Michel Vols and Alexandre Copeland Belloir
In 2011, Dutch municipalities requested supplementary legal enforcement instruments to tackle rogue landlords and substandard housing. The national government implemented new…
Abstract
Purpose
In 2011, Dutch municipalities requested supplementary legal enforcement instruments to tackle rogue landlords and substandard housing. The national government implemented new legislation granting municipalities’ local authorities more legal instruments in 2015. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the application and effectiveness of these instruments.
Design/methodology/approach
Using both quantitative and qualitative (legal) empirical research methods, this study establishes the frequency these instruments are used and the manner they are applied in practice to determine their role in limiting abusive practices of rogue landlords.
Findings
By comparing legislation and policies with their enforcement, the authors pinpoint differences between the law in the books and the law in practice and argue that the legal instruments have a stronger effect on the informal power than on formal power of local authorities. Moreover, the paper shows that the shift of responsibility from the Public Prosecutions Office to local authorities has left the Public Prosecutions Office disinterested, feeling that it no longer has to deal with substandard housing violations at all, therefore leaving the repeat offenders free to continue their activities with minor consequences.
Originality/value
The paper presents original data on the ways governments address substandard housing and rogue landlords. This is the first study that analyses the fight against substandard housing in the Dutch context. Although centred on legislation and procedures in The Netherland, the paper’s findings are relevant in other jurisdictions facing similar issues.
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Heino Stöver and Ingo Ilja Michels
This study aims to report on the findings of a pilot study of the prevalence and treatment of infectious diseases among people who inject drugs in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to report on the findings of a pilot study of the prevalence and treatment of infectious diseases among people who inject drugs in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.
Design/methodology/approach
This study reports on study results based on two data collection methods: quantitative surveys and complimentary qualitative interviews.
Findings
The findings show that the role of social work in the region is crucial for establishing trust between non-governmental and civil society organizations and the state as exemplified by so-called “trust points” and “friendly cabinets.”
Originality/value
Firstly, this study provides an overview of injecting drug use and the prevalence statistics on infectious diseases. Following this, this study focuses on the treatment and prevention of the spread of HIV/AIDS and HCV. Both areas are under-researched and address the gap in the literature on drug policy in Central Asia.
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Iván La Fé-Perdomo, Jorge Andres Ramos-Grez, Gerardo Beruvides and Rafael Alberto Mujica
The purpose of this paper is to outline some key aspects such as material systems used, phenomenological and statistical process modeling, techniques applied to monitor the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to outline some key aspects such as material systems used, phenomenological and statistical process modeling, techniques applied to monitor the process and optimization approaches reported. All these need to be taken into account for the ongoing development of the SLM technique, particularly in health care applications. The outcomes from this review allow not only to summarize the main features of the process but also to collect a considerable amount of investigation effort so far achieved by the researcher community.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper reviews four significant areas of the selective laser melting (SLM) process of metallic systems within the scope of medical devices as follows: established and novel materials used, process modeling, process tracking and quality evaluation, and finally, the attempts for optimizing some process features such as surface roughness, porosity and mechanical properties. All the consulted literature has been highly detailed and discussed to understand the current and existing research gaps.
Findings
With this review, there is a prevailing need for further investigation on copper alloys, particularly when conformal cooling, antibacterial and antiviral properties are sought after. Moreover, artificial intelligence techniques for modeling and optimizing the SLM process parameters are still at a poor application level in this field. Furthermore, plenty of research work needs to be done to improve the existent online monitoring techniques.
Research limitations/implications
This review is limited only to the materials, models, monitoring methods, and optimization approaches reported on the SLM process for metallic systems, particularly those found in the health care arena.
Practical implications
SLM is a widely used metal additive manufacturing process due to the possibility of elaborating complex and customized tridimensional parts or components. It is corroborated that SLM produces minimal amounts of waste and enables optimal designs that allow considerable environmental advantages and promotes sustainability.
Social implications
The key perspectives about the applications of novel materials in the field of medicine are proposed.
Originality/value
The investigations about SLM contain an increasing amount of knowledge, motivated by the growing interest of the scientific community in this relatively young manufacturing process. This study can be seen as a compilation of relevant researches and findings in the field of the metal printing process.
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Gary Gregory, Liem Ngo and Ryan Miller
The purpose of this study develops and validates a model of new donor decision-making in the charity sector. Drawing upon dual process theory, the model incorporates brand…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study develops and validates a model of new donor decision-making in the charity sector. Drawing upon dual process theory, the model incorporates brand salience and brand attitude as antecedents of brand choice intention, moderated by donor decision involvement.
Design/methodology/approach
Study 1 generates measures using interviews with marketing, media and research managers, and new donors from two international aid and relief organizations. Study 2 uses an experimental design to first test scenarios of disaster relief, and then validate and confirm a new donor decision model using large-scale consumer panels for the international aid and relief sector in Australia.
Findings
The results replicated across four leading international aid-related charities reveal that brand salience is positively related to brand choice intention through the mediating effect of brand attitude. Furthermore, the effect of brand salience on brand choice intention is significantly stronger when donor decision involvement is low. Conversely, the effect of brand attitude on brand choice intention is stronger for higher levels of donor decision involvement.
Practical implications
Managers should understand the importance of brand salience/attitudes and the implications for the communication strategy. Managers should also strive to understand the level of decision involvement and the relative influence of brand attitude/salience on brand choice intention.
Originality/value
This study advances the literature on charitable giving by proposing and testing a moderated mediation model of donor choice when selecting a charity for donation. Findings provide new insights into the extent to which brand salience, brand attitude and donor decision-making influence how new donors choose between charities for donation.
