Nikki McQuillan, Christine Wightman, Cathy Moore, Una McMahon-Beattie and Heather Farley
Vocational higher education and skills are recognised as key factors in shaping an economy to adapt to fast-emerging business models that disrupt workplace behaviours. Employers…
Abstract
Purpose
Vocational higher education and skills are recognised as key factors in shaping an economy to adapt to fast-emerging business models that disrupt workplace behaviours. Employers require graduates to be “work-ready”, emphasising the need to demonstrate resilience, as a critical desired behaviour (CBI, 2019). This case study shares the integrated curriculum design, co-creation and operationalisation of “Graduate Transitions” workshops that were piloted in a compulsory final-year module across a number of programmes in a higher education institutions’ business faculty to enhance graduates “work readiness”.
Design/methodology/approach
The collaboration and leadership thinking of industry professionals, academics and career consultants designed and co-created a workshop that enhances transitioning student resilience and prepares them for their future of work. Action research gathered data using a mixed-methods approach to evaluate student and stakeholder feedback.
Findings
Evidence indicates that the workshops actively embed practical coping strategies for resilience and mindful leaders in transitioning graduates. It assures employers that employability and professional practice competencies are experienced by transitioning graduates entering the future workplace.
Research limitations/implications
Limitations to this research are clearly in the methodology and concentrating on the co-creation of an innovative curriculum design project instead of the tools to accurately evaluate the impact in a systematic manner. There was also limited time and resource to design a more sophisticated platform to collect data and analyse it with the imperative academic rigour required. Emphasis on piloting and operationalisation of the intervention, due to time and resource restrictions, also challenged the methodological design.
Practical implications
The positive feedback from these workshops facilitated integration into the curriculum at an institution-wide level. This paper shares with the academic community of practice, the pedagogy and active learning design that could be customised within their own institution as an intervention to positively influence the new metrics underpinning graduate outcomes.
Originality/value
This pioneering curriculum design ensures that employability and professional practice competencies are experienced by graduates transitioning to the workplace.
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Jennifer Gray, Gillian Armstrong and Heather Farley
Reviews the main food choice trends driving consumer demand for functional foods and the constraints limiting market development. Considers previous research activity in the…
Abstract
Reviews the main food choice trends driving consumer demand for functional foods and the constraints limiting market development. Considers previous research activity in the functional food arena and subsequently identifies paramount research priorities that may facilitate the development of products that will help satisfy consumer demands for convenience, health and sensory pleasure.
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Gillian Armstrong, Heather Farley, Jennifer Gray and Mark Durkin
To assess the potential for development in the agri‐food sector by investigating: consumer awareness of health‐enhancing foods; key influences on their perceptions of and…
Abstract
Purpose
To assess the potential for development in the agri‐food sector by investigating: consumer awareness of health‐enhancing foods; key influences on their perceptions of and attitudes towards these foods; their relevant purchasing behaviour in the context of the Northern Irish dairy products market. To develop recommendations for future segmentation and positioning strategies for health‐enhancing dairy foods.
Design/methodology/approach
Northern Ireland is a geographically discrete area of the United Kingdom, which relies heavily on the agri‐food industry in general, and the dairy sector in particular. A consumer questionnaire was adapted from previous studies. After two pilot studies with 30 and 50 consumers, 600 were administered face‐to‐face to a quota sample of male and female shoppers in six key supermarkets across Northern Ireland. Results were collated and analysed by SPSS. Descriptive parametric and non‐parametric statistics re‐reported in findings.
Findings
There is potential for the agri‐food industry to expand further, particularly in the case of added‐value food products, among which health‐enhancing foods should be treated as an important subset. However, a pre‐requisite is development of enhanced consumer segmentation and product positioning strategies.
Research limitations/implications
The findings and conclusions derive from one study of one specialist product type in one small national market. Generalisation should be possible, at least informally, but comparative studies are indicated.
Practical implications
The findings indicated a general lack of awareness of the health‐enhancing food concept and the level of (largely proven) health benefits of such products, which is a barrier to their wider adoption of these products. The key aims goals for marketing planners in this context are thus awareness generation and consumer education. The crucial segments of the general target audience and the core message to be conveyed, are both defined by the findings.
Originality/value
This study provides a research‐based foundation for a more proactive and informed marketing strategy in a particular context, potentially transferable to other market sectors and locations.
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Elaine Mooney, Heather Farley and Chris J. Strugnell
It is widely acknowledged that eating habits established during adolescence can follow on into adulthood. Consequently, the fact that body dissatisfaction and dieting are very…
Abstract
Purpose
It is widely acknowledged that eating habits established during adolescence can follow on into adulthood. Consequently, the fact that body dissatisfaction and dieting are very prevalent among adolescent females offers some cause for concern. The aim of this study is to determine body satisfaction/dissatisfaction levels, body weight concerns and dieting practices among a sample of 400 adolescent (13‐17 years) females in the Republic of Ireland (ROI).
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 400 female adolescents attending either a fee‐paying school or a school within a disadvantaged catchment area, in both rural and urban areas (four schools in total), completed a self‐administered questionnaire within the school setting during class time.
