Suchergebnisse

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to establish the impact and effectiveness of the national PING! project implemented by a national governing body of sport (NGB) and key public sector partners in England. It establishes lessons learnt and areas to improve future programme development in this area of public sports management. In addition it is also evidencing a new approach to engaging with physical activity and sports development in local communities.


Design/methodology/approach
– The research study is based on a user survey with 375 respondents and two qualitative ethnographic case studies in two of the eight cities that were involved in the programme. These case studies encompassed 30 individual or group interviews, informal observations and site visits across the two cities.


Findings
– The research project has identified some of the key factors that lie behind the positive outcomes of the scheme, including a strong sense of participant community, diverse participant profiles, a hidden workplace impact and building an entry point for non-engaged sports participants to sport and physical activity. In addition, lessons have been learnt in terms of future programme management, design and development in this field of informal and recreational sports project. These include strengthening opportunities for sustainable continued participation, sharing information with other NGBs that are beginning to work in this style of delivery and building alternative pathways to the traditional club as an outlet' for novice participants.


Research limitations/implications
– The study is based in England and is limited to a one year research project. The qualitative case studies were also only conducted in two of the main partner cities.


Originality/value
– Very few empirical studies have examined this growing trend towards informal table tennis programmes and facilities. Likewise the paper also offers a novel evaluation approach for NGBs to gain richer more insightful depth of research lessons. It is also part of the growing literature that is questioning the foundations of "traditional sports development" practice and its associated sphere of public sector activity.

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to explore key determinants of knowledge utilization in a community sport initiative, with particular attention to key facets of social-organizational approaches including: organizational context including perceived user needs, characteristics of the researcher-user relationship, and adaption of dissemination materials.


Design/methodology/approach
– The case study applies established theoretical and conceptual understandings of knowledge utilization to a research evaluation of a national initiative to increase young women's participation in sport.


Findings
– This case study illustrates that academics engaging in evaluation work with sports organizations are well-placed to develop relationships with organizations that will be conducive to the use of research. Qualities that facilitate the use of research include an organizational context that is positively disposed towards using research. This can entail developing a researcher-practitioner relationship that involves shared learning and appreciating each other's aims, values and priorities.


Research limitations/implications
– The research initiates a discussion on the knowledge utilization in community sport evaluation; however, it is limited to a particular case which may not be representative of the spectrum of sports development initiatives.


Practical implications
– This case study highlights some useful features of how researchers and practitioners can work together effectively and use research to improve delivery.


Originality/value
– This case study contributes to new understandings of the immediate as well as long-term value of research in the evaluation of community sports initiatives.

Purpose– The paper aims to utilise Adam and Kriesi's network approach to policy analysis to examine the range of exogenous factors that affect interactions in the community sport policy process from a local authority perspective.Design/methodology/approach– The research is based upon two case studies. Each case study involved semi-structured interviews with three local authority middle/senior managers, three senior County Sport Partnership (CSP) representatives, and eight regional/county national governing bodies of sport (NGB) representatives.Findings– While the two cases exhibit distinctive socio-economic and structural profiles they provide valuable evidence regarding the operation of the network of partners involved in community sport and also illustrate the utility of Adam and Kriesi's analytical framework. In relation to Adam and Kriesi's power/interaction model both cases illustrate the fragmentation of power at the community level although interaction in one case exhibits a pattern best characterised as "competition" whereas interaction in the other is more closely associated with "horizontal cooperation".Research limitations/implications– The paper highlights the need for improved theorisation of partnership arrangements in community sport, in particular: examining the relationship between issues such as resources, organisational capacity, and traditional involvement in sport development and attitudes toward the community sport policy process; linked to this, mapping the causal relationships in partnerships, i.e. what factors lead to what actions or behaviours; and investigating the utility of various strategies in developing a more cohesive and effective sub-regional policy system.Originality/value– Local authority perspectives of community sport policy is an under-researched topic. It is timely to study these perspectives due to the refreshed community sport policy for 2013-2017, the traditional status of local government as the major funder of community sport, and the public sector budget reductions and reported implications for non-statutory services, such as community sport

AbstractManuscript TypeEmpiricalResearch Question/IssueWe combine agency and institutional theory to explain the division of equity shares between the foreign (majority) and local (minority) partners within foreign affiliates. We posit that once the decision to invest is made, the ownership structure is arranged so as to generate appropriate incentives to local partners, taking into account both the institutional environment and the firm‐specific difficulty in monitoring.Research Findings/InsightsUsing a large firm‐level dataset for the period 2003–2011 from 16 Central and Eastern European countries and applying selectivity corrected estimates, we find that both weaker host country institutions and higher share of intangible assets in total assets in the firm imply higher minority equity share of local partners. The findings hold when controlling for host country effects and when the attributes of the institutional environment are instrumented.Theoretical/Academic ImplicationsThe classic view is that weak institutions lead to concentrated ownership, yet it leaves the level of minority equity shares unexplained. Our contribution uses a firm‐level perspective combined with national‐level variation in the institutional environment, and applies agency theory to explain the minority local partner share in foreign affiliates. In particular, we posit that the information asymmetry and monitoring problem in firms are exacerbated by weak host country institutions, but also by the higher share of intangible assets in total assets.Practitioner/Policy ImplicationsAssessing investment opportunities abroad, foreign firms need to pay attention not only to features directly related to corporate governance (e.g., bankruptcy codes) but also to the broad institutional environment. In weak institutional environments, foreign parent firms need to create strong incentives for local partners by offering them significant minority shares in equity. The same recommendation applies to firms with higher shares of intangible assets in total assets.

