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1 – 10 of 39Sneh Bhardwaj, Damian Morgan and Natalie Elms
Situated in the context of India, where women’s representation on corporate boards remains low, this study aims to explore whether and how tokenism impacts the behaviours of…
Abstract
Purpose
Situated in the context of India, where women’s representation on corporate boards remains low, this study aims to explore whether and how tokenism impacts the behaviours of female directors.
Design/methodology/approach
The boardroom experiences and perceptions of 14 women directors are explored through semi-structured interviews and analysed using an inductive and interpretive process. Also, to get a counter perspective and avoid the social desirability bias from the women participants’ responses, 16 men directors are interviewed.
Findings
The study finds that, as gender minorities, women directors' visibility on boards can create performance pressures on these women. To counter gender-based prejudices, women directors consciously alter their behaviours and project both male and female traits consistent with the director role. By doing so, women directors overcome tokenistic stereotypes and are accepted as part of the director in-group, irrespective of their numeric representation on the board.
Practical implications
The research has implications for governments attempting to increase women’s board presence through affirmative actions and for firms aiming to improve the gender diversity of their board composition.
Originality/value
These findings present an alternative perspective on women directors’ board behaviour by exploring the applicability of Western trends on tokenism and critical mass in the context of India, adding to the vast body of literature concerned with minorities on corporate boards.
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Daria Soldatenko, Elisa Zentveld and Damian Morgan
To succeed in a competitive tourist market and attract more foreign tourists, it is essential to have a clear understanding of what travellers are seeking and endeavour to meet…
Abstract
Purpose
To succeed in a competitive tourist market and attract more foreign tourists, it is essential to have a clear understanding of what travellers are seeking and endeavour to meet those needs, as well as key influential factors in their travel decision-making process. The purpose of the study is to develop and examine tourists’ pre-trip motivational model using the push–pull theory.
Design/methodology/approach
A tourists’ pre-trip motivational model was developed and then tested based on a sample of 320 Chinese and non-Chinese visitors to Melbourne, Australia, to assess the suitability of the new model. Data were analysed by descriptive and inferential statistical techniques, such as principal component analysis and independent T-tests.
Findings
The analysis revealed statistically significant differences between studied samples in terms of the push and pull factors. In comparison with non-Chinese tourists, Chinese visitors to Melbourne assigned higher importance to resting and relaxing opportunities, family-oriented activities, as well as safety and a high level of service. The identified differences should be reflected in marketing and promotional activities provided to Chinese and non-Chinese travellers.
Practical implications
The study provides useful information for Destination Marketing Organisations in tourism cities wanting to develop specifically customised tourist products, services and promotion programs tailored to each market.
Originality/value
The proposed extended push–pull model represents a holistic and complex model of the travel decision-making process with the multiple linkages between motivations for travelling, preferences of destination attributes, information source usage, trip expectations, possible constraints for travelling and evaluation of destination choice criteria. Understanding all these factors, their relationship and their influence on the final destination choice is a prerequisite for effective and successful actions on attraction and retention of visitors for all tourist destinations. The developed tourists’ pre-trip motivational model may be used as a conceptual framework to guide subsequent motivational studies in tourism.
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Shoaib Riaz, Damian Morgan and Nell Kimberley
The purpose of this paper is to assess the success factors in a large organization that contributed to the success of organizational transformation (OT) through business…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to assess the success factors in a large organization that contributed to the success of organizational transformation (OT) through business diversification using a complex adaptive systems (CAS) framework. This assessment is done to determine how well the CAS framework can explain the success factors that contribute to the success of large-scale organizational change in complex organizations. If the CAS framework is capable of explaining the organizational factors that lead to the success of change implementation, the managers can employ this framework to increase the likelihood of success while implementing change.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses qualitative research methodology. The data were collected from the case study organization (CSO) through 40 in-depth semi-structured interviews and analyzed using thematic deductive analysis approach.
Findings
The CAS framework explains the success factors that contribute to the success of OT through business diversification.
