Perceived TMT transformational leadership and a service recovery culture: the moderating role of gender diversity

PurposeThis is an exploratory study with the purpose of empirically testing and advancing knowledge on the relationship between top management team (TMT) leadership styles and a service recovery culture. A further test explores a contingency perspective, examining if gender diversity on the TMT shapes this relationship.Design/methodology/approachWe examine the perceived TMT transformational leadership style, as well as the moderating effect of TMT gender diversity. Relying on both survey and archival data, our hypotheses are tested with a sample of 234 public firms based in the United States. Moderated hierarchical regression analysis is used as the statistical approach.FindingsResults suggest that perceived TMT transformational leadership is positively associated with a service recovery culture. When accounting for TMT gender diversity, the relationship between perceived TMT transformational leadership and a service recovery culture is positively moderated.Research limitations/implicationsThe study represents a sample of for-profit public firms operating in the United States and should not be taken as a general population sample. The findings could vary relative to other countries, private companies and non-profit organizations.Originality/valueThis is the first known study to explore the relationship between TMT leadership styles, TMT gender diversity and a service recovery culture. The study extends findings with the respect to the impact of TMT leadership and gender diversity on organizational development, as well as offers new insights into the antecedents of a service recovery culture.

Sensitivity and Selectivity of Two Commercially Available Media for Legionella spp. Recovery from Environmental Water Samples

The quality control of culture media used for Legionella spp. isolation and enumeration is paramount to achieve a satisfactory degree of comparability among water testing results from different laboratories. Here, we report on a comparative assessment of the sensitivity and selectivity of MWY and BCYEα media supplied by two different manufacturers (i.e., Xebios Diagnostics GmbH and Oxoid Ltd) for the detection of Legionella spp. from environmental water samples. Even though our analysis showed an excellent agreement between the recovery rates of the four media tested (90.5%), the quantitative recovery of Legionella spp. colonies using Xebios media was significantly greater than that achieved by Oxoid media (P = 0.0054). Furthermore, the sensitivity of detection was significantly higher when samples were plated on MWY Xebios agar (P = 0.0442), while the selectivity of MWY appeared to be the same regardless of the manufacturer. Furthermore, MWYXebios agar favored the growth of much larger colonies compared to those observed on MWYOxoid agar. Finally, MWYXebios medium enhanced the recovery of non-pneumophila Legionella species. Collectively, our findings demonstrate that quality control is crucial to ensure high selectivity and sensitivity of the culture media used for the detection and enumeration of Legionella spp. from environmental water resources. As water remediation measures strictly depend on Legionella spp. recovery, culture protocol standardization, as well as quality control of the culture media, is essential to achieve intra- and interlaboratory reproducibility and accuracy.

Rebuilding Relocated Tribal Communities Better via Culture: Livelihood and Social Resilience for Disaster Risk Reduction

Building back better is the goal of post-disaster recovery. However, most of the extant literature focuses on hardware reconstruction and there is a lack of attention on the social aspect of recovery. This study aims to understand the role of culture in the recovery process of relocating indigenous communities through tourism livelihood. A Tsou indigenous settlement, relocated after the 2009 Typhoon Morakot in Taiwan, was used as a case study. Field data were collected through participant observations in tourism and community activities as well as semi-structured interviews over a period of 15 months. The study found that appealing to a relocated tribe’s culture, not their land, as their community’s foundation could reduce conflicts within the community and increase social resilience. Indigenous culture-based tourism could serve as an important source of livelihood for such tribes, supporting long-term development. This study highlights community-based cultural tourism as a post-disaster livelihood revival approach which is beneficial for a resilient recovery. Culture could reduce disaster risk through a transformation to a livelihood source and further become the base of community resilience. Instead of promoting detached culture preservation, this study argues that a livelihood-relevant culturally innovative transformation could create a win–win situation for both post-disaster community recovery and culture inheritance.

Evaluation of Commonly Used Products for Disinfecting Clipper Blades in Veterinary Practices: A Pilot Study

ABSTRACT Nosocomial infections are a concern of growing interest in veterinary medicine. Clipper blades have been confirmed as fomites for numerous potential pathogens and, as such, may be associated with wound and surgical site infections. The goal of this study was to evaluate the disinfectant capabilities of several commonly used clipper blade cleaning products. Seventy sterile clipper blades were inoculated with strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, and Staphylococcus aureus. Blades were then subjected to one of seven treatment groups for disinfecting. Quantitative cultures of remaining bacteria were performed. All blades in the control group showed large amounts of bacterial recovery. Culture results showed no recovery in blades soaked in alcohol or chlorhexidine or those sprayed with an ethanol/o-phenylphenol product, while moderate recovery was seen with all other treatments. These results show that persistent contamination of clipper blades can occur with the use of several commonly used disinfectant products. Further research is necessary to evaluate fungicidal capabilities as well as the effect of disinfection on clipper blade maintenance.

High revivability of vitrified–warmed bovine mature oocytes after recovery culture with α-tocopherol

The objective of this study was to investigate whether developmental competence of vitrified–warmed bovine oocytes can be improved by antioxidant treatment during recovery culture. In experiment 1, one of the two antioxidants (either l-ascorbic acid or α-tocopherol) was added as a supplement to the recovery culture medium to which postwarming oocytes were exposed for 2 h before IVF. The exposure to α-tocopherol had a positive effect on rescuing the oocytes as assessed by the blastocyst yield 8 days after the IVF (35.1–36.3% vs 19.2–25.8% in untreated postwarming oocytes). Quality of expanding blastocysts harvested on Day 8 was comparable between α-tocopherol-treated vitrification group and fresh control group in terms of total cell number and chromosomal ploidy. In experiment 2, level of reactive oxygen species, mitochondrial activity, and distribution of cortical granules in α-tocopherol-treated postwarming oocytes were assessed. No obvious differences from the control data were found in these parameters. However, the treatment with α-tocopherol increased the percentage of zygotes exhibiting normal single aster formation (90.3% vs 48.0% in untreated postwarming oocytes; 10 h post-IVF). It was concluded that α-tocopherol treatment of vitrified–warmed bovine mature oocytes during recovery culture can improve their revivability, as shown by the high blastocyst yield and the higher mean total cell number in the blastocysts.