Damian Gordon, Ioannis Stavrakakis, J. Paul Gibson, Brendan Tierney, Anna Becevel, Andrea Curley, Michael Collins, William O’Mahony and Dympna O’Sullivan
Computing ethics represents a long established, yet rapidly evolving, discipline that grows in complexity and scope on a near-daily basis. Therefore, to help understand some of…
Abstract
Purpose
Computing ethics represents a long established, yet rapidly evolving, discipline that grows in complexity and scope on a near-daily basis. Therefore, to help understand some of that scope it is essential to incorporate a range of perspectives, from a range of stakeholders, on current and emerging ethical challenges associated with computer technology. This study aims to achieve this by using, a three-pronged, stakeholder analysis of Computer Science academics, ICT industry professionals, and citizen groups was undertaken to explore what they consider to be crucial computing ethics concerns. The overlap between these stakeholder groups are explored, as well as whether their concerns are reflected in the existing literature.
Design/methodology/approach
Data collection was performed using focus groups, and the data was analysed using a thematic analysis. The data was also analysed to determine if there were overlaps between the literature and the stakeholders’ concerns and attitudes towards computing ethics.
Findings
The results of the focus group analysis show a mixture of overlapping concerns between the different groups, as well as some concerns that are unique to each of the specific groups. All groups stressed the importance of data as a key topic in computing ethics. This includes concerns around the accuracy, completeness and representativeness of data sets used to develop computing applications. Academics were concerned with the best ways to teach computing ethics to university students. Industry professionals believed that a lack of diversity in software teams resulted in important questions not being asked during design and development. Citizens discussed at length the negative and unexpected impacts of social media applications. These are all topics that have gained broad coverage in the literature.
Social implications
In recent years, the impact of ICT on society and the environment at large has grown tremendously. From this fast-paced growth, a myriad of ethical concerns have arisen. The analysis aims to shed light on what a diverse group of stakeholders consider the most important social impacts of technology and whether these concerns are reflected in the literature on computing ethics. The outcomes of this analysis will form the basis for new teaching content that will be developed in future to help illuminate and address these concerns.
Originality/value
The multi-stakeholder analysis provides individual and differing perspectives on the issues related to the rapidly evolving discipline of computing ethics.
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Sirje Virkus and Emmanouel Garoufallou
The purpose of this paper is to present the results of a study exploring the emerging field of data science from the library and information science (LIS) perspective.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present the results of a study exploring the emerging field of data science from the library and information science (LIS) perspective.
Design/methodology/approach
Content analysis of research publications on data science was made of papers published in the Web of Science database to identify the main themes discussed in the publications from the LIS perspective.
Findings
A content analysis of 80 publications is presented. The articles belonged to the six broad categories: data science education and training; knowledge and skills of the data professional; the role of libraries and librarians in the data science movement; tools, techniques and applications of data science; data science from the knowledge management perspective; and data science from the perspective of health sciences. The category of tools, techniques and applications of data science was most addressed by the authors, followed by data science from the perspective of health sciences, data science education and training and knowledge and skills of the data professional. However, several publications fell into several categories because these topics were closely related.
Research limitations/implications
Only publication recorded in the Web of Science database and with the term “data science” in the topic area were analyzed. Therefore, several relevant studies are not discussed in this paper that either were related to other keywords such as “e-science”, “e-research”, “data service”, “data curation”, “research data management” or “scientific data management” or were not present in the Web of Science database.
Originality/value
The paper provides the first exploration by content analysis of the field of data science from the perspective of the LIS.
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Christopher Humphrey, Perla Mardini and Brendan O'Dwyer
The paper studies how the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) positioned itself in the process through which capacity building in developing countries was interpreted…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper studies how the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) positioned itself in the process through which capacity building in developing countries was interpreted and enacted within the global development aid agenda from 1999 to 2016.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is an in-depth case study drawing on a comprehensive analysis of publications, reports and archival materials.
