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1 – 10 of 16Samina M. Saifuddin, Lorraine S. Dyke and Maria Rasouli
The goals of this study were to examine the utility of social cognitive career theory in a South Asian context, extend SCCT beyond its individualistic roots to include social and…
Abstract
Purpose
The goals of this study were to examine the utility of social cognitive career theory in a South Asian context, extend SCCT beyond its individualistic roots to include social and contextual variables, and explore the possible differential validity of SCCT predictors for men and women.
Design/methodology/approach
The study involved an in‐class survey of Bangladeshi undergraduate engineering students including 209 women and 640 men.
Findings
Despite stronger relationships between persistence and two predictors – social aspirations and self‐efficacy – for men, self‐efficacy, the core construct of SCCT, was the most important predictor of persistence for both women and men thus supporting the applicability of SCCT in non‐Western contexts.
Research limitations/implications
Several new measures were developed for this study which provide a basis for future research but will require further validation. The results demonstrated the applicability of SCCT in a non‐Western context but the amount of variance explained was modest. Thus, additional research into context‐specific factors affecting persistence is warranted.
Practical implications
The results suggest that interventions intended to enhance the participation of women in non‐traditional fields such as engineering should focus on enhancing self‐efficacy, potentially through creating a more supportive learning environment.
Originality/value
The current study is one of the first to assess the applicability of SCCT in a non‐Western context and to examine the differential validity of SCCT predictors for women and men.
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Vinita P. Ambwani, Louise Heslop and Lorraine S. Dyke
The purpose of this paper is to identify and explain barriers to differentiation for minority focused advertising agencies and propose modification to the existing framework of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify and explain barriers to differentiation for minority focused advertising agencies and propose modification to the existing framework of agency selection process.
Design/methodology/approach
Multiple semi‐structured, in‐depth interviews were conducted with key industry personnel. The data from these were augmented with proprietary research conducted by the relevant organizations and extensive review of the literature.
Findings
Few advertising agencies differentiate themselves by specializing in campaigns targeting minority populations. Several barriers to differentiation exist which can be explained using Institutional Theory and Economic Detour Theory. Rational Goal model and the Learning and Effectiveness Paradigm of diversity are used to suggest modification to current approaches.
Research limitations/implications
Future studies should test the validity of the proposed framework.
Practical implications
The proposed framework for agency selection will lead to differentiation opportunities for advertising agencies and potential business for clients.
Originality/value
The paper identifies the theoretical drivers of the barriers that exist for minority focused advertising agencies. The modified framework proposed uses theoretical rationale to addresses these barriers.
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Samina M. Saifuddin, Lorraine Dyke and Md. Sajjad Hossain
This study aims to identify women professionals' strategies to persist in the male-dominated technology industry situated in the Bangladeshi socio-cultural context.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to identify women professionals' strategies to persist in the male-dominated technology industry situated in the Bangladeshi socio-cultural context.
Design/methodology/approach
In-depth interviews with women tech professionals were conducted to identify and explore the strategies. Thematic coding was used for data analysis.
Findings
The findings suggest that the complex interplay of macro-, meso- and micro-factors pushes women to defy societal and gender norms in their choice and persistence, yet they simultaneously conform to these norms. By simultaneous expressions of doing and undoing gender, these women dealt with hierarchies and inequalities, navigated masculinized industry and empowered themselves within a patriarchal culture. The strategies effectively allowed them to demonstrate agency and persist in tech occupations.
Research limitations/implications
The study participants were women and recruited using snowball sampling. Future research could benefit from recruiting a larger, more varied sample using random sampling.
Practical implications
The study can inform teaching and policy initiatives to increase women's representation in tech sectors through awareness campaigns, policy interventions and counseling.
Originality/value
The research extends the doing and undoing framework by integrating the relational perspective to explain women's agency and resilience situated in a patriarchal context. The paper focuses on women's micro-individual strategies to navigate macro- and meso-level forces. Moreover, Bangladesh is an under-researched context, and findings from the study can help design potential intervention strategies to increase women's participation.
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Samina Saifuddin, Lorraine Dyke and Md Sajjad Hossain
The purpose of this paper is to create a nuanced understanding of the barriers women high-tech professionals face in Bangladesh. The main aim is to identify the extent to which…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to create a nuanced understanding of the barriers women high-tech professionals face in Bangladesh. The main aim is to identify the extent to which these barriers are common across different contexts and to explore the barriers that are unique and situated in the local socio-cultural context.
Design/methodology/approach
In-depth interviews with high-tech professionals were conducted to identify and explore the barriers.
Findings
Although some of the barriers are common across different contexts, most of the barriers women professionals face arise due to the interaction between situated socio-cultural practices and gender. The dynamics of socio-cultural and patriarchal norms reinforce gender biases and gendered practices that afford men with greater control over resources and systematically limit women’s access to opportunities.
