The purpose of this paper is to present exploration of themes that interconnect six studies in environmentally and socially sustainable human development.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present exploration of themes that interconnect six studies in environmentally and socially sustainable human development.
Design/methodology/approach
The article presents an overview of the papers included in this special issue.
Findings
As humanity threatens to undermine its habitat, a social economics returns to core concepts and themes that became expunged from neoclassical economics: serious examination of persons, seen as more than given points of desire; a broadened perspective on types of good, including a non‐neoclassical conception of public goods as publicly deliberated priority goods that are not well managed through free markets and “common goods” as shared bases vital for everyone; study of what commodities and goods do to and for people; a central role for public reasoning about which are public priority goods, rather than using only a technical definition of a public good; an acceptance of notions of ethical responsibility and responsibilities concerning the provision and maintenance of public priority goods determined through public reasoning; and attention to institutional formats for such deliberation. Amongst the greatest of public priority “goods” are the concepts of common good and responsibility.
Research limitations/Implications
The findings reinforce the agenda of socio‐economics for central attention to the mutual conditioning of economy, society, polity, and environment, including analysis of the sociocultural formation of economic actors and of ideas of “common good”.
Originality/value
Cross‐fertilization of theorization with cases from Costa Rica, Kenya, Nepal, Thailand, Rwanda, sub‐Saharan Africa and global arenas.
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The purpose of this paper is to contribute to debates about environmental policy in developing countries by examining how far sustainable livelihoods approaches (SLAs) to…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to contribute to debates about environmental policy in developing countries by examining how far sustainable livelihoods approaches (SLAs) to development may allow an alternative and less universalistic approach to environmental changes such as soil erosion.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper provides an overview of debates about environmental narratives and SLAs. There are tensions in both debates, about how far local institutions represent adaptations to predefined environmental risks, or instead enable a redefinition of risks according to the experience of poor people. In addition, there is a tension in how far SLAs should be seen as a fixed institutional design, or as a framework for organizing ideas and concerns about development. The paper presents research on soil erosion in Thailand as a case study of how SLAs can redefine risks from erosion for poor people.
Findings
SLAs provide a more contextual analysis of how environmental changes such as soil erosion represent risk to different land users, and hence SLAs can make environmental interventions more relevant for reducing vulnerability. But this approach can only succeed if intervener agencies are willing to consider challenging pre‐existing environmental narratives in order to empower local livelihoods.
Originality/value
The paper adds to existing research on SLAs by exploring the implications of SLAs for redefining environmental assumptions. The paper forms part of work aiming to make debates about the politics of environmental knowledge and science more practically relevant within development policy.
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Purba H. Rao and Arun Thamizhvanan
The purpose of this paper is to explore whether the private sector consider voluntary involvement in efforts to combat the impacts of climate change in the lines mitigation…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore whether the private sector consider voluntary involvement in efforts to combat the impacts of climate change in the lines mitigation approaches and adaptation approaches. Today’s world has increasingly become aware of the adverse effects of climate change and its impact on the poor, though the latter impact is not that well known. To address these impacts, recommendations exist that follow two different though interrelated approaches – mitigation and adaptation.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a survey questionnaire as the research instrument and a sampling frame of 350 junior corporate executives, an empirical study was conducted in the Chennai area in southern part of India to evaluate/measure the linkages between awareness to climate change, its impact on the poor and the willingness of private sector to act on adaptation as well as mitigation strategies.
Findings
From the data analysis, it emerges that there is significant awareness about the impacts of climate change, though the awareness to vulnerability of the poor is not yet significant in Chennai area in the private sector. However, the study concludes that there does exist a significant linkage between awareness and the willingness to support adaptation strategies on the part of junior corporate executives.
Research limitations/implications
The study is country specific because the research was carried out in a defined region in India.
Practical implications
Because the study brought out the result that private sector was willing to participate in adaptation strategies, extensive awareness building can be carried out for corporate executives and plan out activities which will enable them to participate in adaptation strategies which would help the poor in India to help address the devastations caused by Climate Change from time to time.
Social implications
Executives taking up the Climate Change adaptation strategy would help protect and benefit all communities especially the poor in the country. Companies operating in India would find an avenue to reach out in their efforts to touch communities around them. Employees in such companies may be organized and gathered together to participate in such reach-out activities on the part of the companies.
Originality/value
This paper fulfils urgent need to inspire the corporate executives to take up initiatives related to climate change. The paper lays the groundwork on which an array of corporate activities can be developed to implement the adaptation strategies. Further extensive thinking can follow this research as to where and how exactly private sector can help.
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Bevan Catley, Kate Blackwood, Darryl Forsyth, David Tappin and Tim Bentley
Current research provides an incomplete picture of the challenges facing human resource personnel (HRP) tasked with managing a workplace bullying complaint. The purpose of this…
Abstract
Purpose
Current research provides an incomplete picture of the challenges facing human resource personnel (HRP) tasked with managing a workplace bullying complaint. The purpose of this paper is to provide a holistic model of the complaint management process in order to advance the theorising of HRP’s role in this important process, and the challenges they face in undertaking it.
