Susan Lynn Smith, Allyson Rodriguez, Erin DeWitt Miller and Lu Xu
This study aims to uncover factors related to students’ preference for ebooks with hopes that understanding what drives these preferences will help librarians to figure out how to…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to uncover factors related to students’ preference for ebooks with hopes that understanding what drives these preferences will help librarians to figure out how to increase students’ use of ebooks.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology, researchers developed a model of ebook preference and a survey including constructs related to perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use. Respondents were undergraduate students from a core political science course at a large research university in the USA.
Findings
Ebook performance expectancy and ebook self-efficacy have indirect effects on ebook preference by way of ebook attitude. Ebook attitude and social influence both have direct effects.
Research limitations/implications
One of the limitation include respondents being of a similar age and having a similar experience of technology and ebooks. Prior use of ebooks may partially explain the results.
Practical implications
Librarians should help students develop ebook self-efficacy. Vendors should consider how interfaces may impact ebook self-efficacy. Ebook attitude may be positively influenced by tapping students’ desire to utilize technology.
Originality/value
This research adds to the understanding about ebook preference while expanding research in libraries by applying a theory and model from another research discipline.
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N.T. Khuong Truong, Susan J. Smith, Gavin Wood, William A.V. Clark, William Lisowski and Rachel Ong ViforJ
The purpose of this paper is to consider one test of a well-functioning housing system – its impact on wellbeing. Exploring one indicator of this, this study aims to track changes…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to consider one test of a well-functioning housing system – its impact on wellbeing. Exploring one indicator of this, this study aims to track changes in mental and general health across a mix of tenure transitions and financial transactions in three jurisdictions: Australia, the UK and the USA.
Design/methodology/approach
Using matched variables from three national panel surveys (Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia, British Household Panel Survey/Understanding Society and Panel Study of Income Dynamics) over 17 years (2000–2017) to capture the sweep of the most recent housing cycle, this study adopts a difference-in-difference random-effects model specification to estimate the mental and general health effects of tenure change and borrowing behaviours.
Findings
There is an enduring health premium associated with unmortgaged owner-occupation. Mortgage debt detracts from this, as does the prospect of dropping out of ownership and into renting. A previously observed post-exit recovery in mental health – a debt-relief effect – is not present in the longer run. In fact, in some circumstances, both mental and general health deficits are amplified, even among those who eventually regain homeownership. Though there are cross-country differences, the similarities across these financialised housing systems are more striking.
Practical implications
The well-being premium traditionally associated with owner occupation is under threat at the edges of the sector in all three jurisdictions. In this, there is cross-national convergence. There may therefore be scope to introduce policies to better support households at the edges of ownership that work across the board for debt-funded ownership-centred housing systems.
Originality/value
This paper extends the duration of a previous analysis of the impact of tenure transitions and financial transactions on well-being at the edges of ownership in the UK and Australia. The authors now track households over nearly two decades from the start of the millennium into a lengthy (post-global financial crisis) era of declining housing affordability. This study adds to the reach of the earlier study by adding a general health variable and a third jurisdiction, the USA.
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The case uses Carillion plc, a company which focussed on providing maintenance, facilities management and energy services to buildings and large property estates, in public and…
Abstract
Research methodology
The case uses Carillion plc, a company which focussed on providing maintenance, facilities management and energy services to buildings and large property estates, in public and private sectors; infrastructure services for roads, railways and utility networks, with contracts including road and hospital construction and many strategic service contracts, e.g. free school meals. The case uses financial analysis techniques to explore whether the failure was foreseeable and questions the extent to which existing international financial reporting standards support or inhibit the decision usefulness they aspire to. The case uses only publicly available information.
Complexity academic level
This case can be used in undergraduate financial reporting and current issues in accounting courses/modules at the postgraduate level.
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Susan Smith and Hans van der Heijden
The purpose of this paper is to examine analysts’ evaluations of usefulness of KPIs disclosed by UK corporates. The disclosure of KPIs, both financial and non-financial is driven…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine analysts’ evaluations of usefulness of KPIs disclosed by UK corporates. The disclosure of KPIs, both financial and non-financial is driven by legislation in the form of the Companies Act 2006. The paper considers two of the key concerns raised with KPI disclosure: a lack of standardisation (leading to inconsistency of calculation) and a lack of external assurance.
Design/methodology/approach
A questionnaire was prepared which was used as the basis for semi-structured interviews with senior professional equity analysts. Questions were designed to cover aspects of usefulness and desirability of standardisation to improve consistency and comparability as well as the incremental value of audit firms providing assurance of KPIs.
Findings
KPIs are indeed a useful supplement to the financial statements in developing a corporate narrative. Analysts highlighted that a significant amount of this information is released to the market in advance of the Annual Report which performs a confirmatory role. Whilst analysts highlight inconsistencies in calculation methods of KPIs they did not feel that a standard calculation should be prescribed. Further they did not feel that assurance over the calculation would be valuable as they perceived that this would remove the flexibility of companies to select the most appropriate measures.
Research limitations/implications
The paper contributes to the body of research on disclosure by focussing on how the KPI disclosure is used by the intended audience and whether and how the disclosure mechanism may be strengthened.
