Jeffry R. Phillips and Allan Y. Jiao
The purpose of this paper is to determine the extent to which constructs of institutional isomorphism apply to Los Angeles Police Department’s (LAPD) performance measurements of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to determine the extent to which constructs of institutional isomorphism apply to Los Angeles Police Department’s (LAPD) performance measurements of the US Department of Justice’s federal consent decree.
Design/methodology/approach
A case-study approach was used to gather and analyze the data, including documentary research, personal interviews, and observations.
Findings
The findings demonstrate that isomorphic pressures existed in the LAPD’s Audit Division and influenced the development of performance measures for reforms although not in a straightforward or unidimensional manner.
Originality/value
Police auditing in the context of the federal consent decree is shown to be a viable approach for institutionalizing police reforms, but further research is necessary on specific performance measurements of police operations and relationship between these measures and police effectiveness.
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Aims to understand whether there is any linkage between theoretical models and realistic perceptions of policing. Presents the results of a survey in which both police officers…
Abstract
Aims to understand whether there is any linkage between theoretical models and realistic perceptions of policing. Presents the results of a survey in which both police officers and community members were sampled to rate police activities and organizational principles that represent police professionalism, community policing, problem‐oriented policing, and the security orientation. The data were collected in the Rutgers community in Newark, New Jersey, USA, through a survey questionnaire, and analyzed through factor analytical models to see whether different police activities and organizational principles clustered under different factors. Suggests that the result prompted some rethinking about the policing models factored in this study. Discusses how they relate to each other conceptually and how they should be utilized operationally in the context of the research setting. Suggests further studies of policing models using factor analyses.
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In late April 1973, Charles P. Sutcliffe, the Commissioner of the Royal Hong Kong Police Force (RHKPF), received confidential information that Chief Superintendent Peter F…
Abstract
In late April 1973, Charles P. Sutcliffe, the Commissioner of the Royal Hong Kong Police Force (RHKPF), received confidential information that Chief Superintendent Peter F. Godber, Deputy District Police Commander for Kowloon, was remitting money abroad. This information was transmitted to James J. E. Morrin, the Director of the Anti-Corruption Office (ACO), for investigation. By the end of May 1973, investigations by the ACO officers revealed that Godber had deposited in Hong Kong banks or remitted overseas HK$650,000 (US$128,332) since 1968 (Blair-Kerr, 1973a, pp. 3–4).
Carla Teixeira Lopes and Cristina Ribeiro
Prior studies have shown that terminology support can improve health information retrieval but have not taken into account the characteristics of the user performing the search…
Abstract
Prior studies have shown that terminology support can improve health information retrieval but have not taken into account the characteristics of the user performing the search. In this chapter, the impact of translating queries’ terms between lay and medico-scientific terminology, in users with different levels of health literacy and topic familiarity, is evaluated. Findings demonstrate that medico-scientific queries demand more from the users and are mostly aimed at health professionals. In addition, these queries retrieve documents that are less readable and less well understood by users. Despite this, medico-scientific queries are associated with higher precision in the top-10 retrieved documents results and tend slightly to generate knowledge with less incorrect contents, the researchers concluded that search engines should provide query suggestions with medico-scientific terminology, whenever the user is able to digest it, that is, in users above the lowest levels of health literacy and topic familiarity. On the other hand, retrieval systems should provide lay alternative queries in users with inadequate health literacy or in those unfamiliar with a topic. In fact, the quantity of incorrect contents in the knowledge that emerges from a medico-scientific session tends to decrease with topic familiarity and health literacy. In terms of topic familiarity, the opposite happens with Graded Average Precision. Moreover, users most familiar with a topic tend to have higher motivational relevance with medico-scientific queries than with lay queries. This work is the first to consider user context features while studying the impact of a query processing technique in several aspects of the retrieval process, including the medical accuracy of the acquired knowledge.
