Suzanna Windon, Mariah K. Stollar and Rama Radhakrishna
The purpose of this quantitative study was to investigate Penn State Extension 4-H volunteer leaders’ leadership development needs and preferred delivery methods for leadership…
Abstract
The purpose of this quantitative study was to investigate Penn State Extension 4-H volunteer leaders’ leadership development needs and preferred delivery methods for leadership development. The participants were 147 volunteer leaders who attended Penn State Extension Annual 4-H Leader Forum and filled out the survey. We found that the overall mean score for leadership skills needs among volunteer leaders was 4.33 (SD =.45). Volunteers’ overall leadership skills needs do not differ based on volunteer gender, level of education, age, and previous volunteer experience. The preferred delivery methods of leadership development for Penn State Extension 4-H volunteer leaders were workshop and in-service training. Leadership education is critical in advancing volunteers’ skills and preparing them to delivery well-developed, state of the art contemporary leadership education programs.
André Luiz Maranhão de Souza-Leão, Bruno Melo Moura, Walber Kaíc da Silva Nunes, Vitor de Moura Rosa Henrique and Italo Rogerio Correia de Santana
Fans are proactive consumers of pop culture products, who can be seen as prosumers. Fanvideo production is one of their most widespread practices in the participatory culture…
Abstract
Purpose
Fans are proactive consumers of pop culture products, who can be seen as prosumers. Fanvideo production is one of their most widespread practices in the participatory culture scenario. Thus, the aim of the present study is to analyze how ludic prosumption is featured on plays performed in Brazilian fanvideos based on successful pop culture franchises.
Design/methodology/approach
Research based on the interpretive content analysis of fanvideos of plays produced by Brazilian fans based on five emblematic pop culture franchises and published on YouTube.
Findings
Results have shown six play types in the analyzed fanvideos – i.e. child's play, performing powers, cosplay, play in social rites, teaching to play and “zuêra” –, which revealed a way of having fun in different situations through different practices based on ludic consumption experiences in different spheres of social life.
Originality/value
CCT-based studies focused on investigating plays as ludic consumption phenomenon, as well as fan culture, remain at early research stage. Thus, the main contribution of the present study lies on associating such concepts based on the concept of prosumption.
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Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahman, Poh Ling Chong, Tze San Ong, Boon Heng Teh and Tze Chin Ong
The aim of this paper is to characterise the association between business network and the balanced scorecard used by Malaysian small and medium enterprises (SMEs) as a method for…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to characterise the association between business network and the balanced scorecard used by Malaysian small and medium enterprises (SMEs) as a method for assessing firm efficiency. The business network takes into account both the dimensions of stability and efficiency. The business network can help SMEs, with fewer resources to remain competitive. By having a secure business network, the performance of SMEs in Malaysia can be further improved. A business network can facilitate swift coordination amongst distant geographies to create new competitive advantages by accessing market segments, resources as well as building strategic business alliances.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 404 sets of data collected by using stratified random sampling and structured questionnaire as an instrument. The list of SMEs collected from the Malaysia Foreign Trade Growth Corporate Directory (MATRADE) directories. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was utilised to analyse the data.
Findings
The findings show that the business network plays a role in the balanced scorecard (BSC) outcomes of Malaysian SMEs.
Originality/value
This article provides the owners and managers with an awareness to rapidly achieve the company's efficiency. Finally, the new article often has some consequences for decision-makers and regulators.
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Bidit Lal Dey, Sharifah Alwi, Fred Yamoah, Stephanie Agyepongmaa Agyepong, Hatice Kizgin and Meera Sarma
While it is essential to further research the growing diversity in western metropolitan cities, little is currently known about how the members of various ethnic communities…
Abstract
Purpose
While it is essential to further research the growing diversity in western metropolitan cities, little is currently known about how the members of various ethnic communities acculturate to multicultural societies. The purpose of this paper is to explore immigrants’ cosmopolitanism and acculturation strategies through an analysis of the food consumption behaviour of ethnic consumers in multicultural London.
Design/methodology/approach
The study was set within the socio-cultural context of London. A number of qualitative methods such as in-depth interviews, observation and photographs were used to assess consumers’ acculturation strategies in a multicultural environment and how that is influenced by consumer cosmopolitanism.
Findings
Ethnic consumers’ food consumption behaviour reflects their acculturation strategies, which can be classified into four groups: rebellion, rarefaction, resonance and refrainment. This classification demonstrates ethnic consumers’ multi-directional acculturation strategies, which are also determined by their level of cosmopolitanism.
Research limitations/implications
The taxonomy presented in this paper advances current acculturation scholarship by suggesting a multi-directional model for acculturation strategies as opposed to the existing uni-directional and bi-directional perspectives and explicates the role of consumer cosmopolitanism in consumer acculturation. The paper did not engage host communities and there is hence a need for future research on how and to what extent host communities are acculturated to the multicultural environment.
Practical implications
The findings have direct implications for the choice of standardisation vs adaptation as a marketing strategy within multicultural cities. Whilst the rebellion group are more likely to respond to standardisation, increasing adaptation of goods and service can ideally target members of the resistance and resonance groups and more fusion products should be exclusively earmarked for the resonance group.
Originality/value
The paper makes original contribution by introducing a multi-directional perspective to acculturation by delineating four-group taxonomy (rebellion, rarefaction, resonance and refrainment). This paper also presents a dynamic model that captures how consumer cosmopolitanism impinges upon the process and outcome of multi-directional acculturation strategies.
