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This study aims to examine the relationship between institutional logics and specifications quality, and how this relationship is mediated by the legitimacy of the procurement process and stewardship behaviour.

This study draws on insights from institutional logics theory, and legitimacy and stewardship behaviour literature. We conducted an extended literature review to gain a comprehensive understanding of “institutional logics” and their manifestations in organizational contexts, utilizing the 2000–2024 data collected from the EBSCO, Scopus and Web of Science databases, complemented with Google Scholar. We gather that institutional logics manifest in several forms, and that while some organizations may thrive on a single logic, in certain contexts institutional logics can manifest in combinations – “multiple logics or hybrids”. Based on this understanding, we developed testable research hypotheses, predicting the influences of institutional logics – professional logic, efficient service logic and delivery (market) logic, on legitimacy, stewardship behaviour and specifications quality. We then carried out an empirical study, adopting a quantitative cross-sectional survey design with a self-administered questionnaire to test the hypothesized relationships. The empirical data were obtained from 162 procuring and disposing entities in Uganda and analyzed using the partial least squares structural equation modelling technique.

The study findings reveal that institutional logics exert a strong positive effect on the legitimacy of the procurement process and on stewardship behaviour, which, in turn, both positively influence specifications quality.

The study findings have implications for theory and practice. The study findings provide useful insights that support the conceptual and theoretical development of institutional logics theory and applications in procurement literature. In addition, the study findings enhance procurement managers’ understanding of the mechanisms through which institutional logics can foster specifications quality. However, considering the fact that the study was conducted in a single country context, and focused on the public sector only, the findings of the study might not be generalizable globally.

This study contributes to established knowledge about quality management and procurement by examining the legitimacy of the procurement process and stewardship behaviour of those involved in procurement processes as mechanisms through which procuring entities are able to use institutional logics to enhance specifications quality. In addition, the study highlights areas for future research that may be explored to increase understanding of the value of institutional logics in ensuring specifications quality, and the link between specifications quality and the general performance of procuring entities.

The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of a collaboratively designed digital road safety intervention on a sample of young drivers and their self-reported traffic offending behaviours before and after the digital intervention.

This research involved surveying young drivers who shared their driving behaviours and views of police legitimacy through both in-person and online surveys. Analytical methods, including descriptives and hierarchical regressions, were used to examine the differences between participants who received the intervention versus those in a control group. Participants were also separated based on their involvement in a police-led road safety program before the intervention.

The findings of this study indicated that young drivers who received the intervention showed no improvements in their reported offending behaviour immediately following or three months following the delivery of the intervention. However, views of police legitimacy were a significant predictor and correlated with the reported offending behaviour among young drivers.

This study provides critical insights for policymakers and road safety educators by demonstrating the potential and limitations of digital interventions in altering young drivers’ behaviours. The findings suggest that while digital platforms can effectively communicate road safety messages, traditional face-to-face methods like the Life Awareness Workshop program may be more impactful in changing behaviours. Policymakers should consider integrating digital interventions with conventional programs to enhance their effectiveness. Additionally, fostering positive views of police legitimacy can be a crucial strategy in encouraging compliance with road rules among young drivers, thereby improving overall road safety.

This research indicates that while the co-design intervention proved promising to ensure that an evidence-based road safety message would be delivered to young drivers in an appropriate manner, in this case, that did not lead to any significant changes in driver behaviour. These results highlight the difficulty in reaching young drivers to affect a behaviour change digitally and indicate that further research is required.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic brought out the best in people, but it also brought out the worst in people. Authorities grappled with the proliferation of misinformation, belief in conspiracy theories, distrust of authorities and anti-social behaviour. As frontline enforcers of COVID-19 restrictions, police were confronted with these attitudes and behaviours every day. This study examines whether the perceived trustworthiness of police during the pandemic – particularly procedural justice – protected public trust in police and reduced conspiracy theory uptake.

