This article explores the meanings of societal marketing in the context of AIDS community‐based organizations (CBOs). Studies have investigated the practice of relationship…
Abstract
This article explores the meanings of societal marketing in the context of AIDS community‐based organizations (CBOs). Studies have investigated the practice of relationship marketing in for‐profit businesses, but we have yet to understand fully the practice of relationship marketing in the vast and socially important not‐for‐profit or philanthropic sectors that practise societal marketing. Four ways in which therapeutic or “revivalist” discourse is cultivated and appropriated by clients are elaborated: reproduction of community, the use of metaphor, encouraging reflexive self‐development, and tangibilizing grief. Implications for customer intimacy and relationship marketing in the societal marketing sector are elaborated.
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Steven M. Kates and Judy Robertson
The purpose of this article is to offer a perspective on adapting action research principles and methods in academic marketing research contexts. From combined theoretical and…
Abstract
The purpose of this article is to offer a perspective on adapting action research principles and methods in academic marketing research contexts. From combined theoretical and practical perspectives, the article provides a dialogical argument about the issues associated with implementing action research, addressing three important and related questions. First, are marketers specifically (and people in organizations, more generally) truly reflective? Is reflection suited to some organizations' authoritarian realities? Second, how is a strong organizational culture a barrier to change and further learning, and how might this difficulty be overcome by action research? Third, what is the role of the researcher in the process, and what skills, knowledge, and influence must this person have to successfully implement an action research program? The article concludes by proposing that an incremental orientation to change and intervention effectiveness is needed for these approaches to work in demanding marketing contexts.
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Katherine J. C. Sang and Steven Glasgow
This chapter explores the potential for the classroom to be a space for activism and hope within the contemporary business school. Drawing on the extant literature, a reflexive…
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This chapter explores the potential for the classroom to be a space for activism and hope within the contemporary business school. Drawing on the extant literature, a reflexive account of our own teaching and learning practice, and a small number of interviews with academics using feminist material in their teaching in business schools, we explore the challenges, opportunities and joys experienced in the feminist classroom. We suggest that engaging in feminist teaching practice and theory can offer an opportunity for academics to engage in the critical management studies practice which is often said to be lacking within management research. We begin by setting out the extant positioning of Critical Management Studies, moving to an analysis of the educational context. Interwoven through this are our own perspectives. Our own reflections do not reveal the identities of students.
Multi-academy trusts (MATs) are privatised, corporatised multi-school organisations led by chief executive officers (CEOs) whose role as system leaders requires them to structure…
Abstract
Multi-academy trusts (MATs) are privatised, corporatised multi-school organisations led by chief executive officers (CEOs) whose role as system leaders requires them to structure school leaders as policy actors. To illustrate the impact this can have on school leaders, an interview with a special educational needs and disabilities coordinator (SENDco) for a secondary school which is part of a MAT is analysed. This individual described a complex role requiring specialist skills and knowledge but also disclosed that she was not consulted on policy decisions which she had strong reservations about regarding their equity and inclusivity. This occurs because of the structure of the MAT. A typology for thinking about policy work and policy actors in schools set out by Ball et al. (2011) is used to show that the structure of the MAT can effectively bar school policy actors like the SENDco from being a ‘policy entrepreneur’ able to advocate for and interpret policy, to being a mere ‘receiver’ of policy. The result is that such an individual can become critically misaligned with their institution. In response to this mis-alignment, and without the outlet to be a vocal policy ‘critic’, the SENDco chooses to align herself professionally and personally with the local authority based on a shared history, culture and philosophy. This effectively renders the SENDco a ‘policy outsider’ within their own employing organisation, in effect stuck between two different worlds.
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This paper aims to explore how gay men and lesbians draw upon workplace friendship for developing and sustaining managerial careers and identities.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore how gay men and lesbians draw upon workplace friendship for developing and sustaining managerial careers and identities.
Design/methodology/approach
The study adopts a qualitative design, using data collected from semi‐structured interviews with four lesbians and eight gay men, all employed in managerial roles in the UK.
Findings
Data reveal the importance of workplace friendship as a resource for mentoring, climbing managerial career ladders, fitting into existing work cultures and developing gay and lesbian managerial identities. A significant finding is that participants preferred to befriend heterosexual colleagues, to that end complicating previous research that suggests gay and lesbian friendship preferences tend to be marked by similarity in regard to sexual identity. Work friends enable and constrain the development and visibility of gay and lesbian managerial identities and careers.
Research limitations/implications
Although the data are not generalisable, it is of concern that gay men and lesbians continue to be disadvantaged by heteronormative constructions of gender and sexuality. While gender and sexual norms can limit the visibility and embodiment of gay and lesbian managers in the workplace, the study reveals also how gay sexualities can be utilised as a resource for developing influential friendships.
Originality/value
This article provides insights into issues not previously covered or understudied in the organisation studies literature such as the agency of gay men and lesbians in constructing different types of workplace friendships as a resource for developing managerial identities and careers.
