An investigation of publication status alternation of papers online first in China: Based on CNKI data from 2017 to 2019

[Purposes] This study aims to investigate the publication status alternation of papers online first and reveal how the Regulations for Alteration of Publication Status and Content Correction of Online Publications on CNKI (Regulations for short) is implemented. [Methods] Firstly, we retrieved the withdrawal declarations of papers online first marked with "withdrawal" on CNKI from 2017 to 2019. Secondly, we downloaded them and saved the documents after coding. Then, the file directories were imported into Endnote X9 (a kind of reference management software) for statistical analysis and the texts of declarations were input into NVivo 12 Plus (a type of qualitative data analysis software) for cause classification. Finally, we analyzed the subject distribution, source journals, and causes of the "withdrawal". [Findings] From 2017 to 2019, the publication statuses of 389 articles online first have been altered, with 310 withdrawn, 74 retracted, and 5 corrected. Among them, only 278 (71.47%) state specific causes in the withdrawal statements and the causes are academic misconduct (32), authorship (25), publishing errors (82), quality problems (118), and others (21). [Conclusions] The online-first articles have a high proportion (389/182654, 0.21%) of publication status alternation and a small percentage of them (6/389, 1.54%) have strictly complied with the requirements of the Regulations, as manifested by the missing or vague causes for the publication status alternation in the withdrawal statements and even the deliberately covered-up academic misconducts. Academic journal publishers and digital publishing platforms should enhance the process management and content review of papers published online first and further improve the transparency of the causes of publication status alternation, visibility of withdrawal declarations, and traceability of the "withdrawal" process.

A picture is worth a thousand words: a photo-thematic analysis of city hospitality in municipal popular reporting

Purpose This paper aims to study the disclosure of information about city hospitality within municipal popular reporting documents, by conducting a photo-thematic analysis of the photographic imagery contained therein. These documents have great potential for integrating supplementary information in a simplified, short and attractive form. Supplementary disclosure by means of pictures, such as that concerning city hospitality, has not previously been researched. Design/methodology/approach This qualitative research uses visual data, specifically photographs, as a data source. To capture city hospitality disclosure, a photo-thematic analysis was conducted on a total of 495 photographs contained in a sample of 30 US municipal Popular Annual Financial Reports singled out for best practice. Photographs were inductively thematized using the qualitative data analysis software “QDA Miner”. Findings The photo-thematic analysis yielded an array of themes and sub-themes important to an overall understanding of municipal government disclosure about city hospitality. Going far beyond hosting the hospitality industry segment, city hospitality proved to be a complex area involving city livability and sustainability; it encompasses environmental and landscape resources, facilities, services, activities, events, culture, history, sociability, innovation and much more. Photographs were able to suitably provide supplementary nonfinancial disclosure in popular reports, conveying a welcoming image to the city’s guests – including both its citizens and visitors – in a timely and appealing way. Originality/value This study is the first to examine information disclosure via photographs in popular reporting, focusing on municipal government disclosures about city hospitality. It, therefore, offers new knowledge in both the areas of city hospitality and popular reporting, using an innovative qualitative research approach which gives insight into the power of pictures to generate and convey information beyond textual data.

Digital entrepreneurship and emancipation: exploring the nexus in a conflict zone

PurposeThis paper aims to examine the emergence of digital entrepreneurship in a conflict environment to explore the emancipatory potential of digital technology in a rare context. The purpose of this paper is to take a micro-level investigation of digital entrepreneurs operating in a violent in-conflict area.Design/methodology/approachThe analysis is based on multiple case studies from a violent conflict zone in India. This study used interview data from 10 digital entrepreneurs from the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Field data was collected with progressive rounds of interviews with the entrepreneurs, supplemented by published statistics and secondary data sources, and analysis was done with the help of qualitative data analysis software NVivo.FindingsThe context directed entrepreneurial behaviour and the motivation to start digital ventures. Entrepreneurs realized the potential of technology but its successful use was contingent upon their social positionalities. The digital entrepreneurial engagement of the entrepreneurs is classified into four dimensions: social digital entrepreneurship; business entrepreneurship; knowledge entrepreneurship; and institutional entrepreneurship.Originality/valueThe findings of the study contribute to the digital entrepreneurship literature by illustrating how a rare context influences venturing into technology sectors. The study advances the creative technology use, these in-conflict entrepreneurs with their existing resources maneuvered to create socially ingrained digital ventures. The study provides evidence to “conditional emancipation” attributable to digital entrepreneurship owing to the conflictual context in question.

