Debra E. Orr, Gloria Bravo Gutiérrez and Don Fette
In the USA, there has recently been an unprecedented convergence of complementary/alternative medicine (CAM) with mainstream biomedical care. This confluence may lead to a deeply…
Abstract
Purpose
In the USA, there has recently been an unprecedented convergence of complementary/alternative medicine (CAM) with mainstream biomedical care. This confluence may lead to a deeply rooted philosophical conflict. This qualitative study works to identify factors that health-care leaders can use, which will build a pathway to greater integrative practice between medical doctors and CAM practitioners – from parallel existence to partnership – by examining the tensions between biomedical medicine and naturopathic medicine. The purpose of this study is to offer short-term suggestions for partnership and long-term recommendations for better understanding.
Design/methodology/approach
An original qualitative study using semi-structured with CAM practitioners and biomedical practitioners.
Findings
Areas of conflict that are preventing synergy are identified and a pathway for health-care leaders to follow to create greater integration and partnerships is suggested.
Research limitations/implications
This is a qualitative and exploratory study that has significant limitations on generalizability.
Practical implications
This study suggest steps that both types of health-care practitioners can take to increase their success at working together on an individual level, a group level, an organizational level and on an industry-wide basis, as well as provide a specific pathway to create greater integrative practice for health-care leaders.
Social implications
The results indicate that stronger partnerships between different types of medical practitioners increase patient choice, patient satisfaction and outcomes.
Originality/value
Increasing interested in CAM modalities is driving more contact between CAM practitioners and biomedical practitioners. This contact is best established in partnership between practitioners rather than in parallel. This original research outlines the sources of conflict and provides recommendations for encouraging greater synergy.
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Stephen W. Ritch and Thomas Mengel
Appropriate design and redesign of programs, responses to accreditation agencies, and internal academic legitimacy concerns are critical challenges in education in general and in…
Abstract
Appropriate design and redesign of programs, responses to accreditation agencies, and internal academic legitimacy concerns are critical challenges in education in general and in leadership education in particular. Guiding Questions: Guidelines for Leadership Education Programs (Guiding Questions), a member initiated project sponsored by the International Leadership Association (ILA), provides a framework to address these challenges. In this paper, we first describe the background and context of this initiative. Second, we introduce the Overview of the five sections of Guiding Questions: Conceptual Framework, Context, Content, Teaching and Learning, and Outcomes and Assessment. Third, we present results of initial field tests of the Overview and its framework within three different North American universities. Finally, we discuss next steps and invite the reader to get involved in the further development of Guiding Questions.
Gisela Cebrián, Marcus Grace and Debra Humphris
Research on sustainability in higher education has focused on environmental management of the university campus, case studies and examples of good practice. Although the value and…
Abstract
Purpose
Research on sustainability in higher education has focused on environmental management of the university campus, case studies and examples of good practice. Although the value and contribution of these initiatives has been articulated, little holistic and structural transformation of universities has been achieved so far. This paper aims to explore different theoretical frameworks to better understand and improve the effectiveness of organisational change processes towards sustainability in universities.
Design/methodology/approach
The combination of different theoretical approaches on organisational learning such as organisational learning theory, the idea of expansive learning at work, the ideal of the learning organisation and transformative learning theory are reviewed in this paper. These ideas in combination with leadership for sustainability and education for sustainability lead to an integrative model that links theory and practice, cultural and social aspects influencing learning, and the ability of individuals to critically reflect and challenge existing worldviews to learn and develop new practices.
Findings
The theoretical foundations and model presented seek to provide useful theoretical basis with which to better understand the process of transformation towards sustainability in higher education. This involves a continuous process of learning to rethink existing practices and worldviews by individuals within the organisation, which lead to community learning, which in turn lead to organisational learning. Six key implications for action have also been identified.
