A variety of published material is available from which the value, volume and direction of UK international trade can be readily determined. However, this information provides a…
Abstract
A variety of published material is available from which the value, volume and direction of UK international trade can be readily determined. However, this information provides a measure of freight movements across a UK trade boundary (ports, airports) only, and allows no straightforward means of determining the magnitude and origins of international freight flows inland of such boundaries.
Inland waterways play a much greater role in inland freight carrying in the United Kingdom than is generally realised. The purpose of this article is to show the extent of the…
Abstract
Inland waterways play a much greater role in inland freight carrying in the United Kingdom than is generally realised. The purpose of this article is to show the extent of the underestimation of water transport and to outline the potential for future development and the problems which will have to be overcome to realise that potential.
Eric John Darling and Stephen Jonathan Whitty
The purpose of this paper is to describe the relationship between project work and stress. It examines how the conditions of project work negatively impact on an individual’s…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to describe the relationship between project work and stress. It examines how the conditions of project work negatively impact on an individual’s mental and physical state of well-being, consequentially reducing organisational performance.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors systematically review the project management literature for sources of stress or stressors as it relates to Cooper and Marshall’s (1976) model of stress at work. The authors perform a thematic analysis on these stressors to reveal the “sub-stressor” conditions of project work.
Findings
A “model of projects as a source of stress at work” is developed. It shows the relationship between the sub-stressors of project work and the ill effects they have on mental and physical well-being of the project workforce.
Research limitations/implications
The findings of this study are constrained by the limits of a literature review process. This study has implications for research on stress in project work, as studies can benefit from the “model of projects as a source of stress at work”, which can be continually advanced to gain insights on the minimisation of physical and mental distress.
Practical implications
Many sectors including health, education, policing, aviation and military provide scenario-based training. In project management, a greater understanding of stressful scenarios and counter measures would improve health outcomes for project staff, human relations and project outcomes.
Originality/value
The study presents a comprehensive model of projects as a source of stress at work. It draws attention to the burden and cost of anxiety and stress placed on the project workforce. It makes the case for organisations and employees to take responsibility for the well-being of project staff.
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Jane McKenzie, Christine van Winkelen and Sindy Grewal
Decisions are integral to daily business practice. Sound and agile decision making is argued to be a core strategic capability. Knowledge helps avoid the consequences of…
Abstract
Purpose
Decisions are integral to daily business practice. Sound and agile decision making is argued to be a core strategic capability. Knowledge helps avoid the consequences of ill‐informed decisions. Facts and expertise provide content; know‐how about the pitfalls and requirements of thinking through problems in different contexts contributes to sound process. This paper seeks to offer a staged framework to guide organisational discussions about how knowledge management (KM) can contribute to better decision‐making capability.
Design/methodology/approach
Consistent with a maturity model approach, the study used an interactive multi‐method design to explore knowledge and decision making with experienced practitioners. Guided by the literature the authors collected input via three focus groups and eight interviews with KM practitioners plus 19 interviews with senior decision makers chosen for their good track record. From the combination of input five stages of capability building in five key areas of intellectual capital development were identified.
Findings
The output is a maturity model that can be used to assess organisational status in knowledge‐enabled decision making and plan for relevant KM interventions to improve organisational capability across a range of contexts.
Practical implications
A discussion around current status raises awareness of the pitfalls that can lead to poor or unsound decisions. This can help individuals reflect on how to improve their practice, and organisations to learn systematically from past experience, improve governance of the decision‐making process and progressively improve capability by planning deliberate developmental action.
Originality/value
The paper provides a rigorously developed tool for systematic evaluation and planning about a critical business capability.
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Francesco Galati, Barbara Bigliardi, Renato Passaro and Ivana Quinto
According to the paradigm of the Triple Helix, universities are moving from their traditional roles of research, teaching and knowledge dissemination to an entrepreneurial role…
Abstract
Purpose
According to the paradigm of the Triple Helix, universities are moving from their traditional roles of research, teaching and knowledge dissemination to an entrepreneurial role. Specifically, they contribute to innovation and competitiveness by creating academic spin-offs (ASOs). In such a context, the diffusion of digital technologies is impacting both on the development of new forms of academic entrepreneurship and on the motivations of academics in launching ASOs. Grounded on a recent reconceptualization developed on identity theory, this study investigates the motivations that lead an academic to establish a spin-off and if, how and why these motivations vary over time.
