Brad Shuck, Jesse Owen, Megan Manthos, Kelley Quirk and Galena Rhoades
The purpose of this paper is to examine the relation between employee engagement, decisions to be in a relationship with a co-worker, and commitment uncertainty in a sample of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the relation between employee engagement, decisions to be in a relationship with a co-worker, and commitment uncertainty in a sample of adults who identified they were currently working with their romantic partner.
Design/methodology/approach
Because workplace romance can be a taboo topic among working adults, we recruited participants anonymously from online social media websites (n=68). The use of non-experimental design limits the ability to draw causal references in relation to the variables of interest.
Findings
Participants who reported they were motivated to be in a romantic relationship with a co-worker to increase status also reported lower levels of engagement, even after controlling for other relationship (e.g. relationship adjustment) and workplace variables (e.g. intent to turnover).
Practical implications
Romantic relationships within the workplace will most certainly transpire yet the topic remains underexplored in the management literature. This work provides scholars and practitioners insight into the psychological mechanisms that influence workplace relationships and more, explores how relationships between co-workers impact performance variables such as employee engagement.
Originality/value
This is the first study to examine the influence of workplace romantic relationships in the context of employee engagement. Moreover, this is one of only a handful of studies that has documented the empirical linkage between workplace relationships and performance variables.
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This paper outlines the concept of the Private Finance Initiative. It covers some of the basic PFI mechanisms and provides the reader with a general understanding of PFI and the…
Abstract
This paper outlines the concept of the Private Finance Initiative. It covers some of the basic PFI mechanisms and provides the reader with a general understanding of PFI and the purpose it serves. The paper will look at how the policy has been received specifically within the construction industry and the problems highlighted to date.
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Mumbi Maria Wachira and David Mutua Mathuva
Over the last few decades, corporate environmental reporting (CER) has received substantial attention due to complex societal and ecological challenges experienced at a global…
Abstract
Over the last few decades, corporate environmental reporting (CER) has received substantial attention due to complex societal and ecological challenges experienced at a global scale. While there has been growth in CER research across the world, we know very little of the state of CER research in Africa. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive literature review of CER in sub-Saharan Africa to demonstrate its current state, uncover gaps in extant studies and identify areas for further research in the region. We perform a metasearch on the Financial Times Top 50 journals in addition to wider analyses using African Journals Online (AJOL) and Google Scholar between 2008 and 2020. Though there is some progress in interrogating CER in the region, there is much leeway for further research into how public and private corporations provide an account for their interaction with nature. Extant studies have examined how CER is often subsumed within corporate social responsibility initiatives while other studies explore ways in which CER can provide accountability mechanisms in the mining sector of select countries. Important areas of future research include the influences of legal, cultural and political systems on the level of CER, the tensions between economic development driven by multinational corporations and the necessity for ecological protection. Finally, further research could investigate the role CER can play in encouraging specific corporate disclosures around GHG emissions, especially given global efforts being undertaken to mitigate the effects of climate change.
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This article is an extended version of an ‘experts’ briefing' commissioned to inform senior child welfare managers in English local authorities and voluntary agencies about the…
Abstract
This article is an extended version of an ‘experts’ briefing' commissioned to inform senior child welfare managers in English local authorities and voluntary agencies about the available evidence to inform the provision of effective services in complex child protection cases. It starts by noting how differences in the approach to service provision in different jurisdictions affect both the nature of research conducted and its transferability across national boundaries. It then summarises the characteristics both of parents who are likely to maltreat their children and also of the children most likely to be maltreated. The factors that make some families ‘hard to engage’ or ‘hard to help/change’ are then discussed, as are the essential elements of effective professional practice in child protection. Particular attention is paid to effective approaches to helping families and young people who are hard to identify or engage.
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Blundell, Spence Appointments. Five appointments have been made to the board of Blundell, Spence Ltd. They are F. R. EDEN, W. H. HULME, C. C. MELL, A. L. SMITH and K. T. SAXTON…
Abstract
Blundell, Spence Appointments. Five appointments have been made to the board of Blundell, Spence Ltd. They are F. R. EDEN, W. H. HULME, C. C. MELL, A. L. SMITH and K. T. SAXTON. Mr. Saxton will be located at Slough and will have overall responsibility for the Industrial Division.
A.R. Mileham, S.J. Culley, G.W. Owen and R.I. McIntosh
The ability to effect rapid changeover on a manufacturing line, from one product to another, is a key pre‐requisite for increased flexibility, lead time reduction and responsive…
Abstract
The ability to effect rapid changeover on a manufacturing line, from one product to another, is a key pre‐requisite for increased flexibility, lead time reduction and responsive manufacture. However it is a rarity for changeover times to be part of the design specification of a new machine tool or tooling system and even when it is, there are few design guidelines for translating the required changeover time into reality. This paper describes a set of “design for changeover” rules that have been derived from action research, carried out within a variety of companies. The rules address the design of machines, tooling, ancillary equipment and the products themselves and their use has been shown, through case studies, to lead to a significant reduction in changeover time and a leaner, more responsive manufacturing environment.