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This paper has two purposes: one is to analyse how the policy of freedom of choice emerged and was formed in the Swedish health care discourse; the second is related to how free…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper has two purposes: one is to analyse how the policy of freedom of choice emerged and was formed in the Swedish health care discourse; the second is related to how free choice influences the discourse in health care and how subjects are formed within the field, i.e. what the language of choice in health care does.
Design/methodology/approach
The research strategy is inspired by a combined theoretical framework borrowed from Michel Foucault's concepts of “discursive formation” and “subjectivization” completed with Judith Butler's concept of performativity.
Findings
The language of “freedom of choice” calls to mind the rhetoric of promises, i.e. that the patient should be free and responsible, in his or her relation to health care. Since patients seem to be insufficiently informed and supported about the actual benefits of possibilities and limitations associated with the severely restricted reform of free choice, the statements concerning opportunities to make personal health decisions will lose their significance. The advocacy of discourses of freedom of choice seems therefore mostly like empty words, as they are producing weak patients instead of free and empowered people.
Research limitations/implications
As the reform was initiated in the beginning of 2000 it is rather fresh.
Originality/value
The paper produces insights into the rhetoric of political promises and the limitations of the reform dealing with freedom of choice in health care.
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Sarika Jain and Shreekumar K. Nair
Extant literature reveals that the personality variable, core self-evaluation (CSE) which represents an employee’s self-assessment of himself has rarely been researched with…
Abstract
Purpose
Extant literature reveals that the personality variable, core self-evaluation (CSE) which represents an employee’s self-assessment of himself has rarely been researched with respect to sales employees. The purpose of this paper is to identify the role of personality variable, core self-evaluation (CSE), in the relationship between demands and work – family enrichment. In this study, CSE has been treated as a moderating variable in the relationship between demands and work-family enrichment. This paper also aims to validate the CSE scale developed by Jugde et al. (2003) in Indian context.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected through structured questionnaires from 330 sales employees belonging to firms from some of the major sectors of Indian industry namely, Manufacturing, IT, FMCG, Pharmaceuticals and Financial Services. The study first validated the CSE scale in the Indian context using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Further, moderated regression analysis (MRA) was used to test the model.
Findings
The present research supported the 12-item CSE scale in the Indian context. Also, results of MRA suggested that, irrespective of higher work demands, sales employees having higher CSE experience higher levels of work to family enrichment (WFE). In addition, higher CSE employees tend to experience higher levels of FWE at the family front.
Research limitations/implications
In an emerging economy such as India wherein sales professionals are facing a lot of work demands, organizations should invest in their frontline employees to be able to deliver value for money to the customers and thereby gain competitive advantage. With this realization, managers should acquire and retain frontline employees with positive core self-evaluation. Therefore, organizations should select and try to retain candidates with positive core self-evaluations.
Practical implications
Corporates should focus on nurturing sales employees’ positive CSE to make sure that their employees can contentedly adjust to various challenging work situations. In addition practices like job transitions, empowerment, enrichment and rewarding employees for their desired performance might be some of the interventions which positively impact core self-evaluations.
Originality/value
This study contributes to work – family literature by addressing the role of CSE in achieving WFE and FWE among sales employees in Indian context.
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Julian Sidoli del Ceno, Hannah George and Michel Vols
The purpose of this paper is to examine empirically the operation of tenancy deposit protection within England and Wales. The paper consciously focuses solely on the views and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine empirically the operation of tenancy deposit protection within England and Wales. The paper consciously focuses solely on the views and perspectives of letting agents operating in the various schemes.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is based on a series of semi-structured qualitative interviews with lettings agents in two distinct geographical urban areas, Birmingham and South Wales. Participants were selected for their market presence within a given area and the fact that they were all members of approved regulatory schemes.
Findings
Overall, most agents were broadly happy with the process and considered adjudication to be an appropriate form of resolution for tenancy deposit disputes given the often small monetary value of the disputes and the large volume of cases. Concerns were raised, however, regarding the heavy bureaucratic burden placed on agents and on the perceived evidential burden on the landlord. There being a widely held view that a landlord could rarely “win” outright.
Research limitations/implications
The qualitative data are based on a relatively small although representative sample of lettings agents’ active within the UK residential property sector.
Originality/value
The paper provides original data on the attitudes and perspectives of agents who manage deposit disputes. This is an area of current interest that has yet to receive sustained attention. Although concerned with legislation in England and Wales, its findings and discussion are relevant in other jurisdictions facing similar issues.
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For adequate bibliographical information about Baudelaire's works one must go to collected editions by no means readily available in Great Britain. Information concerning the…
Abstract
For adequate bibliographical information about Baudelaire's works one must go to collected editions by no means readily available in Great Britain. Information concerning the extensive literature about Baudelaire is still farther to seek. For the English reader the bibliography in Arthur Symons's study mentioned below has not been superseded, although important editions of Baudelaire's works have been issued and much written about him since 1920.
Talent management (TM) is underdeveloped and TM recognition is unclear in the context of Chinese private‐owned enterprises (POEs). As talent definition is the basis of TM…
Abstract
Purpose
Talent management (TM) is underdeveloped and TM recognition is unclear in the context of Chinese private‐owned enterprises (POEs). As talent definition is the basis of TM practices, the purpose of this paper is to explore talent definition and TM recognition in the context of Chinese real estate POEs, in order to explore how Chinese cultural context and POEs' characteristics influence talent definition and TM recognition.
Design/methodology/approach
In total, 27 semi‐structured interviews were conducted in three case study companies.
Findings
Based on qualitative analysis, the paper finds talent definition is influenced by the important Chinese cultural factor “guanxi” and is quite different from existing Western TM literature. TM recognition is also influenced by the Chinese POEs' operation characteristics.
Originality/value
The paper finds a new talent definition criterion, “guanxi”, and identifies TM recognition in the context of Chinese POEs. The paper thus contributes to TM literature in China.