Christoph Borzikowsky, Stephan Raimer and Jens Kowalski
Not only since the Corona pandemic, working from home has become an important part of the modern workplace. The purpose of this study is to identify environmental as well as…
Abstract
Purpose
Not only since the Corona pandemic, working from home has become an important part of the modern workplace. The purpose of this study is to identify environmental as well as psychological factors that could predict employees’ weekly desired home office.
Design/methodology/approach
Two cross-sectional online surveys were conducted during April and July 2022 at a German company for digital services (Study 1: N1 = 1,912; Study 2: N2 = 1,132). In Study 1, the authors developed a multiple linear regression model with backward selection for employees’ weekly desired home office. Predictor variables were sociodemographic as well as psychological variables. After that, the authors validated the exploratory found model in Study 2.
Findings
In the final prediction model, the weekly desired home office was positively affected by two age groups (26 to 35 years and 36 to 45 years) and commuting distance (from 10 km upwards). In addition, it was also negatively affected by leader status (i.e. being a leader), stress experience at work and identification with the company.
Research limitations/implications
Some sociodemographic variables that should be relevant for employees’ choice to work from home were not measured in this study.
Practical implications
The paper contributes to both theory and practice. The validated prediction model may guide personnel managers in finding the best-fitting working solution for their employees.
Originality/value
A newly developed model for predicting employees’ weekly desired home office is presented.
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Per Richard Hansen and Jens Dorland
Contradictory accounts in empirical material are often perceived as deliberate “lies” or “misleading deceptions” performed in acts of impression management, or they are simply…
Abstract
Purpose
Contradictory accounts in empirical material are often perceived as deliberate “lies” or “misleading deceptions” performed in acts of impression management, or they are simply neglected. When observed in the material collected empirically, methods have been developed in order to identify and remove them from the analytical work. The purpose of this paper is to re-visit and re-introduce a dissensus-based management research strategy in order to analytically be able to work with what appear to be contradictions and misinformation in qualitative research accounts, and give them a more profound role in the understanding of management ideas, work and practices.
Design/methodology/approach
A literature review is presented on consensus and dissensus orientated theories on contradictions and multiple and conflicting identities in a single individual in an ethnographic inquiry. The purpose is to analyse and reflect upon the contradictory information gathered, and how it can shed light upon important aspects of the management work and practices performed by the informant. This is done by focusing on apparent contradictions in a single interview situation from an ethnographic case study through, respectively a consensus and a dissensus perspective.
Findings
The findings indicate that dealing with contradictions and inner conflicts between self-view and external demands and conditions, led the informant to the production of multiple narrative self-identities imaging multiple realities that all appeared real to the informant. Each of these realities had different and contradictory impacts on the ideas and management work and practices he presented and performed in the organisation. These findings challenge the notions of “lies”, “deception” and “misinformation” in management research, and call for a more reflexive approach to analysis work in ethnographic accounts.
Originality/value
By applying consensus and dissensus-oriented theories to a single account the authors point to conditions, phenomena and relations, which most current and historic management research streams fail to see. Multiple and conflicting identities surface in a single respondent during an interview situation, creating clearly self-contradictory and conflicting narratives and practices, that all appear to be oblivious to the respondent. These multiple and contradictory narrative identities all have significant impact on the management work performed by the respondent.
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“Since films attract an audience of millions, the need and appetite for information about them is enormous.” So said Harold Leonard in his introduction to The Film Index published…
Abstract
“Since films attract an audience of millions, the need and appetite for information about them is enormous.” So said Harold Leonard in his introduction to The Film Index published in 1941. The 1970's has produced more than enough — too much — food to satisfy that appetite. In the past five years the number of reference books, in this context defined as encyclopedias, handbooks, directories, dictionaries, indexes and bibliographies, and the astounding number of volumes on individual directors, complete histories, genre history and analysis, published screenplays, critics' anthologies, biographies of actors and actresses, film theory, film technique and production and nostalgia, that have been published is overwhelming. The problem in film scholarship is not too little material but the senseless duplication of materials that already exist and the embarrassing output of items that are poorly or haphazardly researched, or perhaps should not have been written at all.
Ann Scheck McAlearney, Jennifer Hefner, Julie Robbins and Andrew N. Garman
Despite hospitals’ efforts to reduce health care-associated infections (HAIs), success rates vary. We studied how leadership practices might impact these efforts.
Abstract
Purpose
Despite hospitals’ efforts to reduce health care-associated infections (HAIs), success rates vary. We studied how leadership practices might impact these efforts.
Design/methodology/approach
We conducted eight case studies at hospitals pursuing central line-associated blood stream infection (CLABSI)-prevention initiatives. At each hospital, we interviewed senior leaders, clinical leaders, and line clinicians (n=194) using a semi-structured interview protocol. All interviews were transcribed and iteratively analyzed.
