Describes how on March 31, 1995, the Chicago office of the law firm of Baker & McKenzie dismissed the entire library staff of three professionals, seven paraprofessionals, and…
Abstract
Describes how on March 31, 1995, the Chicago office of the law firm of Baker & McKenzie dismissed the entire library staff of three professionals, seven paraprofessionals, and additional 25 support staff. While the publicly stated reasons for this action were to bring the library more into the electronic age and to make it more global, a recent $3,700,000 award for sexual harassment and a bloated staff‐to‐attorney ratio of two staff for every attorney, were the influencing causes. Outsourcing in business, and in academic libraries, is not a new phenomenon. Cataloging departments are most likely to be outsourced because it reallocates resources, produces higher quality of cataloging, and there is a well‐developed infrastructure of vendors who provide cataloging on a contract basis. Private law libraries outsource some of their functions, but not their reference desks. Discusses the literature of outsourcing and presents an outsourcing survey of private law firms.
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The purpose of this study is to advance the preparation of prospective school administrator students by extending the Web 2.0 application of blogging to discover students'…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to advance the preparation of prospective school administrator students by extending the Web 2.0 application of blogging to discover students' strengths and successful leadership experiences. During the blogging process, students reflected on and responded to appreciative inquiry (AI) blog posts that encouraged reflective responses highlighting and identifying their inherent leadership strengths and successful leadership experiences.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative case study model was used to explore the reflective blog contributions of prospective school administrators to discover patterns in the blogging data by grounding the study in an AI theoretical research perspective. A bounded case study delimited the scope of the study to participants who were: masters or doctoral students in a school administration preparation program at a large Midwestern United States research extensive university; and enrolled in four graduate administrative preparation classes taught using reflective blogging over three instructional quarters.
Findings
The Web 2.0 application of appreciative inquiry blogging: confirmed personal strengths and successful leadership experiences; bolstered a supportive learning environment; confirmed the students' history of successful leadership experiences; and increased social capital among students.
Social implications
Future research using AI in Web 2.0 applications can influence the positive preparation of school administrators by preparing them to lead schools in an evolving digital world. Researchers may examine how an AI blogging Web 2.0 application contributes to changing personal perceptions of contemporary deficit views of schooling to what is possible in light of stakeholders' strengths.
Originality/value
The importance of integrating Web 2.0 applications into educational administrator preparation programs is critical in an age where elementary and secondary school students live in a Web 2.0 world and build social networks with peers throughout the globe. Moreover, the evolving global workplace demands fluency in Web 2.0 applications.
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Xueqin Wang, Yiik Diew Wong, Kevin X. Li and Kum Fai Yuen
E-commerce last-mile logistics is undergoing dramatic changes. By inviting consumers to participate in self-collection, they collectively form a mass crowd of resources that can…
Abstract
Purpose
E-commerce last-mile logistics is undergoing dramatic changes. By inviting consumers to participate in self-collection, they collectively form a mass crowd of resources that can be integrated into last-mile logistics. However, consumers' participation may lead to a spectrum of value outcomes from value co-creation to co-destruction. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to critically examine the value formation process focussing on micro-level practices and resource outcomes.
Design/methodology/approach
Anchored on practice theory and resource conservation theory, content analysis is adopted to analyse 546 practice-based experiences extracted from a leading social media platform.
Findings
The analysis reveals five sequential practices of self-collection: purchasing, delivering, notifying, receiving and confirming. Furthermore, the co-created practices are characterised by gains in material, esteem, social and energy resources of the interacting actors. Meanwhile, the co-destructed practices cause a chain of resource losses, where the interacting actors suffer primary losses which subsequently triggers consumers' coping behaviours and further destroys resources for all.
Research limitations/implications
Focussing on constituent service practices, this study zooms into the value formation process. The authors contribute to logistics literature with a service-dominant logic by stressing end-consumers' involvement in the creation and consumption of last-mile logistics.
Originality/value
This study conceptualises the sources and consequences of the nuanced service practices (value formation or destruction) of self-collection. A unified framework is thus proposed, which guides logistics service providers to channel consumers towards more constructive participation in last-mile logistics.
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Sarah Vaughan, Andrew Miles, Kevin Dionisio Hochard, Lisa Oakley, Moira Lafferty, George Hales and Paul Kingston
The purpose of this study is to explore and map Safeguarding Adults England data for 2022–2023 by local authority to enable identification and exploration of any differences…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to explore and map Safeguarding Adults England data for 2022–2023 by local authority to enable identification and exploration of any differences between local authorities.
