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1 – 10 of 13Debra Parkinson, Alyssa Duncan and Frank Archer
The purpose of this paper is to understand what (if any) actual and perceived barriers exist for women to take on fire and emergency management leadership roles within the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to understand what (if any) actual and perceived barriers exist for women to take on fire and emergency management leadership roles within the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, Victoria, Australia.
Design/methodology/approach
An anonymous quantitative online survey was used to collect data about opinions and thoughts of staff. This informed the qualitative component of the research – in-depth, semi-structured interviews and a focus group. The combination of these techniques provides deeper insight into the nature of the barriers for women.
Findings
Respondents identified real barriers for women accessing leadership roles in fire and emergency. Reflecting the wider literature on barriers to women in executive roles, those identified related to sexism, career penalties not faced by men for family responsibilities, and assumptions of women helping other women’s careers. There were more men in senior roles, leaving senior women isolated and often overlooked. Women had fewer role models and sponsors than men and less developed networks, finding it harder to access training and deployments. The context was described by most as “a boys’ club”, where men were seen to dominate meetings and stereotype the abilities of women.
Originality/value
This paper analyses the barriers to women in fire and emergency leadership roles within a masculine workplace and is rare in including a qualitative aspect to the issue in the Australian context.
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Debra Z. Basil, Michael Basil, Anne Marie Lavack and Sameer Deshpande
The purpose of this study is to propose environmental efficacy as the perception of social, physical resource and temporal factors at one’s disposal that promote or impede…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to propose environmental efficacy as the perception of social, physical resource and temporal factors at one’s disposal that promote or impede behavior. In this exploratory study, four focus groups and a two-country survey provide support for a new environmental efficacy construct as an adjunct to self and response efficacies.
Design/methodology/approach
This research examines environmental efficacy within the context of workplace safety. The research engaged participants from four focus groups as well as a survey of 358 young Canadian males and 494 young American males to test the proposed construct.
Findings
First, qualitative responses from the focus groups supported environmental efficacy as a viable construct. Second, a factor analysis demonstrated environmental efficacy is distinct from self- and response efficacies. Third, regressions demonstrated that environmental efficacy predicts motivation to act, above and beyond self- and response efficacies.
Research limitations/implications
As an exploratory study, only a limited number of scale items were included. The research was conducted within the workplace safety context, using young males, and the stimuli involved the use of fear appeals. These restrictions warrant additional research in the area of environmental efficacy.
Practical implications
This study suggests that further development of the environmental efficacy construct may offer social marketers a more effective means of identifying and addressing barriers to desired behavior change. Such a measure should allow social marketers to improve understanding of the importance of environmental forces.
Originality/value
This research introduces a novel concept, environmental efficacy, and demonstrates that it is a distinctive and useful concept for understanding motivation to act. This concept is potentially valuable to social marketers seeking to enhance the effectiveness of their programs. It offers a tool to help identify barriers that can thwart the effectiveness of interventions.
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Somdip Bhukta, Sunanda Das and Ramesh Chandra Das
The agricultural sector in any country plays an important contributor to national output along with its high absorbability of the working population. In the agricultural sector…
Abstract
The agricultural sector in any country plays an important contributor to national output along with its high absorbability of the working population. In the agricultural sector, paddy production holds a major share in the total output in countries like India. The growth and stability of the paddy production at the national level depends on the same factors at the sub-national levels such as the provincial and district levels. The present study focuses first on the stability analysis of the quantity of food production and irrigation facilities in the top 10 rice-producing states in India and then on the stability of yield rates in three varieties of paddy production, Aus, Aman, and Boro, and irrigation facilities across the blocks in the Paschim Medinipur district of West Bengal, as a special reference. The analyses involves the evaluation of the growth and stability using Coppock’s method and trend analysis. It is found that Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh have a positive significant correlation between irrigation facilities and paddy production. From this study, it is also found that the correlation between changes in the yield rate of Aus, Aman, and Boro production and changes in irrigation is positive and significantly related to each other for Garbeta 1, Garbeta 3, Keshiary, Kharagpur 2, Chandrakona 1, and Chandrakona 2 blocks in Paschim Medinipur district under West Bengal. Therefore, the results recommend that the government should focus on irrigation facilities in those areas where the benefits of irrigation facilities are fully realized.
