An epidemiological study of injury in mines: implications for safety promotion

This paper is intended to raise risk management as a topic for discussion among product safety professionals and discuss one particular key element of understanding risk. Risk management is an essential part of good product safety management, whether at the policy level or the implementation stage, and is relevant to all those involved in the development and use of standards, including regulators and suppliers. The risk management process involves measuring the risks at the initial stage, by looking at consequence (possible injury) and likelihood (of that injury occurring) which then gives us the ‘inherent risk.’ We then seek ways to treat the risks. A second assessment of the risks is subsequently done to establish the extent to which the treatment will address the problem (‘assessed risk’). In product safety, this means how dangerous is the product as it is and how effective will a measure be in reducing the risk. Communication is vital in this process. When standards are developed and policy adopted, the factors that are taken into consideration need to be properly documented. The rationales for decisions, i.e., what the hazard is and how it is treated by the product specification, should be recorded within the standard itself. In the absence of recorded reasons, assumptions are made and these may well be incorrect. This paper discusses this topic in some detail and provides illustrative examples.     

An epidemiological study of injury in mines: implications for safety promotion

The role of various factors in coal mine-related injuries was investigated using a case-control design. The study setting was two neighbouring underground coal mines in India. Cases comprised mine workers (n = 150) who had sustained a prior mine-related injury from a population of 1000 underground workers. Controls were selected from those mineworkers with no history of a prior mine-related injury using frequency matching (n = 150) from the same source population. Data were collected from the cases and controls using a structured survey questionnaire. Based on the responses of the participants, each factor was grouped into three categories. High-low plots and Chi-square tests were conducted to explore the differences between the cases and controls. Bivariate logistic regression was run to estimate the crude odds of injuries, while multivariate logistic regression estimated the adjusted odds of injuries to the workers for the various variable categories. High-low plots and the Chi-square test clearly revealed that the cases and controls significantly differed in their responses for the variables studied. Accident-involved workers take more risks, are negatively affected, job dissatisfied, feel more production pressure, job stress, work hazards and are less job involved and are more dissatisfied with safety environment and social climate of the mines compared to the controls. The multivariate odds of injuries to high risk taking, negatively affected and job dissatisfied workers are 1.21, 9.34 and 2.00 times more compared to their lowest counterparts. Similarly, workers satisfied with the overall safety practice and safety equipment availability and maintenance are 1.5 and 3.12 times less likely to be injured than the workers with little or no satisfaction with the above factors. It is therefore concluded that negative affectivity and job dissatisfaction are the two major personal level factors that contribute more towards accident/injury in the mines studied. Identification and elimination/reduction of negative attitudes are of utmost importance.     

The culture-effectiveness link in a manufacturing context: A resource-based perspective

The literature and the press tout organizational culture as a major source of competitive advantage and a key approach through which organizations can achieve superior effectiveness. However, research on this link within and across global regions remains inconclusive. Grounding the study on the resource-based view of the firm, analysis of 238 plants from eight countries shows that, while individual culture types predict manufacturing effectiveness, the combined effects of multiple culture types have a greater effect. Different culture types emerge as significant in East and West regions depending on the effectiveness dimension prioritized by the plant.     

Road safety perspectives among employees of a multinational corporation in urban India: local context for global injury prevention

In rapidly developing economies, like urban India, where road traffic injury rates are among the world's highest, the corporate workplace offers a non-traditional venue for road safety interventions. In partnership with a major multinational corporation (MNC) with a large Indian workforce, this study aimed to elicit local employee perspectives on road safety to inform a global corporate health platform. The safety attitudes and behaviours of 75 employees were collected through self-report survey and focus groups in the MNC offices in Bangalore and Pune. Analysis of these data uncovered incongruity between employee knowledge of safety strategies and their enacted safety behaviours and identified local preference for interventions and policy-level actions. The methods modelled by this study offer a straightforward approach for eliciting employee perspective for local road safety interventions that fit within a global strategy to improve employee health. Study findings suggest that MNCs can employ a range of strategies to improve the road traffic safety of their employees in settings like urban India including: implementing corporate traffic safety policy, making local infrastructure changes to improve road and traffic conditions, advocating for road safety with government partners and providing employees with education and access to safety equipment and safe transportation options.     

