scholarly journals Constructing audit society in the virtual world: the case of the online reviewer

2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 18-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ingrid Jeacle

Purpose Online user reviews have increasingly become a popular means by which the lay person can both procure advice and offer personal opinions. Amazon, the electronic retail giant, is a prominent example of a site which hosts such user generated content; the opinions of its repository of reviewers have become an important source of assurance provision. The purpose of this paper is to suggest that Amazon provides an example of how audit logics have entered new spaces. In Amazon, the author witnesses the construction of auditability in the virtual world. This may explain the popularity and authority seemingly enjoyed by user reviews. Design/methodology/approach The paper uses the methodological approach of netnography (Kozinets, 2002). This new methodology has emerged in order to undertake ethnographic research within virtual communities. Applying this methodology to the case of Amazon involved becoming familiar with the operational features of the site and analysing its textual discourse. Findings The paper identifies in Amazon, Power’s (1996) three examples of how auditability is invoked: through rhetorics of measurability, auditable systems of control, and reliance on experts. The paper therefore argues that online user reviews are reflective of the extension of audit society into the virtual world. Originality/value The paper explores the possibilities of the virtual world for accounting research, a world which is an increasingly prominent feature of popular culture. In addition, the paper responds to recent calls to examine the processes of assurance provision beyond the traditional domain of financial audit.

2016 ◽  
Vol 43 (12) ◽  
pp. 1178-1193
Author(s):  
Tony Burns

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between Amartya Sen’s notion of adaptation and his views on identity politics by focussing on the issue of slavery and, more specifically, on the example of the happy or contented slave. Design/methodology/approach The paper is text based. The methodological approach adopted is that of conceptual analysis, as is typical for work of this kind. Findings The paper concludes that the example of the happy or contented slave is indeed a fruitful one for those interested in exploring the relationship between Sen’s views on “the adaptation problem” and his views on identity politics, especially in relation to the subjection of women. Here Sen’s debt to the ideas of Mary Wollstonecraft and John Stuart Mill is particularly important. Research limitations/implications One implication of the argument of the paper is that there is a need to consider more carefully the differences that exist between the views of Wollstonecraft and Mill, so far as the example of the happy or contented slave is concerned. Practical implications One practical implication of the paper is that, hopefully, it establishes the continued relevance of the ideas of thinkers such as Wollstonecraft and Mill today, not least because of the influence that they have had on theoreticians such as Amartya Sen. Social implications The paper addresses issues which are of considerable social and political significance, especially for women in underdeveloped societies today. Originality/value The example of the happy or contented slave has not received much discussion in the literature on Sen, although Sen himself has suggested that the distinction between happiness and contentment is an important one, which does merit further discussion.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yudith Cardinale ◽  
Maria Alejandra Cornejo-Lupa ◽  
Alexander Pinto-De la Gala ◽  
Regina Ticona-Herrera

Purpose This study aims to the OQuaRE quality model to the developed methodology. Design/methodology/approach Ontologies are formal, well-defined and flexible representations of knowledge related to a specific domain. They provide the base to develop efficient and interoperable solutions. Hence, a proliferation of ontologies in many domains is unleashed. Then, it is necessary to define how to compare such ontologies to decide which one is the most suitable for the specific needs of users/developers. As the emerging development of ontologies, several studies have proposed criteria to evaluate them. Findings In a previous study, the authors propose a methodological process to qualitatively and quantitatively compare ontologies at Lexical, Structural and Domain Knowledge levels, considering correctness and quality perspectives. As the evaluation methods of the proposal are based on a golden-standard, it can be customized to compare ontologies in any domain. Practical implications To show the suitability of the proposal, the authors apply the methodological approach to conduct comparative studies of ontologies in two different domains, one in the robotic area, in particular for the simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) problem; and the other one, in the cultural heritage domain. With these cases of study, the authors demonstrate that with this methodological comparative process, we are able to identify the strengths and weaknesses of ontologies, as well as the gaps still needed to fill in the target domains. Originality/value Using these metrics and the quality model from OQuaRE, the authors are incorporating a standard of software engineering at the quality validation into the Semantic Web.