Design/methodology/approach
Colour symbology maps were produced to enable visual analysis of safeguarding concerns and Section 42 enquiries per 100,000 of the population, as well as the conversion of safeguarding concerns to Section 42 enquiries. Statistical hotspots were calculated using the Getis-Ord Gi* for Section 42 enquiries per 100,000 of the population across age classes.
Findings
Findings show regional differences across England in terms of the number of documented concerns, Section 42’s and conversion rates. Some regions had statistically higher or lower Section 42 enquiries per 100,000 of population across age classes compared to their bordering geographical neighbours. Reflections on these findings lead to a series of recommendations.
Originality/value
This paper addresses a need to explore further and analyse adult safeguarding data to inform practice, through choropleth mapping.
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Morgan P. Miles, Martie-Louise Verreynne, Andrew McAuley and Kevin Hammond
The purpose of this paper is to explore how universities attempt to balance meeting their traditional mission of education, research and community engagement while remaining…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore how universities attempt to balance meeting their traditional mission of education, research and community engagement while remaining economically sustainable.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey was conducted in 2014 of university executives and found that universities in Australia are rapidly transitioning from public supported institutions to an organizational form much more like social enterprise, with all of the organizational, marketing and ethical ramifications.
Findings
Australian universities were found to be focused on maintaining financial viability and that the most significant source of future revenue for Australian universities is perceived to be from international students.
Originality/value
The findings have tremendous public policy and ethical implications – suggesting a shift in the classification of university education from what was generally considered a public good to what is increasingly perceived as a private good in the contemporary market place, with the increasing importance of international students.
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The adoption of digitalization and sustainability is key phenomenon that has changed perception and behaviors of people recently. As there is a rising power of digital…
Abstract
Purpose
The adoption of digitalization and sustainability is key phenomenon that has changed perception and behaviors of people recently. As there is a rising power of digital communication by social media platforms, there is higher interaction between people globally. In addition, consumers can influence each other to adopt new consumption pattern. At this point, this paper aims to examine the role of green women influencers on promoting sustainable consumption patterns via social media platforms.
Design/methodology/approach
This study employed qualitative research method. The study included four top-lists for green/sustainable social media influencers as a sample case. Then, the data were analyzed by descriptive content analysis. To determine the role of green women influencers in sustainable consumption, this study used classification and categorization technique through descriptive content analysis.
Findings
The study indicates that green women are seen as a primary social media influencer because of promoting sustainable consumption patterns in general. Especially, green women have more power to change consumption patterns via digital platforms. Green women social media influencers, who are micro-celebrities, share primary contents such as sustainable fashion, green foods, sustainable travel, sustainable lifestyle, conscious choices, green cosmetics and zero waste life to promote sustainable consumption patterns. Women social media influencers are much more effective than men influencers to transform society's consumption behaviors into sustainable consumption patterns.
Research limitations/implications
The study provides some qualitative findings based on the selected four top-listed green social media influencers by different social media platforms. Future studies can find out different results based on different sample cases and employ quantitative research methodology.
Practical implications
The study suggests policymakers to cooperate with green women social media influencers to achieve sub-targets of 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Especially, it is suggested to cooperate with micro-celebrities or Internet celebrities to promote sustainable consumption patterns.
Originality/value
The study proves that women social media influencers have the essential role in promoting green/sustainable consumption patterns via digital platforms. In addition, green women influencers can guide their followers to adopt sustainable consumption patterns.
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This paper aims to contest Mees’ (2010) theory that publicly owned public transport operators normatively target their resources to maximize service rather than profit. Mees…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to contest Mees’ (2010) theory that publicly owned public transport operators normatively target their resources to maximize service rather than profit. Mees argues that neoliberal governments in the Anglosphere were mistaken to privatize their undertakings, yet it is shown that the British ethos of municipal trading meant that municipalities always saw public transport as more of a business than a service.
Design/methodology/approach
The author uses an archival microstudy of the municipal tramway undertaking of the English city of York, using municipal archives triangulated with local and industry media sources.
Findings
The paper proposes the refination of the Mees spectrum of public transport from public to private (2010, pp. 73-75) to note that public undertakings can be operated within a profit-maximizing framework.
Originality/value
This paper provides a rare historical explication of an individual municipal trading enterprise and tramway system placed in its economic context together with its wider theoretical implications.