The terms “learning” and “learner” are used in discussions of workplace learning as if they were unproblematic and as if workers, organisations and researchers had a common…
Abstract
The terms “learning” and “learner” are used in discussions of workplace learning as if they were unproblematic and as if workers, organisations and researchers had a common, shared view about what these terms mean. A study of four different workgroups within an organisation in which the discourse of learning was pervasive suggests that having an identity as a learner may not be compatible with being regarded as a competent worker. The politics of naming oneself as a learner are considered and the power of naming learning and learners are discussed. The broader implications for research on workplace learning of such a discursive approach are noted.
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John Rule, Roger Dunston and Nicky Solomon
This paper aims to provide an account of learning and change in the redesign of a primary health-care initiative in a large metropolitan city in Australia.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to provide an account of learning and change in the redesign of a primary health-care initiative in a large metropolitan city in Australia.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is based on research exploring the place and role of learning in the re-making of health professional practices in a major New South Wales Government health reform called HealthOne. The analysis and findings presented here make reference to data drawn from a longitudinal ethnographic study (2011-2014) conducted by an inter-disciplinary team of researchers from the University of Technology Sydney. Socio-material and practice-based approaches for understanding learning are used in working with the data.
Findings
There were substantial changes in professional practice, especially in the role of the General Practice Liaison Nurse. Changes, and the learning connected to the changes, were dynamically influenced by the macro-context. HealthOne was a reform initiative with a strong focus on achieving health service redesign and a consistent focus on staff developing new ways of thinking and operating. Although learning was often discussed, it was, for the most part, expressed in general terms, and there was a lack of a formal and well-developed approach to learning collectively and individually.
Originality/value
This research paper will inform future attempts at service redesign in community and primary health contexts and provides a site-specific examination of workplace learning in a context of rapid change.
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Nicky Solomon, David Boud, Maria Leontios and Maret Staron
Research in workplace learning needs to take into account the reflexive nature of researchers’ learning. Explores how members of a research team examined their own learning and…
Abstract
Research in workplace learning needs to take into account the reflexive nature of researchers’ learning. Explores how members of a research team examined their own learning and collaboration through a study of transcripts of interactions between them during planning meetings and reflections upon them. Identifies implications for collaboration and learning about workplace learning. A key finding was that experienced researchers and adult educators had difficulty legitimising a focus on their own workplace learning. This points to the problems likely to arise in getting others, who do not have a discourse of learning readily available to them, to take informal workplace learning seriously.
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Hermine Scheeres, Nicky Solomon, David Boud and Donna Rooney
The purpose of this paper is to examine the use of “learning” through what we have termed “integrated development practices”. These are common organisational practices that both…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the use of “learning” through what we have termed “integrated development practices”. These are common organisational practices that both enhance organisational effectiveness and contribute to organisational and employee learning.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper analyses the ways in which learning and being a learner were talked about and enacted with regard to one of the integrated development practices identified in a study of four different organisations – safety practices, and how learning and being a learner regarding safety were legitimate in one of the organisations. Data are drawn from semi‐structured interviews with members of a variety of workgroups in one major division of the organisation.
Findings
Interviewees' responses reflected that learning was fully embedded as an accepted part of a necessary function of the organisation. This use of a learning discourse is discussed in the light of findings from an earlier study on informal learning at work that suggested that learning and the identity of being a learner were sometimes resisted in the everyday culture of work.
Originality/value
Using the theorisations of practice of Schatzki and the lifelong education framework of Delors the paper discusses the implications of these findings to examine when it is acceptable to articulate learning as part of work and be identified as a learner at work.
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Nicky Lidbetter, Nic Seccombe, Ember Girling Rogers and Tina Lee
The purpose of this paper is to describe the development, implementation, delivery and evolution of a community-led, comprehensive, peer support service, including co-production…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to describe the development, implementation, delivery and evolution of a community-led, comprehensive, peer support service, including co-production approaches, peer support worker role development, outcomes, acceptability and lessons learnt over a five-year timeframe.
Design/methodology/approach
This case study presents a reflection on a charity’s peer support service development along with outcomes to highlight client progress.
Findings
Improvement in well-being as measured through the Warwick Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale (WEMWBS) was evidenced along with demonstrating that the peer support service offers complementary support to Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) services.
Research limitations/implications
There was limited quantitative data, and that which existed was analysed on a service-wide basis as opposed to looking at individual components of the service.
Practical implications
This paper demonstrates the value of peer support provision as part of an overall primary care, community-based mental health service, including findings that suggest that for some individuals, where IAPT services did not help them as much, a peer-based service appeared to be more suitable.
Social implications
The peer support service provided a complementary and alternative service to conventional primary care mental health services whilst offering individuals with lived experience to gain volunteering, employment and development opportunities.
Originality/value
Whilst peer support services have been well documented in the literature for clients experiencing serious mental illness, research on the use of such approaches in the management of common mental health difficulties including anxiety and depression is not as well established. The aim of this paper is to detail the experiences of a user-led charity in developing and delivering peer support services, including challenges encountered. Furthermore, this paper describes a peer support service that has been integrated with a co-existing low intensity IAPT service, reporting recovery rates for clients that have accessed both peer support and IAPT services.
