Transforming library communication: from Gutenberg to Zuckerberg

2015 ◽  
Vol 116 (5/6) ◽  
pp. 247-263 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olga Einasto
Keyword(s):  
Information Search ◽  
Power Relations ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Social Institution ◽  
Theoretical Background ◽  
Communication Strategy ◽  
Global Network ◽  
Disciplinary Power ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Library User

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyse institutional and functional development of a library with the help of communication theories. The library as a social institution should have a quite strong position in today’s information society, but new ways of information search have made its position unstable. Thus, a library needs theoretical and cultural-political comprehension and reassessment. The paper tries to answer the questions as to how a library can satisfy the needs of modern society and which strategy of library communication will be in demand tomorrow. Design/methodology/approach – The theoretical background is represented by communication theories of Marshal McLuhan, Denis McQuail and Yuri Lotman, as well as Michel Foucault’s concepts of disciplinary power and governmentality. Findings – The analysis revealed that library–user communication is based primarily on power relations, where “access” is the main keyword. The article brought out differences in library communicative processes in the “Gutenberg Galaxy” and today’s global network society, “Zuckerberg Era”. The analysis showed that library–user relationship is shifting from disciplinary power and monologue to the governmentality and new communicative forms, dialogue and participation. Research limitations/implications – The study demonstrates the possibility of implication of communication theories for library functional analysis. The new studies investigating which methods and forms of communication do libraries use today, how are the elements of power relations transforming would be very useful for the understanding of the topic. Practical implications – The study proposes to libraries some ideas that may be useful for developing the library communication strategy. Originality/value – This study, based on the communicative approach, corresponds well to library phenomenon and nature, as well as allows for reflection on the role of libraries in the society of today and future.

Networks as systems

2018 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allan Best ◽  
Alex Berland ◽  
Trisha Greenhalgh ◽  
Ivy L. Bourgeault ◽  
Jessie E. Saul ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Network Theory ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Human Resources For Health ◽  
Flexible Structures ◽  
Communication Strategy ◽  
Global Network ◽  
World Health ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Large Complex

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present a case study of the World Health Organization’s Global Healthcare Workforce Alliance (GHWA). Based on a commissioned evaluation of GHWA, it applies network theory and key concepts from systems thinking to explore network emergence, effectiveness, and evolution to over a ten-year period. The research was designed to provide high-level strategic guidance for further evolution of global governance in human resources for health (HRH). Design/methodology/approach Methods included a review of published literature on HRH governance and current practice in the field and an in-depth case study whose main data sources were relevant GHWA background documents and key informant interviews with GHWA leaders, staff, and stakeholders. Sampling was purposive and at a senior level, focusing on board members, executive directors, funders, and academics. Data were analyzed thematically with reference to systems theory and Shiffman’s theory of network development. Findings Five key lessons emerged: effective management and leadership are critical; networks need to balance “tight” and “loose” approaches to their structure and processes; an active communication strategy is key to create and maintain support; the goals, priorities, and membership must be carefully focused; and the network needs to support shared measurement of progress on agreed-upon goals. Shiffman’s middle-range network theory is a useful tool when guided by the principles of complex systems that illuminate dynamic situations and shifting interests as global alliances evolve. Research limitations/implications This study was implemented at the end of the ten-year funding cycle. A more continuous evaluation throughout the term would have provided richer understanding of issues. Experience and perspectives at the country level were not assessed. Practical implications Design and management of large, complex networks requires ongoing attention to key issues like leadership, and flexible structures and processes to accommodate the dynamic reality of these networks. Originality/value This case study builds on growing interest in the role of networks to foster large-scale change. The particular value rests on the longitudinal perspective on the evolution of a large, complex global network, and the use of theory to guide understanding.

Workplace romance versus sexual harassment: a call to action regarding sexual hubris and sexploitation in the #MeToo era

2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 329-347
Author(s):  
Lisa Mainiero
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Harassment ◽  
Power Relations ◽  
Organizational Leaders ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Privacy Concerns ◽  
Call To Action ◽  
Workplace Romance ◽  
Lower Status ◽  
Sexual Harassment Policies ◽  
Dominant Coalition

