David Greenfield, Peter Nugus, Greg Fairbrother, Jacqueline Milne and Deborah Debono
This paper aims to examine an organisation's enactment of clinical governance through applying and advancing a theoretical model.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine an organisation's enactment of clinical governance through applying and advancing a theoretical model.
Design/methodology/approach
The research site was a large organisation within an autonomous jurisdiction. The study focused on one organisational division. There were nine interviews and 15 focus groups (118 participants). Ethnographic observations totalled 60.5 hours. Document analysis was conducted with organisational reports and website. Data were examined against the model's four attributes and 24 elements, and used to conduct an organisational culture analysis.
Findings
Analysis showed that a majority of elements, 17 of 24, were strongly identifiable. The remainder were identifiable but not strongly so. Analysis suggested two additions to the model: the inclusion of two elements to an existing attribute and a new attribute and defining elements. This showed that the organisation was working towards, but not yet having achieved, a positive quality and safety culture. In particular, a schism in understanding between managers and frontline staff was noted.
Research limitations/implications
The study empirically applied and refined a health service theory. The new model, the “clinical governance practice model”, can be broadly applied, and can continue to be developed to expand the evidence base for the field.
Practical implications
Substantively, the study accounts for differences in managerial and frontline staff actions in applying clinical governance. Investigations to understand and identify strategies to bridge the differences are required.
Originality/value
The study is an original application and refinement of a health service theory. The study identifies that the interpretation of clinical governance, whilst different in different places, gives rise to similar disagreements.
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Ricky Chung, Lyndie Bayne and Jacqueline Louise Birt
The authors examine the determinants of ESG disclosure and differentiate between voluntary and mandatory disclosure regimes in Hong Kong.
Abstract
Purpose
The authors examine the determinants of ESG disclosure and differentiate between voluntary and mandatory disclosure regimes in Hong Kong.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors analyse both Bloomberg ESG scores and a disclosure index score, manually constructed according to the 2019 Hong Kong Exchange ESG Guide using regression tests.
Findings
The results indicate that the level of concentrated ownership is negatively associated with the quantity of ESG disclosure only in the voluntary disclosure period, suggesting that agency problems are alleviated when ESG reporting is mandatory. The findings also show that larger firms significantly disclose higher levels of ESG information in both voluntary and mandatory disclosure periods. Furthermore, the extent of ESG disclosure significantly increases when firms' sustainability reports are audited by Big 4 accounting firms only in the voluntary disclosure period. Finally, the control variables are significantly related to the level of ESG disclosure showing that ESG disclosure increased over time and is significantly different among industries.
Originality
The authors make contributions to the literature on non-financial disclosure in relation to ESG reporting by examining the relationship between firm characteristics and ESG disclosure in the Hong Kong context under both voluntary and mandatory disclosure regimes. This study also provides important implications for other stock markets and relevant stakeholders including preparers, users and the sustainability profession.
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The global call to ‘leave-no-one behind’ cannot be achieved without tacking the intractable social issues faced by the most excluded people. There is increasing interest in using…
Abstract
The global call to ‘leave-no-one behind’ cannot be achieved without tacking the intractable social issues faced by the most excluded people. There is increasing interest in using visual methodologies for participatory research in contexts of marginalisation, because they offer the potential to generate knowledge from people’s lived experience, which can reveal subjective, emotional, and contextual aspects missed by other methods; alongside the means for action through showing outputs to external audiences. The challenge is that the perspectives of those in highly inequitable and unaccountable contexts are – by definition – rarely articulated and often neglected. The author thus begins by assuming that there are unavoidable tensions in using visual methods; between perpetuating marginalisation by inaction, which is ethically questionable; and the necessary risks in bringing unheard views to public attention. Many experienced practitioners have called for a situated approach to visual methods ethics (Clark, Prosser, & Wiles, 2010; Gubrium, Hill, & Flicker 2014; Shaw, 2016). What is less clear is what this means for those wanting to apply this practically. In this chapter, the author addresses this gap through the exemplar of participatory video with marginalised groups. Drawing on cases from Kenya, India, Egypt, and South Africa, the author contributes a range of tried-and-tested strategies for navigating the biggest concerns such as informing consent; and the tensions between respecting autonomy and building inclusion, and between anonymity and supporting participant’s expressive agency. Through this, the author provides a resource for researchers, including prompts for critical reflection about how to generate solutions to visual ethical dilemmas in context.
