J. Turowskl, M. Kope&cacute and M. Turowski
At the ISEF'89 Symposium in Lodz an application of the fast reluctance network method and the computer program RNM‐3D for analysis of leakage fields and combined 3‐D screens of…
Abstract
At the ISEF'89 Symposium in Lodz an application of the fast reluctance network method and the computer program RNM‐3D for analysis of leakage fields and combined 3‐D screens of tank was presented. Now, similar effective and fast computation of stray losses in such a structure has been performed.
Chiara Amini and Silvia Dal Bianco
The purpose of this paper is to analyse the impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on firm performance in six Latin American economies. Firm performance includes five…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyse the impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on firm performance in six Latin American economies. Firm performance includes five distinct dimensions, namely, firm turnover, labour productivity, innovativeness, product differentiation and technological transfer. The countries under scrutiny are Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Mexico.
Design/methodology/approach
Propensity score matching techniques are used to identify the causal effect of CSR on firm performance. To this end, World Bank Enterprise Survey (2006 wave) is used. This data set collects relevant firm-level data.
Findings
CSR has a positive impact on the outcome variables analysed, suggesting that corporate goals are compatible with conscious business operations. The results also vary across countries.
Research limitations/implications
The pattern that emerges from the analysis seems to suggest that the positive effects of CSR depend on countries’ stage of industrialisation. In particular, the least developed the economy, the wider the scope of CSR. Nonetheless, the relationship between conscious business operations, firm performance and countries’ level of development is not directly tested in the present work.
Practical implications
The main practical implication of the study is that Latin American firms should adopt CSR. This is because corporate responsible practices either improve firm performance or they are not shown to have a detrimental effect.
Social implications
The major policy implication is that emerging countries’ governments as well as international organisation should provide meaningful incentives towards CSR adoption.
Originality/value
The paper provides three major original contributions. First, it brings new descriptive evidence on CSR practices in Latin America. Second, it uses a broader and novel definition of firm performance, which is aimed at capturing developing countries’ business dynamics as well as at overcoming data limitations. Finally, it reassesses and extends the empirical evidence on the impact of CSR on firm performance.
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Kuan‐nien Chen and Pei‐chun Lin
The aim of this paper is to determine the essential features of information literacy; what role it should play in university library user education; and how programs can be best…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to determine the essential features of information literacy; what role it should play in university library user education; and how programs can be best implemented.
Design/methodology/approach
The researchers systemically surveyed and reviewed publications related to information literacy and library user education.
Findings
It was found that a well‐designed information literacy program benefits the library and its staff, faculty, and students; librarians should play a leading role in the design and operation of programs, but collaboration with faculty, IT professionals and students is essential; programs should be embedded in the curriculum, be largely cooperative, and be problem‐based; evaluation and assessment are essential components; emphasis should be placed on first‐year students; and, ideally, the librarians will turn into educators and the library will become a learning center combining learning, research and technology.
Research limitations/implications
This paper reflects the opinions of the researchers and the authors of the reviewed literature who have insights into the issues related to information literacy and library user education. These opinions present useful guidelines for both librarian and teacher practitioners.
Originality/value
This paper provides a point of view on the relationship between information literacy and library user education in the six themes described above.
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Abstract
The complex geometrical structures, transient states and non‐linearity of the magnetic circuit of electromechanical converters are rather unfavorable for field calculation. A very small air gap width and different slot numbers of primary and secondary part of a converter cause big changes of the field gradients and thus demand a very fine discretization or even coupling different methods and formulations. Furthermore, these also cause scientists to look for the other more effective methods. In spite of these permanently growing possibilities of the software packages there still exists the need to look for more accurate methods for calculating the electromagnetic field in electromagnetic devices. In the paper, attention is focused on the transient states occuring in the power transformer. The solution of such a problem could allow engineers to estimate the power losses in tank walls and hot‐spots localization as well.
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Jill Beard and Penny Dale
To acquire academic literacy students need library buildings that take account of “what the student does”, changing learning styles and preparation for employment in a digital…
Abstract
Purpose
To acquire academic literacy students need library buildings that take account of “what the student does”, changing learning styles and preparation for employment in a digital world. Equally as academic staff develop innovative e‐learning activities, library spaces need to accommodate new learning opportunities. This paper aims to consider how the design of library buildings contributes to a complex and evolving range of academic literacies and emerging pedagogical frameworks. The paper also seeks to consider the contribution these literacies make to the experience of students reading for a degree in an increasingly digital environment.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper draws on the experience at Bournemouth University, where a higher education academy‐funded project accelerated the introduction of new technologies into learning and teaching frameworks. A new library building, The Sir Michael Cobham Library, enabled the creation of learning spaces that are flexible and responsive to the changing needs of users.
Findings
Innovative spaces and evolving pedagogies demand different levels of academic literacy to enable students to succeed in physical and digital environments.
Originality/value
This reflective review adds new dimensions to the body of knowledge underpinning both the study of learning spaces and academic literacy.
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Jonas Månsson, Ulf Elg and Karin Jonnergård
The purpose of this study is to examine whether or not gender‐related differences affect the likelihood of promotion.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine whether or not gender‐related differences affect the likelihood of promotion.
Design/methodology/approach
The research is done on a unique dataset on the Swedish audit industry, an industry with a well‐defined and well‐known career ladder. We apply an ordered probit model to take all steps in the career ladder into consideration simultaneously.
