Naveen K. Jain, Prashant Srivastava and Deborah L. Owens
The purpose of this paper is to develop a framework for leader-member exchange (LMX) in the context of global integration strategy of multinational corporations (MNCs). Further…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to develop a framework for leader-member exchange (LMX) in the context of global integration strategy of multinational corporations (MNCs). Further, an interaction effect of leader's network centrality and leader's alignment with MNC policies on LMX and resource accessibility is proposed.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper begins with the notion that different departments in a subsidiary of an MNC are likely to have different requirements for integration within the MNC network. This paper extends the literature by suggesting that employees working in the same department of a subsidiary of an MNC are likely to have different perception of the degree of integration of their subsidiary with other nodes in the MNC network.
Findings
The paper posits that employees forming the “in-group” of a subsidiary leader are more likely to perceive their subsidiary as more integrated than the “out-group” employees; contribute more by way of knowledge transfer than the “out-group” employees; and perform better than the “out-group” employees, because of the moderating effect of leader's network centrality on the relationship between LMX and resource accessibility.
Research limitations/implications
The research has implications for the role of subsidiary leaders in shaping the perceptions of their subordinates toward the global integration strategy of an MNC.
Originality/value
The study fills a gap by integrating the LMX and MNC global integration strategy literatures and proposing the existence of perceptual differences, even at subordinate level.
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Purpose: Miscarriage is commonly understood as an involuntary, grieve-able pregnancy outcome. Abortion is commonly understood as a voluntary, if stigmatized, pregnancy outcome…
Abstract
Purpose: Miscarriage is commonly understood as an involuntary, grieve-able pregnancy outcome. Abortion is commonly understood as a voluntary, if stigmatized, pregnancy outcome that people do not typically grieve. This chapter examines a nexus of the involuntary and voluntary: how people who chose abortion following observation of a serious fetal health issue make sense of their experience and process associated emotions.
Design: The author draws on semi-structured interviews with cisgender women who had an observed serious fetal health issue and chose to terminate their pregnancy.
Findings: Findings highlight an initial prioritization of medical knowledge in pregnancy decision-making giving way, in the face of the inherent limits of medical knowability, to a focus on personal and familial values. Abortion represented a way to lessen the prospective suffering of their fetus, for many, and felt like an explicitly moral decision. Respondents felt relief after the abortion as well as a sense of loss. They processed their post-abortion emotions, including grief, in multiple ways, including through viewing – or intentionally not viewing – the remains, community rituals, private actions, and no formalized activity. Throughout respondents’ experiences, the stigmatization of abortion negatively affected their ability to obtain the care they desired and, for some, to emotionally process the overall experience.
Originality/Value: This chapter offers insight into the understudied experience of how people make sense of a serious fetal health issue and illustrates an additional facet of the stigmatization of abortion, namely how stigmatization may complicate people’s pregnancy decision-making process and their post-abortion processing.
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Bruce D. Keillor, G. Tomas M. Hult and Deborah Owens
A number of obstacles, many originating from political/government sources, adversely affect individual firms involved in operations outside of their domestic market. The purpose…
Abstract
A number of obstacles, many originating from political/government sources, adversely affect individual firms involved in operations outside of their domestic market. The purpose of this study was to investigate the role in which market access, existence of government policies, and market imperfections impact both the importance firms attach to, and the formalization of, political activities designed to reduce or eliminate such threats. The findings indicate, when faced with government/political threats, firms attach high levels of importance to political behaviors and this, in turn, is associated with formalized political activities on the part of the firm.
Rob Alexander, Jessica Jacovidis and Deborah Sturm
The purpose of this paper is to present an exploratory analysis of campus community member (i.e. students, faculty, staff) definitions of sustainability, their perceptions of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present an exploratory analysis of campus community member (i.e. students, faculty, staff) definitions of sustainability, their perceptions of select elements of sustainability culture and the relationship between the two.
Design/methodology/approach
Researchers implemented a cross-sectional design where participants from two higher education institutions in the USA completed an online survey. The 352 respondents from James Madison University and 349 respondents from Wofford College included students, faculty and staff members. Descriptive statistics were used to examine patterns in the quantitative data, and an inductive theme approach was used to analyze the qualitative data.
Findings
This study provides evidence that sustainability is often viewed from an environmental lens, and personal definitions of sustainability may impact perceptions of campus sustainability culture elements. Generally, the highest rated elements of culture examined (i.e. university actions, signs and symbols and institutional commitments) were all aligned with the environment dimension of sustainability and consistent across sustainability definitions. However, respondents with a more integrative definition of sustainability expected to see elements of culture that aligned with the social dimension of sustainability at a considerably higher rate than the respondents who reported more narrow definitions of sustainability.
Research limitations/implications
Lack of generalizability, low response rates and self-selection bias are some of the limitations of the study.
Practical implications
Personal definitions of sustainability may impact campus community member perceptions of sustainability culture and progress on their campuses. Practitioners may use this study to inform development of more effective strategies for creating and assessing the culture of sustainability that colleges and universities are pursuing.
Originality/value
The empirical analysis of campus community members on two very different campus communities responds to Owens and Legere (2015) who argue for further studies to understand the concept of sustainability at other higher education institutions that are at different stages of pursuing sustainability. This paper links research about sustainability definitions to the emergent research on campus sustainability culture, filling a gap between these two areas.
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On January 9th Tony Newton, the Under Secretary at the Department of Health and Social Security, launched the government's £600,000 promotional campaign for the introduction of…
Abstract
On January 9th Tony Newton, the Under Secretary at the Department of Health and Social Security, launched the government's £600,000 promotional campaign for the introduction of the controversial new plastic National Insurance cards. These plastic cards contain the following ‘visible’ information: name, national insurance number and a check digit. What has been of most concern, is that the card contains a magnetic strip that can store information ‘invisible’ to the card holder. As the dhss has announced it is not the intention to include any type of ‘secret information’ on this strip, the current anxiety expressed by certain organisations and individuals has been seen by many as a fuss about nothing; but is there really cause for concern, and what has all this to do with libraries?
