Lindsey Morse, Mark Trompet, Alexander Barron, Richard Anderson and Daniel J. Graham
This paper describes a benchmarking framework applied to medium-sized urban public bus agencies in the United States, which has overcome the challenges of data quality…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper describes a benchmarking framework applied to medium-sized urban public bus agencies in the United States, which has overcome the challenges of data quality, comparability, and understanding.
Design/methodology/approach
The benchmarking methodology described in this paper is based on lessons learned through seven years of development of a fixed-route key performance indicator (KPI) system for the American Bus Benchmarking Group (ABBG). Founded in 2011, the ABBG is a group of public medium-sized urban bus agencies that compare performance and share best practices with peers throughout the United States. The methodology is adapted from the process used within international benchmarking groups facilitated by Imperial College and consists of four main elements: peer selection, KPI system development, processes to achieve high-quality data, and processes to understand relative performance and change.
Findings
The four main elements of the ABBG benchmarking methodology consist of 18 subelements, which when applied overcome three main benchmarking challenges: comparability, data quality, and understanding. While serving as examples for the methodology elements, the paper provides specific insights into service characteristics and performance among ABBG agencies.
Research limitations/implications
The benchmarking approach described in this paper requires time and commitment and thus is most suitably applied to a concise group of agencies.
Practical implications
This methodology provides transit agencies, authorities, and benchmarking practitioners a framework for effective benchmarking. It will lead to high-quality comparable data and a strong understanding of the performance context to serve as a basis for organizational changes, whether for policy, planning, operations, stakeholder communication, or program development.
Originality/value
The methodology, while consistent with recommendations from literature, is unique in its scale, in-depth validation and analysis, and holistic and multidimensional approach.
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Donna J. Biederman, Tracy R. Nichols and Elizabeth W. Lindsey
– The purpose of this paper is to examine homeless women's interactions with service providers and the degree to which these interactions are perceived as social support.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine homeless women's interactions with service providers and the degree to which these interactions are perceived as social support.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a phenomenological approach, in-depth semistructured interviews were conducted with 15 homeless women recruited through a drop-in day shelter and a winter emergency shelter.
Findings
Analysis revealed being “cared for” was experienced within service provider encounters and is commensurate with widely recognized sub-categories of received social support. Participants expressed expanded definitions of service providers and made clear distinctions between routine support expected from a provider and received social support, or being “cared for” by providers.
Research limitations/implications
Studies with homeless persons that exclude service providers as a potential source of social support for homeless women or impose predetermined definitions of service provision may not be capturing the full range of participant encounters, relationships, networks, and experiences.
Practical implications
Widely used social support measures could serve as a guide for creating education programs for persons who work with homeless people including: professional service providers, students likely to become service providers, paraprofessionals, nonprofessionals, and volunteers.
Originality/value
Homeless women's voices have been added to the debate regarding whether social support is within the realm of service provision.
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Mingang K. Geiger and Lily Morse
In this chapter, we seek to bring greater attention to language-based stigma at work and how it affects employees speaking English as their second language. We integrate research…
Abstract
In this chapter, we seek to bring greater attention to language-based stigma at work and how it affects employees speaking English as their second language. We integrate research findings across multiple disciplines, including management, psychology, linguistics, education, and business ethics, identifying three major themes and knowledge gaps in this research domain. Based on the multidisciplinary knowledge integration, we suggest six promising future directions for organizational and business ethics scholars to pursue. We call for more empirical research focusing on how language-based stigma may harm nonnative English speakers (NNESs) with and without actual mistreatment or discrimination at work and how organizations may intervene to support NNESs. We hope our chapter will spark conducive conversations about mitigating language-based stigma in the workplace.
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Kevan W. Lamm, Nekeisha L. Randall, Alexa J. Lamm and Hannah S. Carter
Policy leadership infiltrates the lives of citizens everywhere. Though this type of leadership is implicit and ubiquitous, a theoretically-based model specifically intended for…
Abstract
Policy leadership infiltrates the lives of citizens everywhere. Though this type of leadership is implicit and ubiquitous, a theoretically-based model specifically intended for policy leaders is not readily available in academic literature. This article serves to address this gap by proposing a conceptual model of the policy leadership framework. The model expounds upon previous literature and identifies 16 areas vital to the policy process. Implications of the model relate to equipping leadership educators in the classroom and in the community with enhanced policy leadership research and curriculum.
Asim K. Karmakar and Sebak K. Jana
Trade war among the nations dates back mainly to the nineteenth century. Some of the trade wars may be cited as (i) The First and Second Opium War Empire between 1839 and 1842;…
Abstract
Trade war among the nations dates back mainly to the nineteenth century. Some of the trade wars may be cited as (i) The First and Second Opium War Empire between 1839 and 1842; (ii) The Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, 1930 signed by US President Herbert Hoover; (iii) Chicken wars in the early 1960s; (iv) The US–Japan automobile trade war in the 1980s; (v) 1985 Pasta War between America under the Regan Administration of United States and Europe; (vi) The Banana wars. However, trade becomes more intense in the present century with the increase of the economic trade instruments. Under the Obama Administration, currency war and tariff war both became strong between the United States and China with intense effect over the globe. After the Obama regime, came Donald John Trump with a number of controversial (aggressive) trade protectionism plans saying thereby “China’s accession to the World Trade Organization has enabled the greatest jobs theft in history” and “Trillions of our dollars and millions of our jobs flowed overseas as a result.” Even during the COVID-19 period in the 2020s, threats and counter-threats have been on the ascend. It is in this backdrop the present chapter mainly traces the history of trade wars in the twenty-first century, touching upon the nineteenth and twentieth century trade battles.
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Richard A. Bernardi, Meredith B. Larkin, Lyndsey A. LaBontee, Rebecca A. Lapierre and Nathalie C. Morse
This study surveyed 309 business students (180 men and 129 women) enrolled in introductory accounting and business law classes on various aspects of honesty in academics. The…
Abstract
This study surveyed 309 business students (180 men and 129 women) enrolled in introductory accounting and business law classes on various aspects of honesty in academics. The study was motivated by the need to examine the underlying issues associated with students’ perceptions of cheating and whistle-blowing. An increased understanding of these perceptions would be insightful to professors as well as administrators. The study examines students’ reasons on whether they should whistle-blow and whether their reasons associate with their intentions to whistle-blow if they observe cheating. When examining a student's intent to whistle-blow, we considered the student's prior cheating behavior, gender, social desirability response bias, intentions to cheat in the future, reasons not to whistle-blow, and prior whistle-blowing. Our data extends prior research by considering the reasons students choose not to whistle-blow. Our research indicates that the number of reasons not to whistle-blow and having observed other students cheating reduced the likelihood of a student whistle-blowing, after controlling for social desirability response bias. The research indicates that to prevent unethical behavior in the future, institutions need to enforce consequences for those who cheat because unethical behavior at the academic level associates with unethical behavior in the corporate setting.