Business Commons^™

The Changing Face Of Pester Power, Margaret-Anne Lawlor

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No abstract provided.

Investigating The Impact Of Internationally Acquired Qualifications On Labour Market Performance: The Case Of Brazil, Charles Alves De Castro

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The aim of this study is to examine the labour market performance of Brazilian students who have acquired international qualifications in the areas of engineering and science. A comprehensive analysis of the literature review demonstrates the importance of international qualifications covering both their benefits and challenges. The gaps found in the literature review are also discussed, as well as the need for a more concrete theoretical framework about the subject. The data used in this research was gathered by semi-structured one-to-one interviews conducted in both person and through telephone. The participants consisted of Brazilian students who have acquired international qualifications …

An Investigation Of The Benefits And Barriers Of E‐Business Adoption Activities In Yemeni Smes, Ahmed Abdullah, Brychan Thomas, Lyndon Murphy, Eoin Plant

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Yemeni small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) are at the early stages of e‐business adoption and their owners and managers need to be supported to gain an understanding of the benefits that their business can achieve from adopting e‐business. Yemeni SMEs are at the early stages of e‐business adoption. The delay in adopting more advanced e‐business solutions are due to factors including the comparatively low level of technology usage within the organization, lack of qualified staff available to develop, implement and support firms’ websites, and limited financial resources. A lack of computer software and hardware resources appears to have a detrimental …

An Exploratory Study On The Northern Sea Route As An Alternative Shipping Passage, Helene Barenksten Solvang, Stavros Karamperidis, Nikolaos Valantasis Kanellos, Dong Wook Song

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This qualitative inductive research explores the potential benefits for the Scandinavian economy and ports through the implementation of the Northern Sea Route (NSR) as an alternative for container shipping to the established Southern route through the Suez Canal. To extract expert’s opinions and address these objectives, we utilised in-depth face-to-face semi-structured interviews through purposive sampling in a single case study setting.

The analysis of the data demonstrates that the commercialisation of NSR can yield benefits for the Scandinavian economy (e.g. GDP increase, jobs creation) and reveals the benefits of Scandinavian ports (e.g. ECA’s, flexibility, hinterland, etc.) compared to other ports …

Liminal Entrepreneuring: The Creative Practices Of Nascent Necessity Entrepreneurs, Lucia Garcia-Lorenzo, Paul Donnelly, Lucia Sell-Trujillo, J. Miguel Imas

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This paper contributes to creative entrepreneurship studies through exploring ‘liminal entrepreneuring’, i.e., the organization-creation entrepreneurial practices and narratives of individuals living in precarious conditions. Drawing on a processual approach to entrepreneurship and Turner’s liminality concept, we study the transition from un(der)employment to entrepreneurship of 50 nascent necessity entrepreneurs (NNEs) in Spain, the United Kingdom, and Ireland. The paper asks how these agents develop creative entrepreneuring practices in their efforts to overcome their condition of ‘necessity’. The analysis shows how, in their everyday liminal entrepreneuring, NNEs disassemble their identities and social positions, experiment with new relationships and alternative visions of themselves, …

Research Methodology In Business: A Starter’S Guide, Mohamed Af Ragab, Amr Arisha

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A cardinal requisite of successful research lies in the proper selection of the research methodology applied to achieve research objectives using the available resources. In addition to acquiring sufficient knowledge of their specific research topic, researchers are urged to develop good understanding of alternative research methodologies at their disposal to be able to identify the best-suited methods to address the research question. This, however, often poses a challenge for novice researchers who face difficulty in grasping the vast methodology landscape and its encompassing array of debates. The purpose of this paper is to provide new researchers with a comprehensive overview …

Becoming A Decolonial Feminist Ethnographer: Addressing The Complexities Of Positionality And Representation, Jennifer Manning

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Abstract Organisation and management scholars are often preoccupied with developing, refining and advancing knowledge, and in so doing, the empirical process through which knowledge is advanced can be ignored together with the impact this process can have on participants and scholars. This article draws attention to how management scholars might negotiate the complexities of positionality and representation through an illustrative case: my experience of becoming a decolonial feminist ethnographer. Drawing upon my doctoral research, I share the experience of my ethnographic journey to become a decolonial feminist ethnographer. Developing a decolonial feminist approach to ethnography enabled me to identify positionality …

A Review Of Type 1 Diabetes (T1d): To Assist Patients’ And Carers’ Understanding Of This Condition, Eileen O'Donnell, Liam O'Donnell