Findings
Females are on average less likely to be promoted. Separate regressions for males and females identified that the estimated promotion probability increases for males as an effect of having a child, but decreases more for males than females if males are highly involve in the care of these children. Thus, females who are involved in childcare are penalised by lower probability of promotion; however, males who are highly involved in childcare have much more to lose in terms of promotion than females do. For a family, this becomes a question of how to lose the least.
Originality/value
Having access to unique data, from a policy perspective our study gives some new insight into the uneven distribution between genders of career interruptions related to childcare.
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Mega Subramaniam, Natalie Greene Taylor, Beth St. Jean, Rebecca Follman, Christie Kodama and Dana Casciotti
The purpose of this paper is to focus on disadvantaged tweens’ (ages 11 through 13) strategies for making predictive and evaluative judgments of the credibility of health…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to focus on disadvantaged tweens’ (ages 11 through 13) strategies for making predictive and evaluative judgments of the credibility of health information online. More specifically, this paper identifies the features of Google search results pages and web sites that signal credibility (or lack thereof) to this population and the reasons behind their perceptions.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors employed an ethnographic approach (using various types of data collection methods) targeted to generate in-depth descriptions of tweens making predictive and evaluative judgments of credibility, focussing on the ways in which these tweens naturally assess the credibility of online information.
Findings
The research has yielded novel findings concerning the types of factors that influence disadvantaged tweens’ credibility assessment strategies, such as limited English-language vocabularies, lack of familiarity with perhaps otherwise well-known sources, and forced reliance on (and/or general preference for) non-textual modalities, such as audio and video.
Practical implications
The findings indicate a need for implementing digital literacy programs in a naturalized setting, building on tweens’ existing heuristics and thereby resulting in strategies that are simultaneously compatible with their natural inclinations within the online environment and likely to consistently lead them to accurate credibility-related judgments.
Originality/value
This study provides novel insights into how disadvantaged tweens interact with online health information in a natural context, and offers invaluable information regarding the ways in which credibility assessment processes should be facilitated within formal or informal digital literacy programs.
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The purpose of this paper is to provide new and deeper insight into how creative knowledge processes are facilitated in multidisciplinary groups working with innovation in…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide new and deeper insight into how creative knowledge processes are facilitated in multidisciplinary groups working with innovation in knowledge-intensive organizations.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected through an ethnographic fieldwork following two groups in a Norwegian oil and gas company and one group in a Norwegian research institute working with innovation. The analysis is inductive and conducted within a qualitative framework seeking to go deeper into the complexity of the facilitation of creative knowledge processes. The analytical framework is sociocultural and underscores how new knowledge and ideas are facilitated in the tension between different voices.
Findings
Analyses show how the leaders of the groups facilitated imaginative and creative processes through open dialog by giving room for diverse disciplinary knowledge and stimulating different roles in the groups. The diverse experiences of the occupational disciplines in addition to four complementary roles that ensured group dynamics, stimulated polyphony and creative tension in the groups. This creative tension enhanced the groups’ imagination, which again enabled innovative idea development.
Research limitations/implications
This contribution is limited by looking at three groups in two organizations. On the premise that model generalization depends on extensive empirical data, the current paper should be considered as preliminary/exploratory research that aims at investigating how creative knowledge processes leading to innovative ideas are facilitated in knowledge-intensive organizations.
Practical implications
The paper offers a practical contribution in how leaders can facilitate such creative processes leading to innovative ideas. The paper is a contribution to leadership as a relational and dialogical practice.
Originality/value
The way the creative knowledge processes are orchestrated is visualized in a phase model. The paper contributes to new conceptualizations and thus theory development of leadership by offering polyphonic orchestration as a concept and a way of understanding facilitation from a sociocultural perspective.
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Sung‐Shan Chang and Kuan‐nien Chen
The purpose of this paper is to discuss three recent changes in higher education – the addition of technology to every aspect of the curriculum, the increase in the availability…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to discuss three recent changes in higher education – the addition of technology to every aspect of the curriculum, the increase in the availability of electronic resources, and the introduction of constructivist pedagogy. In light of these changes, the authors aim to explore what university libraries and librarians should reinforce in terms of their concepts and competency and adjust the ways that they serve students.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors analyze the related literature and identified technology, electronic resources, and constructivist pedagogy that interact with the new curriculum of universities in a broader way than in the past.
Findings
The three dimensions, separately and in combination, require considerable adjustments by librarians, teachers, students, and the school/university community in general. Collaboration among all members of staff, particularly between librarians and teachers, is essential. The emerging paradigm, still firmly based in constructivist principles, recognizes that there is a need for staff guidance of students though they are expected to become increasingly independent as they progress through the system. Meanwhile, two new core competencies have emerged for university librarians: information literacy and problem‐based learning (PBL).
Originality/value
The emergence of the two competencies has reminded librarians to learn, change and grow constantly to serve PBL students effectively.
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Olivier Mesly, Jean-Pierre Lévy-Mangin, Normand Bourgault and Veronique Nabelsi
– The purpose of this paper is to look at human interdependence and its significance in project management.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to look at human interdependence and its significance in project management.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper focuses solely on human interaction in the context of a short-term project consisting of preparing a small “international” fair in Gatineau, Québec (Canada). For this purpose, an established questionnaire was used which aimed to evaluate the predator-prey dynamic between team members (as described by Mesly in a recent paper).
Findings
Human interdependence indeed plays a key role in the functioning of short-lived projects (and, this paper assumes, of long-term projects as well).
Originality/value
The paper places emphasis on considering the human power-game factor (predator-prey) more strongly in future project endeavors.