Does a Federal Glass Ceiling Have Differential Effects on Female and Male Technology Entrepreneurs?

Glass ceilings are invisible organizational barriers encountered by underrepresented groups in large hierarchies. This chapter empirically investigates the existence and characteristics of an internal, government-wide glass ceiling for female employees using aggregate pay grade and demographic data on nearly 1.5 million U.S. Federal employees between 2001-2011. The external consequences for over 15,000 technology ventures seeking R&D funding from 12 federal agencies is explored. In this context, the researchers analyze over 50,000 grants and find that a unit increase in a novel, government-wide, glass ceiling measure is a meaningful and negative predictor of subsequent Phase II funding outcomes for Phase I grantees. More importantly, the negative external effects of the identified glass ceilings are significantly larger for women technology entrepreneurs when compared to their male counterparts.

CURA—An Ethics Support Instrument for Nurses in Palliative Care. Feasibility and First Perceived Outcomes

Evaluating the feasibility and first perceived outcomes of a newly developed clinical ethics support instrument called CURA. This instrument is tailored to the needs of nurses that provide palliative care and is intended to foster both moral competences and moral resilience. This study is a descriptive cross-sectional evaluation study. Respondents consisted of nurses and nurse assistants (n = 97) following a continuing education program (course participants) and colleagues of these course participants (n = 124). Two questionnaires with five-point Likert scales were used. The feasibility questionnaire was given to all respondents, the perceived outcomes questionnaire only to the course participants. Data collection took place over a period of six months. Respondents were predominantly positive on most items of the feasibility questionnaire. The steps of CURA are clearly described (84% of course participants agreed or strongly agreed, 94% of colleagues) and easy to apply (78–87%). The perceived outcomes showed that CURA helped respondents to reflect on moral challenges (71% (strongly) agreed), in perspective taking (67%), with being aware of moral challenges (63%) and in dealing with moral distress (54%). Respondents did experience organizational barriers: only half of the respondents (strongly) agreed that they could easily find time for using CURA. CURA is a feasible instrument for nurses and nurse assistants providing palliative care. However, reported difficulties in organizing and making time for reflections with CURA indicate organizational preconditions ought to be met in order to implement CURA in daily practice. Furthermore, these results indicate that CURA helps to build moral competences and fosters moral resilience.

Cognitive disabilities and web accessibility: a survey into the Brazilian web development community

Cognitive disabilities include a diversity of conditions related to cognitive functions, such as reading, understanding, learning, solving problems, memorization and speaking. They differ largely from each other, making them a heterogeneous complex set of disabilities. Although the awareness about cognitive disabilities has been increasing in the last few years, it is still less than necessary compared to other disabilities. The need for an investigation about this issue is part of the agenda of the Challenge 2 (Accessibility and Digital Inclusion) from GranDIHC-Br. This paper describes the results of an online exploratory survey conducted with 105 web development professionals from different sectors to understand their knowledge and barriers regarding accessibility for people with cognitive disabilities. The results evidenced three biases that potentially prevent those professionals from approaching cogni-tive disabilities: strong organizational barriers; difficulty to understand user needs related to cognitive disabilities; a knowledge gap about web accessibility principles and guidelines. Our results confirmed that web development professionals are unaware about cognitive disabilities mostly by a lack of knowledge about them, even if they understand web accessibility in a technical level. Therefore, we suggest that applied research studies focus on how to fill this knowledge gap before providing tools, artifacts or frameworks.

PP140 Barriers And Prospects For The Development Of Hospital-Based Health Technology Assessment In Kazakhstan

IntroductionThe experience of implementing a hospital-based health technology assessment (HB-HTA) system in Kazakhstan is currently represented by only one organization, an independent HB-HTA unit established in 2015 in the Medical Center Hospital of the President's Affairs Administration (the Hospital). Despite the demonstrated positive experience of the Hospital, the widespread implementation of the HB-HTA system in Kazakhstan has experienced some barriers that must be considered before further development can occur.MethodsTo determine the barriers to developing and implementing HB-HTA in Kazakhstani hospitals, data from the Hospital's experience were obtained through a survey of Kazakhstan hospitals, conducted on behalf of the Ministry of Health Care. An official response was received from 29 hospitals. During the survey and discussions with hospital staff using the “brainstorming” method, several barriers to the development of HB-HTA in Kazakhstan were identified.ResultsBarriers at the system level included the lack of monitoring of the HB-HTA system at the national and regional levels and a lack of methodological support. Organizational barriers included a critically small number of HTA experts and the need for additional logistical support and funding from hospitals. The subjective factors we attributed to the rejection of the HB-HTA system by hospital management were the underestimation of lost profits and that HTA is a tool for promoting a transparent and open system for making managerial decisions.ConclusionsDespite some barriers, the development of HB-HTA in Kazakhstan is a promising area. The heads of key hospitals in Kazakhstan demonstrated a readiness and understanding of the need to use the principles of health technology assessment and clinical and economic analysis to promote the active transfer and implementation of innovative medical technologies.

