Marsha J. Courchane and Judith A. Giles
As financial markets move toward increased globalization, it becomes worth considering whether inherent differences in financial markets across different countries will diminish…
Abstract
As financial markets move toward increased globalization, it becomes worth considering whether inherent differences in financial markets across different countries will diminish. For two countries more similar than different in terms of geography, location, government and culture, Canada and the USA remain strikingly different in terms of housing finance. Public policy objectives toward housing followed quite different paths over the past 70 years and fundamental differences in banking practices have led to considerably different outcomes in terms of mortgage finance instruments in the two countries. Examines some of the differences in policy and in competitive practices between Canada and the USA in an attempt to illuminate why differences in rates and terms across the two countries still exist. While a part of the difference remains due to legal constraints concerning the finance of the domestic housing sector, focuses on the economics and public policy choices that have led to the observed differences rather than on an analysis of the legal structure.
Judith Holdershaw, Philip Gendall and Malcolm Wright
The purpose of this paper is to test whether, in the context of blood donation, the predictive ability of the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) extends from behavioural intention…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to test whether, in the context of blood donation, the predictive ability of the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) extends from behavioural intention to actual donation behaviour, and whether extended versions of the TPB perform better than the standard version.
Design/methodology/approach
Intentions to donate blood predicted by the TPB are compared with an accurate measure of blood donation behaviour obtained following a mobile blood drive by the New Zealand Blood Service.
Findings
When the observed outcome is donation behaviour rather than behavioural intention, the TPB model's performance drops. Extending the variables in the model to include moral obligation and past behaviour does not improve its predictive ability, and neither does the use of belief‐based variables.
Practical implications
The TPB is much less effective in predicting blood donation behaviour than it is in predicting intentions to donate blood. But only actual donation behaviour yields medical supplies. This study suggests that to advance the goal of increasing donation rates, attention needs to turn to methods other than the TPB to identify variables that do predict donation behaviour.
Originality/value
The present study gathered one of the largest samples used for TPB blood donation research; this enabled predictions made using the TPB to be tested against actual behaviour, rather than behavioural intention, the measure typically used in blood donation studies. Because blood donation is a low‐incidence behaviour, previous studies have been hampered by small sample sizes, that inevitably contain few donors, and no measure of actual donation behaviour.
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It is now forty years since there appeared H. R. Plomer's first volume Dictionary of the booksellers and printers who were at work in England, Scotland and Ireland from 1641 to…
Abstract
It is now forty years since there appeared H. R. Plomer's first volume Dictionary of the booksellers and printers who were at work in England, Scotland and Ireland from 1641 to 1667. This has been followed by additional Bibliographical Society publications covering similarly the years up to 1775. From the short sketches given in this series, indicating changes of imprint and type of work undertaken, scholars working with English books issued before the closing years of the eighteenth century have had great assistance in dating the undated and in determining the colour and calibre of any work before it is consulted.
Roberto Casati, Gloria Origgi and Judith Simon
New technologies allow for efficient dissemination of scientific knowledge objects (SKOs). Yet they are likely to transform SKOs as well. The aim of this paper is to propose a way…
Abstract
Purpose
New technologies allow for efficient dissemination of scientific knowledge objects (SKOs). Yet they are likely to transform SKOs as well. The aim of this paper is to propose a way to structure SKOs that allows for both a clear individuation of the main scientific contributions and a fine‐grained structure of credits and evaluation.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors review and analyze existing practices of structuring SKOs in different disciplines.
Findings
Provisionally considering the published paper as an atomic SKO, possible subatomic structures of SKOs are investigated. It is hypothesized that SKOs are meant to satisfy two separated but interdependent sets of constraints, one related to the contribution the SKO makes to the body of knowledge, and another related to the contribution the SKO makes to the reputation of its authors. It is hypothesized that existing SKO structures are not optimal for satisfying both sets of constraints at once.
Research limitations/implications
A broader analysis may be needed that covers the totality of existing practices.
Practical implications
Guidelines are offered. This paper, including the present abstract, is an example of what the scientific paper of tomorrow could be like.
Social implications
The paper proposes better apportioning of scientific credits and evaluation; substantive evolution of the academic publishing and credit attribution models.
Originality/value
The idea that the communication and evaluation function of a SKO are differently reflected in their structure is novel. The proposed fine‐grained credit attribution system is novel. The molecular/atomic/sub‐atomic distinction is a new way to fix the terminology.
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The integration of women higher education leaders into the ideal discourse of educational leadership is a significant issue, as the discourses on women and leadership are…
Abstract
The integration of women higher education leaders into the ideal discourse of educational leadership is a significant issue, as the discourses on women and leadership are continually reshaped in a changing social background, with their compatibility directly influencing women leaders’ construction, understanding and presentation of their leadership identities. In recent years, the Ministry of Education in China has issued a series of documents encouraging the promotion of academic and innovative development in higher education. In response, local governments and higher education institutions (HEIs) have introduced policies that directly link the achievements of university teachers and leaders to evaluations, promotions and performance assessments. The concept of ‘academic and innovative’ encompasses both research and innovation – the ideal educational leader is expected to demonstrate stable research outcomes while actively promoting educational reforms. This chapter focuses on the narratives of women higher education leaders. In particular, the study explores the structural challenges faced by women leaders within the higher education system in integrating this seemingly non-conflicting new ideal leadership discourse with their identities. The research is derived from narrative interviews with eight women leaders in HEIs in China, focusing on their understanding, construction and presentation of their leadership identities. The study suggests that the discourse surrounding the ideal ‘academic and innovative’ higher education leader, while not directly opposing traditional notions of ‘feminine traits’, brings a set of performance management-like evaluation criteria for leaders. However, due to structural challenges within higher education, women face significant hurdles in attempting to integrate into the emerging ideal leadership discourse.
