Bernadette Cross and Anthony Travaglione
Emotional Intelligence (EQ) has been identified as a crucial predictor for workplace success. Entrepreneurs are those that shine and excel in the workplace beyond the norm. The…
Abstract
Emotional Intelligence (EQ) has been identified as a crucial predictor for workplace success. Entrepreneurs are those that shine and excel in the workplace beyond the norm. The present study aimed to provide a preliminary insight into this area of entrepreneurship research. Through the use of qualitative methods, several Australian entrepreneurs were examined in relation to their Emotional Intelligence ability. EQ was examined via in‐depth structured interviews. It was predicted that the entrepreneurs would significantly exhibit these ratios and hence an EQ level beyond the norm. Not only did the study yield such a result, it also showed that the entrepreneurs exhibited high levels of all the sub‐scales in each model. The outstanding performance of each entrepreneur in Emotional Intelligence ability, as well as all the sub‐scales, strongly supports the concept that EQ may be the missing factor that researchers have been searching for in entrepreneurship studies.
Bernadette Cross and Anthony Travaglione
Human resource management has entertained the rise of downsizing as a strategy for producing visible improvements to organizations. However, the history of downsizing has failed…
Abstract
Human resource management has entertained the rise of downsizing as a strategy for producing visible improvements to organizations. However, the history of downsizing has failed to consistently provide the anticipated benefits. This study postulates that success is contingent upon the severance acceptors possessing characteristics least beneficial to the organization. The study explored 234 employees from a major Australian transport company, 141 who remained after the downsizing, and 93 who accepted severance packages. It was found that those employees who left showed significantly lower levels of affective and continuance commitment and job satisfaction, significantly higher levels of intention to turnover and absenteeism, and no significant difference for perceived organizational support. Furthermore, employee intention to turnover was significantly predicted by employees commitment and job satisfaction. This study concludes that downsizing should not be governed by retrenching employees in abundance, but should be guided by retaining those most valuable to the organization.
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Isabel de Sivatte, Bernadette Bullinger, Miguel Cañamero and Mónica del Pino Martel Gomez
The purpose of this paper is to study the antecedents of the adjustment of expatriate children to foreign destinations. This process of adjustment is partly explained by the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to study the antecedents of the adjustment of expatriate children to foreign destinations. This process of adjustment is partly explained by the transformation of their identities while abroad.
Design/methodology/approach
This research used a mixed method approach. First, to identify the factors that affect expatriate children’s adjustment, 36 interviews were conducted. An ad hoc survey was then developed, distributed and analyzed, in order to determine the factors that really help or inhibit the adjustment of expatriate children.
Findings
Expatriate children adapt quite well, and they are mostly interested in fitting in with other children, whether locals or other internationals. Some relevant factors found to relate to adjustment were children’s social skills, their academic self-efficacy, the academic level of the school in the host country and the support received from their families.
Practical implications
Companies could use the results of this study in their cross-cultural training of expatriates traveling with families.
Originality/value
This is the first study to examine a rather comprehensive set of factors that affect the adjustment of expatriate children, using a mixed methods approach.
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Michael Behan, Tanjila Nawshin, Samuel Nemanich, Jesse Kowalski, Ellen Sutter, Sunday Francis, Janet Dubinsky, Rebecca Freese, Kyle Rudser and Bernadette Gillick
Recruitment for pediatric non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) studies is often challenged by low enrollment. Understanding parental perceptions regarding NIBS is crucial to…
Abstract
Purpose
Recruitment for pediatric non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) studies is often challenged by low enrollment. Understanding parental perceptions regarding NIBS is crucial to develop new communication strategies to increase enrollment.
Design/methodology/approach
Integrating a crossed-disciplinary approach, the authors conducted a survey at the 2018 Minnesota State Fair querying the perception of risk and preferences of current and future parents associated with pediatric NIBS research. The survey consisted of 28 closed-text questions including demographics, photographs portraying NIBS, terminologies and factors related to NIBS studies.
Findings
Complete surveys were analyzed from 622 parent participants. A significant number of participants (42.8%) perceived the photographs of NIBS as “risky.” Additionally, 65.43% perceived the term “Non-invasive brain therapy” as not risky, a word combination not currently being used when recruiting potential participants. Over 90% (561/622) of participants chose the photograph of child-friendly MRI suite.
Research limitations/implications
Although this survey identified aspects crucial in recruitment for pediatric NIBS research, there were limitations. For example, the authors did not record the sex or demographic distribution (e.g. rural versus urban setting) of the participants. These factors may also influence recruitment messaging.
Originality/value
For important medical research to impact and improve the lives of the potential remedies, participation by the public in clinical trials is necessary. Often the general public perceives the trials as risky as a result of poor marketing communication recruitment material. This study sought to be understood if how the message is encoded has an impact on the decoding by the receiver.
