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1 – 10 of 79Claims that the small but steady growth in discussion in academic circles of aspects of risk taking and risk management, as they affect public services managers generally, which…
Abstract
Claims that the small but steady growth in discussion in academic circles of aspects of risk taking and risk management, as they affect public services managers generally, which is observable in the UK, does not appear to be reflected so strongly in the wider international literature. Here, the direction of the debate and discussion turns much more on quasi‐constitutional issues and topics, such as “accountability” and “control”. As efforts grow to decentralize public services organizations and give public service managers more control over the day‐to‐day operational running of their organizations, a new term has entered the language of the debate ‐ that of “agility”. Suggests this appears to combine the skill of handling increased accountability for decision making with that of the upgrading of managers’ skills. Finds that risk is explored more widely in related texts, predominantly where a particular public service, such as the police, health or social services, is simultaneously viewed as a profession. Aims to explain why the international literature pointedly avoids much explicit discussion of risk, preferring to frame the issue within terms concerning levels of financial control and official accountability.
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Simon Were, Moses Miricho and Vincent Maranga
The purpose of this study was to investigate restaurant clientele tipping behavior and its inspiration on foodservice empathy within two- and three-star hotels in Kisumu County…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study was to investigate restaurant clientele tipping behavior and its inspiration on foodservice empathy within two- and three-star hotels in Kisumu County, Kenya. This was with the objective of analyzing the tipping effect on restaurant food service quality with an emphasis on Parasuraman, Zeithmal and Barry's empathy as a key dimension of quality in accordance to the SERVQUAL model.
Design/methodology/approach
For the purpose of this study, food service empathy was investigated in relation to the influence of tipping on restaurant food service quality. Further, a census of all the two and three star-rated hotels within Kisumu County was carried out. The study applied descriptive research design in the investigation on the tipping behavior and its inspiration on foodservice empathy. Moreover, simple random sampling was employed in the selection of clients since it yielded a sample that is representative of the population. Additionally, the study employed the use of questionnaires for collection of data, which were coded, analyzed and presented in frequencies, tables and graphs.
Findings
The study findings reveal that there is a significant relationship between rewards upon perception of service and food service empathy but failed to find a significant relation between incentives for improved future service as well as the social norms and foodservice empathy. However, in general, the study established a significant relationship between tipping and foodservice empathy in the sampled hotels in Kenya. Thus, in summary, at 95% confidence level, the study concluded that there is a significant relationship between tipping and foodservice empathy.
Research limitations/implications
This study was restricted on two and three-star hotels within Kisumu County in Kenya with a sample size of 384 respondents, which would otherwise limit the degree to which the findings were applied. Consequently, the study sought to collect data from restaurant clients although the access and, therefore, direct interaction were denied by some of the hotels. Further, this study employed a survey approach in the collection of data from restaurant clients in two and three-star hotels. Accordingly, there was minimal local and regional research literature available on the study topic.
Practical implications
Tipping in the context of the broad global service industry, including hospitality's restaurant food service, is as old as Roman times. However, tipping is practiced differently across the world with some countries practicing while other countries not practicing the act of tipping. For that reason, tipping is not regulated in some of the countries including Kenya and therefore the lack of policy. Nonetheless, tipping is perceived to be the genesis of food service failures as a result of discriminatory restaurant food service in addition to increasing costs of eating out. This study therefore sought to investigate restaurant tipping behavior and its inspiration on foodservice empathy. The study results might be applied in policy formulation in order to curb the negative effect of tipping on food service empathy.
Originality/value
Minimal studies have been instituted and published in the area of tipping and service quality relationship with an emphasis on each of Parasuraman, Zeithmal and Berry's dimensions of quality. This research survey, therefore, sought to collect data from restaurant clients in two and three-star hotels within Kisumu County in Kenya and therefore investigated restaurant clientele tipping behavior and its inspiration on food service empathy.
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Ludivine Perray-Redslob and Jeremy Morales
This paper examines micro-practices of resistance to understand how they influence accounting.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper examines micro-practices of resistance to understand how they influence accounting.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative methodology based on interviews is used to explore an extreme case of disciplinary organization, that of the French Armed Forces whereby secrecy and discipline are the norm. The study draws on James Scott's concept of infrapolitics to illustrate how service members manage to appear obedient and disciplined, while simultaneously criticizing and resisting accounting practices “below the radar” of surveillance.
Findings
The study describes “resistance in obedience” to account for how service members resist while following discipline. Three main forms of resistance are identified. Containment consists in obstructing and delaying a process of change that depends on willing participation of active supporters. Subversion consists in weakening the sources of information and the communication channels. Sabotage consists in fragmenting accounting (here a balanced scorecard) by separating performance indicators from cost accounting. The study shows that these three tactics of hidden and informal resistances prevent the spread of accounting reforms, disrupt transparency and create a blockade around financial information.