2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (11) ◽  
pp. 3423-3441 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth A. Whalen

PurposeWhile netnography was established to study virtual communities from the traditional ethnography methodology, over time it has evolved and moved away from standard ethnographic practices. The modifications are especially prevalent in hospitality and tourism research because of the nature of experiential and service-based goods. This gap has created exciting new opportunities for researchers. As netnography has matured into its own methodology, it has provided the opportunity for researchers to use netnography techniques or more traditional techniques by following ethnography methodologies. This paper aims to analyze the differences between these two methodologies within hospitality and tourism literature enabling researchers to choose the methodology that is most suited for their project.Design/methodology/approachThis study reviews netnographic research in hospitality and tourism and compares current uses of netnography against traditional ethnographic methodologies.FindingsThere are four major differentiating points between netnography and ethnography: online community definitions, data collection methodologies, ethics in research and data analysis techniques.Practical implicationsIn comparing ethnography and netnography in hospitality and tourism research, this analysis provides a foundation to evaluate the best use and best practices for these two distinct qualitative methodologies in the field. The study also provides references to how other hospitality and tourism researchers have used netnography.Originality/valueEthnographic principles grounded in the foundation of anthropological doctrines are important and distinct from netnography. The ability to use the diverse tools in the qualitative methods toolbox will help hospitality and tourism researchers understand the transforming marketplace.


2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruno Oliveira ◽  
Beatriz Casais

Purpose User-generated content and online reviews are highly relevant in purchase decision in the hospitality sector, including restaurants, but there is a lack of knowledge about the effect of sharing pictures in this context. This study aims to focus on the relevance of user-generated photos in online platforms for restaurants’ selection. Design/methodology/approach A research was conducted with a sample of 319 residents of Porto region, who had at least one meal in a restaurant over the 30 days before the answer of the survey and had searched online to select the restaurant. Findings The results show that while doing online research about restaurants, it is important for potential consumers to find pictures of food and physical evidences of restaurants generated by other users. Findings also show that consumers find user-generated photos especially at websites of reviews, although the importance of restaurant owned platforms, such as official social media pages and websites. Practical implications The research results appeal restaurant managers to understand the importance of user-generated photos in online platforms by promoting photo sharing in their restaurants with appropriate marketing activities for that purpose. Originality/value This paper expands the state-of-the-art about the importance of user-generated content, focusing on the importance of photos from restaurants shared by consumers in online platforms.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Vasco Santos ◽  
Paulo Ramos ◽  
Bruno Sousa ◽  
Nuno Almeida ◽  
Marco Valeri

PurposeThis paper aims to present a content analysis of two major constructs among tourism settings, namely involvement and emotions, strictly related to tourist behaviour, due to the fact that there are still some critical gaps in the knowledge about tourists' emotions and involvement.Design/methodology/approachAn in-depth content analysis of involvement and emotions was adopted as the methodological approach. This methodology addressed an amalgam of different definitions, frameworks, mixed theoretical and practical applications and approaches, results, comparisons as well as a blend of a set of scales of involvement and emotions by confrontating of authors.FindingsThe major findings state that emotions and involvement demonstrate greater progress and scientific development to the level of tourism, marketing and consumer behaviour, representing an important issue for the integrated tourism experiences.Originality/valueThis study presents a critical reflection on the importance of emotions and involvement in specific contexts of leisure and tourism.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ciro Troise ◽  
Diego Matricano ◽  
Elena Candelo ◽  
Mario Sorrentino

Purpose Starting from the state-of-the-art of Fintech development, this study aims to propose some research propositions comparing reward-crowdfunding (RCF) and equity-crowdfunding (ECF). In this sense, the present research provides a comprehensive analysis of fintech development and – to conceptualize the comparison between RCF and ECF – it focuses on campaigns’ characteristics, aims and post-campaigns scenarios. Design/methodology/approach All the research propositions related to the comparison between RCF and ECF are rooted in dedicated literature. The methodological approach adopted in the present paper can be referred to theorizing. Findings This study suggests that five key elements characterize the development of fintech: regulation, infrastructure, technologies, finance and innovations. The research provides nine propositions: four related to the campaigns’ characteristics; two related to the use of crowdfunding models by entrepreneurs; and three related to the performance of crowdfunded companies. Practical implications By offering nine research propositions, this study is expected to foster and support the investigation of fintech development from an entrepreneurial and managerial point of view. Originality/value To the best of authors’ knowledge, this study is among the first to explore the fintech development and to propose a comparative approach between RCF and ECF. This research contributes to the current debate on fintech development as well as on the comparison between crowdfunding models.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gianna Moscardo