Identity theft: An exploratory study with implications for marketers

Identity theft is the fastest growing crime in America, and millions of people become victims each year. Furthermore, identity theft costs corporations over $20 billion per year, and consumers are forced to spend over $2 billion and 100 million hours of time to deal with the aftermath. This paper uses a system dynamics model to explore policy options dealing with identity theft and to provide implications for marketers. The results indicate that the current approach to combating identity theft will not work. However, inexpensive security freezes could be effective, because they result in a nonlinear reduction in identity theft that is similar to the “herd immunity” seen in epidemiology. Thus, identity theft can be addressed by protecting just a fraction of the total population.     

Unraveling customer repurchase intention in OFDL context: An investigation using a hybrid technique of SEM and fsQCA

This research proposes a conceptual model based on the stimulus-organism-response (S–O-R) theoretical framework which links perceived website/app quality and image (stimuli) to satisfaction and trust (organism) which in turn influence customer repurchase intention (response). The data was collected from 680 consumers via Amazon MTurk. Following Covariance based Structural Equation Modeling (CB-SEM) analysis to validate the proposed model, fuzzy set/Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) technique was also performed. According to the findings, perceived website/app quality has a direct impact on both satisfaction and trust in online food delivery services. Additionally, customer familiarity moderates the relationship between website/app quality and repurchase intention. Next, customer reviews moderate the association between repurchase intention and trust. Holistically, this study offers significant implications for academicians, managers and policymakers. Academically, this study contributes to online food delivery literature. Practically, the results provide guidelines to marketers, managers and policymakers interested in devising marketing strategies to promote customer's repurchase intention in online food delivery context.     

The role of context in case study selection: An international business perspective

The extant methodological literature has challenged case selection in qualitative case study research for being arbitrary or relying too much on convenience logic. This paper aims to address parts of such criticism on the rigour of case selection through the presentation of a sampling framework that promotes contextualisation and thoroughness of sampling decisions in the study of international phenomena. This framework emerged from an inductive process following an actual case study project in international marketing and promotes the idea that context matters for sampling purposes, too. The proposed framework integrates methodological tools that complement the overarching principle of purposeful sampling and considers respective contextual challenges that the researchers encountered before and during fieldwork. It serves to highlight in an iterative fashion the role that context plays in the case selection process and the importance of contextualised sampling processes for qualitative case study research in international business.     

Controls as a Sharable Knowledge Commodity: An Architecture for Open Exchange

The world seems to be getting more dangerous: terrorists; fraudulent corporations; money laundering; hurricanes; pandemics. Governments and organizations respond with a flurry of new controls. In some cases these are centrally mandated (e.g. Sarbanes Oxley). In others, organizations struggle to find their own control solutions. Seldom, however, do organizations work together as a community of common interests to share solutions to their control threats. In this paper we consider how an open exchange of control solutions might be supported electronically. We assume a community of similar organizations that wish to exchange detailed knowledge about organizational control techniques. These might be non-competing institutions, such as libraries, customs agencies, and even universities; or, they may in fact be competing organizations, wishing to exchange control solutions in dimensions where they do not compete – e.g. the airlines exchanging best practice about safety and security. The main point is to propose an information technology architecture that permits a view of organizational controls as shareable, exchangeable knowledge commodities.     

