Andrew Rothwell and Brandon Charleston
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the experiences of individuals in transition between education and work during international volunteering expeditions. While it was…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the experiences of individuals in transition between education and work during international volunteering expeditions. While it was expected that outcomes might include employability enhancement and skill development, the authors aimed to clarify what the main factors were, examine employability related factors in relation to other groups of variables, investigate development needs perceived by individuals, and evaluate the extent to which factors explored were influenced by participant attributes. Finally, the authors aim to integrate these findings into a series of recommendations for future research.
Design/methodology/approach
The study involved 406 respondents in three countries, where data were collected in the field. Survey design was based on previous related studies in volunteering and employability. Principal components analyses revealed a four‐component structure relating to leadership and teamwork, the environment and empathy, values and volunteering, and personal skills.
Findings
Employability enhancement was not a primary motive for engaging in the expeditions. Data suggest that respondents had much more altruistic motivations, with perceived benefits more associated with emotional capital development and authentic leadership, although respondents also acknowledged an enhanced ability to deal with selection processes due to their enriched experiences.
Research limitations/implications
In undertaking this work using quantitative methods, the authors acknowledge that they have limited access to the richness of data that might emerge from more in depth narrative analysis. Further research could engage respondents in focus group studies.
Practical implications
The implications of this research are for individuals, that engagement with international volunteering for disingenuous reasons such as CV enhancement is likely to lead to failure, and for employers that individuals who have engaged are likely to have benefited from significant development in leadership skills. For international volunteering organisations, promotion of the employability‐enhancing attributes of the expedition may be less relevant to potential participants than the richness of the experience itself.
Social implications
Engagement with international volunteering is personally transformative as well as delivering benefits in the context of the communities where the volunteering took place. While some respondents were drawn from a “widening participation” background there were no significant differences in their responses.
Originality/value
The authors believe this is the first study to attempt a detailed analysis of the range of attributes potentially held by individuals engaging in international volunteering expeditions.
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To report on the annual Charleston Conference, held November 3‐6, 2004 in Charleston, South Carolina.
Abstract
Purpose
To report on the annual Charleston Conference, held November 3‐6, 2004 in Charleston, South Carolina.
Design/methodology/approach
A summary of the main points of the conference.
Findings
Addresses questions and topics such as: how useful core book lists can be in 2004; new publishing models; a study of circulation data, ILL requests and WorldCat holdings of University of Colorado monographs; whether there is still funding for electronic full‐text resources in the humanities and fine arts; the usage of print journals in the electronic age; citation data in the sciences regarding books; and the e‐journal project at Drexel.
Originality/value
This report is of interest to library and information management professionals.
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Dean Elmuti, Judith Lehman, Brandon Harmon, Xiaoyan Lu, Andrea Pape, Ren Zhang and Terad Zimmerle
We examined the role gender plays in managerial stereotypes and changes that have occurred in the US for executive women in the workforce. We also investigated factors and…
Abstract
We examined the role gender plays in managerial stereotypes and changes that have occurred in the US for executive women in the workforce. We also investigated factors and personality traits that affect advancement into upper management for all executives and those that affect women in particular. Despite increased organisational sensitivity, public policies, and equal rights legislation, women continue to be underrepresented in corporate America. Pay increases and promotions for females have not kept pace with those for men. Study results also indicate that managerial womenwho juggle jobs and family life benefit from these multiple roles, but women who put off marriage and family to build top‐level careers suffer in later years from greatly reduced chances of finding spouses and having children. Further adaptation of organisational culture in the new economy, weakening of the glass ceiling phenomenon, and family friendly work policies may alleviate some of the difficulties experienced by women who want it all.
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Gioconda Quesada, Marvin E. González, James Mueller and Rene Mueller
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of electronic procurement technologies on procurement practices (PPR) and procurement performance (PP).
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of electronic procurement technologies on procurement practices (PPR) and procurement performance (PP).
Design/methodology/approach
This paper posits a model of the relationships between e‐procurement technology (EPT) usage, PPR, and PP. This model was tested and validated using a sample of 368 procurement specialists in the USA.
Findings
The findings suggest that EPT usage positively affects managers' perceptions of both PPR and PP.
Research limitations/implications
The findings of this paper primarily pertain to the operational level of the organization. Future research could also attempt to isolate the impact of individual EPTs on firm performance.
Practical implications
The contribution for practitioners is to provide guidelines for the use of EPTs, and to report its impact on PP. The measurement instruments developed in this paper can be used to evaluate and benchmark current PPR.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to the literature by providing an empirical test of the impact of EPTs on perceptions of PPR and performance.
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Tom Seekins, Brandon Rennie and Julia Hammond
Recent developments in image recognition and “Big Data” offer a method for monitoring the physical accessibility of community environments over time. The stimulus characteristics…
Abstract
Purpose
Recent developments in image recognition and “Big Data” offer a method for monitoring the physical accessibility of community environments over time. The stimulus characteristics of images showing access features in context are extremely complex, however, and defining access features that are recognizable by humans or machines is a challenging task. Carefully defining access features provides a basis for teaching both humans and machines to recognize those features and to rate the degree of accessibility.