Purpose The #MeToo movement has brought questions of sexuality and power in the workplace to the forefront. The purpose of this paper is to review the research on hierarchial consensual workplace romances and sexual harassment examining the underlying mechanisms of power relations. It concludes with a call to action for organizational leaders to adopt fair consensual workplace romance policies alongside strong sexual harassment policies. Design/methodology/approach This paper represents a conceptual review of the literature on consensual workplace romance, sexual harassment, passive leadership and power relations. Passive leadership leads to a climate of incivility that in turn suppresses disclosures of sexual harassment (Lee, 2016). Consensual workplace romances across hierarchical power relations carry significant risks and may turn into harassment should the romance turn sour. Findings Two new concepts, sexual hubris and sexploitation, are defined in this paper. Sexual hubris, defined as an opportunistic mindset that allows the powerful to abuse their power to acquire sexual liaisons, and its opposite, sexploitation, defined as a lower-status member using sexuality to gain advantage and favor from an upper-level power target, are dual opportunistic outcomes of an imbalanced power relation. Sexual hubris may increase the likelihood for sexual harassment such that a mindset occurs on the part of the dominant coalition that results in feelings of entitlement. Sexploitation is a micromanipulation tactic designed to create sexual favoritism that excludes others from the power relation. Research limitations/implications Sexual hubris and sexploitation are conceptualized as an opportunistic mechanisms associated with imbalanced power relations to spur future research to tease out complex issues of gender, sexuality and hierarchy in the workplace. Sexual hubris serves to protect the dominant coalition and shapes organizational norms of a climate of oppression and incivility. Conversely, sexploitation is a micromanipulation tactic that allows a lower-status member to receive favoritism from a higher-power target. Four research propositions on sexual hubris and sexploitation are presented for future scholarship. Practical implications Most organizational leaders believe consensual romance in the office cannot be legislated owing to privacy concerns. Passive leadership is discussed as a leadership style that looks the other way and does not intervene, leading to workplace hostility and incivility (Lee, 2016). Inadequate leadership creates a climate of passivity that in turn silences victims. Policies concerning consensual workplace romance should stand alongside sexual harassment policies regardless of privacy concerns. Social implications The #MeToo movement has allowed victims to disclose sexual misconduct and abuse in the workplace. However, the prevalence of sexual harassment claims most often can be traced to a leadership problem. Employers must recognize that sexual hubris and sexploitation arise from imbalances of power, where sex can be traded for advancement, and that often consensual workplace romances end badly, leading to claims of sexual harassment. Consensual romance policies must stand alongside sexual harassment policies. Originality/value Sexual hubris and sexploitation are offered as novel concepts that provide a mechanism for conceptualizing the potential for abuse and manipulation from unbalanced power relations. These are original concepts derived from the arguments within this paper that help make the case for consensual workplace romance policies alongside sexual harassment policies.

Sociology, Protestant Theology, and the Concept of Modern Religion: William Robertson Smith and the ‘Scientification’ of Religion

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 335-364 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dietrich Jung
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Functional Differentiation ◽  
Theoretical Background ◽  
Modern Concept ◽  
Humanities And Social Sciences ◽  
William Robertson

This article looks at the intersection between Protestant theology and sociology in the construction of the modern concept of religion. Set against the theoretical background of the functional differentiation of modern society, it identifies the origin of this concept in the discursive ‘scientification’ of religion by the emerging disciplines of the humanities and social sciences. In taking the life and work of William Robertson Smith (1846–94) as an example, the article analyzes the transformation of some specific elements of liberal Protestant theology into a set of universal features that came to represent religion as a modern concept. In this way, it argues against confusing the modern concept of religion with a ‘Christian model’ as such, and also against rejecting the concept as a mere ideological tool of secularist ideologies.

scholarly journals Autobiographical reflections part II: risk, tenacity and philosophies of research

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 210-216 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Tadajewski ◽  
Brian Jones
Keyword(s):  
Power Relations ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Hard Work ◽  
Close Reading ◽  
High Tolerance ◽  
Academic Practice ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Autobiographical Accounts ◽  
Thought Leadership

Purpose This paper reviews autobiographical accounts of thought leadership in the marketing discipline and draws out pertinent insights for senior, mid-career and junior academics alike. Design/methodology/approach This narrative is based on a close reading of the pertinent material. Findings To be a pioneer in marketing takes considerable hard work, tenacity, serendipity, and a high tolerance for risk. Originality/value This manuscript can be used by junior scholars to legitimize the challenges they pose to more established colleagues. It helps contribute to the reversal of extant power relations in academic practice.