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Melissa Carlisle, Melanie I. Millar and Jacqueline Jarosz Wukich
This study examines shareholder and board motivations regarding corporate social responsibility (CSR) to understand boards' stewardship approaches to environmental issues.
Abstract
Purpose
This study examines shareholder and board motivations regarding corporate social responsibility (CSR) to understand boards' stewardship approaches to environmental issues.
Design/methodology/approach
Using content analysis, the authors classify CSR motivations in all environmental shareholder proposals and board responses of Fortune 250 companies from 2013 to 2017 from do little (a shareholder primacy perspective) to do much (a stakeholder pluralism perspective). The authors calculate the motivational dissonance for each proposal-response pair (the Talk Gap) and use cluster analysis to observe evidence of board stewardship and subsequent environmental disclosure and performance (ED&P) changes.
Findings
Board interpretations of stewardship are not uniform, and they regularly extend to stakeholders beyond shareholders, most frequently including profit-oriented stakeholders (e.g. employees and customers). ED&P changes are highest when shareholders narrowly lead boards in CSR motivation and either request both action and information or information only. The authors observe weaker ED&P changes when shareholders request action and the dissonance between shareholders and boards is larger. When shareholders are motivated to do little for CSR, ED&P changes are weak, even when boards express more pluralistic motivations.
Research limitations/implications
The results show the important role that boards play in CSR and may aid activist shareholders in determining how best to generate change in corporate CSR actions.
Originality/value
This study provides the first evidence of board stewardship at the proposal-response level. It measures shareholder and board CSR motivations, introduces the Talk Gap, and examines relationships among proposal characteristics, the Talk Gap, and subsequent ED&P change to better understand board stewardship of environmental issues.
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Helma De Keijzer, Gaby Jacobs, Jacqueline Van Swet and Wiel Veugelers
This study sought to identify those approaches used by coaches that enable teachers' moral learning in professional learning communities (PLCs). Coaches who support moral learning…
Abstract
Purpose
This study sought to identify those approaches used by coaches that enable teachers' moral learning in professional learning communities (PLCs). Coaches who support moral learning focus on questioning values, beliefs and bias, which is in contrast with learning only (new) knowledge or skills.
Design/methodology/approach
This was an exploratory case study. Eleven meetings of three PLCs were observed; each PLC consisted of four teachers and one teacher–coach. Semi-structured interviews with the coaches were conducted to gain information about their approaches. Data were analysed using supportive coaching approaches derived from educational literature.
Findings
In total, 14 specific approaches regarding the support given by coaches for teachers' moral learning were identified. Four characteristics of coaches' attitudes that guided their approaches and seemed valuable in supporting moral learning were also identified. The findings showed the tensions the coaches encountered – for example, when balancing between offering a safe environment and encouraging critical reflection.
Practical implications
With coaches' support, teachers can develop a more thoughtful understanding of the meaning of values, beliefs and bias for their actions in teaching practice.
Social implications
Making explicit, and exploring precisely, what coaches do to support teachers' moral learning are useful for designing and improving professional development programmes that promote moral learning.
Originality/value
The research reported in this paper outlines how coaches can encourage teachers' awareness of the impact of their actions on pupils, which, in turn, helps teachers to meet the complex moral challenges of their practice.
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Jacqueline A. Douglas, Robert McClelland, John Davies and Lyn Sudbury
The aim of this paper is to compare the use of critical incident technique (CIT) for gathering student feedback in higher education (HE) with the more traditional and commonly…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to compare the use of critical incident technique (CIT) for gathering student feedback in higher education (HE) with the more traditional and commonly used questionnaire survey method.
Design/methodology/approach
The investigation involved a critical evaluation of the standard self‐completion, multi‐question “tick‐box” quantitative survey questionnaire traditionally employed to collect student feedback in HE, against the more qualitative critical incident technique that was tested within the HE context. This evaluation was supported by a review of the extant literature to determine the advantages and disadvantages of both feedback methods and a comparison of the data gathered from university students using both survey instruments. Conclusions were then drawn regarding the value of both methods. The criteria used for the comparison were the design and administration of the survey instruments, analysis and quality of the data collected, and finally, the potential usefulness of the data to HE managers.
