This paper explores perspectives on social justice, equity and agency when schools address health, wellbeing and sustainability challenges.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper explores perspectives on social justice, equity and agency when schools address health, wellbeing and sustainability challenges.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper draws on a literature review of educational research. The analysis is narrative, highlighting how binary conceptions of equity, social justice and agency are explicitly or implicitly evident in the studies included in the review, distinguishing between as well as noting the interplay between the different conceptions.
Findings
Perspectives on social justice and equity are emphasizing the need to address (1) a more equal sharing of resources in education, (2) dominance in education, and (3) community/ies and education as a common good. Perspectives on agency are framed as situated (1) between people (2) between people and structures or social contexts, and (3) between people and nature or the more-than-human. The paper furthermore highlights tendencies and experiences regarding the possibility of addressing these perspectives in different forms of educational practices.
Research limitations/implications
A potential limitation in this review is that 17 out of the 23 included studies are by authors with an Anglo-Saxon background, while a further 3 have a European background. As such, the review mainly represents “Western” perspectives on social justice, equity and agency.
Originality/value
The findings in the paper indicate that despite the fact that social justice, equity and agency are concepts that have been discussed in educational research for a very long time, they cannot be seen as taken-for-granted concepts, and that the research contains a diverse range of perspectives on these concepts — also within research authored by researchers with an Anglo-Saxon or European background.
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Sampa Chisumbe, Clinton Ohis Aigbavboa, Erastus Mwanaumo and Wellington Didibhuku Thwala
Sampa Chisumbe, Clinton Ohis Aigbavboa, Erastus Mwanaumo and Wellington Didibhuku Thwala
Joel Hassan, Richa Chugh, Monica Ren and Hongzhi Gao
Motivated by the severe impact of global supply chain disruptions and the lack of understanding of supply chain resilience from an SME exporter perspective in the international…
Abstract
Purpose
Motivated by the severe impact of global supply chain disruptions and the lack of understanding of supply chain resilience from an SME exporter perspective in the international marketing literature, this paper sets out to explore how SME exporters achieve resilience through strategic choices related to sourcing and manufacturing during global disruptions.
Design/methodology/approach
The study adopts a qualitative, multiple-case-studies approach to identify the key strategic drivers and contextual factors influencing SME exporters’ supply chain resilience. Our study adopted an SME exporter perspective and featured an unprecedented global supply chain disruption context. New Zealand (NZ) was chosen as the key home country context for the participants of this study. Five NZ SME exporters were selected for our case studies.
Findings
This study redefines buffering, bridging and a mixed strategy for an SME exporter facing global supply chain disruptions. SME exporters with high situational control are likely to pursue a buffering strategy that reduces their resource dependence on foreign suppliers and their reliance on information support from these suppliers. In contrast, when the firm perceives little control over the supply chain, it will decide upon a bridging strategy that aims to build solid relationships with supply chain partners. Exporters opt for a mixed strategy when they do not see themselves clearly in high or low situational control.
Research limitations/implications
As global disruptions arise and evolve, supply chain uncertainty and exporters’ sense of situational control manifest differently across industries, product lines, markets and sourcing countries. It is essential to understand that firms can choose a mixed strategy based on these supply chain conditions. While our study was fortuitously timed, conducting multi-country studies could provide more comparative insights that transcend national borders. Additionally, our study did not examine organizational and capability-based factors. Future research may benefit from exploring how an SME exporter develops strategic capabilities to achieve resilience over its lifetime.
Practical implications
Businesses see survival as the most pivotal concern during a global supply chain disruption. Many companies have had to make on-the-spot decisions about whether they should shift or redesign their supply chains in the middle of a global disruption. There is no “best strategy” for an SME exporter to take. Rather, managers should make strategic decisions based on how much control or influence they have over a particular part of their supply chain. The level of control is determined by the SME exporter’s overall resource dependencies and information needs in particular parts of their supply chain.
Originality/value
We adopt resource dependence theory and information processing theory to guide our study and place exporters' situational control in the centre of drivers to firms' strategic choices during global disruptions. We make a novel attempt to incorporate the contextual conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic into the theorization of supply chain resilience. We make managerial recommendations to help SME exporters navigate global supply chain disruption challenges.
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Lisa Maertens, Ellen Daniëls, Annie Hondeghem and Wouter Vandenabeele
Notwithstanding that evidence-based human resource management (EBHRM) is gaining more ground in governmental institutions, it is still lacking a clear and research-driven…
Abstract
Purpose
Notwithstanding that evidence-based human resource management (EBHRM) is gaining more ground in governmental institutions, it is still lacking a clear and research-driven conceptualisation (Marler and Fisher, 2013). Therefore, this study seeks to establish a fundamental clarifying concept of EBHRM by using a systematic literature review.
Design/methodology/approach
This method builds on an intensive scanning of 2,584 (interdisciplinary) articles, collected from Web of Science and Scopus. Eventually, 50 articles met the predetermined inclusion criteria and were analysed. The most recent conceptualisation of evidence-based management in the literature has served as a guideline to compare the review results and further scrutinise the differences and similarities (Barends et al., 2014; Barends and Rousseau, 2018; Rynes and Bartunek, 2017).
Findings
This has enabled us to elaborate a comprehensive conceptualisation. The articles were divided into two groups, one group (n = 31) has Rousseau et al. as a reference, the other (n = 19) did not, and used various definitions. Three themes were identified: evidence-based research methods (n = 30), specific skills (n = 36) necessary to apply an evidence-based strategy and a link with the academic-practice gap (n = 25).
Practical implications
Based on the results, we recommend adding two dimensions to strengthen the current conceptualisation: a first dimension referring to how evidence-based management can be established (i.e. which methods and skills are necessary) and a second dimension referring to the why of evidence-based management in an organisation (reducing the academic-practice gap).
Originality/value
This paper starts from a systematic review approach unlike previous research in the field to contribute to the further conceptualisation of EBHRM (Rynes and Bartunek, 2017).
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Hassan Shuaibu Liman, Abdul-Rasheed Amidu and Deborah Levy
The complexity of property valuation, coupled with valuers’ cognitive limitations, makes some degree of error inevitable in valuations. However, given the crucial role that…
Abstract
Purpose
The complexity of property valuation, coupled with valuers’ cognitive limitations, makes some degree of error inevitable in valuations. However, given the crucial role that valuations play in the efficient functioning of the economy, there is a need for continuous improvement in the reliability of reported values by enhancing the quality of the decision-making process. The purpose of this paper is to review previous research on valuation decision-making, with particular interest in examining the approaches to improving the quality of valuation decisions and identifying potential areas for further research.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper adopts a narrative approach to review 42 research articles that were obtained from Scopus and Web of Science databases and through author citation searches.
Findings
Our findings show that existing literature is skewed towards examining the use of technology in the form of decision support systems (DSS), with limited research attention on non-technological (i.e. behavioural) approaches to improving the quality of valuation decisions. We summarise the non-technological approaches and note that much of the discussions on these approaches often appear as recommendations arising from other studies rather than original investigations in their own rights.
Practical implications
We conclude that studies investigating the effectiveness of the non-technological approaches to improving valuation decision-making are lacking, providing various avenues for further research.
Originality/value
This paper presents the first attempt to provide a comprehensive overview of non-technological approaches to improving the quality of valuation decisions.