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S. Gary Teng, S. Michael Ho, Debra Shumar and Paul C. Liu
The aim of this research was to call attention to the implementation of failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) in a collaborative environment, the issues occurred in the…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this research was to call attention to the implementation of failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) in a collaborative environment, the issues occurred in the implementation process, and a tool that can be used by all parties in a collaborative environment for FMEA process.
Design/methodology/approach
The discussion includes the procedure of an integrated FMEA approach, how to implement the procedure in a supply chain, and the common problems occurred in its implementation in automotive industry under a collaborative environment.
Findings
The research provided an example of inconsistency in the ranking of severity, occurrence, and detection to show that the inconsistency may delay FMEA implementation in a supply chain.
Originality/value
This study offered guidelines for manufacturing industry in correcting the problems in FMEA applications, so companies can adopt their FMEA process into a collaborative supply chain environment. This paper also demonstrated a Microsoft EXCEL‐based tool that can ease the FMEA process in a collaborative environment for determining sampling size, reliability and confidence level for tests in design verification and control plan as a part of integrated FMEA process.
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Susan Schultz Kleine, Robert E. Kleine and Debra A. Laverie
In this article, we examine how person–possession relations vary across three stages of the role-identity cultivation processes. We explore stage-related variation in the…
Abstract
In this article, we examine how person–possession relations vary across three stages of the role-identity cultivation processes. We explore stage-related variation in the accumulation of role-related consumption stimuli and their self-relevance in a cross-sectional sample of two freely chosen athletic role-identities. Results show that as individuals cultivate an identity they accumulate more role-related possessions, social ties, and media commitments, and evaluation of those elements becomes more positive, yet the impact of those stimuli on self-conception declines. Ultimately, the results suggest that a full understanding of person–possession relations must include consideration of how role-identity cultivation stage moderates relations between people and consumption stimuli.
Barbara Egilstrød and Kirsten Schultz Petersen
The purpose of this study is to gain a deeper understanding of female spouses’ lived experiences of changes in everyday life while living with a husband with dementia.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to gain a deeper understanding of female spouses’ lived experiences of changes in everyday life while living with a husband with dementia.
Design/methodology/approach
Nine individual interviews of female spouses were conducted in 2017. A phenomenological narrative approach was applied during data collection, and the analysis was inspired by Amedeo Giorgi’s analytic steps.
Findings
Female spouses experienced changes in their marital relationships, and found ways of managing these changes, although they realized life was marked by loneliness and distress. The identified themes reveal how female spouses experienced changes in everyday life as the disease progressed. Everyday routines gradually changed and they actively sought ways to uphold everyday life and a marital relationship.
Research limitations/implications
Research should focus on developing supportive interventions, where the people with the lived experiences in relation to dementia are involved in the research process, to better target the needs for support, when developing interventions.
Practical implications
Insight into everyday life can help health-care service providers to better the support to female spouses and contribute with more individualized support, which may contribute to the quality of care.
Originality/value
In this study, the authors disclose the invisible and silent work that takes place in an everyday life, when living with a husband with dementia during the time span of caregiving. Spouses’ experiences are important to include, when developing intervention to support spouses to better tailor the interventions.
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G. Steven McMillan, Bastien St-Louis Lalonde, Frank H. Bezzina and Debra L. Casey
The Triple Helix model of academia, government and industry posits that the university can play an important role, even an entrepreneurial one, in innovation in increasingly…
Abstract
Purpose
The Triple Helix model of academia, government and industry posits that the university can play an important role, even an entrepreneurial one, in innovation in increasingly knowledge-based societies (Etzkowitz and Leydesdorff, 2000). No longer the “ivory tower” universities are now moving toward an entrepreneurial paradigm. The purpose of this research effort is to examine how such a migration has been accomplished in Malta with a particular focus on the changing activities of its University.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper uses advanced bibliometric techniques to examine the scientific output of the University of Malta. Data were downloaded from Thomson Reuters Web of Science. These data were then processed using the software packages Bibexcel and VOSviewer to produce detailed maps of the scientific activity.
Findings
The results were that the University has greatly expanded its scientific footprint since its 2004 accession to the European Union (EU). International collaborations and highly cited papers have gone up significantly.
Research limitations/implications
Only one country was examined in this effort, and further study should compare to Malta to other small EU countries. The findings suggest that while some might consider Malta’s progress modest in absolute terms, it has made significant strides from its prior-to-accession base.
