Sybille Sachs, Marc Maurer, Edwin Rühli and Reto Hoffmann
The purpose of this research is to show how corporate social responsibility (CSR) is actually implemented and managed in business practice by a mobile communications provider in…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this research is to show how corporate social responsibility (CSR) is actually implemented and managed in business practice by a mobile communications provider in Switzerland. Based on this presentation the paper aims to analyze whether this implementation in the firm is consistent or not, to the responsibilities derived from the stakeholder view framework as it has been proposed by Post et al. (2002).
Design/methodology/approach
The goal of this investigation is twofold. From a theoretical perspective, the paper aims to find out if the stakeholder view framework is a suitable tool to assess a firm's practical efforts in the area of CSR. And from a practitioners perspective, the application of the stakeholder view framework may help in identifying “blind spots” whereby closing them could increase the firm's effectiveness concerning the implementation of their specific corporate responsibility.
Findings
Because of the empirical findings it is concluded that the application of the stakeholder responsibility framework yields interesting insights into how corporate responsibilities are managed from a stakeholder perspective.
Originality/value
The paper ends by suggesting several recommendations for the further CSR implementation of the company analyzed and for business practice in general.
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The purpose of this paper is to explore how the principles of universal design can be implemented by faculty and course designers to help give all learners access to equivalent…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore how the principles of universal design can be implemented by faculty and course designers to help give all learners access to equivalent information. It describes how information communication technologies can create barriers to information access, particularly when course content is rich in multimedia, but also how such technologies can be utilized to creates bridges to accessible content through designing for accessibility from the outset.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper offers a brief review of current international guidelines and US legislation related to information communication technologies in higher education. It documents the challenge of meeting these best practices and legal mandates, as evidenced by recent legal cases in the USA resulting from inaccessible course content in higher education. Finally, it describes how universal design can enhance accessibility for individuals with visual, hearing, motor, and cognitive impairments and provides concrete suggestions for making content more accessible to all learners, not just those with disabilities.
Findings
Given the challenges of creating accessible content that provides equivalent information to all learners, faculty and course designers can implement the principles of Universal Design to enhance the learning environment for all students and ensure they are in compliance with guidelines and regulations. Such compliance is facilitated by emerging standards for accessible content and emerging technologies for making content accessible to all without the need for special accommodations.
Originality/value
This paper focusses on concrete approaches to achieving accessibility in higher education, a matter of increasing concern for moral reasons (it is the right thing to do) and for legal reasons given recent lawsuits.
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Sevim McCutcheon, Michael Kreyche, Margaret Beecher Maurer and Joshua Nickerson
This paper aims to describe work at Kent State University Libraries and Media Services to promote and devise electronic thesis and dissertation (ETD) storage at OhioLINK's ETD…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to describe work at Kent State University Libraries and Media Services to promote and devise electronic thesis and dissertation (ETD) storage at OhioLINK's ETD Center, to find efficient methods to represent these unique scholarly materials within the library's catalog, and to foster the establishment of state‐wide library catalog standards for ETDs.
Design/methodology/approach
A semi‐automated process has been devised that extracts student‐supplied metadata already available in the OhioLINK ETD Center to provide almost instantaneous access to unique resources through the library catalog. A Perl program uses the OAI‐PMH protocol to extract metadata, modifies and enhances the data, and inserts it into the Innovative Interfaces, Inc. catalog. Significant effort was made to map the data from ETD‐MS to MARC. Catalogers retrieve records for completion and contribute full bibliographic records to OCLC WorldCat in addition to the local and consortium catalogs.
Findings
The process successfully produces a provisional bibliographic record that is useful immediately for resource discovery and that can serve as the basis for full cataloging.
Practical implications
This research provides libraries with a method they can adapt locally to provide provisional level access, full level access, or both, to unique scholarly research.
Originality/value
This research broke new ground regarding the use of a software agent to repurpose metadata in library catalogs. It also impacted national cataloging standards for ETDs.