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Kaisa Aro, Kati Suomi and Richard Gyrd-Jones
This study aims to add to the understanding of the interactive nature of brand love by using a multilayer perspective that incorporates individual, group and societal contexts.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to add to the understanding of the interactive nature of brand love by using a multilayer perspective that incorporates individual, group and societal contexts.
Design/methodology/approach
The qualitative empirical study uses abductive reasoning. Its theories and conclusions are grounded in naturally occurring data from an online brand community. The approach revealed new interactive processes of brand love.
Findings
This study extends our understanding of the interactive nature of brand love by adopting a layered perspective incorporating micro- (individual), meso- (in-group), macro- (in-group vs out-group) and mega-layer (societal) social dynamics that complements the predominant focus on individual psychological processes. It challenges the linear, monodirectional trajectory approach to brand love, suggesting that brand love is in constant flux as individuals move across the layers in their identification with the brand.
Research limitations/implications
This study provides data from one destination brand in Finland. Future studies could consider other types of brands and contexts in other countries and cultures.
Practical implications
This study shows brand managers that brand lovers can be divided into subgroups with distinct drivers of their love to which brand managers should attend.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first attempt to describe the interactive nature of brand love through interactions between and within four layers of brand love. Furthermore, this study enhances our understanding of the contradictory aspects of brand love.
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Siri Hettige and Richard Haigh
The impact of disasters caused by natural hazards on people in affected communities is mediated by a whole range of circumstances such as the intensity of the disaster, type and…
Abstract
Purpose
The impact of disasters caused by natural hazards on people in affected communities is mediated by a whole range of circumstances such as the intensity of the disaster, type and nature of the community affected and the nature of loss and displacement. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the need to adopt a holistic or integrated approach to assessment of the process of disaster recovery, and to develop a multidimensional assessment framework.
Design/methodology/approach
The study is designed as a novel qualitative assessment of the recovery process using qualitative data collection techniques from a sample of communities affected by the Indian Ocean tsunami in Eastern and Southern Sri Lanka.
Findings
The outcomes of the interventions have varied widely depending on such factors as the nature of the community, the nature of the intervention and the mode of delivery for donor support. The surveyed communities are ranked in terms of the nature and extent of recovery.
Practical implications
The indices of recovery developed constitute a convenient tool of measurement of effectiveness and limitations of external interventions. The assessment used is multidimensional and socially inclusive.
Originality/value
The approach adopted is new to post-disaster recovery assessments and is useful for monitoring and evaluation of recovery processes. It also fits into the social accountability model as the assessment is based on community experience with the recovery process.
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Elizabeth Mansfield, Jane Sandercock, Penny Dowedoff, Sara Martel, Michelle Marcinow, Richard Shulman, Sheryl Parks, Mary-Lynn Peters, Judith Versloot, Jason Kerr and Ian Zenlea
In Canada, integrated care pilot projects are often implemented as a local reform strategy to improve the quality of patient care and system efficiencies. In the qualitative study…
Abstract
Purpose
In Canada, integrated care pilot projects are often implemented as a local reform strategy to improve the quality of patient care and system efficiencies. In the qualitative study reported here, the authors explored the experiences of healthcare professionals when first implementing integrated care pilot projects, bringing together physical and mental health services, in a community hospital setting.
Design/methodology/approach
Engaging a qualitative descriptive study design, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 24 healthcare professionals who discussed their experiences with implementing three integrated care pilot projects one year following project launch. The thematic analysis captured early implementation issues and was informed by an institutional logics framework.
Findings
Three themes highlight disruptions to established logics reported by healthcare professionals during the early implementation phase: (1) integrated care practices increased workload and impacted clinical workflows; (2) integrating mental and physical health services altered patient and healthcare provider relationships; and (3) the introduction of integrated care practices disrupted healthcare team relations.
Originality/value
Study findings highlight the importance of considering existing logics in healthcare settings when planning integrated care initiatives. While integrated care pilot projects can contribute to organizational, team and individual practice changes, the priorities of healthcare stakeholders, relational work required and limited project resources can create significant implementation barriers.
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Justyna Bandola-Gill, Sotiria Grek and Matteo Ronzani
The visualization of ranking information in global public policy is moving away from traditional “league table” formats and toward dashboards and interactive data displays. This…
Abstract
The visualization of ranking information in global public policy is moving away from traditional “league table” formats and toward dashboards and interactive data displays. This paper explores the rhetoric underpinning the visualization of ranking information in such interactive formats, the purpose of which is to encourage country participation in reporting on the Sustainable Development Goals. The paper unpacks the strategies that the visualization experts adopt in the measurement of global poverty and wellbeing, focusing on a variety of interactive ranking visualizations produced by the OECD, the World Bank, the Gates Foundation and the ‘Our World in Data’ group at the University of Oxford. Building on visual and discourse analysis, the study details how the politically and ethically sensitive nature of global public policy, coupled with the pressures for “decolonizing” development, influence how rankings are visualized. The study makes two contributions to the literature on rankings. First, it details the move away from league table formats toward multivocal interactive layouts that seek to mitigate the competitive and potentially dysfunctional pressures of the display of “winners and losers.” Second, it theorizes ranking visualizations in global public policy as “alignment devices” that entice country buy-in and seek to align actors around common global agendas.