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1 – 10 of 234Imoh Antai and Roland Hellberg
The total defence (TD) concept constitutes a joint endeavour between the military forces and civil defence structures within a TD state. Logistics is essential for such joint…
Abstract
Purpose
The total defence (TD) concept constitutes a joint endeavour between the military forces and civil defence structures within a TD state. Logistics is essential for such joint collaboration to work; however, the mismatch between military and civil defence logistics structures poses challenges for such joint collaboration. The purpose of this paper is to identify logistics concept areas within the TD framework that allow for military and civil defence collaborations from a logistics operations perspective.
Design/methodology/approach
Pattern-matching analysis is used to compare patterns found in the investigated case with those prescribed from the literature and predicted to occur. The study seeks to identify logistics concepts within TD from the literature and from the events describing the Swedish response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Pattern matching thus allows for the reconciliation of logistics concepts from the literature to descriptions of how the response was handled, albeit under a TD framework.
Findings
Findings show quite distinct foci between the theoretical and observational realms in terms of logistics applications. While the theoretical realm identifies four main logistics concepts, the observational realm identifies five logistics conceptual themes. This goes on to show an incongruence between the military and civil parts of the TD.
Research limitations/implications
This study provides basis for further research into the applications and management of logistics activity within TD and emergency response.
Originality/value
Logistics applications within TD have not, until now, received much attention in the literature. Given this knowledge gap, this study is of original value.
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Klara Granheimer, Tina Karrbom Gustavsson and Per Erik Eriksson
Prior research has emphasised the importance of the early phases of construction projects, as well as the difficulties of procuring engineering services – especially due to the…
Abstract
Purpose
Prior research has emphasised the importance of the early phases of construction projects, as well as the difficulties of procuring engineering services – especially due to the uncertainties. Despite that, studies on the public procurement of engineering services are scarce. Although scholars have shown that uncertainty may affect the choice of control modes, the level of uncertainty that characterises services is not addressed by the two task characteristics: knowledge of the transformation process and output measurability. The purpose is to investigate organisational control in public procurement of engineering services.
Design/methodology/approach
The existing control model was adjusted in this study by conceptually adding uncertainty as a third aspect to the two task characteristics. A single case study of the Swedish Transport Administration was used. The empirical data, comprising 14 interviews with managers from the client and engineering consulting companies, were analysed using flexible pattern matching and visual mapping approaches and then illustrated using the model.
Findings
The public client did not base its choice of control modes on uncertainty, but rather on the other two task characteristics. Consequently, the service providers argued that the chosen control modes reduced their creativity, increased their financial risks and caused unclear responsibilities. This study therefore shows that uncertainty is an important factor to consider in the choice of control modes, both from a theoretical perspective and from the service providers' point of view. The developed model may therefore be useful for researchers as well as practitioners.
Originality/value
This study is the first attempt to add uncertainty as a task characteristic when choosing control modes. The results contribute to the scarce control literature regarding the procurement of engineering services for construction projects and the procurement of other services with high uncertainty.
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Somayeh Tamjid, Fatemeh Nooshinfard, Molouk Sadat Hosseini Beheshti, Nadjla Hariri and Fahimeh Babalhavaeji
The purpose of this study is to develop a domain independent, cost-effective, time-saving and semi-automated ontology generation framework that could extract taxonomic concepts…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to develop a domain independent, cost-effective, time-saving and semi-automated ontology generation framework that could extract taxonomic concepts from unstructured text corpus. In the human disease domain, ontologies are found to be extremely useful for managing the diversity of technical expressions in favour of information retrieval objectives. The boundaries of these domains are expanding so fast that it is essential to continuously develop new ontologies or upgrade available ones.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper proposes a semi-automated approach that extracts entities/relations via text mining of scientific publications. Text mining-based ontology (TmbOnt)-named code is generated to assist a user in capturing, processing and establishing ontology elements. This code takes a pile of unstructured text files as input and projects them into high-valued entities or relations as output. As a semi-automated approach, a user supervises the process, filters meaningful predecessor/successor phrases and finalizes the demanded ontology-taxonomy. To verify the practical capabilities of the scheme, a case study was performed to drive glaucoma ontology-taxonomy. For this purpose, text files containing 10,000 records were collected from PubMed.
Findings
The proposed approach processed over 3.8 million tokenized terms of those records and yielded the resultant glaucoma ontology-taxonomy. Compared with two famous disease ontologies, TmbOnt-driven taxonomy demonstrated a 60%–100% coverage ratio against famous medical thesauruses and ontology taxonomies, such as Human Disease Ontology, Medical Subject Headings and National Cancer Institute Thesaurus, with an average of 70% additional terms recommended for ontology development.
