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1 – 10 of 185This paper aims to revolve around two problems which, though imagined as different, can be addressed altogether. On one hand, the advance of terrorism as a major threat to the…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to revolve around two problems which, though imagined as different, can be addressed altogether. On one hand, the advance of terrorism as a major threat to the tourism industry, while – on the other – we discuss the ontological nature of tourism as a rite of passage, which is vital to keep the political legitimacy of officialdom. At the time, paradoxically, social scientists shrug off tourism as a naïve commercial activity, while the main tourist destinations are being attacked by jihadism. This suggests the disinterest of ones associates to the interests of others.
Design/methodology/approach
The author holds the thesis that tourism derives from ancient institutions, which illuminated in the growth of Occident and the formation of hospitality. Capitalism hides the importance of tourism as a mere trivialization as a bit-player. However, a closer look reminds precisely the opposite. The recent attacks perpetrated at main destinations reveal tourism as an exemplary (symbolic) center of the West, a source of authority and power for the existing hierarchal order.
Findings
The issue captivates the attention of scholars, officials and policymakers, and at the same time, epistemologists of tourism receive a fresh novel debate regarding the origins of tourism.
Originality/value
It is a great paradox that tourism would be selected as a target for jihadism but at the same time a naïve activity for social scientists or at the least by the French tradition. Despite the partisan criticism exerted on tourism as an alienatory force, this work showed two important aspects, which merits to be discussed. At a closer look, tourism should be understood as “a rite of passage” whose function associates to the revitalization of those glitches happened during the cycles of production. Second, and most important, tourism accommodates those frustrations to prevent acts of separatism or the rise of extreme conflict among classes.
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Fetishism has been often linked to misrecognition and false belief, to one being “ideologically duped” so to speak. But could we think that fetishism may be precisely the very…
Abstract
Purpose
Fetishism has been often linked to misrecognition and false belief, to one being “ideologically duped” so to speak. But could we think that fetishism may be precisely the very opposite? The purpose of this paper is to explore the potential of this at first sight counterintuitive notion. It locates the problem of fetishism at the crux of the problem of disavowal and argues that one needs to distinguish between a disavowal – marked by cynical knowledge – and fetishistic disavowal, which can be understood as a subcategory of the same belief structure of ideology.
Design/methodology/approach
This conceptual paper is based on literature review and utilizes examples from the author’s ethnographic fieldworks in India (2008-2013) and central Europe (2015-2019).
Findings
The paper provides a new insight into the structure of fetishism, relying on the psychoanalytic structure of disavowal, where all disavowal is ideological, but not all disavowal is fetishistic, thereby positing a crucial, often unacknowledged distinction. Where disavowal follows the structure “I know quite well how things are, but still […],” fetishistic disavowal follows the formula: “I don’t only know how things are, but also how they appear to me, and nonetheless […].”
Originality/value
The paper develops an original conceptualization of fetishism by distinguishing ideological disavowal from fetishistic disavowal.
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Sergio Rivaroli, Jörg Lindenmeier and Roberta Spadoni
This study aimed to investigate the gendered nature of craft beer (CB) consumption in Italy and Germany.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aimed to investigate the gendered nature of craft beer (CB) consumption in Italy and Germany.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected through online surveys in Italy (N = 210) and Germany (N = 211). Based on an enhanced version of the theory of planned behaviour, mean value difference tests and moderated regression analyses with gender as a moderator were performed to test gender effects on CB consumption behaviour.
Findings
The study results provide evidence that the gap in CB consumption behaviour is not very pronounced. In the German sample, gender did not moderate the effects of the model components on behavioural intent. However, the study found significant mean differences in all model variables. In the Italian sample, gender moderated the effects of several components of the theory of planned behaviour on behavioural intention. Hence, CB consumption appears to represent an opportunity for Italian women to negotiate their womanhood in a historically masculine-dominated space.
Research limitations/implications
The limitations of these data are the focus on two specific countries, the use of small-sized samples and the prediction of behavioural intentions instead of actual behaviour.
Practical implications
The study may help marketing managers develop appropriate marketing strategies based on a better understanding of gender-specific needs in CB consumption.
