Sofía Buelga, Maria J. Cava, Gonzalo Musitu and Eva Torralba
This paper aims to explore the prevalence rate of adolescents engaging in aggressive behaviours towards their peers using the Internet and mobile phones, while examining the…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore the prevalence rate of adolescents engaging in aggressive behaviours towards their peers using the Internet and mobile phones, while examining the duration and intensity of this cyberbullying, and to analyse differences in cyberbullying behaviours based on gender and age (academic grades). Research on cyberbullying indicates that it is a global problem that is increasing dramatically among adolescents.
Design/methodology/approach
The sample was composed of 1,415 Spanish adolescents of both sexes (760 boys and 655 girls) between 12 and 17 years old (M = 13.9 years old; SD = 1.4).
Findings
The results indicated that the cyberbullying prevalence among adolescents in the past year was 32 per cent. Likewise, the data suggest that boys and students in their fourth year of secondary education (15-17 years old) perpetrated cyberbullying on their peers more than girls and students in lower grades.
Research limitations/implications
The results presented in this research should be interpreted with caution due to its cross-sectional nature; a longitudinal study with measurements at different times would help to confirm the results observed here. On the other hand, in this study, the adolescents’ responses were obtained through self-reports and, although they could be subject to social desirability effects and biases, as indicated by Flisher et al. (2004), the reliability and validity of adolescent self-reports in the measurement of risk behaviours were quite acceptable.
Practical implications
It is of crucial importance to develop educational strategies designed to favour the responsible use of the new technologies. In many cases, children and adolescents are not aware of psychological and legal consequences that their cyber-aggressions can have on themselves, on the victims and on their families and social environment.
Social implications
The authors feel that this research may contribute to clarifying some crucial issues related to the growing problem of cyberbullying that affects adolescents in many countries of the world. As the present research deals with aspects of interactive technology and smart education, the authors believe that the findings reported in the manuscript would be of interest to potential readers of this Journal.
Originality/value
This paper is an original perspective on cyberbullying aggressors among secondary education students in a Spanish context.
Details
Keywords
Montserrat Costa‐Font, Teresa Serra, Maria Gil and Anna Gras
The viticulture sector represents a conspicuous part of the Catalan agricultural and agro food sector. While wine production in Catalonia has been increasing markedly over the…
Abstract
Purpose
The viticulture sector represents a conspicuous part of the Catalan agricultural and agro food sector. While wine production in Catalonia has been increasing markedly over the first half of the 2000s, prices that grape producers receive have steadily declined threatening their standard of living. This has raised social and political concerns and calls for a better understanding of its causes. This paper aims to comprehend the sources of such price crisis.
Design/methodology/approach
A Delphi survey is conducted during 2005 among a panel of 27 wine sector experts.
Findings
The results find that experts agree in considering wine surplus and imperfect price transmission as the main causes determining low farm‐gate prices in the Catalan wine sector.
Originality/value
The analysis aims at characterizing the food marketing chain for wine products in Catalonia by quantifying the trade flows occuring within this chain. This paper is the first attempt in Catalonia and Spain to quantify and characterize such flows.
Details
Keywords
María Pilar Martínez-Ruiz, Pablo Ruiz-Palomino, Ricardo Martinez-Canas and Juan José Blázquez-Resino
This study aims to determine which factors underlie the store attributes that contribute to a particular food store image. Furthermore, heightened recent attention to private…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to determine which factors underlie the store attributes that contribute to a particular food store image. Furthermore, heightened recent attention to private labels in the food retailing industry creates the need to assess whether the factors vary, depending on customers' brand proneness and their impact on key marketing performance variables (satisfaction, attitudinal loyalty, behavioural loyalty).
Design/methodology/approach
The proposed analysis features 211 questionnaires out of a sample of 391 consumers surveys gathered in four different store formats; 137 of which were completed by consumers who admitting being private label prone, and 74 pertaining to consumers who considered themselves national brand prone. The underlying food store factors were identified using factorial analysis of principal components, and their influence on consumers' satisfaction and loyalty was evaluated with linear parametric regression models.