AbstractManuscript TypeEmpiricalResearch Question/IssuePrevious studies, primarily based on evidence from the United States, fail to link shareholder activism to firm performance, with one explanatory factor being that the legal and regulatory system in the United States limits the anti‐director rights of shareholders. This study is motivated by the question of whether legally binding shareholder resolutions can pressure management to improve firm performance and to enhance firm value.Research Findings/InsightsBy investigating 135 publicly listed Japanese firms which received shareholder resolutions from 2004 to 2010, this study finds supportive evidence for shareholder proposals. Announcement‐associated abnormal returns are higher for firms receiving election‐related proposals by large sponsors, than those unrelated to board election. Furthermore, an improving trend begins to appear in the post‐resolution year, particularly significant for firms receiving proposals to remove board members.Theoretical/Academic ImplicationsThis study provides new evidence suggesting that large shareholder activism in Corporate Japan can perform roles that used to be played by main banks before the 1990s. It also suggests that in countries where there is no active takeover market, large shareholders can effectively discipline entrenched management through active engagement.Practitioner/Policy ImplicationsThis study offers insights to corporate managers on the importance of communicating with large shareholders and addressing their concerns.

Manuscript TypeEmpiricalResearch Question/IssueWe combine the value‐creation and value‐protection views of the board of directors to study the impact of board independence (BI) on the value of the firm at the time of its initial public offering (IPO).Research Findings/InsightsWe conduct our analysis on a sample of 969 firms that went public in France, Germany, and Italy between 1995 and 2011. We show that BI is a critical factor in the valuation of IPO firms. Our results support both the value‐creation and value‐protection roles of the board of directors. The relative importance of the two roles of the board varies over time, with value‐creation (value‐protection) dominating in IPOs of young (mature) companies.Theoretical/Academic ImplicationsOur theoretical framework combines the agency and resource‐dependence theories. The impact of BI on IPO valuation depends on the importance of the value‐creation and value‐protection roles played by the board. The change in the relative importance of the two roles determines a U‐shaped relationship between BI and firm age. Corporate governance is particularly important for young and innovative firms (where the resource‐dependence theory applies, and governance acts as a value‐creation device), as well as for mature firms and for companies where ownership and control are separated (where the agency theory applies, and governance serves as a value‐protection mechanism for minority shareholders).Practitioner/Policy ImplicationsWe show that corporate governance is a significant factor affecting the valuation of an IPO company. The importance of BI varies substantially with the knowledge intensity of the industry, the separation between ownership and control, and the age of the listing company.

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to examine the work challenges of employees with disabilities and predict the organisational behaviours of employees and their involvement in employment.


Design/methodology/approach
– A self-developed questionnaire was used to gather relevant information from employers, employees with disabilities and their co-workers. The questionnaires were distributed and administered by a number of trained enumerators.


Findings
– Both employers and co-workers perceived that their organisations have provided conducive organisation climate, comfortable work environment and reasonable adjustment for their employees with disabilities. Employees with disabilities are found loyal and committed. They are satisfied with the job. Organisational loyalty and commitment are predicted by the organisations' ability to restructure their job design to suit to the needs of employees with disabilities.


Research limitations/implications
– Initially, this study planned to use purposive sampling; however, due to poor database maintained by the relevant agency of employees with disability employment in the country, the paper was unable to identify which employers employ how many employees with disabilities. The sampling then was based on convenient sampling.


Practical implications
– Job design, organisational climate and comfortable work environment have long been recognised for motivating employees' performance (Hackman et al., 1975; Garg and Rastogi, 2006). The paper's findings show that these factors also motivate employees with disabilities. This is added value to the existing body of knowledge as limited is known about the motivation of employees with disabilities.


Originality/value
– This study is unique because it gathers data from several parties: employees with disabilities, the co-workers and the employers.

Purpose
– The purpose of the paper is to discuss and illustrate how contemporary market discourses rearticulate socio-political relationships and identities, including the rights, duties, and opportunities of individuals and categories of individuals as citizens. More specifically, the purpose is to analyze how "economic citizenship" is articulated and negotiated in the intersection of (Nordic) welfare state ideals and shareholder-oriented market discourses. The paper further elaborates on how different identity markers, especially gender and class, intersect in these articulations and contribute to exclusionary practices.


Design/methodology/approach
– The paper approaches the articulation of economic citizenship through an empirical study that focusses on business media representations and online discussions of a major factory shutdown in Finland. Drawing from discourse theory and the notions of representational intersectionality and translocational positionality, the paper analyzes how gender and class intersect in the construction of economic citizenship in the business media.