Originality/value
Little research exists that uses organisational learning to inform the design and development of the research reporting on the achievements, opportunities and challenges emerged during the change process towards embedding sustainability in higher education. The suggested framework is envisaged as an integrative theoretical framework that can help understand the “how to”, thus the learning processes associated with embedding sustainability in the core activities of universities.
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Life is made up of debits and credits, as Kipling wrote, long accounts have to be paid — mistakes, misconduct, misdeeds, all the mischief and harm they cause, exact payment which…
Abstract
Life is made up of debits and credits, as Kipling wrote, long accounts have to be paid — mistakes, misconduct, misdeeds, all the mischief and harm they cause, exact payment which has to be met by someone, not necessarily those that cause the trouble; all too often by innocent victims. The recent industrial strife, destruction and violence, despite the plausible excuses for it, will have disastrous results, a colossal debit in the nation's accounts; and the mass of the people, the vulnerable groups including several millions of elderly pensioners, the handicapped and sick, are under no illusions who will have to pay. The posturing defiance — “heads held high”, bands playing martial music — the complete lack of concern or regret for others will make no difference to the overtaking retribution.
Jacks Bezerra, Fábio Batista Mota, Michele Waltz Comarú, Luiza Amara Maciel Braga, Leonardo Fernandes Moutinho Rocha, Paulo Roberto Carvalho, Luís Alexandre da Fonseca Tinoca and Renato Matos Lopes
During the last few years there has been an increase of interest in work-based learning (WBL), which can be understood as a process of both developing workplace skills and…
Abstract
Purpose
During the last few years there has been an increase of interest in work-based learning (WBL), which can be understood as a process of both developing workplace skills and promoting labor force productivity. This paper aims to map the scientific landscape related to WBL research worldwide.
Design/methodology/approach
combined bibliometrics and network analysis techniques to analyze data of scientific publications related to WBL indexed at the Web of Science (WoS) Core Collection.
Findings
results show an increase of publications over time: Education & Educational Research as the most frequent research area to which the articles were assigned, the UK and Australia as the main countries and Monash University (Australia) and Middlesex University (England) as the main organizations producing knowledge on WBL.
Originality/value
By offering a global scientific landscape of WBL research published so far, the authors aimed to contribute to future academic debates and studies in this field of knowledge.
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Clemens Mader, Geoffrey Scott and Dzulkifli Abdul Razak
Numerous policy announcements and articles have been produced over the past 20 years calling for higher education institutions to give greater focus to social, cultural, economic…
Abstract
Purpose
Numerous policy announcements and articles have been produced over the past 20 years calling for higher education institutions to give greater focus to social, cultural, economic and environmental sustainability in their curriculum, research, engagement activities and operations. However, there has been much less attention given to establishing how to ensure these desired developments are successfully initiated, implemented and sustained. It is to these key areas of effective change management, leadership, support and governance for embedding sustainability into the core activities of higher education institutions through transformation that this special issue of Sustainability Accounting, Management and Policy Journal (SAMPJ) gives focus. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper brings together a consolidated analysis of the existing empirical literature on effective change management and leadership in higher education transformation with particular focus on the results of a recent international empirical study of 188 experienced leaders of sustainability in universities in Australia, the UK, the European Mainland, North America and South Africa.
Findings
The paper brings together the case for action in the sector, identifies an integrating framework for addressing sustainable development in the university curriculum, research, engagement activities and operations consistently, comprehensively through a whole institutional approach and identifies the key challenges and lessons on effective change management and leadership for sustainability transformation initiatives in universities and colleges.
Originality/value
Higher education institutions often give more attention to discussing what should change in their provision than to ensuring that desired transformations are actually put into practice effectively, sustainably and with positive impact. This paper and the articles which follow seek to address this gap.
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Wei Shao, Mitchell Ross and Debra Grace
The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the importance of user-motivation as well as demographics in developing an effective segmentation strategy of Facebook users…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the importance of user-motivation as well as demographics in developing an effective segmentation strategy of Facebook users. Additionally, the paper seeks to add validity to the scale developed by Park et al. (2009) by using a full spectrum of Facebook users.
