Azumah Mamudu, Wasana Bandara, Sander J.J. Leemans and Moe Thandar Wynn
Process mining (PM) specialises in extracting insights from event logs to facilitate the improvement of an organisation's business processes. Industry trends show the…
Abstract
Purpose
Process mining (PM) specialises in extracting insights from event logs to facilitate the improvement of an organisation's business processes. Industry trends show the proliferation and continued growth of PM techniques. To address the minimal attention given to developing empirically supported frameworks to assess the nature of impact in the PM domain, this study proposes a framework that identifies the key categories of PM impacts and their interrelationships.
Design/methodology/approach
The qualitatively derived framework is built, re-specified and validated from a diverse collection of 62 PM case reports. With multiple rounds of coding supported by coder corroborations, inductively extracted concepts relating to impact from a first set of 12 case reports were grouped into themes and sub-themes to derive an a-priori framework by adopting the balanced scorecard as a theoretical lens. Concepts from the remaining 50 case reports were deductively grouped to re-specify and validate the proposed PM impacts framework. Further analysis identified interrelationships between impacts, which extends our understanding of the identified PM impacts.
Findings
The proposed framework captures PM impacts in four main categories: (a) impact on the process, (b) customer impact, (c) financial impact, and (d) impact on innovation and learning. The authors extended this analysis to identify the interrelationships between these categories, which vividly demonstrates how impact on the process mediates the attainment of the other three impact types.
Originality/value
The need for a deeper understanding of PM impacts within the context of contemporary PM practice is addressed by this work. The PM impacts framework provides a classification of PM impacts into four categories with 19 subcategories. It also identifies direct, moderating and mediating relationships between categories and subcategories whilst highlighting the role of impact on the process as a precursor to the other types of PM impact.
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Ahangama Withanage Janitha Chandimali Abeygunasekera, Wasana Bandara, Moe Wynn and Ogan Yigitbasioglu
Multidisciplinary business process management (BPM) research can reap significant impact. We can particularly benefit from incorporating accounting concepts to address some of the…
Abstract
Purpose
Multidisciplinary business process management (BPM) research can reap significant impact. We can particularly benefit from incorporating accounting concepts to address some of the key BPM challenges, such as value-creation and return on investment of BPM activities. However, research which addresses a relationship between BPM and accounting is scarce. The purpose of this paper is to provide a detailed synthesis of the current literature that has integrated accounting aspects with BPM. The authors profile and thematically describe existing research, and derive evidence-based directions to guide future research.
Design/methodology/approach
A multi-staged structured literature review approach to search for the two broad themes, accounting and BPM, supported by NVivo (to manage the papers and the coding and analysis processes) was designed and followed.
Findings
The paper confirms the dearth of work that ties the two disciplines, despite the synergetic multidisciplinary results that can be attained. Available literature is mostly from the management accounting perspective and relates to describing how performance management, in particular performance measurement, can be applicable to process improvement initiatives together with tools such as activity-based costing and the balanced scorecard. There is a lack of research that examines BPM in relation to any financial accounting perspectives (such as external reporting). Future research directions are proposed together with implications for practitioners with the findings of this structured literature review.
Research limitations/implications
The paper provides a detailed synthesis of the existing literature on the nexus between accounting and BPM. It summarizes the implications for practitioners and provides directions for future research by identifying key gaps and opportunities with a sound contextual basis for extension and new work.
Originality/value
Effective literature reviews create strong foundations for future research and accumulate the otherwise scattered knowledge into a single place. This is the first structured literature review that provides a detailed synthesis of the research that ties together the accounting and BPM disciplines, providing a basis for future research directions together with implications for practitioners.
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Ahangama Withanage Janitha Chandimali Abeygunasekera, Wasana Bandara, Moe Thandar Wynn and Ogan Yigitbasioglu
Understanding how organisations can institutionalise the outcomes of process improvement initiatives is limited. This paper explores how process changes resulting from improvement…
Abstract
Purpose
Understanding how organisations can institutionalise the outcomes of process improvement initiatives is limited. This paper explores how process changes resulting from improvement initiatives are adhered to, so that the changed processes become the new “norm” and people do not revert to old practices. This study proposes an institutionalisation process for process improvement initiatives.
