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1 – 10 of over 14000David B. Grant, Gyöngyi Kovács and Karen Spens
The purpose of this paper is to discuss questionable research practices (QRPs) in business research, particularly in the logistics and supply chain management discipline, in light…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to discuss questionable research practices (QRPs) in business research, particularly in the logistics and supply chain management discipline, in light of antecedents influenced by the current academic environment and the consequences for academic rigour and relevance to stimulate thinking and debate among the academic community.
Design/methodology/approach
A literature review and autoethnographic approach were used to examine these issues based on over 60 years’ collective academic experience of the authors. Data were collected from discussions among the paper’s authors as well as recounting open discussions with other academics and journal editors to collate their observations.
Findings
Evidence is provided of issues the authors have seen first-hand where antecedents in the academic environment influences QRPs, which then detrimentally affect research rigour and relevance, integrity and proper contributions to ground-breaking research and knowledge advancement.
Research limitations/implications
This paper is based on personal observations and experiences of the three authors as well as open-ended discussions with others in the academic community. Suggestions are provided for various academic stakeholders to address these issues.
Practical implications
Practical implications are only provided for academics in their roles as authors, journal editors and reviewers.
Social implications
Encouraging the academic community to eliminate QRPs to improve the rigour, relevance and quality of research will provide more credibility and integrity resulting in better impact and outcomes for society at large.
Originality/value
The value of this paper is in stimulating thinking and debate among academics to return to core issues and values in academia opposed to focusing on narrow university goals focussed on other antecedents of QRPs.
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Virva Tuomala and David B. Grant
Access to food through retail supply chain distribution can vary significantly among the urban poor and leads to household food insecurity. The paper explores this sustainable…
Abstract
Purpose
Access to food through retail supply chain distribution can vary significantly among the urban poor and leads to household food insecurity. The paper explores this sustainable supply chain phenomenon through a field study among South Africa's urban poor.
Design/methodology/approach
Urban metabolic flows is the theoretical basis in the context of supply chain management (SCM). The field study comprised 59 semi-structured interviews in one South African township. Data were recorded, transcribed and translated, and coded using NVivo 12 to provide an inventory of eight themes categorized and patterned from the analysis.
Findings
Findings indicate societal factors play a significant role affecting food distribution, access and security from a spatial perspective of retail outlet locations and a nutritional standpoint regarding quality and quantity of food.
Research limitations/implications
The study is exploratory in one township, and while rigorously conducted, the generalizability of findings is limited to this context.
Practical implications
The study practically contributes by providing guidance for food retailers and policymakers to include nutritional guidelines in their distribution planning, as well as the dynamics of diverse neighbourhoods that exist in modern urban contexts.
Social implications
New forms of retail food distribution can provide better security and access to food for the urban poor, contributing to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2 Zero Hunger and 11 Liveable Cities.
Originality/value
The study is interdisciplinary and contributes by linking UN SDGs and SCM through urban metabolic flows from development studies as an overarching framework to enable analysis of relationships between physical, social and economic factors in the urban environment.
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Martin Robinson, Michelle Templeton, Carmel Kelly, David Grant, Katie Buston, Kate Hunt and Maria Lohan
Young incarcerated male offenders are at risk of poorer sexual health, adolescent parenthood and lack opportunities for formative relationship and sexuality education (RSE) as…
Abstract
Purpose
Young incarcerated male offenders are at risk of poorer sexual health, adolescent parenthood and lack opportunities for formative relationship and sexuality education (RSE) as well as positive male role models. The purpose of this paper is to report the process of co-production and feasibility testing of a novel, gender-transformative RSE programme with young male offenders to encourage positive healthy relationships, gender equality, and future positive fatherhood.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a rights-based participatory approach, the authors co-produced an RSE programme with young offenders and service providers at two UK prison sites using a sequential research design of: needs analysis, co-production and a feasibility pilot. Core components of the programme are grounded in evidence-based RSE, gender-transformative and behaviour change theory.