Design/methodology/approach
A self-administered survey was employed to explore access motivations, frequency and session duration of Facebook users. The survey was e-mailed to 2,129 potential respondents with 530 valid responses received. Data were initially analysed by hierarchical cluster analysis to develop the cluster solution. Cluster means were then used as cluster centres for a K-means cluster analysis for all cases. The relationship between the clusters and Facebook activity variables was investigated through ANOVA while independent samples t-tests were employed to analyse the relationship between motivations and demographics. Lastly χ2-tests were used to explore the relationship between Facebook user segments and demographics.
Findings
The results indicate four distinct types of Facebook users: Devotee, Agnostic, Socializer and Finder. Devotees were highly positive about Facebook use while Agnostics were least motivated to use Facebook. Socializers were motivated to use Facebook for socializing and entertainment while Finders were motivated to use Facebook for information seeking. These four distinct groups are validated by examining their individual behaviour regarding frequency of access to Facebook and the average amount of time spent on Facebook per visit. Demographic variables such as gender and age were found to be significantly related to Facebook user-motivation and segmentation.
Practical implications
For marketers who communicate with market segments via social media, the findings of this study are highly significant. To date, marketers have found it difficult to fully exploit the benefits of Facebook. The authors argue this is due to a tendency to consider Facebook users as a single segment rather than understanding the nuances of different user segments. This research provides marketers with a motivation and demographic segmentation strategy for Facebook users.
Originality/value
Despite the popularity of Facebook as a communication channel, from a marketing perspective little is known regarding Facebook user segments. This research addresses this gap by undertaking a segmentation study of Facebook users. A segmentation typology is developed in which both Facebook user motivations as well as demographic variables are found to be useful in describing user segments. Additionally, the study makes important theoretical contributions by extending uses and gratifications theory to the Facebook context and adding validity to the scale developed by Park et al. (2009) for use with the full spectrum of Facebook users.
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Debra Grace, Mitchell Ross and Wei Shao
This paper aims to adopt a novel approach to the study of individuals’ psychological dispositions that predict Facebook usage/non-usage. Given the historically disappointing…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to adopt a novel approach to the study of individuals’ psychological dispositions that predict Facebook usage/non-usage. Given the historically disappointing results associated with studies that treat personality traits/dispositions as enduring and invariant, contemporary thought accepts that it is the interaction between dispositions and situations that influence behaviour. In this study, the situation (in this case, Facebook) is positioned as the antecedent stimulus for the activation of context-relevant psychological dispositions that, subsequently, facilitate behavioural prediction (i.e. Facebook usage/non-usage). Moreover, Facebook (the stimulus) is examined through its perceived psychological, rather than normative, features to identify context-relevant dispositions.
Design/methodology/approach
This two-study project adopts a research framework developed through the integration of communication theories and theoretical frameworks and psychological processing theories. Study 1 adopted a qualitative approach to determine the psychological features of Facebook, as perceived from the individual’s standpoint. Study 2 involved a national online survey, developed from the findings from Study 1, to explore context-relevant psychological dispositions in their prediction of Facebook behaviour.
Findings
The findings of Study 1 lead to the identification of the perceived psychological features of Facebook which are categorised under the umbrella terms of interaction, self-image control, usage volition and risk. Using these features (identified in Study 1) to guide in the selection of context-relevant dispositions, rather than arbitrarily selecting dispositions, the hypotheses for Study 2 are developed. As a result, Study 2 involves the discriminant analysis of data gathered from 579 user/non-users of Facebook to determine if context-relevant psychological dispositions accurately predict behaviour of both users and non-users of Facebook.
Originality/value
The findings provide a psychological roadmap for Facebook advertisers, which can be used to develop and test media-specific advertising strategy. Furthermore, a significant contribution of this study resides within the research approach itself which can be used to guide not only media research but also other marketing and business research that is characterized by context specificity.