This paper uses survey data collected from 779 Australians during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Findings revealed that individuals who perceived police as untrustworthy during the pandemic, as well as those scoring high on conspiracy propensity, were less likely to trust police and were more likely to endorse COVID-19-specific conspiracy theories. Further, trust mediated the relationship between procedural justice and endorsement of conspiracy theories, and conspiracy propensity moderated the relationship between procedural justice and endorsement of conspiracy theories. Specifically, procedural justice protected trust most strongly for those low on conspiracy propensity, but reduced endorsement of COVID-19 conspiracy theories most strongly for those high on conspiracy propensity. Together, the findings show that procedural justice policing is critical for protecting trust in police and for mitigating conspiracy theory uptake.

The study makes a novel contribution to the policing, trust and conspiracy theory literature as it is the first to test whether conspiracy propensity moderates the relationship between procedural justice on peoples’ trust in police and their endorsement of conspiracy theories.

Conflict resolution is crucial to nurturing workplace harmony and creating a positive environment. This study aims to evaluate the relationship between perceived fairness, choice of technology and conflict resolution in the case of full-time employees from various sectors. The scope is limited to examining the influence of perceived fairness (PF) and the impact of technology on interpersonal conflict resolution (ICR), with age and designation being control variables.

A quantitative research design was used, and data was collected through a questionnaire distributed to 450 respondents, with 420 participants’ responses included in the analysis. Structural equation modeling using the SmartPLS software was then applied.

The findings revealed that perceived fairness has a significant positive impact on interpersonal conflict resolution, as did the use of technology. Age significantly influenced the relationship, while designation did not show an important relationship.

The results suggest that organizations should prioritize perceived fairness in their policies and practices to create a conflict-resolving environment. Furthermore, they can leverage technology to enhance conflict resolution processes as the workplaces accept hybrid as a way of work. These findings can also guide practitioners in fostering positive workplace climates by effectively managing conflicts.

This study contributes to the existing literature by examining the relationship between perceived fairness, technology and conflict resolution. It expands understanding of the factors influencing conflict resolution and highlights the importance of fairness and technology. The findings have practical implications for organizations seeking to enhance conflict management strategies.

This study explores the determinants of public willingness to comply with COVID-19 regulations to address the research gap at the intersection of public health and law enforcement within the unique sociocultural context of Taiwan.

Utilizing survey data from New Taipei City in 2021, the analysis involved multiple linear regression models to assess the influences of psychological conditions (i.e. distress and self-efficacy), community compliance and perceptions of government (i.e. general trust in government and specific perceptions of police procedural justice) on compliance tendencies while controlling for individual demographics.

The results indicated that self-efficacy, perceived community compliance, trust in government, and police procedural justice are positively associated with public compliance with COVID-19 regulations. Among these variables, trust in government and police procedural justice were identified as the most prominent factors, followed by self-efficacy and perceived community compliance. As demographic factors such as age, gender and education did not significantly affect willingness to comply, psychological, social and governmental influences are more powerful determinants of compliance than static demographic characteristics.

This study provides empirical evidence from Taiwan on the factors shaping public compliance during an unprecedented global pandemic. It highlights the importance of fostering governmental trust and enhancing police procedural justice during periods of stability to secure compliance with public health directives in times of crisis.

Far from being united under the banner of sisterhood, American women opposed each other on the issue of gender equality in the 1970s–1980s. As the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) passed the US Congress in 1972, antifeminists mobilized under the lead of Phyllis Schlafly to prevent its ratification. Identified as major threat to traditional families, the ERA would have mandated that “equality under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex” (section 1). If this sociocultural and political struggle around women's rights revealed the different loyalties and interests of women at the time, it also testified to the institutional fragmentation of power in the country. Conservative women were not only fighting against feminism to preserve the privileged position they thought they occupied in the patriarchy; they were also animated by a strong anti-federal government sentiment. A combined examination of these antifeminist and anti-governmental stances reveals some the reasons why the ERA was eventually never added to the Constitution and could also explain why the United States is such a disunited country, especially regarding women's rights.

This study aims to explore the effects of expertise diversity on project efficiency and creativity in health-care project teams.