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Judith Madill, Norm O'Reilly and John Nadeau
The purpose of this paper is to report on research designed to assess the impact of sponsorship financing of social marketing initiatives on the evaluation of those social…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to report on research designed to assess the impact of sponsorship financing of social marketing initiatives on the evaluation of those social marketing programs.
Design/methodology/approach
The research utilizes an in-depth, multi-method case study of the Canadian Mental Health Association Calgary Region (CMHA-CR) who carried out a social marketing campaign concerning mental health behaviors that was largely financed by sponsors.
Findings
The sponsorship of the CMHA-CR social marketing program was complex with a total of 15 stakeholders involved as sponsors, partners and grantors. The research reveals that while there is considerable sharing of objectives among the stakeholders in this sponsorship, not all objectives are shared between sponsors and sponsees, and not all objectives are shared between the public and private sector sponsors of the program.
Practical implications
The research showed that because sponsors and sponsees share in many of the objectives of the social marketing campaign, the evaluation of the social marketing campaign, particularly its ability to achieve the social marketing-specific objectives, is of interest to all the stakeholder parties, and effective social marketing evaluation must also incorporate evaluation of the non-shared objectives of all sponsorship stakeholders.
Originality/value
Increasing social needs, accompanied by reduced government funding and increased competition amongst not-for-profit (NFP) organizations for that funding, are driving NFPs to seek innovative approaches to financing their social programs. The research reports initial findings critical in this environment, as well as raises issues and questions related to future research.
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Community festivals ‐ Local community festivals can be a lot of fun to those who participate in them and, incidentally, help to strengthen community awareness and develop skills…
Abstract
Community festivals ‐ Local community festivals can be a lot of fun to those who participate in them and, incidentally, help to strengthen community awareness and develop skills, but for those called upon or lumbered with the job of planning and organising them, they can be a nightmare. The task is made easier by the existence of an excellent little book, the Community festivals handbook, which has just been released in its 3rd edition by Community Projects Foundation. The kind of festival covered by this essentially practical handbook is that in which there is a concentrated mixture of activities lasting for a day, a weekend or maybe a week, based in a particular locality, with some emphasis on community participation. It would also be relevant to other forms of community‐based work, such as running a barbecue or a social, trying to raise money, expanding the activities of an adventure playground, setting up a city farm or engaging in a local campaign. The handbook can serve as a checklist of ideas and aspects that need to be thought about from the reasons for running a festival to financial ‘post‐mortems’. On the way the book covers organising committees, involving local people, planning, publicity, legal and administrative aspects, site management and catering. An excellent guide that won't guarantee success but, if you follow its advice, will make it more possible. Costs £2.00 including postage from CPF, 60 Highbury Grove, London N5 2AG.
Mary L. Robinson and Judith Wusteman
To describe a small‐scale quantitative evaluation of the scholarly information search engine, Google Scholar.
Abstract
Purpose
To describe a small‐scale quantitative evaluation of the scholarly information search engine, Google Scholar.
Design/methodology/approach
Google Scholar's ability to retrieve scholarly information was compared to that of three popular search engines: Ask.com, Google and Yahoo! Test queries were presented to all four search engines and the following measures were used to compare them: precision; Vaughan's Quality of Result Ranking; relative recall; and Vaughan's Ability to Retrieve Top Ranked Pages.
Findings
Significant differences were found in the ability to retrieve top ranked pages between Ask.com and Google and between Ask.com and Google Scholar for scientific queries. No other significant differences were found between the search engines. This may be due to the relatively small sample size of eight queries. Results suggest that, for scientific queries, Google Scholar has the highest precision, relative recall and Ability to Retrieve Top Ranked Pages. However, it achieved the lowest score for these three measures for non‐scientific queries. The best overall score for all four measures was achieved by Google. Vaughan's Quality of Result Ranking found a significant correlation between Google and scientific queries.
Research limitations/implications
As with any search engine evaluation, the results pertain only to performance at the time of the study and must be considered in light of any subsequent changes in the search engine's configuration or functioning. Also, the relatively small sample size limits the scope of the study's findings.
Practical implications
These results suggest that, although Google Scholar may prove useful to those in scientific disciplines, further development is necessary if it is to be useful to the scholarly community in general.
Originality/value
This is a preliminary study in applying the accepted performance measures of precision and recall to Google Scholar. It provides information specialists and users with an objective evaluation of Google Scholar's abilities across both scientific and non‐scientific disciplines and paves the way for a larger study.