Findings
The paper unveils how IFAC shaped the interpretation of capacity building and its associated practices in a manner aligned with its expansionary aims thereby transforming itself into a prominent actor within, what we term, the capacity building issue-based field. It unpacks the strategies pursued by IFAC as it mobilised economic, social and cultural resources in support of its global capacity building ambitions for the accountancy profession. It reveals how key interactions between actors in the international development exchange field and the professional exchange field of accounting underpinned IFAC’s infiltration of, and impact on the evolution of, the capacity building issue-based field. We show how IFAC increased its influence in this field despite initially operating on the periphery of the global development aid agenda.
Practical implications
The paper reveals how the global accountancy profession’s engagement with the capacity building activities of international development agencies became central to its commitment to serving the public interest. Our analysis suggests that deeper explorations of capacity building by the global accountancy profession in specific developing countries are required in order to determine whether these efforts have effectively catered to the needs of the citizens of those countries.
Originality/value
The work of professional accountancy organizations (PAOs) operating at the global level in the area of capacity building has been addressed in a fragmented fashion in prior research. This paper presents a unique analysis of developing alliances between the global accountancy profession and international aid agencies aimed at supporting the globalising efforts of IFAC within the realm of capacity building in international development aid. Theoretically, the paper advances prior work exploring the evolution of issue-based fields, in particular the role of inter-field relations in interstitial spaces within these processes.
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Rod B. McNaughton and Brendan Gray
The purpose of this paper is to introduce the special issue on links between entrepreneurship and resilience.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to introduce the special issue on links between entrepreneurship and resilience.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors discuss some key themes in this emerging area of research and reflect on how the papers in the issue contribute to debates in the literature on resilience.
Findings
While the papers in the special issue make important contributions, there is still scope for more research.
Originality/value
This is one of the first issues of a journal devoted to investigating this topic.
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Rebecca J. Mitchell and Brendan Boyle
The purpose of this paper is to develop a theoretical model of leadership and knowledge creation by drawing on two contrasting diversity perspectives. The model argues a…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to develop a theoretical model of leadership and knowledge creation by drawing on two contrasting diversity perspectives. The model argues a moderating role for leadership in explaining the influence of diverse composition on team knowledge creation.
Design/methodology/approach
A model of leadership's impact on knowledge creation is developed based on an interdisciplinary review of literature spanning the creativity, innovation and learning literature, diversity management, top management team demography and upper echelons literature and learning from transformational leadership research.
Findings
The main contribution of this paper is the development of a model of transformational leadership's impact on knowledge creation in diverse teams based on a series of propositions. Focusing on the information/decision‐making perspective, our model depicts the role of leadership in facilitating constructive cognitive effects on knowledge creation. From the social categorisation perspective our model depicts the role of leadership in mitigating against destructive emotional barriers to group effectiveness.
Research limitations/implications
This paper's review and model indicate significant implications for future research and practice. The model provides a better understanding of the effects of transformational leadership on knowledge creation. The paper present justification for two pathways, cognitive and affective, through which leadership moderates the impact of diversity on team outcomes. By examining the model and its proposed relationships, we believe that it will enable researchers to shed new light on these issues for further investigations.
Originality/value
This review is among the first to address the role of transformational leadership in diverse teams, and one of the only papers to connect leadership, diversity and knowledge creation.
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The purpose of this paper is to revisit the debate and reorient research on corporate social responsibility (CSR), empirically documents the political-ideological biases inherent…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to revisit the debate and reorient research on corporate social responsibility (CSR), empirically documents the political-ideological biases inherent in CSR. It concludes with possible remedies to this problem.
Design/methodology/approach
The approach taken in this literature review is informed by the author’s viewpoint on the growing industry of social activists, who are pushing business toward the adoption of an ever-growing panoply of quasi-regulations commonly identified as CSR. The approach is complemented by a critique of stakeholder theory.
Findings
The literature review provides empirical support for Milton Friedman’s (1970) claim that the values underpinning CSR are driven by a socialist-collectivist agenda, which is inherently opposed to capitalist/libertarian values of free enterprise and individualism.
Practical implications
Without critical reflection on the leftwing ideology instantiated by CSR, the business community may unwittingly adopt and sustain values that undermine free markets.
Originality/value
Without critical reflection on the leftwing ideology instantiated by CSR, business and research communities may unwittingly promote values that, stealth-like, undermine individual liberty and the capitalist foundations of free markets.