The objective of this literature review is to provide a background and a synthesis of existing studies conducted on IT outsourcing. The IT outsourcing trend has become…
Abstract
The objective of this literature review is to provide a background and a synthesis of existing studies conducted on IT outsourcing. The IT outsourcing trend has become increasingly popular and heavily documented and studied in Europe and the USA. It is therefore appropriate and timely to consider the value and incidence of IT outsourcing in Australian organisations. The literature review deals with the impetus for outsourcing and factors contributing to its success. It covers two useful theoretical frameworks, transactional cost theory, and resource‐based theory that facilitate research into outsourcing.
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Fidel Costa, Christina Widiwijayanti, Thin Zar Win Nang, Erickson Fajiculay, Tania Espinosa-Ortega and Christopher Newhall
The purpose of this paper is to highlight the importance of a comprehensive global database on volcanic unrest (WOVOdat) as a resource to improve eruption forecasts, hazard…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to highlight the importance of a comprehensive global database on volcanic unrest (WOVOdat) as a resource to improve eruption forecasts, hazard evaluation and mitigation actions.
Design/methodology/approach
WOVOdat is a centralized database that hosts multi-parameter monitoring data sets from unrest and eruption episodes of volcanoes worldwide. Its online interface (https://wovodat.org/) allows interactive data analysis and comparison between volcanoes and eruption styles, which is needed during volcanic crises, as well as to perform basic research on pre-eruption processes, teaching and outreach.
Findings
WOVOdat aims to standardize and organize the myriad of monitoring data types at the global scale. Users can compare changes during a crisis to past unrest episodes, and estimate probabilities of outcomes using evidence-based statistics. WOVOdat will be to volcanology as an epidemiological database is to medicine.
Research limitations/implications
The success of eruption forecast relies on data completeness, and thus requires the willingness of observatories, governments and researchers to share data across the volcano community.
Practical implications
WOVOdat is a unique resource that can be studied to understand the causes of volcanic unrest and to improve eruption forecasting.
Originality/value
WOVOdat is the only compilation of standardized and multi-parameter volcano unrest data from around the world, and it is freely and easily accessible through an online interface.
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Maria Christina Araújo and Monica Costa
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the origin of the solid wastes contamination for an isolated beach (Várzea do Una), through the classification of the plastics…
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the origin of the solid wastes contamination for an isolated beach (Várzea do Una), through the classification of the plastics fraction into specific use‐related categories along a full seasonal cycle. Design/methodology/approach – The assessment was made through the sampling of a transect along a full hydrological year, delimited at an isolated tropical beach under the direct influence of a river. The registered items were then classed according to their most probable sources, with emphasis to plastics of riverine origin. Findings – Results indicated an exceptionally high level of contamination of the beach by plastics of urban origin. The main items found were related to household activities. Hospital wastes were also present, highlighting the riverine contribution to the solid wastes contamination of the beach. Practical implications – The work reports the gravity of the situation in the urban centers of this river basin concerning basic sanitation. It compels the local administrations to act in order to abate the solid wastes collection and final destination. Originality/value – In Brazil, as well as in other tropical/developing countries, there is a lack of scientific reports on the theme. However, they are in great need, since the local, State and Federal administrations' disregard the basic sanitation problem of small and/or isolated coastal communities. The solid wastes generated by these populations easily reach the coastal and marine environments with a number of consequences, themselves also unassessed.
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Isabel Metz, Carol T. Kulik, Christina Cregan and Michelle Brown
Managers develop psychological contracts (PCs) with staff as part of their people management responsibilities. A second-stage mediated moderation model explains how a manager’s…
Abstract
Purpose
Managers develop psychological contracts (PCs) with staff as part of their people management responsibilities. A second-stage mediated moderation model explains how a manager’s personality influences the content and fulfillment of PCs in different organizational contexts. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
Survey data from 749 managers at Australian organizations were collected and regression analyses were used to test the hypotheses. The Edwards and Lambert (2007) approach was used to analyze conditional indirect effects.
Findings
Managers high on agreeableness, conscientiousness and extraversion are more likely to establish relational PCs with their staff than managers low on these personality traits. The effects of agreeableness and conscientiousness on the fulfillment of the PC occur through the “relational PC” variable. Once a relational PC is established, a manager’s ability to fulfill the PC is constrained by the extent to which polices and practices are formalized.