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Jenny Cave, Dianne Dredge, Claudia van't Hullenaar, Anna Koens Waddilove, Sarah Lebski, Olivier Mathieu, Marta Mills, Pratishtha Parajuli, Mathias Pecot, Nico Peeters, Carla Ricaurte-Quijano, Charlotte Rohl, Jessica Steele, Birgit Trauer and Bernadette Zanet
The aims of this paper are to share how one cohort of tourism practitioners viewed the transformative change needed within the tourism industry and to explore the implications for…
Abstract
Purpose
The aims of this paper are to share how one cohort of tourism practitioners viewed the transformative change needed within the tourism industry and to explore the implications for leadership in the future.
Design/methodology/approach
The research design is based on a virtual whiteboard brainstorming activity incorporating both the individual and collective thinking of 20 participants in a global cohort class. Using conversational techniques to elicit cognitive knowledge and felt experience, the methodology generates shared understandings about the opportunities and challenges of implementing regenerative tourism.
Findings
The conversations reported in the findings of this paper provide important insights into the challenges and opportunities faced by tourism professionals as enablers of regenerative tourism. Findings included, first, that participants within the course demonstrated characteristics of transformational leadership including a strong moral positioning, embodied self-awareness, collaboration and collective action. Second, specific points of inertia that impede regenerative tourism are identified including embedded culture, power and organisational structures. Third, professionals are calling for practical tools, new frames of reference, and examples to help communicate regenerative tourism.
Research limitations/implications
This is a viewpoint, not a research paper. Nonetheless, it provides a rich vein of future research in terms of disruptive pedagogy, potentially gendered interest in regenerative tourism, issues of transforming the next generation and power.
Practical implications
Governance, organisational, destination management strategies, planning and policy frameworks, individual issues as well as contradictions within the tourism system were revealed. Transformative change in an uncertain future requires transformational leadership, characterised by moral character and behaviours that trigger empowered responses.
Originality/value
This paper shares insights from a unique global cohort class of tourism professionals wherein the challenges and opportunities for regenerative tourism are identified. The methodology is unusual in that it incorporates both individual and collective thinking through which shared understandings emerge.
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Philip Mendes, Rachel Standfield, Bernadette Saunders, Samone McCurdy, Jacinta Walsh and Lena Turnbull
This paper aims to report on the findings of a qualitative study that explored the views of 53 service providers assisting Indigenous young people (known in Australia as…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to report on the findings of a qualitative study that explored the views of 53 service providers assisting Indigenous young people (known in Australia as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth) transitioning from out-of-home care (OOHC) in Australia.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative approach was adopted involving semi-structured interviews and focus groups with 53 representatives of state and territory government departments, non-government organisation service providers and Aboriginal community-controlled organisations (ACCOs) across Australia. The project was designed to gain the perspectives of those working within the system and their views on how it interacts with Indigenous care leavers. Interview questions aimed to ascertain the strengths and weaknesses of the leaving care support systems available to this cohort, as well as the key challenges facing service providers in supporting them. Finally, the study aimed to make recommendations for policy development in this area and identify potential best practice service responses.
Findings
The study found that the OOHC service systems continue to fail Indigenous care leavers, their families and communities. Study findings revealed that Indigenous care-leavers face substantial challenges and that the support systems for those leaving OOHC are often culturally insensitive and ineffective. Many Indigenous OOHC leavers lacked the supports they needed to develop safe and ongoing relationships with their traditional Country, family and communities. To promote more positive transitions and outcomes, effective practice responses were identified, including culturally safe programmes and proportional funding for ACCOs to advance greater self-determination.
Originality/value
This research is the first national study in Australia to examine the specific transition from care pathways and experiences of Indigenous young people. The findings add to the limited existing knowledge on Indigenous care leavers globally and should inform practice and policy innovations with this cohort in Australia and beyond.
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In Part One of ?From the Genius of the Man to the Man of Genius’ I argued that classical and medieval inscriptions of genius figures suggest a coevalence between characters in…
Abstract
In Part One of ?From the Genius of the Man to the Man of Genius’ I argued that classical and medieval inscriptions of genius figures suggest a coevalence between characters in their respective cosmologies, making it relatively more difficult to delineate Man from “spirits” and “other organisms”. The labour that genii performed flowed around two significant tropes of production and reproduction whose specificities were inflected in and across sources. In medieval poetry, for instance, genius figures took up a new role in regard to the reproduction trope, as promoter of virtue (in the form of censuring the seven deadly sins) and condemner of vice (in the form of prohibition against same sex intercourse). The sedimentation (complex processes of character‐formation), directionality (patterns of descent) and sexual ecology (emergence of a field of ethics) that the medieval literature embodies also indexes an opening disarticulation of Man from universe and the possibility of grounding “morality” in and as His love choices. Through a series of narrative structures, binary concepts and new sources of authority under Christianity the figure now referred to in philosophy as “the subject” is given early grounds upon which to form in the medieval poems.
