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This article examines the intellectual antecedents of Alan Fox’s frames of reference and contributes to academic work that seeks to unravel the pre-Donovan roots of British industrial relations. It examines the origins of the unitary and pluralist frames of reference with a particular focus on the work of Norman Ross.

This article draws on published academic materials to examine the origins of the unitary and pluralist frames of reference.

The article identifies usage of the term “frame of reference” in industrial relations literature from the 1940s and demonstrates the origins of the unitary and pluralist conceptions of the firm in the works of Ross in the 1950s and 1960s.

The article provides a “fresh look” at the origins of the frames of reference.

This study investigates the origins and elaboration of the managerial “unitary” frame of reference associated with Alan Fox, focusing on unionised firms: the industrial relations context, intellectual roots, elaboration, adaptation by other writers, and international applicability.

Tracing the above requirements through contemporaneous sources.

Fox’s designation of the unitary frame needs to be understood in its 1960s’ context, particularly the promotion of “productivity bargaining”, and its furthering through management training and education. Fox’s specific contribution is identified. Subsequent UK writers have underplayed the importance of the legal dimension of managerial authority, especially relevant in the US context, while other extra-economic factors bolster the managerial unitary frame in authoritarian societies such as China.

The use of Fox's neglected 1960s’ writings; tracking how Fox developed the unitary frame concept and how it was funnelled into the narrow parameters of non-unionism by subsequent writers; identifying its applicability beyond the UK (with the USA as a historical example and China as a contemporary one).

This paper presents an historical reconstruction of the radicalisation of Alan Fox, the industrial sociologist and a detailed analysis of his early historical and sociological writing in the classical pluralist phase.

An intellectual history, including detailed discussion of key Fox texts, supported by interviews with Fox and other Biographical sources.

Fox’s radicalisation was incomplete, as he carried over from his industrial relations (IR) pluralist mentors, Allan Flanders and Hugh Clegg, a suspicion of political Marxism, a sense of historical contingency and an awareness of the fragmented nature of industrial conflict.

Recent academic attention has centred on Fox’s later radical pluralism with its “structural” approach to the employment relationship. This paper revisits his early, neglected classical pluralist writing. It also illuminates his transition from institutional IR to a broader sociology of work, influenced by AH Halsey, John Goldthorpe and others and the complex nature of his radicalisation.

Smart manufacturing (SM) capitalizes on big data analytics (BDA) advancements by enhancing current capabilities such as defect identification and enabling supporting capabilities such as preventive maintenance (PM). The previous literature fails to investigate the comprehensive associations between SM, BDA and PM. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the relationship among SM, BDA and PM.

The present research implements a multi-analytical PLS-SEM-ANN approach to investigate the relationships among BDA, PM and SM.

This investigation indicates that BDA is an effective digital technology that positively affects the operations of SM and PM. Furthermore, the results suggest that PM has a positive influence on SM and that it also positively mediates the relationship between BDA and SM, where PM cannot be treated as an auxiliary practice and plays an important role in SM as a primary operation. Furthermore, implementing the BDA enhances the performance of SM and PM.

The role of PM in the context of BDA and SM has been ignored in past research, and this study offers novelty by examining this relationship.

This conceptual paper explores the complex, and neglected, area of mentor development in initial teacher education (ITE) in Australia. It focuses on the emotionality of mentoring, drawing on concepts of emotional labour and emotional intelligence to develop a framework of effective mentoring that helps explain the essence of a mentor’s role in supporting preservice teachers.

This conceptual paper draws together mentor-support practice wisdom and research literature from several relevant areas. It draws on constructive developmental theories and complex stage theory to reaffirm the intricate nature of mentor learning and development. This paper critiques the current utilitarian emphasis on mentoring as a way to improve student outcomes without first having clarity on how to improve mentoring itself.

We introduce the mentoring as emotional labour framework as a way to better understand the nature of mentoring within ITE and as a tool for developing more effective mentor supports. We present “exemplar cases”, which are amalgamations of field observations to illustrate aspects of the framework – however, we do not claim they provide evidence of the utility or accuracy of the framework.

Previous research and policy have tended to gloss over the skills required for effective mentoring, whereas this paper places the emotional labour of mentoring front and centre, explicitly conceptualising and describing the personal and interpersonal skills required in a way that aims to support and empower mentors to recognise existing strengths and areas of potential growth.

Community health workers (CHWs) are vital to addressing public health system limitations in developing countries. However, effective identification and support of underperforming CHWs remains a challenge. This study develops a predictive model to proactively identify underperforming CHWs, facilitating targeted interventions for improved CHW programmes.

We developed a predictive model to identify underperforming CHWs in Uttar Pradesh, India. Data from 140,101 CHWs over a 12-month period was used to build, test and validate the model. Classification techniques, ensemble modeling and a model tuning algorithm were employed for accuracy optimization and early identification.

Logistic regression, decision trees and random forests yielded the best performance. While ensemble models offered no significant performance improvements over the base models, the model tuning algorithm effectively increased prediction accuracy by 19 percentage points. This enabled early identification of poor-performing CHWs and high-risk CHW clusters early in the year.

The developed model has significant potential to improve CHW programmes. It enables targeted support, feedback and resource allocation, leading to enhanced CHW performance, motivation and healthcare outcomes in the communities they serve. The model can provide personalised feedback to help CHWs overcome challenges and dynamic clustering facilitates proactive identification and tailored support for those at risk of underperformance.

This study is the first attempt to use predictive modelling to identify underperforming CHWs, advancing the nascent field of CHW performance analytics. It underscores the effectiveness of digital technologies and data in improving CHW programmes.

The aims of this research are (i) to examine the influence of music frequency (high vs low) as an atmospheric element on consumer behavior during a shopping experience and (ii) to investigate the function of emotional arousal in this relationship.

This study conducted a controlled lab experiment where (nonstudent, salary-earning) participants were presented with shopping trials under different music conditions (high vs low sound frequency) while their behavioral responses (product liking and willingness to pay [WTP]) and electrodermal activities were recorded in real-time.

Analyses revealed that product liking and WTP were higher when participants were exposed to high (vs low) frequency music. This difference was found to be mediated by arousal and occurred without participants’ awareness.

This research presents an explanatory study simulated with a relatively small sample under laboratory conditions; therefore, researchers are encouraged to test further to extend the insights presented.

Music affects emotional and behavioral responses in consumer environments. The design of the music determines whether these responses will be in alignment with varying situational needs and demands. This research suggests a novel perspective for consideration in this design.

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first study to attempt to consider music frequency as a discerning atmospheric element. It also enriches the understanding of contextual effects in consumer environments by revealing the mediating role of arousal (on behavior) through sensitive and unconscious emotional data.