Internal workplace coaches are employees who, in addition to their main job, volunteer to provide coaching to work colleagues who are not their direct reports. The purpose of this…
Abstract
Purpose
Internal workplace coaches are employees who, in addition to their main job, volunteer to provide coaching to work colleagues who are not their direct reports. The purpose of this paper is to explore what motivates these individuals to volunteer to be an internal workplace coach and to continue carrying out the role.
Design/methodology/approach
To explore the experiences of internal coaches, a questionnaire was devised and issued; it attracted 484 responses – the largest survey response to date from this population. Following analysis of the questionnaire data, semi-structured interviews were carried out with 20 internal coaches from private, public and not-for-profit UK organisations. The responses were analysed in relation to motivation theory, principally self-determination theory.
Findings
Individuals were motivated to volunteer for the role, and to continue to practise as coaches, in the most part to satisfy intrinsic needs for competence, relatedness and autonomy. The research presents rich information about how coaches perceived these needs were satisfied by coaching. In general, there were only moderate or poor levels of support and recognition for individual coaches within their organisation, indicating limited extrinsic motivation.
Practical implications
The practical implications are that organisations can draw on the findings from this study to motivate individuals to volunteer to be internal coaches and to continue to act in that role.
Originality/value
Many organisations use internal coaches, but there is very little research into what motivates these volunteers.
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Patita Paban Mohanty and Hiran Roy
Food has become not only a captivating and integral attribute of travelling but also a source of motivation and offers nourishment value to tourists. In addition, food endeavours…
Abstract
Food has become not only a captivating and integral attribute of travelling but also a source of motivation and offers nourishment value to tourists. In addition, food endeavours to build human health by providing appropriate nutrition, adopting healthy environments, and presenting aesthetically to enhance tourists’ experiences. Thus, food advocates highly for human health and well-being. Recently, food has held high esteem in the research realm of culinary and gastronomy tourism and craves a niche by offering memorable tourist experiences. However, research on the nexus of food and faith and how food acts as a main driver for faith-inspired tourists has garnered scarce attention. Especially, the understanding of faith-driven tourists’ food consumption and related aspects in religious destinations has been limited in tourism literature. Emphasising the lack of research on food for faith-inspired tourists, this study intends to understand the role of Hindu temple food in driving and consolidating the faith as well as offering an overall tourist experience. To ascertain the study’s objective, individual semi-structured face-to-face interviews were employed for the exploratory nature of this study. As a result of thematic analysis, a total of four key themes have been identified as responsible for driving the food for faith-inspired tourists and categorised as follows: (1) offering purpose and spirituality to life, (2) delving oneself into sacredness and purity, (3) seeking salvation from the mundane desires, and (4) a mark of health and sustainability.
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Taeho Park, Abdul-Majeed Mahamadu, Kofi Agyekum, Anita Odame Adade-Boateng, Patrick Manu, Emmanuel Adinyira and Selorm Adukpo
This paper aims to investigate the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) management practices of construction companies in South Korea to ascertain specific components and…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) management practices of construction companies in South Korea to ascertain specific components and practices that need improvement for successful OSH performance.
Design/methodology/approach
A quantitative research strategy was adopted. A close-ended questionnaire survey covering 45 OSH management practices was sent to 324 contractors; 108 responses were gathered, representing a response rate of 33.3%. Data were analysed using simple descriptive statistics (frequencies and percentages) and Pearson’s chi-square test.
Findings
The findings revealed that there is a moderate level of implementation of OSH management practices among construction firms in South Korea. However, there is a significant disparity in terms of implementation between large enterprises on the one hand and small to medium enterprises on the other. Furthermore, a few of the business characteristics (i.e. the size of companies and certification to OHSAS 18001) were closely associated with the extent of the implementation of OSH management practices.
Practical implications
This research uncovers the OSH management practices that are poorly implemented and lays the foundation for appropriate measures to improve OSH in South Korean construction companies. It suggests an effective strategy for communicating health and safety issues to workers, training safety managers, reviewing risk assessments, reviewing the health and safety plan, incentivising workers by rewarding good behaviour and having a penal mechanism for employees not adhering to the rules.