Weak and strong ties and its connection to experts' problem-solving styles in scaffolding students' PBL activities on social media

Background: Studies have acknowledged that social media enables students to connect with and learn from experts from different ties available in the students’ personal learning environment (PLE). Incorporating experts into formal learning activities such as scaffolding problem-solving tasks through social media, allows students to understand how experts solve real-world problems. However, studies that evaluate experts’ problem-solving styles on social media in relation to the tie strength of the experts with the students are scarce in the extant literature. This study aimed to explore the problem-solving styles that the experts portrayed based on their ties with the students in problem-based learning (PBL) on Facebook. Methods: This study employed a simultaneous within-subject experimental design which was conducted in three closed Facebook groups with 12 final year management students, six business experts, and one instructor as the participants. The experts were invited by the students from the weak and strong ties in their PLE. Hinging on the Strength of Weak Ties Theory (Granovetter, 1973) and problem-solving styles (Selby et al., 2004), this study employed thematic analysis using the ATLAS.ti qualitative data analysis software to map the experts’ comments on Facebook. Results: The experts from strong and weak ties who had a prior relationship with the students showed people preference style by being more sensitive to the students' learning needs and demonstrating firmer scaffolding compared to the weak ties' experts who had no prior relationship with the students. Regardless of the types of ties, all experts applied all manner of processing information and orientation to change but the degree of its applications are correlated with the working experience of the experts. Conclusion: The use of weak or strong ties benefited the students as it expedited their problem-solving tasks since the experts have unique expertise to offer depending on the problem-solving styles that they exhibited.

Data visualisation in software supporting qualitative analysis

This text results from research developed in the Postgraduate Program in Education at the Tiradentes University (Unit), in partnership with the University of Aveiro, Portugal, in 2019 and 2020. The objective sought to describe how the Visualization of Data (VD) is represented in the analysis of qualitative data with the support of Qualitative Data Analysis Software (QDAS). To achieve this objective, we reached the inclusion/exclusion criteria. Seven software frequently used today, trying to understand the most frequent representations of HV in QDAS, their structuring, and how they can contribute to the phases of organisation and analysis in a scenario that can vary from small to large amounts of data. The results show that the QDAS can help the researcher visualise the qualitative data analysed with transparency through data visualisation representations that stood out in tables, charts, maps, and representations with movements. During the analysis, it was also observed that each software offers representations in different ways. The type of user/researcher interaction with the generated representations has been an exclusive phenomenon of digital technologies, which visually improves how scientific production knowledge can better circulate knowledge production.

Agri-input Buying Behaviour of Paddy Farmers: A Study in the Context of the New Normal Due to COVID-19

Humanity has witnessed diseases and illnesses since the ancient days. These diseases and illnesses resulted in days of suffering leading to disabilities or deaths of many people within communities and are termed as epidemics. As the society progressed, widespread trade increased the interactions between human, animals and ecosystems, thereby increasing the occurrence of these epidemics, often named as pandemics. Several pandemics have afflicted the world throughout history, be it malaria, tuberculosis, leprosy, influenza, smallpox, plagues or HIV/AIDS or the recent incidence of Novel Coronavirus. Diseases affect the supply chain of farm produce and agriculture. Consequently, it may impact food security. It is assumed that pandemic affects the buying behaviour of farmers and it has the capacity to alter the buying behaviour of paddy farmers in India. In this study, an attempt is made to investigate the effect of certain factors on farmers purchase behaviour during pandemic situation among rice farmers in Chhattisgarh, India. The studied sample included 120 farmers in Dhamtari, Raipur, India, selected randomly. Narratives were collected from the farmers and were analysed using qualitative data analysis software. From the qualitative data analysis, the implication for marketers is that itinerant trainers should be sent to villages to train the farmers, especially the bigger farmers (who have secondary influence), on the new technologies in agricultural inputs. The farmers also influence each other, and some amount of training coverage may eventually reach all farmers. The local dealers and the village headmen should also be influenced. An attempt should be made to marry the new technologies with the traditional methods, as much as possible.