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Zhenzhong Zhu, Xiaowen Zhao, Minghui Shan and Haipeng (Allan) Chen
Language styles of online reviews are becoming increasingly important in consumers’ purchase decisions. However, there are inconsistencies in research on the effects of literal…
Abstract
Purpose
Language styles of online reviews are becoming increasingly important in consumers’ purchase decisions. However, there are inconsistencies in research on the effects of literal and figurative language styles in online reviews on service consumption. Drawing upon construal level theory, this research explores the effects of literal and figurative online reviews on consumers’ word-of-mouth recommendations and their internal mechanisms in the context of service consumption. In addition, this research identifies service types (experience vs credence services) as boundary conditions under which online review language styles play a role.
Design/methodology/approach
Three studies are designed to verify the effect of language style in online reviews on consumer word-of-mouth recommendations. Study 1 (N = 195) tests the interaction between construal level and (literal vs figurative) language style on consumers’ word-of-mouth recommendations. Study 2 (N = 191) identifies the depth of information processing as an underlying mechanism. Study 3 (N = 466) examines the boundary condition due to service type. The main methods used are independent sample t-test, ANOVA and bootstrapping.
Findings
The results illustrate that (1) consumers at different construal levels prefer online reviews with different language styles, and this can influence their word-of-mouth recommendations: consumers with a low construal level prefer online reviews with a literal language style, while those with a high construal level prefer online reviews with a figurative language style; (2) the depth of information processing plays a mediating role in the above interaction effect and (3) service type serves as a boundary condition such that the preference for literal (vs figurative) language style among low- (vs high-) construal-level consumers holds only for experience services; for credence services, online reviews with a literal language style enhance word-of-mouth recommendations, regardless of consumers’ construal level. The findings shed light on the drivers of word-of-mouth recommendations and provide insights to promote more effective word-of-mouth recommendations.
Originality/value
Drawing upon the construal level theory, this research explores the factors that influence online review language styles on consumer word-of-mouth recommendations and their underlying mechanisms and discusses the moderating effects of different service types (i.e. experience services and trust services). It not only sheds light on the contradictions in the previous literature but also provides new insights for academics and business managers to deepen their understanding of facilitating word-of-mouth recommendations.
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Friendships, an important form of people’s everyday relationships with others, have been studied by many scholars from different disciplines. However, there is limited research on…
Abstract
Friendships, an important form of people’s everyday relationships with others, have been studied by many scholars from different disciplines. However, there is limited research on friendship in the context of childhood, particularly that of Chinese rural children. This chapter presents findings from an in-depth study on Chinese children’s understandings and experiences of friendships with peers in the context of a rural primary boarding school. Data for this research were collected through an intensive five-month study, using an ethnographic approach, in a rural primary boarding school (given the pseudonym ‘Central Primary School’) in the western area of China in 2016. This chapter discusses parents’ influences on children’s selection of friends, particularly their ‘good’ friends, and their understandings of the functions of making friends in the context of rural China. It unpacks parents’ interventions on children’s friendships by discussing the moralised hierarchical relationship between children and their parents – children are expected to show obedience to parents. Then, it argues that the Confucian-collectivist values construct a relationship between a child’s individual achievement and their family’s collective good, which makes friendship not only an individual issue but also a collective one too.
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Ashish K. Rathore, P. Vigneswara Ilavarasan and Yogesh K. Dwivedi
The purpose of this paper is to conceptualise and discuss the possible insights that can be generated for product development by analysing the user-generated content available…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to conceptualise and discuss the possible insights that can be generated for product development by analysing the user-generated content available from various social media platforms.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper reviews the role of user generated content in developing products and its features (e.g. appearance and shape). It delineates the directions in which the relationship between social media content and customer oriented concepts evolve while developing successful new products.
Findings
The review and arguments presented in this paper suggest that the social media approach adds more value than the traditional approaches for obtaining insights about the products. Availability of users’ opinions and information about existing products provide insights for the improvement in the product design process. Co-creation and self-construal are important components that are based on customer engagement and customer behaviour, respectively, in the product design and development.
Practical implications
As social media creates new ways of communication with users, businesses can include users into the product development process to improve and refine their products or for making the next generation of products.
Originality/value
This paper suggests a new approach in getting useful insights about the products from user-generated contents. This way of using social media helps businesses to move forward from the traditional product development paradigms.