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The diagnosis of Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) will come as an unwelcome surprise to most people. Within a short period of time, the person will have to come to understand and manage this chronic illness. The terminology associated with the T1D condition will also be totally new to the person: diabetes mellitus, pancreas, hyperglycaemia (hyper), hypoglycaemia (hypo), bolus (fast acting insulin), basal (slow acting insulin), ketones and blood glucose levels. The purpose of this article is to assist newly diagnosed patients’ understanding of T1D, people who are already living with T1D, carers of people with T1D, partners and family members …

Informing Quality In Emergency Care: Understanding Patient Experiences, Esmat Swallmeh, Vivienne Byers, Amr Arisha

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Purpose: Assessing performance and quality in healthcare organisations is moving from focussing solely on clinical care measurement to considering the patient experience as critical. Much patient experience research is quantitative and survey based. The purpose of this paper is to report a qualitative study gathering in-depth data in an emergency department (ED).

Design/methodology/approach: The authors used empirical data from seven focus groups to understand patient experience as participants progressed through a major teaching hospital in an Ireland ED. A convenience sampling technique was used, and 42 participants were invited to share their perceptions and outline key factors affecting their journey. …

University-Based Technology Start-Up Incubators – Evaluating Their Contribution To The Co-Production Of Knowledge, Innovation And Growth. Experience From The Edge, Anthony Paul Buckley, Stephen Davis

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Policy makers in developed economies see merit in supporting the innovative abilities of technology entrepreneurs. It is hoped that from these highly–educated entrepreneur(s), new technology and service–based firms (NTBFs) can emerge. Indeed empirical evidence suggests that it is fast-growing young innovative firms which provide the bulk of new employment growth (Henrekson & Johansson, 2010; Storey & Greene, 2010). Start-up incubators are one of a number of micro-policy interventions with which states attempt – primarily through publically funded higher education Institutions - to support technology entrepreneurs to develop and commercialise their innovations. Incubator numbers have grown globally from their first appearance …

Beauty Bloggers And Youtubers As A Community Of Practice, Valerie Gannon, Andrea Prothero

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Much consumption-related activity online is outside of what is understood traditionally as community and is via user-generated content (UGC), of which blogs and YouTube channels in particular dominate in the beauty sphere. Community of practice (CoP) theory from social learning and organisation studies offers an alternative way to understand these consumption-based UGC practices. This study combines data from 25 interviews with bloggers and YouTubers and their blog posts and videos. Among these UGC creators we find mutual engagement, shared repertoires and joint enterprise. This paper theorises consumption-based UGC creators as a CoP and contributes insights for mangers as to how …

The Efficacy Of Financial Futures As A Hedging Tool In Electricity Markets, Jim Hanly, Lucia Morales, Damien Cassells

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Abstract This paper estimates and applies a risk management strategy for electricity spot exposures using futures hedging. We apply our approach to three of the most actively traded European electricity markets, Nordpool, APXUK and Phelix. We compare both optimal hedging strategies and the hedging effectiveness of these markets for two hedging horizons, weekly and monthly using both Variance and Value at Risk (VaR). Our key finding is that electricity futures can effectively manage risk only for specific time periods when using hedging strategies that have been very successful in financial and other commodity markets. More generally they are ineffective as …

The Impact Of Brexit On The Stock Markets Of The Greater China Region, Lucia Morales, Jean Monnet

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An examination of Brexit and its initial impact on the main stock markets in the Greater China Region (GCR) was conducted using augmented market models that integrate Economic Policy Uncertainty (EPU) and implied volatility (VIX). The results do not seem to align with research in the field that has suggested that the EPU index helps to identify if market participants are reacting to political events. The main research findings suggest that Brexit does not appear to have an impact on the performance of market returns in the region and the influence of economic policy uncertainty in the GCR appears to …

Lessons From The Global Financial Crisis–The Case Of Mainland China And Hong Kong, Lucia Morales, Bernadette Andreosso-O’Callaghan

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The analysis of the intertwined reactions of Hong Kong and Mainland China to the 2008 Global Financial Crisis is considered in this study through the lenses of their stock markets. The GARCH-based analysis of stock market performance over the period December 2011–December 2014 shows that trade and equity sectors were the sectors most affected by the global recession; volatility was prevalent on the Shanghai stock market, whereas volatility persistence characterised the Hong Kong stock market. The results also show that the two stock markets recovered quite quickly. Tight controls applied by the financial authorities helped ensure some stability during the …

European Power Markets–A Journey Towards Efficiency, Lucia Morales, Jim Hanly

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The liberalization process of European electricity markets has been a work in progress since early reforms beginning in the 1990's. A key goal of these reforms was to enable increased integration and attendant efficiency within these markets. In this paper, we analyse three major European electricity markets - (APXUK, NordPool and Phelix) – before and after the 2009/72/EC Directive was introduced, to examine the extent to which those markets are efficient and whether they have become more integrated. We find little evidence of significant long run relationships between the different markets. We also find that the NordPool and Phelix markets …

