Chaminda Pathirage, Richard Haigh, Dilanthi Amaratunga and David Baldry
This paper sets out to examine methods that can be used to enhance the quality and consistency of dissertation assessment.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper sets out to examine methods that can be used to enhance the quality and consistency of dissertation assessment.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper includes a review of literature on quality, consistency and criteria of dissertation assessment to highlight the current practices in higher education. A case study approach was followed to pilot a range of assessment approaches and criteria in an attempt to measure and ultimately improve assessment consistency within the case study school's dissertation module on undergraduate programmes.
Findings
This paper highlights the main findings of the literature and the case study phases. Outcomes of two dissertation assessment exercises, a workshop organised among dissertation assessors and an analysis of previous years' dissertation assessment results from a case study school are outlined. Findings from two dissertation assessment exercises revealed wide variation in the assessment of dissertations by the school's assessors. Hence, a dissertation workshop was organised to disseminate the results and to discuss the implications for the school's assessment practice, which identified several initiatives to enhance the quality and consistency of assessment.
Originality/value
The need to ensure quality, consistency and improved criteria of assessment is particularly emphasised within modules where assessment is through one substantial piece of work such as a dissertation. This study highlighted the many challenges that a Programme Leader faces when devising an assessment strategy for a dissertation module.
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Mark A. Harris and Amita G. Chin
This paper aims to investigate Google’s top developers’ apps with trust badges to see if they warrant an additional level of trust and confidence from consumers, as stated by…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate Google’s top developers’ apps with trust badges to see if they warrant an additional level of trust and confidence from consumers, as stated by Google.
Design/methodology/approach
Risky app permissions and in-app purchases (IAP) from Google’s top developers and traditional developers were investigated in several Google Play top app categories, including Editor’s Choice apps. Analysis was performed between categories and developer types.
Findings
Overall, Google’s top developers’ apps request more risky permissions and IAP than do traditional developers. Other results indicate that free apps are more dangerous than paid apps and star ratings do not signify safe apps.
Research limitations/implications
Because of a limited number of Google’s top developers and Editor’s Choice apps, conclusions are drawn from a small sample of apps and not the entire market.
Practical implications
Google’s top developers’ apps are suited well for increasing revenue for Google and developers at the consumer’s expense. Consumers should be wary of top developer trust badges.
Social implications
As the lure for “top free” and “top developer” software is strong among consumers, this research contributes to societal welfare in that it makes consumers aware that Google top developer app trust badges and free apps are more dangerous than traditional developer and paid apps, as they request risky permissions at a much higher frequency. Therefore, consumers should be very careful when downloading apps that are advertised as “top free” or “top developer”.
Originality/value
Google’s top developers’ apps and Editors’ Choice apps have not been investigated from the perspective of permissions and IAP before.
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Mark A. Harris and Karen P. Patten
This paper's purpose is to identify and accentuate the dilemma faced by small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) who use mobile devices as part of their mobility business…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper's purpose is to identify and accentuate the dilemma faced by small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) who use mobile devices as part of their mobility business strategy. While large enterprises have the resources to implement emerging security recommendations for mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets, SMEs often lack the IT resources and capabilities needed. The SME mobile device business dilemma is to invest in more expensive maximum security technologies, invest in less expensive minimum security technologies with increased risk, or postpone the business mobility strategy in order to protect enterprise and customer data and information. This paper investigates mobile device security and the implications of security recommendations for SMEs.
Design/methodology/approach
This conceptual paper reviews mobile device security research, identifies increased security risks, and recommends security practices for SMEs.
Findings
This paper identifies emerging mobile device security risks and provides a set of minimum mobile device security recommendations practical for SMEs. However, SMEs would still have increased security risks versus large enterprises who can implement maximum mobile device security recommendations. SMEs are faced with a dilemma: embrace the mobility business strategy and adopt and invest in the necessary security technology, implement minimum precautions with increased risk, or give up their mobility business strategy.
Practical implications
This paper develops a practical list of minimum mobile device security recommendations for SMEs. It also increases the awareness of potential security risks for SMEs from mobile devices.
Originality/value
This paper expands previous research investigating SME adoption of computers, broadband internet-based services, and Wi-Fi by adding mobile devices. It describes the SME competitive advantages from adopting mobile devices for enterprise business mobility, while accentuating the increased business risks and implications for SMEs.
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The purpose of this paper is to review Advertising in a Free Society – a defence of the advertising industry – by Ralph Harris and Arthur Seldon, and to evaluate its status as a…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to review Advertising in a Free Society – a defence of the advertising industry – by Ralph Harris and Arthur Seldon, and to evaluate its status as a justifiable forgotten classic of the marketing literature.