Design/methodology/approach
Cases of workplace bullying heard before the legal system were analysed – a novel data source in research on workplace bullying. Thematic analysis was undertaken on the case determinations to identify the challenges HRP faced that prevented the resolution of the complaint.
Findings
The analysis indicated two key phases in the complaints management process with five associated challenges. The first two challenges were related to HRP’s ability to assess the substance of the complaint. HRP’s ability or inability to “sort out” conflicting accounts and to follow the process saw the complaint follow one of three “resolution pathways”. Three further challenges were associated with HRP communicating the outcome to the complainant. Failure to overcome these challenges left the complainant aggrieved at the unfairness in which their complaint had been handled – triggering legal action.
Originality/value
This paper draws on a novel data source to provide a holistic model of the complaint management process related to workplace bullying which details the various components and challenges related to HRP throughout the process. Alongside advancing theory, this research has practical value for improving HR practice.
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The purpose of this paper is to consider the national and international political-economic environment in which Australian university research grew. It considers the implications…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to consider the national and international political-economic environment in which Australian university research grew. It considers the implications of the growing significance of knowledge to the government and capital, looking past institutional developments to also historicise the systems that fed and were fed by the universities.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is based on the extensive archival research in the National Archives of Australia and the Australian War Memorial on the formation and funding of a wide range of research programmes in the immediate post-war period after the Second World War. These include the Australian Atomic Energy Commission, the NHMRC, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, the Australian Pacific Territories Research Council, the Commonwealth Office of Education, the Universities Commission and the Murray review. This research was conducted under the Margaret George Award for emerging scholars for a project entitled “Knowledge, Nation and Democracy in Post-War Australia”.
Findings
After the Second World War, the Australian Government invested heavily in research: funding that continued to expand in subsequent decades. In the USA, similar government expenditure affected the trajectory of capitalist democracy for the remainder of the twentieth century, leading to a “military-industrial complex”. The outcome in Australia looked quite different, though still connected to the structure and character of Australian political economics.
Originality/value
The discussion of the spectacular growth of universities after the Second World War ordinarily rests on the growth in enrolments. This paper draws on a very large literature review as well as primary research to offer new insights into the connections between research and post-war political and economic development, which also explain university growth.
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Jennifer Donohoo, Tim O'Leary and John Hattie
High levels of collective teacher efficacy (CTE) within a school is known to be associated with improved student learning. CTE is a marker of the level of shared efficacy among…
Abstract
Purpose
High levels of collective teacher efficacy (CTE) within a school is known to be associated with improved student learning. CTE is a marker of the level of shared efficacy among teachers within a school. Knowledge of the levels of CTE within a school does not, though, support its development. To properly support school leaders in nurturing CTE, knowledge of the status of the enabling conditions for CTE within their schools is necessary to identify areas of strength and opportunities for improvement. Armed with such knowledge, school leaders can then begin the journey of cultivating CTE within their schools.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing upon previous research, contextual predictors of collective efficacy were identified and a questionnaire was created. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to evaluate the proposed factor structure. Necessary revisions were completed and in phase 2 of the field test, a new instrument was validated using factor analysis.
Findings
The preliminary validation of the Enabling Conditions for Collective Efficacy Scale (EC-CTES) is presented in this paper. This study provides evidence in support of a factor model with five related first-order factors that describe the enabling conditions for CTE, which include: Empowered Teachers, Embedded Reflective Practices, Cohesive Teacher Knowledge, Goal Consensus, and Supportive Leadership. A conceptual framework for “Leading Collective Teacher Efficacy” is provided.
Research limitations/implications
The identification and measurement of the malleable, contextual factors that contribute to the formation of CTE has been lacking in previous research. While most of the previous research focused on the remote sources of CTE, very few studies have examined the proximate sources. Correlations between some factors were high, in particular Empowered Teachers and Supportive Leadership. Although there is evidence these factors can be seen as making unique contributions, future work will focus on the inclusion of additional items to more clearly make the distinction between the factors. In addition, there were limitations based on the sample in this study and future research should focus on a broader sample of participants.
Practical implications
While there are currently several CTE scales widely used in research, contextual factors that serve to enhance CTE in schools have not been captured in existing instruments. The identification of the contextual antecedents of CTE will be useful to system and school leaders because this information can be used to help inform their leadership practice as they work to help instill a greater sense of collective efficacy among the teaching faculty in their schools.
Social implications
CTE is of great interest to system and school leaders because it predicts teachers' willingness to invest the time and energy required to attain educational goals and results in greater effort. The productive behavior on the part of the adults in schools characterized by high levels of CTE leads to improved student outcomes.
Originality/value
This study detailed the design and validation of a teacher perception survey to capture information related to the dimensions associated with the enabling conditions of CTE.
