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1 – 10 of over 3000Alhassan Abdul-Wakeel Karakara and Ernest Amoabeng Ortsin
Ghana has implemented different kinds of pro-poor program and policies since its independence to reduce poverty. The Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) is one of such…
Abstract
Purpose
Ghana has implemented different kinds of pro-poor program and policies since its independence to reduce poverty. The Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) is one of such program. LEAP is a social cash transfer program and its implementation has been under the auspices of the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection since 2008. It provides direct cash and health insurance coverage for extremely poor households across the country to alleviate short-term poverty and encourage long-term human capital development. This paper examines the LEAP program in terms of how it has achieved its aim and the opportunities for improvement.
Design/methodology/approach
Primary data were obtained from interviews of 110 beneficiaries of the program. The study proposes a conceptual framework that links poverty reduction and social policies to assist researchers analyze pro-poor or social cash transfer program.
Findings
The findings show that the program is challenged with administrative bureaucracies, irregular inflow of funds, perceived political interferences, inconsistent implementation strategies and low value of the cash transfer (which results in little or no impact on consumption). However, the data also show that LEAP has positive impacts on nonconsumption spending like children's schooling. The program' exit strategy does not impact much on beneficiaries to allow them exit without the tendency of being poor.
Practical implications
This paper discussed the LEAP program as a social cash transfer to the poor in Ghana. The study constructed a conceptual framework to help researchers and practitioners analyze the implementation of pro-poor interventions. This conceptualization allows for cash transfer program to empower beneficiaries and exits them to allow for other beneficiaries to enroll, ensuring reduction in poverty over time. Generally, the beneficiaries have benefited from the LEAP in the areas of consumption, education and healthcare with few beneficiaries being able to accumulate some few assets. The LEAP program has no exit plan.
Originality/value
This study adds to literature by offering a conceptual framework to help researchers and policy makers in dealing with social assistance policies to the poor. The study also gave an insight into how pro-poor policy strategies could be crafted.
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Charles J. Fornaciari and Kathy Lund Dean
The emerging research on spirituality, religion and work (SRW) poses concerns for all social scientists. Specifically, the paradigm currently employed for social scientific…
Abstract
The emerging research on spirituality, religion and work (SRW) poses concerns for all social scientists. Specifically, the paradigm currently employed for social scientific research, including measurement techniques, data analysis, and even accepted language, is inadequate for scholarship in the emerging inquiry stream. This paper discusses the current positivist model under which scholarly work derives legitimacy, and explores where the model fails to address the needs of SRW researchers from both conceptual and moral standpoints. Taking lessons from the natural sciences, we show how inquiry, modeling, and knowledge made critical leaps utilizing a post‐positivist creativity within a discipline that struggled with many of the same issues we currently face in the SRW research agenda. The paper concludes with implications for a new research methods paradigm and language that would better serve our understanding of the holistic human experience in organizations, including a discussion of the inherently moral underpinning of our work.
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The relationship between individuals and institutions is a core feature of the microfoundations of institutional theory. This chapter analyzes the role of conceptual metaphors, a…
Abstract
The relationship between individuals and institutions is a core feature of the microfoundations of institutional theory. This chapter analyzes the role of conceptual metaphors, a standard ingredient of theory building, in shaping how we theorize this relationship. Using illustrations from the emergent literature on emotions in institutional theory, the author shows the significance of conceptual metaphors for theory building and argues for selecting conceptual metaphors that help craft a dynamic, recursive relationship between individuals and institutions, respecting core premises of institutional theory and offering new creative insights into this relationship.
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In this retrospective of Ann Langley's extensive career, she shares how methodological insights emerged in her research career as a qualitative researcher in strategy and…
Abstract
In this retrospective of Ann Langley's extensive career, she shares how methodological insights emerged in her research career as a qualitative researcher in strategy and management. Her retrospective provides the back story of some of her highly-cited methods papers. Ann acknowledges the role that other researchers and authors have played in her research career.
