This article has been withdrawn as it was published elsewhere and accidentally duplicated. The original article can be seen here: 10.1108/00197859410065861. When citing the…
Abstract
This article has been withdrawn as it was published elsewhere and accidentally duplicated. The original article can be seen here: 10.1108/00197859410065861. When citing the article, please cite: Kim Gustafson, Brian H. Kleiner, (1994), “New Developments in Team Building”, Industrial and Commercial Training, Vol. 26 Iss: 9, pp. 17 - 22.
Kim Gustafson and Brian H. Kleiner
Work teams are viewed by today′s businesses as a new frontier to beexplored. The effect that teams can have has been demonstrated by thetremendous quality improvement of the…
Abstract
Work teams are viewed by today′s businesses as a new frontier to be explored. The effect that teams can have has been demonstrated by the tremendous quality improvement of the post‐World War II Japanese products. Japan has set the example for the development of work teams throughout the world. Discusses eight characteristics which are: participatory leadership; shared responsibility; definition of purpose; high communication; focused future; focused tasks; creative talents; and rapid response. Teams of the present and future will have a tremendous effect on how the businesses of today and tomorrow will be run. The ideal manager will no longer be an omnipotent executive but a facilitator, counsellor and co‐ordinator of the development of employee competence. As a result, employee satisfaction may reach an all‐time high.
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Philip Fei Wu and Roberta Bernardi
The purpose of this study is to investigate how community attachment to an OHC reduces the OHC users' emotional distress and therefore improves their emotional well-being.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to investigate how community attachment to an OHC reduces the OHC users' emotional distress and therefore improves their emotional well-being.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey study was conducted in one of the largest online health communities (OHC) for people with diabetes.
Findings
OHC participants are likely to experience reduced emotional distress when they have developed an attachment to the community. This attachment is, in turn, positively associated with the normative expectations of reciprocity and the affective feeling of gratitude. However, some commonly used behavioral measures of community participation, such as visit frequency and membership tenure, have little to do with either community attachment or reduced emotional distress.
Research limitations/implications
The research highlights the pivotal role of community attachment in appraising the much-debated benefits of OHCs. However, the cross-sectional survey study has its limitations in terms of establishing causality.
Practical implications
OHC managers need to look beyond some of the commonly used metrics, such as monthly visits and number of new postings, and focus on fostering a sense of attachment among existing users in order to fulfill the OHC's potential of emotional support. Our study implies that design features facilitating reciprocation and gratitude expression among users can lead to a strong emotional bond.
Originality/value
This is one of the first studies on the antecedents of community attachment and the relationship between community attachment and emotional distress in the context of OHC.
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Basma Badreddine, Yvette Blount and Michael Quilter
The purpose of this study was to investigate how personality traits influence participative behaviour in an Online Cancer Community (OCC).
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study was to investigate how personality traits influence participative behaviour in an Online Cancer Community (OCC).
Design/methodology/approach
Qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted with 42 users of one of the largest OCCs in Australia – Cancer Council Online Community in New South Wales (NSW).
Findings
The results showed that extraversion, emotional stability and agreeableness traits influence posting behaviour, whereas the conscientiousness trait influences lurking behaviour. The openness trait did not affect either posters or lurkers’ online behaviour.
Research limitations/implications
The research highlights the pivotal role of personality traits in users’ decisions to post or lurk using a multi-theory perspective that combined the social exchange theory and the Five-Factor Model. Future studies should explore personality traits that can benefit from online participation in an OCC to transition only lurkers who may benefit from posting.
Practical implications
Insights from the study inform OCC practitioners and moderators when designing the OCC platform. Except for the openness trait, lurkers and posters exhibited different attitudes, which indicates that integrating these findings in the OCC design can facilitate adopting strategies to elicit more participation by OCC users.
Originality/value
This is the first study that explored the role of personality traits in users’ decisions to participate in an OCC.
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In the early days of online communities, researchers tended to view lurkers negatively and considered them illegitimate and peripheral members. However, the tide of opinion about…
Abstract
Purpose
In the early days of online communities, researchers tended to view lurkers negatively and considered them illegitimate and peripheral members. However, the tide of opinion about lurkers has gradually become more positive. To take a broad view, lurkers should be included in the knowledge sharing context because while they may not share knowledge directly, they are still stakeholders in online communities who benefit from the knowledge shared. This study aims to review the literature from a knowledge sharing perspective to provide a comprehensive understanding of lurkers in online communities and identify additional reasons behind lurking behavior.
Design/methodology/approach
Previous studies that examined reasons behind lurking behavior in the literature were reviewed.
Findings
A four-dimensional model is provided, which categorizes the additional reasons for lurking into four domains: individual, social, organizational and technological.
Originality/value
The model serves as a roadmap for future researchers in examining lurkers and lurking behavior. Lurkers should be redefined. De-lurking strategies were suggested following the reasons for lurking behavior in the four-dimensional model, but de-lurking strategies were not recommended in all circumstances. An increase in active lurkers is another option to bring more value to online communities.
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Ali Sheikhbahaei and Syed Shams
This paper investigates the relationship between a firm's susceptibility to a hostile takeover and investors' reactions to a seasoned equity offering (SEO).
Abstract
Purpose
This paper investigates the relationship between a firm's susceptibility to a hostile takeover and investors' reactions to a seasoned equity offering (SEO).
Design/methodology/approach
The study applies ordinary least squares (OLS) with fixed effects regression analyses to a sample of 2,517 observations from US listed companies. Event study methodology was employed to capture market reactions to the announcement of newly issued stocks. To achieve cross-sectional analyses, time variations in takeover laws allowed us to perform the desired tests across two decades of data.