Self-Concept Orientation And Organizational Identification: A Mediated Relationship, Chun Guo, Jane K. Miller, Melissa S. Woodard, Daniel J. Miller, Kirk D. Silvernail, Mehmet Devrim Aydin, Ana Heloisa Da Costa Lemos, Vilmante Kumpikaite-Valiuniene, Sundhir Nair, Paul Donnelly, Robert D. Marx, Linda M. Peters

Articles

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to test a mediated model of the relationship between self-concept orientation (individualist and collectivist) and organizational identification (OrgID, Cooper and Thatcher, 2010), with proposed mediators including the need for organizational identification (nOID, Glynn, 1998) as well as self-presentation concerns of social adjustment (SA) and value expression (VE, Highhouse et al., 2007).

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected from 509 participants in seven countries. Direct and mediation effects were tested using structural equation modeling (AMOS 25.0).

Findings

Individualist self-concept orientation was positively related to VE and collectivist self-concept orientation was positively related to nOID, VE …

The Roles Of Social Entrepreneurs In Rural Destination Development, Ziene Mottiar, Karla Boluk, Carol Kline

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This paper examines the relevance of social entrepreneurs in our consideration of rural destination development, which represents an important tool for rural revitalization. While many peripheral rural areas face significant challenges in terms of sustaining communities and attracting tourists, it is often social entrepreneurs, as much as traditional entrepreneurs, who are involved in developing new ideas, products and activities, as well as envisioning a future for the area. This study, which is based on cross-case analysis resulting from nine semi-structured interviews carried out in rural areas in Ireland, South Africa and USA, identifies key roles that social entrepreneurs play in …

In League? Destination Marketing Organisations And Football Clubs In The Virtual Space, Gerard Dunne, David Proctor, Sheila Flanagan

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Logic dictates that Destination Marketing Organisations (DMOs), while representing many stakeholders, should leverage a location’s most visible assets to enhance the attractiveness of the destination at any given opportunity. This study examines the manner and extent to which four major European football franchises are mentioned and promoted on the official digital marketing platforms of their respective cities; Amsterdam, Barcelona, Manchester and Munich. A tailor made content analysis tool is used to conduct a systematic investigation of the virtual platforms over which the DMOs of these cities exert a modicum of control. The content of these platforms is scrutinised from three …

Developing A Unified Approach To Sustainable Consumption Behaviour: Opportunities For A New Environmental Paradigm, Vivienne Byers, Alan Gilmer

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Politicians and national policy makers seek to encourage individuals to engage in a wide range of pro-environmental practices to address both discrete environmental problems and major global challenges such as climate change. Theoretically, the field of behavioural management in environmental consumption which seeks to change holarchic open human systems, is much contested. This paper proposes to develop a synthesized conceptual framework embracing a unified approach that addresses the systematic, structural, and institutional perspectives on how consumption, through public policy initiatives, can be developed and changed to reflect a deeper ecological foundation. This approach considers the debate regarding policy and behavioural …

A Scientometric Analysis Of Knowledge Management Research And Practice Literature: 2003 – 2015, Ahmed Ramy, Jenni Floody, Mohamed Af Ragab, Amr Arisha

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The purpose of this paper is to explore the current research trends in Knowledge Management (KM) through a scientometric analysis of all literature published in KMRP between 2003 and 2015 (506 articles). The review framework explores three sets of review questions addressing Research Productivity, Research Themes and Methods, and Citation Analysis. The study elucidates wide global interest in KM and an increasing trend towards multi-author collaboration. Although more than 55 different industries have featured in the journal, certain knowledge-intensive sectors remain underrepresented. Country productivity shows few nations taking the lead with an interesting correlation between research activity and economic prosperity. …

The Contribution Of Higher Education-Based Technology Start-Up Incubators To The Co-Production Of Knowledge, Innovation And Growth: Experiences From The Edge, Anthony Paul Buckley, Stephen Davis

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Start-up incubators are one of a number of micropolicy interventions used by states to support their technology entrepreneurs. Since 2000, the number of incubators in the United States has almost trebled while that in Europe has more than doubled. This article outlines the challenges involved in attempting to evaluate the contribution of the higher education technology start-up incubator process. It advocates theory-based evaluation (TBE) methodology as a possible solution for effective evaluation (and policy learning) in complex research settings such as this, where a study is unable, for myriad reasons, to meet the stringent requirements of experimental research design. TBE …