Design/methodology/approach
Firstly, a literature review identified Tolbert and Zucker’s (1996) institutionalisation framework as a suitable conceptual framework on which to base the enquiry. The second phase (the focus of this paper) applied the findings from two case studies to adapt this framework (its stages and related factors) to fit process improvement contexts.
Findings
The paper presents an empirically and theoretically supported novel institutionalisation process for process improvement initiatives. The three stages of the institutionalisation process presented by Tolbert and Zucker (1996) have been respecified into four stages, explaining how process changes are institutionalised through “Planning”, “Implementation”, “Objectification” and “Sedimentation” (the original first stage, i.e. “Habitualisation” being divided into Planning and Implementation). Some newly identified Business Process Management (BPM) specific factors influencing the institutionalisation processes are also discussed and triangulated with the BPM literature.
Research limitations/implications
The study contributes to the BPM literature by conceptualising and theorising the stages of institutionalisation of process improvement initiatives. In doing so, the study explicitly identifies and considers several key contextual factors that drive the stages of institutionalisation. Practitioners can use this to better manage process change and future researchers can use this framework to operationalise institutionalisation of process change.
Originality/value
This is the first research study that provides an empirically supported and clearly conceptualised understanding of the stages of institutionalising process improvement outcomes.
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Singapore is a country with low teacher attrition rates and high performance on international assessments (TIMSS 2011/2015 and PISA 2012/2015). Consequently, its education system…
Abstract
Purpose
Singapore is a country with low teacher attrition rates and high performance on international assessments (TIMSS 2011/2015 and PISA 2012/2015). Consequently, its education system is often considered as a model for other nations. The purpose of this paper is to extend research on teacher job satisfaction in Singapore and provide comparative information for other education systems.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper presents a secondary analysis of data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s 2013 Teaching and Learning International Survey with a focus on relationships among teacher and principal perceptions of distributed leadership and teachers’ job satisfaction in Singapore. Hierarchical linear modeling is applied to investigate teacher job satisfaction with principal perceptions and aggregate teacher perceptions of distributed leadership as school-level (level 2) variables and individual teacher perceptions of distributed leadership as a level 1 variable.
Findings
Results indicated that distributed leadership significantly predicted teachers’ work and professional satisfaction; higher distributed leadership scores were associated with higher satisfaction scores.
Originality/value
The significant positive relationship between distributed leadership and both dimensions of job satisfaction after accounting for individual teacher characteristics is a new finding in the Singapore schooling context.
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This survey of Las Vegas, Nevada, as a benchmark for the transformations of the Anthropocene, is a provisional exercise in applied social theory. Like multiple processes of…
Abstract
This survey of Las Vegas, Nevada, as a benchmark for the transformations of the Anthropocene, is a provisional exercise in applied social theory. Like multiple processes of desertification that are accelerating in and around Las Vegas, this study is provisional, as it follows Las Vegas as a discrete place whose desertifying qualities are spreading far beyond Nevada, regionally, nationally, globally, and virulently so. Las Vegas, Las Vegas Valley, Mohave Desert, and Colorado River Basin are biopolitical spaces and geophysical places that iteratively replicate the psycho-social contradictions of people in search of sustainable lifestyles in global spaces rocked by ecological catastrophe, and which is open to critical scrutiny. The study more closely examines how systems of organized growth tied to commercial degradation, urban demography, military development, and nuclear devastation drive desertification in this region as well as elsewhere. Like the planet’s other sprawling cities, Las Vegas is an integral component in the globalizing neoliberal omnipolitanization of the Earth’s surface. The neoliberal logic of “winner takes all” also is reflected in the metrometabolic exchanges of these extraordinary urban formations. The rampant overdevelopment of a vast urban simulation, featuring multiple ruinations of its own built and natural landscapes, may give many Las Vegans, and probably most Vegas visitors, their most fundamental sense of place.