Originality/value
This investigation provides the first comparative analysis of gender-specific behavioural patterns in CB consumption in two European countries characterised by notably different beer cultures.
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Mariyam Abdulhadi, Fred Awaah, Deborah Agbanimu, Emmanuel Okyere Ekwam and Emmanuella Sefiamor Heloo
The lecture method has been compared with teaching methods such as flip learning, cooperative learning and simulations to establish which holds the key to students' understanding…
Abstract
Purpose
The lecture method has been compared with teaching methods such as flip learning, cooperative learning and simulations to establish which holds the key to students' understanding of concepts. What is bereft in the education literature is its comparative efficiency with the culturo-techno contextual approach (CTCA) in the teaching of computer science education.
Design/methodology/approach
This study adopted the quasi-experimental design to determine the efficacy of the CTCA in breaking difficulties related to the study of spreadsheets as a difficult concept in the Nigerian computer science education curriculum. Junior high school students studying computer science education participated in the study. The control group had 30 students, with 35 students in the experimental group. The experimental group was taught using CTCA, while the control group used the lecture method. The spread sheet achievement test, which had 40 items on spreadsheet, was used to collect data.
Findings
The results showed that the experimental group significantly outperformed the control group [F (1,60) = 41.89; p < 0.05]. The findings showed the potential of CTCA in improving students' performance in spreadsheets in the computer science education curriculum.
Originality/value
The originality of this study is hinged on its ground-breaking test of the CTCA to the study of the spreadsheet. The findings of this study indicate its efficacy in improving students' understanding of spreadsheet and computer science education.
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The purpose of this paper is to explore how a study of a practice can lay the foundation to describe this very practice whilst transformations of it were taken place. Descriptions…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore how a study of a practice can lay the foundation to describe this very practice whilst transformations of it were taken place. Descriptions of changes to the practice of social work which was observed empirically serve as a starting point for experimenting with how social scientists, though often exploring transformative study objects, can remain focused on describing the object, under study.
Design/methodology/approach
The study was done through circa one year of fieldwork conducted with participant observation in two Danish municipal units offering services to socially marginalized people and interviews with social workers and employees in drug/alcohol treatment and psychiatric units.
Findings
The object of study within social sciences, though changing, is able to be described. Through the theories of “Social Navigation” (Vigh) and “Strategy and Tactics” (de Certeau), the practice of social work can be described as one concrete bounded practice but one which is performed within a transformative/changeable environment that are capable of influencing it. In this case, the experience of a changeable seascape might serve as a metaphor for how study objects change within an environment of change; how they can be viewed as “motion within motion” (Vigh).
Originality/value
Even though fields such as anthropology and organizational studies seem to rid themselves from their objects of study (culture and organization, respectively) and dissociate themselves from descriptions thereof these objects might still be of value to us. Even though the objects of study in postmodern anthropology and organizational studies are defined as unbounded, anti-essential, ephemeral, ever-changing non-objects, this might not be the entire picture. Despite their ever-changing shape, we might still be able to study and describe them if we take their changeable form and environment into account.
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Alessio Dionigi Battistella and Riccardo Montanari
The recent convergence between architecture and cultural anthropology has laid the foundations for a methodological approach that is attentive to both local specificities and the…
Abstract
Purpose
The recent convergence between architecture and cultural anthropology has laid the foundations for a methodological approach that is attentive to both local specificities and the role of design. Starting from the analysis of the recovery of the primary school in the Bedouin camp of Wadi Abu Hindi in Palestine, the article intends to outline the role of the architect as a participating observer. It highlights how acting directly in the context of intervention guarantees a more effective response to local needs within spaces marked by strong conditions of inequality and marginality.
Design/methodology/approach
The methodology employed consists in using the ethnographic approach to collect qualitative data. The choice of this methodology stems from the intention to directly involve local actors in the design and execution phases.
Findings
The role of the architect as a participating observer within critical contexts shows how the activity of design is not simply limited to designing solutions but consists above all in the anticipation of all the critical aspects that may emerge in the practical execution of the works. The active participation and the adoption of a holistic outlook allow to find targeted solutions and ensure careful listening to the local needs.
