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1 – 10 of over 57000Institutional and commercial web profiles that provide biobibliographic information about researchers are used for promotional purposes but also as information sources. In the…
Abstract
Purpose
Institutional and commercial web profiles that provide biobibliographic information about researchers are used for promotional purposes but also as information sources. In the latter case, the profiles' (re)presentations of researchers may be used to assess whether a researcher can be trusted. The article introduces a conceptual framework of how trust in researchers may be formed based on how the researchers' experiences and achievements are mobilized on the profiles to tell a multifaceted story of the “self.”
Design/methodology/approach
The framework is an analytical product which draws on theories of trust as well as on previous research focused on academic web profiles and on researchers' perceptions of trust and credibility. Two dimensions of trust are identified as central to the theoretical construction of trust, namely competence and trustworthiness.
Findings
The framework outlines features of profile content and narrative that may influence the assessment of the profile and of the researcher's competence and trustworthiness. The assessment is understood as shaped by the frames of interpretation available to a particular audience.
Originality/value
The framework addresses the lack of a trust perspective in previous research about academic web profiles. It provides an analysis of how potential trust in the researcher may be formed on the profiles. An innovative contribution is the acknowledgement of both qualitative and quantitative indicators of trustworthiness and competence, including the richness of the story told about the “self.”
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The activities of academic researchers are increasingly regulated by neo-liberal ideals, including expectations that researchers are visible online and actively promote their…
Abstract
Purpose
The activities of academic researchers are increasingly regulated by neo-liberal ideals, including expectations that researchers are visible online and actively promote their output. The purpose of this paper is to explore how researchers take on this responsibility. It uses the concepts of genre, authorship and self-writing in order to understand how the story of an academic life is constructed on academic web profiles.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative content analysis was conducted of material on 64 profiles belonging to 20 researchers on institutional and personal websites, as well as on ResearchGate, Academica.edu and Google Scholar.
Findings
The study shows that while institutional websites primarily contain researcher-produced material, content on commercial platforms is often co-constructed through distributed authorship by the researcher, the platform and other platform users. Nine different ways in which the profile of an “academic self” may be said to highlight the particular strengths of a researcher are identified. These include both metrics-based strengths and qualitative forms of information about the academic life, such as experience, the importance of their research and good teaching.
Social implications
This study of academic web profiles contributes to a better understanding of how researchers self-govern the story of their academic self, or resist such governance, in online environments.
Originality/value
The study furthers the knowledge of how researchers make use of and respond to digital tools for online visibility opportunities and how the story of the “academic self” is “made” for such public presentation.
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Iris Brun Galili and Mette Skov
This article provides insight into researchers' use of academic web profiles and an understanding of how the influencing factors highlighted in the literature interact with each…
Abstract
Purpose
This article provides insight into researchers' use of academic web profiles and an understanding of how the influencing factors highlighted in the literature interact with each other, affecting researchers' motivation to use web profiles.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on motivation theory and literature related to the use of online profile platforms and academic web profiles, the authors present a conceptual framework for motivation factors influencing researchers' use of academic web profiles. The authors use qualitative interviews with researchers to explore and enrich the conceptual framework.
Findings
The conceptual framework of researchers' motivation space shows the relationships and influences between internal and external motivation in connection to three main categories (Identity and professional goals, Organisation and guidelines, Platforms and technology) and 12 more specific aspects of motivation that all play a role in choices regarding academic online profiles and platforms. Personality also plays an important role in itself – and not always in support of professional goals or workplace guidelines.
Originality/value
The study shows that a holistic perspective is necessary to understand the high degree of complexity in terms of researchers' motivation to use academic online profiles, and the presented conceptual framework can be used to understand and activate motivation factors.
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Grant Samkin and Annika Schneider
The purpose of this paper is to examine the profiles of Australian, New Zealand and South African accounting faculty members. Additionally, the study investigates whether there…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the profiles of Australian, New Zealand and South African accounting faculty members. Additionally, the study investigates whether there are any differences in research productivity of the accounting faculty between countries as measured by peer-reviewed academic journal output.
Design/methodology/approach
This archival study uses details obtained from webpages of Departments of Accounting in the three countries to construct a profile of accounting academics.
Findings
Significant differences in the profiles of accounting academics were found that can be attributed to the institutional factors that exist in each country. Staffs at the junior lecturer and lecturer levels are more likely to be female, while senior lecturers and professors in all three countries were more likely to be male. While Australia and New Zealand had a similar percentage of staff holding PhD or equivalent academic qualifications, only a small proportion of the South African faculty held PhD or equivalent qualifications. A greater proportion of the South African faculty was professionally qualified compared to their Australian and New Zealand counterparts. New Zealand accounting faculty was more productive than their Australian colleagues, with South African academics being the least productive. Academics holding a doctoral qualification or equivalent were more productive than those that did not.