Design/methodology/approach
We employed a stage-process to identify access features detectable in images presented by GSV. We created definitions of features, developed a protocol for conducting community observations, and used it to conduct assessments of access images of 14 towns and cities in 9 states and the District of Columbia.
Findings
Interobserver agreement averaged 84% on features and 93% on people observed. A combined access score across communities averaged 60%; ranging from 32% to 100%. A scaled “minimum access” score averaged .92; ranging from .59 to 1.0. We observed 158 people, 3 of whom used a mobility device and 13 of whom used other wheeled devices.
Practical Implications
Equating these ratings to academic grades suggests that several communities fail to achieve standards of accessibility but do achieve minimal levels of access in their civic cores. Google Street View offers a data source for human observers to assess the accessibility of communities. Researchers should explore the feasibility of using supervised and unsupervised learning to establish machine recognition of access features.
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Multisystemic therapy (MST) is described and contrasted with practice in traditional services for young people who have committed crime, behaved anti‐socially, abused substances…
Abstract
Multisystemic therapy (MST) is described and contrasted with practice in traditional services for young people who have committed crime, behaved anti‐socially, abused substances or suffered family conflict. The challenges to traditional services posed by MST are examined, including consideration of the process of engagement in therapy, the intensive individualised therapy delivered in the young person's own home or local community, and the quality assurance systems.
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The aim of this overview is to reflect on the family resemblances between psychogeography and marketing history.
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this overview is to reflect on the family resemblances between psychogeography and marketing history.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is informally predicated on the perspectives and philosophies of literary theory in general and New Historicism in particular.
Findings
Using exemplar excerpts from salient published works, marketing’s hitherto overlooked psychogeographical traditions are contemplated and celebrated, the sterling contributions of Stanley C. Hollander above all.
Research limitations/implications
Like poets who don’t know it, marketing historians are unsung contributors to the psychogeographical corpus. There is much more that can be done, however, especially in relation to works of imaginative literature.
Originality/value
This paper aims to uncover past achievements not advance the future agenda.
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The article aims to examine the process and challenges of setting up and implementing evidence‐based programmes in regular service systems.
Abstract
Purpose
The article aims to examine the process and challenges of setting up and implementing evidence‐based programmes in regular service systems.
Design/methodology/approach
The article offers a first‐hand account of a service manager seeking to implement Multisystemic Therapy and Triple P.
Findings
The process of setting up and implementing evidence‐based programmes involved significant challenges, including securing funding, managing stakeholders, finding suitable staff, arranging training, and managing supply and demand. Various relational, cultural and systemic issues need to be addressed if the professional system is to embrace evidence‐based programmes.
Originality/value
Few evidence‐based programmes in the UK have been implemented extensively in regular service systems. This is a first‐hand account of a rare attempt to do so.
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Kevin Walby, Alex Luscombe and Randy K. Lippert
Most existing literature on K9 units has focused on the relationship between police handler and canine, or questions about use of force. The purpose of this paper is to explore…
Abstract
Purpose
Most existing literature on K9 units has focused on the relationship between police handler and canine, or questions about use of force. The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between private donations to public police departments, an increasingly accepted institutional practice in the policing world, and K9 units. Specifically, the authors examine rationales for sponsoring and financially supporting K9 units in Canada and the USA.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors focus on four main themes that emerged in analysis of media articles, interview transcripts, and the results of freedom of information requests.
Findings
These four rationales or repertoires of discourse are: police dogs as heroes; dogs as crime fighters; cute K9s; and police dogs as uncontroversial donation recipients.
Originality/value
After drawing attention to the expanding role of police foundations in these funding endeavors, the authors reflect on what these findings mean for understanding private sponsorship of public police as well as K9 units in North America and elsewhere. The authors draw attention to the possibility of perceived and actual corruption when private, corporate monies become the main channel through which K9 and other police units are funded.
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A.K. Mahbubul Hye, Nurakmal Ahmad Ahmad and Md. Mamun Habib
This exploratory study illustrated an integrated academic library supply chain (IALSC) model to design the strategic planning management tool of the academic library. The supply…
Abstract
Purpose
This exploratory study illustrated an integrated academic library supply chain (IALSC) model to design the strategic planning management tool of the academic library. The supply chain (SC) model has been widely used in manufacturing industries and has also been applied in many service industries with the same objectives. However, very few studies for academic libraries, particularly the implementation of the integrated SC model, are being executed, although it has been proven that SC management in practice can enhance stakeholder satisfaction, increase revenues and decrease total costs. The academic library also needs to be successful in providing quality products, services and information to fulfil the library users’ needs within the library budget. This research aims to develop a verified model of the integrated SC for the academic library.
Design/methodology/approach
This research used both qualitative and quantitative approaches to achieve its objectives. The proposed conceptual SC model, named as IALSC, for the academic library has been developed using the system thinking method; eventually, it has been validated through the fuzzy Delphi method, an expert judgement technique.
Findings
The research findings could contribute to academic library management in planning and formulating a roadmap for the library to increase its quality services for all stakeholders.
Originality/value
The conceptual model would have a high potential to be proposed as the strategic decision-making tool for an academic library, i.e. the flow of funds through the operations of the library, the library stakeholders’ satisfaction measurement, the decision process currently made by the library management team on the purchase of new library resources, the library resource suppliers, etc.