Originality/value
The originality of this article consists in using an interdisciplinary approach between architecture and cultural anthropology, considering the architect as a participant observer.
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Andrew J. Wefald, Mac T. Benavides and Aliah K. Mestrovich Seay
Using a qualitative grounded theory approach, student guided leadership capstone projects were examined using a thematic analysis to determine the categories of projects students…
Abstract
Using a qualitative grounded theory approach, student guided leadership capstone projects were examined using a thematic analysis to determine the categories of projects students chose. The research sought to answer two research questions: 1) What areas of leadership development do students seek out through capstone projects for a four-year leadership studies minor? 2) What can this tell us about the program from an evaluation perspective? The analysis found four categories: self-care, application and understanding of leadership, interpersonal skills, and intercultural development skills. The implications for leadership educators are discussed as well as how capstone projects can be utilized in other leadership programs.
Beata Agnieszka Żukowska, Olga Anna Martyniuk and Robert Zajkowski
Survivability capital is a unique resource resulting from the “familiness” constituting an inherent feature of family firms. Familiness represents the ability of family members to…
Abstract
Purpose
Survivability capital is a unique resource resulting from the “familiness” constituting an inherent feature of family firms. Familiness represents the ability of family members to reinforce the financial and non-financial resources of businesses facing threats to their economic existence. This work proposes and examines various dimensions of the survivability capital construct, verifying whether family firms expecting deterioration of their economic situation or problems with survival due to the COVID-19 crisis can mobilise sufficient capital to survive.
Design/methodology/approach
This article provides empirical evidence based on a cross-sectional online survey of 167 Polish family firms, conducted at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The method (scale) of survivability capital measurement was elaborated and validated using principal component analysis (PCA) and confirmatory factor analyses (CFA). Next, the mobilisation of the different dimensions of survivability capital was examined using PLS-SEM modelling.
Findings
The survivability capital of family firms is composed of two dimensions: internal (based on directly involved family members) and external (based on not directly involved family members). Family firms facing crisis-induced deterioration of the economic situation engage its internal component. Subsequently, family firms forecasting decreasing probability of survival during a crisis try to engage both the internal and the external components of survivability capital. Such behaviour is in line with the resource-based view as well as with the sustainable family business theory.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is one of the first studies to examine analytically the survivability capital construct. While previous studies mentioned the existence of survivability capital, this study attempts to introduce its various dimensions and test the mobilisation of survivability capital during the COVID-19 crisis.
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Davide Settembre-Blundo, Alfonso Pedro Fernández del Hoyo and Fernando Enrique García-Muiña
The purpose of this paper is to develop an innovative branding method based on the hermeneutical approach and interpretive theory, to respond to the need of a simple and effective…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to develop an innovative branding method based on the hermeneutical approach and interpretive theory, to respond to the need of a simple and effective tool to build corporate identity through an industrial brand identity design and, being a new business, has been considered the brand perception of their stakeholders as the main input to analyze.
Design/methodology/approach
The case study of a small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME), that produces nanomaterials for the business-to-business (B2B) industrial market, is used to design the new hermeneutic branding method. The methodology process has been structured in four phases that have marked the investigation and that correspond to four different levels of knowledge that, in succession, between them, constituted the so-called hermeneutic circle.
Findings
This new approach allowed us to understand the social phenomenon related to the brand: its characteristic, context and the brand itself. Though hermeneutic analysis has confirmed that business strategy is only part of a more complex system of brand management, it must also consider the competitive environment and the views of the stakeholders.
Practical implications
This paper contributes to research on industrial branding by adopting the hermeneutical approach in managerial practice. This paper is the first of its kind in detail modelling the design phases of a B2B brand, providing an operational tool for marketing specialists.
Originality/value
There is a lack of research studies in the methods for designing industrial brands. The contribution of this paper lies in proposing a new interpretative approach that, acknowledging the different expectations of the stakeholder in the supply chain, allows to draw a B2B brand that communicates the system values of the product and company.
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