Iris Van der Meiden, Herman Kok and Gerben Van der Velde
This paper aims to investigate whether and why nudging interventions in an office environment are effective to stimulate stair use of employees.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate whether and why nudging interventions in an office environment are effective to stimulate stair use of employees.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper is based on a pre-test/post-test case study design at the headquarters of a Dutch online retailer. Observations were conducted to test the impact of two nudge interventions, being footprints and posters, on employees’ stair use in two consecutive pre-test/post-test weeks. An online survey questionnaire was used to assess employees’ overall experience with the nudging interventions after the fifth and again neutral week.
Findings
A total of 14,357 observations were recorded during five weeks. This research shows that footprints as nudging intervention significantly increase stair use of employees, and after removal, significantly decrease stair use again. Moreover, footprints were more effective than posters, of which the latter did not impact stair use significantly. Results from the survey questionnaire, completed by 46.2 per cent of the employees, showed that, in terms of degree of perception, footprints (91.4 per cent) were more noticeable than posters (46.3 per cent).
Originality/value
This paper contributes to the non-conclusive research regarding the effectiveness of nudging interventions on stair use in office environments. It clearly shows that perceptibility in combination with a positive attitude towards the nudge leads to a higher degree of initial behavioural change, yet not to a change of mind.
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Christian Coenen, Keith Alexander and Herman Kok
This paper aims to introduce and describe the concept of the facility management (FM) value network which takes a subjective perspective and reflects upon the relationships…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to introduce and describe the concept of the facility management (FM) value network which takes a subjective perspective and reflects upon the relationships amongst key FM stakeholders. The FM value network focuses on demand by considering client, customer and end-user perceptions of value, providing a conceptual foundation for considering a demand driven, service-oriented and user focused approach to FM. It introduces concepts drawn from related fields such as services marketing, business economics and management and identifies an agenda for future research.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper is based on results of an extensive literature review, research workshops and a pilot case study, to explore stakeholder's perceptions of value within FM relationships.
Findings
This paper proposes an alternative view of FM stakeholders and the outcomes they value in comparison to a conventional built environment perspective. It provides examples of value dimensions relevant to the demand-side of organisations, collated from different sectors of the economy.
Research limitations/implications
Due to a conceptual approach including a pilot case study that still has to be explored in a qualitative/quantitative empirical setting within the field of FM, this paper has limitations.
Practical implications
The FM value network described and the research agenda proposed provide valuable insight into issues that have to be addressed in future work and sheds light on this under-researched field of value of FM. Further work could build on these conceptual foundations in order to contribute to evidence-based FM.
Originality/value
This paper makes an original contribution to research into the value of FM by focussing on the demand side. It raises issues about the nature of the discipline and its practice and it offers an understanding of the further research necessary to support evidence-based decision making.
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Herman B. Kok, Mark P. Mobach and Onno S.W.F. Omta
The purpose of this paper is to define the added value of facility management (FM) in general and to develop a typology of facility services based on their added value in the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to define the added value of facility management (FM) in general and to develop a typology of facility services based on their added value in the educational environment.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper is based on a literature review and first assesses the different aspects of FM added value. The different variables and relations between the use of facility services and their effects on the educational achievement are then conceptualised and studied.
Findings
Research shows that FM added value is the customer perceived trade‐off between the effects of the use of facility services on the outcome of their processes, its costs and risks. On this basis, a typology of facility services was constructed around their level of fixity and their influence on the learning outcome.
Practical implications
The typology strongly indicates for FM when to engage in the decision‐making process relating to the educational environment in order to contribute to education. Also the typology is useful for deriving priorities for adjusting the current use situation of facility services to enhance their effectiveness in both a time and financially efficient manner.
Originality/value
This paper operationalises the concept of FM added value and provides several hypotheses and firm recommendations for further research to maximise the contribution of FM. The paper also presents a practical framework for evidenced‐based decision making on the use of facility services in the educational environment. It thus offers opportunities for FM to support the future learning landscape.
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Katharine McGowan, Andrea Kennedy, Mohamed El-Hussein and Roy Bear Chief
Reconciliation between Indigenous peoples and the Canadian plurality has stalled. While the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s (TRC) Calls to Action could be a focusing event…
Abstract
Purpose
Reconciliation between Indigenous peoples and the Canadian plurality has stalled. While the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s (TRC) Calls to Action could be a focusing event, creating a window of opportunity for transformative social innovations; we see coalescing of interest, social capital and investment in decolonization and indigenization in the proliferation of professorships, programs, installations and statements. However, Blackfoot (Siksika) Elder Roy Bear Chief raised significant concerns that Indigenous knowledge, experiences and people are not yet seen as relevant and useful in higher education; such marginalization must be addressed at a systems level for authentic reconciliation at any colonial university. The purpose of this paper was to explore this dual goal of exploring barriers to and opportunities for Indigenous knowledges and knowledge holders to be valued as relevant and useful in the Canadian academy, using a complexity- and systems-informed lens.