Findings
– The study illustrates how financialist market discourses render citizenship intelligible in exceedingly economic terms, overriding social and political dimensions of citizenship. The business media construct hierarchies of economic citizens where two categories of actors claim full economic citizenship: the transnational corporation and the transnational investor. Within these categories, particular systems of privilege intersect in similar ways, rendering them masculine and upper middleclass. Whether interpreted as hegemonic or counter-hegemonic, the financialist discourses rearticulate the social hierarchies and moral landscape in Finnish society.


Originality/value
– The paper contributes to critical/feminist management studies by elaborating on the role of the business media as an important site of political identity work, positioning, and moral regulation, where neoliberal ideas, based upon and reproducing masculine and elitist systems of privilege, appear as normalized and self-evidently valued.

Purpose
– The purpose of this study is to identify the different research strands concerning studies related to human resource management (HRM) and ageing employees. More specifically, the paper analyses how age and gender are understood and conceptualized in these studies.


Design/methodology/approach
– An integrative literature review concerning ageing employees and HRM with special reference to gender is the approach taken in this paper.


Findings
– Recent studies relating to HRM and ageing employees were categorized and analysed. The paper concludes that there is a need for a more holistic understanding of the concept of age in studies related to ageing employees and HRM and also argues that the intersection of age and gender is under-researched in the field of HRM.


Practical implications
– Based on literature review the paper outlined directions for how gender-neutral age management studies may be extended. A pluralist understanding of age and gender would help to understand the different needs and expectations that ageing employees may have in terms of HR practices and policies. Institutional practices and legislation can promote equality, but organizational contexts, both internal and external, should be scanned in order to recognize possible ageist or age-blind practices. Ageing women in particular have the burden of being recognized in terms of chronological stereotyped changes that might damage their work and career.


Originality/value
– Research on ageing employees and HRM with special reference to gender is limited and therefore an integrative literature review is needed.

Purpose
– The aim of this paper is to explore the effect of ethnicity and separate this from the other dynamics associated with migration among members of the long-term care workforce in England focusing on the nature and structure of their jobs. The analysis examines interactions between ethnicity, gender, and age, and their relations with "meso" factors related to job and organizational characteristics and "macro" level factors related to local area characteristics.


Design/methodology/approach
– The paper analyses new national workforce data, the National Minimum Data Set for Social Care (NMDS-SC), n=357,869. The paper employs descriptive statistical analysis and a set of logistic regression models.


Findings
– The results indicate that labour participation of British black and minority ethnic (BME) groups in long-term care work is much lower than previously believed. There are variations in nature of work and possibly job security by ethnicity.


Research limitations/implications
– While the national sample is large, the data were not purposively collected to examine differentials in reasons to work in the care sector by different ethnicity.


Practical implications
– The analysis highlights the potential to actively promote social care work among British BME groups to meet workforce shortages, especially at a time where immigration policies are restricting the recruitment of non-European Economic Area nationals.


Originality/value
– The analysis provides a unique insight into the participation of British BME workers in the long-term care sector, separate from that of migrant workers.

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to discuss the impact of leadership styles on negative work-home interference among highly educated employees in the hospitality industry.Design/methodology/approach– A survey was conducted among a sample of 126 highly educated hospitality employees working in various different companies. Hierarchical regression analyses were carried out to examine the effects of leadership styles, work-home arrangements and overtime on perceived negative work-home interference.Findings– Autocratic leadership style, working overtime and a lack of work-home arrangements contributed significantly to negative work-home interference.Research limitations/implications– The study was conducted with a limited sample in a relatively limited part of the sector. Further research is needed in other layers of hospitality organisations.Practical implications– The findings provide insight into the impact of leadership on negative work-home interference. A variety of studies have identified negative work-home interference as an important precursor for employee turnover, and this study helps managers in developing beneficial management styles as well as HR policies to address negative work-home interference and its subsequent organisational effects.Originality/value– What is new in this paper is the measurement of leadership style in relation to negative work-home interference in the hospitality industry. In addition, next to charismatic and transactional leadership styles, autocratic leadership style is taken into account.

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to interrogate changes to women's representation on boards from an institutional perspective in a particular national context (Australia).Design/methodology/approach– Drawing on institutional theory at the legal, political and social levels the paper identifies the factors through which women's underrepresentation on corporate boards in Australia gained traction over the period 2009-2012.Findings– Through the analysis of the Australian context over the period 2009-2012, the paper proposes a framework to represent the multiple, differentiated and often conflicting spheres affecting women's representation on boards and how this may have wider application internationally.Research limitations/implications– In focusing on the institutional factors, the paper does not mean to underplay organisational factors relevant to women's access to board positions; rather the authors seek to draw attention to how the organisational factors may be shaped by changing institutional "rules". From the interrogation of the conditions under which women's underrepresentation on corporate boards in Australia gained traction, the paper provides a conceptual foundation for the emerging study of institutions and women's representation on corporate boards internationally.Practical implications– The purpose of documenting these institutional changes in Australia is to be instructive to others addressing the practical problem of how to increase women's representation on boards and what institutional factors may need to be considered to prompt change.Originality/value– The conceptual framework adds to the as yet relatively under-theorised field of women on corporate boards.