Research limitations/implications
The study recruited 35 participants using snowball sampling. From a methodological perspective, future research could benefit from recruiting a larger, more varied sample using random sampling.
Practical implications
Women experience barriers due to both internal organizational features and external contextual barriers. The findings suggest that some of these barriers can be removed through governmental and organizational policies and through appropriate intervention strategies delivered in partnership with governmental and non-governmental organizations.
Originality/value
The study makes a unique contribution by using a macro-social lens to analyze the meso-organizational practices and micro-individual phenomena thereby providing a holistic view of the barriers faced by women professionals in Bangladesh.
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Aareni Uruthirapathy and Lorraine Dyke
General causality orientation is a mini-theory within the self-determination theory (STD). The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of general causality orientations…
Abstract
Purpose
General causality orientation is a mini-theory within the self-determination theory (STD). The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of general causality orientations (autonomous, controlled, and impersonal) on perceived stress and self-esteem among students in a women-only college.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected through a questionnaire administered to students (n = 132) of a small women-only university in Roanoke, Virginia, USA. The survey included questions on the three general causality orientations, perceived stress, and self-esteem; the survey also included questions on student satisfaction, financial resources, and academic performance, used as control variables in the study.
Findings
Autonomous orientation was not significantly related to self-esteem or perceived stress. Controlled orientation negatively influences self-depreciation. Finally, impersonal orientation positively influenced self-depreciation and negatively affected self-confidence.
Practical implications
Faculty and administrators in women-only universities should be encouraged to implement programs that strengthen the sense of optimism among female students. Student support services that emphasize enhancing autonomous orientation could be even more helpful by offering interventions that help students overcome their impersonal orientation.
Originality/value
While previous studies have concentrated on autonomous orientation, this study provides recommendations for overcoming impersonal orientation among female undergraduate students in women-only colleges to enhance self-esteem and reduce stress.
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The purpose of this paper is to present how in a virtual setting a cooperating group of individuals could transform their tacit knowledge, and what is the necessary infrastructure…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present how in a virtual setting a cooperating group of individuals could transform their tacit knowledge, and what is the necessary infrastructure needed for such transformation.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper highlights the different perspectives on knowledge as well as its classification and perception by researcher's to‐date. It also examines current theoretical questions of knowledge management and knowledge transformation. Opinions and ideas are introduced as the easier parts of tacit knowledge that can be transformed into explicit form. The paper also introduces a knowledge management definition, which presents three phases for managing knowledge among virtually cooperating group members.
Findings
The paper has the following items as vital for knowledge transformation among virtual group members: a definition for knowledge management among group members; adoption of classification of knowledge as explicit, embodied, and not‐yet‐embodied (Scharmer); and opinions and ideas as the parts of tacit knowledge which could be easily transformed.
Originality/value
Knowledge management and knowledge transformation have been addressed in the literature at the organizational level. The paper addresses these issues from a group level and introduces definition, concepts, and ideas that form the backbone of such management and transformation. The points raised are expected to be of interest to researchers working on knowledge management and transformation among virtually cooperating group members.
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Larry W. Isaac, Daniel B. Cornfield and Dennis C. Dickerson
Knowledge of how social movements move, diffuse, and expand collective action events is central to movement scholarship and activist practice. Our purpose is to extend…
Abstract
Knowledge of how social movements move, diffuse, and expand collective action events is central to movement scholarship and activist practice. Our purpose is to extend sociological knowledge about how movements (sometimes) diffuse and amplify insurgent actions, that is, how movements move. We extend movement diffusion theory by drawing a conceptual analogue with military theory and practice applied to the case of the organized and highly disciplined nonviolent Nashville civil rights movement in the late 1950s and early 1960s. We emphasize emplacement in a base-mission extension model whereby a movement base is built in a community establishing a social movement school for inculcating discipline and performative training in cadre who engage in insurgent operations extended from that base to outlying events and campaigns. Our data are drawn from secondary sources and semi-structured interviews conducted with participants of the Nashville civil rights movement. The analytic strategy employs a variant of the “extended case method,” where extension is constituted by movement agents following paths from base to outlying campaigns or events. Evidence shows that the Nashville movement established an exemplary local movement base that led to important changes in that city but also spawned traveling movement cadre who moved movement actions in an extensive series of pathways linking the Nashville base to events and campaigns across the southern theater of the civil rights movement. We conclude with theoretical and practical implications.
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The aim of this paper is to provide an advanced understanding of the dynamics of a scholarly career.
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to provide an advanced understanding of the dynamics of a scholarly career.
Design/methodology/approach
An assemblage of a theoretic lens was adopted to help make sense of how the focal scholar came to have certain capacities and characteristics and how these evolved over time.
Findings
The critical determinants of the capacities of this scholar have arisen from intersections with the institutions she has been a part of and individuals with whom she has been privileged to interact.
Originality/value
This paper is the first to adapt an assemblage theoretic lens to make sense of a professional’s career accomplishments and trajectory and to draw inferences for career management from this perspective.
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