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1 – 10 of 182Aspects of intellectual competence would not be sufficient for quality teaching that requires a mix of intellectual and personal qualities. The purpose of this paper was to elicit…
Abstract
Purpose
Aspects of intellectual competence would not be sufficient for quality teaching that requires a mix of intellectual and personal qualities. The purpose of this paper was to elicit personal attributes of teachers’ college applicants.
Design/methodology/approach
This qualitative case study consisted of 99 participants aged 20-24 years of average socio-economic and achievement backgrounds. The authors constructed five qualitative tools, in addition to the two existing standardized exams. Using techniques of the grounded theory, the authors sorted and synthesized the data through three-phase coding.
Findings
The authors elicited a general concept map of attributes, from which a personal attribute profile for each participant emerged. This model makes fine differentiations between individuals, providing a personal attribute profile pool of applicants useful for any admission committee and for empowering students’ strengths during studies.
Research limitations/implications
A solid database of non-cognitive attributes opens the door to further research, which will take into consideration multiple variables, such as student knowledge, beliefs and aptitudes.
Practical implications
Training teachers to apply research methodology into practice and limiting the length of tools make the mission possible, interesting and useful. Figuring out how to collect valid measures of such data about large numbers of college students would be a major challenge.
Social implications
As teachers occupy a central position in the educational enterprise, they become guardians of the country’s collective socio-cultural legacy. In the current context of teacher shortages, the authors offer a model that has the potential of improving recruitment of applicants for teaching and raising teacher quality.
Originality/value
No previous attempt that uses qualitative methodology for this purpose was found.
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Emmanuel Kwame Nti, Camillus Abawiera Wongnaa, Nana Sampson E. Edusah, John-Eudes Andivi Bakang and Vasco Baffour Kyei
The purpose of this paper is to support the development of effective strategies that enhance community water supply systems. The study examined service constraints and willingness…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to support the development of effective strategies that enhance community water supply systems. The study examined service constraints and willingness to pay for better services in community-managed water supply services using empirical evidence from beneficiaries of a small-town water supply system in Ghana.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey design of both descriptive and exploratory research is adopted, the descriptive survey handles the quantitative aspect, while the exploratory survey handles the qualitative aspect. The authors collected data using a structured survey questionnaire from 387 beneficiaries who were public standpipe and domestic users. Descriptive statistics, Kendall's coefficient of concordance and Cragg's two-step model were the methods of analysis employed.
Findings
The respondents ranked lack of capacity (managerial) as the topmost constraint of the community-managed water system. The findings indicate that 57% of the beneficiaries were not willing to pay, whiles 43% were willing to pay. Also, results from Cragg's two-step regression model indicate that different sets of factors affect willingness-to-pay and amount-to-pay decisions. The study revealed that while a willingness-to-pay decision is influenced by income, education, marital status and customer service, the estimated-amount-to-pay decision is more influenced by income and education.
Originality/value
Building on the empirical evidence, the findings indicated that the water and sanitation management team can increase the current fee of GH¢ 5.00/1 m3 (≈US$ 0.87) by increasing beneficiaries charge for a bucket of water from GH¢ 0.10p (≈US$ 0.017) to GH¢ 0.21p (≈US$ 0.036) for better services within the community. Importantly, the additional charge should take into consideration income and education which were noted to significantly influence the beneficiary's amount-to-pay decision for better services in the community-managed water supply system.
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Aki Roberts and John M. Roberts
Organizational research has suggested that network ties influence adoption of innovations and other organizational behavior. This paper aims to study the impact of network ties on…
Abstract
Purpose
Organizational research has suggested that network ties influence adoption of innovations and other organizational behavior. This paper aims to study the impact of network ties on change in police agency practices in a sample of city and county police agencies for which Weiss provided data on informal communication ties between agency planners.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors analyzed change in six agency practices from 1997 to 2000, as indicated in law enforcement management and administrative statistics (LEMAS) data, with a variable indicating whether an agency's network contact engaged in the practice.
Findings
Network ties appeared to influence change in computer use for crime mapping, with change more likely when the agency and its network contact initially differed with respect to the practice. Statistically significant network influences were not found for change in the other practices (existence of a formal community policing plan, geographic assignment of detectives, encouragement of scanning, analysis, response, and assessment (SARA) problem‐solving, computer use for resource allocation, and patrol access to criminal histories).
