Search results

Research and dissemination of the results has always been an important activity for those in the academic community. The Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) has brought the whole area of research publication and dissemination into sharp relief, and striving for high research rankings seems, for some, to have become an end in itself. Some argue that the RAE has restricted the wider dissemination of research as academics focus on refereed journal articles to the detriment of other forms of output, eg professional articles, consultancy, books and practitioner conferences. The RAE has intensified interest in the purpose and process of publication in most discipline areas and has created considerable controversy regarding the status of different publication channels. The small business research area is no exception. This research provides a profile of the UK small business research community, it explores their perceptions regarding research and establishes the esteem that various publication channels are held. Defining precisely what constitutes the area of small business research is problematic. Indeed, providing a specific boundary would create a false precision, small business research overlaps with areas such as entrepreneurship and innovation, and it also draws upon a range of disciplines. Nevertheless, relative limits were placed on this research by the nature of the people who were asked to express their opinion and the questions they were asked. The attitudes were sought through a survey of active UK researchers (97 per cent of respondents had published in the area, 81 per cent were academics, 7 per cent were policy makers and 4 per cent business practitioners) listed on the Institute of Small Business Affairs/Small Business Research Trust database. The title and nature of these organisations suggests that those listed at least identify with the notion of small business research as an area. In addition, the questionnaire emphasised small business research throughout, and no mention was made of entrepreneurship, innovation or associated areas. Ninety‐eight questionnaires were returned, representing a 47 per cent response rate. The community was found to be more stable and mature than expected, but small business researchers held other research areas in greater esteem and most regarded themselves as empiricists rather than theorists. The implications of these results are explored for the next RAE and for the future of small business research.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an outline of the arguments for and against different types of journal ranking lists, and, against this background, an account of the development of the Association of Business Schools' (ABS) Journal Quality Guide.

The paper identifies recent trends in academic journal publication that have increased the need for mechanisms to assess the overall quality of academic journals. Six approaches to ranking are outlined and evaluated including the hybrid approach adopted in producing the ABS Journal Quality Guide.

The ABS Journal Quality Guide provides wide journal coverage; has high levels of internal and external reliability; is sensitive to small variations in the ratings of journals, and is generally accepted as a fair means of ranking journals within its user community.

This paper focuses on developments in the UK, and while the findings of this study may be of interest to researchers in other countries, the implications for policy and practice will be felt most keenly in British business schools.

This paper describes a hybrid, iterative and consensual approach to developing and validating a journal quality guide that is likely to be of value to researchers, academic managers, subject librarians and research auditors.

Extant research conceptualizes rankings as measures that fundamentally shape modern life by virtue of being publicly available. Yet, studies seldom explore the act of publishing when accounting for the attention rankings raise in larger stakeholder audiences. In short, we know a lot about the impact of rankings, but considerably less about the organizational practices devised by those who produce them – the rankers. Borrowing from Goffman, the paper conceptualizes modern rankings as public performances carefully prepared on backstages and unfolding on multiple frontstages. Using a qualitative data set, the paper traces the full spectrum of organizational practices that make rankings public performances: on the backstage, launch dates have to be set, numbers packaged, and “teams” prepared; on the frontstage, performances are held through face-to-face interactions (at launch events) as well as in a variety of mediated settings. Overall, the findings indicate that the more ranking organizations seek the attention of larger stakeholder audiences, the more the publication process is transformed into what one of the informants describes as “a big firework.”

Promoting security, stability and cooperation is the raison d'être of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and these are the aims of its strategy of membership enlargement. The incentive of NATO membership has led some former Warsaw Pact applicant countries to reform their political systems, transform their economies, deal with corruption and improve social justice and human rights. However, controversy has surrounded NATO's enlargement because of the current ambiguous and subjective decision‐making process and the effect that it could have on the organization. This paper aims to present the results of a study to develop a benchmarking model as a means to assist NATO evaluate and screen potential applicant countries.

A novel and structured multiple‐criteria decision analysis model that considers specific NATO applicant evaluation criteria and environmental forces is offered and a template for a membership evaluation process is proposed. A total of 120 researchers in France, Germany, Switzerland and the USA provided the necessary data on the 23 countries that are analyzed in order to develop the benchmarking model. Four distinct categories were established to categorize these countries. The ranking of the countries based on Euclidean distance from the ideal state is illustrated with a classification schema outlining four typologies as beneficial believers, detrimental disadvantaged, perilous partners and apathetic acquaintances.

