Craig Lister, Stuart Reid, Madeleine Musgrove and Chris Speirs
The study seeks to shed light on the generative principles of enterprising by examining the practices of enterprisers in six lifestyle enterprises in Sweden. It presents a fresh…
Abstract
Purpose
The study seeks to shed light on the generative principles of enterprising by examining the practices of enterprisers in six lifestyle enterprises in Sweden. It presents a fresh approach to the study of lifestyle enterprises, resolving a nuanced treatment of the concepts of capital and habitus as often drawn upon in studies using the social theory of Pierre Bourdieu.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses a grounded theory approach to examine enterprising practices in six lifestyle enterprises in Sweden. Study materials are derived principally from ethnographic observations and active interviews. The analytical procedure follows that of grounded theory, the analysis proceeding from the first field contacts and developing iteratively as the corpus expanded, with empirical themes giving way to formative concepts and sensitizing to the theoretical architecture of Pierre Bourdieu.
Findings
The findings offer insights into lifestyle enterprising, revealing how resourcing practices of capital deployment give shape to its practice. The findings reveal that capital deployment practices are not simply about conversion but may also involve practices, without substantive change to capital forms. Furthermore, the findings highlight that habitus significantly influences capital deployment practices.
Research limitations/implications
Although the findings are limited to the study context, the study offers theoretical implications for study of enterprising. One is to highlight the importance of cultural capital in enterprising practices. Another is to highlight the variable construction of capitals, arising in connection to habitus. In pointing to the central generative role of habitus, the study suggests that cultural capital may underpin the formation of social capital. Overall, the findings indicate that researchers need to consider the mediating effects of habitus when investigating enterprising practices. More widely, this study responds and lends weight to, recent calls for more holistic and integrated treatments using Bourdieu's theory to further understandings of entrepreneurship as practice.
Practical implications
This study offers implications for policy relating to enterprising practice. In particular, findings suggest that it might be wise to consider the alignment of habitus between those who provide and receive support, or in other words, having providers with the right cultural competence to offer useful help. It may be important for policy agents to be able to relate to the worldviews of those they seek to support.
Originality/value
The study directly responds to recent calls for more holistic and integrated approaches to the nascent line of inquiry using Bourdieu’s theory to gain insight into entrepreneurship as a practice, particularly in relation to the undertheorized phenomenon of lifestyle entrepreneurship. In doing so, the study serves to advance the practice-oriented conceptualization of lifestyle entrepreneurship as lifestyle entrepreneuring. The paper also offers a conceptual framework to assist researchers investigating enterprising practice.
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Matthew J. Xerri, Silvia A. Nelson, Yvonne Brunetto and Stuart R.M. Reid
Effective engineering asset management is essential in delivering public services safely whilst avoiding breakdowns and accidents. The purpose of this paper is to ensure asset…
Abstract
Purpose
Effective engineering asset management is essential in delivering public services safely whilst avoiding breakdowns and accidents. The purpose of this paper is to ensure asset safety and sustainability, public sector firms have to adopt new processes and practices. It is the role of supervisors to implement the changes, and as part of the new public management (NPM) public sector reforms, public sector asset managers have more discretionary power to implement further changes related to increased accountability.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper explores the impact of management practices on supervisor-employee relationships and employees’ perception of autonomy, employees’ attitudes towards change and their perceptions of organisational culture within Australian public sector engineering asset management organisations, and in the context of NPM reforms and consequent changes in supervisory discretionary power. Social exchange theory provided the theoretical framework and a self-report survey was administered to 149 employees.
Findings
The findings from a structural equation model indicate positive and significant relationships between the variables in this study. A finding of significant interest was that public sector employees are on average slightly dissatisfied with their supervisors and feel they have a minimal amount of autonomy in the workplace. This may represent an unintended consequence of NPM reforms.
Research limitations/implications
The implication of the findings is that an effective relationship between supervisors and employees is a necessary ingredient for achieving change, and ensuring asset safety and sustainability. Social exchange theorists argue that the low level of satisfaction with the supervisors evident in this study is one factor compromising asset safety and sustainability.
Originality/value
The roadblocks to good supervisory relationships in the post NPM environment must be dismantled and the findings clearly indicate a need for targeted development of supervisors/management skills to ameliorate the negative effects of the NPM regime and enable effective change management.
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Ministry of Health, Whitehall, S.W. 1. 12th June, 1924. SIR, I am directed by the Minister of Health to state that on consideration of communications received through the Foreign…
Abstract
Ministry of Health, Whitehall, S.W. 1. 12th June, 1924. SIR, I am directed by the Minister of Health to state that on consideration of communications received through the Foreign Office from the Government of the Latvian Republic, he has decided to recognise as an Official Certificate for the purposes of the Public Health (Foreign Meat) Regulations a label and mark issued by the Government of that country. He has accordingly caused to be published in the London Gazette of the 30th May, 1924, a Notice containing in the schedule a description of the label and mark which is declared to be admissible as an “Official Certificate” in respect of pork and other edible portions of the pig, which have been subjected to inspection in the Latvian Republic.
