Justin Mausz, Mandy Johnston and Elizabeth Anne Donnelly
Violence against paramedics is a complex – but underreported – problem. Extant research suggests organizational culture may play a role in sustaining cultural norms that downplay…
Abstract
Purpose
Violence against paramedics is a complex – but underreported – problem. Extant research suggests organizational culture may play a role in sustaining cultural norms that downplay the significance and limit reporting. The purpose of this paper is to qualitatively explore paramedics’ experience with violence, with particular emphasis on understanding how organizational culture contributes to under-reporting.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors surveyed paramedics from a single, large, urban service in Ontario, Canada, asking participants to describe their experiences with violence, including whether – and why or why not – the incidents were reported. Within a constructivist epistemology, we used inductive thematic analysis with successive rounds of coding to identify and then define features of organizational culture that limit reporting.
Findings
A total of 196 (33% of eligible) paramedics completed the survey. Fully 98% of participants disclosed having experienced some form of violence; however, only a minority (40%) reported the incidents to management, or the police (21%). The authors defined a framework within which a lack of support from management, and consequences for offenders, implicitly positions the ability of paramedics to “brush off” violent encounters as an expected professional competency. Disclosing emotional or psychological distress in response to violent encounters invited questions as to whether the individual is personally suited to paramedic work.
Originality/value
While the extant research has indicated that underreporting is a problem, the findings shed light on why – a critical first step in addressing what has been described as a serious public health problem.
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Aarhus Kommunes Biblioteker (Teknisk Bibliotek), Ingerslevs Plads 7, Aarhus, Denmark. Representative: V. NEDERGAARD PEDERSEN (Librarian).
Renee Feinberg and Rita Auerbach
It is customary these days to denounce our society for its unconscionable neglect of the elderly, while we look back romantically to some indeterminate past when the elderly were…
Abstract
It is customary these days to denounce our society for its unconscionable neglect of the elderly, while we look back romantically to some indeterminate past when the elderly were respected and well cared for. Contrary to this popular view, old people historically have enjoyed neither respect nor security. As Simone de Beauvoir so effectively demonstrates in The Coming of Age (New York: Putnam, 1972), the elderly have been almost universally ill‐treated by societies throughout the world. Even the Hebrew patriarchs admonished their children to remember them as they grew older: “Cast me not off in time of old age; when my strength fails, forsake me not” (Psalms 71:1). Primitive agrarian cultures, whose very existence depended upon the knowledge gleaned from experience, valued their elders, but even they were often moved by the harsh conditions of subsistence living to eliminate by ritual killing those who were no longer productive members of society. There was a softening of societal attitudes toward the elderly during the period of nineteenth century industrial capitalism, which again valued experience and entrepreneurial skills. Modern technocratic society, however, discredits the idea that knowledge accumulates with age and prefers to think that it grows out‐of‐date. “The vast majority of mankind,” writes de Beauvoir, “look upon the coming of old age with sorrow and rebellion. It fills them with more aversion than death itself.” That the United States in the twentieth century is not alone in its poor treatment of the aged does not excuse or explain this neglect. Rather, the pervasiveness of prejudice against the old makes it even more imperative that we now develop programs to end age discrimination and its vicious effects.
Having discussed amiably with the editor the importance of women in the American library field, he responded with a request for some of my memories of individual ladies whom I had…
Abstract
Having discussed amiably with the editor the importance of women in the American library field, he responded with a request for some of my memories of individual ladies whom I had known professionally and for whom I had high regard. First I must admit that my field has been the public library and the activities of state libraries and library commissions in the extension of public library service. Undoubtedly in university and endowed reference libraries the men in the field showed up more prominently just as they did in activities and decisions of the American Library Association. However, when John Cotton Dana spoke cogently at a conference we did not forget the equally forceful and intelligent Beatrice Winser who had so great a part in running the Newark Public Library of which Mr. Dana was director. This is but one example plucked at random and I do not like to have these indispensable co‐workers ignored.
The following is an introductory profile of the fastest growing firms over the three-year period of the study listed by corporate reputation ranking order. The business activities…
Abstract
The following is an introductory profile of the fastest growing firms over the three-year period of the study listed by corporate reputation ranking order. The business activities in which the firms are engaged are outlined to provide background information for the reader.
This content analysis examines the historical representation of Margaret Sanger within trade books. From the framework of the historiography, this paper unpacks how common…
Abstract
Purpose
This content analysis examines the historical representation of Margaret Sanger within trade books. From the framework of the historiography, this paper unpacks how common curricular resources depict an American icon with a complicated past.
Design/methodology/approach
In this paper, the author conducted a content analysis of biographies and expository compilations featuring Sanger. The entire data pool were sampled and analyzed.
Findings
The trade books, particularly the biographies, historically represented Sanger in most categories. Sanger's international direct action and eugenics were two misrepresented areas. Expository compilations, with more limited space than biographies, contained more omissions and minimized or vague depictions of key areas. Findings did not appear dependent upon date of publication.
Originality/value
This study explores an icon of America's free speech battles and birth control rights at a time when culture wars are shaping current events. No researchers have previously explored Sanger's historical representation within trade books.
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Thomas Jason Boulton and Terry D. Nixon
The authors study the shareholder wealth effects of the adoption and subsequent litigation confirming the validity of shareholder right plans that are enacted to protect a firm’s…
Abstract
Purpose
The authors study the shareholder wealth effects of the adoption and subsequent litigation confirming the validity of shareholder right plans that are enacted to protect a firm’s net operating loss (NOL) carry forwards (tax benefit preservation plans (TBPPs)). The purpose of this paper is to expand the understanding of nontraditional shareholder rights plans, which are becoming increasingly more common.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper considers abnormal returns around TBPP adoptions and Delaware Court rulings that validated their use. The authors study 118 plans adopted between 1998 and 2011. Abnormal returns are measured using both a market model and a performance-matched sample.
Findings
The authors find that abnormal returns are negative at the announcement of a new TBPP. However, the full impact of plan adoption on share prices is not evident until the Delaware Courts validated their use. The Delaware Court rulings in the case of Selectica, Inc. v. Versata Enterprises, Inc. and Trilogy, Inc. are associated with additional negative wealth effects for both prior plan adopters and the firms most likely to consider adopting a plan. These results suggest that entrenchment concerns tend to outweigh the protection of NOL carry forwards when firms adopt TBPPs.
Originality/value
This study was the first to consider the adoption of TBPPs. Currently, it is the only study that considers Delaware Court rulings related to these plans, which allows us to successfully disentangle the entrenchment hypothesis from the potential alternative hypothesis that the negative announcement period returns are driven by investors updating their expectations for firm performance.