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Bernadette M. Devilat, Felipe Lanuza, Mrudula Mane and Zeus Pithawalla
Despite the recurrence of earthquakes, responses are usually triggered afterwards, lacking mitigation strategies to diminish risks. Damaged dwellings cannot be immediately…
Abstract
Purpose
Despite the recurrence of earthquakes, responses are usually triggered afterwards, lacking mitigation strategies to diminish risks. Damaged dwellings cannot be immediately reinforced to continue inhabitation, generating disruption. Repairs are usually costly, as large numbers of affected constructions make damage assessment difficult, and post-earthquake reconstruction programmes often lack a heritage-specific approach. This research seeks to address these issues through a methodology based on high-end documentation technologies applied to built heritage and local community engagement.
Design/methodology/approach
The methodology proposed combines different recording tools to capture social and built environment data, such as interviews, mapping, drone capture, photography and 3D laser scanning, in the pilot case study of Bela, a historical settlement in the seismic region of Kutch in Gujarat, India, affected by the 2001 Bhuj earthquake. This paper particularly discusses aspects of community engagement around data capture and representation processes.
Findings
The introduction of advanced documentation technologies can help speed up the process of damage assessment, analyse social aspects that are key to a respectful re-construction, and enhance community engagement through visual representations, which are relevant to social acceptance and understanding towards a meaningful introduction and sustained use in earthquake risk management.
Research limitations/implications
The methodology proposed can inform similar cases in seismic areas and enhance engagement, helping to develop a sense of awareness in the community regarding the need for preparedness in the face of earthquakes. However, there are technical challenges in using advanced recording technologies in terms of equipment accessibility, skills, knowledge and future uses of the data. Social and cultural aspects, such as caste and gender divisions, also implied disparity in accessing the data and relating it to the research team, bringing forward the need to tailor public engagement to achieve inclusivity.
Practical implications
This study has practical implications. The most relevant one is how the process of carrying out the research served as a way to raise awareness for future seismic events. In this regard, local academic institutions and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are critical mediators in reaching the community in greater depth, from which to bridge to external and/or governmental agencies based on existing links and trust.
Social implications
This study also shows social implications. As a case study-based research, the link developed with the local community will help coordinate actions in case an earthquake occurs and increase cohesion within the community towards a joint aim, in this case, to reduce the risk of disasters due to seismic events.
Originality/value
This paper accounts for a novel approach to documenting buildings in heritage settlements prone to earthquakes that uses the digital record as (1) a basis to assess and intervene in the built environment and better understand how it supports the local community’s ways of living and maintaining buildings; and (2) a platform for local engagement and agency in planning and re-construction as a post-disaster mitigation measure.
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Stella Zulu-Chisanga, Mwansa Chabala and Bernadette Mandawa-Bray
Notwithstanding that there has been increasing attention on factors that enhance SME performance in developing economies, there is a dearth of studies explicitly investigating the…
Abstract
Purpose
Notwithstanding that there has been increasing attention on factors that enhance SME performance in developing economies, there is a dearth of studies explicitly investigating the roles of government support systems and inter-firm collaboration. Drawing on the resource-based view (RBV) of the firm and institutional theories, this study aims to model and examine how government support, inter-firm collaboration and managerial ties affect SME performance and further explores how firm specific resources mediate the relationships.
Design/methodology/approach
A quantitative research design was used. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire from 438 SMEs operating in Zambia, a developing Sub-Saharan African country. Hierarchical linear regression and SPSS PROCESS macro were used to test the hypotheses.
Findings
Findings indicate that managerial ties have both a direct and indirect effect, through firm resources, on financial performance. Also, the relationship between inter-firm collaboration and financial performance is fully mediated by firm resources. Surprisingly, results reveal that government support does not have a significant effect on SME financial performance.
Practical implications
The study has important implications for SME managers and policy makers. It demonstrates that inter-firm collaborations and managerial ties enhance a firm’s financial performance. It also highlights the view that SMEs need to have firm specific resources to transform external resources, accessed from inter-firm relationships, into superior performance. SME policy makers are advised to focus more on policies and support mechanisms that promote inter-firm relationships at firm and managerial levels.
Originality/value
This study is one of the few studies to empirically show that the differential effects of inter-firm collaboration and managerial ties on SME performance are channeled through firm resources, in an under-researched developing Sub-Saharan African economy context. The study is also one of the few studies to reveal that government support is not significantly related to SME performance. Therefore, it provides valuable insights which could be applied to other developing countries with characteristics similar to Zambia.
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The Audit Commission has produced a review of the Supporting People programme covering the period 2005‐2009. This article summarises the review, which covers the impact of the…
Abstract
The Audit Commission has produced a review of the Supporting People programme covering the period 2005‐2009. This article summarises the review, which covers the impact of the Supporting People programme, a review of the Government's response to the Audit Commission's 2005 report, an assessment of ongoing and new challenges and options for overcoming identified barriers. Although there is evidence of poor understanding and implementation in some areas, overall the benefits of good housing‐related support services and their preventative value remain important.