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We learn from various sources that the Cambridge Conference arrangements are well in hand. It is many years since the Library Association gathered in body at either Oxford or…
Abstract
We learn from various sources that the Cambridge Conference arrangements are well in hand. It is many years since the Library Association gathered in body at either Oxford or Cambridge and the event should therefore be of universal interest. On one point it has a special interest, for the President will be Mr. Jast, the first municipal librarian to hold our highest office for many years past; and no one will do otherwise than rejoice at the somewhat tardy honour thus to be paid him. Cambridge itself is making first‐class history in that it is about to build a new University Library, the elevation of which—and it is a most imposing one—has been published in The Observer and probably elsewhere. Moreover, the university city with its colleges, halls, libraries and quite glamorous history from the literary point of view, offers librarians more than most people the ideal place of meeting.
Richard McIntosh, Steve Culley, Graham Gest, Tony Mileham and Geraint Owen
Discusses the derivation of current changeover improvement methodologies from the work of the Japanese engineer/consultant Shigeo Shingo. Argues that under the interpretation and…
Abstract
Discusses the derivation of current changeover improvement methodologies from the work of the Japanese engineer/consultant Shigeo Shingo. Argues that under the interpretation and widespread adoption of the single minute exchange of dies (SMED) philosophy, substantive design‐based solutions are being overlooked in favour of incremental, low cost, team‐based approaches which emphasize organizational changes to the changeover. Identifies difficulties which can arise with existing approaches to changeover improvement and the relative merits of emphasis on design or organization are discussed. Pays particular attention to the problems which have been observed in sustaining levels of improvement.
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Alexander Lithopoulos, Peter A. Dacin, Tanya R. Berry, Guy Faulkner, Norm O’Reilly, Ryan E. Rhodes, John C. Spence, Mark S. Tremblay, Leigh M. Vanderloo and Amy E. Latimer-Cheung
The brand equity pyramid is a theory that explains how people develop loyalty and an attachment to a brand. The purpose of this study is to test whether the predictions made by…
Abstract
Purpose
The brand equity pyramid is a theory that explains how people develop loyalty and an attachment to a brand. The purpose of this study is to test whether the predictions made by the theory hold when applied to the brand of ParticipACTION, a Canadian non-profit organization that promotes active living. A secondary objective was to test whether this theory predicted intentions to be more physically active.
Design/methodology/approach
A research agency conducted a cross-sectional, online brand health survey on behalf of ParticipACTION. Exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis established the factor structure. Structural equation modeling was used to test the hypothesized model.
Findings
A nationally representative sample of Canadian adults (N = 1,191) completed the survey. Exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis supported a hypothesized five-factor brand equity framework (i.e. brand identity, brand meaning, brand responses, brand resonance and intentions). A series of structural equation models also provided support for the hypothesized relationships between the variables.
Practical implications
Though preliminary, the results provide a guide for understanding the branding process in the activity-promotion context. The constructs identified as being influential in this process can be targeted by activity-promotion organizations to improve brand strength. A strong organizational brand could augment activity-promotion interventions. A strong brand may also help the organization better compete against other brands promoting messages that are antithetical to their own.
Originality/value
This is the first study to test the brand equity pyramid using an activity-promotion brand. Results demonstrate that the brand equity pyramid may be useful in this context.
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Sarath Radhakrishnan, Joan Calafell, Arnau Miró, Bernat Font and Oriol Lehmkuhl
Wall-modeled large eddy simulation (LES) is a practical tool for solving wall-bounded flows with less computational cost by avoiding the explicit resolution of the near-wall…
Abstract
Purpose
Wall-modeled large eddy simulation (LES) is a practical tool for solving wall-bounded flows with less computational cost by avoiding the explicit resolution of the near-wall region. However, its use is limited in flows that have high non-equilibrium effects like separation or transition. This study aims to present a novel methodology of using high-fidelity data and machine learning (ML) techniques to capture these non-equilibrium effects.
Design/methodology/approach
A precursor to this methodology has already been tested in Radhakrishnan et al. (2021) for equilibrium flows using LES of channel flow data. In the current methodology, the high-fidelity data chosen for training includes direct numerical simulation of a double diffuser that has strong non-equilibrium flow regions, and LES of a channel flow. The ultimate purpose of the model is to distinguish between equilibrium and non-equilibrium regions, and to provide the appropriate wall shear stress. The ML system used for this study is gradient-boosted regression trees.
Findings
The authors show that the model can be trained to make accurate predictions for both equilibrium and non-equilibrium boundary layers. In example, the authors find that the model is very effective for corner flows and flows that involve relaminarization, while performing rather ineffectively at recirculation regions.
Originality/value
Data from relaminarization regions help the model to better understand such phenomenon and to provide an appropriate boundary condition based on that. This motivates the authors to continue the research in this direction by adding more non-equilibrium phenomena to the training data to capture recirculation as well.