Reflection on leadership behavior: potentials and limits in the implementation of stress-preventive leadership of middle management in hospitals – a qualitative evaluation of a participatory developed intervention

Background Mental health and stress prevention aspects related to workplace in hospitals are gaining increasingly more attention in research. The workplace hospital is characterized by high work intensity, high emotional demands, and high levels of stress. These conditions can be a risk for the development of mental disorders. Leadership styles can hinder or foster work-related stress and influence the well-being of employees. Through leadership interventions, leaders may be encouraged to develop a stress-preventive leadership style that addresses both, the well-being of the leaders and of the subordinates. A comprehensive qualitative description of leaders’ experiences with interventions on the topic of stress-preventive leadership is yet missing in the literature. Therefore, we address leaders of middle management regarding the development of stress-preventive leadership styles through supporting interventions. The research questions are: How do leaders of middle management perceive their leadership role in terms of effectiveness in stress prevention? Which potentials and limits in the implementation of stress-preventive leadership are experienced? Methods The study follows a qualitative research design and content analysis. We conducted individual interviews with leaders of middle management (n = 30) of a tertiary hospital in Germany for the participatory development of an intervention. This intervention, consisting of five consecutive modules, addressed leaders of middle management in all work areas within one hospital. After participation in the intervention, the leaders were asked to reflect on and evaluate the implementation of the contents learned within focus group discussions. Overall 10 focus group discussions with leaders (n = 60) were conducted. Results The results demonstrate that leaders of middle management perceived potentials for a stress-preventive leadership style (e.g., reflection on leadership role and leadership behavior, awareness/mindfulness, and conveying appreciation). However, limits were also mentioned. These can be differentiated into self-referential, subordinate-related, and above all organizational barriers for the implementation of stress-preventive leadership. Conclusions Some of the organizational barriers can be addressed by mid-level leadership interventions (e.g., lack of peer-exchange) or possibly by adapted leadership interventions for top management (e.g., lack of stress-preventive leadership styles in top level management). Other organizational limits are working conditions (e.g., staff shortage) that can only be influenced by health policy decisions.

Crisis Governance, Emergency Management, and the Digital Revolution

Digital technologies have fundamentally altered emergency and crisis management work through increased potential for role ambiguity, role conflict, distraction, and overload. Multilevel approaches to improve congruence between crisis managers and their environments have the potential to reduce cognitive and organizational barriers and improve decision making. The future of crisis management lies in reducing the misalignment between personal, proximal, and distal environmental conditions.

Analysis of barriers intensity for investment in big data analytics for sustainable manufacturing operations in post-COVID-19 pandemic era

PurposeThe study presents various barriers to adopt big data analytics (BDA) for sustainable manufacturing operations (SMOs) post-coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemics. In this study, 17 barriers are identified through extensive literature review and experts’ opinions for investing in BDA implementation. A questionnaire-based survey is conducted to collect responses from experts. The identified barriers are grouped into three categories with the help of factor analysis. These are organizational barriers, data management barriers and human barriers. For the quantification of barriers, the graph theory matrix approach (GTMA) is applied.Design/methodology/approachThe study presents various barriers to adopt BDA for the SMOs post-COVID-19 pandemic. In this study, 17 barriers are identified through extensive literature review and experts’ opinions for investing in BDA implementation. A questionnaire-based survey is conducted to collect responses from experts. The identified barriers are grouped into three categories with the help of factor analysis. These are organizational barriers, data management barriers and human barriers. For the quantification of barriers, the GTMA is applied.FindingsThe study identifies barriers to investment in BDA implementation. It categorizes the barriers based on factor analysis and computes the intensity for each category of a barrier for BDA investment for SMOs. It is observed that the organizational barriers have the highest intensity whereas the human barriers have the smallest intensity.Practical implicationsThis study may help organizations to take strategic decisions for investing in BDA applications for achieving one of the sustainable development goals. Organizations should prioritize their efforts first to counter the barriers under the category of organizational barriers followed by barriers in data management and human barriers.Originality/valueThe novelty of this paper is that barriers to BDA investment for SMOs in the context of Indian manufacturing organizations have been analyzed. The findings of the study will assist the professionals and practitioners in formulating policies based on the actual nature and intensity of the barriers.

