John Blenkinsopp, Nick Snowden, Russell Mannion, Martin Powell, Huw Davies, Ross Millar and Jean McHale
The purpose of this paper is to review existing research on whistleblowing in healthcare in order to develop an evidence base for policy and research.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to review existing research on whistleblowing in healthcare in order to develop an evidence base for policy and research.
Design/methodology/approach
A narrative review, based on systematic literature protocols developed within the management field.
Findings
The authors identify valuable insights on the factors that influence healthcare whistleblowing, and how organizations respond, but also substantial gaps in the coverage of the literature, which is overly focused on nursing, has been largely carried out in the UK and Australia, and concentrates on the earlier stages of the whistleblowing process.
Research limitations/implications
The review identifies gaps in the literature on whistleblowing in healthcare, but also draws attention to an unhelpful lack of connection with the much larger mainstream literature on whistleblowing.
Practical implications
Despite the limitations to the existing literature important implications for practice can be identified, including enhancing employees’ sense of security and providing ethics training.
Originality/value
This paper provides a platform for future research on whistleblowing in healthcare, at a time when policymakers are increasingly aware of its role in ensuring patient safety and care quality.
Details
Keywords
Russell Mannion, Huw Davies, Martin Powell, John Blenkinsopp, Ross Millar, Jean McHale and Nick Snowden
The purpose of this paper is to explore whether official inquiries are an effective method for holding the medical profession to account for failings in the quality and safety of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore whether official inquiries are an effective method for holding the medical profession to account for failings in the quality and safety of care.
Design/methodology/approach
Through a review of the theoretical literature on professions and documentary analysis of key public inquiry documents and reports in the UK National Health Service (NHS) the authors examine how the misconduct of doctors can be understood using the metaphor of professional wrongdoing as a product of bad apples, bad barrels or bad cellars.
Findings
The wrongdoing literature tends to present an uncritical assumption of increasing sophistication in analysis, as the focus moves from bad apples (individuals) to bad barrels (organisations) and more latterly to bad cellars (the wider system). This evolution in thinking about wrongdoing is also visible in public inquiries, as analysis and recommendations increasingly tend to emphasise cultural and systematic issues. Yet, while organisational and systemic factors are undoubtedly important, there is a need to keep in sight the role of individuals, for two key reasons. First, there is growing evidence that a small number of doctors may be disproportionately responsible for large numbers of complaints and concerns. Second, there is a risk that the role of individual professionals in drawing attention to wrongdoing is being neglected.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge this is the first theoretical and empirical study specifically exploring the role of NHS inquiries in holding the medical profession to account for failings in professional practice.
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Nick Beech, David Devins, Jeff Gold and Susan Beech
This paper aims to explore the concept of resilience set within a family business context and considers how familiness and the nature of noneconomic factors, such as relationship…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore the concept of resilience set within a family business context and considers how familiness and the nature of noneconomic factors, such as relationship dynamics influence performance. This paper provides new insights into the nature and impact of familiness as a mediating device, uncovering the potential for reframing resilience theory and practice.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper draws on a review of the extant literature in the areas of resilience and familiness as a means of developing a deeper understanding of the social-ecological system of the family firm.
Findings
The study reveals family business as a complex interrelationship between complimentary social-ecological systems. It highlights the complexity of family business and the challenges of the relational nature of familiness and how this presents additional layers of complexity in the decision making process and implementation.
Research limitations/implications
The paper draws on literature that is dominated by western culture and may partially or not at all reflect the issues associated with organisational resilience in family firms with such backgrounds and their culturally bound social-ecological systems.
Originality/value
The paper seeks to fill a knowledge gap by exploring the key elements of organisational resilience in the context of familiness. The work calls for further research into the nature of familiness connections mediating the nature of family relational dynamics. It further provides a framework indicating how these elements can shape and subvert day-to-day management events, raising implications for theory and practice and calls for deeper empirical research to be undertaken.
Details
Keywords
The purpose of this study is to offer the bibliometric analysis of the Journal of Knowledge Management (JKM) to understand how the literature has developed over time.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to offer the bibliometric analysis of the Journal of Knowledge Management (JKM) to understand how the literature has developed over time.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used bibliometric approaches to analyze a sample of 669 studies from 1997 to 2021. This study focused on performance analysis and scientific mapping of articles using the R package.
Findings
The results indicate that the number of publications during the period has significantly increased which shows a growing interest of researchers in the JKM. This study highlights new emerging themes such as change management, change readiness, product innovation and digital libraries which uncover exciting avenues for new research opportunities. USA and UK were the most productive countries in terms of the number of citations followed by few European countries including Spain, Finland, Germany and Sweden. However, it is worth noting that India was the most productive country in the emerging economies.
Practical implications
This study will act as a guide for researchers of various fields to evaluate the development of scientific publications in a particular theme over time, especially for those who are in the field of knowledge management (KM).
Originality/value
This study aims to accomplish the systematic bibliometric analysis of the JKM for more than two decades, providing useful insights into the key developments in the field of KM. This study is more rigorous and comprehensive in terms of the analytical techniques used.