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Jos M.A.F. Sanders, Marc A.W. Damen and Karen Van Dam
Based on the theory of planned behaviour and social learning theory, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of training participation and learning experience on…
Abstract
Purpose
Based on the theory of planned behaviour and social learning theory, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of training participation and learning experience on the beliefs of low-educated employees about their self-efficacy for learning.
Design/methodology/approach
Low-educated workers of three different organizations (n=359) filled out a questionnaire at three different points in time, with a half-yearly interval. Regression analyses were used to establish the effects of training participation and learning experience on learning self-efficacy.
Findings
Training participation alone did not affect low-educated workers’ learning self-efficacy, but a positive learning experience did contribute to workers’ post-training learning self-efficacy. These results support the relevance of positive learning experiences.
Research limitations/implications
Follow-up studies could focus on the effects of learning self-efficacy for subsequent learning activities, establish which aspects of training contribute to a positive learning experience, and include contextual characteristics that may predict learning self-efficacy.
Practical implications
To stimulate learning among lower educated workers, it is necessary that they have confidence in their ability to successfully complete their training. Trainers and training developers working for this specific target group of lower educated workers should aim to provide training that is a positive experience, besides being a learning exercise.
Originality/value
The study is the first to analyse the longitudinal effects of training participation and learning experience on post-training learning self-efficacy among low-educated workers.
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Marc van Veldhoven and Luc Dorenbosch
The purpose of this study is to shed more light on the role of employee proactivity (self‐starting, action‐orientated behaviours aimed at greater organisational effectiveness) in…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to shed more light on the role of employee proactivity (self‐starting, action‐orientated behaviours aimed at greater organisational effectiveness) in relation to aging and career development. It aims to do this in two ways. First, by investigating how age and HR practices for development initiated by the organisation influence proactivity. Here, proactivity it seeks to study as a career‐relevant outcome. Second, by examining how age, proactivity and HR practices for development influence employee experiences of career opportunities. Here, it aims to use proactivity as career‐relevant predictor.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 619 employees from 47 departments completed a questionnaire, including two scales on proactivity (on‐the‐job and developmental proactivity) as well as a scale on career opportunities. HR and line managers in these departments were interviewed about HR practices directed at career development of the employees. The data combine information from two levels (employee, department) as well as three different sources (employee, line manager, HR manager), and are analysed using multi‐level analysis.
Findings
First, the paper presents the results on proactivity as an outcome: age is positively related to proactivity on‐the‐job but has no association with proactivity towards development. HR practices targeted at career development are positively associated with both types of proactivity. Second, the results on proactivity as a predictor show that career opportunities have a negative association with age, a positive association with proactivity, and a positive association with career development‐orientated HR practices. An additional negative effect on career opportunities is found for the cross‐level interaction between HR practices and age.
Originality/value
This study is original as it combines individual, psychological, and HR perspectives in researching age‐related career issues. It contributes to the literature by showing that age has no negative, but rather a positive impact on proactivity. Proactivity furthermore is sensitive to HR practices for development, implying that organisations can influence the proactivity of their employees. For older employees the study implies that, although organisations tend to offer them fewer HR practices for development, they can offset this disadvantage to some extent by increased proactivity, and thus retain career opportunities.
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Tanya Bondarouk, Eline Marsman and Marc Rekers
The goal of this chapter is to explore the requirements modern companies expect of HR professionals’ competences.
Abstract
Purpose
The goal of this chapter is to explore the requirements modern companies expect of HR professionals’ competences.
Design/Methodology/Approach
Departing from the widely acknowledged HR competence studies of Ulrich and associates, we extended them with the continuous learning competence profile and HR professionals’ individual job performance. The empirical study is built on open interviews with HR leaders of ten large Dutch companies.
Findings
The study offers a new set of HRM competences. This set includes six HRM profiles: Business Focus, Learning Focus, Strategic Focus, HR Technology, HR Delivery, and Personal Credibility. Several contingency factors are thought to play a role in supporting these HRM competences: company culture, strategy, size, sector, scope, and position of HR professionals.
