Timo Gossler, Tina Wakolbinger and Christian Burkart
Outsourcing of logistics has great importance in disaster relief. Aid agencies spend several billion US dollars every year on logistics services. However, the concept of…
Abstract
Purpose
Outsourcing of logistics has great importance in disaster relief. Aid agencies spend several billion US dollars every year on logistics services. However, the concept of outsourcing has not been established adequately in literature on humanitarian logistics, leading to a fragmented view of the practice. This paper provides a holistic perspective of the concept by constructing a conceptual framework to analyze both practice and research of outsourcing in humanitarian operations. Based on this analysis, we explore future trends and identify research gaps.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is based on a structured review of academic literature, a two-round Delphi study with 31 experts from aid agencies and a complementary full-day focus group with twelve experts from aid agencies and logistics service providers.
Findings
The paper systemizes the current practice of outsourcing in humanitarian logistics according to a conceptual framework of five dimensions: subject, object, partner, design and context. In addition, it reveals ten probable developments of the practice over the next years. Finally, it describes eight important research gaps and presents a research agenda for the field.
Research limitations/implications
The literature review considered peer-reviewed academic papers. Practitioner papers could provide additional insights into the practice. Moreover, the Delphi study focused on the perspective of aid agencies. Capturing the views of logistics service providers in more detail would be a valuable addition.
Originality/value
The paper establishes the academic basis for the important practice of outsourcing in humanitarian logistics. It highlights essential research gaps and, thereby, opens up the field for future research.
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Vandra Harris and Swornima Tuladhar
Achieving localisation (the transfer of control to local actors) has proven extremely challenging in the development sector, and the humanitarian sector appears to be facing equal…
Abstract
Achieving localisation (the transfer of control to local actors) has proven extremely challenging in the development sector, and the humanitarian sector appears to be facing equal challenges. This chapter seeks to engage with that struggle and examine why this lesson has been so difficult to learn. Drawing on conference workshops and 10 key informant interviews, this paper examines the obstacles and opportunities for localisation, seeking to understand what makes it so hard for those who hold disproportionate power in humanitarian encounters to hand over power. The authors found a clear sense of localisation being a process rather than an outcome; optimism that momentum is slowly gathering towards this process, and a clear sense of the steps required to fully achieve it. Examining practitioners’ perspectives in this way adds an important voice to discussions of humanitarian practice.
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Denni Arli, Krzysztof Kubacki, Fandy Tjiptono and Sebastian Morenodiez
Online digital piracy continues to rise globally. The issue is worsening among young people especially in the context of emerging markets due to lack of laws and regulations…
Abstract
Purpose
Online digital piracy continues to rise globally. The issue is worsening among young people especially in the context of emerging markets due to lack of laws and regulations. Interestingly, emerging markets are also home to some of the highest religious followers. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of young consumer’s religiousness on their attitude and intention towards digital piracy which should negate their tendency to pirate.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected from Indonesia (N = 715) by means of questionnaires distributed to business students at two major (one public and one private) Indonesian universities. The sample consists of 289 (40.4 per cent) males and 426 females (59.6 per cent). The student sample contained a majority of people who were aged 18 to 24 years (94.1 per cent).
Findings
The current study shows that intrinsic religiousness is a strong predictor of attitude towards digital piracy, intention to commit digital piracy, perceived benefits of digital piracy, perceived likelihood of punishment and fear of legal consequences. Extrinsic (social) religiousness was found to have a negative impact on perceived likelihood of punishment and fear of legal consequences. The results of this study will have several important implications for managers and especially religious leaders on how to combat digital piracy.
Originality/value
This is one of the first few studies exploring the impact of religiosity among young consumers in Indonesia.
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Christian Schwägerl, Peter Stücheli-Herlach, Philipp Dreesen and Julia Krasselt
This study operationalizes risks in stakeholder dialog (SD). It conceptualizes SD as co-produced organizational discourse and examines the capacities of organizers' and…
Abstract
Purpose
This study operationalizes risks in stakeholder dialog (SD). It conceptualizes SD as co-produced organizational discourse and examines the capacities of organizers' and stakeholders' practices to create a shared understanding of an organization’s risks to their mutual benefit. The meetings and online forum of a German public service media (PSM) organization were used as a case study.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors applied corpus-driven linguistic discourse analysis (topic modeling) to analyze citizens' (n = 2,452) forum posts (n = 14,744). Conversation analysis was used to examine video-recorded online meetings.
