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The purpose of this paper is to analyse factors influencing perceptions of preparedness in the response to terrorist attacks of operational personnel in Swedish emergency organizations.

Data were collected using a questionnaire distributed to operational personnel from the police, rescue and ambulance services in eight Swedish counties; 864 responses were received and analysed.

Three aspects of the perception of preparedness for terrorist attacks among Swedish emergency responders were studied: willingness to respond; level of confidence with tasks; and estimated management capability. Factors which positively influenced these perceptions were male sex, training in first aid and dealing with mass casualty incidents, terrorism-related management training (MT), table-top simulations, participation in functional exercises, and access to personal protective equipment (PPE); work experience was inversely related. Occupation in police or rescue services was positively associated with willingness to respond whereas occupation within the emergency medical services was positively associated with estimated management capability.

These findings show that terrorism-related MT and access to PPE increase the perceptions of preparedness for terrorism among the emergency services, aiding judgements about investments in preparedness by crisis management planners.

Limited research in disaster management and hazard preparedness has been conducted in a European context, especially regarding terrorism. Little is known about aspects of preparedness for terrorism in Sweden, particularly from the perspective of the emergency responders.

The purpose of this case study is to develop a lean six sigma (LSS) define–measure–analyze–improve–control (DMAIC) procedure to optimize the willingness to respond (WTR) of Louisiana-based law enforcement officials (LEO) to disasters.

Various LSS tools were used to implement DMAIC to clearly define the problem of WTR, measure the self-reported WTR through a survey, perform statistical analysis on the measured data to identify significant variables to WTR, brainstorm issues and improvements with stakeholders, develop mitigation strategies, implement a pilot solution survey and develop control measures.

Louisiana LEO showed an average of 73.9% of WTR to all disasters. Seven significant variables influenced WTR, which are prior experience, transportation, duty to organization, risk to self, conflicting roles, training and incentive pay. The results from pilot solutions showed that utilizing incentive pay, adequate training and personal protective equipment (PPE) increased WTR from 0.5% up to 16%.

This study developed and validated a unique procedure to improve LEO WTR to disasters, providing a set of DMAIC tools and concepts that can be used by other emergency response agencies. This research was performed during the COVID-19 pandemic and after Hurricane Laura impacted Louisiana.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse how the police, the rescue services and the emergency medical services perceive the threat of terrorism and preparedness for a terrorist-induced crisis. It also aims to unravel differences among the emergency organizations and to discuss their potential implications for emergency preparedness.

Data were collected using a questionnaire distributed to operational personnel from the emergency services in eight Swedish counties; 864 responses were received and analysed.

There were significant differences between the police, rescue and ambulance services regarding perceptions of event likelihood, willingness to respond, estimated management capability and level of confidence with tasks to be performed on-scene. Perceived likelihood of events appeared affected by institutional logic; events within their respective domain of responsibility were perceived as more likely. The police stood out in many aspects, with more personnel with experience of violence on duty and a high grading of the probability of terrorist attacks compared to the other organizations. Fewer police had high estimates of their organizations’ management capability and knowledge of tasks on-scene.

Differences in perspectives of terrorism preparedness and response among the emergency services were shown, highlighting the importance of enabling inter-organizational insights on safety culture, with risk awareness and management strategies, as well as knowledge of the other organizations’ institutional logics and main tasks, so as to achieve an effective, collaborative response to terrorism-induced crises.

Little research has been conducted comparatively with regard to the emergency services and their perceptions of terrorism-specific threats and preparedness, particularly in the Swedish context.

The purpose of this paper is to explore integration and complexity through the evaluation of a case study service which supports multiply excluded homeless people.

A mixed methods theory based evaluation. Data gathering included semi-structured interviews with external stakeholders, analysis of referral and outcome data, focus groups with frontline staff members and managers, and interviews with people living in the service.

The service was highly rated by its stakeholders due to its ability to meet the immediate needs of many individuals and to facilitate access and engagement with community and specialist resources. However, not every individual responded to the support that was an offer, and a number were unable to access the service due to the nature of their needs or a lack of capacity in the service. Whilst the service was able to engage community and specialist services this often appeared to be within the parameters set by these services rather than flexibly around the needs of the individual.

The research is based in one case study service and findings may not be transferable to different local contexts and providers. However, the findings are consistent with previous studies.

It is possible for commissioners to intervene in the complexities that multiply excluded homeless people experiences through the introduction of a new service. However, this is unlikely to address all of the gaps and fragmentation that people in these circumstances face. It is therefore important that partners are sensitive to such limitations and have a shared willingness to respond to continuing gaps and shortfalls.

Despite specific national policies people continue to experience multiple exclusion homelessness which suggest that more still needs to be done to prevent people from this extremely disadvantaged social circumstance. Whilst specialist services can provide excellent support the response is still fragmented for some people meaning that work to better integrate their responses must continue.