Practical implications
The findings provide an interface between theory and practice adding to the body of knowledge on disclosure theory and in particular KPI disclosure and how it is used. This will in turn help the standard setters in ensuring that disclosures enhance usefulness.
Originality/value
Insight into the actual usefulness of these measures is important to inform this debate on presentation of the corporate “narrative”. This goes some way to addressing the unanswered questions in Healy and Palepu (2001) and the calls for further qualitative research in the area (Watson et al., 2002).
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To evaluate Thomas Cook’s financial condition, students deploy financial analysis techniques including comparative analysis. The role of financial reporting in impressions…
Abstract
Theoretical basis
To evaluate Thomas Cook’s financial condition, students deploy financial analysis techniques including comparative analysis. The role of financial reporting in impressions management is considered in two respects: firstly, the use of separately disclosed items by companies; and secondly, the treatment of goodwill on acquisition.
Research methodology
The case draws on a range of public data from Annual Reports and secondary sources including the Department of Business Energy and Industrial Strategy investigation into the failure of Thomas Cook.
Case overview/synopsis
Thomas Cook Group plc’s (Thomas Cook) was one of the oldest travel firms, yet its apparently sudden failure on 23 September 2019 left 600,000 holidaymakers stranded and sparked the largest ever peacetime repatriation of British citizens at cost of £83m to the Department of Transport. Around 9,000 employees who had expected to be paid on 30 September were left unpaid.Could CEO Peter Frankhauser have addressed the challenges faced by Thomas Cook more effectively during his tenure or was the company locked into a flightpath to failure? The case highlights the importance of context when performing financial analysis and encourages students to evaluate the challenges posed by the current standards related to accounting for goodwill and corporate reporting of underlying performance.
Complexity academic level
This case can be used in undergraduate financial reporting and current issues in accounting courses/modules at the postgraduate level.
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Susan Kuczmarski and Thomas Kuczmarski
The purpose of our research is to explore how rewards serve to fuel a collaborative culture, energize and motivate team members and nurture innovation.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of our research is to explore how rewards serve to fuel a collaborative culture, energize and motivate team members and nurture innovation.
Design/methodology/approach
In total, 30 in-depth, qualitative interviews were conducted with executives – high-tech, low-tech and no-tech.
Findings
The following findings emerged from the field research: rewards can be both financial, such as bonuses and incentives, and non-financial, such as extra vacations or other gifts. Huge internal personal benefits accrue from setting up a reward structure, including increased pride, peer recognition, higher self-confidence, greater job satisfaction and enhanced self-accomplishment. When we recognize others, it can impact an individual's self-worth on a profound level. It is described as feedback that sinks into the core.
Originality/value
Three milestones have been outlined throughout the innovation process where opportunities for recognition can exist: upon recognizing insights for identifying a problem, after understanding and overcoming difficulties encountered during creative solution generation and when recognizing and activating the benefits accrued from pinpointing solutions to the problem.
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Five prominent consultants—James Rush, Richard Smith, Susan Baerg Epstein, Jose‐Marie Griffiths, and Rob McGee—address the issues that most effect system performance. They note…
Abstract
Five prominent consultants—James Rush, Richard Smith, Susan Baerg Epstein, Jose‐Marie Griffiths, and Rob McGee—address the issues that most effect system performance. They note that virtually every phase of planning for a system involves issues related to performance. No single topic is more essential to the successful implementation of a system. Guidelines and advise are provided.
There has been a sharp rise in recorded crime in post‐war Britain: since 1960 known offences have increased by an average annual amount of at least 6 per cent. Most analysts, of…
Abstract
There has been a sharp rise in recorded crime in post‐war Britain: since 1960 known offences have increased by an average annual amount of at least 6 per cent. Most analysts, of course, believe this reflects changes in policing and in public reporting behaviour as much, if not more, than it indexes real trends in offending. Nevertheless, there are now more than 3m offences committed annually in England and Wales alone; and between 1980 and 1985, domestic burglary increased by over 150 per cent. Residental burglary and vandalism are a major component of the modern crime problem, accounting for 13 per cent and 15 per cent respectively, of known offences in 1985 (if thefts from dwellings were added, residential property crime would account for an even greater proportion of the total). This is, in itself, a sobering thought. Equally disturbing are the increasing expenditure on policing that crime trends have encouraged (40 per cent since 1979); the real cost of solving burglaries (which is currently estimated at £1.2bn per year in England and Wales); and the amount of property stolen or damaged (which was estimated at £35m in 1983 for one Northern police force area alone). Add to this the discovery of the British Crime Survey (conducted for the first time in 1982, and repeated two years later) that as few as two‐thirds of the burglaries and one‐fifth of the incidents of vandalism experienced by private victims ever comes to the notice of the police and it is obvious why residential crime is causing such concern among both politicians and the public.
A response to S. Fisher′s paper in LR Vol. 39 No. 6, pp.22‐30. The concept of team librarianship is defended and the teamapproach of Cumbria County Libraries explained.
Abstract
A response to S. Fisher′s paper in LR Vol. 39 No. 6, pp. 22‐30. The concept of team librarianship is defended and the team approach of Cumbria County Libraries explained.