Design/methodology/approach
An extensive online survey was performed in order to obtain a final database of 151 Italian ASOs. Different statistical techniques were used, such as Cluster analysis and ANOVA, to identify different ASO profiles and to understand how and why these profiles change over time.
Findings
The results suggest that motivations change over time: while financial aspects become less important, academics give more importance to other issues. Time, experience and financial gain influence the evolution of academic entrepreneurs' motivations over time.
Practical implications
Insights derived from the study could help policy-makers and administrators in better understanding this phenomenon and the possible evolution of such academic motivations in the context of digitalization, and enable them to act accordingly to foster academic entrepreneurship.
Originality/value
The main contributions of the present study are the addition of empirical knowledge to the scant and anecdotal literature existing to date and the inclusion of cognitive and psychological theoretical perspectives in the academic entrepreneurship debate. Moreover, it is believed that no other study has investigated the above topics in the Italian context.
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This study critically analyzes the micro-, meso- and macro-level factors that influence the female academics to engage in academic entrepreneurship (AE). The extant literature…
Abstract
This study critically analyzes the micro-, meso- and macro-level factors that influence the female academics to engage in academic entrepreneurship (AE). The extant literature, which seeks to understand the female academics engagement in AE mostly revolves around a gender-comparative lens, where women entrepreneurs are understood only in comparison with men. This study examines the association between informal academic entrepreneurship (IAE) and the level of asymmetry between the micro-, meso- and macro-level factors (5M framework). In this study, the author conducted three interviews with female academics in Bangladesh.
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Matteo Opizzi, Michela Loi and Orsola Macis
Doctoral students are promising entrepreneurial actors in university-based ventures, which positively impact the external environment and create value for their universities. In…
Abstract
Purpose
Doctoral students are promising entrepreneurial actors in university-based ventures, which positively impact the external environment and create value for their universities. In this article, the authors extend current research on academic entrepreneurship by shedding light on the role of university support in the early stage of Ph.D. entrepreneurship. Based on social information processing theory, the authors posit that academic entrepreneurship results from the interplay between doctoral students' human capital and university-level support. A multilevel model is proposed and empirically tested to shed light on the cradle of doctoral students' entrepreneurship by explaining the variance of their entrepreneurial alertness and intentions.
Design/methodology/approach
A model is proposed that explains the combined effect of specific human capital and different forms of university support on doctoral students' cognitive transition from entrepreneurial alertness to intentions. The model was then tested through structural equation modeling (SEM) and multigroup analysis (MGA) on a sample of 187 doctoral students enrolled in Italian universities.
Findings
The SEM results reveal that doctoral students' entrepreneurial alertness is influenced by perceived educational support and human capital. The MGA demonstrates that those who perceive a higher level of support for concept and business development from universities are more likely to convert their alertness into intentions than those who perceive lower support.
Originality/value
The present paper brings to the stage doctoral students as an extremely promising entrepreneurial target. In doing so, it extends academic entrepreneurship studies by detailing how and when the different forms of university support influence their entrepreneurial decisions, along with individual dimensions.
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André Cherubini Alves, Bruno Fischer, Paola Rücker Schaeffer and Sérgio Queiroz
The purpose of this paper is to analyze this phenomenon and identify its determinants using data from Brazilian higher education institutions.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyze this phenomenon and identify its determinants using data from Brazilian higher education institutions.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on a data set comprehending 2,230 university students from 70 different institutions across the country, the authors develop five Probit models to assess impacts related to individual traits and systemic conditions on five dependent dimensions: entrepreneurial activity, potential entrepreneurs, high-impact entrepreneurship, serial entrepreneurship and innovation-driven entrepreneurship.
Findings
The lack of significance in many of the variables included in estimations suggests that student entrepreneurship seems to be a rather random phenomenon in Brazil.
Research limitations/implications
Findings pose challenges for student entrepreneurship, as targets for intervention are not clear.
Originality/value
Over the past decades, universities have been receiving an increasing demand to go beyond their role of producing science and technology to explore its knowledge potential to produce novel commercial applications. However, while there is a growing interest in ways to foster scientific academic entrepreneurship, universities also serve as a positive environment for student entrepreneurship training, knowledge sharing, testing ideas and learning. So far, the importance of student entrepreneurship has received far less attention than it likely deserves.