Practical implications
This paper provides a comprehensive guide for change implementation by combining the insights from the CAS framework with identified success factors (for change implementation) from the case organization.
Originality/value
The originality of this paper lies in extending the principles of existing change models, for successful change implementation by using the CAS framework. The prescribed change models and the CAS framework/complexity theory are two distinct sets of literature; this paper successfully merges the two to develop a comprehensive set of guidelines for change implementation. By doing so, this paper highlights the fact that alternative, non-linear, change approaches, instead of conventional multistep change models, can be effective in implementing large-scale organizational change successfully given the complexities of current organizational environments.
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Shoaib Riaz, Damian Morgan and Nell Kimberley
A slew of conventional change models and theories appear in the extant change literature. Despite being theoretically sound, these a priori structured approaches to organizational…
Abstract
Purpose
A slew of conventional change models and theories appear in the extant change literature. Despite being theoretically sound, these a priori structured approaches to organizational change management have questionable application given the rapidly changing business environments. Novel approaches, offering greater flexibility to fast changing external conditions, may offer superior models to organizational change and organizational transformation (OT) in particular. In this paper, the application of a complex adaptive system (CAS) framework, from complexity theory (CT), for managing OT is assessed theoretically.
Design/methodology/approach
A conceptual paper.
Findings
A review of the extant change literature suggests that current approaches and models for organizational change are limited in their ability to reflect OT responses to today's highly dynamic external environments. New models are required to inform and guide organizations. A new model, i.e. CAS framework, is deemed suitable to guide the OT implementation.
Originality/value
This paper critically analyses different approaches to change management, consolidates CAS framework, reviews its applications in the field of management and presents a case for CAS's application for the management of OT.
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Alkiviadis Karagiorgos, Grigorios Lazos, Antonios Stavropoulos, Dimitra Karagiorgou and Fani Valkani
This paper examines issues that focus on the importance of accounting data generated knowledge information and its role in modern business. The cognitive aspect of this research…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper examines issues that focus on the importance of accounting data generated knowledge information and its role in modern business. The cognitive aspect of this research reflects the ability of companies and its employees to apply knowledge for managerial purposes using accounting data.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a questionnaire, a five-factor model related to information communication, information cognitive utilization, functional optimization, applicability and cognitive efficiency was created.
Findings
Findings present a series of complex correlations highlighting possible actions to utilize knowledge as a tool for management. Information is obtained regarding the management of knowledge and the adoption of information systems.
Research limitations/implications
The results reflect the limited implementation of intellectual capital practices and understanding of knowledge as a financial tool for executives and employees. Based on the above, an attempt was made to formulate the questions for the careful identification of the factors.
Practical implications
Rapid developments in information and communication technologies, together with a realization that knowledge is a resource of general and cost strategic importance, changed the operational structures of companies, shifting value from materials to intangible assets. This paper demonstrates how multiple variables are correlated and how small changes could help increase intellectual capital and facilitate the construction of knowledge based systems.
Social implications
The need for an accounting valuation of intellectual capital in order to present the true picture of business value is evident. This paper illustrates factors such as interactive communication and systematic cognitive efficiency or the monetization of information as a preliminary step for future valuation and management intellectual capital models.
Originality/value
Direct access to sufficient and reliable information, lead to the search for effective tools for the creation, aggregation and exchange of knowledge. The latter becomes a key goal for information systems. Emphasis is placed on the benefits and critical success factors of knowledge management systems, as essential information systems to support and enhance organizational processes.
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The author provides an insider view of women directors' selections on corporate boards from the empirical setting of India and find if the recruitment practices in this space…
Abstract
Purpose
The author provides an insider view of women directors' selections on corporate boards from the empirical setting of India and find if the recruitment practices in this space discriminate against women.
Design/methodology/approach
The study collected data from a diverse cohort of 27 directors through semi-structured interviews. The data were analysed by applying an interpretative inductive approach and using the software NVivo's 12-plus version.