Research limitations/implications
The research limitations relate to the use of websites as the primary data source. Incompleteness of information, inconsistencies in the type of information presented and a lack of comparability of information across institutions and countries may have led to some errors and omissions. However, given the relatively large sample size of 2,049 academics, this was not deemed to materially affect the final analysis.
Originality/value
The paper provides an important contribution to the literature on accounting academics. It is the first of its kind to present a comprehensive “snapshot” of the profiles of accounting academics at the universities in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.
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Robert Faff, David Mathuva, Mark Brosnan, Sebastian Hoffmann, Catalin Albu, Searat Ali, Micheal Axelsen, Nikki Cornwell, Adrian Gepp, Chelsea Gill, Karina Honey, Ihtisham Malik, Vishal Mehrotra, Olayinka Moses, Raluca Valeria Ratiu, David Tan and Maciej Andrzej Tuszkiewicz
The authors passively apply a researcher profile pitch (RPP) template tool in accounting and across a range of Business School disciplines.
Abstract
Purpose
The authors passively apply a researcher profile pitch (RPP) template tool in accounting and across a range of Business School disciplines.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors document a diversity of worked examples of the RPP. Using an auto-ethnographic research design, each showcased researcher reflects on the exercise, highlighting nuanced perspectives drawn from their experience. Collectively, these examples and associated independent narratives allow the authors to identify common themes that provide informative insights to potential users.
Findings
First, the RPP tool is helpful for accounting scholars to portray their essential research stream. Moreover, the tool proved universally meaningful and applicable irrespective of research discipline or research experience. Second, it offers a distinct advantage over existing popular research profile platforms, because it demands a focused “less”, that delivers a meaningful “more”. Further, the conciseness of the RPP design makes it readily amenable to iteration and dynamism. Third, the authors have identified specific situations of added value, e.g. initiating research collaborations and academic job market preparation.
Practical implications
The RPP tool can provide the basis for developing a scalable interactive researcher exchange platform.
Originality/value
The authors argue that the RPP tool potentially adds meaningful incremental value relative to existing popular platforms for gaining researcher visibility. This additional value derives from the systematic RPP format, combined with the benefit of easy familiarity and strong emphasis on succinctness. Additionally, the authors argue that the RPP adds a depth of nuanced novel information often not contained in other platforms, e.g. around the dimensions of “data” and “tools”. Further, the RPP gives the researcher a “personality”, most notably through the dimensions of “contribution” and “other considerations”.
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Gemma Nández and Ángel Borrego
This paper aims to analyse various aspects of an academic social network: the profile of users, the reasons for its use, its perceived benefits and the use of other social media…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to analyse various aspects of an academic social network: the profile of users, the reasons for its use, its perceived benefits and the use of other social media for scholarly purposes.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors examined the profiles of the users of an academic social network. The users were affiliated with 12 universities. The following were recorded for each user: sex, the number of documents uploaded, the number of followers, and the number of people being followed. In addition, a survey was sent to the individuals who had an email address in their profile.
Findings
Half of the users of the social network were academics and a third were PhD students. Social sciences scholars accounted for nearly half of all users. Academics used the service to get in touch with other scholars, disseminate research results and follow other scholars. Other widely employed social media included citation indexes, document creation, edition and sharing tools and communication tools. Users complained about the lack of support for the utilisation of these tools.
Research limitations/implications
The results are based on a single case study.
Originality/value
This study provides new insights on the impact of social media in academic contexts by analysing the user profiles and benefits of a social network service that is specifically targeted at the academic community.
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Elke Greifeneder, Sheila Pontis, Ann Blandford, Hesham Attalla, David Neal and Kirsten Schlebbe
The purpose of this paper is to better understand why many researchers do not have a profile on social networking sites (SNS), and whether this is the result of conscious…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to better understand why many researchers do not have a profile on social networking sites (SNS), and whether this is the result of conscious decisions.
Design/methodology/approach
Thematic analysis was conducted on a large qualitative data set from researchers across three levels of seniority, four countries and four disciplines to explore their attitudes toward and experiences with SNS.
Findings
The study found much greater scepticism toward adopting SNS than previously reported. Reasons behind researchers’ scepticism range from SNS being unimportant for their work to not belonging to their culture or habits. Some even felt that a profile presented people negatively and might harm their career. These concerns were mostly expressed by junior and midlevel researchers, showing that the largest opponents to SNS may unexpectedly be younger researchers.
Research limitations/implications
A limitation of this study was that the authors did not conduct the interviews, and therefore reframing or adding questions to specifically unpack comments related to attitudes, feelings or the use of SNS in academia was not possible.
