Jonathan P. Allen and Dave Geller
This paper aims to present a theory of the perceived outcomes of open source software adoption for an organizational IT department.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to present a theory of the perceived outcomes of open source software adoption for an organizational IT department.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is an interpretive case study of three open source pilot projects in local government, based on interviews with IT management, IT staff, and users. Data analysis based on constructivist grounded theory is used to generate theory about the perceived organizational outcomes of open source adoption.
Findings
Open source adoption is perceived as an occasion for rapidly developing effective new business applications, even in the context of shrinking IT resources and a poor relationship between IT and the rest of the organization. IT management and staff see the potential to improve their strained relationship with users, and improve their image of themselves as product developers and explorers. Disruptive project strategies, that keep open source adoptions outside of normal resource allocation processes, are consistently associated with open source success.
Research limitations/implications
While only exploratory, the case study shows that open source deployments can have a significant impact on the wider organization, up to and including the announcement of the first municipal government policy in the USA requiring that open source be considered for all future software acquisitions.
Practical implications
The case study offers a pathway for IT departments to achieve better perceived organizational outcomes, using fewer resources, under challenging circumstances.
Originality/value
The paper offers new conjectures on post‐adoption outcomes for open source researchers, and a new mechanism for IT department transformation in the information systems literature.
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This chapter illuminates the central role of kin networks and the routines they construct to maintain family ties and support young fathers in jail. Recent research demonstrates…
Abstract
This chapter illuminates the central role of kin networks and the routines they construct to maintain family ties and support young fathers in jail. Recent research demonstrates variation in incarcerated fathers’ contact with children. There is less focus on variation in contact with extended kin networks and how kin networks contribute to father–child contact during an incarceration period. Forty-three incarcerated young fathers (ages 19–26) in three Southern California jails, 79% of whom self-identified as Latino, were interviewed to explore fathers’ descriptions of family contact during jail. Incarcerated young fathers rely on kin networks to coordinate routines for contact during jail, including father–child contact. Father inclusion in family life during jail depends not only on the mother of the child but – perhaps integrally – extended paternal kin. Available paternal kin can facilitate connectedness between children and incarcerated fathers in family contexts of complicated parental circumstances (e.g., parental relationship dissolution). Family members mitigate family challenges to maintain ties despite carceral policies meant to isolate fathers from families and children. A continued focus on kin networks and their role in maintaining family connectedness is crucial to understanding and reducing the collateral consequences to family members and incarcerated persons following release from jail.
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Self‐contained emergency lighting luminaires are mandatory in most countries for public buildings, offices and factories to ensure maximum safety in the event of a power failure…
Abstract
Self‐contained emergency lighting luminaires are mandatory in most countries for public buildings, offices and factories to ensure maximum safety in the event of a power failure. A major Netherlands‐based manufacturer, Blessing Electronics, Breda, produces a wide range of luminaires to suit most applications which are sold widely within Benelux and in other European countries.
I. Introduction For over forty years, a model for Third World development has gained widespread acceptance. Three key premises underpin the traditional development model: (1) the…
Abstract
I. Introduction For over forty years, a model for Third World development has gained widespread acceptance. Three key premises underpin the traditional development model: (1) the identification of “development” with the maximization of the rate of national economic growth; (2) the quest to achieve Western living standards and levels of industrialization which require the transfer of labor from the agricultural to the industrial sector as well as increased consumerism; and (3) the integration into the interdependence of Third World nations in the global economy and the global marketplace. Increasing the demand for a Third World nation's exports (in other words, export‐led growth) is viewed as leading to the maximization of a nation's Gross National Product (GNP).
Stephanie Foust, Nancy L. Cassill and David Herr
This study examined the casual workplace in the context of diffusion of innovation. The innovation of the casual workplace, the wearing of casual clothing to the office, has had…
Abstract
This study examined the casual workplace in the context of diffusion of innovation. The innovation of the casual workplace, the wearing of casual clothing to the office, has had positive effects on most aspects of the corporate culture. Rogers' model of innovation‐decision process (1995) provided the conceptual framework for this study. Questionnaires were sent to human resource executives of US Fortune 500 companies, with 189 executives responding to the mailed survey. Respondents were categorised into one of Rogers’ (1995) adopter categories. Chi‐square goodness‐of‐fit test, chi‐square analysis and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used to test H1, H2 and H3 respectively. The percentages of the companies that are categorised in each of four adopter categories in this study differed from the percentages in each of five adopter categories in Rogers' (1995) model. Human resource executives’ cognisance of the casual workplace differed on two knowledge components and two casual workplace persuasion components, relative advantage and compatibility. Because the number of Fortune 500 companies adopting casual workplace attire appears to be increasing, the need for this attire continues. Therefore, textile marketers, dry‐cleaners and retailers are challenged to provide products and services to meet consumers' casual workplace apparel needs.