Design/methodology/approach
Local Indigenous Elders provided guidance to reflect study purpose and target audience of academics, with an approach that respectfully weaved Westernized research methods and co-learning through indigenous knowledge mobilization strategies. This analysis extends results from a qualitative grounded theory study to explain social processes of professors and administrative leadership in a Canadian mid-sized university regarding barriers and facilitators of implementing TRC Calls to Action. This further interpretation of applied systems and panarchy heuristics broadens understanding to how such micro-social processes are positioned and influence larger scale institutional change.
Findings
This paper discusses how the social process of dominionization intentionally minimizes meaningful system disruption by othering indigenous knowledge and knowledge holders; this form of system-reinforcing boundary work contributes to rigidity and inhibits potentially transformative innovations from scaling beyond individual niches and moments in time. Elders’ consultation throughout the research process, including co-learning the meaning of findings, led to the gifting of traditional teachings and emerging systems and multi-scale framework on the relevance of indigenous knowledges and peoples in higher education.
Research limitations/implications
This study was performed in one faculty of one Canadian institution; an important and potentially widely-present social process was identified. Further research is needed for greater generalizability. Conditions that led to this study are increasingly common across Canada, where at least one third of higher education organizations have explicit indigenization strategies and internationally where the rights and self-determination of indigenous peoples are growing.
Social implications
Insights from this study can inform conversations about social innovation in institutional settings, and the current systems’ resistance to change, particularly when exploring place-based solutions to national/international questions. These initiatives have yet to transform institutions, and while transformation is rarely rapid (Moore et al., 2018), for these potential innovations to grow, they need to be sustainable beyond a brief window of opportunity. Scaling up or deep within the academy seems to remain stubbornly elusive despite attention to the TRC.
Originality/value
This study contributes to a growing literature that explores the possibilities and opportunities between Indigenous epistemologies and social innovation study and practice (McGowan, 2019; Peredo, McLean and Tremblay, 2019; Conrad, 2015), as well as scholarship around Indigenization and decolonization in Canada and internationally.
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This paper aims to explore cultural attitudes and beliefs about entrepreneurship in the southwestern region of Cameroon. This study also identifies the existence of subcultural…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore cultural attitudes and beliefs about entrepreneurship in the southwestern region of Cameroon. This study also identifies the existence of subcultural variations with important implications for the development of entrepreneurial activities in Cameroon.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper uses the hybrid qualitative/quantitative Q methodology to survey and analyze a purposively diverse sample of individuals and thereby discover subcultural structures and patterns to the attitudes and beliefs that exist in Cameroonian culture.
Findings
This study discovers three distinct subcultures that differ significantly in their attitudes and beliefs about entrepreneurship. These subcultures can neither be predicted from commonly used national measures of cultures, such as those of Hofstede, nor are they directly attributable to regional effects.
Research limitations/implications
The author calls into question the continuing use of national culture as a construct in explaining and predicting entrepreneurial activities, through discovery of subcultures at odds with national measures. Further research should be undertaken to assess the prevalence within Cameroonian society of the three widely different subcultures identified here.
Practical implications
This paper highlights the importance of incorporating subcultural variations in attitudes and beliefs (whether regional, tribal or other) in the development and implementation of public policies to affect national entrepreneurship.
Originality/value
The paper applies a novel methodology to qualitatively explore the subjective variations in the meaning and value of entrepreneurship in Cameroonian society, and to quantitatively develop a structure or typology to these variations.
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Under the theory of planned behaviour (TPB), subjective norms are important antecedents of entrepreneurial intent. But little is known about the forces that shape these…
Abstract
Purpose
Under the theory of planned behaviour (TPB), subjective norms are important antecedents of entrepreneurial intent. But little is known about the forces that shape these. Hofstede’s national culture has implicated, but the conceptual distance between it and subjective norms is wide. The purpose of this paper is to explore an intermediate level to propose a mechanism by which national cultures give rise to individual beliefs about entrepreneurship.
Design/methodology/approach
Uses Q methodology with data from seven countries to discover patterns of beliefs in diverse cultures. Hierarchical clustering characterises an intermediate-level mechanism.
Findings
In each country, a small number of patterns emerge, two of which are found in every country studied – despite the large cultural differences. Drawing on the institutional logics perspective, a model of individual sensemaking is developed to bridge between monolithic national culture and idiosyncratic subjective norms of individuals, and to explain the commonality of belief patterns observed. Several propositions are suggested for testing the model.
Originality/value
Reports cultural attitudes towards entrepreneurship at a more granular level than previous research, and thereby discovers the existence of cross-cultural patterns. Proposes a novel model that connects macro forces of national culture with individual precursors of TPB through cultural entrepreneurship.
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Shqipe Gashi Nulleshi and Malin Tillmar
The purpose of this paper is to examine how rural entrepreneurship is discussed by analyzing articles in the leading journals of the two main research fields, entrepreneurship…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine how rural entrepreneurship is discussed by analyzing articles in the leading journals of the two main research fields, entrepreneurship studies, and rural studies, through the concept of rural proofing.
