Carla Teixeira Lopes and Cristina Ribeiro
Prior studies have shown that terminology support can improve health information retrieval but have not taken into account the characteristics of the user performing the search…
Abstract
Prior studies have shown that terminology support can improve health information retrieval but have not taken into account the characteristics of the user performing the search. In this chapter, the impact of translating queries’ terms between lay and medico-scientific terminology, in users with different levels of health literacy and topic familiarity, is evaluated. Findings demonstrate that medico-scientific queries demand more from the users and are mostly aimed at health professionals. In addition, these queries retrieve documents that are less readable and less well understood by users. Despite this, medico-scientific queries are associated with higher precision in the top-10 retrieved documents results and tend slightly to generate knowledge with less incorrect contents, the researchers concluded that search engines should provide query suggestions with medico-scientific terminology, whenever the user is able to digest it, that is, in users above the lowest levels of health literacy and topic familiarity. On the other hand, retrieval systems should provide lay alternative queries in users with inadequate health literacy or in those unfamiliar with a topic. In fact, the quantity of incorrect contents in the knowledge that emerges from a medico-scientific session tends to decrease with topic familiarity and health literacy. In terms of topic familiarity, the opposite happens with Graded Average Precision. Moreover, users most familiar with a topic tend to have higher motivational relevance with medico-scientific queries than with lay queries. This work is the first to consider user context features while studying the impact of a query processing technique in several aspects of the retrieval process, including the medical accuracy of the acquired knowledge.
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María del Carmen Alarcón, Alex Rialp and Josep Rialp
This paper aims to examine the extent to which social media competence (SMC) determines exporting companies’ actual adoption of social media applications, which eventually might…
Abstract
This paper aims to examine the extent to which social media competence (SMC) determines exporting companies’ actual adoption of social media applications, which eventually might impact these firms’ performance. Quantitative study where data were collected through a web-based survey addressed to Spanish exporters. SEM is employed for testing the hypotheses. SMC has an influence on the firm’s actual use of these social media applications, which in turn has an impact on the firm’s performance. However, the intention to use social media applications mediates the relationship between the firm’s SMC and its social media usage.
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Michael W. Hansen and Wencke Gwozdz
The purpose of this paper is to examine the evolution in subsidiary performance and the factors influencing this performance based on a unique database of approximately 800…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the evolution in subsidiary performance and the factors influencing this performance based on a unique database of approximately 800 multi-national company (MNC) subsidiaries in developing countries. Developed-country multi-national companies (MNCs) are increasingly establishing subsidiaries in developing countries. The potential gains are high; however, so are the risks. While the issue of subsidiary performance should be at the heart of any international business (IB) enquiry into MNC activity in developing countries, surprisingly little research has examined this issue.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on a comprehensive literature review of the IB performance literature, it is hypothesized that subsidiary performance essentially is shaped by five clusters of factors: location, industry, MNC capabilities, subsidiary role and entry strategy. These factors’ ability to explain variance in subsidiary performance is tested through a multiple regression analysis.
Findings
MNC subsidiary performance in developing countries has improved enormously in recent decades. Especially, MNC capability and subsidiary role-related factors appear to explain variance in performance, while location factors appear to have less explanatory power. This suggests that strong MNC capabilities and organization can make MNCs succeed regardless of location.
Practical implications
The key preparatory work for MNCs contemplating entry into developing countries is to carefully scrutinize internal capabilities and organization.
Originality/value
The paper presents a model for explaining variation in subsidiary performance in developing countries specifically. The paper offers unique empirical insights into the state and drivers of subsidiary performance in developing countries.
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Three types of industrial buyer-seller relational process models are available: joining theory, stage theory, and state theory. However, historically, these models have developed…
Abstract
Three types of industrial buyer-seller relational process models are available: joining theory, stage theory, and state theory. However, historically, these models have developed based on the knowledge and cultural context of the Western world. Several researchers note that national culture may have an impact on international industrial buyer-seller relationships. Including culture in the models is highly important, especially as the business environment is increasingly more global and different countries have different business cultures. The goal of this paper is to define the most suitable industrial buyer-seller relational process models for describing relationships in various contexts. The paper includes a through literature review and a single case study in order to reach this objective. A new state theory model evolved during the research. It consists of two beginning states: searching and starting; four purely middles states: constant/static, decline, growth, and troubled; and a purely end state: termination. The state of dormant/inert is both a middle state and an end state, that is, when the relational actors are not in contact does not mean that the relationship has ended, but instead, for example, new legislation may have been implemented, which requires the actors to evaluate their relationship and its future. A relationship goes through the two beginning states in the order mentioned above, but after that, any state may occur.
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Mershack Opoku Tetteh, Albert P.C. Chan, Saeed Reza Mohandes and Daniel Yamoah Agyemang
International construction joint ventures (ICJVs) implementation is plagued with several barriers, full understanding of which is still lacking due to a lack of an in-depth…
Abstract
Purpose
International construction joint ventures (ICJVs) implementation is plagued with several barriers, full understanding of which is still lacking due to a lack of an in-depth exploration of them, particularly in developing countries. To fill this knowledge gap, this study aims to investigate the critical barriers to the success of ICJVs hosted in developing countries by examining the Ghanaian case.
Design/methodology/approach
This study builds on a previous study that identified 37 barriers factors to ICJVs success via a systematic literature review. Through expert interviews, 34 potential barriers were identified, and a two-round survey was conducted with 84 ICJVs practitioners in Ghana. The data collected was analyzed using the combination of a multidimensional fuzzy logic method and confirmatory factor analysis.