Originality/value
By studying implicit attitudes and experiences, this study shows that instead of being ignorant of SNS profiles, some researchers actively opt for a non-use of profiles on SNS.
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Ricardo Gouveia Rodrigues, João J.M. Ferreira and Teresa Felgueira
The need for dynamic and innovative skills and the importance of resources and individuals in pursuit of new opportunities prove to be extremely vital for the higher education…
Abstract
Purpose
The need for dynamic and innovative skills and the importance of resources and individuals in pursuit of new opportunities prove to be extremely vital for the higher education institutions (HEI). The purpose of this paper is to develop a taxonomy of academics from HEI, based on their individual entrepreneurial orientation (EO).
Design/methodology/approach
The population in study was composed of teachers and researchers from worldwide HEI. The data collection was conducted through a questionnaire sent by an e-mail and the authors used the I-ENTRE-U scale to identify entrepreneurial-oriented teachers and researchers from HEI. A Latent Profile Analysis (LPA) was conducted to identify profiles of researchers with similar values in four EO dimensions.
Findings
The study allowed the authors to identify five profiles of researchers: downers, achievers, followers, defenders and rebels.
Research limitations/implications
The results can be an important starting point for other researchers and practitioners hoping to evaluate academics’ EO in a higher education sector. The taxonomy also allows wider predictions about the behaviour of the profile members of profiles and relates it with other variables such as performance. Further contributions may be added by extending the data gathering from different geographical areas and/or different academic contexts, such that future studies could apply other LPA techniques and compare the results.
Originality/value
Only few studies have focussed on individual EO of scientists/academics, considering different national and regional contexts. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first empirical study that develops a taxonomy of academics from HEI, based on their individual EO.
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Ronald H. Heck and Rochelle Mahoe
The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between high school students' curricular positions, their perceptions of the quality of their teachers, and school academic…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between high school students' curricular positions, their perceptions of the quality of their teachers, and school academic process variables on students' growth rates and ending achievement in mathematics and science.
Design/methodology/approach
Multilevel latent curve modeling is used to examine students' growth trajectories using the National Longitudinal Educational Study data.
Findings
Within schools, both student curricular positions and perceptions of teacher quality affect growth and achievement. More positive student perceptions of their teachers ascending across course profiles are found. The effects of perceived teacher quality on growth rates and ending achievement, however, are more consequential for students in weaker academic profiles than in stronger profiles. Between schools, academic process variables also influence outcomes. For example, individuals in schools where students collectively pursue more math and science have significantly higher growth rates than individuals in schools where lower percentages of students take these courses.
Research limitations/implications
The paper's measures of teacher quality and curricular differentiation only serve as proxy measures for more thorough information that can be collected about within‐school teacher and curricular processes.
Practical implications
The results imply that efforts to increase student achievement will have to attack individual (e.g. poverty; early educational experiences; and course taking) and organizational (i.e. school structural redesign, curricular, and instructional processes) fronts simultaneously.
Originality/value
This paper extends the discussion of how internal curricular differentiation and student perceptions about teacher quality may intersect to influence student growth trajectories within and between schools.
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Erika Spray, Allyson Holbrook, Jill Scevak and Robert Cantwell
Learners’ dispositional attributes form the foundations for their learning behaviour and therefore academic outcomes. This study aims to explore the dispositional attributes of…
Abstract
Purpose
Learners’ dispositional attributes form the foundations for their learning behaviour and therefore academic outcomes. This study aims to explore the dispositional attributes of postgraduate learners in coursework programs, and to understand the relationships between dispositional attributes and academic achievement at this level.
Design/methodology/approach
This study profiled the dispositions towards learning of 880 Master’s students in Australia, reported in an online survey. Statistical analysis was used to explore the possibility of underlying dispositional dimensions and latent clusters of participants within the cohort.
Findings
The profile of the cohort overall was as expected for an elite academic group, yet there was substantial variation between individuals. Cluster analysis identified three groups of students with meaningfully different dispositional profiles. Exploratory factor analysis revealed two underlying dispositional dimensions, representing epistemic and agentic attributes. Epistemic attributes were most closely related to academic achievement.
Practical implications
It is argued that students at Master’s level typically possess the agentic attributes necessary for effective self-regulation. At this level, therefore, epistemic attributes are more relevant for differentiating between higher and lower achieving students. The attainment of sophisticated epistemic attributes is in line with the stated goals of postgraduate education. This supports the explicit teaching of metacognitive and epistemic skills within postgraduate degrees.
Originality/value
This study contributes a detailed analysis of Master’s students’ dispositional profiles. Two underlying dispositional dimensions are identified, representing agentic and epistemic attributes. The importance of epistemic attributes for postgraduate academic achievement identifies an opportunity for targeted interventions to raise the quality of learning at this level.
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