Findings
Store attributes related to providing sufficiently convenient purchasing experiences and a special atmosphere are most important for private label brand-prone consumers and enhance their satisfaction, attitudinal loyalty and behavioural loyalty. For national brand-prone consumers, attributes related to quality are more important for enhancing marketing performance variables.
Research limitations/implications
The results enable a clear identification of food store factors that vary with the consumer segment being considered (private label prone consumers vs. national brand prone), as well as their differential impacts on key marketing performance variables.
Practical implications
To appeal to private label-prone consumers, food retailers should put particular emphasis on the attributes of the store itself, especially those that enhance convenience and the pleasantness of the store atmosphere. To attract national brand-prone consumers, they primarily need to highlight aspects related to quality.
Originality/value
This research emphasises the importance of building competitive strategies in food retailing based on: an increased knowledge about the attributes and factors that food consumers value more highly; and brand type preferences.
Details
Keywords
This paper aims to analyze the determinants of broadband diffusion, taking into account supply‐side factors such as market entry regulation and demand‐side factors such as…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to analyze the determinants of broadband diffusion, taking into account supply‐side factors such as market entry regulation and demand‐side factors such as secondary education attainment.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper analyzes 27 countries from the European Union (EU) from 1996 to 2009 using qualitative comparative analysis (QCA), which combines quantitative and qualitative methods.
Findings
The main findings point out that there is one way for “innovator” adopters and “laggard” adopters in broadband diffusion, while there are few ways for the remaining adopters. Moreover, high entry regulation is associated more with “innovator” adopters, “early adopters” and “early majority adopters” in broadband diffusion, while medium and low entry regulations are associated more with “late majority” and “laggard” adopters in broadband diffusion.
Social implications
This paper suggests that high secondary school attainment is a necessary factor for broadband innovator countries. By contrast, low income and low secondary school attainment are factors connected with late majority and laggard broadband adopters.
Originality/value
At present, there is no other research about broadband diffusion or technology diffusion that uses this mixed approach. While the results may not be very conclusive, they will serve as an initial springboard for further research into more specific‐variable studies.
Details
Keywords
Albert Sunyer, Josep Domingo Hinojosa Recasens and Jenny Gibb
The purpose of this research is to deepen understanding of the materiality in organizational identity (OI) by describing how physical objects support, instantiate and communicate…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this research is to deepen understanding of the materiality in organizational identity (OI) by describing how physical objects support, instantiate and communicate OI over time.
Design/methodology/approach
The research design uses an in-depth case study of Codorníu wineries taking a symbolic interactionism methodological lens. The study examines a set of physical objects preserved from the company's foundation in 1551 to the present day and their associated identity meanings.
Findings
This study uncovered how the company used multiple objects to symbolically represent its identity. Some of these objects were primal artifacts used to legitimize organizational identity since the firm's foundation; others were interpreted as identity markers that worked to instantiate identity and to provide it with greater persistence, while others were created ad hoc to communicate organizational identity to external audiences. Some physical objects were used to differentiate the organization and its products from competitors, while others were used to maintain a temporary and spatial link with the organization's founding origins.
Practical implications
This study describes practical implications on the use of identity materiality to build legitimacy, employee identification, differentiation from competitors and reputation.
Originality/value
The analysis of the meanings associated with material objects shows that identity tangibility has not hindered organizational adaptation and change. Some identity objects gained relevance, while others were reinterpreted or abandoned according to their symbolic value in order to embody organizational identity at a given time. Four trajectories were identified that describe the evolution of physical objects in representing an organization's identity over time.
Details
Keywords
Abel Duarte Alonso and Seng Kiat Kok
The purpose of this study was to examine pathways towards, and the rationale behind internationalisation from the perspectives of micro firms' operators involved in the globally…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study was to examine pathways towards, and the rationale behind internationalisation from the perspectives of micro firms' operators involved in the globally competitive wine industry. Moreover, drawing from entrepreneurial action theory, the study developed a theoretical framework to help understanding micro approaches and rationale for internationalisation.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected through interviews with 19 micro winery owners and managers operating in the Prosecco Superiore (Italy) and cava industry (Spain).
