Erica Lynn Thomas, Anna Puig Ribera, Anna Senye-Mir, Sheila Greenfield and Frank Eves
Worksites have been targeted as an important setting for physical activity interventions. A recent emphasis for health promoters is the use of point-of-choice interventions to…
Abstract
Purpose
Worksites have been targeted as an important setting for physical activity interventions. A recent emphasis for health promoters is the use of point-of-choice interventions to encourage stair climbing at work. The purpose of this paper is to explore three point-of-choice campaigns to increase stair climbing at work.
Design/methodology/approach
Ten focus groups and a rating task were conducted with 59 employees from a University and a University Hospital in the UK. Focus groups were structured around three messages and four prompts and sought to explore the motivational power of the resources, identify factors contributing to their effectiveness and provide recommendations to improve and optimize content. Benefits and barriers to stair climbing at work were also explored. Focus groups were recorded, transcribed and coded to identify key themes.
Findings
Intra-personal factors health, motivation, social norms and time management influence stair climbing at work. Critically, extra-personal factors associated with the worksite itself can also bias a traveler’s choice independently of any intervention. Results suggest that messages targeting heart health have the greatest impact on reported propensity to climb the stairs at work. Messages targeting rate of respiration for fitness, however, may have a negative effect given that most people want to avoid getting out of breath at work.
Originality/value
Qualitative research is essential for developing and refining the design detail of point-of-choice interventions and tailoring their components to address individuals’ needs in different settings but there is little evidence of this in practice.
Details
Keywords
Worksites have been targeted as an important setting for physical activity interventions. A recent emphasis for health promoters is the use of point-of-choice interventions to…
Abstract
Purpose
Worksites have been targeted as an important setting for physical activity interventions. A recent emphasis for health promoters is the use of point-of-choice interventions to encourage stair climbing at work. The purpose of this paper is to explore campaigns to increase stair climbing at work.
Design/methodology/approach
Focus groups were structured around three messages and four prompts and sought to explore the motivational power of the resources, identify factors contributing to their effectiveness and provide recommendations to improve and optimize content. Benefits and barriers to stair climbing at work were also explored.
Findings
Health awareness, motivation, social norms and time management influence stair climbing at work. Critically, factors associated with the worksite itself can also bias choice independently of any intervention. Results suggest that messages targeting heart health have the greatest impact on reported propensity to climb the stairs at work. Messages targeting rate of respiration for fitness, however, may have a negative effect, given that most people want to avoid getting out of breath at work.
Originality/value
Qualitative research is essential for developing and refining the design detail of point-of-choice interventions and tailoring their components to address individuals’ needs in different settings, but there is little evidence of this in practice.
Details
Keywords
Beverley Lloyd-Walker, Erica French and Lynn Crawford
The purpose of this paper is to identify issues in the long-term development of project workers, their career paths, their contribution to organizational success and their need…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify issues in the long-term development of project workers, their career paths, their contribution to organizational success and their need for equity of opportunity. The long-term development of project workers, their career paths and their contribution to organizational success is explored.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative research design using semi-structured interviews was employed to gain an understanding of social and human issues related to careers in project management (PM). By researching the lived experiences and feelings of those pursuing a career in PM the aim was to gain insight into the career journeys and experiences of practicing project managers.
Findings
Those who choose to pursue a career in PM have the personal characteristics and sufficiently high levels of self-efficacy to deal effectively with the uncertainty inherent in the nature of projects and of project-based employment.
Research limitations/implications
Participants were drawn from current project practitioners. As a result, the views of those who have worked on projects and chosen not to continue their career in the area have not been gathered.
Practical implications
Predictions are that there will be a continuing demand for project managers with the capabilities required to deliver successful projects. The challenge for organizations is to create an environment that will encourage greater numbers of people to embrace the uncertainty of project. The findings reported provide insight into how organizations might attract, develop and retain the project expertise they require for success.
Originality/value
This research provides further understanding into the lived experience of project managers, with a focus on those who have unexpectedly found themselves pursuing a career in PM.
Details
Keywords
Beverley Lloyd-Walker, Lynn Crawford and Erica French
Current literature acknowledges the growth of careers in project management. The purpose of this paper is to provide a better understanding of the characteristics of those who…
Abstract
Purpose
Current literature acknowledges the growth of careers in project management. The purpose of this paper is to provide a better understanding of the characteristics of those who choose and continue in project-based careers.
Design/methodology/approach
Using social cognitive career theory as the lens to explore project management career journeys, 74 project practitioners were interviewed from across three broad industry sectors. A qualitative research approach was utilized and Atlas.ti was used to analyze and categorize the interview data collected.