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In public health and sustainable transport campaigns, walking is positioned as an important way families can become more active, fit and spend quality time together. However, few…
Abstract
In public health and sustainable transport campaigns, walking is positioned as an important way families can become more active, fit and spend quality time together. However, few studies specifically examine how family members move together on-foot and how this is constitutive of individual and collective familial identities. Combining the notion of a feminist ethics of care with assemblage thinking, the chapter offers the notion of the familial walking assemblage as a way to consider the careful doing of motherhood, childhood and family on-foot. Looking at the walking experiences of mothers and children living in the regional city of Wollongong, Australia, the chapter explores how the provisioning and enactment of care is deeply embedded in the becoming of family on-the-move. The chapter considers interrelated moments of care – becoming prepared, together, watchful, playful, ‘grown up’ and frustrated – where mothers and children make sense of and enact their familial subjectivities. It is through these moments that the family as a performative becoming, that is always in motion, becomes visible. The chapter aims to provide further insights into the embodied experience of walking for families in order to better inform campaigns which encourage walking.
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Jeannette Paschen, Jan Kietzmann and Tim Christian Kietzmann
The purpose of this paper is to explain the technological phenomenon artificial intelligence (AI) and how it can contribute to knowledge-based marketing in B2B. Specifically, this…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explain the technological phenomenon artificial intelligence (AI) and how it can contribute to knowledge-based marketing in B2B. Specifically, this paper describes the foundational building blocks of any artificial intelligence system and their interrelationships. This paper also discusses the implications of the different building blocks with respect to market knowledge in B2B marketing and outlines avenues for future research.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is conceptual and proposes a framework to explicate the phenomenon AI and its building blocks. It further provides a structured discussion of how AI can contribute to different types of market knowledge critical for B2B marketing: customer knowledge, user knowledge and external market knowledge.
Findings
The paper explains AI from an input–processes–output lens and explicates the six foundational building blocks of any AI system. It also discussed how the combination of the building blocks transforms data into information and knowledge.
Practical implications
Aimed at general marketing executives, rather than AI specialists, this paper explains the phenomenon artificial intelligence, how it works and its relevance for the knowledge-based marketing in B2B firms. The paper highlights illustrative use cases to show how AI can impact B2B marketing functions.
Originality/value
The study conceptualizes the technological phenomenon artificial intelligence from a knowledge management perspective and contributes to the literature on knowledge management in the era of big data. It addresses calls for more scholarly research on AI and B2B marketing.
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Michael J. Tews and Kathryn Stafford
As employers are purportedly becoming more receptive to tattoos, the question arises whether tattooed employees are nonetheless subject to unfavorable treatment. In this light…
Abstract
Purpose
As employers are purportedly becoming more receptive to tattoos, the question arises whether tattooed employees are nonetheless subject to unfavorable treatment. In this light, the purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of different tattoo characteristics on four outcomes: annual earnings, fair interpersonal treatment from supervisors, perceived discrimination and perceived overqualification. The specific tattoo characteristics were tattoo number, visibility and content.
Design/methodology/approach
Survey data from a sample of 162 tattooed hospitality employees were obtained from a Qualtrics research panel and analyzed using regression.
Findings
The results demonstrated that employees with a greater degree of dark tattoo content (content of a more threatening and intimidating nature) received less favorable treatment, as demonstrated by significant relationships with fair interpersonal treatment, perceived discrimination and perceived overqualification. Tattoo number was related to increased perceived discrimination and perceived overqualification. At the same time, tattoo number was related to increased annual earnings, signaling a benefit.
Research limitations/implications
Measures of tattoo characteristics and workplace outcomes were collected in a single survey. An analysis of data collected at different points would potentially provide a more definitive test of cause and effect.
Practical implications
On one front, organizations should establish grooming policies that specify what is acceptable with respect to tattoos. To help minimize personality-related tattoo stereotypes from influencing hiring decisions, organizations could use personality assessments to make the hiring process more objective. Moreover, diversity training could address tattoo-related stereotypes, bias and prejudice.
Originality/value
Even though prior studies have demonstrated that tattooed people are viewed as less suitable for employment, research focused on the relationship between tattoos and actual discrimination has been limited. The results from this study highlight that employees with tattoos may still be subject to maltreatment, despite the mainstreaming of tattoos.
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The purpose of this paper is to explore the origins of tensions between the benefits (such as technologies and skills) and the substance of knowledge (often described as “pure…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the origins of tensions between the benefits (such as technologies and skills) and the substance of knowledge (often described as “pure inquiry”) in Australian universities. There are advantages to considering this debate in Australia, since its universities were tightly connected to scholarly networks in the British Empire. After the Second World War, those ties were loosened, enabling influences from American research and technological universities, augmented by a growing connection between universities, government economic strategy and the procedures of industry. This paper thus traces some of routes by which arguments travelled and the ways they were articulated in post‐war Australia.
Design/methodology/approach
Ideas do not travel on their own. In this paper, the author takes a biographical approach to the question of contrasting attitudes to university knowledge in the post‐war period, comparing the international scholarly and professional networks of two British scientists who travelled to Australia – contemporaries in age and education – both influencing Australian higher education policy in diametrically opposing ways.
Findings
This research demonstrates that the growing connection with economic goals in Australian universities after the Second World War was in part a result of the new international and cross‐sectoral networks in which some scholars now operated.
Originality/value
Australian historiography suggests that shifts in the emphases of post‐war universities were primarily the consequence of government policy. This paper demonstrates that the debates that shaped Australia's modern university system were also conducted among an international network of scholars.