Privacy Preservation Instruments Influencing the Trustworthiness of e-Government Services

Trust is one of the most critical factors that determine willingness to use e-government services. Despite its significance, most previous studies investigated the factors that lead to trusting such services in theoretical aspects without examining the technical solutions. Therefore, more effort is needed to preserve privacy in the current debate on trust within integrated e-government services. Specifically, this study aims to develop a model that examines instruments extracted from privacy by design principles that could protect personal information from misuse by the e-government employee, influencing the trust to use e-government services. This study was conducted with 420 respondents from Oman who were familiar with using e-government services. The results show that different factors influencing service trust, including the need for privacy lifecycle protection, privacy controls, impact assessments, and personal information monitors. The findings reveal that the impeding factors of trust are organizational barriers and lack of support. Finally, this study assists e-government initiatives and decision-makers to increase the use of services by facilitating privacy preservation instruments in the design of e-government services.

Barriers and Factors Affecting E-commerce Utilization of Thai Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises in Food and Beverage and Retail Services

E-commerce is deemed as the next potential source of growth for Thailand, but small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are still behind in their utilization of e-commerce. This article uses the decision-makers, technological, organizational and environmental (DTOE) framework to examine the key e-commerce barriers and determinants in e-commerce utilization by Thai SMEs based on a survey of retail and food and beverage (F&B) service establishments in metropolitan Bangkok. This study aims to fill the research gap by examining the types of barriers that hinder e-commerce utilization by Thai SMEs in the F&B and retail services, as well as their key determinants. Unlike e-commerce adoption, e-commerce utilization can capture the full range of e-commerce engagement. The survey’s findings indicate that organizational barriers significantly inhibit e-commerce utilization. Estimations from the structural equation modelling (SEM) show that exports, e-commerce tools, government support, and internal and external e-commerce platforms can enhance e-commerce utilization. In addition, business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce can increase the exports of Thai SMEs, while older entrepreneurs and SMEs tend to neglect e-commerce. Evidence-based policy implications and suggestions are also discussed in this study to enhance e-commerce utilization for Thai SMEs.

Breastfeeding support and barriers to women with gestational diabetes mellitus: a nationwide cross-sectional survey of hospitals in Japan

Background Despite the benefits of breastfeeding for women with Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM) and their infants, breastfeeding is less likely to be performed by this group. This study aimed to examine the current levels of implementation of breastfeeding support to women with GDM in Japan and to clarify barriers to promoting breastfeeding among this population. Methods A 25-item questionnaire was developed by the authors to investigate the current levels of implementation of breastfeeding support for women with GDM provided in hospitals, and to explore barriers for promoting breastfeeding among these women. The questionnaire was sent to all 1046 hospitals facilitating childbirth in Japan. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the quantitative data, and content analysis was used to analyze qualitative data from the open-ended questions. Results All 296 respondents were included in this study. Regarding breastfeeding support, 95.2% of the respondents provided general information on breastfeeding to GDM women during antenatal midwife consultations. However, the benefits of breastfeeding for preventing type 2 diabetes were addressed by only 48.0%. Likewise, although follow-up services (e.g., telephone support or breastfeeding consultations) were conducted in 88.9% of hospitals, only 50.7% of hospitals informed women that breastfeeding decreases the risk of developing type 2 diabetes after GDM. Regarding barriers, seven categories and 20 subcategories about promoting breastfeeding for women with GDM were extracted and abstracted into the following three themes: Barriers associated with mother and infant, Barriers associated with health professionals, and Organizational barriers. Conclusions In Japan, most hospitals that responded provided general breastfeeding support from the antenatal to postpartum periods. However, the benefits of breastfeeding in terms of preventing the incidence of type 2 diabetes following GDM were insufficiently communicated to women with GDM. Furthermore, there were numerous barriers to promoting breastfeeding among women with GDM.