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Richard Bull, Joanna Romanowicz, Neil Jennings, Marina Laskari, Graeme Stuart and Dave Everitt
This paper aims to present findings from an EU-funded international student-led energy saving competition (SAVES) on a scale previously unseen. There are multiple accounts of…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to present findings from an EU-funded international student-led energy saving competition (SAVES) on a scale previously unseen. There are multiple accounts of short-term projects and energy saving competitions encouraging pro-environmental behaviour change amongst students in university dormitories, but the purpose of this research is to provide evidence of consistent and sustained energy savings from student-led energy savings competitions, underpinned by practical action.
Design/methodology/approach
A mixed-methods approach (pre- and post-intervention surveys, focus groups and analysis of energy meter data) was used to determine the level of energy savings and quantifiable behaviour change delivered by students across participating university dormitories.
Findings
This research has provided further insight into the potential for savings and behaviour change in university dormitories through relatively simple actions. Whilst other interventions have shown greater savings, this project provided consistent savings over two years of 7 per cent across a large number of university dormitories in five countries through simple behaviour changes.
Research limitations/implications
An energy dashboard displaying near a real-time leaderboard was added to the engagement in the second year of the project. Whilst students were optimistic about the role that energy dashboards could play, the evidence is not here to quantify the impact of dashboards. Further research is required to understand the potential of dashboards to contribute to behavioural change savings and in constructing competitions between people and dormitories that are known to each other.
Social implications
SAVES provided engagement with students, enabling, empowering and motivating them to save energy – focusing specifically on the last stage of the “Awareness, Interest, Desire, Action” framework. Automated meter reading data was used in the majority of participating dormitories to run near real-time energy challenges through an energy dashboard that informed students how much energy they saved compared to a target, and encouraged peer-to-peer learning and international cooperation through a virtual twinning scheme.
Originality/value
Findings from energy saving competitions in universities are typically from small-scale and short-term interventions. SAVES was an energy-saving competition in university dormitories facilitated by the UK National Union of Students in five countries reaching over 50,000 students over two academic years (incorporating dormitories at 17 universities). As such it provides clear and important evidence of the real-world long-term potential efficiency savings of such interventions.
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Jennifer Lynes, Stephanie Whitney and Dan Murray
This article aims to propose that increased guidance on the implementation of social marketing principles for sustainability issues can advance both implementation and empirical…
Abstract
Purpose
This article aims to propose that increased guidance on the implementation of social marketing principles for sustainability issues can advance both implementation and empirical evaluation. The primary goal of this paper is to ignite further empirical investigation of social marketing for sustainability by first presenting benchmark criteria for one social marketing model – community-based social marketing (CBSM) – and second, applying this framework to the case study of musician Jack Johnson’s “All at Once” (AAO) campaign.
Design/methodology/approach
The research design is twofold. First, based on Doug McKenzie-Mohr’s CBSM model, a series of 21 benchmarks for assessing the key components of an effective CBSM initiative was developed. Second, this tool was applied to information gathered from Jack Johnson’s extensive outreach promoting AAO initiatives including reports, videos as well as interviews and in-person meetings with the Jack Johnson team.
Findings
Application of the benchmark criteria to the Jack Johnson case study showed that seven out of the 21 benchmarks were integrated into the AAO campaign; seven were partially integrated and seven were not integrated in the program’s design. In particular, the use of commitments, incentives, norms and social diffusion was clearly present as was a final evaluation of the full-scale implementation of the campaign.
Originality/value
The CBSM benchmarks are meant as a starting point to further assess and compare the effectiveness of CBSM initiatives. Further research should be done to explore how criteria should be weighted and which of the 21 principles need to be present in the design and implementation of an effective CBSM program.
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Bishnu Sharma, Maria Raciti, Rebecca O'Hara, Karin Reinhard and Fiona Davies
The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between perceived susceptibility to alcohol retailers' sales promotion strategies and young, female university students'…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between perceived susceptibility to alcohol retailers' sales promotion strategies and young, female university students' intention to buy alcohol and attitude towards alcohol consumption.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected from a convenience sample of three universities in three OECD countries with high alcohol consumption per capita: Australia (n=305), Germany (n=323) and Wales (n=361). A self‐administered survey approach was used to collect data from female university students between the ages of 18 and 24 years in one university in each country. The four alcohol sales promotion strategies of interest were price reductions, quantity specials whereby the more you buy the less you pay on a pro rata basis, bulk purchasing of alcohol, and purchasing from more than one store to take advantage of low prices.
Findings
The study found that except for retailer price reductions, the association between Welsh university students' intentions to buy alcohol and their susceptibility to the remaining retailers' sales promotions was greater than that of university students in Australia and Germany, respectively. Significant differences between the countries were found in terms of the salience of perceived susceptibility to retail sales promotion strategies and their correlation with students' attitude towards alcohol consumption.
Originality/value
The paper's findings provide insights particularly for upstream, legislative strategic interventions to combat the issue of alcohol drinking of young female university students.