Ronan McDermott, Charlotte Luelf, Laura Hofmann and Pat Gibbons
The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive overview of the international legal framework governing urban crises arising from conflict, “natural” and technological…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive overview of the international legal framework governing urban crises arising from conflict, “natural” and technological disasters.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper deploys legal analysis to the most relevant bodies of international law pertaining to urban crises and systematically outlines the key legal issues arising.
Findings
International humanitarian law (IHL) and international human rights law (IHRL) provide important protections to vulnerable persons in both human-made and “natural” disaster settings. While the two bodies of law do not draw explicit distinctions between urban and rural settings, their various provisions, and indeed their silence on, crucial issues that would enhance legal protection in urban settings merit greater attention.
Research limitations/implications
The paper provides an overview of the sources of international law of most relevance to urban crises. Further research is required into how the urban environment influences their application concretely in urban settings.
Practical implications
In an era when international law is being challenged from many sources and attention is turning to the increasing potential for urban violence and vulnerability, this paper serves to sensitise the disaster management and humanitarian community to the relevance of international legal frameworks to its activities in urban settings.
Originality/value
This paper considers the most salient international legal issues arising during crises and compares and contrasts how the different bodies of international law (IHL and IHRL) address each of the kinds of crises (conflict, “natural” or technological disaster), respectively.
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Mariella Miraglia, Guido Alessandri and Laura Borgogni
Previous literature has recognized the variability of job performance, calling attention to the inter-individual differences in performance change. Building on Murphy’s (1989…
Abstract
Purpose
Previous literature has recognized the variability of job performance, calling attention to the inter-individual differences in performance change. Building on Murphy’s (1989) theoretical model of performance, the purpose of this paper is to verify the existence of two distinct classes of performance, reflecting stable and increasing trends, and to investigate which personal conditions prompt the inclusion of individuals in one class rather than the other.
Design/methodology/approach
Overall job performance was obtained from supervisory ratings for four consecutive years for 410 professionals of a large Italian company going through significant reorganization. Objective data were merged with employees’ organizational tenure and self-efficacy. Growth Mixture Modeling was used.
Findings
Two main groups were identified: the first one started at higher levels of performance and showed a stable trajectory over time (stable class); the second group started at lower levels and reported an increasing trajectory (increasing class). Employees’ with stronger efficacy beliefs and lower tenure were more likely to belong to the stable class.
Originality/value
Through a powerful longitudinal database, the nature, the structure and the inter-individual differences in job performance over time are clarified. The study extends Murphy’s (1989) model, showing how transition stages in job performance may occur also as a result of organizational transformation. Moreover, it demonstrates the essential role of self-efficacy in maintaining high performance levels over time.
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Laura Rocca, Davide Giacomini and Paola Zola
Because of the expansion of the internet and Web 2.0 phenomenon, new challenges are emerging in the disclosure practises adopted by organisations in the public-sector. This study…
Abstract
Purpose
Because of the expansion of the internet and Web 2.0 phenomenon, new challenges are emerging in the disclosure practises adopted by organisations in the public-sector. This study aims to examine local governments’ (LGOs) use of social media (SM) in disclosing environmental actions/plans/information as a new way to improve accountability to citizens to obtain organisational legitimacy and the related sentiment of citizens’ judgements.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper analyses the content of 39 Italian LGOs’ public pages on Facebook. After the distinction between five classes of environmental issues (air, water, energy, waste and territory), an initial study is performed to detect possible sub-topics applying latent Dirichlet allocation. Having a list of posts related to specific environmental themes, the researchers computed the sentiment of citizens’ comments. To measure sentiment, two different approaches were implemented: one based on a lexicon dictionary and the other based on convolutional neural networks.
Findings
Facebook is used by LGOs to disclose environmental issues, focussing on their main interest in obtaining organisational legitimacy, and the analysis shows an increasing impact of Web 2.0 in the direct interaction of LGOs with citizens. On the other hand, there is a clear divergence of interest on environmental topics between LGOs and citizens in a dialogic accountability framework.
Practical implications
Sentiment analysis (SA) could be used by politicians, but also by managers/entrepreneurs in the business sector, to analyse stakeholders’ judgements of their communications/actions and plans on corporate social responsibility. This tool gives a result on time (i.e. not months or years after, as for the reporting system). It is cheaper than a survey and allows a first “photograph” of stakeholders’ sentiment. It can also be a useful tool for supporting, developing and improving environmental reporting.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is one of the first to apply SA to environmental disclosure via SM in the public sphere. The study links modern techniques in natural language processing and machine learning with the important aspects of environmental communication between LGOs and citizens.
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This paper aims to provide a selection of poetry titles from the Poets House Showcase of 2005.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to provide a selection of poetry titles from the Poets House Showcase of 2005.