Service Charge Collection In Multi-Unit Developments, Adele Mckeown, Lorcan Sirr

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Multi-unit developments (MUDs) – typically developments of apartments, or apartments and houses, but also sometimes including a commercial component – differ from traditional housing as they have three distinct characteristics: individual ownership of a unit, shared ownership of common property, and collective membership of a corporate body that assumes responsibility for the management of the development (Christudason, 2004). In the Irish case, this corporate body is known as the owners’ management company (OMC). The legal framework for ownership in MUDs is based on leasehold, which means that the purchaser owns the property but not the land on which it is …

Introduction, Lorcan Sirr

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Over many decades, it has been rare for a week to pass without housing-related issues being close to, or at, the top of news and political agendas. As everybody has to live somewhere, housing – and its related elements of property, building, planning and finance – is a topic in which everybody has both a stake and an opinion. It is the most personal of subjects – in many respects, our housing shapes our lives.

Understanding Market Inefficiency In The East Asian Region During Times Of Crisis, Lucia Morales, Bernadette Andreosso-O’Callaghan

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The study of financial market efficiency has important implications in terms of global macroeconomic stability. The case of six selected East Asian stock markets (China, Japan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and South Korea) during the Asian Financial Crisis (AFC) and Global Financial Crisis (GFC) is analysed here using a battery of well-known econometric techniques that starts with traditional unit root testing for random walk behaviour. The six countries were selected on the basis of market capitalization to offer insights into the behaviour of the most relevant markets in the region. The results show that during both crises, these markets exhibited …

Hong Kong Unrest And Implications For The Hang Seng Index, Lucia Morales, Bernadette Andreosso-O’Callaghan

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With the September 2014 ‘Umbrella Revolution’ in Hong Kong, China faced one of the biggest political challenges since the Tiananmen Square events. Beijing’s proposed electoral reform was perceived as a direct attack to democracy, and the ensuing protest triggered concerns amid local and international investors; the financial sector took the hardest hit, with stocks of companies exposed to the Hong Kong market facing significant losses. Volatility continued to increase to a seven-month high over worries that the student blockade in Hong Kong’s streets could drag on for longer than expected. The econometric-based analysis in this paper looks at the implications …

Relating Group Size And Posting Activity Of An Online Community Of Financial Investors: Regularities And Seasonal Patterns, P. Racca, R. Casarin, Pierpaolo Dondio, F. Squazzoni

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Group size can potentially affect collective activity and individual propensity to contribute to collective goods. Mancur Olson, in his Logic of Collective Action, argued that individual contribution to a collective good tends to be lower in groups of large size. Today, online communication platforms represent an interesting ground to study such collaborative dynamics under possibly different conditions (e.g., lower costs related to gather and share information). This paper examines the relationship between group size and activity in an online financial forum, where users invest time in sharing news, analysis and comments with other investors. We looked at about 24 million …

Critical Race Ip, Anjali Vats, Deidre A. Keller

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In this Article, written on the heels of Race IP 2017, a conference we co-organized with Amit Basole and Jessica Silbey, we propose and articulate a theoretical framework for an interdisciplinary movement that we call Critical Race Intellectual Property (Critical Race IP). Specifically, we argue that given trends toward maximalist intellectual property policy, it is now more important than ever to study the racial investments and implications of the laws of copyright, trademark, patent, right of publicity, trade secret, and unfair competition in a manner that draws upon Critical Race Theory (CRT). Situating our argument in a historical context, we …

An Invitation Regarding Law And Legal Education, And Imagining The Future, Michael J. Madison

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This Essay consists of an invitation to participate in conversations about the future of legal education in ways that integrate rather than distinguish several threads of concern and revision that have emerged over the last decade. Conversations about the future of legal education necessarily include conversations about the future of law practice, legal services, and law itself. Some of those start with the somewhat stale questions: What are US law professors doing, what should they be doing, and why? Those questions are still relevant and important, but they are no longer the only relevant questions, and they are not the …

A Case Of Motivated Cultural Cognition: China's Normative Arbitration Of International Business Disputes, Pat K. Chew

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The centuries-old conception of judges and arbitrators as highly predictable and objective is being dismantled. In its place, a much more textured, complicated, and challenging understanding of legal decision-making is being constructed. New research on “Motivated Cognition” demonstrates that judges and arbitrators are more human than mechanical, pouring themselves – and the cultural and institutional contexts within which they act – into their decision making. This article extends the emerging model of Motivated Cultural Cognition, a form of Motivated Cognition, to the global stage, investigating arbitration of business disputes between two world-powers: United States and China. Through a first-of-its-kind empirical …