Petr Parshakov, Sofiia Paklina, Dennis Coates and Aleksei Chadov
Video games are considered as a leisure activity that makes being unemployed more attractive than before. In this study, the authors use eSports prizes as a proxy for the…
Abstract
Purpose
Video games are considered as a leisure activity that makes being unemployed more attractive than before. In this study, the authors use eSports prizes as a proxy for the popularity of video games to analyze its influence on total and youth unemployment.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors develop a theoretical model and empirically test it using the total prize money won by representatives of a country in a given season in eSports tournaments, via a panel regression model with the country-year as a unit of observation. The data set includes information about 191 countries between 2000 and 2015.
Findings
The authors’ results of regression analysis show a positive influence of the popularity of video games on the unemployment rate. In addition, the authors analyze this effect for countries with different levels of income and labor productivity. The authors found a significant inverse relationship between income level and the effect of the popularity of video games on total and youth unemployment.
Originality/value
While previous studies rely mostly on self-reported data, the authors suggest a new approach to measure video game popularity. This paper contributes to existing knowledge with empirical evidence on how leisure activities affect unemployment at the country level.
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This paper aims to create a theoretical model of student involvement in the institutional quality assurance process at their universities.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to create a theoretical model of student involvement in the institutional quality assurance process at their universities.
Design/methodology/approach
The model suggested in this paper was created and developed from a critical examination of relevant literature on stakeholder involvement in decision making and quality assurance processes, regarding different disciplines.
Findings
This paper presents a theoretical model of student involvement in the institutional quality assurance with its diminutions, categories and 20 rungs of student activities. It suggests a definition of student involvement term, regarding participating in the quality assurance process at higher education institutions. The importance of involving students in quality assurance procedures has been discussed. The paper provides some international experiences about student involvement in institutional QAP depending on the categories of student involvement activities that were suggested in the theoretical model.
Originality/value
The paper reveals a comprehensive model of student involvement that allows a full understanding of the extent and nature of the activities which higher education students undertake when they involve themselves in the quality assurance process at their institution.
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Frances Breslin and David McMenemy
To discuss and investigate the reasons for the decline in book borrowing in UK public libraries.
Abstract
Purpose
To discuss and investigate the reasons for the decline in book borrowing in UK public libraries.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper presents an extensive literature review and a small scale survey.
Findings
The reasons why adults were not borrowing as many books from public libraries as the past were many faceted, including intrinsic and extrinsic reasons. Some of these reasons include an increased level of buying books as opposed to borrowing, lack of time to visit the library, the opening hours of the library, stock selection, and restrictive borrowing periods and fines.
Research limitations/implications
As a small scale survey the results are of limited impact, however they do inform as to some of the reasons why adults are not borrowing from public libraries and as such are of value to policy makers and researchers in the area.
Practical implications
Results are of value to public librarians and policy makers in understanding why adults are not borrowing books from libraries in the levels of the past.
Originality/value
The paper builds on other work in the field to offer an insight into a specific challenge facing public libraries in the 21st century.
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Anger responding to government-imposed COVID-19 pandemic mandates is examined in relation to 2021 international reports of street protests in cities, with a focus on Perth…
Abstract
Anger responding to government-imposed COVID-19 pandemic mandates is examined in relation to 2021 international reports of street protests in cities, with a focus on Perth, Western Australia. Angry protestors displayed a variety of signs and symbols, united under banners demanding freedom. A multi-disciplinary analysis attends to distrust in public health mandates in the global context of an insecure biosphere. Mandates can signify symbolic death, and anger an ‘immune’ response to lifeworld constraints. Anger among nurses and vaccine-hesitant protestors signifies ethical rejection of super-imposed mandates, and fear of alleged vaccine harms. Official pandemic communications are held to be ill-timed, lacking information meaningful to diverse citizens' needs, and offset by poorly contextualised data and unreliable pre-packaged interpretations communicated via digital technologies. A novel hypothesis proposes semiotic misrecognition of the global nature of communications from intersecting ecosocial crises may underlie protestors' anger. Modelling of a management system to validate broad contextual knowledges may restore meaningful balance and public solidarity, to creatively respond to future human crises.
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This paper’s purpose is to challenge the traditional assumption in leadership studies that leaders’ traits and capabilities impact effectiveness irrespective of the environment in…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper’s purpose is to challenge the traditional assumption in leadership studies that leaders’ traits and capabilities impact effectiveness irrespective of the environment in which they operate. We identify the cognitive capabilities (CCs) of moral leaders that increase their efficacy in turbulent environments. To identify these capabilities, we integrate the strategic management literature on dynamic managerial capabilities (DMCs) into the field of moral leadership. We explore the micro-foundations of DMCs—that is, the CCs of moral leaders that underpin their abilities to sense and seize opportunities and reconfigure organizations—and show that CCs are effective in environmental turbulence.
Design/methodology/approach
We review 74 articles on moral leaders—including ethical, authentic, and servant leaders—and analyze their CCs that enable effectiveness in turbulent environments.
Findings
Moral leaders sense opportunities by drawing on their CCs for attention and perception. They seize opportunities with intuitive moral judgment and conscious moral reasoning, and by considering diverse perspectives and followers’ needs when problem solving. They reconfigure with vision-inspired storytelling, collaboration, and trust-building among stakeholders.
Practical implications
Organizations should use coaching, mentoring, and training to develop the CCs of moral leaders, and institutionalize these skills in their organizations.
Originality/value
We illustrate that the environment is an important determinant of the effectiveness of moral leaders’ capabilities. By integrating the DMC literature into the moral leadership field, we identify the distinctive CCs of ethical, authentic, and servant leaders that make them effective in turbulent environments.
