Lisa B. Hurwitz, Heather Montague, Alexis R. Lauricella, Aubry L. Alvarez, Francesca Pietrantonio, Meredith L. Ford and Ellen Wartella
Social cognitive theory suggests that children may have more favorable attitudes toward food products promoted by media characters who are similar to them, in terms of factors…
Abstract
Purpose
Social cognitive theory suggests that children may have more favorable attitudes toward food products promoted by media characters who are similar to them, in terms of factors such as age, gender and race-ethnicity. This paper aims to profile the characters in food and beverage websites and apps for children and examine whether the healthfulness of promoted products varies as a function of character background.
Design/methodology/approach
This study includes two parallel content analyses focused on websites and apps that were produced by America’s top selling food and beverage companies.
Findings
There were very few child-targeted websites and apps, but those that existed were replete with media characters. These websites/apps tended to feature media characters with diverse gender, age and racial–ethnic backgrounds. However, marketing featuring adult and male characters promoted particularly unhealthy foods.
Social implications
American food companies, many of whom signed voluntary self-regulatory pledges through the Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative, should make a more concerted effort to refrain from featuring appealing media characters in child-directed new media marketing. Whether conscious or not, it seems as if food marketers may be leveraging characters to appeal to a wide audience of children of varied demographic backgrounds.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this manuscript is the only research to focus specifically on the demographic profiles (i.e. gender, age and race-ethnicity) of characters in food websites and the nutritional quality of the products they promote. It is also the first to systematically examine media characters in food apps in any capacity.
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Moslem Sheikhkhoshkar, Hind Bril El Haouzi, Alexis Aubry and Farook Hamzeh
In academics and industry, significant efforts have been made to lead planners and control teams in evaluating project performance and control. In this context, numerous control…
Abstract
Purpose
In academics and industry, significant efforts have been made to lead planners and control teams in evaluating project performance and control. In this context, numerous control metrics have been devised and put into practice, often with little emphasis on analyzing their underlying concepts. To cover this gap, this research aims to identify and analyze a holistic list of control metrics and their functionalities in the construction industry.
Design/methodology/approach
A multi-step analytical approach was conducted to achieve the study’s objectives. First, a holistic list of control metrics and their functionalities in the construction industry was identified. Second, a quantitative analysis based on social network analysis (SNA) was implemented to discover the most important functionalities.
Findings
The results revealed that the most important control metrics' functionalities (CMF) could differ depending on the type of metrics (lagging and leading) and levels of control. However, in general, the most significant functionalities include managing project progress and performance, evaluating the look-ahead level’s performance, measuring the reliability and stability of workflow, measuring the make-ready process, constraint management and measuring the quality of construction flow.
Originality/value
This research will assist the project team in getting a comprehensive sensemaking of planning and control systems and their functionalities to plan and control different dynamic aspects of the project.
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The purpose of this paper is to present a conceptual framework to classify project management resources as sources of competitive advantage.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present a conceptual framework to classify project management resources as sources of competitive advantage.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper draws on the resource‐based view of the firm and project management literature to explore the level of competitive advantage from 17 project management resources based on their degree of complexity and level of leverage in the project management process. This exploratory study drew on a small sample of practitioners in the classification.
Findings
The paper proposes a conceptual model to show the relationship between four categories of resources and their contribution to competitive advantage by being valuable, rare, inimitable, and organizationally supported.
Research limitations/implications
This paper is exploratory in nature and uses a small sample of practitioners.
Practical implications
The authors believe that the classification of project management resources based on complexity and leverage provides a useful framework for managers considering the impact of investment in these resources for competitive advantage.
Originality/value
This paper provides a classification of project management resources based on the complexity of the resource and its leverage in the project management process. It is posited that resources that are complex and can be highly leveraged to develop further resources warrant attention as sources of competitive advantage.
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Adonai Lacruz and Everton Cunha
The purpose of this paper is to explore the influence of project management offices (PMO) in non-governmental organizations (NGOs), in fundraising linked to projects, under the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the influence of project management offices (PMO) in non-governmental organizations (NGOs), in fundraising linked to projects, under the theoretical lens of the resource-based view.
Design/methodology/approach
Through a longitudinal analysis ex post facto study in a non-profit civil association, the authors examined by Mann-Whitney’s U tests the results before (2003-2008) and after (2009-2014) PMO implementation, to check if the office moderated the relationship between project management and fundraising for projects.
Findings
Mann-Whitney’s U tests showed that PMO had, in those periods, a statistically significant influence in increasing the number of projects and decreasing the mean value of their budgets (p-value<0.05).