Findings
The author’s findings show that board recruiters present different selection criteria and processes to women candidates depending upon heterogeneity among candidates' professional standing. Recruiters view women directors as a diverse cohort and value resourceful and experienced women when making recruitment decisions; these women directors are also found influencing directors' selection processes.
Originality/value
The results question the underlying assumptions of prejudice against women as posited by the feminist and social identity theorists without accounting for the heterogeneity among women and situations. By proposing the female-gender stereotyping deactivation theory in top leadership matters, such as board selections, the author argues that stereotyping becomes irrelevant in the strategic decisions of board selections. This new theorisation about women's access to leadership roles will help the cause of women empowerment both at a cognitive and practical level. Future researchers can test the gender deactivation theory among women leaders in diverse cultural contexts by looking at the intra-cohort differences among women leaders.
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Damian Gordon, Ioannis Stavrakakis, J. Paul Gibson, Brendan Tierney, Anna Becevel, Andrea Curley, Michael Collins, William O’Mahony and Dympna O’Sullivan
Computing ethics represents a long established, yet rapidly evolving, discipline that grows in complexity and scope on a near-daily basis. Therefore, to help understand some of…
Abstract
Purpose
Computing ethics represents a long established, yet rapidly evolving, discipline that grows in complexity and scope on a near-daily basis. Therefore, to help understand some of that scope it is essential to incorporate a range of perspectives, from a range of stakeholders, on current and emerging ethical challenges associated with computer technology. This study aims to achieve this by using, a three-pronged, stakeholder analysis of Computer Science academics, ICT industry professionals, and citizen groups was undertaken to explore what they consider to be crucial computing ethics concerns. The overlap between these stakeholder groups are explored, as well as whether their concerns are reflected in the existing literature.
Design/methodology/approach
Data collection was performed using focus groups, and the data was analysed using a thematic analysis. The data was also analysed to determine if there were overlaps between the literature and the stakeholders’ concerns and attitudes towards computing ethics.
Findings
The results of the focus group analysis show a mixture of overlapping concerns between the different groups, as well as some concerns that are unique to each of the specific groups. All groups stressed the importance of data as a key topic in computing ethics. This includes concerns around the accuracy, completeness and representativeness of data sets used to develop computing applications. Academics were concerned with the best ways to teach computing ethics to university students. Industry professionals believed that a lack of diversity in software teams resulted in important questions not being asked during design and development. Citizens discussed at length the negative and unexpected impacts of social media applications. These are all topics that have gained broad coverage in the literature.
Social implications
In recent years, the impact of ICT on society and the environment at large has grown tremendously. From this fast-paced growth, a myriad of ethical concerns have arisen. The analysis aims to shed light on what a diverse group of stakeholders consider the most important social impacts of technology and whether these concerns are reflected in the literature on computing ethics. The outcomes of this analysis will form the basis for new teaching content that will be developed in future to help illuminate and address these concerns.
Originality/value
The multi-stakeholder analysis provides individual and differing perspectives on the issues related to the rapidly evolving discipline of computing ethics.
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The purpose of this paper is to offer an appraisal of the craft metaphor in management with particular reference to authority, resistance, care and the interior landscape of the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to offer an appraisal of the craft metaphor in management with particular reference to authority, resistance, care and the interior landscape of the manager/crafter.
Design/method/approach
This is a conceptual essay that draws on an autoethnography.
Findings
Respect for the limits of managerial and bureaucratic authority and an appreciation of the manager/crafter's interior landscape are crucial aspects of effective craft and management practice. Insights into the practice of craft may enhance understanding of how both craft and management are a potent brew of politics, power, people, history, reason, faith and authority and just how crucial the interior landscape of the manager/crafter is.
Originality/value
This article offers a focus on an inadequately examined aspect of management/craft – the interior landscape of the manager – that is informed by an auto-ethnography and suggests a case for conceptualizing management as craft, with implications for management development.
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