Mary L. Tucker, Anne M. McCarthy and M. Colleen Jones
Today’s political arena calls for strong leadership. As technology facilitates information sharing, constituents are becoming more vocal in governmental affairs. Legislators are…
Abstract
Today’s political arena calls for strong leadership. As technology facilitates information sharing, constituents are becoming more vocal in governmental affairs. Legislators are now expected to be transformational leaders who envision the future needs of constituents and are capable of negotiating, mediating, and championing these causes in an effective and credible manner. Using transformational leadership theory, this article examines the perceived leadership styles among state‐level legislators in the United States as well as the relationship between leadership style and perceptions of extra effort, effectiveness, and satisfaction. Leaders in this study described their style as transformational and perceived high extra effort from their followers. Yet, compared to women, male politicians had more positive perceptions of effectiveness and satisfaction with their leadership style. This substantiates research that women in male‐dominated careers report less self‐confidence. Future research might verify this study’s contradictory findings that female politicians, with transformational styles, are not satisfied with their leadership.
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Elaine M. Worzala, Anne M. McCarthy, Tim Dixon and Andrew Marston
Presents findings from separate research projects conducted in the UK and the USA on the impact of e‐commerce on retailers and retail property. Examines differences between UK and…
Abstract
Presents findings from separate research projects conducted in the UK and the USA on the impact of e‐commerce on retailers and retail property. Examines differences between UK and US retailers along several dimensions: Internet strategies, perceptions of the Internet, barriers to e‐commerce growth, and future space requirements. Overall, findings indicate that UK and US retailers have similar attitudes about e‐commerce. Specifically, retailers in both samples perceive little threat or impact from e‐commerce. Second, barriers to e‐commerce growth are similar for UK and US retailers and include fulfillment and security issues. Third, UK and US retailers indicate that their retail space needs will remain the same or increase in the short term, despite the threat of e‐commerce. Finally, both sets of retailers believe that entertainment is an important strategy if shopping centers are to remain viable.
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Rachael Clawson, Anne Patterson, Rachel Fyson and Michelle McCarthy
The purpose of this study is to compare the UK demographics of forced marriage of people with learning disabilities and people without learning disabilities to inform effective…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to compare the UK demographics of forced marriage of people with learning disabilities and people without learning disabilities to inform effective safeguarding practice.
Design/methodology/approach
An analysis of all cases of forced marriage reported to the UK Government’s Forced Marriage Unit (FMU) between 2009 and 2015.
Findings
People with learning disabilities are at five times greater risk of forced marriage than people without learning disabilities. Men and women with learning disabilities are equally likely to be forced to marry, whereas amongst the general population, women are more likely than men to be forced to marry. Patterns of ethnicity, geographic location within the UK and reporters are the same for people with and without learning disabilities.
Research limitations/implications
The analysis is based on cases reported to the FMU, and for some cases, data held was incomplete. More importantly, many cases go unreported and so the FMU data does not necessarily reflect all cases of forced marriage in the UK.
Practical implications
Forced marriage of people with learning disabilities is a safeguarding issue. Practitioners across health, education, criminal justice and social care need to better understand the risk of forced marriage for people with learning disabilities. Links to practice resources developed as part of the wider project are provided.
Originality/value
This is the first time that researchers have been given access to FMU data and the first time that a statistical analysis of cases of forced marriage involving someone with a learning disability have been analysed.
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Anne Touboulic and Lucy McCarthy
The purpose of this paper is to explore the current focus of supply chain management (SCM) research; it considers field level and societal constraints and consequently the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the current focus of supply chain management (SCM) research; it considers field level and societal constraints and consequently the potential for change. It details the underlying assumptions in the field, considering the dominant paradigms and stakeholders, and how this has shaped the research we have engaged in as a community of scholars.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a reflective inquiry that seeks to deconstruct the dominant discourses and paradigms in SCM. It offers alternative avenues of inquiry to “traditional” research, considering how different questions, perspectives and approaches might yield different learning for the field. offering alternative avenues to traditional research.
Findings
This is a call for collective action, for solidarity, for a re-imagining of what research in SCM could look like. Research activism is challenging and potentially risky but necessary for the research community to engage in, particularly in light of the global societal grand challenges. Change can take place in the SCM field through collective action and solidarity. Three levels of activism are explored here – acting to solve the grand challenges, acting to change the field and acting as individuals.
Originality/value
This is a “speak-out” piece, which embraces and encourages reflexivity, new methods of doing and writing research as well as different perspectives, and especially a consideration for context and multiple players in the supply chain. The authors contend that it is urgent to re-appropriate our own agency as SCM researchers.
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Arthur C. Graesser, Nia Dowell, Andrew J. Hampton, Anne M. Lippert, Haiying Li and David Williamson Shaffer
This chapter describes how conversational computer agents have been used in collaborative problem-solving environments. These agent-based systems are designed to (a) assess the…
Abstract
This chapter describes how conversational computer agents have been used in collaborative problem-solving environments. These agent-based systems are designed to (a) assess the students’ knowledge, skills, actions, and various other psychological states on the basis of the students’ actions and the conversational interactions, (b) generate discourse moves that are sensitive to the psychological states and the problem states, and (c) advance a solution to the problem. We describe how this was accomplished in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) for Collaborative Problem Solving (CPS) in 2015. In the PISA CPS 2015 assessment, a single human test taker (15-year-old student) interacts with one, two, or three agents that stage a series of assessment episodes. This chapter proposes that this PISA framework could be extended to accommodate more open-ended natural language interaction for those languages that have developed technologies for automated computational linguistics and discourse. Two examples support this suggestion, with associated relevant empirical support. First, there is AutoTutor, an agent that collaboratively helps the student answer difficult questions and solve problems. Second, there is CPS in the context of a multi-party simulation called Land Science in which the system tracks progress and knowledge states of small groups of 3–4 students. Human mentors or computer agents prompt them to perform actions and exchange open-ended chat in a collaborative learning and problem-solving environment.
