfhionn Ní Bheacháin

This paper aims to consider the visual literacy mobilized by consumers in their use of brand aesthetics to construct and communicate a curated self.

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Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to consider the visual literacy mobilized by consumers in their use of brand aesthetics to construct and communicate a curated self.

Design/methodology/approach

The research surveyed a range of visual material from Instagram. Specifically, the goal was to use “compositional interpretation”, an approach to visual analysis that is not methodologically explicit but which, in itself, draws upon the visual literacy of the researcher to provide a descriptive analysis of the formal visual quality of images as distinct from their symbolic resonances. The research also incorporates 10 phenomenological-type interviews with consumers. Consistent with a phenomenological approach, informants were selected because they have “lived” the experience under investigation, in this case requiring them to be keen consumers of the Orla Kiely brand.

Findings

Findings indicate that consumers deploy their visual literacy in strategic visualization (imaginatively planning and coordinating artifacts with other objects in their collection, positioning and using them as part of an overall visual repertoire), composition (becoming active producers of images) and emergent design (turning design objects into display pieces, repurposing design objects or simply borrowing brand aesthetics to create designed objects of their own).

Research limitations/implications

This research has implications for the understanding of visual literacy within consumer culture. Engaging comprehensively with the visual compositions of consumers, this research moves beyond brand symbolism, semiotics or concepts of social status to examine the self-conscious creation of a curated self. The achievement of such a curated self depends on visual literacy and the deployment of abstract design language by consumers in the pursuit of both aesthetic satisfaction and social communication.

Practical implications

This research has implications for brand designers and managers in terms of how they might control or manage the use of brand aesthetics by consumers.

Originality/value

To date, there has been very little consumer research that explores the nature of visual literacy and even less that offers an empirical investigation of this concept within the context of brand aesthetics. The research moves beyond brand symbolism, semiotics and social status to consider the deployment of abstract visual language in communicating the curated self.

Details

European Journal of Marketing, vol. 54 no. 11
Type: Research Article
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/EJM-01-2019-0099
ISSN: 0309-0566

Keywords

  • Design
  • Consumption
  • Visual literacy
  • Brand aesthetics

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Book part
Publication date: 30 November 2017

Multimodal Construction of a Rational Myth: Industrialization of the French Building Sector in the Period from 1945 to 1970

Eva Boxenbaum, Thibault Daudigeos, Jean-Charles Pillet and Sylvain Colombero

This chapter examines how proponents of industrialization used multiple modes of communication to socially construct the rational myth of industrialization in the French…

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Abstract

This chapter examines how proponents of industrialization used multiple modes of communication to socially construct the rational myth of industrialization in the French construction sector after World War II. We illuminate the respective roles of visual and verbal communication in this process. Our findings suggest that actors construct rational myths according to the following step-by-step method: first, they use visuals to suggest associations between new practices and valuable purposes; then they use verbal text to establish the technical rationality of certain practices; and lastly, they employ both verbal and visual communications to convey their mythical features.

Details

Multimodality, Meaning, and Institutions
Type: Book
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/S0733-558X2017000054B001
ISBN: 978-1-78743-332-8

Keywords

  • Rational myth
  • multimodality
  • visual communication
  • substantive rationality

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Book part
Publication date: 1 February 2007

You Ought to Be in Pictures

Russell W. Belk

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Details

Review of Marketing Research
Type: Book
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/S1548-6435(2007)0000003011
ISBN: 978-0-7656-1306-6

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Book part
Publication date: 9 July 2018

Storytelling Through Photos: A Photovoice Lens on Ethical Visual Research

Janine Pierce

The purpose of this paper was to examine and reflect on the visual social research method of photovoice, which is a qualitative research process increasingly being used by…

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Abstract

The purpose of this paper was to examine and reflect on the visual social research method of photovoice, which is a qualitative research process increasingly being used by government and nongovernment organizations to enable participants who are often from disadvantaged groups, to capture their lives, experiences, and issues through photos and associated written stories. Visual methods such as photovoice provide both opportunities and risks with ethical considerations and concerns that are both ethical in nature for those taking the photographs, and for those in the photographs. There are also associated ethical challenges for researchers to conform to ethical guidelines, while conveying stories that are in the public interest. Ascertaining why visual information should be considered in relation to ethics can be argued as important, as the receiver processing the visual information will process, perceive, and respond in a variety of ways, and possibly in different ways to what the sender aimed to convey. It was argued here that due to the strong ethical guidelines for photovoice projects, it is more of a deontological-based research approach. A key ethical concern associated with photovoice is that it is touted to participants as a vehicle to achieve social change, yet there is no guarantee that this change will occur, as ultimate power rests in the hands of decision makers. Photovoice ethical processes were discussed, with reflections by the author on ethical issues that have occurred in her own research, and suggestions to organizations on what to consider to ensure a photovoice project proceeds with ethical consideration to ensure an empowering experience as an influencer for social change.

Details

Visual Ethics
Type: Book
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/S1529-209620180000019005
ISBN: 978-1-78756-165-6

Keywords

  • Photovoice
  • visual ethics
  • visual research
  • photovoice process

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Book part
Publication date: 5 October 2007

Vision, Visual Attention, and Visual Search

David Shinar

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Abstract

Details

Traffic Safety and Human Behavior
Type: Book
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/9780080555874-004
ISBN: 978-0-08-045029-2

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Book part
Publication date: 30 November 2017

Where History, Visuality, and Identity Meet: Institutional Paths to Visual Diversity Among Organizations

Achim Oberg, Gili S. Drori and Giuseppe Delmestri

Seeking an answer to the question “how does organizational identity change?” we analyze the visual identity marker of universities, namely logos, as time-related artifacts…

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Abstract

Seeking an answer to the question “how does organizational identity change?” we analyze the visual identity marker of universities, namely logos, as time-related artifacts embodying visual scripts. Engaging with the Stinchcombe hypothesis, we identify five processes to the creation of visual identities of organizations: In addition to (1) imprinting (enactment of the contemporary script) and (2) imprinting-cum-inertia (persistent enactment of epochal scripts), we also identify (3) renewal (enactment of an up-to-date epochal script), (4) historization (enactment of a recovered older epochal script), and (5) multiplicity (simultaneous enactment of multiple epochal scripts). We argue that these processes work together to produce contemporary heterogeneity of visualized identity narratives of universities. We illustrate this, first, with a survey of the current-day logos of 814 university emblems in 20 countries from across the world. Second, drawing on archival and interview materials, we analyze the histories of exemplar university logos to illustrate the various time-related processes. Therefore, by interjecting history – as both time and process – into the analysis of the visualization of organizational identity, we both join with the phenomenological and semiotic analysis of visual material as well as demonstrate that history is not merely a fixed factor echoing imprinting and inertia but rather also includes several forms of engagement with temporality that are less deterministic. Overall, we argue that enactment engages with perceptions of time (imaginations of the past, present, and future) and with perceptions fixed by time (epochal imprinting and inertia) to produce heterogeneity in the visualization of organizational identity.

Details

Multimodality, Meaning, and Institutions
Type: Book
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/S0733-558X2017000054B003
ISBN: 978-1-78743-332-8

Keywords

  • Visuality
  • Organizational identity
  • organizational history
  • Imprinting
  • historization
  • renewal
  • multiplicity

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