Design/Methodology/Approach
Advertising in a Free Society is placed in historical context (the Cold War), summarised and reviewed.
Findings
During the 1950s, as the UK experienced a period of affluence and growing consumerism, the advertising industry was again subject to the criticisms that had been levelled at it by influential scholars in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Against this context, Advertising in a Free Society deserves to be remembered as one of the earliest defences of advertising and remains highly relevant. Harris and Seldon were leading figures in the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), joining shortly after its inception, which became an influential group both in the UK and abroad, influencing policy on free markets.
Originality/Value
Although Advertising in a Free Society attracted few citations (going out of print between its publication in 1959 and 2014 when it was republished by the IEA), and largely forgotten by marketing scholars, it provides a significant source for marketing historians interested in advertising criticism, the growth of the British advertising industry and the role of advertising in democratic societies. A reanalysis of the text situated in its historical context – the height of the Cold War – reveals that the text can be viewed as an artefact of the conflict, deploying the rhetoric of the period in defending the advertising industry and highlighting the positive role that advertising could make in free societies.
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The aim of this paper is to stimulate further discussion on divergent institutional and academic needs for effective marking processes to evaluate student work in Australian…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to stimulate further discussion on divergent institutional and academic needs for effective marking processes to evaluate student work in Australian universities. This is in specific response to institutional stated goals and emerging policies under current economic realities. After identifying the three significant areas of marking that must be addressed: content, consistency and cost; the author proposes that the use of the AERO‐dynamic model of marking will reduce academic workloads and provide institutions with an effective marking process to meet corporate budgets.
Design/methodology/approach
This conceptual paper is a synthesis of researcher participation and discourse interpretation. It is based on a cynical response to changing realities and resides in the arena of the “Theatre of the Absurd”.
Findings
The AERO‐dynamic model of marking was found to be highly cost effective for institutions with large student cohorts and ever diminishing budgets. Critical analysis identified areas of concern in marking consistency and assignment content and recommends specific actions to address these but also identifies that no process will be perfect and that some tradeoffs between cost, consistency and content need to be made. The role of the academic within this marking process is redefined and the implications of this for both institution and individual acknowledged.
Originality/value
This paper offers a starting point for further debate into the widening gap between student expectations on assignment marking and institutional resource allocation and support.
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This article explodes traditional notions of ethnographic documentary, and instead positions the emerging practice of ethnocinema as a 21st century modality that falls within the…
Abstract
This article explodes traditional notions of ethnographic documentary, and instead positions the emerging practice of ethnocinema as a 21st century modality that falls within the paradigm of what Denzin calls the ‘eighth moment scholarship’ in this ‘fractured future’. Drawing on the monological, dialogic and imagistic ‘data’ from the ethnocinematic research project Cross‐Marked: Sudanese Australian Young Women Talk Education, the article uses ethnographic documentary film theory (including Minh‐ha, Rouch, and Aufderheide) and the critical pedagogical scholarship of McLaren to examine notions of performative identity construction and the possibility of intercultural identities and collaborations. Utilising the central metaphor of Minh‐ha’s ethnographic and filmic ‘zoo’, which cages those who are Othered by race, class, gender, sexuality and a myriad of differences, this article and ethnocinema overall seek to overthrow notions of difference, culture and community while recognising the increasingly prescient power of McLuhan’s dictum that the ‘medium is the message’ in this rhizomatic age.
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Tracy H. Porter, Vickie Coleman Gallagher and Diane Lawong
Organizations have viewed sustainability as a societal problem and unrelated to business. To recognize sustainability as an organizational issue requires companies to deal with…
Abstract
Purpose
Organizations have viewed sustainability as a societal problem and unrelated to business. To recognize sustainability as an organizational issue requires companies to deal with the challenge of transforming into environmentally sustainable enterprises. This requires institutions to align mission statements with values. The purpose of this paper is to replicate previous research in sustainability and the cultural facets which impact the process.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative case study method was used to analyze 25 organizations within the US Midwest with various contexts to determine how their respective cultures impacted their change initiatives. Specifically, the authors spoke to sustainability change agents with regard to their leadership and culture, and the factors that are conducive to (or barriers to) implementing sustainability initiatives.
Findings
The original study demonstrated the presence of seven contextual conditions which are important in the process of imbedding sustainability within the institution. This research found the same dimensions to be present; however, they manifested differently 15 years later.