Findings
Aligned with entrepreneurial action theory, uncertainty in participants' environment, coupled with the associated need to diversify through exports, were predominant drivers of internationalisation. However, internationalisation also emerged through non-deliberate channels, including through growth of wine tourism and increasing foreign wine enthusiasts. Thus, while entrepreneurial action through deliberate means triggered a stronger focus on internationalisation, other passive interventions beyond the control or influence of micro firms, but rather emerge serendipitously, can similarly spur direct action.
Originality/value
The study demonstrated its originality and value in various ways, fundamentally, addressing three knowledge gaps, thereby contributing to practical and theoretical discourses with corresponding value, including managerially. First, it extended literature focussing on micro firms, which as compared to small and medium enterprise research is much more limited. Second, it provided a comparative component, which is much rarer in contemporary research discussing internationalisation amongst micro firms. Third, the study proposed a theoretical framework stemming from the chosen inductive approach, thus, addressing concerns regarding the lack of theoretical rigour or depth in internationalisation activities amongst micro firms.
Details
Keywords
Yaw A. Debrah and Ian G. Smith
Presents over sixty abstracts summarising the 1999 Employment Research Unit annual conference held at the University of Cardiff. Explores the multiple impacts of globalization on…
Abstract
Presents over sixty abstracts summarising the 1999 Employment Research Unit annual conference held at the University of Cardiff. Explores the multiple impacts of globalization on work and employment in contemporary organizations. Covers the human resource management implications of organizational responses to globalization. Examines the theoretical, methodological, empirical and comparative issues pertaining to competitiveness and the management of human resources, the impact of organisational strategies and international production on the workplace, the organization of labour markets, human resource development, cultural change in organisations, trade union responses, and trans‐national corporations. Cites many case studies showing how globalization has brought a lot of opportunities together with much change both to the employee and the employer. Considers the threats to existing cultures, structures and systems.
Details
Keywords
Javier Martínez-del-Río, Ana Perez-Luño and Ana Maria Bojica
Taking a resource-based view, the authors analyse the effect of high-performance work practices (HPWPs) on the performance of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) under…
Abstract
Purpose
Taking a resource-based view, the authors analyse the effect of high-performance work practices (HPWPs) on the performance of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) under conditions of environmental hostility, and consider how this relationship is influenced by managers' embeddedness in social networks. The authors argue that high perceived levels of environmental hostility strengthen the strategic value of HPWPs in SMEs, whereas high levels of manager embeddedness in social networks weaken this contingent relationship.
Design/methodology/approach
These hypotheses were tested in a sample of 249 SMEs, from two Spanish industries related to food production, using linear regression with two- and three-way interaction effects.
Findings
The study results show that the implementation of HPWPs benefits SMEs' performance in hostile environments. However, the dark side of managers' social capital could undermine any such benefit, especially if there is a high degree of network closure. In hostile contexts, such closure appears to limit managers' willingness to depart from the common practice of reducing investment in human resources.
Practical implications
Contrary to predominant beliefs that managers facing economic adversity should reduce costs by cutting investment in personnel development, this study indicates that supporting HPWPs enhances a firm's objective financial performance.
Originality/value
This study advances our understanding of the specific conditions under which HPWPs sustain SME performance. It also introduces the dark side of managers' social capital into considerations of this relationship. The study findings provide new insights that are counterintuitive to business practice.
Details
Keywords
This paper examines the applicable scope of United States employment discrimination law to “American” employers of U.S. citizens abroad. Through an analysis of the…
Abstract
This paper examines the applicable scope of United States employment discrimination law to “American” employers of U.S. citizens abroad. Through an analysis of the extraterritorial dimension of American anti‐bias, it is demonstrated that over time, it has become accepted that the full‐range of U.S. anti‐bias law applies transnationally. However, just who is considered an “American” firm is an open‐ended question under the Mas Marques test codified in the Civil Rights Act of 1991. The implications of this ambiguity could well lead to potential legal conflicts in the area of employment discrimination for a multitude of firms worldwide who may not consider themselves presently to be bound by United States employment law.