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Xi Song, Ziying Mo, Matthew Tingchi Liu, Ben Niu and Li Huang
This study initiated an investigation of how the Macau–Zhuhai tourism cooperated and discussed how Macau and Zhuhai could join hands to develop tourism in the region. The study…
Abstract
Purpose
This study initiated an investigation of how the Macau–Zhuhai tourism cooperated and discussed how Macau and Zhuhai could join hands to develop tourism in the region. The study demonstrated an approach for destination marketing organizations to explore online tourist-generated content and to understand tourists' perceptions of the destination image (DI).
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 1,291,057 reviews (535,317 for Macau and 755,740 for Zhuhai) were collected, analyzed and examined to determine how the DI s of Macau and Zhuhai changed during the period of 2015–2019 based on tourist-generated content on travel websites (TripAdvisor, Ctrip.com and Qyer.com) through a text-mining approach.
Findings
The result revealed that Macau and Zhuhai were in a hybrid of competition and collaboration on tourism DI s. First, Macau and Zhuhai competed in hotel and catering industry. Macau was appealing to international tourists and provided high-end and prestigious offerings; while Zhuhai was impressed by cost-effective accommodation and food. Second, Macau diversified industrial structure with diverse “Tourism, Leisure and Recreation” and “Culture, History and Art” more than Zhuhai did. Meanwhile, Macau should balance the different demands of international and Chinese tourists. Third, complementary potentials were found in natural resources, urbanization technology and tourism innovation and related projects.
Practical implications
The research provides valuable insights for policymakers and industrial managers on their endeavors to develop DIs. Policymakers should be able to develop supportive mechanisms and tourism facilitators to promote industrial collaboration and mutual DIs. Managers could refer to the components in the changing DIs and identify the developmental gaps and cooperation potentials in their targeted areas.
Originality/value
The research fulfills the gap in regional tourism studies on Macau, in which the evaluation on synergetic influence and neighbor effect from Zhuhai has been underexplored. Facilitated by up-to-date data mining techniques, the study contributes to both DI and coopetition literature in tourism marketing; and this should inspire further studies on the antecedences of DI changes, resolutions to the competing interests and DIs of different stakeholders in different forms of strategic cooperation in regional tourism. The employment of DIs is an explicit demonstration of tourists' immersion and values attached to the destination, providing effective cues on the status of coopetition.
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Sofia Garcia-Torres, Laura Albareda, Marta Rey-Garcia and Stefan Seuring
This paper aims to examine how companies enact traceability in their global supply chains (SCs) to achieve sustainability goals and how this so-called traceability for…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine how companies enact traceability in their global supply chains (SCs) to achieve sustainability goals and how this so-called traceability for sustainability (TfS) can contribute to (sustainable) supply chain management ([S]SCM). For this, the paper focuses on the paramount example of the apparel industry.
Design/methodology/approach
This study presents an integrative and systematic literature review of 89 peer-reviewed journal articles on the confluence of traceability and sustainability in global apparel SCs. It comprises content analysis and abductive category-building based on previous literature.
Findings
A conceptual framework emerges to describe TfS as an evolving cycle, comprising three dimensions: governance, collaboration and tracking and tracing. Resources and capabilities literature set the foundations for conceiving TfS as a distinctive meta-capability construct. Hence, besides being associated to increased performance, risk management and SC process transformation, TfS ultimately blurs boundaries and integrates non-traditional SC actors into the same ecosystem with important implications for sustainability and (S)SCM. This study refers to the industrial upgrading potential of global SCs to explain how leveraging enabling technologies for TfS may help to improve the triple-bottom-line (TBL) performance of the actors in the broad ecosystem while reducing the risks associated to those technologies. Thus, TfS can contribute to (S)SCM and to TBL sustainability within and beyond SC boundaries.
Originality/value
This study conceptually frames (S)SCM exploring TfS as a meta-capability and contributes to the underexplored question of how to achieve sustainability in global SCs.
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Ziying Mo, Matthew Tingchi Liu and IpKin Anthony Wong
Drawing on self-determination theory and the service-profit chain, this study aims to expand the current understanding of the internal processes of internal market orientation…
Abstract
Purpose
Drawing on self-determination theory and the service-profit chain, this study aims to expand the current understanding of the internal processes of internal market orientation (IMO) on an organizational commitment by investigating the interactive effect between job (task) satisfaction and internal service quality in the field of hospitality and tourism.