Originality/value
Despite the wide range of studies on the contribution of PMOs to internal project management, there is a lack of empirical evidence on their moderation capacity, especially in NGOs. To fill this research gap, this study investigates the moderating role of PMO in NGOs, by examining their performance on fundraising processes, to contribute to a better understanding of potential PMO effects, particularly as a moderator of the relationship between project management and projects’ fundraising.
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Xavier Ordeñana, Paul Vera-Gilces, Jack Zambrano-Vera and Adriana Amaya
The purpose of this paper revisits the effect of entrepreneurship on economic growth.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper revisits the effect of entrepreneurship on economic growth.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a cross-country panel data set of 61 countries in the period 2002–2014, this paper empirically analyzes the differences in contribution to economic growth. Particularly, using an extension of the Cobb–Douglas production function, the authors show the role of entrepreneurship in developed and developing economies. Global entrepreneurship monitor data were used to estimate the proposed types of entrepreneurship.
Findings
Results indicate that economic growth can be explained by growth-oriented entrepreneurship, including developing economies. These results remain robust to a variety of specifications that include economic, social and cultural controls, and two ways of sorting countries by stage of development.
Originality/value
The authors split the total entrepreneurial activity (TEA) according to job expectations, in order to isolate the effect of entrepreneurial activity that is growth oriented (dynamic) and not (regular). Lastly, the empirical application presented comprises a more adequate timeframe to analyze the proposed relationship, determining possible differences for developed and developing economies.
Propósito
El presente documento analiza el efecto de la actividad emprendedora sobre el crecimiento económico.
Diseño/Metodología/Enfoque
Mediante el uso de un panel de 61 países durante el periodo 2002–2014, se analizan las diferencias en contribución del emprendimiento hacia el crecimiento económico. Particularmente, con el uso de una función de producción extendida al estilo Cobb–Douglas, se muestra el rol del emprendimiento en países desarrollados y en vías de desarrollo. Por último, para la generación de las diversas medidas de emprendimiento propuestas se utilizó datos del Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM).
Resultados
La evidencia proporcionada indica que el crecimiento económico podría ser explicado por el emprendimiento orientado al crecimiento. Los resultados han permanecido robustos ante varias especificaciones que incluyen variables de control de corte económico, social y cultural, así como dos maneras de dividir la muestra de países según su etapa de desarrollo.
Originalidad/valor
Los autores separan la TEA según expectativas de empleo futuro, aislando el efecto de la actividad emprendedora que está orientada hacia el alto crecimiento (dinámico) y la que no (regular). Finalmente, La aplicación empírica presentada comprende un periodo de estudio más adecuado para el análisis planteado, y a su vez permite encontrar diferencias para países desarrollados y en vías.
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This chapter reflects upon the main reasons for the universal, deep, and long-lasting impact of the Mexican neozapatista movement during the 25 years of its public life…
Abstract
This chapter reflects upon the main reasons for the universal, deep, and long-lasting impact of the Mexican neozapatista movement during the 25 years of its public life, recuperating not only the immediate reasons but the reasons linked with process in the middle and in the long term. We argue that the neozapatista movement changed the correlation des forces in Mexico in 1994, opening the transition of all indigenous Latin American movements to pass from a defensive and marginal position, to a new offensive and protagonic position. In the general context after 1989 and the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Mexican neozapatism restores hope in social protest and social fight of all the anticapitalistic and antisystemic movements all over the world. With the above basis, it is possible to understand that this Mexican neozapatism was able to define the general agenda of the main demands and targets that were vindicated for the antisystemic movements during the last 25 years, including all the movements of 2011, such as the Spanish Indignados, or the so-called Arab Spring, or Occupy Wall Street, or even the current French movement of the Gilets Jeaunes, among many others. It explains partially the real function of a kind of “avant-garde” of the antisystemic movements all over the world, playing by the Mexican neozapatismo in the last five lusters and even today.
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Erik Jurgen De Waard and Jori Pascal Kalkman
The present article analyses extreme context studies published in leading project management journals with the aim of developing a time-based typology that could be of value for…
Abstract
Purpose
The present article analyses extreme context studies published in leading project management journals with the aim of developing a time-based typology that could be of value for the project community at large.
Design/methodology/approach
In this study, the authors reviewed 62 articles on extreme contexts published in three main project management journals (IJMPB, PMJ and IJPM) and two specialized outlets Disaster Prevention and Management (DPM) and International Journal of Disaster Resilience in the Built Environment (IJDRBE).
Findings
The authors present a typology, in which emergency, risky and disrupted (RED) contexts are related to the manageability of time. It shows that when pressure rises, due to high levels of urgency, uncertainty and ambiguity, control over time decreases, causing the organizational response to shift from formalized into improvised.
Research limitations/implications
Based on this review, the authors theorize the influence of extreme contexts on project management in general.
