Search results

This paper reports on the results of a Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) usability study, which consists of a survey, an evaluation of two UK WAP portals and an experiment that was carried out between November 2001 and February 2002. A number of usability issues, which prevented the users from completing basic and common tasks, were identified. For instance, 70 per cent of the users were not successful in searching for a textbook on the Amazon.co.uk WAP site. Additionally, even experienced users were not immune to these problems. The general conclusion of the study is that WAP usability remains poor. We argue that this could have a negative effect on the future of WAP and m‐commerce. Finally, we propose a set of ten principles, which are based on the findings of this study, and we believe will aid towards the development of more usable WAP and m‐commerce services.

Latin American liberation theology has become one of the more dynamic and controversial intellectual forces of contemporary Latin American politics. Although identified with a minority left‐wing perspective, liberation theology constitutes an important component within the larger context of progressive change in the political orientation of the Church in recent years. The chief inspiration for liberation theology stems from the Conference of Latin American Bishops at Medellin in 1968. The central theme of the Medellin conference was that Latin America lives beneath a tragic sign of under‐development: hunger, misery, illness, infant mortality, inequalities of income; tension between classes and outbreaks of violence; the lack of participation of people in decisions affecting the common good; an external position of neo‐colonial dependency. The privileged classes, it alleges, are insensitive to the miseries of the marginal sectors and frequently resort to force to repress opposition with “anti‐communism” or “keeping order” as the justification for their actions.

A nation's economic development is adversely affected by the rising population and the lack of employment opportunities, necessitating the promotion of entrepreneurial activities. This study aims to unfurl the critical factors shaping university students' entrepreneurial intentions (EI) in an emerging economy.

The study assessed the EI of 640 university students across India's top 5 central universities through structural equation modeling by extending the entrepreneurial event model (EEM) and dark triad theory. Mediation and moderation techniques were used to examine the model's direct and indirect linkages.

The results show that propensity to act (PTA), perceived resilience (PRS) and narcissism (NAR) magnify desirability, significantly increasing students' EI. The association between the underlying constructs is partially mediated by the PTA and perceived desirability (PD). In addition, the linkage between PD and students' EI is strengthened by the pursuit of excellence (PoE) and weakened by perceived risk (PR).

The study's findings could assist educators, universities, aspiring entrepreneurs, financial institutions, policymakers, investors, venture capitalists, incubators and accelerators in reinforcing entrepreneurial culture in India by establishing a link between crucial personality traits and intentions to start entrepreneurial ventures.

Personality traits such as NAR, resilience and the PoE have not received much attention in the entrepreneurship literature and call for a rigorous inquiry. The study tries to embrace these dominant personality traits by broadening the perspectives of EEM and dark triad theory via a comprehensive conceptual model. It also explores the role of the PoE and PR as moderators to examine the possible association between the identified constructs.

Psychodynamic psychotherapy is increasingly adapted and used with individuals with intellectual disability (ID) and mental health difficulties. However, the evidence base is still small and largely based on case studies and small trials whose participants mainly have mild to moderate ID. This paper aims to review and critique the literature in regards to the adaptations; and the effectiveness of psychodynamic psychotherapy for those with severe and profound ID.

A systematic literature search of PsycINFO, Social Policy and Practice, Medline, Cumulative Index to nursing and allied health literature and applied social sciences index and abstracts was conducted. Six studies met inclusion criteria and underwent a quality evaluation and critical review.

Six papers (all case studies) met inclusion criteria and underwent a quality evaluation and critical review. Some adaptations to therapy were reported, such as a more flexible therapeutic frame and increased use of the physical environment as a therapeutic tool. Due to significant methodological weaknesses of the included studies, it is yet unclear whether psychodynamic psychotherapy is an effective intervention for individuals with severe and profound ID.

Only a small number of case studies met the inclusion criteria. Further research should use more robust outcome measures, larger samples and compare psychodynamic psychotherapy to alternative interventions.

This paper is the first to review the psychodynamic psychotherapy literature with regard to its effectiveness as a treatment specifically for individuals with severe and profound ID and mental health difficulties.

Purpose – The purpose of this chapter is to highlight recent research addressing theories of female offending and the context of female perpetrated homicides. Women have often been omitted in research and theory development, thus gendered interventions and treatments lag behind. Additionally, female perpetrated homicides are rare, consequently research examining the context of the events and the events leading up to the homicide are inadequate.

Design/methodology/approach – The approach is to examine the historical research on female offenders, the context of female violent offenses particularly homicide offenses, and emerging theories of gendered experiences into criminal activities for women.

Findings – Findings indicate that gender matters when explaining theories of female offending and when examining the context of female perpetrated homicides.

Originality/value – Females have different life events from males, and these life events create distinct pathways into criminal offending, including the ultimate offense of homicide. Based on these differences, theory development as well as intervention and prevention strategies must be designed that are gender specific.

Based on a model of employee personal gender self-categorization, we examine the relationships between prejudicial attitudes and experiences of aggression in a male-dominated workplace. Data collected from 603 employees in a male-dominated global workplace revealed that individuals who self-categorize as either males or females experience differential powerful emotions. Additionally, we found that the more anger experienced by employees who self-categorize either as males or females, the stronger their female prejudicial attitudes. In contrast, we found that contempt was negatively associated with female prejudicial attitudes; that is, the more contempt experienced by employees who self-categorize either as males or females, the weaker their female prejudicial attitudes.

The Canadian mutual fund setting is unique in that two governance mechanisms – corporate and trust – coexist. This study empirically examines the impact of each mechanism on fund fees and performance. We find that corporate class funds charge higher fees but deliver superior fee-adjusted returns than trust funds. We then analyze the impact of various board characteristics on fees and performance for corporate class funds. We find that a board with smaller size, CEO duality, and a higher percentage of independent directors is more likely to charge lower fees. In addition, smaller boards are strongly associated with higher fee-adjusted performance. Our study supports agency theory over stewardship theory and provides valuable guidelines for Canadian investors and regulatory agencies.

Numerous empirical studies have been conducted to analyze the impact of board gender diversity (BGD) on firm performance without being able to establish a clear relationship. In this paper, we reassess the relationship between BGD and firm performance by using a quantile regression approach. Our results indicate that BGD matters only across a subset of the firm performance distribution. Moreover, when the possible endogeneity of the relationship between BGD and firm performance is taken into account, there are some conditions under which a positive and significant relationship is observed for the eight lowest quantiles.