Jacqueline C. Pike, Elisabeth W. Joyce and Brian S. Butler
Community-governed mass collaborations are virtual organizations in which volunteers self-organize to produce content of value. Given the high turnover of participants and the…
Abstract
Purpose
Community-governed mass collaborations are virtual organizations in which volunteers self-organize to produce content of value. Given the high turnover of participants and the continual development and modification of governance modules, questions arise about how mass collaborations can succeed. Based on organizational routine theory, the purpose of this paper is to investigate how different aspects of routines can support the goals of mass collaborations.
Design/methodology/approach
Proposed hypotheses are developed and tested with data from a critical decision-making area of a successful community-governed mass collaboration – Wikipedia’s content review process.
Findings
The findings support the arguments that routines that reinforce governance serve important roles in enabling mass collaboration in the presence of transient participation and dynamic task demands in addition to creating a greater likelihood of success as outlined by the collaboration.
Research limitations/implications
One limitation of this study is that it examines these types of routines in only one context, Wikipedia’s content review process, and Wikipedia is an unusually successful, community-governed mass collaboration. However, this can be considered a conservative test as mass collaborations in more formal contexts or in traditional organizations face fewer hurdles due to more stable social norms, routines, and participant populations.
Practical implications
Greater understanding of how community-governed mass collaborations “get the work done” in spite of participant transience and governance flux can guide developers in managing flourishing communities.
Originality/value
While routines have been studied in traditional organizations, little work has been done with routines in community-governed mass collaborations and how they enable both stability and flexibility.
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Patrick J. Bateman, Jacqueline C. Pike and Brian S. Butler
Social networking sites (SNS) are changing the methods of social connectivity – and what it means to be public. Existing literature hints at competing perspectives on how the…
Abstract
Purpose
Social networking sites (SNS) are changing the methods of social connectivity – and what it means to be public. Existing literature hints at competing perspectives on how the public nature of these sites impacts users. The question of how the perceived publicness of SNSs influences users' self‐disclosure intentions is debated in the literature, and the aim of this paper is to answer this debate.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper theorizes competing perspectives on the role of publicness on self‐disclosure. Competing perspectives are tested using data collected via an online survey.
Findings
The study finds support for the perceived publicness of a SNS negatively influencing users' self‐disclosure intentions. Additionally, exploratory analysis of self‐disclosure items ubiquitous to most SNSs found that perceived publicness negatively influences users' intention to self‐disclose items related to users' likes and affiliations.
Research limitations/implications
Variables of the study were self‐reported and, as such, are subject to the typical limitations of cross‐sectional, survey‐based research. Future research should seek to examine how perceived publicness and other variables impact self‐disclosure in SNSs over time.
Practical implications
Business models utilizing social networking technologies rely on users' willingness to engage in self‐disclosure. This research provides a theoretical link between the public nature of a social networking environment and users' willingness to self‐disclose. Highlighting perceived publicness as an important aspect of an environment could be one way to address the need to elicit and manage users' self‐disclosure.
Originality/value
The paper utilizes a unique, but established, method of competing hypotheses to understand the role of the public nature of SNSs.
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Discusses the investigation, assessment and refurbishment of 20high‐rise and 26 medium‐rise large panel system blocks by BrianMoorehead and Partners, for the London Borough of…
Abstract
Discusses the investigation, assessment and refurbishment of 20 high‐rise and 26 medium‐rise large panel system blocks by Brian Moorehead and Partners, for the London Borough of Waltham Forest, from the viewpoint of the consulting engineer. Details the five stages of the investigations: an initial visual overview of the buildings to identify the basic form and any particularly obvious defects; a desk study of available documentation; detailed visual inspections together with opening up and sampling of the component materials of the structure; analysis of results and future life; and recommendations for repairs, refurbishment or demolition. Outlines the refurbishment brief to improve the external weathering, appearance and insulation of the blocks; provide improved security and communal facilities for occupants; refit and redecorate flats; and undertake structural restraint and repairs.
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The National News publishes the following :—
Alan Reinstein, Mohamed E. Bayou, Paul F. Williams and Michael M. Grayson
Compare and contrast how the accounting, organizational behavior and other literatures analyze sunk costs. Sunk costs form a key part of the decision-making component of the…
Abstract
Purpose
Compare and contrast how the accounting, organizational behavior and other literatures analyze sunk costs. Sunk costs form a key part of the decision-making component of the management accounting literature, which generally include previously incurred and unrecoverable costs. Management accountants believe, since current or future actions cannot change sunk costs, decision makers should ignore them. Thus, ongoing fixed costs or previously incurred sunk costs, while relevant for matters of accountability such as costing, income determination, and performance evaluation are irrelevant for most short- and long-term decisions. However, the organizational behavior literature indicates that sunk costs affect decision makers’ actions – especially their emotional attachments to the related project and the asymmetry of attitudes regarding the recognizing of losses and gains. Called the “sunk cost effect” or “sunk cost fallacy,” this conflict in sunk costs’ underlying nature reflects one element of incoherence in contemporary accounting discourse. We discuss this sunk cost conflict from an accounting and a philosophical perspective to denote some ambiguities that decision usefulness and accountability introduces into accounting discourse.
Methodology/approach
Review, summarize and analyze the above literatures
Findings
Managerial accountants can apply many lessons from the various literature sources.
Originality/value
We also show how differing opinions on how to treat sunk costs impact a firm’s decision-making process both economically and socially.
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Keywords
The purpose of this paper is to explore the narratives that construct the practice and regulation of ‘sexting’, the sending of sexualised images via text message, when engaged in…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the narratives that construct the practice and regulation of ‘sexting’, the sending of sexualised images via text message, when engaged in by young people. The aim of this discussion is to better understand the extent to which those narratives recognise young people’s agency in relation to their sexuality and the role that new media plays in enabling youth to explore their sexual identity.
Methodology
The methodology employed is that of discourse analysis. This approach is used to deconstruct the dominant narrative of sexting contained in the literature, a narrative that constructs it as a problem to be contained and controlled, either through the application of the criminal law or through education and guidance approaches. This paper then investigates an emerging counter narrative that gives greater emphasis to the autonomy rights of youth. A case study involving a Parliamentary Inquiry in one Australian State into sexting is also employed to further this analysis.
Findings
This paper concludes that the dominant narrative remains the strongest influence in the shaping of law and the practice of sexting, but that young people may be better served by the counter narrative that recognises their agency in ways that may empower and grant them more control over their bodies.
Originality/Value
The paper thus provides an alternative approach to developing new law and policy with respect to the regulation of sexting by youth that should be of value to lawmakers and child and youth advocates.
This paper aims to review the rise of the resource-based theory (RBT) in light of the perennial tension between rationalism and behaviorism. The authors appraise the RBT’s…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to review the rise of the resource-based theory (RBT) in light of the perennial tension between rationalism and behaviorism. The authors appraise the RBT’s strengths and its potential fault-line, the erodibility of resources.
Design/methodology/approach
A nontraditional melding of the review and conceptual development methodological modes sheds light on the limitations and future prospects of the three main strands within the RBT, with a special emphasis on its rapidly developing dynamic capabilities (DC) strand.
Findings
The paper proposes a framework for modeling the transformation of resources into usable highly specific assets.
Research limitations/implications
The ascent of the DC strand will itself have to be revisited some day.
Practical implications
The findings imply that the decline of resources should not be left to chance, but be regulated according to one’s strategic intent.
Originality/value
Driven by a constructive perspective aimed at integrating theoretical coherence with practical relevance, a nontraditional synoptic tour situates the contribution of the RBT with respect to earlier approaches, in particular the evolving notion of fit.