Trista Hollweck, Deborah M. Netolicky and Paul Campbell
The aim of this paper is to define pracademia and conceptualise it in relation to educational contexts. This paper contributes to and stimulates a continuing and evolving…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to define pracademia and conceptualise it in relation to educational contexts. This paper contributes to and stimulates a continuing and evolving conversation around pracademia and its relevance, role and possibilities.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper is a conceptual exploration. It draws upon existing and emerging pieces of literature, the use of metaphor as a meaning-making tool, and the positionalities of the authors, to develop the concept of pracademia.
Findings
The authors posit that pracademics who simultaneously straddle the worlds of practice, policy, and academia embody new possibilities as boundary spanners in the field of education for knowledge mobilization, networks, community membership, and responding to systemic challenges. However, being a pracademic requires the constant reconciling of the demands of multi-membership and ultimately, pracademics must establish sufficient legitimacy to be respected in two or more currently distinct worlds.
Practical implications
This paper has implications for knowledge mobilization, networks, boundary spanners, leadership, professional learning, and connecting practice, policy, and research. While the authors are in the field of education, this exploration of pracademia is relevant not only to the field of education but also to other fields in which there is a clear need to connect practice/policy with scholarship.
Originality/value
This paper provides a new definition of pracademia and argues that pracademia identifies an important yet relatively unknown space with many possibilities in the field of education.
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Nancy Horak Randall, Sue Carroll Pauley and Aaron B. Culley
Baby boomers are now the fastest growing group of adopters of social media. This research uses qualitative research methodologies to understand the factors influencing adoption…
Abstract
Baby boomers are now the fastest growing group of adopters of social media. This research uses qualitative research methodologies to understand the factors influencing adoption and use of social media and other emergent technologies by baby boomer and silent generation women. Life Course Perspectives (especially as combined with either Role Theory and/or Social Exchange Theory), and Family Systems Theory provide a strong basis for considering reciprocal socialization as an important dynamic in relationships between different generations, specifically within families. This research reveals and examines a particular form of reciprocal socialization between family members, the process of social media adoption. Using a convenience sample of 28 women born before 1963, we examine the characteristics of women who use computers, and more specifically who use social networking sites and other forms of emergent technology such as Skype. We also investigate the familial and social factors that women report as contributing to their adoption of social media. Women report that children, specifically daughters, strongly influence their decision to use social media such as Facebook. Women who do not use social media are found to either report lack of interest or perceived lack of ability to negotiate new technology, or to indicate that use of social media is unnecessary to them due to the spatial proximity of their families.
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Deborah A. Garwood and Alex H. Poole
Public-funded research in digital humanities (DH) enhances institutional and individual research missions and contributes open data to a growing base of globally networked…
Abstract
Purpose
Public-funded research in digital humanities (DH) enhances institutional and individual research missions and contributes open data to a growing base of globally networked knowledge. The Digging into Data 3 challenge (DID3) (2014–2016) is an international, interdisciplinary and collaborative grant initiative, and the purpose of this paper is to explore skills that faculty and students brought to projects and others they acquired and shared on collaborative teams.
Design/methodology/approach
Rooted in the naturalistic paradigm, this qualitative case study centers on semi-structured interviews with 53 participants on 11 of the 14 DID3 projects. Documentary evidence complements empirical evidence; analysis is constructivist and grounded.
Findings
Hailing from diverse academic research institutions, centers and repositories, participants brought 20 types of discipline-based or interdisciplinary expertise to DID3 projects. But they reported acquiring or refining 27 other skills during their project work. While most are data-related, complementary programming, management and analytical skills push disciplinary expertise toward new frontiers. Project-based learning and pedagogy function symbiotically; participants therefore advocate for aligning problem-solving skills with pedagogical objectives at home institutions to prepare for public-funded DH projects. A modified content analysis juxtaposes DID3 skills with those advanced in 23 recent DH syllabi to identify commonalities and gaps.
Originality/value
Pedagogy has an important yet under-researched and underdeveloped role in public-funded DH research.
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Johnnieque Blackmon (Johnnie) Love
This chapter explores the role of librarianship, mentoring, leadership, community outreach, professional organizations, and change when infused with positive administrative…
Abstract
Purpose
This chapter explores the role of librarianship, mentoring, leadership, community outreach, professional organizations, and change when infused with positive administrative leadership. These elements are explored because they increase the likelihood of a positive climate for assessment of diversity, inclusion, and implementation of diversity initiatives in libraries. The chapter also examines cultural issues that impact the inclusiveness in libraries as well as identifies the barriers that leave an indelible imprint that institutional racism creates when the library’s effort to deliver quality services to users is in doubt. The author takes a cathartic look at her education, career trajectory, professional development, and how she has come to value her purpose and survival of 51 years in the profession.
Methodology/approach
Using as a lens for change in the profession, the author traces her career in K-12 schools, community college, and academic libraries in times of both segregation and integration.
Findings
Through the metaphor of “stepping back in order to move forward,” the author demonstrates best practices that can be taken by libraries, library professionals, and community organizations toward progress in terms of diversity and inclusion. The author also explores pioneers of color and has used their lives as models for training future librarians. Walking in the “back door” and going through the hotel kitchen has never been a positive example of appreciation for a professional as they make monumental contributions to serve the library profession. Our pioneers endured to serve as “lights” in spite of societal obstacles.