Originality/value
The study responds to the scholarly call to advance the academic debate on the relatedness of project and temporary organizations by perceiving temporality as a continuum.
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Gita Mathur, Kam Jugdev and Tak Shing Fung
The purpose of this paper is to examine characteristics of project management assets and project management performance outcomes as a step towards exploring the link between…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine characteristics of project management assets and project management performance outcomes as a step towards exploring the link between assets being valuable, rare, inimitable, and having organizational support and the achievement of competitive advantage.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper analyzes data from responses to an online survey by 198 North American Project Management Institute® members. Exploratory factor analysis is used to identify characteristics of project management assets and project management performance outcomes.
Findings
In total, six factors that comprised the characteristics of project management assets, three factors that comprised organizational support for project management assets, and two factors that comprised the project management performance outcomes were extracted.
Research limitations/implications
Limitations of this study include sample size, response rate, and self‐report bias, calling for a larger sample in ongoing research. This study is a step towards making the link between project management assets and performance outcomes.
Practical implications
This study draws managerial attention to project management assets as sources of competitive advantage, applying the resource based view of the firm that assets are sources of competitive advantage if they add economic value, are rare, are difficult to imitate, and have organizational support.
Originality/value
Few papers have applied the resource based view of the firm to examine project management capabilities as a source of competitive advantage. This paper contributes to the literature on the resource based view of the firm and contributes to an improved understanding of project management as a source of competitive advantage.
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Gita Mathur, Kam Jugdev and Tak Shing Fung
The aim of this paper is to examine the links between project management process characteristics and project-level and firm-level performance outcomes to test the hypotheses that…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to examine the links between project management process characteristics and project-level and firm-level performance outcomes to test the hypotheses that project management assets being valuable, rare, inimitable and having organizational support leads to competitive advantage.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper analyzes data from responses to an online survey by 198 North American Project Management Institute® members. Regression analysis is used to examine the relationship between six factors extracted from an exploratory factor analysis that comprise the three project management asset characteristics – valuable, rare and inimitable, three factors that comprise organizational support for the project management process, and two factors that comprise project management performance outcomes – project-level and firm-level performance.
Findings
Organizational support for the project management process, specifically project management integration, was found to significantly contribute to both project-level and firm-level performance. Of the asset factors examined, valuable project management knowledge was found to contribute to project-level and firm-level performance, though information technology (IT) tools did not. Inimitable proprietary tangible assets were found to contribute to both project-level and firm-level performance, and inimitable embedded intangible assets were also found to contribute to firm-level performance. Rare knowledge sharing tools and techniques were found to negatively contribute to project-level performance.
Research limitations/implications
Limitations of this study include sample size, response rate and self-report bias, calling for a larger sample in ongoing research.
Practical implications
This study draws managerial attention to project management assets as sources of competitive advantage, highlighting the need to have organizational support for the project management process through organizational integration, and emphasizing the importance of valuable project management knowledge-based assets and inimitable project management assets that are proprietary and tangible as well as those that are embedded and intangible.
Originality/value
Few papers have applied the resource-based view of the firm to examine project management capabilities as a source of competitive advantage. This paper contributes to the literature on the resource-based view of the firm and to an improved understanding of project management as a source of competitive advantage.
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Aida Terron, Josep M. Comelles and Enrique Perdiguero-Gil
The purpose of this paper is to analyse the evolution and characteristics of health education in schools in Spain during the dictatorship of General Franco (1939-1975).
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyse the evolution and characteristics of health education in schools in Spain during the dictatorship of General Franco (1939-1975).
Design/methodology/approach
The analysis of two kinds of sources has been performed. First, the reports from international organizations on health education in schools published in the 1950s and 1960s. Second, journals, books and official documents published by public health and education organizations in Franco’s Spain.
Findings
Health education in schools evolved in three stages under Franco’s dictatorship. In the first stage (1939-1953), Spanish schools maintained an outdated “school health” approach in the teaching programmes. In the second stage (1953-1965), the agreements with the USA in 1953 ended Spanish isolation, and the regime sought to follow the recommendations of international organizations. Efforts were made to “import” the WHO/UNESCO version of health education in schools but it failed to materialize. A programme that sought to enhance citizen participation and to acknowledge their idiosyncrasies was unlikely to prosper in a dictatorship. However, the less threatening food and nutrition education programme, encouraged by the FAO/UNICEF, did succeed. In the last stage (1965-1975), the Spanish education system entered a period of modernization in which the contents and methods of health education in schools were reformed in order to introduce the less conflictive aspects of the international recommendations.
Originality/value
The paper highlights the tensions between the aspirations to follow international programmes and the recommendations on health education in schools and the difficulties of implementing such schemes under a dictatorship.