Experience of General Practice Residents Caring for Dependent Elderly during the First COVID-19 Lockdown—A Qualitative Study

Background: Understanding the experiences of general practice (GP) residents caring for dependent elderly people during the first lockdown as part of the countries COVID-19 pandemic strategy. The aim was to explore themes that could explain the gap between the missions and values at the heart of GP practice during this period of strict isolation. Method: Qualitative study using an iterative approach. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 13 GP residents using a pre-established interview guide. Audio recordings were transcribed verbatim. Data were analyzed according to a coding grid, developed using Nvivo software (NVivo Qualitative Data Analysis Software; QSR International Pty Ltd. Version Release 1.5.1 (940) 2021), to identify emerging themes. Results: Three themes emerged from this qualitative research: cognitive dissonance, psychosocial risks, and fear. General practice residents have lived in the paradox between care and deprivation of liberty of dependent elderly people. Conclusion: The results suggest that the GP residents experienced a form of work-related suffering in this situation of deprivation of liberty of dependent elderly people. The present research serves as a pilot study to explore how GP residents experienced their care of locked-up dependent elderly people.

An In-depth Exploration on the Praxis of Computer-assisted Qualitative Data Analysis Software (CAQDAS)

NVivo is a methodological tool in analyzing qualitative data. The software belongs to the genre of Computer-assisted Qualitative Data Analysis Software (CAQDAS). This qualitative case study aimed to explore the practices of NVivo adopters within the West Visayas State University (WVSU) System, Academic Year 2019-2020. A researcher-made and foreshadowed Focus Group Discussion (FGD), in-depth interview, and observation protocols were utilized to gather data from the participants. The conceptual analysis was done using NVivo 12 Plus, while the researcher did the analytic analysis. The study revealed that the WVSU NVivo adopters are generally tech-savvy and stationed in the research office. Their speed of using the software varies. The adopters vary in terms of using NVivo- some were fast learners, while others were slow. They regularly ask questions from the researcher-resource speaker, though the NVivo manual of operation was distributed to them. Seven (7) themes have emerged that may optimize NVivo’s functionalities in qualitative data analysis. These themes are requirements for improved coding practices, the need for enhanced visualization skills; the importance of the knowledge on the NVivo research cycle; qualities of NVivo adopters; motivation in using NVivo; and practices for practical qualitative data analysis using NVivo. It is thus concluded that there is a need for WVSU administration to consider several mechanisms to improve the use of CAQDAS, specifically NVivo, in qualitative data analysis.

The mediation role of the PMO in the transfer of knowledge between projects – a case study of five PMOs

PurposeThis article describes advances in the study of knowledge transfer (KT) in project-based organizations (PBOs). Project management offices (PMOs) have both a moderation role and a mediation role to play in KT between projects. In order to improve KT between projects, this paper explores the mediation role of the PMO in the transfer of knowledge with different levels of articulability. The aim is to improve the usability of transferred knowledge.Design/methodology/approachThe case study method was used to investigate KT in five-divisional PMOs within a multinational engineering and project management PBO. Fifteen semi-structured interviews were conducted and the results were analysed using ATLAS.Ti (a computer-aided qualitative data analysis software).FindingsThe findings show that it is the way in which the PMO structures knowledge management (KM) infrastructure and processes, which determines the success of its mediation role in the transfer of tacit and explicit knowledge between projects. The articulability of knowledge influences the PMO's mediation role and the PMO's mediation role in turn improves the usability of knowledge, thereby creating a conducive environment for a competitive advantage.Originality/valueThis study offers a framework to assist scholars and practitioners to understand the mediation role of the PMO in the transfer of knowledge with different levels of articulability within the projects environment. Such understanding can improve the usability of transferred knowledge, thereby creating a competitive edge for a PBO. The study shows that the PMO can be used as an instrument for KT between projects, a theme that was not found in literature. The paper thus offers new empirical information.

An investigation of sponsor attributes on six megaproject cases

PurposeExecutive sponsors play a significant role in the success of megaprojects which, in turn, affect national economies and millions of people. However, the literature on the requisite attributes of project sponsors on megaprojects is still sparse. The purpose of the paper is to provide guidelines to company boards and executives who are tasked to appoint suitable executive sponsors to megaprojects. Thus, the paper contributes to the sparse literature on megaproject sponsors.Design/methodology/approach A total of 26 senior managers, with experience in megaprojects ranging from 8 to 15 years – and who were involved in 6 recent megaprojects with a combined value of US$13.75bn – were interviewed on the attributes of megaproject sponsors. Transcriptions of semi-structured, open-ended interviews were analysed with computer-assisted qualitative data analysis software (CAQDAS).FindingsThe study identified the most essential attribute as appropriate seniority, being empowered and accountable, with appropriate seniority, being empowered and accountable, with apposite credibility and with both personal and positional power. The study also uncovered 13 attributes – all components of “competence” – which have not previously been explicitly identified in literature as elements of sponsor “competence”.Originality/valueIn the current study guidelines are provided for the selection and appointment of appropriate megaproject sponsors.