Design/methodology/approach
The systematic literature review centers on the two main fields where rural entrepreneurship is studied and covers papers in nine leading journals in entrepreneurship studies and two leading journals in rural studies, between the years 1989 and 2020. In total, 97 papers were reviewed and we utilize and operationalize the rural proofing concept based on Fahmy et al.'s (2004) 3 characteristics of rural: remoteness, accessibility, and rural locale and sense of place. The authors take stock of the dimensions of rural proofing addressed within each of the research fields to find similarities and differences; that is, if articles are rural proofed (or not) when discussing rural entrepreneurship.
Findings
The classification of articles across the three dimensions of rural proofing shows that the field of rural entrepreneurship is being addressed mainly in the dimensions of remoteness and accessibility, while few authors in rural studies journals give priority to the rural locale and sense of place dimension. The results of the authors' review reveal that out of a total of 97 articles on rural entrepreneurship, 56 articles address at least one dimension of rural proofing and 41 articles do not address any dimension. Among the 41 articles not rural proofed, rurality is not problematized when discussing rural entrepreneurship. Instead, the authors focus on specific topics such as social capital, community entrepreneurship/networks, entrepreneurs'/farmers' identity, illegality in rural areas, and institutional framework. The number of non-rural-proofed articles in entrepreneurship journals is almost double that in rural studies journals. This means that authors in entrepreneurship journals do not problematize rurality to the same extent as authors in rural studies journals when addressing rural entrepreneurship.
Research limitations/implications
The authors emphasize the need for increased cross-fertilization between the fields of entrepreneurship and rural studies as an avenue to develop the entrepreneurship field in the direction towards rural proofing. A close collaboration with academia and policymakers is essential to promote interdisciplinary research in order to make a distinctive contribution to rural development. Scholars in either of the two fields will benefit from our review and identification of similarities and differences in the research. The review is one step towards promoting a closer dialog between the two fields.
Originality/value
Previous reviews have focused mainly on what rural entrepreneurship entails (e.g. what topics are discussed) rather than how rural entrepreneurship is discussed. This paper centers on the differences and similarities of the two main fields and provides an in-depth qualitative analysis of how rural entrepreneurship is discussed by utilizing the rural proofing concept.
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Farahnaz Amini, Kok Wah Yee, Siew Chin Soh, Abdulateef Alhadeethi, Roya Amini and Edmond Siah Chye Ng
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a group of complex neurodevelopmental disorders with uncertain etiology. Evidence shows that genetic testing can explain about 20% of cases. This…
Abstract
Purpose
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a group of complex neurodevelopmental disorders with uncertain etiology. Evidence shows that genetic testing can explain about 20% of cases. This study aims to assess the level of awareness and perception of medical genetic services among Malaysian parents with ASD children.
Design/methodology/approach
A cross-sectional survey using an interviewer-administered questionnaire was done among 111 parents of children with ASD from August 2017 to September 2019 in two clinics in Malaysia.
Findings
A majority of children with ASD (80.20%) were male and diagnosed at the age of 3–4 years old (47.80%). When the autistic child was born, most mothers and fathers were aged 26–30 (40.50%) and 31–35 years old (42.30%), respectively. Another child with ASD in nuclear and extended families was reported for 11.70% and 13.50%, respectively. Only 24.30% have seen a professional genetic consultant, and 19.8% have done genetic testing for affected children. The mean score of awareness of genetic services for ASD was 2.48 ± 3.30. Having medical insurance and another child with ASD in the nuclear family was significantly associated with a higher level of awareness (p = 0.01 and p < 0.001, respectively). Most of the participants have a positive perception of these services.
Originality/value
Regardless of demographic factors, participants have poor awareness of genetic services for ASD, likely because the primary physician did not recommend it upon diagnosis. Increasing health-care providers’ knowledge about the current potential of genetic testing for ASD and educational campaigns for the public are critical components of using available genetic tests to improve ASD management.
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Linus Jonathan Vem, Imm Siew Ng, Murali Sambasivan and Tee Keng Kok
The main objective of this study is to analyze the impact of spiritual intelligence (SI) based on its four dimensions (critical existential thinking (CET), personal meaning…
Abstract
Purpose
The main objective of this study is to analyze the impact of spiritual intelligence (SI) based on its four dimensions (critical existential thinking (CET), personal meaning production (PMP), transcendental awareness (TA) and conscious state expansion (CSE)) on teachers' turnover intention (TI) through sanctification of work (SoW) and job satisfaction (JS).
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing from multiple intelligence theory, this study adopted a cross-sectional design to explore the hypothesized relationships. Copies of the questionnaire were distributed to 367 teachers working in public schools in Plateau State, Nigeria, and 290 out of the retrieved copies were useable. The data collected were analyzed using variance-based structural equation modeling (SEM), Smart-PLS 4.
Findings
The results suggest that SI does not significantly influence TI, while SoW and JS mediate the relationship between SI and TI.
Practical implications
The result suggests that SoW and JS are significant mechanisms through which SI predicts teachers' TI. This highlights the need for educational policymakers to integrate spiritual literature as well as imbibe spiritual practices such as prayers, meditations and yoga either at work or privately to enhance the development of SI among teachers.
Originality/value
The results offer an insightful understanding of SI and how it influences work outcomes. The mechanism roles of SoW and JS explain the process by which one's perceived numinous object, activity event and job experience influence a job decision.