Design/methodology/approach
This article gives a review of the 2005 Poetry Publication Showcase.
Findings
This review represents a wide‐ranging selection of contemporary poetry collections and anthologies.
Originality/value
This list documents the tremendous range of poetry publishing from commercial, independent and university presses as well as letterpress chapbooks, art books and CDs in 2004 and early 2005.
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Laura Jane Hancox, David M. Gresswell and Danielle De Boos
This paper aims to address how one Doctorate in Clinical Psychology (DClinPsy) programme contributes to the shaping of attitudes of its trainee clinical psychologists (TCPs…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to address how one Doctorate in Clinical Psychology (DClinPsy) programme contributes to the shaping of attitudes of its trainee clinical psychologists (TCPs) towards cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT).
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 28 TCPs completed an online, mixed-methods questionnaire relating to their attitudes towards CBT, what factors had influenced their attitude and how competent they felt in applying CBT to clinical practice.
Findings
The majority of respondents reported a positive attitude towards CBT. There was a statistically significant positive change at an individual level in TCPs’ views of CBT between the point at which they applied for the DClinPsy and the present day. Thematic analysis of qualitative data identified influential factors on the development of TCP attitudes towards CBT. The vast majority of TCPs reported that they felt competent applying CBT in their clinical practice.
Research limitations/implications
Overall, the DClinPsy has a positive effect on TCPs’ attitudes towards CBT. However, the influence of placements has a more mixed effect on attitudes. A small sample size reduced the reliability of these conclusions. Recommendations for further evaluation have been made.
Originality/value
This paper evaluates the effect of a DClinPsy programme on TCPs’ attitudes towards CBT. The value is that it establishes which components of the course have different effects on trainee attitudes.
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Guliz Coskun, Laura W. Jodice and DeWayne Moore
Through application of multi-level structural equation modeling as the data analysis technique, the purpose of this paper is to analyze the group-level impacts on a couple’s food…
Abstract
Purpose
Through application of multi-level structural equation modeling as the data analysis technique, the purpose of this paper is to analyze the group-level impacts on a couple’s food choices during travel at a coastal destination.
Design/methodology/approach
Researchers obtained 380 individual questionnaires from 190 mixed gender couples (who eat oysters) in Charleston and Beaufort County, South Carolina, USA. Data were collected from both members of the couple during their vacation. Due to missing data and normality issues 5 couples and 30 individuals were eliminated. The remaining data were analyzed with SPSS 21 and EQS 6.2 with advanced confirmatory factor analysis and multi-level (ML) regression techniques.
Findings
The study results indicated that while women have a more negative attitude than men toward oysters, their intention to eat oysters during vacation is not different from their partner. By detecting the interdependency of responses of individuals within a couple, this study revealed that a ML approach is a more powerful way to understand the decision-making process of couples. Additionally the difference in the results of single- and ML models showed that the latter approach lowers the chance of Type 2 error and provides more accurate results.
Originality/value
In tourism decision-making literature, the focus has been mostly on the individual despite the collectivistic nature of tourism activity. The current study is the first to analyze a couple’s decision-making process at the group level. Furthermore by collecting data from both members of the group during their vacation, this study has distinguished itself from previous studies.
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Salvatore Capasso, Oreste Napolitano and Ana Laura Viveros Jiménez
The idea of this study is to provide a solid Financial Condition Index (FCI) that allows the monetary transmission policy to be monitored in a country which in recent decades has…
Abstract
Purpose
The idea of this study is to provide a solid Financial Condition Index (FCI) that allows the monetary transmission policy to be monitored in a country which in recent decades has suffered from major financial and monetary crises.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors construct three FCIs for Mexico to analyse the role of financial asset prices in formulating monetary policy under an inflation-targeting regime. Using monthly data from 1995 to 2017, the authors estimate FCIs with two different methodologies and build the index by taking into account the mechanism of transmission of monetary policy and incorporating the most relevant financial variables.
Findings
This study’s results show that, likewise for developing countries as Mexico, an FCI could be a useful tool for managing monetary policy in reducing macroeconomic fluctuations.
Originality/value
Apart from building a predictor of possible financial stress, the authors construct an FCI for a central bank that pursues inflation targeting and to analyse the role of financial asset prices in formulating monetary policy.
Highlights
We construct three FCIs for Mexico to analyse the role of financial asset prices in formulating monetary policy under an inflation-targeting regime.
The FCIs are based on (1) a vector autoregression model (VAR); (2) an autoregressive distributed lag model (ARDL) and (3) a factor-augmented vector autoregression model (FAVAR).
FCI could become a new target for monetary policy within a hybrid inflation-targeting framework.