This study analyzes hierarchical linear models using multi-source data from 50 project teams in a large health-care organization in the USA. This data set includes self-reported survey responses from 274 team members and human resource information for all 515 members across the 50 teams. Expertise diversity is operationalized by professional diversity and positional diversity reflecting two dimensions, domain and level, of the concept of expertise.

This study reveals that professional diversity is negatively related to project efficiency and project creativity, whereas positional diversity is positively related to project efficiency.

Successfully managing a project team of experts within a limited time frame is a challenge for organizations. This study advances the understanding of the double-edged sword effect of expertise diversity on project teams, focusing on professional and positional diversity. It provides important insights for human resource development in terms of the composition of project teams regarding members’ expertise.

In human resource development (HRD) doctoral programs, advanced statistics training (AST) is crucial for certain students, depending on their research interests and career goals. However, mandating AST for all students could be inimically consequential to some students’ academic and professional success. Such requirement risks misallocating valuable time and resources, potentially diverting students from the areas where their intellectual strengths and research ambitions could flourish most effectively. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to conceptually investigate AST requirement for HRD doctoral students and call for an empirical investigation to address the research gap. Indeed, aligning training with students’ diverse needs could enhance their preparedness for future academic and career challenges.

This is a conceptual study examining the necessity of mandating AST for all HRD doctoral students.

Many HRD doctoral programs design their curricula based on the caprices of academic leaders rather than empirical evidence, creating a disconnect between doctoral students’ academic strengths, career goals, and the training they receive. As a result, this misalignment may produce mediocre ambidextrous researchers ill-equipped to meet their future research needs and employer expectations. A rigid one-size-fits-all approach in doctoral education fails to leverage students’ intellectual strengths, potentially hindering their development as specialized experts capable of contributing meaningfully to the evolving demands of the HRD field and its practitioners. Therefore, the HRD doctoral curriculum should be informed by data-driven insights to ensure relevance and efficacy.

Despite its profound and far-reaching implications for students, educational institutions, and employers, no empirical study has examined this nuanced issue within the HRD discipline. In contrast, extensive research in cognate disciplines has explored the necessity of AST and its impact on diverse student outcomes. This study makes a unique contribution to the HRD field by addressing a critical gap in the literature and proposing a bifurcated approach specifically designed for HRD doctoral students. This proposed novel framework could inform curriculum design and better align training with the evolving needs of emerging scholars and the broader HRD community.

Police were key to enforcing and managing COVID-19 emergency orders, but many police services were not prepared for such an emergency. In Ontario, Canada, each service was responsible for crafting its own procedures for responding to the pandemic. This study synthesizes changes documented by Ontario-based services.

We conducted a qualitative thematic analysis of COVID-19-related documents (e.g. emails, guides and recommendations, orders, directives, policies and procedures, questionnaires and checklists and strategic plans) produced by 14 municipal police services across Ontario, Canada.

The documents reveal ways that police services were affected by the pandemic. These changes are organized into four themes: intra-organizational changes, officer wellness, inter-agency coordination and collaboration and community-police relations.

The study works with data from multiple police services to document the range of ways that policing changed to adapt to the pandemic. Understanding how police services navigated the pandemic facilitates preparedness for future civil emergencies.

The purpose of this study was to determine if outcome bias and hindsight bias impact police performance ratings and perceptions of the likelihood and foreseeability of intimate partner homicides. In addition, the authors wished to see if taking the perspective of police mitigates any effects.

A total of 200 university students read vignettes describing an incident from a police officer’s perspective or from their own perspective. Participants also read risk assessments of the offender’s risk of committing violence. They were randomly assigned to receive either information that the offender later committed a homicide or no outcome information.

The results demonstrated an outcome bias and hindsight bias, wherein participants who received information about the homicide rated it as more likely and foreseeable and gave lower performance ratings to the police, compared to those who did not receive outcome information. Participants who took police perspective still showed this bias.

The findings indicate that people are likely to be biased in their perceptions and judgements of police performance when they know a homicide occurred. This bias seems to be difficult to overcome.

This paper provides empirical evidence to show people may be unfairly critical of police performance when a homicide is perpetrated.