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to highlight the rise of stories in tourism practice, identify the forces that are supporting and directing this story turn and argue for tourism researchers to pay greater attention to this new development. Design/methodology/approach This paper is based on a general review of academic and professional literature on marketing practice and experience design in tourism and an audit of destination marketing materials using story or story telling in their campaigns. Findings This paper identifies three forces supporting a story turn in tourism: building on the experiential approach to tourism; the rise of mobile social media, user generated content and gamification; and the Asian Wave in tourism. Originality/value This paper identifies a story turn in current tourism practice and reviews the increasing awareness of the value of stories in psychology, sociology and anthropology research, to suggest how this story turn may influence the nature of both tourism practice and research in the future.


2015 ◽  
Vol 71 (3) ◽  
pp. 477-502 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen Murphy ◽  
Pauline Rafferty

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore relationships between social tagging and key poststructuralist principles; to devise and construct an analytical framework through which key poststructuralist principles are converted into workable research questions and applied to analyse Librarything tags, and to assess the validity of performing such an analysis. The research hypothesis is that tagging represents an imperfect analogy for the poststructuralist project. Design/methodology/approach – Tags from LibraryThing and from a library OPAC were compared and constrasted with Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) and publishers’ descriptions. Research questions derived from poststructuralism, asked whether tags destabilise meaning, whether and how far the death of the author is expressed in tags, and whether tags deconstruct LCSH. Findings – Tags can temporarily destabilise meaning by obfuscating the structure of a word. Meaning is destabilised, perhaps only momentarily, and then it is recreated; it might resemble the original meaning, or it may not, however any attempt to make tags useful or functional necessarily imposes some form of structure. The analysis indicates that in tagging, the author, if not dead, is ignored. Authoritative interpretations are not pervasively mimicked in the tags. In relation to LCSH, tagging decentres the dominant view, but neither exposes nor judges it. Nor does tagging achieve the final stage of the deconstructive process, showing the dominant view to be a constructed reality. Originality/value – This is one of very few studies to have attempted a critical theoretical approach to social tagging. It offers a novel methodological approach to undertaking analysis based on poststructuralist theory.


2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-17
Author(s):  
Kim Munro

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to discuss the practice as research of a site-specific audio documentary project made while on a residency in North Iceland. Design/methodology/approach This project uses the application of a methodology of listening in the creation of the work. Findings The author claims that rather than focusing on the concept of voice in documentary, listening reveals the inherent ecology and inter-relatedness of the documentary materials. Originality/value A practice of listening in documentary making can reveal multiple co-existing relationships.


2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 228-240
Author(s):  
James Rupert Fletcher

Purpose A growing body of research seeks to include people with dementia as both participants and co-designers. It is also increasingly recognized that dementia research must pay greater attention to informal care, provided by family and friends in non-institutional settings, because this is the situation of most people affected by dementia. Accessing these kinds of naturalistic care sites through meaningfully inclusive studies can be challenging for researchers in many fields. The paper aims to discuss this issue. Design/methodology/approach This paper describes a methodology designed to facilitate meaningful inclusion and access to hard-to-reach dementia care networks. It describes the implementation of this methodology in the field, the problems that emerged and the lessons learned. Findings A two-step sampling approach was used. People with dementia were sampled through organizations unrelated to dementia. Care networks were sampled through ecomapping with people with dementia. The strategy successfully accessed the desired population, but it was labour-intensive and biased the sample in several respects. Originality/value It is hoped that this outline will encourage further reflection and discussion regarding methodological approaches to complex sampling and recruitment issues in dementia research.


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