FCI could be a good tool for managing monetary policy in developing countries with a low-inflation environment.
We construct three FCIs for Mexico to analyse the role of financial asset prices in formulating monetary policy under an inflation-targeting regime.
The FCIs are based on (1) a vector autoregression model (VAR); (2) an autoregressive distributed lag model (ARDL) and (3) a factor-augmented vector autoregression model (FAVAR).
FCI could become a new target for monetary policy within a hybrid inflation-targeting framework.
FCI could be a good tool for managing monetary policy in developing countries with a low-inflation environment.
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Tikka Rachael, Laura Blackhall, Claire Jones and Annette Law
Group‐based psycho‐educational interventions offer a cost‐effective solution to meeting the very high level of demand for psychological services in primary care. This qualitative…
Abstract
Group‐based psycho‐educational interventions offer a cost‐effective solution to meeting the very high level of demand for psychological services in primary care. This qualitative study investigated reasons for dropout from an established psychoeducational course programme in Swindon and Wiltshire. Ninety people were followed up by telephone who had attended at least one session of a course over a three‐month period. Reasons stated for dropout were more often related to personal circumstances such as other commitments and ill health (75%), than to dissatisfaction with the courses (25%). It is concluded that providing group‐based interventions for common mental health problems is acceptable to patients in primary care and that service development should focus on making such interventions flexible and accessible to patients.
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Deirdre McCaughey, Jonathon R. B. Halbesleben, Grant T. Savage, Tony Simons and Gwen E. McGhan
Hospitals within the United States consistently have injury rates that are over twice the national employee injury rate. Hospital safety studies typically investigate care…
Abstract
Purpose
Hospitals within the United States consistently have injury rates that are over twice the national employee injury rate. Hospital safety studies typically investigate care providers rather than support service employees. Compounding the lack of evidence for this understudied population is the scant evidence that is available to examine the relationship of support service employees’ perceptions of safety and work-related injuries. To examine this phenomenon, the purpose of this study was to investigate support service employees’ perceptions of safety leadership and social support as well as the relationship of safety perception to levels of reported injuries.
Design/methodology/approach
A nonexperimental survey was conducted with the data collected from hospital support service employees (n=1,272) and examined: (1) relationships between safety leadership (supervisor and organization) and individual and unit safety perceptions; (2) the moderating effect of social support (supervisor and coworker) on individual and unit safety perceptions; and (3) the relationship of safety perception to reported injury rates. The survey items in this study were based on the items from the AHRQ Patient Safety Culture Survey and the U.S. National Health Care Surveys.
Findings
Safety leadership (supervisor and organization) was found to be positively related to individual safety perceptions and unit safety grade as was supervisor and coworker support. Coworker support was found to positively moderate the following relationships: supervisor safety leadership and safety perceptions, supervisor safety leadership and unit safety grade, and senior management safety leadership and safety perceptions. Positive employee safety perceptions were found to have a significant relationship with lower reported injury rates.
Value/originality
These findings suggest that safety leadership from supervisors and senior management as well as coworker support has positive implications for support service employees’ perceptions of safety, which, in turn, are negatively related to lower odds of reporting injuries.
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Pablo Zoghbi-Manrique-de-Lara, Laura Romero-Domínguez and Upasna A. Agarwal
The current challenges to traditional business practices increasingly involve spirituality. However, existing literature on spiritual leadership (SL) has not been used to date for…
Abstract
Purpose
The current challenges to traditional business practices increasingly involve spirituality. However, existing literature on spiritual leadership (SL) has not been used to date for obtaining a better understanding of why and how knowledge sharing (KS) occurs in organisations, particularly from the perspective of social dilemmas and work compassion. This paper aims to examine whether SL, through fostering experiences of compassion at work, leads followers to share knowledge prosocially in the workplace.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conceptualise KS action as the result of a social dilemma whereby followers decide to share knowledge rather than selfishly succumb to the temptation to withhold it for short-term gain. The authors hypothesise that SL cultivates experiences of compassion at work, which acts as a mediator that explains how and why SL encourages KS. The authors propose a model that includes a unique higher-order construct of SL assessed using Fry’s 17-item scale. Data were collected from a sample of 384 leaders and their followers from 14 manufacturing and service companies in India and analysed using structural equation modelling.
Findings
The results revealed significant relationships between SL, KS and compassion at work. Notably, compassion mediated the relationship between SL and KS. Findings suggest that SL encourages employees to engage KS, cultivating a compassionate work environment. This discourages them from succumbing to the selfish, individualistic or uncooperative temptations to withhold knowledge for short-term benefits.
Originality/value
This study demonstrates a novel relationship between SL and compassion, as well as a relationship between SL and prosocial KS in which compassion at work acts as a mediator.