Findings
Organizers suspended actors' reciprocity in meetings. In the forums, topics emerged autonomously. Citizens' articulation of their identities was more diverse than the categories the organizer provided, and organizers did not respond to the autonomous emergence of contextualizations of citizens' perceptions of PSM performance in relation to their identities. The results suggest that risks arise from interactionally achieved occasions that prevent reasoned agreement and from actors' practices, which constituted autonomous discursive formations of topics and identities in the forums.
Originality/value
This study disentangles actors' practices, mutuality orientation and risk enactment during SD. It advances the methodological knowledge of strategic communication research on SD, utilizing social constructivist research methods to examine the contingencies of organization-stakeholder interaction in SD.
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Ernest Christlieb Amrago and Nicholas Oppong Mensah
The purpose of this study is to examine trade credit from agrochemical vendors as an alternative source of finance for cabbage producers in the Bono East Region of Ghana. The…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine trade credit from agrochemical vendors as an alternative source of finance for cabbage producers in the Bono East Region of Ghana. The determinants of trade credit supply and impact on cabbage producer’s profitability are investigated.
Design/methodology/approach
The study sample size is 260. The perception index, probit regression, negative binomial regression and the propensity score matching (PSM) was employed to assess the perception of trade credit, factors influencing trade credit supply and the impact of trade credit supply on the cabbage producer’s profitability and agrochemical vendor’s welfare respectively.
Findings
The perception index analysis revealed that the agrochemical vendors, in general, had a positive perception of trade credit. Different groups of factors influence trade credit supply. Further along, the number of times trade credit was used by the cabbage producers was influenced by several factors. On the PSM result, trade credit use had a significant positive impact on the cabbage producer’s profitability. In detail, all the matching estimations revealed that profitability increased above Gh¢ 4,000.00 (US$ 692.04). Likewise, the robustness check result (Inverse Probability Weighted Regression Adjustment (IPWRA)), was no different from the matching estimations. Generally, the result indicates that the impact of trade credit supply on the agrochemical vendor's welfare using total household expenditure, total savings and income as proxy variables for welfare were positive.
Originality/value
Trade credit has encountered less attention in the agricultural finance discourse; however, this study makes an imperative contribution on the same. Specifically, the study reveals the determinants of trade credit supply from agrochemical vendors and a positive impact of trade credit use on the cabbage producer’s profitability, a result which has not been investigated in the trade credit literature.
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Anu Suominen, Vilho Jonsson, Eric Eriksson, Jessica Fogelberg and Johan Bäckman
One of the two main tasks of innovation leadership, a practice to inspire and enable creativity and innovation in organisations, is to construct a creativity-enabling…
Abstract
One of the two main tasks of innovation leadership, a practice to inspire and enable creativity and innovation in organisations, is to construct a creativity-enabling organisational environment. One form of this main task is using developmental interactions, like mentoring, as innovation leadership practices. A hackathon is one type of innovation contest with three designed phases: pre-hackathon, hackathon event and post-hackathon, involving multiple stakeholders with distinct roles, such as hackers and mentors. In a hackathon, the central activity of mentors is to support the hackers’ innovation process, especially in idea creation and concept development. The mentor role has not been focal in hackathon studies; thus, this chapter addresses the role, impact, and ways to acknowledge the mentors as an integral, contributing innovation leadership practice in hackathons. As an empirical study, this chapter presents the results of a public sector case in a Swedish multi-disciplinary municipality conducting intra-organisational hackathons in three different collocations. The chapter contributes to the literature on innovation leadership at the team level with mentorship in innovation contests in the public sector context by revealing the dual-role tension of innovation leadership in mentor activities in the hackathon event phase from both the hackers’ and mentors’ viewpoints, and the necessity of mentor-benefitting training in pre-hackathon phase.
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This research into tourism motivation and high‐ and low‐risk perception of tourist venues shows that Saudi travellers place great importance on rational/denotative attributes…
Abstract
This research into tourism motivation and high‐ and low‐risk perception of tourist venues shows that Saudi travellers place great importance on rational/denotative attributes, like visiting another Muslim country, good food, value for money and ease in renting a flat. Studies of the information sources the Saudis find valuable is also discussed and avenues for further research recommended.