Originality/value
The study provides insights into an under-investigated South Korean construction industry topic. It offers additional insight into state-of-the-art health and safety management practices in the construction industry in South Korea. Furthermore, it establishes which components of OSH management practice require improvement in the Korean context. This is also one of the few studies in OSH which establishes the association between the construction business characteristics and OSH management in the South Korean construction domain.
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Efe Can Gürcan and Gerardo Otero
This article employs interpretive conceptual analysis to provide a coherent research philosophy and practical insights for conjunctural analysis as a Marxist alternative to…
Abstract
Purpose
This article employs interpretive conceptual analysis to provide a coherent research philosophy and practical insights for conjunctural analysis as a Marxist alternative to traditional case study methods. How can Gramsci’s writings inform our understanding of research philosophy? How does this philosophy shape his own method as applied to the case of the French Revolution?
Design/methodology/approach
Gramsci’s methodology is based on a dynamic and agentive understanding of what he calls “organized matter,” which is supplemented with a historicist epistemology. His philosophy brings to the fore the notion of “reciprocity” rather than mere causation and prioritizes the study of “regularities,” as opposed to fixed and universal laws. It incorporates both structural forces and human agency as valid sources of knowledge.
Findings
Using the French Revolution as a case study, Gramsci applies these principles to conjunctural analysis by examining socioeconomic convulsions as pivotal moments that elucidate the interaction between organic movements – indicative of profound, long-term structural changes such as the ascent of the bourgeoisie, the consolidation of their political power, industrialization, capitalist development and the emergence of the modern nation-state – and conjunctural periods, which are triggered by immediate, specific events precipitating these extensive structural transformations.
Originality/value
This article fills an important gap in the literature, considering that previous research has not systematically addressed Gramsci’s contributions to research philosophy and his study of the French Revolution using conjunctural analysis.
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The purpose of this paper is to explore the dynamics in the relationship between tax practitioners and their tax clients, to understand how tax practitioners reconcile competing…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the dynamics in the relationship between tax practitioners and their tax clients, to understand how tax practitioners reconcile competing logics in their tax work.
Design/methodology/approach
This research adopts a qualitative approach in which semi-structured interviews are conducted with 68 tax practitioners across 11 countries, allowing for the examination of an in-depth personal perspective on tax practitioners’ relationships with their clients.
Findings
Using a Bourdieusian frame, I find that long-term client relationships built on trust and shared values, as moderated by risk appetite and cultural markers, can enable tax practitioners to reconcile competing logics in their advisory work.
Practical implications
The research findings presented reflect the way in which tax practitioners navigate, build up and maintain long-term relationships with their clients. The findings are highly relevant for regulators as my research shows that clients share a similar tax risk appetite with their tax advisor, thus this can assist regulators in curbing tax non-compliance and in identifying more tax-aggressive tax practitioners and taxpayers.
Originality/value
Previous studies (Carter and Spence, 2014; Harber and Willows, 2022) have examined the tension between commercial and other professional logics among senior accountants working in Big 4 firms. I extend and deepen this work to tax practitioners, drawing on a substantial corpus of interviews to examine the role of the client relationship in explaining the heterogeneity of the field. These findings add to the understanding of client agency and to the subtleties of professional relationships within the tax domain.
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Mohit Dar, Carolyn Cordery, Ivo De Loo and Melina Manochin
This paper aims to examine the lived experiences of a professional accountant, exploring how he navigated the complexity of change in specific accounting processes in the UK…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine the lived experiences of a professional accountant, exploring how he navigated the complexity of change in specific accounting processes in the UK housing association (HA). Using an autoethnographic approach, the authors seek to relate individual and collective insights into the changing of social housing organisational processes.
Design/methodology/approach
This autoethnographic account draws on participant and participant-observer reflections, as well as several materials maintained by the professional accountant, from a turbulent period in UK social housing. These data are analysed abductively, where the HA was perceived to be a constellation of ritual activities that underpinned a working community.
Findings
The professional accountant, who is one of the authors, sought to transform HA’s finance function to be “World-class”. Among others, allegedly outdated accounting processes in the HA seemed to require radical change to enable quicker yet more financially substantiated decision-making. Office rituals facilitated the associated accounting process changes by drawing on camaraderie and team/family bonding, which became amenable to new (accounting) rituals. However, the change process was complex and may well have undermined the existing camaraderie in the finance team. The paper reflects on this, with the professional accountant looking back on his actions within the HA after he had left the HA and had entered academia.