Originality/value
According to the literature, the proposed scheme demonstrated novel capability in expanding the ontology-taxonomy structure with a semi-automated text mining approach, aiming for future fully-automated approaches.
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Nadia Arshad, Rotem Shneor and Adele Berndt
Crowdfunding is an increasingly popular channel for project fundraising for entrepreneurial ventures. Such efforts require fundraisers to develop and manage a crowdfunding…
Abstract
Purpose
Crowdfunding is an increasingly popular channel for project fundraising for entrepreneurial ventures. Such efforts require fundraisers to develop and manage a crowdfunding campaign over a period of time and several stages. Thus, the authors aim to identify the stages fundraisers go through in their crowdfunding campaign process and how their engagement evolves throughout this process.
Design/methodology/approach
Following a multiple case study research design analysing six successful campaigns, the current study suggests a taxonomy of stages the fundraisers go through in their crowdfunding campaign management process while identifying the types of engagement displayed and their relative intensity at each of these stages.
Findings
The study proposes a five-stage process framework (pre-launch, launch, mid-campaign, conclusion and post-campaign), accompanied by a series of propositions outlining the relative intensity of different types of engagement throughout this process. The authors show that engagement levels appear with high intensity at pre-launch, and to a lesser degree also at the post-launch stage while showing low intensity at the stages in between them. More specifically, cognitive and behavioural engagement are most prominent at the pre- and post-launch stages. Emotional engagement is highest during the launch, mid-launch and conclusion stages. And social engagement maintains moderate levels of intensity throughout the process.
Originality/value
This study focuses on the campaign process using engagement theory, thus identifying the differing engagement patterns throughout the dynamic crowdfunding campaign management process, not just in one part.
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Corporate entrepreneurship (CE) has attracted considerable attention worldwide, and the challenges of managing employees’ entrepreneurial behaviours are increasingly recognised…
Abstract
Purpose
Corporate entrepreneurship (CE) has attracted considerable attention worldwide, and the challenges of managing employees’ entrepreneurial behaviours are increasingly recognised. However, the paucity of research on managers’ entrepreneurial behaviour in the United Arab Emirates multinational corporate environment creates a salient gap in the current understanding of how national and organisational cultures that not always align frame the critical problems of CE. This study aims to fill this research gap by examining multinationals’ CE antecedents drawing on an institutional perspective in Dubai.
Design/methodology/approach
The author conducts 54 in-depth interviews with middle managers in multinational enterprises. This study adopts a multiple case study research design to reveal whether an emergent discovery is exclusive to a particular case or is consistently replicated by multiple cases. The author has used abductive reasoning to systematically integrate analytical framework deduction with raw data induction.
Findings
This study’s findings indicate that CE in Dubai is ineffective and fragmented. Arguably, the cultural background of employees creates different circumstances and determinants of entrepreneurial behaviour. Hence, CE may not achieve epitome competencies without identifying multicultural nuances in an organisational context.
Originality/value
Existing research has placed relatively little emphasis on the role of individual national culture in multinational enterprises. This study’s results offer potentially valuable implications for theory, practice and future research addressing other emerging countries. This model presents a distinct CE architecture with compelling evidence for national culture (at the macro level), organisational culture, Corporate Entrepreneurship Assessment Instrument and emergent factors (at the meso level) and individual middle managers' real-life experience (at the micro level).
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Graham Heaslip, Tore Listou, Per Olof Skoglund and Ioanna Falagara Sigala
Chen Zhong, Hong Liu and Hwee-Joo Kam
Cybersecurity competitions can effectively develop skills, but engaging a wide learner spectrum is challenging. This study aims to investigate the perceptions of cybersecurity…
Abstract
Purpose
Cybersecurity competitions can effectively develop skills, but engaging a wide learner spectrum is challenging. This study aims to investigate the perceptions of cybersecurity competitions among Reddit users. These users constitute a substantial demographic of young individuals, often participating in communities oriented towards college students or cybersecurity enthusiasts. The authors specifically focus on novice learners who showed an interest in cybersecurity but have not participated in competitions. By understanding their views and concerns, the authors aim to devise strategies to encourage their continuous involvement in cybersecurity learning. The Reddit platform provides unique access to this significant demographic, contributing to enhancing and diversifying the cybersecurity workforce.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors propose to mine Reddit posts for information about learners’ attitudes, interests and experiences with cybersecurity competitions. To mine Reddit posts, the authors developed a text mining approach that integrates computational text mining and qualitative content analysis techniques, and the authors discussed the advantages of the integrated approach.