Risk factors for injury in community-level football: a cohort study

We investigated the independent effect of commonly postulated risk factors on injury incidence in amateur football (soccer), using a prospective cohort design with follow-up over two seasons. A total of 1702 male and female players aged 13 years or older contributed information on 21,797 player-matches. Confirmed, were the effect of male vs. female sex (injury rate ratios (IRR) = 0.81, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.67–0.97), older age (increasing IRR gradient), New Zealand European ethnicity (IRR = 0.87, 95% CI: 0.74–1.01), being taller (180–189 cm: IRR = 1.32, 95% CI: 1.06–1.63), previous injury (IRR = 1.32, 95% CI: 1.12–1.57), playing against medical advice (IRR = 1.24, 95% CI: 1.03–1.49), playing while recovering from injury (IRR = 1.40, 95% CI: 1.20–1.49), history of cigarette smoking (IRR = 1.27, 95% CI: 1.00–1.61) and time of season (IRR = 0.97, 95% CI: 0.96–0.98). Female, adult, non-European and taller players could be paid particular attention in injury prevention programmes. The need for effective injury management is reinforced. Adding physical conditioning to pre-season training may be required.     

A comparison of online and offline consumer behaviour: An empirical study on a cinema shopping context

The main objective of this study is to analyse online vs. offline differences in consumer behaviour. To this end, through a proposal applied to cinemas in shopping centres, this study considers values and lifestyles as major factors that influence behaviours and intentions. The partial least squares (PLS) approach is used to evaluate the model. A multi-group analysis is conducted to compare consumers who buy tickets online with those who do so at a box office. We consider 391 valid cases. The results obtained show a link between the use of technology and its effects on behaviour. The relationships between values and behaviour as well as between behaviour and future intent are stronger among online consumers than the effects of lifestyles on behaviour. We consider relevant theoretical and empirical perspectives and offer critical recommendations of use to shopping centre managers, movie theatres, and intermediaries of this sector.     

Performance of international joint ventures from developing and developed countries: An empirical study in a developing country context

In response to the need for research on International Joint Ventures (IJVs) from developing countries, this paper examines the multivariate determinants of performance of 59 IJVs from both developing and developed countries in a developing country context. Resource complementarity, cooperation, joint venture experience, technology and export-orientation were found to be significant determinants of performance of joint ventures. While the determinants varied for IIVs from developing and developed countries, there were no significant differences in their performance levels. The empirical findings and their implications, including limitations and areas for further research are discussed.     

Managing distance in international purchasing and supply: a systematic review of literature from the resource-based view perspective

The aim of this research is to find out how the extant literature on international purchasing and supply management (PSM) covers the elements of capability from the perspective of distance. A priori, we form a framework of capability driving elements and conclude that distance—in its multiple dimensions—is the fundamental management aspect in international PSM. Equipped with analytical frameworks and a bottom–up process for identifying emergent themes, a systematic literature review was conducted on a representative sample of scholarly literature on international PSM, using the NVivo analysis software and a data display as tools. We identify several capability relevant themes from the literature, and provide a distance-based a posteriori conceptualisation of international PSM, founded in the information processing theory, with the source-user, user-user and source-source distance types driving the information processing requirements, and loading avoidance, policy-based and enhancement mechanisms determining the information processing capacity.     

Context in international business: Entrepreneurial internationalization from a distant small open economy

Context matters in International Business, but to what extent does it influence the content of knowledge? This study offers a systematic literature review on the internationalization of New Zealand firms. A geographically isolated small open economy (SMOPEC) with audacious trade aspirations, a strong domestic institutional environment, favorable attitude toward trade, and entrepreneurial small-to-medium size enterprises (SMEs), New Zealand provides an enlightening context to study internationalization. Using a sample of 95 studies, the review identifies antecedents, stimuli, capabilities, strategy, process and outcomes underpinning internationalizing New Zealand firms (INZFs). Context matters but not in the manner anticipated. On one hand research on the internationalization of New Zealand firms is largely congruent with extant knowledge, on the other the New Zealand context shapes uniquely, how and what scholars choose to research.     

Evaluation of a home injury prevention program in a WHO Safe Community

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of a community-based injury prevention program on home injuries. Unintentional injuries occurring in private homes and during leisure time account for 70-80% of injuries treated in public health care. A quasiexperimental design was used for the study, with cross-sectional preand post-implementation measurements in the program area and in a neighboring control community. Children and the elderly were two main target groups of the intervention program, which was based on a participative strategy for community involvement. The study was based on defined total populations. The total relative risk for home injury occurrence decreased in the study area, whereas it increased in the control area. Regarding age and gender, there was a decrease for females and males in the study area and a slight increase in the control area. For males, the youngest and oldest age groups showed no decrease, whereas females showed a decrease among the youngest and those aged 60-79. No decrease was observed in the control area. The study showed that the Safe Community approach had a general effect on the incidence of home injuries.     