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Josep Bisbe, Anne-Marie Kruis and Paola Madini
Recent accounting research has connected the coercive and enabling types of formalisation (C/E) (Adler and Borys, 1996) with the distinction between diagnostic and interactive…
Abstract
Recent accounting research has connected the coercive and enabling types of formalisation (C/E) (Adler and Borys, 1996) with the distinction between diagnostic and interactive controls (D/I) proposed by Simons (1995, 2000) to tackle research questions on complex control situations involving both the degree of employee autonomy and patterns of management attention. The diverse conceptual approaches used for connecting C/E and D/I have led to fragmentation in the literature and raise concerns about their conceptual clarity. In this paper, we assess the conceptual clarity of various forms of connection between C/E and D/I. Firstly, we conduct an in-depth content analysis of 59 recent papers, and inductively identify three points of conceptual ambiguity and divergence in the literature (namely, the perspective from which a phenomenon is studied; whether categories capture choices driven by design or by style-of-use; and the properties of control systems). We also observe that the literature proposes various forms of connection (i.e. coexistence, inclusion, and combination approaches). Secondly, we use the three detected points of ambiguity and divergence as assessment criteria, and evaluate the extent to which conceptual clarity is at risk under each form of connection. Based on this assessment, we provide guidelines to enhance the conceptual clarity of the connections between C/E and D/I, propose several research models, and indicate opportunities for future research in this area.
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Siew Meng Leong, Jagdish N. Sheth and Chin Tiong Tan
Reports the results of a survey of scientific styles based on a surveyof 249 marketing academics. Most respondents did not exhibit personalitytypes associated with analytical…
Abstract
Reports the results of a survey of scientific styles based on a survey of 249 marketing academics. Most respondents did not exhibit personality types associated with analytical scientists, although they most strongly endorsed the research values and attitudes associated with this style. A greater proportion of senior marketing academics had the sensing‐thinking personality type associated with analytical scientists than had junior marketing faculty.
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Rebecca Bednarek, Miguel Pina e Cunha, Jonathan Schad and Wendy K. Smith
Interdisciplinary research allows us to broaden our sights and expand our theories. Yet, such research surfaces a number of challenges. We highlight three issues – superficiality…
Abstract
Interdisciplinary research allows us to broaden our sights and expand our theories. Yet, such research surfaces a number of challenges. We highlight three issues – superficiality, lack of focus, and consilience - and discuss how they can be addressed in interdisciplinary research. In particular, we focus on the implications for interdisciplinary work with paradox scholarship. We explore how these issues can be navigated as scholars bring together different epistemologies, ontologies and methodologies within interdisciplinary research, and illustrate our key points by drawing on extant work in paradox theory and on examples from this double volume. Our paper contributes to paradox scholarship, and to organizational theory more broadly, by offering practices about how to implement interdisciplinary research while also advancing our understanding about available research methods.
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Disability is often described in a way that suggests that it is most often a permanent state. Several, if not most, of the concepts and models of disability suggest this. Even…
Abstract
Disability is often described in a way that suggests that it is most often a permanent state. Several, if not most, of the concepts and models of disability suggest this. Even when it is described as being socially constructed, the implication is that an impairment leads to a permanent status of “disabled” within that social, cultural, or historical milieu. However, many types of changes can be seen on an intrapsychic level or on an individual or group/societal level; across time, cultures, societies, and subcultures; or within or across any other social unit. The relationship between impairment (physical state) and disability is neither fixed nor permanent but is fluid and not easily predicted. Furthermore, if this is true, we need to rethink how we are measuring or counting disability.
The chapters in this volume examine this premise from many points of view. Several look at micro-level interactional processes over time, some look at cultural change over time and their effects on definitions and measurements, and some look at how social processes shape physical conditions into disabilities or impairments/disabilities into “normality.”
This study aims to explore what characteristics contribute to the definition of relevance in business-to-business (B2B) marketing research and how/why different strands of B2B…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore what characteristics contribute to the definition of relevance in business-to-business (B2B) marketing research and how/why different strands of B2B marketing maintain or lose their relevance.
Design/methodology/approach
This study is conceptual. It adopts a performative-phenomenal standpoint for B2B marketing research and approaches relevance through the concept of episteme, which is considered pivotal for understanding this phenomenon.
Findings
This study proposes four axioms that define the characteristics of relevance in B2B marketing research and discusses their implications for scholars and practitioners. Consequently, an action plan for revitalizing B2B marketing research is developed, comprising learning and temporal dimensions, resulting in nine different relevance types.
Research limitations/implications
The central argument put forward in this study is that different research strands of B2B marketing have deeply rooted epistemic underpinnings that influence their interpretation of relevance. Consequently, fostering dialogue between practitioners and scholars is considered necessary to sustain relevance in B2B marketing research. B2B scholars are urged to think beyond their subspecialized silos and acknowledge how the business environment and the various strands of B2B marketing congruently shape B2B marketing relevance, while also embracing research methods that bring them closer to business practice.
Practical implications
Marketing practitioners and academics continue to drift apart. This study puts forward three recommendations to bring marketing academics and practitioners closer together.
Originality/value
The study contributes to the B2B marketing literature by grappling with the theory-praxis gap and critically exploring what constitutes relevance in B2B marketing research.
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