Findings
The main issue regarding suitability of approach is resource utilisation. The CIT questionnaire is much quicker and easier to design than the traditional questionnaire, asking only a small number of questions. However, completion, input and analysis of the CIT questionnaire take longer than the standard tick‐box questionnaire. The richness of the data more than compensates for these drawbacks. In principle, the qualitative critical incident technique should be used to complement the existing methods of gathering student feedback in order to find out what is significant to students. However, in practice, it is more likely that managers within HE will continue to use the more traditional survey questionnaire, because of the limited resources available to them.
Research limitations/implications
Not only is CIT a method that can be used by researchers in the education sector nationally and internationally, to gather rich and useful data about the student experience but it may also be useful for gathering information from other stakeholders.
Originality/value
The paper is the first to use CIT to gather feedback from students on their university experience. It proposes that, in order to obtain valid and reliable data on which to base service provision decisions, university management should consider using this qualitative technique in combination with more traditional quantitative methods of gathering student feedback.
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George Benson, Andrew McPherson, Jacqueline McCallum and Nicola Roberts
The purpose of this paper is to develop an alcohol withdrawal syndrome risk stratification tool that could support the safe discharge of low risk patients from the emergency…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to develop an alcohol withdrawal syndrome risk stratification tool that could support the safe discharge of low risk patients from the emergency department.
Design/methodology/approach
A retrospective cohort study that included all patients referred to the acute addiction liaison nursing service over one calendar month (n=400, 1–30 April 2016) was undertaken. Bivariate and multivariate modelling identified the significant variables that supported the prediction of severe alcohol withdrawal syndrome (SAWS) in the cohort population.
Findings
The Glasgow Modified Alcohol Withdrawal Scale (GMAWS), hours since last drink, fast alcohol screening test (FAST) and systolic blood pressure correctly identified 89 per cent of patients who developed SAWS and 84 per cent of patients that did not. Increasing each component by a score of one is associated with an increase in the odds of SAWS by a factor of 2.76 (95% CI 2.21, 3.45), 1.31 (95% CI 1.24, 1.37), 1.30 (95% CI 1.08, 1.57) and 1.22 (95% CI 1.10, 1.34), respectively.
Research limitations/implications
The research was conducted in a single healthcare system that had a high prevalence of alcohol dependence syndrome (ADS). Second, the developed risk stratification tool was unable to guarantee no risk and lastly, the FAST score previously aligned to severe ADS may have influenced the patients highest GMAWS score.
Practical implications
The tool could help redesign the care pathway for patients who attend the emergency department at risk of SAWS and link low risk patients with community alcohol services better equipped to deal with their physical and psychological needs short and long term supporting engagement, abstinence and prolongation of life.
Originality/value
The tool could help redesign the care pathway for emergency department patients at low risk of SAWS and link them with community alcohol services better equipped to deal with their physical and psychological needs, short and long term, supporting engagement, abstinence and prolongation of life.
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Jacqueline L. Birt, Kala Muthusamy and Poonam Bir
eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) is an internet-based interactive form of reporting language that is expected to enhance the usefulness of financial reporting (Yuan…
Abstract
Purpose
eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) is an internet-based interactive form of reporting language that is expected to enhance the usefulness of financial reporting (Yuan and Wang, 2009). In the UK and the USA, XBRL is mandatory, and in Australia, it is voluntarily adopted. It has been reported that in the not too distant future, XBRL will be the standard format for the preparation and exchange of business reports (Gettler, 2015). Using an experimental approach, this study assesses the usefulness of financial reports with XBRL tagged information compared to PDF format information for non-professional investors. The authors investigate participants’ perceptions of usefulness in relation to the qualitative characteristics of relevance, understandability and comparability.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper uses an experimental approach featuring a profit-forecasting task to determine if participants perceive XBRL-tagged information to be more useful compared to PDF-formatted information.
Findings
Results reveal that financial information presented with XBRL tagging is significantly more relevant, understandable and comparable to non-professional investors.
Originality/value
The authors address a gap in the literature by examining XBRL usefulness in Australia where XBRL adoption will be mandated within the not too distant future. Currently, the voluntary adoption of XBRL by preparers and users is low, possibly, because of a lack of awareness about XBRL and its potential benefits. This study yields significant implications for the accounting regulators in creating more awareness on the benefits of using XBRL and to create an impetus for XBRL adoption.