Findings
Results showed that 22 barriers were critical. The top five most critical barriers were “lack of preparedness to accept company philosophy,” “competing objectives,” “opportunistic behavior of parties,” “conflicts” and “lack of management control.” Furthermore, the results uncovered and confirmed five significant underlying components for the 22 critical barriers, namely, organizational-related, cultural-related, knowledge-related, individual-related and logistics-related barriers.
Practical implications
The findings could be useful to ICJVs practitioners and policymakers in developing suitable strategies for the successful implementation of ICJVs. Further, foreign firms aiming to execute and promote ICJVs in Ghana could have prior knowledge of the critical barriers and prepare for them.
Originality/value
This study empirically analyzed the individual levels of barriers criticalities in ICJVs context and from a specific-country perspective – the developing country of Ghana – rather than in the context of construction joint ventures and from a cross-country perspective in extant studies.
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Elly Leung and Donella Caspersz
This paper aims to describe an exploratory study that has sought to understand how an institutionalised docility rather than resistance has been created in the minds of Chinese…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to describe an exploratory study that has sought to understand how an institutionalised docility rather than resistance has been created in the minds of Chinese workers by the Chinese State. The study proposes that this docility has been crucial in enabling China to become a world leading economic powerhouse.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper draws on Foucault’s concept of governmentality and uses the genealogical method to examine the historical events that have shaped the mentalities of today’s Chinese workers. Original interviews (n =74) with everyday workers across industries and locations illustrate this.
Findings
It was found that the utilisation of centuries-long Confucian hierarchical rules by successive regimes has created a cumulative effect that has maintained workers docility and their willingness to submit themselves to poor working conditions that – ultimately – benefit the Chinese State and business, though this is at their expense. This finding is in juxtaposition to current research that claim that their working conditions are fostering a rising consciousness and resistance among Chinese workers.
Originality/value
This paper provides a novel explanation for why Chinese workers accept their poor working conditions and thus critiques current perspectives about Chinese worker resistance.
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The purpose of this paper is to examine the cultivation effects of television advertising viewing on the perceived affluence in society and the materialistic value orientations…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the cultivation effects of television advertising viewing on the perceived affluence in society and the materialistic value orientations among adolescents in urban and rural China.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper shows that a survey of 646 adolescents aged 11 to 17, in Guangzhou City, and in a rural county of Henan Province, was conducted in 2006. Constructs were measured using established scales.
Findings
Television advertising viewing demonstrated first‐ and second‐order cultivation effects among urban as well as rural respondents. Heavy television advertising viewers were more likely to have a higher perceived affluence than light television advertising viewers. Heavy television advertising viewers were also more materialistic than light television advertising viewers. When television‐advertising viewing was controlled, urban respondents had a higher perceived affluence, while rural respondents had a higher level of materialism.
Research limitations/implications
Students in grades 7 and 8 were examined only. A convenient sampling method was adopted. The city selected for the study is highly advanced in terms of economical and advertising development compared with most other Chinese cities.
Practical implications
Rural adolescents did not hold strong beliefs about prevalence of affluence in society. Popularity appeal may not be a fruitful marketing communication strategy for durable goods for them. Different marketing communication strategies should be adopted for the urban and rural adolescents as target audience.
Originality/value
The paper is a pioneer work on the study of consumption values of adolescents in urban and rural China.
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This chapter seeks to analyse neighbouring in times of rapid change in the Chinese metropolis of Shanghai. Using the local neighbourhood of Tianzifang as a case study, this…
Abstract
This chapter seeks to analyse neighbouring in times of rapid change in the Chinese metropolis of Shanghai. Using the local neighbourhood of Tianzifang as a case study, this chapter shows how the pace of change in Shanghai since the 1950s has reshaped the social fabric of the area, including traditional neighbour relations. As Tianzifang has shifted from an unknown neighbourhood comprised of traditional lilong dwellings, where social relations played out in private communal settings, to one of Shanghai’s most famous tourist spots, the relationships between residents, as well as with ‘outsiders’ and the familiar local environment, have also changed. Traditional neighbourly ties have been broken, rebuilt and transformed again through waves of new residents coming into the area and the displacement of others who can no longer afford to live there. For those who remain, the question of who is, and thus who is not, a ‘real’ neighbour has been narrowed to include only ‘insiders’ with a deep sense of belonging and connection to the area – i.e. the urban working class who have always lived in Tianzifang and own rather than rent their homes. Yet even this is no longer sufficient. The disruption that Tianzifang’s physical and social transformation has brought to residents’ lives has also imposed new social norms about how neighbours should behave in this new, intermediary space of public and private. ‘Real’ neighbours are those who conform to changing social norms while neighbours who breach them can be ostracised and excluded by others who once saw them as an insider.
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Vanessa Ratten and Hamish Ratten
The aim of this paper is to understand the behavior that Australian youths have towards wireless application protocol (WAP) banking.
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to understand the behavior that Australian youths have towards wireless application protocol (WAP) banking.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper is based on a quantitative study of the youth market in Australia. Social cognitive theory is utilized to support a conceptual model that is empirically tested.
Findings
The major finding from the research is that the conceptual model is partially supported which indicates the immaturity of WAP technology.
Originality/value
Social cognitive theory provides a useful explanation for youth's intentions to use WAP technology in the banking industry. The youth market is an early adopter of technology that presents a good indicator of future market potential.