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Vanisha Narsey and Cristel A. Russell
Purpose – Hybrid reality television, a burgeoning subgenre spawning from the reality television genre, distinguishes itself from its parent genre through dramatizations that have…
Abstract
Purpose – Hybrid reality television, a burgeoning subgenre spawning from the reality television genre, distinguishes itself from its parent genre through dramatizations that have been described as presenting a “quasi-reality” that is disorientating for the viewer (Caramanica, 2010). In addition to blurring the lines between fact and fiction, hybrid reality programs blur the lines between product placement and entertainment as products are seamlessly blended into the depicted lifestyles. This research explores how consumers negotiate hybrid reality television programs and how this process transpires in viewers' reactions to the consumption portrayals within the programs.
Methodology/approach – Insights were sought from qualitative in-depth interviews with avid viewers of an archetype of the hybrid reality subgenre, the MTV program The Hills.
Findings – The findings reveal varying degrees of self-reflexive consciousness, reflecting viewers' critical awareness of the rhetoric of the program, the artifices of the hybrid reality genre, and their role as an audience. Self-reflexive consciousness facilitates a critical response toward the text in which viewers recognize the artifices of the genre and thus regard the program as “real” and “not real” and simultaneously worth and worthless viewing at the same time, in a textual strategy, we refer to as ironic (dis)engagement.
Originality/value of the chapter – On the basis of this body of data, a typology of viewer responses to hybrid reality programs emerges with corresponding consumption strategies as viewers negotiate the consumption portrayals within The Hills. These findings suggest that viewers embrace product placement within the subgenre and that the program has pioneered and opened up new horizons for lifestyle branding practices within television programming.
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Katerina Karanika and Margaret K. Hogg
This paper aims to examine how ambivalence and intergenerational support intersect with consumption in experiences of sharing within the family.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine how ambivalence and intergenerational support intersect with consumption in experiences of sharing within the family.
Design/methodology/approach
Consumer research studies usually use one of two family paradigms (i.e. solidarity and conflict), but the role of ambivalence in family ties is often neglected. This paper examines how ambivalence relates to adult intergenerational support, specifically within the context of sharing, consumption and family identity. In contrast to consumer research studies, sociological studies identify the intersection between intergenerational ambivalence and intergenerational support within family life. This study draws on sociology literature to interpret data from phenomenological interviews with downwardly mobile Greek consumers involved in familial intergenerational support and sharing. The voices of adult recipients and providers of resources are captured, and the transcribed interview texts are analysed using a phenomenological-hermeneutical process.
Findings
Three types of consumer ambivalence were identified that reflected different types of conflicts between consumption choices and different levels of family identity (collective, relational and individual).
Research limitations/implications
Future research should explore ambivalence and family sharing in different family structures and during different transitions. Future research should also investigate how this study’s findings resonate in societies less affected by austerity measures with stronger welfare states that nevertheless experience a rise in intergenerational support.
Originality/value
The study problematises previously somewhat polarised (i.e. positive vs bleak) views of the family in consumer research. Family sharing is highlighted as a major antecedent to consumer ambivalence, and different types of consumer ambivalence within intergenerational relationships within families are conceptualised. This paper proposes an extended typology of coping strategies aligned along a practical–emotional continuum.
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Nicky Chang Bi and Ruonan Zhang
Influencer marketing is a newer interactive marketing model that has attracted the attention of scholars and marketers. The study aimed to examine the mediation role of influencer…
Abstract
Purpose
Influencer marketing is a newer interactive marketing model that has attracted the attention of scholars and marketers. The study aimed to examine the mediation role of influencer credibility (IC) and the moderation role of self-esteem in the effects of individuals' parasocial relationships (PSR) with YouTube influencers on their product attitudes (PATs) and purchase intentions (PIs).
Design/methodology/approach
The researchers used an online survey to test a sequential mediation model and moderation mediation models using Hayes PROCESS modeling.
Findings
The researchers revealed a sequential mediation model that IC and PAT mediate the association between PSR and PI. Individuals who perceived IC to be low were more likely to buy an endorsed product when their self-esteem got lower. When their self-esteem is low, individuals tend to purchase the endorsed products if they have stronger PSR with the influencers. However, they are less likely to buy the endorsed products when their self-esteem gets higher.
Originality/value
The study expands the dimensions of IC. The persuasive power of IC and influencer-user relationship was affected by individual differences, namely, self-esteem. Brands should pay attention to customers' personalities, motivations and preferences when designing strategies to market their products via social media.
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Yoo‐Kyoung Seock and Nicki Sauls
The purpose of this paper is to investigate Hispanic consumers' shopping orientations and their apparel retail store evaluation criteria and to examine age and gender differences…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate Hispanic consumers' shopping orientations and their apparel retail store evaluation criteria and to examine age and gender differences in their shopping orientations and retail store evaluation criteria.
Design/methodology/approach
A structured questionnaire was developed to collect data on the variables in the study. The questionnaire was developed both in English and Spanish. Factor analysis was employed to identify Hispanic consumers' shopping orientations and their retail store evaluation criteria. Pillai's trace multivariate analyses of variance were used to examine the hypotheses.
Findings
Six shopping orientation constructs and three constructs of store evaluation criteria were identified. The results revealed that males and females have different shopping orientations and apparel retail store evaluation criteria. Shopping orientation and apparel retail store evaluation criteria also varied across the age groups.
Research limitations/implications
This study has practical implications for apparel retailers regarding how to position their stores in targeting different groups of shoppers and how to allocate their resources and promote products. Additionally, the findings of the study will reveal how to provide an optimal shopping experience to Hispanic consumers so that apparel retailers can develop localized marketing strategies to target the areas with a large Hispanic population.
Originality/value
Despite the importance of understanding Hispanic consumers' apparel shopping behavior, little research has been conducted.