Findings
The authors' text mining approach was successful in extracting the major themes from the collected posts. The authors found that motivated learners would want to form a strategic way to facilitate their learning. In addition, hope and fear collide, which exposes the learners’ interests and challenges.
Originality/value
The authors discussed the findings to provide education and training experts with a thorough understanding of novice learners, allowing them to engage them in the cybersecurity industry.
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Melanie Luise Krenn and Maria Chiarvesio
This empirical paper investigates how entrepreneurial firms change their business models in the context of internationalization by identifying different forms of business model…
Abstract
Purpose
This empirical paper investigates how entrepreneurial firms change their business models in the context of internationalization by identifying different forms of business model innovation (BMI) and exploring the interrelationship between BMI and internationalization.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on the dynamic states approach of entrepreneurship (Levie and Lichtenstein, 2010), this paper analyses primary and secondary data from nine European firms following a multiple case study approach.
Findings
This paper presents four patterns of radical change and eight types of incremental adaption with-in business models in the context of internationalization. We describe these BMI patterns and types, and we also show how they contribute to increasing involvement in international business activities and the internationalization-related triggers that might cause them.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to a better understanding of the BMI process in the course of internationalization. It also highlights the complex interrelationship between BMI and internationalization by building on a progressive theoretical approach.
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Budi Setiawan, Umi Muawanah, Addin Maulana, Fauziah Khoiriyani, Marhanani Tri Astuti and Imam Nur Hakim
This study aims to analyze the capacity of ecotourists to exhibit behavior that aligns with the ecotourist scale using the Rasch model measurement.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to analyze the capacity of ecotourists to exhibit behavior that aligns with the ecotourist scale using the Rasch model measurement.
Design/methodology/approach
The data was gathered using an online survey incorporating the five tenets of ecotourism using a seven-point rating scale on domestic tourists in Indonesia. Descriptive statistics, cross-tabulation and Rasch model measurement were used to analyze the data.
Findings
The ecotourist identification scale measurement items were reliable and satisfactory. The most challenging behavior for ecotourists was using the services of a tour guide who was concerned about the environment. Meanwhile, respecting cultural differences around the tourist destination was the most accessible behavior. Most respondents demonstrated a fit response pattern and satisfactorily met the validity and reliability criteria.
Research limitations/implications
This study did not compare ecotourists’ ability to behave by the type of conservation visited as its limitation. However, it provides a significant methodological contribution to developing a measurement of ecotourist behavior implemented in well-established behavioral theories.
Practical implications
Integrating ecotourism into education, incentivizing eco-friendly tourism practices, promoting awareness, supporting local businesses, respecting local values and ensuring safe travels.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first of its kind to be conducted in Indonesia. It uses a unique and innovative method to reveal the unobserved variables in ecotourists’ behavior. The findings confirm that tourists’ behaviors align with the five tenets of ecotourism.
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Prior institutional duality research asserts that ceremonial implementation of organisational practice protects multinational corporations’ subsidiaries. However, the temporal…
Abstract
Purpose
Prior institutional duality research asserts that ceremonial implementation of organisational practice protects multinational corporations’ subsidiaries. However, the temporal dynamics of the safeguarding function has been under researched. Public sector organisations have also been ignored. This research aims to explore how the safeguarding function is created, maintained and disrupted using the overseas offices (OOs) of a bilateral development agency (BDA) as a case.
Design/methodology/approach
A multi-case study, underpinned by neo-institutionalism, was conducted. Data obtained from in-depth remote interviews with 39 informants from the BDA OOs were analysed using the “asking small and large questions” technique, four analytical techniques, cross-case synthesis and theoretical propositions.
Findings
A three-phase process was identified. The first phase is the appearance of discrepancies due to institutional duality. The second is the emergence of ceremonial implementation as a solution. In the third phase, “the creation, maintenance and disruption of a safeguarding function” begins. When ceremonial implementation successfully protects the OOs, the safeguarding function is created. The OOs are likely to repeat ceremonial implementation, thus sustaining the function. Meanwhile, when conditions such as management staff change, ceremonial implementation may not take place, and the safeguarding function disappears.
Research limitations/implications
The BDA OOs may not face strong host country regulative pressures because they are donors to aid-recipient countries. Hence, the findings may not directly apply to other public sector organisations.
Practical implications
Development cooperation practitioners should understand that ceremonial implementation is not exclusively harmful.
Originality/value
To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first institutional duality research that explores the temporal dynamics of safeguarding functions targeting public sector organisations.
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