Findings
The results suggest that investors react positively to the announcement of an equity offering when the threat of hostile takeover is higher. The magnitude of positive stock market reactions varies over two decades due to time series variations in takeover laws. Furthermore, the findings show that a higher hostile takeover index (HTI) score reduces investors' concerns about the inefficient usage of proceeds in acquisitions.
Practical implications
The results demonstrate that the corporate takeover legal environment provides an important external governance mechanism through which investors' confidence increases during an SEO event. The study's empirical evidence implies that the extent of external disciplinary mechanism plays a significant role in reducing investors' uncertainty about the misuse of raised capital.
Originality/value
The exogenous fast-evolving legal environment surrounding the takeover market in the United Status allowed our study to bypass the endogeneity concerns in measuring governance strength. From the review of prior literature, this paper appears to be the first to use HTI scores to examine investors' reactions to a corporate announcement.
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Alessandra Girlando, Simon Grima, Engin Boztepe, Sharon Seychell, Ramona Rupeika-Apoga and Inna Romanova
Purpose: Risk is a multifaceted concept, and its identification requires complex approaches that are often misunderstood. The consequence is that decisions are based on limited…
Abstract
Purpose: Risk is a multifaceted concept, and its identification requires complex approaches that are often misunderstood. The consequence is that decisions are based on limited perception rather than the full value and meaning of what risk is, as a result, the way it is being tackled is incorrect. The individuals are often limited in their perceptions and ideas and do not embrace the full multifaceted nature of risk. Regulators and individuals want to follow norms and checklists or overuse models, simulations, and templates, thereby reducing responsibility for decision-making. At the same time, the wider use of technology and rules reduces the critical thinking of individuals. We advance the automation process by building robots that follow protocols and forget about the part of risk assessment that cannot be programed. Therefore, with this study, the objective of this study was to discover how people define risk, the influencing factors of risk perception and how they behave toward this perception. The authors also determine how the perception differed with age, gender, marital status, education level and region. The novelty of the research is related to individual risk perception during COVID-19, as this is a new and unknown phenomenon. Methodology: The research is based on the analysis of the self-administered purposely designed questionnaires we distributed across different social media platforms between February and June 2020 in Europe and in some cases was carried out as a interview over communication platforms such as “Skype,” “Zoom” and “Microsoft Teams.” The questionnaire was divided into four parts: Section 1 was designed to collect demographic information from the participants; Section 2 included risk definition statements obtained from literature and a preliminary discussion with peers; Section 3 included risk behavior statements; and Section 4 included statements on risk perception experiences. A five-point Likert Scale was provided, and participants were required to answer along a scale of “1” for “Strongly Agree” to “5” for “Strongly Disagree.” Participants also had the option to elaborate further and provide additional comments in an open-ended box provided at the end of the section. 466 valid responses were received. Thematic analysis was carried out to analyze the interviews and the open-ended questions, while the questionnaire responses were analyzed using various quantitative methods on IBM SPSS (version 23). Findings: The results of the analysis indicate that individuals evaluate the risk before making a decision and view risk as both a loss and opportunity. The study identifies nine factors influencing risk perception. Nevertheless, it must be emphasized that we can continue to develop models and rules, but as long as the risk is not understood, we will never achieve anything.
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The article is to review recent literature studies of employee turnover to identify antecedents of employee turnover in the hospitality sector to reduce the literature gaps and…
Abstract
Purpose
The article is to review recent literature studies of employee turnover to identify antecedents of employee turnover in the hospitality sector to reduce the literature gaps and present a wider scope of turnover factor and understanding of employee motivational factors in their job decision.
Design/methodology/approach
The recent literature studies published over the last two decades were reviewed and structured into the three levels of employee turnover factors, including individual, team and organizational level.
Findings
The antecedents on organizational levels were frequently studied and suggested as strong predictors to employee turnover in the hospitality sectors. The team and organizational factors also influence employee turnover, yet the factors on the team level may not have a significant direct impact but rather an indirect impact through the organizational or individual level. The factors of the individual level may not explain the fundamental reasons behind the turnover. Yet, it might be a more reliable predictor of employee turnover as factors on the other levels are often mediated by individual factors.
Originality/value
The article contributes to the knowledge base by articulating a wide range of updated employee turnover factors in the hospitality that brings an updated insight into employee motivational factors in the hospitality sector.
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Darshana Sedera, Sachithra Lokuge and W. Jayantha M. Perera
This paper aims to investigate whether digital connectedness between family members, attained through social media, increases the intention to travel overseas to visit family or…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate whether digital connectedness between family members, attained through social media, increases the intention to travel overseas to visit family or relatives. In the context of the education sector, this paper specifically investigates the likelihood of a family member traveling to see a family member who is currently studying in Australia, despite their regular interactions on digital social platforms.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper draws on the perspectives of earlier conceptual papers by Chacko et al. (2012) and Solnet and Hood (2008) in an effort to identify root causes and a possible solution. The context of Singapore and the international literature are also reviewed to establish theoretical and practical gaps that need to be filled.
Findings
The study finds that both “perceived media richness” of social media and communication applications and the “perceived connectedness” gained through social media and communication applications have a positive effect on the “intention to travel to the study destination.” Of the two variables measured in the study, perceived connectedness provides the strongest influence with nearly double the path coefficient as compared to the perceived media richness. Overall, an explanation of 32 per cent in one’s intention to travel provides a substantial discovery of travel intentions.
Originality/value
The role that digital social media like Facebook plays in human connectivity is not a foregone conclusion, when one could argue that digital connectivity especially enhanced by the richness of social media has the potential to replace or minimize physical relationships. Yet, this study demonstrates that such associations between the family members are in fact augmented by social media.