Research limitations/implications
The study of resistance to accounting in a setting where compliance and discipline are the norm shows how widespread it can be. In that respect, future research could provide a more systematic understanding of resistance in action and its conditions of possibility in various contexts and settings. This article further illustrates the allure of opacity against the threats of transparency and accountability. The use of accounting in opaque settings opens interesting avenues of research, since the appeal of accounting has often been related to the allure of transparency and to accounting's potential to create visibilities. Finally, this paper opens a perspective for future research on how micro-resistance meets micro-practices of power in the context of ostensibly liberated, participative and non-authoritarian management.
Originality/value
While previous literature argued that resistance to accounting arises when it is used to increase discipline, our findings challenge this assumed dichotomy, by showing that sometimes accounting is resisted in the name of discipline. This study further outlines the fact that the “allure” of transparency is not universal but can also prove disruptive and be contested. In addition, this study contributes to the literature on resistance to accounting that mainly focused on overt, dramatic and organized forms of resistances, by highlighting the existence of a more widespread, omnipresent yet hidden and mundane, day-to-day, form of opposition, which significantly influences accounting. Finally, the findings show that resistance is not only an outside force intersecting with accounting but also an intrinsic force that shapes accounting from the inside.
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The goal of this article is to examine the current trends of political cinema in postcolonial Hong Kong. Many leaders of the Hong Kong mainstream cinema have accepted the Chinese…
Abstract
Purpose
The goal of this article is to examine the current trends of political cinema in postcolonial Hong Kong. Many leaders of the Hong Kong mainstream cinema have accepted the Chinese authoritarian rule as a precondition for expanding into the ever-expanding Mainland film market, but a handful of conscientious filmmakers choose to make political cinema under the shadow of a wealthy and descendant industry, expressing their desire for democracy and justice and critiquing the unequal power relations between Hong Kong and China.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper consults relevant documentary materials and cinematic texts to contextualize the latest development of political cinema in Hong Kong. It presents an in-depth analysis of the works of two local independent filmmakers Herman Yau and Vincent Chui.
Findings
This study reveals a glimpse of hope in the current films of Herman Yau and Vincent Chui, which suggests that a reconfiguration of local identity and communal relationship may turn around the collective despair caused by the oppressive measures of the Chinese authoritarian state and the end of the Umbrella Movement in late 2014.
Research limitations/implications
Despite the small sample size, this paper highlights the rise of cinematic localism through a closer look at the works of Hong Kong independent filmmakers.
Practical implications
This study reveals an ambivalent mentality in the Hong Kong film industry where critical filmmakers strive to assert their creativity and agency against the externally imposed Chinese hegemonic power.
Originality/value
This investigation is an original scholarly study of film and politics in postcolonial Hong Kong.
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The study aims to consider the multiple affordances of micro-credentials as a means of creating agency and making a positive contribution to the human experience, through the…
Abstract
Purpose
The study aims to consider the multiple affordances of micro-credentials as a means of creating agency and making a positive contribution to the human experience, through the voices of practitioners and stakeholders.
Design/methodology/approach
Multiple case study, narrative inquiry, using Reflexive Thematic Analysis to identify themes was the approach used. Qualitative Descriptive Research is employed to present and analyse the re-told tales.
Findings
Micro-credentials possess numerous characteristics which coalesce to create multiple affordances, which are identified as follows: Micro-credentials as: Urgent and Emergent, Critical and Transformative, Promoting Equity, Access and Participation, and Servicing Traditional Qualifications. These concomitant multiple affordances possess the core affordance of micro-credentials making a difference to the lives of learners. The more powerful affordances a micro-credential has, the more powerful it is and the greater the difference it can make to the human experience.
Research limitations/implications
Practitioners will arguably do well to consider these multiple affordances in the future development of micro-credentials. Equally, those working in urgent or emergent spaces, in critical or transformative areas of practice, those engaged in a social justice environment or in the re-development of curricula, would do well to consider micro-credentials as a means of creating agency in the development and recognition of knowledge and skills. This study has focused on the voices of practitioners and their storied professional lives. However, the learner voice is limited to one and the employer voice is absent. Future research will benefit from a consideration of the employer voice in the development of micro-credentials as well as the voice of the end user, the learner.
Practical implications
It is hoped the study will assist practitioners in the judicious development of micro-credentials that possess agency and make a positive contribution to the human experience.
Social implications
It is hoped the study will shed light on how micro-credentials can afford equity, access and participation to priority learners, and to all learners, in the development of cognitively manageable, affordable, time-achievable micro-credentials, that enable learners to see success quickly, whereby encouraging them to further their life-long and life-wide learning journeys.
Originality/value
This study unusually gives voice to practitioners and other stakeholders in the micro-credentials arena. Most studies to date have focused on the potential of micro-credentials. This study considers their actuality and new ways of ‘doing' micro-credentialing based on the voices of experience.
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