Originality/value
This study demonstrates the potential of autoethnographic reflections in accounting research when accounting is seen as ritualised activity. Hence, abductively, the reflection is theorised through the notion of “ritual” and its antecedent, “liminality”. This autoethnographic narrative may serve as an aid for others who may also face turbulent periods which require navigating change, while they experience personal struggles relating to this change.
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Arthur Egwuonwu, Emeka Smart Oruh, Ambrose Egwuonwu and Jude Onyima
This paper presents a comprehensive and integrated review of the literature on the role of psychic distance in shaping inter-organizational relationships, by uncovering the…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper presents a comprehensive and integrated review of the literature on the role of psychic distance in shaping inter-organizational relationships, by uncovering the theoretical, methodological, and thematic foundations of this research domain.
Design/methodology/approach
Leveraging a systematic literature review in combination of text mining techniques using Leximancer, the study identified 62 relevant articles published between 1980 and 2024. The analysis revealed four key areas of focus: (1) interfirm business relationships, (2) relational governance and performance, (3) relationship quality, and (4) relationship violation.
Findings
The findings indicate that this body of research is grounded in well-established theoretical frameworks, with social exchange theory, transaction cost analysis, relational exchange theory, and the resource-based view being the most frequently employed. The literature predominantly emphasizes the role of psychic distance in the formation and maintenance of interfirm business relationships, while the other three areas remain comparatively underexplored.
Originality/value
By offering a more robust framework and a holistic understanding of psychic distance in inter-organizational relationships context, this study paves the way for further theory-driven studies, which is a theoretical contribution towards advancing this research area
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Nicolas Berland, Emer Curtis, Marcel Guenoun and Angèle Renaud
This study aims to examine the question “How can we understand the dynamics that give rise to multiplicities of overlapping controls (MoOCs)?” and explore the role of local…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the question “How can we understand the dynamics that give rise to multiplicities of overlapping controls (MoOCs)?” and explore the role of local politics in the emergence of such multiplicities.
Design/methodology/approach
Building on assemblage theory, we use an in-depth case study of local government in France where a Socialist and Green coalition (the “Coalition”) replaced a long-standing Communist administration. The Coalition introduced a comprehensive set of new management control systems (MCSs), layered onto pre-existing systems.
Findings
The proliferation of new MCSs, together with the persistence of legacy MCSs, gave rise to a MoOC. Linkages between controls constituted potential points of rupture around which the assemblage changed and shifted the nexus of control. Whereas densely populated areas of the assemblage provided sites for conflict in the battle to influence the allocation of resources, some MCSs became isolated or were reterritorialized by political groups seeking autonomy from the new management.
Social implications
We highlight the material consequences of political contentions around MoOCs that obfuscate, and at times frustrate, the implementation of a programme for government.
Originality/value
We contribute a set of concepts pertaining to the dynamics of MoOCs. We offer an alternative perspective on the disappointment associated with the adoption of new management tools in the public sector, showing how MCSs can become battlegrounds for political contention rather than tools for management improvement. We contribute to literature utilizing assemblage theory for analysing management accounting change.
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Freddie Holmes, Manish Shukla and Ram Kumar Dhurkari
This study tries to identify important criteria and sub-criteria for the evaluation of suppliers for effective management of supply chain sustainability risks (SCSR). This study…
Abstract
Purpose
This study tries to identify important criteria and sub-criteria for the evaluation of suppliers for effective management of supply chain sustainability risks (SCSR). This study also demonstrates the application of the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method in a specific case of a company that is managing a short food supply chain and facing difficulty in ranking the suppliers on three dimensions of sustainability.
Design/methodology/approach
Literature reviews and expert opinions are used to identify and assess the sub-criteria for each of the three dimensions of sustainability, followed by pairwise comparison as per the AHP methodology. Finally, the proposed framework is used to evaluate the three suppliers that represent approximately 70% of the total tea sourced by the case company.
Findings
None of the three suppliers is best on all three dimensions of sustainability. The rank order of suppliers together on the three dimensions is different than the rank order with respect to each of the dimensions separately. The results obtained are useful for the case company to understand the risk associated with each of their suppliers. Also, it helps them develop a proactive plan to address those risks. The results also show that the overall country-level indices may not accurately reflect the individual supplier level, and specific information may help to make better judgements.