Research limitations/implications
Organizations may need to delegate more power and discretion to managers to enable them to fulfill employer obligations toward their staff, and/or clearly communicate to managers their boundaries in employment promises. In turn, managers need to be aware of personality’s influence on the creation and fulfillment of promises. Causality cannot be inferred because of the study’s cross-sectional data.
Originality/value
Research has focused on employees’ personality and perceptions of the PC. This study is the first to focus on managers’ personality and PC creation and fulfillment.
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Marwan Ahmad Al-Shammari, Soumendra Banerjee, Tushar R. Shah, Harold Doty and Hussam Al-Shammari
In light of the conflict between scholarly findings supporting corporate social responsibility’s positive impact on corporate financial performance (CFP) versus findings showing…
Abstract
Purpose
In light of the conflict between scholarly findings supporting corporate social responsibility’s positive impact on corporate financial performance (CFP) versus findings showing negative impact on CFP, the academic literature has reoriented toward determining the contingency conditions that affect the underlying relationships. This paper aims to investigate two potential contingency factors, the chief executive officer’s (CEO) corporate social responsibility (CSR) expertise and board members’ CSR expertise.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper uses an unbalanced panel of archival data of 168 firms from the S&P 500 index for the period 2006–2013. The analytic model is estimated using the feasible generalized least squares regression method with heteroscedasticity and panel-specific AR1 autocorrelation.
Findings
The findings reinforce the perspective that CSR positively affects the firm’s financial performance. The authors find that firms realize optimal results from their CSR investments when both the board and the CEO have greater CSR expertise. In other words, both, CEO CSR expertise and board CSR expertise positively impact the CSR–CFP relationship.
Research limitations/implications
The findings of this study advance the literature in three important areas, namely, the social responsibility–financial responsibility relationship, the governance literature and upper echelons theory. First, the theoretical arguments and the empirical evidence highlight that CSR–CFP relationship is at least partly contingent upon the CEO’s and board members’ CSR expertise. Second, this study introduces two important variables: the CEO and board’s CSR experience as proxies for their CSR expertise. Future researchers may consider decomposing the various components of CSR to study the differential impact of each component on financial performance.
Practical implications
First, this study finds that while the CEO CSR expertise may be of value for the firm, such value can only be realized under a capable and effective board that has adequate knowledge in the field of CSR. Second, this study shows that the best-case scenario for firms occurs when both its board members and CEO have had greater prior CSR involvement that contributed to their knowledge inventory and skills. Greater knowledge and skills enhance the quality of the decisions that comprise the firm’s CSR strategy.
Originality/value
While it seems intuitive that prior CSR knowledge and expertise should lead to more and better CSR initiatives, there are few if any studies that empirically examine the effects of this premise on a firm’s financial performance. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study appears to be the first that directly tests the relationship between executives’ CSR experience and firm performance.
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The Telemation project, a California grant‐funded training project,trained approximately 450 teachers through institutes conducted in thespring and fall of 1994. A central theme…
Abstract
The Telemation project, a California grant‐funded training project, trained approximately 450 teachers through institutes conducted in the spring and fall of 1994. A central theme in this project is information literacy – the ability to access, evaluate, and use information from a variety of sources. Helping students acquire these skills is key to their successful use of online resources, as well as their continued ease in learning later in life. The TeleLearning Mobile Unit (TMU) provided a unique means to conduct training, in which 24 participants had simultaneous access to online resources. All participants are to develop a classroom project integrating online resources into the K‐12 curriculum. By late spring 1995, all Telemation projects should be online, available as models for all K‐12 teachers.
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Christina Tupper and Anju Mehta
Although founders are often replaced with external CEOs prior to firms making IPOs, firms that do retain founder CEOs generally perform better at IPO. However, this relationship…
Abstract
Purpose
Although founders are often replaced with external CEOs prior to firms making IPOs, firms that do retain founder CEOs generally perform better at IPO. However, this relationship may be contingent upon context. This study aims to investigate how national context influences the relationship between a founder CEO and IPO long-run performance. The authors hypothesize that founder-CEOs will perform better in IPO firms in countries where managerial discretion, future orientation, and the level of conformity to professionalize management are high, and uncertainty avoidance is low.
Design/methodology/approach
Using insights from the upper echelon and institutional theory, the authors used hierarchical linear modeling to analyze over 1,000 firms across eight countries.
Findings
Founder CEOs perform best in IPO firms in a national context where managerial discretion is low, uncertainty avoidance is high and the level of conformity is high.
Originality/value
This study contributes to a growing area of cross-national IPO research in management by investigating the relationship between culture, management and IPO performance.