Practical implications
The original research offered a somewhat dark picture of the sustainability change initiatives within organizations. The current study however; offers a much more positive perspective which demonstrates organizations appear to have progressed with regard to sustainability.
Originality/value
This is a replication study whereby we discovered similar themes as to the nature of contextual factors that can hinder or advance sustainability initiatives; however, the findings 15 years later show a marked difference in the current state of affairs and the ability to implement sustainability initiatives.
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This field-based case describes the approach and decisions used by Harris Corporation's vice president of supply chain management and operations to establish a set of financial…
Abstract
This field-based case describes the approach and decisions used by Harris Corporation's vice president of supply chain management and operations to establish a set of financial benchmarks. It requires students to use those benchmarks to decide what areas need focus to potentially raise the company's financial results and elevate its financial performance through specific actions within its supply-chain group.
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Local Government Board, Whitehall, S.W., 9th February, 1917. PUBLIC HEALTH (REGULATIONS AS TO FOOD) ACT, 1907. Amending Regulations with respect to Cream. SIR, I am directed by…
Abstract
Local Government Board, Whitehall, S.W., 9th February, 1917. PUBLIC HEALTH (REGULATIONS AS TO FOOD) ACT, 1907. Amending Regulations with respect to Cream. SIR, I am directed by the President of the Local Government Board to transmit to you the enclosed copies of an Order which has been made amending the Public Health (Milk and Cream) Regulations, 1912.
In view of the vital and essential part which the trade of this country must necessarily play in the winning of the war and in safeguarding the peace, it is comforting to know…
Abstract
In view of the vital and essential part which the trade of this country must necessarily play in the winning of the war and in safeguarding the peace, it is comforting to know that at last it is beginning to be realised in official quarters that the only way to resuscitate trade and provide a substantial proportion of exports in payment of indispensable imports is to remove restrictions and barriers and to allow trade its natural freedom as far as possible. The lamentable lack of foresight and the inefficiency shown, immediately following the outbreak of war, in imposing pools and controls in all kinds of trades, has already been responsible for the loss of vast sums of money by the commercial interests of the country, and the time has come when experimental hindrances of this kind must be resisted. A special correspondent of The Times, in an excellent article referring to the pooling system, observes that the disappearance of a trade name from shops and hoardings may not strike the ordinary man as really important. But the manufacturer who produces and advertises branded goods guarantees in effect that consumers are supplied with goods of a recognised quality and at a fixed price. To the maker pooling means the loss of whatever goodwill is vested in his name or trade‐mark, to establish which in public favour may have cost him many years of effort and a large investment. The goodwill of British industry and trade is in large measure the sum of goodwill earned by hundreds of separate commodities. The absorption of branded goods in a common pool confronts business men with a problem which they should examine here and now in preparation for the day when trade reverts to its function of satisfying the needs of people living at peace. The problem is to maintain their goodwill in the interval. Much the same difficulties will have to be met by other firms—and possibly by whole industries—which, though their products are not pooled, have turned over from fulfilling peace‐time demands to direct participation in the national war effort. There are clothing manufacturers whose output is needed for the Services. Some businesses find their occupation gone because their raw material—it may be timber—is not now freely available. The production of electricity and gas is restricted by rationing. As the Government ould not look with favour on campaigns to increase sales of gas or electricity, the industries which supply them cannot very well advertise in the ordinary way. But what, then, is to become of “Mr. Therm,” who has been built up so skilfully and at some considerable cost as a model public servant? Publicity seems to be the answer to this problem of keeping goodwill alive. The managing director of a leading motor manufacturing company has made it known that that is the policy which his firm intend to follow while they are exclusively occupied in building aero engines. They will keep their name before the public by advertising, and they believe all makers of British cars should do the same, whether they are at present turning out private cars or not. Advertising is included among the legitimate and, indeed, essential activities classed as business development work, and is allowed as a trade expense before profits are calculated for taxation. It would be well for firms to think carefully before letting all their normal expenditure on business development lapse in war‐time. Ordinary trade has a vital part to play in the war, if only because it is out of profits alone that the revenues needed for fighting can be found. Though the times are difficult, new opportunities and markets will present themselves. Markets hitherto served by Germany are to‐day open to the British manufacturer, if the requisite arrangements for export can be made. At home, with the life of the people going on, new habits are forming, and with them new requirements. The trader who puts forth his best efforts during war‐time is helping his country, not hampering it. It is for the Government to ease his way by removing needless obstructions to normal trade; it is for business men themselves to face their problems with initiative and energy.