Among the potential applicant countries considered as “beneficial believers” are Sweden, Austria, Switzerland, Finland and Ireland while other countries, such as, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Georgia, Montenegro, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are considered as “detrimental disadvantaged”. Furthermore, Russia and Ukraine were identified as “perilous partners” and Malta, FYR Macedonia, Cyprus, Serbia, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Armenia and Moldova were identified as “apathetic acquaintances”.

This model could be applied to other supranational organizations and multinational firms when assessing international strategic alliances.

The paper presents the results of a study to develop a benchmarking model as an aid in evaluating and screening potential NATO applicant countries.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how employee voice in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) is shaped by national culture. Specifically, the paper explores the relationship between national culture and organisational norms and signals. Furthermore, it explores the impact of such norms on employee voice behaviours. The paper chooses to address these issues in the SME context, in three countries with divergent cultural dimensions.

The authors use Kwon and Farndale’s (2020) typology as our “a priori” framework to explore the influence of national cultural values and cultural tightness on SME organisation norms, signals and employee voice behaviours. Our study uses qualitative data gathered through in-depth interviews with SME employees in England, Nigeria and Thailand.

The results from our interviews are presented thematically. The data illustrates how the cultural dimensions identified by Kwon and Farndale (2020) can have an influence on organisational voice norms. The dimensions are power distance, uncertainty avoidance, in-group collectivism, performance orientation, assertiveness and cultural tightness.

Historically, the impact of national culture as a macro factor on voice has been largely ignored by academic research. Studies in non-western contexts are especially rare. This paper derives its originality by offering unique insights into the culture–voice relationship from both western and non-western perspectives. This provides an international, cross-cultural, comparative dimension to our study. This research includes findings from under-researched settings in Nigeria and Thailand.

This paper aims to highlight the relationship between money laundering and the patterns of behaviour evident throughout the larger structural environment of the Swiss banking sector. In particular, the paper used HSBC as a prototype case of structural ritualisation to show that the normalisation of corrupt, unethical behaviour in the banking environment has shaped and influenced the behaviour and actions of the embedded group actors.

The paper used a content analysis methodological approach of media sources to collect data. The content analysis was categorised into six core ritualised symbolic practices (RSP) categories – corruption, reputation, blame, ignorance, regret and criticism.

The findings reveal that the highly ranked RSPs involving corruption, reputation, blame, regret, ignorance and criticism influence the embedded group’s patterns of behaviour, and they formed part of the cognitive script that dictated their behaviour and actions in the Swiss banking sector.

The paper added to the calls by Swiss policymakers for amendments to Swiss bank secrecy laws to reflect the changing landscape of international banking and finance.

This is the first paper of its kind to study ritualised illegal practices related to money laundering in the Swiss banking sector.

The necessity for effective multidisciplinary team working within increasingly complex health and social care environments has been emphasised in The NHS Plan. Good teamwork makes a critical contribution to effectiveness and innovation in health‐care delivery and it is through such teams that the agenda of quality improvement through clinical governance can be delivered at local level. The NHS Clinical Governance Support Team’s Team Resource Management Programme supports individuals who work directly with poorly performing NHS teams. A case study example illustrates how a team coach has used her experiences on the Programme to facilitate effective change in a “troubled” team in her health‐care organisation.

Hospital organisations are currently experiencing significant challenges that have encouraged a move towards a value-based approach to health care. However, such a transition requires understanding the underlying competencies required to enable such a focus. This paper aims to undertake a systematic review of the available literature on managerial competencies in hospitals and considers these in a value-based health-care context.

A systematic literature review was conducted to identify research studies that describe the characteristics of management competence in hospital environments.

Categories and sub-categories of management competence in hospitals were identified and considered in a value-based health-care context.

The systematic literature review identifies a need for further research regarding managerial competencies of managers of hospitals. Competencies for managing in a value-based health-care model also require deeper investigation.

The categories of management competence provide guidance to organisations transitioning towards value-based health care in terms of identifying and developing management competencies. Hospitals should consider the development of a competency model that includes broader categories of competencies than purely clinical or professional competencies.

This study builds upon and advances previous reviews of management competence in hospitals, and the competency categories presented can be used as a basis to identify management competency requirements in hospitals.

Since the inception of formal education, negative labelling of students by teachers has been a norm in education settings. However, research on student outcomes has shown that this practice is contrary to the principles of quality education and legislation mandating the rights of the children to an education that prepares them for a fulfilled future. Still, the practice has persisted in education in various forms. This chapter examines how teacher agency can be used as a tool to uproot negative labelling from the school systems to allow teachers to create positive learning environments where every learner is valued as an individual with rights.