Research limitations/implications
Results suggest that network ties may affect change in policing practices and innovation, but that this does not necessarily hold across all types of practices.
Practical implications
With at least some evidence of network influences, results suggest that policymakers should attempt to take advantage of network structure when encouraging beneficial changes in agency practices.
Originality/value
This paper studies the impact of network ties on change in police agency practices in a sample of city and county police agencies.
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Sara Willis, Sharon Clarke and Elinor O'Connor
The research aimed to uncover leader profiles based on combinations of transformational (TFL), transactional (TAL) and passive leadership (PAL) and to examine how such…
Abstract
Purpose
The research aimed to uncover leader profiles based on combinations of transformational (TFL), transactional (TAL) and passive leadership (PAL) and to examine how such constellations affect safety. Leader adaptability was tested as an antecedent of leader profiles.
Design/methodology/approach
Using latent profile analysis, the effect of different leader profiles on workplace safety was investigated in two survey studies.
Findings
In total, four leader profiles emerged: “active,” “stable-moderate,” “passive-avoidant” and “inconsistent” leader. A stable-moderate leader profile was identified as the optimal leader profile for safety performance. Leader adaptability was identified as a predictor of leader profile membership.
Practical implications
Safety leadership development should focus on training managers in optimal combinations of leadership practices.
Originality/value
The research calls into question the existence of a transformational or transactional leader. The findings suggest that higher frequency of leadership practices is not always more beneficial for workplace safety.
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Sharon-Marie Gillooley, Sheilagh Mary Resnick, Tony Woodall and Seamus Allison
This study aims to examine the phenomenon of self-perceived age (SPA) identity for Generation X (GenX) women in the UK. Squeezed between the more ubiquitous “boomer” and…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the phenomenon of self-perceived age (SPA) identity for Generation X (GenX) women in the UK. Squeezed between the more ubiquitous “boomer” and “millennial” cohorts, and now with both gender and age stigma-related challenges, this study looks to provide insights for understanding this group for marketing.
Design/methodology/approach
This study adopts an existential phenomenological approach using a hybrid structured/hermeneutic research design. Data is collected using solicited diary research (SDR) that elicits autoethnographic insights into the lived experiences of GenX women, these in the context of SPA.
Findings
For this group, the authors find age a gendered phenomenon represented via seven “age frames”, collectively an “organisation of experience”. Age identity appears not to have unified meaning but is contingent upon individuals and their experiences. These frames then provide further insights into how diarists react to the stigma of gendered ageism.
Research limitations/implications
SDR appeals to participants who like completing diaries and are motivated by the research topic. This limits both diversity of response and sample size, but coincidentally enhances elicitation potential – outweighing, the authors believe, these constraints. The sample comprises UK women only.
Practical implications
This study acknowledges GenX women as socially real, but from an SPA perspective they are heterogeneous, and consequently distributed across many segments. Here, age is a psychographic, not demographic, variable – a subjective rather than chronological condition requiring a nuanced response from marketers.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first formal study into how SPA identity is manifested for GenX women. Methodologically, this study uses e-journals/diaries, an approach not yet fully exploited in marketing research.
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Studies of police organizations typically involve examining predictors consistent with structural contingency theory while comparatively fewer have examined the applicability of…
Abstract
Purpose
Studies of police organizations typically involve examining predictors consistent with structural contingency theory while comparatively fewer have examined the applicability of institutional theory. The purpose of the current study is to examine the influence of institutional factors on the elaboration of organizational structure, specifically the incorporation of a crime analysis unit into a police organization's structure.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were obtained using a 2002 mail survey of law enforcement agencies focusing on the crime analysis function and environmental factors influencing the organization of that function. Additional information complementing the survey data was obtained through telephone interviews with representatives from 12 of the surveyed departments.
Findings
Multivariate results show that, consistent with contingency theory, size is an important predictor of structural elaboration. Analyses and interview responses suggest that institutional factors, particularly accreditation standards, may play some role in shaping organizational structures.
Research limitations/implications
The survey was returned by 160 agencies for a response rate of 56 percent but analyses were based on relatively small samples of 67‐77 agencies. Telephone interviews were conducted using a purposive, non‐probability sampling method.
Practical implications
The results of this exploratory study provide insight into factors contributing to the adoption of structures and strategies in policing.
Originality/value
The research is one of only a small number of studies in policing to explicitly test propositions derived from institutional theory, particularly the concept of institutional isomorphism.
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