The paper contributes to the evidence base of support models for multiple excluded homeless people and the factors that can enable a housing support service to respond to such needs. It also provides comment on the relevance of the concept of complex adaptive systems to the study of integration.

Firms with market foresight – knowledge of market changes ahead of competitors – can convert that knowledge into creative and timely new product offerings. Based on a discovery-oriented process, working closely with managers throughout the research process, we develop and test a framework delineating market information determinants and new product outcomes of market foresight.

Using data collected primarily from senior executives of industrial manufacturers, the hypotheses were tested using partial least squares.

The results indicate that external (active scanning, lead user collaboration, and market experiments) and internal sources (boundary spanner input and interdepartmental connectedness) of market information positively affect market foresight. Further, the effects of active scanning, market experiments, and interdepartmental connectedness on market foresight are positively moderated by the organization’s open-mindedness. These findings also provide evidence that firms with superior market foresight develop more creative products, introduce them to the market faster, and introduce them at a more opportune time.

Our findings demonstrate that managers’ knowledge of market changes ahead of competitors is enhanced through acquiring both external and internal sources of market information. Furthermore, market foresight is significantly enhanced by managers being open-minded to the information gained from these sources as it may challenge long-held assumptions.

This chapter introduces a new construct, market foresight capability, to the literature that will aid managers in developing greater insight into emerging shifts in the market. For researchers, this new line of inquiry expands our understanding as to the critical sources and new product outcomes of obtaining future-focused market information.

Educational reforms are increasingly driven by political and economic forces beyond the university. In this paper I describe how the policy initiatives of the United Kingdom’s Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) have steadily reshaped the length,content and structure of doctoral education in the social sciences. This history of the Council’s willingness to respond to national and international policy concerns about the doctorate dates back to the early years of the Thatcher Government in the 1980s. As well as redefining the doctoral student experience, this interventionist policy environment potentially challenges the institutional autonomy of academics and others involved in educational development. In this article I explore the implications of this for doctoral training provision, and for the meaning of educational development itself. I end by pointing to the possibilities for policy “activism” in responding to these changes.

Scholars working in the strategy area have long held that one of the primary ways in which organizations adapt to external changes is through strategic choice. Inasmuch as a new CEO can result in a new strategic direction for the firm, the CEO turnover event itself is an important way by which organizations can signal an alteration in the direction of the firm. In this chapter, we explore how and why CEO turnover has become one of the most powerful indicators of adaptation the firm can make and propose a research agenda to guide future work on CEO turnover.

Organizational climate is an essential dynamic to leverage in salesforce performance. This study aims to develop a model that explores the determinants of independent manufacturers’ representatives’ (i.e. IMRs’) intentions to comply with their principals’ requests for additional tasking. Using agency theory, the authors explore the application of behavior and outcome-based controls upon dyadic manufacturer-IMR relationships for these additional performance/task requests.

Data from over 1,000 US-based IMRs were used to test two constructs; inter-organizational climate and perceptions of mutual satisfaction within the agency-principal dyad. Compliance behaviors tested were IMRs’ intentions to engage in non-selling-related tasks and intentions to allocate additional selling time to principals’ products. The following four exogenous controls were tested: perceived goal congruence between IMRs and principals; IMRs’ perceptions of principals’ expertise; mutual communications between IMRs and principals in the supply chain dyad; resources and sales support programs provided by principals to IMRs; and IMRs’ perceptions of the adequacy and fairness of the principals’ compensation plans.

Two constructs – inter-organizational climate and perceptions of mutual satisfaction with the agency-principal dyad – mediated the effects of exogenous sales controls on two compliance behaviors. The model’s data were analyzed using Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). A marker variable was deployed to check for common method variance also supported using the Partial least squares (PLS) factor solution. Most variables demonstrated significant direct and mediated effects on each compliance behavior. Variables that emphasized behavioral-based controls dominated intentions for IMRs to engage in non-selling tasks. The principal commission structure, the only sales outcome-based control in the study, most influenced IMRs’ intentions to commit additional sales time to their principals’ products.

This study only examined the intentions of IMRs to engage in additional selling activities and their intention to engage in non-selling tasks. Principals may desire longer-term commitments from IMRs. The model developed here can be modified to capture additional behavioral and attitudinal outcomes including, for example, the exit intentions of IMRs.

Principals are well-advised to foster a positive inter-organizational climate that fuels perceptions of mutually satisfying working relationships with their IMRs. These mutually satisfying working relationships can, by themselves, positively influence IMRs to acquiesce to reasonable requests made by principals. This advice appears to be particularly crucial when asking IMRs to engage in additional non-selling tasks. The total pattern of path estimates points to the conclusion that capable sales control plays an important role in fostering positive inter-organizational climates. The inter-organizational climate – mutual satisfaction link proved crucial as a mediator of the impact of sales controls on IMRs’ behavioral compliance intentions.

Knowing the impact of sales controls on IMR’s affords businesses the ability to use these controls for behavioral compliance intentions on non-selling tasks.