Findings
Those who choose to continue in project-based roles demonstrate high levels of self-efficacy and coping efficacy and see uncertainty as opportunity. They value challenge, flexibility and variety and take responsibility for their own career progression. Desire for employment security may vary according to personal circumstance. These findings are of value to employers in guiding selection and retention of people for project roles.
Research limitations/implications
This is a qualitative and exploratory study covering only three industry sectors and results are not generalizable. SCCT was found useful as a lens for understanding the nature of project-based careers.
Practical implications
Findings of this research provide valuable guidance for employers and HR practitioners in project-based organizations. For practitioners the study provides a useful framework for reflecting upon their own careers in projects.
Social implications
The nature of careers is changing. Project-based careers are indicative of this change. This study therefore provides insight into an evolving phenomenon.
Originality/value
This study expands our understanding of careers in projects, going beyond technical skill development to gain a deeper understanding of personal attributes that contribute to selection into and retention in project-based careers.
Details
Keywords
Nguyen Quoc Viet, Sander de Leeuw and Erica van Herpen
This paper investigates the impact of sustainability information disclosure on consumers' choice of order-to-delivery lead-time in relation to consumers' sustainability concern.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper investigates the impact of sustainability information disclosure on consumers' choice of order-to-delivery lead-time in relation to consumers' sustainability concern.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on two choice experiments with participants from the Netherlands (n = 348) and the United Kingdom (n = 1,387), the impact of sustainability information disclosure was examined in connection with consumers' concerns for environmental and social sustainability. Information on environmental impact (carbon emission) and social impact (warehouse workers and drivers' well-being) was considered and compared.
Findings
Disclosing sustainability impact information significantly increased consumers' preference and choice for longer delivery times, with equivalent effects for environmental and social impact information. Consumers' relevant (environmental or social) sustainability concern as personality traits enhanced effects on preferences, as did priming of environmental concern.
Research limitations/implications
Future research may consider differences between product categories or e-commerce companies' reputation in sustainability activities.
Practical implications
The findings provide opportunities for online retailers to influence consumer choice of delivery time, especially through disclosing environmental and/or social sustainability information.
Originality/value
This study fills a gap in the literature on sustainability information disclosure to actively steer consumer choice of delivery time, particularly regarding the effect of social sustainability impact information in comparison to its environmental counterpart.
Details
Keywords
Looks at the 2000 Employment Research Unit Annual Conference held at the University of Cardiff in Wales on 6/7 September 2000. Spotlights the 76 or so presentations within and…
Abstract
Looks at the 2000 Employment Research Unit Annual Conference held at the University of Cardiff in Wales on 6/7 September 2000. Spotlights the 76 or so presentations within and shows that these are in many, differing, areas across management research from: retail finance; precarious jobs and decisions; methodological lessons from feminism; call centre experience and disability discrimination. These and all points east and west are covered and laid out in a simple, abstract style, including, where applicable, references, endnotes and bibliography in an easy‐to‐follow manner. Summarizes each paper and also gives conclusions where needed, in a comfortable modern format.
Details
Keywords
Aarhus Kommunes Biblioteker (Teknisk Bibliotek), Ingerslevs Plads 7, Aarhus, Denmark. Representative: V. NEDERGAARD PEDERSEN (Librarian).
The vigilante subgenre represents one of the more problematic trends in American action cinema, as it inherently boasts reactionary sentiments through the promotion of violence as…
Abstract
The vigilante subgenre represents one of the more problematic trends in American action cinema, as it inherently boasts reactionary sentiments through the promotion of violence as an adequate means of asserting one's masculinity. As will be argued in this chapter, American vigilante films can be categorised into three distinct historical waves: the 1970s, the 2000s and the 2010s. The products of each wave present themes of masculinity relevant to their respective cultural period, specifically, anti-counterculture sentiments, post-9/11 anxieties and a growing cultural awareness of toxic masculinity. The third wave of vigilante films is particularly noteworthy in that it correlates with the prospective emergence of metamodernism, a cultural movement that, in contrast to postmodernism's use of apathy as response to trauma, opts for a cautiously optimistic return to metanarratives. Consequently, third wave vigilante films provide more deconstructive portrayals of vigilante figures through metamodernism's oscillation between irony and optimism. This chapter will outline the history of these three waves of vigilante cinema and provide textual analysis of Blue Ruin (2013) and You Were Never Really Here (2017), two third wave films that demonstrate self-reflexive portrayals of vigilante violence in correlation with metamodern masculinity. The results of these analyses indicate that vigilante films, and perhaps American action cinema in its entirety, are moving towards narratives that seek to challenge the more reactionary sentiments of films from years prior.