Practical implications
The findings have been presented to the Malta Council for Science and Technology as evidence of the outcomes of their efforts.
Originality/value
Because Malta is the smallest member-state in the EU, little research has been done on its science base. However, the authors believe their findings could inform research efforts on other EU, and even non-EU, countries.
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Jessica Salgado Sequeiros, Arturo Molina-Collado, Mar Gómez-Rico and Debra Basil
Through a bibliometric analysis and scientific mapping, this study aims to examine research in the field of social marketing over the past 50 years and to propose a future…
Abstract
Purpose
Through a bibliometric analysis and scientific mapping, this study aims to examine research in the field of social marketing over the past 50 years and to propose a future research agenda.
Design/methodology/approach
A bibliometric analysis based on keyword co-occurrences is used to analyze 1,492 social marketing articles published from 1971 to 2020. The articles were extracted from the Web of Science and Scopus databases. SciMAT software was used, which provides a strategic diagram of topics, clusters, networks and relationships, allowing for the identification and assessment of relational connections among social marketing topics.
Findings
The results show that advertising, fear and children were some of the driving themes of social marketing over the past 50 years. In addition, the analysis identifies four promising areas for future research: consumption, intervention, strategy and analytical perspectives.
Research limitations/implications
This analysis can serve as a reference guide for future research in the field of social marketing. This study focused on quantitative analysis. An in-depth qualitative analysis would be a valuable future extension.
Originality/value
This research offers a unique systematic analysis of the progression of social marketing scholarship and provides a guide for future research related to social marketing. Importantly, this work suggests crucial issues that have not yet been sufficiently developed.
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There has been little thought given in science to the impact of direct brain‐machine interfacing upon the future development of human consciousness. Even less thought has been…
Abstract
There has been little thought given in science to the impact of direct brain‐machine interfacing upon the future development of human consciousness. Even less thought has been given to the possibilities for both optimizing and thwarting development in the cyborg child. A neurocognitive model of the evolution of cyborg consciousness is summarized, and from this model grounded speculations are offered pertaining to the future development of the higher cognitive functions in the cyborg child. It will be shown that cybernetic implants are “multistable”; that is, the artificial intelligence (AI) component of the cyborg brain‐machine linkage may function to condition development along ideological lines (the brain conditioned by the “ideological chip”), or may operate to open up neurocognitive development to new and heretofore unrealized limits (the brain’s development optimized by the “guru programme”). Development of the cyborg child may be conditioned in the interests of ideological concerns, or may lead to a consciousness that easily transcends all forms of ideology. Application of the guru programme may foster the emergence of new levels of cognitive complexity and information processing (à la Piagetian and neo‐Piagetian theory) that in turn allows new strategies of adaptation previously beyond human comprehension. The ethical and regulatory problems raised by cyborg technologies are addressed.
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Lisa Wood, Nicholas J.R. Wood, Shannen Vallesi, Amanda Stafford, Andrew Davies and Craig Cumming
Homelessness is a colossal issue, precipitated by a wide array of social determinants, and mirrored in substantial health disparities and a revolving hospital door. Connecting…
Abstract
Purpose
Homelessness is a colossal issue, precipitated by a wide array of social determinants, and mirrored in substantial health disparities and a revolving hospital door. Connecting people to safe and secure housing needs to be part of the health system response. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
This mixed-methods paper presents emerging findings from the collaboration between an inner city hospital, a specialist homeless medicine GP service and Western Australia’s inaugural Housing First collective impact project (50 Lives 50 Homes) in Perth. This paper draws on data from hospitals, homelessness community services and general practice.
Findings
This collaboration has facilitated hospital identification and referral of vulnerable rough sleepers to the Housing First project, and connected those housed to a GP and after hours nursing support. For a cohort (n=44) housed now for at least 12 months, significant reductions in hospital use and associated costs were observed.
Research limitations/implications
While the observed reductions in hospital use in the year following housing are based on a small cohort, this data and the case studies presented demonstrate the power of care coordinated across hospital and community in this complex cohort.
Practical implications
This model of collaboration between a hospital and a Housing First project can not only improve discharge outcomes and re-admission in the shorter term, but can also contribute to ending homelessness which is itself, a social determinant of poor health.
Originality/value
Coordinated care between hospitals and programmes to house people who are homeless can significantly reduce hospital use and healthcare costs, and provides hospitals with the opportunity to contribute to more systemic solutions to ending homelessness.
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