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Y. Arayici, P. Coates, L. Koskela, M. Kagioglou, C. Usher and K. O'Reilly
This paper aims to present a systematic approach for building information modelling (BIM) implementation for architectural SMEs at the organizational level
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to present a systematic approach for building information modelling (BIM) implementation for architectural SMEs at the organizational level
Design/methodology/approach
The research is undertaken through a knowledge transfer partnership (KTP) project between the University of Salford and John McCall Architects (JMA) a SME based in Liverpool. The overall aim of the KTP is to develop lean design practice through BIM adoption. The BIM implementation approach uses a socio‐technical view, which does not only consider the implementation of technology but also considers the socio‐cultural environment that provides the context for its implementation. The action research oriented qualitative and quantitative research is used for discovery, comparison, and experimentation as it provides “learning by doing”.
Findings
The strategic approach to BIM adoption incorporated people, process and technology equally and led to capacity building through the improvements in process, technological infrastructure and upskilling of JMA staff to attain efficiency gains and competitive advantages.
Originality/value
The paper introduces a systematic approach for BIM adoption based on the action research philosophy and demonstrates a roadmap for BIM adoption at the operational level for SME companies.
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Kristen Foley, Belinda Lunnay and Paul R. Ward
During the COVID-19 pandemic, trust considerations have been amplified to levels not seen in most of our lifetimes. We have been asked to trust: epidemiologists, virologists and…
Abstract
During the COVID-19 pandemic, trust considerations have been amplified to levels not seen in most of our lifetimes. We have been asked to trust: epidemiologists, virologists and immunologists in terms of the nature of COVID-19 transmission and vaccinations; politicians, public health planners and policymakers in terms of the need for various responses such as lockdowns, school closures, border closures and economic recovery plans; media sources in terms of accurately reporting COVID-19 news; and members of our community in terms of doing their best to protect themselves and others from COVID-19 transmission, including mask wearing, hand washing, isolating and social/physical distancing. Within this chapter, we attempt to explore the emotional responses to this complex web of trust considerations from qualitative data in a study we conducted amidst the beginning of the pandemic. We then offer some interpretations about how trust considerations may have been altered as a result of living in and through the pandemic. We suggest that trust can be a primary emotion, or at least function that way during times of crises, and be (reflexively) deployed by citizens to manage emotional repertoires during crisis and to position themselves as responsible neoliberal citizens. We add understanding about the strains in horizontal/interpersonal trust relations during a pandemic – where the virus spreading between people necessitates social and relational distancing measures for containment – and inflames questions about whether or not we can trust each other.
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Yehuda Baruch and Stuart Jenkins
The purpose of this paper is to examine the use of expletives and swearing in the workplace. It proposes to challenge leadership style and to suggest ideas for management best…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the use of expletives and swearing in the workplace. It proposes to challenge leadership style and to suggest ideas for management best practice.
Design/methodology/approach
Case studies and qualitative analysis were applied, methods that fit well for this sensitive topic.
Findings
This paper identifies the relevance, and even the importance, of using non‐conventional and sometimes uncivil language in the workplace.
Research limitations/implications
Sample size and representativeness present limitations.
Practical implications
There is a need for leaders to apply, under certain circumstances, a permissive leadership culture. This paper advises leaders on how it may lead to positive consequences.
Originality/value
The paper is an original contribution to an area where research is scarce. A certain originality element stems from the fact that, focusing on swearing language, the paper found it necessary to use swear words (avoiding usage of the explicit form); bearing in mind the purpose of the paper, the paper hopes that this will not cause offence to the readership of the journal.
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The concept of civic engagement, defined independently of engagement in political, social, or vocational organizations connects the parallel concept of followership to civic…
Abstract
The concept of civic engagement, defined independently of engagement in political, social, or vocational organizations connects the parallel concept of followership to civic engagement with two kinds of follower motivation emerging: mission-oriented and leader- oriented. The mission-driven follower “owns” the cause and supports it with an ongoing, sustainable energy, while the leader-driven follower participates based on esteem for the leader. In the latter case, the leader must continually renew the follower’s engagement through direct requests and exhortation. This research has identified an area of emergent opportunity in the leadership and followership literature, conceptualizing civic engagement as most significantly motivated by mission-driven followership. Practically, mission-driven followers should be sought out and encouraged to volunteer because they support the mission and are more likely to stay with the organization through leadership changes. Theoretically, the addition of a quantitative analysis of mission-driven and leader-driven followership contributes to the emerging scholarship on followership.
According to academics, the translation form of exchange rate risk does not affect the market value of a firm and as a result should not be managed by corporate managers. Research…
Abstract
According to academics, the translation form of exchange rate risk does not affect the market value of a firm and as a result should not be managed by corporate managers. Research to date, however, suggests that many multinational companies (MNCs) actively monitor and manage their translation exchange risk. Thus, either corporate management fail to understand the irrelevant nature of this risk or there are other factors that need to be considered. This paper extends the current literature by examining these issues; in particular, it examines whether MNCs continue to manage their translation exchange rate risk and if so what their reasons are for the specific practices. Results suggest that the gearing ratio, itself a measure of risk, is largely responsible for the management of the translation process. Further, some companies seek to manage their ‘profit and loss translation exchange risk,’ a ‘risk’ resulting from the impact of the translation process on the profit and loss account. Preferred management strategies include the currency denomination of debt and use of financial instruments such as forward contracts. Capital market imperfections reflected in binding loan covenants, agency theory problems and the assumption of inefficient market behaviour explain the observed corporate management behaviour.