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The purpose of this paper is to address the question how multinational corporations (MNCs) can respond to different domains of formal voids associated with informal institutions…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to address the question how multinational corporations (MNCs) can respond to different domains of formal voids associated with informal institutions in emergent markets.
Design/methodology/approach
The author advances the institution-based view of international business strategy by developing a framework and six propositions. The theoretical distinction of informal institutions as an additional aspect when disrupting formal institutional voids are instrumental in developing a refined understanding of how MNCs can respond to institutional voids.
Findings
By emphasizing the notion of informal institutions that are associated with formal institutional voids, the author moves away from a unidimensional toward a multidimensional view of substituting formal voids. The presented response variety includes a variety of substitutes.
Research limitations/implications
Further research can apply qualitative research to further examine where, when and why social innovations can be used efficiently to address institutional weaknesses or absences. The author suggests further research opportunities in the implication section.
Social implications
Constituting substitutive formal institutions with complementary informal institutions can help strategic managers navigate business activities in emerging markets. Institutional weaknesses can be used as opportunities to create legitimacy and serve social needs. To help facilitate such impacts public policies need to be developed accordingly.
Originality/value
The paper provides a new and critical perspective on how MNCs can use institutional voids as opportunities. The author’s key contribution is to highlight specific substitutive actions from MNCs to institutional voids when different cultural-cognitive and normative circumstances apply in emerging markets.
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Dawn Onishenko and Lea Caragata
Following the landmark 2003 Ontario Court of Appeal decision legalizing same‐sex marriage, some same‐sex couples sought to formalize their unions through legal marriage. The…
Abstract
Purpose
Following the landmark 2003 Ontario Court of Appeal decision legalizing same‐sex marriage, some same‐sex couples sought to formalize their unions through legal marriage. The purpose of this paper is to explore the personal and political reflections of recently married same‐sex couples on the meaning of their marriages for themselves, their partners, their community as well as the implications for progressive social change in the broader social world.
Design/methodology/approach
An ethnographic approach was employed to semi‐structured in‐depth qualitative interviews with six lesbian and gay couples.
Findings
An emerging thesis is that, while seeking access to a most conventional and conformist institution, same‐sex couples inadvertently become “cutting edge” couples as they make public their declarations of love and commitment and model new and challenging notions of marriage.
Research limitations/implications
The paper provides a snapshot of a small number of interviews that took place approximately 11 months after the Ontario Court of Appeal decision.
Practical implications
Law should take into account the importance of social and legal recognition of marriage for all. The heteronormativity of marriage is thus challenged from within, to make these types of marriages truly cutting edge.
Originality/value
The paper provides evidence of the personal and political reflections of people who had the choice to get married and did, at a time when this was seen as really cutting edge. Few personal accounts exist which provide a picture of the continued importance of marriage to human beings.
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Christopher Nnaemeka Osuafor, Sree Lakshmi Enduluri, Emma Travers, Anne Marie Bennett, Elena Deveney, Shabahat Ali, Frances McCarthy and Chie Wei Fan
Constipation in hospitalised older adults leads to adverse events and prolonged stay. The purpose of this paper, therefore, is to effectively prevent and manage constipation in…
Abstract
Purpose
Constipation in hospitalised older adults leads to adverse events and prolonged stay. The purpose of this paper, therefore, is to effectively prevent and manage constipation in older adults undergoing inpatient rehabilitation using a multidisciplinary war on constipation (WOC) algorithm.
Design/methodology/approach
A quality improvement project in older adults undergoing rehabilitation for prevention and constipation management was conducted. Quality improvement “plan-do-study-act” cycles included an initial constipation audit in the wards and meetings with the multidisciplinary team (MDT) to develop an algorithm for the preventing, detecting and effectively treating constipation.
Findings
The project resulted in a 14 per cent reduction in constipation incidence after the newly developed WOC algorithm was introduced. The project also improved communication between patients and the MDT around patients’ bowel habits.
Practical implications
The project shows that using quality improvement methods in rehabilitation settings, earlier detection, earlier intervention and overall reduction in constipation in older adults can be achieved.
Originality/value
The WOC algorithm has been developed and institutionalised in the current setting. This algorithm may also be applicable in other inpatient settings.
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This paper aims to explore the significance of the 2011 uprisings in Tunisia for wider questions of democratization, interrogating in particular the question of the relationship…
Abstract
This paper aims to explore the significance of the 2011 uprisings in Tunisia for wider questions of democratization, interrogating in particular the question of the relationship between religion and politics in the aftermath of the revolutionary event. The political landscape emerging after the 14th of January Tunisian Revolution has witnessed the emergence of a new political class competing in the country’s first free democratic elections on October 23. The moderate Islamist Ennahda Party emerged victorious and obtained the majority of seats in the National Constituent Assembly. These developments in the revolutionary aftermath re-opened questions over the future of “secular Tunisia” and re-ignited the political struggle between modernist and traditionalist visions of society. As a result, religious actors have increasingly been taking to the streets alongside the general population via participation in public protests, creation of new unions and associations, presence in the media, militancy in new or pre-existent political parties, etc. In this context, this research focuses on the way in which the 2011 uprisings impacted on democratization by seeking to explain how and why religious leaders are re-emerging as influential figures in the political landscape of post-revolutionary Tunisia.