Findings
We found that the presence of local clinical champions was perceived across organizations and interviewees as a key factor contributing to HAI-prevention efforts, with champions playing important roles as coordinators, cheerleaders, and advocates for the initiatives. Top-level support was also critical, with elements such as visibility, commitment, and clear expectations valued across interviewees.
Value/orginality
Results suggest that leadership plays an important role in the successful implementation of HAI-prevention interventions. Improving our understanding of nonclinical differences across health systems may contribute to efforts to eliminate HAIs.
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Timofey Agarin, Jens Jetzkowitz and Andreas Matzarakis
The chapter discusses the effects of climate change on tourism development in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania by combining these countries into a single Eastern Baltic Sea Region…
Abstract
The chapter discusses the effects of climate change on tourism development in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania by combining these countries into a single Eastern Baltic Sea Region. The chapter explores the current situation and investigates the trends that will affect the economic development if the present climate conditions are situated in historical context. The first part discusses how destinations can be better managed if they are informed by the scholarship on ecological modernization and updated by a coevolutionary approach to climate change. This discussion proceeds with an analysis of the impact climate change has on tourism following different scenarios of current and future climate conditions. The development of tourism in the Baltic countries is then assessed with references to sustainable development. Overall the chapter demonstrates how destinations can cope with the changing preferences of tourists even in the face of highly unpredictable climatic developments.
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Rameshwar Dubey, Angappa Gunasekaran and Thanos Papadopoulos
Green or sustainable supply chain management (GSCM/SSCM) has in recent years attracted much attention from academia and practitioners in all part of the world. In recent years…
Abstract
Purpose
Green or sustainable supply chain management (GSCM/SSCM) has in recent years attracted much attention from academia and practitioners in all part of the world. In recent years, all humanity has experienced severe climate change which is widely attributed to human activity. Harmful emissions have made a major contribution to recent climate change which presents major challenges and threats to the entire human race in form of global warming, earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunami and floods. The purpose of this paper is to propose a conceptual GSCM/SSCM framework contributing to knowledge-based view theory and systems theory (ST) and provide an exhaustive list of further research directions.
Design/methodology/approach
In this paper the authors have used a systematic literature review to identify building blocks of the conceptual framework, which is the principal contribution of the present paper.
Findings
In this paper the authors have proposed a conceptual framework for sustainable supply chain network and at the end the authors have outlined further research directions.
Research limitations/implications
The current paper is an attempt to develop a conceptual framework which is grounded in knowledge-based theory. The study helps to extent the prior works which lacks theory focused approach.
Originality/value
The present work has immense theoretical value and can be useful to the policy makers or practitioners engaged in GSCM practices.
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Gives reports and surveys of selected current research and developments in systems and cybernetics. They include: A calculus of ethics for a systemic world, Biocybernetics…
Abstract
Gives reports and surveys of selected current research and developments in systems and cybernetics. They include: A calculus of ethics for a systemic world, Biocybernetics, Neuroscience, Neural technology, Computational model for chocolate, Safety‐critical systems (SCSs), Scientific and technical information from Russia, Cybernetics and systems control, Automation and cybernetics, UK science research.
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Julia Oberschmidt, Jutta Geldermann, Jens Ludwig and Meike Schmehl
The purpose of this paper is to elaborate a multi‐criteria methodology for the performance assessment of energy supply technologies, which also takes into account the dynamics of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to elaborate a multi‐criteria methodology for the performance assessment of energy supply technologies, which also takes into account the dynamics of technological change.
Design/methodology/approach
The approach chosen is based on the multi‐criteria outranking methodology Preference Ranking Organisation METHod for Enrichment Evaluations (PROMETHEE), which is linked to the concept of technology's life cycle by assigning criteria weights depending on the actual development phase of a certain technology. The modifications to the PROMETHEE algorithm are described and the modified methodology is demonstrated by evaluating heat and power supply alternatives for a municipal area in Germany.
Findings
The methodology is suitable for the evaluation of energy technologies taking into account varying preferences depending on their stage of maturity. It is a feasible alternative to other methodologies which allow for interconnections like the analytic network process. The results show that, based on a multi‐criteria life cycle approach, renewable energy technologies are competitive with conventional alternatives for supplying heat and power.
Practical implications
Appropriate methods are required to elicit life cycle‐dependent preferences. Decision support should help decision makers (DMs) to articulate preferences according to different development phases and illustrate the results in the most meaningful way.
Originality/value
The methodology provides the basis for a comprehensive analysis of energy technologies at different life cycle stages. It can be used to support decision making in different situations and by various actors.