Findings
A needs analysis highlighted the men’s interest in RSE along with the appeal of film drama and peer-group-based activities. In the co-production stage, scripts were developed with the young men to generate tailored film dramas and associated activities. This co-production led to “If I Were a Dad”, an eight-week programme comprising short films and activities addressing masculinities, relationships, sexual health and future fatherhood. A feasibility pilot of the programme demonstrated acceptability and feasibility of delivery in two prison sites. The programme warrants further implementation and evaluation studies.
Originality/value
The contribution of this paper is the generation of an evidence-based, user-informed, gender-transformative programme designed to promote SRHR of young male offenders to foster positive sexual and reproductive health and well-being in their own lives and that of their partners and (future) children.
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David B. Grant, Sarah Shaw, Edward Sweeney, Witold Bahr, Siriwan Chaisurayakarn and Pietro Evangelista
Mixed methods research is useful to enhance theoretical and practical research contributions. However, single methods have predominated much logistics and supply chain management…
Abstract
Purpose
Mixed methods research is useful to enhance theoretical and practical research contributions. However, single methods have predominated much logistics and supply chain management (LSCM) research. This paper presents a review of mixed methods research across ten years in LSCM to determine their usage, identify benefits and inhibitors, and provide suggestions for LSCM researchers to realise the benefits from using mixed methods.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper adopts a mixed methods approach through a quantitative analysis of methods used in six leading LSCM journals, an e-mail survey of mixed methods article authors during the review period, and four published case studies that used mixed methods.
Findings
Only 144 (ten percent) of all empirical articles were published using mixed methods during the review period. A range of benefits and inhibitors regarding mixed methods adoption were found. Suggestions for LSCM authors include research training in mixed methods use and developing a project-specific research design due to the specificity and complexity associated with mixed methods research.
Originality/value
LSCM is at a critical juncture, shaped by new contexts, themes and challenges, and would benefit from different research approaches and methods. This paper contributes to the LSCM domain through analysing the current state, benefits and inhibitors of mixed methods research in LSCM journals to provide a renewed call to action and guidelines for mixed methods LSCM research, and suggesting research design adaptation to enable agile and resilient research when investigating rapidly changing and complex phenomena.
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Piyya Muhammad Rafi-Ul-Shan, David B. Grant, Patsy Perry and Shehzad Ahmed
Fashion supply chain (FSC) research has identified two important issues of sustainability management and risk management. However, investigation of these issues is relatively…
Abstract
Purpose
Fashion supply chain (FSC) research has identified two important issues of sustainability management and risk management. However, investigation of these issues is relatively sparse and has primarily been independent with little combinatory research, despite their important interrelationships. The purpose of this paper is to address that gap by critically reviewing extant literature to synthesise important sustainability risk issues in FSCs and proposing an empirical research agenda.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper uses a structured literature review approach and Denyer and Tranfield’s (2009) context, intervention, mechanisms and outcome (CIMO) criteria for critical analysis to enable the development of future empirical research areas.
Findings
While sustainability and risk are discussed independently in the supply chain literature, combinatory discussions are very limited, despite the interdependence of these concepts. There is little substantial research on sustainability risk in global FSCs and therefore, an empirical research agenda is proposed with the four research directions to address the gap and take forward the notion of supply chain sustainability risk management in FSCs: definition; organisation and management; influence on performance; and development of a conceptual framework.
Research limitations/implications
This paper provides a critical literature review and thus lacks empirical study.
Practical implications
This paper highlights important issues in sustainability risk management for FSCs and presents an agenda for future empirical research.
Originality/value
This paper contributes by providing a combinatory synthesis of sustainability and risk management in FSC literature and an agenda for future empirical research.
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Graham Heaslip, Gyöngyi Kovács and David B. Grant
The purpose of this paper is to present a literature review and conceptual consideration of servitization in humanitarian logistics (HL) and provide a research agenda for HL…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present a literature review and conceptual consideration of servitization in humanitarian logistics (HL) and provide a research agenda for HL scholars and insight for practitioners and by doing so will fill a gap in existing research and practice.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper uses a literature-based approach that extends concepts usually applied in a commercial context to the area of HL.
Findings
The paper initiates a discourse on the importance of taking into account servitization in developing and managing effective emergency relief chains. This paper argues that a broader servitization paradigm needs to be integrated for international humanitarian organisations (IHOs) to maintain a competitive advantage.