Understanding the fraud theories and advancing with integrity model

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shefali Saluja ◽  
Arun Aggarwal ◽  
Amit Mittal
Keyword(s):  
Theoretical Background ◽  
Traditional Theory ◽  
Second Phase ◽  
Fraud Triangle ◽  
Mice Model ◽  
Corporate Fraud ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Fraud Theory ◽  
Triangle Theory ◽  
Major Factors

Purpose The fraud landscape talks about the existence of fraudulent activities and can be assessed with the help of fraud literature. Taking this into consideration, this paper qualitatively revisits the famous fraud triangle theory developed by Donald R. Cressey (1950) which is the most traditional theory to detect a fraud. This paper aims to discuss various fraud models that have been extensions to fraud triangle theory and reviews the factors that drive a corporate fraud. This study is divided into two phases. The first phases discuss the various theories which have been developed to detect and prevent corporate frauds in organisations, and in the second phase the authors recognize “integrity” as a new extension to the basic fraud theory. The integrity model has been introduced as “fraud square” contributing to the development of fraud theory. Integrity plays a very important role in detecting corporate frauds, and this paper will act as a theoretical benchmark for future references. The implication of this study would help future researchers, academicians and practitioners to understand the fourth element of the fraud theory and would help improve the professional standards of organisations and regulators. Design/methodology/approach This paper revisits the literature in detail and reviews the most acknowledged models to explain “why people commit frauds” – the fraud triangle, fraud scale, the fraud diamond, the ABC model, the MICE model and the SCORE model. The authors contend that the traditional models need to be modernized to acclimate to the current developments in the rapidly increasing fraud incidents, both in occurrence and seriousness. Additionally, this paper builds on theoretical background to generate new model so as to improve the understanding behind the major factors which lead to commitment of frauds. Findings The authors identify a major element – integrity – in the research. As per ACFE 2020, “There are more than 3.3 billion people in the global workforce, half of them takes illegal use of gains from the organisation and some are discipled with integrity who does not cause any harm to the organisation.” To prevent fraud, integrity plays a very important role in organisations (Bakri et al., 2017). It has been found that individuals with less integrity are basically specified to a greater level of mismanagement. The organisations that have worked with integrity will improve performance at work and will always promote the best employees to work with less supervision. Originality/value This paper develops the integrity model to contribute to the development of fraud theory by identifying the key factors that play a major role in whether fraud will actually occur and acting as a theoretical benchmark for all future reference.

In quest of goldilocks ranges in searching for information on the web

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Matysek ◽  
Jacek Tomaszczyk
Keyword(s):  
Information Search ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Search Task ◽  
Web Searching ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Scientific Disciplines ◽  
Preliminary Study ◽  
The Right ◽  
User Experiment ◽  
Practical Implications

PurposeThe quest to discover optimal conditions or amounts has been carried out in many scientific disciplines and practical fields. In astrophysics, biology, medicine, psychology and education, the quest has resulted in finding the right amount of something, a desirable middle between extremes, a balance between conditions or the optimal state of a system. The results are referred to as the Goldilocks principle, which is based on the idea of being “just right”. The aim of our study was to find out if there are any measures in information search that could be identified as Goldilocks ranges.Design/methodology/approachWe conducted a user experiment in which 68 participants carried out a time-unlimited, topical search task involving finding relevant websites on the basis of which the participants were supposed to prepare a presentation on a given topic. We examined aspects of their search behavior.FindingsWe found that information search Goldilocks ranges can be identified for a length of a search session, number of relevant results, number of queries submitted and number of search engine results pages (SERPs) visited. This preliminary study has resulted in indicating the following dominant ranges: Number of relevant documents found: 5–8; Time spent searching: 21–35 min; Number of queries submitted: 3–7; Number of SERPs viewed: 1–3.Originality/valueTill now, no one has studied Goldilocks ranges in information retrieval. The Goldilocks ranges have some practical implications for improving the effectiveness of web searching.