Research limitations/implications
The study only demonstrates the evaluation of tier-one suppliers. There are various suppliers in the supply chain (tier two and tier three), and there could be missing or inadequate information about these next-level suppliers that augments SCSR substantially. The study focussed on the countries of three specific suppliers, and sustainability parameters are highly contextual and vary from country to country.
Practical implications
This study proposes a multi-criteria decision framework to evaluate and analyse suppliers based on their performance against SCSR. Using the AHP method, a case application is demonstrated for sustainable supply chain risk management. By considering SCSR in the evaluation process, the case company is able to prioritise prevailing risks, analyse suppliers’ positions against these risks and initiate appropriate risk management strategies. The proposed framework provides a powerful tool for making SCSR decisions in similar contexts.
Social implications
The results helped the company to effectively and efficiently prioritize SCSR and rate suppliers using the proposed framework. It is also observed from the results that the social criterion related to human rights (0.161) was highest in the case company’s priority, followed by child labour (0.118). This fact adds value to the proposition that although social sustainability has featured less in academia, it is unclear whether this is apparent in practice.
Originality/value
The study uses experts from a case company based in the UK which is in the business of procurement and supply of tea and is managing a short food supply chain. The framework is the first of its kind using all three dimensions of sustainability: environmental, social and economic.
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Koorosh Gharehbaghi, Ken Farnes and Neville Hurst
This paper aims to trial a novel method of improving the performance of rail systems. Accordingly, an evaluation of rail system dynamics (SD) using discrete event simulation (DES…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to trial a novel method of improving the performance of rail systems. Accordingly, an evaluation of rail system dynamics (SD) using discrete event simulation (DES) will be undertaken. Globally, cities and their transportation systems face ongoing challenges with many of these resulting from complicated rail SD. To evaluate these challenges, this study utilized DES as the basis of the analysis of Melbourne Metro Rail's SD. The transportation SD processes including efficiency and reliability were also developed.
Design/methodology/approach
Using DES, this research examines and determines the Melbourne Metro Rail's SD. Although the Melbourne Metro Rail is still in progress, the DES developed in this research examined the system requirements of functionality, performance and integration. As the basis of this examination, the Melbourne Metro Rail's optimization was simulated using the developed DES. As the basis of the experiment, a total of 50 trials were simulated. This included 25 samples for each of efficiency and reliability. The simulation not only scrutinized the SD but also underlined some of its shortfalls.
Findings
This study found that information and communication technology (ICT) was the pinnacle of system application. The DES development highlighted that both efficiency and reliability rates are the essential SD and thus fundamental for Melbourne Metro Rail system functionality. Specifically, the three elements of SD, capacity, continuity and integration are considered critical in improving the system functionality of Melbourne Metro Rail.
Research limitations/implications
This particular mega rail infrastructure system was carefully analyzed, and subsequently, the DES was developed. However, since the DES is at its inception, the results are relatively limited without inclusive system calibration or validation process. Nonetheless, with some modifications, such as using different KPIs to evaluate additional systems variables and setting appropriate parameters to test the system reliability measures at different intensities, the developed DES can be modified to examine and evaluate other rail systems. However, if a broader system analysis is required, the DES model subsequently needs to be modified to specific system parameters.
Practical implications
Through evaluation of Melbourne's Metro Rail in the manner described above, this research has shown the developed DES is a useful platform to understand and evaluate system efficiency and reliability. Such an evaluation is considered important when implementing new transport systems, particularly when they are being integrated into existing networks.
Social implications
Efficient rail networks are critical for modern cities and such systems, while inherently complex, aid local economies and societal cohesion through predictable and reliable movement of people. Through improved system functionality and greater efficiencies, plus improved passenger safety, security and comfort, the traveling public will benefit from the enhanced reliability of the transportation network that results from research as that provided in this paper.
Originality/value
This research paper is the first of its kind specifically focusing on the application of DES on the Melbourne Metro Rail System. The developed model aligns with the efficiency optimization framework, which is central to rail systems. The model shows the relationship between increased efficiency and optimizing system reliability. In comparison with more advanced mathematical modeling, the DES presented in this research provides robust, but yet rapid and uncomplicated system enhancements. These findings can better prepare rail professionals to adequately plan and devise appropriate system measures.