Design/methodology/approach
This study examines the cross-level effects of internal service quality through a time-lagged field study with multilevel structural equation modeling analysis that involved 667 frontline employees from 40 casino hotels.
Findings
The results reveal the IMO has an indirect effect on affective and normative organizational commitments through the interaction of job (task) satisfaction with internal service quality, such that internal service quality compensates for relatively low levels of job (task) satisfaction. While no indirect effect is found on continuance organizational commitment.
Research limitations/implications
This study extends the service-profit chain by integrating self-determination theory and by investigating IMO’s indirect effects on commitment through the interaction between job (task) satisfaction and internal service quality.
Practical implications
The study provides practical solutions to the employee servicing and employee retention dilemmas faced by casino organizations.
Originality/value
This study advances the service-profit chain literature by proposing and theorizing an internal process of IMO, through the cross-level buffering effect of internal service quality on the relationship between job (task) satisfaction and organizational commitment. This study further presents the theoretical and managerial implications by understanding how employees’ perceptions and interpretations of IMO affect their commitment.
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Tingting Liu and Suria Zainuddin
This study aims to explore the extrinsic and intrinsic motivational factors that affect accounting students’ acceptance behaviour towards the online component of blended learning…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore the extrinsic and intrinsic motivational factors that affect accounting students’ acceptance behaviour towards the online component of blended learning (OCBL) in the context of COVID-19.
Design/methodology/approach
A sample of 354 accounting students from a Malaysian public university was selected. Confirmatory factor analysis, correlation and regression analysis and an independent sample t-test were used for data analysis.
Findings
The results showed that the predictor motivational variables in this study affected the acceptance behaviour of the participants except for perceived ease of use. Moreover, perceived value appeared to be the most influential factor. The results also indicated that postgraduates tend to accept the OCBL more than undergraduates.
Research limitations/implications
As the study participants were from only one public Malaysian university, generalisability is limited. In addition, this study only focussed on accounting students who were already enrolled in blended learning courses. Future studies could expand the population by considering those who have not signed up for such courses. Nevertheless, this study offers many theoretical and practical implications.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the OCBL literature, especially in accounting education, which was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. It also offers practical suggestions for educational institutions and technology system designers to expand on the usage of OCBL and improve users’ acceptance of it.
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Matthew Tingchi Liu, Yongdan Liu, Ziying Mo and Kai Lam Ng
Travel websites allow tourists to share their thoughts, beliefs and experiences regarding various travel destinations. In this paper, the researchers demonstrated an approach for…
Abstract
Purpose
Travel websites allow tourists to share their thoughts, beliefs and experiences regarding various travel destinations. In this paper, the researchers demonstrated an approach for destination marketing organisations to explore online tourist-generated content and understand tourists' perceptions of the destination image (DI). Specifically, the researchers initiated an investigation examining how the destination image of Macau changed during the period of 2014–2018 based on user-generated content on travel websites.
Design/methodology/approach
Web crawlers developed by Python were employed to collect tourists' reviews from both Ctrip and TripAdvisor regarding the theme of “Macau attraction”. A total of 51,191 reviews (41,352 from Ctrip and 9,839 from TripAdvisor) were collected and analysed using the text-mining technique.
Findings
The results reveal that the frequency of casino-related words decreased in reviews by both international and mainland Chinese tourists. Additionally, international and mainland Chinese tourists perceive the DI of Macau differently. Mainland Chinese tourists are more sensitive to new attractions, while international tourists are not. The study also shows that there are differences between the government-projected DI and the tourist-perceived DI. Only the “City of Culture” and “A World Centre of Tourism and Leisure” have built recognition with tourists.
Originality/value
Given the easy accessibility of online information from various sources, it is important for destination marketing organisations to analyse and monitor different DI perspectives and adjust their branding strategies for greater effectiveness. This study uncovered the online DI of Macau by using text mining and content analysis of two of the largest travel websites. By analysing and comparing the differences and relationships among the frequently used words of tourist-generated content on these websites, the researchers revealed some interesting findings with important marketing implications.