Determinants of the firm performance of returnee entrepreneurs in Somalia: the effects of external environmental conditions

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohamed-Abdullahi Mohamed ◽  
Asmat-Nizam Abdul-Talib ◽  
AfifahAlwani Ramlee
Keyword(s):  
Firm Performance ◽  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Theoretical Background ◽  
Future Research ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Somali Diaspora ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Perceived Environmental Uncertainty

Purpose This study aims to examine the role of returning Somali diaspora entrepreneurs on firm performance and their perceived environmental obstacles. Design/methodology/approach The paper draws on a broad literature review and covers a theoretical background to develop a research framework. It presents several propositions to be empirically tested to determine the influence of returnee entrepreneurs’ success and the challenges they face in the process. Findings The paper offers an overview of how Somali diaspora returnee entrepreneurs can use their resources to succeed in their business and the possible environmental uncertainties that could hinder them. The study highlights some under-researched areas and provides future research directions. Research limitations/implications A research investigation is needed to test the proposed conceptual framework empirically. Further research is also recommended to use other predictors when investigating the perceived environmental uncertainty faced by returnee entrepreneurs. Practical implications In the diaspora entrepreneurship literature, returnee entrepreneurs in post-conflict African countries did not get enough attention. Hence, the study will contribute theoretically to the literature. Originality/value The paper provides a conceptual framework that will help understand returnee entrepreneurs in post-conflict states in Africa, paving the way for empirical studies on the topic.

Information search in times of market uncertainty: an examination of aggregate and disaggregate uncertainty

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marshall A. Geiger ◽  
Rajib Hasan ◽  
Abdullah Kumas ◽  
Joyce van der Laan Smith
Keyword(s):  
Information Search ◽  
Institutional Investors ◽  
Volume Index ◽  
Individual Investor ◽  
Market Uncertainty ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Current Time ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Information Demand ◽  
Google Search

PurposeThis study explores the association between individual investor information demand and two measures of market uncertainty – aggregate market uncertainty and disaggregate industry-specific market uncertainty. It extends the literature by being the first to empirically examine investor information demand and disaggregate market uncertainty.Design/methodology/approachThis paper constructs a measure of information search by using the Google Search Volume Index and computes measures of aggregate and disaggregate market uncertainty using institutional investors' trading data from Ancerno Ltd. The relation between market uncertainty, as measured by trading disagreements among institutional investors, and information search is analyzed using an OLS (Ordinary Least Squares) regression model.FindingsThis paper finds that individual investor information demand is significantly and positively correlated with aggregate market uncertainty but not associated with disaggregated industry uncertainty. The findings suggest that individual investors may not fully incorporate all relevant uncertainty information and that ambiguity-related market pricing anomalies may be more associated with disaggregate market uncertainty.Research limitations/implicationsThis study presents an examination of aggregate and disaggregate measures of market uncertainty and individual investor demand for information, shedding light on the efficiency of the market in incorporating information. A limitation of our study is that our data for market uncertainty is based on investor trading disagreement from Ancerno, Ltd. which is only available till 2011. However, we believe the implications are generalizable to the current time period.Practical implicationsThis study provides the first concurrent empirical assessment of investor information search and aggregate and disaggregate market uncertainty. Prior research has separately examined information demand in these two types of market uncertainty. Thus, this study provides information to investors regarding the importance of assessing disaggregate component measures of the market.Originality/valueThis paper is the first to empirically examine investor information search and disaggregate market uncertainty. It also employs a unique data set and method to determine disaggregate, and aggregate, market uncertainty.

The effects of cognitive load on query reformulation: mental demand, temporal demand and frustration

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kyoungsik Na
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Load ◽  
User Interfaces ◽  
Information Search ◽  
Information Seeking ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
Query Reformulation ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Mental Demand ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Nasa Tlx

PurposeThis study explores the effects of cognitive load on the propensity to reformulate queries during information seeking on the web.Design/methodology/approachThis study employs an experimental design to analyze the effect of manipulations of cognitive load on the propensity for query reformulation between experimental and control groups. In total, three affective components that contribute to cognitive load were manipulated: mental demand, temporal demand and frustration.FindingsA significant difference in the propensity of query reformulation behavior was found between searchers exposed to cognitive load manipulations and searchers who were not exposed. Those exposed to cognitive load manipulations made half as many search query reformulations as searchers not exposed. Furthermore, the National Aeronautical and Space Administration Task Load Index (NASA-TLX) cognitive load scores of searchers who were exposed to the three cognitive load manipulations were higher than those of searchers who were not exposed indicating that the manipulation was effective. Query reformulation behavior did not differ across task types.Originality/valueThe findings suggest that a dual-task method and NASA-TLX assessment serve as good indicators of cognitive load. Because the findings show that cognitive load hinders a searcher's interaction with information search tools, this study provides empirical support for reducing cognitive load when designing information systems or user interfaces.

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