David Mount and Lorraine Mazerolle
Police invest significant time, energy and resources to equip officers with the skills required to conduct effective investigative interviews. However, transferring those skills…
Abstract
Purpose
Police invest significant time, energy and resources to equip officers with the skills required to conduct effective investigative interviews. However, transferring those skills acquired or developed in a training environment for application in the police workplace is a journey fraught with impediments and diversions. Invariably, the quality and amount of skills transferred and applied on the job represent a paltry return on resource investment. This research explores the factors that impact the transfer of investigative interviewing skills from the training environment to the police workplace.
Design/methodology/approach
Interviews with 40 officers, both uniformed and plain-clothes, were conducted to explore the influences on and impediments to effective skill transfer. Data were inductively analysed and thematically pattern-matched with existing research findings in the adult training domain.
Findings
Results indicate that trainee motivation, perceptions of training relevance, perceptions of training quality and preparedness to conduct the task as trained directly and indirectly influence the degree to which investigative interviewing skills transfer from the training environment to the police workplace.
Originality/value
This is original research in a domain that has previously received limited academic attention. An awareness of the factors that negatively impact on the transfer of acquired skills and ways to mitigate or ameliorate the detrimental effects are likely to assist police trainers and workplace managers to improve transfer rates and get more outcome value for the money, time and effort invested in training regimes.
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Iain Beavan, Michael Arnott and Colin McLaren
Aberdeen University Library's digitisation programme has reached an advanced stage, with three projects all designed to deliver images (of a 300‐page medieval liturgical text, of…
Abstract
Aberdeen University Library's digitisation programme has reached an advanced stage, with three projects all designed to deliver images (of a 300‐page medieval liturgical text, of the papers of a nineteenth‐century philosopher, and of 1000 Jacobite engravings) via the Web. A comparison of these projects highlights differences in image capture pathways, quality requirements and file storage solutions.
Susanna Winter and Sanna Sundqvist
The purpose of this paper is to provide empirical evidence on the use of IMC in new high technology product launches among companies that operate in different fields of business…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide empirical evidence on the use of IMC in new high technology product launches among companies that operate in different fields of business, yet providing similar innovation to the same market.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative case research methodology is applied. Multiple sources of evidence are gathered. These include interviews with key informants and documentary data, and IMC mini audits. Concerning the theoretical approach, the related literature in IMC, new product launch and high technology marketing is reviewed.
Findings
IMC is vital to high technology marketers launching new products and services. The analyses reveal that IMC practices vary across firm size, industry type, product/service orientation, and customer orientation.
Practical implications
Companies of different types can be on an equal footing in their integration efforts. Whether service‐ or product‐oriented companies, business‐to‐consumer or business‐to‐business marketers, companies from all backgrounds can achieve higher levels of IMC. What matters most is customer‐centricity, i.e. having a close interaction with customers and being responsive to their feedback.
Originality/value
The study contributes to the integrated marketing communications research field in several important respects. First, it focuses on IMC usage among firms in different industries. Second, it takes a genuinely refreshing view on studying IMC strategies by focusing on usage of IMC as part of new high technology product launch strategy.
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Timothy Hart and Paul Zandbergen
The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of user-defined parameters settings (e.g. interpolation method, grid cell size, and bandwidth) on the predictive accuracy of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of user-defined parameters settings (e.g. interpolation method, grid cell size, and bandwidth) on the predictive accuracy of crime hotspot maps produced from kernel density estimation (KDE).
Design/methodology/approach
The influence of variations in parameter settings on prospective KDE maps is examined across two types of interpersonal violence (e.g. aggravated assault and robbery) and two types of property crime (e.g. commercial burglary and motor vehicle theft).
Findings
Results show that interpolation method has a considerable effect on predictive accuracy, grid cell size has little to no effect, and bandwidth as some effect.
Originality/value
The current study advances the knowledge and understanding of prospective hotspot crime mapping as it answers the calls by Chainey et al. (2008) and others to further investigate the methods used to predict crime.
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The management of children′s literature is a search for value andsuitability. Effective policies in library and educational work arebased firmly on knowledge of materials, and on…
Abstract
The management of children′s literature is a search for value and suitability. Effective policies in library and educational work are based firmly on knowledge of materials, and on the bibliographical and critical frame within which the materials appear and might best be selected. Boundaries, like those between quality and popular books, and between children′s and adult materials, present important challenges for selection, and implicit in this process are professional acumen and judgement. Yet also there are attitudes and systems of values, which can powerfully influence selection on grounds of morality and good taste. To guard against undue subjectivity, the knowledge frame should acknowledge the relevance of social and experiential context for all reading materials, how readers think as well as how they read, and what explicit and implicit agendas the authors have. The good professional takes all these factors on board.