Findings
High levels of body shape dissatisfaction and dieting existed, with 80 per cent (n = 320) of the girls stating that it was important for them to be thin and 49 per cent (n = 197) engaging in some form of dieting behaviour. Younger respondents were more likely to be satisfied with their current body shape and not dieting than older adolescents. Indeed, the results demonstrated a statistically significant difference (F = 6.854, df = 3, p < 0.001) between the mean ages of respondents who were dissatisfied with their body shape and had dieted.
Originality/value
There remains potential for educational intervention that will encourage healthy eating practices as opposed to dieting among this target group and particularly within the school setting.
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Lynsey Hollywood, Laura Wells, Gillian Armstrong and Heather Farley
The purpose of this paper is to investigate consumer attitudes towards packaging design as a tactical strategy for increasing the commercial value of liquid milk within the dairy…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate consumer attitudes towards packaging design as a tactical strategy for increasing the commercial value of liquid milk within the dairy industry.
Design/methodology/approach
In total, six focus groups were conducted containing 33 participants and data were analysed using QSR Nvivo 7. Findings were categorised based on the form, function and appearance of packaging design.
Findings
Results highlighted that the majority of participants found milk packaging to be functional; however, beyond this use, vast improvement could be made in terms of the aesthetics surrounding packaging design.
Research limitations/implications
Even for commodity products the use of packaging transcends beyond a functional role as consumers are becoming more demanding in their attitudes towards packaging design.
Practical implications
The study provides insights for managers in relation to opportunities for adding value through packaging design within the liquid milk sector.
Originality/value
The paper explores consumer attitudes towards milk packaging to identify possible new market opportunities.
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Jamie N. Mikeska and Heather Howell
This paper aims to examine three distinct aspects of authenticity that pre-service teachers (PSTs) experience when they engage with virtual classroom environments to develop their…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine three distinct aspects of authenticity that pre-service teachers (PSTs) experience when they engage with virtual classroom environments to develop their content-intensive instructional practice – task authenticity, student avatar authenticity and performance authenticity – and their perceptions about the usefulness of the simulated teaching experience to support their learning.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper explored these conceptions of authenticity and usefulness within a larger research study whose goal was to develop virtual environment tools to help elementary PSTs learn how to engage in one ambitious teaching practice: facilitating discussions that engage students in argumentation. To examine these aspects of authenticity and usefulness, this paper used a general qualitative deductive analysis approach to examine data from 104 interviews with 26 case study teachers and examined patterns in PSTs’ perceptions within and across interviews and authenticity aspects.
Findings
While these PSTs strongly value the utility of these tools to support their learning, findings point to variation in their perceptions of authenticity. Findings showed that most PSTs perceived the tasks as an authentic representation of the work of teaching. However, their perceptions of task authenticity did not always align with their perceptions of avatar or performance authenticity.
Originality/value
This paper argues that these three aspects of authenticity relate to, but expand upon, the broader notions of presence and plausibility noted in the literature on virtual environments and should be taken up more directly in future studies of users’ perceptions of virtual environments both within and outside of educational contexts.
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Human sex trafficking is a global rights violation prevalent nationally and globally. This study aims to contribute to the limited research conducted directly with survivors with…
Abstract
Purpose
Human sex trafficking is a global rights violation prevalent nationally and globally. This study aims to contribute to the limited research conducted directly with survivors with the goal of building sustainable aftercare from their feedback.
Design/methodology/approach
For this qualitative, retrospective study, 15 adult female survivors completed open-ended interviews, took photos and participated in online focus groups to explore identity, sexuality, relationships and factors of community reintegration. Data analysis included multi-level conceptual and thematic coding.
Findings
Participants identified with all aspects of complex trauma and domains of post-traumatic growth. Participants highlighted relationship development as the primary source of healing and growth, emphasizing the value of peer-based support and survivor leadership.
Research limitations/implications
The findings affirm the need for ecological and relational perspectives in care of survivors and approaches using a trauma-informed, victim-centered lens. Findings affirm the value of understanding the nuances of complex trauma as well as celebrating the capacity for post-traumatic growth. Furthermore, while relationships are most significantly impacted from the trafficking experience, they are also considered the greatest instrument of healing, offering long-term commitment and belief in the individual. This research excluded males and international trafficking survivors. Participants were recruited through service organizations, and many participants are active in advocacy work, which may hinder generalizable data for all trafficking survivors. Finally, this study did not distinguish data between geographic location or range or length of time since exiting trafficking.
Originality/value
This study highlights the voices of survivors throughout research design and data findings. Their lived experiences provide key recommendations for interaction and intervention. Data include rich expression through photography.
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Heather Dillaway and Sonica Rehan
Frequently women are attended by someone other than their chosen doctor during labor and delivery, that is, an “on-call” doctor. This chapter draws from interviews with 19 women…
Abstract
Frequently women are attended by someone other than their chosen doctor during labor and delivery, that is, an “on-call” doctor. This chapter draws from interviews with 19 women who gave birth in a Mid-Atlantic state during late 1995 and early 1996. Of these women, 13 received care from an on-call doctor. Using existing social–psychological perspectives, the authors analyze situations in which an on-call doctor was present, and how this provider influenced women's birth experiences as well as satisfaction with those experiences. In general, women do not expect or desire on-call doctors’ presence. As a result, they may rely on obstetric nurses, rather than these unfamiliar doctors, when they need information or support.