Practical Implications
Based on these contributions, we recommended conducting a quantitative study to gain understanding of the relevance of the individual HRM job performance and to find associations between the HRM competences and the individual HRM job performance.
Originality/Value
The focus of this chapter is a combination of HRM competences and the individual job performance of HR professionals.
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Xiaocan (Lucy) Wang, Natalie Bulick and Valentine Muyumba
The purpose of this paper is to describe the Electronic Theses and Dissertations program implemented and managed by the Indiana State University since 2009. The paper illustrates…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to describe the Electronic Theses and Dissertations program implemented and managed by the Indiana State University since 2009. The paper illustrates issues relating to the background, policies, platform, workflow and cataloging, as well as the publication and preservation of graduate scholarship.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors examined many aspects of the Electronic Theses and Dissertations program and addressed issues dealt before, during and after the publication of the electronic theses and dissertations collection. The approaches the authors utilized are literature review and personal management experience from working on the program.
Findings
Implementing an Electronic Theses and Dissertations program involves providing a series of management services. These services include developing relevant policies, implementing an archiving and publication platform and creating submission and publishing workflows, as well as cataloging, disseminating and preserving the student collection. Openly publishing the collection through a range of access points significantly increases its visibility and accessibility. Adopting several archival and preservation strategies ensures the long-term readiness of the collection.
Originality/value
This paper will provide useful practices for implementing an ETD program to those institutions new to the ETD initiative process. It also contributes to the current body of literature and to the overall improvement of ETD programs globally.
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Anastasiia Lynnyk, Andrea Fischbach and Marc Lepach
Leaders lack essential information about their performance from their followers. In light of the frequently encountered error avoidance climate in the police, leaders should…
Abstract
Purpose
Leaders lack essential information about their performance from their followers. In light of the frequently encountered error avoidance climate in the police, leaders should actively seek feedback to fill this gap. The purpose of this paper is to explore organizational, personal and situational antecedents of police leaders' daily feedback-seeking behavior.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors used a diary study and examined error-management climate, feedback orientation and two situational characteristics, namely daily occasions for feedback-seeking and daily time pressure. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to analyze the N = 188 daily entries from 27 leaders (minimum of three daily entries per leader).
Findings
Results show that police leaders seldom seek daily feedback from their followers. A positive (i.e. learning-oriented) error-management climate and occasions for feedback-seeking foster leaders' daily feedback-seeking, whereas no main effects of feedback orientation and time pressure were found. However, time pressure moderated the relationship between occasions for feedback-seeking and daily feedback-seeking, with higher time pressure leading to a weaker relationship.
Originality/value
This is the first study empirically examining feedback-seeking as a key leadership behavior on a daily basis. The results show that organizational conditions promote leaders' feedback-seeking behavior and indicate organizations should foster an error-management climate to promote feedback-seeking of their leaders.
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Celine Berard and Marc Fréchet
Scholars have recognized that formal hierarchical structures and slack resources are at the core of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) attainment of ambidexterity…
Abstract
Purpose
Scholars have recognized that formal hierarchical structures and slack resources are at the core of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) attainment of ambidexterity. Surprisingly, few studies on SMEs have analyzed the extent to which these structural and resource attributes are associated with exploration and exploitation. This study aims to examine how two structural attributes, formalization and structural empowerment, and two resource attributes, financial slack and human resource slack, affect exploration and exploitation in SMEs.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were gathered from a survey administered to the chief executive officers of 522 French SMEs. The research hypotheses were then tested using seemingly unrelated regressions to investigate the contrasts between the two components of ambidexterity.
Findings
The results show that structural empowerment and financial slack may be conducive to exploration and exploitation at the same time. By contrast, formalization and human resource slack impact only one of these two ambidexterity components in significant ways: the former may be a powerful lever for exploitation, while the latter may be a powerful lever for exploration.
Originality/value
Relying on a dual structure–resource perspective, this study allows us to discuss the distinct impacts that several organizational antecedents have on exploration and exploitation in the specific context of SMEs. It thus addresses the recent call to identify which antecedents are integrating and which are differentiating to help firms deal with ambidexterity.