Developing injury prevention policy through a multi-agency partnership approach: a case study of a state-wide sports safety policy in New South Wales, Australia

Sports injuries are an important public health issue. A multi-agency key stakeholder partnership was formed to develop a state-wide response to sports injury prevention in New South Wales, Australia. This study evaluated the partnership approach to injury prevention policy development. The partnership approach to policy development was evaluated pre- and post-partnership using semi-structured telephone interviews and questionnaire data gathered from participants. Participants were satisfied with the partnership operation and outcomes. Challenges included: maintaining focus and efficiency; time constraints; sector diversity limiting the likelihood of addressing needs and reaching consensus; and ensuring commitment from all relevant organisations. Potential benefits included: a sense of policy ownership; a broad-based approach across the sector and savings from resource sharing. Policy resulted from a shared understanding of the injury problem, and of an appropriate response. A credible industry leader, investment in partnership management and a consultative approach facilitated the success of the partnership.     

Building customer trust and loyalty: an empirical study in a retailing context

This paper integrates the seller's characteristics and the consumer's individual characteristics in testing the person-to-person and person-to-firm effects of trust on loyalty in the department store. A multidimensional model of the behavioural components of trustworthiness is used to examine their differential effects on consumer trust. The results reveal that the effects of behavioural components of trustworthiness on trust in salespersons and trust in department stores are different. Trust in salespersons contributes to the trust in the department stores they work for. In addition, although both trust in department stores and trust in salespersons are expected to enhance customer loyalty, person-to-person trust has stronger influence on loyalty than does person-to-firm trust. The findings also suggest that customers' individual characteristics should be considered in assessing the role of trust in business relationships other than sellers' characteristics.     

Reviewing half a century of measuring cross-cultural competence: Aligning theoretical constructs and empirical measures

We provide a comprehensive review of how cross-cultural competence (CCC) has been measured over the past half-century in order to more closely align theoretical constructs and empirical measures. Based on a content analysis of 68 academic and commercial CCC instruments and a supplemental survey of 160 experts, we review the approaches used in these instruments to conceptualize and quantify CCC, discuss their limitations, and recommend best practices and directions for future researchers and practitioners when selecting and using CCC instruments or developing new alternatives.     

Performance implications of cognitive complexity: An empirical study of cognitive strategic groups in semiconductor industry

This study extends previous strategic group research by empirically examining the performance effects of group's cognitive complexity in Taiwan semiconductor industry. Through computer-aided content analysis, this study derives themes from letters to shareholders as variables to assess the managerial cognitive complexity and uses thematic variations to find cognitive strategic groups during periods of market downturns, uncertainty and upturns. The study specifies three statistically reliable and accurate themes (operation, customer, and product) and identifies five types of cognitive strategic groups with different degrees of cognitive complexity on perceived strategic dimensions. The results indicate that cognitively complex groups with dual orientations toward customers and products sustain competitive advantages over time, especially during periods of market downturns and uncertainty.     

An empirical study of salesperson stereotypes amongst UK students and their implications for recruitment

The success of recruitment efforts can have a major impact on sales force effectiveness. Students have long been considered a good source of potential sales recruits, but research has found students have generally negative perceptions of selling as a career. One reason for such perceptions may be negative stereotypes of salespeople held by students. However information on the content of UK sales stereotypes remains anecdotal at best. This study empirically examines UK business students' stereotypes of salespeople using a two-stage approach. Findings suggest that these stereotypes are generally negative. However, we create profiles of salespeople using our findings, and consequently uncover some positive aspects to the stereotype. The study provides instruction on how to use stereotypes in subsequent work, as well as how to utilise the profiles in recruitment efforts.