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Payam Aminpour, Steven Gray, Robert Richardson, Alison Singer, Laura Castro-Diaz, Marie Schaefer, Mohd Aswad Ramlan and Noleen Rutendo Chikowore
This paper aims to investigate different ways in which faculty members of sustainability-related departments in universities across the world perceive, understand and define…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate different ways in which faculty members of sustainability-related departments in universities across the world perceive, understand and define sustainability and how these definitions are linked to their demographics and epistemological beliefs.
Design/methodology/approach
Scholars from different disciplines investigate the sustainability of social-ecological systems from different perspectives. Such differences in the understanding of, and approaches to, sustainability have created ambiguity within the field and may weaken its effectiveness, impact and reputation as a field of research. To contribute to the discussion about sustainability definition, a survey was conducted involving university faculty members working in sustainability-related academic departments around the world. Participants’ responses were analyzed using SPSS 24.0 involving descriptive and inferential statistics and principle component analysis. Additionally, responses to open-ended questions were qualitatively analyzed.
Findings
Factor analysis on sustainability definition items reveal four emergent universal definitions of sustainability, labeled as Environmentalism concerns, Common understanding, neo-Malthusian environmentalism and Sustainability as well-being. Statistical analyses indicate that individuals from developed countries are more likely to define sustainability as Environmentalism and Common understanding; however, individuals from developing countries tend to define sustainability as well-being. Also, more heavily engaged scholars in interdisciplinary research of sustainability are more likely to perceive sustainability as Common understanding. Logistic Regression models demonstrate a connection between epistemological perspectives of researchers and sustainability definitions. Qualitative content analysis indicates that interdisciplinarity and collaboration are the most common challenges to sustainability research.
Originality/value
The findings of this study demonstrate disconnects between scholars from developing and developed countries in understanding and defining sustainability, and these disconnects may present further challenges for global sustainability scholarship.
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At a time when the future of the British state pension is being debated events in Australia provide an interesting example of an alternative approach. This article examines the…
Abstract
At a time when the future of the British state pension is being debated events in Australia provide an interesting example of an alternative approach. This article examines the introduction in Australia of the 1992 Superannuation Guarantee Charge Bills (SGC). The article considers the key debates which accompanied the SGC along with the role of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), the poverty lobby and employer organisations in the reform process. The Australian model can not simply be transposed to the UK but the politics of reform in this case illustrate the issues of equity, exclusion and social division that are likely to arise.
Competitive intelligence failures have devastating effects in marketplaces. They are attributed to various factors but seldom explicitly to information behaviour. This paper…
Abstract
Purpose
Competitive intelligence failures have devastating effects in marketplaces. They are attributed to various factors but seldom explicitly to information behaviour. This paper addresses causes of competitive intelligence failures from an information behaviour lens focussing on problems with key intelligence and information needs. The exploratory study was conducted in 2016/2017. Managers (end-users) identify key intelligence needs on which information is needed, and often other staff members seek the information (proxy information seeking). The purpose of this paper is to analyse problems related to key intelligence and information needs, and make recommendations to address the problems.
Design/methodology/approach
The study is placed in a post-positivism research paradigm, using qualitative and limited quantitative research approaches. In total, 15 participants (competitive intelligence professionals and educators/trainers originating from South Africa and the USA) contributed rich data through in-depth individual interviews.
Findings
Problems associated with articulation of information needs (key intelligence needs is the competitive intelligence term – with a broader scope) include inadequate communication between the person in need of information and the proxy information searcher; awareness and recognition of information needs; difficulty in articulation, incomplete and partial sharing of details of needs.
Research limitations/implications
Participant recruitment was difficult, representing mostly from South Africa. The findings from this exploratory study can, however, direct further studies with a very understudied group.
Practical implications
However, revealed valuable findings that can guide research.
Originality/value
Little has been published on competitive intelligence from an information behaviour perspective. Frameworks guiding the study (a combination of Leckie et al.’s 1996 and Wilson’s, 1981 models and a competitive intelligence life cycle), however, revealed valuable findings that can guide research.
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Steven Jones, Fiona Lobban, Kate Evershed, Lee Taylor and Anja Wittkowski
A significant number of people with psychosis require inpatient admission under the Mental Health Act. Department of Health documents have highlighted the importance of delivering…
Abstract
A significant number of people with psychosis require inpatient admission under the Mental Health Act. Department of Health documents have highlighted the importance of delivering effective care to individuals with psychosis treated in low secure conditions. Research into patient outcomes in these settings has so far been neglected. The aim of the research reported here was to assess outcomes for patients tested at three six‐monthly assessments during their residence at a new community low secure facility for people with psychosis and challenging behaviour. Although there were numerical reductions on many of the outcome measures over time, few were statistically significant. The main significant improvements were in Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale total and delusions scores over time. Initial evidence indicates that this type of care may have promise, but further research is needed to extend these findings.