Originality/value
The authors investigate servitization as a management innovation in IHOs and plot a research agenda for scholars.
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Edward Sweeney, David B. Grant and D. John Mangan
The purpose of this paper is to develop a thorough understanding of the adoption of logistics and supply chain management (SCM) in practice, particularly at a strategic level…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to develop a thorough understanding of the adoption of logistics and supply chain management (SCM) in practice, particularly at a strategic level, through an investigation of the four perspectives taxonomy of the relationship between logistics and SCM.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on a comprehensive literature review, three specific research questions are proposed. The empirical work addresses these questions and comprised three phases: focussed interviews, a questionnaire survey and focus groups.
Findings
The findings provide a usage profile of the four perspectives and indicate a divergence between the understanding and adoption of logistics and SCM principles and concepts at a strategic level in firms. The findings also identify the critical success factors (CSFs) and inhibitors to success in addressing this divergence.
Research limitations/implications
The insights generated using the authors’ methodologically pluralist research design could be built upon to include case studies, grounded theory and action research. Replicating the research in other geographical areas could facilitate international comparisons.
Practical implications
The findings allow practitioners to compare their perspectives on the relationship between logistics and SCM with those of their peers. The CSFs and inhibitors to success provide a rational basis for realising the strategic potential of logistics and SCM in practice.
Originality/value
New insights are generated into practitioner perspectives vis-à-vis logistics vs SCM. A fresh understanding of those factors which drive and hinder the adoption of strategic SCM is also developed and presented.
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Gervase R. Bushe and Robert J. Marshak
Extending the argument made in Bushe and Marshak (2009) of the emergence of a new species of Organization Development (OD) that we label Dialogic, to differentiate it from the…
Abstract
Extending the argument made in Bushe and Marshak (2009) of the emergence of a new species of Organization Development (OD) that we label Dialogic, to differentiate it from the foundational Diagnostic form, we argue that how any OD method is used in practice will be depend on the mindset of the practitioner. Six variants of Dialogic OD practice are reviewed and compared to aid in identification of a Weberian ideal-type Dialogic Mindset, consisting of eight premises that distinguish it from the foundational Diagnostic Mindset. Three core change processes that underlie all successful Dialogic OD processes are proposed, and suggestions for future research offered.
David Grant, Grant Michelson, Cliff Oswick and Nick Wailes
This paper aims to examine the contribution that discourse analysis can make to understanding organizational change.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine the contribution that discourse analysis can make to understanding organizational change.
Design/methodology/approach
It identifies five key contributions. Discourse analytic approaches: reveal the important role of discourse in the social construction of organizational change; demonstrate how the meaning attached to organizational change initiatives comes about as a result of a discursive process of negotiation among key actors; show that the discourses of change should be regarded as intertextual; provide a valuable multi‐disciplinary perspective on change; and exhibit a capacity, to generate fresh insights into a wide variety of organizational change related issues.
Findings
To illustrate these contributions the paper examines the five empirical studies included in this special issue. It discusses the potential for future discursive studies of organizational change phenomena and the implications of this for the field of organizational change more generally.
Originality/value
Provides an introduction to the special issue on discourse and organizational change.
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Catriona Paisey and Nicholas J. Paisey
The purpose of this paper is to examine financial management in the Pre‐Reformation church in Aberdeen, Scotland during the bishopric of Bishop William Elphinstone (1488‐1514).
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine financial management in the Pre‐Reformation church in Aberdeen, Scotland during the bishopric of Bishop William Elphinstone (1488‐1514).
Design/methodology/approach
The paper employs a combination of literature‐based analysis, archival research and the use of biographies in order to examine aspects of financial management within the Pre‐Reformation church in Aberdeen, Scotland.
Findings
There is evidence that accounting for assets and income was mobilised in order to achieve social aims. Recording mechanisms give visibility to the church's remuneration and governance strategy. Together, these examples show that there was no evidence of a sacred/secular divide in this context.
Research limitations/implications
Archives may be incomplete but can give insight into financial management in historical context and aspects of the sacred/secular divide.
Originality/value
This paper aids understanding of visibility and governance possibilities afforded by accounting that has been mobilised in an historic setting in order to achieve social aims.
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